good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order uh this meeting of the den Denville Township Board of Education is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record Andor The Star Ledger of moris county has been delivered to the Township Clerk and has been posted on the bulletin board of the board of education office and at each of the school buildings in the district roll call please Dr Moore here Mrs selis here Dr Aruna tassen here Mr Cass Mr Anderson Mr Capello here Mr Ken here uh there was no executive session and so if we can all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance okay it looks like we have a number of presentations upcoming uh but I'm sure that we'll hear more about them later um Dr Forte is not here yet so if we can go ahead with the assistant superintendent comments Dr cus I just want to congratulate both Lake View and Riverview schools they both earned the State School of good character again so it's a fiveyear uh award and they have to re-qualify and go through the entire process again so they both qualified and they have scored high enough to be considered for the national school of good character awards as well so we'll be hearing more about that after the school visits so congratulations to both of of those schools the coat testing will be beginning will be beginning on February 22nd that is a slight change for fifth grade uh so that fifth graders can can participate in some of the read Across America events the coat testing for fifth grade only has been moved to February 22nd and 23rd this concludes the assistant superintendence reports thank you Dr cus did you say it was Lake View and Riverview uh that got the honor yes Valley viiew has already gotten he's there're on a different cycle uh so Lake View and Riverview were up for their fiveyear cycle um but recently value view received it as well but they did not have to reapply this year great thank you um we'll proceed with the business administrator comments and then we'll go back to Dr Forte so Mrs gski I just want to make a one clarification from the last board meeting uh I stated that the insurance for the casualty and property for the flood in December was going to reimburse $10,000 for contents that was incorrect uh they did re reimburse us $1,200 for contents but did not includeed wall or floor or electrical that was not part of the contents so I did I do want to clarify that great thank you very much and we'll go ahead to the superintendent comments Dr Forte did you need a second or I think I think I'm good Valley View winter sports Athletics recap I'll come back to that um June 10th looks like we'll have the valy view Athletics at our board meeting and new law just passed to allow the Board of Education to return vote to April if the bo board is interested in doing that and that would um allow for the um the board to do that without a budget vote so back in 2010 10 the um the legislature passed a law to allow boards to move their if they chose to move their election to November there would be no cost for the for the vote so if you do it there's an advantage there's advantage and disadvantage the disadvantage is you now have to pay for the election which is approximately $20,000 that that could be a little off like uh they're they told me that the cost of the uh primary was 15,000 now I don't really know the amount of time but I know like for a board vote you'd probably want to do the full amount of time so let's say between 15 and $220,000 for for an election so the board would have to pay for that the positive thing about it is if you move the vote to April and you want to do what's called a separate proposal that's when that's when the board decides to take certain items in the budget put it outside of the budget put it as a separate proposal to the to the township to the to the uh public and vote on it there's there's advantages to that the advantage is you can raise funds on the outside of the budget that will grow as well which is a good thing the weird part about it doing it now and I'm saying weird purposely is because if you do it now you actually start the school year without whatever it is you voted for because you vote for it in November and then you actually get it in in January but the taxpayers have their tax bill redone and it goes back to 71 on one one so how about this it's cleaner if you do it in April it's a little odd it's doesn't it doesn't feel right because you don't you're starting the school year off with whatever it is that you don't you know without whatever whatever the item is that you're trying to vote for now in in April you have plenty of time to get that moving that's the way it used to be so this is a new law um that's just passing and it does it does allow this now so I just wanted to bring that I just wanted to bring that to your attention um we have PTA meetings coming up I have uh we did February 7th Dino did lake views with me that was nice we had a good a good showing we talked a little bit about some of the issues that we're facing with space and um finance and things like that I I basically break it down into all like categories we talk about um some updates in curriculum to things that Dr KS is working on we talk about Personnel we talk about Finance we talk about operations um I shared that document with you so you could see what it is um right now I'm scheduled to do riverv viws PTA meeting on February 2st and I'm scheduled to do valy views PTA meeting on March 21st first with either Andrea or Mike or both of you um I will discuss those things those items in that sheet I gave you and uh I also want to remind everybody that I share with you a document with with both committees called concerns and I just want to make sure that everybody's reviewing it and you know if you have questions please bring them to me the only one I have gone over it with yet is you Mr Kim because you're not on one of the Committees but I'd be happy to you know talk more about that um some of these concerns are are things that are you know fairly large problems that there might not be a solution to right now but it might be something that we need we just need to think about it keep keep it on our on our um you know on our mind so that it doesn't go by the wayside because I think they're important things but they're you know things that are um kind of a little larger problem that can be solved right now but some of these things I've been talking about and and if you notice today the uh Daily Record picked up that article so that was that was pretty good it picked up the article on the uh on the space concerns about um the purchase of 46 Nicole drive and the renewal of the lease they didn't get it 100% right a little bit of the data was a little off but you know what it it's putting the message out to the public that we're concerned about these things we don't really have a solution for it right now but we are still concerned and we're thinking about it um I will uh if I can figure out why I'm not able to access my winter sports update I will try to get that going in a little while but uh for now that's the end of the superintendent's report great thank you yeah maybe for the good of the cause you can uh bring us up to date on the sports related stuff um just for clarification you mentioned um April and that's not for election of board members but to put out questions for Budget items right it would be for both it would be the election for board members which my Association the superintendent Association supports that because it they feel it depoliticizes a board vote I don't know you know I mean there's there's schools of thought right you have more people coming out to the general election so that's usually a good thing but you know if you do if you run an election just for the board there is no political party anything like that so it's really just all independent stuff so um again I'm not really I'm not recommending this to you I just think that it's important for you to understand it know about it and consider it it's not something you're allowed to do for this year but it is something you could do for next year the board would have to vote and change it if if you're interested in it I'll learn more about it right now I don't even know like what the date is when you you have to tell them Mr K I just have one one quick question yes please um I'm just curious because I've never been around when they the election's been in April if a board members elected in April when would they take office like when would they actually be sworn in so it's still oh so they're they're they're elected still until that's interesting okay the was always in Jan right yeah would wouldn't the U term coincide with the school year then like a July 1st to start for the term no it would be still January the school had to operate in a fiscal year still July 1 through June 30th this thing is so new it like it just happened like a couple days ago I'm sure you know in the um njsba report they'll have some guidance on there and same thing in mine and we'll share that with you yeah I actually attended the last meeting and I'll uh uh I'll make the announcements or my observations during good of the CAA so thank you okay is there anything else from the board no further questions okay so we'll go ahead and open up uh for public discussion um at 7:41 p.m. seeing that there's no one online and no one in the chambers we'll go ahead and close it at 7:41 p.m. as well uh Mr capella could you take us through old business no action to be taken sure I'd be happy to uh at the next meeting uh I or someone else will be uh taking us through items a b and c a are the reports from January 2024 the treasur of school monies and the board secretary B our education reports the report of student enrollment from January 2024 report of the health office January 2024 and Hib case VV 23248 and finally uh the minutes from our reorganization session meeting January 2nd our work session and executive session meeting January 2nd 2024 and finally the regular session and executive session meetings January 22nd 2024 great thank you any questions comments all right we'll proceed into the next section new business action to be taken uh Dr R jasen if you can take us through a Personnel please just a quick heads up in three minutes anybody with kids is going to get a phone call yeah if we can mute our cell phones y thank you thank you Dr P if you can uh speak into the mic please thank you Mr cam if there's no objection um I'd like to go over the items a uh one through six these are uh uh personal uh resignations uh uh for the purpose of retirement replacing employee um and new hires facet teacher um and uh there is a a teacher taking on additional role uh and uh for transportation um dispatcher for transportation so and uh in item number six um a new hire for substitutes there are two new hires uh items A and B thank you any questions or comments sec I'll second oh thank you thank you Dron thank you Mr Capello U being my second meeting I'm I forgot the second so any questions or comments um I would just offer uh congratulations to uh Miss rello uh on her retirement effective in April okay roll call please Dr Moore yes Mrs selis yes Dr Aruna datass yes Mr Capello yes Mr Kim yes Dr Moore if you can take us through imp please uh yes I'd like to move the following uh resolutions under instruction and program uh number one workshops and expenses uh A and B A is uh nja HP r d annual convention and B is a a virtual uh comprehensive Orton Gillingham plus training I'll second thank you Dr Mo uh Mr Capello not Dr Capello um any questions or comments roll call please Dr Moore yes Mrs Adelis yes Dr Aruna datass yes Mr Capello yes Mr Kim yes and Mrs zelis if you could take us through Finance please sure uh at this time there's oh uh I'm sorry there is an addendum uh if I can direct you to your Yellow Pages here uh new business to be taken the following resolution has been recommended by the superintendent of school to the board of education for approval um we're looking for be it resolved that the board approved to renew the the current certificate of deposit with Provident Bank and increase up to 1.5 mil with an interest rate of % maturity date for December 28th 2025 funds will be invested from the capital reserve count and number two be resolve that the board approved the addendum to the Behavioral Health Services agreement with prime Healthcare Services St cla's to provide one-time psychiatric evaluations for students at a cost of 510 per evaluation for the 2023 2024 school year can I get a second second thank you thank you Mrs zelis thank you uh drasen um Mrs kuski did you have a question or a comment okay any questions or comments here uh Mrs grasi I actually thought that the amount could go up to 2.5 million uh for the CD is that correct or that is correct we currently have $1 million invested on a CD and this will allow me to invest an up up to 1.5 million additionally okay so it's either missing the word additionally or we have to uh change the wording to increase by 1.5 million or up or should we change the wording to increase up to 2.5 see see I read that as increase up to in other words from a million to a million and a half that's just sounds fuzzy to me yeah and it's capped at 1.5 million so let's do additionally so how do we want to change that resolution up to an additional 1.5 million Mrs Adelis and Mrs uh Dr R tasin are you okay with that change yes yes that's absolutely Mrs groski I really appreciate your work uh U behind this so thank you very much uh roll call please do Aruna jassin yes I'm sorry I've WR out of order Dr Moore yes Mrs Adelis yes Dr Arun jassen yes Mr Capello yes Mr Kim yes uh Mrs Adelis if you can take us through operations as well please um sure I move to approve the following resolutions under operations um move to approve that the board approved the the use of the facility to denational Associates of ywar new nonprofit organization uh on February 25th at the hourly rate of $85 per hour do we have a little bit more information on that oh before we proceed uh just need a second I I'll second but and do we have a little bit more information on that nonprofit yes we have a nonprofit or organization from parcion is not a Denville organization and that's why we needed to approve it they do need to use we will they would like to use one of the facilities for a cultural Spring Dance we don't we don't re approve all usage but we we approve usage that's not from local community and for-profit so this is a not for profit not from Denville but according to our policy 7510 there is an order a pecking order of when when certain things would be approved and this would be this makes the list of groups that should be allowed to use the facilities as long as we can accommodate them so um do we we don't have any prohibition against uh offering our facilities to religious organizations do we it's it's something like number six down the list it's like in order but it's not a Prohibition it's that but we're we're allowed to in other words it's actually saying to do it to do it yes right okay Goa to do it if we can do it and we can do it so we put it on the agenda I put it I asked Dem marish to put it on the agenda because it's just it's a new group and it's not a local community meaning from Denville like we don't put our p on the list all the time but this is a little bit different so outside it is a religious organization but it is also according to our policy 751 Z and we also want to make sure that we cover all the expenses as well too yeah sure great thank you for clarifying that any other questions or comments roll call please Dr Moore yes Mrs Adelis yes Dr AR tasson yes Mr Capello yes Mr Kim yes okay moving on to a different section uh this one is new business no action to be taken uh Dr Rin jasen can you just take us uh sorry to interrupt Mr Kim but did we miss operations oh that's the one we just did my my apologies sorry I I highlighted the wrong one no worries no worries um yeah Dr Rasin can you take us through Section A personnel for our next meeting yeah um if there's no objection there the then either myself or somebody else will uh move for the following items uh which includes uh new hires resignations retirements employee leaves extra pay salary and adjustments there are two items A and B there for extellent placements and uh to assist with uh uh book AIT and um there are some family leaves and absences um and um yeah great thank you um any questions or comments from the board okay uh Dr Moore can you walk us through what we'll be voting on for the next meeting on instruction and program please uh yes either myself or someone else will um vote for or present for approval of the following resolutions under uh item number one uh workshops and expenses there's um under a there's an njasbo conference under B the um course entitled introduction to responsive classroom C is the njsbga conference and D is a nonviolent Crisis Intervention instructor certification program and for item number two there's a tuition reimbursement for a school nurse at Riverview thank you any questions from the board okay seeing that there's none uh looks like under section c policy revisions there will be no policies that we're voting on or reviewing uh and Mrs zelis uh could you walk us through Section D Finance for our next meeting sure at the next meeting myself or someone else we'll go through the following resolutions under Finance um we will discuss uh Valley Bo Science Department New Jersey Gear Up computation thinking car kits um which sound very cool to be honest uh be for we we're going to be looking at the ARP homeless 2 application for fiscal year 2022 um the board is going to look at uh grants from the New Jersey school Development Authority and the New Jersey Department of Education in the amount of 38451 for emergent and capital maintenance needs and at the next meeting we will also look at um some non-resident tuition agreements as well as standard operating procedure and internal controls any questions or comments um Dr Forte or Miss gski what the Sops um I didn't see the standing operating procedures as a link uh was that in the folders it's probably on the regular meeting for the 22nd folder if it's not included in the work session I see okay thank you uh if there are no questions or comments and we'll proceed to operations Mrs zelis uh if you don't mind uh walking us through the buildings and grounds sure at the next meeting myself or someone else we'll go through the following resolutions um buildings and grounds we are looking at the approval to award Lich Corporation for the remediation of asbestos removal and pipe installation at like Lake View Elementary in the amount of $9,250 go ahead yeah just quick question on that um I'm assuming that's going to be is that going to be a summer job or when that's sorry the remediate the asbest remediation is in relationship with the HVAC project that we're currently doing a lake view okay and this is necessary for them to continue so this will be done during the spring break during spring but okay obviously when kids are not in the school correct gotcha thank you yeah I was wondering the same question thank you Mr Capello um and of course I didn't I forgot to ask uh if there was any comments about the Committees during the section so uh we'll proceed with good to the cause and if we want to start it off uh any committee chairs if there's anything that from the committee reports or uh minutes that they wanted to share and highlight and then we'll go ahead with any kind any other good or the cause correspondence discussion items um like uh board meeting highlights I do have a few things for good A Cause as well but I'll let the other board members um the opportunity to speak first Dr for did you want to go ahead and uh discuss the Athletics uh at this point yes thank you the wrestling team finished up uh dual meet record of five- four had four wrestlers placed in the county we did have a county champion in Adams ofula finished first place at 149 we had a second place finisher Caleb Fricks at 97 pounds and two fourth place finishers Val you finished fifth overall out of the 15 teams had the thir most victories by penss um there was 20 athlete student athletes five sixth graders five seventh and 10 eighth graders on the team cheer lining this year the cheer team represented by 22 students seven sixth graders nine seventh graders and six eighth graders had a great season cheering on both boys and girls basketball girls basketball the team finished with a four and 11 record made the semi-finals of the county tournament and the girls played hard all season a few close games that would have made um a record I witnessed a crazy finish to a game where they were losing and a girl hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to put it into overtime You' think that in in a middle school basketball from a three-point Lane at the buzzer into overtime we ended up losing by like seven but it was a great game I was I was psyched that I was at that one I also went over to see the boys play in their final game at um and the semi-final at Wharton that's they the the neutral site they played Madison in a uh in the final and beat Madison pretty good by ended up by 10 points but were up by 25 points at one point so they were County Champs the boys basketball team finished up as uh group three Morris County champions for the 2023 uh four clubs and activities the clubs uh continue to run providing fun and educational programs for a large group of students in January we added a new club called board games this Club gives the students opportunity to play chess Checkers and other board games rehearsals for Annie are underway and the show is scheduled to take part in the spring that's always a tremendous event and the last time we had Annie my daughter was Miss Hanigan so I'll never forget watching her play Miss Hanigan up there on the stage now that she's 23 years old when she was uh in eighth grade it was my first first year as superintendent here and my mother my wife was involved in the U the the booster Club I know Mr Capello you've been involved in that um if you haven't been to one yet it's definitely worthwhile checking it out it it's pretty amazing what these kids can do in the middle school you're like taking back a little bit so um if you get a chance to go see Annie when it comes out in the uh spring that would be a great opportunity and that's it thank you that's great to hear uh the success of the sports as well as all those other clubs as well as the musical so that's going to be exciting yes please go ahead um so just a update or some information from the finance committee I do encourage the board to look over the 2024 major concerns uh flyer leaflet that uh that Dr Forte put out um I think it's very important for us to kind of all have that conversation and discuss it um the finance committee like I said was able to meet we will have our preliminary in March meeting at the March 11th meeting I believe and then the budget will be presented in April um a good of the calls that I do want to mention I want to thank the PTA and the mothers who put together the lake view talent show this weekend um I was there for about I don't know it felt like 48 Hours it felt like I slept at valy viiew I probably should have just slept at valy view um but they do the dress rehearsal the night before and then they put on two shows on Saturday 120 kids you know they they diligently work on this project from August until uh this past weekend so I just want to say thank you to the PTA thank you to uh Jessica guar Laura Gus and um Adria volani who put the show together it was spectacular they they did a great job and my daughter was a fifth grade MC which was like a dream come true she finally got to be an MC but now we're done so that's sad no I'm sorry I missed that I would have loved to have seen that so oh any other board members uh I had the opportunity to attend the county um moris County School boards association meeting uh this past week or last week uh so there's a few announcements there that I would like to share uh first is that um the the unsung heroes nominations are due February 20th uh so I don't know if Mr Corman is uh has that app if uh if more information is needed uh just let me know and I can pass it on um March 20th will be the um the announcements of the nominations at CCM at 6:30 It's a Wonderful event so if there's board members that could attend uh come see me and I'll share more information uh there's also the Irene lefave excellence and boardmy award uh we nominated Mr Cass last year uh so uh I believe that we could um make another Nom nomination as well so and um Charlene had provided an update as well so if there's board members looking for additional certifications uh one of the complaints what there was that there was not a lot of classes available well there'll be three classes available next month uh the next month or two so New Jersey school board's website will have more information uh I did attend uh one of the session breakout sessions where they talked about the different bills uh going through legislation and one of the bills that they talked about was in fact the uh Dr Forte that bill that you mentioned that was approved uh where um if there is a November vote uh the board had to quickly turn around and start uh using the funds in January right so there's a bill to hopefully delay that till the next fiscal year uh so um so there's still opportunities where you could have a a vote uh out to the public in November and hopefully with this new legislation or Bill if it is approved board uh different districts can use those funds starting July first so yeah uh hopefully that passes um but speaking of the different challenges and the different um uh issues that the we as a district are facing um I did uh one of my goals personal goals for this year was to um bring more of our issues to the delegate assembly so uh I did pass out or Miss Kowski helped pass out the draft resolution that I wanted to propose in the next delegate assembly um Dr Forte do you have a copy already yep so this one's specific for purchasing School funds with operating funds there's legislation that states that districts and boards are required to do that with operating funds instead of Reserve funds and so I was working with New Jersey school boards to hopefully see if we could change that so that if we we have reserves why not be able to use something that is as expensive as a school bus um I also added the electric school buses in there because I mean regular school buses might be 100,000 150,000 but these electric school buses are even higher maybe double triple that amount so there's no way that any district U who's not eligible for that um uh the awards or the uh different funds that they're giving out um they're it it's cost prohibitive from even considering electric school buses so that's the spin that I'm putting on to this and see if we can you know if if there are districts that have reserves you know and they can spare it then why not try to purchase this type of uh equipment with uh reserves so I'm going to be working with M groski to clean this up but I do uh ask that the board take a look and and also voice their opinions and recommendations to any kind of changes um I also have a draft for the CDL license so I I want to propose in the next delegate assembly and I forgot to announce that the next delegate assembly will be on um May 18th but these resolutions uh to be presented to be considered for the May 18th meeting has to be submitted by March 14th so I would like to put this draft resolution up for vote uh during our next meeting and I could definitely use some help with the the wording for the CDL license one or the school drivers uh one as well so um this is something that I wanted to propose uh with the the transportation um task force as well you know um one of the ways that we can address it is by of course talking to our legislators but also getting School boards behind us as well so those are my thoughts um any questions or comments so I mean I think this is a great idea um I'm all for it and happy to help with the wording um on the school Vehicles one the only thing I would suggest in terms of wording is maybe add a section or add some text about that uh school buses are a long lived asset you know like you're talking about multi-year um so it doesn't you know so that's why it makes sense I think to use your your Capital money as opposed to uh current budget money so but again I'm more than happy to work with you on the language great thank you I appreciate that and that's a great suggestion too by the way so my hope is that this resolution uh or this sort of draft is something that can sort of spur the juices if there's complaints being made during committee meetings and and you know you know comments like oh we wish we could do that then this is one way that we can try to start that process is uh to draft something up and get school boards behind it so that when they talk to the legislators I mean they're a Powerhouse in terms of a uh what's the term where they no thank you they're a huge lobbyist right a Lobby group so they can definitely um they have the funds the money and so maybe they'll be willing to listen to them as opposed to just you know a Denville board member so great if there's no other questions or comments uh I will open up um public section at 8:08 p.m. no one in the um virtual thank you and being that there's no one in the chambers as well I'll close open comment section at 8:08 p.m. do we have a need for executive okay uh do I have a volunteer to take us into executive session okay Mr capella if you don't mind I volunteered too quick okay here we go uh if there are no objection I move to conveni an executive session in accordance uh with Section 8 of the open public meetings act the purpose of this closed session will be to discuss negotiations legal security and Personnel issues minutes of the session Will Made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists can I get a second please second thank you um all in favor I any Nays or abstentions okay we are in executive at 8:09 p.m.