##VIDEO ID:PI5Tzpv4q2k## okay good evening I would like to call this meeting to order will the secretary please call the role Mrs Becker here Mr Cummings here Mr goswami Mrs gu here uh Mrs herck here Mr Hong Dr James here Mrs ree here and president lack here we have a quum please rise to salute the flag I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice all before I read the president's announcement I would like to call for a moment of silence um we're going to observe that in memory of Joseph chellis who passed away in August 19th 2024 Joe joined the district in 1987 as a data communication specialist and what was then the data processing Department as technology changed so did his role in The District most recently he has been an IT specialist at Churchill where he helped countless students and staff manage their devices and troubleshoot all their Tech needs in 2010 Joe was recognized as a support staff member of the year at Churchill he will be truly messed our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with his loved ones thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the East brunck board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted at the East Brunswick Board of Education offices written notice was also provided to The Sentinel The newor Star Ledger the home News Tribune the alternative press of East Brunswick and the municipal clerk of East Brunswick all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive session discussions are videotaped for later broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that videotape meetings are not edited for any purpose individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening and I'm going to ask Dr beleski to give a superintendent report and let us know what's been happening this summer in our district thank you president Al good evening I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer our learning our early learning and kindergarten Readiness emies through Community programs had a fun-filled summer our 112 students enjoy weekly themes including stem Beach Vibes superheroes marvelous musicians and so much more there were exciting presentations from our East Brunswick fire in police departments and students enjoyed weekly preschool yoga Spanish classes and water play days the children were thrilled to explore with a scavenger hunt and to dig for dinosaur bones the East Brunswick Youth Council assisted the district with two carnival days packed with face painting and multiple games they had numerous vendor visits inclusive of mad science experiments and had their own Summer Olympics and snapology provided a stem program where the students built their own roller coasters however all the fun was not only experienced by little ones but our K12 students enjoyed many summer mini enrichment camps there were Sports steam artart science and so many more options our elementary students were so creative in so many programs including an engineering program and our junior high school and high school students enjoyed assessing Footprints blood spatter and fingerprints to solve a crime in their inter ational CSI program in all we had over 350 students participate in all of our programming and it was a fabulous summer of 2024 from August 20th through August 22nd we welcomed over 40 new certificated staff members to our district during new staff orientation participants were hosted by our administrative team treated to lunch by the ebea participated in Choice Learning Centers and work side by side with their mentors this past week we held orientations at all our schools on Monday August 26 all our elementary schools had orientation for our preschool Early Learning Academy kindergarten and new students kindergarten students had an opportunity to spend time with their teachers where they had a great time families received tours of our schools and had information sessions with the principles to start the year off the staff at hamers shold welcomed incoming fifth grade students during a two-hour orientation student services addressed topics that historically have created anxiety for students with a goal of smoothing their transition sixth grade assistant principal Enoch naichi organized a get to know your fellow classmates activity while the fifth grade assistant principal Tom husar reviewed procedures and expectations for the upcoming year ALS students also received their Chromebook student volunteers were present throughout to answer questions and welcome the class of 2032 it's hard to believe on Tuesday August 27th sth grade students participated in their orientation program with the Church Hill administrative and School counseling teams students met with building administrators to learn what a typical day at church show looks like and the support that members of the school counseling department provide to students afterwards students received a guided tour of the building with school counselors and Ninth Grade Student guides finally students received and configured their new District issued laptop with the help of members of our information technology department on Wednesday August 28th the high school successfully hosted sophomore in new student orientation our team of counselors administrators and support staff organized various informational sessions throughout the building with the support of our senior student leaders all students were guided through each session and received a comprehensive tour of the building at the end of the orientation the students had the opportunity to walk through their schedules to try to make the transition as to high school as smooth as possible it was a team effort we're looking forward to seeing all our students on the first day of school the high school counseling department welcomed back the class of 2025 this week to Kickstart their college applications with the college application boot camp there were over 250 eager seniors who attended a working session to start completing the common application and seniors left with most of their applications completed and a head start on the application process we would like to thank the East Brunswick Community for coming out so strongly to support our school supply drive for our needy families we received an abundance of Wonderful supplies from our local Girl Scout Troops xbo Trucking Company the alter Gate Church community and many other kind residents our eie families in need are so happy and thankful for the generosity of our eie bear community and thank you to Danielle block and her team for organizing this event our directors supervisors and principles have dedicated countless hours over the summer to carefully plan impactful professional development for the 202 2024 2025 school year recognizing the vital role that continuous professional growth plays in enhancing the educational outcomes we've structured two comprehensive professional development days in September and November where each administrator will have PD sessions related to their content Beyond these full days our administrators are committed to Leading Afterschool curriculum Department uh curriculum Department faculty and grade level meetings each month during PD meetings administrators will lead Staffing content best practices based on ongoing data collections these sessions will offer invaluable opportunities for collaboration and ongoing professional development ensuring that our staff remains at the Forefront of educational Excellence the East brunck marching band kicked off the 2024 2025 season with band camp that began on August 20th and ends today this year's show theme is Accords the marching band has 84 students participating which is bigger than any group in the last 15 years on Wednesday August 28th the group gave a parent preview performance to Showcase what they've learned in band camp these past two weeks in addition to supporting our ebhs football team at games the band will be competing in five marching band festivals across the state and best of luck to marching band director Brian to students the entire marching band staff on the upcoming season Fall Athletics are in full swing football's first game this evening at Edison and the rest of our fall teams will open on Thursday September 5th all our teams are practicing in preparation for the regular season and we're looking forward to an exciting and competitive fall season for all of our teams our varsity and JV cheer teams won their summer camp cheer comp competition at Pine Forest Cheer Camp during the camp all cheerleaders were invited to try out to be recognized as a ucia All-American cheerleader we are proud to announce that 13 of our 50 cheerleaders achiev this Accolade at the camp construction of the new girls softball field hockey complex at ebhs have been addressing over the summer and rather than describe this work this video exhibits the site as it exists as of yesterday so we're GNA give you a quick preview and Mr Juliana if you want to point out anything of significance as the Drone flies around here well in each Corner um you will see the um JV and Varsity softball fields uh each of those fields uh is equipped with um a Dugout uh what you're seeing about Center screen right now uh is um the layout for the um batting cages there are four batting cages the unfinished area uh at this point that you see with the stairs uh that is yet to be landscaped some additional work to be done in that area um and then over toward the top of the screen right now you see the U Press Box okay good there is still much to do before this project is completed but we are approaching the tail end and we look forward to having our girls teams enjoy this new facility and just a few important reminders as we begin the school year the first day of school for all students is Thursday September 5th Thursday September 5th and Friday September 6th are single session days for Church Hill in the high school only and I'm wishing everyone a safe and successful school year thank you thank you that was great it's busy summer you like to hear that and um the cheerlead I believe are in November are going to be performing down Disney World one of the mothers reached out and we'll have them um we'll have them at a future meeting yes to coordinate thank you yes we always love to see them come and speak about that all right I believe Dr Bley you have um 2023 2024 assessment and achievement report for us as I'm getting older my eyesight is not what it used to be so I have my the slides here because I won't be able to see the numbers that far away okay so tonight I'm presenting to you four assessments that our students took last spring the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment the NJ GPA the New Jersey student learning assessments the NJ SLA the dynamic learning maps and the weda access for El's so let's see if I can do this and this at the same time nope there we go okay so these faces are why we are all here and as we get started I want to commend um and call out the hard work of our administrative team both here at the administration building and the building based teams uh as well as our wonderful teachers and support staff who are in the schools helping us do the hard work day in and day out to meet the needs of all of our learners [Applause] so who are our Learners who were our Learners last school year now that's a little small but what if you can read it what it what we have here on the left are our overall student demographics broken down by the New Jersey Department of Education identified subgroups and we have a little historical perspective there and we can see our total enrollment numbers and we can see some upticks in certain areas every percentage equals 81 students and to the right we're taking a look at our new enrollments of last school year we had 431 new students coming into the district in grades 1 through 12 I did not include kindergarten because we can fairly assume all kindergartens are new students uh so this is grades 1 through 12 431 new students last school year and this is the um breakdown uh of those students of course to note is the over 40% uh economically disadvantaged we've uh seen the trend in the last couple of years with our new enrollments okay our first assessment that we're going to discuss is the access for L's this is an assessment that is State mandated it's administered for our multilingual Learners the state is not um identifying these children as El L's English language Learners any longer now they are identified as multilingual Learners MLS so um students in grades K through 12 who are enrolled here in our district in our ESL program must uh take this exam and you can see the scoring and proficiency levels at the bottom of the screen from a one of entering up to a six of reaching when a child earns a score of 4.5 he or she will be exited from the ESL program okay so overall our whole student population over 3,000 of our students here in in East Brunswick Public Schools all the children over 3,000 or about 38% of them speak 71 languages at home besides English uh every student when they come to register in the district the parents fill out a home language survey and if the parents indicate that they speak another language at home the child is screened for ESL services at the moment we have 347 students in our ESL program we definitely do anticipate that number to to climb as the year gets started and the top four languages spoken by this the children in our ESL program are Spanish Arabic Mandarin and Russian in the chart on the right we can see out of those 347 students roughly 75% of them are in their first or second year of ESL instruction most of the students after their second third year exit the program but some students do continue to need additional supports into year four or five and here is a heat map showing the proficiency by grade for the access uh testing down the leftand column we can see the grade level and then we see the number of students the darker green uh shows a where the the scores were clustered so we can see that for kindergarten for example most of the children are in the performing in the the level one band The entering band over to the right we can see um the participation rates over the last couple years we can see that we are up in our students testing uh and at the bottom we see the number of students who earned that 4.5 and were able to exit our ES cell program oops okay okay moving on to our second assessment to report on the dlm the dynamic learning Maps this is an alternative assessment this assessment is administered for our students with most the most significant cognitive disabilities this is um identified through their IEP and with in consultation with their case manager um this uh assessment is administered in grades 3 through 8 and grades 11 for English language arts and for Math and then in science for grades 5 8 and 11 to the right we can see that over the last few years the number of students participating in this alternative assessment has significantly increased from a 34 in 2018 up to 103 in 2024 the state does mandate that no more than 1% of total number of tested students participate in the dlm so uh we did request a waiver as we have two 2.4% of our students uh taking this assessment and how did they do the advanced at Target approaching and emerging C categories you can see colorcoded down the bottom we're identifying language arts Math and Science proficiency equals at Target or Advanced the dlm is using Essential Elements to measure student proficiency and these are aligned with the New Jersey student learning standards for each grade level and each subject area and modified as necessary and then down the bottom there you can see the proficiency year to year so we are seeing some nice growth here moving into our SLA our New Jersey student learning assessment for English language arts and math these assessments were administered um for the grade level exam was administered for English language arts for students in grades 3 through nine and in math for grades 3 through 8 and then students in 7 through 9 for the um course they were in en rolled in all of our students did participate in the infrastructure trial and practice test so that they could get comfortable um accessing the online um test and all the resources that are available on online the scoring and proficiency um here are uh performance levels 1 through five and a score range is um identified for each level and in the Box you can see a performance level of one students did not meet the expectations two is partially met the expectations three is approaching the expectations four is met the expectations and five is exceeding the expectations so here is a district year-to-year comparison for all of our students in mathematics and in language arts in the red we can see the state will average aage all the districts in the state of New Jersey from the wealthiest to the poorest and come up with an average for the state um the 2024 average from the spring that just passed is not available that hasn't been released yet so just for context I put the 2023 New Jersey average passing rate in red at the top where you can see that okay so we wanted to dig a Little Deeper it's nice to see an overall passing rate but let's let's dive in so there's a lot of information on this slide but I think it's really important information down the left we can see GE General enrollment s swd students with disabilities ml multilingual Learners Ed economically disadvantaged then down the left column we can see the proficiency in the subgroups by test so you can see the tests listed and then the proficiency so the three subgroups students with disabilities multilingual Learners economically disadvantaged are listed there those students can be cross represented so in other words a student could be a multilingual learner and also economically disadvantaged the general enrollment captures those students who are not in one of those three subgroups and then on the right we see the proficiency by subgroup by school and this is mathematics in the red column we can see the new state of New Jersey average passing rate from 2023 again the 2024 rates are not available yet and to the far right we can see additional subgroups gender and ethnicity and here's a look at the same subgroups and the same um proficiency levels broken down by test for language arts and broken down by school the red column again is the average passing rate for the state of New Jersey of all the school districts in the state from 2023 not from 2024 and to the far right we can again see the uh additional subgroups of gender and ethnicity so we wanted to dig a Little Deeper it's nice to look at how many students passed the test we want but to comparing a fifth grade of this year and fifth grade of last year is certainly interesting information but it's a completely different cohort of students so we wanted to look at cohort growth so here we see the percentage of students who increased a proficiency level or maintained their meeting or exceeding expectations so how did the children in who were in third grade two years ago due last year when they were in fourth grade this is showing us that 74% of those children in that cohort either continued to pass the test with a meeting or exceeding expectations or they increased a whole proficiency level so maybe they didn't pass the test but maybe they were a two and now they at a three a child needs to earn 25 additional points to move up a whole proficiency level so this for was for mathematics and we can see from uh year to year cohort proficiency and growth by test on the left and Co cohort proficiency and growth by school so we're seeing both the averages at 66% of our children are continuing to meet or exceed expectations or who have increased a proficiency level in mathematics and here is the same snapshot for oops I didn't move the slide for English Language Arts students who increased a whole proficiency level by earning at least 25 additional points on this test or maintain their passing rate very nice growth here in the cohorts okay so last year I was here so we've been talking about proficiency district-wide proficiency students who are earning four and fives and by school by subgroup proficiency last year when I was here we discussed proficiency students who were earning a four or a five and I also called out the students who were in The Three category ategory they were approaching grade level expectations and I told you that we would focus on them and provide them with additional supports the school year so that we in the effort to maybe bump them up so that they could get on to grade level so with that work here we see um that crew of children who earned a three in 2023 and last school year we focused on them 25% of them you can see in the dark green in math now are on grade level and in the lighter green 45% of them improved their score so even if they're not on grade level yet they did improve their score and down to the bottom you could we broke it down further by grade level so grade three students who were in grade three two years ago to grade four last year we see a 34% of those students students who had a three last year now are meeting or exceeding grade level expectations and 59% of them improve their score and we have the same breakout here for language arts again two years ago we had 16% of the student testing students performing in that band the performance level three approaching expectations with the Intensive work that we provided and the support and attention 41% of those children are now meeting or exceeding expectations and 77% improved their score this year and again down in the bottom broken down by the um the grade level the cohorts so we've talked about the students who have met or exceeded expectations we've talked about the students who are approaching expectations our next move was to dive into who are the children earning ones and twos not meeting or partially meeting expectations so we can see the students in need of the most significant support are disproportionately represented in performance levels one and two our students with disabilities our multilingual Learners and our economically disadvantaged students and these three subgroups will be the focus of our work this school year and all attention will be put right here and we can see here the performance levels for mathematics and the performance levels for English language arts for for these subgroups okay our science the njsla was administered also in science in only three grades levels 5 8 and 11 uh the scoring is completely different of course why keep it consistent for our science uh njsla so to the left again we have the key we broke it down by proficiency by subgroup by test and in the right is the state of New Jersey average passing rate I just want to let you know that our secondary science supervisor Jessica D bidetti is on the state committee for this test and continues to report there is a lot of conversation about the questions the scoring the validity and so forth so that being said um we can see our our performance here by subgroups and to the right the additional subgroups of gender and ethnicity okay so all of our students are testing all of our students end up at the high school so how are we doing at the high school the NJ GPA this is the first year that it is a pathway for meeting the graduation assessment requirements um this is the third year we are giving this test the first year was a field test and this uh test is scored and um deemed differently from all the other ones of course and students are either uh determined graduation Ready or Not Yet graduation ready so for language arts we're happy to report that 92% of our 11 last year's 11th graders who are now seniors are graduation ready compared to the state average of 82% this is the current 2024 State average and we can see subgroup performance to the right in 2022 you might say holy moly look at that jump uh the state change the scoring and here we are for mathematics 80% and the state is at of 55% and our subgroup performance to the right and this was all of our 11th graders last year so we've looked at the data we've identified needs what are we going to do about it we're going to continue with our RTI model our process all of our children receive strong core instruction for for Approximately 80% of our students that's effective and successful our tier one looks like supporting our teachers it looks like professional development it looks like uh data analysis and progress monitoring and working closely with our building uh leadership teams and it includes um parental involvement in the spring I surveyed all the parents in the district to understand what topics they may be interested in and I'm planning a series of parent University workshops uh this school year so some of our students will require additional remediation support in a tier 2 model and again they may be receiving support from the basic skills program or reading a math Specialists they may be enrolled in the ESL program they may be participating in our summer uh support program they may have a pushin teacher in the classroom uh again with the assessment data analysis progress monitoring and keeping the parents involved for most students they will come back down into the tier one with that um targeted remediation for some students uh they will need further support intensive remediation they may move to a tier three at that point we are talking about an iron arrest plan we are uh looking at the flex program we are supporting our newcomers and basic beginners um and our students with interrupted formal instruction some of our students come here from around the world and some of them have not been in school for a few years so we are individualizing our uh support plan um our tutoring program and constant progress monitoring and parent communication um so again I'd like to thank you know the board Dr veski and all the administrative team and our staff who are in the classrooms supporting our students every every day thank you thank you thanks Dr [Applause] B happy to take any questions yes um very impressive I have one question going back to the proficiency by grade in the beginning I know you said they have to get to the 4.5 for it to count and they move up but I'm just curious the bridging and the reaching is that normal that the percentages of those students are so low there do children not get to that reaching level no because they exit when they when they earn uh the after between the expanding and bridging when they earn that 44 five they exit and then they're not taking okay that's oh okay so all right this is just for the this exam the access for L's is just administered to students who are in the ESL program okay to get them okay so if they've already exited the ESL program they would not be taking this test okay I guess I was thrown a little bit because there was a percentage it was a small percentage but there were some there so okay thank you for that clarification yeah uh Dr h i just upgraded you Dr pully thank you for the nice presentation but you know please stay with me I have many questions for you so for the first page and the new enrollment for 23 to 24 so apparently there's two numbers spec up number one is the economic disad disadvantage student which normally from historically about 18% to 40.3% and bilingual Learners from about 44% to 22% is this I I hope this is just one time spe but at as the administrator I want you guys develop a method to face this challenge if keeping if this number Staying High which means the new income Stu students are changing and we need to reallocate our resource to help these students this this leave to you guys for this this may be a new challenge for you brons because the township is growing up so quick we're attracting so many new student from all different place so they they are changing so this is my first comment and second one where I have too many I'm sorry so for this DM uh Tas peration so the state limited 1% where is Fric get 2.4% so what's the benefit for us to get more student to par participate this exam um I don't see that there's a benefit to the district the students qualify for this alternative assessment based on their IP and based on their the work with their child study team case manager so we I mean this well more students are eligible for this alternative assessment here in Eastown last school year yes so we put 2.4% which means we put more effort so I just want to know the benefit for this more effort okay so next Mr H I'm not sure we understand the question okay let me phrase it rephrase it the state allow 1% of p uh student to take the exam where is BR put 2.4 4% student to take the test so I want to know the benefit to increase from 1% to 2.4% per more student to take the test so what's the benefit for us to get more students to take the test well um I'm not sure we got more students to take the test they they are eligible to take the test right rate is 2.4% okay we can talk you later you know I it's very complicated question so I understand so we can talk later okay so another comment is for the dlm again so the signs so historically we only got 24 25% so this is very very low for the you know for other for the language math we got close to 60% for the science we got 25 5% so I want to know what kind of effort we need to do to help our student to achieve better score for the science that's a great question Mr Hong if you see underneath the the bars you can see in parentheses an N equal and a number and you can see that a lot less students took the science exam some students are eligible to take the dlm in certain subject and then they'll take the NJ SLA in a different subject so you can see that 97 students took the English language arts exam 103 took the math and only 32 took the science so very good answer and I got it now which means our best student choose not to take this test very good thank you so for njsa a mass so we can uh proficiency and positive growth so from Mass 7 to mass 8 we got only 14% why this is such significant difference so for other grade we got 70% and the lowest one was 56% but why for this two grades only 14% uh we had a very um small cohort of students with some needs presenting with some needs in that in that group uh we are continuing to Monitor and support those children so if we need more teacher or more resource and I believe this board is willing to support because math is very important mass is everything mass is the National Security to help this country to compete with other country on this planet [Applause] I guess too many I bet let other board members to ask I'm sorry to the public I came in late because I have a medical appointment so I'm sorry for that so can I can I answer Mr hung's first question he mentioned about reallocation of resources mentioning the uh the N of 431 students that we have enrolled that this sample was taken from representing 43 or 40.3% uh economically disadvantaged so that is a that is a small subset compared to our total population but that is based on our enrollments for 23 24 we're going to continue to monit that uh as we go for 24 25 but we continue to look at allocation of resources based on students needs and and what we have to put into the program so we support every single student yes the the purpose for my for me to ask that question is we need looking forward if this is a trend then we must deal with it if it's only one time spec well we still need help those students so when please keep your eyes on the trend how this things developed well I think that I don't want to speak for Dr bowling she can weigh in I think one of the reasons for um taking this report to a granular level as she presented tonight was to look at data in a finite amount and figure out where we need to Target our resources and so getting the the the most impact for the financial resources we have and we will continue to Advocate uh among our legislators to increase those allocations to the district because as everyone knows we are under the school funding formula and that is going to impact and drive uh the funding that we're going to get from the state in your years to come it impacted us last year it's going to impact Us in years to come thank you thank you very much I have a a more specific question I think so as as a oh God I was about to as going into my 33rd year as a classroom teacher I have this quandry of I don't like standardized testing because it's very stressful for the students and sometimes I feel that the test doesn't match um what the children have actually learned but in contrast I love datadriven instruction so I'm looking at the graph for the response to intervention and I love like looking through the tier one and the tier two this is not specifically for students with IEPs this is all students these interventions yes so I love that we are individualizing for all students that have these needs that's exactly the way we should be heading my question was if we're individualizing for students who's de veloping or who's deciding what each student needs is this a reading specialist position I'm just curious whose oversight this is um my team and I meet regularly with the building leadership teams and the principles often have their reading math Specialists their student assistant specialist um as well as you know any other the nurse as needed uh speech speech therapists as needed ldtc and they come together week and they go through students who are um at risk in the school and they review student by student and they identify the student needs and they create an action plan for that child that's fantastic thank you Dr J thank you Dr byy this has been very helpful uh my question is specific to the nsla slide with the colored bar graphs that show the covid bar grade out obviously this is not specific to us but we haven't come back up to where we were pre-o we are significantly above the state average but not back to our prior performance and it looked like we plateaued a little bit between 23 24 you I think you covered some of this but I'm just wondering if you could maybe go into some specifics about the ongoing challenges that we're having not getting back to that preco place um and some strategies that we have to get over that PP yeah that's a great question um so we are most you know there um it's important to note that in the mathematics um the two years ago Algebra 2 and geometry counted as a graduation assessment pathway and children could have earned a three four or five so that was calculated into the scores as a passing rate this year the GPA assessment is the first graduation uh assessment pathway way and Algebra 2 and geometry do not count anymore and so we were reverting back to the old passing rate of a four or a five so that skewed our numbers a couple percentage points but your bigger question is um how are we addressing the needs of our students and you know looking at the demographics and as Mr Hong said you know we're very happy to welcome students from all over the country and all over the world um who are coming to our classrooms with very different needs and we are certainly working very hard with the entire School Community to address those needs working with um the um counseling department working with student services department um making sure that we're attending to um all of our students and this year we will have a special focus on our students with disabilities our multi-lingual Learners and our economically disadvantaged students to make sure their they and their families have everything they need to support their children so their children can come to school and be available for learning absolutely thank you so in terms of if our economically disadvantaged um cohort is going up as Mr Hong was mentioning what do we think we would need then in terms of capacity to actually focus on that group if it's growing you know what's the most important resource that we would need to rechannel there I mean I don't know if there's one resource you know you know the continuing uh professional learning for our teachers so that they can uh successfully differentiate in the classroom to meet the various needs of the children um again the social emotional component supporting the families at home um we were happy to receive the high impact tutoring Grant and um we provided tutoring throughout the last school year and over a thousand hours of tutoring this summer um we anticipate being able to move into the school year and continue to provide tutoring so um I think it's multifaceted and it's really spending time with the building leadership teams and talking about each child and what that child's profile is and what are the best supports for him or her thank you Dr Mr G want me have a question so uh mostly if you see you are the last one to ask questions and everyone thinks alike most of the questions are asked so I have to add on top of M Dr Hong's question is you mentioned that 431 students were added to this 2023 2024 year right so I want to know that is a delta or that is a total number of students added that's the total number of new children who registered here in our school system last school year is there any place where we I can find out how many also left yeah I can definitely get that information for and do you have any information that which grade has the highest additions I can I can find that out for you because I want to do my study to know that which grades are coming more because this town is growing like a growing right are the new uh families were adding or some people transferring how I want to move this one and also the question about the econom economically disadvantaged so as you show that 80% compared to NJ 55% uh performance rate right which we gone from last slide this one oh yes sir yes so do you think that if you work towards this uh economic disadvantaged or the student with dis disabilities goes up and we focus more then this 80% goes more up I do think so and what is the reason from 2023 to 2024 which we just saw 5% growth what was the reason what you fixed what was fixed in math so if in math even if you math see math or yes English what happened which made us grow from 75 to 80 you know we're continuing to work with our teachers um so that they are um have all the resources and and professional learning they need so that they can differentiate in the classroom so that it's uh you know they're maximizing their their instructional time in the classroom uh working with small groups in the classroom and making sure they are closing gaps for students uh providing you know the tutoring program I think will help close gaps for students um and and just being more responsive overall to the the needs of the children in the classrooms okay so I just see in the English only 1% Improvement but math has a bigger Improvement this year yes we did also adopt a Big Ideas Math program last year in the in the secondary classrooms thank you could you tell us a little bit more you touched upon the high impact tutoring program many folks may not be aware of the importance of that program and how it helps our students um we received a grant from the um Federal government for um a significant amount of money and that money was uh earmarked specifically for high impact tutoring so it had to be a research-based program it had to be um implemented with Fidelity it had to be uh rigorous it had to be timely um there were constraints around it um and so we were able to provide that tutoring in grades K through six K through 12 throughout the district starting in I think January and we continued on into the summer and we plan to continue on into the into the fall until the funds are exhausted so what I remember at the high school there's also tutoring for the for certain folks like you said there's certain uh students that have to be certain requirements but I remember for midterms for finals was that part of that Grant um that Grant could only be used for uh language arts and math for English and math okay we had additional funds available that we were providing uh dropin support and and support support for other subject areas cuz we noticed that at the high school uh you know the students there was additional support and and it made a big difference so thank you yeah you're welcome so I'm just going to go back to um first thank you for your presentation and then thank you for just saying two of my favorite words um evidence-based and Fidelity so thanks because I love those so um back to math um we know based on this testing results from newers and throughout the country in the past few months that math scores for students that were in late elementary through Middle School years during covid are having a really hard time catching up um difference is in learning um math isn't so easy to learn through computers um you know I won't age myself but when I learned right we worked with our peers and we um did a lot of group work or your teacher would I work with somebody to figure out a solution and so obviously that didn't happen during Co so what are you hearing um from students from parents from when you have your uh meetings with other administrators regarding what we think we can do to continue increasing math scores what struggles are students having in math areas is there any other extra support I see you know as others referenced um all the different tiers for all students but are we finding it particularly hard to catch up in math and what are we hearing from our students that's a great question um so everything you said is is accurate um we are looking at cohorts and cohort growth and really drilling into the the group of students this year in seventh grade and in eth grade students um typically rece uh have math class on an a day or a b day this year we are implementing um a support class for students who are a little behind and a basic skills class for students who are further behind so those children will be having math every day in an effort to catch them up to grade level expectations um we're also working very closely with um our teachers again it all comes down to the teachers in the classroom uh to ensure that they're fully supported and able to meet those needs of the children I think are continuing with the tutoring I hope to see um less learning summer learning loss with the Thousand hours that we provided this summer so um it is a great question there's no quick answer but we're we're on it and we are dedicated to supporting the students great thank you just quickly com thank you for the report it's nice to see the progress that's being made um and good dialogue in terms of areas to improve uh I have it's related but a little bit uh perhaps off um there two other companies mentioned on the cover letter here and I was just curious who they were and what role they serve on the the lead Dynamic learning maps and waa if I'm pronouncing it correctly WEA WEA is the access for L's um on the first couple of slides that we reviewed um in the in the program the this this the exam that's given to the multilingual Learners weed is the company okay um and then the um dlm the dynamic learning uh Maps is the assessment um that we talked about after the um access scores that alternative assessment that's given to our students with the most significant cognitive disabilities thank you Mr it's now second round okay so uh for the first I want to thank you and Dr fasi for the good job uh to help our students to teach our students to prove prepare our students for their future and as for the Intensive uh remediation support for the students those really need help you know I understand we have a high impact twoing program running for all K to 12 students I I I want to can I suggest if we can mobilize our high school kid they they are really good they can have them to to our student in lower grade and then they help them to understand share their experience and improve their performance so that that's just my suggestion thank you Mr H I think I I'm sorry to jump in I think um I know at Churchill they had Stu high school students coming after school and working with um students that needed extra help and it I believe it it had went very well and they had you know quite a few students participating and I agree building on that is building on cuz I can say my son went down to hamers and there was the care club and he used to help a care Club so there is opportunity for but it always could be expanded you know and National Honor societ it's also yeah service hours and things like that for are in play here too thank you so much Dr boy you're very welcome uh before I go I just want to report that uh Melissa Caruso is our new supervisor of Alterna ative programs and she is working very closely with five of our seniors to ensure that they are successful in earning their high school diploma and Associates Degree in June five students this year yep it's great she's going to be great thank you that's wonderful okay not to put you on the spot my new friend um but for everyone here and out there um Rishi yeah Rishi is our new student rep I know the school year has not started yet but I would love you to get to say a quick hello if you want to tell us anything about the summer anything you're looking forward to at the high school this year yeah perfect I did actually create a script with my friend uh Chris who is last year's student board education representative so it was good connecting with him touching base so I have like I wrote this whole script I don't know if you guys want me to absolutely okay go ahead thank you so go to even ladies and gentlemen it is truly a pleasure to start uh my role as Board of Education representative and I hope to keep this board and this community thoroughly informed about the ends and outo high school and allow you guys to the do your work to the best of your ability um with that being said I want to talk a little about student council what we've been doing over the summer to prepare for this upcoming school year so ear earlier this month uh student council met to conduct this annual leadership Workshop provides the students uh the executive board a chance to get to know each other and plan key key events that occur at the start of the Year during our Workshop the rest of the board and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Dr bashore and um we had a pleasure of being featured on his new and trending Instagram page so that was uh um throughout the day we engag in more activities we brainstorm ideas on how to Garner membership and get as many students as possible to be student leaders for this upcoming school year and we focused on how to get school spirit up for uh for events like the spirit rally and homecoming and finally uh we went we met with our great level administrators and talked about potential new events Like a Holiday Market where students could uh create their own goods and items and then sell them and then a more schoolwide event like Battle of the classes where grade grade levels can compete against each other overall it was a very productive day and left a lot to be excited about this upcoming school year uh in addition to this Workshop um there was also a college application boot camp like Dr L you talked about before um the boot gamp was hosted by our Mason counseling department and provided students a tremendous opportunity to learn about the college application process more than 250 Rising seniors were guided through the Common App software and taught what weed to find out about applying for schools that were right for them from Talking amongst my fellow senior classmates it is clear that there's a lot of stress and anxiety but our College uh our guidance counselors are doing great a great job of providing resources and relieving La of tension for students while some students just are looking Beyond High School School some students are beginning their journey within High School our sophomore orientation was yesterday and it was great from hearing some my from some of my senior friends and uh how they LED some of the sophomores throughout the school and introduced the hallway system and where their classes are going to be for the upcoming year and um I think all our students are ready for the first day of school especially our sophomores and yes those readit words the first day of schools kind of make us sink in our seats and uh uh realize that our summer of relaxation enjoyment is is over but um with an amazing new principal uh engaging events on the way and a bright new sophomore class leaves a lot to be desired and something to look forward to so thank you you did Chris proud nice nice to say and and hopefully as you're um doing your applications now Naviance have you been that's a wonderful tool naian is a great taking advantage of that yeah the scatter plot and I know a lot of my friends have been using that the scatter plat provides I think the guidance counselor met with us and they're doing a great job of explaining like how it help students so so lucky for you you get a whole panel up here of additional parental units um that are very happy to help you through the process we'll you know look at your uh essays um give you lots of support she's laughing we have some English people up here um but yes so we'll look forward to hearing your journey and and and being there to support you along the way so much and welcome nice job great okay bringing us to the good of the cause for the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff we do have um a lot of people here this evening we are going to have a 30 minute um open session right now we do have a very lengthy closed session but um we will make sure that the public session if need be will be opened again after that so I'm going to ask the first person to come up if you can state your name and address for the record good evening Dom scani to Morgan place before I begin I would just like to point out the irony that you say you're going to work on special education scores this year yeah you fired the man who oversaw special education so I am here to talk about another controversial decision you guys made recently and that was the decision to not rehire my old football coach Andy steinfield coach Steinfeld or Stein as we call him has been with the program for more than 20 years he took over my junior year and he completely revamped the program we went from 2-9 my sophomore year to 4 and5 my junior year to 4-4 my senior year which was the first time eie had a record of 500 or better in 10 years then the year after I left we went 8-2 with a playoff spot and he was named coach of the year in 2021 on a personal note my dad suffered a massive heart attack my junior year on a G on game day and Stein was there for me and checked up on me every day until he was discharged he even dedicated the win that night to my dad now sure the past two seasons weren't the best but one football rates are are declining and two we play in the toughest division in the GMC and three we lose all of our best players to private schools like St Thomas St Joe's or Ruckers prep to name a few why did they do that I don't have the answer for that unfortunately and but that's just that's not just football that's every sport I'd also like to point out it would be one thing if this was done in the winter or the spring but you did this at the 11th hour two weeks before the season officially started which is incredibly Shady not to even mention the impact this has on the players the seniors this year who played under him for three years were probably really excited to play under him again this year one last time but they got told to the last minute their coach was not coming back and didn't realize this year was the last time they they'd have him I know how this feels because my sophomore year during the winter season coach molar said he wasn't coming back to coach and there were tears in the room I firmly believe you made yet another mistake all in the span of 5 months you've had a budget disaster cut Dr Figaroa and Mrs Canard and 50 other staff members spent 25k on a National High School principal search to hire someone who basically worked right down the street ignored your constituents a yearbook debacle ignored hate and in the schools continue to ignore your constituents and then chose not to rehire a beloved coach 2 weeks before the season starts did I miss anything I'm shocked that you treat a longtime staff member who grew up here went to school here taught here and coached here for more than 20 years like he didn't even matter but then again you guys pretended Dr Figaroa didn't exist for the past five months either so I guess I shouldn't be that shocked thank you thank you Mr scani can state your name and address for the record please Jennifer Figaroa 101 Rus Lane good evening my name is Jennifer Figaroa and I am running for the Board of Education this November along with three other excellent candidates on our slate we are here to hold the current board and administration accountable for decisions that they make that affect not only our schools but our tax dollars Dr veski during the board meeting back on May 9th you stated that everything about you is available you have to look hard enough so we took your advice and look what we were able to find we obtained the board minutes for the closed session of the board meeting from February 1st 2024 unfortunately the minutes are redacted so most of the information is blacked out in order to protect the employees that were being discussed so our research team looked even harder and guess what we found it's a contract that extends your current contract past 2027 with all the salary increases and bonuses that you were to receive my fellow candidates will speak more about your proposed contract but this is what is disturbing to me this contract was discussed at both the February 1st and February 15th board meetings at this point you were already well aware of the budget crisis this District was facing but you turned the other way and ignored the budget crisis when you push this contract through to the county superintendent's office I have the contract along along with the email from Mr Juliana that asks for this contract to be approved you said you were going to take your raise for this coming school year I guess you would say that because the intended raise was well over the $7,000 that was in your current contract the actions and intentions of this Administration and board are transparent we see right through them but it's not with the transparency that the community is asking for vote Figaroa Falco Figaroa and Braun integrity inclusion Innovation for the Board of Education in November thank you thank you Mrs Pella can state your name and address for the record please L figuroa 101 ruse Lane I want to first of all thank everyone for coming out tonight and I also want to wish everyone all our students our families our staff principles a great opening I come to you tonight I'm disgusted I have to apologize to the community and I have to apologize to the people here and the good people I worked with in this town I had no idea this was going on the salaries the increases all of our meetings about we need programs for kids we don't have the money it's not there now we know where the money is sorry I have to take a minute because this is this is emotional to me and I'll tell you why anybody remember the $6 million man I think it was a 7s program most of you probably too young I'm going to tell you a little bit about the million dooll superintendent talk to the audience yeah okay so we have a superintendent now I believe on May 9th you said you get no bonuses you actually said you a Paul you have to talk about that you have to you have to even say these words I don't I don't get a bon $7,000 you had said the previous night you would take on on the F on the U the one evening that you you met with the community you said I'll take my 7,000 bonus nobody had a problem with that well folks we're looking at at the end of this year 295,000 with a $10,000 bonus 11,000 next year 305,000 12,000 uh bonus 2627 $317,000 I'm sorry I just want to remind you to have your remarks to the board you're speaking to the board at this point if you could just I have a problem with my neck so I'm sometimes I go like that is that okay is that all right with you all right also year four $315,000 with a 13,000 bonus and year 5 2829 327 $7,000 with a $14,000 bonus added making his salary $341 the highest in the state on record now if thank you if he was going to Total out his compensation is $447,500 the million dooll superintendent I also want to remind you folks first of all for the board members here 10 seconds you had to have known about this I wonder why there wasn't as much conversation as there was tonight on this because we could have covered a lot of very important financial matters with this time thank you Dr Figaroa the only thing East Bruns about you is your tie if you could state your name and address for the record please Anna Bron nine race track it's about time that we have a team of experienced K12 Educators on the board working alongside business people to ensure the policies being made are educationally sound and necessary I'm a retired teacher having worked at hamers Sheldon Church Hill for more than three decades when the grade reorganization was announced the staff was horrified not because it was necessarily a bad idea but the timing of it so soon after lockdown meant that the kids going into fifth grade would have their educational program upended again now there's no playground at hamers sholden parents understandably want one built and yet no one thought about this before proposing the creation of of Hughes an extra 700 kids have been crammed into Church Hill have you ever been to the Churchill cafeteria during lunch periods I have I had lunch duty it was overcrowded and unpleasant before you spent $9 million on a temporary classroom Wing cafeteria media center and hallways have not been expanded did you consider that the seventh graders would also be using the same common spaces as the rest of the student body did it occur to anyone to do some research first you have the collective educational expertise of hundreds of Staff members at your disposal it wouldn't have cost a dime for you to send out a survey to the teachers to get ideas for making the grade reorganization work or you know even if it was necessary now I don't normally indulge in conspiracy theories however as soon as these plans came out I thought they're going to purposely overcrowd Churchill and make it so miserable that parents will be willing to vote for anything now I really want to be wrong because if I'm right that's disgusting a nearly half a billion dollar high school has been proposed given the current Financial climate there's no way the voters are going to pass it especially since we don't even know how much our taxes are going up my theory Plan B is coming maybe one half the cost of the original build when the taxpayers can get behind because we'll be so relieved it is isn't a half a billion we have been manipulated and backed into a corner Church Hill is a hot mess and the clock is ticking on how long the temporary classrooms can remain who's the biggest loser in all of this the kids we have business people who have little to no K12 classroom experience making major educational decisions and it shows poor educational decisions cost us more in the long run thank you thank you Dr B you could state your name and address for the record please uh Jamie F Jamie Falco L Taft class of 2001 good evening friend my SEC sorry my apologies my second grade teacher at Bal Monroe was Mrs Rothman Mrs Rothman loved the New York Mets and she loved bananas and we loved her she was the first teacher to inspire my critical thought when we were done with classwork we could quietly get a workbook and work on critical thinking assignments our tangible reward was a tootsie roll or a tiny treat but the true reward was learning how to analyze problems and sequentially and logically work through them fast forward to today I'm not trying to brag but I'm pretty good at puzzles I'm really good at medicine and I'm really really good at reading through redacted documents documents left Bearer than the Grinch left hooville but listen I can Opa request documents from many people in this state I do want to call to the board's attention um some updates to title 18a last year 2023 New Jersey revised statutes Title 18 a education section 18a 11-11 public notice required for alteration of contract terms of certain employees in short you are legally required to provide 30 days public notice prior to any superintendent or business administrator contract negot negotiations the board is required to hold a public hearing and shall not take any action on the matter until the hearing has been held the board shall provide the public with at least 10 days notice of the public public hearing I do ask if there was public notice because I did not see it I don't know when this hearing took place I have in my hand a signed contract from November 3rd 2022 but yet a new proposed contract submitted for this year with an effective date of July 1 2024 this would explain the superintendent's inability to speak to his own contract expiration date at the April budget meeting what metrics or measurements were applied to justify a new contract with a teacher salary worth of raise layoff special education teachers despite knowing our district needs have increased failed to recognize a culture crisis within our high school in a March 2024 article from tap into Dr veski was quoted saying the immediate priorities of the board remain finalizing a tentative budget for the 2425 fiscal year continuing to refine proposals for a new high school Andor extensive renovations to the existing high school facility recruiting and retaining the highest quality staff and positioning the district for the next decade while maintaining excellence in academics Athletics and the Arts terminating over 50 employees from the district is the opposite of retention of the highest staff I've spoken about the budget and I have no clue about the high school where is this accountability you speak to Excellence but I believe we can bring Integrity inclusion and Innovation thank [Music] you thank you Dr Falco hi if you could state your name and address for the record please Danielle oo Bradford Road uh name again please oo thank you uh just two questions I just wanted to know if there was a way to confirm all the board member emails I feel like I've I don't know if I have the emails correctly because I've sent out emails and no one's ever confirmed so that's number one if someone could get back to me later and two um I know that in the fall uh in the spring there was some rumors at the high school that the lunchtime was getting um shortened I don't know if that was a permanent change but just food for thought um for the kids that can't bring lunch from home those students that are in reduced or free lunch um I know that my kids are little I don't have high school kids but when they don't have the opportunity to get lunch from home they have to stand in these long lines and I've heard kids say that they don't have enough time to eat I think that you have to take that into account when you're making these decisions because they don't have enough time to eat and maybe not everyone up there has ever had a chance may not have had to redu or free lunch I have and I think that everyone needs to start thinking of those types of students when you're making those [Applause] decisions aari can you repeat your name please Arun aari Alfa Romeo uniform November first name aari t Road I'm going to take a different approach I'm here purely for appreciation I I realize as board members as a resident I realize School Board in general not just here but all across the state they're mostly on the receiving end of the flag so I'm here to appreciate all the great work school boards in general do that includes East brunwick so I want to take uh at times this could feel many times this could feel like a thankless job because you guys don't get paid for it in general so I would like to appeal to the residents of the great town and people in in this room to take a minute or take a second to applaud people in the board and the candidates running for the board and the former board members too I would just like uh to appeal to the residents of the the town that it's just not this meeting the board members put in a lot of effort a lot of time in the back room uh they spend time on budgets approvals and things like that so I want us to take a second to realize all the hard work they put in so thank you very much that is all thank you thank you if you could state your name and address for the record Jeff Winston 44 Fresh Pond Road East bronswick uh the candidates for the Board of Education spoke tonight very eloquently um not a lot of you paid attention to it but I did uh what they were discussing was a uh a proposed contract what they didn't mention on that contract was something very interesting it would have been the reopening of your contract Dr veski it would have been actually taking an existing contract setting it aside and creating a new contract and one would obviously ask the question how would the board let that happen well it's interesting because I will speak about it because I was on the board at that time and it was not a board decision to make that happen so I will speak openly that there two individuals on this board who decided to do this unilaterally before any of the board even knew anything about it it was the president and vice presidents whose idea it was and they approached Dr veski and then after the fact came back and said what was to be done since it all is out in the open for the uh good of East bronic and for the good of citizens to know the answer there was a question asked by another board member let's why aren't we even talking about negotiations which a former president of the Board of Education stated we don't negotiate for negotiations that's a shame that is a big shame when you're cutting 51 people so while you were thinking about and signing off on a contract by retaining your attorney there were 51 people trying to reorganize their lives trying to figure out what's going to happen next to theirs it's shameful Dr magestro froze her salary in light of the same circumstances years ago and that speaks to Integrity which Dr veski with all du respect you lack all of all of that being said I've been asked lately why did I quit now the public knows this is not a board of Integrity they don't include one another Lori LAX has taken upon herself the president of this board to act unilaterally on multiple occasions of redefining the definition of a board you should be ashamed every board member who wasn't here and I understand this is not on what you've done now you know now you know and do you stay silent over this is this the leadership and the uh and the expectation you would have a board president if so that is why you're being run against us here this is the Integrity that is lacking on this board support the the figuro is Falco and Braun get some Integrity back in here lastly I'll say thank you very much for your presentation Dr Boy again what is missing is there are no schedule no expectations no when of execution just we're working on it measure this man if you're going to give him a raise give him a deadline on every every single thing that he brings to this board shameful form of leadership step down resign and save my town money outsid of veski thank you thank you Mr Winston if you could state your name and address for the record please sure Jack L for Springfield Road 2018 I was honored by the East Fric Education Foundation as a partner in excellence it was an awesome night but one thing I remember most was my sister in-law she came up to me and said she's an educator in another town close to here she said the most amazing thing about tonight aside from your award is the fact that the teachers in your town are revered by the town and I was really proud when she said that and I I always think about that night and I I was thinking as school starts this year is it still true and I remember hearing about teachers who would move an hour away and they'd still keep their job here or they'd get offers for more money and they'd still keep their job here but something about East Brunswick is no longer sticky I see that teachers who didn't plan to retire as early as they did to retiring saying they want to leave the profession before while they still love it meaning something about their love for the profession was was disappearing or people now want to work closer to home this is disturbing I think we're having a big leak of talent in town and we need to pay attention to it in my work I often talk about the fact that people don't leave their jobs they leave the people around their jobs and the way they're being led something is in the air that people are picking up um I've asked the question over the last few years and I hear well it's co and people want to work closer to home or somebody even said to me that well the relationship between the teacher and the district is really the principal so it must be the principal's fault but this is happening at all 11 scho RS and we don't have 11 bad principles so something is going on that people aren't feeling fulfilled or respected or loved for what they do studies also show that once money is not an issue people really look for growth and development in their careers and growth and development comes through professional development and I know we had a budget problem last year but we also said we also heard you say that nothing was going to impact students and this year there was no professional development done over the summer especially especially after the culture crisis after the yearbook incident where everybody up there promised that we would have training and development for teachers to make sure that awareness and acceptance was taught in the classroom so what happened um I understand I understand that there are certain rules we have teachers who love to come in during the summer and set up their classroom rooms and they've been asked to come in only the last two weeks because of building work but 10 seconds but why were some told that they'd be cited for trespassing if this happened I challenge the board to go out and talk to these teachers to understand what's going on and try to get involved with them thank you thank you Mr Le you could state your name and address Mar is mar 100 fresh ponds Road um first of all I came tonight uh for one reason to to thank Miss Vicky Becker I know you're not running again the proper thing to do as a professional is to thank those for their service and and Vicky knows I wrote the pencil speech I mean that from the bottom of my heart this board has changed and I'm not going to sit there and say well I should have got you know parades going out but I'm going to talk about Mr Winston whether you agree with him or not I'm going to talk about Dr Figaroa nobody was thanked for their service and U I'm sorry I'll call you Mr run because I didn't hear your last name you know he he spoke that you know board members should be thanked for their for their volunteer workup there that being said The only person I heard talking out of line tonight president LAX was Dr veski who spoke out when Dr Figaro was speaking disrespectful president LAX you admonished Dr veski for turning to the crowd although Mr run was speaking to the crowd asking for an Applause asking for things that's speaking directly to the the crowd he was not interrupted this board has changed since the six years I came on it's disgusting there is differences you move time schedules around and it's not conspiracy theory all of a sudden tonight the public is not important we're giving you 30 minutes that's it the public should be the most important the kids should be the most important I could go on and on for 30 minutes more than 3 minutes about how security was affected there's other things that have gone on in the school that are eventually going to come out and it's a danger and it was a threat to our children thankfully nobody was heard but challenge me because I love this and I didn't speak about February 1st meeting because I was afraid to get sued about talking about close session so thank you to the team of Figaroa Figaroa Falon and Brun that brought out this stuff because I was disgusted on February 1st that I had to swallow my words for months knowing about Dr veski to be up there and say to me Mr sisar you're a longtime board member let's be transparent here yeah let's be transparent cuz that night in April when we were in hamers shold you should have told the people that there was all this money in the back waiting to happen but no no this board has changed so to the newer members I hope you continue to change you know and the new people that come on there will be change and I will support them so thank you very much for your time tonight thank you Mrs SAR if you could state your name and address for the record please excuse me uh Wilbur pan 223 miltown Road um 20 years there uh so um I wanted to talk about something uh a bit different and the only reason I talked I'm bring this up because I just noticed the items on the agenda for tonight there are three items for um uh people that help out the drama club at the high school um and I'm pretty sure not exactly knowing how the rest of the meeting that will go these items will sort of go like that in terms of the discussion here which is fine but um I I I wanted to acknowledge the outside impact that these folks have on the kids in the drama club uh because I know um I I because I've had the um wonderful opportunity to help out the uh drama club kids with set Builds on weekends for the past two years at this uh point I do woodworking as a hobby um somehow I got roped into that it's been a blast um the what the public sees in terms of the drama club Productions is not a whole lot then lawn signs go up and there's a play or spring Musical and it's awesome which is which is how it should be what they don't see are how much work the put kids put into uh these Productions um and having seen what they do I know that a typical kid participating in drama club puts 250 hours into any given production a lot of these kids do it twice so that's 500 hours now um so that's what uh well over 12 hours of a full uh uh 12 weeks of a full uh full full-time job uh so I just want to acknowledge the kids um that are going to be putting in all the work for the uh two uh Productions this year save Hamlet I have no idea what it is except it's about shakespare and it's funny and Mama Mia by some band named ABA I don't know if anyone's everever heard of that um but they should be great Productions I'm looking forward to being able to help the kids out build the sets again um it's going to be terrific um and uh and to that end I just wanted to acknowledge the uh work that the three people on the agenda are going to be doing with these kids because I see what the uh budget items are they're not getting paid nearly enough for what they do thanks thank you Dr pen okay may I correct the record you may I thought it was very interesting oh I'm sorry what closing I'm going to close the public portion now yes if sorry yes you may before we begin with the board business sorry I thought it was very interesting what the Slate of candidates presented tonight and yet you answered your own question do you have any evidence that there was a public hearing do you have a signed contract and the answer is no you don't because the contract was never executed never ever executed but you didn't present that and you want to talk about safety Mr sisar mentioned concerns about Safety and Security and one thing we did discover is Dr Figaroa did not not have a current school safety specialist certificate we don't have a record of it and it's in the system it expired in 2020 that's not true well not true about my contract you not to figure out how your yes I did there should be no cross dialog the public comment session is closed thank you he talking back to so he's talking into the audience just address my fault my fault I did yes he addressed you but it's not inviting a response oh so then I can walk out on his discussion because I think it's ridiculous 18 excuse me there is no public discussion we have a board meeting occurring public comment has closed and a response is being issued if you need to have a discussion you could have one in the hallway but please do not have a discussion so it's disruptive to the rest of the proceedings thank you I'm done okay all right then I am actually because we do have a LLY close session going to ask um for a motion to combine this evening's agenda I do want to remind the board members that have items they need to abstain when the role is is called please um State your vote and abstain on the section that pertains to you um may I have a one more uh also just a reminder that there were a few additions that the board was uh emailed that would are reflected on the updated agenda okay may I please have a motion V Mrs herck and a second second by Mrs gu is there any discussion on anything on this evening's agenda Mrs GL um I was smiling when Dr Pam mentioned the uh excuse me the choreographer and the set design because I actually sat I sat and was actually very impressed with it because the people that we bringing in um are not just coming in to design sets and build or to you know create choreography and if you've had a child who does dance you know how much it costs to get somebody to create choreography for just one child um but in reading the description it also says that they will be working with the students to prepare they're teaching and if we're looking at the cost for these people for the 40 to 60 hours they're doing I actually sat and did the math and was amazed um the value of this and I do because I work in a school and I work in a high school I see how much time and how meaningful drama is to students and for some students it is a lifeblood of their High School experience so I just wanted to say not only do I think that this is incredibly valuable to our arts and our students but I can't believe that we get this kind of value for the money it's just not that much thank you is this the good of the cause the board no not yet Mr H thank you so for the uh item under the facility uh category there are mulle change orders so Mr Jani would you please elaborate the uh how the change order works and then help us understand the the chers so and the facility certainly so on um any facilities project there uh would be potential change orders that are the result of a variety of issues um one might be um through a building code officials uh requiring additional items or uh certain things to be done done um another might be where the scope may be altered a bit uh because of unforeseen conditions that may not have been known in advance um for example if you're tearing off uh opening up a wall you don't know what's behind the wall until you open it up and there could be circumstances there um it could be um uh just as another example um where the scope of a large project and I'll use the um the new softball field hockey project as the example scope of a large project like that looks much different on paper than it does when uh it's actually being built and you're actually able to walk through it and start to see aspects that you know uh it may be a good idea to uh add some safety railing in this area because um someone might uh might be injured if we don't do that so there are various items that could come up uh that would cause change orders the other side and that would potentially increase those items could potentially increase the cost then on the other hand there could be cost savings where looking at the scope of work certain things may not need to be done and those would be reductions in the uh in the overall cost of the project okay thank you so I I forgot to turn on my mic so want ask this question I heard you okay thank you Mrs ree uh I wanted to comment on um the new student teaching agreements with TCNJ and ruers I think it's a wonderful thank you so much for that uh for those that are familiar with uh you know go when you go into teaching you have to do a student teaching uh uh sometimes it's two or three different assignments and so to have Ruckers and to have TC andj on board especially that with their teaching programs I think that's great and gives us this you know a wonderful opportunity to work with our local colleges so thank you for that and also in regards to um I think this is number five in facilities uh we're going to have eight rooftop units at both Frost and waren store for replace and uh you know how I like good air quality so uh I you know we all do and for the kids for the teachers and the you know the staff so what this will do is these are aging out but it's also you know want to make sure that the humidity level is excellent and that you know we have proper breathing for those with asthma have other issues and so forth so these are kind of the lowlevel type of not I guess they're not sexy kind of things that that happen at facilities but that they're important and for the health of the kids and for the running of the district and uh you know I just wanted to thank and that barar I have to tell you we do all know how you feel about air quality and you are the first person to teach teach me that MV was not just a short nickname for mvin so I'm proud to say that I know that because of your no I know the Mur I am sending an air filter with my kids to college I do have to tell you I got a mini one what kind of MF does it 13 13 they're good they're very good quality I'll tell you the name if you want it but um some some dorms do not have the I have to tell you oh and I got to tell you a compliment a compliment for the cafeteria food uh and I no no disrespect to TC andj lovely college but Emily said the food at the cafeteria at the high school was way better way better than the food at tcj so I love TC andj they're very kind to my daughter but yes our food was at a higher level and the choice and the quality was excellent so they're there for for quality of life issues so I'll I'll that's about it for me for now thank you Mrs thank you so again I'm going to give a shout out to community programs they're killing it right with their um Branchburg Sports Complex affordable option fun when uh school is out I also love love love the uh Grand for the Special Olympics um the New Jersey UniFi Champion schools um so I think it's great that uh we're we're working on that and I just have a question under I think it's finan IAL for the buses yes so we're purchasing uh five school buses as part of our annual replacement plan and so I know it says replacement but I just want to confirm do we are we replacing are we using them to replace old buses or is there possibility that we could use them you know as part of our regular Fleet and add too uh we won't be able to expand the fleet further last during this past uh school year we did just that we expanded the fleet by five at different buses but we are at capacity in terms of the site okay for our buses so there's there's no more room at the end so to speak okay thank you okay then I was just you like to squeak in if you don't mind abut I tend to do that right go for it um is this the part where we can offer abstentions no no this is discussion on anything on the agenda all right I got you thank you I'll remind you again no problem thank you what's that oh no I was going to yeah definitely thank you uh the uh a big project that is concluding is the um air conditioning for new corridors at multiple schools and uh it sounds to me like this is something that was over a period of time right this is taken quite a bit of energy and and resources but uh I just want to commend all the people who are involved in that certainly the people who are on site and having to deal with that but uh will certainly be an improvement and a safety measure for all of those buildings so that's that's a great thing that happen so thank you great then I'm going to ask the secretary to please call the role and remember um to abstain if you have a need to Mrs Becker yes Mr Cummings yes with one exception I'm uh an exstension for the meeting minutes from July 11th uh meeting minutes were pulled so that's perfect so they're they're not on the agenda however you do have a uh item oh yeah abstention from that thank you Mr goswami yes and you also have an exstension yes noted uh Miss guas yes exstension Financial Services item 20 noted Mrs herck yes exstension Financial Services 21 Mr Hong yes extension for item uh Financial Service item 22 noted Dr James uh yes with exstension from Financial Services items four and five as I believe they covered periods when I was not on the board uh those four and five budget revision for month of May 2024 and then U monthly certification of budgetary status this is from the old agenda they may have been pulled apologies no problem that's why we check four and five noted and uh you also have uh an exstension needed on item 23 Financial Services correct thank you yes yes thank you noted Mrs ree uh yes and exstension on financial services number 25 travel report noted and president LAX yes with an extension on Financial Services item number 24 noted okay motion's passed motion carries okay bringing us to committee reports information items and the good of the cause for the board Mrs Becker thank you um please bear with me I have a few things to say first of all I want to thank our new student ref you did a great report and we look forward to hearing everything um throughout the year you really just caught our engagement right at the outset so good for you and yes if you want advice about college there's a lot of of parents up here who can give it to you a lot um I want to thank the people particularly those who spoke who didn't walk out I really appreciate it I appreciate that that respect that you show for each other for our community and for the people up here particularly those who are aspiring to sit up here I really appreciate you not walking out in a dramatic fashion and slamming the door we just kind of jarring no pun intended um let's see where to start a couple questions Dr veski somebody brought up professional development and it's so strange because I actually got a phone call a few weeks ago that said that somebody called me up and wanted to know why the district cut professional development I said which professional development Workshop are you referring to and they said no all professional development I said no no we I said first of all by law can't it's contractual and um I I don't remember sleeping through the part where we decided to cut all professional development and I said where did you hear this and they said it was a a staff member reporting at a meeting so could you just clear up the record please um that we have professional development in our district we do we have professional development scheduled for uh actually before the the uh students uh come back um and then we're going to have a professional development day in November that's been scheduled out however the November professional development will be dedicated to uh buys training uh and we're still planning that out we had meetings with religious leaders over the summer with members of the Board of Education uh to uh discuss that uh so um we will continue to plan out through the rest of this year um and as I said in my superintendent report work um our really dedicated and talented staff are working together uh to make sure they they share peer-to-peer uh in Department to department and subject matter to subject matter uh the best practices and we will continue to support our teachers in that matter thank you um I hope you all don't mind um but uh I do have a few other comments so not trying to take up everybody's time another question Dr veski there was something referenced about teachers exciting for trespassing who are coming in to um set up their classrooms could you address that please I'm not aware of any teacher that was cited for trespassing for coming in their classrooms I was at Warren Storer yesterday uh and spoke to a number of teachers who were in their class rooms uh unpacking setting up and uh we had um very nice conversations people were excited to come back thank you yeah that was my recollection too I can remember um decades ago going in and helping my uh children's teachers set up the classrooms myself because I was involved in the PTA and uh often had my kids with me um I understand that elections get contentious um having served on the board for over 20 24 years I've been in a few elections I'm going to ask that people please Don't Be Cruel points can be made especially to those people who aspire to sit up here be careful what you wish for because the reality of being up here is very different than a lot of cruel accusations hurled at the people up here and you will find out very quickly how difficult this is how incredibly difficult this is and I do know what I'm talking about I have not been reelected for over 24 years due to luck or coincidence I earned it the old-fashioned way I put in the work and I established a a reputation for integrity and I really would appreciate if anybody has a problem with what I'm saying that you don't laugh or Snicker or make faces it's really so rude I've always been taught to respect my elders but I really find your your grimacing and laughter rather rude so maybe you would want to exit instead of laughing at what I'm saying thank you every person up here has that same integrity and they've earned it the old-fashioned way by putting in the time and working and I don't care if you're on the board for three months or 10 years but for anyone to suggest that our President and Vice President did anything behind the backs of board members is absolutely outrageous I particularly from people who were here I'm not going to play TI fortat and I'm not going to do a recitation of Outrageous Acts by former board members that's not what we're about and if you don't know that and you don't understand that please do not run for this board I was so disappointed to hear some someone who I have so much respect for suggest that we would purposely overcrowd a school to drive home a point that is a real disappointment for me I can't help but get passionate about this because I hate to see what's happening I thank you so much to the me the resident who came up and pointed the recognition for our kids in the drama program but somehow there was an implication that we don't recognize them and we've been recognizing our children in the arts for as long as I can remember and I just resent the fact that people come up here and tell us what we should be doing when we're doing it what we're not doing when we haven't done what they're saying it and yelling and screaming and disrespecting us this is not the way to run an election I have great respect for anybody who wants to do this and for those of you who are here and did not walk out who are running for the board again I thank you very much I think that's all I had to say tonight thank you thank you Mrs Becker it's a shame it has to be said although I have to thank the board um because there is a lot of camaraderie um and respect up here and I know it was said that we have new board members on here but I've noticed for people who have watched board meetings over the past few years there is a very different feel when people are able to work together um so I'm I'm appreciative of that um Mrs guas well I had a few things um not as heavy as Miss Becker um I wanted to thank uh Dr veski for taking the time to give myself and Dr James and Miss herck um tour of Bal Monroe and the high school it is important as board members to actually be inside the buildings that we're talking about and the time with the principles is even just more Priceless because they are so busy especially getting ready to open school and Dr vesy as well and we spent the better portion of the day um touring the schools and it's just we vote on facilities and we this is a very very large system these the number of schools so it is good to see them all I had not been inside Bal Monroe since my daughter was about five uh I think we played softball over there with very little people so it a lot has changed and it was really good to spend the time with the principal and see what people are proud of and where we can grow um I also wanted to thank you Dr bashor is new and he's so busy and he spent a lot of time we got to see the new softball field hockey facility it's amazing I ran home and said I got to walk on it before anybody else did it's really nice um and I encourage anyone who hasn't yet found the high school Instagram page to go find it it is worth following and then you'll know what your kids are complaining about with the as always and the Big Paw um the other thing is we've always said social media is a great way you're not the only one who complains about it dear sorry uh social media is a great way to get our kids the attention they need when they're looking at colleges and and it's free it's just out there so to have administrators that are pushing our kids forward on social media in such a positive way is just such an excellent thing to do for them for their future so we really appreciate it that's all oh and some I received an unusual question much like Miss Becker was saying you know people call and ask questions when you're on the board and somebody asked and I'm not sure why said it's been tossed around on social media that there should be an educator on the board um so just to clarify I am a public school teacher for this will be my 33rd year and I obviously started when I was two um be my 33rd year and I am in the classrooms of a high school and an elementary school all the time and I love it just to provide the clarification thank you that's great clarification and I'm very appreciative of all you do in your classroom but one thing I will say um for anyone on the board and aspiring to be on the board you do not need to be an educator you need to be a collaborative type of person that can work together well with others um there's a lot of work to be done and the best way to do that is to be able to do your own research read ask questions as you'll see a lot of board members up here will ask questions that's how we learn things um because unfortunately um the world we live in it's very easy to put misinformation out there and people will run with that and that is a shame um but if you do your own research ask your own questions you will find the answers that you need um I'm very excited again to have you I'm excited for all your um co- students um from our very little to to our seniors that are currently getting uh their applications ready and I wish um all our staff and students a very very very wonderful year and um did you I good absolutely I haven't closed it yet so you're all good all right good so first I'd also like to thank um Dr fesi and school administrators for providing the board um the opportunity to tour a few schools this summer uh it was great to see how proud principles and staff are of their school communities and an added bonus to get a sneak peek of the new softball fields field hockey Fields um we were up there when they were laying the first half of the new Turf and it was it was really exciting um it's evident that our administrators are doing such great work in making sure that the project is done um you know to make our students and our town proud and I have no qualms that our students will be proud to represent EB while playing on those fields um special education parent advisory group uh has their first meeting on Wednesday October 16th last night we had a very productive parent meeting at the library so I like to thank um Louis Louise sutana Colleen Kanto and Dr veski for attending and providing updates and a continued opportunity for shared dialogue plus Rose and Jessica for all the hard work they do as parents for that meeting and the upcoming school year so they're in the back um we appreciate also um we appreciate the library for hosting us um they continue to want to develop their programs to support inclusion so it's really great to see our library getting behind that as well um we had some really good conversations and sharing of ideas that aim towards continued inclusiveness and collaborative teamwork to set all students up for success and uh as we enter into the new school year each day is a chance to learn something new for staff students and parents for all of us so Embrace every lesson this year and best of luck to our staff and students returning to school next week thank you thank you Mr har and actually since you mentioned the PTA so um I was able to go to the PTA president's council with Dr veski their first meeting and I made the promise that you're going to see uh the board at your meetings and so we will be um taking turns up here and representing the board at each of your meetings going forward so Jamie wman is going to get me the list of the meetings and then you will see one of us and then that way we can make sure that we're fully um available to you Mrs Rees speaking of PTA favorite PTA presidents oh thank you thank you well I just wanted oh thank you uh couple couple items just an extra shout out we already gave a shout out to the uh junior East brunck varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders it's very exciting the accomplishments that they're reaching even over the summer and uh we wish them lots of good luck for the fall as as our president had mentioned in November they're going to Disney World so it's very exciting uh also I wanted to give um thanks to the uh guidance department for having the college boot camp again uh for those that have younger children that maybe have not gone through that yet it's a wonderful service for our uh our high school students where they can get started on their college applications because early decision early action comes around really soon not trying to make you nervous and uh I think he's going to do very well whatever he decides to do and has been very lucky a very lucky chair very lucky chair and um but it's a wonderful service because sometimes the applications change the rules change the essays change every year but there's just different things that happen each year and our team we thank them for all the hard work they do to get our kids ready for this next phase of their life and also I wanted to mention that our Student Life ad hoc committee has been working over the summer we're we have um the planning phase to get it started in the fall we've reached out to some folks but we're in the process of reaching out to people and I would we say probably the beginning of the of the school year uh within the next month or so I'm going to be reaching out to real life students right so they're going to also have a part in our committee because that the committee is about them right so we want to get their opinions and um maybe students that may not um have leadership roles in other parts of the of the high school this may another opportunity for them to show their talents and to speak to us about what their needs are and what their concerns are and improve their daily quality of life I mean we uh obviously the district works very hard to make sure that the students and teachers and staff have an excellent uh day but there's always room for improvement that what makes us who we are and so that's where we're looking with that and just to wish everyone like you said a very happy and healthy start to the school year it's an exciting time new beginnings and uh I hope that we can keep this a positive environment here uh positive election I think there's enough Division and derision in the world today to fill uh 30 of these rooms and I think perhaps our job here as an example to our children is to hold ourselves in a different way where we give respect to one another we can disagree but we also have to watch how we speak to one another because they're watching and I think that that's important for us to provide a good example to our kids and to one another sir thank you thank you Mr oh all three so um as uh thank you to Dr vaski and I want to ask one thing about I what I saw that there were a lot of back to school suppli has been given and people have appreciated that so not been asked but I Tred I go to many places and I talk to many organizations so one of the Lions Club of one of the Town towns I have spoken and they are uh interested to give back to school supplies so I would like to know how I can get them and they can give those uh supplies to the school whom should I we can certainly coordinate you with um with Mrs block who does that for the district does a very good job um Karen Mandel right here we'll we'll make sure that gets done uh so if you just call the office call myself okay and we can make sure that we uh we connect the two I wanted to finish this question in earlier round but suddenly it came out I thought of getting it they should be getting before 5th of September before the school opening and is this process continues whole year or it is once a time in the before the school opens we just it it continues throughout the year with students with needs uh and Mrs block will connect with mayor's charity fund uh we actually do fundraisers here in the district uh we actually raise money to supply families with Transportation needs so we actually have a fund housed in our finance Department uh so you know separate from the district separate from the district separate from the district so so Mr crell just so they know it's not a ton of money do you recall how much we have in that balance right now just under $5,000 okay okay but we do raise money uh the staff does uh through a variety of like you know uh gen events and things like that or just straight out donations uh so yes throughout the year um as long as we have a place to store everything safely then we can and we accept the monetary monetary amounts checks also right other than the supplies yeah they'll take checks to go into the uh to the fund and once again to emphasize this is not District money right no right uh I but to support students as you said and we will do it throughout the year and like like I said Mrs block is great about coordinating that and the needs of students and the uh the immediacy of getting those resources to uh not only children but the entire family sometimes times thank you and thank you to you and the entire Board of Education and all the students who are going to start their classes from 5th of September uh all the best to everyone thank you I just couple quick comments the there was a uh suggestion that came in tonight during the public session about uh board emails and communication and I myself am a a uh proponent for that I think it's a really wonderful idea and I'd like to talk to the board more about you know how to uh open up those channels more so that we can more openly communicate with the public so I appreciate that comment and look forward to further uh having conversation on that and and seeing where we can go um the other things that I wanted to mention you know speaking of emails you get as a parent in this District I think most people know you get a lot of emails uh at the start of the school year which uh is is good and fine and uh you know but it's it's a lot you you get kind of bombarded with all these emails to get all the forms up to date and uh I have to say I understand it all has to happen but the emails that have also come in from teachers who are sharing their enthusiasm and joy for the start of the school year have been really awesome so um I'm just really grateful for that and uh certainly feeling that as a parent um and and I just wanted to thank all of you know the the teachers who are who are jumping in here to a new school year and of course everybody else who's involved um and then the final thing I want to mention this morning I I dropped my uh eighth grade son off at uh the high school for a little cross country you know training warm-up session and it was really awesome it was early in the morning morning and I was surprised when I pulled up there and saw multiple different teams practicing you know out on the fields and um in the stadium outside soccer I think lacrosse was out there cross country certainly so just you know such a great spirit and a lot of lot of great teamwork that that is already you know has been at work for a couple weeks so I just wish all those those teams that are beginning and preparing to compete uh the best of luck with their new seasons as well so thanks Mr h so we had a policy committee meeting Tuesday night you know I have a a jurist doctor degree I'm practicing lawyer I'm pretty much keep up with current law but but I'm not specialized in school law so when I review those new rules new regulations it's very difficult for me even for me to understand so I have to I must go back to the law book get the newest one so that's it's very difficult to be a board member it's not an easy job if anyone you are ready to do the job your campaign or if you want come to me take my position okay I'm okay with it so but you are the model of your own children let's respect to each other I'm really stressed out I try my best I take my I took my partner says cut my pce 30% because I need spend time as board member it's very challenging it's not a fun job I'm not expecting anything but be realistic be respectful you I always told my children says Okay I want your be respectful to your teacher to your friends even to a person you don't like so when you talk you have the right to express your disagreement you have the right to express your angry but let's do it in a safer way please we're not here to earn any penny I'm not billing I'm not I didn't send any Bill to Dr fasi or present lawyer La we are here to help to help our children to help this community to make e BR better that's the sole purpose we are here so regarding the rules and regulations we have maybe thousands of those things so people ask for say keep saying say oh we send email to the board member nobody answer nobody even bother to reply please by the rules we just cannot do that we have our own family we have our own children to educate to spend time with we have our job we have our family to fit why we are here every single one here we want to help we don't want anything from you guys but please treat us safely be respectful you can run the campaign I run so many campaigns but I always be run a fa positive campaign you should prove you prove to to your competitors you can do better job I never accuse anybody here so if you know I just want to help so if anyone you can prove you can do good job it's okay to take my position really but it's anytime I'm sitting here I'm working my B off I spent so much time reading the rules to communicate with EB residents Allowed by the law I did everything by law I don't want to viate anything I'm trying my best to help and I for any candidates please you know once you own the seat here and I I'm sure you are ready but during the fight for the position please you know do a good job I wish every candidates a good luck thank you I just I have a good question I'm sorry I just while we're talking about like rules and and I know I know we're excited to jump into our closed session today um but I received a phone call very early this morning maybe I could just have some clarification um and this goes back again to to stuff that's put out there um that we were starting our meeting at 7:30 I'm sorry at 6:30 and then closing it at 7:30 um and so I had to kind of like explain that if you like our agenda is posted online um you can read through it it said it how we um if you follow it it has how we put the close session at the end and it says we appro me to be in close session today for 3 hours and so um it upsets me when information goes out that's not accurate that says that there's anywhere on this agenda and I even when I received a call I went on to the online agenda that's on East Brunswick Public Schools and I thought is there a problem like is there an issue nowhere on any agenda did it say that we were closing our meeting at 7:30 but yet people just thought that because this was put out there that that was the truth um and and I want people to come to our meetings I want people to feel that they can talk I want to hear people um again as um Mr Hong said besides this we have to do New Jersey school board training I was very lucky that when I first got on I was able to do the whole weekend um and so I met a lot of board members from other towns and we're facing the same difficulties that they are right and we're in constant you know contact and having meetings you know I know Jackson um School District had lost funding again this year um and they wore t-shirts that said New Jersey um State funding failed us right to their last board meeting um and we're all in the struggle together um we may not all agree um but we have discussions that are respectful and are fruitful and um those are the important ones and um I know there's also been concerns that we get up here and we don't always ask questions um I get this agenda like about a week in beforehand there's no way I could come up here and vote if I didn't ask my questions in advance or need clarification about things like we got this binder I have so many little things sticking out and it was the same for the budget and I actually wanted to bring my bag that has all of our budget presentations along with a binder like this and and probably papers that are more than this and the hours that we spend in clothes on the phone questions a you know just asking for clarification I I couldn't get up here and make a vote unless I had the information and we're we're here to be objective it's hard um you I'm one of the newest ones as far as election wise um and and I I feel bad for some of the people that are up here that take it that are getting it meeting after meeting for being experienced board members um they work really hard I don't have to agree with everybody on everything like there are many times we have good discussions right they're positive we want to be positive people in a in a great community that we live in and and I just like I just want to share that because I I feel that that people have been labeled Miss fairly up here especially the whole mean girl thing and I I don't really know like why or how that's become a thing again as one of the newest elected members I've not been treated that way anything that I've said or asked for or clarification um and I've known knew nobody on this like personally I knew nobody on this board until I came here I had questions about things in the past it was one of the parents who was not behind trailers at irn or War ster and they didn't go there um I did not was not in favor of seventh grade going to Churchill and I had a very long conversation with Dr weski years ago as a parent when that happened and he's been over an hour on the phone with me and that was you know I was a parent that just said you know emailed and said like I have concerns about this and I'd really like to talk um and it upsets me I'm not I'm a very like you know I'm passionate about the things that I do in my life this is something that I'm passionate about and these people have become people that I'm passionate about too and it upsets me to get up here to stand here or to see on social media how they're talked you know negatively about that's not the community I live in that's not the community I want to live in um I I know that not everybody is in agreement with everything right the budget was tough it was tough nobody up here was celebrating and passing that budget um and I just think if you have a question just call like about the agenda today when my like when somebody called me this morning I said here this like this is the information that I have just look on the agenda it's on there right right uh and again I'm sorry I'm going off but I'll just say one more thing even about the stabilization Aid that we've received you know the administration as soon as it was put out there they did the paperwork that was needed for us to secure those funds um they put in they put in the work again we don't always like I know that not everybody agrees with some things or the way it's done but they work hard um during the yearbook there were nights when I was on the phone with Mrs LAX or Dr weski and it was close to midnight and they were nowhere near stopping right like they had other people to call and other things to do and you know it bothers me I'm a very mental health person I'm a very positive person I'm a very optimistic person I look at a lot of things as glass is more than half full but I just felt like I get it but but please these people work very hard up here and I am very passionate about this as Mr Hong and other board members have said so please yes it's election season there are things you don't agree with and that's fine but instead of putting it on social media or telling somebody something call and ask make you know ask a question I Dr weski I don't think he will ever not not set up a meeting with you um and if you feel that it's still not then let us like let us know we can answer your board emails it's it's New Jersey school board and and the law right like that we can reply to those things if we all start replying then it's like we're having a a meeting and it gets funky right um and school Schoolboard training like one training that I had was do not answer on social media right like stay off of social media if you had a campaign page for social media once you know if you're elected once you're sworn in stop using that page like stop answering unless you have like yes school is closed for snow and I get it like I get that people feel like we have to communicate more but I'm trying to find out like it was really hard to come up here and be like I wanted be transparent but we can't talk about Personnel issues because those are they're Personnel issues right and those are private to people I wouldn't want them talked about if it was regarding me either um so please understand the lines are not always easy they're not black and white and we try our best um and so I've gone off on a tangent but sorry don't be sorry I promise this you don't have to promise anything I I just wanted to say because hamers shold was mentioned um that I did have the privilege of being at Hammer's uh fifth grade orientation as a parent of a sixth grader but PTA member outside selling Spirit Weare and uh we do have significant challenges with outside spaces at hamers shold and there is a very active group of parents organizing around that um with responsiveness from Folks up here um and with a lot of support from from the hamers should staff so um you know there there are people who really care um about these things here and you know I know that we are moving on to uh start school but I just wanted to try to close us on a lighter note since we do have a week of Summer left and just say that if you are not ready to let go of the summer for the good of the cause for the public uh we do have a girls volleyball car wash on September 1st so that's a nice summer activity and we also have the Interfaith council's uh picnic in the park coming up on September 2nd which is a great way to bring uh the entire Community together and that's within Heavenly farm so maybe we will enjoy a few more rays of sun thank you all for sticking with us okay well we do have a need for closed session so whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in public meeting and these subjects are within the exception to the open public meetings act and are permitted to be discussed in Clos session the Board of Education intends to to discuss matters as follows those items listed on tonight's agenda the length of closed session is estimated to be 3 hours after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action may be taken now therefore be it resolved that the East brunic Board of Education will recess into close session for only the affers said subjects and be it further resolved that the East brunic Board of Education hereby declares that its discussion of the affers said subjects will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental Interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the open public meeting act so moved second I'm going to go with Heather and Lori all those in favor I opposed extensions do cares thank you so much get home safe and good luck to all the kids and the staff