##VIDEO ID:NaNljhCkhm0## e e e e e e I call this meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the East retherford board of education has caused notice of this meeting by having the date time and place thereof provided to the record and South Bergen night newspapers to have published and posted in the vestibule of the burrow Hall and public libraries copies of agendas are available 48 hours prior to said meetings in the board of education office and are posted on the east Rutherford school website www. erboe.net please stand uh for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of the members of our Police Department fire department First Responders and our Armed Forces I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Mr Banker Miss Caruso abson Miss KY here miss Mena here seal here miss shamley here miss luro here all right fire exits are to the front right and out to the left school business administrators report Mr verace thank you Madame President begin my report with the buildings grounds and transportation report districtwide activities we are conducted routine work orders and minor minor special projects maintenance tasks include regular maintenance of hva systems lighting and plumbing to ensure optimal facility conditions repairs districtwide uh addressing various issues including broken toilets leaky faucets malfunction and wall clocks gym sealing tiles drop sealing tiles and electrical outlets as well as in combination with the District activities there's cleaning and disinfection we are conducting a deep cleaning of of classrooms offices and common areas to maintain High Hand high hygiene standards and disinfection disinfection we are using an applied hospital grade disinfectant to sanitize surfaces and reduce the risk of illness other notable tasks all gym resurfacing floors have been completed at all three schools fire safety inspections the annual replacement and inspection of fire extinguishers districtwide districtwide has been completed annual fir Hood inspection has been completed and the annual fire suppression inspection of All Buses has been completed elevator inspections have been completed at all schools uh uniform shirts have been ordered for custodial a maintenance staff uh there is a painting project that uh we have a few going on one has completed at McKenzie school in the kitchen and they are being scheduled throughout the school year uh speaking of McKenzie a quick up update on the school kitchen uh upgrades uh we did upgrade the electrical we did upgrade from fluorescent Li to LED lighting just to let the board know this was from EXs cash this uh the New Jersey uh njda EXs cash we had to utilize his cash because we had too much in reserve so I was able to speak with with the Department of Agriculture the reason why we needed to make the switch and they approved it so this was really at no cost to the district and we did install new syns uh also that was uh funded through the excess cach uh lastly the transportation department uh hire we interviewed a candidate for both full-time and part-time bus driver positions we have hired one full-time driver and one part-time driver on the agenda for tonight is to hire a second part-time driver so this way we have hire three drivers so I want to thank everyone for their support safety training all bus drivers and AIDS completed their annual safety training course there is a second safety training course that is in progress this is something new that came from the Bergie County doe informed us that there is another there's an additional training besides the one they've done in the past okay now on to physical facilities pf1 approval of District use of facilities application that is in reference to the e um the east Rutherford uh recck program requesting use of our three schools for I'm not mistaken it is for basketball soccer baseball and softball for all three schools from late November to early March pf2 approval of hazardous Roots courtesy bus and routs for 2425 school year uh pf3 the approval of the District bus stops for the 2425 school year hasn't changed from last year uh approval of bus drivers and bus aate assignments for the 2425 school year pf5 is the approval of the East Rutherford School District Maintenance manual for the 2425 school year and pf6 is the custodian manual for 2425 pf7 is the approval of the maintenance facilities calendar for September of 2024 and pf8 is the approval of the submission of waiver application for preschool classrooms uh I know Mr Jen Cas was going to uh speak about this most likely a little bit later but this needed to be submitted because as part of the the preschool expansion a application if our classrooms do not meet a certain square footage we have the ability to uh submit a waiver if we did not submit that waiver our application most likely would have been rejected so we had to submit that so this is a resolution that we are submit in the waiver for the application for the preschool uh as part of the preschool education I'm sorry expansion aid application F1 is the approval of the bills list for August 2024 F2 approval of July 2024 payroll F3 approval of the financial reports for July ju 2024 we are in Balance according to our Treasurer uh uh F4 approval of transfers for July 2024 F5 is the approval of providers for tuition extraordinary Services contract agreements for the 2425 school year and that is in reference to a student and out of District student that attends Richfield so one is for their tuition the other one is for related services and then the last one is for a tuition again for an outer District student that attends southb and Joint Shire commission okay uh F6 the approval of the purchaseing manual for the 2425 school year F7 St uh approval of the standard operating uh procedure manual for 2425 school year f8 is the approval of renewal quote with Renaissance for 2425 this is for the program I have it written in my notes it's for Freckle it has to do with if I'm not mistaken it's it's an online Pro it's a digital program and it has it encompasses Ela science and social studies at all three schools F9 is the approval of the contract for the 2425 school year for Supreme consultants for Professional Services they provide evaluations and translation services we have used this uh vendor in the past so we are renewing them again F10 uh is the approval to amend the resolution of f8 as approved at the July 25th 2024 Board of Education meeting authorizing the write off of outstanding Food Service balances as of June 30th 2024 uh when I ran the report again we didn't capture certain inactive students they were still shown as active so to be transparent with the board the difference is $633 66 so I wanted to make sure when I ran the report again I noticed that the numbers didn't match and I did see that like I said some students who are inactive were shown as active want to ask thank you f11 approval of Handle With Care training for instructor uh certification program F12 approval of proposal for Professional Services for roof replacement at F Annex Building uh just to remind the the board members this has to do with the rod Grant so the car Rino will be our architect so we just wanted to make this uh formal and memorialize it so right now we are I am waiting for the SDA to get back to me uh to move forward with the approval for from them once that's done I have instructed our architect to move forward with the bid documents once we get word we'll start moving forward uh hopefully if all goes well we'll have we'll have the roof done by the end of the year let's see I do have two addendum items one is pf9 a approval to use microwaves refrigerators to accommodate IEP students this is something that we did for the for 2324 as well as for the esy uh myself and Mr Jen Casper we noticed that it wasn't on the agenda for the 2425 school year this is something based on my experience in the past with the doe this is something that they recommend that if there are microwaves and refrigerators being used to accommodate those students with IPS we should have a memorialized and f13a this is to uh the appointment of the public employer trust agreement for the east Rutherford Vision plan for 2425 school year and if there are any questions any discussion I have two questions just real simple ones is that also 504 students is that also 504 students for that approval or M mic fall that it would all fall okay okay yeah good question and the other question was the um Professional Services for the roof replacement uh the architect is that a bid process for the architect selection no we're using the carabin because they are architect record but what it is the breakdown of the fees that they're charging us for the whole Rod Grant there'll be another one as well for when we go out to bid for the partial roof replace thanks you're welcome no this part that not done no not the whole no no no no the part that was not another part right that was not addressed one project at a time m one project at a time right that's a good question no that was I know this is before my time but I believe it's the part of the roof that was not covered by the referend correct so that's accurate I think she did yeah we right because we didn't want to we did we didn't want to keep putting a higher number to the referendum so no that's that's no no no no no no no nope at least have to be like redown five years [Music] after yes no it's a very good question it's the part of the roof that was not covered by the referend correct you're welcome I I just have the um the annex roof do we need to we don't need to relocate anyone right no right and it's still we're trying we're trying to work it out where we can do it when students are not yeah like maybe uh parent teacher conferences that the nja vention things like that or maybe weekend Friday Saturday you know something like that we're trying to do that yep but if we have to do it where students are in the building there'll be a whole plan on how to to do that where it's fens s safeguarded you know we we have change entrances of where the children enter or leave so but that's right now we're going to do it without students even for the annex right just to make sure we're access work offices everyone's kind of kept safe yes and of course in in our conversations with the ordered not the order the architect it probably take maybe not even a week it's pretty quick it's a quick someone knock on wood though please right yeah and just one last thing thank you both for the hard work getting bus drivers it's been a long and arduous process uh I appreciate you I know we we've worked uh worked together and you guys have had a lot of recommendations and they they seem to be successful so thank you both again absolutely yeah thank thank you to the board for uh giving us their support and uh hopefully it works out for the best for everyone not you got you got some right there there are no other questions that will conclude my report Madam president okay thank you Mr verace uh superintendence report Mr Jean CASRO thank you madam president so the welcome back communication has gone out to all of our teaching staff um as well as our support staff uh we also sent out parent communication from my office to all parents uh for the 2425 school year I can't believe I'm saying 2425 school year but 2425 school year uh building principal sent out their preliminary letters to all parents uh with a final letter coming out next week um with schedules we'll be closer to the 30th or one shot um for some of the parents that may be concerned on why we wait till last minute it's not that we're waiting for last minute because we don't want to send something out and then redact you know especially when parent par find out who their child's teachers and all of a sudden they have to tell their child oh well you're in a different classroom so we try you know we do things last minute with scheduling and you know right up to the wire so uh we do that um cautiously before we send out um any communication to parents as Mr barachi did speak uh just just recently on the preschool expansion assistant uh we are just waiting to get that letter um I know um there was a question regarding the waiver as Mr Veri said we did it was um presented with Dr King Dobson back in July um slide seven that said that we had to fill out a waiver if it was under a certain square footage um and if we didn't put that waiver in then of course they would have just junked our our application we would have lost so we we made sure that we had that in just now just so the board knows too and I'm not sure if all the board members know um prior to having the referendum pass um if we have to if we do have classrooms that did not have a bathroom which is required in our preschool kindergarten um what happens is we have to um reach out to the county office and the county office we have to fill out a waiver for alternate use um we didn't have to do that for this specific thing but if we had to we have to get um County approval for that as well so when you hear waiver it could be for that as well um just to keep that in mind so if you have a question on that just so you know that's something that um would come about as well so as soon as I find out believe me I will be calling you over the weekend if we got that money coming in which would be wonderful and again it's not a grant it's assistance so we get that as long as we have the program um I know that there was some communication some parents had some concerns about the tuition that they're paying for preschool and that would all be refunded um if when we do indeed get that money so we did put another pres uh uh communication out which is as an alert on our website so if parents had some that helped parents understand a little bit that listen we're going to try to give that money back as soon as we get it so we're just keeping our fingers crossed it looks pretty good uh we're just waiting um for that number um next thing uh I just want to share this with the board uh the the state department requires all school districts to report out on weda access for elll um it's not going to be specifics on this so I'm just going to ask the board to hold off because remember the end of September beginning of October I present all of the data so that's part of the data presentation but I do want to provide the board um with some information so I'm going to do that now a second so you can see that uh let me just go in here s can you see that publicly on the screen on the just want to make sure oh we'll see it okay I just want to make sure uh I have to stop sharing and put back on again is that what I got to do yes I I didn't stop sharing my agenda so I just wanted to make sure okay stop share okay then go back in and share just just let me know if that comes up I just want to make sure everybody at home sees it yeah there yeah okay great all right so just a couple of things so the really the purpose of the results of the weed excels for the 23 24 school year and we have to local boards have to be presented with this mandatory report um as we by September 15th and because our board meeting is after September 15th we're putting it now just as a preliminary so you can see some of the results and what we do is we disaggregate all of the data and we look at the different subgroups and just see how they performed um there'll be a pie chart which will'll see shortly of the students that are going to exit the program um but majority of them stay within the program okay until we find that they hit a certain proficient proficiency level and then we wean them off of the program or we them out of the program so um what we did here is we broke it down by grade level just to see what the access scores are so grade four grade five say all the way from kindergarten all the way through eth so these are the scores of where they are the average score so some students in kindergarten were below three close to three or somewhere above three so again this is just the average and this is just a preliminary do not detail so if you have any questions between now and September and you're thinking about them just jot them down and then please just ask me any questions that you have on um Dr kson and I present it at the September and um October board meeting we also broke it down with all of the languages and their average scores so that's again many many languages that we have that we're with that we have some of children um that are here in East Rutherford and some of the data that's presented here you can see the average is at 3.5 3.4 throughout um different language groups this breaks it down with the average score in a pie chart because some people don't like to see this they like to see the visual better so you can get an idea of just where we are this is the the slide I was telling you about so right now will excess ESL program which is 6.8% of our total population which is small and this is this is not uh abnormal this is the norm that you're going to see across school districts I I have a lot of teachers on the board here so I'm sure when you see your own districts you'll see this is pretty pretty familiar uh and we'll remain in ESL program 93.2 until they exit the program okay so what we're looking we're looking at intervention so this is where the the board really needs to look at um for what administration is doing with our elll population of students so we do student level analysis as well as our subgroup analysis and what we're looking at is listening speaking reading and writing and we're trying to identify individual students and their area that they struggle the most in so that's where we hone in on those three areas the subgroup analysis is we look at the different grade levels and the language groups that are in there and we look at common challenges that they have within those subgroups okay so just keep that in mind another question that would be on the board's mind um that I try to break down again this is very it's not in detail but I'm trying to give you a little bit of some information on this is the detailed targeted intervention so we look at differentiation and instruction right we look at small group and then we look at peer tutoring those are the three caveats right we look at so look at differentiation of instruction we're looking at like giving us a little bit more specific targeted level skills that we're looking at and we're looking at like adding more visual aids we're looking at more complex text we're looking at trying to increase our low proficiency level and trying to increase it slow we're not going to go from zero to 100 but we're looking at small grow grow and that's what the state looks at small group instruction and this is where we hone in on focusing on targeted skills that's what we look at uh in listening reading and writing and then peer tutoring because we found research has shown that peer tutoring pairing our students with higher proficient students with lower proficient students to work together um really Leaps and Bounds that our students do they feel more comfortable among their peers in this area so that's what I have right now I will be perfecting this a little bit more and giving you more details in September if not October because once we get our final report we have 60 days to present that to the public so hopefully we'll be getting at the end of this month like next week and then we'll be able to present that either at the September board meeting or if I have to the work session of October if I have to frontload it a little bit instead of doing it at the October board me so that's that let me just go out of here let me reshare here we go okay all right um under enrollment to date and this is always changing So currently right now we have 354 at McKenzie 27 237 at B School Lincoln School 156 a total of 774 Miss Mana I know you asked last board meeting just is that number getting closer to the it it's it's right where it's should be it's pretty common from year to year but just so you know at McKenzie school itself we dropped 22 students but we don't get alarmed with that because next month we'll be up 24 so it's just because we're transient District we this is not new news for East Rutherford at least since I've been superintendent um it's pretty fluctuating foul School were up three just to give you some specifics uh Lincoln School down to so just just to give you some numbers food for thought there um uh fire drills for the month of August we didn't have anything because we had no you know School uh students in in in session there we did have one Hib but this was an internal investigation which we'll discuss in executive session um this is something that we'll talk with attorney review on this but this is not any specific students that will be getting a letter um for the month of August um preschool we discussed Hib R discuss okay um in the area of fa Lincoln and McKenzie School uh we are currently completing all of our like I said schedules for our students that'll all be going out by the 30th of August if not sooner which is trying that's the date so prep parents at home August 30th that's the date but we're trying to we can try to get it earlier we will um it's important that parents check the websites uh for their parent uh handbooks as well as well as student handbooks they're there um uh they're all they will be there and will be reviewed with all students at the very beginning of each school year we go through the tress code we go through behavioral code of conduct we go through all of those things so that the students are well aware of what the expectations are um it's like a session where our building principles work with the teacher the students and the students students are reinforced with by the teachers teachers reinforc student conduct um and then the students have a free reign to talk about some things that they would like to see you know if there's a change or if there's something that they would like to see in the area of discipline right so they it's it's it's something that we pride ourself here um in East Rutherford I'm not going to take the wind out of Miss manace I technology she'll touch Bas on technology uh buildings and grounds Mr baroi went over that in special education total number of students 130 in District 116 out of District Six down two students a power professional placement was done on August 13th where we placed our power Professionals in our district uh special education classrooms and MD classrooms case management and related service um rosters are being taken Tak care of with our case managers um that was finalized on August 12th Handle With Care training uh our refresher one day training will take place and scheduled for September 4th that's an annual thing uh train the trainer recertification will take place on November 4th 2024 um IEPs and amend um amended and initial IEPs are were all done during the month of July and August those are our ual IEP reviews in the area of curriculum um assist our assistant superintendent of curriculum and student services conducted a gifted and talented meeting on July 30th and appointed out we appointed our new g&t teacher the outgoing g&t teacher um with the building principles they that we've met we've discussed topics on criteria instructional models scheduling professional development um we have met I actually met also with our coaches um along with Dr King Dobson and our building principles and we discussed um the 20 23 24 school year third grade ELA scores as well as our math scores we're looking at phonic first to launch the new pieces of that for 2024 uh we also met with our Ruckers science coaches um as well to discuss topics as instructional framework number of teachers needing support with PD um because remember we sent out the survey to all the teachers about what they would like to see in their professional development um as we look at math language arts literacy um World Language uh science science coaches so we look at all of those things um did I miss anything else phic first we said um that I believe is all I have uh for that part of the report looking at curriculum so C1 uh we're going to be discussing uh the board goals 2425 um Madame President and I had the discussion uh regarding the board goals and some questions that were brought up between the two of us regarding SBA School boards Association and some input um Mrs laruso would like feedback from all of the board members this evening in executive session to tweak not tweak add take away um so that's something that we're going to table C1 so you're not to vote on that today until after executive session um the uh C2 which is the school mission statement and uh that stayed the same uh but our district goals you'll be approving uh this evening um a lot of the goals that we look at is some of the feedback that the board had given me regarding my own goals right and and looking at our test scores looking at you know a comprehensive overview of our curriculum so I just want to let the board know that your words mean a lot to us as an administrative team and we look at that as as we build goals um for the following year so it's very comprehensive so thank you board members for assisting me with that C3 and C4 is our annual skip in diac um just some changes some teachers had left um or no longer with us whether they retired or moved on to different school districts so some of the names have changed in there um but they're representative of our our district building U our affirmative action team uh that's something that you'll be proving nrce I like to publicly thank um Mrs Karen delinsky who's been instrumental with me to make sure that our CP is up to par and meets all the criteria that's set forth by the county um Department of Education our behavioral threat assessment team we look through the checklist there so that that's approved that's something that you're approving as well passed by the county our professional development assist um statement of assurance and our mentoring that's something that's done annually so there was no new oh one of the board members had reached out there was any changes I don't remember who it was but um there was no new changes we just changed the dates on those things so those are pretty much very similar curriculum meetings um which was C8 there was a typo on there it was a summer 2024 so Madam president thank you for bringing that to my attention um those we looked at so it is you'll be approving the 20 2425 school year curriculum writing 2425 school year and curricula 2425 school year so I just want to take a moment of the board's time just to explain what had transpired there so these are meetings that take place throughout the school year so in between Board of Education meetings as superintendent I do have um authority to move through and approve those things in between meetings um some of just so you know too with monies and I know Mr Banker you might have that question about approving any of the monies that were paying for curriculum writing nothing was paid out and anything would be paid out after tonight so just so you know we didn't approve anything in between meetings like that until you approving that so I just want to make sure that's clear um and I verified that with Dr kopson she said absolutely so that was good to go um the revised curricula so let me just tell you transpired with that I think it might have been miss Mana I I can't I think it was you too Madam president about the curricula so what's happening with that is we had to fine-tune a lot of the curriculum some of the things that were changed in there were some of the standard the the titles of the standard yeah they all Chang this year so no meat potatoes were changed but more of just some of the names the co the coding of it um some of the things that were added to were more resources um for some of the teachers to use some of more of the resources there some assessments we always look into all of our formative and summative assessments are ongoing so teachers have the the ability to change and alter as we go through um so some of those things uh we looked at um my apologies not for not getting that up quicker um I had a health scare so that was some of the things that would didn't make that come so quickly um as well as uh Dr King Dobson was on vacation so we were trying just to get that off quicker to you um I could assure you that anything that you're approving tonight uh would pass the scrutiny of the county they're very worked with us on that um but if you feel uncomfortable about you know voting on anything please abstain feel free to abstain on that but I I I I could assure you I can bet my bottom dollar that there's nothing in there that's hidden or thrown your way that would try to you know blind you know the the board uh um on any of those things that you may have before I go to personnel there any questions on curriculum I don't think I have anything in uh no nothing in addendum items any questions at all no just I I mean um just for confirmation right the C8 C9 the monies there are money that year-over year right it's the same consistent we pay I I I know the answer but I just want to make sure that we're right we're approving it and they don't get paid until afterwards it's that we have a standard that we constantly you know and that a money that money that was approved by previous boards a couple years ago has been consistent we haven't increased that that money three years three years but we have but you know had these meetings year over year y right we we we you know we have curriculum writing year over year correct it's in their contract and correct and and just so you know I like I so so um Miss uh shemle Maria Caruso and Jillian her chairs of you're the chair of course curriculum and so I didn't hear any major things like in that area but feel free if there's any questions always reach out to me call me I know it was crazy with my health and everything but but other than that you always call me and I'll answer any questions that you have regarding that but to your answer yes nothing has changed same number mine is not really a question it's just and we don't need it for right now but moving forward is it possible to list like next to the staff member the curriculum that they are being paid to work on it's just like a lot of teachers names on here but it doesn't so you're request this one getting $500 or they're getting 4,000 just kind of got it so staff with um rul um revised labeled yeah not a problem anyone else okay Personnel I do have under Personnel I make sure I have nothing in addendum just want to make sure I think I do too yes I do okay so underneath um Personnel let me just go to Personnel real quick so that we can see that at home too okay so substitute Services those are the sub list that we approve every single month um Personnel oops Personnel actions okay so these are the es es so these are the appointments that you're that we're going to be approving tonight so I just want to because it had come up Madam thank you um so some of the questions that had come up and I just I just want to let you know that I had a conversation with Dr King Dobson about in the future to change this because um what happened was in the past I don't remember what you board members had question is like oh my goodness there's so many esy substitutes on there are we paying them all so when I had asked Dr King doson to do that she took some of them off and then realizing that we needed more subs so that's why we put them on not necessarily are we paying them and using them so but in this situation we were short and we needed them so that's the reason why but the the the school of thought is right is to always do it not after the fact but before the fact but this happened to be a very rare situation but I did talk to Miss kopson I I instructed her and directed her to make sure that as of June I don't care how many Subs you put on they put them all on and if we don't use them we don't use them if we use them we use them so that in the future we don't have to the board doesn't have to be because I already told the administrative team the board holds me accountable for things between board me so I told them about it shared that with them they understand it was very clear conversation I had with Dr King Dobson on that um part-time AIDS these are new part-time AIDS um that we put on there um some are highly qualified some are not when we talk about highly qualified that means that they hold a teacher certificate you know so that's just so you could differentiate between the two these are the part-time bus driver part-time bookkeeper we finally found someone so thank you um Alex you know for the hard work you and your and your and your team uh in the business office did it was not easy to find um but we found someone hopefully she will stay and and and she will do great great work that all of the um staff members there in your office to so thank you on that um uh appointment of bookkeeper so um Alex can you just talk a little bit about p12 um just regarding what we did with that stip in part of it just so that the board clearly understands of course Mr J CASRO so in the absence of someone in that position When Miss alfar moved over to uh payroll and health benefits the her old position was vacated So within the budget we we went ahead and we said we were going to do payroll health benefits full-time and accounts payable bookkeeping part-time it's been a long process trying to find somebody with any experience and the person that we have there uh comes to us with wealth of experience but in the meantime Sylvia Miss Alfaro was doing both jobs so it's it's two separate jobs in of itself I know that last year what before I came in before I came on board she was receiving a stipend uh I remember we spoke about this in executive session and for the most part the board members were in were in agreement with giving her a stien at that certain uh amount so I would not have advocated for this if this was just an additional duty but because it is a completely separate job that is established in the business office that's why uh that request was made and I do thank the board supporting me yes please thank you so much um and then we have the lunch a there okay going down to I just want to go down to dendam items because there's personnel there too let me get down there so you can see that we all keeping them all chunked together okay so um we have parttime Aid again we just we're trying to we still we still have one more out there that we're looking to hire so anybody's looking knows anybody who's willing to work parttime and loves children and we can really use their assistance in a part-time uh par would be wonderful um we do have part-time certified Aid that we're hiring replacement um elementary teacher there that's for a leave replacement and also P2 a.3 and P2 a.4 those are leave Replacements um that are there um we just so you know if you look at the end date one says April 4th 2025 and the other one says December 20th 2024 just keep in mind just an open mind the board members that that could change because maybe step Member may not come back there could be issues or concerns they may extend um but that's what we're looking to do that's what was in writing to my office about the return date um that that giving us um any questions on Personnel we go back up to Personnel um and if Mrs Caruso is listening in she can't be here I have no problem calling Miss Caruso when she returns because she and I always have conversations about Personnel so she's a chair so Mrs Caruso if you're listening I'll be following up with you she's definitely not she's probably on vacation enjoying the [Laughter] sun um okay so that's that let me just go back to my report uh here I am there we go okay and then um I believe that's it I don't think I have anything else any questions at all we're changing it to any discussion as per Mr coin's advice yeah discussion not questions any is that because some of us don't ask questions and that concludes my report P pres yeah any discussions well for open it to discussion I my one comment about the weda stuff and the weda is just I I believe they use means and I actually talk to Miss K uh Dr kops about it it's really annoying to use means when you do averages because like especially with Ela um I me uh you know English or a second language um there's outliers that skew data and it doesn't give us real information agreed I I know the state I believe the state requires it right right right right right state but for for my use it's always better to work with probably a median right because then you can see what the actual average kid is right because if you have three kids you know one kid that has a one and three kids that have a SI well it's gonna weigh everything heavily down that's accurate anyway just really bothers me all appreciate that stupid yeah it offers no like offers actually no information you're providing data that offers nothing where your scores could actually be better than they perceive to be almost always right because in in English as a second language in an es you know in a um elll or environment right you're going you can imagine that a kid that has just come doesn't know the language you can always skew very highly down and we see that too even with chronic absenteeism you have maybe like one or two students in a subgroup and they like oh my goodness the number so low but we have in another subgroup we have so many children yeah yeah no and it's when you're working with small numbers doesn't make it's accurate accurate statement anyone else uh thank you Mr Gan caspro um is it okay with everybody if I only do the one public comment on yes anything yes you need five more minutes okay so at this time I will open to public comments on any agenda or non-agenda items state your name address for the record address the board president each each person wishing to speak will have five minutes will hope my five minutes doesn't start yet um hi Kevin lion uh 77 Clinton Place East Rutherford New Jersey I'm here tonight representing as president of our East Rutherford PTA um two agenda items uh to add to your agenda due to my procrastination I did not get these into uh Mrs Bron uh before she put together the agenda so I have uh for PF I'm sorry what is it pf1 approval of District youth facilities I have two applications one is for September 3rd use of the MacKenzie School gym so we can host our annual ice cream social of meet and greet for parents and teachers and staff as well as the PTA uh there will be an ice cream truck on site as well but of course that will be outside not in the facility itself um so I have that with me I also emailed these to Mrs Bron earlier today and then the other one is our application for the use of the Lincoln School gym we have 13 scheduled PTA meetings open to the public this year uh 10 for each month and then three additional ones required by our bylaws as general uh membership meetings so I have those dates as well here the first being September 10th which is why I wanted to get it here tonight before the uh board meeting so if those could be considered as part of your agenda as well and then our PTA has a question sorry on S1 the the approval of enrollment I know you give us the enrollment by by um school can we get enrollment by a number of families in addition to the students is that public information we don't necessarily need to know the family names but how many families enroll their students in our school if we have that data yeah so multiple children is going to be less yeah 700 700 students but you know three are in another probably just for numbers yeah because as as we do things for the families and we want to make enough yeah copies to send to the families or enough items per family that would be help how many households maybe hous households not yeah not family households yeah thank you for that that's a good correction that should be a genetesis report very easy yeah yep that's what I was thinking I was thinking I would just do I would make uh do you have the list of the board dates or the sorry the PTA meeting dates I do yeah and they're also on our new website just because when we I I mean you want to do PF sear for these are the PTA General meetings right PTA what we're calling board meetings and general membership meetings yes uh Madam president and and Mr my God calini just real quick just with the caveat if you can when you approve it if you can just put down that after review of our physical facilities because we may have dates with everything sure we don't want to overlap because we may have yes so if we can just like we'll look at them we'll look at them just to approve September since we have the September yes yes I would do that correct yes and then maybe at the September board maybe we can do the rest just because I don't want to we may have approved somebody else and then correct and then Mr lion what I will do my office or Mr ver office will be in touch with you and saying all your dates are approved and will be approved at the September board Meek if that's fair yeah that's fair we did try to I'm sorry we did try to maintain the same pattern as we've used in the past that's excellent typically the first Wednesday of the month except where that first Wednesday was a holiday the 1 of January for example is a Wednesday if you could send that to us Mr Alliance because I know that um East put in for in for dates for for various Sports so we'll do we'll do our best yep and I work very closely with Barry on the soccer league as well so fantastic very used to negotiating and you uh seven uh well we this meetings start at 7 we we're asking for the facility from 6:30 to 8:30 and the location Mr line do you need do you need the gym or we we typically use the Lincoln School gym okay um primarily because we do need some sort of ability to project on a screen um if if we have to for some reason if there is a conflict yeah I have no problem with approving say F school media center where there's a screen so we can we can do an alternate we'll work with you I'm not PTA is like our best friend so no not a problem we will work with you we've used the PTA cafeteria multi or the do the 10th for now just to make sure I just want to make sure I'm sorry well I didn't hear the question we picked Tuesday the 10th because the 11th is September 11th correct we want to stay away from particular day so we didn't want to right post a meeting that day yeah that would be great Missy thank you those are going to be pf1 and pf1 right pf1 good thank you and then Mr G I will have a variety of flyers for you to sign a message from the PTA president our East Weatherford uh soci our McKenzie ice cream social uh requests for parents to help us out in the classrooms um our East wetherford spirit wear back to school sale uh spiritwear is East Rutherford General it's not school specific so these this is for anybody who wants East Rutherford wear our board I love it love it love it love it love it yeah me too the PTI does a givebacks program it's a program where parents can sign up and then like their regular purchases at any store at multiple stores a little percentage goes back to the PTA we'll send a flyer home for that um and then of course we want our members so we have a membership flyer that we've made a nice color this year uh saying what our PTA does and all the events that we've hosted in the past and how we support the schools and actually this is just another copy of the social of the uh ice cream social so I'll have those for you as well um finally I just wanted to mention a few of the programs that PTA is doing in the next month uh so for September in addition to the ice cream social on the 3 we're also hosting a teacher uh it's the teacher's first day back to school we're hosting breakfast for them we'll have um at least bagels and coffee I'm not sure what else we're still arranging that there is the ice cream social that evening on the 3 first day of school on the 5th we'll be supporting our schools by posting up a welcome back signage at all three schools as well as uh being a presence in the morning to help with the movement of the students to make sure they get to the right places in the right doors especially at McKenzie school for the younger ones um we have our board meeting as mentioned on the 10th of September will be available for both the F and Mackenzie back back to school nights on the 18th and 25th we'll set up a little booth probably in the lobbies of both schools uh so parents can find out more information about the PTA and maybe even join or hopefully join and we are hosting the McKenzie book fair uh that will be September 23rd to 26th I've spoken with Mr Barrow he's agreed to allow us to use the gym uh stage like we normally do so we'll set up there outside of school hours and then we'll have some of our members there to help the students with sales during the uh school day uh because it happens to be the same week as the McKenzie back to school night uh parents who come to back to school night will also have an opportunity to shop at the uh book fair that evening and that is my presentation thank you any discussion have those documents I know you're gonna email them to me can I have the hard copies of it I'll put those on Karen's disc tomorrow Mr Lions I do have a question um is it it possible to get a distribution to the board um most the most of parents but some of us aren't if you have a fundraiser or something then um yeah if we yes we are we are um focusing a lot on our electronic distributions this year so we can do email distributions we have obviously our website we're revising it through the um PTA approved uh design that they have so we're putting out a new website uh separate from the Boe website that'll be linked from there we also have our Facebook page Instagram I think we're on X but I'm not sure I have to check that email would be perfect though if and then YouTube as well and we're going to put together some welcome back Flyers as well as like get to know the board not Flyers uh videos get to know the board videos so people can get to know who we are as well so y Mr L if you can when you send it to my office whether it's to Louise or myself what we'll do is we'll turn around and we'll send it to the board members y we can do that we'll do that I assume that's all online the contact number or the contact email yes you got it we can do that thank you you're welcome all right anything thank you nope thank you all right at this time I will close to the hearing of the citizens okay um so the question was how much is PTA the discussion was well it was a question in the discussion the question was how much is the how much is the PTA membership this year it is still $10 for for parents and community members uh teachers get a discount theirs is $6 um some of that money has to go back off also to the New Jersey PTA and to the National PTA because as an East Rutherford PTA member you become a member of both the New Jersey and National PTA thank you okay correspondence uh to the members of the board we have none but at this time I am going to address previous correspondences uh that were previously sent um so I do have a statement on behalf of the Board of Education in uh conjunction with Mr Jean CASRO uh the Board of Education wish wishes to address the recent review and discussion of the district's Title One in basic skills program following a thorough review by the superintendent of schools in conjunction with the Board of Education we want to assure the public that no federal funding was misallocated during this review it was determined that there was a brief interruption in services of basic skills while the district actively searched for a replacement teacher during this period the district implemented alternative measures to continue providing essential Services these measures included increased small group instruction within classrooms utilizing the district's academic Intervention Program and offering additional Afterschool programs to ensure students received the necessary re uh Support also moving forward the district has put safeguards in place to ensure that parents are promptly notified if similar circumstances arise in the future our commitment remains to provide unin to provide uninterrupted and high quality Educational Services to all students we appreciate the community's understanding and continued support as we strive to improve and maintain the Excellence of our education program Madam president can you for the record just maybe talk about some of the safeguards that were put in place I like to be very specific and transparent with the public regarding that it's just not a bunch of words it's there's there's meaning behind the words and that when the public says something to us especially to me a superintendent that we will address it accordingly so thank you if you can do that sure okay so in conversations with Mr Gian CASRO um some safeguards that will be um put in place um one all administrators are to ensure that a standard communication is sent out to parents or Guardians when there is an anticipated Gap in Services uh the communication should come from the building principal two the assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and student services will work in tandm with building principles to formulate standard communication which will receive receive final approval by the superintendent of schools prior to sending out to the parents and Guardians uh three if there is any extensive gap which we did not anticipate parents and Guardians will be sent periodic updates regarding our ability or inability to secure a staff member for the position okay thank you madam president you're welcome all right so adoption of Prior board meeting minutes it's my understanding that we have to table June 20th again yes okay so at this time we will be approving the July 25th 2024 public session meeting meeting minutes and July 25 2024 public executive session meeting minutes so moved can roll call Mr Banker yes M colie yes Miss MAA yes seini oh I'm gonna recuse myself thank you Miss shamley yes and Miss laruso yes oh shoot technical difficulties I just logged out of board dogs you want mine no I'm good you want this no I'm good serious guys sorry hit the wrong button okay uh um superintendent resolutions can't see that far I can see that you my okay upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the the following motion S1 approval of enrollment report so moved roll call Mr Banker yes Miss quie yes Miss Mana yes Mr sealin yes Miss shamley yes Miss laruso yes all right uh curriculum committee Miss shamley Miss shmy just real quick before you move it we're tabling C1 right but and also C8 you just have to remove the word summer 2024 there was a typo there C8 it removed yeah okay perfect thank you I'm sorry about that no it's okay you have all right I'll I I have a discussion after upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions C2 through C10 C2 approval of the East Rutherford school district mission statement and District goals for the 2024 2025 school year C3 approval of school Improvement panel committee skip for the 2024 2025 school year C4 approval of the district evaluation advisory committee which is DC uh for the 2024 2025 school year C5 approval of the affirmative action team to conduct a needs assessment and develop a comprehensive Equity plan C C6 approval of the school based behavioral threat assessment and management team for the 2024 2025 school year C7 approval of the East Rutherford professional development plan statement of ass of assurance and East Rutherford school mentoring plan statement of in of assurance for the 2024 2025 school year C8 approval of the curriculum monthly planning meetings for the 20124 2025 school year C9 approval of the curriculum writing for uh from July 1 2024 through August 31st 2024 and the 2024 and 20 through 202 25 school year and C10 approval of the revised curricula for the 2024 and 2025 school year as before you I'll second any discussion um I have one question I am on the D committee do I recuse or abstain from that or do I have to this District district no I'm on I'm on the committee my name's on there because you have to have a board member Jan you want to do it you're curriculum right yeah I mean I'll do it I don't mind I'm just saying no do I have to abstain from voting because my name's on it I just recused yeah that was the question I have no problem being it was not a discussion of being on it it was a discussion of do I yes say yes or recuse to it yeah we yep okay yeah sorry I'm in every other committee anywhere else it don't matter it's another one papers are like this all right any other discussion hey seeing none roll call Mr Banker yes Miss colie yes Miss Mena yes Mr calini yes Miss Shenley yes to all but I recuse from C4 you and Miss laruso yes pass thank you miss shemy all right Personnel committee Mr segalini upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the following motions P1 through P6 P1 approval of the Kelly education substitute list P2 Personnel actions P3 approval of affirmative action team for the 2024 2025 school year P4 approval of the facility the The Faculty manual for the 2024 2025 school year P5 approval of travel expenditures P6 approval of the student handbook for fa Middle School Lincoln School and McKenzie school for the 2024 2025 school year as before you second any discussion just like a general why is it f middle school but then McKenzie and Lincoln right it's I always find that weird McKenzie we say F Middle School is is a formal name of f f Middle School it was yeah was intermediate now intermediate intermediate is Lincoln believe it or not oh so we we just make it Lincoln School we were way back when we did the referend when we did the referendum we were thinking about middle school Intermediate we took the intermediate out that's really Lincoln and F school is a true middle school now because it's six seven eight that was the premise behind it yeah just F School Lincoln School McKenzie school any other discussion thank you all right roll call Mr Banker yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana yes sealine yes shamley yes Miss liso yes thank you madam president thank you Mr calini physical facilities committee Mr calini thank you Madame President upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions pf1 through pf8 pf1 approval of District use of facilities application pf2 approval of hazardous routes courtesy bus routes for the 2024 2025 school year ef3 approval of District bus stops for the 2024 2025 school year pf4 approval of District bus driver and bus Aid assignments for the 2024 2025 school year pf5 approval of the East reliford School District Maintenance manual for the 2024 2025 school year pf6 approval of the East reliford School District custodian manual for the 2024 2525 school year pf7 approval of the monthly facilities calendar for September 2024 pf8 approval of the submission of waiver application for preschool classrooms as before you second need discussion okay roll call Mr B yes Miss colie yes to all but I'm going to recuse myself from PF yes to everything except pf1 which you're recusing correct thank you Miss Mana yes s segalini yes Miss shamley yes Miss laruso uh yes um to all except pf1 I'm going to recuse myself so you have four good thank you Madame President thank you Mr sagini uh finance committee Mr Banker thank you Madame President uh upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions F1 through F12 F1 approval of bills list August 2024 F2 approval of July 2024 payroll F3 approval of financial reports for July 2024 F4 approval of transfer report for July 2024 F5 approval of providers for tuition extraordinary Services contracts and agreements for the 2024 2025 school year F6 approval of East retherford purchasing manual for 2024 2025 school year F7 approval of East retherford standard operating process manual for the 2024 2025 school year fa8 approval of renewal newal quote with Renaissance for 2024 2025 school year F9 approval of contracts for the 2024 2025 school year F10 approval to amend resolution fa as approved at July 25th 2024 Boe meeting for authorization of write off for outstanding Food Service balances as of June 30th 2024 f11 approval of Handle With Care training for instructor certification program F12 approval of proposal proposal for Professional Services for roof replacement F Annex Building second any discussion roll call Mr Banker yes Miss colie Miss Mena yes Miss segalini yes shley yes Miss Lissa yes all right the uh addendum items we have oh mind us separ we not actually on the agenda okay um all right so upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board here by approves I don't usually just read them all oh they're not on the got it got it okay sorry upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motion s2a p2a p5a p7a pf9 a p113a s2a resolution affirming the superintendent's decision relating to an alleged harassment imit intimidation and bullying incident report dated May 6 2024 p2a Personnel actions p5a approval of travel expenditures p7a leave of absence PF 9A approval to use microwaves refrigerators to accommodate IEP students p113a appointment of of the public employer trust agreement for the east Rutherford Vision plan for the 2024 2025 school year second right so move it so moved second any discussion roll call Mr Banker yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana yes Mr segalini yes Miss shimley yes and Miss larusa yes what okay uh walk on items we have three three yeah uh Mr seini thank you Madame President uh we have three walk-on resolutions I'll read them in their entirety um first we have p8a acceptance of resignation of Erica Moreno motion to accept the notification of resignation from Eric Marino effective August 22nd 2024 we have pf10 approval of District use of facilities this is for the PTA ice cream social upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the application for the use of facilities for the PTA ice cream social it is September 3rd from 5:00 p.m to 7 p.m. at McKenzie school gym we double checked Alex and I there is nothing um in conflict with that and then we have PF 11a what for yeah just the facilities they they figure out the the details um PF 11a approval of District use of facilities application this is for the September PTA meeting upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the application for the use of facilities for the general PTA meeting September 10th 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Lincoln School gym and again Alex and I double checked there's nothing in conflict with on the facilities calendar right as before you um but this one falls under curriculum correct I we don't have a number for this one do you wanna we're gonna do all walk ons it's C11 11a c1a c1a upon the recommendation of the superintendent the east Rutherford Board of Education approves the placement of three beckon Regional High School students to serve internships to be held in the east Rutherford board of education schools from September 2024 through June 2025 and can I just can I ask it's not really a question I know the event is from F oh sorry second okay discussion so I just didn't know if we needed the facility earlier than five if the event starts at five oh starts at five okay okay and I okay any discussion okay roll call Mr Banker yes Miss KY yes but I have to recuse myself from pf10 a and pf1 okay okay Miss meta yes this seini yes Miss shley yes Luso yes okay any old business oh oh wait I didn't oh sorry it's not on technology wasn't on there yeah yes I would love your technology report Miss Mana thank you thank you madam president I'm very excited for the technology report okay in regards to technology we the information information security program plan the district continues to proactively evaluate all appropriate District Technologies to ensure the safety and security of our data and information systems planning of scheduled maintenance and improvements for the 2425 school year is is ongoing e- rate purchasing for the 2425 school year is ongoing to support the technology infrastructure across the district with the start of the fiscal year being passed work to fulfill components of the plan has commenced the new Fleet of Staff laptops have arrived and are being prepared in advance of the start of the school for staff student devices were collected and inventoried following the conclusion of the school year fine lists have been created and the technology department continues to send notices to families of any students with outstanding fines fines must be resoled resolved prior to uh receiving District owned technology in September the 2425 school year will see the continuation of the annual technology fee to help support technology programs within the district all students throughout the district will need the fee to be satisfied alongside their acceptable use and damage agreements in order to use and take possession of District owned technology the district has added pay school Central as a payment servicing provider for these fees more information to follow the district continues to use Genesis to share and collect data from families through the fors portal to allow for efficient and paperless Communications forms are updated annually to account for new information the district continues to evaluate varying technology platforms to help support productivity efficiency and instruction within the district and lastly the district continues to evaluate policies and procedures related to appropriate Technologies to help support productivity efficiency and instruction within the district thank you madam president you miss Mana sorry laughing right now oh okay any old business oh I have something on the technology report I have a discussion item I yeah goe no no um first of all wonderfully presented thank you um we are for the laptop Fe the technology fees we're still continuing um right for reduced lunch if you qualify right all that stuff still continues cool DC DC DC Direct okay yep yeah direct yes we're continuing we're continuing the practice that the uh board uh supported and agreed with that is if any student is identifi as direct certification they would not have to pay the technology fee appreciate it has not changed from last year appreciate it yep no welcome there's just one other question I know um Mr varachi yeah discussion had um just some of the parents are going to be getting information regarding outstanding bills for maso's Food Service um there are quite a few outstanding amounts like in the thousands of unpaid um bills so um so I had had directed Mr verra to reach out to these individual parents to come in for a meeting with us um again if there's if there's circumstances that we understand things happen but um we have five $600,000 worth of back that has not been paid so we're looking to secure that um or information things that have not been based so I just want to let parents know just to be transparent that um if you do fall on that category you will be receiving a telephone call from the business office to to pay the outstanding uh food bill okay thank you okay let's try this again any old business any new business okay so at this time we're oh I'm sorry I I do have something I I guess it's New or Old but okay um it's it's a it's a quick one um our summer meetings we doing one um and I just think we need to look at that again this this is this there was a lot to in this to to digest in this short amount of time and with one meeting especially the August meeting because you have policy manuals uh corre culum and and just to read all that and get through it in one week is a little difficult so if we could just consider maybe next year trying to July single meeting August double oh yeah at least August yeah I spoke to president L about it too about yeah it was just because it because normally we have a lot the also there a lot of this stuff I think we I'm I had questions that came about but I knew that you're gonna explain it and normally it's we have a week with with digesting the information so no fault of anyone whatever you decide Madam president with the board you let us know yeah I mean I'm in agreement to go back to two meetings for August August okay thank you you're welcome okay so at this time I'm going to motion okay yeah okay um at this time I will reopen to public comments on any agenda or non-agenda item state your name address for the record address the board president each person wishing to speak will have five minutes go ahead Uh Kevin lion 77 Clinton Place I was here earlier um two questions one for the technology fee is that still assessed at $30 a child okay yes and that's has that been sent out to the families yet or that will be forthcoming that should be forthcoming we've had a hiccup with pay schools myself and Mr valard we're talking uh we want to get get this out as soon as uh as possible uh but there was no fault or our own we were waiting for the other vendors to ensure the smooth transition of a NE out there and just also to answer that question I know some parents were concerned about um you know if my child brings home the Chromebook versus not bringing home the Chromebook so the district has made the determination that if you're using your Chromebook there is a fee that you'll be paying whether you're taking it home or not so any parents have questions about that that's this the answer that it's goingon to be so assess to all correct students correct that are using home books correct regardless of where corre thank you that was my only question thank you me just thank you um I at this time will'll close to the hearing of the citizens you're welcome you to all right a motion to adjourn to Executive session resolved that in accordance with Section 8 of the open public meeting act chapter 231 the board has the authority to adjourn to close session to discuss matters pertaining to Legal Personnel negoti negotiations attorney client privilege and or student matters said matters will be made available upon the determination by the board that the disclos closure of the minutes will not detrimentally affect any right or interest of the board the board expects to return to the business portion of the meeting in approximately 15 15 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes 30 minutes what you say I'll go with 30 okay 30 minutes moved oh there will be action an action will be taken when we return we the board the board goals yeah second Erin Erin ER I'll give it to you all in favor I anybody object no okay 720 nine Madam president all right see e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay uh motion to return to the regular order of business so moved second all in favor I any opposed all right uh Miss shamly curriculum okay upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motion C1 approval of the board goals for 2024 2025 school year second with the revision yeah with the revision um of the yes any discussion no discussion roll call Mr B yes Miss KY yes Miss Mena yes seini yes Miss Shenley yes Miss laruso yes all right motion to adjourn so moved all in favor I and