##VIDEO ID:s5x-v-knH0Y## e e e e testing testing one two 3 [Music] you get it e e e e [Music] e e e e e e e e e you need to test it now the sound e e e e e [Music] e e [Music] good evening um and welcome to a regular meeting of the East Winder Regional School District Board of Education thanks to everyone for your patience we were having some technical difficulties uh live streaming the meeting on YouTube so I think we're good to go now so thank you to everyone and sorry for the delay and happy New Year happy new school year written advance notice of this meeting was provided at least 48 hours ago such notice provided the time date and location of this meeting and included the agenda to the extent it was known at the time notice that this meeting has been given in accordance with law minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made available promptly to any member of the public requesting them from the board secretary at 25A Leen Lane heightstown New Jersey minutes will be provided at cost and in accordance with board policy are there any board members present who believe this meeting to be in violation of the open public meeting act there being none we may proceed in compliance with fire code of the state of New Jersey I call your attention to the emergency exits for this room which are located in the back and sides please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance un States item C having read the materials received I move the agenda be approved as submitted second any questions pull the board please miss Drake yes Miss Lance yes Miss Murphy yes Mr weeks yes Miss Patel yes Miss Salter yes Miss colia yes Miss laruso yes item D be resolve that the East Windsor Regional School District May hold two closed sessions at this meeting these closed sessions concern board strategic goals and Personnel minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no long longer exists second any questions hold the board please miss Drake yes Miss Lans yes Miss Murphy yes Mr weeks yes Miss Patel yes Miss Suter yes Miss Kia yes Miss larusa yes um so we have no presentations for tonight so we'll be moving on to student representative report do you want [Music] good morning everyone my name is s p Kamar and this is L and we are thrilled to be your student representatives for the 2024 2025 school year we are thrilled to have the opportunity to represent the student body here at heightstown hi I'm zanica Carla and I'm ecstatic to work with you all this year as I serving on student council I'm president of the computer science club president of the future Business Leaders of America and the leader of the mental health club at heighton in terms of involvement outside of student council I currently serve as the president of height Deca I'm a teen pep peer leader officer of public relations for the South Asian club soth I'm also a book Ambassador and have been on the golf team since my freshman year both myself and Sanji are again grateful for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the student body and we're enthusiastic to share everything going on at heightstown and entering School this year something we all see is a ton of enthusiasm within our student body there is so much excitement for this year of learning and fun all of our students are getting acclimated to this High School environment building relationships with their teachers and getting to know their classes as usual at the beginning of a school year there was a bit of hallway congestion as students are just getting familiarity with their schedules in classrooms despite the traffic our school Year is off to a good Lively start and we are excited to see the growth of our students as the year progresses last Friday town halls or grade wide assemblies took place in the auditorium student council class Council administr and counselors were invited to welcome students and provide introductions to who will be serving as their officers and what grade wide events will occur most of what was discussed at the Town Hall was related to General housekeeping which included attendance bathroom procedures using Naviance which was especially important for seniors and also regularly using their email these Town Halls were great for introducing students to the new school year as well as connecting them with people who will be who will be valuable in their High School journey in terms of welcoming students we also conducted our freshman orientation on August 28th this event was definitely a success as it gave us the perfect opportunity to meet the incoming class Bond over dinner and also get to know one anothers um through activities with the help of our PGC leaders we were able to do several Icebreaker um games commers conduct immersive tours of the school and also answer many of their burning questions about High School we will surely see them integrate well into the student body throughout the next few months student council is hard at work planning events such as our Rush week and incoming Spirit Week Rush week is planned for September 24th to the 26th our student council is working with all student like organizations and clubs from across the school to gather interest and membership within various activities we were L under the guidance of our advisers Miss McDougall and Miss Blandford who are doing an excellent job assisting Us in the planning process Rush week always generates excitement and a huge turnout from underclassmen who finally have a chance to get involved and have conversations with school leaders maken most of their High School experience this year our goal is to work to integrate Club representation and effectively communicate with their clubs to ensure they are set up effectively for Success we also want to collaborate more with our class councils team pep and PGC due due to their connection with student body including ESL students and freshmen student council will be working hard to ensure our Rush week is successful at helping clubs gain traction and giving our students in additional Community to join the student council is actively planning a spirit week that will help our students restor schoool Spirit our p r is expected to occur on October 18th and we are excited for facilitating fun games a hallway decorating contest and annual lip sync Dance Competition collectively the student council is excited to see student participation that will unite us as Rams while everyone is excited to be back in the start of the and start the year off grade it has been wonderful to see how involved the senior class has been for their final year of high school although it is only the third day of school seniors have been participating in spirit days of say wearing elementary school backpacks on the first day of school and also painting their respective parking spots in fun colors and designs seniors also kick off the school year by participating in the senior sunrise on Friday morning many students alongside their friends came together with blankets and cameras to watch the sunrise right before school this was definitely a memorable moment for us and we are thankful for the cafeteria staff provided the delicious breakfast and our class Council for facilitating this event we are very excited to see what this year holds for us back to school night is a pivotal opportunity for parents and guardians of students to visit their children's teachers and understand expectations for student learning we're excited for back to school night which is set to be hosted this Thursday night on September 12th we are excited to see our student council and school club leaders help assisted families in this transition back to a welcoming environment and also with the aim of keep keeping our schools safe and healthy we are glad to announce that we are in the final stage of having the Vape protectors operating we would now like to take note of the suggestion box that we implemented last year and say that we will continue to be using it this year this suggestion box is an online Google form that students can use to share their concerns and feedback of how we can improve the school community and student body here at heightstown this year we hope to revamp our suggestion box and stress its importance at the school this will be done by actively promoting its use on our social media and grade by Google Classroom platforms and even highlight suggestions that have been implemented as our year commences one thing is for sure when it comes to school spirit no school can match the heighton herd our heighton herd is flocked to support our athletic teams and support our athletes who work so hard over the summer to prepare for their Sports our football season has gotten started and our her has been showing up in sty at our games we expect to see our amazing cheerleading and marching band performing at our games our football team has a major game against Steiner this Friday on September 13th we expect to continue seeing our herd and student body at this game many of our other fall Sports such as field hockey boys soccer girls soccer girls volleyball girls tennis and gymnastics are into full swing We wish all of our sports teams and hardworking athletes a best of luck we know they will accomplish great things this season and represent our school with pride as we end on our final note we'd like to also encourage you all to look at a newsletter initiative Mr Vincent will be undertaking as we have many news staff this year Mr Vincent will use the newsletter as an opportunity to introduce all the staff to the district with personal biographies so please be on the lookout for that this concludes the end of our report we are so honored and excited to work with all of you and share student voice thank you thank you so much that was a great report and we look forward to working with you and hearing you at all the meetings does anybody have any questions if not we'll move on to superintendent report okay good evening everyone and welcome to a new school year so I would like to begin this evening just by thanking sahana and uh Sanji I look forward to you being at our meetings having that student voice um throughout the year and just hearing about the exciting things happening at heightstown high school so welcome and uh good good luck so I just want to talk a little bit about opening of uh of the school year so uh as you all know we opened school last Thursday on Tuesday actually we welcomed our our teachers Educators back um to to a new year as it were in uh in typical fashion we kind of um have a staff convocation meeting Where We Gather here at the high school in the auditorium um just to kind of springboard the school year so after being ushered into the high school with music from our marching band um as I said before we did Gather in the auditorium to celebrate the start of a new year uh the meeting primarily just focused on one just being together sense of community kind of just acknowledging folks in the room who have been with with us first year through year 35 Plus um we also focused on the impact that we will have with our students this year with the theme of Building Bridges through empathy equity and engagement and we also reviewed the district's goals for this year and then obviously on on Thursday was the big buildup we uh warmly welcomed our students back to school uh I'm definitely filled with excitement and optimism about the endless possibilities that we have uh throughout this year to come fortunately I did have the opportunity to uh visit all of our kindergarten classrooms uh on Thursday first day back and they really kind of acclimated our teachers to the amazing job kind of transitioning them very quickly into the Rhythm and climate and culture of the of the classrooms um kindergarten a special time I mean those are our newest Learners who are beginning their educational Journey uh it's a special experience and we are looking forward to that level of curiosity that's encouraged the friendships that will be developed and just kind of cultivating a love of learning in terms of our starting the school year I do want to begin with some thank yous obviously I need to thank our heroic teachers uh for their passion and dedication that they bring to the classroom each day um they the heartbeat of our schools and their commitment to creating a supportive and engaging learning environment is what truly makes our district so special for children I also want to extend uh some heartfelt thanks to our bus drivers I always like to give our bus drivers a shout out we are a uniquely structured School District where we have our own Fleet of buses and we have our own drivers many we're probably the actually we are the only District in Mera County that has such a large Fleet and we do not have to engage in subcontracting with other bus companies so I do think um that's something that you don't really appreciate until you don't have it so I do want to thank our bus drivers who safely transport our students to school every day uh Ur that they begin the and end the day with hopefully a friendly smile also just want to thank uh our custodians obviously for preparing our buildings and also our maintenance department keeping our buildings clean uh they look great in terms of the first day of school uh often times their work goes unseen but it's critical to the success of our school Community I also want to thank our staff our summer staff and our administrators who worked uh during July August in terms of getting things prepared um their e efforts in planning coordinating orienting staff um writing curriculum but also preserving our schools and maintaining our schools uh enabled us to open those doors on Thursday with a real sense of confidence and enthusiasm so look this year we look forward to continuing to build those bridges and strengthening those connections to ensure every student feels seen supported and inspired to reach their full potential so I do wish everyone a very safe and successful year ahead just a couple of uh um notes here just to conclude on the agenda tonight Personnel agenda tonight uh there's a recommendation transfer actually for the current mhk assistant principal Katie Mento for her to be transferred to uh the assistant principal position of periel Drew school um Katie applied among others for the position and after engaging in the interview process she definitely emerged as the final candidate in a good fit uh to kind of carry on the leadership at perel Drew so subsequent to tonight's approval uh we'll be posting C position in mhk uh tomorrow couple of reminders our student Representatives did talk about back to school night so I'll just provide a reminder this was shared with uh our school Community both globally but also from each uh school and I'll just kind of outline them based on order of uh kind of when they will occur so we have tomorrow evening uh September 11th beginning at 5:30 at the wal to SE black school um September 12th High high school begin beginning at 6:30 uh September 17th eam mcnight School beginning at 5:30 and then the following day September 18th Grace and Rogers will have their back to school night beginning at 6:30 September 19th the following day uh Melvin H KPS Middle School will have its back to school night beginning at 6:30 and uh the last back to school night will take place on September 25th at the perel Drew School beginning at so this concludes my report and thank you thank you does anyone have any questions if not we'll move on first opportunity for board member comments are there any board members who have any comments yes I just uh wanted to welcome our new student representatives tahana and Sanji it's so great to have you here and meet you again and have a great year um I wanted welcome everyone back I trust that the first few days were exciting and I hope everyone has an awesome year and since Mark mentioned our bus drivers I wanted to say the buses have been on time coming and going every single day since day one which hasn't happened in a while so it's fantastic so great job everybody that's it anyone else I was asked by the lawyer per request of our board president Nicole to clarify a concern for the record at the August 5th board meeting when asking our business administrator about a transfer report I unintentionally use the incorrect wording of misappropriation of funds I was not implying fraudulent Behavior but rather wanted to ask about the transfer of money from one school account to an unrelated other so again I'm stating for the record I was not implying wrongdoing on the part of RBA I have said before and admitted that Finance is not my wheelhouse and the reason why I ask so many questions pertaining to the financials of the districts is to try to understand this aspect of the board for taxpayer accountability but I would also like to clarify for the record that we're expected to send our meeting questions ahead of time and I referred back to my inbox and sent that exact worded question in an email to Nicole Tina Mark and Paul Paul even mentioned at that August 5th meeting he saw my question in the email the night before the meeting yet not one of you addressed or corrected my wording of the question prior when you knew I was going to be asking it that way so therefore I'm asking you if I take the time to prepare these questions and send to you ahead of time it would be much appreciated if you would address them prior if my wording is inaccurate or a concern of yours but again for the record in no way did I mean it there was fraudulent Behavior going on it was a miss wording on my [Music] part thank you for that clarification you're welcome are there any other any other board member comments if there's none we'll move on first opportunity for public comment are there any members of the public who have anything theyd like to share okay if there's none we will move to Executive session and we'll be back to vote on items thanks 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 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 we're back in session um item seven old business um just the committee meeting the committee meeting dates just to clarify for everyone I know at the last meeting we were rescheduling we were going to re schedule the finance committee but we did um due to schedules we did have a finance committee meeting tonight um and we can report out on that in um second opportunity for board member comments going to pose a question on the Committees I was uh explor going to reschedule the August 26th policy committee meeting um but it's I'm trying to make sure that everyone is available so I'm going to ask this question if I pick a day that is not a board meeting day does that work for the group okay so I'll reach check out this week okay um moving on for item 8 second opportunity for board member comments are there any board members I just want to bring up again the conversation we started in executive session um asking Mark if we could um revisit the 2018 security audit and our security protocols um in light of their recent shooting in Georgia definitely definitely thank you can we put that under's business for the next meeting please you know what we'll do prior to um the next meeting I'll share or have Paul share with the board the uh audit recommendations and then kind of where we were in the process of uh adhering to them okay thank you are there any other board members are we going no you got a report on the are any update on the board retreat finding a date I was just going to talk about that all the little red lights were on um I'll wait or do you want to okay um So based on the schedule based on my schedule um I am now looking and the fact that no one's still gotten back to me I think I'm going to proactive just pick a date and some somewhere the week of November 11th it's not a board board meeting week um I was going to do it sooner but then we have that whole week of November off because of religious holidays and teachers and voting and all of that so um I just think it's getting away and I we won't be able to plan in time and I want this to be productive so I'm going to throw out a couple of days that week sending in an email and everyone can get back to me and and if it's all over the place I'll just pick one and hopefully everyone can make it um right now I do have um the committee structure discussion we can do that and we go over the schedules um and then I have some other ideas of things we can accomplish or talk about then um but again I'll ask for suggestions so that everyone's needs are met and we're just going to get this thing planned and go for it so that week we're going to do it thanks so before this meeting the finance committee met uh there were three main things that we talked about at that meeting the first one would be um one of the largest Co-op purchasers that we work with um they set they have their Master agenda there's no action that we need it's just more so information on how they operate um so one of the or two Co-op purchases that we have coming up are for electric buses and the electric charging stations to go with those buses we have uh two buses that we will be purchasing um that will happen in two weeks whether you know the budget goes through from the state for it whether the state Grant will be um approved um so it's 400,000 per electric bus uh compared to 300,000 for a regular type bus so the state uh Grant will pay for the difference between um the buses and uh so we'll find out in two weeks and we'll be the first in line um for those four buses if the budget passes um with that the charging stations that's on us there's no grant that uh we could purchase those with we would have two charging charging stations two buses per station and for both of those stations it's $96,000 uh we would also need to install a transformer for those charging stations the cost is unknown at this time we have to put out a bid um so those would be the three parts of having these first four buses the buses themselves the charging stations and the Transformers so that's part one of what we went over part two would be the 2526 budget process um that starts October 1st so very soon in October and November the Departments are going to do internal discussions about what they want out of that budget U that stops at the end of November in December they'll have an internal Administration administrative review and then January February those uh budgetary wants come to us um the board will discuss what you know we think is uh good in there or to approve it um of course there's always state aid that comes into account we don't know what that will be yet um the best is probably that will be flat funded um however even if we lose state aid we're in pretty good position uh for getting what we want or what we need um out of a budget and that's mainly due to the fac large facilities budget that we have um we would that would kind of be the first thing that we take from it would be the facilities budget if we do need more money um because the state doesn't give it to us the last thing that we talked about is facilities um so we talk about the Rogers summer wrapup the auditorium hair endling unit is um about to be done um the or is done will be done will be done that's the b in the basement all right so in the basement of Rogers there's this big air handling unit and it's a tough job it needs to be deconstructed brought up 30 40 steps and the new one which we have in our hands needs to be broken down put downstairs and built there uh so that's to come um the controls that will be done by the end of the week so that will allow for the rooms to be controlled from within the school rather than going on top of the roof and having to change it there um so that's great the Rogers HVAC work will be done um and that includes extending from the classroom to the hallway so even the hallways will be cool now uh the locks there are 28 25 classrooms with the wrong blcks so those just need to be switched out other than those three things uh the PCH so when everyone will go around into the um go around the school and make sure detail by detail that everything that was supposed to be done at Rogers this summer was done you know as well as can be next up next summer is starting the heightstown HVAC U we put out 8 million we have a rod grant for 4 million um sorry 6 million um so that project will start next summer um it will the hundreds and 200s bu uh rooms which is like where the old high school entrance is and the upstairs will be done first and the same thing at Rogers the hallways will be uh cooled as well um we should have bid schedules for the High School auditorium soon um this will be the second phase so the soon the as soon as that this is done it will look like the CP Auditorium the lights in the general seating are going to be redone and there's also going to be B schedules put out for three Transformers uh one is the electric buses that we already talked about and then two would be at uh the high school including one in the administrative Wing the heightstown security vestibule is um a work in progress It's been deconstructed um that front office area um um they're going to put a dividing wall in the office to separate uh from the entrance uh so that's going to be built um not during the school day but after maybe when there are some athletes or other after school students still there but it would it shouldn't disrupt everyday school uh we just they need building permits and construction schedule uh for that work to continue uh and um new buildings and grounds facilities so the White House where the buildings and the ground um people workers uh are you know across in heightstown near Rogers and um mcnight not mcnight Rogers and black oh thank you um that as we discussed is not going to be a building that we'll be using um so going forward uh there is a different building in heightstown that we hope to um purchase so that we can move the employees there and that's where buildings and ground Central registration and KidCare Personnel would uh work out of um so that's to come working with the realtor we've seen the location we saw pictures today it looks nice um and the last item sorry I know this was a long one but the last item uh is prease space of course we've always in recent years have been having discussions about uh prek offerings and the same realtor that we used for the new the new white house um it's the same realtor that's in talks about finding a pre space for us that's it any questions awesome summary are there any other board member comments if not we'll move on second opportunity for public comments are there any members of the public who have anything they'd like to share there being none we'll move to item 9 motion to approve routine items by exception having read the materials received I move that the board approve the routine agenda items as submitted a staffing for September 9th 2024 B Arisa salaries and Longevity for 20 2022 to 2025 C approv travel and related expenses virtual and in person D approv 2024 2025 organization chart e approve curriculum documents F Professional Services for students G out of District placement age approval of Professional Services for 2024 to 2025 school year continued um i e c NJ Master collaboration service agreement J Co-op purchases K board minut board minutes for August 5th 2024 L executive session board minutes for August 5th 2024 m board minutes for August 26th 2024 n executive session board minutes for August 26 2024 o report of the board secretary and financial report for July 2024 P expense and transfer reports of school money's report for July 2024 and Q Bill list of September 9th 2024 second any questions not a question I just want to point out from that finance committee the uh escnj Master agenda and the two Co-op purchases are what are in this so it's I and then the J are there any questions I just had first a comment on the curriculum again obviously a lot of work has has gone into them so who those two the teachers who worked on them just a question on the math there was formative and Su summative is that the correct word summative summative um and in ela and the others I guess my question is because homework was put informative which was said not in the grade book but homework is now graded for completeness right homework for math is graded for completeness in the portal now right didn't we just approve that didn't wa right just approve oh in in the curriculum homework was put in formative which says not in the Grade Portal well in ela it was put in somewhere else but I'm just saying so just to be clear homework will be graded for completeness this year in the portal right but it'll be in the port right because that's what that's what the policy said right yes that we just approved right okay because I know last year homework wasn't going in the portal there was no grade at all students weren't given a grade in math points points that it's I'm sorry that that this frame it as a question okay are we grading homework for completeness in the portal for ma points the question you want to know will it be in the portal let's just say for for argument sake get points for submitting your homework turning so the policy states students will receive credit for the completion versus accuracy right okay what does it check stand like what what what do we consider credit like if I'm getting Credit in my class it's something like I'm yeah that's fine yep and then the the course guides will be I know cuz we approved some curriculum um and I know my daughters some of their teachers are saying we can't give them out yet until they're board approved so just concerned that we're going to be moving forward in September without the students having their course guides based on the last meeting that's a pretty quick turn around once the board the board approves the documents the the syllabus is pretty pretty easy to transition okay are there any other questions yes I had on the organizational chart um this thing so confusing the assistant athletic director doesn't directly report to the athletic director the roles no um I mean yes there's an element of collaboration but the way we have it currently constituted is that the um um our current assistant athletic director is also a curriculum supervisor so that's where it gets you know there's a little gray there that's why you know so I've kind of dotted lines connected to both of those so I do provide um guidance to in direct supervision to the athletic director uh and it also uh enables me to provide some direct guidance to the the assistant athletic director as well so um yes are there circumstances where the athletic director will delegate certainly uh but the athletic director is not evaluating the assistant uh athletic director in our current configuration because he's technically a curriculum supervisor who's also the assistant athletic director versus like being the athletic like versus being the assistant athletic director who also happens to be a curriculum supervisor got it it's that's that's it's a little yeah it's a little it's a little nuanced um you know but I think we we've got to work rhythm in terms of how we we know the the roles and responsibilities and one other question Paul which I'm going to try to do clearly and correctly on this on this expense account adjustment sheet could I'm so confused as to why like on the second line why high school supplies for Football goes to the volleyball or the next line when the football account is paying the cross country and the girls cross country right so actually um our High School athletic budget is very detailed per lines there's a lot of schools that'll just say athletic um supplies $100,000 and then they just cut purchase orders and then someone has an Excel sheet and they keep track of it here they actually build that into the detail of systems 3000 so from time to time there may be a need for money in one sport over another so they just transfer money in between the sports so that's what you're seeing money coming out of one sport and going into another okay I that makes sense um but why like this this I just don't understand like let's just say um this the girls soccer has 6,000 in their account and the boy soccer had 147 in their account but then we took a th000 from the girl soccer and gave it to the boy soccer but there's already like I'm so confused because there was already 147 in the boys so why did we need to take that from the girls I mean as far as the specific transfers I'd have to go back to the ad to find out why they're moving money around but there there's I can just tell you generally there's a need from one sport to another and sometimes it's uniforms you know some they're on different uniform replenishment Cycles so I wouldn't say just because it's a similar sport the numbers would be similar so maybe it's also because the bill didn't come out of that yet like you know what I mean like so because the boys already has 14,000 700 in there and they're taking a th000 from the girl soccer and giving them a th000 right so so let's say so this particular I'm not sure but we'll just use as for example so say this year the the boys um soccer their uniforms are due to be renewed and buy new ones because they they go about three or four years before they get uniforms so maybe the bill came in and it was going to be a little more than they budgeted for so they just thought that they had some money in the girls soccer line that they would transfer over to do that and like I said in most School District not most but in some school districts you wouldn't even be seeing those lines because it's buried in someone's Excel spreadsheet they're just moving money around the high school here just finds it easier and I kind of like it where they actually put that in systems and and track it that way exactly so I guess what I'm saying is so even though I'm seeing they have a large amount of money in the account he may already know that he's going to be a th short like it just the bill wasn't paid yet well he he may have a quote in his hand and he knows he doesn't have cuz what happens is if you know you have aot quot and you don't have enough money in the line the system will not allow you to put in a purchase order so to do a purchase order you have to do a transfer first first and that's how you and that's how you don't get in trouble got it thank you I appreciate that explanation yes are there any other [Music] questions oh yes on um on 9k so the August 5th agenda uh meeting minutes so on 9k in those minutes 9e um but my vote was a no that could be changed in the minutes yes we'll go back and make that correction thank you any other [Music] questions if not pull the board please M Drake yes Miss Lans yes abstain from l m Murphy yes obscene from a B and M M M MN N M N N I said a b and then M as well as n Mr weeks uh yes abstain from M and N I was