##VIDEO ID:yu9Im6-FNlo## e test one two three test one two three 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 so sorry apologies for the delay computer technical difficulty good evening and welcome to a regular meeting of the East Windsor Regional School District Board of Education it is also our last meeting of 2024 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 notice of 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 Len 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 n we may proceed in compliance with the 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 side please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance see be resolved that the East wour Regional School District May hold two closed sessions at this meeting these closed sessions concern Personnel HIV report of December 9th 2024 administrative recommendation board vacancy discussion minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists second any questions hold the board please one second please okay thank you m Drake yes M Murphy yes Miss boli yes Mr weeks yes Miss K yes Miss laruso yes item D please having read the materials received I move the agenda be approved as submitted second any questions hold the board please M Drake yes Miss Murphy yes Miss P yes Mr weeks yes Miss Kia yes Miss laruso yes okay all right good evening everyone um t season so at this time of the year it seems appropriate to any time of the year to be quite honest with you appropriate to have the opportunity for some level of student Presence at a at a board meeting uh tonight we have the pleasure of having some student voice um you with us just for a brief performance this evening so I'm going to introduce shortly uh Mr Allen who's one of our music teachers at heow high school tonight we are fortunate enough to have with us uh two groups two uh vocal groups we have uh the skola Korum group and the advanced choir they going to perform a couple of pieces for us this evening I think it's an appropriate way to begin this evening's meeting so without further Ado I'm going to ask Mr Allen to come on up and introduce our students board members I'm going to ask us to either take some folks sitting on the side if you just take your seats and just maybe maybe step back or maybe not maybe folks on the side are okay but but the folks here we should we should move so we can kind of see our students before all right thank you e e we [Music] glor glor glor glor [Music] [Music] glor [Music] [Music] glor GL are that shall GL that [Music] [Music] shall for [Music] by the way I would be remissed if I didn't mention our student accompanist Andre the fabulous job our for you and next for you is a traditional Irish tune called the party [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] I [Music] good night [Music] and now we're have a little quick scene change you're go inv our next group SK for so this is our uh Advanced trouble group first piece is called beautiful December and this isum and we also have Andre playing for us who learn than and theen away so return [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Music] Beau [Music] sing to you in dreams you're beautiful [Music] [Music] silence isep [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] this is [Music] [Music] [Music] fore [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] w [Music] 1 2 three [Music] me [Music] before we transition to the student Representatives I just want to take a moment just to thank Mr Allen both of our choirs excellent performances this evening and uh just gives us a sampling of the great work that's happening at all of our schools but this highlights our art program art well our performing arts program here at high high school so thank you again and I appreciate you dedicating some time to be here this evening that was so great thank you so much um we're now going to move on to student representative report good evening everybody we are glad to be here and we now provide updates on the student body today marked our first Club Summit of the year so Club Summit is a meeting that the student council hosts every marking period where student leaders and Club advisers of the many student organizations meet to discuss involvement events and how to support the HHS Community best today we primarily discussed our most anticipated event of the Year holiday drive-thru our holiday drive-through event is where student clubs and sports set up holiday themed displays outside at the front of the school with these displays community members are encouraged to drive through the route and receive optional giveaways from each club and organization the event will take place on Monday December 16th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and we would love if all of you and your families could attend see you then additionally at our club Summit we also discussed grant opportunities for clubs student council has certain funds that we can allocate to provide clubs with money to assist events that will benefit the school Community we have just opened up the opportunity for clubs to request grants and Pitch their reasoning for the money we're excited to see how our student organizations take advant anage of this resource and the amazing schoolwide opportunities that follow we are so excited to say that the annual heighton Musical Chicago is coming auditions have happened last week and the musical will occur from March 21st to 23rd thank you for this beautiful choir performance a Testament of the successes of our music program at heightstown last week we hosted an instrumental concert which was the first time a rock band class performed at the band concert our hardworking choir will be performing on the 17th we hope to to see you all there we would now like to congratulate the two students who placed at the New Jersey FCCLA or family career and Community leaders of America fall conference congratulations to Eliana Winters for earning the first place gold medal in the cupcake challenge event and congratulations to Brean Williams for earning Second Place Silver medal in the edible centerpiece event and now for an update from Heights Sam Deca last Wednesday Deca hosted a career exploration event titled career compass with partnership with Junior Achievement an organization dedicated to empowering young people with the skills needed for economic success in planning their Futures Miss ceste hard the senior program director of Junior Achievement and also a high came to speak about her career Journey while also providing the students with self-guided resources to find the career that was right for them we are so glad this opportunity was available for all students the basketball teams hosted the first ever Rams Madness event for the start of season this is a super engaging event for our community consisting of Three-Point Contest slam dun contest and boys and girls scri the class of 2025 decited to host a winter movie night on Wednesday um December 18th at 5:30 p.m in High School auditorium this year's movie will be elf and $3 snack and drink and not only that but for additional $5 you can bring up three presents to get wrapped by your senior volunteers we hope to see you your friends and your family we would now like to take this time to Comm our incredible staff and teachers who won the ew educator of the Year award from he from high school we had Miss Eden Edinger with wi teacher of the year and Miss Kimberly roses our child team member and school psychologist who won the Educational Service professional award we are so proud of them and we thank them for being Educators to inspire moving on this Wednesday on December 11 the height Town group connection PGC will be hosting a family night c. we'd like to spread the word and encourage you all to join them for night of fun and food to connect parents students and faculty together the artist Union student organization recently painted the windows of local downtown businesses which was a great way to interact Community as always we are thankful for that our counselors are hosting College clinics every Tuesday and Thursday during lunches provided assistance to college related tasks there are also college tours or college visits this week with representatives from US Air Force and the New Jersey City University coming in to seniors please check your email on the week of January 14 Hound students are invited to take the Seal of bi literacy which is the exam that proves fluency the language separate from English by achieving the Seal of bacy graduating students demonstrate that they speak read listen and write in two or more languages at a high level of proficiency there is no cost for our students as we lucky thatc cover students in the district for this assessment therefore if you are a student interested in taking the seal we recommend signing up on the interest form by December 20th the end of 2024 is coming quickly the last day of school this year is the 20th which will be a half day for winter break and the end of the year thank you so much for listening for our stud report in the spirit of the holidays like to express our gratitude and appreciation for the board and we also like to wish you all a Happy safe and blessed holiday season thank you that was great very very informative um any questions I have a question thank you that was very detailed uh is it possible though to get some information about you guys mentioned the Air Force is there a way to find out or like DET as far as like how do they do recruiting or not just them you know like the Marines and the military do they do the recruit like all the recruiting here in house um you know do students have to go offsite like how how does that work it doesn't have to be now but you guys can get [Music] details oh for sure counseling the counseling department does have those resources available like regardless of any postsecondary application sort of thing um but we can get that information and send it anyone else have any question we would like to wish you um happy holidays as well and thank you very much um the next portion is going to be um the interviews for the the vacant board seat um we're just going to take a 5 minute break to get everything ready for that um we have one being done remote and we have a couple things we just going to need minutes thanks e e e e e e I just sent her a Google meet so hopefully that'll connect she's up next so if everyone signs into the zoom we should all be able to see Mr Friday he'll be able to see us and through the microphone everyone in the room will be able to hear him his responses and they'll also stream through our YouTube thank you being fible with this I apprciate it we're flexible group thank you very much everyone should be muted yes you can m what's matter everyone can turn on your cameras that would be really appreciated yes so just for the remote candidates I'll just the simplifying of the communication I'll read questions but when we go in person we'll do as we normally do we'll go around the bo we'll ask the questions Okay one minute Friday it out spe for it's some reason s okay ready to started everyone okay Friday ready yes all right thank you for coming tonight we're interviewing for the board vacancies for East W seat it's a onee term um we're doing interviews tonight after the interviews the board will be going into executive session to discuss the various candidates we will be coming out to make a selection uh the um the actual swearing in will occur at our January 6 the organization meeting for the successful candidate and the position will be the 2025 calendar all right if you're interested in completing the term you can sign up for the regular election in uh by July and participate in the November election at which point that will be for a oneyear SE [Music] okay all right so the first question for tonight is tell us about yourself and why you're interested in becoming a school board member is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board of education sure so my name is DL Friday I uh grew up just south of Philadelphia um I'm one of and my parents always stress education so um I went off to gburg college after college and I couldn't find a job right away and I started working at Campell Soup company and while I was in Campell Soup company I decided to get an advanced degree at Doctor biochemistry I decided to move jobs to a flavor and fragrance manufacturer in New Jersey called simr and that's forced our move to East wi so um after that that I decided to get my NBA the concentration Finance so couple couple reasons that I want to be a Schoolboard member clearly Academia is core to to to me and my being but also I want to get back to the community and I I want to have some influence in my my children's education okay thank you very much second question what is a school members role and responsibility how does that role differ from the role of the superintendent or Administration School Board is the superintendent is accountable to the school board um the school board are not administrators they help influence policy and that's where I think the distinction lies thank you how will you manage your time to address the following board commitments monthly board meetings committee meetings time for agenda preparation and time for professional growth in the areas of board governance and K12 education so I I do work kind of far away and I have two small children that sports but I always find a way to make time for them I have the ability to have a very flexible work schedule there is travel involved my work but it goes in EP flows and I can always adjust my my schedule okay thank you are there aspects of your education or experience that will be especially helpful in preparing you to serve as a member of the school board uh I'd say yes I uh I got two Advanced degrees both of them while I was working full time I have a doctor in Biochemistry and NBA with the concentration finances which I actually just completed uh in May 2023 so I'm very Academia I've written papers I have patents um again Academia is important with my being okay thank you how do you plan on building a collaborative and respectful relationship with the board and superintendent especially if you have differ views or don't agree with maor so I I work at a a high level as an executive in my current company not everybody is is on the same viewpoints on every issue but especially in my staff meetings and the ones of our leadership team we we respect each other come to consensus and consensus always okay final question what is your vision for education in this community so a couple things that I value and I think that that are really important for being for Education as a student but also later in life accountability integrity and transparency so those are three things that I really value um accountability meaning that you own up to your mistakes Integrity meaning you say what you do you're going to do in transparency you're you're communicating and not and Notting information so all of that is is important to to what I think okay thank you that was the final question does the board have any other questions or do you have any questions for us I do have a [Music] question I'm sorry yeah okay you can you go next question just hi yeah the question is what are the ages of your children andw thank all right thank you and we'll let you know thank you everybody I appreciate your time and flexibility really do take care have a great night I I sent the Google meet to our other remote individual um having a little trouble so we'll try to get her on probably move on to the person interviews or trying to figure out okay so our first in person will be Dana so I'll go get her and bring her yeah everyone can exit out of the zoom now if anything we be signing Google for the next one so just give me a minute I got the table out e e e your when you're ready good evening everyone I'm D nice to meet you hi nice to meet you you don't have a voice anymore okay so just a sumarize so this is an interview for a board vacancy we had one board member who steep down after tonight after this interview we're going to go into executive and discuss the various candidates the board will discuss and come out and after executive be a nomination in the move uh we're actually looking to swear the successful candidate in January 6th theorganization meeting okay and then after that if if the person is interested they can file for the next election and there'll be a one year term F term and then go back to three years on the next election all right so we're we each have a question so we're just going to go around and ask questions sorry so we're gonna start with M how are you um tell us about yourself and why you're interested in becoming School Board member uh is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board of education I'm definitely passionate about education I'm in my 25th year of teaching I um graduated tcj with a special education degree and then I moved into regular education I went into becoming a reading intervention teacher and that's what I've been doing the last n years I earned my Master's Degree a few years ago um and reading is something that I absolutely love teaching the little kids that I work with um my sons are both at height toown high school now so they're independent um a little bit more than they had been when they were younger and with my Master's Degree out of the way I have some time on my hands and because education is very important to me um I thought that I would you know try this opportunity when I saw the email come through and what I really passion about obviously is reading and I noticed that at the previous board meeting about the njsla scores with some difficulties in third fourth and fifth grade levels that's the area that I work with a lot of my students and so I really interested in learning more about that and how the district is handling that to try to close the gap with the um you know um economically disadvantaged students who are falling in that area Hi D Drake board member um what is a school board member's role and responsibility how does that differ from the role of the superintendent or Administration um the superintendent and the administration deal with the daytoday obligations with um the staff members and the students in the buildings and the Board of Education um deals with um any policies they they approve um any policies and finances Personnel um hip cases that come through um they make decisions um with regarding um anything that the superintendent and administrators bring forth to them um they update policies um review budgets um all of um those interesting um pages and pages that you guys obviously go through before and during all your board meetings that help run the school district and the students education great thank you so much I'm um so my question is how will you manage your time to address the following board commitments we have monthly board meetings committee meetings um time for agenda preparation and time for professional growth in the areas of board governance and K education I am very um in a very comfortable place with my job right now I've been as I said teaching for 25 years so I feel very comfortable that I'm an expert and what I do with my education so I have a lot more time outside of my school day because I've really become an expert in reading intervention and as I said both my students my children AR in high school so they're more impendent they are um currently on the basketball team but my husband is very helpful in getting them to practices and games so I am very much free and open in my free time I do a lot of reading books I'm at like 92 books for this year um so um I definitely have the time for all of the monthly board meetings and the preparation leading up to it I think I did too thank you you mean to o you also did 92 yes thank you um you kind of mentioned this already with you being a teacher um but if you want to expand on that or if there's anything else are there aspects of your education or experience that would be especially helpful in preparing you to serve as a member of the school board um as I said I've worked with many different age levels from kindergarten up into Middle School in my educational career and from special education regular education and now currently reading intervention I have served on my District's negotiating team for our contract so I have had experience and dealing with board members in that sense and having to come to agreements through negotiations I am the building um data coach I am a mentor I do the I'm a building coordinator for the NJ testing so I have a lot of experience with State Testing and I am also a member of the behavioral threat assessment Committee in my district and I am a member of the early transition committee team in my district so I definitely have taken on leadership roles in my district and I do see myself as um someone that um newer teachers can come to for assistance and any help that they need um my question question is how do you plan on building a collaborative and respectful relationship with the board and superintendent especially if you have different views or do not agree with the majority diversity is what makes this world a wonderful place to live in so I've learned you know to um respectfully express my differences but I would hope that spending a lot of time together and um in person through um emails and any kind of events that are going on um in the district that I would attend with any of the other board members would help build that camaraderie and that that team spirit hi I'm Paula and the last question is what is your vision vision for education in this community we live in a district that I'm very proud to live I've been here since 2003 my husband graduated from highstown high school and we moved back here because he wanted to be um part of this area that he grew up in um and I love the diversity that is here um I love that when I call on the phone and it asks if you need to speak with someone in Spanish you can hit this number I work with a lot of Spanish speaking students in my school and we do not have um the access to staff members um that speak Spanish like we do here in East Windor in heightstown um so I would hope that um for every population um students with special needs and economically disadvantage and multilingual and bilingual students that we can give them the highest education possible and help close that Gap with the state test scores um give them every confidence and um get them involved in club and sports we offer so many in the district and I just want to make sure that every student graduates with um feelings of confidence and they can find success whether they go off go off to college or um a trade school um so I just want students education to to grow and for them to prosper in whatever areas that they find it interest in great thank you so much do you have any questions for us no I don't I've been to plenty of I I know a lot of the responsibilities that come along with it so I'm aware of what would be ahead for me if I were to offer this position thank you so much thank you thank you everyone I appreciate the time okay I emailed everyone to Google me link M actually connected so okay so right now everyone is signing out Google meet so I'll just explain what's going on so right now we're interviewing candidates for an open board seat get one board member step down this is the position we're going to interview after the interviews we're going go into executive discuss the various candidates the board will then come out and you know make a nomination and vote and appoint one number for the 2025 school year if everyone can please need um after tonight's appointment we'll have the successful candidate come out we be sworn in at our January 6 reorganization meeting member will serve for the 2025 year and if he choose he can run for for election for a one-year term in November for the 2026 year and then after that it will revert back to a three-year term so give us a couple more minutes everyone sign have about six questions which I'll ask you and then you'll be able to respond so one moment please okay is everyone ready okay ready Miss yes all right all right here we go first of six questions tell us about yourself and why you're interested in becoming a school board is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board of education so first of all I'd like to say good evening and thank you so much for you know taking the trouble to preate a Google meet been trying to join The Zo who get through some issues over here so I really appreciate it that you went through all this you know to get me so thank you so much um I am very interested in education as a parent and as also as a um you know member of the community uh I have always been interested in the various forms of education so for instance people focus on one aspect of it or you know two three aspects of it but I feel that every child is an individual that you know has their own potential and talents and every um thing should be nurtured and every child should be able to pursue whatever it is that they interested in and have opportunities to pursue that and um you know achieve success uh whether it's in arts or Commerce or in science and stem or anything of that sort um so it's not like one it's all um I have as volunteered as a coordinator for 12 years um in nonprofit educational institution that teaches a foreign language uh to children in West for for and I have seen that you know uh every child doesn't learn the same way and every child is not interested in the same thing so we have to try different methods and U make sure that every child learns well and is interested in learning and we have to promote that so I I am really interested in that part and that's why thank you what is the school board memb role and responsibility has that role different from the role of superintendent board Administration so the school board works with the school administration um the administration the staff um have certain set of rules and regulations that they have to abide by and you know they have to check into certain Financial or legal issues and then you know the educational issues and create an agenda and the school board works with the community and this Administration um to see what is best uh for the children for the students in that school district okay thank you how will you manage your time the following board commitments monthly board meetings Community meetings time for agenda prep and time for professional growth in the areas of board governance and K2 education so I have been volunteering for the last few years I just took up a position in J joining in January um that uh will occupy my time up to about 5 :00 5:30 in the evening so um the rest of my evening is You Know M to um utilize the best way that I can I I have time for that and I have always been doing multiple things at the same time been volunteering with was the organization and I still plan to continue with that I volunteer inp and that is you know I taxes for senior citizens and ciens and that is usually during um the peak Tex period between you know April 1st so I've always been able to balance that balance you know work life as well as my volunteer activities I'm very passionate about my volunteer activities so I don't you know I try to make sure that I always have time for that thank you than you are there aspects of your education or experience that will be especially helpful in preparing you serve as a member of the school board I had two children and they both went e School District education system um have been a very involved parent in the education and seen that uh you know uh between my two children they're so different uh and their interest are different and the way they learned was different and uh I also see almost 200 students in the uh in the school that I volunteer in and um so uh seeing that I I think I have learned over the years uh about um how to address um you know each child uh with their you know unique potential and strengths and weaknesses and um that has kind of helped me learn what needs to be done to help somebody thank you how do you plan on building a collaborative and respectful relationship with board and superintendent especially if you have different views or don't agree with the majority uh I believe that a healthy discussion helps to bring out a lot of ideas uh if if I keep an usually I have an open mind I listen the first thing I do is listen to all ideas and All Views and all opinions and then you know you discuss it respectfully and um you come to a solution or or you know a kind of solution that is aable to all if not all at least most people and um I I always keep an open mind I listen and it doesn't to be my way over the highway you know it has to be a collaborative a joint decision and sometimes you don't get 100% approval or something but then it's the majority I would just go thank you finally what is your vision for education in this community I feel that uh you know there should be opportunities for children of uh different strengths so not every child is going to be you know a genius or you know good at in one field um a lot of them are good at sports good at arts or culture or theater or stem any field and uh so I believe that every kind of opportunity should be given to all the students and then they can pick and choose based on their strengths and the passions and the interest and follow after that and then um try to be successful in that field so um you know my daughter for instance was very interested in chess and so I Tred to promote that and pursue that uh and I spent 10 years uh you know trying to give her all the opportunities that she would need for that whereas my son was not interested in chess and so it was something else so I always feel that um every child comes with a different interest different passion we have to help help them grow and explore that field thank you does the board have any other questions okay do you have any questions for us uh not really but I would really thank you again uh for making this uh possible I I do know that you know it's it's late evening for you and I really appreciate the fact that you all came and know and you try to get the Google meet going and I I really appreciate that thank you so much you're welcome have a good night you too thank you goodbye okay so next we have Mr Rodriguez is everyone ready up in e and prad I thank you so much for coming tonight we appreciate it um just to give you a summary um we did have a word resignation So This this term is a one-ear term um and you would be to have sorry that so we have six questions for you so we're Each G to take a question start um tell us about yourself and why you're interested in becoming a school board member and is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on board hello everyone my name is uh I am a resident of e wior uh I've been here for going on 5 years uh and I'm primly an optical Manor for a private ey doctor and the reason why I want to come on board is because I was a teacher for 10 years uh education is very important to me I have a 7y old son who is now at e night and I want to be involved as much as I can uh I've been a class parent I've been on the board so I've I've been a coach at the hewn Ram DVD so in my short time here I tried to to engate myself with the community uh my new community get to know the people get to know the families and uh what's going on in their lives and I think coming on board would just uh help me solidify the fact that uh I'm I I'm going to put myself out there and try to make a change uh from a teacher perspective a parent perspective uh being general manager uh knowing how to be in a uh public form uh deal with the public on basis both positive and negative uh I know that I know how to deal with things accordingly and looking forward to uh bringing that to the table hello I'm Jenna Drake um our second question is what is a school board member's role and responsibility and how does that role differ from the role of the superintendance uh and administration the role of the school is to pick the superintendent and help them out and and also to adhere to the use of the community of which it serves uh that that is something that uh is very important uh something that is to be admired because of the number of families that you do serve hi I'm Nia how will you manage your time to address the following board commitments monthly board meetings committee meetings time for agenda preparation and time for professional growth in the areas of Bo government in education playing the many roles that I've had in my past have prepared me in uh being excellent at time management uh being a being a teacher for 10 years being a general manager knowing how to handle uh time management in several aspects uh of of my life is something that I can certainly bring uh to the table uh I've endured manyal in the past where I've to manage my time wisely um make appointments make deadlines and uh that is something that's uh important to me and to my family and something that I'm looking forward in doing more if I to come forward I'm calling um are there aspects of your education or experience that will be especially helpful in preparing you to serve as a member of the school board being a teacher for 10 years uh opened up my eyes to a lot of things uh how things work from the education side to not being parent how things work on the parents side um again I've been a coach I've been a mentor uh and I put myself out there into the public to help uh and I'm very big on trying to help the community uh as a whole uh that is something that since my son was born uh I dedicated myself to do to make sure that wherever we end up I tell my best to make sure that his education and not only his but uh wherever I'm involved their education is my top priority S I was over your resume my apologies all right so my name is Jean and I'm a board member my question for you is have you plan on building a collaborative and respectful relationship with Bo and superintendent especially if you have different views or don't agree with majority well you know the public you do get a lot of that sometimes even though you don't agree you still have to collaborate for a common cause uh and all that is done through communication uh that's first and foremost uh even in politics uh used to have to go back and forth uh State your views have them State their views and uh come to a common ground uh that's the main thing uh that that I've seen and experienced in my time even though you don't necessarily agree with the person that have having a conversation with how to come to a common ground and the way that I approach that is is of course listening to what the other person has to say and then I say uh what I have to say and given that information me and out the board what that person can take it from there thank you and the last question oh paa um what is your vision for education in the community I was looking at some uh statistics uh online and uh one of the things that I've noticed is that the need for education is there in terms of helping the community grow um I know that given the fact that uh testing reading and uh math skills are extreme important and from what I've seen they're not where they're supposed to be or where uh we hope for them to be this is the reason why I do want to come on board and see what changes we can do as a group I know that we have a a large uh diverse population and given that fact how can we serve the community as a whole to make sure that we give everyone the best chance to grow and and prosper thank you so much for coming we really appreciate sorry does anybody have any questions any board members or do you have any questions for us first I'm so sorry so what do you look for in a person that is looking to join board uh as a whole andless wow a lot of what we were looking for the questions that we asked um I think we're looking for someone who's part of the community ties to the community um who has um a desire to be on the school board and and dedicate the time um that it takes and the time of commitment to to be on the school board um and I think also someone who really wants to work together with the group to support the superintendent and then the teachers and Educators in the district to um to make it better for everyone do you have any other questions do any board members have any follow questions okay thank you so much we appreciate it thank you very much our final candidate of the night is a everyone ready I can e e when you're hi thank you so much for coming in we really appreciate your interest in time tonight um just to summarize with you as as you know we had a board member resign so this this um this St this role is to fill a one year spot um it would be for one year and then if you had interest in the position at the end of um July you would file the paperwork and then run the election the regular election in November to complete the rest of the ter which would be so we have six questions that we're going to ask and we we start with mik and then we just go around first question tell us about yourself and why you're interested in becoming a school board member is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board of education um my name is um from native from the Dominican Republic um I moved in Jersey for years ago I had two kids and I had always been passionate about education I learn from my grandmother seeing her a struggle um trying to make sure that we get the best education they could be around our area and kind ofay with me so whatever I can do for my kids I try to be involved and I think that being with you guys in here and working together we could improve or do better things not only for my KS all the kids toet to put my microphone on uh my question is what is a school board member's role and responsibility and how does that role differ from of a superintendent or Administration what is the school I'm sorry the question what's the role um what's a school board memb role and responsibility and how does that role differ from the role of say the superintendent and the administration that works in the district well I'm not going to lie to you I don't know if I get elected I'll learn with you guys I'm sorry hi I'm um so how will you manage your time to address the following board commitments monthly board meetings um there's committee meetings time for agenda preparation time for professional growth in the areas of board governance and K through2 education um I'm not sure how but I will manage I manag to to be involved um with my kids activities I have two kids um on the soccer field with my little one I'm in the music um invited with my older ones I'm in the community where I work and also take care of my house so whether I'm supposed to and provide for them and prepare them for the next day whatever they need so I think when you want to do something or I believe when you want to do something is possible so I I I think I will be able to manage thank you hi I'm Colleen are there aspects of your education or experience that would be especially helpful in preparing you to serve as a board member UC member um my background in education is in Business Administration and accounting for some reason once I moov in Jersey I is I'm away from that area and I've been learning more about Community involvement Community Care and I work for rice and I know all of you if you in the community you are from this community know so that's how I think that passion that the organization brings to the community that's what is been growing on me here so that's what I have to offer hi my question is how do you plan on building a collaborative and respectful relationship with the board and superintendent especially if you have different views or you do not agree with the majority consent you don't have to agree you don't have to um get a your way but as long as everybody's respectful and and find a mid way to better serve our kids and family I think as long as everybody respect each children and communicate we should be good that's my side thank you I am Paula and the last question is what is your vision for education in our community complicated um so trying to see a equal um the diversity I think we are diverse but um more collaboration from different I guess entities in the community um but more invol to get more involved and what the kids and the community needs and education while like is spend more programs for after store I guess for the kids and I the kids needs as support in the afternoon when the parents are working late and that's what I seen um try to see what is the need for the community and work together I guess and my goal thank you so much do you have any questions for us no thank you for having me in Social short notice thank you thank you do any members follow question thank you so much we really appreciate your time and interest tonight so just for any of the candidates that stay um we still have a couple more things to do it's totally optional if you want to stay or you can even we can contact you I know um yeah it's late so but we would contact you tonight so that's just an option for you but thank you again for your time C out yes thank you we had one candidate I should have mentioned that um Miss B was second could not she notifies about 5 minutes before the meeting okay so we will now move on to item five which would be the superintendent report okayy so good evening again a few updates for tonight uh I'll begin with an administrative recommendation it's on the Personnel agenda current AG preps principle um being recommended to serve as the assistant superintendent human resources um Mrs fell will replace Dr eron sillo Who was scheduled to retire at the end of this month so I do want to take a moment to thank Dr sillo commend her for her years of service to the east Windor Regional School District her leadership uh will be greatly missed uh Mrs St is a known entity within the community she's been a member of the East WIC Regional School District since 2009 initially serving as assistant principal before transitioning to the role of principal in 2013 after providing effective building leadership within three of the district six schools I'm confident that Mr is the appropriate choice to succeed Dr cillo as the assistant superintendent for human resources Mrs pH says anticipated transition to the role of assistant superintendent will obviously create the need for the district to identify a qualified replacement to Ser as the next Melvin h k Middle School principal the search process will begin tomorrow so more to comment regarding um the Middle School principal search if you want to take a moment last week this is happening kind of throughout the state of New Jersey government's educator year of War we did communicate via the weekly update excuse me I am going to also use this as an opportunity to promote the weekly update okay most of the awesome things that are happening within our school district but also just good to have information is housed in the weekly update a communicated via email every Friday afternoon um a lot of hands go into crafting that but I would recommend that folks within the community um if you're not sure if you're looking for a reference point the weekly update is the place to locate that so I do want to take a moment to just acknowledge these talented professionals from each of our schools who are this year recipients of the government educator of year award uh the way the work the award works is that we identify two professionals within each of our schools one who is more of a traditional classroom teacher and another person who is an educational specialist who provides local support to classrooms so um I I'll preface this by saying that typically during the second board meeting in February uh we invite those individuals into a board meeting we publicly um acknowledge and celebrate their efforts during that time so we'll be doing that uh in the next couple of months but I do want to give them an acknowledgement this evening so for emk we have Jackie o'keef who serves as the educator IU The Edge specialist w c black Nicole coochi educator and the specialist GNR Patty tokens the educator and Caitlyn Stevens the educational specialist at plld Michelle Rand was the educator recognized Laura Lynch the educational specialist mhk Marissa the educator and Angie will was the educational specialist High School Eden Edinger was the educator and Kim roses was the educational specialist so congratulations once again to these very talented individuals and we look forward to honoring them at an upcoming board meeting several weeks ago I shared with the board that we would be using December 9th tonight uh as an opportunity to provide an update regarding some of the action steps um associated with some of the goal areas actually within all the goal areas of our strategic uh plan uh due to the um very popular response we received from the community regarding the VAC board SE made the decision to postpone that just just for sheer time and and ensuring that folks kind of um having a bandwidth to deal with that tonight so uh that update will occur uh it is scheduled to take place during the second board meeting in January 2025 um not to use the reorganization meeting for that so that update will occur just want to um highlight a couple of aspects we had our vocal performance tonight that serves as a precursor for the upcoming vocal concert Winter concert that will take place on December 17th at 700 p.m. here at he High School the auditorium uh last week December 5th Thursday I did have the pleasure of attending the instrumental concert here at he High School had an opportunity to see the rock band which was apparently something that we um was a blast from the past to some degree we have a number of students who interested in guitar in particular uh so we kind of expanded opportunities for students of the rock band was a part of the Winter concert in addition to our more traditional groups being concert F when Symphony excellent performances uh outstanding performance is always great to see our students and hear our students perform uh I've been appreciative of the level of participation that we are uh looking to see throughout our levels beginning at the elementary level but but sustaining that at the high school level so definitely want to commend Mrs goal supervisor of visual performing arts for her leadership and I definitely want to commend our height instrumental teachers band directors Mr in this event this past Saturday it was a ram Madness event it was the first event that we've attempted here at high school just to kind of Drive some I guess excitement anticipation regarding the upcoming basketball season uh so this Ram Madness event was the uh high school version of Midnight Madness and served as a pet rally to celebrate the opening of win basketball season attracted more than 260 folks in attendance included students families community members from our East Wind pal and Huey ball Recreation program um it really consisted of uh just some activities under the Community engagement umbrella but also some skill challenges and some scrimmages so I definitely want to commend coach Jenna Marcus and also coach joho as well as our athletic director Matt bord for kind of launching this and just creating another opportunity for students within the community to participate in something and and promote a program here the high school I do want to take a moment to uh just thank two of our board members tonight um colen Murphy Paul want to thank them for this service to the E Regional School District Community serving as board members in closing I just want to remind everyone that we have went to break that's rapidly approaching so we will have early dismissal on Friday December 20th and students will return to school on January 2nd 2025 uh so it's hard to believe that we're approaching 2025 but we are nonetheless so as we prepare to transition to the end of the school year just want to wish the entire East Windor Regional School District Community very joyous and peaceful winter holiday season and that concludes my thank any questions Mr Dan we will move on to um comments first opportunity for board member comments are there any board members anything want to share I'm sorry I just wanted to say that the uh Coral concert and then just young man it was just really awesome to see and it was really nice to see that students that we've SE in previous years continue on because it's it's a lot of time a lot of dedication both for the parents and for the students and the rehearsing and it's a big deal and they did a really good job that was I st it's been a pleasure working with col um I've had the pleasure of going to the um the play and the rock Rock instrumental concert last week and then tonight and's been fantastic absolutely incredible level of skill talent and it's also fascinating you get out and you start to see all the different uh programs the school has you start to see faces there's a lot of kids that are are like absolutely participating in multiple things got a lot of great talent in this District awes um I just have a couple things I wanted to share as Paul Paul as Mar said today is um Paula's last meeting um as her is complete um I just wanted to say Paula um you've shown passion and commitment for this District um and I just and for the community and the students Regional School District and I just wanted to thank you for your time and sort of I wish you happy holidays and um well ahead Colleen this is Colleen's last board meeting too as she closes out her second term um I don't know if everyone knows but Colleen is a high school a high school illino and um she's been a great addition to the board I want to thank you for your service and commitment to the district it's been a pleasure to work with you um grow and I can't wait to to see happen so best of Lu to you and lastly I would like to um Dr I would like to thank you for your many years of the district um it's had an impact on the district and administration um I want to thank for all your time work and I hope you the best and happy retirement um and I also wanted to say um at the I I hope I want to thank all the teachers and the Educators and the staff and the administration um for all your hard work these past few months I hope you have a really great holiday and a restful Break um there's no other board comments oh first is I wish we had enough seats for everyone who applied uh today to join um of course we can only choose one um but know open invitation for whatever the next U place opens on the board whether that's you know expected or just a regular um voting session um to please join um or you know we always me people in these candidates were very good um and then also thank you for your kind words um it's been an honor and pleasure serving these past six years um I've you know on a personal level learned a lot and I think grown a lot um in serving um hopefully any questions I ask or um U you know Finance or other committee meetings I served on helped in some way um Good Luck much success to those who remain um and please someone take over as a seconder on all the agenda items move on to first opportunity for public comment there any MERS of the public who wish to speak [Music] all right so uh thank you very much for your kind words to two of them today is my last board meeting and uh as you know I don't think I could pass the opportunity to speak at a microphone right so I have definitely need to do that when I my first board meeting when I was hired was in April of 200 16 um and at that board meeting we were celebrating the students of East Windsor we there were a bunch of kids here and we were talking all about um the colleges that they were going to go to so there were going to Princeton kids were going to rers kids that were going to Ryder they were really going all over the country and it was such a nice celebration and that was my introduction to the board so that's when I went into session and got to meet the board members at that time and I remember telling them how proud I was to be able to find the teachers that would be and the staff and all of the employees that were able to support the students do these fabulous things right I was just like so proud to do that so they gave me the opportunity to do that and since then I had to write it down because I couldn't believe it myself since then my office has hired [Music] 1,143 people uh over the past almost 9 years uh it comes to about 142 a year because I couldn't believe people a thousand people we hired thousand so we hired a thousand people and when you think of the H office more than half of that about almost 600 staff the rest were all of the support people that do everything behind the scenes that really support the teachers who were supporting the students so when you think of my office of HR you think of they hire people right hire people 1100 people past years but what you might not think of is the office does a lot of other things right so of course we do compliance we're always making sure that the district is not at risk for failing anything we do all of those wonderful things but we not really wonderful right all those in compliance you might not think they're wonderful but all of that necessary those necessary but we also support all of our staff in doing their their lifelong Journeys 30 seconds please my office it's my last meeting you think he's going to get the hook not going to get the hook so my office ushers and babies we support staff who are ill we have staff unfortunately who have catastrophic illnesses and really need support my office does that we help them care for their children we help them care for their parents for their their spouses as things go like wrong in their lives and we're really trying to help support them so I just really wanted to thank the board for the opportunity to do that for all of the staff for the past 9 years um it's really been a joyful uh collaboration with everybody um I wanted to thank Mark for his leadership over the past several years um Sandy Paul and Dave with their I can't believe we together Cal office as as we kind of grown up in the district together um and I really need to to thank my staff so Margie Janet and Julie who are really instrumental in helping the district move forward helping my office run smoothly um and really they've been professional Professionals for the past n years I couldn't have done anything them um so I really just wanted to thank all of you I know that it's late and I've been talking for a long time but that's okay right it's the last time I'll be doing that um and I really I don't watch Monday night I don't watch I know I know watch Monday Night Football so I really don't mind coming to the board meetings on Monday night I know everybody's always like right I know some of you guys really do I was kind of jealous of some of my office staff that they got a board committee and I didn't get a board committee so I couldn't hang out with you you know twice in one week um so anyway I just really wanted to thank you again it's been really great career thank you to everybody it's really been a fabulous place um whenever I do job fairs and I'm on the line and I get people in I always say welcome to East Wind it's a great place to work and it really is a great place to work and the board really makes sure that that's that's happening so thank you [Music] I if there's no other members in the public that wish to speak um the board will be for executive [Music] session it's probably a while um and we will it's going to be a little while there's a bunch of things to discuss um and then we will be back to discuss and vote on items thank you 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 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 the board is back in session um we are now up to item eight do I have a motion uh I motion um I I nominate uh I get a concepion for the vacan seat is there a second second are there any questions do we we pull you don't P we're good we're good okay not H yes Miss Murphy yes Miss boli yes Mr weeks yes Miss Kalia yes Miss laruso yes um item nine old business mine is blank yeah so this is really new business so um we are going to provide our provide a placeholder for proposed committee dates that'll be in line with the upcoming board meeting dates for next year okay okay then we will move on second opportunity for comments second opportunity for board member comments I have a comment I'm going to go first Colleen you have a plaque for you do you want me to read it presented to Colleen Murphy in grateful recognition for your outstanding dedication and integrity while honorably serving as a member of the East Windsor Regional School District Board of Education from January 2019 to December 2024 thank you thank you very much I appreciate it Paula I'm sorry we don't have a PL for you it's just because it was her second term um are there any other board comments I have one and I promise it'll be short um and I wrote it down just so I would get my thoughts on paper but thank you for the kind words but I will say to the excitement and relief of most of you in this room this is my final comment as a board bed member as I say that as I thought about it I was reminded of Ram's final board comment a few years ago though I can't recall the exact words it was something along the lines of none of you will miss me at the time I didn't fully grasp what he meant but now having experienced the same Dynamics I understand why he felt that way although you all want to make an impact the board resists change and we neglect some of our fundamental myself included because I've been a member for 10 months setting policies goals and objectives so just five things that I've learned we all want to make a difference but we're hindered okay most board members want to support the district and students but cannot because they lack complete information aren't supported or are shut down when they ask questions a clear example is the policy committee you excitedly dove in and spent nearly a year discussing updates to policies that are over 20 years everyone wanted to do it everyone wanted to see the change but in the 10 months I've been here not one change has come forth for a vote there's just no leadership driving this change policy is treated as an afterthought I've realized that I am more familiar with our policies than anyone in this room policies are not treated as the backbone of our district but as boxes to check this board often disregards policy or doesn't follow them verbatim undermining their importance and our accountability this one I learned the hard way asking about the budget is not well received when I ask questions they're met with vague answers or accusations of being overly suspicious my review of our reports over 10 months leads me to believe that we lack transparent bottomup budgeting for operation instead operating funds are shuffled around to cover costs not nefariously but inefficiently and this one is I place the blame on myself too the board Bears the responsibility for the academic decline we're the ones that own this responsibility the reason for our District's declining academic performance on state tests and other measures predates covid and rests directly with this board year after year we hear the same presentation ask the same questions and take no action the board is not responsible for day-to-day operations but we are responsible for the policies and goals that drive academic Improvement I asked to former student academic achievement committee and was told no Karen requested regular updates on academic progress and was told no I repeatedly asked for da on the timeline for moving students out of the ESL program and received nothing goal one of our strategic plan is to increase academic achievement for all students an update was due in November and now is not going to be given until January so I challenge the 2025 board to own this responsibility and take meaningful action for our students and finally being on the board is just not a good fit for me I'm frustrated by the inaction while I'm proud of what Karen and I accomplished initiating long overdue policy reviews and pushing for culum updates I realize I can be a stronger louder voice for change as a community member public comment is where the most powerful voices are heard and that's where you'll find me next so in closing the role of a board member should not be about maintaining the status quo but driving progress and accountability for the sake of our students I urge you all to reflect on why you're here and commit to the work that's needed thank you are there any other board comments then we will move on second opportunity for public comment are there any members of the public who wish to speak sorry I there was a sorry there is a another board member comment I had to go over the policy meeting um so we had a policy meeting meeting before this um we reviewed policies that will be up for the first reading um either January 6th but more likely uh the meeting after on January 27th um these first readings are going to be pushed to January 27th so that the three new board members can get access to those policies um so there were seven policies that we went over um executive Authority board member number and term board member Authority board officers public participation in board meetings recording board meetings and duties of the president and vice president um so we reviewed those together uh made comments about any changes that we thought were necessary um and again those will be up for first reading on probably January 27th are there any questions from the policy committee readout okay so there's no other board member comments we'll move on second aring for public comment there's no public comment then we will move on to um item 11 11 recommended policies for second reading a policy 2365 accept acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence AI second any questions hold the board please miss Drake yes Miss Murphy yes Miss boli yes Mr weeks yes Miss colie yes Miss laruso yes item 12 12 motion to approve routine items oh did you want to dat close it up Colleen motion to approve routine items by exception having read the materials received I move that the board approve the routine item agenda items as submitted a staffing 129 2024 B assistant a superintendent contract C ewea sidebar donated days D HIV report from November 18th 2024 e 2025 2026 ewrsd school calendar F approved travel and related expenses virtual and in person G technology recycling batch number 53 H approved plld Surplus library books for disposal and donation I approve Eagle Scout donation to WCB J approve WCB Surplus library books for disposal SL donation k out of District placement L Professional Services for students M bus evacuations n Transportation bids o reject HHS h bids P professional service contract HHS scoreboard Q board meeting minutes for November 18th 2024 R executive session board minutes November 18th 2024 s report of the board secretary and financial report October 2024 T expensive transfer reports of school money report for October 2024 and U Bill list of December 9th 2024 second are there any questions hold the board please M Drake yes Miss Murphy yes abstain from a line six and then B and C I'm sorry I know I'm so late on this but can I just ask one question I'm so so I'm so sorry um on the calendar that we're approving for this upcoming school year 2025 2026 where why are we end or why is the school year ending so late in the month it's ending on the 26th of June doesn't that seem like like we're so close to July why is that well we we we based the calendar on 183 day calendar um we've made some adjustments that we've actually enacted this year one be in the fall recess the first week in uh November where historically we would have about three actually two school days during that week um Once Upon a Time actually was three Monday Tuesday Wednesday we've made the the decision to close schools on Election Day so that um no November 4th day just because we have polling stations in three of our schools um that and that week is not the most constructive or productive academic week when students are coming to school on a Monday and Wednesday so it just seems cleaner to to have schools closed that's really what's made the difference to be honest and we and we also have Incorporated a professional development day that was something that we've done two years in a row so October 13th is a full day of professional development for teachers that's a day where students are not here but but staff is historically we haven't had that before so in doing so it just pushes the the end date okay about three days okay and then in the past I know sometimes we extended um Memorial weekend so does that mean that um that we would only have the one day for Memorial weekend right because I think people would pre I'm sorry now go ahead you ask the question I would think that people would prefer School ended sooner rather than more days like in that so so so so a couple things one you know um we build the schedule for 183 days we only need 180 you know staff certificated staff they need to work 183 um so we we build in to the calendar three emergency closing days that's how we get to 183 if we don't use those days we do expand which is included within here we do extend the Memorial Day weekend to accommodate for the for the lack of uh School closure there there's a few different ways School some districts do it differently they don't build that in and they add SC they add days on at the end that aren't planned um this is just being somewhat transparent in terms of where we are all right okay thank you you're welcome you want to start that again okay we did Miss Murphy miss boli that was yes thank you Mr weeks yes Miss Kia no the DNA yes to the rest thank you and Mr lusso yes um we don't have a need for a second executive session motion to adjourn e