##VIDEO ID:KLNFHZPglDU## [Music] thank you roll call Mr to yes Mr B Patel here Mr Rano here miss Pang here miss white here Mr Schneider Mr AA here Mr Vish Patel here miss Ana Patel Mr Lugo here you have a quorum thank you opening statement yes in accordance with the open public meetings act uh 19732 c231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Board of Education Administrative Office copies of these notices were sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger thank you um at this point we'll adjin to previl session in accordance with njsa 10412 the Edison Township Board of Education ad Junes to previl session for the purpose of discussing the following confidential personal and board matters and student matters can I have a motion to adjin to close session is brother there's also attorney client privilege on several litigation matters all right so we'll add that to the agenda for close session um motion motion uh second second second Mr Romano first Mr V Patel uh all in favor I I I right Jo to previl session and come back when we are ready thank you about we'll be about 20 25 minutes maybe a little less well maybe a little more depends and then we have two public hearings we have to announce we have two public hearings we'll hold the hearings when we come out of exact thank you right call to order at this point we'll reconvene to open session motion to reconvene motion second all in favor I I I great uh the first thing we have today is we will do a public hearing for John Marshall ground le as advertised and we'll have DMR Architects here who will present um the whole project plan and provide some more details on it before we move forward with the public hearing DMR uh the floor is all yours can you hear me perfect um good evening my name is pradep Kapoor I'm president and CEO of DMR Architects and we are here to present uh the project status of project status of the John Marshall um school so I'm just going to boot up my computer here went in sleep mode so um we've been working on the design of the project for last few months we submitted it to doe and last week we received couple of comments from doe very basic and uh we responded to it right away and uh now we are pretty much complete with the construction document I'm going to call uh Kurt verik is a partner and also the main designer for this project and Kurt will present overall schematics and renderings and then I'll talk about the budget and the schedule so over to C thank thank you pry um I'm Kurt ver director design DMR Architects um so today we're presenting um John Marshall um additions and renovation project um up on the screen you can see the um existing building is in tan and the proposed additions are in uh the orange color and the blue would be the renovations so essentially um coming into uh the site off of Barlo we'll be adding a new security vestibule we'll be renovating some um of the front um office needs uh we'll be converting the existing cafeteria into a new media center and then the addition which is on the top right it's that um kind of u-shaped um addition will um will house uh classrooms new cafeteria gymnasium Auditorium um and a new entrance uh for that portion of the building yeah okay so here's the first uh here's the um security vestibule Edition so this is at the main entrance um the orange and the yellow are the new addition portions which are um housing the security vestibule and um relocated uh front office for better relationship and um security and supervision uh the blue areas are Renovations um for administrative office spaces and then there's there will be a new Media Center relocated uh here we have this is the first floor plan and this is uh showing the new connection from the existing School into the new Lobby space that that Lobby space will lead into the new cafetorium um and then on the upper portion is the classroom Wing So at the at the rear of the school there's three-story classroom Wing um and that's that involves Oles includes kindergarten classrooms on the first floor here's the second floor again the second and third floor are the same they just Stack Up classrooms um staff support spaces and bathrooms so here's the rendering of uh the the new front of the school so as you um approach the site to the drop off area we've um reimagined and given the school a new identity where it was very um very old Antiquated and very um played down so the new entrance vestibule um is within that that blue entrance volume and then we're recladding the front of the of the uh existing building with new windows and new cladding and we're ENT adding new entrance signage um that identifies the school there on the right here is another view of the security vestibule sorry here's the new entrance of security vestibule so we're using um some uh interjecting some color into the windows and we're using blue complimenting to school school blue and yellow this is uh the entrance um at the new uh gymnasium Edition so this is the connector link to the existing school and there'll be a new entrance which will allow the school um to have activities after hours and be um be separated from the remainder of the school so this entrance would be uh you know an after hours entry when the gymnasium is being used off school hours and this view is of the rear of the building um so that's the is the classroom um Wing so this is the three-story classroom and on the left side you can see the gymnasium um which uh is clad with uh translucent wall panels to allow a nice diffused um natural light into the space and this rendering um represents what the new main lobby will look like so as you come in this security vestibule um there'll be um there'll be upgraded new flooring new um uh Trophy and display cabinets uh signage and then you can see on the right is where the main office entrance and main office uh space is and then finally this this is the uh the uh the lobby entry space at the gymnasium so this space has is a kind of interstitial space that's uh has some um raised seating area um that can be used for queueing in holding area it could also be used for during after hours as a um a sitting waiting area right outside the um outside the gymnasium space and that that concludes the uh the work that we've been working on with the floor plans and the renderings so thank you thank you good so um so those additions and um renovation area so total addition what we are adding between the classroom the gymnasium and the front lobby is about 56547 squ ft and the renovation area of the existing space which is the office the media center and the admin wing is roughly about 7,945 squ ft so um below that you what you are seeing is the construction cost uh numbers which are estimates uh based on the current market trends and the other projects we are working on um so we estimate this project to be about 30 milon 471 th000 in the pure construction cost the building does require a new service upgrade um because of the 56,000 ft addition we are adding to so that's about a million doll cost for that so total construction cost of the project hard is estimated to be about 31.4 7 million and we are carrying about 5% contingency for project like this which is again standard per industry Norm we have about $750,000 for furniture and then what you see below that is the uh soft cost which is um con uh construction manager Finance testing third party inspection and commissioning so those are the construction cost numbers uh next I have here is the project schedule um as I had mentioned oops uh as I had mentioned that U uh we are looking to complete the construction documents this month so our goal is to go out to bid by end of this month get the bids back first week of uh December November last week usually like you know gets a little slow because of Thanksgiving so we want to make sure we get the good bids in and then uh start construction after getting the permits and the legal contract award in the month of December so um the way we are doing the project is we are breaking it down into four phases um the back Edition will start at and the front uh renovation will start at the same time so the phase one of the project will be uh new Lobby and office area which we are targeting to complete August of 2025 so that it can be open for the new school year in September 2025 and then the rest of the project will complete um by August of 2026 so the entire school can open for September of 2026 so in in Big Picture those are the schu Milestone schedule items so that's all uh we have for this uh sir do you have soil samples are going to be taken for this project so we did the G Technical and uh we already designing the foundations or designed the foundation based on the existing soil sample that was taken from the geotechnical report good okay uh thank you for that report thank you anybody else anybody else would like to talk about about the thanks thank you okay thank you sir thank you Mr Toast uh yes we're we're now going to hold well before I open the public hearing on the financing of this project let me just um tell you a little bit about what we're doing so obviously we're we're going to take public have a public hearing which is an opportunity for the public to make comment on the financing of this project uh way back when before I got here the bo the board saw this board and many other boards saw it to so fit to use some shortterm financing tools um in order to finance a project such as this so the public hearing um on this project uh will allow us to go out to bid for financing to secure hopefully a favorable market rate and finance this project over a period of five years much like we did at um JP Stevens so with that being said um one thing that we don't have as of yet because we have to if everything passes from the public hearing we'll be able to send our application to the state and once they approve it we could accept and receive bids where we'll get an interest rate and all that other stuff um probably hopefully in the month of October so we'll know what our finance cost is for borrowing that money but right now this is just for your input on us um taking out a loan on the uh Marshall building so that being said I need a motion to open the public hearing motion to open public second motion by R Rano second by Mr Vish Patel okay at this point would anyone like to speak about the resol solution about the the building Joe about Marshal about Marshall lease about the Marshall lease I apologize right this is this is a public hearing specifically for uh the ground lease for the financing of the John Marshall uh addition renovation project is is there anyone and Mr sheay just a couple quick questions uh any rough idea what is the uh the current uh going interest rate is and what is the annual payment for this uh I know you don't have a definite answer it goes out a bit but you know any rough idea yeah I don't have a definite answer but I would assume it's going to be similar to that which which we did at JP stop the clock please I'm sorry I tell them to stop the clock because I hav oh oh could uh so why don't they stop they did they did yeah want do thisor you ask all your questions Jerry and then okay let me get my pen out the other thing that you know I look at the four phases the last phase is that the phase for multi-purpose room it's is a current uh the uh a media center um art room and office renovation so that's the existing building area the last place yeah that's the last phas so so last phase here which is starts from so I mean the way you are looking at is there are two different phas parts which are going to be finishing at the same time so um the main building which is going to start in January of 2025 will complete in August of 2026 and then this part which is a phase four this would not start until March of 2026 because we are using this as a swing space so while this U main cafeteria Edition is U being built the school will be using the existing Media Center which is current cafeteria and the kitchen so because we still want school to be able to function without interrupting their cafeteria and kitchen so that will be starting in March of 2026 and completing in August of 2026 okay thank you and that's that's the reason I asked the question you know just that you know make sure that we have cost and the other thing is about the leasing um we know that the right now we have about $30 million cash sitting uh uh with us that's the 20 million capital outlay and 10 million from the capital reserve that's allocated to the budget this year so we should have you know around $30 million there and we know the interest rate is coming down so uh uh why we are financing on this one instead of using the cash that we have in our hand uh then we can Finance maybe a little bit later for the jmi when Interest come down a little bit so that's my question thank you thank you for your comment Mr Sir M yeah you can answer that John so you know in regards to interest rates right I you know I think that the first question was what do I foresee I I mean I I think back when we did JP was like 4.6 um I would assume we're going to be in the neighborhood of 48 to 49 I know the fed's cutting rates though um but you know interest rates are day-to-day uh so you know interest rates change like I Chang my shirt so uh the best path forward that you know we thought we put this together was at that time Finance this larger project pay for jmi in full and then perhaps look into doing a split funded partially fund you know partially Capital EHS uh with a small loan on that as well so those were a couple of the options and this one is just the best path forward oh estimated payment if I use that math let's say at about a 4.8 rate uh I think don't remember this is not locked in because I got to receive bids and all that other good stuff uh how it could be tiered and structured I would anticipate 6 million in the first year uh then it would tier up to like 63 in the second 68 and then seven and then eight in the last year running opposite of how JP is structured where JP is heavier and then lighter towards the end so that they they they don't you know you have a little bit more breathing room so to speak but hopefully rates keep coming down thank you anyone else uh public comments on lease purchase only right saying none motion to end public comments on lease purchase motion second all in favor second I I right thank you the next we have is a public of uh hearing for our superintendent's contract so tonight as it was announced in the August board meeting we will be holding our public hearing on extension of superintendent Dr alar Ali's employment contract in accordance with njsa 18a 11.11 as you may be aware Dr alar Ali was appointed Acting Superintendent in November 2022 and he was appointed superintendent last year in August 2023 he has now completed one year of his initial contract and it has been a great year indeed uh at this year's August meeting in an on floor resolution brought up by Mr Rivera the board showed its continued unanimous support for the extension voting in favor of a proposal to commence negotiations for a one-year extension of Dr Alis contract by making this for the board's intention was to publicly and promptly start the legal process of this negotiation showing our support and our faith that an agreement would quickly be reached and Dr Ali would continue to lead the district in one more year successfully that vote taken in the last meeting means more of ceremonial and show of support and does not mean the Dr alr's contract was extended in the last meeting so that being said now in terms of the process we are pleased to advise that uh in last one month the contract extension has been negotiated with Dr alari and then reviewed and approved by the executive County Superintendent as I previously said we are now in the final stages of this process and that is what brings us to this public hearing of today on the matter on the matter of Dres contract and the board vote on it at this point U soon we will open up the floor for a special public comment section solely on the purposes of discussing the extension of Dr Al Alis contract um after everyone in the public who wishes to make a statement has been given the opportunity to make themselves heard the hearing will then be closed and later during the course of regular public meeting the board will vote on the resolution to approve or reject the proposed contract extension now everyone knows that I call him a rockstar so if anyone wants to play the Brooks Frankin music in the public comments they can feel free to do so and we all will welcome and enjoy that show over here I know that happened in the council meeting but especially this may be a right time to do that if someone is prepared for that we will be happy to have some entertainment on that today I know myself and other board members here we are looking forward to the hearing and considering your comments I will now ask for a motion to open the public hearing on extension of superintendent Dr Al's contract i' like to have a motion Mr Romano Mr Rivera right um let's open the public hearing and any public comments right Mr lenar thank you for this opportunity my question to Dr Al is that of course we looking forward address the future your name and address my name is tendra lenar 192 Evergreen Road Edison New Jersey 08837 right you recognized thank you my question that we have require enement in future job market of 50% stem jobs 50% stem jobs Edison school district providing opportunity to only 3.5% STEM related educations so this is not to interview the I'm interview I'm I'm asking his vision I'm just giving background first then ask Vision so I will what is his vision but he specifically on the contract ify have minutes as long as it's to okay perfect awesome the attorney says so that's your perfectly so perfect pause it just for sir just for everyone's edification this is a public hearing you have your six minutes it's not necessarily a question and answer period the board's president may make that discretionary move uh to answer or not answer however if it's not if your comments are not related specifically to the I understand his background but if it's not winds up not being specifically related we're going to ask you to sit down just just you and everybody else wind up being related to the superintendent contract thank you sir so if you reding her contract we need to know what is the vision for this community okay right I would like to what is his vision for the future of Edison school district when we looking forward for 50% requirement job market ver St what he is thinking of if he's not he has great vision for this of course you should go and contract but if it doesn't provid any vision for future of the township of kids what are you going to do so I'm looking for that Vision because we are only 3% St education students getting 3% students only getting the stated educations so what he thinking in future for Edison school district and their future of Stam carrier thank you thank you thank you oh you know yeah Dr Al would like to answer all the comments I okay sure we'll let the comments finish and Dr Al would like to say a few words after that uh anyone else for public comments for extension of superintendent's contract very Jerry Jerry she Edison I forgot I tell my name before sorry um we all love Dr Al we know he's doing a good job but how this thing was brought up is illegal and for someone who is in the educational field to bring the up on the floor it's beyond me you need to go and learn learn the basic trainings it's dangerous to not even know the policy of how to extend superintendent's contract that's the most important decision for board member is to vote out a superintendent's contract you know you know Mr Rivera was the only one who voted no on his contract who upstand on the contract when we were hiring him and now because he's very popular so he tried to redeem himself by bring this thing on the floor which is illegal so you know yes so Dr uh aor take advantage of it get it but I just want to say the process is wrong thank you thank you anyone else for public comments for superintendent's contract extension I don't see any hands raised um last call all right uh motion to end public comments for superintendent's contract extension motion Mr Romano Mr Vishal Patel all in favor I right the public comment SS here U for superintendent contract extension Mr pass a question board attorney was there anything illegal of what was done no the process was there's a five-step process there has to be notice which was H happened last meeting there has to be notification of a hearing that happened last meeting there to be approved by the county superintendent executive County Superintendent that occurred there has to be a public hearing on the recis recision of a non-expired superintendent's contract that's now and then fifth is voting those are the steps and I appreciate that I'm popular but I also want to discuss um I did vote Yes to hire Dr alderi I voted no based on a i abstain from the terms of his contract I won't divulge what was discussed because it would put people in a uh uh funny circumstance I I'll respect that but I do say I do not agree I did not agree with the terms of the contract for somebody who was an Acting Superintendent for a year and I I I really just don't want to speak about it but I have my reasons for abstaining um and I don't want to call people out for it because I do have a lot to say if I really wanted to uh attorney do we have a repal no no first of all there's a motion second to vote so we we can't stop the motion unless there's a point of order and I haven't heard a point of order from this board okay all right so Dr Al you want to make comments now yeah sure so in relationship to the to the vision for um not only stem um expansion but Academy expansion to be honest with you um so we we've got a few roadblocks number one is space in both high schools but we are are currently addressing both of those pieces um and the goal is to be more inclusive than exclusionary right you still have to have um a form of of criteria for placement right you have to um not only adhere to those but also revisit them to make sure that they are Equitable that they are in line with um you know District expectations and um content standards as well but um one of the things I think think that we can do a better job is offering opportunities not only in stem but in business programs in medical and all of those pieces creating little mini acms and this is this is all part of the strategic planning program it's all embedded in our programs and Pathways and what we value um in relationship to our portion uh portrait of a graduate is to provide manys within our schools so that we can provide in-depth opportunities for kids to engage in content and skills that they demonstrate uh capacity in and an interest in um and also provide them with real world experiences um for internships I mean Edison Edison is the you know is has more opportunity in relationship to local businesses um parents who have um access to uh positions in it in business and in finance so we need to start tapping into the stakeholders to provide our students with the opportunity um to get trained in an area that they see themselves right not every and here's the other piece too on the flip side of that not everybody has a four-year path right and you know I'll utilize you know my boys as an example too right they they may not necessarily be College you know College Bound but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't have access to a career and what interests them and providing opportunities to know hey what what does it look like what's the pay scale for an electrician currently right now what is the training that goes behind that what are opportunities in Edison Township where we can have a group of students that are interested in HVAC uh Plumbing um being mechanic any of those components right or even being in the technical field um you know uh in relationship to uh the medical field right doing scans all of those pieces need to come together at an early age and and believe it or not it shouldn't start in high school it's actually got to start in the middle school that's where we really have to start peing interest doing interest-based and um career inventories uh which we do a pretty good job at right now but the our strategic plan is really focused in that area on making sure we have access for those students and creating little mini kind of communities within our schools with the space that's permitted too and and exposing more students than less that would be the goal that's my vision for that and it's also my job to execute it as well right thank you so much so as stated the vote will be during the regular meeting one of the agenda items so this ends our a public hearing motion to public hearing for superintendent contract motion Mr Mr Romano second second Mrs Bang all in favor hi right perfect Now we move on to our regular meeting for today um greetings cisen Community we hope you all had a enjoyable and relaxing summer with your families and are getting settled in with the new 20242 school year as Board of Education we take pride in all the achievements ments of the school district and we look forward to continued celebration of the achievements in this new upcoming year we are pleased to have witnessed one of the smoothest back to school years in so in so long and we are very grateful to our superintendent Dr alari and his administrative Team all the principls at the building level and all the staff members and teachers and the entire and School District staff to bringing it all together thank you so much um alongo along with that of course all the amazing parents and students uh keep up the good work uh before we began the school year the day before we had a wonderful convocation one of the best shows put together in years by our superintendent Dr Ali uh such events brings together the staff at one place and reinstate the spirit and you know it's a testament to all the good things that we do over here and we take pride in that this month there were so many good back to school nights um all the parents took advantage of it um EHS and JP band festivals and awesome games where I think the schools are at a good start in the beginning of the year um and um how can I not talk about successful launch of the new brand new amazing website thanks to our communication director Heather Daniel um today we will hold the public hearing for we hold we held the public hearing for exra of extension of superintendance contract and John Marshall lease purchase both of that very incredible things that we are proud of and we'll speak more to it um and vote on it later on uh we look forward to a productive meeting today and encourage public participation including the music if anyone wants to play any music feel free we'll we'll be happy give you six minutes for that music you can spend time on that we love that as long as it's a good one um personally I would like to also thank all the parents all the teachers staff members principal and students and when we witnessed a wonderful back to school year and really happy to see people here in public who come and speak very value very much value your time and it's really encouraged that because very few have spent their time and come in the public meeting and speak so thank you so much for being here today and participating in our meeting right uh that being said I will pass on to Dr Aly for superintendent report thank you so much president Patel uh good evening ladies and gentlemen I hope all is well with you uh just a couple highlights um for the month of September currently right now uh just Echo uh Mr Patel's sentiments in relationship to the start of the school year um that was evidenced by the smiles uh on our students and staff members faces uh particularly at uh the schools in which expansion projects have been uh finalized I can tell you um especially over Thomas Jefferson the look on the students faces um from the seventh and eighth grade students when they walked into the building at first just the smiles on the face to look at um their new entrance way brand new gymnasium um it it really is um just a testament to not only the work that was done behind the scenes but also the work of this board and and and previous administrations and their Vision to put those PE you know put put um Vision into action um and uh I know the anxiety that surrounds the beginning of school right from a teacher perspective the butterflies in the stomach that happened on uh you know before opening day uh and that happens for building principles and and believe it or not it even happens for superintendant as well too so um just uh wanted to compliment uh everybody uh who's done a wonderful job to make the beginning of 2024 uh 2025 school year a huge success um as part of our um as part of my report each month um I will be updating the board in relationship to um the Strategic plan and where we are in specific um processes as well as um providing presentations from our co-chairs periodically over the course of this year um you know creating a vision and creating a mission for the school district is is very hard work but the most difficult work is the work that we have ahead and that is implementation and that is making sure that this document and this action plan that we collectively had over you know close to 5,000 people participate in isn't something that just sits on the Shelf it's something that we measure it's something that we revisit and it's something that we value here um and I think um you know with the board's support that we have a really really good stepping stone in order to set this District on an unbelievable path so just as a quick update currently right now um our co-chairs met last week uh to be to begin planning action steps for year one of their respective Focus areas and those areas are Wellness portrait of a graduate uh finance and Facilities um engagement and programs and Pathways uh they are also in the process of creating a live dashboard for all stakeholders to see in relationship to how we're measuring those goals so each of the action steps will be listed as well as the Board of Education goals and it'll also show you where we are in relationship to year one progress and overall progress over the course of the five years um and this is something that is going to be readily available and updated throughout the month by all members of our um uh our of our initial Committee in relationship to our co-chairs and uh I can't compliment them enough as well as their team members uh for the for the work that they've done and uh you know looking forward to reporting out on all the great things that that we're doing um I I I would be remiss in in in not mentioning this I was able to be on the sidelines for JP Stevens first football win and and I think was it five years I think it was two or six year might have been 2018 was was potentially the last win yeah 41 games right um what an unbelievable game that was it went into overtime uh and uh I I was fortunate there might be a video of me of you know slapping you know high-fiving the building principal at that time when we punched in the extra point uh to to go ahead so a a big shout out and congratulations to not only the players but to the coaches to the fans that stormed the field that was a uh a long deserved win and it and it's just as a testament to uh the hard work that everybody put in to make um their first win in a long time a successful one and congratulations to the athletic directors as well too I know they put a lot of work in behind the scenes and um and did a great job in scheduling uh for this year also uh quick update in relationship to Transportation uh the subscription busing portal will open uh tomorrow couple weeks um earlier than we anticipated I think there our initial Target date um was October 15th we are going to open it up the 1 uh correspondence is going went out today um in relationship to the time frames and the parameters as well as the cost um if you have any questions in relationship to that please feel free to reach out to your transportation department and utilizing the help desk um uh to answer your questions uh as well as you know criteria and it's it'll be going out to to that those families that are currently eligible uh last but not least um we uh we value all the work that board of education members do um and the volunteer uh volunteerism that they put behind the scenes uh it was brought to my attention recently that our Board of Education president um has received another Accolade in relationship to his certification um and his path to become a uh certified board leader am I correct in that uh Mr Patel yep and I'll just read you a couple pieces uh about some of the things that Mr Patel had to go through in order to demonstrate his dedication to not least board of education but to the community as well too uh Mr Patel has an additional 20 credits um for a total of 60 BMA credits um from all of the additional core areas right and that would be uh ethics Finance the all of the components that make up a board of education member um uh the criteria in in um in service as well too was met um they must meet um all CBL requirements for certification leader stuff that you can read on our website too I see the executive director um also is on top of this plaque as well too which is a great Accolade um the uh NJ BSA uh will not only Bank these credits but they'll also be applied to his designation for further pieces so um without any further hesitation Mr Patel if I could just briefly read this New Jersey school boards Association board member Academy Mr Bureau Patel you are among the elite group of school board members who have completed the requirements for the board member Academy program and are hereby awarded the designation of certified board leader of August 2024 uh a testament to your commitment to uh learning and uh and uh advancement in your position here so um congratulations uh responsible uh welld deserved so it's my pleasure so maybe a round of applause from the audience [Applause] well good Doc and that concludes my comments for this evening right thank you so much uh next is student council Representatives we'll first start with Derek Dudek uh from medison high school and you have unlimited time hello my name is Derek dudak and I'm the student council president for the 2024 25 school year and I think the year's gotten off to a good start with everything going smoothly starting with the uh freshman orientation we had in August I think the freshman learned a lot and also enjoyed their time too with the bouncy house we had in the big gym for high schoolers and uh back to school night was also a success and today we just had our co-curricular Fair in the cafeteria after school where all kinds of different students came and started to looking to get started to get involved in the different clubs we have for the high school and coming up next month we have in the week of the 12th we have our spirit week where we'll have days like pajama day uh Sports Jersey day and EHS merch day leading up until the pep rally that we'll have on on that Friday after at the end of school we're going to have uh students dump Dunked On by water buckets and a baseball inspired uh inflatable mascot race around the track going into our homecoming game that we'll have that Friday night against where Edison's going to beat South Brunswick and then the next day of course is the homecoming dance on October 19th and a couple things I've heard from classmates around the school uh include thoughts about the new phone policy where nobody can have their device out in class unless they want it taken away to the office for the day and obviously some people think it's annoying but I don't think it's been an issue so far and from what I know it's at least been a little bit helpful in students helping students pay attention in class and the only real complaint that I've I've heard and agree with is how crowded the hallways are between classes and how difficult it is to get to the next class on time I know that's something that's it's definitely no easy solution to that besid the only thing I could think of was possibly increasing the time between classes slightly to make it easier but other than that there aren't many real issues and overall I think the year is going well so far and we have lots to look forward to thank you thank you so much for being here and your comments uh next is JP Stevens Bill Tang hello good evening everyone my name is Bill tang and I am one of the two co-presidents of the student council at JP Stevens High School so with school having started about a month ago our school Community is gradually transitioning back to school and classes we had the new student orientation on August 28th back to school night on September 12th picture day on the 13th and pushed out four issues of our weekly n digital magazine the weekly we also hope that all of this will help our student body get a um better understanding of what is happening this year furthermore our extracurricular activities and Athletics are also starting with many clubs already organizing fundraisers and hosting interest meetings while our athletic teams are also representing our school at meets and games as Dr elderi had said our football game has won our first homie of the year and our girls volleyball team is going strong scoring multiple victories our school marching band has also officially started with their first home show this year on September 28th which is last Saturday and they have performed amazingly despite the unideal weather conditions and in preparation for October's week of ECT JP Stevens diversity equity and inclusion student leadership team have come together to plan out various interactive lessons in the form of activities presentations and videos the team's goal is to recognize and respect but more importantly to amplify and Inspire impact and change and lastly we had our um Spirit day week for leading up to our peepy and TGA event which happened on Friday the student council and administration had collaborated on an effort to expand and raise school spirit by implementing fun Battle of the classes style activities that any student could participate in while also recognizing our student athletes moreover we had successfully held our first official tailgate to celebrate JP's Diamond Jubilee the tailgate saw a great turnout with many students showing up to have fun play games eat snacks and in general just support our football team as well as get the chance to witness some of our beloved teachers and administrations in the dunk tank which is definitely a huge um highlight for many students and this concludes everything happening at johnp Stevens High School as of today we plan to have our um Club fair or co-curricular Fair on October 9th and then the um oh my mistake The Freshman social on October 9th and the co-curricular fair on October 10th and it is such a pleasure to be up here and thank you so much thank you so much uh you folks may choose to leave if you your school tomorrow so it's up to you all right uh next we'll move on to public comments for Resolutions only any public comments on resolutions only about the complaint this is public comments on resolutions only so Matt Rak is the speaker next speaker good evening Matt revnak ETA president um just I believe there's one correction that needs to be made actually two of them on the Personnel report um on page 32 it's Charlotte cerino and on the top of page 33 is Lindsay maragato um basically have taken effect on 101 um these people started their work year earlier I believe that should be not pro-rated but retroactive um they actually started their position in I believe it was August 1st thank you thank you any more public comments on resolutions Jerry uh question about a couple of the policies that's coming up uh 3324 right for privacy and 4324 uh to me they're identical and one is for uh teaching staff the other is support staff members so has the committee considered combining them because we have way too many policies um the number is too much but I think the wording is almost identical uh the other things I I brought up last time is is about policy 1432 uh about the last sentence was in the in the before the last paragraph a student representative shall rotate each school year amount high schools we have two high schools and we have been you know they've been coming to the school board each uh each high school and we shouldn't be keeping that we should continue to to let both of them come at one meeting so um I don't know after I I I mentioned what did the the committee consider uh changing that um uh that policy and also there's a policy the last policy is 9181 uh that this is about the volunteering for uh coaches and for other um activities and if you look at towards the end of the policy it says that uh anyone who wants to do the volunteer work needs to have a substitute uh certification uh we have a lot of parents who are willing to come in to help uh for sports and or for some other uh technology things like you know now we're going to AI computers um I can say probably a lot of them do not have that certificate uh is that the a must to have um in order for them to come in and uh uh help volunteer for any of the activities we know that we have uh uh robotics we have drones we have all of that so uh I don't know if there's any um flexibility on that particular policy um and also there's also there's approval for the curriculum guide guide for all the all the grades for middle school and high schools and uh to me it's the school already started and we're putting out these curriculum guides uh I don't know if our teacher is going to you know get enough time to follow this uh maybe we should have them at you know before the school starts so our teaching staff can know what are the changes in those uh uh curriculum guid so they can Implement in their class PR for this for the new school year so um you know approving these in September seems late to me uh but maybe I'm missing some of the stuff but uh you know um you know that we the one of the the the the complaints that we heard from some of the staff is the curriculum change every year we need some stability uh for that I know everything is changing but we need some stability and uh U for the curriculum guide to be approved in September I uh to me is a little bit late that's just my comment thank you very much thank you Dr okay um I think I'll start with uh I think the first question was uh the uh redundancy of 3324 and 4324 um that we have to have two separate policies in relationship to yeah the the way the policy uh book is set up the manual is set up is that there's a policy for staff and there's a separate SE ction for support staff so that's why they may look identical uh and they may be exactly identical but it does relate one to the certificated staff and one for the support staff perfect um I believe the other policy was the high school representative uh as well too um this policy indicates uh a minimum of one the regulation provides the uh Board of Education latitude to incorporate two at each of these particular meetings and three if we were to utilize the Edison Success Academy at some point as well too Mr super Dr um the also the board president pursuing to parliamentary procedure can invite anyone on the day it's provided that the policy allows for it to begin ref 9180 81 um School volunteers uh so uh yes it also does provide flexibility it actually uh relies um there is a uh a certain number of days that an individual can volunteer as long as they're vetted um by the Raptor system and approved by the building principal for parents to come in and do a lot of the things that you talked about right they could assist in the cafeteria they can assist with um you know small presentations do things along those lines it provides the building principal latitude this one is more along the lines for a coaching and co-curricular piece to something that's a little bit more regimented right that meets weekly over the course of you know anywhere between 12 to 15 weeks we want to make sure that you know somebody that's and and and predominantly after school that's what that um provides as well too but definitely provides the flexibility in relationship to that um I think that was it in relationship to policies was a curriculum guides as well too yeah so um yeah so so uh Fair Point Mr shei in relationship to that we we definitely you know the both Chief academic officers as well as the Departments have um presented the uh curriculum most of these are updated based off of new standards as well too so um even though the guides weren't approved the standards are rolled out from Individual departments as well you know from an elementary perspective science and things along those lines um but I agree with you it it probably makes a little bit more sense to approve them uh the standards are just align the you know the curriculum is aligned to the standards so we have to follow them from a state mandate anyway thank you anyone else for public comments for resolutions saying done motion to end public comments on resolutions motion second Mr Romano Mr Vishal Patel all in favor hi hi at this point we will take a vote on motion to approve Personnel report can I have a motion to approve personal report motion Mr Roman and Mr Vishal Patel um this one is a motion to approve personal report which also includes superintendent Dr alar Al's contract extension um and there was a motion so roll call Mr to Mr Lugo yes Miss Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Rivera yes Miss White I have to abstain on on on only this wherever I have a conflict on everything else noted Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries congratulations Dr Ali thank you very much thank you I appreciate the board's support thank you this this is uh this brings me a lot of joy as I'll have the privilege to sign on Dr Al's new contract and that's nothing is bigger pleasure than that and his under his leadership so many good things will hopefully continue in the school district so thank you all right next up is motion to approve Administration curriculum and instruction and pupil special services reports can I have a motion motion Mr Romano second Mr Vishal Patel roll call Mr to yes Mr Lugo yes Miss Patel yes Mr Vish Patel yes Mr AA yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes Mr uh vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries thank you next is motion to approve Finance reports and this includes uh lease purchase right Mr to yes all right uh motion to approve Finance reports motion to approve Mr Romano second Mr Vishal Patel roll call Mr to yes Mr Lugo yes Miss Patel yes Mr Vish Patel yes Mr Rivera yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries thank you so the board approved superintendent Dr alr's extension without the we missed the music nobody was prepared for it but could have come at with the music but anyways he still a rock star and we uh take pride in that and the John Marshall lease purchase when it goes out to bid this will be extremely beneficial to the students it's going to resolve the crisis we have at that school and hopefully the board continues to work in the direction of um you know construction wherever possible to resolve the overcrowding crisis right next up is committee reports U we have Finance audit and oversight committee it was held on September 24 uh 2 p.m. that the discussion items attend in attendance were myself Mr Lugo Mr romano and Mr Schneider uh the committee discussed John Marshall Le presented by DMR the same thing that you saw today and there were several contracts and change orders and other other procurement items that were discussed and all these things are listed on the agenda under Finance report so anyone can feel free to go and take a look cuz I want to bore anyone over here by reading that long report which is visible out there on the agenda so I'll spare some um you know time for going instead of going over that feel free to take a look and ask Mr to if anyone has any questions later on right the next one was uh curriculum in technology and student achievement committee and uh in attendance was myself um Mrs Goomer and Mr Rick Coan um Mr Mr Kohan and Mrs Gummer reviewed the curriculum guides that were revised this summer and provided information about why the revisions took place uh k212 eln math curriculum were revised due to new standards required by NJ dooe in ela many of the existing standards were broken down even further and in math some standards were moved as well as added uh the gifted and talented kindergarten push in units were added and as we continue to grow the critical thinking program new elective courses at Middle School curriculum that documents were written forensic science public speaking photography student Enterprise the business entrepreneural theater digital design studio form and fire and make and create and innovate science courses were revised to include climate change mandates AP courses were revised to reflect to the AP syllabus from the College Board stem courses were revised to reflect the AP syllabus from the the latest technology and include interdisciplinary and Innovation projects a number of elective courses at the high school were updated to reflect new standards New World Language course curriculum were written Spanish communication and culture and Spanish Heritage too uh the courses were k25 Ela in elementary k25 math gifter and talented and middle school math primate Ms geometry Ms Asis uh Ms six earth science the seventh life science e physical science forens six science M drop and public speaking and at high school there are quite a few courses um again all these things are in the agenda under the curriculum report anyone can feel free to take a look and you know any questions please reach out to anyone here or best is should en Emil to Dr Al early and he'll be happy to provide an answer and explain in detail right thank you so much everyone now one of the things that I want to before moving on to the board member comments is it has been brought to my attention that there has been some public discussion regarding the board's meeting calendar and the potential for once again having caucus meetings once a month it was also brought up at the ETA candidate night last week you guys had one of those things as a question in your lightning round or some other round and the candidates potential candidates candidates and they responded to it and have personally also received emails and correspondences from public regarding this uh the prior board voted on board's calendar and all the Caucus meeting in last year fall were cancelled as far as I know unless I'm forgetting something here so that makes me think personally that the board and administration felt that since the board is very productive during its voting session meetings that the Caucus meeting was not necessary at that time now from what I understand speaking with the administration and Dr Ali between the board's regular meeting and um the efficient use of board's committee meetings the board's regular voting meetings are extremely efficient and streamlined therefore they don't require a Caucus meeting monthly in the fall there were caucus meetings in from January till July this is we are talking about fall however because there has been this public discussion of Caucus meeting I'm directing superintendent Dr Al Ali to review the need of the Caucus meeting for fall for the upcoming three months the board will vote on the meeting calendar again in January to review the need and discuss this matter with the board members between now and in the next few days and U if the administration with the majority feels there is a change required in adding a meeting then absolutely yes we will add a meeting if Dr alra Administration and the board together collectively decide not to add the Caucus meeting will will not be adding the Caucus meeting so it is not my personal decision whether to add meeting or not this has to be evaluated by the administration and in with the input of board members so um Dr Aly if you can reach out to the board members in coming days and then we will uh we will report back if if the decision is made to add an October meeting you will see one popup if the decision is not made then it will be reported back Dr dry will report back his findings about the Caucus meeting with complete transparency and details thank you so much thank you now we'll open up this to board member comments any board member comments in general yes Mr V padel thank you so as a board member and and a concerned parent I believe it's our responsibility to ensure that parents are informed about significant um aspect of their children's life uh policy 5756 undermines um that that right it makes it optional for administration to inform parent about the gender choices of their children and it undermines the fundamental role the parents play in guiding the children so and I know miss you know Miss Ana Patel and miss you know Mr Chris Lugo was very concerned about this topic even before they got on a board and it was part of their campaign agenda so I urge the board member to consider abolishing this policy and reinforcing the importance of communication between open communication between uh schools and families and and I like to you know put the motion to abolish policy 5756 I'll second so what is uh can you read it what's the motion abolishing abolishing policy 5756 is any okay um so now is there should call for discussion okay so any board members any discussion 5 56 Mr logo yeah thank you Bo president and uh uh board member visha Patel you're absolutely 100% correct this is something that we were most definitely concerned with we did campaign on it and um I can speak for myself I fully believe in what you had just said um this this is something going forward um we do have uh legal um legal our legal representation they are looking at this digging a little bit further and um we're also you know also want to you know we are also taking into consideration the legal gains and the legal pitfalls that other districts have actually experienced as well so we could actually leverage them and use them to our advantage with moving forward okay um so uh you you are 100% correct I don't necessarily think that there's a board there's a board member who's sitting up here in the deis that um that actually believes otherwise that parents should be kept in the dark I don't from what I understand I don't think anybody here has ever um communicated that to me um but but but you're you're absolutely right I mean 5756 um does put does put us in a bind and you know not fault of our own I mean it is you know put into state law unfortunately so you know we do need to find a way to navigate that however but to your point you're absolutely correct um we stand in alignment with the parents and their rights um you know to be informed with the um with the decisions that their you know that their their their children are making you know especially decisions that could have catastrophic consequences thank you you board president yes M um I just want to say don't get me wrong 57 5756 is not about whether children should change their identity um it's about the parents being informed and parents needs to know what's happening to their children in order to provide the best support I mean we all know who loves the children the most it's the parent who's ultimately responsible for the children until they turn 18 is the parent not the state government we have been entrusted the the policy committee chair Brian Rivera with this issue for months and months we have heard nothing this isue rise last year um during the campaign Trail or already and we have waited a whole year we don't see any resolution we don't hear any possible you know resolution at all so but we have to know every day this policy remained in effect is a day that parents are kept in dark so therefore I think we should I'm going to vote for remove abolishing this policy right any other board member comments Mr River so Eddie are we allowed to discuss what the attorney says because it says attorney client privilege attorney work product you're referring to that was a um a brief that was provided by uh engino and Taylor in relationship to uh guidance on how to proceed with this policy 5756 um the implementation of the policy the options in relationship to modification of the policy um keeping the policy as is and the potential to abolish the policy that uh Mr Patel Just had said as well um Mr ver you are allowed to speak on any opinion that you have um you cannot read from the legal opinion but if you have an opinion even if it's based upon the legal opinion you're allowed to express it but you cannot disclose attorney client privilege thank you so a couple of months ago and I I want to give Mr marrow a lot of credit you know he came out multiple times to plead his case and for someone to do that I have the most outmost respect for you for for doing that so when he made those comments I thought it was important for us to me to discuss this we've met with the policy meeting we met with the people that are actually on the policy meeting visell actually asked to attend the meeting so he was a part of the conversation and it was a very good productive meeting um at the end we did ask the attorney to let us know what our options are because again this is a very controversial policy we don't want to you know if anyone knows anyone Chris nailed it saying that everyone has parental care about parental rights here um but again this is a a interesting and very tricky policy so what we did was we hired aino and Taylor to come in to actually give us some feedback they gave us a background of the policy they talked about what other districts are doing and they actually gave us three particular options I believe Vell actually said at a board meeting uh a couple of months ago the the hardest thing about this was like I just said now we can't I can't share what the attorney said but the attorney gave us three options the attorney gave us their recommended option and that's why um we pretty much haven't really discussed it um so the reality is I wasn't sure if we were allowed to dis I was told that we can't share this and now you can't share the document but again if you have made a deduction of your own opinion you can if there's debate you can you know whatever that deduction of based upon the meeting based upon what the attorney said if you've made it come to your own conclusion or opinion you may Express that at uh in discussion now the attorney provided an option and it was an option that um protects the district protects the staff members um protects the child um so it it's my opinion is again I'm for parental rights but I'm also here to protect everybody um and that was the recommendation from the attorney that I guess Eddie I don't know if you want to add anything to this for president yes Mr Brian you if you couldn't share with the public even for the legal issue you could probably share with the other board members if you are ready to move forward with this policy right we have started the conversation started we asked the policy committee to look into this issue months ago and we have I mean for me I have not hear anything and what what's there for board transparency and for board collaboration to resolve this issue I have seen none so could you give us I know a timeline that when do you what's the next step when do you plan to have this resolved or when do you have to have a proposal of what's the next step I hope it's not after the election thank you Mr River you want to respond to that I don't think the elections got anything to do with it people amaze me um I could definitely share the document with you um I know vial was aware of it Chris was aware of it it's interesting um and the policy people people on policy many are aware of that document but if you want to see it you're more I'll be more than welcome to share happy to share it with you could you share a timeline that was the next step or what do we Shannon I mean we have a motion on the table we have a second it's a discussion we're going to vote on it one way or the other so yeah Mr I just unless there's a point of order Mr Rivera was determined to have the floor he can have the floor he was he allowed M uh trying to make a decis interrupt and ask a question he's still allowed he still has the floor unless you're concluded no I'm fine with it you know these are just the games they play no no I'm just just for parliamentary procedure you have the floor you re you received it so move on to let me so this it's not a game for the students or for the parents one second Mrs SP and we I'll do one more round you shouldn't say this is a game this is not a game Shannon I'll do one more round for board member comments if any uh before that I have a question for the attorney so well we we have had motions come on the floor before in this um board this throughout the year so I understand the Motions come on the floor what is the process and this this policy is yeah something that you know raises eyebrows of certain people something that people have to own whether they vote Yes or no there are there are implications to it and I was a part of the policy committee where and I was in that meeting so a whole lot of things were discussed as you briefed and whatever allowed not allowed is one thing and as we you are also part of that and uh you know like Mr Lugo Mr Vishal pel Mrs bang Mr Rivera all of us I myself strongly agree that if now I'm not talking about the policy here but from I understand at this point is we are talking about not informing the parents I personally am absolutely opposed to that the parent has to know what's going on with the child absolutely but that's that's one part of that right the policy may have other things and implications and those are the things that were a part of discussion uh so coming to the point of the question to attorney is since there's a motion on the table uh motion on the floor and no motion table is a motion in a second any motion I sorry motion to the vot motion to vote uh what is the option the board has right now to discuss in a close session or there is no such option if we want to all discuss have a vote it's it's a vote I mean I put a motion second it has to be voted yeah the answer is yeah that was my legal My Illegal opinion my parliamentary position is that there's a legal motion on the table the motion has been seconded it's the appropriate time we we allowed to have debate debate is to be done in public on a motion uh there's nothing privileged or confidential that needs to be on a policy that needs to be discussed in exec so uh at this point unless there's a superseding motion this the you can call the question take a a vote up or down okay all right so any more board member comments sir yes Mr Romano could you please read the motion read thetion motion to abolish policy 5756 thank you I I apologize Mr P is there a company I don't know your policiy your regs I don't have access to them online is there an a corresponding regulation as well I I don't have access to that doc going to Dr Al is stra I don't believe I don't believe there is okay so then it's just just and for the audience the motion is just for for the policy there is no regulation that corresponds if there was a regulation that corresponds you'd have to have a separate Vote or join that together the policy yes so at this point so I have a motion on the abolishment 57 5756 by Mr Patel V Patel and the second was Miss Pang a roll call Mr Mr Lugo yes M Patel yes Mr Vish Patel yes Mr a based on attorney's recommendation I say no Miss White I think we need to see what the attorney's recommendation is and I'm just going to take this opportunity right now to say why it is so very important why we continue with the caucus meetings before the regular Action meeting so these things can be discussed and we can make no you know honest informed decisions how can you make this decision without knowing what's in that document I mean we need to know this so that we can do the right thing the right way as far as my own opinion I don't agree with that policy it even a little bit but I think we need to know what is in that document before we can decide um is that a I'm Sor anain it's a no it's a no it's a no thank you uh Miss Pang yeah the committee had a meeting in June and so far it's not about another callus so far we have not he anything to be shared with the board so yeah of course I said the vote is yes vice president Romano no president Patel yes motion carries any board member comments any other board member comments thank you uh sir yes Mr ran if this goes to court can the court overrule us sir what do you I'm not sure over if we if we if we voted to abolish this can the state or a a higher Court well the state well the state's rule is well anybody could file suit against the board obviously and where do we stand sir well the court cases are saying you that there there was an admission by the Attorney General's office office that the polic they only can issue guidance they can't require us to pass you know pass it one way or the other there is a the Court's theory is that there is already an L policy in place and discrimination against a sexual affiliation sexual affection is covered under that policy so there's a there's a theory in E either way um um and it all depends on the judge you get the decision um that was done out of uh I believe it's Mars County decision out of Mammoth County are not presedential in Middle sex County so the judge in milx County can have a different determination thank you sir you any other board member comments before we open up to public in general I just have one everything congratulations Eddie very much in the midst of all this congratulations and I know it seems an awful long time ago but that convocation was outstanding and anybody that was there would have to agree and it's really too bad that the uh public doesn't get to see that you know there's so much positive energy and it just sets the whole school year off on actually the right foot it's uh you know it was a pleasure to be there you were amazing so were you know so were all the other speakers ERS and you know everybody that worked so hard to pull that all together cuz it was huge and uh it was just a really wonderful thing but just to back up just a bit with the caucus meetings I know we we're not supposed to do that but I for one and you know how I feel about this I have been very vocal about it we need our caucus meetings we need them so we can digest and go review we cannot just put them side I could see in the summer but not in the Winter thank you I am in 100% agreement with you we need caucus meetings if anyone on the board objects it they can object it they can second to myself and Mrs White now and we can bring it back next month if nobody says want to say in private to Dr Al that's fine too but I'm also in favor of bringing the caucus meetings doing the caucus meetings we always have had that so that's fine um any other board member comments yes Mr Lugo thank you board president I'd like to follow your lead and also congratulate Eddie Dr Alderly I'm sorry Eddie I my apologies my inform for to you congratulations on your contract extension and also too I want to point out the victory at JP Stevens High School first victory in a long time but I want those young men on that field and everyone else to realize that you may have won the game but the real Victory is holding your head up high after every game regardless of it's a win or if it's a loss and kudos to kudos to the team going back on the field trying and trying and trying was a hardd deserved win and congratulations to them you know so I just wanted to say that to them aw thank you any other board member comments right thank you everyone now we will open up for public comments Mr Roth you want to like to read that statement don't I didn't have it with me but I can John you heard it that's oh I mean I know what it is doing it for 35 years um now it's time for public comment on any board items uh please step forward to the microphone in an orderly manner be recognized by the chair M the president barell you have six minutes uh please address all comments to the president uh this is not to be a question and answer period it is your time to address the board on your issues uh and issues of uh that affect the operation of the board there's please no defamatory political or obscene comments um and uh all right thank you Mr R we will open up for public comments we would like to have students go first so they can leave and go home yes Miss and please announce your name and address I will good evening everyone my name is Ria Patel and I am currently a junior at the Woodbridge Academy but I grew up in Edison it was just two years ago that I found myself at a Board of Education meeting just like this one nervously pitching an idea for an an enrichment program little did I know that that would be the beginning of an incredible journey Dr Alder your guidance your support and your invaluable time have made all the difference to the learning circle you took the time to listen and offer constructive feedback to us you encouraged us to refine our vision with your membership we were able to build a nonprofit organization from the ground up you not only believed in our ideas but you helped us navigate the complexities of the educational World yourself a few weeks back over the summer Neil Patel a co-founder of the learning circle along with some learning circle volunteers pitched an enrichment program to the Woodbridge Township today I am extremely thrilled to announce that we are opening an enrichment program in collaboration with the Woodbridge Township none of this would have been possible without your unwavering commitment to fostering Innovation and Community growth none of this would have been possible without your time and your support thank you so much Dr aldarelli I look forward to continuing this journey and making a positive impact and congratulations on your cont contract thank you thank you next yes you can go in um good evening everyone my name isar chett and I'm a senior at JP Stevens High School and I'm the co-president of our initiative called Head Start Learning um hello everyone my name is daa varala it's nice to be here today and I'm also a senior at JP Stevens High School and I'm the director of operations for the nonprofit Head Start Learning our second co-president n Butler could not be here today however we are here to talk about our initiative which is called Head Start Learning this initiative was started over the summer of 2020 during the wake of the covid-19 pandemic by three um JP students alumni batla aayush Kaka and Anam who saw increase an increase in learning loss over the summer due to the lockdown um so when they saw this very big uh Gap in education um in the lockdown what they what these former JP Stevens students decided to do um was to start this initiative called headart learning which tutor students um it is a 501c3 registered nonprofit and from um today it impacts over 700 students um that have been tutored in uh a positive and impactful manner uh F fueling their academic Endeavors and we are continuing to run the program till this day with over 20 volunteers that we have recruited from various subjects with volunteers primarily coming from Edison Township which is why we're here today this year was Head Start Learning for iteration and it was originally created as a free of cost govern program and will continue to be created as a free of cost program in perpetuity that tutor students in mathematics economics web programming and public speaking in order to pique their curiosity and prep them for the coming school year providing them a scholar academic base in their high school and college careers especially since most of our students are coming from elementary and Middle School backgrounds um and since a majority of the students who attend the summer classes at Head Start Learning come from New Jersey and specifically the Edison District um we wanted to ask about a potential partnership between the Edison Board of Education and head start learning as a 51 C3 nonprofit We thought it would be best if we could ask for any sort of public endorsement or public advertising since most of our um signups come from Word of Mouth advertising as well as social media and we would really appreciate appreci any assistance since this has already benefited the Edison Community for the past four years and we would love to continue a partnership in the shared interest of the board of educations on mission of nothing less than Excellence so thank you so much thank you so much for being here today and uh you should reach out to superintendent Dr Ali and Mr Dr hus to you know discuss further but thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas and we we also have our chief academic officer in the back as well too Mr Cohen um and I and and uh Mr patela can also kind of um attest to this uh we are we are rigorous in vetting these these programs too sounds like you guys have been established now for four years so we look forward to seeing the work that you've done and if it's uh if it's a fit for Edison Township we're I think it's a wonderful thing so uh Mr Cohen and Mr and Dr hus you'll be able to kind of spearhead that does that sound good all right gang thank you thank you any more students uh students sitting right there you want to go for public comments you good okay awesome thank you thank you so much for coming to the board meeting regardless all right so uh public comments next for public comments um Matt you can go first no Mr Mar I'll let Matt go first uh no that's sorry mat I call you sir okay I'm going to start with the good first first all candidates night I want to thank the seven candidates for the board we had our candidates night last week this past week and I think a lot of information was gotten which is what our job is to educate the public to make and become a more informed voter anyway if you didn't get to get there or watch it on live stream it's on youtube.com symol tea 2023 and above the last year's um video that's there if you click on live live you'll get to this year's video if you want to watch it at home second thing the BOS go sale again for scholarships for our students at JP stens in Edison High is October 22nd if anyone is interested again it's nice savings you can contact Susan Campion over at Woodville Wilson Middle School we have our Trunk or Treat on October 20th at Meno Park School from 12: to 2: p.m. uh we just had 10,000 Flyers made out which will be disseminated to the schools for our students to take home so that the parents are aware of our chunker treat on the 20th World Teachers Day we talked about the great start to school October 5th is World Teachers Day so first of all thank you to all the teachers here in Edison for everything you do on a daily basis an acknowledgement of world Teachers Day but I also want to thank the people that live in Edison that may teach in other districts because that applies to you as well so thank you for your service and your time in developing our young people coming up this week we have rashash Shana Good Year to all who celebrate it on October 3rd is navri May the nine days of navri light up your lives and we also have y kapor uh may you have a good final ceiling finally I want us talk about the vote you guys just took on this board policy by repealing the board policy which I could care less either way but I'm concerned about my members your employees my members you have nothing in place now so you're asking people if we need to disclose this to parents which as a parent of two daughters I personally have no issue with but you're asking them then to violate the law I also have to question we have training for example yearly on furits for students and I don't know how this also affects fures for students you're putting our people without having some board policy in place in an very awkward position if you were to repeal it and replace it with something at least we can say well we have to abide by board policy but if there's no policy in place and we have to disclose this to parents in theory we are violating the law by doing so so I have major concerns about what just happened the protection of your employees my members and actually members of every unit including Mr Ross's members as Vice principls and principles in this District so if you have this repealed I suggest at some point in a very near future you come up with some policy that at least we can say by contract ra we have to abide by Port policy it wasn't our decision to violate the law thank you thank you Mr Rak and uh to your uh comment last comment about the policy yeah so this thing has been discussed from you know months and months in the board meeting uh by public and like any policy this is my personal thing personal opinion everything is a repercussion this board have had motions on the floor people make decisions whether yes or no people every individual made their decision but I am also with you on and having concern about ifs and buts and what happens next repeal replace and some of the things were discussed in the committee it's an area that requires a thorough legal review as well as very careful consideration of repercussions it's not something that can be taken lightly right like I st again the board member said their opinion yes or no and some had comments that's one thing but I would also ask Dr Al to and I'm sorry that increases work for the administration and that's a sad part about this but uh for the district it's very important that Dr and your team take a careful look at it and whatever is needed to act upon it in a timely manner can I just read address only because my time wasn't up anyway I understand where you're coming from however by repealing this policy theoretically that takes effect right now right now so tomorrow if a parent calls or a teacher needs to call or whatever are we supposed to disclose this to parents at this time which theoretically now is in violation of the law that is my concern and that's one of the reasons I have to agree again with I believe Mr Rivera mentioned it Miss White of having a caucus separate so that these things are discussed all things are looked at in advance before you take this vote again as a parent I don't necessarily disagree what you guys are talking about here however you're putting a lot of people now in a very difficult position and theoretically asking them to violate the law because we have nothing in place thank you so thank you for bringing that to the attention and again speaking of the caucus U you know absolutely there should be a caucus but regardless of whether we have a caucus or not there are motions on the floor throughout the year when we had the Caucus meeting there were motions on the flooor when we did not have the Caucus meeting we had motions on the floor uh so this has been happening around the year and board members make a decision but yeah to we have a lot of respect for your opinion so speaking of that we would seriously I would recommend Dr Ry and ask him to take this as a utmost urgent priority right thank you anyone else for public comments uh Mr Mara uh Anthony Mar 5 ketto Accord in Edison I want to congratulate you all all of you you've addressed a difficult issue and you've actually made a decision those of you who did not vote to to abolish policy 5756 I can only ask that you reconsider and give some thought to it as far as difficulty the policy itself creates difficulty so I for those who think it it's created a a difficult situation the policy itself when it existed created a difficult situation so I I commend you uh I I I'm Overjoyed when I leave here I'll probably be jumping up and down and I've already texted my wife uh well done that's it well done thank you next for public comments uh Miss sitting right there yeah next to SRA please mention your name and address hi good evening everyone my name is Dr Shakila Merchant I live at 248 West Locust Avenue Edison New Jersey 08820 um thank you president uh board president Patel and the board members for the awesome work that we have been doing I have two kids who just graduated and um gone to college and congratulations to superintendent Dr Elder Ali for your um extension on the uh contract so um as a faculty and an educator and a res uh researcher I am curious to know more about the stem Vision um being uh running a large program at New York for the New York public school system for the last 20 years I know firsthand the importance of creating that or Bridging the Gap for stem um for the college readiness for the students um Edison schools do a wonderful job no doubt about this that's the reason why I moved from New York to New Jersey 10 years ago um but I'm just curious um there is very little efforts been done in terms of STEM Academy um Dr alali did mention about um you know Technology and Engineering that is being added to the STEM Academy which happens to be in the edent high school um it's not just about science and math in stem it's about technology and and and engineering education um I was curious if we are uh if you do have any Vision about how to expand engineering education number one and also how is the admission or the placement of the students coming from the Middle School to the high school um to my best knowledge and I may be wrong that there are only 200 spots for the students to come to the STEM Academy and um the curriculum in JP Stevens is very good my kids W there I am very well aware of of that but I just feel that the placement criteria does not have to be necessarily based off of whether the students have taken algebra or geometry in the middle school but perhaps there should be a open placement or exams for some of the students who may not have taken those courses but yet be eligible to come into STEM academy uh at the ninth grade so how about being a little inclusive in how we are recruiting our students we are super competitive our parents are more competitive than our children here I'm very well aware of that but I just feel that um there might be more students who might be more eligible to get into it and I would be more than happy to be part of such a uh discussion or if there is anything that we can do as parents and two more sents to add to what I had to say is maybe we can do a town hall meeting with the parents know what the parents know about it there are many parents who may not be even aware of how their kids have been placed right um we are most of us are immigrants from for example so how do we really bring that transparency and and and inclusiveness in in doing that kind of a placement for the students just wanted to add that thank you so much for listening to me thank you uh this one yeah really briefly and again what I'm what I'm also doing right now just for the board's uh sake to I'm actually writing all the questions down we will be posting um more cohesive responses um in addition to the ones that I'm that I'm about to give too because I don't have all of the information in front of me currently right now I know our our placement criteria is located online um but you do bring up a couple good points in relationship to um you know providing um multiple points of data in relationship to uh placement criteria I know uh Mr Cohen and myself were actually speaking about um not only STEM Academy but other programs we have in relation to uh placement criteria it's actually going to be a topic of conversation um that we're going to talk about internally with our team prior to bringing it to a curriculum committee meeting um some of the troubles that we do run into listen inclusivity is something that we want to um that we that we pride ourselves on um space is limited though as well too right so and that's part of the reasons why we are you know have an aggressive agenda in relationship to expansion projects um I think I want to draw the fine line um between providing more access but also keeping our standards rigorous right and I would rely on the expertise of um our supervisors our teachers who are actually where the rubber meets the road who are actually seeing the caliber of students that we have there too and uh providing additional opportunities for students that may not be able to get into those stem programs but how are we integrating some of the aspects across the curricula right so that um they might might not be so intensive as an academy would be but how are we sprinkling that in and I'm confident we do do that now and maybe we need to do a better job of articulating that is that is that fair enough to say yeah so when we get I'm not the one yes that's that's a great idea and that's a good start um I did read about uh a bridge program for the AP biology if why can't we start that for some other and and and I do agree that rigor cannot be compensated or compromised because that's what keeps us the best uh School District so I agree with that but I guess we could increase the number yeah we got I will tell you that 100% I've Mr Cohen when if you want to have a conversation with in the back I actually text him with a plan um in order to how how we are going to increase the number of students that have access to that program but also how do we expand cies in absolutely thank you so much you got it thank you thank you next for public comments uh lady in the back U you mam uh yes yourself please um say your name and address Lois rler 7 second Avenue Edison um I hope that my name sounds familiar because I sent an email to each one of you and Dr Al delli on August 29th and I only heard back from Brian Rivera about my concern about the school calendar the email stated that there are many holidays for religious and cultural ethnicities with a blatant omission of two major christian holidays Christmas and Good Friday the following holidays are on the calendar for this school year October 3rd 4th rashasana November 1 R deali January 29th Lunar New Year March 31st Eid on last year's calendar September 25th was listed for Yam kapor Friday November 10th was listed as teachers convention SL Veterans Day SL deali we were not in school that day because of teachers convention yet Diwali was noted even though we weren't school again Dali was noted at on that school holiday yet Monday December 25th to 29th was the winter break with no mention of Christmas which is considered a Federal holiday it is the only religious federal holiday yet it is never mentioned on the school calendar last year's calendar Friday March 21st began spring break with no mention of Good Friday I understand rashash Shan yam kapor is the high holy day is for the Jewish faith well starting Holy Thursday through Easter is the Christian high holy days I understand Easter shouldn't be mentioned if you don't know Easter is always on a Sunday so I get it that you don't mention Easter but good Friday yes Good Friday should be mentioned not just spring break on Wednesday April 10th was listed for Eid last year Tuesday April 23rd was listed for Passover again another non-Christian holiday your calendar does not reflect a fair representation of the diversity of our town this year's calendar shows Once Again rashash Shana Dali Lunar New Year and Eid but there is no mention of any Christian holiday again all religions have many holidays I'm not asking for Ash Wednesday I'm not asking for Ascension Thursday I'm asking for our two major holidays to be listed on the calendar I noticed um the new logo that says we are one Edison I don't I feel excluded I don't feel that we are one Edison when you do exclude this one group group of people it's a public school which should show the respect to all students and staff I would like to see the inclusion of Christmas and Good Friday on this year's school calendar I don't even mind you know with the winter break which is always around Christmas and Hanukkah for it to State Christmas Hanukkah and this year K Quanza is also in that same time frame there's two solutions include Good Friday and Christmas in the calendar or be generic and just list the federal holidays and say School holiday for every other holiday and not specify rashash Shana or Diwali or Good Friday or Christmas just say School holiday if these two holidays are not added to this year's school calendar I do have the recourse of going to the state because you aren't being inclusive than you of everyone in this town again when I did see we are one Edison I do not feel that we are one Edison looking at the school calendar it's a very easy fix thank you for your time thank you for your uh thank you for comments Mr Edler and uh Miss T you also mentioned the same thing last meeting and uh very valid points uh to include Christmas it's a Federal holiday Good Friday is the stock market is closed and it's a holiday but good news is that Dr alra Ali is reporting that it's already included and I will give the floor to Dr yes so uh forget my delay in response in relationship to that we actually took action on our district website for our Google Calendar both Christmas and Easter are both listed as days off in that in that capacity um I'm I was actually just looking at it right now just to confirm those pieces Good Friday is is not um which can be a discussion you know with amongst the uh administrative team um but both Christmas and Easter are listed on the Google Website calendar you got it great thank you I do like your other idea though as well too is just writing School holiday right yeah yeah perfect thank you so much for the comments next yes sir um hi um this is my first board meeting uh my name is Jesh panaria and uh I live in 205 Linda Lane Edison New Jersey I also want to mention the uh the community name it's Westgate Square 2 um and there's a specific reason why I'm mentioning that um I first want to you know thank the board president uh and Dr Ali on his uh tenure extension um and I'm actually happy to see uh these seats empty which means uh there is not a lot of people with complaints over here and this school year has gotten to a really great start so Kos to all of you here um managing uh this such a big Township um I have a small uh little Technical and I heard the word policy probably more than any other word today uh in my hour and a half sitting here so um there's a policy technical glitch uh and this is with regards to a free busing allocation with my particular unit um there has been um no communication about free uh about subscription of free busing to me personally um and I didn't mind or I didn't bother to check with anybody cuz you know we our community just got two buses allocated I think last year and because of that I didn't bother to you know uh bug any of the administrative officials or anyone with regards to why am I not getting free busing and I was just told I would get free busing cuz my entire Community gets it uh when it came to the actual school day and handing out free subscriptions I did not get any and I was told that you are 1.96 eight miles which is under 2 miles um so that's where it started and then I questioned um you know why not and I told my son sorry you cannot go to bus this is his first time going to the bus by the way uh to John Adams and every single friend in our community goes to the bus you know free of cost and he's not allowed to we did not even get subscription busing um um forms um so now you know the reason I'm here today is because the funny thing that he mentioned is we live in a townhous we don't have a single family uh structure we don't live on streets which are alternately marked uh it's it's a crazy Branch Leaf structure if you look at a map you will see that uh and maps are are errers when it comes to our community Westgate 1 and Westgate 2 this is the reason I I mentioned you my community um it's been the the one thing that brings me here today um is my son complaining that the neighbor who we share a roof with has free busing but we don't and um as a dad who wants to set right example for his son to make sure policies and things are seen through till the end um I want to make you know I I wanted to make time and just come up come up in front of you guys so that's number one so there's a lot of policy talk um I I don't have I think two years back we were not eligible for any buses we were Walkers and we never we got so much communication about what the policy was what are the different things we haven't got anything this year uh second thing is so so I don't have an official policy on why um you know what sort of criteria gives you busing number two um I don't know if this policy contains Google Maps as a criteria to measure your walking distance um I have three or actually five other Maps here anybody's feel free can take a look uh they all show 2 miles as walking distance which makes us eligible except Google Maps and it's just weird there's visual representation on a guy who lives ahead of us gets the bus we don't and it's just the structure of how we're we're a leaflet sort of you know organized right because it's it's it's it's a Township Comm it's a townhouse community community so um that's number two I want to know if really Google Maps is one that has been ad dirt to and there are five other Bing Apple ways Map Quest and they're all ignored CU they all say two two miles and I've been you know trying to appeal about this many times but I haven't got uh gotten anywhere the second thing is um I read about um somewhere about NJ Department of uh Transportation policy about safety and hazardous condition and yes you know you could say there is no payment to walk for a student it's it's May it's debatable whether it's hazardous or not but we have to negotiate a rail Crossing which is a COR a rail Crossing and there are trains that come through that time then there is no way to cross that without any Parental Guidance so um that should have been considered but I don't know if you know the policy and I think there's some discretion so I I just wanted to know if officially our unit is sort of denied that provision that we're not part of the hazard as route policy so those are the two basic points um it's just you put our house in the center and the last comment I will make is put you put our house in the center you take a roundabout Direction every single kid has a free bus except us uh and this is a technicality that I'm been trying to fight I don't I don't want to make this a big deal but just for my son sitting there I want to make sure like this is a process you follow when you have to go you know you know fight something thank you thank you yes Dr great thank you sir so so before you leave this evening I just make sure that you you touch base with Dr hust in the back he's going to raise his hand right now with all of your information in relationship to that just so that we can look at it ourselves touch base with Transportation um we we utilize internal software also we don't we don't utilize any of these um softwares that are just readily available fore we can we can provide you with the software that we utilize um through our transportation department as to how criteria is measure measured and and again I'm not sure the circumstance and I have to get I I know the I know the area in the unit but we'd have to see exactly where your house is at that time frame um but one of the things I can assure you is that if I'm wrong or we're wrong we'll correct it does that sound good and I think the mo you know listen again the model that you're setting for your son and advocating for him is something that we should all aspire to as parents so I appreciate it but you should mention thank you all right no no talking in the public please next for public commments uh deep rer this is my first like Board of Education meeting so men your name and address yeah my name is Deepa Patel and 92 eel Road my name is rajik Kant Patel sir one was one public comment you have you could do your own she has to go and then you can go yes thank you so I'm I am the mother of three elementary kids students and I'm here today to reach out to Mr alari uh congratulations first of all for your contract last year we are trying to reach out to the transportation department ho me and my neighbors like they are very rude and I'm just here today uh we need a stop for close to our house right now they give us a stop which is3 mil away from our house and it's very hard for the elementary students like kindergarteners and the third fourth graders to walk all the way there we have to drop our kids to the car and I don't know how to reach you out last year I email you many times me and my neighbors and we came to the transportation department we came to the Board of Education building but it's very hard to reach you out so we need like your appointment time so me and my neighbors will come to you and explain our problem thank you so much to our Dr Al if Dr hus wants to take this up and visit the place and just a quick comment about stops so listen we we do and I understand that you know yeah because we had that stop since last 10 years and they eliminate the stop the bus was waiting outside our stop for her round UND understood understood rather than getting to a back and forth right here if you can touch base with Dr hus we'll definitely look at your stop I can't make any promis in relationship to changing it I will tell you that my question is like they have if I'm wrong if I'm wrong we'll fix it okay thank you right thank you thank you so Dr H is the one sitting in the corner next tendra so this is again tendra laka 192 Evergreen Road Edison uh 5 month before exactly I followed this same question about St Academy criteria for admission and I went back and forth with Mr presid uh superintendent and Mr Cohan I've been told that there is a no curriculum meeting happened till now and that's why the the placement is CR and hold I want let you know that right now 900 students in 8th grade who's taking Algebra 1 math prime or math 8 waiting for the decision that will they be eligible to apply to apply for the STEM Academy why not we are making decisions we are not asking to give admission we apply for admission if they are good in the math skill let them make it eligible if don't that's okay but at least give them chance to run for this I don't know how many of board member knows about that to go in geometry in e8th grade they has to pre-algebra in sixth grade algebra one in seventh grade and then only they qualify geometry and lot of students coming from other countries other districts they all in put in math prime in sixth grade which going to never reach to Geometry at e8th grade so you putting all the incoming student from other cities other countries other places math prime and then making them oh even they have good skill in math they never reach to Geometry there are several Hispanic and African American they are considered weak statistically in math they are also not eligible for this STEM Academy are we have inclusive environment no at Le agree uh Mr super you said that we going to have more STEM Academy or more stem curriculum but at this moment at least make those students who are waiting to at least eligible to apply I'm don't select them but let him eligible to apply for the STEM Academy and give them better options to education second thing Woodbridge Magnet School the one student talk bright student they have they not this policy they said okay let's take a SM exams and who are qualified that's fine they don't have requirement geometry which is much higher higher level school a lot of students from that school goes to I leagues so if that higher level schools have that does have criteria why we are we putting that that school doesn't get our money also we of course taxes goes but our most of taxes goes to the STEM Academy my tax everybody 7% money goes to this STEM Academy so why we not allowing our students to at least compete whether select differ do story okay so thank you for listening and I hope to hear from that very quick and and this great area I appreciate thank you Dr you want to make a comment I think I I think all right thank you uh next uh Beth Beth taly 15 Midwood Avenue congratulations Dr aldarelli just means another year going to have to listen to me up at the mic um first thing is I do appreciate you putting the um holidays on the Google Calendar but it would be more inclusive if it was on the official Edison school calendar and being that we tend to make a lot of motions lately Mr President on the board up there I think a revision to our calendar currently would be a good way to go being that we discussed this back in the spring even before the calendar was adopted and we've had revisions perhaps we can do it so it's official um also I'm just a little bit confused because last month we were told none of our questions would be answered through our attorney and they weren't and we were told that they were going to be put on the website I'm just curious Mr President where exactly on the website are the responses for our questions or where will they be because there was none from last month and they're supposed to be you know coming up for this month I know it's still a work in progress press but where are our answers I hope you can just answer that so that the people at home can find the answers on the website sure I know there's not supposed to be any back and forth go goe beautiful so so miss Daniel's putting a spot on the website to answer these questions as of right now that we've got listed comments were I mean some of them are comments also so we're trying to capture them the best that we can okay I appreciate and I really appreciate back and forth tonight that you do respond to the audience because I think us as stakeholders and taxpayers should be part of the process and our answers should be you know responded to because people at home are watching this live and as uh Miss White said earlier I also do agree that we should go back to have our caucus meetings because maybe there wouldn't be so much discontent up on the board on certain very important matters and there could be more insight into it and more time and also that way the public be could is this time it seems we got the um board agenda in the right time frame the last couple of months we haven't and I know there's always last minute revisions and stuff but you know we're not informed I'm not sure how quick the board members are getting it that you can have proper discussions and in-depth discussions on what's going on rather than just coming and just voting for it without seeing everything thank you and I appreciate all your time that you guys put into this no thank you so much so since you mention mentioned about the motion Al do a motion this time around which I have been you know seeing it from all the sides to add to revise the district calendar on the website having Christmas and Good Friday how about that who wants to second that motion any any second of that motion second yes Mr Lugo second thank you let's take a roll call Mr to so I have a motion by Mr Patel second by Mr Lugo that's uh and then which holidays Christmas new making the change on the calendar on the website uh District website right Miss tal and Miss rler to include Christmas and Good Friday Christmas and Good Friday right okay all right so offici okay gotar official calendar okay Mr Lugo yes Miss Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Riva yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries right thank you all right next for public comments it's Mr she 100% you got to take those you want to let him go first you can goad you want a motion for that from here all right this belel from melum Blane I'm here to file a complaint of targeted harassment uh against the transportation department and Dr H okay on August 30th I sent an email to do elderly asking him why melum Lin not eligible for the school bus and uh because from the last two years you know uh we got the school uh we got the free school bus and then um you know year after that we we started getting the email saying like oh you know you need to subscribe and then later on like you know we decided like it's a free bus then this year uh District started sending an email uh to us saying like you need to pay we didn't pay actually we didn't fill out the form we didn't pay actually because every year you know they send us an email and uh you know um later on they decide like okay know it's a free bus so last year I made a payment but bus was free actually I didn't get the refund I've been still waiting for my refund it's almost one year now okay and so I Need My Refund Now up until now I was thinking like okay you know U just donation I forget it I never ask but now I need a refund actually okay um so on T so on 30th when I send him an email um like you know we need a free why melom Lane is not eligible for the free bus um on Tuesday you know Dr has replied and um he just made a verdict uh he said like okay you know uh we follow the district policy according to our policy you know Mel Lan is not eligible for the school bus and uh the case is concluded that's it okay first email he made a decision okay and um so on wenesday morning I replied uh I asked him like okay you know how did you make a decision who made a decision until last year Dr elderly he used to come uh he used to go in community by community and then he used to make a decision so how did you make a decision and just conclude my case actually okay and um uh so then you know U I didn't hear so Wednesday morning um i s uh I'm sorry uh Wednesday afternoon I decided to go uh School District okay I went there and I said like I would like to meet uh or I would like to speak with someone about the transportation issue and the front desk person okay and uh I I explained the case she's like I have no idea I said that's why I'm telling you okay speak with someone or uh you know uh know give me the appointment so I can speak with someone actually I say like you know uh uh Dan Welch she knows my case so I said give me the appointment with Dan Welch or give me the appointment with Dr elderly or you know someone who knows my case actually so she she kept going back and forth back and forth four five times actually actually and uh that Don Welch she was watching me I'm standing there and explaining my case and wasting my time 45 minutes I was there okay and uh after that I said okay no it's nothing going to happen and I left after that I send email of that walkway okay that walkway has like you know both end it's a wooden barrier gate actually okay and um so I when I send an email on Wednesday afternoon uh he said like yeah okay you know see this walkway is clean you know you should be able to walk so I sent email again on uh on Thursday I asked him like okay know what about the winter time Thursday morning when the bus came okay um I asked the bus driver uh can this kid go uh in the bus and do you have space she said like yeah you know we have space in the bus I can take you today but then I have to speak with my uh supervisor later today I said that's fine so on that day uh she she was taking uh she took the kid in the bus but uh later in the afternoon somehow something got changed my email they got ticked off actually so then uh my daughter become a criminal and she became a wanted and um 3:00 when they uh when they uh when they were coming back and when the kids start entering onto the bus uh the driver uh bus driver she was asking who is this person actually okay she was asking each and every kid and and then you know like uh when my daughter said like I'm the person uh she said like okay uh she said like okay from tomorrow you won't be riding in the bus I won't be able to uh take you okay and um my daughter came home with a tii okay and uh uh I told her I asked her what happened and she's like no from because of you you know you are taking the you know leadership so I cannot go in a bus tomorrow okay they hold my um they told me like you cannot go and I said like no no you know probably you know uh it's for everyone and she's like no specifically they told me and this is what happened actually and I said like no no there might be some mistake you will see like know everybody will hear okay all the kids won't be able to go who didn't pay or fill out the form and next morning the bus came I saw like you know all the kids they were going in the bus no question to ask they were able to go in bus so I went downstairs and I asked the bus driver um I said like can uh can you take my daughter and she said like uh sorry you got didn't pay I said like you know this other kid didn't pay either actually why they are able to go so she realized the problem and she okay let me talk to my supervisor okay and then uh she she called the supervisor and she she told me again sorry you know I cannot take your daughter I said like why you know like these other kids are going why she cannot go okay and I said I ask your supervisor um you know when other kids are able to go she they didn't fill out the form they didn't they didn't pay the money they are able to go why only she cannot go so she told again like sorry you know my supervisor say like she cannot go okay and um I cannot do anything I said okay you can you can go and then I said okay who was a supervisor and I said she said like okay no uh she gave me her card the card was Don Welch okay and uh I realized the entire your six minutes are over my case is longer so give me who so sorry but we have to have the rules same for everyone thank you and you are uh you can I know you spoke with Dr dry and no I don't want to talk personally I want to explain I need the recording right so I understand but uh we have the rules same for everyone I see that's it yeah that's fine I can come back again right no you no you can't time for multiple issues Sir Mr President call the next person please yes next uh so the rules are 6 minutes for everyone for public comments in general so um Mr shei because you guys are not replying excuse me sir please sir you're out of order sir please then give me your card please yeah we'll we'll be happy to have attorney speak with you afterward and Dr will dry as well let's uh move on this is easy questions I hope I don't have to get a ticket from Dr hus so this is about the uh um Finance uh uh report in there there's a mobile lease Transportation break you know transport uh uh Transportation break room I know we need Transportation break room so my question is uh we have two trailers in Marshall one's being used the other one's not being used right so can we use the one that's not being used in Marshall uh the other question is next slide furniture for JP Steven would Wilson are these the furniture for the new classroom or this it for existing um um classroom upgrades and stuff so my third question is when I'm looking at the meeting summary for the curriculum uh committee Bureau was the only board member in attendance so what happened to all the other three board members easy questions uh the other things that I just want to follow up with what I comment about Dr AR's contract Dr and congratulations for got a one-year extension and uh the this is more about the process um it's just the same with the policy 5756 and Brian is holding the information without releasing to all the board members and we know it's an important issue and if you have a legal opinion from the the the attorney you can share with the board members you don't have to share with the public it's the same thing with Dr R R's contract I don't think there was any discussion that happened before the motion on the floor and I don't think Mr you know board president or vice president was aware it's coming up and I don't think Dr AR himself knows it's coming up so when you talk about transparency there is none just another uh comment uh this new Bro dock really bad okay it it's not user friendly it's it's really horrible today I tried to download the uh the contest I couldn't even download it the way you want to look at it you got to click whatever 50 things before you can actually see the content so if you can consider replacing bardog that would be great and I thought the other software was bad and this one's even worse okay um so um that's it I might come back because I still have three minutes and 37 seconds if I remember something right um so the board doogs um I'm not going to do or encourage any motion to remove board doogs that's going to stay but have a motion Heather Daniel put PDF on the district calendar on the website so everyone can go and download the PDF as well so that's there now uh next for public comments a good evening my name is Ajay I'm at five reader Road Edison um I you know first I want to wish all very good evening and you know giving me time to uh speak about you know some of the thoughts that we have and again my voice is not my voice it is you know the voice of the parents uh first and foremost uh I wanted to talk on the uh you know busing application I've been chasing for last 6 to 8 months um I was told that the busing application is live and I should reach out to the transportation department it's a Bic basic courtesy which I feel is should be on the transportation department if when application such as a bus application is available you know for the students so um we've been I have been personally chasing right through emails um most of the members on the uh you know stand here uh were copied um I think I started last September went till October I was told it'll come on in December then nove then February March I again chase you know 6 months later still the same I still don't know where the busing application stand so do we have a date do we have a timeline a firm timeline this time so that you know uh everybody's aware of it the winter is around the corner right there are bus delays going to happen right you want to remove that uncertainty so I appreciate if you know you can give a direction and airm date for this one then he won't get an application that's uh one um in terms of the you know uh other thoughts that I had was is that uh I think one of the last board meeting that I attended right um I was told that you know the voice of the actual beneficiaries which is the kids right the parents right is there a forum other than this right again I'm bold enough to come here and speak not everybody is right so is there a you know medium or a way where you know you can hear the common voice of the parents and the uh students who are the prime beneficiaries right a few people coming here you know you try to address it well and good right but there is a larger problem to solve how are we attacking that how are we ensuring that the voice of each of the you know child that is actually getting studied in Edison school district the child of the voice of their parents right is being heard is being addressed and is being you know uh followed as part of you know uh the basic uh agenda that we carry out you know as part of the board meetings uh outside of that I also wanted to bring uh you know uh attention is that does any of you or any of us sitting here feel that the Edison students are not stressed especially when they are in high school if the answer is no then I am surprised if the answer is yes then what are we doing right to ensure that we take out the stress and in in know in in a sense impart them the education that they looking for stressfree I mean there is an amount of stress that you know uh is uh kind of you know existing right within the students Fair Point right but I don't feel that you know the stress level that a high school kid you know that they are taking right now is uh you know explainable right I mean I feel that you know College college going students are much more relieved as compared to the high St high school students right this is the time of their year that they need to enjoy right I want to see actionable you know stance I when I say I right it is the voice of the parents as I said right want to see some actionable you know stances being done to reduce the stress level of the kids right um also bring some you know uh parity uh I have couple of more minutes I wanted to you know dwell on some specific topics as well I wanted to ensure that uh uh you know there is no parity between let's say different classes in terms of the teaching and the grading right a teacher right let's say I'm I'm a teacher you know teaching geometry right there's another ABC teacher teaching geometry in the same grade right the way I grade the way she or he grades right is very different how do we bring out that parity or the normalization so that every kid right within that whole grade has the same level of normalization right I might I might be very lenient and give you know a good scoring grade the other colleague of mine might not how are we ensuring that that parity exists and you know one benefits the other doesn't you know is resolved the other thing I've been hearing the complaints from many of the parents is that the teachers right they're doing their job no doubt about it you know no doubt about it uh in terms of their job and all but I feel that they need to take that extra mild to teach the student right especially for the ones which are in honor grades right the honor grade kids are you know being I left alone in terms of you know not teaching a topic which is of very relevant or which has some level of hardness or you know stiffness in it I feel very strongly that the teacher should have a right pedy of teaching those rather than just giving self studies if that is the only intent right if self study is the only intent for the honors role then you know call it out and you know make it evident to the students that okay you know what your expectation is that sit in the class right you'll get some notes study those notes prepare for the quiz come for the quiz prepared and you know get it done if that is not the intent then you know really you should look at the pedagogy of teaching right and imparting the concepts very clearly to the students thank you thanks again for listening uh to my comments right thank you any two points oh Dr yes so just to go back I know Mr shed um uh questions in relationship to the Marshall uh trailers uh we did have our Architects look at those Unfortunately they they really weren't salvageable we had we had to retire both of those I think the second question was in relationship to classroom Furniture but I will go back and look at the tape and provide it with a more cohesive answer but my understanding is um you were looking at classroom for those are for the JP um office as well as classrooms just I'll call in the second timers if first timers yes uh any first timers yes sir this is abijit dhare from 407 Edison 08817 uh this is again regarding admission to the stem uh this is just an appeal to the board that to change the process and make more inclusive of all the students because we are making a decision in uh like kind of element is last grade or middle school somewhere but students are something like they they work hard and they want to get so if there is some kind of a exam or a test based on some criteria to get into uh the stem that would be really great that's the appeal uh thank you yeah no thank you so for the comments the stem yourself and tendra and uh you know lot of we have a lot of faith in Mr Rohan and you know to lay out a plan together and Dr Al Ali and we very much respect their opinion on all the curriculum items so I'm sure whatever process works out in next upcoming months will be the right process and it will benefit the students thank you uh any other one more one more piece too I I just want to touch base on some of the points we made tonight so uh in the beginning I did announce subscription applications will be available on October for witz tomorrow so if you're eligible it'll it'll be it'll be it'll pop up in your in in the portal at that time um as far as student uh student uh and and parent voice yeah we've actually started an initiative in which we we surveyed through thought exchange we also did it with staff too we want to know what you think we want to give we want to do periodic check-ins as to some of the things um that we're doing really well and areas that we can improve upon to and make those actionable um but but the other component is all of the things that you referenced in in in regards to student stress is is part of our our strategic plan in student wellness right and what are the external factors and what are the internal factors that that that stress our students out from all grade levels right and stress manifests itself very differently in kindergarten than it does in 12th grade and and and the other component to that and the research will show is in order to address student stress you have to address teacher stress and burnout in that capacity too because because happy staff rooms equal H happy classrooms it's it's a research-based component so by focusing our to making sure our teachers are in an environment where they can Thrive where they can work on um problems that affect the organization and that when they when they have autonomy but also provide parity and I do understand what you're talking about in in order to level the playing field the type of education you get in one class is the same in another class we we we we do we I I do understand what you're saying in relationship to that but all of that is part of our actionable part with the Strategic plan um so when those surveys do come out I would encourage you and the members of of your community please participate in them they do they are not sitting on a shelf we make them part of our action plan and I will report out to this board about those pieces you have my word thank you so much Dr and uh one second uh one second so Dr Ali as he said uh the thought exchange right so what a wonderful tool this year it was deployed by mther Daniel and we had used it collectively to seek feedback on the webinars and for the Serv and everything so uh it's on the website right everyone is encouraged to do that there is also a I was not going to bring this up I forgot but now I'm very much compelled before the end of this month's board meeting to bring this up there's also chain of communication on the district website it lists every single majority of the items how whom to reach out to and where to go to especially the transportation and all other like superintendent is highest in the chain of communication and but before even you super there is several steps you can follow cuz I get so many messages I'm not going to bore anyone here or in public to read some of those but for those who didn't um get a chance to be in the open house how do we reset the locker code now is that a message for a board president or a board ofhe member hi what kind of binders do we need binders with divider is it from different subjects is it a message for a board president or board member when is the back to school night for sixth graders when you're principal or your teachers email you you have their email address and all the information you can very well I'm pretty sure any single staff member and principal will be very happy to respond to your questions do you have any idea how do we drop off third graders or will will they no need to go to the black top did they send any info I didn't find anything in the weekly warmup oh I'm pretty sure all the principles here are very happy to answer such questions and that's their job to do that how do we know if our kid is medically cleared for athletics like seriously you going to message us and ask that question well that is that's why we put the chain of communication so you know I encourage everyone to follow in the last one seriously you can go all night long hi ban I'm been spelled as b i r e n I got your number from I'm going to not disclose that person's name we moved to Edison last week and applied for my daughter she has not got admission yet can you enroll her ASAP as she is crying a lot every day and we are very upset she has applied for first grade in I'm not going to disclose the name of the school so this is what we deal with right I don't know what other board members are getting but this is just a tip of the iceberg that I have been getting from people and you know so there is a chain of communication the reason I was compelled to share it is if someone hears sees this board meeting and hears these messages probably they will understand that listen go to the website Take 2 minutes go to the thought exchange go to all the section actions and there is whole lot of information over there because as Mr Romano always says the board's responsibility is to hire the superintendent and see that the district is run well and then there is a whole chain of communication to follow right so hopefully I'll keep reiterating this hopefully everyone follows that uh thank you next V Mr V pel so so I was going to say you know thank you that feedback survey form was great I did not know that it's on a website as well so is it on a website for permanently for anybody to go and give a feedback currently right now until we stop it and reassess and then we will follow up on the topics that are hot and probably generate new questions in relationship to how we can improve not only as a community but again I'm going to just give another idea can we just put out something just like give us feedback open free form text of course you want to collect who is giving you the feedback cuz you know unauthenticated feedback is almost useless CU you do want to know who is doing it but it's like a free form where people can give you or give you know Administration ideas and suggestions on any topic and I want to say there's the last two boxes do provide that through thought exchange as well too but I'll confirm that with Miss Daniel cool thank you sir all right thank you uh next Mr Ross good evening before I jump into my normal eulan uh what's great about Edison High Spiel I just want to say that seriously I share many of the the concerns of uh the ETA president Matt rnck when it comes to the abolition of that policy it's the we keep hearing about the njlad you know when we spell out those initials it kind of fills where the the the conversation should go it's a New Jersey law that set these things in motion so that's a little further down Route One it's Trenton people have to make sure that they're again following the chain of command as our our board President says they need to talk to their elected representatives down in Trent and they need to talk to people who pass laws if they have issues and not necessarily have it come here and the L part is law against discrimination and I hope that when we remove policies you know and I know that that teacher student parent triangle when that works best that's when people learn but we need to make sure that we're helping our most vulnerable students and we're keeping them safe whether it's our lgbtq students whether it's students who' just transferred into the district whether it's students who are socially economically disadvantaged we have to make sure that we're always making this a safe District um for them and we're not just making some moves on that but I just wanted to say that also want to thank JP Stevens for hosting the band show that we hosted for them and they won their um some of the best Awards here and they hosted for us and we won a lot of the awards there it's great to see the schools coming together and I look forward to working with the new Administration but it is coming up on spooky season everybody body so don't get scared we're going to maybe we'll have two meetings or one meeting but either way it's it won't be that scary and it's not going to be as scary as we have The Adams Family Play which is coming on here on October 26th and October 27th we've got two shows on Saturday the 27th it's absolutely wonderful it's familyfriendly you can bring everyone out we'd love to see you if you use the code eaglesfly when you get to the door they'll give you the ticket for $10 it's something that I want everybody to do I also have to thank Dr aldarelli Dr hus the Board of Education we've had a great opening at Edison High this year we've taken a lot of steps to try to take back the bathrooms to steal some words from Dr Kim I know she's doing likewise at JP Stevens but that's due in part to the um commitment from the board and from the administration and giving us the people necessary to make sure that we can keep our kids safe make sure they have access to the bathrooms when they need it and make sure that they've got the proper environment to learn in terms of learning I know that you know I'm so you know glad that we're a victim of our success at the STEM Academy that started back when we built the um scandin Wing in uh 2012 is has grown so much that so many people want to get in it but I think everyone has to recognize there's many paths to Greatness and we have students that go to Carnegie melon or upen or you Michigan that aren't a part of the stem Academy and every student in Edison has that opportunity to grow and get to the most rigorous possible curriculum and as New Jersey's got some of the best education in the state I know the ETA and njaa is always talking about that Edison has some of the best education in the entire state of New Jersey and our kids go out and do wonderful things no matter what it is and anybody that's sending their child to Edison High and has concerns about their academic path there's always time over the summer before they get here to give me a call so I appreciate everybody um we've got football coming up on the uh let's see on the fourth and Lana Tova to everyone who's celebrating the New Year this week thank you thank you I thought the code gets us free entry but that's okay had to do it you had to do it that's only it's only if you say the second part of the code that you get it for free okay all right thank you Mr Ross um any other public comments yes Miss motra oh okay you're a idiot Tempo mahra 461 girl good evening everybody good evening Mr president drer you still may want to take the mic all right lower a little I am Deo mahotra and I'm running for a seat on the board of education and Dr Alder Ali congratulations on your contract thank you amazing I commend you and your team for conducting such a thorough analysis and setting a new direction for our district to address the gaps that have been identified I'm deeply passionate about our students and how how to Empower them uh to succeed and thrive in future but I do have a question as we move forward with this ambitious plans what do you foresee the biggest challenges in achieving these goals additionally this is very near and dear to me I noticed our old slogan nothing but Excellence was changed has there been any change to this guiding principle or is it still the Cornerstone of our vision moving forward thank you thank you miss motra you brought in some very good questions I'll definitely let Dr respond yeah great listen so we all we all strive for excellence right but I think all the Educators in the room will agree also it's that real learning occurs when you start to make mistakes right and we learn from our mistakes and we and and that's when um that's when we get better right so the the goal is always always the goal is always to strive for excellence but at the same time we also want to value that path that gets us there too right um as far as moving forward in achieving our goals listen there there's multiple obstacles that you know our team as well as this board of education um will have to consider right uh first and foremost will be you know Financial right and funding right you have to make your your your budget is a is a a representation of what you do you value as an organization right so we have to make sure that we're allocating resources in the areas that we have to prioritize and prioritization is number two right we have we or actually probably PRI number one prioritize and then look and talk about funding um expansion is always an issue right space you know a lot of the things that were discussed tonight in relationship to the expansion of programs and providing more access also has to do with classroom space right so you can't offer programs where you can't place kids and teachers in an environment that's conducive to learning right um but but listen I I think that we have a really good plan moving forward in relationship to our strategic plan we have the best staff on the planet um we have really good momentum and I think our culture is such that um regardless of obstacles uh if we put our mind to to what we achieve and what we value we're going to achieve it and I'm fortunate to be a part of it right thank you any more public comments saying none motion to end public comments motion all in favor right uh motion to adjin the meeting motion motion Mr V Patel any second Mr Romano all in favor meeting is a Jun okay [Music]