yeah [Laughter] iting I'm working the 17 from8 to 11 have I know I have we are open public meeting I am going to ask that we have a roll call for the regular monthly meeting of May 2nd 2024 which was reconvened and call to order at 7:32 p.m. at Thomas Edison school room 19 3701 fairon Avenue fairon New Jersey there are six members of the public in attendance roll call please Mr bosi here Mr bant here Dr berini present Miss Brown present Miss bovich present Mr Rosenberg here Mr spendel present Miss Yurman present Mrs Mayhem present weev the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in with provisions of this act the Fon board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof distributed to the persons on the approved list posted in the Board of Education administrative office and sent to the Bergen record on the Star Ledger the announcement posting for the public hearing budget adoption along with the date place and time thereof was distributed on January 5th 20124 the items to be discussed during the Clos session if needed on May 2nd 2024 public hearing budget adoption may include Personnel matters student matters legal matters negotiations Andor Grievances and taxes tactics and techniques utilized in protecting of Public Safety and property the results of these discussions will be made public as soon as possible will everyone please join me in the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands Nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Dr dionio good evening everyone few uh Updates this evening for the superintendent report uh first I'd like to just draw everyone's attention to resolutions 6 A1 and 6 A2 which is uh under education which are the field trip approvals for this evening uh I would just like to highlight some very important work that's been taking place for quite some time um and we have some culminating activities that will result in some field trips this evening that are related to no place for hate so um no place for hate is a program through the Anti-Defamation League that uh the fairon high school Equity team and and our St St has been involved with uh we are expanding that work with the Anti-Defamation League to all of our schools uh for next year so we've been in close partnership with them um but some some really important work to be able to highlight uh that I think that the board would like to hear about so uh since the beginning of the school year Fair loan High School facilitated several activities in alignment with the criteria of the Anti-Defamation League no place for hate program the first approved activity focused on ADD addressing anti-semitic incidents um with allyship and advocacy as part of anal lesson social emotional Learning lesson offered in January and February to our staff and to our students the second approved activity through the ADL was in honor of the Holocaust Remembrance Day where the student body watched a video within their home rooms and then engaged in meaningful conversations about the Holocaust and its connection to our community the third activity through the ADL no place for hate program uh was approved uh and centered around the launching of a climate survey to the staff and students to determine the equity team goals for the 2425 school year uh and finally Falon High School took the extra step and set up an additional activity approved by the ADL where the selected student Equity leaders were about to participate in the second annual student Equity Workshop uh to make connections among our special interest clubs and organizations uh I spent some time a few weeks back at this Equity team meeting where student leaders and our staff across uh faon High School came together uh for a halfday workshop it was highly engaging uh the students were engaged in very spirited conversations and really focused on creating safe spaces for all students and talking about how they can continue to leverage and make sure that all students are engaged in creating safe space for everyone the staff uh experienced one of these activities as well from the workshop they will they will experience a circle of connections Workshop during the May 13th faculty meeting that's coming up in two weeks uh to begin to introduce the staff to the concepts of diversity equity and inclusion and then on May 22nd the faon high school will be honored uh at the Anti-Defamation League no place for hate uh Banner ceremony at New York University uh with uh no place for hate designation and gold level status due to the work that's been done this past year uh furthermore status of uh fairon high school we have also been invited to the ADL uh New York New Jersey Bergen County youth leadership conference that's on for approval this evening as well that trip is May 29th to creskill high school where the conference will take place uh and the purpose of the conference is to gather staff and students to explore ways in which social media can be both useful and harmful when engaging in active AC ISM as well as how to better become an ally online for other students so uh a lot of really great work that's been happening uh looking for ways to continue to expand upon that work and making safe and inclusive environments and as I mentioned earlier uh Dr lactina and the equity team have been hard at work in expanding this to all of our schools uh in alignment with all of the goals that we have um in the work that we've been doing this year so I thought that was important to share and we have those two resolutions on for approval this evening for our students looking ahead to May 30th uh there is going to be an advertisement and there is notation in the board agenda uh for the May 30th meeting location that will not be here at Edison school so please arrive uh we'll have a popup on the district website but please arrive at Falon High School the dcaf we're going to be doing it there we will send multiple reminders and the reason we're doing that is we're going to honor our teachers of the year and our education Specialists of the year and our wonderful staff members who have reached um 25 years of service so it's going to be a really nice night and of course we're going to invite our recognized staff members to bring along their family so we anticipate uh a space that will be much bigger than this in order to accommodate them so we'll do the event that ceremony there and then afterwards we will do the uh state of our schools presentation where we have uh the yearend Roundup to be able to talk about all of our goals and the work that's been done so then we can talk about what the new District goals will be for 2425 and then the board can establish their own goals as well so that covers Us um and then last but not least I'd be remiss if I didn't just acknowledge once again the incredible work of Mrs manuso Mrs Bey and the entire business office and administration for the school budget work that's been done done um when I suffer from insomnia I tend to read this um it is incredibly thorough and it is the backbone of what continues to support the incredible work that happens in our schools with our students and with our staff so thank you Mrs manuso thank you Mrs Bey and the entire team for all the work you did to get us to this point for the school budget [Applause] [Laughter] one thank you that concludes my report this section of the public comment includes the budget the public hearing for the 2024 2025 budget adoption this is the public portion on the agenda items only please limit your question at this time to resolutions on the current agenda please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in comments are limited to 3 minutes and specify the resolution you are referring to in your question or comment this is not a dialogue between the speaker and the board all comments will be taken at once and when public comments are complete the board president or District administration will respond as best they can um the public portion of the meeting for other business the same rules will apply hello uh on the budget um I'll pass along some information I was here last year many of you know me right talking about the performance at one of the elementary schools in the town Mr n mentioned that there are money in the budget to improve that I see a slight Improvement but we're still about 20 points behind the top performers so I want to make sure the administration is so I have one copy for M yeah so if you guys pass yeah one for the board one for the administration you guys can take a look I want to make sure that school is still in you can just pass that paperwork directly to mrno thank you I'll just review it yeah so I want to just make sure that's still in the budget the funds are allocated and it's still a top priority um I have um a note on the way you guys present the tax rate increase um I don't know if everybody knows the tax rate goes in effect retrospectively so our taxes are recalculated back to starting to January 1st so whenever you guys make a presentation you only show the impact for half of the year so let's say last year was We Told on average is $70 for a three 3,000 U dollar house it was actually 140 so it's double the impact so either your model is not right or you're not taking to calc the thing that goes retrospectively back to the January 1 first um I was surprised to see that the board approved um communication position but the board was against the zoom license for the parents to be able to join during the meetings some of us have babies when there the babies who cook the dinner we do the G some of us are on the train coming back from New York it's hard to be here present at the meetings but we can join on a zoom call and make a comment there during the meeting the license from what I know is about $10,000 so we have a lot of communication but I think we can do better in in terms of actions and in terms of transparency so if that could be added to the budget that would be great um and one more thing I want to bring to your attention there's an issue a traffic safety issue at Forest school um I'll have more Pian speaking to the to the situation uh Mr Rosenberg mentioned there was one incident this year it was actually two kids who got hurt uh one first grader from forest school and his brother um you know yes thank God nobody you I don't want to go more into that but even one case is still not acceptable um I have here some information will open a a petition online I think everybody for school signed that petition it's about 230 something people who brought this up to the town multiple times about traffic studies and improving the safety no results or asking you guys to advocate for us we only have one crossing guard uh forestal situation is unique because we have three drop off locations there is one drop off on Hopper and there's two drop off locations coming from beran Avenue there is no crossing guards no crossing lights we don't have a speed bump on Hopper but people try to avoid Fairland Revenue Fairland Avenue River Road they try to avoid Orchard Street and fairon Avenue so they cut through in front of the school uh you can come and talk to everybody in the neighborhood everybody is really you know worried about the situation so I'll pass this along to you I Mark here where are the crossing guards and how far is like a six block distance for people to even be able to reach out a cross guard and try to make a 5-year-old in the morning you know walk six blocks to get to the school so pass this along has information about the petition as well um do you mind so I have one for administration one for the board and' so much I if you don't mind um we're at a minute we're a bit over a minute if I can have anyone else who wants to speak and if not you can come back I have 30 seconds left okay go ahead and finish that 30 second go ahead everybody's very excited about the 100 years old for fair loan also fair for school is 100 years old I hav't heard anything about what you guys are planning maybe you buying a new playground they've been asking for seven years uh we're going to have a Tanglewood um concert end of May maybe you guys can join and see the kids there how beautiful is our community our amazing staff our fantastic FC principle and your mayy can have the next board meeting at for a school we have some 100 years old W paneling and desks and chairs so you can check those out and maybe give us some new stuff thank you thank you good evening members of the board my name is Dennis ton and I am here today uh to urgently address a critical safety concern affecting our students particularly those attending for elementary schools um on January 11 2024 to I apologize ma'am this is not on our current agenda if you safety security it's not right un unfortunately our current budget is what's being adopted tonight I am happy to have you guys speak during public comment on non-agenda items this is specific to the current agenda that we have ready so I don't have the answer that right now unfortunately this is focused on agenda items only I am happy to have you speak and any questions that we can answer for you in the public comment section at the end of our board which is for other business I'm happy to have you speak and then if our Administration is able to answer those questions then at the end at the end sure does anybody else have any questions on agenda items okay the floor is closed board comments on are there any okay um the floor is open for uh board member comment Mark so like I stated in the statement um we can it's not a back and forth and unless Dr D has a response which he didn't address with me we're gonna move on to member comment uh Michael okay anyone else a comment yes okay although I asked some questions about the strength and conditioning coach I forgot to the following I didn't see anything in I guess you can say the job description that would indicate the hour well the hours were 40 but the time that this particular person is going to work so will this particular individual if he's voted on tonight and accepted will he be working during the day after school evenings that that's my first question and then the next question I have deals with the non-unionized help in past years it has always been the board's practice to set aside a meeting with the nine board members and we would dis discuss each individual's contract to see if it was justified or not there is really no discussion on any of this just the percentage that is being given to that particular uh group so the question that I that I have is if these are negotiations which they should be there is no dialogue between what is being offered as other unions and what is being discussed it's just that we're voting on this group and we're voting on the percentage and that's it okay I I understand my colleague is saying it was discussed last month I was not here unfortunately so perhaps uh it was but okay so so my question is if it is negotiations which I believe it is there should be some kind of discourse on whether or not there's any give and take and that's that's a big concern because as I as I said before we set aside an entire meeting with hours to discuss this thank you uh in regards to Mr spindel's question regarding strength and conditioning coach this is a new and unique position because of meeting the needs of our students which has to be available to our students after school and into the evening hour so the it's a 40 hour per week position um but the hours will fluctuate depending on the season but yes predominantly it's going to be after school into the evening when the students are available both through athletic programs and non-athletic programs and student availability but also will be during the day so those hours will be made up from the afternoon into the evening uh or late morning into the evening um May I just you a question about that sure who is the person who is responsible for this individual to see that the number of hours it's completed and what union is this particular person in it's a non-affiliated position and it's through the athletic department and the high school administration supervision okay thank you're welcome as far as non-affiliated um uh recommendations come forward from superintendent of schools so um that's the recommendation of of the superintendent in order to move forward so those discussions were occurred uh in regards to salary increases through the personnel and finance committees right so so that captured a great majority of the board um and then there was communication and writing that went to the board in regards to those recommendations uh and it received uh overwhelming unanimous support from from the members of those committees um as far as a dialogue as as I said earlier it's uh superintendent is responsible for evaluating staff an oversight of evaluation processes in the district and then making recommendations on Personnel matters moving forward and we discussed it through the Committees um as I noted in the email uh I believe yesterday or in in one of the responses to one of the board questions um were following the process from the Department of Education Bergen County office in regards to putting forward uh those contracts in the detailed cost statements to the board uh for the May 30th meeting per the doe guidance that we just received last week during our Spring Break um we're following that based on their timeline uh that those draft contracts and detailed cost statements will go to the board for the May 30th meeting for authorization to then move it to the county office we receive County approval from the county superintendent and then it will come back for board approval um at the June meeting thank you you're welcome so the first question I have is the 5c 234 four five six seven is the is are we approving starting July 1st or approving starting September 1st what date are we approving these new positions starting at does that make sense yes uh I looked at the job description you said uh the strength and conditioning coach will do something with grades five through eight can you please explain a little better what do you mean what they're actually going to be doing I really didn't understand so if you could please explain the next thing is I will be voting no on the minutes because I believe chronological order is important and I've wrote twice that the chronological order of one of the meetings is not correct and it's not fixed therefore I'm voting no I'm also very confused um the salaries that uh we are approving some of them have um besides Bay salary other compensations such as longevity I look through through the entire book The what Dr denisio referen and actually read most of it and I didn't see anywhere where it says longevity is being budgeted it's a PO of money that we are utilizing if the base salary is the only thing that we're putting for the position where is the longevity calculated can somebody please explain how and where in the budget does it say longevity is blocked because we're not putting it in the in the salaries especially in the um that we're approving tonight it's only the base As I understood I also called school boards and I asked them a question regarding um regarding what should go first job description or a or should can we do job descriptions and the candidates for the jobs and school boards said the best practice practice is first job descriptions and then the candidates I've been on the board for the past three and a half years it we have always went through the Personnel committee when we did job descriptions they first heard first uh to discuss it and then it's brought to the board unfortunately we're not following the protocol that we've been following for the past three and a half years so I think it's important that if I'm constantly told to follow the protocol then everybody's following the protocol and I'll come back for the second round Miss fich can you go back to your first question because I I couldn't follow it you mentioned uh Personnel did you say 5c C like we did a 5c we have our administrators on Affiliated teachers are we approving them starting July 1st or when is when is this this salary or whatever is cons starting well if uh so the school year the the the school calendar year starts July 1 so for staff members who um are being reappointed that are 12 months then their official employment begins July 1 uh otherwise they're 10-month employees and it would be September one yeah but so July 1 so June everybody is on the previous correct I'm not sure I follow your question yes okay excellent you have your answer terrific uh your second question regarding uh grades five through eight strength and conditioning so the whole purpose of uh strength and conditioning coach is also to be able to articulate between our middle schools both middle schools and High School uh while we do not have Middle School sports um it is important I believe to make sure that there's that communication to our middle schools about what to expect not just with the athletic programs that are offered at the high school but also as a component of the athletic program would be the strength and conditioning program that we'll be instituting uh so it's a matter of familiarity bringing down there articulation to be able to have uh the strength and conditioning coach participate with our fette teachers and with our students down there um it's all I have question was not answered regarding the longevity where is it in the budget since we're approving the budget and we're approving salaries can we pleas tell me where the longevity is located in the budget book by the next Bo mean I'm always told yes so miss manuso could get that for you I mean um longevity is a contractual obligation and in addition to that it's been budgeted year over-year because we've always paid longevity so that's a requirement under the law um as part of the contractual obligations that we have uh so miss moso could follow up and provide that information to the full board do you have it now sure for the question regarding longevity we actually import those salaries from our payroll system so when they come over they're embeded in the salary so longevity and their salary are all in the one number that's that's budgeted for it's not a separate line item that says longevity it's all part of one number for that specific and but we're approving a different number number today tonight just the base salary are you talking about the numbers that are included in the budget or on the but I assume there would be the same that they're not the same I hand the budget so I'm telling you the numbers are budgeted theet and when they're in the budet and budget for them it comes as one number the qu the problem is in the budget book and what we're approving the numbers are the same but when I asked the question on our writeups they said no longevity is separate we're just putting the base salary so that's why I'm really confused but then the salaries that they're approving doesn't have longevity in that's what I'm confused why are they not the same then I'm confused does that make sense so for example fich in the budget book would be making 104,000 and in our for the public because the public doesn't get Rita is only making 98,000 that doesn't make sense why wouldn't they be the same numbers if you're approving 104 for Rita then we should be approving 1004 for that yes because in the budget it says Rita F obviously I don't work for the district 104,000 so read Fage on this for the salary should be 104,000 so that they would be the same why would they be different I know but when you do your budget you put everything together you put their increase plus longevity and you put it as a one number correct yeah I think the I think the to just clarify question Miss F I just want to finish up to that point so just to address for the board the base salaries on the spreadsheets they're the base salaries for All District employees for renewals that are up for Renewal and reappointment those are effective for July 1 that includes all base salaries which is budgeted in addition to that anyone who is eligible for longevity pay that is a contractual legal obligation and the board budgets for that as well the business office budgets for that as well um so that is not reflected as I noted in my notes to the board and my responses that's not reflected in that resolution there but it's budgeted for in the accounting okay I just wanted to ask if Miss Ty can answer my question that I asked before her is it still the same as what we discussed about in two places for just I just it just feels like it would be much more easier I understand that when you did the budget they said Rita F makes 104 so we're approving 104 on the budget and we approving 104 for the reita reappointment it's just so that the numbers match it's much easier to understand because if I Oprah the record I might not understand how does this numbers match and I just think it would be so much easier for everyone to have the same numbers for the budget as the what we're approving because we're approving two different numbers in two in the same minutes it just doesn't make sense to me it's just easier for everyone to have the same number reita is making 104 that's what we're paying her thank you why I don't work for the district do you do you want your second round okay uh floor is closed Mike real quick Miss manuso well Dr uho the way we do the um budget that's through the accounting practices that the state wants us to use thank you yes it is the floor is closed oh I'm sorry Lisa go ahead sorry okay so the additional so you have your base 104 and then you have your your benefits or you have yeah that's her that's her mine mine is hypothe hypothetical okay and hopefully it doesn't match anybody in the budget um so then you have benefits and that's budgeted separately in another part of the budget like health benefits right so I think the qu I have the same question is the longevity on the people that are going to get Longevity if they're going to get it where is that in the like is that in a again a different section of the budget as stated by Miss manuso and Dr dionio they are in different accounting lines in the budget they are in the budget they are just in a different accounting line that's that's okay I didn't hear that before thank you the floor is closed floor is closed can I get a motion for 3A so moved second call yes yes yes we're just vote not voting just roll call right minutes minutes minut oh three oh I'm gonna vote no yes obain yes can I can I get a roll uh can I get a motion for four A and B so move second roll call yes yes yes no on a and b yes yes no one A and B yes can I get a motion for five a through G second roll call yes yes so no on B1 C2 five I'm sorry 5 B1 5 C2 5 C7 5 F1 B1 C2 C7 F1 yes on everything no on B1 and yes onse yes can I get a motion on 6a roll yes yes yes yes yes yes yes so we are moving back in to public comment I'd like to invite you back up first so that you can continue would you mind sharing your name again thank you for accepting one more time I'm sorry I'm a little nervous it's okay take your time thank you so much I make mistakes all the time you're good um again good evening um I'm resident of paradon my kids um my older son finished high school um he's 19 at this moment and I have seven years old in for school and and my name is again denan um and I'm here today for urgently address a kid skill safety concerns affecting our students particularly those attending for elementary school on January 11 2024 My Two children age seven and 18 were struck by a vehicle near the school while crossing at Gordon Avenue this devastating incident caused by another parent misunder understanding on ruswood street has profoundly impacted my family and highlighted AAL safety issue that demands immediate attention despite our community's effort including over 200 signatures on the petition sent to the mayor and Council in February there has been no followup regarding scheduling competition or funding I stand before you not only as a parent but also as a concerned member of this community it's necessary that we take proactive measures to prevent such from happening again our children's safety should be top priority my seven years old son experienced SE severe trauma shaking UNC uncontrollably for hours after the accident he struggled for weeks across streets pulling his father's and brother's hands back out of the fair I am a teacher in this different district and I cannot take my son because I have same ours or even earlier so it's it's always unfortunately father the brother um both of my children sustain injuries and struggle with pain and fear my older son Bears physical scars that serves as a constant reminder of this this terrible event I urge the board to provide additional resources towards increasing safety measures around Forest Elementary School especially along Rosewood Street and Veron Avenue uh some of su that could significantly improve students safely conduct a safe traffic study during the school hours to assess safety needs install train crossing guards at all key pedestrian Crossing during busy times Implement flashing lights and warning signs near school zones to alert drivers and encourage radiu speeds consider traffic calming measures like speed bumps or other devices on surrounding grads lunch parents education aess campaigns to promote safe driving practices near schools collaborate with law enforcements to increase patrols and enforce traffic laws in school zones investing in these safety measures is crucial for the wellbeing and security of our children no family should suff suffer the trauma of preventable accidents I request you to consider that what actions you will take if one of of your loved ones were harmed let us not wait for a tragedy to occur I respectfully urge the board to treat important student safety and allocate additional resources in the upcoming budget towards these CR critical initiatives together we can create a safer environment for all our students attending for elementary school I'm grateful that my children did not sustain permanent serious damage but we cannot guarantee that such in idents will occur again without these necessary security measures thank you for your attention and consideration of this important matter I'm I am available anytime you want provide further information to answers any questions that may you may have I have the um car accident police report if you like to have this was not joke three police cars were there at the incident and then ambulance came to take care of my kids thank you so much for your time thank you I am so sorry about your children and I do hope that you and your family are all safe and recovering as best as possible I can't imagine what that trauma is like um what I'd like to do is be able to set up a time for you to speak with myself and our um safe roots to schools chair so if you can um email me tomorrow or even this evening and provide me your contact information I will reach out is it have your contact information sure don't say it out loud though because then it goes on YouTube hi good evening board um superintendent thank you for your service to our community um I want to I'm here to support um Denise in her in her initiative um it affected her thanks pardon me um I'm here to just request um any support you might be able to provide for safing safer traffic um and student pedestrian and safety um around all of our schools but particularly Forest because it does have a really unique um three there's three drop off places two of which are at the end of a dead end streets that you have to cross bdan in between 12th Street and River Road there's no crosswalk there's no painted crosswalk there's obviously no crossing guard or flashing lights um and it's only a matter of time until this happens again and I'm just asking the board to do whatever they can I'm sorry I didn't State my name yeah can you tell me your name Alicia MCC Holzman and I'm a paralon resident and you said for Dan between River and 12 12th thank yeah y thank you I'm happy to answer and as a my child um attend school with um Denise's children and um I'm happy to we're also Walkers that have to cross berdan from that section of Fon um between belir and I I believe that's the the district get for Forest but there's at least three there's at least three blocks south and six blocks east to west that don't have a Crossing in in between 12th and bdam okay B 12 and River across bdam um so there's a significant um student population that could walk if it were safer um and we are fair weather walkers but we ac cross go out of our way to cross so thank you again sorry for any um miscommunications no worries we've all been there great thank you guys anyone else it's me again so um just to give more background and information we tried as residents to get a traffic study I don't think it was done during school hours or during the warm weather hours or days it was done in December when nobody really walks so we tried as residents to go to the town or this issue before and nothing was done again we're asking you to Advocate I know maybe it's not your jurisdiction maybe it's not you who can install speed bombs and lights and so on but maybe you have the funding and the power to go and advocate for us because still the same of the kids within your jurisdiction and I still haven't heard anything about the um funds allocated for the performance Improvement of forest if you guys can confirm that that's still on the budget say that again uh the funds for the performance Improvement of forest School are those still in the budget like they were last year no I I'm trying to think of who I yes the answer is yes they are thank you you are on the record thank you maybe we could get the zoom right for 10,000 um does anyone else want to speak okay are you guys just are you guys comfortable waiting or would would you be okay if uh Mr Rosenberg responded he is our safe routes to school he is also our shared service chair so he sort of gets like all the stuff so so do you mind okay then go ahead Mr hi I'm I'm sorry to hear that there was an accident um the police department did not mention that accident he might have missed it but I'm going to ask him about it when he I I know he's on vacation right now Captain L Roa and I will ask him about it I will say that I the police department's in charge of traffic studies the traffic department from the police department um they get funds for it and and everything else um berdan's a funny street because it's a it's a main street especially going to schools um I would suggest that you cross at the crosswalk because there's no streets coming from that side of the road besides 12th Street in River Harristown actually but it's real close to River Road so you should be Crossing at one of those two crosswalks where they where the uh um where the crossing guards are but I do understand because my grandchilden go to Forest so um I I park in the front of forest and I'm not good at Crossing by the crossing guard so I'll ad I'll admit it even today um but that would be my suggestion whether they could put because there are no crosswalks from at Rosewood and Roosevelt and probably that's the reason because they don't want people the police department doesn't want people to cross at Rosewood and Roosevelt um but I will bring it up at by the way your your PTA president Cindy Cook um was at the last representing Forest at the last pedestrian safety committee meeting last a couple weeks ago um so this is I I hadn't heard it before so now I will bring it at the next safety I guarantee you I promise you I will bring it up at the next um pedestrian safety committee meeting but I do know for for the meantime please cross at the crosswalks that's what we're trying to instruct the the students to because there are there's two crossing guards at River Road and one crossing guard at 12 Street and B and then there's a crossing guard by the high school so so all right but but I will bring it up at the next meeting I don't know when the next meeting is right there's that's going to be that's going to be up to the police department but I don't I think they're gonna I I can't talk for them but I think they're going to be thinking about it because again if there's no cross if there's no crosswalk they want you to cross where the crossing guards are because we can't have a crossing guard at every street in Falon unfortunately they're having problems getting crosswalks crossing guards but from what I hear there's they're they're trying to get one new one and they were trying having problems getting that one staffed so that came up at the meeting okay but I will I I'll bring it up to Captain L roen for sure thank you go ahead and that would be that would be your contact at the police department Captain l r Roa hi good evening uh my name is Ban tolinski I'm a fair alone resident um a mom of three girls my oldest one is in high school my second one is in TJ and my youngest one's going to be going to Mills and kindergarten in the fall and I put together um a little bit of information regarding the Jewish Heritage Month of May it falls under de and um New York public city schools are already follow it as well Mila and I um we went to meet with um our newest mayor Miss um Gail renich and um we were supposed to have the proclamation on the April um meeting but it was rescheduled because of Passover so I just wanted to um I only put one packet together I'm sorry if you guys want to take a look um so this is from the Jewish American heritage.org and there's basically a toolkit and there's information regarding it um there's some sample letters that you could send out to the parents you know just see how if we can incorporate any literature into the you know public library or maybe our school libraries things like that so I feel that this would benefit us a lot considering the fact that what's going on right now with the you know the protests at universities and you know that way we can prepare our own children so they're more aware of the situation when they do go to higher education and um there's also a calendar so it does fall under the DI there's the breakdown of all the months like we have you know month of June we have the you know all the other ones so um if this is something you guys would like to consider I included my contact information in that packet as well and I think it would be a great addition to our community just basically see how we can go about that I mean we're already in May so probably for this year might be a little bit too late but if we can consider this for the upcoming years um you know that that would be great I think a lot of us would appreciate that and um that's pretty much it thank you thank you so much Google form there are no comments okay so I am going to close the floor to public comment and open the floor to board comment on other business Mark Jean it should never have happened obviously I I I want to go one step further from what uh our president indicated what she wanted to do I think this would be a perfect opportunity for our shared services the board working along with the municipality to discuss what they can do to add future uh lights as you said I believe there about 6,000 a piece so it's not that much to put into a budget uh as well as uh other other crossing guards so you have my uh my promise that this will be followed through you're welcome the other thing is I wanted to get a sense of feeling amongst my fellow trustees on a matter that I brought up a few times and it has to do with work sessions are we going to have monthly work sessions or are we not I feel that these meetings go rather quickly because we have three minutes and then an additional three minutes possibly to discuss any matters but sometimes there are incidents that need additional discourse and I don't think we have that opportunity without having work sessions so I I'd like to make a motion right now that in the future we set aside one day whatever day that that may be per month to have a work session prior to our public meeting if I can get a second second to have work sessions each month day of Cho Choice by the administration prior to our public meeting to discuss matters that obviously would be in discussion at a uh public board meeting thank you the floor is open for discussion um go ahead Michael real quick I I do actually agree with your motion Mark but I'm going to vote no because I don't believe in all of a sudden making motions without being prepared to to with dates and with everything else I think um there's some months that we might not be able to meet so if you make a motion and we accept we accept the motion then you're saying you're going to meet every month no matter what and you know I know June gets really rough because of uh um graduations and moving up ceremonies and concerts and all that stuff um for the closing of school so I agree in ible with your motion that we should be having work sessions throughout the year I don't necessarily think know if every month is going to be possible but I do agree with you I just don't agree with coming up with a motion without putting it through the administration and doing it the right way thanks Jean me okay sorry Jean Brown I just wanted to be sure you said that not me um I Mark I also agree um with what Michael was saying I agree with the motion I like the motion um but I'm going to be voting no as well um because I disagree with walk-in motions at the end of the meeting without having time to prepare um and think thoroughly through so but I do agree I think we need more work sessions um but I'm hoping that we can have more discussions before we decide how we go about doing that Joe I will Echo those sentiments that I believe work sessions can be beneficial uh we don't know how um they're function as our group here however I I would like to Simply say that um with our new committee structure I'd like to see how that works out a little more uh we've only had that for a month of the monthly set dates every month um and so my my one proposal to you would be to Simply consider uh whether to revisit it at the start of the fall uh simply because because let's see how these committee structures work for the next couple months I'm also sure that uh vacations will get in the way during the summer as people try and schedule those already to add another meeting right now um that maybe in the fall we should revisit the work session thank you I like the committee I I would like to have work sessions but I think the last work session we had was just people talk and that's it and I feel like as a work session is if somebody's unhappy with something something we can restructure it work on it make it like so that everybody more has an input on certain things and I feel like we need some work sessions and the committee structures although it's nice we're starting to have committees once a month and I'm really excited about that they're not detailed notes I don't know what was discussed I don't know what the other board members concerns were and the problem is they're just like we talked about Personnel or we talked about any whatever oh great what were your concerns no you can't know so you have to call each board member for each committee it's a lot of time and I think and we're playing telephone as well because one board member heard this way another board member heard another way and then you're like okay so who should I believe and what should I believe there so I think we should have work sessions and I think we should have it where it's a dialogue versus three minutes okay stop talking you're done I think it should be more of a dialogue and ideas coming together thank you Ed I I think work sessions are a good idea Mark however I'm concerned about a non- Thursday because all of us have different responsibilities and I don't want to if we most of us can meet on Tuesday and I can't then I don't have participation in in the work session I know everyone else has different responsibilities throughout the week and I know we've asked everyone to said Thursdays decide for a board of education meetings committee meetings and board meetings so I'd be more in favor of if it was scheduled for Thursday on a regular basis and not for just the when everyone most people can show up for a work session because I think we should all have equal input into it and if we can't make it that night I don't think it's appropriate so I'm going to vote no on that for that reason anyone else Jean Banta old Jean um the work sessions may or may not work they may not be good ide IDE I'm open to discussing it certainly what I don't want to happen is the Thursday before the public meeting we have a work session we spend three hours discussing ABCD and then it comes to a public meeting and somebody doesn't like the result that was at the work session they lost 7 to2 6 to3 whatever now we have to have the whole discussion all over again that's my main concern the administration only has so many hours of the day to work we all have things to do jobs children whatever so to have a meeting to discuss things and then come to a consensus and then a week later it's like you know what I lost 63 but I really want to discuss it again that's my main concern and then we spend another three hours discussing the exact same thing again and there's nothing you can do worse to a board member Administration than to waste their time because time is so finite so I'm okay with the uh with the idea of it and I even hate to say this but maybe we should have a work session about having work sessions um that's because it is a topic that needs to be discussed in a much broader Forum than this uh the other thing too is you know I I I like the roundabout you know right now we're very formal five minutes three minutes you know you're done you overstepped your time wrong subject a work session you can pass that around a little bit you know maybe somebody needs six minutes instead of five maybe uh Mike has a something and we can be a little bit more you know open about back and forth which you can't do it public meeting um but we have to figure that all out so we're not going to be able to do that tonight but I it was comic effect about work sessions about to have the work session but I think that's what we need to do anyone else called a question Roberts R call the question can you take a roll call I'm sorry no yes no no no it's okay Mark my my main reason for the work sessions is that it's great when you have small committees those people who are at the small committees participate they ask the questions but for those five or four others who are not members of those small committees they really don't get a a feeling of what was discussed nor the opportunity really to ask the questions that were on their mind other than sending an email which really to me is is not the same as having an open discussion so that that's why I felt that we really needed the uh the work sessions and and as I said I respect all of your opinions so if I could just get the answer to my two questions I'd appreciate it first and second were when we can discuss this and in what committee will this be discussed and brought back I am actually going to send out an email this week and um after speaking with our central office administration see if we can set up a another board retreat um so that we can have some of that open dialogue there was a great opportunity to open that dialogue that we had in February and I think we got a lot of work done unfortunately not everyone was able to attend and so I think that would be a really great venue for us to have that discussion without there being um the limitations of Robert's Rules of Order which are in place for a reason however when we are in a retreat um there's less limitations it also as long as our the um it also goes toward one of our board goals that we worked on during the word Retreat which was to do more professional development and Bo Retreats and discussion so you guys after I speak to our central office will get an email from me regarding that in the very near future I didn't call on anyone I called on you first for the motion sorry you can go after ad sorry j just a quick question Memorial Day is right around the corner we are Marching again like last year was Memorial Day Fourth of July Memorial Day right yeah so we we will March as a group Julie I will send an email out to get a consensus on who we will be marching okay great thank you Julie Jean um I wanted to for my sympathies too I have a fourth grader who um travels from Memorial over not Memorial um over from West Morland we were soft barded into West Morland when we first moved into town uh we should have been at Forest and he has to travel down River Road um by himself and it is terrifying to relinquish that power um so I sympathize with you because um I live with the fear that you live with every day um in that same vein um Mark kind of stole my thunder and I think Julie Al did allude to it when she asked Mike to ask about uh to discuss it um since I'm new I don't know things I don't and I don't know what I don't know but I wanted to ask if this was a shared service issue that we could bring up because I'm on the shared service committee and the shared service committee does meet with the town um to discuss issues that uh correlate with each other so if it is something that is appropriate for the shared service committee I will be your loudest voice and I usually don't need a microphone to talk so I'll definitely I can promise as along with Mark I can promise that that will Co that will go to the shared services committee for sure can I can I say one thing no it's still my time about that it's still my time okay theorum please I'm just kidding are you finished not yet one more thing um I just wanted to um congratulate the West Morland um the West Morland faculty today was their field day um and my youngest son came home drenched and so so happy with everything that happened at field day um and this is his last field day as a fourth grader there and I am I cried and I might cry now but I'm just so thankful for the West Morland Community um and everything that they've provided my two children and I'm really sad that this is the last year that I'm going to be allowed to go there without being asked to like announce myself first so because I love them so I just wanted to congratulate West Morland on a successful Field Day Lisa with relation to um days of meetings so a lot and off the record I had mentioned it's one of our board members um that there's always a lot of meetings that happen on Tuesdays and Thursdays um but in the past we've had meetings on Mondays and then always had the board meeting on a Thursday but we've had like committee meetings policy committee or what have you was always on Like Mondays and then you'd have the board meeting like on a Thursday not necessarily that Thursday but you know sometime in the in the month so it's not like you're taking up all your Thursdays um with committee meeting meetings and board meetings it gives the opportunity to some um board members to attend other meetings in the town that might be scheduled for a Thursday okay thank you um I haven't spoken yet at all go for it I'm so sorry what happened to your child I've walked um I I I campaign a lot and then when I knock on the doors of all the residents in that area the first thing they say is tell them to put a speed bump everybody's driving so fast that's the first thing as they say hello to me say so I've heard about it before and I'm happy that you came and spoke about this it's important I was promised this uh that we will have a shared services committee meeting this month because we have to talk about the fair loone TV I was hoping that we can also talk about this matter as well during the shared services committee meeting um because the only way way to do something is discuss it in a committee meeting and hopefully get a resolution to help to make sure that this never happens again because school should be safe and going to school should be safe and I I'm so sorry again to what happened to your son I'm so sorry oh I just wanted to know when is it planned because it's not because it's supposed to be in May that's what it was promised to me m so if I can be given a date because we only have the mon May May 9th and May 16th uh committee meeting structure for May okay Michael all right shared services is in it we're in negotiations with the town on the date so as soon as we get a date you'll get the date hopefully but I can't guarantee it because the town has to be available too okay um as far as pedestrian safety being part of the shared services committee committee meeting it certainly can but I will tell you that I almost guarantee it will get knocked back to the Traffic Safety Committee which does when we meet the main focus even though it's not set up to be the main focus the main focus is traffic around the schools um and traffic is a problem throughout the district around the schools and the police are looking out the I guarantee you the police are around the school every day I hear them I hear I listen to my scanner in the morning and I and I and I hear and at 3 o'cl and I hear them um as far as so I would like it to go to the Traffic Safety Committee of the Town first rep uh Council uh member rinit Deputy Mayor RIT attends the buau manager attends um as far and the police department is there we can't guarantee that we're going to get all those people at a shared services meeting it's actually better in my opinion at the Traffic Safety Committee meeting um I can't guarantee that because there's no cross crosswalks at that intersection I can't guarantee that they're going to have a positive answer for you but we're we're going to try okay I'm definitely going to bring it up okay and maybe there should be crosswalks that that that intersection so so um but there might not be for for that reason I want you to go through the crosswalks but I will guarantee you I will guarantee this whole board that I will bring it up at the next Traffic Safety Committee meeting um and the concerns certainly um I know the area very well like I said uh I have grandchildren at that school and next year another one's coming coming up so all right does that help you a little bit all right all right um and as far as shared services yeah we haven't had a shared services committee meeting for a while so I hope it's robust and I hope to have a meeting here first with the committee before we uh and and then meet with the town so it's all going to get set up um and I I will stay in touch there will definitely be a meeting because we haven't had a meeting in well over a year so thank you just hold on one second I just want to make is there anybody who would like a first round okay go ahead did we get the minutes for The Pedestrian Safety Committee Mee a meeting we don't get minutes for that anyone else okay the floor is closed need a motion to um I know I have to go through the dates um so our upcoming meeting for the regular monthly board meeting is May 30th 2024 at 7:30 :30 p.m. that will be in the Falon High School decaf I do hope everyone will join us for that as we will be celebrating our teacher and N specialist of the year and we will also get a um an update from our central office administration our following June monthly meeting is June 20th 2024 back here at 7:30 p.m. at Edison school room 19 um there's lots of other things upcoming please monitor our social media our website for moving up Ceremonies for scholarship nights for graduations you name it it's happening um can I get a motion to adjourn so moved all in favor I have a good night