[Music] okay good evening everyone today is Thursday Feb 22nd 2024 6:33 p.m. uh we're going to begin our board meeting Mr banano can we have roll call please Mr grippo Dr Hopkins Miss inosencio Mr Jackson here miss Lort here miss Maris here Mr Parker Mr Shaban and Miss s here you have a quorum and can you read us the open public meetings act please in accordance with the open public meeting ACT public law 1975 chapter 231 Sunshine Law copies of this public meeting notice were sent to the cier news the home News Tribune The Star Ledger Franklin reporter tap into Franklin Township Franklin Township Clerk manager district schools offices and associations PTO president and posted on the district website thank you and for the record uh Mr Shaban will not be here for confidential but he will join us at regular and Dr Hopkins is in route he should be here soon and I see Mr Parker and Miss inocencio walking in um can I get a motion to move into confidential so moved by Nancy second seconded by Bill all in favor I so we'll be adjourning to confidential session motion to adjourn to confidential for the purpose of discussing confidential matters including a workers compensation settlement a Personnel matter and negotiations minutes of the confidential session will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists we're adjourned so good evening everyone it's still Thursday Feb 22nd 2024 and we're just back from confidential session for the purpose of discussing confidential matters including a workers compensation settlement of personnel matter and negotiations minutes of the confidential session will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists can I request Dr Hopkins to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for IT stand One Nation godible with in justice for all thank you Walter can you please read the mission statement sure Franklin Township Public School Embraces its diversity Fosters excellent educational Innovation and empowers all students to achieve their Highest Potential thank you can I have a motion to adopt the agenda with the student representative report first and then we'll have Bill talk about no after I would do the presentation okay okay so in the same order as the report is so moved moved by Lori SEC seconded by Nancy all in favor okay thank you so we have our student who's going to give her report first hello my name is Vanessa Marino and I am the student government Boe liazon here are some of the things going on at FHS there will be an information session for 10th and 11th graders interested in the rvcc advanced manufacturing program next year on Tuesday March 26th at 8:30 a.m. in the library the math league is reging registering students for their season and their meetings are on Wednesdays after school the math department is looking for math students to help other students with their math work the guitar and Orchestra programs will be holding a fundraiser at M in Somerset on March 1st the proceeds of the sales will benefit the guitar ensemble and Orchestra competition in Hershey Park on May 10th the student government is opening registration for the njc's leadership training conference that will take place at TCNJ in July there are only three spots available the student government is continuing fundraising for the njasc state charity hugs for Brady the class of 2025 will be holding a cookie dough fundraiser to help offset costs of their future senior events the FHS med tech club will be hosting another guest speaker our guests who are graduate students from Ruckers University's School of Pharmacy will explain the importance of mental health impact of drugs on neurological well-being and other ways to relieve stress in addition to sharing informations about Ruckers pharmacy program Medtech members and non-members are welcome to attend thank you thank you Vanessa and now we'll move on to the presentation recognizing the operation Great Expectations program thank you okay uh good evening everybody operation Great Expectations or OG is an academic and behavioral intervention strategy it is a restorative program that motivates and prepares students for academic and personal success while building building res resiliency Reverend soris was a driving force behind the creation of this program which began its work at FHS in 2020 after Dr rali and members of the district and High School school staff visited a similar program in Baltimore Franklin High School principal Dr Nicholas Solomon said this about the program I believe that having the OG mentors working with our students has been beneficial because OG Prov provides not just guidance in the classroom but also serves as Pillars of Strength during challenging times in the in a nurturing environment created by these mentors our students not only grow academically but also develop essential life skills and resilience this symbiotic relationship between students and mentors forers a sense of community within our school creating a foundation for lifelong learning and personal growth as we witness the positive impact of OG mentor mentorship on our students it becomes evident that investing in these relationships is not just beneficial for academic success but also crucial for shaping well-rounded confident individuals ready to face the future with resilience and determination I would now like to invite some of the members of this year's OG team to say a few words about the program hello everyone my my name is Carla Beverly and I'm program director for operation Great Expectations or what we Lov andly call OG on behalf of our founder Reverend Dr Buster soris I am just thrilled grateful and honored to be here with my team or a part of my team and we're so thankful for this recognition we appreciate the honor of being recognized for the great work that our mentors are doing in the high school so my uh one of my team Marco colazo will speak to you and we have a couple of students who will also speak about their experience with OG thank you so much hello how you doing my name is Marco cazo and I am a 2009 graduate of Franklin High School so it is very nice to be back in the town that I grew up in and you know high school that I graduated from um so I'm just going to give you guys a brief little overview of what we do in the room um some sometimes s you know we're kind of tucked away so it's good to to get this out there all right guys so what is OG operation Great Expectations is a mentoring program for high school students in grades 9 through 12 both male and female uh OG is intended to help its participants reach their potential by building self-esteem improving academic efforts and developing valuable life skills and OG defers from most mentoring programs because of the young adult mentors um everybody is you know around my age I'm 32 years old we have a mentor there who's 2 2 2 years old um and I'm from Franklin it's good that she's closer to the kids age as well so we can understand them differently than maybe a teacher an administrator would be able to connect with the student just because where we come from and you know it's it's it's very nice um so OG defers from most mentoring programs because of the young adult mentors also called Urban Messengers uh we can show students positive behaviors and relate to them while sharing advice and personal experience all right guys next up or goals uh so we work with students to increase the GPA and possibility of graduation definitely want to see everybody who's an OG graduate high school and seek some form of post-graduate um placement work to improve participation in educational vocational and employment related activities for the participants increased interest in enrollment in postgraduation Education and Training boost students confidence and self-esteem to be more productive in class improve emotional well-being and decrease antisocial Behavior so the OG team team includes me and one other full-time Mentor Skyler Hall who couldn't make it tonight and we also have one part-time Mentor James Felton and then you guys met our program director Carla Beverly Before um we work very close in it as a team and we uh plan A lot of the stuff ourselves a lot of the activities that we have for the students and the different things that we do with them so it's it's good that we have a small team because I think the kids really get to know us on more personal level we see them every day and it definitely helps so the power of mentoring these are just some stats um you know 79% of people answered yes that is mentoring positively impact your school's overall success 83 answered yes in is mentoring helping students start to succeed on their own and 85% answered yes does one-on-one mentoring provide value to your students all things I think I agree with and you know most people would uh what we offer is very valuable it's just kind of a safe place for the kids and it's good for them to have somewhere they can kind of Express themselves and be able to vent sometime times CU kids are going through a lot even though sometimes we think they are not uh so we have an enrollment process with in OG at the high school so first a student will be referred to OG by one of their counselors somebody from the child study team a vice principal a Dean or the FHS principal himself Dr Solomon using our online referral form from there the student will be uh screened through Sac which is our student assistant student information and referral reasons are shared with Sac to be screened for initial eligibility for OGD once that process happens we do an intro meeting with the student within our OG room kind of tell them what the program is about what is expected of the student as well and what they can expect from us um from there we do set goals with every single one of our students goals that we revisit throughout the year and make sure that uh they are hitting and you know we help them get there as well uh participation is also very important in OG uh the kids are given a consent form and then they become fully enrolled they can visit during lunchtime during the school day and we can also call them down during non-core classes we don't want to pull any students out during English or math something that's very important and we also have after school stuff that we do as well so here's just a stat for from OG our behavior infractions for marking period 1 versus marking Period 2 uh so one to three infractions was 34.6% of our students zero on fractions was 65.4 going into Market period two we dropped that one to three infractions from 34.6% to 11.5% and 88.5% of our students now have zero infractions which is something that we definitely pride ourselves on thank you yeah there's been uh multiple occasions where you know a student maybe something happened in the hallway and instead of maybe doing a confrontation or getting physical with somebody they've come to our room and they've been allowed to vent and I think that's very important because once you talk something out and the emotions get get out of the way you're more clear-headed and you can make better decisions and that's something that we definitely preach in the room and we have our kids practice as well um this is also very important some of the referral reasons why the kids get referred to OG um school or class attendance failing three plus courses time management and organization basic skilled deficiency and social skills underachievement lack of motivation or low self-esteem mild conduct issues extreme conduct issues adjustment issues and need of life skill resources family conflict brief or loss and postgraduation preparation all things that are very important and you know I don't think enough students can talk freely about that stuff and maybe you wouldn't necessarily trust a teacher that you see a few times a week or an admin so them being able to come to us and talk about maybe home or friendship social life very important and I think it's something all students should be doing more uh here's just another graph how uh how we decrease the infractions by 70% from Market period 1 to two so expectations for OG participants communication being able to openly communicate with your mentors is very important you're honest with us we can help you out uh participation in what we do we tell the kids all the time that there are a lot of them in the program we can't chase them down all the time so it's very important for them to want to participate in the program and that means a lot to us too seeing them come in on their own and take part of our activities and different things that we do um cooperation you know we always say OG is a big team including the students and that requires cooperation from all of us um and something that I do see in the room happen very often and it's good to see respect is also a big one um you know being respectful not just to your fellow adults but your peers as well like you just need to be respectful in class in the room and we do practice that a lot um it is nice to see here are some of our OG activities so we have after school workshops such as really cool um so Skyler our fellow Mentor had a galentine's day uh last two weeks ago and it was just pretty much self- Lov selfcare it was a girls only meeting um that was really great to see we're going to be doing something similar with the boys just working on positive masculinity and you know how to handle yourself in different social situations one thing we'll be doing next week is uh what would you do so we present students with different situations that they may find in the uh in the world whether it's racism or or discrimination or online bullying and we see how the students are going to react to a situation like that kind of on the flly um we also have a really cool podcasting room back in our home office uh we recorded some podcasts over the summer and excited to get the students doing more podcasting as well I think having an open forum and having the students talk like that is really cool because they get to start thinking critically and when you're talking in front of a mic sometimes you don't realize how honest you are so it's really cool to see them open up about different things what they want to be where they see themselves definitely something we're excited to continue all right testimonials so first off we have uh Anthony Holly who is my first mentee so excited to see how far he's come and he's going to say a little something hello everyone um like I said hello everyone my name uh is Anthony Holly uh first I would uh like to thank my uh amazing Mentor Marco colazo for allowing me to represent and speak today um like up there said I am only a sophomore and OG has been a huge part of my growth and success I've gotten asked before what does this organization mean to me it was pretty difficult to answer but when I thought about it what this organization means to me is home OG has made me feel like I have a second home and to someone like me that struggles with social skills in school it really helps me uh feel comfortable coming to school I've had the pleasure of being Marco's first Mente and he's really made my ninth grade year turn around cuz honestly I wasn't really the brightest student in 9th grade but um his loving and uh goofy attitude has helped me become comfortable and turn my attitude and mindset around right now I've gotten praised for my growth and maturity and Marco and OG has got has had a great portion in that growth so all in all uh OG operation Great Expectations is one of the best organizations Franken high school and I will forever be grateful for this program thank you a and next up we have Alexa esz she is a junior at Franklin High School and she was also one of my first Mones as well um hi my name is Alexa esz um this is my third year in the program and I'm now a junior my freshman year I was recommended to OG and my first Mentor Juliana made me feel very welcomed and comfortable from the start of it uh for someone like me who's always weary OG has always felt like a safe place for me somewhere I can express the way I feel regardless of what's going on my mentors helped me build a resume and have helped me get three jobs over the years my mentors have reminded me about my goal which is to maintain good grades so that I can get into any of the schools I want um my mentors have helped me stay on track and be on top of everything considering I'm a three-season student athlete that also has a job I recommend this program to anyone who might need an extra layer support I'd like to thank my mentors Miss Skyler Mr Marco for guiding me through the toughest year of my high school [Music] career at this time I'd like the um representatives from OG to come up and greet the board get your certificate and take a pict picture for me okay thank [Music] [Music] you know this is this is my principal Elementary scho St up everybody up up thank you [Applause] everybody [Music] I'm going to 10 minutes we have 10 minutes before we have to your meeting you decide so we're going to shift a little on the agenda we have 10 minutes before the Auditors come online for their report and I'll move on to Dr Raley for the superintendent report sure well I was going to take the opportunity to thank our Auditors but I guess I'll wait until they're giving their report first uh so I'm going to move on to the second item I had and that was uh the njns visit today uh so today our school district hosted a visit uh that was made by the New Jersey network of superintendant we were visited by a team of about 40 Educators representing approximately 10 different public school districts in major universities coming from all parts of New Jersey and Lehi was here from Pennsylvania uh Lehigh University some representatives from there uh the visiting Educators conducted classroom visits teacher interviews and student interviews in a sampling of our schools we had them visit the high school um one of the two middle school campuses and two elementary schools um our biggest takeaways uh well the purpose of the visit is were to collect data data on school belonging student engagement and other and our Equitable classroom practices that we've been working with our staff on implementing um our biggest takeaways include positive feedback on our work to elevate student voice and on our efforts to support new teachers so what happens um if I may just elaborate a little bit these visiting teams are organized in uh groups of four or five and they're given look fors and very much like educational in our world we call them educational rounds um these teams visit classrooms and they have these look fors in hand and they collect data based on those look fors um you know some of the look fors might have been structures in place for Cooperative learning students engaged with each other rather than just listening to the teacher you know um those kinds of of of Look for if you will datas collected you know things like out a four out of five classes we visited we saw this we saw that um that information is then brought back to this very room here and shared with District administrators um and then highlighted at which point then we get in what is called a fishbowl and basically it's a circle of in our case they were about 16 of us uh to to to for a lack of better terms chew on the information that we're given um you know what what what was perceived to be the strengths things that we might consider uh to help move the work a little more forward um and that type of thing the advantage is twofold it's great feedback for us from critical friends and it's great opportunity for them to witness things like Equitable classroom practices uh Cooperative learning small group instruction things that they might be working on in their own District so that they can take back some of that information so I have to say um the visitors were very complimentary of what they saw I got a Darren plumber did an amazing job he's our supervisor of equity uh Darren worked with Dan and I to organiz organized the event and and Darren really took the lead and I have to say he did an amazing job organizing the event getting ready for something like this is no small lift and uh he spent a lot of time organizing so that we can get meaningful feedback if you don't organize well you don't get feedback right so it was well organized the day went really well kudos to the rest of our administrative team their contributions and making the day a huge success um was evident and uh you know the rich discussion that we had based on the data collected and the feedback we got um really I believe will allow us to move even further toward making our classrooms a place that we can be proud of and and and and a safe spot for all our kids where they own their learning and and and where they are truly participating in uh moving themselves forward so um I have to say it was a great day cudos to Darren Dan you did a great job as well Dr logran obviously uh had his hands on this as well and I can only tell you what you know The Parting comment by most of the Educators that were here from other places were uh were envious of your district and we're envious of the work that's going on in the district and we look forward to debriefing more in future meetings with you all so you all should be proud of um what we heard today so other than that uh my other thing was going to be on the prease center but you're going to have to wait until I can present on that before I can uh and I actually think the Auditors are on now if you want me to tune them in now okay we can we're going to try good evening hello hi good evening how you doing I'm just gonna give me one second I'm GNA cast you up there so everybody can see so just for everyone we're now going to have a presentation for our fiscal year 2023 audit presented by Holt mcnell and Associates okay you can start you can start okay good evening everybody can you hear me yes are we all good awesome well good evening everybody my name is Ryan creamer I'm a principal with hope MCN and Associates I apologize for not being able to make it up there in person a bit under the weather but I appreciate that we're allowed to do this remotely tonight I'm going to be going over the 2223 fiscal year and audit results in our audit we Issue four reports the first report being the independent Auditor's report this report is on the financial statements as a whole we're pleased to report an unmodified opinion this is a clean opinion and the best opinion that we Ren that we can render the next report is the independent Auditor's report on compliance over major programs this deals with compliance on State and federally funded expenditures we also issued an unmodified opinion on this report the third report is the report on internal controls over financial reporting we did Note One finding related to the financial reporting in the district and the last report that we are issuing is the auditor management report in this report we noted two additional findings one related to the financial reporting in the capital projects fund and the other related to student enrollment Camp also known as Assa all of these findings are repeat findings from the prior Year's audit we discuss these findings in a greater detail Tuesday with the finance committee and management management will be submitting a corrective action plan for approval and response to these findings moving on to the year and balances of the district the district ended the year with approximately 2,778 th000 in general fund fund balance this is a decrease of approximately 3 m $47,000 from the prior year which is due in part to a $3.8 million transfer to the capital projects fund to fund the 22 23 school year capital projects the 21.7 million in general fund fund balance is made up of various legal reserves as well as ass signed and unassigned fund balance some of the notable Reserve are excess Surplus which ends the year with $1,520 capital reserve with 8,476 th000 maintenance resered with $235,000 emergency reserved with $1 million the district also has an unreserved and undesignated fund balance of $3,781 th000 in addition to the governmental funds the district has a food service fund which ends the year with 4,854 th000 in fund balance which is a slight decrease from the prior year overall the district continues to be in a healthy financial position to meet all of his current obligations once again like to thank the business office and superintendent office for their cooperation during our audit uh before I conclude are there any questions or comments from the board regarding the balances or our recommendations yeah I have a question the the reserves the the 21 million or so H how does that stack up against other districts is that typical is that about right or over under yeah so in the case of your District um I would say above average here some of these reserves cap out you know your emergency Reserve already capped out maintenance Reserve is healthy your capital reserve you were able you spent $3.8 million to fund project you were able to put that back into that capital reserve and a little bit more so you are replenishing what you're using um each year into those reserves but I would say that your District has pretty healthy reserves uh each one of those okay thank you anybody else on the board has a question Jimmy Erica Lori as chair for finance thank you no questions Bill no Walter no questions Nancy Dennis no question thank you so so much the board has no questions we really appreciate your report great well thank you all for your time if you have any questions uh please feel free to reach out to me thank you you thank you thanks if I may yes please thank you because that was my number one item for my report and I just now I want to take the opportunity to thank our Auditors as well as Mr freed Mr banano and the entire business bus team for their efforts they did an excellent job managing through this year's audit remember we had some transition in the business office so it was no easy lift uh finding everything doing everything you need to do to prepare for an audit and Steve didn't have a whole lot of time to get prepared for the audit because as he was walking in so were the Auditors so kudos to you Steve kudos to the rest of your department kudos to you Mr banano uh we appreciate it now as we move forward we're going to work to even eliminate those findings um through improved processes and procedures and you will see a corrective action plan on the agenda that the finance committee has already discussed um in great detail that we believe will have us in even better shape next year so um thanks thank you and now we move on to the ftps preschool Center presentation by Dr Ry [Music] clicker works and the mic is on that's dangerous okay Franklin T public school preas Center partnering to provide additional opportunities for our youngest Warriors as you know we have been working very hard to move toward what is commonly referred to as a universal preschool program here in the district about 7 years ago we had about 100 Brenda am I correct so Dr sofield director of PPS is also overseeing this initiative uh we had about 100 students enrolled and as of today we have about 600 am I correct or 731 so we've seven times six times grown I guess um in in in just a short period of time but we are at capacity and what I mean by that space wise we're at capacity um of course we want to use our schools that's a good spot for our kids to go to schools in our schools um so we've made room in our schools uh to afford three and four year olds the opportunity to attend uh in our neighborhood schools we've also entered Partnerships with private providers which has offered opportunity for students to have seats as well and those programs are under our guidance using our curriculum um but we still have the need for more seats we still have if we're going to get to a true Universal program the need for a couple hundred more seats for our students so this is the solution that'll get us hopefully within a few short years to a universal prek 3 and four program the recommendation tonight is not to approve anything other other than giving us the ability us being our attorneys the administrators to giving us the ability to negotiate a multi-year lease for the building we once occupied the township now owns called the middle Bush School the property will be configured to provide preschool services to three and foury olds and it would be the first step in creating a dedicated preschool Center here in the district um that the township would ultimately own but we would utilize why a dedicated space as I said with the addition of the 240 prek seats the pre School Center will allow us to offer program programming prek programing that is to All Families who want to send either their three or four year-old to a full day pre kindergarten program so that will be our first opportunity to do that since we set out to accomplish this 7 years ago um so how do we do that well we get what's called prechool education Aid pea is what we typically refer to it as when you're here at a meeting you're hearing us use the terminology paa that's preschool expansion Aid and um the state offers that to entice school districts to expand to a universal program so we can use those funds to lease space and believe me when I tell you Dr sofield has gone as far as climb fences to try and well I shouldn't I shouldn't say that on film but climb fences to try and find us space for our kids um we we we've been all throughout town we we've been close in some cases to creating Partnerships um that would allow us to leas space and then sometimes those deals have fallen apart so we then had this opportunity to lease the middle Bush building as we were talking with the township and the board and Township liaison working together uh had this concept of well can we lease the space back that we once had and then vacated that the township was going to program at one point and we all thought and the township agreed that it would be a great use for that space and give the township a really good resource and that is something that we can afford to do using the state preschool Grant so that's why you see that Nifty little graphic that I had nothing to do with although I'd like to take credit for it Mary did a very lovely job there where we're using preschool Aid to fund the township lease that will give us the additional seats that we need [Music] so who will benefit well that goes without saying and I think I've probably said that [Music] enough that's the middle Bush building that I'm referring to and for those of you that are familiar with uh that area of town that would be um really kind of over on the corner of the um the the southwest corner of that big Municipal complex what would it look like now this is conceptual this hasn't been programmed yet what do I mean by that um I mean that this could all change it could all change but what we had to do was to make sure this was a viable option we had to make sure we can get the number of seats that we needed so this would in this configuration provide us with the number of seats necessary to get us to our goal of offering that Universal prek 34 program if you counted the classrooms the blue shaded areas those are prek classrooms you'd see about 16 which is 240 seats roughly um and then you'll see some smaller spaces they're they may very well also become additional spaces again once this is fully programmed but we wanted to at least show you the board and you the public what could be a result of what we're trying to get accomplished here so how does the lease get structured well the township like any other lease leas or would be responsible for renovating and and and preparing the building the district who already has some money that has been uh has been placed into the grant over the last couple years that we haven't been able to utilize because we haven't been able to get a partnership uh in Surplus that we could put in escrow and allow the township to start drawing from in order to help support some of those Renovations and then the district can pay within the Grant and our current structure of the grant up to about a million dollar per year in subsequent years of the lease how long would the lease be well it will be greater than 5 years which is why we're here because in New Jersey anything that a school board enters that's greater than five years needs to have a public hearing and a discussion like we're having once the concept's approved then we can structure a lease greater than 5 years I would anticipate that this one would likely be closer to the 15 20e Mark and that's what we're actually asking for is the opportunity to negotiate a lease that would look similar to this about a million a year 3.5 million kind of upfront in escrow as we're waiting to kick things off um that would allow us to open a building by the fall of 2026 so again what are our next steps the Board of Education being asked to approve this concept of a multi-year lease this evening the township and District administrators is working and not that we're trying to push things along and it can always be canceled but we've already made a meeting for Monday morning no pressure but we've got a meeting set up with our Township administrator the attorneys from the township and the attorneys from the board board of ed so that we can start if it's approved this evening talking about some of the more finer details of what the structure of the lease would be and then once the lease agreement is finalized of course you would have to approve that as well so you're only approving the concept this evening giving us the ability and authorization to negotiate Once the lease comes to is designed and and and there's a memorandum of some sort of understanding as to what it would look like then that actual lease would be brought back to you the board not in this form but as we typically approve all contracts um it would be brought back to you for your consideration and at the same time it'll also have to be brought to the council because in this case we become the leasy and they become the leasor so so I'm sure you got a questions I'm I'm I'm positive you have questions and that could be questions from out here or questions here I'm assuming we probably want to go questions from the board first is that right yes all right Miss sing okay so we'll start from my left Walter no questions Nancy no questions Dennis I just want Tola can you come come to the mic please I just want to applaud that we are moving the right direction that um I was going to save it at the end but huge on the foundation of these young ones if we get a solid foundation start once they get to the elementary true Elementary stage this is a great move thank you Sammy yeah I want to Echo the the doc's response and I know when we first thought about this this was just like okay can we actually get this done and now that it's happening it's really amazing amazing and I think the part besides the kids improving is uh the township getting a million dollars in Revenue I mean that's huge that's like where's it coming from it's coming from the state but now we had a Township with a million more dollars and our kids are getting more educated at a younger age so win win whenn to use your phrase thanks Doc jimy great job by the predecessors outstanding um question for you is the 240 a men in terms of the number of children that will be able to participate okay or is that just the number that the paa for for that Grant said oh no so the 240 is estimated based on 16 classrooms um what's going to happen is and I can feel the pressure already from my left over here she's going to be looking to program this and get more space out of it so I can see maybe some of those smaller spaces being combined into larger spaces once the township begins to work on the real architectural plan this is again conceptual um so the 240 is is a rough number what do we need well at 725 another 250 300 seats really gets us to what our full universe is cuz we're about 500 kids per class now remember for three-year-olds not every three-year-old is necessarily ready so even though our kindergarten classes might be you know 500 each year uh a prek-3 may never reach 500 um a prek4 probably has a better chance of reaching its full capacity um but not every parent will choose us either um although the Price Is Right I mean it you know it it is free or it's part of our program um but for convenience say where someone might work uh and there will be and is as part of our program or will be for sure by then um after care programmed in this space as well so uh but right now you know that may be there may be some obstacles for people but we're trying to eliminate that and that's why our rush and push to get the full Universal but that's not to take anything away from the fact that you know these folks have been able to push this program from a 100 kids seven years ago to 700 kids now that's amazing to me and kudos to you Brenda and all the other folks Dan and everybody else who's worked to p that forward and kudos to the board because that took a great deal of support to get us there so again outstanding job thank you ero no questions but yes outstanding job I love it Lori I have no questions I just want to applaud the vision that it took when you think of how long it took to come to this point it's a fabulous thing for our kids and thank you very much for sticking with it bill got a broken a broken microphone one giant step for Franklin pardon the pun on the night that we landed on the moon again right right uh this is really a major step for our district for me the reason why this is so important is that and I've mentioned this before we get our children in the school district at a very early age and for learning getting children in at age three and four develop vs the structure the root system so to speak like planting a tree much earlier much healthier the second reason is that well there's three reasons that number one I just said the second reason is we've been trying to keep kids in the district longer and not going to other schools because we have great programs here when you have children ages three and four starting their educational career in Franklin Building relationships with teachers learning about the other schools I'm sure that Dr ravali will have principles coming in talking to those parents the chances of those kids staying as our students is much greater and uh I guess the other thing is just that it it it gives Franklin such an edge up on the educational process finally as a former principal kindergarten is a very difficult year for an elementary school because kids come in with no school experience so the first couple of weeks or whatever it's a nightmare and you know what I mean BR we used to call it kiss and cry anyway um but now when the kids come into our kindergarten they've been in our district for 2 years so the life of the new school will be much calmer the life of that principal will be much calmer because the kids if they go up from fourth gr fouryear old to 5-year-old and stay with us they're going to enter another building but it's not going to be a new experience great job Dr rali and team and I don't know what happened on my mic thank you Bill yes so um I know you talked about this in committee but the money that is coming to us from the state um it would have gone someplace else had this Arrangement not happened so correct uh yeah I yes yes so the the the purpose of that Aid is to encourage districts to grow their programs to Universal so the more we can take advantage of that um yes the more we bring those State dollars back to the district and in this case to the district and the township thank you can I get a motion to open comments from the public on the public hearing item only second moved by Nancy seconded by Sammy all in favor hi okay comments from the public are now open on public hearing item on multi-year lease agreement only see no comments from the public I move to close the public session can I get a second second seconded by Jimmy all in favor I I okay so can somebody move A1 multi-year lease resolution moved by Sammy seconded by Nancy can we have roll call Brian Mr G Mr gri yes Dr Hopkins yes Mrs noia Mr jaon yes Mr yes yes yes yes thank you and we'll move on to the board president's report so in my report it's a long one so I'll try and be quick we'll talk about donations among the generous donations that the board will accept this evening there is a donation of 15 bicycles helmets baskets and locks Robert Wood Johnson Somerset partnered with the global sales team of own to build bikes for the children within New Jersey counties these bicycles and Equipment are being distributed to our elementary schools to be used to promote the positive behavior in schools framework or other school initiatives School counseling week earlier this month the district recognized our school counselors during National School counseling week which was Feb 5th to 9th our school counselors play a vital role in the success of our students and the board recognizes in gratitude their expertise and the care which they provide to our students and their families and now let's talk about our teachers radio station Magic 98.3 recently announced the first member of their class of 2024 teachers who make magic our very own Stephen Bennett special education teacher at Connor Road School Mr Bennett who is also Connor roads teacher of the year was nominated by paraprofessional Linda Perry congratulations to Mr Bennett and now about high school Alum ni McAfee teacher Mary Granado the proud mom of one of our Franklin High School graduates OC a high school class of 2016 recently let us know that o was up to what working at the CBS Sports this Emmy winning alumni also produced the graphics and animations that delivered key information during the Super Bowl earlier this month two other alumni will be appearing on t Vision this month on reality shows Tiffany Irwin class of 2009 is a contestant on the latest Survivor Series which will air on CBS on Feb 28th and cler gravis and class of 2010 is part of this season's cast of the Netflix reality show love is blind which premiered on Feb 14th and how about the film students at the high school are not to our current efficient students as well students from the aspects of video program will be featured at the Garden State Film Festival this year this globally recognized event as New Jersey's Premier independent film festival and will take place between March 21st and 23rd on our school website is a link to an interview from the festival featuring Michael pinnick PJ braco and instructors of our film program and the student producer of the featured film Kennedy Smith I would encourage you all to go and watch it let's go to our middle school students at the middle school level our students were awarded prizes at a bridge building competition last month the rhyme program sponsored this event and two of our SGS campus students placed with Milan Stewart in first place and Fatima Gap in third place these students and many others I'm sure will be recognized at our special student recognition board meeting in June our Middle School players performance of The Little Mermaid Junior enters its final weekend tomorrow which shows at Samson G Smith Campus of Franklin Middle School on Feb 23rd 24th and 25th evening performances are at 700 p.m. and the Sunday show starts at 2 p.m. ticket information can be found on our website under community events fundraiser on the website you can also find information on fundraisers such as our FHS PTS o Franklin athletic booster club Marsh Madness tricky treay event coming up on March 23rd and something about Recruitment and I'll end my report on our website in the headline section is information on two District events for aspiring Franklin teachers they are the aspiring teachers boot camp on March 5th which is for all prospective teachers which are finishing who are finishing or having their teacher certification and and want help with resume review and interviewing and the ftps job fair which is for all prospective teachers who have their teaching certification and want to pursue a teaching career in our schools this event will be held on March 26th at that event there will also be representatives from edu staff The District substitute teacher service who can provide assistance with substitute teacher certification and that end my report and now we're going to open for comments from the public 5 minutes per speaker on agenda items only can I get a motion moved by Nancy second second seconded by Dennis all in favor I I I okay comments from the public on agenda items [Music] only M president since it's no movement in the room uh I'll make a motion to close it okay motion to close public comments by Dr Hopkins can I get a second second by Bill all in favor okay we have a special letter to be read by bill today oh Bill chooses to go to the podium [Music] getting your steps in it's all good you don't have I'm uh switching roles from Board of Ved member to vice president of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce the president Mr Nicholas demeglio is at Temple University tonight with his daughter and he asked me to present this officially to the board of education and to the public a letter was sent to Dr John ravali we are happy to inform you that the Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce has selected you as our honory this year for our annual business celebration in the category of educational leader of the Year congratulations the chamber and its members appreciate the amazing work you have been doing in Franklin Township over the years our mission is to promote and sustain our local business and to stimulate their growth our efforts work toward the enhancement and vitality of overall Franklin Township community there will be a celebration Galla and installation of offices on um April 17th at the marago in Franklin from 6:00 to 10: p.m. you will be our guest of honor of course with a guest and this will be a wonderful event in your honor it'll include a cocktail hour dinner music networking Etc there are other awardees but the major one is this one and uh we couldn't be more proud of you Dr ravali congratulations you certainly deserve it thank you well thank you very much Mr grippo much appreciated and I just want to acknowledge that although I might be the guy standing getting the award it really is the work of many that deserve the recognition a lot of folks here in this room and a lot of folks that go to those schools every day so I certainly will um be there for sure and I appreciate it it's quite an honor I'm humbled by it um but I do want to recognize that there are a lot of folks that make things happen around here and they do a heck of a job and nothing was finer than to be part of what we saw today and and hear the feedback that we got which was very positive so thanks I look forward to it and um tell Mr I missed him today but go ows thank you and now we're on to committee and liazon reports we'll start with Walter the personnel and negotiations committee met on February 14th the meeting started uh at 602 p.m. uh was virtual in attendance where myself is chaired Nancy Lor Sammy Shaban emman Singh Dr John rali Bri banano and Jackie Schneider the personnel and negotiations committee reviewed and discussed the following items Personnel report February 22nd 2024 number 8 the Personnel committee reviewed the Personnel report for February 22nd 2024 appointments include new teachers PA professionals Food Service workers stien appointments include intern Vice principles curriculum writing AP tutorials La leadership team family engagement nights snap Gap coordinators and site contacts Grant funded positions and spring athletic positions FTE negotiations the Personnel committee reviewed the FTE Boe negotiation 2024 goals and guidelines and the boe's proposal number one in preparation for our first meeting scheduled for March 5th 2024 workers compensation settlement review the Personnel committee reviewed a settlement proposal the committee has agreed to reduce authorized request which appears on the agenda for approval good of order Dr John Ral review two Personnel issues with the committee and the meeting ended at 7:29 thank you Jimmy do you have a report um policy commit report commit policy committee met on the 12th of February 2024 virtually at 7:15 p.m. committee members present Dr Dennis Hopkins committee chair Mr William grippo alternate Committee Member Mr Jimmy Parker Committee Member Dr John rali super intended president emman Singh board president and ex official Committee Member uh Mariel Clark senior manager policies regulations was commit Aon the meeting began at 7:18 p.m. the committee reviewed and discussed revised policy 3217 use of corporal punishment the teaching staff this policy has been revised to align directly with its governing statute which pertains to when it is appropriate for staff members to use Force when dealing with a student an identical policy for staff for support staff was reviewed and will also appear on the board's agenda for a reading at their February February committee meeting the committee also reviewed revised policy 7460 conservation sustain ability and green initiatives this update to the board's current energy conservation policy is more comprehensive and aligns to the work of the district as well as guidance from the sustainable Jersey for schools organization this policy will also appear for a first reading at the board's February meeting the meeting ended promptly at 7:40 p.m. thank you Nancy the facilities committee met on Tuesday February 20th at 6:35 p.m. I attended this was myself chair Walter Jackson laori Maris emman Singh John rali Brian benan Steven freed um Mark mcamera and Ryan Ellis we talked about the um update to the um buildings and ground building which is located here so the expected the expectation is that the building will be ready to be occupied in early spring 2024 and and update on uh Boe Township projects we just talked about Middle psh School leads that Dr Valley brought up um and the Warriors Health Center um Brian banano updated us on the progress of an agreement between the bard of Ed and the township for their use of that facility uh Zu fall Health construction Prim ban updated the committee on the progress of the Zu fall Health Center project and the project is likely to go to bid by by the end of the school year the facility use um we discussed the facility use applications appearing on tonight's agenda and the energy report which is always um the highlight of the meeting um Ryan Ellis provided a uh colorful report to the committee regarding the status of the Claremont solar project and the meeting adur promptly at 7 7:14 p.m. thank you thank you Lori the finance committee met Tuesday February 20th by video conference at 6 PM in attendance were myself as chair Mrs Nancy Lort Mr Walter Jackson Mrs emman Singh Dr John ravali Mr Brian benano and Mr Steven freed the committee reviewed the supplemental bills list for the month of February committee also report reviewed the board secretary report and transfer report for the month of December our Charter School payments the district paid 1,663 262 in tuition and $ 49,74254 $ 68,70 for the year to date and transportation year to date $298,400 fiscal year 23 Financial Auditors Holly p mcnali and Associates discussed the fiscal year 23 Financial audit and related findings with the finance committee members the summary version of the presentation is that there were three audit findings which is really pretty pretty good for a district of this size and that the district received an unmodified audit opinion meaning that the district's financial statements are fairly stated and unmodified opinion is a clean opinion and is the goal of the district the meeting ended at 6:40 p.m. thank you Dr Hopkins I guess I'll do curriculum then um the on February 12th 20124 we met at 6: p.m. pres was myself um um Bill griffle Erica incenso AR sing Dr Daniel lerin Dr John rali and Mr amondo guro um the committee reviewed the following proposal for the board consideration new course proposals Fashions and designed to for students in grades 9 through 12 beginning September 2024 tomorrow's teachers for students in grades 11 and 12 beginning September of 2024 a course revision proposal change Markin and three for students in grades 11 and 12 to Mark and three honors beginning September 2024 acceptance of a history field trip Grant from the American Battlefield trust educational education Fund in the amount of $800 to be used towards a road to success field trip to gburg PA digital Lear software and World languages instructions to be used as a pilot in 2023 2024 for potential use in the 2024 2025 school year the uh committee discussed the following items a World Language pilot proposal the meeting concluded at 6:47 p.m. thank you any liazon reports okay on to new business but before we get there uh Madame President how would you like us to ask questions if I have questions of some of the reports should we do that now or later I think we can do that now so any questions on the committee reports we'll start with you Samy no I just want for for facilities in particular uh uh Nancy you mentioned that the zoo fall uh is going to be um I guess later on this year the The Proposal do they have an expectation of when it will be completed as a total project if if you know or anybody else here knows uh yeah so we are uh actually also that's on the radar for Monday's discussion as well but where where are we with that it looks like we're going to attempt to perhaps uh bid the two items separate the building itself which will be a preat building and we're looking that we're looking to perhaps put that out as soon as April and then the site work uh will follow because there's going to be some uh additional engineering that needs to get accomplished and there's some question as to what the township will actually be able to do without having a site contractor do it so for example you know will they be running the sewer line the water line that type of thing so once that stuff gets clarified then that site package will go out separately um so the hope is that uh and now what I'm hearing too if the building gets under construction meaning in that prefabrication plant or wherever they build those things that we could be looking at completion sometime in the uh fall of next year as soon as the fall of next year which is pretty good because we had always anticipated around August September October and we probably won't make that August September Mark but we got a shot at making the October November Mark when you say fall of next year you mean fall of this year yes okay I'm I talk school years I apologize I I talk school years I should be talking calendar years yes I'm talking fall of 2024 right and that that mean meaning like open and then operational yes wow W that's fantastic that's the goal wonderful yeah thank you any questions Dennis on any committee reports Nancy Walter Jimmy yes I had a question for the finance committee the um the charter school payment how does that compare versus what we've done last year and what exactly is the trend Dr W sure uh a little clarification on a question Jimmy so how does it compare to last year's tuition right uh the total of the charter school costs yeah in total um actually pretty consistent with last year it's a slight in a slight uptick but uh not nearly as much as it had been in future years and I'm shooting from the hip here in saying that I think the increase from last year the fiscal year prior to this current fiscal year was in the couple hundred th000 range you probably don't know off the top of your head Stephen but right we can certainly get that for but much less than what it's been and that's because the enrollment in those schools has stabilized a bit um I can tell you the adjustment the state forecast for what we needed to pay and the adjustment was very similar um I think it was that probably do know offand that was probably about 28,000 so that typically has been much larger so what the state asked us to budget and what actually was spent was much closer to what reality was than what it had been in previous years and that's an important number because if we're asked to budget X and then X isn't realized then what happens is you know and in years past that could have been a million million and a half that's a lot of extra money that could have gone toward programming that you know in December of a school year Midway through the year it's you know become Surplus at that point so uh the tighter forecast has certainly helped and the growth um slowing a bit I guess helped as well because we didn't have such a incremental jump from the previous year to last year so I'd say more consistent than not thank you Eric Lori bill yeah uh this was a facilities question uh that was dealt with last meeting but we didn't have an opportunity like this so this is great uh John on the or Nancy on the um food bank uh concept of the Pine Grove property where where are we at with that John and what do you see as a timeline so uh what the board authorized was for the food bank to Simply move forward and do a feasibility study I've not heard other than communicating to the food bank that they were approved to enter the property to do a feasibility study I've not heard any report back from them I would assume that will probably our FIS committee um which brings those groups together will likely hear some type of report from them at which point I will relay that back to you folks but we've not heard anything other than hey excitement on the part of the food bank to even be able to explore this idea okay thank you so we're on to new business now okay my time to shine um I'd like to move move into for approval uh starting R1 right R1 monthly reports M1 minutes of board meetings A2 travel and related expense reimbursement A3 affirm harassment intimidation and bullying decisions A4 Franklin High School graduation site A5 Franklin Middle School promotion site A6 read Across America day A7 donation A8 revised policy second reading A9 new policy second reading A10 revised policies first reading a11 new policy first reading a12 abolished policy a13 facilities use A14 principal internship B1 warrants and payrolls B2 Financial reports B3 contract approval B4 change orders B5 Award of RFQ for uh internet uh teacher of the death uh B 6 Award of RFP for on-site inperson high impact tutoring Services B7 acceptance and Adoption of the annual comprehensive financial report and annual management report for the fiscal year ending in June 30th 2023 B8 approval of the corrective action plans for the findings contained in the auditor management report June 30th 2023 B9 multi-year Transportation bid authorization C1 out of District students 2324 C2 field trip destinations C3 field trip applications C4 a FH FHS and FMS athletic schedules C5 approve a new course C6 course revision C7 World Language pilot program C8 history field trip Grant P1 workers compensation P2 Personnel report number eight uh is that it that's it that's it so there's a motion for R1 M1 A2 to A14 B1 to B9 C1 to C8 and P1 to P2 can I get a second please seconded by Nancy and can I get roll call please Mr grippo yes Dr Hopkins yes Mr Mr yes yes M yes Mr yes Mr yes yes to all except I'll abstain from a13 [Music] B thank you and now we're back to comments from the public 5 minutes per speaker any topic can I get a motion to open please so moved by Dr Hopkins second seconded by Nancy and Lauri and [Music] Unison good evening Nicole pride and just Joy memory I am the lison from the um Franklin High School ptso there is a parent a parent member within our group who wanted to escalate a concern to the board um as as it is her understanding there is a new law that was passed for the class of 2025 that states that all students who are graduating must fill out a FAA FAA and her concern is the implications as this being a potential barrier for students particularly those who are not College Bound and I think that's the general gist of it so it's what are the implications for our students from what I've read read from the Mandate um students have the option to wave it if they go to their guidance counselor but we want to make sure that that's a easy process any other comments okay thank you anyone else I a public session motion to close by Bill seconded by Dennis all in favor hi hi Dr rali would you like to answer please yeah so that is hot off the presses um relatively new uh the impact we're not so sure of yet but I'm sure Dr logren I can see he's on his phone already he's taking not feverously uh there is an option for waving I do believe and we certainly wouldn't want to make that cumbersome because we certainly don't want to put any overburden on anybody so uh I will ask Dr logen to follow up and then what we will do is make sure that we communicate out to the families especially the high school families um of of the process for doing that and uh a little more about what this new intention is all about because we haven't even gotten anything from the doe yet to my knowledge so can you please use the mic Dr long room sorry I will happily um review and get back to the ptso first of all um my understanding is it's a one of these new regulations to just help a lot of folks know more about what's out there to help them but I think you are right there are exceptions to all of these things and the the idea is not to bring a barrier or hurt anybody so we'll be in touch thank you and now we're on to good of the order let's get started Mr Parker uh I do not have anything at this time thank you Miss asencio nothing Miss Maris thank you nothing at this time Mr grouo I am out of work Mr Jackson don't get used to um once again uh excellent job with the uh o program at the uh High School I think I might actually try to sneak in there and see what they're see what they're doing um but speaking of that type of program um the Franklin High School Dance Company and the CTE program actually had a trip earlier this month to New York City um they had two master classes at Alvin Ellie dance studios um they also tore Lincoln Center and pretty much spent the whole day in New York and my daughter was someone who participated in that and actually had an absolutely amazing time because it exposed all those kids to being front and center and actually putting themselves in a place they may see themselves in years after they graduate from school so another excellent program that once again we have here at Franklin High School so I am beyond proud to be a Franklin Warrior to be parents of daughters who have went through the school system and excelled and I want to continue to do everything that I need to do as far as a board member to make sure that we continue to bring light and shine Franklin um like we have been doing in the spirit of Black History Month and my John Co train sweatshirt and Mr overal Wilson if you missed him early this evening he actually had his sack so I got here just a little late so I missed it so I got to make sure next time I get here um but just a quote from uh Mr John K train who was a American Jazz saxophonist invest yourself in everything you do there's fun in being serious that's it thank you thank you Miss Lort I hate going after Walter but um ditto hey Bill how many words was that Dr Hopkins um I guess we are embarking on some exciting times uh as you could tell with the with the programs that going on with the incentives with the uh preschool which is huge and also with um the class of um 24 um exciting I'm sure that uh between now and I guess midm March um the majority of the students would know where they going to land um for uh College next year so parents uh and with the fast for stuff that's um uh I can see both sides of the coin that the earlier the parents get exposed to those challenges is great but those who are not uh College Bound I could applaud that too that you know they could refocus their energy towards um other means but um exciting for the class of 2024 see what where they land thank you Sammy yeah just real quick um yeah really awesome the OG stuff that's going on uh so I'm going to try to dive into it so you know if you're going to go we could potentially go together because um that just sounds a fantastic program um piggybacking on on one of the things that that Walter mentioned as well there was an amazing basketball tournament here for anybody that didn't know I mean we had the best team in the country flying in to Franklin and you had the number one player in the country this kid's a Phenom Cooper flag he might be a generational player and he was dunking on our rims right so uh awesome program I was so proud and I think I saw Walter there too I mean we were just beaming with like how Franklin was the center of the basketball universe that night and so hopefully we can do more and more of those things big props to to Ken and his team for for doing things like that um there's a Fisk meeting uh next Thursday so uh one week from today uh it'll be a 4H hour meeting it's from 4 to 8:00 uh food will be served it's uh from a delicious restaurant Bill had a chance to to go there I'll be bringing down from Patterson I don't know about the Quorum rules for something like that but um but all are welcome from the board and all welcome from the public it's going to be a 4-Hour program because we're going to be discussing a mapping of all the food and security within the town I don't know if this has ever been done before I don't think it has where we're going to try to identify all the different resources that exist within Franklin Township to help people that are food insecure and all the resources that exist and then finding gaps and then creating plans around those gaps so that we can once and for all be rid of food insecurity that's the sort of ultimate dream with that um and finally uh just a prayer to for peace around the world a lot of my family is still suffering in Palestine they're um on the bo order they're scared for their lives um and so while we're enjoying so much Safety and Security here um there's many people all around the world that are not and so just keep those people in your thoughts and prayers and you know hopefully um the peace will will descend upon all of them thank you thank you and I just want to make an announcement that March 18th we will be celebrating Somerset County unsung heroes we have 14 High School kids from all over Somerset County one of our own will also be recognized and our music department will be taking our students um Caesar our music head will be there with the teachers and he will be will be showcasing our students there welcoming all the parents and the kids so it's a great time to showcase our district once again it'll be held at Somerset votch from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. so anybody who's available should come and attend board members should also come and attend and you know see our students being recognized and uh with that I also want to say that tomorrow Friday uh Feb 23rd is celebrated at a lot of places Nationwide as we were black day in support of our black brothers and sisters so make sure that you all wear black and then we move into March as um women's recognition month and we'll be having a lot of events for that so we'll be seeing you again in March with that meeting of journ thank [Music] you [Music] [Music]