so we need to do the uh Pledge of Allegiance again I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all moment of silence please bar would you call the rooll aim Mr Bonnet Mr Campbell Mr Denard here miss Scott Le here miss Graham Miss O'Neal Dr Dr Yos here miss Ginsburg here we have a COR this is a regular meeting of the glennridge Board of Education adequate notice of this meeting location and time has been provided and that this board notified the Glen Rich paper and the Star Ledger on December 8th 2023 said notice was published in the Star Ledger on December 12 uh 13 2023 and the glennridge paper on December 21st 202 3 the date time and location of this meeting were also emailed to all recipients of the annual schedule of the board's meetings um the board met tonight in executive session we're now ready to go ahead with the public portion of our meeting um first of all I want to thank everybody for joining us online tonight we're holding this meeting virtually in response to the snowy weather situation that caused today's school closure after consultation with our attorney we determined that a virtual meeting would provide the best combination of accessibility and safety for all participants um for written Communications we've had no written Communications uh since our last meeting on January 23d uh the president's report uh first of all I want to remember in your thoughts our colleague Anthony Bonnet who's not with us tonight because he is away attending the funeral of his aunt who passed away recently and also so uh keep the masso family in your uh thoughts um four three masso children graduated Glenn rid High School I believe their grandfather James maso with whom they lived in Glenn Ridge uh passed away recently uh some of you may remember Rita masso who was a standout soccer player for Glenn Ridge so think uh keep the masso family also in your thoughts uh I want to give you an update on the superintendent search where on schedule the Personnel committee reviewed 60 applications uh rumes and cover letters and invited 19 applicants for the firstr interviews 18 of those were interviewed out of the 18 the committee selected nine candidates for second round interviews eight of those candidates agreed to participate in the second round process the committee is halfway through the interviews with that group um our intent is to end the second round with two or three finalists who will be interviewed by the full board we're also seeking targeted feedback from representatives of the faculty and representatives of the various liaison groups whose names appear on the Boe agendas um those sessions moderated by our attorney Miss Osborne who's with us tonight will take place on February 21st and 22nd and finally we were scheduled to meet with the Town Council on Friday but that had to be postponed so we will be meeting with them on the 23rd and that is the president's report uh superintendent's report thank you Betsy uh I first want to thank the Glen R Education Foundation um we've been working with them to uh fund a primary Seal program uh the three principles at the primary schools and their guidance counselor went to a program last uh roughly about a year ago and and fell in love with it um it's an intense program called capturing kids Hearts um and it involves training the entire uh staff in the building um it's not one of those one workshops and they're done they're going to be intensive training for a two-year time period um and with that there was a hefty bill and the foundation has agreed to fund that project and um the cost is coming just under $85,000 so um very generous of them and we're excited to bring it to Glenn Ridge um and I know the primary principles are uh ecstatic about it uh I do have a couple teacher recognition shiong Zang is receiving the excellent award from the Suburban ex essic chamber of Comm Commerce for her dedication to the students and her contributions to Chinese education um so she she will miss uh actually the dinner because she'll be uh as she always is with the students um she will be uh on a chaperoning a trip to China at that time and Maria Deus has been accepted to participate in the genek teacher fellowship program which is will be held in Armenia this summer and she is one teachers Nationwide to be accepted into the program uh we had some students who are busy since our last uh Board of Ed meeting Mr mjusi took four teams 11 students down to Washington DC to participate in the middle midd school history Club academic uh program the geography Nationals and one of the his top team with seven and one losing in the championship match um so I'll take an opportunity in a future board meeting to invite those students in so we can recognize them uh we also had three students who were awarded um received awards for the Essex County Education Association Pride essay Boaz Cheney first grader at Central play second Benjamin Riner who's at Lyndon avue school and and in second grade took third place and at the high school Finn Peterson a seventh grader also took second place so we're very happy about that uh sharing the Arts had their program uh last month we were hoping to have them here today this um some of the the of that program to talk about um what they actually do um so we're we're going to uh reschedule them for another board meeting and I want to congratulate ninth grader Jude Rothman who auditioned um last weekend and earned a spot in New Jersey region one concert band not only did he earn a spot he earned the F uh the first chair which is quite an accomplishment we have not had someone in the north Jersey uh Regional band for um prior to uh covid so uh it's it's great when our students uh are able to achieve uh being in in that program as far as uh things are upcoming uh we are in the heavy mist of of the budget process at the March 5th meeting our next board EV end meeting we'll be um presenting the Ten of budget for the 2425 school year for those who are in the budget calendar is on our website and you can get a little more understanding of the budget process upcoming events uh besides today being a short uh a snow day emergency day it is a short week to begin with uh students will be dismissed early on Thursday staff will have a professional day in the afternoon and the schools will be closed on Friday Monday's a holiday so the entire district is closed and then Tuesday the school are also for the winter break um coming up down the road uh late February early March is read Across America events of Ridgewood Avenues holding their grade level spelling bees and the high school is in the midst of their scheduling process I also want to mention at the next Board of Ed meeting we will be recognizing the governor's education of the Year recipients in our district so uh we'll send out a general to our entire School Community uh if they want to come in and support and recognize those teachers who are uh the recipients of that the award this year and that's by report okay um I seem to be frozen you can all hear me still Yes okay um we've now come to the public comment period uh but first Durk I know that you had the sharing the art showcase I presume that will be postponed until the next meeting uh we'll reschedule it I I'll have to talk to the advisor to see when they they're able to make it okay uh it's now time for public comments on agenda items only uh obviously since we're online our Protocols are a little bit different than normal but if you uh members of the audience if you have a public uh comment or question please uh unmute yourself identify yourself uh confirm your Glen Ridge residence uh the same time limit of um of two minutes uh applies and um if you have several questions please uh say them all at once and we'll try to answer them in the order that you've made them uh does anyone have a uh public question or comment Betsy I think they have to raise their hand I don't sorry they should raise their hand themselves and I'm looking at the list so raise your hands if you have a public comment I don't see any raised hands does anyone see any raised hands matter time now nope all right well we have a second public comment period later in the meeting uh with that it is uh the first meeting of the month so let's start with committee and liaison reports um let's start with uh Dylan O'Neal who is our student representative hi yes so we have had a very successful week with our high school sports teams with our girls swimming team advancing to the sectional final I believe that match is coming up within the next week along with our hockey team who won last night is advancing to their conference final which I believe is on Thursday night and our girls basketball team had an extremely successful senior night that took place last night as well along with that our student council is working towards hosting another faculty vers student event not exactly sure what that's going to look like just yet but we're aiming for post winter sports season and pre-spring sports season so we can fit that in and have a great time and then everybody is extremely thankful for the snow day today thank you Mr Phillips and we're all very excited for the long weekend thank you thanks Dylan and now we'll have have uh committee Le on reports I'll just call on you in the order that I see you on my screen that would mean tresia you're going first okay um so high school HSA meeting was on January 26 um on that date the marking period closed um so as um Durk said we're into the second period and actually the students are going through the process of choosing their classes for um next year so class meetings um will be taking place with their guidance counselors with the administrations and the program leaders uh Mr Phoenix's leadership program in which he um instituted this year is going very well they had their first speaker and their next speaker was scheduled to be on February 7th so I guess that was last week I'm I'm sure it was was a success there was a lot of good feedback actually one of the moms U one of the parents um who's on the HSA board said that her son is in it and she was quite impressed that her son was able to articulate very well and talk about the program so that seems to be doing um very well um that program and it's again that's separate from the peer leadership program it's a new program and which um Mr Phoenix um started was initially geared towards just Junior and senior years but now um I heard that even some freshmen have attended as well for the Middle School um Mrs Odell Pinker I hope I'm saying her name right um she gave us a great uh update um they're working on different focus groups on you know talking with seventh graders and eighth graders um different topics of snitching versus advocating identifying a trusted adult in the building that they can speak to um appropriate versus inappropriate language um what they're doing is different her and the guidance counselors are doing different focus groups with the middle school kids to help them um navigate middle school so that seems to be doing very well February 12th was kindness week in which student council was leading and then she spoke about the eighth grade um end of year class trip which is to Dorney Park um then Mr Hill gave an update on all of the Athletics uh as Dylan mentioned the girls um swimming team was doing very um did very well the wrestling team um placed in one of the tournaments uh there was an ice hockey game that night the band had a show that last month which was um phenomenal and he also mentioned the memorial soccer tournament that they did which uh HSA um Treasurer said that $1,700 was raised for that scholarship fund um which was just absolutely phenomenal in memory of our our dearly beloved um um prior student and the Garden Club um is working on the grounds within the high school which uh they the HSA was able to donate $300 to them Project Graduation theme is Despicable Me arts and ecoair um it's upcoming you know please put that on your calendar for May and April 4th is the Middle School parent night out and the golf outing is coming soon and there was a a huge thank you for everyone who participated in the Holiday Market and that's it for the middle school high school leaon report thank you uh Duval I have a lot of reports tonight I'll try to go through them quickly um first uh David asked me to report out on finance um and we've um talked about this a little bit already we met on the 19th of January we went over the potential changes to the upcoming budget for 2425 and um we reviewed program Improvement requests um so not too many specifics that I can anyone can share right now um except that to remind everyone that our budget calendar is on our website and the big date coming up will be February 29th where we hope to get our state aid numbers and then after that March 5th we'll have our tenative bud budget presented at our um at our board meeting and then the next meeting after that will be the um public hearing and adoption which will be in April that'll be April 30th maybe there's a meeting in between that but that's the timeline for that um and then the next committee meeting uh update I not yes communication committee meeting update that we have that meeting was on February 6th um we talked a little bit about one of our big board goals which is to create an onboarding manual so we discussed some of the items that we might include in that and also to the group I want to um encourage anyone who has thoughts for what we might include in that manual to please submit them to me or or to other members of the committee um we talked about including critical policies acronyms um uh the the pointer sheet on hi that Jen has graciously shared with us just so that we can keep everything in one place um so we're starting we're we're getting we're pulling that together um we also talked a little bit about our mini Retreats that's another one of our board goals and we decided that oh we didn't decide but we discussed the that it may be better to uh table some of those ideas until we have a new superintendent in place um so so not that anyone's forgotten and we're still looking at different topics but or considering other topics for many Retreats but we might just want to you know put that on hold for a little bit until we have our new superintendent um we also talked about new avenues of um Outreach and out community outreach like we do with our coffee and conversation uh one of the ideas that had um come up was having more members attend a a home and school meeting for example so I will be sending around a calendar of excuse if you can see it of all the home and school meetings or you can't see it anyway um coming up and maybe we can get a few people to come along to the next Forest Avenue or the the central school or wherever um and so that was it that's it for communications moving on to um speaking of Forest Avenue school they had their home and school meeting on January 29th it was the first time they had met since November so it was a pretty big substantial meeting and I won't go over everything but there were some really it was really good stuff that did happen um primarily most a lot of the meeting was um dedicated to a presentation for this will be a fundraising ask but Forest Avenue wants to do a new um a REV vitalize the Stella concade bird sanctuary which was first put in in the 1940s um and has become so overgrown and sort of lost to time they're going to revitalize that and revamp The Learning Garden as a pollinator Garden one of the parents is a landscape designer and presented a whole plan with um native plants a new patio seating um bird feeders with live stream into the classroom um just lots of different ways to incorporate nature into the classroom as well as um one of the other goals is to to com to combine technology and nature and bring it to the to the students so um they're talking about having bird feeders that are actually in the windows of the classrooms and that have live feeds on them so that they can so that the students can be watching the activity of the birds um all year round so that sounds to me like a lot of fun um in other news um Mr Murphy noted that uh there are new touchscreen Chromebooks that have been delivered and they're being set up in the multi-purpose room they have a whole steam Corner dedicated um around the grounds two of the big oak trees in the back by the playground have had to come down because they were diseased uh the burrow also took down another large tree out in front of the school so things will look a little different but I think with the um uh activity around the the pollinate the The Learning Garden that will will be offset a little bit with some new trees and vegetation um and they were at the time looking forward to the 100th day of school coming up and I believe that's happened just the other day um but they they kids were getting ready for a fashion show where they they were dressing up as if they were a hundred years old which sounded quite fun and a new Twist on you know thinking about yourself in the future for the hundredth day um activities so th those are just some of the um some of the highlights um for Forest Avenue school and then their next meeting is is again not not until March I believe um oh let's see and then my last report is from the Educational Foundation and um DK thank you for uh talking a little bit about capturing kids Hearts the foundation also wants to thank the um the principles who brought the idea to them um particularly to acknowledge their commitment and dedication to um really focusing on the social emotional development of our children um we're very the the the foundation is is really excited to be able to fund this and and um a big shout out to uh Dr Harris to to Mr Murphy and Dr Caravella um also the foundation um in their meeting on February 6 February 6 for a big day um also funded two mini grants so I just want to do a a little call out to um Mrs P pello for the uh she will be uh um has a program called ethical and inclusive dissections with SCI instructables and a sci instructible is like a like a model where you that you can disect over and over um and Aaron Goldin will uh has a program for African drumming that tells a story which is um how cultural drumming can teach diversity story comprehension patterning Precision counting fine motor skills all in the Elementary classroom um and then two expanded Innovation grants were awarded to Jerry white for a reading incentive bookstore at Raz to encourage uh voluntary reading and to um Lara boss for uh decodable text at Raz and those materials will support the Orton Gillingham initiative so um the foundation is is very excited to be able to bring all of that we are very excited to to have it so um um that's my report thank you thanks dual Heather you're up next sure the curriculum committee met at the beginning of February we got an update on science which is undergoing curriculum review we also heard about what you all have heard about already capturing Hearts the secl training program for um staff and faculty at the elementary schools and heard a little bit about what um rwood in the high school would like to do similarly that they have begun looking at as well there's this called collaborative problem solving we also heard about a new state requirement for multilangual language Learners and how we have to develop a plan to address that to meet the new standards and then um a proposal which we also thought was a good idea to use option two um at the high school that would be able to satisfy 21st century standards which is a high school requirement that was pretty much it for the curriculum okay uh Jocelyn you're up next so um first committee update on negotiations we are going to be beginning our conversation with the administrators on the 27th um to discuss their contract which expires at the end of June um and then the Grace update is just that there's the next Grace meeting will be a virtual meeting on Wednesday March 13th from 7: to 8:30 and that link will be sent out in advance um and then Ridgewood um home and School Association did not meet their last meeting was January 5th but I received an update from the executive team and um firstly their next meeting will be held on March 1st at 9:00 a.m. and that will be the meeting where they will be discussing open positions for next year among other topics and then just some to capture what's been happening at Ridgewood in the last month and a half since their last HSA meeting um the fifth graders had a visitor from the right stuff to talk about the writing process susal the musical held auditions and is now in rehearsals um they're working on further further updates to the Courtyard with a plan for a legacy brick sale and in the spring um the Tre sign out sold out in 2 minutes and the class begins February 21st the marketplace will be on April 3rd if you want to mark your calendars for that um sixth grade project graduation is running fundraisers this week and Valentine's Day baskets will be delivered um tomorrow to all of the police department um crossing guards and um other people within Ridgewood and there's also going to be a special treat for staff book fair is coming up in March and uh New Jersey Devil's Night Out is March 23rd so that's kind of a recap for them thank you Kristen I just have a few notes um about uh Gasland players they wrapped up their production of The Sound of Music this past weekend if anyone had a chance to go see it I hope you'll agree with me that it was absolutely fantastic I saw it on Friday it was very hard not to single along with all of the songs and it really is just incredible that we have you know not only the the talent from the broader communities around Glenridge but also so much local talent we had students in the play and they were just fantastic um so congratulations to everybody involved with that production um next up uh will be uh for gas lamp will be the um spring kids workshop they are presenting any the kids version that's focusing on um students in grades 1 through 4th uh those performances will um start in early May and then they've just I think either begun or concluded registration for the summer Junior Camp uh which uh the U focus of that will be Shrek the Musical um so lots going on with gas lamp um the Glam Visual Arts I don't think I gave an update at the last board event meeting but they did have a terrific um event with the um with the holiday market they they came and um did face painting at the Holiday Market that's to help raise money for scholarship for art students you'll next see um students with the visual arts program um at the Arts and ecoair which is happening on May 18th and then of course uh their um big finish will be with the um the advanced students art show at um at the Women's Club which I think traditionally happens at the end of April I don't have that date but that's always amazing to go see um and I'll be sure to show those details when they are available thanks chrisen and with regard to The Sound of Music the Personnel committee was uh treated to David Campbell uh chair in his Sound of Music costumes for our interviews it was uh we we were gratified and I think our candidates were amused as well uh Darius any report yep uh thank you Betsy for the central hom school they had their regular meeting on January 25th so just some brief highlights um the winter session Discovery program kicked off um for February um and it's going to be running for four weeks um they have lunch programming for all five days with um parents given the option to sign up for um the specific days the the uh specific um sorry the specific days they want to um The Learning Garden received um brand new donations for um new Planters and the home in school was looking for compost or soil donations in preparation for the growing season um the book fair is on March um 12th um the community service group of um the home in school was looking at a program um to potentially create cards for hospitalized children um parents came to the school I think maybe last week um um to help celebrate the Lunar New Year um and just one date to say for your calendars um uh Saturday March 16th for um the central home and school 2gp fundraiser um SL parents night out um uh featuring a uh um uh um uh uh uh some parents um um uh performing um at the Glen rid train station and um Ju Just to conclude the next Central home and school meeting is scheduled for um Thursday February 29th at 7:30 pm I am between meetings the um Central um sorry the Lyndon Avenue home and school meets on the 28th and the uh grd is now meeting quarterly so um that coming up in the next quarter they'll have another uh meeting in between times they are meeting their various committees um so presumably sometime in March or so I will have a report from them so that is all the committee and liais on reports uh let's go on to our routine business in your package you have minutes from the exact session and regular session from January 23rd does anybody have any uh corrections to those minutes okay that being the case Barbara would you call the role uh we have a motion you do I'm sorry I'm sorry have a uh Jocelyn would you move the minutes or I'll move M1 and may I have a second second from Darius second from Darius okay uh now Barbara would you call a roll Miss Akin wandi I Mr Denard yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham hi Miss O'Neal hi Dr yarus Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg yes motion carries thank you moving on to the Personnel items uh JN would you move Personnel I'd like to move items P1 through P1 okay may I have a second second from Chris second from Kristen in keeping with our rules and the board members code of ethics uh Personnel items are discussed in exec session uh that being the case Barbara would you call the role M Aken wand hi Mr Denard yes Miss GLE yes Miss Graham hi Miss O'Neal hi Dr yarus Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg yes motion carries okay going on to the curriculum items uh Heather would you move the curriculum items sure I move C1 okay may I have a second second second I saw Duval's hand first uh okay second from Duval uh any comments on the curriculum item which is uh some field trips I'm just happy to see that they're still going to Sandy Hook because that is such a fun that's such a fun field trip so happy to vote in favor of that sounds like it it sounds like it um any other comment on the curriculum items all right Barbara would you call the role Miss Zach wand I Mr Denard yes Miss scle yes yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal I Dr Ys Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg yes moving on to the business items I want to draw your attention to the donations listed under B3 we've already mentioned the donations from the Glen Ridge Education Foundation but it is certainly impossible to thank them enough for their contribution these contributions and also all their contributions uh so thank you to Fran Wong and the uh Board of the foundation also thank you to the lyen Avenue home and School Association for a monetary donation of $ 6200 for 25 Chromebooks um also two more of the uh aforementioned mini grants and a smart executive function program from the GL Education Foundation so a total of uh three items three big item donations from them from Glen Ridge Education Foundation and one from Lyndon Avenue home and school thanks to all and now um let's see who should move business I may have a motion for the business items Duval thank you dval may I have a second uh from Heather okay any questions or comments on the business items hey that being the case Barbara would you call the role Miss Akim wand hi Mr Denard yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal hi Dr yarus Ramos I miss Ginsburg yes motion carries okay we've come now to the second public comment period for comments or questions on agenda or other items pertaining to the running of the schools um if you have a question or comment please raise your hands all the same protocols apply uh does anyone have a question or comment actually I had forgotten a minute ago when I could have asked it before um can you explain a little bit about or just Enlighten us about about the rod Grant process so um first the county approved approved our Rod grants a a few weeks back and then this past week we just got our approval from the school Development Authority and along with that approval they sent um a grant agreement package with a list of items that we need to submit to them in order for them to sign off on the grant agreement and two of those items were the Motions that are in tonight's on tonight agenda so once I gather all those items and send them back and they send it back signed then we're permitted to go out to bid for our two projects which is the rooftop unit in the cafeteria at the high school and the roof over the cafeteria at the high school and just for those in the audience for whom acronyms are are a challenge uh Rod stands for regular operating District which they are a category of grants that go to districts that are not uh among those um High poverty High needs districts that are defined as SDA districts School Development Authority districts any other um from the audience any other questions or comments from our audience um you know what I want to piggy back off of Duval's question just Barbara you said that part of the grant was for the cafeteria rooftop and then you said um rooftop unit what is that the air conditioning unit got it thank you okay audience members any questions or comments I don't see any hands last chance I just want to tell Dylan O'Neal he did a great job with the snow call this morning or La yesterday that was Dylan O'Neal's voice so I just wanted to say that I thought that was you thank you Dylan voice of the people thank great audience any questions or comments okay quiet audience tonight uh that being the case may I have a motion to adjourn motion move by Heather may I have a second second from CHR second from I got Duval just right before you Chris uh we are adjourned thank you all have a good evening thank you thank you