flag of the United States America and evening everyone pursuant to the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows by having the time date and place of the meeting posted on the bulletin board and the administration Gos in July 11th 2024 by sending a copy of the meeting notice to the Star lger newspaper and the local Source on July 11 2024 and by filing a copy with the township of Hillside and Hillside Public Library July 11 2024 roll call please are there any announcements peace and blessings good evening to everyone on this beautiful 30th day of July hope everybody is well and everyone is having a great summer thus far superintendent report tonight is a little abbreviated but it's still good information and some new objectives and goals that will be set forth for this upcoming school year so let us begin first of all if you have not had a chance to take a trip relax and rest please do so I see some of our dedicated staff I'm pay for it payment give you I see our staff members who are here I say thank you for your dedication even in the summer months you could be on the beach some today today we had a very interesting I want say I think it was very fruitful conversation and and professional development with many leaders throughout the district and one of the things that we talked about as part of our work was around our mission statement and our vision statement I think it's important that we remain grounded in what our mission and vision is of our district as always I won't read it but I definitely want us to remain grounded in that space our priority goals I'm happy to report and will be further giving a detailed account of how our students performed on the 2024 nsla the preliminary results have come in saw some significant gains in several grade levels saw some spaces where we still need to continue to grow and a refocus and A Renewed Energy in some spaces that traditionally we have not done well so I think it's a testament to the work that has been occurring over the last three years we have board members who have served on this committee for served on this board and have been instrumental in making sure that we are where we at we were led by members within our organization who may have retired that made sure that they set the sets on the right course of Direction I just want to make sure that during the course of the next couple of months we give back to those folks who did a lot of great things to make sure we're on the right path with that being said though there's still some spaces we need to continue to grow and we will definitely highlight that and outline how we're going to get there it's not just about talk it's about the direction and the movement and actions that go with understanding our role our why and our drive I always like to say this is a slide that may change may not but I like at the core of it it talks about happiness and in light of today's Times there are so many reasons why we need to emphasize happiness and joy August is National immunization awareness month why is that important in the school district because so many of our young students entering into our classrooms need to make sure they have their proper immunizations protecting for our children in our early childhood spaces our sixth grade students as parents please keep up with the dates where your child needs to have their proper imization little fun fact National sandwich month is August whatever your favorite vegetarian sandwich may be make sure you go out and partake of that no board said no not here it's also National Wellness month if you have not had your monthly spa treatment please do so I think it's important that you continue to get your spa treatment that one I'm not paying for the board already pays for you to get that look at your insurance policy so here's the new the roll out for this year I'm I'm let us resonate here for a second a little Meier than last year intentional if we're on the path to success we have to make sure that our early childhood spaces are definitely preparing our students for what they will receive when they enter into those Upper Elementary grades high school and then postsecondary so I'm gonna read these but I want everybody to be clear there's going to be a lot of deep Dives and hard work to get to these goals 100% of my students who are in kindergarten this year are rise in kindergarten students will be successful and demonstrate Mastery in the area of math and reading 100% of our students in first grade this is a continuation of what we did this past year we demonstrate Mastery and second grade because I have some baseline data from where you finished as first graders at least 85 5% of our second grade students will demonstrate Master year reading and math because of our Student Success this year I know it's something that we can do we already have instituted and aligned work around services that will be offered the professional development and training as well as those resources those tangible resources that students need we made a healthy investment in Scholastic Reading materials lit Camp as well as resources that will go home with students and allow them to work with their parents at home to continue to develop our reading skills if we continue to do these things by the time our students enter third grade we will not have a conversation about how many of our students will be proficient it will be just a a standard that all of our students will be proficient third grade readers writers and understanding of the math content you see new Pathways new possibilities and I want to land on this last one every district has its es and flows things that are successful one thing that I realize and understand my time of being a leader whether it's in the school level or District level is leadership matters leadership matters not just what we do at the central office level not at the school just not the school level it also matters in the classroom leaders are developed across our district um our executive team today was took day one of our lead leader and need training and I want to emphasize folks that in order for us to grow as a community and a district we have to operate a growth mindset these are not just Idle Words that we put on a piece of paper because we're required to if our goal is to truly make sure that our students are world class citizens prepare to take over the roles that we currently sit in whether you are School Board member superintendent of school private business entrepreneur you cannot have students who are not prepared to take on those roles so for me it is imperative that we develop and cultivate leaders who have a growth mindset and understand what it means to create healthy happy learning environments you will hear more about the leader and me because leaders from our district will be presenting at our August board meeting and sharing with you what they have learned in the training we will have Lighthouse teams at our three elementary schools and our two middle schools Lighthouse teams are extensions of leaders who sit in the principal and vice principal chair so I want you to understand that this is going to be the statement that you hear all year from me we are creating a district that operates from a growth mindset we can have Discord that may be difference of opinions but we will not be divisive I assure you of that as I sit in this chair so leadership matters we are creating a growth mindset and that's the expectation that we will hold each other accountable to I'm continuing my stakeholder meetings for our strategic planning process so believe it's the third week in August there will be another meeting we did it last year we're going to do it again this year it'll be a Q&A it'll be a where's the district going where have we come from and it will be comments and feedback from the community I want to thank you that's the short abbreviated version tonight thank you very much thank you superintendent GL now we will have our public comments on agenda and non-agenda items residents are requested to State their names addresses and subject matter in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting May exceed 15 minutes residing officer will limit each statement made by participant to three ministration issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals from speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments are there any public comments sorry I have [Music] motion open good evening Hawaiian to at 1487 I'm be less than two minutes um I just have a few questions and concerns the first question goes out to Mr Glover and the building grounds committee can you explain to me why District propos the ground Le with the no to leas the price King to 3.5 million for 50 years versus investing the money to build a new Cate of art school or to add on to our schools if we have done in the past um there's no return on investment of recent property why would we pay $50,000 a month for old fix Meer when we can invest the money in improving our own schols another question is where will the money be coming from um do we know the prais of the prais of um Christ the King f and also has the district reached out to the school Authority board Development Authority board for Capital funding for new state of our school because I know that was something we talked about a couple years ago getting a new school in our district and it will be worth taxpayers money the second question I have is I noticed on agenda there's a motion to appoint home instructors at a rate of $50 the board appr the teach of homebound way above the salary for that position at 80,000 plus benefits and vacation days the last position I believe was about 50 the last person position was about 50,000 the position only individ that have 60 credits so why would we pay $880,000 for to one person with Benefits when we can cut the cost and high hill certified teachers or St or substitute teachers to service the homebound and the last question is is the director Public Safety cont did the did the director Public Safety contract in June 30th and if if did is the is the position currently open will the salary be made at1 15 $115,000 and since the director didn't have 10 years of law enforcement experience will our own Hillside security guard be able to apply for that position so those are all the questions I have thank you oh sorry just repeat the last one oh the last one was I said the director of Public Safety contracted end June 30th is the position currently open and will the salary remain at 115,000 and since he didn't have 10 years of law enforcement experience will our security guards be able to apply for that position are you able to provide us with those questions so we can give you a detailed answer oh yes I can Watson 83 I have two questions so first question you said you have a stakeholder meeting in August do you have a date for that yet I don't have the exact data to be poed okay and then my other question is similar to what Miss F asked um did the county or like who agreed to enter into a 50 year 50e lease with uh L par d That's the first question and my other question is do we have did you all get a renovation list estimate list of the cost to renovate the school or make any repair any repairs that's needed so the kids gr there and then my other question after 50 years um so we W own it but we're we're going to be least for 50 years with the c store how do we is that okay to bond a future Administration as well as a future board to 50-year agreement last question is I I kind of asked it like how how how are the venerations going to be Pa how do you I'm ask you the same question as ask provide us with the questions and contact information make a EMA you directly those question secretary good evening Kimber cook 242 W Avenue New Jersey I'm here because 20 days ago I sent in a Oprah request I've been totally ignored it has not been responded to Oprah law says seven days to return response if you don't have a response you are to submit the person an email for a letter stating that you need additional seven days and you get up to 14 days I have heard nothing and I'm starting to feel as though it's because who I am that we're taking advantage and not responding back to the first open request I sent in it took a very long time as well for me to get a response so I'm just asking Before The Next Step has to be taken that at least I get a response that you received my open request and I get the answers too thank you good evening my name is Gail Hunter 1045 Fair place I I come as an advocate for our young people I have the pleasure of substituting and I look at the lunches and the breakfasts that are given to our children 90 I will say 65% is thrown away every day the children don't eat them it's not healthy they get sugar in the morning and then we have to deal with them all day and it's a little challenging I also want to say that I'm listening to you answering saying that you're going to mail out answers to these to people who have asked you questions I just want to know how the rest of us get that information so my my question is basically who decides what kind of food the kids yet I have kindergartens with no teeth with whole apples makes no sense to me even if you gave them the apple slices it would be better but a lot of the food is sugar especially your first s in the morning the chicken nuggets and and other food that you give them are not engaging look good the broccoli is often wied and and it just makes me concerned because the kids are not eating it they it goes right in the garbage so I don't know if they want to waste our money but I do want our children to have a better meal thank you ask questions you want sure you can answer me two questions do you say to that why what you do with that okay look look I've seen you I just want to be clear so when I address the food service director manager that I make sure we're addressing the right school please do because it's it's disheartening to see them throw that food away every day and most of thrown away I don't know how much money we get to each child but maybe if we add 50 cents to it or whatever that it will be a better for the children thank you it's on the agenda so like I was looking and I see like all the appointments for the fall but I don't see a marching B director May or June okay so with that being said very gr Maring matter weed okay hundreds of thousands of doar in the last two years I can answer the other I detail when I answer that question I appreciate that thank you reason I can answer the mar band question I just paid that bill ter for the students that are homebound is there a projected number how many students will be homebound it pay SP throughout the year like situation by situation it is situation by situation and we do have a couple of students who are home B based on medical that very well change but it is situation by situation okay thank you I have a motion to close um I'll have our board attorney um on one of the comments just just so the public is aware um to um identify this respond to one of the questions about the the board entering into a 50-year gram lease um the board has not entered into a 50 year round lease with anyone um under public meetings act there are certain matters that that can and cannot be discussed but as of this dat there has been no uh lease that the board has actually thank you vice president Howard would you please do the committee report for Rounds please oh yes thank you on Wednesday July 24 um the board met [Music] and we off Wednesday 24 and disc items and that's included approval and prop the new for room M room next T Academy and just to let you know that um the temporary request units have been deled set as a site and um also the resp approval of the submission of the following projects to the state department of ucation uh and other capital projects which included the bar referee up upates at the Hillside High School um electrical service upgrade at the Hillside High School and also um the third one was the approval was the purchase of a real chair lift you know and that was to help transport one student who utilizes a ro chair and an additional special education student who attends the school in un thank you you education please good evening on Wednesday July 24th education committee met to review items line items 1 through 22 thank you m you get a report on labor please can you hear me now yes okay so good evening um the Labor Relations Committee um met July Wednesday July 24th to go over line items 1 through 44 thank you um with regards to uh the finance committee we also met Wednesday ju cour and um discussed um the following line items one through six which included approval of line item transfers pay to bill the availability of ponds um the May 2024 secretary's report approval of M and the for catch report and also um authorization to dispose the following old convention or um as listed thank you very much M report thank you vice president Howard now I would like to ask for a motion to go into executive session second all in favor I be resoled pursuant to the open public meetings act that the Board of Education be in Clos executive session at this time to discuss matters related to Personnel any pending litigation and labor or contract negotiations and attorney of Cl client privilege the board will reconvene a public session at the conclusion of the Clos session the matters discussed in Clos session will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists thank you