welcome everyone to a meeting of The Hunton Central Regional High School Board of Education please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings Act and the advanced notice required therein has been provided meeting notice was also posted in the boardroom of the upper school campus sent to The Courier News Star Ledger Express Times And The Hunton County Democrat and sent to the clerks of Delaware Township East anwell Township Flemington burough Ron Township and Readington Township the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda M Spitzer could I have a roll call please Mrs blutfield here Mrs dougen here miss gong here Mrs Kellogg here Mrs odonnell here Mrs Peterson Mr Rhymer Mrs santangelo here and Mr fer here thank you as we all stand for the flag salute pled 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 thank you everyone Mrs Kellog could I I ask you to please read the district Miss statement sure thing hunteran Central is an Innovative educational Community dedicated to the intellectual social and emotional safety and growth of all students while fostering curiosity and promoting Wellness we aspire to create powerful learning experiences establish strong Partnerships and serve as contributing members of society thank you very much moving on we'll get to approval of first for the June 24th of 2024 can I have a motion to move this please moved second any conversations any edits or changes to the meeting minutes hearing none roll call please Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Dugen yes Miss gong yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Peterson yes Mr Rhymer yes Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler all yes motion carries thank you and next we'll do the approval of minutes for July F July 1st yeah sorry 2024 anybody like to move that so move second second thank you any conversations edits changes comments hearing none roll call please Mrs blutfield yes Mrs dougen yes Miss gong yes Mrs kog yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Peterson yes Mr Rymer Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you next we will address correspondence received we received one correspondence this past month regarding booster clubs I believe that correspondence was replied to and addressed yes wonderful all right and over to you Dr Shadow for hibs thank you uh as there were no hibs in July there is nothing on which to report so that's it's always fun and the totals for the 2023 2024 school year in terms of in school suspensions is 215 this is the first year I think in about 15 years that we reinstituted in school suspensions and we would rather have students in school for minor uh breaking of the rules than home out of school student suspensions uh 140 that was down from 193 the year before in 20 20 uh 22 23 we had 193 this year 140 and um so we are moving in a in a very good direction uh I would like to report very briefly that our director of special education who is in in the back of the room M Pat public public cover and our Communications officer um Mar smala have acclimated beautifully they've hit the ground running Communications are going out and um miss public clever is working very closely with her many many staff members so we're uh we're in good hands that's it wonderful thank you and welcome all right we'll Now open up for public comment on anything on the agenda any agenda items that would warrant public comment please feel free to come to the podium we'll give you 3 minutes to speak no public comment on agenda items all right moving over to organizational items so uh we are moving the Hib report that Dr Shadow just read out as well as an adoption of chapter 27 emergency virtual or remote instruction program this is a standard update I would say that we received and just getting it on the books so yes I'd like to move uh organizational items number one and two is there a second second second thank you any conversations hearing none roll call please Mr Rymer yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs dougen yes Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss gong yes M Mrs S Angelo yes and Mr f yes all yes motion carries thank you Mr Rymer student life thank you student life and programming met uh last Monday the 15th we have six items to move this evening the first is for tuition and transportation having to do with special ed students the second has to do with early graduation for select students the third is the fiscal impact of the district professional development plan for year 2425 the fourth is for an overnight field trip for the dance team to Scranton Pennsylvania in August the fifth we have one new club and it's called girls who code and for the sixth we have three club name changes and they are the Gap Club will now be known as gave German American virtual exchange C environmental Society will be changed to the environment society and sad sad will be changed to strides against stigma I'd like to move those six items thank you is there a second second any conversation I I just had a question about the 2425 um Boe meeting presentations is that something we can also add to the retreat agenda as well professional development no 2.5 on the minut it's not one of the yep we can discuss those presentations and what we want to do with them how to retreat sure thank you of course any other conversations or questions hearing none Mrs spiter roll call Mrs dougen yes Mrs S Angelo yes Mr Rymer yes Mrs Peterson yes Mrs odonnell yes M blutfield yes Miss gong yes Mrs Kellogg yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Miss dougen o n okay today um today we've got 16 items to move um numbers one two and three are the um the invoices and transfers and financial reports for the month number four is um having a proprietary service for train to surface the equipment that we have the cooling equipment on Campus number five is moved to approve the student parking fees it's an annual fee $75 um for the parking permits for the seniors number six is a Chromebook donation move to approve 20 used Chromebooks with the recycle value of $400 to Norwest cap we um would like to graciously accept a grant from Exxon Mobile Educational Alliance program for $1,000 to um that would go towards our Stu our school stem program number eight is the um the grant for individuals with disability Education Act so we would like to accept that Grant nine is the uh extraordinary Aid moved to accept from the state of New Jersey can see the information there number 10 is the non-public school transportation Aid 11 is capital reserve refund so we finished two projects the bridge loop project and the capital um the locker project so we're going to be moving that money back to our capital budget taking it out uh Capital reserves refund is basically what that is number 12 we have a stationary serving counter that we want to dispose of there's no value to that third 13 14 and 15 are the renewal of Transportation routes that we have a craft um first student and Snider and then the last one number 16 is for a professional service provider this is for Center for psychological assessment and treatment for um uh psychiatric exams at $2,000 in exam so with that I would like to move items 1 through 16 and ENT thank you is there a second second thank you questions conversation hearing none roll call please Mrs dougen yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs Peterson yes Mrs santangelo yes Mrs bedfield yes Mr Rymer yes Miss gong yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Miss butfield we have 32 items on the agenda for personnel this month um most of them there are just um typical administrative items um some uh annual motions as well so try and get through this pretty quickly uh first item we have one retirement Eva Hughes with 11 and a half years of service so I'd like to wish her well in retirement in item two we have three resignations two curriculum and instruction secretaries and one Spanish teacher and you'll see that all three of those positions have been filled in item number three our contractual salary appointments um in addition to that we are replacing uh or we have a family and consumer science teacher we are also hiring so we are in really good shape for the start of the school year one item I would just like to point out on 33 we we have um one of the secretaries were we're hiring Christine santangelo is not related to our board member Lisa santangelo so just want to make that very clear to everybody um okay item number four we have an amendment to the hcaa tenured administrators which is an adjustment to the longevity stien that was previously approved but was off by $50 uh 3 five six and nine we are appointing substitutes we have teachers and counselors uh substitute secretaries and substitute bus drivers and then seven and eight we have some reappointments of substitute teachers and substitute secretaries 310 we have some curriculum writing in our business and English departments which is final summer curriculum writing hours to account for staff who may not be able to take on the projects uh after they had been board approved 311 we have our multilingual learner student intake testing which is a requirement by the state um we have some annual items uh 312 on we have appointments of athletic workers paid and unpaid Sheron we have Am Pm Supervision in 15 16 we have two unpaid community volunteers 17 we have our special services Am Pm supervision 318 we are adding one home instructor and 319 we're adding a new counselor on for summer Counseling Services work um 320 we have the appointment of staff for our new student orientation and this is Staff who will work as group leaders for small groups of incoming freshmen in 321 we have our schedule C advisors and then 3:22 we have a revision on our schedule C advisors to reflect some co- advising roles 323 we have our schedule C unpaid advisors and then scheduled uh 324 is our schedule D coaches 325 we have our salary guide advancement which is a result of completing additional coursework and that's per the HCA contract and then similarly in 326 we have the hcaa administrator credit advancement also a result of completing additional coursework per their contract um you'll notice that that date goes back to July 1st and that's because the hcaa works 12 months in 327 we have professional development um you'll see we are all listed there for the New Jersey school board's Workshop 328 we have an amendment for counseling services summer work to separate out Mrs neor lines work from the other summer college prep work from the counselors three 329 we just have a minor name change on a schedule decoach 330 we are resending to appointments 331 we have our leaves of of absences and then finally we have in 332 a sidebar agreement to the HCA contract and that has to do with the schedule C um in the contract it actually talks about allocating any unused Schedule C money and we had two clubs that didn't run last year so we had a little bit of money that gets divided up equally to all the qualified unpaid advisers so with that I will move 31 through 332 thank you Miss butfield is there a second second all right um I have a quick comment for those of us following along so I guess there's couple versions of our agenda that have different numbers numbering to the topics um I did track it so you covered them all just in a different numerical order so if we could see say uh amended as is displayed in board docs as of our meeting and then print it out does that sound like it's going to be kosher okay thank you uh any other commentary questions conversations regarding any of this hearing none if I could have a roll call vote for the motion as amended please Mrs odonnell yes Mrs dougen yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs bedfield yes Miss gong yes Mr Rymer Mrs santangelo yes Mrs Peterson yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries thank you Mrs Peterson policy uh I'll do it after our motion all right we have 31 uh first reads to go through today um before I start I would like to say uh a big thank you to Mrs polyram Miss polyram um she's been keeping track of what we have and have not updated and what um what has been released in the alerts for probably a decade as far as I can tell uh I don't think we could even begin the work of the policy committee without having the documentation she has kept up with so truly amazing and I know she's not here tonight but thank you to her for her really diligent work on this um you'll notice we have a lot of uh regulations up for first read tonight which is not generally something the Board needs to approve however we have quite a few reg reg uh regulations that are required for cusac and each of these regulations is required uh to have board approval so on uh number one bylaw 0141 is board member number of term this was a June 2024 update updating just the language on filling board vacancies uh bylaw 01421 is nepotism this has been the subject of much discussion um we left it in the administrators administration's hands to suggest whether or not they wanted to bring this back up for a first read and they asked that we do um bylaw 0163 is Forum this was from a June 2022 update um it added the missing processes related to the use of the doctrine of necessity policy 1140 educational Equity policies and affirmative action this is a February 2024 update regulation 1240 evaluation of superintendent this was a May 2017 update we also have the companion policy 1240 on first second read tonight we read the first read last month policy 1530 equal employment opportunity is another from the February 2024 policy updates uh policy 1550 Equal Employment anti-discrimination Practices also a February 2024 update policy 2200 curriculum content is a June 2024 update policy and regulation uh 24 31.4 prevention and treatment of sports related concussion and head injuries this is update from February of 2024 regulation 24601 Special Education location identification and referral is an update from the February 2017 release uh policy and regulation 3160 physical examination this is from the June of this year release uh policy 3211 code of ethics for teaching staff members this is from the February uh release this year policy and regulation 4160 uh physical examination this is also from the June update regulation 5200 attendance this is also from the June 2024 update another June 2024 update number was policy 5337 service animals uh and again another June update policy 5350 pupil Suicide Prevention policy 5570 from February update is on sportsmanship policy 5611 removal of pupils from the general education programs for weapons and Firearms offenses this was a update from the January 2019 stme release policy 5841 secret societies uh is from the February 2024 release uh policy 5842 equal access of student organizations is from the February release regulation 61151 um Federal Awards funds intern internal controls allowability of costs for March of 2023 regulation 7410 maintenance and repair an update from April of 2022 policy 7610 vandalism uh this was from the February update of this year policy 8420 emergency and crisis situations is from the June update regulation 84202 emergency procedures is from the December 2022 update regulation 84 20.7 lockdown procedures also a December 2022 update another December 2022 update was regulation 8420 point10 that's active shooter policy 8467 firearms and weapons is from the June update policy 9181 volunteer athletic coaches and co-curricular activity advisor assistance is from the June update regulation 9320 uh cooperation with law enforcement agencies is from the April 2022 update policy 9323 non notification of juvenile offender case disposition from the February 2024 update so that was uh part one uh part two here we have our policies that are up for second read that all went through first read last month we have uh bylaw 0131 which is called bylaws policies and regulations this was from the May 2021 update bylaw 0132 executive Authority is a 2012 update that we don't yet have uh policy 1240 evaluation of superintendent is uh from the May 2017 updates policy 1523 comprehensive Equity plan is from our February updates policy 1620 administrative employment contracts is from the September 20120 update this is another one of our fiscal accountability requirements as well um as qac uh policy 2260 equity in school and classroom practices from February uh policy 2422 Comprehensive Health and physical education this was an August 2021 update policy 2423 bilingual education from the February update policy 24 28.1 standards based instructional priorities this is one from January 209 that that we do not uh that this this is going to be the first time it's actually put into our manual um will likely be updated Again by Strauss asme fairly soon um and policy 5750 Equitable Educational Opportunity from the February 2024 release so with that I will uh move these two items it's two very complex items can I have a second second all right at this point in time I'd like to step in please and take off propose uh to take off the table j. 1.2 the bylaw 01421 nepotism um we've been talking a lot between various board members in the administration and just got an update and confirmed today that there's a High likelihood that Strauss Esme may be putting out an update to this in September um so in in order to kind of align to what our vendor best suggests um and and simplify our path forward I'm asking we take that one off the table any like to second that second all right we need a vote to take it off roll call please Mrs Peterson yes Mrs gong yes Mrs o Donell yes Mrs dougen yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs blutfield yes Mr Rhymer yes Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries okay so as amended any other conversations I just wanted to thank you for letting me attend the policy committee meeting um it was a very collegial discussion and all the questions that I had on first read were either answered or addressed um and so again I appreciate the committee for allowing me to join and for you making that possible of course glad it was a good conversation and I just want to thank everyone for their time for reviewing policies at policy committee and our assistant superintendent and when our superintendent is there and president so thank you for all of the time and effort yeah I'll second that it looks like there's a lot going on in policy to get us up to date so thank you policy committee and administrators all right I'll triple that great job everybody administrators all of us that get to read all of these enjoyable papers um yes all right hearing nothing else have a roll call to uh approve these as amended Mrs Peterson yes Miss gong yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs dougen yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs blutfield yes Mr Rymer Mrs santangelo yes and Mr Fowler yes all yes motion carries all right thank you uh any other Committee Member or leaz on reports go ahead um we did have a Communications meeting this month um Mrs smagala phoned in from a conference in Seattle um has already hit the ground running it's been absolutely brilliant I I want to thank her for all of her work up to speed um and I look forward to working with her as we move forward anyone else updates uh I'll do a quick update on the red committee um we had a short meeting just um to get a couple of updates one had to do with student representation to the Board of Education which the administration is still working on figuring out but there's a couple of good ideas floating out there um one of the ideas too um Mr Cohen is looking at establishing a student sector Council which would allow us to have a lot of students involved in in getting the student voice um his thought is to have three leaders from each of eight identified sectors and that would be in addition to doing something with maybe having a um a student leader to the board um we talked about the lamp coverage at the Board of Education meetings um uh that is a student run publication so we can extend an invitation which we will likely do if they would like to come and cover the meeting but ultimately the decision would be up to the Publications editors and then the last idea just that's kind of been tossed out there is to reach out to tap into and just see if there's anything to work out with them and and maybe in conjunction with the students somehow um working with the the L so we'll probably have more of an update next month and hopefully by the time that school starts we'll have maybe something to get started something in place with some sort of representation great thank you anyone else so I'll I'll at least open up by saying thank you to the board for for those of you might not know we spent a nice Saturday morning and early afternoon here this last Saturday in a special board meeting we started at 8:30 and finished uh at 4:00 um went through a number of interviews and through all of our candidates um we only went two minutes over our entire planed time so that was that was a good symbol for all of us um I'll hand it over to you for the the rest of the update no please go ahead you're um I will just say that things are going very well and we hope to have an announcement for you by our next board meeting so great any other additional board business before we open to public comment seeing you're hearing none we will now open public comment please feel free to come to the podium we will give you three uh sorry five minutes uh to talk I'll do four minutes on my timer give a warning and then have one more minute see none yeah seeing none we will uh it is um sorry I lost my spot we will now oh any other comments before we go into executive um so we are probably going to come back on a vote to in regards to that after executive committee all right if there's no other board comments I'll make a motion to convene into executive session to return after conversations as noted on our agenda and we will have action items afterwards is there a second all in favor I any opposition any exstension all right thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e um all right welcome back so I guess I'll make a motion to move reconvening from executive session back into no to end executive session yeah I can reconvene motion to Recon thank you reconvene back to public motion to reconvene second second all in favor I any objections any extensions okay hearing none back in General Session um all right so I am going to move an action onto our agenda after executive session uh conversation I'll read that motion into record now and then uh ask for a second so the motion is to provide Flemington Ron Regional School District Board of Education with official notice of The Hunton Central Regional High School District Board of education's intention to dissolve The Joint Transportation committee effective July 1st 2025 and to convey Hunton Central's continued desire to work collaboratively with f frsd to determine a path forward for coordinated transportation that serves the needs of our shared residents can I have a second second any conversation I do uh have something to say um we are representatives of all of the members of this community and while it is true we cannot inform the public of every detail of every decision we make we have a responsibility to be open and transparent about any action this board is intending to take and this is part particularly true for a decision that will impact the district on many fronts there are more than just our taxpayers and students at stake here we also have drivers and dispatchers who might like to say in this decision before it is made and I don't believe we should be cutting anyone out this is not the last meeting before this deadline to make this decision and we could put this decision on next month's agenda and and give everyone Fair notice there's unfortunately not the will to do so we owe our stakeholders the basic respect ECT of placing such an impactful decision on a public agenda instead of squeezing it in as a walk- on after executive session we are our government body and we have a duty to our stakeholders we are elected to represent them not to discount them and we have a duty to show them basic respect and we have a duty to provide them the bare minimum of giving them the opportunity to share their thoughts with us so I will not be supporting this vote I would like to make a comment um thank you for the the wise work words on respect um I I just think that this has been going on for a very long time and we do owe it to our stakeholders to make the best decision for Central um and and I feel confident in the numbers we've been given and the months and months that we've been discussing this so um I just want to say I'm comfortable with this any other comments and questions just I I just Echo with what Rebecca says I just feel like there's some missing information and for me I just would like to have more time to process it and I also think there's probably some things that we can communicate to the community just to give them further understanding and an opportunity to speak to us about it so I don't feel comfortable with it okay anything else all right hearing none can I have a roll call vote please Mrs blutfield yes Mrs Dugen no Miss gong yes Mrs Kellogg yes Mrs odonnell yes Mrs Peterson no Mr Rymer yes Mrs santangelo no M and Mr Fowler yes 63 motion carries all right thank you uh one final order of business I'd just like to read something into record for everybody please so I believe everybody is aware of my family's choice to move um this effort has proven to be much more fruitful than I earlier anticipated around August 1st my family will no longer be diling within the district I'm obligated to provide notice of my intent to step down from the board position as a result I still have some activities and commitments this week so I will remain in this position through July 31st the two and a half years on this board I have had have been amazing personal learning Learning Journey For Me challenges have led to growth and collaborative efforts have allowed us to overcome many issues for Central I regret not being able to work with you all to successfully address other outstanding challenges but I'm confident this board will continue to partner with Central's Administration staff and Community to continue the purpose of central to build sound Minds in sound bodies preparing them for the world thank thank you all for the laughs the passionate debates you've all helped me become a better version of myself and I hope in some small ways I've done the same for you thank you all and I wish you health and success so with that I will make a motion to end our meeting can I have a second please all in favor I all opposed any extensions thank you and have a good night