e e e e e e e e we're going to go ahead and get started with the kenon Board of Education regular meeting for May 21st 2024 the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with provisions of the act that canalon board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the suburban suburban Trends on January 21st 24 posted in the public library and filed with the bur clerk M Francisco will you pull the board Please Mr iser Mrs Leonard here Mr Meyers here Mrs parella here Mrs Portman here Mr Petrelli here Mrs Donaldson here no closed session is needed please rise for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I pled Al to the flag of the United States of America and stands indivis andice okay first routine matters is approval of the minutes for the April 25th public budget hearing the regular meeting agenda and the executive session can I have a motion to approve motion to approve oh second any discussion on the minutes I'm good okay all right Miss Francisco will you pull the board please Mrs Leonard yes Mr Meyers yes Mrs Pella yes Mrs Portman yes Mr Petrelli yes Mrs Donaldson yes Sarah hello hello okay hi everyone my name is Sarah and as always we've had a wonderful month so first to begin with Keel it's been another EX exciting month at ke and Cisco schools thank you to our students staff and families for attending last night's art show many thanks to Mrs Santiago for coordinating coordinating the entire event what a great night of Art and Community our second graders have had a particularly action-packed month with a field trip to the turtleback zoo the end of my K era Lua dance and character con event for families to visit K and learn learn about their students choice of book and character thank you to Kesha for all of your ongoing support of Cisco from providing snacks for the art show to coordinating the second grade dance we cannot provide our students with all of these great experiences without you we are looking looking we are also looking forward to our next Kesha sponsored reading themed assembly called Petra puffet puppets on Thursday thank you Kesha Spring Concert rehearsals are underway and we are very excited about our upcoming K through2 spring music concerts next week on to Stonybrook congratulations to our Stony Brook student Council who raised $1,100 at the annual Car Wash thank you to our families that assisted and to all of the community members that attended we hosted our second family engineering design night thank you to Kesha for sponsoring this wonderful event congratulations to our third grade goal students and to Mrs Ryman who eared first place in the law fair 2024 competition thank you to our Stony Brook families who came out to support our 2024 art show thank you to Mrs Scully for the amazing displays of were students artwork throughout the building congratulations to all Sony Brook students who completed their NJ SLA testing for the year they worked so hard and we are very proud of them Stony Brook fifth graders attended the book launch assembly for Sarah gar who published her first book from dreams to reality Sarah I guess I should speak in first person I spoke about the import of leadership and believing in yourself congratulations Sarah on this wonderful accomplishment thank you our go students will be participating in museum night on May 29th Stony Brook will hold its second annual career career day on May 30th thank you to Mrs Tanga for organizing this day for our students our Stony Brook students are looking forward to Field Day on May 31st Stony Brook will be hosting its first annual ice cream social on June 3rd at 6 :30 p.m. thank you kha for host hosting this event we are looking forward to a busy but incredible end to the 2023 to 2024 school year on to PRM congratulations to the participants in the PRM science research fair and to the top honor Caroline Caroline Olsen who also won the lolon inventors award we completed NJ SLA testing earlier this month with sixth seventh and eighth grade students testing in math and language arts and eighth grade students also testing in science thank you to the cast crew and directors of prm's presentation of The Adams Family it was an amazing show 8th grade students enjoyed their trip to Philadelphia and Gettysburg they saw a number of very interesting sites and had so much fun at Dave Busters and on the launch cruise on the Delaware the incoming six sixth grade parent orientation was held last week a recording of the meeting is posted on the PRM website thank you to our PE department for planning and running an outstanding field day for our students this past Friday we thank all of the volunteers that helped out as well there will be a parent meeting to present the PRM master schedule for the 2024 to 25 school year tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in the PRM cafeteria and online our band concert will be H will be on Monday June 3rd and re choir concert will be will be on Wednesday June 5th both performances will be at KHS 8th grade students will participate in move up day at KHS on June 6 fifth grade students will participate in move up day at PRM on June 10th or 11th depending on their home room the 8th grade promotion ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday June 13th information about the event was emailed to all e8th grade parents yesterday and is also posted under news and announcement on our website and lastly KS Mrs CER and her art two class dedicated an art installation to the Kon Board of Education the work is comprised of individual multi-pattern triangle canvases in Colts green and white acrylics these individual canvases were arranged to create one large piece which is now now on display at the board of education office this past week KHS hosted Derby Day a field day connecting locals children to those with disabilities fund was had by all this week KHS presented celebrated the class of 2024 and their plans for after graduation students wore spirit wear from their chosen College military branch or place of employment and gathered for photos and ice cream during unit lunch thank you thank you Sarah and great job on the book I heard it is a real big success you Mr mango all right thank you Mrs president and welcome everyone and Sarah let let's give another round of applause for Sarah because while I'll you know while I'll be calling well she'll be here next month but her parents as well for some special recognition for yesterday I've never seen anything like that so uh it was absolutely amazing you did a fantastic job and uh we're going to miss you after next month being our rep so thank you for all that so just a few things before we get into why we're really here about this month recognizing staff before board business um our PR PRM assistant principal search I shared last month that we were receiving multiple applications we received over 170 in total so uh we had to uh streamline that process we brought that down to 15 and so three days last week it was the central office Mr mongan and then I want to have a special thanks to our uh Middle School PRM facilitators we had Mrs Barnes Rizzo Mrs babsi uh Mr Cella Mr gof and also Mrs sutfin was a very uh interesting search we're down to three candidates they will meet with the education committee next Tuesday after the holiday uh at night during the evening for for a very streamline approach and hopefully by the June 11th public meeting we will have our new PRM assistant principal as we one more time congrat congratulate Mr buer on his uh new position in one of our neighboring towns as principal for the middle school so again Mr buer congratulations for science department I know science was talked about quite a bit last month in this very same room but uh as we shared and as the board approved we had a department chair position advertised and uh we're very fortunate that as I said many times we have leaders within all of our building so for parents in the community that are listening for our staff that's here tonight rest assure we have multiple leaders across this District you don't always have to have a title to be a leader but um in this case there are certain um you know requirements as far as certification and later tonight we'll be I'm recommending and the board hopefully will be approving which I'm sure they will Mrs hope Kowalski here at KHS longtime science teacher and I can tell you that um even though she's not officially approved she's been working diligently ently ly with Mrs Thomas and Mrs trombetta on scheduling opportunities for students summertime opportunities so on and so forth so uh there's a lot to come we just needed to get to this point in time and move on under the a section tonight you'll see that PRM surveillance for uh for security purposes we discussed that last month that was that $117,000 bid that came in since our overall bid for the high school security surveillance was well under bit I'm happy to report that that uh we will be moving forward with PRM security surveillance and then you see the two motions for awarding the contracts for Stony Brook uh roof replacement and ke both of them partial that was a big one so uh there's a lot going on there's a lot happening if you're it's never too late to be involved don't don't worry you don't have to wait for something to come up ever just give a call or get involved jump on board um and here tonight you know before I stand up and we start calling Folks up when you look at the retirees and you look at the dedication in the years and it really it covers our entire district from mathematics in the high school and 50 years Mrs Johnson which is outrageous but I'm not going to steal Mr sud's Thunder or anybody's thunder tonight um to Mr Bret and buildings and grounds to various teachers and Mrs Castro thank you for that beautiful artwork I know uh Sarah touched on it but the big piece is already hanging everything else will be hanging it's what we were missing in the board office and then you just go all the way down the line to to even transportation and I mean Transportation you have our our most prized possessions our children every day we value that we thank you for that so all of our department you see new Transportation Folks up on the agenda later tonight for approval that's what it's about it's about really bringing together the board our schools our community into one doesn't mean we're always going to get along doesn't mean we're always going to agree that's impossible we all know that but if we agree on 80% of the issues 100% of the time we're doing better than most so for our young people are here remember that when you go off to college so with that I'm going to call up our building principes and Mrs Woodruff and we're going to start our retiree recognition all right so first we have some folks that are here tonight that could join us and some that couldn't so what we will ask is if your name is called and you're here to please come on up when um one of our building principls or admin or or Mrs Woodruff calls your name so I'm going to call up Mr suda first we're going to go in order on the slide thank you Mr mango good evening I don't believe Miss Johnson could make it here this evening but I will be honoring Mrs Linda Miss Linda Johnson um it really starts with Linda Johnson is a math teacher who has impacted approximately 5,000 students over the course of 50 years in addition to probably 3,000 Collective and different staff over the same time period She is advised our esteemed Academic Decathlon team coaching our talented students to compete academically against other teams in New Jersey and winning endless Awards Linda Johnson is a dedicated educator who was the first one in the parking lot just about every morning arriving probably sixish uh she always alerted us to when there was the occasional bear roaming through the parking lot she also identified them with certain names sometimes and their cubs she was uh always there and uh communicating she maintained impeccable attendance often times not missing a single day in the school year repeatedly which was incredible as a colleague she always took pride in sending out a nice modified schedule via the email to our staff to print for our students she promoted accomplishments of her students throughout her career during covid the class of 2020 received personalized boxes that included their honor chords and other KHS memorabilia and Linda Johnson made sure that her Cal students received received a small handmade puppet as a token of her appreciation Linda Johnson has been a pillar of kelan high school for over 50 years in our mathematics department and I wish her all the best happiness and health in her retirement so Linda I'll congratulate you tomorrow if you're watching online but congratulations and thank you so very much Linda Johnson I I don't know if I could top that Mr suda okay so next up we have uh for retiree recognition is Mr Allan Brett Mr Bret did have a conflict of schedule so I'll be sharing a few words about Mr Bret and his 38 years of service so you think about that not 50 but 38 1986 so for those of us here think about where we were in 1986 and you really think about buildings and grounds it's it goes unseen most of the time you only know it whether you're in the community or if you're within the organization when there's an issue you need buildings and grounds you need those positions you need somebody somewhere in the school district to step forward day or night weekends holidays the worst of weather to be there and be available and that was really Alan brette for 38 years um he started on as a custodian he's also a lifetime lifelong resident here of kinon graduated I believe in 1977 if I'm think say he actually had Mrs Johnson Mrs Johnson was his teacher yes so so I mean the um the line runs deep with Mr pret he's seen everything he knows everything um he has worked with levels of Staff throughout all the years dealt with a variety of issues and concerns and as the district grew in the early 2000s he was at the head as buildings and grounds and dealing with all that construction up at Stony Brook School um over at the high school with the extensions and then moving forward the last construction we had was in 2008 um he's a known entity so obviously for me it was a no-brainer when I came on board in the time frame that I did to just get in touch with him and sit down and say okay so what's what's going on what's happening or what do I need to know how do I know it and he was more than willing to accept me at this point in his career and time and a lot of that what I bring to the table with my energy which I know sometimes isn't always the best of things um but he he dealt with me and in a positive manner and shared a lot of information with my office that actually helped us steer to this moment in time for the district and rather than just walk out on June 30th he he said to me straight that he wanted to stay until the end of August to help us see through with the roof replacement projects and give a hand should um we have another candidate who will have to to come in and fill into his shoes later on which is something to be said for the man himself so someone who's been here their whole life dedicated vested former fire chief um his family's vested for those of us here you know them you know the family 38 years whenever it's time for folks to retire I always tell them God bless and enjoy and I'll say that to Allan face to face when I see him tomorrow in District and uh if you get a chance to see him thank him if you can thank you [Applause] [Applause] r people met BAS almost going to miss nurse happy immensely there is not a job in the school that she will not do from being a substitute teacher right she's instructional she will go into classrooms and support she's constantly teaching lessons in addition to her role as our healthc care professional so nurse hacky is always a helping hand she's an somebody to lean on and we are going to miss her immensely so thank you Nurse hacki we wish you all the best as she now gets to ride off into the sunset as grandma after 30 years of service to the district so thank you Nurse hacky we appreciate you and we are going to miss you so much and wish you all the best congratulations congratulations want to do pictures one at a time you sounds great as you the mic the live yeah you know what we'll we'll do all pictures at the end when we do inter what we call it intermission inter yeah recess okay recess okay so who we have next up good evening everybody um M due to a scheduling conflict unfortunately Mr Mong couldn't be here this evening but I am honored to read on his behalf and uh honor our retirees so I'd like to start with uh Mrs lilan rudo um for anyone who thinks that as you've been teaching in schools for 20 plus years that you should lose your drive um you should absolutely meet Mrs rosuto in 24 years of service Mrs rosuto has shown tremendous initiative creativity and dedication to the success of her students she's invested herself fully in finding the best possible ways to reach her students and help them learn and do more with the Spanish language than they ever thought that they could it's not just that M bzo knows the Spanish language thoroughly it's also that she understands middle school students and the methods that they respond to best in addition to her Excellence with pedagogy Miss ruto's professionalism and dedication are model to everyone around her whatever Mrs rzo does it is always done thoroughly and exceptionally well she brings a calm demeanor to all of her interactions but beneath that exterior there exists a drive that is unmatched this is one of the many reason why M rudo has had such a positive impact on each student that has come through her classroom door over the course of her career Mrs rzo always puts her students first we will miss miss rudo as a teacher and as a colleague and she has had an incredible impact on PRM and we wish her all the best in retirement I would like to call up Jackie Castro please art teacher at the high school [Applause] you can Jackie is truly an extraordinary and talented art teacher she guided our students to create art in several mediums traditional paint tribal masks air drying clay just to name a few over the years Jackie and her classic classes created large scale art installations for KHS and as you learn tonight this evening the Board of Ed office she also sponsored many of our students when you walk the Halles of kelan high school you'll see beautiful murals around our building and Jackie was the the inspiration and and guiding and facilitating many of those art projects with our very talented students which she nurtured Through The Years um leaving an incredible mark on our school as a teacher to our students and as a colleague Jackie's always been caring supportive professional and passionate about art and our students and staff as a staff member many of you if you walk the halls of our school during the day it was common to walk down the hallway on the second floor and see Jackie in her class in the hallway appreciating and viewing artwork that they created sharing positive remarks of with students to students regarding their Works oftentimes you'd stop and listen Jackie would be facilitating that she taught our students not only to appreciate art but how to accentuate the positive and communicate genuinely and sincerely it was really a beautiful thing to witness as an educator of 26 years and working with numerous art teachers it was something that was quite uncommon and to see it within our school and to Jackie to nourish that was truly amazing to our staff in general Jackie would facilitate the one time we had a PD Wellness day and she facilitated offered to facilitate some painting classes for our staff well they were immediately booked up where we couldn't fit anymore and it became the Rave of the wellness day she had music playing or I think some some different things that it was the Rave and they just so appreciate it and they were amazed at what she did as a professional as a person for her staff members Jackie Castro has made Kenan and the world a better place based on her commitment to Art her impact will be felt through the beauty of art for generations to come thank you Jackie for all that you have given to Kenan thank you good evening I'm gonna ask if Mrs Sarah Ryman could please come down so for those of you that do not know Sarah there are so many specific words that I can use to describe her but I decided to choose a few dedicated driven enthusiastic and always the last one in the building Sarah has been our goal our gifted and talented teacher um at Stony Brook for years she has also for those of you that do not know has done cycle classes for kindergarten for years traveling back and forth between our building and Keel so it has been a pleasure for her to see her students rise up for kindergarten students and just talking to her day-to-day running back to buildings and now to have her kind of with us full-time has been an absolute pleasure when you when I think about Sarah Sarah last year was on medical leave for a few months and she really wasn't on medical leave because she would check in with her leave replacement teacher to make sure that everything was running smoothly she pushes her students to levels that you don't often see making them think outside the box pushing them to think critically problem solve work collaboratively and to really learn from one another last year during that leave she was so worried about her Museum night and how it would go and yet she found the perfect person to take over for her to continue to push her kids Sarah is going off on the way that she should be sent off into retirement pushing her goal students this year to enter a new phase and to try new things in her curriculum she entered the New Jersey State Bar foundation's law contest and she had third grade students write an actual trial case on their own collaboratively together and they won first place in the state of New Jersey if that does not say who you are as a teacher as an educator nothing else does Sarah I hope you know how much you are valued in our building at Keel for all the students that you have touched for the staff that you have made an impact on and also as my bus dismissal person so Freddy wanted Tony Brook wants to become a bus dismissal person she knows every kid make sure that no body is missing if a walker is missing there is so much to say about this woman but it has been my absolute pleasure to have you not only as my friend but my colleague and an incredible staff member to your colleague but to our students I wish you all the best Stony Brook wishes you all the best and remember what I said about retirement running those stem nights is What You're Made for but I know she's going to enjoy time with her family but Sarah congratulations you will be sorely missed [Applause] good evening I would like to call miss Monica Gormley down to the podium [Applause] it is an honor to present and to speak about the accomplishments of Mrs Gormley a wonderful school counselor who has served our students exceptionally well during her time at Kenan high school as both a teacher and as an administrator I have enjoyed working alongside Mrs Gormley for many years however it was during the past two years where I had the opportunity to work more Clos with her during my conversations observations and working on projects such as developing the master schedule Mrs Gormley I was always impressed with her commitment to the well-being and success of our students for example during the development of the master schedule last school year Mrs Gormley offered insights on where classes should be moved to avoid conflicts and to give all of our students the best chance to enroll in many of the courses they selected in scheduling meetings her fresh perspective and strong analytical skills as a former business teacher greatly helped during this difficult process what I consider one of Mrs gormley's greatest strengths is her knowledge of the college application process her experience and knowledge of different College requirements made her or and make her a valuable asset to our students during the Junior College counseling meetings I witnessed Mrs Gormley offered personalized guidance excellent suggestions on how to identify potential colleges and insights into admissions students and parents left these sessions with a better understanding of what colleges look for and how to navigate the process Mrs gorley also offered invaluable support and advice to students whenever they needed it she consistently reminded students of approaching deadlines and monitored their progress in their academic courses additionally she was a passionate advocate for students ensuring that their voices were heard and their needs were met Mrs Gormley thank you for everything you have done to help the students of kelan high school your colleagues and School administration whether you decide to travel to new places spend time with family and friends or partake in Hobbies we wish you the very best congratulations on a well-deserved retirement [Applause] I'd now like to congratulate Mrs Linda McMurray on her retirement as well as a Spanish teacher Miss McMurray has helped countless students to learn a new language her class was always a place where students were actively engaged in speaking listening writing and often playing games or participating in other fun activities as they did all of this the students built a solid foundation of deep knowledge about Spanish language and culture Miss McMurray infused each class class with boundless knowledge of her content and the expansive repertoire of excellent teaching techniques as impressive as all this is this is only part of the positive impact that Miss McMurray has had on her students as a member of the sixth grade team Miss McMurray has been integral in helping students acclimate to the new world of middle school this can be a daunting transition for students but Mrs McMurray always helped to guide students through it in a way that built their confidence and showed them that they could do it m McMurray has always approached her work with tremendous passion professional ISM and the best interest of her students as her guiding principal we will miss her at PRM and we wish her all the best in retirement [Applause] congratulations like to call Barbara shad [Applause] so I've known Barbara I met her in 1998 a first student where we worked together and uh though Barbara's been with us for 13 years she's been a bus driver for 35 and that is something to commend you for Barbara Barbara's a very caring person and has always taken interest in her students and made sure that they were not only safe with her driving but just always cared and if she thought that they need to be approach or needed some help she would definitely make it known to us that um she was concerned about them and that means a lot so um Barbara's been an excellent member of our team I'm going to miss you dearly and you're an excellent driver and um we're just wishing you the best as you go on we're wishing you health and happiness as you retire so good [Applause] luck stay home okay so just before we um we turn over to our teachers of the year and our Ed specialist of the year if I could just one more time thank all of our retirees you know when you think about it doesn't matter how many years you spent in kinan serving this District or just the totality of your career but life goes by fast and um you know I always talk about expiration dates and we all have good plans and these thoughts and ideas when we're Ultra young and then all of a sudden life comes up and creeps up on us so to get to this point the roads each of you traveled with your families to be here to have your health to be happy I wish you nothing but enjoyment in the next step and I always ask folks you know what does it feel like because one day I'll be there too um you know God willing and so please just enjoy it enjoy the time enjoy the closeth out of this year and your fellow colleagues uh honoring you so God bless and congratulations again so now we have Mrs ala coming back up and we'll honor our teacher of the year and our Ed specialist of the year so Mrs ala thank you Mr mango so if I can ask Mrs Nicole Velasco to please come up she is our teacher of the year for Keel School this year so again if you can just come on up Mrs Velasco I am so very honored and excited to be able to speak about Mrs Velasco this evening as our Governor's educator of the Year Mrs Velasco what makes her so amazing amazing is the fact that she impacts our entire building the whole of Keel so she intervenes for students every single day who needs support in reading and Mathematics and honestly once again just like in in true ke fashion there is not a job that Mrs Velasco does not rise to the occasion for from covering the back door right we talk about dismissal Duty because it is a coveted job and it's one that we need and safety first and Mrs Velasco every single single day just again supports in whatever capacity Keel School needs and we are all so grateful for your support I know every single teacher every single student in Keel is literally supported by Mrs velasco's work because Mrs Velasco and I should have begun by saying that she's one of our guided study teachers so again her impact is far-reaching I've said that like three times but it's the best way to characterize the fact that Mrs Velasco is amazing and we are just so grateful for all of your support of our students and our staff every single day so congratulations our uh 2023 2024 Governor's educator of the [Applause] Year okay and next up Mrs tinny our school counselor come on up [Applause] so as I said and I remembered to uh properly introduce her Mrs tinny is our Keel Cisco school counselor and she is our 2023 2024 educational specialist of the year and we are so once again proud and honored she was just like Mrs Velasco selected by myself and her colleagues through a voting process and again she was like the unanimous Choice given the fact that she once again does anything and every everything needed in Keel school from supporting the social emotional needs of our students to also supporting the social emotional needs of our staff right Miss tinny every single day so she is our uh shoulder to lean on again in all ways that one could possibly need a shoulder to lean on um she is my right hand I literally could not stand as principal of ke school without her every single day going in classrooms supporting students in every capacity needed so again Miss Tenny we are so grateful for you so proud to have you as our school counselor and I also just like with nurse hacki as I was saying before Miss Tenny she's such a valuable school counselor because she was also a teacher in Keel prior to that so she is the foundation the backbone of our school what makes it so great and so once again congratulations to Mrs Sarah tiny our 2023 2024 educational specialist of the year at this time I'd like to call up Mrs Susan Juliano [Applause] please Mrs Juliano is our 2324 Governor's educator of the year and it is so welld deserved the key word that comes to mind when I think of Miss Juliano is one and she knows what I mean by this is just Warrior she is collaborative engaging amazing with her colleagues but when you walk into her classroom it is one of Engagement she knows each and every student's weakness and strength meeting with them day in and day out in small group instruction working with CST irns and also with her families there is not anything she hesitates to do for me or for her colleagues she has an amazing fourth grade team but it's not just with that fourth grade team that she impacts it's with every staff member in our building she works with me and I love our every morning little talks because she's one of the early birds as well at Stonybrook and just checking in every day she is the epitome of what you think of when you think of a dedicated engaging persevering resilient teacher and it is amazing to watch you each and every day and you truly deserve every word that is said about you by myself and your colleagues because you really show what dedication is and I am so proud that they honored you this year with this recognition so sue congratulations because you deserve it [Applause] I am also lucky enough to introduce uh Miss Heather cornette who had a sporting conflict this evening with her children as our educational specialist of the Year miss cornette in our building is an amazing power professional she is a onetoone power professional this year in our fifth grade and she really is the definition of a power professional she instructs she is side by side with her teachers working in them one of who is here and knows what I mean when you talk about collaboration again I mean Stony Brook is amazing for that but when you look at specific individuals Miss cornette works with her home room teachers both in reading and math works so closely with CST and our special services department to really make sure that the student or students that she is working with have each and every need met and that's a hard thing to do and she really goes out of her way to make sure that they are getting everything that they need so I am so honored tonight to give her this award and that she was recognized by her peers as the educational specialist of the year so miss carnette if you happen to be watching if not we will congratulate you tomorrow but congratulations to Heather thank you everyone congratulations to the prm's governor teacher of the year Mrs Laura [Applause] fabic it's always been the work of a special education teacher to get to know everything about their students and then figure out exactly what it is that they need this is certainly true of Mrs fabic however some may think that teachers of special education might only affect the students who are in our special education program this is certainly not the case for Mrs fabik she's well known to all of our students whether it's as a co- teer who provides support and guidance to all the students in the numerous classes or as the eighth grade facilitator who leads our eighth grade staff or as a staff member who can always be seen in the classroom hallways of the cafeteria Mrs fabic is significantly positive presence in our school miss fabic work with all of our students is easy for everyone to see and it is always impressive yet there's still so much that Miss fabic does behind the scenes that it's just as important to our school experience for our students and our staff ask any PRM teacher and they will tell you that our school wouldn't be the same without Mrs fabic we're proud to have Mrs fabic to represent PRM as our governor teacher of the year and we're grateful that she does that she does all of this for our students and our staff and I'd also like to add that Mrs fabic is one of those teachers that is just always on the ball and what do I mean by that if I'm saying to staff hey I need I need people to keep an eye out for Lanyards Miss fabic is there she's shooting me email she's letting me know if I say hey I need I need a presence in the hallway Miss fabic is there right and in addition to that stuff Miss fabsik is outgoing and she's funny and she has a pro proclivity for sarcasm and we appreciate that because it's not even trying to be funny right those are important things for us to have at school so in every facet Laura you do you're such a you have such an impact on school and we're so proud of you we're so thankful to have you so congratulations and our Educational Services professional of the Year Mrs Valerie comprelli [Applause] Mrs Celli was an excellent teacher she was the kind of teacher that always had her students engaged and excited about learning yet as great as she was in that role she's become an even better school counselor Miss Celli brings positivity warmth and patience to all of her interactions with students making her feel safe making them feel safe and trusted and that students know they can go to her with anything that might be affecting them Miss cell's work has her take on many roles as a problem solver a listener a teacher a guide a confidant she does all of this in a way that gives each of our students the confidence that no matter what they're dealing with Miss compell can help them get get through it the same can be said of our staff who know that there is no Kinder more reliable person than Miss Celli we thank Miss Celli for all that she does for all of us and we are proud to have her represent PRM as a Governor's Educational Service professional of the year and I'd like to add as well as someone who began their career as a counselor it's a position that is near and dear to me and to to put it simply Miss comprelli is a natural in this role um someone who I've worked really closely with these last two years in this role specifically and I ask a lot of our scho of our school counselors as Mr manga and I both do and uh Miss Celli is someone who just jumps in and gives a th% to everything that she's doing we've made major changes in the past two years to our RTI and irrs programs and uh as a first year counselor last year the most detailed goal oriented inrs plans that were just everyone was on the same page the goals to get students over over a bad hump or to get them you know in school more often just impressive especially as a first year counselor to be doing that I I can't say enough positive things so um we're lucky to have you and um you're such an asset to our school and to our counseling department so this is welld deserved [Applause] congratulations thank you as the KHS teacher of the year I would like to honor Miss Stephanie fin who couldn't be be here this evening uh Miss referees at night on occasion so I'm sure she's out on the lacrosse field somewhere refereeing um but Steph think this is such a well-deserved honor for her as a staple at the high school she has been an exceptional physical education teacher health teacher volleyball coach basketball coach and as a former high school and middle school coach and athlete and over 26 years when I first met Steph and saw her in action in the gymnasium with our students and on the athletic field you immediately get the sense that she knows kids and she her Rapport and her approach her temperament her style teaches more than skills and drills there are occasions when Steph would during PE class if there was a A disruption with a student she wasn't just sending this student to the office at the end of the period she was getting coverage and coming down and communicating what the issue is making it a teachable moment for the student which was truly exceptional to kind of guide them to express what was happening really just an amazing amazing technique that Steph often Incorporated and she showed the kids that she cared it wasn't just addressing the issue or sending them off to the vice principal or the principal she really truly cared and would want to sit down with those students so those teachable moments were were truly exceptional over the years and her interactions as a class advisor of the junior class she continually organizes a number of events at the high school for the junior class including the Junior and senior prom over the past several years and she's done an amazing job she's a truly a student Advocate who's empathetic caring promotes that self-accountability and growth she acts as a model in both winning and losing as a coach and in the gymnasium over the years Steph has had incredible uh volleyball teams and they have won championships they've also lost championships so in both situations you see her AFF effect with her team win or lose how she kind of guides them nurtures them and models so truly an exceptional person in that sense as it also as a model with her close friend Steph mano a part of our staff they annually organized the Dig pink fundraiser which is also a modeling technique for our students to bring cancer awareness an incredible event that brings our community together for uh an amazing event supporting uh cancer and awareness and and research so I know she's not here this evening and she's probably either watching or going to watch the tape later but thank you Steph for all that you've done as a teacher here at the high school it's a welld deserved teacher of the year award thank thank you Steph pick and finally if I can call down our nurse and award winner Katie [Applause] merer Katie is the ks nurse who has made such an incredible impact and contribution to our student staff and school in such a very short period of time Katie is one of the most caring and talented nurses and colleagues I've ever worked with in 26 years she is a true student Advocate it only takes a moment when you venture into the nurse's office and see to see her interaction with our students and also to have those experiences with you know her talking to the parents and handling situations which such care Katie has multiple certifications multiple degrees and she just she has all kinds of talents that are truly just totally uncommon to have in a school so I feel like and we feel like we have multiple um professionals working within your office and it was truly so comforting in so many situations uh she's a calming presence during crisis situations there are are several occasions when we have a medical crisis that we're truly unaware of when we get a call with fragmented information as much information as we can and Katie's rushing to the scene on the third floor grabbing 0s and her medkit we have officer Caputo rushing to the scene we have the administration all there trying to assist medically and not knowing what we're going to encounter and Katie truly takes over the situation works with officer Caputo directs me on what I need to do and it is so comforting and it's truly an asset to our community because our kids are in such incredible care and we have had a number of those situations and they have happened with our staff and that's also when I see the staff gravitating to Katie during all types of situations from personally professionally you know they seek her out because she can maintain confidential she can Comfort them give them advice and you just get that sense as a principal in this building for going on 10 years you just get that sense that she truly has everyone's best interest in such an unselfish way um always available to our students and staff a true team player and a true asset to kenel on Katie congratulations and thank you so very much okay so at this time I don't want to steal your thunder Mrs president okay we'll take a recess you're welcome to leave if you have other or we're gonna have exciting board business that you're also welcome to and if anybody would like to come down take some pictures piur yeah come on down e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we're going to go ahead and get started with the rest of the meeting what's up okay we'll start with committee reports Mr Myers Finance facilities and security all right one second okay all right so we met on May 15th um we talked about a whole bunch of topics um many of them are the hero number of uh 1 through 29 later uh but we talked uh about uh machino food we had a wonderful presentation and a Diet ruining presentation um and the Food Services which was very very good um we discussed surveillance both the KHS and PRM uh we discussed uh the acoustic study um for this room um and what might be uh needed to improve the sound quality uh we discussed The Snack Shack which is Clos uh pending a health inspection report um moving moving forward uh we discussed the roof bids um some after school programs Boys and Girls Club versus YMCA uh some kitchen updates based on some equipment uh needs for Stony work and PRM uh board certification discussion um strategic action plans and the transportation positions which will which are discussed so that's about it okay thank you Personnel negotiations Mike okay so we um talked about a lot of the things that are on agenda tonight so if you've looked at the minute uh or the agenda you've seen a lot of them so we talked about the PRM assistant principal uh applicants we talked about the job descriptions that you'll see on there as well as the science department chair position um we also talked about briefly about board certification as well uh we talked about the survey that was going out to the power professionals we talked a little bit about the third grade class size over at Stonybrook and how that was going to be approached which I think Dave mentioned maybe last time at the meeting um we talked about the various um positions on and the interviews and guidance and Athletics the nurse applicants the gifted in talent and program things like that the World Language um we talked about the transportation responsibilities as well in for 24 and 25 and then we talked about the central office uh requests uh and duties on there and then the last part of it was the committee is going to take a look at the current contract because we're getting ready to go into negotiations again so we're going to review that and then at the upcoming meeting we'll start kind of laying the groundwork for our first negotiations meeting with the with the Kaa yep education and Student Activities hi so we had two meetings uh since the last Board of aded meeting we met on Monday April 29th Tuesday May 14th um and what we talked about was the KHS um Bo head soccer coach and the KHS girls head soccer coach and the candidates that we had for that position um we talked about the Fantastic turnout that we had for the PRM assistant principal um we had over 170 candidates um so we talked about the first round applicants and we talked about how well it was going we talked about how we're moving to the final round uh in our next committee so we also talked about how there was a kek meeting set up before the next special education Forum so we're looking forward to that on May 30th um there was an instructional technology approval for the writing wizard in K2 I'm really excited about this program we were just talking about it um for Keel school um Mr Ortega put forward a book for summer reading which he's really excited about and it sounds like a a really great um addition to our summer reading it's how to read novels like a professor um and we also talked about um the science department chair hope Kowalski pora which um she we will be approving tonight um PRM uh and grade nine is having a Chromebook phase in so we been having a lot of the Chromebooks break like a tremendous amount of them break so um we're moving forward with a different company and the really nice thing about this new company is when the Chromebooks themselves are more durable and they're coming with a case and a screen protector um and Mrs trombetta was able to create this Amazing Project where the kids are going to be able to get trained on how to fix them when they break um we did that at KHS but um we thought so many are breaking UPN let's get the kids involved in this solution so we're rolling that out at PRM to and um we sent out a Google form to gauge interest and we had a great turnout we had 30 kids respond um so we're really excited about that too um and we had uh some upcoming KHS field trips that we talked about yeah it was a long meeting policy was that bike one yeah so there was a policy meeting I was unfortunately unable to get there um but for the agenda um what you'll what you see at least on the very last page of the um the board's agenda is a review on first reading for student use of vehicles on school grounds um and although generally that policy deals with the use of cars uh especially at the high school it also includes bikes um and it has years and there's one update in there um to add the Middle School to one of the schools that students are allowed to ride their bikes to um because it had specifically mentioned um Keel ston mentioned Stony Brook and the high school and not PRM so uh that you'll see that on the agenda we don't have a bike rack there though right the PRM Mr abuser left no okay all right so that's something facilities will have to take on for finance facilities follow up with that okay everything else was uh just second reading yep yep yeah that made sense I looked at that okay thanks John uh delegates New Jersey school boards Association um so I'm assuming everybody's getting the the updates but just a couple to point out was that um speaking of policy I don't know if you noticed there's a policy one that's tomorrow I think I meant to mention that the last time but I didn't have it with me but if you're free for tomorrow at 10: a.m. that's when the policy one is um there's also an interesting one coming up on the 30th about um Microsoft co-pilot in kada2 education so if anybody's interested in that that's I think that's going to be a good one I may try to get to that one although they do all these during the workday so it's a little bit more difficult and then I if everybody saw the workshop is dates were set for the October 21st through the 24th so those are kind of the main ones I believe thanks uh Morris County School boards um so last meeting in May was the recognition meeting uh for the the Schoolboard candidates that were nominated and so I didn't attend that I believe that you might have but there was no yeah no other news as far as policy or yeah know that was uh recognition for students and board members that was good legislation anything John from nothing to report Morris County Educational Services Commission and the next meeting is in June okay and community relations so we did meet the beginning of May um it was a good meeting principles um chief of police our athletic director and some board members and Mr mango um it was a good conversation just to update everybody on current happenings at the school uh anything going on within the community for us to be aware of and um just some brainstorming on how to improve I think communication with fam and also engage in um promoting eighth graders continuing to come into the high school good did you guys come up with any ideas I don't know if they're new ideas but um we talked about any exit interviews you know to be had with anybody that is choosing to to leave just to find out because there could be a lot of different reasons um and then we were talking about uh connecting and engaging more with younger Athletics with the High School athletics programs um getting a little bit more um communication and awareness of what's happening in the rec and PRM programs and connecting them to athletes and coaches within the high school so that they can feel you know excited about continuing on and then some people were talking about promoting the different um high quality educational pieces we have in the high school so that people are aware I mean we have the open house but we talked about that and also uh things that are happening in PRM that um that challenge students to keep them there also because someone had mentioned that some students leave in the sixth or seventh grade um Al as well okay yeah those have been stuff that's stuff we've been talking about for last couple of years do you know is the town that new communication thing they've changed to a new Communication System I don't know how we could interface with that I know that was something about like having events that are happening within the school or happening with the town I know that was a policy that we Revis like disseminating information through the district if the town's doing an event but um I don't know maybe that's something to write down and bring back to the next one because I I do recall something about them changing their notification system and I don't know how if there's a way we could connect with that like some way I don't even know yeah if there was just to improve some other types of communication because I was sitting here at this band concert last week and I thought gosh it was an amazing performance the kids were phenomenal and there was no one here really B besides the the parents but wouldn't the town want to come and listen I mean they do pay taxes this is it was phenomenal music and I know when I was in band The Town came and I just realized we don't share that information with them and um and I know we talked about it for like like the West Point event we did with um uh that football game but how we can connect the events that we're doing which is with wreck with also with the school so yeah that's I think part of the Strategic um action plan as well is to try to yeah that was part of what we discussed Eng Community more and help make events more aware so um it's a good initiative but there's there's something about their notification system and communication changed I don't know if it would be something where Andrew would just ask Melanie to disseminate it through the different organizations that Melanie has like the soccer wreck program or the basketball wck program or just you know interested people I don't know there's something maybe to note down and bring up to the next meeting sure I'll try to remember to remind you too okay thanks Jen um [Music] kares uh yeah so there was a meeting on April 30th I wasn't able to make it the last second but based on the agenda it seemed pretty standard budget reviews and uh the ongoing um logo and rebranding of K cares itself um I did get some pictures though that there was a booth at the diversity Derby so that looked like it was a a fun time so yeah and then uh Education Foundation that's just um we're really has that just I don't think that's doing anything so not really our job to run that so okay petitions and hearings of citizens for agenda items if anybody has anything they want to ask the board or any comments I have for agenda items you're welcome to come up now is there anything online no okay all right so we'll move on to agenda items I'd like to make a motion for a roadblock vote on agenda items a through d as revised in the agenda can I have a motion motion second and discussion so take a look if there's anything that you want to talk about on the agenda for items a through D I think there was one thing Barbara right there was one adjustment to the agenda that we wanted to call out which was oh no that's actually not even under my section right no there's the on page five number nine yes we have a two Corrections on the health insurance premium with the um under the the first section it should be marked on page five of yeah should be marked page five everybody good you're good no other no discussion no I'm good you're good okay Miss Francisco will we pull the board please for approval of agenda items a through D Mr isaminger yes Mrs Leonard yes Mr Myers yes Mrs Pella yes Mrs Portman yes Mr Petrelli yes Mrs Donaldson yes okay item e Committee of the whole don't have anything for committee of the whole unfinished businesses does anybody have any finish business no new business anybody oh um okay new business what are we gonna say oh then the board self evaluation you want to talk about that business um under new business the um board based on our strategic planning um meetings and hiring the new superintendent and just a lot of training we've actually accredited 16 or sorry 18 credits uh only 16 are needed plus we've all completed all our board training so because of that we can get board certified um the only thing we need to do is do our self- evaluation which we'll do during um when we work on Dave's evaluation and the other stuff I'm already in the process of doing with uh Charlene we have to send in our our Union contract AA contract and um they do a policy wellness check which is uh in the process of being scheduled so we'll be recognized at the September Morris County School boards Association for board board certification so do you need everybody to do that self evaluation by a certain date so well what I was going to do is once we start talking about Dave's evaluation I was going to give you guys I gave you the link to just take a look at it and then what I'll do is we'll look at his evaluation date and our date we just have to have it done before um August so we can meet the September 1st deadline so what I figured is we just maybe we just all sit down while we're doing his do our own and my portion of the evaluation will be done by next Friday I think that's June 1st or is it May 31st something like that so by May 31st I'll be done which gives you plenty of time open it up for us okay and then once he gets it to me then I'll give you guys a timeline for those meetings and then we'll put in the evaluation for us and you each do your own it's pretty straightforward if I don't know if anybody took a look at the link I sent but it's you just click on it it's pretty straightforward okay um any questions with that anybody no okay all right uh correspondents do we have any correspondence any emails from anyone nope electronic all right petitions and hearings of citizens for non-agenda items ah Mrs S uh quick thank you to the board and to the administ ation uh for your kind words for our retirees and our governor teacher of the year as I was sitting there and listening to the words that were being spoken of my colleagues I was in awe I'm like that's exactly what we see and it's so wonderful to hear the accolades that they were given so welld deserved um there's there's lots more that are not spoken of but it to sit here and and listen to them and all the kind of words that you said um I won't tell you where my position is in in relation to Linda Johnson retiring and what that means for my math career and where I stand in the math department I was like oh I just moved up um uh second thing I just wanted to thank Mr mango and the board for allowing us to wear jeans on Fridays uh we have a philanthropic fund that we collect money uh throughout the year and I just wanted to you where this fund is now being able to support Kinnelon as well as our Kaa families I put my glasses on so this year we are able to give $4,200 in Kaa scholarships those are to members um and their children many of which are Kinnelon residents we have two $500 scholarships for future teachers there are two receiving uh in kelan this year we donated $370 to the American Heart Association we donated $500 to Project Graduation $500 to the angel front and $350 to the Kesha Tricky Tray all because we have the support of you to have a philanthropic fund to collect those uh those monies for those donations so thank you for that we are able to do good Beyond um our our day-to- day so thank [Applause] you thank you that's really generous Tina okay uh board member comments who wants to go first Jonathan just wanted to say congratulations again to all of the uh retirees um it's just amazing to see what a a career looks like you know when they're dedicated to uh all of our young people so you know just thank you for the way that you've touched so many lives um and uh it's just an inspiration for everybody that's involved in this schools and uh good luck to all the sports teams that are involved in playoffs in the next days and weeks I know that kicks off and um it's pretty exciting yeah very exciting Kelly um I just wanted to say that I just really enjoyed the meeting tonight um I think that I I feel like I'm biased because I work in a school and I just love schools so much and obviously I'm on the board but um teachers are just some of the most amazing people ever like they have this room full of children and what they're able to accomplish working with them usually by themselves uh is just amazing so I I just don't think that they could ever be appreciated enough uh I don't think that they could ever get enough Applause and thanks for what they do with our children so I I just really enjoyed that um celebrating people in their retirement and kind of congratulating the Educators and the um School service staff that are not teachers that were you know got the Accolade for being uh the best of the year um I did want to give a shout out to our hsas um for those of you that don't know that's our homeschool associations um they they are just phenomenal um and sometimes we don't really talk about that um but I know for the lower grades I mean they have done dances at every single grade level which we've never ever done before um and the Tricky Tray brings in a tremendous amount of money so there's been just a lot of communication with parents this year in terms of Google forms and emails like what do you want for our schools and how do you want this money spent and um they work just so so so tirelessly these wonderful wonderful HSA people so I just wanted to thank them for all that they do for our schools because it really just adds uh so much frosting to the cake that we have over here um and also we had our first diversity Derby last weekend and it was phenomenal and I love celebrating our special needs community and I love that so many students came out to volunteer and to just cheer this uh group on and I thought it was phenomenal I hope we have it every year have a good night everybody thanks Kelly Jen I agree with everything Kelly said um so thank you again to our retirees it I agree you know it's wonderful to hear um such accurate and personal accolades and and gratitude for them because um like you said Kelly they are so hardworking and make such a difference and um they will be missed retirees and congratulations to the um teachers and Specialists of the Year again you know so impressive and um it's really what makes kenalan so special thank you to the Kaa for all their philanthropic work that's impressive as well um and I was able to go to the diversity Derby and that was a great event I'm excited to see it grow year after year it was so well organized and um really just a joy to be there and and to um take part in it so thank you thanks Chen Carl um so just a congratulations to all the the retirees and all the award winners uh it's very cool to see all the comments and such that were given for especially the retirees I'm thinking back to you know I've had experience in school system twice this one and also when I went to high school and I remember I was struck with a the memory of of going back and visiting my high school maybe a decade after I graduated not remembering not knowing a single teacher there anymore because they had all the turnover had just happened so it's great to see people that have been in the system for you know 50 30 20 years 10 years making a significant impact on students so that's it it's it's cool thanks Carl Dana um so I'd like to Echo the same congratulations and gratitude to the teachers and the educational Specialists that are retiring and those who are just honored tonight um who remain in the system and also um just to acknowledge and to say thank you for a scholarship that the board was able to accept tonight within that block vote that we didn't necessarily name but um there was a $10,000 donation from Tom isacs uh to memorialize Louisa Gagliardi and so two seniors that will graduate the high school um will be eligible for a a significant scholarship so thank you thanks for bringing attention to that Dana appreci Mike so I'll just uh kind of keep the Gratitude going so uh congratulations to all the the teachers of the year and the and the Specialists of the year that's that's awesome I think the the great thing about that is not only to be recognized but to be recognized by your peers for for doing an outstanding job so I think that's amazing and you know I think all of our teachers do a great job and I think I would also like to thank all the administrators who are sitting here for supporting those teachers I think you you guys are also kind of a little bit of the unsung heroes that we don't talk about especially you know everybody who spoke about those teachers today that again I agree with everybody whoops that um did a very great job kind of articulating you know how that was and then of course thank you to the retirees I was looking at the number of years and my math skills aren't what they used to be when they were in high school but it was like north of I think 230 years of experience at at in the kenalan school district so that's just amazing thank you all I know everybody left but thank you all for your service you know deeply appreciated by the the the staff the students and the parents of kinan thanks Mike um this morning I was at the PRM leadership breakfast and uh um Lauren reminded me about Sarah's book in which he wrote and then I remember that there were some students that started the disability awareness club that kind of drove the diversity Derby and I was looking at the things that we've you know what we said at this leadership is that it this is the community school and Mr mango said this at the citizen advisory committee you know there's we want to hear ideas we want to hear from the community Through Mr mango and the staff or at the citizen advisory committees the kids are doing it through their student councils and they're affecting change you know that is applicable or appropriate for their schools but it's their ideas it's their school and the board supports that process and it's shown amazing results because of that I mean Sarah sphere headed a debate club and now we've got that going this is what the board's here for to provide this for our students and opportunities and they know they have the new ideas they're the kids of the 21st century so I'm really excited for what they are bringing to us and what we're able to do for them or really what we facilit facilitate them doing for themselves and it takes a community to do that and so as I always say thank my fellow board members for all some of the long nights and all the extra meetings and the administration because they come to those meetings with all the information and when we ask questions they go get them for us and when we ask more questions they get those for us too and when we text them with questions they reply with them so it's really a team effort and the community is part of that team and the kids the staff and the board and we're we're doing I think you can see in the results of all that we've been doing it's you know we make mistakes at times but we are really doing a great job for our community and it's really a pleasure to be a part of it um on that note I think it's all been said so um well we have we have two more things though because I I'm listening to Mrs Leonard and I'm thinking we have a new varsity boys soccer coach in our crowd coach Rogers so coach thanks for staying till the end we also have Dr Racine who is not here tonight but for girls varsity soccer so our soccer programs can get up and jump start and then we also have Miss Kowalski Mrs Kowalski welcome and um we don't have any committee meetings except for the education committee next Tuesday so I'll just send a an annoying reminder text on Monday and um you know it's Memorial Day weekend this weekend and a lot of times this is true where we got the extra we get the extra day on Friday the give back but um it's about you know honoring those fallen in our armed services men and women and if you know anybody if you have family like I do that have served served valiantly you know just for a second think about that and think about how life you can't live it looking in the rearview mirror you have to go forward so if you think about this room just month ago and then you put it on a scale of what our veterans see and have dealt with in their Times Really minuscule um so it's always about going forward that was all about our retirees and our teachers and educators of the year and um everything that we do day in and day out so thank you to our veterans actually our board president is a veteran and um all our veterans out there in our great community and our nation so have a great holiday be safe enjoy and we'll be back here in three weeks motion to adjourn motion second