e e e here miss groger Dr King here I know you're here I saw you miss pasculli here Mr pluta Miss Santos Mr van heis here you have a quarum great thank you um okay okay we're going to um go into exec session the open public meeting act act authorizes Boards of Education to meet an executive session under certain circumstances uh this evening we'll be meeting to discuss a matter involving Personnel issues uh specifically superintendent evaluation formal action will not be taken um executive session is expected to last about 30 minutes um and uh all in favor need a motion oh so moved second second you are now it's all in favor okay all in favor I I any opposed none you're in okay 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 thank you everybody for waiting and welcome um the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to to ensure that the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon as required under law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided via email Andor facts to the times the Lawrence Ledger the public library and has been filed with the municipal clerk this notice was provided prior to the 48 Hours required by the open public meeting act the board reserves the right to limit public discussion of personnel items and other matters as defined in the law do the flag salute United States ofice okay okay we do not have any student Representatives tonight as it is summer vacation okay um um and recognition and acknowledgements so we have um an ltf presentation we're going to kick off with Miss Giglio if you want to come on up good evening uh my name is Bonnie gigo I am the executive director of The Lawrence Township Education Foundation uh the L f is honored and excited to present the Lawrence Township Public School Board of Education with a check for $35,500 in support of steam education in Lawrence Township Public Schools thanks to a grant from an amazing Community partner brist Meers squib every year the ltf works with supervisors from ltps to assess the needs of the district in the area of steam education and applies for grant funding from BMS we're so excited to have received positive feedback back on our requests and an increase in funding this year steam education is critical in schools because it equips students with the skills needed for the for future Workforce fostering Innovation and problem solving abilities despite the pivotal role steam education has historically been underfunded Nationwide limiting access and opportunities for many students addressing this disparity is essential to ensure all Learners can thrive in our increasingly technology driven World thanks to BMS the ltf is able to to do just that with this Grant and greatly enhance steam education at all grade levels in Lawrence Township Public Schools so this grant has two distinct parts we have $26,500 for modifi 80 modified dry erase tables for the high school math classroom to facilitate um discourse collaboration and visual thinking and the second part of the grant is 7,9 $999 for one uh maker space cart for laurren intermediate school the cart would provide fourth fifth and sixth grade students many opportunities to generate creative ideas and strengthen their science technology engineering and math knowledge BMS has previously funded four maker space carts for all four of our elementary schools these carts were such a huge success that Lis asked for their own cart and ltef is proud to be able to bring this additional funding from BMS to purchase their own maker space card and lastly save the date for handbag Bingo October 25th will be our annual handbag Bingo same place same great event but a new time of year so thank you so much and I have a large check for a photo would you like a picture I would okay come over go to the pit yeah we don't usually go over have to go to the arena e e the adoption of the minutes um can I get a motion to adopt the executive session and regular session minutes from the 612 2024 meeting so moved second a motion and a second Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes M Dr King yes Miss pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Mr vanis yes Mose abstain motion carried thank you um can I have a motion to adopt the executive session and regular session minutes from the six 17 2024 meeting so moved second the motion in a second Tom Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King abstain Miss pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Mr van he yes M Bose yes motion car thank you ah superintendence report hi I'm going to take the podium um in a few minutes you'll be hearing my voice for quite a while I'm going to be presenting the superintendent proposed goals going into next school year as well as the community survey results I just want to make a few um points while I'm sitting here welcome to the 2425 school year um we have already laid the foundation for quite an incredible school year launch um so I feel very proud of that and this is our first board meeting officially so happy New Year um I also want to thank Miss Giglio um and I know Miss baldasari is also here in the audience from ltef thank you that's quite a large ticket check that um we are happy to cash uh for the benefit of our students so thank you so much and finally our new student representative is actually in the audience you can't see him tonight he will officially be taking his seat to the right of me in September his name is Edison Ryan and we are excited we have some secondary staff here um to connect with you after the meeting um you'll be receiving some mentorship over at the high school and we're excited to have you so thank you for being here this evening welcome okay I do want to thank the technology department because I think from home if you're watching on rewind you'll hear my voice and see the slides which will be nice they'll be nice and clear for you um so superintendent goals um these are not developed in a silo and I apologize for my back the presentations really to the board of ed um this is not developed in a silo we we thoughtfully kind of vet through the year three of our strategic plan um so I just want to kind of bring your attention that we are in year three we've done quite a lot of work um on the Strategic plan these are sort of the the aspirations and goals we've been working towards surrounded by Wellness um student student achievement and the third one really being focused on um Equity diversity and inclusion so I just wanted to kind of bring Focus to that so goal number one um been meeting a lot with the secondary team in this District we are committed to developing career and college readiness Pathways for students period um we want to make sure that the opportunities are broad for our students we want to make sure that there are elective choices that are sort of you know tied to student interests as they're starting from Lis where we are planning some virtual career opportunity and exposure for them through Dr melas's building at LMS where we're really working on honing in some of their confidence and soft skills right because that's the type of um you know those are the skills they're going to need in the workforce eventually no matter what pathway they choose um so while the goal is posted here really the idea is to grow College and Career Readiness by 20% increase um specifically focusing on some of our underrepresented groups we've already made some Headway the high school cabinet is combining with the Middle School cabinet and we'll be having secondary meetings focused around making sure that vocational programs and opportunities are tied into some of our vision work we're working on developing and sort of securing an educational Academy pathway everybody knows we have a a great steam Academy at the high school and in the future we're working towards a public service Academy um I feel very proud about that public service is you know something that this community is very proud of we work together our constituents need our help these are kids that you know are interested in police and EMTs and you know Emergency Management um you know nursing so really sort of carving out opportunities and working through our course of study on making sure our offerings and those goals are met for our kids the second goal um you know we haven't been shy about the district reconfiguration plans um for this past year but really just upping the Annie and making sure that our community is surveyed on a repeated basis and that we're offering interactive workshops so that's workshops for the board that's workshops for constituents in the community we want to make sure that we have a Baseline and a post assessment and that we're doing things methodically right we want to make sure that our participant base is growing we have a long time before we get to the fullon you know reestablished reconfigured District we're now looking at 2930 but we're going to continue to always have a goal sort of wrapped in that involves Community engagement and opportunities to really measure what our project looks like as we're Gathering um input and then our third goal um we are working towards our our preschool program um you know the continuation of growing our preschool universe will be done methodically over the course of 5 years next year specifically we'll be looking to Target another two classrooms part of the state aid requirements are that we have hybrid approaches so we are looking at partnering with members of our community daycare providers that would very much like to stay you know daycare and prechool providers and we're working with getting them up to speed with the credential staff they need and the requirements of curriculum and professional development and we're working towards potentially opening two classrooms next school year so this school year is really about launching that footprint and supporting slackwood you know we have uh preschool and all four of our buildings now which is really exciting but making sure that we're continuing to educate and support our Community Partners on this initiative okay and I'm going into the community survey results um Mr Apprentice is behind me getting that all queued up before I start I need everyone to know that Jennifer PA desari in my office um helped to truly nail down and analyze this data let me back up with she utilized some expert knowledge on developing the questions so that we could be 100% sure that we're actually getting the responses that we need that it was thoughtful um but her data analysis and time spent I must publicly say I'm I'm super proud to to work alongside her and this is a good portion of her work even though I'm speaking okay so our survey I'm very proud of um you know it was open for about four weeks time period we collected 684 total responses as you see the numbers um you know it's no surprise to us that current and future ltps parents and Guardians were the good portion of the survey I want to note that we realize the numbers don't add up and that's because sometimes the staff and we did allow a few extra um if you fit two categories you could respond twice so maybe you're responding through a teacher lens maybe you're responding through the parent lens so that's really that's where the numbers kind of shake out um multiple answers were actually allowed for this so how do you want to be communicated with this is really important our office has really been you know pushing a lot of digital communic ation and talking points and removing barriers for our families in all languages I feel very proud of that you'll see that a good portion of our families you know want to see things still digitally but there are you know a big piece of it they still want to see us in person I personally feel going through and and talking with families and showing up at events and having those off conversations are actually the most valuable ones that's when people just feel comfortable to approach um whether it be a leadership team member or a teacher um we will continue and we are honoring the fact that families out there are receiving information through board meetings um over the last you know year or so we have definitely utilized the workshop side of the board agenda which means you will get to see leadership presentations and and things that we're actually supporting and working through alongside the Board of Education and making live decisions so that we are transparent um and then of course you know social media will continue um okay so we ask the community to rate the importance of8 different areas as they relate to Lawrence Township Public Schools we realize if we just asked what areas are important almost every responded would would say everything and it wouldn't really make for a meaningful survey so we deliberately and thoughtfully kind of unbalanced the scale to really tease out what areas people find the most important the scale is as follows it was not important somewhat important important very important and extremely important you have to note even for the areas that look the lowest preschool is still almost 70% ranked as an important very important or extremely important initiative in this District so just to continue again to show more variation we unpacked the data and analyzed it a little bit further those that ranked each each category as very or extremely important so now we really want to know what you want um and really as you'll see here if you look through the green portions of the bar you'll see what percentage our respondents rated these categories of the utmost importance so you know academics are coming in our highest our steam mental health special education diversity Equity inclusion Visual and Performing Arts Athletics and Universal preschool so to summarize our community has ranked these categories which I just listed it's again here just a little bit larger for those visually who need a little larger uh fonts um and now we're really going to move into the categories that the survey is specifically asked so this is our Lawrence Middle School um we asked our community to rate the importance of these potential improvements to to Lawrence Middle School what do you want to see we really got into into the nitty-gritty we didn't get into the nitty-gritty on this slide we really are just highlighting the very important and extremely important responses nearly 60 respondents think renovations to instructional spaces are very or extremely important good news is so do we and more than 50% felt that life skills classrooms small group targeted instructional spaces such as speech pullout uh classrooms academic support instruction classrooms are very too extremely important I think our community understands um the diversity and the growth that we've had in student needs over the course of the years it was nice to see that reflected upon by the people that took the survey and again just to summarize our community ranked renovations to instructional spaces adding more small groups the life skills of course is important um really just adding more space to do more things on a tiered you know system of supports for our students Outdoor Learning spaces renovations to common areas improvements to athletic fields and additional parking and improv traffic flow okay so now we're going to focus on third grade transition um as you know the referendum pushes the grade levels forward so essentially we're looking at just to remind the public we're looking at grade level bands that are preschool to second grade 3rd to fifth grade at Lis LMS becomes 6 to8 and then of course the high school um the question didn't ask respondents to rate the importance we listed potential changes and ask participants to Simply check off answers this allowed them to check more than one box we didn't want to Mis categorize levels of importance we really just wanted to know what they're looking for there's been a great emphasis on the middle school you know changes to the physical footprint and we wanted to be absolutely sure we're hearing our constituents that are are at Lis with this change to third third grade coming up so we asked the question given that third grade we'll be moving to Lis what changes could third grade students I'm sorry what changes could help third grade students make a successful transition to an upper elementary model and the respondents stated 69% want to create that Elementary centered culture we absolutely hear you 61% want to dedicate a third grade Wing 61% want to expand school orientation programs and provide resources for students and families and just anecdotally many changes to the playground changing the physical appearance making it more of an elementary feel brighter colors to the hallways these are all things that were important to parents when we really unpacked some of the anecdotal data that went into the survey sixth grade transition same thing we asked what changes do you want to see that would make our sixth graders feel more at home at LMS and be accommodated accordingly and the majority of the respondents said a dedicated sixth grade wing it it does feel I'll use Dr Fischer's statement that know parents want to sort of cocoon that first year she loves that word and that's absolutely what we're seeing on the third and the sixth grade side they're really looking for a separate Wing to sort of ease the transition right to Middle School changes you know to feel more at home um you know to make sure that the grade levels are you know accepting of the new grade level the majority of the respondents um did indicate that newer cafeteria would be helpful we're looking at core spaces the community recognizes that an add additional gym space would be helpful to house all grade levels that was really at the top of the list and many people also chose multi-purpose um spaces such as indoor and outdoor to be used for school activities and community events so now we're going to focus on the campus as a whole um we have a very unique footprint here in lawen Township Public Schools where our campus is shared um and our busing Depot is dead center so when asked what possible upgrades would make the most positive impact on the shared Campus of LMS and LHS um two an really stood out to us first this was interesting restroom facilities that would be accessible from the multi-purpose turf fields without having to return to the school school building to use a restroom the second was improving the traffic flow in and out and around middle school high school particularly during arrival and dismissal um and the community would also like to see more parking or separate parking for students and staff um updated multi-f fields to be utilized by both schools for the use of sports PE and other school sponsored events so when we went through sort of the writings uh of the survey there was an opportunity for you to write anything else that you wanted the Board of Education the leadership team to know we really drilled it down to six key themes um you know some respondents provided very detailed specific suggestions reflecting a high level of Engagement and interest in the bond ref referendum process there was a lot of qualitative data um through like open-ended questions that we tried to unpack out of hundreds and hundreds of responses that we received we narrowed it down to these six key themes what it comes down to is a desire to keep academics at the Forefront of all decisions a desire to restructure Lis to an upper elementary school with a more personal feel requests for better orientation programs and ongoing family engagement for incoming third and six graders again accepting in those new grade levels making them feel at home suggestions regarding developmentally age appropriate learning and play spaces in all buildings and finally oh in all buildings concerns about walking busing parking and traffic flow that absolutely came up as a running theme and finally requests for more detailed information about project specifics and budget transparency so what are our takeaways we need to create a community feel similar to the elementary school feeling in all of our buildings we need to dedicate wings for our younger students joining the larger buildings as we anticipate reconfiguring we need developmentally appropriate learning spaces and environments we need our students to receive instruction in modernized classrooms with a high focus on academics and our schools need space for specialized instruction and services so again here are the preferred engagement methods um you know we have held several Community conversations we're considering some H hybrid type you know engagements or workshops so that more of our families can join us um you know it's definitely split with some virtual Q&A our families really wanted to see what's going to change so as we've been out in the community and we've spotlighted our plans and we've shown how LMS is going to grow specifically they're like well I actually haven't seen that Auditorium in several years so we're going to actually highlight for you Lis LMS and the rest of the district and rotate board meetings next year specifically so that we can invite our community to see the spaces that our children are learning in so that you can visualize and see and imagine the growth and the footprint we are trying to project for the next 75 years and finally a Shameless plug for the referendum website which Miss baleri also built and I appreciate the community is invited to download the QR code um please know that we are open about plans and meeting dates and we will be transparent once we get a price point for the ref referendum there will be tax calculators there will be a live Q&A so as families submit questions to the superintendent's office I we will make sure that we post and we update that ongoing this is really going to be sort of the footprint for where the projects are laid out what our progress looks like if timelines are delayed and where we're at moving into the 2920 it'll be the 2930 school year we're projected to move in thank you thank you so much Robin that was really great I did not prepare any kind of president's report but there were just a few things that stood out to me that I just want to um talk about first thank you to you and to Jen for the outrageous job on correlating this information and Gathering it as the board president and many of the board members know over the years there's a lot of criticism about getting feedback community and how can we do it and this actually gave us a lot of good information about how we can move forward and engage all the different parts of our community um but I also think it it really solidified something that we all knew already um in terms of the needs that we have in the wants and the desires of our community our staff and really wanting the academic best for our students um it was a lot of information I know to digest um and don't worry we will post that lovely presentation on the bond referendum website yeah it's already there so I just I mean there's so much work that's involved in just the preliminary stages of this um it it is sometimes overwhelming when I think about all of the different people that have had a contribution to get us to this point and we have not even started yet um you did say we were going to take our board on the road show next year next year is September for everybody I just not going to wait until January we're talking about the new school year um so please look out for where they're going to be and when they're going to be and I mean it's a wonderful opportunity for many people who have never been in in our other schools um to see what is going on some of the highlights and some of the low lights but you know we want to show we want our community to see what our schools are and that the needs that we have are real needs um and that the work that we're doing is really for the future of Lawrence Township um it's not just for our kids it's for our community um and so we want to invite the community into the schools to see this um that was a great presentation so thank you so much I also would like to welcome Edison Brian um we look forward to joining us and being a part of our board come September and uh congratulations um and that's it for me for board president report um now we have our committee reports community relations and legislative affairs good evening I'm filling in for Amanda we the um Community Relations Committee met on July 2nd at 8:30 a.m. and there we had um myself and Vanessa Amanda Santos Jen bisari Robin Dr clim Joanne groger and Rob Luda we discussed the board referendum at that at that meeting we were updated about the timeline uh and also had a robust conversation about identifying ways that we could be continually improving our communication and um building ways for continued feedback building off of this survey over the coming uh months and uh we talked about you know creating goals around making sure that that information is transparent and that the community is getting up-to-date information we also uh the the and kudos to the district for already identifying some Community Partnerships because this work um will there will be a lot of work involved in getting the community um involved and getting folks to come out and vote in March so um we got a great update about that and then we had updates regarding um Vape detectors we learned um through data that there has been a decrease in instances uh in the high school we also learned that the Genesis for absenteeism uh program that went into place this year showed a successful reduction of absenteeism and legislative update I will not fill in for Joey and groger um at all for next month so we'll do that next time she just mentioned an educator evaluation task force that's kicking off uh this month and she said that there are lots of bills in motion but she'll report on them when they pass greens thank you and now we have um liaison report no student board member report yet uh no New Jersey School Board Association report um student services student services is not met for this month but does report the asy is in full progress and we're looking forward to a great session great thank you thank you um review of communications nothing okay uh this is our first opportunity for public input if anybody would like to have public input please come up to the mic state your name write your address and limit comments to 3 minutes okay seeing none we move on uh board discussion and work session item oh we did that already yes okay yep okay um superintendent goal and the community survey results which we've already discussed uh board discussion and action items um Personnel committee and Personnel action items uh I'm filling in for uh Joanne for the Personnel committee report uh Personnel did meet on July 3 uh in attendance was Dr clim Sean fry uh Arend Del Clark Robert pluta uh myself and our chair joeanne groger um discussed current vacancies in the district we are have posted for uh social worker at Lees uh special education um staff member at LMS um music uh nurses and third grade positions over at Ben Franklin um we do have uh and has come up as a recommendation for filling of an LHS guidance counselor position uh also English um teacher over at LHS and a special education teacher for Lees so our Personnel department has Mak great strides um both in uh posting for and doing our searching and actually getting people in District uh I will just report that we continue to have great success both through the efforts um of our Personnel department and also as a district uh I think the strides that we have been making as a district have really made us attractive for attracting some of the best staff members uh and we have become a destination District so for that uh again Kudos goes out to our Administration and all of our staff members um we have new admin administrative supports uh that we were talking about uh also we received uh recruitment updates um both in our district and our continued involvement with what was known as CJ pride and is now the New Jersey Statewide recruitment of diverse Educators or the NJ stride uh organizations and then we discussed several policies and um those are on tonight's agenda for uh introduction um so with that I will move items P1 through p34 and request that item P2 be pulled for a separate consideration please okay P2 second uh with a motion and a second P2 being pulled making room now okay doesn't want to paste there we are okay who had the second please me pepper pepper okay ready ready yes yes Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King yes Miss pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Mr van he yes and Miss Bose yes okay and a motion to move P2 in a second who was the motion made by please I didn't hear someone me I can't make it I'm conflicted out so that's why I can't be involved in yet motion to move P2 P Mr okay seconded by the seven thank you Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King yes M pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Mr van heis Al stain Miss Bose yes motion carried thank you uh cipd report and instructional um student service action items um CD met on June 27th for 2 hours withy Dr clim Michelle King Michelle Bose passie in myself friend you're not going to hear me oh my gosh okay um and uh we discussed initiatives and focus for 2425 the office of instructional services will be continuing to ensure students have appropriate and Equitable access and opport opportunities to instruction and programming meeting them where they are this includes continuing to refine academic support instruction reviewing dual enrollment providing intentional PD to staff reviewing our programs and refining support and programming for our multilingual students we looked at the high school uh study skills curriculum um Jean M started as director of student Achi achievement equity and opportunity on July 1st and we're happy to have her on board and if anyone knows Jean she started way before July 1 uh she's currently working on supporting our summer programs Eagles and destinations which had a wonderful start this past Monday she'll be integral and uh working with our Administration and staff on our ESL gifted education and Asi programs we talked about the pup program Princeton University Prep program for Scholars more than 200 applicants from five different schools in Mercer County five freshmen from LHS were studed were selected for the pup class 2027 pup nurtures the educational and personal development of students from socioeconomic groups currently underrepresented in major universities selection is prioritized for those who would be among the first generation in their family to attend a traditional 4-year college and those from amilies making less than $55,000 a year pup Scholars participate throughout the remainder of their High School career and into their Collegiate years Scholars complete three intensive 6 and a half week summer institutes at Princeton University and take part in school year programming including weekly After School academic enrichment sessions and a series of cultural excursions pup Works directly with students and their parents during senior year of high school to provide guidance and support during the college admissions and financial aid process pup alumni received support with their transition to college and guidance throughout their collegiate career and Beyond uh year 2324 postgraduate plans in A Brief Review of information provided by some seniors we have 178 students attending bachelor's programs 63 students pursuing an associates degree at Mercer County Community College College seven attending a career or trade school five taking a gap or service year 27 entering the workforce one attending an apprenticeship program and two joining the military it was discussed to possibly gather more complete data for the 2425 senior class and find ways to celebrate All seniors and their postgrad plans not just those attending four-year colleges um assessment summer uh uh ngpa Administration is coming up for incoming seniors who are retaking it or taking it for the first time ngpa scores from the spring of 2024 with Rising seniors have been shared with districts and will be reported out at the August 14th meeting and uh Esa grant allocations were received at the end of June the district received an increase in funding for title one part a title two and title three Title 1 a title two title three increase supplemental amount of $1 14,689 to offset the expiration of ARP funds and reduction in funds from federal doe the district received reduced funding in title three immigrant and title four um on the agenda we've got uh I'd like to move ois1 through three and O ss1 second Tom with a motion in a second okay Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King yes M pescoli yes Mr pluta yes Mr van heis yes dispose yes motion Carri well that CD committee doesn't do that much huh no we just well I figured Joanne wasn't here so you needed to think that somebody was doing something you're carrying her torch um finance committee and school business management um action items uh Finance did meet uh also on July 3rd uh we had Dr clim uh Tom uh Jill also Amanda uh pepper Michelle and I uh also a very lengthy and very thorough meeting not to be outdone by CD when we get to our Gant chart we actually had exhibits um but uh and again and in addition to all of the normal work uh that goes on we received updates on on uh you know uh contracts are being processed from last month's approval um we've got um our attorneys uh are retained and already on board and working actively on on all of our great items um additionally the Genesis system that we heard about for um the attendance uh at the schools they also have different modules and they have been implemented now for both budget and purchase orders that systems up and we're actually uh having good success with that as we transition over to the new systems um rolling out the grant components of that to start utilizing uh it for that um thus far feedback uh continues to be very positive it's easier it's more intuitive than the systems that we had uh in place previously um and then the last kind of modules that we'll be rolling out or will be for payroll and personnel and those will be done at the beginning of the year uh obviously making sure that the systems are all kind of perfect before we roll them out for two of our most important components um we also received an update uh in addition to the referendum we actually have several uh ongoing and active projects uh so there's parking lot Paving projects that the community will see uh over at Lees that is expected to be done uh by the end of the month it's actually being done by a local Paving Company Barrett Paving that uh has you know long ties to the community so it's great when um that when they become the winning bidder and are able to do that we're also going to be resurfacing uh the rubber playground there uh Ben Franklin has just started the uh esy program and at the conclusion of that they will also undergo parking lot improvements uh as well as a conversion of one of the front playgrounds um from its asphalt surface that has existed there before I got there as a kindergarten uh it will now be converted to a rubber um surface as well there's also a small garden at the front that will be uh replaced and upgraded uh and then as we started hearing about um and with the community survey results in um there will be Community will start to see some very active changes at Lis um we're starting with some of the simple but really impactful things and really beautifying uh both the building and making it more education friendly um so we're going to be painting both uh the exterior a band around the buildings contracts will be coming in this week for interior painting um there will be furniture that will be coming in uh and as we continue to pick off a lot of those um items that that will be immediately evident to our community and our students when they come back in in September uh Tom also provided an update on uh you know the sexy contracts like our trash hauler conversion so we've uh we've got a new uh trash uh service that is servicing the district um we received an update on esy which then would be starting soon and just started this week um and then we got to oh I'm sorry and we're also uh received an update on the new supplemental insurance uh benefit that we'll be rolling out uh so that our employees will be able to elect that um we have actually not had a formalized policy for that so at the recommendation of the committee um we will be implementing that as we do with our elect other elective benefits such as you know Vanguard penants for 3B plans and that sort of a thing uh which makes the most sense and this will be another uh great benefit that our employees will be able to uh opt into and then do uh the requisite withholdings and and do that for our staff uh and then the bulk of our meeting then was on the referendum it is all referendum all the time um and Tom has put together and is building which will be an active living breathing document um essentially a timeline but it is a very detailed one otherwise known as a Gant chart uh which lists everything from uh last month's Central approval for the submission all the way up through the 2029 30 school year uh move in and welcoming of students uh that list will continue to grow and for the Public's benefit um you know a lot of what you see will be the kind of the key deadlines or the key action items that we as the board take um but things as simple as last month we authorized the submission of the uh you know two doe and then somebody's got to keep track of the deadlines on that who's doing it who's going to be performing it and then ensuring that it gets done um and that goes all the way up through when we you know have certain notice requirements um and so it's really going to be parsing out uh exactly what are all the steps like who's going to take the stuff to the post office you know just uh on all the way up to awarding of contracts construction schedule um and as that is being built there are lots of things that um you know we are also contemplating a lot of this may be placeholders at this time um but to assure the public that that this entire project is being done um to be the most impactful for the district while being least impactful while it is being implemented and so the entire schedule is being uh done and crafted to try to mitigate um or minimize the impact on students while we're in the school year so a lot of things as much as we can do uh will be taking place in summer um you know this the immediate deadline and I know everybody is is kind of heard publicly that we are looking for a spring referendum um so there is going to be a lot of work there will be a lot of community engagement between now and then um and then presuming that that passes then the real work will actually begin um because from the internal side um that is then all of the due diligence crafting and finalization of the plans submitting the plans to doe for approval um once they come back then it will be you know Crea crafting bid specifications then we'll actually be going out and putting the projects out to bid then we'll be awarding the bids um then the contractors will be you know lining up and and doing their initial due diligence while all that is going on uh our staff our contractors will actually be doing inspections of buildings um they will be taking test samples they will be looking at just um you know how do we stage things where do we put the equipment when is that staging going to occur and are there going to be buses and students here are we able to do those types of things so um the Gant chart is an awesome first step that prompts lots of other questions and you know and then that allows us to start troubleshooting so okay if the staging is going to occur in this month and we're going to have this traffic how are we going to get that around um and what are those needs how we get their staff in and out of the buildings um and then it goes all the way through once construction starts uh and then it'll essentially be two major phases it'll be the construction of the primary new building uh once that is kind of nearing completion they will then start to work on renovating and integrating the existing spaces uh and then presumably that will all go smoothly with no issues is Our Hope and uh we will be uh have that completed during the summer of 2029 allowing us to then furnish it and then welcome the students in at the 2930 school year um so that is all in the preliminary but very detailed um stages at this point um so that was a significant portion uh of our meeting um and with that then we also uh had a couple other uh just kind of um and it was alluded to even with CD as we start looking at financing and you know finishing this year on a very positive um Financial note uh which is great which will allow us to start to deposit as we do every year um but make deposits into our maintenance and capital reserves that we will then have available essentially as cash on hand um for the initiation of this uh project um so as we start to kind of finalize estimates and um you know calculate what we are going to actually go need bonding for know that we also are in a great financial position to actually have cash on hand that we'll initiate and be able to use um to help offset some of the um monies that we will need to raise for this project so um with that I will then uh well then we have our normal action items uh on uh our agenda for approval tonight so with that I will move SPM 1 through 20 Kevin before you do I just wanted to make one comment and flash back to the superintendent goals with respect to Lis and you touched on these things and I think it was in May that Lis the parent meeting was but since then just to to give you uh a response through what we've done and you're right everything is referendum referendum referendum right now in at least my world and then we're supporting the other things but it's also the super superintendent's goals but since that time and around that time we've issued contracts of 740,000 for hbac at Lis we have another $80,000 contract that's coming up for that the exterior painting is 188,000 that's underway right now we have a $39,000 interior painting contract that's ready to happen a $199,000 stage refinishing uh that's happening at Lis we've already issued purchase orders for their instructional Furniture in excess of $40,000 and and will'll be putting in the door leading from the fourth grade Wing into the courtyard so almost everything almost everything that was asked for and discussed at that meeting is under contract so save for putting additional bathrooms in we didn't do that um but I just wanted to report back because I know that we had spoken offline to say it's important that people know that we were following up and it is July 10th so facilities is rocking and rolling purchasing is doing their thing and I think we've covered all the bases save put additional restrooms in for Lis so and you talked to it but it was a superintendent goal and I wanted to mention that thank you Tom thank you Tom and and it's been a frankly a board kind of item I think it's been on our radar a lot of years that that um you know that school has its own unique challenges and interesting population um and it's been one that because it's been humming along so well in essence we kind of focused on other priorities and in the last couple of years we've been hearing that um the community has really asked us to make that a priority um and and it has and especially you you you know the district has delivered there's one other thing that we didn't tackle and that's traffic flow at Lis and I truly believe that has to do with the length of the light that we're going to have to petition the state for um at 206 and agrs and I think after we do that we will certainly have taken out at least the top 80% of the parents' wishes so there's a I know how much you've done over the past couple of months to achieve the goals that we all have collectively put forth around Lis it's an important school to us um I think academically and environmentally there's one idea and then the physical building was different and now there's a match there um ultimately when we move CL the grades it'll be different but I the amount of work that you've done just to get this done right now has been extraordinary I mean I don't know if everybody can hear how much gets done in in some of these board meetings and how much Financial things are are happening but they all take a lot of time and um we as a board really appreciate the attention that you and Robin have given to some things that we've tasked you with in addition to the referendum in addition to the 10,000 other things that we have to do to keep this school going um we really appreciate it I hope the community respects the amount of work that goes into everything that we do here with a finite number of people and a finite amount of money um it is sometimes mind-blowing to me when I learn all of the details of of how we do things um so thank you so much thank you it's a pleasure it feels good to get it done yes and with that we we move our yeah you moved it yes in a second second second Mr Clark yep Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King yes Miss pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Mr van heis yes M Bose yes motion car okay it's our second opportunity for public input going once twice we'll move on uh new business Dr King yeah new business I'd like to draw your attention um summer is a busy season for personnel so what you'll find under new business is many appointments a few clearances and still one or two more resignations as well as um authorization to purchase science kits uh so with that I would make a motion to move nb1 through nb1 13 second Tom with a motion in a second Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Dr King yes M pasculli yes Mr Pluto yes Mr van heis yes Miss Bose yes motion Carri thank you um I just want to thank everybody for coming during the summer to a board meeting but they're always going to have some interesting information um and not too late tonight um and we will can I have a motion to adjourn well I will actually make a motion to go back into executive session for purposes of completion of the superintendent evaluation approximately 30 minutes no official action will be taken will you close in executive session uh yes yes we so yes second Tom with a motion in a second all in favor I any opposed okay you are an executive session thank you have a good night everyone e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for