e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e order okay um Tom we have a ready to go call to order yes all right Miss Bose here Mr Clark here Miss Evans here miss groger here Dr King here miss pasculli here Mr pluta here miss Santos here Mr van he is absent and Miss Pollock is not here yet you have a quarum thank you um we'll be going into executive session um the open public meeting act authorizes the Board of Ed to meet in executive session under certain circumstances um and specifically tonight we will be discussing matters of personal confidentiality including but not limited to staff Andor student Discipline matters and specifically this evening Hib formal action will not be taken executive session is expected to last about 30 minutes and we will rejoin in at 7 o'clock um a motion to go into an exec session so moved second second in favor all 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 good evening everyone and welcome thank you for your patience while we were in exec s um the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure 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 meetings 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 to the flag of the United States of America to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all okay do we have any student Representatives tonight no no student Representatives okay um we're going to need adoption of the minutes oh sorry recognition and acknowledgements none tonight adoption of the minutes a motion to adopt the executive session and regular session minutes from the 57 2024 meeting do I have a motion peer and a second and a second Tom Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes M Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Miss Santos yes Miss Bose yes motion carry thank you uh reports to the board superintendent report hi tonight the public will have an opportunity to observe the board with the Architects working um and doing a live board work session we haven't done one of these in a really long time here in Lawrence but you'll get an opportunity to get a bird's eye view on how the board works please know that these Architects and the Board of Education our leadership team and our community have worked countless hours to draft the concepts that lay the foundation for the district for the next 75 years first when we present you'll see a QR code so for those that are going to be in the audience tonight it's our first stab at the community survey to really just sort of get a feel for how much involvement you want to have have in some of our redistricting plans that are going to be furnished um those that are watching uh physically can grab the QR code and then tomorrow we do plan to post on talking points and our fullo messenger so that all families can get a chance to participate we want to ensure that all these families um do have access and input so please you know put in your comments um we're really interested in hearing what your feedback looks like after seeing some of the plans tonight we've also placed some index cards on the table by the door near the plans feel free to jot down any questions you have and place them in the little pot on the table we'll be taking those and sort of collapsing them into an FAQ section of a referendum website which will be linked on our District web page um our operations manager Jen biseri is in the audience so just special thanks for putting that all together for us this is really an exciting time for Lawrence Township Public Schools so I want to thank the board our Community Partners our contracted service providers here tonight our leadership team for all of the hard work and research-based mindset that went into this final iteration of the proposed footprint for the Lawrence Middle school and high school campus thank you thank you um board president report uh first of all I would like to congratulate pepper Evans for receiving her 10year service Milestone at the New Jersey school boards Association Springs conference thank you Peppa for all your contributions to our board and our district as a whole at the same meeting uh Diana pescoli officially received her new board member certification yay Diana with all your experience and expertise and information that you bring to this table it already feels like you've been here for a long time but I want to offici officially congratulate you for your certification and thank you for your service to our district good evening everyone I am genu genuinely excited about tonight's proceedings as pointed out we have the Architects here to discuss the expansion plans for the middle school and the LHS campus it is a significant moment for us I want to extend extend my gratitude to Robin our administrators and all who have already contributed their insights and feedback to the initiative your involvement is invaluable equally I want to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of our board members their efforts Have Been instrumental in bringing us to this juncture when we embarked on the search for a new superintendent land last year we had aspirations for Innovation and change within our district in Dr Ro Robin clim we have found somebody who embodies those values in just nine months her leadership has already begun to yield positive results for our students and our community but there's more work to be done and that's what tonight is all about our board work session will focus on gaining a collective understanding of the vision Behind These expansion plans and why now is the opportune time to act I know that change can be challenging but with the support of this incredible community and this esteemed board I am confident that we can navigate through this our students deserve the best and it's up to us to make it happen thank you all for being here tonight and let's make tonight count thank you and I'm really I am really excited and I've had a great opportunity to work with Architects and I'm super excited for our community to meet with them and learn all about the plans that we have all worked so hard to bring forth this evening um now we have our committee reports uh do we have a community relations report no me as this is our second meeting this month there were not a lot of uh committees that met um so there's not a lot to report uh leaon reports we have our beautiful Sandra poic giving us her student board member report all right good evening everyone my name is Sonia poock so as mentioned in the last board meeting we are currently seeking Rising seniors interested in becoming the student representative for the upcoming school year so the application form is still open and the QR code has been posted in the LHS hallways and I believe it was also sent via email and the selection criteria will include teacher recommendations extra extracurriculars and goals that applicant would like to achieve through this position as we close off the school year all schools within our district have been working hard to host various events including ls's culture Fest which is going to be tomorrow at 6 p.m. as well as the athletic awards and the senior Awards additionally Project Graduation is seeking volunteers for the last two senior events which are the senior breakfast and Project Graduation night so if you are interested in volunteering signups are available in the most recent LHS newsletter and your support will be greatly appreciated the Memorial Day parade for lawren toown ship will happen on May 25th at 9:00 a.m. starting at the Lawrence High School and Lees will reveal their time capsule on May 30th and CH and kindergarten orientation will take place on June 3rd so we look forward to welcoming our newest students and their families lastly I would also like to mention for high school students who are still looking for internships for the summer I would recommend seeking research opportunities at local universities such such as NJIT TCNJ and Ruckers I know my friends have used these opportunities and have been very successful with them thank you thank you so much um New Jersey school boards Association okay boy I can't wait to see what's in that time caps everybody always guess what could it be I'll be there to see right Kristen okay New Jersey school boards on May 13th Lawrence High School Commons I'd like to thank Dr Robin clim Michelle Bose Diana pasculli and pepper Evans for attending our last meeting for the school year for Mercer County School boards we honored Juliet Lee representing our County as Mercer County's teacher of the year we were so we are so fortunate to have Juliet as an educator in our district she exemplifies what an outstanding teacher looks like her caring and dedication is so obvious she ensures that learning environment for every child is conducive to learning learning and I was wondering if you wanted to ask me sorry conducive to learning and feeling supported Juliet please spread keep spreading your sunshine you make a difference last Saturday May 18th I attended delegates assembly At Mercer County Community College it was probably the longest meeting ever we were there till 1:30 in the afternoon was supposed to end at 12: we had 14 resolutions that were presented n passed four resolutions failed and one is going to be moved on to the next session resolutions that pass dealt with survivors of sexual assault purchasing School vehicles with Reserve funds flexibility with virtual learning dual language programs artificial intelligence polling places full day kindergarten doe policies and history programs for more information I have in this handy dandy little book if anyone wants to read them they're there for your perusal last point of information I had the honor of being asked to sit in the governor's task force on lgbtq I will be representing New Jersey school boards Association I'm encouraged that New Jersey School Board Association is looking towards District members to give their input on topics and that they are interested in giving us a seat at the table and having convers ations that's something new it's a a whole different perspective so I'm excited about that I will give a legislative update next meeting that's it for New Jersey school boards great thanks so much Joan you bet um student services student services met on May 10th in attendance is Vanessa bcarc Dr Michelle King and myself Arendelle Clark items to highlight um as we enter the summer the Sy and summer connect is fully stacked um for all services for this summer and looking forward to beginning the next steps of that uh AP testing week has concluded at the high school we like to make note that this was the first year that testing was performed in a digital format State njsla and DM testing will continue for the remainder of the month the score summary will be presented during a fall board meeting there's currently a new program at the high school this year called bring change to your mind the club is being run during the day by staff it's about mental health awareness providing a way to encourage empathy and compassion as well as strategies to recognize signs and ways to appropriately address issues um members of the cpeg group met on the week of 513 um they began discussing determining what content is being requested from Special Needs families and what should be provided to help reestablish support and continuing education within the Community our next meeting scheduled for June 5th great thank you so much arelle um no review of communications and this is our first uh opportunity for public input if anyone in the public has anything they'd like to say please come up to the podium state your name write your address down yes yeah yeah there's a second yes you'll have another opportunity um hi good evening um my name is Jonna Roberts uh thank you for letting me be here this evening I'm grateful for the the time um excuse me just one moment did you sign your address nope I'll do that right now thank you so much and just limit your comments to three minutes but feel welcome I'm hopeful that writing my name down doesn't count for my three minutes no not at all right fast um I'm here with a personal request I'll spare the pleasantries then if my time is limited um I have a daughter who's a first grade student at Ben Franklin Elementary School um my son has already graduated from Ben Franklin Elementary School he's a fourth grade student at learn intermediate um in the middle of the school year uh my daughter's father changed his address and now both of us reside in the Lawrence Elementary School District it's Maring you aing out my diry laundry for the entire town of Lawrence I went to principal huitt I asked him what am I supposed to do if I would like to have my daughter be kept at Ben Franklin Elementary School in an effort to combat some of the things that she has had to be resilient against in her seven years of life Mr huitt put me in touch with pimmy I reached out to to pimmy pimmy said there's nothing she can do she can stay through the end of the year she's on her way to Lees and bid me a do I respectfully went back as you know like the rabbi rule right I went back three times I was told no every time and I said I'd like you thank you so much for your input and for your help and your time I'd like to speak with somebody else when I was given an audience with Robin clim I and my ex-husband were offered an opportunity to meet with Robin at um the district offices within the first two minutes I was told that Robin doesn't know my daughter but she sounds like a very resilient girl she'll be fine verbatim I I would not repeat those words if I didn't know them to be identical to what was said um my plea for my daughter was that she is seven and she has overcome all of these things and I think at 7 she maybe shouldn't have to be that resilient is there a way an exception can be made her father asked can we make an exception for the next school year and review at the end of the school year we were told no we were told continuously no no no no no no no um fine I was told I said I feel like my options now are left to lie about my address have her classified so that she can stay in her school retain a lawyer anything of those you know drastic measures and I'm coming to you and I'm asking you for help I'm saying that this is something my daughter really needs like her her well-being at stake and I've have never been treated more disrespectfully and less like a a human in the community my purpose in this moment is to ask that my daughter be left in her school for her emotional stability um to address that I was met not only with disrespect but a complete lack of empathy and caring and kindness and I would like like to say that the signs that are in front of all of our schools saying that we are a kind community and welcoming and loving mean absolutely nothing if it doesn't flow from the top and I am heartbroken frustrated and full of I excuse me because I know my three minutes is all so up it also became clear to me I you know I left that that moment and I said okay I'll sit on it and I reflected okay she'll be fine L is a great school wonderful it became clear to me about two weeks ago that the exception was made for a family in the same situation under her watch and you know I was told repeatedly that exceptions are not made if I do it for you who can who do I stop for and I I know much of the circumstan of the other family with their exception and I am devastated that Not only was I not heard but I was met with such disrespect and the lack of empathy was astounding thank you can all right thank you very much and I um I will follow up with Robin and and we can get back to you okay any other public comment okay not the same topic sure it's not the same topic totally not um I did also want to to point out that the flags in our schools are not the outside Flags never get taken down at night and there's no Spotlight on them and there is it's like a law that you're supposed to either have a spotlight or take the flag up and down and I think it could be conceivably something to work on okay thank you okay um we are now up to our um board discussion and work session um and at our board discussion and work session just so the public is aware it's an opportunity for the public to view the board doing board business uh we will not be taking questions about the board uh work session although there will be a QR code that we will put up on the screen if you have questions you can submit them and we will be uh answering them at our next board meeting we will be um putting out a lot of communication to allay everybody's um concerns and issues and take into consideration what it what the public is saying but the purpose and focus of this evening is for the full board to meet with the Architects and to go over the um LMS expansion plan and ask questions that we have so that we can make an informed decision do you want to us yeah kick it off thank you Robin Tom all right so I just wanted to clarify the QR code is really just to Garner um the community's level of willingness to engage as we move through our five-year operational plan and if you have a specific comment that you see tonight with the Architects engaging with the board that's those note cards that are going to be on the back table so please feel free to write on the note card we do plan to post a Q&A on our website um I feel badly that our backs are to you but this is a board work session so me and Mr Eldridge will be facing the board for the presentation thank you okay so I know that everyone is aware we are in year two of our district strategic plan um our goals are are pretty steadfast um we are working through our Wellness goals our student achievement goals around engagement facilitation of high level of learning um lot of curriculum shifts and changes in the right direction Equity diversity and inclusion that idea of belonging we're kind of leveling up for next year a lot of the research says it's beyond belonging it's mattering now so we have to really talk about you know do you feel like you matter at the table in the classroom when you walk through our buildings so just this is sort of a a high level overview just to orient the board members um what our goals are this evening these are my goals again an extension of the Strategic plan we've been working towards preschool expansion um we have met the uh State Grant requirements we now have the state aid through our funding um starting in January we were funded back through September I feel very proud that we were able to issue tuition reimbursement to some of those tuition paid families that were enrolled in our preschool program not only that but at the time of this goal it was 21% of our children serviced in our preschool Universe um and now we're going to be up to 33% next school year when we open up slackwood um the second goal is really supporting um miss scher's work with curriculum Pathways and our office of instruction they are completely knocking it out of the park we have reading instruction and trainings happening over the summer we're working on sort of mapping out what the curriculum is going to be looking like for next school year um so we have really exciting things and really the third goal you know me being in my first year of superintendency was really about making connections um making sure that I'm seen I'm heard I'm visible um so that's where at for goal three Lawrence is growing as you all know um what's exciting though is we are looking to invite another 500 students um into this school district some of them are already here and that's our preschool right so we're going to continue to grow in capacity this is good news this is our hallway though of LMS um you know certainly you see a packed Nation um Dr malavsky is in the audience tonight and you know she can attest to the crowded Hall hallways and you can see how big our middle middle schoolers are um definitely need space and Facilities I know Mr aler is smiling because it it is very busy at LMS um we have been pretty transparent about uh the state aid coming through preschool funding we're all over the Lawrence Gazette we've been you holding Community conversations this is just again trying to leverage and communicate with our community and the board as much as humanly possible so this this is where we're at um we have worked to serve up to this board um earlier in the year our best ideas around what a concept could look like to reconfigure the district we had plans in motion for LMS for quite some time to really move the six eight grand grade bands together and that really helps to support instruction curriculum social emotional needs of our kids so we really worked with our leadership team extensively to figure out you know what will our plans be and all of our leaders in this District really felt strongly about neighborhood preschool schools and I I feel very confident standing before you this is the configuration that your leaders some of which are community members are looking to move in the direction of so essentially over the five-year trajectory we will be transitioning from prek-2 instead of K3 buildings Lis becomes a true Upper Elementary at 35 LMS 68 and then of course the high school remains we've been talking about evidence-based restructuring the optimal educational environment again just a snippet of some of the news articles that we've been pretty open about research on Middle School we're going to focus on middle school because the Architects are here tonight to really talk about the footprint of how we're changing how we're adapting and modifying the footprint so that we can future prooof and get ready for the next 70 5 years Dr meowski will be planning a 75th year anniversary for that building so those of you that may have graduated um from Lawrence Middle School some of the same footprint remains um it's time to really up the academic rigor and get current to consolidate our resources and professional development keep in mind we have sort of a unique um grade level band at Lis we're essentially running an upper elementary alongside a middle school schedule to ACC omate the sixth graders needs um the better way to kind of experience Middle School life and offer them the extracurriculars and the opportunity for mentoring and resources um around curriculum and design and also for us to really reenact our infrastructure to support targeted instruction is to truly separate the Elementary from the secondary grade bands um this is really an opportunity for us to again diversify our course offerings when you have space and Facilities you have options right so you're going to see tonight some really great Innovative things that have gone into the thinking process of this design benefits of reconfiguration so again our board has heard this a million times over this is just a highlevel review um it is evidence-based developmentally and academically appropriate um for those of you our tested grade bands are 3 to five and six to 8 there is a lot of emphasis around the testing season um there's a lot of pressure and different set of resources necessary to deploy to buildings that are going to be testing on State Standards please understand that now we have an opportunity to deploy supervisory supports to one building and not five buildings to work through some of the nuances that come into play when testing is is is is on the Forefront um so essentially we will be lining up with what the department of Ed recommends as best practice the K2 35 68 grouping th those grade bands together allows for progression within the curriculum to sort of evolve over the course of a three-year span it's what best practice looks like also it allows us to integrate the resources as we had stated prior and really kind of Target the needs um you know in a positive way and it keeps preschool in our neighborhoods which is really cool all right so this is sort of in a nutshell here we are now we're year one we are researching we are coming up with reconfiguration plans which includes that Middle School Expansion Project when we move sixth grade up again we bump out and we create room and space for our preschoolers in our neighborhood schools year two we'll be going out for a referendum vote year three we're hoping you know construction will start and our transfer may take two two three years so we have our projected reconfiguration to be either the 2728 school year or the 2829 school year again I just want to emphasize between years two and five there'll be several opportunities for Community input I want our best knowledge and our our members of this community to imagine Lis truly is that upper model and what the sixth grade coming over to LMS can really mean for this community oh hold on I went too far can you I'm sorry it's CA yeah now Mr alge this is your slide maybe there it is yeah so the question is why now and so the slide that you see before you right now is a picture of our debt but that's not exactly why now why now is because we've been building up to this for years this is not something new what we're talking about we have an alignment in a strategic plan right now that brings together early childhood education with what happens in our existing configuration when we build the buildings that we build reflect what we intend to do there's three reasons why you would build on On Any Given uh typical referendum you're going to build because you're growing and we are we have two classes essentially two graduating classes but they're starting at three year olds and four year olds and eventually they'll be graduating classes that we're trying to accommodate for well why would we do that because each one of our students we know that if we intercede at this point in time for our English language Learners we're giving them opportunities to get ready and be successful in life for our students who we can get in preschool as opposed to kindergarten and learn to help them read that opportunity translates to what offerings that they can take advantage of when they're in 12th grade because they're that much further ahead and so these are opportunities that we all want for our students and our kids our own children these are the things that we're talking about this board has been planning for this leap for years we've taken this leap because we are who we've always been we have the enterprising spirit so what we're doing is this is an entire project that we're working on in terms of bringing all those things to focus so why today why today because this board has invested financially to make sure that we have a capital reserve of $5 million for this opportunity this board accepted a strategic plan that said we want the Synergy of preschool with appropriate learning spaces appropriate learning spaces is the second thing that we build for we haven't built or had a question for appropriate learning spaces since 2001 we have done much in the way of renovation to protect our assets but on the chart that you see there the decrease of $1.7 million that occurred and we're experiencing that now um that's a good thing we're paying off debt but that was our 2001 referendum it's been that long since we've talked about appropriate learning spaces and so that's what that's meant to illustrate today the second illustration there is that what we have is the opportunity with falling off debt of course we don't walk in to take on debt but we have an opportunity right now we have a cash stream that's coming in from the state of New Jersey that we aggressively pursued of $16,000 uh dollars per student that was at the leader ship of Dr clim if we combine that Synergy with this opportunity then we're moving into the future by renovating our Lawrence Middle School which needs renovation and so questions come up why the middle school well the middle school is the place where we can build it is a place that is not landlocked it's uh not surrounded by Wetlands um we have the ground to do it but better still from all those things is that we then uh take advantage of the opportunity of consolidating as Robin said the bands of Education with student Readiness for 6 to8 our sixth graders look a lot more like middle schoolers than they do elementary school and when we bring up our our third grade into the Intermediate School we then consolidate again our expertise of our staff members with the appropriate age of our students so today is what we've been waiting for this board has been saving for this making sure that they have their deposits in the capital reserve and depositing every year for the last 3 years waiting for this opportunity and the the leadership that would give us a vision to take us where we are today right now so our Architects are in the room they're following our strategic plan and they're providing for us a mechanism whereby we can make true our strategic plan in part by changes in our facilities to accommodate our students at the middle school and also do the necessary Renovations at the middle school that are due we have and I had the uh the uh dubious distinction of going back and reviewing the finance committee minutes um for the last five years to see when we began talking about this you have been focused on this since 2020 when pepper you were the chair of Finance you have been looking and saying what what is our academic Vision where are we going and what do wek me later Tom sorry what you can thank me later I'll thank you in just a second so when we go back um this is not new to us we've been talking about this we've been reporting out out to the Board of Education um in terms of what we were doing since just around the co times so if you want to advance the next slide we'll we'll these are some of the people if you want to talk to this or do you want me to finish here so we've we've spoken to many many people this is an illustration and pictures of where we've engaged in our community members whether they be our elected officials or our Township Engineers the state of New Jersey the department of Early Childhood um education or it's the Mercer County Department of Education or our own Police Department for safety concerns or other school districts also listed here are the school districts we visited we want you to know that we were educated and we listened to all the best practices of all the folks um whether it was from our early childhood Learning Centers in pton whether it's our trips over to Ying or Hopewell um to say what did you do and then we want to make it better for Lawrence and tune and fine-tune it for us so if You' advance to the next slide please okay so would you like me to introduce them okay so tonight we have with us um George duthy who's the principal of uh Freight Tech Vice Hopkins and duthy Mr duthy has worked in many different school districts throughout Mercer County and in Lawrence as well in the past we have complete confidence in Mr duy's uh insight and he has been instrumental in helping us on any number of projects that are successful in Lawrence and that still stand today and are robust and resilient so um he has is with him Steven sh this evening and without further conversation or talking from me um I'll introduce them if you're ready to step up well good evening board and everyone in the audience uh and thank you Dr Clen and Mr Eldridge I am George duth I'm a principal with fhd we call ourselves f because the other name's really too long uh we are based in Ying Township we are a Mercer County form firm through and through we've been in Mercer County in business starting in Trenton for more than a hundred years our focus is on prek to 12 schools throughout the state of New Jersey here in Mera County nearby we work in Hall Valley we've done work on the high school there all the schools in Hell Valley actually just finished a large project at West Wind or Plainsboro including a very large project not dissimilar to Lawrence Middle School at Community Middle School Steve Trier is a senior associate in our firm he was instrumental in that project as well we worked on Thomas Grover we've worked at Northern Burlington just to name a few Ying Township we finished a large effort there as well uh we are in Princeton as well so we have a lot of clients in this area and throughout the state of New Jersey in fact and again our Focus is on pre- 12 uh projects maybe I'll put that slide up so here's just an example of some of the work that's fairly recent work of our firm in various places West Windsor Plainsboro Northern Burlington and hopal Valley up there as well as I think uh Ying may be up there hopeall Valley is up there okay so expansion what is proposed an expansion of Lawrence Middle School as was discussed before the purpose is to improve improve and create new spaces okay that will facilitate better achievement for all students the original building is approaching 75 years old and by the way our firm its predecessors did much of the original construction we were the Architects right here in Lawrence Township including Believe It or Not way back in 1918 uh pler one of our predecessor firms slackwood Elementary School the original building believe it or not so yeah actually found that out a few years ago that was great course drawn with buggies right right back in the day a comprehensive project this project is going to touch all aspects of the Middle School spaces and programs so challenges and considerations what were they well we have to construct an unlimited footprint and we're going to show you more about the plan later on and some of the challenges that we faced increasing parking capacity and improving traffic flow very tra very challenging uh access to athletic facilities including barrier-free accessibility compliance with stormw management for those of you who don't know storm water regulations have greatly tightened up in the past few years are going to get worse too so storm order management is a big challenge existing building layouts and limitations of that building okay considerations so what did we think about we thought about a lot of things but here are some highlights security safety environment and access ibility we're all given consideration along with right sizing the rooms the spaces in the areas trying to create maximum flexibility and adap adaptability for those spaces appropriate and contemporary facilities for all students and staff improving building circulations and efficiency and we appropriate creating after hours Community Access to some of the spaces in the middle school so the process this has been an ongoing process process and as you can see one of the primary things upper left due diligence there's a lot of due diligence and a lot of work that has to be done up front in order to even begin to put together a plan like what you can see in the back of the room and we're going to show you shortly many stakeholder meetings were held building surveys and visits we did a drone survey of the site that's where the site drawing comes from a traffic study and there were facility assessments done and in fact ongoing including infrastructure and of course all of the regulatory issues that surround a project like this so back and forth with collaboration ideas and feedback again through those stakeholder meetings through a continuing dialogue questions and answers and discourse and discussion about the features of the building and what is the vision what do what do we what do we want this building to look like when it's completed and the site too not just the building and then we find it we go back and this is constant back and forth we input refinement back to some due diligence we have to check a couple of things so this goes around the building in the site plan discussion about the program Regulatory and code issues budget of course and the cost benefits of various decisions and then of course the final result consensus and building that final plan we're not there yet we're we're still in this uh process of due diligence and collaboration and refinement but we're certainly getting there we're very close so next steps we have to complete the process due of diligence process refined and then come to an agreement on a final plan and budget for the project we have to submit to the Department of Education Department of Education has a fairly extensive review process for projects like this we have to obtain New Jersey Department of Education approval we have to update the district's long range facility plan we have to obtain Board of Education approval or whatever the final form of the referendum question is going to look like before that can be put before the voters then there will be a referendum marketing and publicity effort of course we will conduct the referendum hopefully in March of 2025 and then proceed with the project upon passage of the referendum questions what I'd like to do now is turn it over to Steve Steve's going to walk you through the plan as you can see this is the site plan and this this plan was generated by our engineering consultant using a drone technology so this is actually pretty awesome Steve good evening so to get your bearings at the bottom of the screen um we we have the intersection of Princeton Pike and Gainesboro um at the very northern part of this the screen you have the stadium and the high school uh working your way down we have the parking lot between the high school off the princ and Pike and the Middle School to the bottom of the screen and if now you have your bearings working out towards Playing Fields uh some existing to remain but also some improvements which we'll touch upon that are going to be incorporated into the site work projects so if we keep our eyes on the playing field areas to the to the west of the Middle School um adjacent your current turf field we're planning a new Synthetic Turf field uh very large to accommodate a multitude of sports and just past that there's going to be a new area for some of the field events for the track and field program below your current turf field right behind the middle school there's a current patch that is going to be a new parking area can accommodate 51 spots including some barrier free spots accessibility routes to the adjacent tennis courts and then if you keep working your way below that we have the current parking area that's behind the gym at the middle school we're going to expand that parking lot as well and provide a new driveway entrance we'll talk about some of the features of the middle school expansion uh but at in that same area you have a new driveway Loop and drop off area for some nighttime events now where the laser point is showing uh go um the one one critical component of the middle school expansion is relocating the main entrance to the building um the this area we're going to be able and have the opportunity to create a drop off lane for for students at drop off and pickup and then that entrance which we'll touch upon when we bring up the larger plan uh we'll walk you through what that looks like uh opposite the parking lot we have at the high school we're also going to improve the drop off and pickup Lanes at the high school as well and there's a few security features that we're implementing with this plan there's going to be gates with card access uh restricting access to the back driveways behind the high school and then a larger parking lot adjacent to Stadium which is really going to improve um access to the stadium accessibility routes and a another gate that will be accessed with a card reader adjacent that that goes out to uh burn burn Place uh behind the stadium at the high school U you know some of the Imp for the middle school expansion are relocating some of the maintenance facilities so we have a a out building that's proposed behind the bleachers at the High High School stadium it's going to contain a garage concession stands toilet rooms U you know very critical facilities that'll be very close in in the proximity of that Stadium rests is be access right thank you George um and for those who couldn't hear uh you know we're going to provide accessible routes meeting all the the current ADA compliance requirements between that parking lot in your current Stadium are there any questions about the site just could you go back Steve one moment and just talk a little bit about parking and the impct on parking and some of the challenges we face when we're adding teachers and sort of the thinking around the setup of the parking and the traffic flow right that thank you um so bringing a whole grade level to the middle school is going to bring a lot more staff parents uh so there's a desperate need for parking and already some of the congestion that's around the two schools was studied we we worked with a traffic engineering consultant George hadn't touched upon the Drone survey that took place during drop off and pickup times uh things are are not moving too bad actually uh according to our traffic engineering consultant but with some of these improvements another another item the driveway the current driveway off of Princeton Pike adjacent the Middle School in the middle we're going to we're going to rework that to help with circulation and flow around the buildings expanding the parking areas is going to help spread out the your current parking and as well as bringing the sixth grade staff uh and accommodating parking for them as well so overall right now you have 445 parking spots we're proposing 620 so that's 175 new parking spots between the three lots lot at the at plan North that's 178 up there we have 51 behind the Middle School and 42 down adjacent the gymnasium and I think maybe if you remind parents that the new main entrance where it'll be which is why the flow of the parking is changing makes so much more sense right similar to the high school with the entrance being facing the large parking lot uh we're we're adapting the same concept to the middle school and having that drop off lane and it's going to help with any traffic coming off of gainsburg uh behind the middle school and then coming around the front of of the new entrance to the middle school and then exiting out on the Princeton Pike does anybody have any questions around the just sort of the campus and the flow and anything that's sticking out to you or we uh just to to add on what Steve is saying George can um if with the expansion of the the additional parking spaces we have the opportunity to have students no longer Park on side streets um and bring them into the campus thereby relieving the congestion of students parking and Robin and I went out just so you know and we know how many students are parking in the neighborhoods so we would be able to have the students park in the campus itself and so if the staff members were to park in that north parking lot all the way at the top for the high school up there where where Steve or George is pointing um that would take the staff members out of the main body of the parking lot which currently exists in the middle and if our Middle School staff memb members would park in the new parking areas that are designed in the back um right below the existing turf field down below right Area 51 right there George that's it and there what we have is an opportunity for the main parking lot the the existing main parking lot to have our students concentrated there not spread out it's another safety factor for us and our guests parents would imp have the circulation of moving through that lot so therefore in the morning if there's any currently we have many people going up and down the aisles there of the lot the parking lot aisles our staff members will go straight to the back for the high school for dedicated parking just for them and our students perhaps uh would park in the middle our Middle School staff would park in the the area shown now the interesting thing is will we that'll help improve our traffic flow but during times when the public mainly Lawrence residents uses our facilities after hours where George is pointing right now it is George pointing right all right so we're George is pointing right now you'll see later on I'll do some foreshadowing for the middle school that we have as part of bringing another grade level over we'll need an expansion of core facilities there's parking right at the middle school for uh parents and students to access the middle school then in the evenings excuse me in the uh weekends you have a dedicated lot at the the top where the high school uh parking staff would be parking um where we have that lot set up such that our visitors would be adjacent to our Stadium Field and right now what we have is we have a great number of people who are trying to find parking walk to the games to participate in a family event whether it's a football game or a soccer game and we have a great number of people who walk past our building p in the administration building that have difficulty getting up the hills finding their way there and it's um it's more than just a courtesy to build such a lot next to it and the bathroom facilities uh would no longer be poured upon IES we would give people a dignified place to access a restroom and we're not talking about just one or two folks we have hundreds of people that are in those areas so thank you for that that part of time I'd like to add one more thing as a coach when I was teaching I like the access if an athlete is injured you're now closer to all of the fields and I I really applaud that so it was a good good plan to get the parking lots closer to the athletic fields too regarding the fields um adding the new turf field um maybe we could just or I would like to ask um are we trying to solve a an existing need that we have for more fields or is there something about the sixth grade coming up that is causing this or are we capitalizing on having construction going on and preparing for the future so I can address that um we've worked extensively with um our current athletic director Anthony Amara our two prior athletic directors Greg Z and um Allison Fischer thank you um just to sort of run an athletic schedule what might it look like to include sixth grade so you're going to see some of the footprint changes um that will include an expansion of more gym space to accommodate the sixth grade remember we bring in another grade level you need core facilities we are looking at our PE programs we're looking at our music programs our art programs again when you have fields that don't have to get rained out the schedule runs a little bit more fluidly and it assists with that expansion of possibly considering sixth grade to do the tryouts to participate in the sports um to be in the color guard or practice with the band um you know and it'll be a multisport field sort of lined in outfit for for anything that we want to expand you know sportswise here in Lawrence so it's a significant Improvement for the significant Improvement absolutely the six graders and will help the flow and the schedule absolutely yeah and I like the fact me I just jump in that for the Fielding events that field is coaching field hockey for Middle School it it just didn't drain well so to get the access to use the facility to its full potential when to me looking at it as a a sports person we have fields that really should be just for a high school level and now we're doing Middle School adding a grade level I'm I'm applauding the fact that we're going to be able to have a lot of use of a few fields for a lot of students so that that's encouraging one more thing to add um very not legible but we are proposing uh stopping systems adjacent your current turf field adjacent the parking area that's behind the Middle School uh help to address some of the current issues that are ongoing now I think one of the things that some of our board members may or may not know is really how small our campus is relative to other schools of our size in terms of square footage so we're trying to really put a lot of stuff in a very small space where other schools who have the same number of students students have a much bigger campus so putting in safety features making sure our traffic flows efficiently and safely and doing the very best I mean I think for us for me as the board president and being on the board a long time and living through a lot of different challenges we face this is our opportunity to really do the very best we can do for our community for our students for our teachers I mean and it is tough I mean I there's been so many different reiterations of this and and so many different experts in our schools who talk through all of the challenges that we've had and um it was not easy getting to this point but I I really am uh so happy with the end result right now I'd like to just kind of Mark for the record this is amazing and we're talking about blueprint so I don't want to diverge us but I would be interested as a board member in the future when we expand on the planning to talk more about the scheduling and that we're not having sixth graders and 12th graders on the same turf field at 10: in the morning or unsupervised so I really don't think we need to address that now it's not going to change the this presentation for me but I do think that's something that I've heard is a concern too there any more questions about the site is there still the on Berwin place going to be a gated I know Tom talked about being a gated entrance from Berwin that that's correct right now we're proposing a new gate there so faculty will swipe like swipe fa for faculty to swipe in part of our due diligence process we're still um we're looking at the access there if there's any easements that are currently in place um and any restrictions to modifying that that gate nothing set in stone as far as faculty back there um but we have talked about possibly to pull off the student parking no longer having the township issue on those back streets we we get we do get often complaints about our young friends and how they park or if they're parking in front of a mailbox or um so it's really an opportunity to really bring the students into the center of the campus safely um and making sure they get into school on time and potentially running a card reader as U Mr shrier said to you know have faculty be the only ones accessing through the community to kind of park in the back there and we're still kind of working that throw to piggy back on that if all of our students are in the main parking lot George if you Circle that right now in this area here and they're no longer on the streets that's where all our surveillance cameras are to keep our our students safe that's where our sro's are that's where our class 3 officers are that's where we want our kids right there you've thought of so many different levels that haven't even crossed our mind so thanks for that input so looking at the middle school more closely now uh this is an image indicating what the additions are versus what the renovation areas are so in blue are the additions there's three separate additions and then the green with the crosshatch those are the renovation areas and then the areas that aren are not hatched we're we're looking uh we're planning some minor facelift improvements so we are looking at the whole building that's the library high school's over here that's the library this is Brion this is the existing gymnasium back you want me to ask Tom for the video we want to make sure the public that's listening can hear you yes people watch on video they're not picking up what you're saying oh sorry just step up okay thanks thank you okay so um Tom [Music] man got the Oprah mic so getting our bearings uh the green Lees rep po at the far right of the screen this is going to be our new main entrance facing the current High School main entrance so going out this way this is our large current parking lot we'll have our new driveway and drop off Loop and pickup Loop so no more stopping on Princeton [Music] Pike there's we're proposing covered entry is secure entrance vest vestibule with access right to the main office area this is going to be your your administration offices Security office um and then behind that we have a a guidance Suite across from the main office we have a new nurse's Suite it's going to accommodate four CS a private exam room um a shower laundry facility for that space and as we start to make our way going planed North this whole Edition that's in blue is is two stories so it it it's comprised of multiple classrooms of varying sizes three different sizes to be exact we have um ample toilet room facilities for not only students but also staff there's a core of toilet facilities at towards the back of the building and what's going to be great about what's proposed here we have we have a corridor that runs plan north to south and going out these back doors is right where your current turf field is uh there's going to be night access to access these toilet facilities and we'll be able to lock off the building working plan West we continue our two-story Edition academic classrooms art classrooms some of the larger classrooms are not designated at this time but we have approximately 10 throughout the building uh to to accommodate the the proposed program um one one comment about our proposed addition is circulation around the building so what's going to be great is that now we have the ability to connect this what what used to be the end of the building there was a pair of exterior doors adjacent the entrance to the media center that's going to be our new connecting area to the addition our large main Corridor the corridors are proposed to be wide enough to accommodate lockers on both sides but then in this area large enough to accommodate a lot of student and and faculty traffic and it's working uh with quick access right to the main entrance of the building one thing that is the additions proposed around is an exterior Courtyard a concept is is shown here uh with some paved areas Outdoor Learning space some uh Landscaping as well and that's adjacent your current one-story classroom Wing which we're also connecting the addition to to continue that that flow various toilet room facilities throughout the building uh we're going to be renovating that as part of these improvements the your current front Wing your existing two-story section of the building the old main entrance were keeping that right now for circulation and egress uh but where your current main office is we're proposing a CST a child study team Suite it's going to have um some some Provisions in there toilet room facility storage confidential storage adjacent that a small group instruction space and then a a variety of classrooms of multiple sizes along this current first floor of your existing building as we start to make our way towards the auditorium the auditorium were proposing uh full Renovations not just a facelift uh new state-of-the-art sound system theatrical rigging uh some acoustical treatments and looking at your mechanical systems as well behind your stage area uh a new connecting link Corridor that will go to the gymnasium Edition which I'll talk about in a second and then behind that Corridor a music room that's that's very large um and um it it can accommodate uh your music program and and it could also be divided up further if if necessary Steve just wanted to mention for the Performing Arts area we wanted to bring music uh your drama classroom and your backstage functions all together they're connecting that short connecting Corridor is actually also what we call performers C can be closed off and the an extension of the stage where the kids can prepare for the various plays and performances that they do and we also have the added benefit of being able to connect you know the Performing Arts area to the gym and again make that wrap around circulation in that part of the building as well I also wanted to mention that one of the things you'll see in this plan that you don't see in schools older schools usually are these smaller rooms what we call pullout rooms why because today education is much different kids receive a lot of different special services um Support Services ESL English as a second language know gifted programs a whole variety of different programs are offered to the kids and and these rooms offer the opportunity to have that group in an appropriate size space and not use a full-size classroom when you only have six or eight kids in the room at one time so just wanted to point that out that the plan takes all of those into consideration as well thank you George before we go over to the gymnasium Edition I'm going to work our way planned North through your existing building and then focus on some of the other uh Renovations adjacent your current gymnasium locker room Renovations more toilet room Renovations some satellite offices for the administration uh your cafeteria some some uh major upgrades here we're looking to create three separate proposed cafeteria spaces for the three grade levels to accommodate uh groups as large as 168 in one in one of the spaces uh so ranging from 158 exceeding for 100 150 to 168 adjacent your current cafeteria will be a proposed cafeteria Edition just under 6,000 square ft comprised of two separate uh CAF dining spaces all having access to a new serving area that's going to be pushed out from your current kitchen area Renovations in your kitchen uh improving some of the serving and and storage needs of of that area behind that our back could you point out that the larger cafeteria it's also going to become can become a very large flexible space that could be used not just for student dining but for large group assemblies staff development meetings uh groups of students meeting that space is going to be flexible and it's going to be equipped accordingly it's not just going to be a cafeteria it's going to be more of a multi-purpose type space adjacent the new cafeteria our back Corridor at the building we're pro we're proposing for your Athletic program some storage rooms we're calling them team rooms they'll have cage storage for all the athletic teams access from the exterior of the building as well as the interior of the building uh a comment right here you'll notice that there's a gap between the buildings we're proposing an outdoor covered walk uh between the two buildings due to the current construction uh your your the makeup of your current building we have stair towers that exit into this open air Court uh occupants from the building have to egress to a public way we're allowing them to do that by going through this area but we're going to be proposing a security fence with with Gates that allow occupants to to leave at any time but not to re-enter during those Gates there's a few classrooms in the back that are that are uh larger classrooms that are proposed right now adjacent that we're going to look at uh improving or relocating actually your receiving and and looking at the logistics of that uh now working our way down the current exterior doors from the the gymnasium and Auditorium this is going to be our Connecting Point to our gymnasium Edition which is just under 16,000 Square F feet uh the gymnasium it's just just over 10,000 square feet it's going to accommodate bleachers that can seat a capacity of 900 occupants it's going to have a full-size basketball court 50 ft by 84 ft long um adjacent that we're going to have new toilet facilities and just by how everything is shaded here it's actually a good good showing of how this area is going to be able to be closed off for night events so prevent um any any uh visitors coming in at night from uh wandering the halls and gaining access to other ports parts of the building that aren't in use at after hour times and then these doors that are right near our lobby to our our new gymnasium Edition are going to go out to our expanded parking area and drop off area that has about 42 parking spots proposed is there storage for the gymnasium right off to the gymnasium at the at the plan north side right now we have an area that's about 500 square F feet it's allotted it's a very uh generous size storage uh whether it's for wrestling mats that you need to store or any other uh amenities thank you do do all entrances have the double the double entry way I don't know what they're called so yeah proposing vestibules at all the new entrances it's good for um uh you know uh temperature control between uh outside conditions and in in internal conditions but also for security features as well um you know most importantly at our main entrance we're going to be proposing some sort of aone intercom that that has contact with the security office the main office and so that way visitors are being vetted during school hours or even after hours West Windsor has glass wall and you come in and there's like an opening for you to be able to pass your stuff keeps the security would that be something like that or No Yes uh right right within that security vestibule we would have a transaction window it would have a certain level of U security of ballistics glazing um and then it would have some sort of pass through tray there's a lot of different options on the market when we really start to develop the plants further that that could be something that we look at I think what's really important for everybody that about the board is looking at the overall structure of the building how it looks classroom all of those things not really what people you need to really make a decision on but really understanding the size of the footprint and the impact on the campus and the sort of the changes that we're making to Fields traffic flow those are the things that this stuff we can continue to work on if you will going forward but really the important idea is the size of the addition and what it's going to look like from the street like external building questions on that of our this is a really great opportunity for us Mike ohry I'm loud I need doesn't matter that if anybody has you know questions this is a really good opportunity for for us as board members to hear everybody's opinion we don't get a lot of time together um to discuss things in our committee so you know I really want to make sure that everybody is um comfortable and questions are answered um if possible I just want to add a couple of things um Vanessa Barak is the assistant superintendent for student services her entire um staff has looked over these plans Elementary secondary eyes have been on this I want you to know the importance of the individualized instructional needs that we have with some of our special needs Learners um that has been planned for in this footprint whether you're out of District or in District there is consideration and opportunity for us to build a Continuum of our programs so you will see you know once you get kind of granular with some of our plans here you might see see a classroom with a bathroom in it and say do all of our classrooms at middle school have a bathroom in it no however if we want to consider building programs for students that are medically impacted they may need the access to the bathroom so I do want to emphasize on any special needs is a part of this plan whether it be from a security perspective drop off locations you know where a small bus might pull in who would receive these students the location of the child study team in the guidance Suite very purposeful that the um guidance Suite is going to be upfront that the nurses Suite is going to be upfront that we have the accessibility of a shower um again we have the nursing station so there's a lot of things that we're sort of future proofing here and considering all students I do want to emphasize that even down to the Ada accessibility of the drop off locations in front of both buildings we want to emphasize that our visitors come first so there will be plenty of parking I know that we studied that extensively um so those are sort of the highlights I wanted the board to be aware of including an elevator access which is upfront so we talk about Emergency Services there are things that happen every day um you know if we do require Emergency Services they can get to our building pretty safely and on this campus in and out quickly so just a a few statistics about what's proposed um some of the numbers right now at the middle school there's 25 academic classrooms we're proposing um an additional 18 so you have 43 General academic classrooms U which is about 8 800 square feet per classroom then we also have a few pullout classrooms which which door George and Dr clim had had touched upon and a few larger spaces to support uh the multiple curriculum um so those those larger spaces we have 10 classrooms and then uh 12 small group instruction or pull out spaces excuse me will you be able to make those bigger rooms smaller little curtain or something if you need to you don't expect to need it that's that's a great question uh we do have some planning into some of the uh General academic size classrooms uh bulkheads that are going to be constructed for future partitions demountable partitions and we actually have uh proposed multiple doors to those spaces so you can subdivide those spaces we will definitely consider the large spaces as well and having that flexibility because flexibility is going to be very important uh with these designs and that's something that we've kind of Incorporated with the three varing size classroom space point point to one on the plan there's a couple So currently these two spaces they're 800 square feet each in general academic classroom uh you can see they they each side of the room has a door that goes to the corridor so in the event that this wanted to be in the future for for flexibility and future planning wanted to be two small group instruction uh rooms or break or breakout spaces they could be so again future proofing I just want to kind of Orient the board to some statistics um we were actually pulling some some data earlier this week um 20 about 27% of our current population is multilingual Learners we are super diverse here in Lawrence and 22% are special needs Learners that's 49% of our population just about half of our population May at some point over their educational career here require some type of individualized or specialized instruction so when we're planning for you know the divider to go up on a ready that means that we are on the Fly accommodating the student not having the building sort of shift around and and you know we're making sure that we have planned for flexibility in all of this footprint our proposed additions total just just over 83,000 Square ft or twostory Editions is 61,500 fet approximately our cafeteria addition just under 6,000 feet in our gymnasium Edition just under 6,000 square ft the plan that you're looking at now is very similar to the previous plan this is kind of breaking out all the disciplines and types of spaces on the first floor Sim similar in similar Fashion on the second floor um this this plan reflects that as well but I want to talk about the circulation of the second floor and uh you know one GR part of this design um we're proposing a new elevator in the building for our our our two-story uh addition and we're going to have it's right there adjacent this is the main entrance again on the plan East Side uh so this elevator is going to be centrally located with access throughout the uh the second floor of the addition uh but a a nice component of our Corridor we're actually going to span the existing first floor building and connect your existing second floor so it's really going to help with circulation and flow between the addition and the existing building as you can see in the addition we have in this pink color uh more uh classrooms that are that are uh scattered throughout um this purple color is uh our small group areas our toilet facility core and some of our larger spaces for for other parts of the curriculum the existing second floor uh not hatch but I I will comment again there are plans for some facelift improvements new new floor finishes uh wall paint looking at the ceilings and so forth um another administrative office right here centrally located in the building for an assistant principal and with our breakthrough we are going to modify one of your stair Towers pushing that over to accommodate that circulation into the addition when you mentioned um elevator in the addition that the existing building does have that mini elevator to get us up three steps are we doing anything there no we have a we have a an elevator in the building we put an elevator in uh five years ago yep it goes all the way from the the lowest level to the main level to the second level so down the end on this plan um if you're facing the building from Princeton Pike on the far left side of the twostory existing building that's where your current elevator is got it thank you can you go over the science rooms wasn't their conversation about um with it in the additions would the would there be rooms for science classes yeah absolutely well so if you go back to the first floor plan and again we don't have them earmarked we're still sort of moving rooms around but there is plan um for possible prep rooms to accommodate some of our curriculum needs um there'll be a lot more storage so I I think our educators will be really happy about that um in fact just as a funny so the board's aware we uh reviewed the plans at Lis and LMS and I had some teachers signing up for the for the classrooms they wanted to be um like a little pencil uh earmarking it um so they're really excited about some of the Innovation coming out of the office of instruction um and again this is footprint concept um once we level up and talk about curriculum the granular aspects of what kind of storage cabinets do we need do we want the high top science tables do we need to break out the buns and burners and the you know get the um the safety closets um so once we get to that level the office of instruction will be kind of advising on moving forward what we did in the plans that you see here is what we said was what do you need to provide a program that accommodates bringing sixth grade up but we also said given that you have seventh and eighth grade in the building right now and that many areas that you have uh Services being delivered in are in cobbled spaces how do we correct those cobbled spaces when we do this so I just want to reiterate that when you see the hash marks on the plans and that's where you see the diagonal lines going through those are renovated areas so if you can point out George the lower section of the main office area and the classrooms across from them if you still got the laser pointer or even Steve since you've got the green lightsaber I think there you go those are there if you were to walk through there they look like they're from 1960s and if you go below there in the main office area you still see the old paneling that's still there that's been there for well it'll be 75 years if we don't do something about it um and so we're taking the opportunity to renovate those areas we will remove asbest in those areas um along with modernizing one of the the fortunate things about uh this plan one of the many fortunate things is this is where we need the grade level to be but it's also where we need to do our Renovations so this is opportune not only have we found this site because it is the most um appropriate site to do the development but it is also the most site the site in most need and so and that that parlays into um another thing that's economic minded first was is it the best for kids yes the second is is it the best for Lawrence on a building program and the answer is yes to that also because any time we construct and do renovations to those areas that are hashed out we receive 40% um state aid on the on that project uh both principle and interest and so what we've tried to do is maximize the areas that were hashing out so they were already in need first was is it is there an educational need and there's a resounding yes for that that's comprehensive and then secondly it's okay so then how do we maximize and couple that educational need up with uh maximizing our economic return not just our service return and so that's what you're seeing there um and so what we did was we said okay let's build these spaces um but first let's look at them from the perspective and we of the principles so we we brought of course the principles super supervisors Mindy and Allison fiser Mindy moski Allison Fischer um those are our principles for the intermediate school and the middle school for those in the audience who don't know our uh our two principles H to to bring them together and say how many spaces do you need now this is going to circle back around to where are we at this time at this time we're saying do we have the appropriate spaces and so to Echo Michelle Bose today we're saying to the board we have taken inventory by way of talking to our two educational leaders for those grade bands to say what educational spaces do we need going forward correct the deficiencies that already exist in your programs and tell us what you need and each of them in addition to of course Robin who said it we're looking to Future proof to say when we look at these spaces yes we can use this space for occupational therapy Physical Therapy speech or maybe we're using it as a technology room but when you build it don't pigeon hole us make us flexible for the future so that we can move on a moment's notice and change this as the future brings what it will that we can't foresee and so what you see before you is an inventory of spaces outlined it by way of a footprint you've heard that many times and so this is a concept that says these are the educational spaces necessary maximizing the return in for Lawrence so that it's the most affordable but gets Lawrence students the absolute best opportunity and so what we show you today as a footprint may change the ideas probably won't change we're still going to need those types of facilities we're going to need small group instruction there's going to be a speech instructional area somewhere Joanne there'll be gym storage because you know wrestling is going to happen um but today it's this is the footprint the walls inside will change but the outside walls probably won't change much but the inside walls of whether or not you're going to have automatic faucets or a pass through tray like Steve said those are all things that aren't talked about until much later on um I have a quick question and I don't want to go into the Weeds on on numbers but can you talk a little bit about any changes there'll be to the auditorium in the Performing Arts area yes um So currently your Auditorium um it's it's very interesting because it's a it's really a truly a multi-purpose space it's used for instruction um and with that when you walk into the space the first few rows have been removed and it accommodates tables and loose tables and chairs uh with the upgrades you know one of the number one priorities with an upgrade to your Auditorium space would be accessibility Improv ments so uh we're we're keeping that in mind but we're also not letting go your your your use of the space and functionality so with our new new space we're still going to have those first few rows removed to allow for some flexibility there whether it's just additional uh single chairs or if it's going to be large tables and chairs depending on what the space is being used for if it's for for instruction your seating area it's going to be modified to accommodate new barrier-free seating location a not only at the at the back of house but at the front of front of the theater um designated seats throughout the space there at the rear of the auditorium we're going to have a an area that's carved out for a new Sound and Lighting Booth a control booth that will be accessible uh so it's going to allow whether it's the students that are operating the equipment or or the faculty uh everybody will have be able to use that and of course the equipment will be able to be locked down uh when when not in use or when uh you know there's not supervision that that's there on this on the stage we're going to be refitting refinishing the stage and providing accessibility access to the stage as well um we're also proposing a a folding partition so that way we're turning the stage similar to the seating area in a into a multi-purpose space where the stage can become a another breakout classroom and it's going to have access to that to that Corridor that we're creating that George touched upon and also access to your existing Corridor uh so beyond that uh mechanical improvements with air conditioning that's going to be uh proposed there asbest abatement that's going to be part part of the par projects that um you know we already touched upon with that but a state-of-the-art sound system and audio Vis V uh audio video system uh new projection screen but the footprint doesn't itself doesn't change the footprint stays the same uh we're just kind of improving things the seats are very dated they're original to the building you're going to get new upholstered seating it's going to also help with the Acoustics of the space and will there be more seating less seating or there's there's going to be slightly less seating because with the modifications to the rear of the auditorium to accommodate those barrier-free seating locations in our new uh sound and AV Booth uh it's going to be a slightly less number but having that larger pit in in front it's going to be able to provide multiple settings whether it's single chair Arrangements that can go all the way into the pit and then back to the fixed seating areas so we the the number of seeding will be reduced but it can accommodate a multi a multitude of uses could you address the size of the gym in terms of assemblies y um the gym's going to be able to accommodate um well seaing wise in the bleach with 900 occupants but floorwise there's going to be just about the same number so you can easily have 1,800 people within that space uh it's it's it's just under 11,000 square feet proposed it's going to have some other Provisions in there a pull down divider curtain so you can have two classes using the space simultaneously and uh some other some other upgrades as well and of course another space that we like to treat acoustically because to avoid that that boyness that you find in a lot of old gymnasiums so one of the other things we're thinking about about consideration is maybe the gym becomes more it's a gym right but then it becomes more of a multi-purpose space as well we we can make it somewhat of a performance venue an area where if you wanted to have an an all school assembly and do an awards presentation or something like that the gymnasium could be used for that purpose there's ways to equip the gym you know with better state of the art uh audio visual large projection screens different features so we're looking at that as well you know a a more robust sound system you can do musical Productions and things like that you would use a portable platform in there that could be folded up you'd have a band shell maybe maybe and you would fold that up and put that in storage when you're when you're not using it so we're thinking about that right now I also kind of thought about the cafeteria that double cafeteria could also be used for sure it's exciting you're going to find that the it's it's fully utilized so on the one side when when Steve Shri was saying there might be slightly less seating but they'll probably this is going to sound like a conundrum there'll probably be more people in there so if you say how many people pass through the auditorium in a week you'll probably have more because this the whole area is more usable so because you have more instructional space to use it every day it's kind of like our turf fields when we built our turf fields we didn't build it for a sport directive was get as many kids on there as possible so we built it for all sports so if we take an auditorium which used to be used for just one thing and it set idly except for arrival assembly's dismissal and then it had 10 kids in it when you're practicing for band now that place still has the same spot for band but when you enlarge the pit below you have a meeting area for students teachers you have another area for if you have another breakout cafeteria where you have a a large area for who knows what's going to be maker space if you're Elementary right you have more instructional space more usable instructional space so to somebody who says we might go down a couple seats but you actually increase the number of students that that are in there in any given period of time if that makes sense yep yep okay pepper wants me to let Ticket Master know we utilize a stadium right anything else good anybody have any other questions or concerns or do wear you out are you tired we're that was very thorough and thank you we're ready to go um I know how much time and effort Robin and Tom and all of the administrators put into this and all of the community that we so far had have touched with um ideas have gone into this and the these two gentlemen have so well responded every day to the many requests that they received from us and I think this plan really does um incorporate so many of the visions that we have for the future of Lawrence Township Public Schools I think it's going to make a tremendous impact on our community um by providing in a better uh environment it's not just for the middle school it's everywhere this will impact Us in every facet of our our district so um thank you all for your time and participation in this discussion you also want to say that we're going to continue going out into the community to meet with other groups yes this work session was an opportunity for the board to have first pass at exactly what has been going on for the last couple of months in our district um and so next step is to take it out to the community um and as I said we will welcome conversations with our community we will be setting up times over the next couple of months to roll all of this information out and receive feedback and questions and concerns please use the QR code um for the survey um and and the truth is we really want to hear back from everybody um this is our town this is means something to everybody here we may not all agree on the the absolute every aspect of this but everybody matters in lawrencville I'm honored to be the board president during this amazing time I feel honored with this board and this administrative team and I want everybody to have a say and be as excited and enthusiastic about the future of Education in Lawrence Township we want student achievement to improve and this is one of the leading ways to do it it was prek and in increasing our ability to meet the needs of all of our students and this is the only way to do it is by by working on where we can would I like to improve every building of course I would but that's not reasonable this is the right moment for us and the right place that we're going to have the biggest impact on Student Success in this District so I look forward to hearing from everybody um with their feedback and interests and comments and ideas we will be welcome welcoming them thank you both to George and Steve for all your hard work tonight thank you for having appreciate it's really amazing um and now we will get back to our regularly scheduled board meeting I have a question for The Architects do you take student interns that's something we could talk about in the next five years so um we we actually for high school level students we do provide an opportunity to kind of Shadow someone for a day come in see what a working architectural firm looks like uh they could they would follow me to you know events whether it's meetings or construction meetings and then see what I mean we see all stages of design so anything from initial conception through construction they could they would have an opportunity to see it so just feel free to contact us thank you so much okay so now we are up to our uh board discussion and action items and first up is the Personnel committee report and Personnel action items okay we did not meet because it's a second meeting for the month and on tonight's agenda you'll see transfers resignation appointments for the following non-tenured staff for 24 25 school year lap to staff edps staff due to clearances staff to J Jump Start program pending background check staff members you'll see a few amendments correcting um rates and for summer program start dates account numbers those kind of things and with all the things listed on tonight's agenda I'd like to move P1 through P20 please the motion second y second there we go Tom Motion in a second Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes M groger yes Dr King yes Miss pascy yes Mr pluta yes Miss Santos yes Miss B yes motion carried thank you excuse me um are you going to um announce any of the newer appointments for people who are new new business new business yes um now we have a CIA APD report and instructional uh and student service action items and pepper we're going to just we'll do OS ois one uh we did not meet but on our agenda you'll see under CD ois1 I'd like to move ois one and we'll table OSS thank you second second was Miss Santos yes okay Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Mr groger yes Dr King yes M pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Miss Santos yes and Miss Bose yes motion carry and just so everybody I don't know if you heard pepper say we're going to table OSS do1 until our next board meeting great finance committee report and school business management action items Kevin's not here but I'd like to move sbm 1 through n second Tom with a motion and a second by Mr broker thank you Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Miss Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss pasly yes Mr pluta yes Miss Santos yes Miss Bose yes motion carried okay now we have an opportunity for a second public input anybody is interested in coming up please come up and state your name address and you can write your address down and please limit your comments to 3 minutes minutes thank you Jeffrey Barry kindergarten teach I don't know you want my PA address we know where you are you know where we are anyway I'm honored to step up tonight uh and just briefly I'll be very brief um I just want to say a word or two about Melissa Lockett and then also uh just applaud the board on the selection of uh Christen bur uh Melissa was uh and still is an amazing administrator teacher and uh and friend and I thought her tenure in Lawrence was uh extraordinary and uh she'll be greatly missed by the L Community but you folks have now done after and I'm sure there the other candidates were great this lady I mean she's got a historical tie L that is extraordinary as a student as a teacher and certainly these last few years as a supervisor uh she's the only one on the planet a she's the only one on the planet I told her I was going to make her cry I don't know if she is but but I know that I speak for the staff that we are just we are just so thrilled and I know that uh she's going to do great things at Lees and mostly great things for those kids so thank you thank you we haven't forgotten you you're a new business IR remark six iark six pemro Court he used to sit here yeah and you know I was interesting when I was on the board in the mid 90s Mr cleek was visiting so he's still visiting this is what makes Lauren special so um the first question is um I I thought there was this was going to be more of a presentation of the uh pre expanded prek program you know but I guess you're going to you're going to present that at a different meeting I guess do your plans for that we have a what is what are you looking for something specific Yeah question um yeah I I'm kind of interested in that aspect of it I'm assuming that the um six to8 grades for LMS is a result of the use the the need for the prek in the uh elementary schools kind of pushing everything up is that is that true right so when we reconfigure the grade bands it'll be prek-2 right 35 at Lis and then the 68 right right that's correct okay and this LMS it's not going to be a standalone referendum it's going to be combined with something bigger or is it Standalone or what is this going to be this presentation is this the schematic that you saw tonight is is part of the referendum um we have not forgotten about Lis um I know I have a lot of families um invested in making sure that we are setting that footprint to be truly an upper elementary model we've begun to you know contract um some providers to look at the space um we're working with Allison Fischer and her crew right now in that building so that those kids don't wait five years for some of the upgrades and the things that we're looking at I guess what I'm saying there's there's going the end results going to be a referendum at some point cor it's going to be that's going to include an expanded LMS correct and an expanded prek so pre so with prek just so that you know once the grade levels are bumped out we actually the existing infrastructure doesn't have to change to accommodate prek kiddos does that make sense so so we're going to the state and we get certified spaces so there's a certain square footage you have to have access to bathrooms when we mapped out the four Elementary buildings that'll now house prek successfully over the five-year trajectory so when third grade moves out right the prek comes in we don't have to do anything major to the footprint that is why you're not seeing prek classrooms as part of this referendum so this referendum is primarily LMS correct oh all right um so uh I I would like to talk about you know the strategy with the prek but maybe this isn't the right time no it's not I mean and I appreciate your comments and I think it is reflective of a lot of people in our community and I would say can you we have a community survey that we're sending out which we're going to be answering questions at future board meetings um this is a public comment you can make any comment you want but we're not really going to be engaging in conversations at this point so I appreciate the questions you can leave the questions with us and we can get back to you or you can come to future board uh meetings and we're going to talk more about what's coming up can I just make one more Point uh although it's you know the I was looking at Mr eldridge's chart on debt and that was at a low point was going to be being reduced which is good but keep in mind that it we have a very high interest rate environment so you do have all the debt that you're going to you're going to assume at this point is going to be at a very high interest rate so just keep that in mind and thank you thank you okay hi uh hello I'm Jasmine CI I will write my address down before I walk away um so I have two children attending Lawrence High School and I'm here tonight because I had um just some some questions and some concerns I wanted to express I know you can't really answer them right now that's totally fine um but I hope that you will answer them in some way um so I noticed I don't really know all of what they mean I noticed in the agenda we just approved a bunch of staff changes and I one of the staff changes that caught my attention recently was uh Clifton Thompson's retirement and you know restructure of how we're thinking about diversity equity and inclusion in our schools um and I was kind of wondering what became of the goals that Clifton Thompson had set out and I will read one of them um recruit and retain a highquality diverse staff by auditing any potential biases and barriers that exist in our current interviewing hiring and mentoring processes I haven't heard an update about this in a while I'm curious for an update about this like what is being done about that's just one of the three goals in um his Equity plan what form of measurement is being used to measure um we just saw you know amazing presentation with lots of detail about a lot of facilities and and buildings and I'm thinking about the people in those buildings um because I I think that is a really important determinator of how our kids experience school and they need to feel represented they need they need to see themselves um in the leadership of the school so that's something that's very important to me I just wanted to share that and um I I have questions and feedback about the whole plan but I'm I think I know you've been doing a lot to communicate and increase the impact of communications with families I hope you continue thinking about new ways to innovate that such as even Zoom meetings uh because a lot of people can participate more easily in Zoom than they can come to a meeting in person um so if you want to have listening sessions that might be you know something to think about um but I but I appreciate the survey I'm looking forward to taking it and taking my time you know thinking through it um my kids and I have been in this District since um eight years ago so we've come from EPS Las LMS LHS so um I have a lot of thoughts about it I have a lot of thoughts about that transition between um third grade to fourth grade which will now be second grade to third grade um but anyway I'll save those for later and um since I made some specific questions which Maybe Dr clim you can address next's meeting I'll I'll I can email them to you thank you if anyone wants to see um questions answered sort of on the ready again those postcards are back there we are going to be putting up an FAQ um Miss biseri is helping us build a referendum website so you can check back before and after photos um some of our decisions thank you thanks Jasmine okay please state your name the record we want your address too Mindy malaski Lawrence Middle School principal that's my address literally um so I I'm just want to thank the board for their thoughtfulness in uh creating this plan uh including us having our voices heard space matters um you you saw you know a few pictures but we really learned a lot from the pandemic and we were able to change some of those spaces the seats in the auditorium came out because we needed space we needed to make our cafeteria bigger we needed kids to have room to move um to have space um the Middle School has changed I've been in this district for 32 years and um there's people at this table that have been here longer um and in the audience but it you know the middle school at one time it was not the Middle School it was uh South Lauren South High School it was also the junior high school um it was seventh and eighth grade it was eth and nth grade um so six seven and eight you know it that's the next progression and and we're moving towards what we need to do so thank you so much I look forward to the community conversations that we're going to have I too also want to congratulate this board for picking Kristen Burke um I still call her Christen Shields I was I'm her proud teacher I am her proud coach um her colleague but more importantly her friend and um I'm just thrilled for her and you should be everyone here should be thrilled for her because she's going to do an amazing job I also want to do a shout out to Melissa Lockett though as well um she's an amazing educator U professional uh former Cheerleading Coach with with me so uh just want to do that shout out and my last because I do have a little time left um I also want see I got the mic um I want to give a shout out to my staff and our students um you know we're talking about student achievement and over through the pandemic they've been amazing and coming out of it even more amazing so if you if you read the um Tron whatever it is online anymore.com uh the the doe gives us you know our ratings and in Mercer County we are the number one middle school and with this this will help us continue to do the work so thank you thank you Dr mowy they are stealing the Thunder and we haven't gotten to new business yet all right hello um Wanted to jump in Allison fiser principal at Lis also resident but we'll speak tonight as uh as the principal and really wanted to also Echo what midi said thank you um this is an amazing thing for our town um and I know at Lis you know we're diving into what that's going to mean for us switching and we know that's a big transition for a lot of families going to a 3 five building um right now we currently adjust those fourth graders pretty quickly we cocoon them in their own hallway and we're looking forward to working with the community I know we've already started those conversations and our PTO meeting in our direct link uh we did an activity where uh we had our direct link participants walk the building and look at it with the lens of having a third fourth or fifth grader in the building look at it with as a student and we had some amazing feedback we did that activity a few months ago with our staff when we started this process and wanted them to see our building through a different set of eyes and we already have amazing ideas as to ways we can incorporate um a more Elementary field our building um the you know I know that we've already talked about some projects that will be coming um to help improve just the Aesthetics again you know a lot of our buildings are older and and we're talking 52 years I believe at Lis currently um so doing some upgrades and making the learning spaces more flexible is also something that Lis will see and it's really nice to be able to work collaboratively with with Dr milowski and with the team to really talk about what our sixth graders will need in that transition as well and it's an exciting move for everyone it's a really exciting time to be an administrator in Lawrence and I just want to say thank you and we look forward to the process thank you Dr fer good evening everyone Dave Adam principal of Lawrence High School very proud principal I will Echo something that someone said we will miss Melissa Lockett she's a fantastic person as well as an educator we'll miss working with her day and day but Kristen Shields I heard that I heard it earlier I remember when she was Kristen Shields but Kristen is a fantastic person who is a top-notch educator and I second everything that Jeff said she is fantastic one of the best on the planet for sure wooho um purpose for me coming up tonight was to share a little bit about my thanks my gratitude to the board or District leadership for having a vision past just the next three or four years and that's a challenge you know we're talking about something that's long range that's going to get us to 20 2, 2300 I mean that that's that's 75 years down the road is a long ways away we're not talking about just a couple years having that Vision down the road is important and it's something that we all appreciate seeing that far in the future for our students and our schools and our community um secondly I want to say that we appreciate being part of the process um that's something that's very important for us that we live the day-to-day in our schools with our students with our staff faculty with our parents with our community and being part of this whole process from start to finish is important for all of us and being part of that to see where this is going to go many things these things are going to out live many of us and we're excited about that because that's the future of lawen down the road for all of us um I'm excited for the Middle School you see where Dr milowski Dr W Le and their team takes their students as a transition this great group of students to be high school students and we the beneficiaries of those students being prepared to be high school students so that's very exciting new fields for our kids new opportunities for our kids at the high school and as Mr ELD said parking on campus yeah that's something we were all very excited about that's going to take some of the burden and some of the safety issues that we're concerned about off of Everybody not just the community it's a win-win for the community but also win for us here the high school so we appreciate all of your vision we appreciate your inv involvement we appreciate you thinking about all these different pieces because that's good for our kids and that's the bottom line thank you very much thank [Applause] you okay any other public comment Jim cleek uh I all this was fascinating and educational and uh great minds run the same thing Mr Marx and I both had the same notes about high high interest rates and hoping that if is it looking ahead whether there's going it sounds like there's going to also be additional I don't know if it'll be additional referendum or what to to the uh Intermediate School and if so if it's not done at the same time maybe by that time God willing interest rates will go down some I mean you got to do it when you got to do it but that's certainly in consideration all right uh the you know the uh I we Ain on parades but I wondered how much the already problems with teacher shortage will be compounded by addition of of the need for all these preschool grades and whether the same type of teacher that can be used that's qualified for a regular Elementry will be that's just I don't expect an answer but I'm just something throwing out and uh and also bringing back the special Edge students whether they'll be able to be boy I'm lucky I'm really nobody started I can go in definitely whether the addition of preschool students which is really something to be to be celebrated but but are they going to be uh in their own classes with their own teachers or and again I know looking back over the years I've heard so so much this and that way about how kind it was to how I say that kind like this to really Institute special needs students in full classes whether it was kind to them or whether it was problems for All Hands you're you're the professionals but uh I don't know if I make myself clear or not but that's it's l and uh the um and I guess this again what what uh Mr Marx was saying I certainly I'm too far removed from all this to uh question and I don't I'm not question in but I think I would wonder if for the people who don't have kids in the schools now whether at some point an explanation of why it's desirable to have preschool for everyone and I'm sure it is but but I'm interested in knowing why and that's not something that was of course not stressed tonight because I assume it's kind of cons assume that everybody knows that it's desirable thanks thank you so got three [Laughter] minutes dear me any other public the comment okay uh new business boy we have some exciting news like you haven't heard it 10 times already oh you took my thunder boy are we excited Kristen the only bad thing is that your family had to go home because it's so late I wish they could have been here for that I wanted to share Kristen was a student of mine we worked together um and we have family ties together that's not why she got the job mind you she's an amazing educator everything everyone said previously I I I Really they stole my thunder you're an amazing person kind you're you're going to knock them off their shoes out of their socks everything thank you we're so happy to have you step into that roll at Lees and you'll see that on new business also Damian I don't know if your family is still here or if they had a this is so sad this is what happens when you're on new business this guys uh See Shawn in the back it's his fault no I'm only kidding we are so this is a win-win for all of us daman's going to step in where Kristen was they're both so suited for their new positions you are taking us Skyhigh and we thank you for stepping in interviewing we couldn't be happier to have you step on board so thank you both so much that's not all of new business but I just had to say that thank you um if you'll look on tonight's agenda you will also see uh uh where we are um athletic edps volunteers start date adjustments lapa hourly reappointments jump start account number adjustments summer work approvals transfer for district management position substitutes resignations contract approvals and with all of that we are going to ask nb1 be moved to nb27 so we can get these two people moving do I have a second there we go with a motion and a second from pepper Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes M groger yes Dr King yes M pasculli yes Mr pluta yes Miss Santos yes Miss Bose yes motion car I just want to expand on new business agenda items for Dr bar XA and for U Miss Burke I feel incredibly lucky to sit here and stare at the two of you um knowing what the launch of the school year is going to look like um so just for the public to understand the magnitude of this decision um let me start with Dr Barry EXA Dr Barry EXA served on the ois team for a number of years um he took a position as an assistant principal to kind of expand his career and trajectory um but sometimes you have to have conversations about where your goals are and his love truly is in the office of instruction so to have this opportunity for him to move from high school into our k6 steam uh supervisor position is incredibly Monumental for the district you're seeing Footprints of expansion of curriculum and really great decisions on the horizon that he's going to be at the Forefront of and he's P he's getting that baton passed by an equally incredible educator sitting in front of me um don't cry I'm a spurk but we we all love you and I know that Miss lockett's shoes are hard to fill but please know from me I I saw a shining star with both of you um in fact we talked about Joint Communications going out because their philosophical beliefs are so in sync um so with Kristen passing the Baton back to Daman and him joining ois and Kristen stepping into Miss lockett's shoes over at Lees we have definitely won the game on this one so thank you um tomorrow morning there'll be a posting for Dr Perry exus position for the high school um it'll be an assistant principal position but we sure did win tonight and thank you both and congratulations great congratulations um and with that a motion to adjourn so a second all in favor I I oh let's stay I'll take it thank you so much everyone have a wonderful evening good night e e e e e e e e e for