##VIDEO ID:0CtSgRPLWOQ## regular meeting of the northern burlin County Regional School District is hereby called to order this meeting is called in conformance with the open public meeting act with adequate notice provided as follows notice sent to the Berlin County Times in the times of Trenton on August 2 2024 notice filed with the township Clerks of Chesterfield Mansfield North Hanover and Springfield townships on August 21st 2024 and notice of the annual meeting being advertised in the Berlin County Times and the times of Trenton on January 7th 2024 I will now call roll Mr figs present Mrs Bond present Mr arm manente present Mr bucks present Mrs gamble Mr narwood Mr Janice present Mr Spence Mr Zimmer here Mr Haynes here and Miss Pierre all right thank you very much board at this time I'd ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a Moment of Silence to The Republic stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all has any Board of Education member received School Board related emails Andor correspondences that they have not yet shared with the superintendent right uh Dr Zuckerman if you could please give your superintendence report absolutely uh welcome back everybody and happy New Year so uh before uh to start my report I would like to introduce uh amanii Pierre ammani is the the student council president um and Miss Pierre will be serving as a student representative for the northern Burlington board of education for the 2024-25 school year at this time I am proud to ask her to provide her student representative report thank I forgot to tell you had to turn on the microphone but you're you're good okay I think I got it hi everyone I am Imani Pierre I am the 2024 2025 student council president I have previously represented student council as as the treasurer last year and the C the class of 20125 as Treasurer and representative besides Council I'm involved in varsity cheerleading for the last three years I've participated in FCA and no place for hate I am so excited to be the voice of the student body this year I get to give the board and the community a students perception of our school moving into the new school year I anticip ipated a lot of change I think the biggest change this year is our no phone policy of course uh us students are very I think o attached to our devices I know I am but I do believe it is something that we needed because just picking up our phones for one second can distract us from the lesson at hand and now that we have Extended Learning periods there's more information and learning in one block that we need to absorb now on to an overview of sports and other activities football my personal F favorite um in their season opener against shaune Northern Burlington displayed impressive resilience despite shaunie's strong offensive showing the Greyhounds showed moments of Brilliance and determination that will undoubtedly fuel their progress this season which happened to be shown in our most recent game uh the commander cups Cup against pton last week with the score of 51-7 uh boy ER Northern Burlington boys soccer team kicked off their season with a strong performance clinch clenching a hard fought victory over Burlington Township in their Li Liberty Divi division opener in girls soccer the girls Burlington soccer team faced a formidable challenge in their recent match against Del Ran which ended in a 5 defeat in girls tennis Northern Burlington's girls tennis team opened their season with a dominant 5-0 victory over Burlington Township their team showcase their strength across all matches starting with a solid performance in the singles and doubles categories in girls cross country under the guidance of Coach raffy Northern Burlington's cross country team is ready to make a remarkable impression this season coach raf's expertise and passion for the sport are set to elevate the team's performance as they tackle a challenging slate of meets and then in girls volleyball the northern Burlington girls volleyball team is gearing up for an exciting season under the guidance of Coach Clark with a challenging and diverse lineup of opponents the team is poised to make a strong impact this year that's my overview thank you so much uh very much appreciate that and look forward to the reports in the coming months um it was great to welcome back our students and our staff La uh last week as ammani said this year certainly brings some exciting changes I would like to personally thank everyone who worked to get ready for last week's opening day the administrators the counselors the child study team members for working to make sure that all students had their schedules facilities and grounds for making sure that everything looks great our transportation department for making sure the bus routes and the buses have been organized and and ready to go the technology and support staff for working behind the scenes to support just about all of us last week both buildings began to implement two two new schedules while while there are always a few hiccups that come along with implementing any new schedule every everyone the students the staff and the administrators are doing a great job and it seems like everything is already becoming second nature this is just a reminder that each school does have a slightly different schedule while this makes things a little bit more complicated the schedules were truly designed to meet the needs of the schools and the students at those schools at the high school we began a um lunch and opportunity period where all the students are having lunch at the same time um and this continues to look smoother and smoother each day today was the third day and the students have already have a much better understanding of not only the functioning but also the purpose behind that time as well I feel confident that this will continue to be a positive change for the high school that opens the door for great things to come you may be thinking about how how do the students know what to do um during that time all the students received in our Google Classroom a list of the activities as you can see from our new uh digital display boards we also have those activities listed up on the uh the same uh sheet listed up on that board as well you'll see scrolling through there are just announcements and things that they need to know um throughout the day as you also heard from from Miss Pierre um this year the high school has uh reconstituted their expectations around cell phones as well towards the end of towards the end of last year and during the summer I had several conversations with parents and staff about the high school expectations regarding cell phones the high school is elected to maintain the existing cell phone policy but to enforce the expectations with Fidelity Mr Lee if we can up on the screen you're going to see a copy of the slides that Dr mccan shared with her staff during the opening faculty meeting should have thought to get that before but thank you so as you see the default is that the students have their phone away unless the teacher provides very clear expectations that they're needed during the day last year the students were able to make um smart passes from their cell phones this year they're asked to make them from their from their laptops only from their Chromebooks only and not from their cell phones so they they do not have to be out for that purpose the monitors at each of the bathrooms have the laptops out so they can see which students did and did not make a pass so that that eliminates that one need for it the teachers clear expectations remove any gray area they can say this activity you need your cell phone or if you don't please put it away they can take their they if they do need that for if they do need to use their cell phone for the activity they obviously are given permission to take to take it out however this removes the the distraction of using either social media Snapchat communicating with with friends and so on the cell phones can be used in the hallways they can be used in Opportunity period and they can be used during study halls These are times where where they it is appropriate for them to be used the phones should not be used in home rooms unless the activity requires it obviously we we don't want to have to provide con quences however if students do not follow the expectations then there may consequences may be needed so this was shared with all of the students uh the first offense is a warning second offense the the the teacher is going to write it up and the teachers going to communicate home the third offense then the administration gets involved possibly a lunch detention fourth possibly an after school detention again we hope that it never gets to that point we all need our phones to live we all well let me change that we all are using our phones as a as a necessity on a daily basis we are all addicted to our phones this gives the students the parameters on when it is and is not appropriate to be able to use their phone no different than they're going to need different at various times in uh throughout their lives as well I'm going to also ask the the parents and to remind the parents to please do not call or text your students during the day if you do find a need to text them during the day please let them know and reinforce that they has to respond to you during one of those approved times if there is a true emergency and you need to get in touch with your your student please call the main office and we will do everything we can to help facilitate any of that communication if anybody has any any board member or anybody has any questions on this outside or go ahead I have a quick question so it says first first offense as a warning so I guess these offenses are all during one period of class because if it's just a verbal warning when you go to the next class you may have already had a warning and they don't and that teacher doesn't know about it yep great question the the teach the teachers are going to submit that um the warning is in is separate once it's a second offense and it's sent to the office the office will maintain that tally in totality not necessarily individually but each teacher obviously yes technically the the students can get a warning in every class is that what the first as is supposed to get at this is not only for your CL correct thank you so again I'm happy to discuss this further if anybody if anybody would like to whether today tomorrow anytime after the meeting I'm happy to happy to do that um the middle school as far as the expectations go it's the same as they have been the middle school students aren't allowed to carry their phones they're asked to put them away in their lockers um and then that's just the way that it has been so it's not that we have forgotten about the middle school that their their procedures were a little were a little tighter um previously um lastly I just want to share with the board Mr Lee thank you so much um last year lastly I just want to share with the board I was contacted several weeks ago about a former graduate um a a gentleman by the name of Danny Fuller graduated Northern Burlington in 1972 um and has lived in Arkansas for the majority of the time since he's left New Jersey I had the he contacted me asking to see his old high school he wanted to he was visiting a friend in New Jersey and I had the great pleasure to meet him and to take him around the building and to listen to the stories and showing him the many Renovations that that have taken place uh since he went to school here as we get bogged down with the day-to-day operations it it is truly necessary for us to step back and and remind ourselves the significant impact that we leave with the students this is a huge part of their life and and just like Mr Fuller reminded me it the the impact and and the lifetime of M Mor that we provide to our students is truly is truly noteworthy so all of your time is truly appreciated that concludes my report any questions right thank you Dr Zuckerman uh Mr Cass if you could please provide your business administrator's report now sure thank you um we hosted our annual Board of AD facilities annual facilities tour uh we went over uh any board member who wish to show up preceding this meeting we went over and saw the middle school security vestival that was constructed this summer and the renovations of the main office uh we highlighted the LED lighting over there uh throughout the hallways we highlighted the new PA system the electronic door locks and the digital signage over there um on our way there we pointed out certain cart paths that were installed uh so that uh there is an easier transition um for our faculty and staff to get back and forth across campus as well as um transport uh parents and elderly to uh various Fields so uh after we did that we came back here and we toured um the West cafeteria and the 400 hallway uh the 400 hallway uh had LED lighting about 300 fixtures throughout the halls in the classroom installed this summer um as most of the board knows the East and West cafeterias and kitchens were renovated um and they did a great job and they were completed in time so uh and along that way we have five digital signage boards installed here in the high school this summer and uh so that concluded our uh facilities tour we also sold some srex from our solar panels in the month of September uh the current market rate is $28 per SRE we sold um 204 estre and it netted over $42,000 uh Revenue Source um within their budget so uh we had that and then Mr mcke provided a facilities update uh again updating you on the uh High School East and West cafeteria and kitchen renovations the security vesu and main office Renovations over in the Middle School um M Middle School's security window film installed on all the exterior windows uh also uh the rooftop unit over in the middle school was replaced and then uh the new door locks and paging system for the middle school on tonight's agenda you'll see two change orders as a result of the cafeteria and kitchen renovations here in the high school that were not part of the original plans um and they were highlighted during their annual tour so uh if anybody had any questions uh you can feel free to let me know and then I just put some uh additional uh information about the school board's annual Workshop that's coming up in October and that concludes my report thank you Mr Cass real quick I know uh the price of srex um you know fluctuates but have we noticed a decrease in the production or the generation you know as the solar panels are starting to age and whatnot no it's good question y we've uh we generate uh pretty much the same since the beginning on an annual basis the prices comes down about $10 per year but yeah they used to be um like last year they were selling for like 225 this year they're at like 208 so that's a big drop off from uh you know based on that [Music] I yeah all right thank you Mr Cass uh Dr Karns if you'd like to give your middle school principal report all right good evening Mr figs Dr Z and members of the boards my my uh pleasure to give the middle school report here at this time for for the summer I'm going to Echo many of the sentiments you heard earlier particularly Dr zuckerman's thanks to those who worked behind the scenes very hard this summer to prepare the school for the opening whether it was the uh the secretaries and the offices counselors working in the counseling office the facilities department they all did an outstanding job getting the buildings ready for our students to return um obviously a huge highlight in my my board report is the opening of school we uh got got the the ball rolling once again as we welcome back our our seventh graders on September 4th we have a really nice program where it's just our seventh graders and a handful of new eighth graders that come in on that day and allows us to really focus on the uh the seventh graders work through a lot of their anxiety that they have about coming to a you know brand new building brand new school brand new classmates as they all come together from their various um sending District they're stressing over where they how they're going to open a locker if they're going to get lost if they can figure out their schedule and allows us to just again focus our energies and our our personel on on helping them make that adjustment and then all of our students returned on on September 5th and we were um having a regular day of school by by Friday regular schedule Etc and into this week so it's it was good to have the building full of our students again in the Life return to the building one of the biggest changes that we have in the middle school is our our new schedule and we've uh worked out to this our students have a a block of ela and a block of of math that sort of fits together so every day they have what amounts to a period half of math and a period half of of English and those are obviously key building blocks for the balance of their academic career and allows us to really focus in on those while they're in Middle School provide you know some continu of instruction same teacher and um set them up hopefully for success in middle school and as they transition over to the high school um we had a number of construction projects Mr um has outlined several of them but the most visible one is the security vesu in our main office when you come to the Middle School looks very different um in terms of the setup of the of the main office completely reoriented and I I want to thank the facilities department for the the work they did in organizing that and then finishing it up and it it really Smooths things over our secretaries were were meeting parents outside the the building to do sign in and sign out that meant they had to get up leave the office walk outside take care of all the stuff that so we were creating our own security bestes ofal and it wasn't terribly efficient and this allows to provide secure environment and at the same time it works much more efficiently so we're very grateful for the for the improvements there sort of a a highlight that I want to point out to it's a little little bit of passion of mine is that that our students have have taken to gardening if you get over to our our Middle School you'll see one of our uh Courtyards that's right in the middle of the building a couple years ago one of our FFA teachers Dr mcleen got a grant to install raised beds and then o over the summer we have our esy program our esy students have really adopted um adopted those Gardens and put put a lot of work into them over the summer keeping keeping the plants alive that the the students in the adg classes planted during the uh during the school year and another highlight one of our other um special ed teachers reused a lot of the uh the blocks that were out here the pavers that were in the front of the high school and they were were taken up as part of the construction project so we built really nice um you know pav block raised beds in another Courtyard and her students are uh are raising plants there they have a big couple big watermelons I'm looking forward to them uh then being harvested we'll see how that that turned out and then of course our fall activities are underway we had our organizational meetings for our different sports and we're looking forward to getting our um thespians involved as well as prepare for our winner winner play so those those are the goings on the middle school and appreciate the opportunity to uh to share them with you thank you thank you Dr D uh Dr McAn if you'd like to give your High School principal's report please all right thanks for having me I'm excited to report to you on some things that have been going on at the high school um obviously like you heard from Dr KRS the start of school has been a big one for us and there's been a lot of changes that we've been looking to ensure that both students and staff really understand what the expectations are so that we can hold students accountable and also provide them support to make sure that things like an 80-minute class which is not something they'd seen before that they can feel successful in those opportunities um so we started with class meetings um two fours of them were held in the dark because we had a pattern outage on day one so that was an a highlight for me um but we worked to make sure that students understood things like morning arrival to make sure that they're both getting here on time and moving into the larger spaces we'd heard that there was some safety concerns with kind of hanging out in the hallway area so we're really pushing students to find those spaces that they can be in um and supporting them to enter school on time uh we also talked to students about uh vaping The Vape detectors making sure that they're creating a space in the bathrooms that is a place that all students are able to go to without any safety concerns I and we've really been working to follow up on that um we talked to them about cell phones you already heard the policy um that we've put in place and are working to uphold there um we also spent some time talking about opportunity period is something that we're really focusing on to make sure it can be successful um I think if you had come on day one and then you had come today it was like night and day right students are really starting to figure out the places that they want to be um and finding those opportunities that best suit them and their friends um what also was like an unintended um byproduct is teachers are so excited to add additional opportunities for students during that time I have like 10 emails um in my inbox that we're looking to figure out how do we provide more opportunities and maybe have a rotation of days um right now we have things like NHS the a department is having students come uh students can go to the gym um they're taking their outside to the track as long as the weather is nice the fitness center is open the media center is open we have study hall spaces that are a little bit quieter and calmer for students um Renaissance is running a group um but we have many more experiences that uh staff have offered to run so we're looking to accommodate those um we've had the addition of our security monitors um which I think has been a great addition they're really helping support with morning arrival and with dismissal um as well as things like the opportunity period and making sure that the hallways are cleared and students are in class and ready to go um we are trying to make a uh larger social media presence so if you don't you follow us on Instagram this is the Shameless plug um NBC HS principal um we're including things that are both exciting like pictures from the first meetings but also like today's an a day and here's the times because it's a completely different schedule for students and they're not so used to that like ad day bday rotation um so we're trying to support them uh with that as much as with you know promoting other events and things like that um we also are using our new home room time we have that 15 minute chunk of time in the mornings for Home Room uh to start helping students collaborate on things like Hispanic Heritage Month posters um and our no place for hate group is planning a week of respect so that they can roll that out during Home Room time as well um and then you heard from imman we have a ton of sports and activities happening as well and we're really proud to see our student athletes really working hard um already this year uh that's my report unless anyone has any questions yes sir outside of the power outage what was your most notable moment for your first day here at Northern Burlington great question um opportunity period I think is an ex especially um I I've come from a place that had one lunch and so I've seen kind of the chaos and then how it dissipates and then everybody knows where to go but I think most people hadn't seen that so I think there was a level of like oh we can breathe now everybody made it through they found their places um and I think just to hear people say like wow that wasn't actually so bad and kids got to go to the places they wanted to go was was exciting to hear yeah of course any other questions no I think you undersold yourself and the oh I'm sorry did you have a question I did but go ahead I'm sorry I just wanted to I think that you undersold yourself and your your team and the students that that participated in those two um class meetings in the dark I I mean that was certainly a uh and I wasn't sure how it was going to go and you just kept rolling and as did your team and and it was great students did great you guys did great so I mean that that just started off the year in a in a great way I'm sorry Mr bucks go ahead I have a pretty simple question so we have the security monitors in place now right we have Vape detectors in place uh we're using electronic passes on Chromebooks do we have all the bathrooms open we do not have all bathrooms open yet as we are slowly kind of looking to expand that I believe in kind of starting small and expanding instead of kind of opening everything and then trying to monitor everything all at once okay but that that is the that is certainly the plan do we have a expected date when we think that's going to happen I Target I have not kind of like I have not talked to Dr M about a date for that but that that is the the plan Direction where we're moving okay great thank you so this question is probably more directed to Mr Cass I knew about the power outage but I thought we had a big generator we do have a big generator um just not everything's hooked up to it it's not a whole house not working right now it's not a whole house generator so all the um and every and every time we do get a power outage we go through a process where you know uh We've realize what's important and we'll add things to the generator um but you know uh the 400/500 building and the PA system and and and the lights were not on the full the generator okay and that generator doesn't automatically kick on is what you're saying oh yes it does oh it does it does but with any generator you need to wire and direct hook up you know the the outlets and the appliances to the generator it just so happened that that room is not fully on the generator however again not knowing how long the power outage was going to take the cafeterias were fully functional they would have been able to serve lunch I mean so the the day was certainly continuing and which is why we kept everybody in place and we followed the the schedule as as anticipated I think the projector in the um in the 400 building not necessarily the same priority as as the the cafeteria equipment and me kind of just prioritizing those things thank you Dr McAn um would you like to plug the the plant sale at oh absolutely I know that so for those that that are not aware our FFA program at the high school has their their annual fall plant sale this weekend um I will make sure that those that the Flyers are I don't want to say a time that that isn't accurate um I believe it usually starts around 9:00 that they will make sure those flyers are posted on social media tomorrow the mums are tremendous I mean it thank you very much uh from 9 to 12 on on Saturday the mums are tremendous the plants they have out there it is truly better than than any Super Market any any no offense to any of the local um farmers and nurseries but I mean I certainly think that that ours are are where you should buy them thank you Dr zerman um agenda item 2.05 is content agenda item for the approval of the superintendent reports um at this time Dr zaraman if you'd like to give the committee report for the Personnel committee that occurred recently absolutely so we had we held a uh Personnel meeting uh virtually on September 3rd really just because we knew tonight was going to be the facility store uh so during that that time um we uh Miss Malone um and myself and and uh Dr Stella provided an update on the Staffing where we are now uh as far as we we have everything staffed there's a couple permanent positions that or I'm sorry substitute positions that have not been filled with a permanent person so we're using overages from staff to until we um find those permanent replacements for that uh we talked about the Open Enrollment time this year the the um northern Burlington will go through a qac review which is a quality signal annual uh accountability Continuum um and we are in the third cohort this is our turn to to go around we'll be talking about this at each of the Committees um as well as a timeline it's expected that they typically come sometime in the after the New Year usually probably February March timeline there were a couple policies um for pre-employment policies that we reviewed with the uh Personnel committee these same policies are will be on the the policy agenda the only reason why we brought them to the Personnel committee is because they they dealt with pre-employment we provided a uh project on the the possible needs for the staffing in the 2026 budget again these are just projections right now it may very well be when we get to that point that they may not be needed but we're trying to kind of plan ahead um as well we talked about a couple other items uh specifically the professional ethics training that we had that we brought in for not only the administrators but also all of our staff um during the the flex professional development day that we had the remaining staff that did not participate in August will receive that s training in November uh other than that we talked about the the Extended Learning schedules and many of the things that you heard this evening and that concludes the Personnel agenda thank you uh anyone have any questions on that no um I know we have an upcoming uh policy committee that will be occurring as well as I believe buildings grounds transportation in line with the auditorium stuff as that progresses um they want to have any new business they'd like to uh bring to any of the Committees Mr figs uh you should have got an email from me earlier this evening uh there's a policy item I'd like to add into a discussion for our committee meeting at the end of the month that would be around a a board transparency policy so I provide you I provideed the committee with a a sample and um that we can just kind of start discussions that'd be great yep we'll make sure it's on the policy committee agenda uh any other new business all right um Mr bucks Mr amenti any update on njsba or bcbsa there's nothing okay and the um Frank you want to repeat why of course um the next Northern or the next burlingon County meeting is on the 16th of October so I'll be attending that um but they did not have a meeting for September nor did they have a meeting for uh uh August um I think they're trying to get their act together with some of the the uh leadership as well because that's been open for a while but I haven't seen any uh uh we we'll learn more on the 16th and then the um the de delegate assembly uh this year's second assembly is going to happen on December 7th uh the cut off for any resolutions is actually October 3rd um we could probably have a conversation at some point amongst the whole board as to how that that works but basically it would be if um if we as a board wanted to Advocate that there's some sort of Statewide uh policy position uh that school boards should take we would um draft a local resolution and then send it up to the delegate assembly for a discussion and consideration um and that's that's it so October 3rd is the cut off and December 7th is the actual assembly uh thank you guys very much um at this time I think we're ready for the introduction of the new administrators and teachers absolutely as I ask uh Dr mccan to to and Dr Kars to to come back up um I I know Dr mccan seems like she's been here for a very long time but you are also one of our new administrators as well and we certainly want to to to welcome you even even though you're doing some of the introductions to to welcome you as well and we're we're thrilled to have you so I'm gonna ask all of these folks to okay I'm going to ask all these folks to tell you a little bit about their position and where they went to school so I'm the principal I went to tcj and then a bunch of other places just so you don't feel like um you know skirting the the system um so first we have two newi is assistant principles um the first is Kelvin Ramirez he actually started back in March but kind of still newer um so he's going to go first good evening everyone thank you for having me um as Dr M mccan said I am Kelvin Ramirez I um feel like I've been here forever even though it's just been a few months right uh part of the old regime and very excited to be part of this new regime a lot of amazing things um to look forward to uh in my past I've been an administrator now and this is my fourth year as an administrator before then I taught um social studies and Spanish uh for a little over 10 years um my administrative career started in Philadelphia and I was next door in Burlington Township for the last two years before coming over once again really excited I love everything about Northern uh andman would tell you they have embraced me the student body have and um thank you red uh Kelvin said the bar really high you all don't have to talk that much if you don't want to um next up we have Sandy Cullen who is new to the position of um assistant principal but not new to Northern my name is Sandy I am here just push the button again I think there may be or Susan do you mind putting your microphone is that better okay do okay again I'm Sandy Cullen I am new assistant principal here at Northern I think we're running out of battery perfect thank you okay you know who I am now sorry um I am excited to be here this is not my first rodeo I have been here for 20 years at Northern Burlington as a special education math teacher I've also taught other subjects but it's been like a family here so I'm happy that I can take my next steps in my career here at Northern so I'm really excited we have a good team we are all on the same page we are setting expectations and hopefully just going to even take us to the Next Step so I'm excited to be here thank you all right next we have Nicole armo okay hello everyone as she said my name is H nicoo um originally from Chile so that's why I have the accent uh I'm one of the Spanish teacher here so I'm teaching teaching Spanish um Middle School of Spanish um one and then um native speakers over there as well and Spanish three at the high school um I was teaching in Philadelphia uh but God decided that he wanted me to go somewhere else so I'm here in New Jersey I'm very excited to be part of this new school everything is new for me because I used to teach for 48 minutes and now we're doing 80 so but that's a challenge for me but I like to be challenged and also get to know all the students that I have in my classes so thank you for having me here at this school thank you next we have Anthony Barka hello everybody thanks for having me um my name is Anthony Barka um I've taught in uh Bloomfield I've taught in Patterson for two years this will be my sixth year teaching uh High School science um I've taught fifth and sixth grade 8ighth grade so I've seen the the whole spectrum of Science and how it progresses so I'm excited uh for this school this school seems very well organized and um I'm excited to be here filled with passion ready to to change the uh the physical science class into something that's more lively and uh I also teach physics as well so thanks for having me next we have John coffee good evening thanks for having me I'm John coffee I teach special education at the high school this is my 17th year of teaching but my first here at Northern um throughout my career in Burlington city where I'm coming from I've taught everything from third grade up except for fourth grade so I have a wealth of experience with different grade levels and different subjects and here this year I'm teaching some biology some math and then some social studies as well thank you next up we have Jonathan George uh hi I'm Jonathan George uh I'm the new math teacher here at the high school um I'm actually a northern alumni I graduated from here in 2015 after that uh I went to tcj got my degree uh and since I got my degree been working as the math interventionist here for a couple years and doing some long-term subbing uh but I'm very happy to be a full-time teacher now so thank you and next we have Alex cantero hello everyone my name is Alexandria kingtero I am one of the new Spanish teachers here at the high school I received two of my undergraduate degrees from Jack state in Alabama and then I just recently graduated with my masters from Rowan um therefore it is my first year of teaching I'm really excited to start my career here at Northern Burlington and take advantage of all the resources that they have available thank you those are all the high school folks I just want to say that it is really exciting to see folks who have been other places in their career and have realized that northern's a great place it's exciting to see new teachers that want to come here and it's exciting to see alumni turning here um so I think you'll notice we have a really good mix of new folks here at the high school all right good evening again it's my pleasure now to introduce the new the new Middle School uh teachers first I'd like to introduce Mr Tim merer good evening everyone my name is Tim Maser uh thanks for having me I love this place it's beautiful and wonderful so far um I went to ruter for my undergrad I'm currently in Rowan for my masters uh in my three and a half years teaching I have managed to teach all four course subjects including kindergarten basic skills which was fun so um I'm excited to now be teaching one subject here which is special ed science and I'm loving it so thank you all for having me thank you Mr and next is my pleasure to call up Miss Sarah Moore uh my name is Sara Moore um I went to ruers for my undergraduate degree in English literature um and got my masters at ruers Graduate School of Education um I finished there in 2021 and I've been teaching in north bronswick um so this is my first year in Northern Burlington I'm really excited I love it so far everybody's been really supportive and really great your kids are amazing oh my gosh um but yeah I'm thrilled to be here I'm teaching 8th grade English and rogate 7 um so the gifted and talented program um and I'm just loving it so far so thank you for having me those are the the Middle School teachers Round of Applause for them as well as they they join nor Bron staff want to thank all of them for coming out particularly my middle school teachers they have back to school night in two nights so this is a a busy week for them so thank you very much so having spent just a little bit of time with with the the new staff during their um orientation that which took place a couple weeks ago it's really a great group as as you as you can see the administrators did a great great job finding filling the positions that we had and we we have staff that that are just going to help Propel our district even further uh Dr Stella for the next hey good evening everyone I'm very proud to introduce and present the outstanding instructor of the Year award to Dr Shan Hogs the district was notified in May that Dr Hogs received the Region 4 outstanding instructor of the Year award he is one of three regional winners out of, 1600 instructors worldwide Dr Hogs has helped put Northern Burlington's jotc unit on the map uh we are a unit strong of over 165 cadets at this point uh so much so that nationally recognized uh our strengths by headquarters Air Force jrtc by inviting him to Alabama to help train the next uh Cadre of of new instructors additionally all three of our instructors were uh exemplary um recognized for our exemplary performance as the district earned exceed standards during our unit inspection so congratulations Dr Hogs we are extremely proud of you and the work that you do for Northern Burlington thank you to the board president Dr Zuckerman administrators and uh members in attendant I'd be remissed if I didn't come up here and say a few words uh you read all the accolades and anyone that really knows me I have a former colleague here uh when I was on active duty knows that I'm not going to take credit for anything I want to be clear to the board that award was generated by the incredibly talented students of Northern Burlington they are to receive the credit yes I have a great Cadre and senior master Mark irin Bianca Parker Vivian bender and my advisor from nor uh Northern Burlington Dr Amy Stella but rest assur from year one when we broke the boxes off here to This Moment In Time the credit goes to the cadet core period thank you uh congratulations Dr hogs on behalf of the board um it's a wonderful program and I also wanted to say welcome to all the new administrators and teachers on behalf of the board uh we're happy here here to join us in Northern Burlington yeah yep uh we have a have a motion for a five minute resar motion second all those in favor I I all opposed extensions all right uh we'll return in five minutes thank you take that so second all conratulations very well soce allg and then I bought I don't know that I anything right now [Music] B half hours an hour the other I didn't see it come in do that way powerol s me the I'll up I know so I yeah right um I know think also like hear all of you know because they think like I think it's good the deal and then yeah you can't all do it at once either good ask okay when everyone's ready we'll get ready to resume ch ch all right uh can I please have a motion to return so moved and a second second all those in favor I I all opposed abstentions all right um items on the content agenda are believed to be items of routine nature requiring no disc disc and which are to be voted upon a single roll call vote to the board any single member of the board may have any of the items on the consent agenda removed and placed on the other part of the agenda for discussion merely by so indicating prior to the vote to be taken on the consent agenda items removed from the consent agenda are identified by an asterisk and will be subject to discussion by the full board uh 5.01 is the approval of the work session minutes I just interrupt you real quick oh I apologize you doing public comment yeah I thought Mr Lee had given is there anyone signed up for okay I had looked at that prior to the recess so sorry about that uh 5.02 is approval of the work session minutes from August 5th 2024 5.03 is approval of the regular meeting minutes from August 12th 2024 5.04 is approval of the financial report uh the board secretary for June 2024 5.05 is approval of the treasurers report for June 2024 5.06 is approval of the budget transfers for June 2024 and 5.07 is resolution of the board regarding the budgetary major account fund status uh does anyone have any questions or comments for Section Five all right section six 6.01 is approval of the bill list for September 9th 2024 any questions for Section 6 section 7 uh 7.02 is approval of board and staff travel uh 7.0 three is approval of the professional service agreement 7.04 is approv approval of Professional Services uh 7.05 is approval of change order number one for Arthur J Ogen 7.06 is approval of change order number two for Arthur J ogren and 7.07 is approval of charitable organizations uh any questions for Section 7 section 8 uh 8.02 is approval of the New Jersey commission for the Blind and Visually paired 8.03 and 8.04 are approval of out of District placements uh I'm sorry 8.05 is also approval of out of District placements uh 8.06 is approval of extended school year out of District placements 8.07 is approval of home instruction Services 8.08 is approval of senior late arrival early release for 2425 and 8.09 is approval of the overnight trip to New Jersey state FFA convention uh any questions for Section 8 all right uh section n 9.02 is approval of the high school extracurricular advisors 9.03 is approval of the Middle School extracurricular advisers 9.04 is the approval of additional class assignments 9.05 is the approval of additional class coverage 9.06 is approval of mentors and 9.07 is approval of student teacher placement uh any questions for Section N9 all right uh we have no items for Section 10 or 11 this evening uh section 12 is approval of resignation 12.02 is approval of resignation 12.03 is acceptance of retirement and 12.04 is approval of recision of employment uh any questions for section 12 section 13 uh 13.02 is approval of athletic event rates 13.03 is approval of the black seal stien 13.04 4 is approval of cellular telephone stiens for 2425 and 13.05 is approval of administrative internship uh any questions on Section 13 all right section 14 uh 14.02 is the approval of membership in the Burlington County Scholastic league and 14.03 is approval of membership in the njsiaa uh any questions for section 14 all right uh we have no items in sections 15 and 16 this evening uh section 17 17.02 is approval of the use of facilities for the junior Greyhounds any questions for Section 17 all right um can I get a motion for the consent agenda and a second uh Mr Cass if you could please do a roll call vote Mr Fix really quick discussion motion was Ria and Frank yep you have anything you want removed from consent agenda Joe no um I just had a question back on 1304 that was the approval of uh cellular telephone stiens is that governed by policy or contract you kind of skip by pretty quickly and I didn't get a chance to actually jump in there those are by contract it's by contract okay thank you all right uh then other questions Mr casby could please roll call vote sure n yay yay nay or abstain Please Mr figs yay Mrs Bond yay with the exception I'll abstain of 5.02 duly noted Mr armenante yay with the exception of abstain from 5.03 do noted Mr bucks yes to all Mrs gamble abstain 5.02 and 5.03 everything else right dly noted Mr narwood Mrs Janice y all Mr Spence Mr Zimmer yay all right thank you board motion passes unanimously all right uh Mr Lee if you could check public comment thank you uh ladies and gentlemen this meeting will now be open to the public for comments please note that the board is here to listen the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion accordingly please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns and questions this evening we take your concerns and questions very seriously and want to have sufficient time to allow our Administration to process and research issues if need be we will however respond to your questions concerns at a future meeting or have the proper staff member get back to you at the appropriate time also please note that if your questions or comments pertain to litigation students Personnel or negotiations we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these items in public please please keep in mind that the public comment session is an opportunity for you to share your opinions and remarks with the board and it is not a question and answer session we also recognize that our community may be polarized on some issues we want our school board meeting to serve as an example to our students that each member of the board and Community can deal with controversial issues in a civil Manner and demonstrate mutual respect for everyone's views in that Spirit we ask that all speakers please address their comments to the board directly rather than the audience and all speakers and members of the public show respect for others views and maintain civility during the meeting please state your name Municipality of residence and group affiliation if applicable comments will be limited to 3 minutes per person and the total comment period of 30 minutes only those who have signed up on the public comment signin sheets will be allowed to speak this evening the individual time limits will be enforced so that as many members of the public who wish to speak may be allowed to do so uh Christina drum Christina drum Springfield Township I am a Springfield Township Board of aded member these comments are my comments alone and have no reflection of my board um this will be my last year here at Northern I've I've been attending these meetings consecutively uh since 2020 oh trust me I'm sure I'll get a lot of eye openers like she's still here um I you know time and time again with coming to the meetings and reviewing the agendas uh for the evening one thing that always stands out to me is that there's nothing written in the agenda even if it's just like a bullet point of let's say like you know what your report is or what the principal's report or the Ba's report just little highlights not expecting like you know your full summary of what you give but it would be I think that would be beneficial to the public to know what you know what is going to be discussed you know just a small little highlight so that if it's something that interests you know the public you know it would just be nice to have that um transparency there and then honestly my only other uh comment is the fact that I was here last month's meeting and the bathroom right here in the hallway only has one working sink and it's still that way so I would have thought that that would have been fixed now that we're schools open so if it wasn't known you know hopefully that can get fixed soon considering that we're under only two you know bathrooms and then actually with the whole bathroom you know I do hope that in the near future that we can extend you know that privilege and I'd like to I'm curious to know like how frequently is that going to be visited as far as you know how how are we progressing with that in order to you know move forward thank you so I do want to ask a question now well so the end that's the end of public comment so we'll close public comment now and go ahead and follow now goad make make sure there was someone else waiting I didn't want to jump in so go ahead you're good to go now yeah so I was under the impression that the sup report was on the agenda and it was for public consumption before the meeting I know that was a conversation that we had a while ago and that and and one of the points was how do people know what they should be coming to talk about unless they see what those reports are and I'm sure that's going to go towards the transparency policy that's going to go into effect but I really thought that was resolved a while ago that that information was out there now granted I don't go through through the public site but I always see there's documents for public consumption and then obviously administ you know executive or whatever they call it um but but I thought that was all out there already so after our previous discussions the matter that's what we vote on the next month and as soon as that the board approves that report is when it becomes publicly available we have to approve that report right but the conversation the discussion that I recall having y was the whole point of putting that report out before the meeting was so that the public knew what the hell was going on it doesn't really do you any good a month from now because we've already voted it and accepted it yeah I mean that I guess that was the premise is that to make it public before we approved it at yeah you make it public before you approve it doesn't make sense what's the what's the point of having a meeting for the public it's not a meeting for the public it's a meeting for the board Mr that's the that's the conducting The public's business though it it is and that's why it's given to the public here but until like we have the time to I mean because that's what I think the purpose of us getting the 48 Hours of review time the prior to the board meeting is to to adjust and discuss it and then present it to the full board based on any of those discussions and then the public would hear it at the same time as the full board but it gives the chance for the board to review it ahead of time now that's where we that's where all the discussions went when we had the heavy discussion about publishing it after it was approved and getting it approved we obviously can bring it back to discussion with this this transparency thing but I know that's where we ended with the discussion when we moved forward with even just posting it after it was approved um when we because we realized there were none anywhere for for a year and a half two years postco and that's when we had moved to getting it up the very next meeting as soon as we could so can can I ask Kevin a question go for so Kevin Kevin what do you want to see happen here so because we're going to discuss this kind of think this topic in in the policy committee meeting what what are you what are you thinking so I'm going to go back to when I joined this board um the second time around and my first meeting um with Dr was we talked about things like this and one of the issues was if it could be oid by all means we should put it out there before anybody else has to do that right if if it's in I can understand that there's some information that just is not ready for public consumption yet and that's fine but if it is anything that could ever be requested through the Oprah process we should we should eliminate anybody ever having to do that and it should be just put out there and my recollection was that you were on board with that you thought that was a good idea um I do not remember the dialogue where we said that the supers report wouldn't come out until the next month it may have happened I'm getting old I forget all this stuff all the time mayen but but again I would my my desire would be anything and everything that could we could share I mean really think back when was the last time there was something in a super report that that we had to strike the report I mean he he reads it out loud at the meeting you know oh yeah I mean so it's kind of late then it's just that nobody got to hear hear it before they came to the meeting yeah so my my position is that should be put out there right away and and if anybody in the public has an issue with something there then they can even go through the regular chain you know maybe maybe reaching out to him you know not having to come to the meeting or whatever but I don't know I think the more information we can put out the better the better for everybody yeah go Mrs yeah I have followup question to that so is it standing practice amongst uh Boards of Education that the superintendent and building level reports from principles has to be approved by the board or is that a local decision or can I don't know if anyone can comment on that I believe I know the the principal level reports aren't don't we don't have to approve those those are uh look and see if they're part of the superintendent report they're all consider subset so maybe that's what it is because I know I know the Bas is obviously different and that one has some of the what it would be considered non that stuff that have to be stricken from the record so to speak which is the Bas but the superintendent and yeah the the principal reports wouldn't principal reports of course wouldn't and I guess I me what we can do is we have the separate sections items that would have to be for some reason super report not public would have to just be split to the executive content or administrative content but I mean yeah that's very easy to bring to our next policy committee uh Sue do you have yeah I was just going to say most um board boards that have superintendent NBA reports um officially they do approve them at at every meeting right that's are they made public prior to the meeting they are not but I don't think that's legal or could required right so I mean it would really depend on what you're including in those reports and I think they are different for every board on what they determine to put in those reports yeah and and you know just I I did recall during the discussion because I I do recall parts of that discussion that it's the first time that many of us on the board are seeing that actual information for the first time so um you know and then we have the time to review it and then discuss it as a board so um that just came to my my recollection I have a question so is there any um unacceptable burden in putting even just the bullet points of what are in the report like the high level no that's and that's I know what Mr drum suggestion was and that's I mean Joe's suggestion in the transpar is EXA exactly this discussion is making sure you know I know we've I know we've added a lot of the attachments to public content that were never there a few years ago you know everything was administrative um you know students and Personnel matters have to stay in the in the private content and that's why you know the public when they sign in won't see those but I know if you look at the reports all of those are there for the public comment I think none of them ever used to be um but yeah that's absolutely what the the suggested uh policy committee agenda item that Mr Buck shared is is that uh what what we're putting up there and how we're doing it and yeah maybe that's it you know these are the topics for discussion you know that'll be presented at the board and maybe that provides the public some leeway as to hey we're talking about these 10 things you know the information all be provided Monday you know at the meeting and then the reports will give us some of the details we'll be able to review the details ask our questions and then the full detail can be given in the presentations maybe that's the we'll move does that seem reasonable Mr Zimmer to the policy committee like in that direction I mean yeah I have confidence in the policy committee to have the discussion and to make the recommendation to the full board okay yeah so that will go right in line with what what Mr bucks suggested in the transparency discussion is is and that's one of the discussions yeah is which making sure the right items all have the attachments that are visible you know I know there's been a focus on making sure more of those are included in there um like I said I think you know as a year few years ago there were almost all in the administrative content I know the ones that can be moved have been moved towards the public comment but yeah with the you know principal reports obviously those are usually updates on the school so I don't see why those couldn't have a lot of the information to the public and they said evaluating what level we put out for the superintendence reports shouldn't be an issue you know just a matter of figuring out the details of how how we want to do it and how we want to make sure the board knows it's being done so we know if stuff's kept and I hadn't intended this was going to be a discussion tonight um but what Kevin and I we had we had kind of the sidebar during the uh during the recess and and we the spirit I think of of what I propose to be referred into the policy committee is just that right for us as a board to be on the same page about what our expectations are as to what's going to be published for the consumption by the public generally again with the idea that um you know again we're transacting the business of the public the more that we can do to inform them prior to the meeting so they can make a determination on whether or not want to come to a meeting and voice an opinion um you know they they need some of this documentation in order to do that and that's I think that's really kind of Christina where I was going to go with when we started to have that additional sidebar as well I mean the goal I think it was a little over a year ago we realized we should move the superintendence reports ahead of public comment because public comment was coming up and discussing items that were going to be talked about in five minutes so that's one of the reasons we even just shifted that stuff so the public could hear the reports before they gave comments on items they were going to be answered and used their minutes when they didn't need to so it's all in that tweaking and figuring out the best way to make things operate and it's funny to say that cuz actually when we were having this the beginning of this discussion I actually took a note here to say you know do we need to actually take a look back at the public comment policy as well you know we have this we had this procedure today that everybody signs up you know is there an opportunity for here because of the discussion that happens amongst the Border prior to the either the first public comment or second public comment someone might might actually want to make a comment that they didn't sign up for for so do we just you know at the at the closing of the public comment before we actually close it you know do you as board president say is there anyone else that didn't sign up that would like to make a comment again with that idea of kind of opening that up because there's a dynamic environment here right there's discussion that happens and someone might want to have might want to say something from the public yeah so I don't know if we kick that into the policy committee as well as another topic or not evaluate it yeah I mean that one comes up in a few of the policy committee meetings so the the public comment one of course can be reviewed okay so all right thanks yeah um so future dates um as mentioned there'll be a pol a virtual policy committee meeting coming up I know the the date's not set for that uh same with the buildings grounds Finance Transportation I know that's based upon the uh the auditorium as it progresses um we have our October 7th work session um October 15th regular meeting um does anyone have any old business that they want um for those meetings to be looked into or anything by superintendent no all right um we have no executive session this evening uh can I have a motion forour moved in a second all those in favor I I all opposed abstentions right uh have a great night everyone so so