##VIDEO ID:DPBF37BVS00## public meetings act with adequate notice provided as follows notice sent to the Berlin County Times in the times of Trenton on December 12th 2024 notice filed with the township Clerks of Chesterfield Mansfield North Hanover and Springfield townships on December 12th 2024 and the notice of the annual meetings advertised in the burin county times and the times of Trenton on January 7th 2024 I would now I ask every to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a Moment of Silence all right with the uh reorganization meeting the regular meeting will follow the uh conclusion of this meeting so uh we'll take care of the reorganization business um we have reports uh report on the results of the annual election uh it's attached to the uh agenda if anybody wants to look at it it's issued by the county it's also on their website um we had three positions um available three threeyear terms and I'm happy to inform the public that uh Paul narwood and Christa applicate from Mansfield Township uh has been elected to uh their two two threeyear terms and Jerry Spence who cannot be with us tonight uh three-year term representing Chesterfield at this time I would like to call both Christa and Paul um to the microphone to read the oath of office and we'll swear them in you'll go first because you're you're V okay I Paul narwood do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and in this State under the authority of the people so help me God I Paul Nar do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of the Board of Education and I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God thank you yeah I Christa appat do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the con ution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under authority of the people so help me God I Chris applicate do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of Board of Education and I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God just stand there and pretend you're reading it welcome to the port Mr Le you're G to share those pictures thank you let play better repeat after yes yes only took 20 something years all right I will now call Ro Mr figs present Mrs Bond present Mrs applicate present Mr arm manente here Mr bucks present Mr narwood here Mrs Janice present Mr Zimmer here all right and Miss P Pierre is not here so all right thank you very much uh Now we move to the election of the officers um I will call for nominations of the office of board president no second is necessary at the close of nominations I will take a roll call vote of each member asking you to State your election for board president if there is only one nomination I will conduct a v a Voice vote of yay nay or abstention so at this time is there anybody that wishes to nominate um election of President I nominate Mike fix any others no others um nominations are closed and I will call a roll call vote yay nay or abstain Mr figs yay Mrs Bond Mrs applicate y Mr Armin yay Mr bucks Mr narwood yay Mrs Janice yay and Mr Zimmer y all right thank you very much turn it over to you uh Mr figs thank you I will call for nominations now for the office of board vice president uh no second is necessary the close of nominations the board secretary will take a roll call vote of each member asking you to State your selection for board vice president if there is only one nomination the board secretary will conduct a Voice vote of yay nay or abstentions uh can I open the floor for nomination for vice president I'd like to nominate Bond right are there any other nominations all right with that the nominations will close U Mr Cass if you could please conduct The Voice vote sure yay nay or abstain Mr figs yay Mrs Bond yay Mrs Abate Mr arm manente yay Mr bucks Mr narwood yay Mrs Janice yay Mr Zimmer all right all right thank you motion passes unanimously congratulations right um at this time we will go through the appointments um so 3.02 is appointment of the title 9 affirmative action officer 3.03 is appointment of the 504 officer 3.04 is appointment of the ambulance provider 3.05 is Appo appointment of the anti-bullying Specialists 3.06 is is appointment of attorney 3.07 is appointment of special education attorney 3.08 is appointment of bond council 3.09 is appointment of professional negotiator 3.10 is appointment of auditor 3.11 is approval of the engineer civil 3.12 is approval of engineer mechanical 3.13 is appointment of financial adviser 3.14 appointment of medical inspectors 3.15 appointment of chemical hygiene officer 3.16 appointment of child protect protection and permanency liaison 3.17 is appointment of custodian of Records 3.18 is appointment of the harassment intimidation and bullying coordinator 3.19 is appointment of the health insurance broker 3.20 is appointment of the homeless liaison 3.21 is appointment of indoor Quality Air officer 3.22 is appointment appointment of integrated Pest Management officer 3.23 is appointment of public agency compliance officer 3.24 is appointment of right to know officer 3.25 is appointment of the school safety specialist 3.26 is appointment of the surrogate parent coordinator 3.27 is appointment of treasure uh can I get a motion for section for items in section three I'll make a motion can I get a second second second um at this time and like to open section three for any discussion if anyone has any questions on any of the the items I had a question on 3.24 pardon me um the right to know is that the right to know about chemicals and and the the chemical information released employees yes it is thank you uh any other questions all right Mr Cass if you could please do a roll call vote sure Mr pigs uh yay to all accept an extension on 3.11 Mrs Bond yes Mrs applicate yes Mr arm manente yes Mr bucks uh no on 3.07 and yes on arrest Mr narwin yes Mrs Janice yes Mr Zimmer yes all right thank than you board motion passes great thank you section four uh 4.02 is the official newspapers 4.03 is the annual meeting notice 4.04 is the depositories and authorized signatures on warrants 4.05 is the resolution of investment 4.06 is read-option of Charter of or chart of accounts um can I get a motion for section four I'll make a motion for section four second all right uh any questions or comments on any items in section 4 all right Mr Mr one quick question on uh 405 the resolution of investment are there um and the SE goes Mr Cass are there particular guidelines that are specified in statute on what those Investments can be yes okay is that something I can follow up with you later I'm curious as to what those are and maybe if we uh I don't know what our return's been like but maybe we got some additional options there I'm very good at getting the most we can out of the money I'm sure you are it's also it's also part of education for me too absolutely awesome thank you uh any other questions or comments right Mr Cass if you could please do a roll call vote for section four okay Mr figs yay to all Mrs Bond yes Mrs applicate yes Mr aente yes Mr bucks yes Mr narwood yes Mrs Janice yes and Mr Zimmer yes all right thank you motion passes right uh section five uh 5.02 is the read-option of the existing policies bylaws and regulations 5.03 is read-option of existing curriculum and textbooks 5.04 is the annual ethics statement 5.05 is the authority to offer employment contracts 5.06 is the authority to pay routine bills and 5.07 is the approval of budget transfers uh can I get a motion for Section Five I'll make a motion all right and a second second all right uh any questions or comments on Section Five all right Paul was Paul was the first second Tino was second y um all right Mr C if you could do a roll call vote for Section Five certainly Mr fig yay Mrs Bond yes Mrs applicate yes Mr Arman ente yes Mr bucks yes Mr narwood yes Mrs Janice yes Mr Zimmer yes all right thank you motion passes unanimous all right uh that concludes the reorg meeting can I get a motion for adjournment so moved second all right all those in favor I all opposed extensions all right uh that concludes the the reorg meeting um we'll take a very short break before we start the next meeting in case use the bathroom photos potentially you get a photo the family oh I think they left no all right uh we'll start the regular meeting in about five minutes okay you got good pictures did you get yeah oh yeah I sent him a b get too old have a good break fun yeah they are they're really good special to the family or justel ch e e e e e e e e e almost 30 students no 27 students less than the other grades well it's the grade 11 or none of them have advice about that's true all right so we're going to start the regular uh meeting and the regular session uh of the northern burin County Regional School District is hereby called to order this meeting is called in conformance with the open public meeting act with adequate notice provid provided as follows again notice sent to the brillin county times and the times of Trenton on December 12th 2024 notice filed with the township Clerks of Chesterfield Mansfield North Hanover and Springfield townships on December 12th 2024 and notice of annual meetings advertised in the Brin County Times and the times of Trenton on January 7th 2024 I will call Ro once again Mr figs president Mrs Bond present Mrs applicate present Mr armant present Mr bucks present Mr narwood present Mrs Janice present Mr Zimmer here and Miss Pierre all right uh we will forgo the Pledge of Allegiance in a moment of silence because we did that in the reord meeting so we'll jump to correspondents Mr figs thank you Mr Cass has any Board of Education member received Schoolboard related emails Andor correspondences that have not yet been shared with the superintendent all right uh Dr zuckman if you'd like to give your superintendence report please thank you so much um as as Mr um Cass just uh reported that um Miss Pierre is not able to be here tonight however I'm going to uh provide some of her report that she shared with us um starting with some sports that are going on in the in the district the northern Burlington boys basketball team team is currently holds a 1 and3 overall record with a 0 And1 standing in the BC bcsl the Patriot division their lead their season began on a high note with a commanding 60 to 37 victory over Lynwood on December 17th showcasing their potential and setting an optimistic tone for the season for girls basketball the girls had a commanding victory over over rankokus Valley 66 to 42 which had some people talking about what the hounds are capable of doing this season and a shout out and a shut out victory over winter break against lindal Lind wal and Bordentown for wrestling coach Stinson has high expectations for this year's group yes there are some standouts but just an overall solid roster coach Stinson believes that will get them to the finals again this year with an opening Victory against against against cross town Rivals bordon toown 61 to10 the hounds are off to a great start start winner track while there are definitely some teams continuing to work outside you can count the winner track team in this discussion I'm assuming that's before today it's been nothing but practice practice practice right now the winter track team but soon that will change on January 8th when the team gets their first battle test inside the bubble at Tom's River for the sjtca number 10 trials for the bowling team despite some out- of thegate losses the boys the boys team was able to scratch out a uh bowling win against the stem Civics and the girls have managed to stay close to 500 to 500 winning percentage against some of those same juggernauts bless you for the swimming the co-ed team has had some successful runs over the past few years under coach Tesco um setting some new personal records and school and School Achievements for the Post in the postseason they opened up against Sterling and cinamon with some commanding victories for the clubs and activities eight Northern Burlington students were success were accepted into the Rowan Rowan University windfest honors band which is an an intensive event for the select High School musicians from throughout New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware and New York some band members participated in these festivities to honor our Ed to honor the educators of the year by playing the entrance tune that began the presentation they also performed at the crosswick tree lighting ceremony and finally presented uh presented at their Winter concert on December 12th the Esports club during December the East Sports Club hosted several free-to-play events during the during the opportunity period in after school providing students with the opportunity to stay and enjoy gaming together they also kicked off their winter season in the garden State's Esports League where they will compete against the local high schools in Street Fighter and OverWatch the season the this season they're proud to have 12 competitive players supported by an enthusiastic club membership so and that concludes uh Miss Pier's report as we know uh making today we had a a we were in session where many of the school districts in the county were were closed due to the snow making the the call to close school or to stay open during a snow emergency is never an easy decision today's decision to remain open was not was not the popular decision but it was the right decision for Northern Burlington please know that it takes a lot of people to gather the necessary information to be able to make the decision whether or not we will close or remain open the safety of our students and our staff will always remain our top priority I would like to thank the maintenance and custodians for making sure that our facilities remain prepared before before during and after the the weather and the transportation department for making sure that our students were transported safely both to school and home I'm proud to work with such an amazing team in the past we've discussed parking on campus we have recently discussed a plan for the high school juniors to be able to um for some of the high school juniors to be able to park on campus at that time when we discussed this previously I I shared that this would be discussed in the future I've been working with the High School administration to come up with a plan to Pilot a select number of Juniors to park on campus should this go on as planned it could be something we continue in the future the number of Juniors who are permitted to park on campus would depend on the number of seniors who request parking permits with the current number of seniors who have requested parking permits we would like to offer 60 Juniors the opportunity to drive to school in the past few years we have not had more than 10 students request parking permits for seniors after the start of the second markting period as I shared with you previously when this was discussed it is important that all students are given an opportunity to participate not just a group of students because they have an early birthday any Juniors who would like to apply to park on campus would have to meet the same criteria set forth for the seniors the following information was shared with the community Relations Committee for their feedback the committee supports moving forward with this and sharing this information with the full board I am asking for your feedback after you hear this please feel free I will also send you a follow-up email so you have this in front of you but please feel free to to provide me with any comments suggestions that you have for the plan as far as the plan the information will be shared with the junior class and their parents about a lottery to provide parking to selected 11th grade students the lottery is proposed to have 30 spots for the for the students to obtain parking on campus this that is the initial part of the lottery there's also a plan for an additional lottery for 15 spaces that would take place in March and a third Lottery that would take place around spring B spring break that would allow for the total of 60 Juniors to receive permission to park on campus this plan this plan allows students with birthdays later in the year the opportunity to park on campus as well interested students would have to meet the criteria of having a valid driver's license regist ation insurance and available car they would also be required to adhere to the same requirements that are in place under the parking and motor vehicle on school ground section of the high school handbook if selected they would be asked to pay $15 for parking for the parking fee as indicated in the current procedures students who receive their parking pass after the first semester the end of January would pay $15 which is half of the regular fee should the pilot go as intended we would we would set up a similar plan for the 20252 school year with a slightly varied timeline we would obviously keep the community relations committee updated on the pilot as well as providing feedback to the full board that concludes my report as I said I will share that information about the parking plan with the board in writing and I ask for your feedback so you don't really want feedback now right I'm happy to take it if you well I was just curious if there was going to be anything like tied to a GPA or their involvement in extracurricular activities like after school activities or anything like that that those people may have you know H or or that you should at least meet some of those standards before being put into the pool the lottery at Great point I will certainly take that back to the team to to review that but that that is a great point it's not something that we have done before for the seniors it's been any senior who applies all right I do know like I had kids that went to this school and I knew that well we didn't have anywhere near as much parking as we have now and so you know they they actually buddied up they had somebody else that they would have to you know team with and um any we can talk about it offline but oh good suggestion no I this is um it's a great update um I'm fully in support of us getting our students parking on campus uh to the extent that we can and uh looking forward to to the progress you make here so thank you this is I know there's been some concerns from parents that I've heard certainly over the past year and this is this is certainly great thanks you know one thing that that um the swimmers wanted to ask was because they have such crazy hours they you know they they the two things that we're wondering was that there's an ability for some of the Juniors um to be able to get parking spots um or have some sort of a stipulation that allows them to get to school a little bit uh later because of the timing of when practice starts for them and then when they uh by it's impossible for them to get to school on time because of that um I think they brought it up with the principal but um just something to consider in the future um for those type of students where parking something like that would be helpful to them assuming like with your point like if grades are good and and um and that they're in good standing Etc but so I see the nodding from Dr mccan that that they have had a conversation so I'll certainly follow up with Dr MCC to kind of circle all all of this together as well okay cool any other comments or questions on superintendent report all right uh Mr Cass if you could please provide us with your business administrator's report certainly thank you yeah there's several things one is um you know following the reor meeting every every year we uh survey the board as to what your top committees uh will you would like to be a a member of so there is a uh Google form interest form in my report so if you could take the time to fill that out it it will better help us uh and Mr figs um construct uh the committee membership also on the agenda this month is the acceptance of our annual audit um pleased to inform uh the board that there were no fin findings in the audit uh the audit was a very healthy um uh healthy financial position uh capital reserve is at over 13 million uh impact Aid Reserve is over 9 million and the UN unassigned fund balance is 2.3 million so in addition to that our proprietary funds also did very well our food service still has uh a healthy fund balance Transportation fund Enterprise fund uh which helps um replace buses and buy Transportation equipment is is very healthy uh the adult school which includes driver's education uh and uh replaces the driver headed cars and helps support um that program again is also uh healthy as well as our technology Enterprise fund which helps keep uh our internet connection safe and Speedy so uh you can see all these reports attached to my report also uh for the public view there is a synopsis on our website so if anybody's interested uh you can go and uh and pull that up through a hyperlink um on Northern burlington.com webbsite um in addition to that uh uh we are moving forward with uh soliciting bids for a lease purchase of a synthetic turf field which will be placed in the 2026 budget again uh this is just a uh resolution to uh allow us to go out to bids not necessarily award the bid or to install the turff but it's uh the first step in the process also I'm pleased to uh inform the board that um we raised over $122,500 for the New Jersey employee charitable campaign uh typically the month of October November and part of December um we give our public employees the opportunity to contribute to a multitude of Charities through the convenience of payroll deductions and again every year um we've been increasing our contributions and our generosity so it's a very proud moment for us uh with the achievement and knowledge that we are playing an important role in helping people in our community in the nation and around the world so I uh again thank the board for their support of this worthwhile charity also I'd be remissed if I didn't remind the board that we're in the the middle of budget season uh so uh everybody is busy entering budgets and we're uh tabulating um the budgets we're uh calculating the personnel and benefits budgets and so uh there is a uh budget development manual um that board members could uh um reference it does provide the board budget assumptions that were agreed to in November as well as the timelines and so um typically the governor makes a state of the fund address at the end of February so we're thinking we'll get our state aid numbers in like around March 2nd and then uh at the March 17th meeting approved the tenative budget to submit to the state for their review and then uh after their review hold a public hearing uh in May and adopt the budget for the 2026 uh school year so again anybody has any questions on the budget process please feel free to give me a call that concludes my report thank you other any questions or comments from Mr Gass I have one um I noticed on the report you mentioned that the um p uh Food Services was out of or over budget any particular reason why or anything we can do to help or well over budget is is not an accurate description okay um their fund balance is uh exceeds the allowable amount that we're allowed to keep so when we generate money from the Food Service program it stays with the food service program so we've been updating and buying new equipment that replaces older equipment so um we're only allowed to keep like three times the um monthly expenditures and so we're about $76,000 over so it's not significant but um you know we always find ways to improve um our services and so uh that's how so the money's got to be put back into the program and that's uh how we do it got it thank you for the explanation thank you all right uh thank you um item 2.03 is consent agenda item approval of the hi reports 2.04 is approval of the superintendent reports um at this time obviously the Committees are in chuffle and will be uh reassigned uh after everyone completes the the survey um we have no reports there's no uh additional committee meeting since our last meeting and all the reports were given at the last meeting um I will hold off on delegate reports I know Mr Buck is in here I believe you don't have anything to add yeah so um we can touch base pack on that in our February meeting um Mr Lee are there any public comment for agenda items no all right thank you we will now move on the consent agenda uh items on the consent agenda are believed to be items of routine nature requiring no discussion 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 section five 5.02 is approval of the regular meeting minutes from December 9th 2024 5.03 is approval of the cafeteria report for the month of November 2024 and 5.04 is the resolution of board regarding the budgetary major account fund status uh any questions or comments for Section Five all right uh section six is approval of bills we have approval of the bill list for January 6 2025 any questions on Section six all right section seven uh business and financial 7.02 is recognition of njsba school board recognition month 7.03 is acceptance of the 2324 Financial audit 7.04 is resolution authorizing equipment lease purchase transaction for turf field and 7.05 is approval of submission of amended Esa application uh any questions or comments for Section 7 all right section 8 is students uh 8.02 is approval about of District placements 8.03 is approval of early graduation student and 8.04 is approval of home instruction Services any questions for Section 8 right uh section n is Personnel appointments 9.02 is approval of certificated appointment 9.03 is approval of additional class assignments and 9.04 is approval of high school extracurricular advisor uh any questions on Section N9 all right uh we have no items for Section 10 this evening uh section 11 is leave of absence 11.02 is approval of the leaves of absence any question on Section 11 right uh section 12 is separation of employment 12.02 is acceptance of retirement 12.03 acceptance of retirement and 12.04 is approval of termination um any questions or comments on section 12 right uh we have no items in section 13 this evening uh section 14 program um 14.03 is approval of the 2526 school calendar 14.04 is approval of the chronic absence action plan 14.05 is approval of the student teach rep placement 14.06 is approval of student teach rep placement 14.07 is approval of the athletic Hall of Fame nominees and 14.08% agenda items in section 14 all right uh 14.02 is non-consent agenda item the approval of the qac equivalency waiver application uh can I get a motion for 14.02 I like a motion second all right um are there any questions or comments or discussion regarding 14.02 all right um all right all those in favor of 14.02 yeah all right all opposed extensions all right uh 14.02 passes anonymously um we have no items in section 15 no items in section 16 uh no items in section 17 um can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda make a motion to accept the consent agenda second Laura Tina Tina okay um Mr Cass if you can please do a roll call vote for the consent agenda yay n Mr figs yay Mrs Bond yay Mrs applicate yes yay Mr arm manente yes Mr bucks Mr narwin yes Mrs Janice yes Mr Zimmer yes all right thank you board motion passes all right um Mr Lee public comment 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 and 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 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 Schoolboard 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 dur during the meeting please state your name Municipality of residents 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 Tara Klein please hi my name is Tyra kleene I live at seven Wildflower Court in Columbus and I'm a parent here at Northern Burlington uh good evening board members and community members on uh 1216 2024 in the 400 hallway around 1 p.m my daughter was violently assaulted by another peer during a class period from our understanding The Assault was unprovoked and premeditated as evidenced by the social media post by the as salant seeing that my daughter and her attacker had no prior interactions this aggravated assault could have happened to any child in the building therefore I implore everyone here tonight and all of the community members to please obtain a video of this attack and watch it if um so that you can understand the severity of the attack the video should be available via Oprah and common law as parents the administration including the superintendent attempted to deny our rights to have access to the video and stated that they would not provide any Student Records the administration cited furpa as the rationale as to why they could not provide this information but they are incorrect In denying our access to this we have not yet been provided with these school records but we did have an opportunity to view the horrifying video in a face-to-face meeting with Dr Zuckerman so until you were able to do so please let me provide a brief recap of what I observed the attack happened quick it did not allow my daughter to get away the as salent quickly exited the classroom and began punching my daughter in the face after several strikes to the head and body she grabbed my daughter threw her against the lockers and then she fell to the floor the attacker then mounted my daughter and began striking her in the face over and over in one opportunity that I had to view it I counted at least 17 strikes to the head and face as another student thankfully was pulling the asent off the asent kicked my daughter in the face all my daughter could do was cover her head and roll up in a ball while trying to protect her head and face the best she could she is a student my daughter um with a 504 due to several diagnosed disabilities including generalized anxiety disorder the majority of time her time here at Northern Burlington is she has been an honor student has worked very hard to achieve her success she told us that she was afraid to fight back because she would get kicked out of National Honor Society and didn't want to get into trouble here in the school she sustained a concussion and she is extremely traumatized as a result of her attack she never loved being in this building but now she is afraid to enter the school and fears her safety she wants to get back into the building to continue her education and ensure her own success but she has been able to unable to do so since the attack we've been communicating almost daily with Dr Zuckerman and the school administrators to determine a plan that would enable her to get back into this building after the attack while protecting her mental health maximizing her safety and minimizing the attack um the impact that this will have on her grades and her education after many Communications with Dr Zuckerman we have not received an adequate Plan and there's been no consideration given to ensure her physical safety let alone the safety of all all other students here in Northern Burlington High School our daughter has the right to return to a building where she can feel physically safe her education mental health and safety are our priorities all of these things need to be in place for her to return appropriate actions need to be taken Board of Ed members I implore you to dig deep into this situation and ensure that the administration is doing their job and ensure all other students in this building are safe thank you thank you Mrs P uh Amanda Klein I'm daughter in case we didn't put that together um I live at seven wild fler with her okay 3 minutes is not nearly enough time to explain the horrors of the past 3 weeks that has landed me multiple trips to the hospital multiple phone calls with a therapist and leaving me out of school for what is going to be eight days in the middle of my junior year as what some say is the most important year of your high school career if you have not already met me through the word of mouth of your own kids or Facebook I'm Amanda Klein on the Monday of December 16th 2024 right before winter break I was physically assaulted in the hall always of this school my school a school that pledges to parents and students who are the who are part of the school district that students will receive a strong academic education as well as being safe yet safety is not the concern of the administration when it when it comes to my attack instead it seems to me that they are worried about protecting themselves as well as the rights of my attacker while compromising my own in a mix of countless emails between my parents and the school district my parents have asked how the school plans to keep me safe upon return in the sorry in return the school has responded with we will keep this plan fluid based on Amanda's needs she'll meet her she will meet with her guidance counselor first thing every morning Amanda will have a weekly discussion with our at risk counselor we will provide an after school instruction tutoring and to let the school know if we have any other and that we should let the school know if we have any other suggestions in this return to school plan there was no mention of safety on how the school plans on keeping me safe in this environment and keeping me away from further contact with my attacker my parents responded with how are you going to keep Amanda safe and keep her away from the student that attacked her with that the school responded that they could not share any details revolving my attacker's discipline schedule or attendance so as a student with generalized anxiety disorder depression as well as ADHD I'm not I'm not allowed to know if my attacker will will still be in my class with the most recent email from the superintendent seating I believe we have recommended a solid plan that will allow her to touch base with her guidance counselor first thing every morning once again I ask that you please let me know if you have any other suggestions for the return to school plan my personal suggestion tell me if I'm going to have to walk past the person who violently attacked me hit me at least 17 times in the head kicked me in the face in the school hallway every day or if I'm going to have to see the student during lch periods which is basically a free-for-all walk to the bus with the fear of her attacking me as I'm trying to walk to my bus to get home safely or better yet if I'm going to have to sit in a class with a student for an 80 minute period I feel helpless I plan on becoming a pediatric doctor but how can I get the chance to do that if I canot even attend my own high school due to safety issues how will I receive the education that is supposed to be the stepping stone to my future if I cannot receive this education safely I want to be heard and this is me using my voice once again I feel helpless thank you Amanda u l Klein my name is luk line I also live at s Wildflower Court I want to thank the board members for putting your time in here here I know it's thankless and obviously attendance is minimal so I also want to thank my daughter's support group all her friends parents and the other people that have supported my daughter's education she pretty much said it all my most recent exchange with Dr Zuckerman he said I assure you that attack like this would never happen again all I'm asking for is the specific instead of speaking in generalities I want specifics in how you were going to protect my child she shouldn't have to encounter that person again in any of her classes what things are you going to do to protect her she's was the one that had her rights violated that's what I'm frustrated about that's why we're here this evening I implore you guys ask to see that video as a parent if it's my daughter's record I'm saying publicly I authorize you to see that video so you understand the impact of what it did watching it the first time it brought myself and my wife to tears my daughter hasn't seen it yet the second time through I would sat there and counted the the strikes to my daughter's head that's not fair you sat there with us you listened and I told you I'd give you an opportunity and you're failing that's why I'm here it needs to do more ensure her safety in writing specifically details not generalities thank you thank you Mr Klein Samantha colleti hi my name is Samantha klei I just wanted to bring it to attention that three of us in the audience right now have all experienced attacks in the school and none of us feel like the school handled it properly I know after my attack I didn't feel safe walk through the school I had multiple girls who are threatening to beat me up and it I have anxiety it really took a toll on my mental health my best friend she was attacked she can't even attend school anymore it really took a toll on her mental health and the attackers it seems like they're getting away with it and I haven't seen anything change I graduated 2024 um I know people all through all years of the high school and I feel like nobody really feels safe and welcomed in their own school which they should I know I didn't and I thought it was a personal issue and clearly it's not I didn't necessarily like how the school handled my attack I don't necessarily like how it handled my friend's attacks um and I just don't think that it's really I don't know a good thing for students to be scared to come into their own high school thank you thank you Diane klei I get emotional I'm really sorry um I'm from Mansfield my name's Diane klei uh one of my daughters was the girl who just spoke and the other one is a junior um I feel like I never got a straight answer either from anyone involved um it kept my daughter Samantha out of National Honor Society in her junior year um and I was flat out told by you that there wasn't anything that could be done um in the meantime the kids were orchestrating these attacks and carrying them out seemed to have no repercussions whatsoever um the three attacks that my daughter talked about happened in three different ways and each of the victims handled it a different way and it didn't matter um I just don't understand how they're supposed to learn and get what they're supposed to get out of high school when they have to constantly look over their shoulder and be worried I guess that's it thank you Jessica klei okay thank you that'll close public comment um thank you all for speaking um and to the the students former students I know it's very difficult to stand up in front of a room full of adult strangers so um you know great job being able to you know stand up here and speak for yourself um we do appreciate hearing from everyone Mr Mrs Klein I will be back in touch with you so thank you all right um this time uh section 20 we have um the uh board retreat on January 28th um you know uh the new committees will be assigned uh in the coming weeks um does anyone have any old business they'd like sent back to a committee or to Dr zuckman or Mr Cass or any new business they'd like to refer I have uh just one thing um over the break I noticed having Dro my kids off to school and pick them up have we ever um a lineup to the school is um I'm just not gonna I'm just going to say that it's out of control um have we ever considered any of our um officers um maintaining traffic or something like that in the morning has there been ever any discussion around that um the reason I ask is that it it just seems like we have an opportunity to consider um a way to mitigate that traffic in and out of the parking lots in the morning and and definitely in the afternoon I'm just curious if it's ever clun brought up in the past or if we've talked about it so I could I could address this because I I've been here for 20 something years um we've hired Traffic Engineers uh we've spoken to the police um our our SRO are not here to direct traffic so um if we were to get somebody we we'd have to further explore uh that relationship and that cost um we can always improve on what we do um and you know based on you know the traffic study that was completed probably 10 12 years ago uh it's it's it's inevitable um that you're going to get a lot of traffic uh in a short amount of time there um so when when you say out of control I I would need to better understand what you're referring to I mean is it in the driveway it in the parking lot I mean we did set up barriers um that may have not been as effective as they were initially uh for uh the parent drop off Lane versus the student parking yeah um but yeah we we always look at ways to improve uh the traffic flow and the safety of of all our staff and students arriving all virtually at the same time I'm just using jargon um being Italian we tend to use words like out of control and whatnot so please excuse that I guess really it's more of what are the opportunities to make that flow better um considering a couple members of our of Mansfield's um Town committee used to be on this board I'm sure they can appreciate uh the challenges as well maybe we have an opportunity to talk to them and the chief of police of being able to potentially help us out or something that they could do from from that standpoint if our SRO are not allowed to do any type of um work like that so there and just a couple other things I know that that the high school administration and their team are are looking at this on a regular basis even just recently they removed some of the cones allowing students to go right into their spots instead of traveling around and just kind of make it more direct some of those things seem to help um we've even talked about flipping some where people Park I mean so there there's a variety of things that have been suggested what's what's kind of puzzling is that some days there's no issue and then some days it's like I think I I come in and I'm backed up way past Island Road yeah I mean so I mean it it really depends on day it also depends if I'm like four minutes later than what I I typically am then it kind of I'm back by Island Road if I'm on time then I'm kind of through there with with no worries yeah I I I I I'm assured that everyone's looked at it it just seems to me like the only opportunity might be if there's some way to have um a traffic person to be able to administrate it so maybe it's something we could bring up to Marshall and and uh and the crew at Mansfield uh if they'd be willing to offer us or at least try it right see if that if that if that uh helps at all and if it doesn't it doesn't um but I can just say that the experience and I'm not sure you know we' probably got some people out here that have driven it's it's just um yeah it's a lot of traffic yeah I I I drove in one morning um before Christmas pick up Point seta and it was raining and I was backed up all the way by the lake but it it moved it's not ideal I think a lot of parents do Drive their kids in when it's raining um but I I don't know you know the long-term Solutions but I think it's just kind of looking at ways that we can be creative with the space that we have and then maybe looking at some longer term goals uh eventually but um I also considered right you know the road where the kids walk from uh figured if I park my car there I could charge them a dollar each to drive them over to the school right found down little road I could probably make a couple I'll give it back to the school I'm kidding kidding joking I'm hopeful we're hopeful with maybe this the junior party that eliminates that so you may it out of business I I and I that really wasn't the issue I just thought maybe there's a way that we could get Mansfield to help and I'd be willing to reach out to Marshall and those guys and and see if they would be willing to help us out they probably won't but we could always ask so anyway thank you thanks Frank uh any other old or new business yeah I I just I've been sitting here and um I don't want to make a big thing about it but what I was just hearing about this bullying really I mean we get a uh harassment intimidation and bullying report all the time and you know Dr Zuckerman I know you did let us know about this incident but nothing really have I se and it could be my fault too for not you know digging as deep into it and following up but I do think that um I mean we get that report and frankly I I give it to shrift only because I'm from a different generation where you know you got beat up at school and it was acceptable to have that happen but I know it's not acceptable anymore and I don't I don't know I don't know what the solution is I mean I know you're working on it or at least that's I believe you are I genuinely believe you are but I just don't want it to give short shrift and not bring it up at all publicly so you know like like I said I look at that report and it's like you know consider you know what's harassment what's intimidation what's bullying you know I mean this sounds like it's you know at the top of that list and I'm wondering why and and again I haven't seen whatever it is but I'm wondering why that student is the attacker would even still be in the school I I just don't know I so but I'm sure we'll find out yeah I can I can say as a board member um you know hearing these stories and you know I I know Amanda I know these kids because they've grown up here no one should be afraid to go to the school and it's our duty um and we know you're doing everything you can Dr suck but it's our duty as the board to give you whatever resources you need and ensure the safety of our kids on a day-by-day basis um and you guys that's thank you for coming up and talking to us it means a lot to hear it from your voice and uh I know I want to see the video so thanks for recommending that yeah I was wondering um you know hearing uh the um speakers tonight just kind of like thank you for opening up the conversation Mr Zimmer um when the last time this school has conducted a school climate um survey not just of students but also staff but that would give us a good sense of maybe some data to work with and to be strategic around addressing issues of safety because now we have a much wider scope and understanding of what safety means it's not just physical it's also psychological um safety as well so I think that's something to look at it's a good idea all right thank you everyone I appreciate the discussion um at this time we will move into executive session um can I get a motion to move into executive session motion second second all those in favor I all opposed extensions uh there will be no board business conducted after we return from executive session for yes do you play to 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 second all those in favor I all opposed extensions right a motion forj second second all those in favor I all opposed extensions yes no I got