##VIDEO ID:RY4hjXqaIik## entitled open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the ACT proper notice of this open public meeting was provided in the notice of January 4th 2024 said notice was posted at the entrance of the Board of Education offices mail to the Nutley Township Clerk sent to tap into Nutley advertised into Nutley sun on January 4th 2024 and posted on the district website can everybody please stand for the flag salute pledge allegiance flag United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Mr Dita Mr balamo here Mr baglia here Mrs Dan Martin here Dr deia Mr fraginals Mr gazinski here Mrs Quirk here Mr Scotty here Mr feraro here any correspondents [Music] none okay Mr B our uh presentation on our qack report I'd like to invite the members of the Board of Education and people on the stage to the auditorium seats for a brief presentation on our qac report y for uh per statute um good evening everyone thank you for um a couple minutes to walk through our qac monitoring score report uh by Cod and statute uh this is a required component of the qac process uh we received our scores approximately two to three weeks ago uh and we must report at the next board meeting which we're doing here um on October 28th there will be a board resolution to approve these scores as accepted um by the district um as we move forward in the process uh what is New Jersey qac uh New Jersey QC it stands for quality single accountability Continuum it's a cycle that happens every year every three years uh the district uh gets assessed by the county who confirms the scores um and submits them to the commissioner for approval uh this is a comprehensive accountability system that consolidates and incorporates the monitoring requirements of our state statutes appal code um as well as well as the Federal regulated Grant structure um this has in many districts replaced um the need to go to like a middle States evaluation or other accrediting uh agency as the state has a comprehensive system at this point uh we are on a cycle we're in a rotation with other districts in our cohort to go through this every three years it's performed by our count it's initially performed by us and then through our county office um halfway through this cycle we were assigned to a different account County Office from Hunter County to Bergen County through this process so it occurs every three years uh the district uh must become familiar with our district performance reports dprs uh we must establish an internal team and identify someone to oversee each of the five areas for cusac um that person validates the documentation uh that we collect as a district uh this is done electronically uh mostly nowadays a lot of this information can be found on our district website um and then the entire qac team certifies that this document has been done with Fidelity in good faith and it's submitted we submit our scores to the county office uh for Nutley New Jersey we started this process in August of 23 um that being our QC year um through October we prepared our documents reviewed the district performance reports and um collected the information uh the committee viewed that um between November and February 23- 24 um the it was sent to the district uh County Superintendent executive County Superintendent uh which was first Juan Tes and then Mr Lou delizio at Bergen County uh from March 24 to September uh 24 um and we were visited this past summer uh Mr members of the esss county team as well as the Bergen County team came into our office and reviewed all the documents with us um it went to the commiss their findings in September and in October we received um the approved scores there are five areas for New Jersey qac uh they include instruction and programs fiscal management governance operations and Personnel in instruction and program um this is broken into two categories one category would be all of our curricular documents or multi-tier system of supports um all of the graduation information and data and then the information the state gives us based on our performance on state test during the Spring testing cycle I'm happy to report that we received all the points we could for anything curriculum related or District related and the performance reports like many districts the performance scores come to us from Trenton um that is where we lost some points based on how our students were performing uh based on 100% um but these areas are all included uh in instruction program fiscal management this includes budget planning financial and budgetary control annual audits oversight of gr grants and capital funds Public School District facilities this has been an area of focus for us for quite some time now um and we did not score well here we have a lot of work to do and we know that uh in this area governance includes board policies procedures and bylaws standard School Board practices ethics ethics compliance budget priorities uh the board training disclosure and operation and the annual evaluation process in our operations DP uh operations qac portion um this is the data submission there are timelines this information is also given to us from the state have we complied with the mandatory timelines to submit um certain aspects um student conduct and discipline are we within the guidelines student Safety and Security this is our mou with the law enforcement everything that follows there student health health and attendance our district Equity plan and the memorandum agreement with law enforcement uh the last category Personnel we have appropriate C certifications and Licensing of personnel we're evaluating our staff in compliance with statute we have a district mentoring program for both administrators as well as teachers and we have a professional development plan that's submitted annually to the state uh the performance that comes to us from the state um in instruction of program we scored 8 5% this includes all points for everything um internally with our district curricular needs uh fiscal management is 64% governance 100% operations 94% and Personnel 100% want to take a moment and just thank the members who sat on the committee I see Jess Mabel here thank you very much as the a president thank you for doing that um we also have Mrs Quirk our board trustee um here present thank thank you Mrs cork um Karen Greco d uh director of employee relations and Communications she led the Personnel um as well as jine loin solo I'm sorry I missed you year at the top but thank you so much for for the inp looking after the inp our next steps include writing a corrective action plan for our fiscal performance um as well as looking at ways to incorporate more data analysis uh to focus on instruction of program and student scores uh thank you so much for your time Mr Pres presid I'll take any questions now uh thank you so much for your time that concludes the presentation for tonight [Music] course thank you Mr B any a motion for approval of the minutes all in favor any opposed okay um Mr B our superintendent report uh thank you Mr President uh good evening members of the board staff and community members I'm pleased to share some highlights from recent events and provide updates on upcoming initiatives that continue to support opportunities in our district for our students first I'd like to mention that this month we had an opportunity to meet with a group of students to discuss class Rank and course waiting most recently Mr Williams and Miss girkins joined me with a group of students for a productive conversation about how academic achievement achievements are recognized in ways to ensure a supportive Equitable approach that reflects our students hard work aspirations their feedback was invaluable and will be a guiding factor in any potential adjustments we consider uh I do want to thank the New York Giants we were thrilled to welcome members of the New York Giants to practice this month where they inspired our student athletes and demonstrated commitment to their Community they spoke with them they joined practice even their generous donation to our football booster club will support vital resources and training for our teams we extend our deepest gratitude for their involvement and contribution and we wish them luck tonight as they take on the Steelers I would like to recognize our marching band over the course of the past month our marching band has come in first place several times over the weekend they won the New Jersey state championship first place set of 16 teams congrats the entire music department the mus music boosters um our faculty and staff and especially our students at the November meeting Boe meeting I asked the board to recognize our student musicians as well as our fall student athletes I would like to recognize our our pto's at each Elementary School and thank them uh they raise funds to purchase Chromebooks for their respective schools the generous support ensures that all students have additional access to digital resources during the school day enriching their educational experience and aligning with our District's instructional goals as the pto's work with our building principles to find adequate donation Pathways as they have in the past such as during Co years we appreciate the pto's donation um at these buildings our October professional development day uh in October centered on strengthening instructional practices through diagnostic data staff across the district collaborated to review student data discussed intervention strategies within our multi-tiered system of supports and identify data driven approaches to meet diverse learning needs this day was an invaluable step forward in using data effectively to support Student Success I would like to highlight several board resolutions on for tonight uh the policy committee has met and they have updated and approved another 60 policies for first reading thank you policy committee I would like to recognize under donations again and thank the pto's for their generous donation and support as well as the music boosters for their generous donations and support under the Personnel section I want to welcome Teresa Lori she's being recommended as ad assistant business administrator we would like to welcome you to our team and the district thank you for coming upcoming events and initiatives Halloween as October as October comes to a close our schools are excited to celebrate Halloween with students honoring long-standing traditions and fostering a sense of community each school has prepared age appropriate activities from costume parades in the elementary schools to classroom celebrations and seasonal arts and crafts these events not only bring joy to students but also emphasize creativity teamwork and Community Spirit across our district thank you to the teachers staff and volunteers who make these memorable experiences possible in November we will build on the foundation established during the October professional development day with another day staff will continue to explore data conversations focusing on how to interpret and apply findings for instruction to student growth additionally we will have critical sessions on trauma informed teaching strategies understanding implicit bi bias and other topics related to school safety these are important steps in our ongoing commitment to create a safe an inclusive um and responsible learning environment I would like to uh recognize some other events in November um our climate Grant is allowing us to work with the Watershed ambassadors in Nutley to assess water quality in our streams and Parks I do want to thank the student council and other student groups for our annual Thanksgiving food drive uh we'll support families in need throughout nutly and demonstrate the value of giving back to the community and I do want to I do want to mention some calendar shifts there'll be no school for students on Election Day November 5th staff will report as scheduled uh there will be no school for students and staff on November 7th and 8th um and we do have starting on the 14th I believe uh parent conferences uh single session days in all of our buildings for parent conferences on the 14th 15th and 16th um I want to thank you for your time and for the community support thank you Mr President uh thank you Mr B um just the November meeting we're going to invite to band and all the all the people involved with that um for this weekend's honor them for this weekend's achievement I would like to okay so we'll do that and we'll plan something for our November meeting um I think in the back there is our uh booster club president Mr sou scarelli so uh we'll we'll coordinate and and plan something appropriate for the November meeting to recognize um everyone that achieved uh what they did over the weekend um Mr D our business administrator report thank you um I just want to again welcome I know Mr B um welcomed the th said to our team um I also want to thank um Bella palanco uh she was our previous assistant PA she did leave and um she's in another District currently um but I just want to thank her for all of her hard work during her tenure uh with the district and um that I look looking forward to working with Teresa um we are also approving tonight a shared services agreement with the town of Nutley for the garbage removal um this is a bid that the town does uh once every five years um and they have a separate line item in the bid for uh the removal of our um dumpsters at all of our schools um so this is It's on for the board to approve and it'll be um the price for the next five years uh thank you thank you Mr Dita uh with us tonight our student representative to give a student report om bogdal uh good evening everybody um I'm om with the student council from n High School uh for this month I'd like to just point out that for upcoming month of November we'll be having a Raider day uh with like sport sporting activities for the rest of the school and the date has been changed to November 13th um additionally student council and Key Club are partnering together for a Thanksgiving food drive um on the nly school's website there's more information regarding how to contribute we are looking for canned nonp perishable Goods additionally next week for election day a lot of students are work poll workking uh in order to help contribute uh additionally there a reminder for parents that there is a picture retake day in school on Wednesday uh October 30th thank you Mr BDA you're more than welcome to stay the rest of the evening evening but if you need to go home I know you have stuff to do so you can don't feel like you have to be here thank you nobody ever stays it's okay um okay we're gonna move on to our committee reports uh academic committee Miss danek Martin please thank you Mr President the academic committee met on October 17th Mr Dita joined to share an update on the business office including the addition of the assistant ba position Mr B shared The District's qac scores this information included in the superintendent report tonight Miss Egan and Miss jaio joined to provide an update on the special education uh programs Miss Lo consolo shared a brief demonstration on how performance matters I ready and I ready are being utilized in the district to drive instruction Miss loans solo shared information on a teacher thesis project about gamification tools Miss Lo cons solo updated the committee on program review this year Career Technical education and library media are going through the process Mr B updated the committee on plans to transition email platforms Miss Lo cons solo shared a field trip and PD request appearing on tonight's agenda Mr B updated committee on Personnel matters the committee also spoke about class rank criteria and transparency Mr B shared an update on the district's plan for one:1 student devices and Chromebooks and the committee spoke about the RFP process uh for professional service providers and the upcoming schedule our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 21st thank you thank you m anek Martin uh Administration committee Mr kazinski yes sir Mr President um our committee met on October 24th myself Mr B Mr Our Guest was the athletic director Mr pyro uh Mr pyro met with the committee and provided updates regarding the fall season participation numbers as well as previewed winter coaching appointments the committee provided Mr pyro with some feedback Mr B provided the committee with information regarding the business office restructuring Mr bany discussed the October 24 preliminary qack performance as we saw tonight Mr B discussed the um the data form from last month with the Hib reports Mr B pre previewed the administrative resolution including resolution on qack performance the Nur nurses serving plan and the statement of assurance for the district security manual uh Mr ran B reviewed a student matter with the committee our next meeting is scheduled for no November 20th 6:m thank you Mr kazinski finance committee Mr Baga uh thank you Mr President the finance committee held three meetings uh on October 18th 25th and 28th of this month uh key topics included reviewing this year's budgetary run rate I'm happy to report uh that as we end q1 we are on budget thank you um to our business office Mike Dita and the guidance of our monitor Janette makus um we also discussed uh identifying opportunities for cost reduction strategies for the upcoming 2420 excuse me 2526 budget assessing our Chromebook inventory and discussing an update to the bring your own device policy additionally uh the committee discussed property expansion exploring potential future relocation of the sixth grade to the Middle School the strategy to remove the trailers financial and educational impacts of adjustment to the Elementary lunch schedule and an update to our pre-ap program we also discuss Key Personnel matters including the hiring of a new assistant business administrator Teresa lorri thank you and welcome to Nutley happy to have you uh and um uh and and that that was all we discussed and we have no uh meeting scheduled for November yet thank you Mr baglia uh policy committee Mr Scotty thank you Mr President the policy committee met on Thursday October 24th the committee was provided with policies to review prior to the meeting the committee reviewed and discussed 64 policies from The District's policy book and in areas of program teaching program teaching staff members support staff students finances property operations and Community after discussion the committee tabled one policy to be discussed in all in all committee meetings tabled one policy for the next program of study cycle and moved 63 policies to First reading for the October 28th meeting the meeting adjourned and the next meeting of the policy committee is to be determined thank you Mr Scotty we now come to that portion of our meeting where we allow members of the public to address the board in this section we allow questions or comments on reports resolutions and all School related matters our board regulations n number 0167 allot 20 minutes for these communications each person shall be limited to three minutes and we ask that you try to stay within this requirement speakers may speak more than once only after all others wishing to speak on a topic have been heard all statements will be directed to me as the chairperson and no one may address board members individually please be reminded that if your statement is too lengthy abusive obscene irrelevant or redundant your participation may be terminated please remember to state your name and address each and every time you address the board does anyone have any questions [Music] good evening my name is Mark Ry I live at 126 Whitford Avenue thank you for having me I will be brief two quick questions do we have an industrial arts program or Department in Nutley High School uh we we have it's part of our CTE program where we have like electric shop uh mechanical drawing those types of things that's okay so can I go on the website and find out exactly what's available to the students I don't want you know have list them all what we here on night yeah you can look under the curriculum section there's there's curriculum you can find out what they they cover scope and sequence those types of things okay great next question do we have a work study program for our students uh we do it's run out of uh our counseling department we have a work study program for students so there's a program where kids work when when I was in school you got out of at 11:30 and you went to work because I know I I know people that started with Hoffman the roach in the early 80s still work there from that program so that does still exist yes it does great thank you have a great night thanks for having me thank you anyone else have any [Music] questions hello my name is Ion mar1 Avenue uh last time I was here I was asking about uh Chromebooks and we were discussing about a in personal devices and somehow right now we see that P donated 8,000 something money basically to buy Chromebooks into the classroom which is completely different from what we discussed before and the part the second part of this question is basically that not school policy from what my wife found and I was trying to find basically explicitly all LS personal devices it says it does not prohibit personal devices it is policy does not literally say this policy does not prohibit personal devices so why can it be personal devices instead of donating money from PTO which can be used for something else and obviously it's like donated money which going to be not used for kids it's going to be used for laptops right now uh thank you first of all thank you so much for your comments um I the policy you're referring to puts at the discretion of the teacher as well as the administrator to use personal devices in the classroom or for other reasons um that's the first part this second part is the PTO have donated after working with our building principles as to what's needed quite often uh the PTO has a relationship with the building principal and they talk about uh different areas they could donate to support the students in the school uh for this year um the principles collectively uh said that a topic should be Chromebooks to increase our building based devices for for uh since you know one to one in fourth grade um is not happening we're hoping to increase our building based devices to help with a rotation of devices to make sure instruction is is occurring I can honestly report to you that um instruction is occurring the way we designed it we are moving through uh during the school day with those devices yeah I understand that why it was happening I'm just saying that basically we all understand that if this money spent on Chrome books it's not going to be spent on something else which they originally was going to be spent basically so we all understand it and instead of bring in our own devices we kind of spending money not the way the originally donated for P4 I guess it's my concern and I'm pretty sure that other people other parents feel the same way because like if you saw another parents group there a whole bunch of people complaining about the same uh donation stuff uh but it's I'm just voicing the concern I understand your answer uh I say that at this point it's probably not going to be changed uh just trying to see way for next time I guess so it's actually because like right now is a policy which says directly policy does not prohibit personal devices our teacher I believe reped to the mail personal Dev is not allowed uh my wife sent an email I believe to the superintendent uh she never got a reply it's a separate question that's why I'm racing this question right now basically so it would be nice to understand if personal devices allowed in instead of buying Chromebooks for the school because like right now P buys Chromebooks to the school they stay for the school instead of us having our device which can be used pretty much the same way without spending extra money just to the stuff which not going to be spent basically kids going to definitely suffer they not get some school trip I don't know what how it's going to result basically but right now I see that uh each each single PTO donated like 8,000 something exactly same same amount amount of money uh it's not a small money it's definitely some significant s sum so and the next question I have the basically School website say that natal proudly provides uh Chromebooks for the cre stting with for grade which is not the case anymore we should probably fix it right now it's not true anymore and it's kind of frustrating thank you thank you for that thank you uh anyone else have any [Music] questions okay seeing none can I get a motion to close the public comment portion all in favor anyone opposed okay uh we're going to move on to our resolutions academic uh would you move uh academic resolutions Miss St Martin yes Mr President I'd like to move academic resolutions one and two as written the second any any discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr deia yes on one two uh item two abstain Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr feraro yes Administration Mr kazinski yes second discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia yes Mr Dan Martin yes Dr dilia yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr fero yes Mr bagle of Finance uh Mr President I'd like to move resolutions 1 through 16 is written discussion Mr President I'd like to make a comment um and I think I'm probably going to uh speak similar to a lot of the other board members I'd like to again thank the PTO for donating Chromebooks um we've had this conversation um gentleman in the audience has come up twice talked about it I think in in this case adding technology to a building is a positive I do feel that if we have Mission critical equipment that's necessary for Education it's the district's responsibility to budget for that said we know we're in a very difficult financial position this year I'd like to think that we can come together as we budget for this year to ensure that we have devices in the hands of the students that need it um but I do want to commend the district Mr Bia and the strategy they put in place um I think we're doing a significant review of how we use technology in the classrooms we may find that there may be better ways for us to spend this money in the future but again thank you to the pto's for doing what they've done and answering the call when we need it any further discussion second no we already have a second we're just going through discussion here Mr deia a seconding his conversation oh you're so you'd like to add to this conversation okay Mr deia yeah just uh just real fast uh Mr bagle is 100% right uh we we can't do this alone uh getting through the situation I can't help but appreciate appreciated in the in the past uh the community coming together on this um and really just these magnanimous um Notions of literally donations to our students it's unfortunate I I've actually stood at PTO uh meetings and and advised uh PTO not to pay for what I would consider necessary and essential items and it it's a bad place that we're in but the only way you get out of a bad place is by good people so I want to thank the community uh for what they're doing and um just The Testament to uh the commitment to our kids and our our schools and I also want to uh ask um for clarification uh another thing that is out in the community uh I saw it on the bills list check number 28952 specifically for WB Mason uh would this be for paper Mr Dita WB Mason um let me check what was that check number again 21 28952 uh they are one of the WB Mason is one of um through um the Ed data Co-op um the the provider for U copy paper um so I don't have the details in front of me um but but uh that that is um um probably for paper Okay I I also see on the transfer list for September $5,000 item 1 1514 in appendix d which account again um appendix d uh we are looking at the high school transfer schedule $5,000 item 1 1514 okay is that also for paper uh this is probably um this is is come out one of the custodial accounts um so I believe this is for um uh different type of paper yeah not copy paper um um most likely a toilet paper or the um hand towels well that's that's a added bonus then I just want to make sure that we are just we are ordering paper and other essential supplies now that I also am aware that we're also ordering toilet paper that's a relief too yeah uh but uh uh we are ordering copy paper do teachers have access to all the paper that they need in the district I can I can answer that Mr Leia through talking through the principles uh to ensure that all the buildings have paper I have seen in my travels around District um pallets of paper um and we are informing all the principles that they should be ordering paper and it's available for all teachers okay thank you thank you Mr Delia and thank you for pointing that out because I know I've also seen that and heard that in the public that there is um misconception that we are not providing copy paper to our our staff and our and our students and um that is not true so thank you for that clearing that up um any other discussion um actually you know what um let me I have a little discussion because I just want to Echo the sentiments of uh Mr deia Mr bagle and and the whole board feels this way um we're grateful for all the efforts of the parents and the PTO for all they do for our our our district and our students and and this has historically been um where the where the PTO and the parents step up um you know going back 15 20 years I remember um and Mr Mr kazinski you've been here probably the longest you could you could add to this is you know when when the smartboards were the the big techn technology that was out there I know the pto's did a lot of of of donating and raising money for that to provide to our classrooms and our students when the iPads were the the next biggest um technology out there they they did the same they the parents of the PTO and the PTO are always there for our students and for our district and we're grateful for that and uh and I just want to just make make that clear and this is the feeling of the entire board roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr deia yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr fararo yes Mr Scotty would you move policy yes Mr President I'd like to move policy resolutions one and who is written second discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr deia yes Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr pero yes uh Mr de will you hand the Personnel yes Mr President I'd like to move person as as listed items resolution one second discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr baglia abstain Mrs Dan Martin yes Dr deia yes with exception uh item 1 A4 take no part Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr Faro obstain uh is there any old business to come before the board any new business whereas the Board of Education will be discussing matters exempt from public discussion pursuant to njs 10 col 4-12 now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education recess to close the executive session at this time to discuss negotiations and Personnel be it further resolved that the results of the discussions will be made public by inclusion on the agenda of a subsequent meeting of the board of education but when the reasons for discussing such matters in closed session no longer exist can I get a motion to adjourn into executive session thank you [Music]