okay welcome everyone in compliance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 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 entrances of the Board of Education offices mailed to the Nutley Township Clerk sent to tap into Nutley advertised in the nutly sun on January 4th 2024 and posted on the district website can everybody stand for the flag salute your allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice thank you everyone roll call Mr baglia here Mr balsamo Mrs Dan Martin here Dr deia Mr kazinski Mrs Quirk here Mr Scotty Mr F here thank you Mr B can I get a motion for approval of the minutes motion all in favor I thank you uh Mr B any correspondence no correspondence okay uh Mrs loas SK would you start off our presentations I'd like to invite the board members down uh to the audience for several presentations we just stay you're G stay down there uh thank you Mr board president and Board of Education I would like to welcome everyone uh tonight all the students in the crowd and their families we appreciate you coming out we're very proud of what you do we're going to change the order just a little bit and we're GNA invite up Miss Diane Rober the VFW auxiliary president for the Patriots pen award thank you good evening board bre board members and um the audience I'm Diane Robert Ella I'm the president of the BFW auxiliary and I'm here to talk to you about the Patriots pen award essay last year more than 68,800 students from the sixth seventh and eth grades participated in the BFW Patriots pen essay contest that is conducted Nationwide it is an essay contest which encourages young minds to examine America's history along with their own experiences in our American society today the students draft an essay of 300 to 400 words expressing their views based on a patriot theme chosen by the BFW National commander-in-chief this year the theme is how are you inspired by America the student essay must be completed and submitted to the BFW by October 31st then the essay is judged by the students knowledge of the theme all all relative facts about the theme such as the who what where and why and how it relates to their own experiences after reading the essay it should give the reader a clear understanding of the students understanding of the theme how are you inspired by America we want to thank our schools for the students participation in this year's Patriots B contest and for letting our young students voice their views on patriotism today this contest gives our young students a chance to be aware of veterans in our society and how important they are to our nation at this time I would like to present our award to Maya indor she is our BFW auxiliary [Applause] winner may you dear I'm going to want to get that out of there so you don't lose it excuse me one second there here is your W and there's your take your thank you so much thank you oh want to go that way come [Applause] we're very thankful of the VFW and for running this Patriots pen contest in Nutley thank you so much I'd like to call up Commander Maria Hamlin for some awards good evening uh my name is Maria Hamlin I'm the commander of the veterans of foreign war here in Nutley New Jersey uh Diane was able to tell you a little bit about our program uh we are so proud of the amount of children that participate and it could not be done with the without the help of all of our teachers in our schools so if we could give them and the children a round of [Applause] applause getting old you can see I take them on I put them on so our VFW Patriots pen Award winner is Nisha [Applause] Vero I'm going to invite our quartermaster Herbert H Hamlin Jr to the stand as well okay stay here okay so in a you relax it's okay you could come hide behind here like I do if you want so every year um we do at this contest at our local level the winner of our local level we Elevate up to the next level which is our district which is District 4 nisha's essay was elevated to our district and she is also our district four winner this [Applause] year so my husband and I are both officers there are the commander of District 4 could not make it I am the junior Vice Commander there and my husband is the agitant there so we would like to present this award on behalf of District 4 um in addition to this certificate uh there are two checks in here for her uh to put towards her education or spend a little money on yourself because the the essay was very beautifully written and uh thank you for taking part in our essay contest you're welcome welome thank you you you're very welcome can I can I ask you ladies and [Applause] gentlemen I'm glad Commander Hamlin mentioned it but we have many teachers out in the audience today I've noticed and without your hard work this couldn't be possible so we thank you all the teachers in the crown the VFW is also uh we also started another recognition process in District this year um through Commander Hamlin we've been asked to nominate a teacher of the year um and I'm very happy and proud to say uh that person was selected was Stefan Gaines to be teacher of the year [Applause] for I uh I speak about Stefon frequently in front of crowds so I'm going to invite herb up to say a couple words about Stefan good evening thank you everyone Stefan Gates wow well to know him you all know it's this is just a small few accolades uh your Academic Year I have 2022 2023 uh the music F uh music in the park festival which I was there absolutely amazing absolutely amazing uh concert choir first place uh and Superior rating uh a spree decor award the a lot of acronyms here I'm sorry njsma uh region one honors choir 13 students accepted absolutely amazing uh njmea New Jersey All State Choir 10 students accepted uh I see here the music uh of Eric Wier program Lincoln Center one out of 14 choirs to be selected to perform at the mountclair State University Invitational High School choir festival and the list goes on and on and on uh amazing amazing accomplishment amazing amazing year and I already know the 2024 is already off to a good start and uh I'm sure we'll be right back here again thank you so much for all you [Applause] do so what uh herb failed to mention because I didn't put it on the sheet so I apologize um but Mr gain's uh students 23 of them 23 of them made it to Regionals this year they're actually all at rehearsal right now they all wanted to try to be here but 23 of his students so we just continue to grow the program the music the arts program here uh in part because of Mr gains but we do have an award that we're going to be giv him uh and I'm going to read it this is from the Veterans of Foreign Wars no one does more for veterans little plug there nutly veterans of foreign war smart mare teacher of the year award 2023 presented to Stefan gains in appreciation of the inspirational influence you have on your pupils your mentoring and instruction have an impact that goes well beyond the classroom especially when it comes to using music to encourage Civic engagement and patriotism we are so proud to that you chose nutly to be your home for teaching we truly hope that you will be here here for many many many years to come we from the bottom of our hearts as parents as residents as the VFW Commander we thank you and commend you for everything you do for our [Applause] students get yeah can we invite the board up for a picture that'd be okay maybe students sorry I still want to hold the award it's so beautiful [Laughter] e [Applause] go [Music] um the awards continue I'd like to invite up uh Mrs loan solo she is U working through the uh presidential Awards uh for volunteer service hours here in Nutley Mr L Sol thank you over the past several years we partnered with Korea Taekwondo here in Nutley to recognize Nutley students who have worked towards and achieved an outstanding honor tonight as we've done in the past we recognize several students who've been granted the president's volunteer service award the president's volunteer service award began in 20 I'm sorry 2003 to encourage and reward America's proud tradition of volunteer service the award recognizes the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourages more people to serve this presidential service award is a way to thank and honor Americans who by their demonstrated commitment and example Inspire others to engage in volunteer service the president's the presidential service volunteer award recognizes individuals families and groups that have achieved a certain standard measured by the number of hours of service over a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime in the case of these students volunteer hours were completed at Korea Taekwondo center Center under the direction of Master Gan Kim in addition to a certificate each student receives a signed letter of congratulations from President Biden and a pin that corresponds to the tier of award they have achieved tonight we honor several outstanding high school students who have achieved this honor receiving the Gold Award for 100 plus hours of volunteer service we honor Nutley High School 9th grader Felix [Applause] abala [Applause] maybe just stand yeah we have a few more thank you Felix also receiving the Gold Award for 100 plus hours of volunteer service we honor Nutley High School 10th grader vavina fan receiving receiving the silver award for 75 to 99 hours of volunteer service we honor Nutley High School 11th grader Lucas [Applause] squa [Applause] receiving the Bronze award for 50 to 74 hours of volunteer service we honor Nutley High School 10th grader Matt [Applause] loer and also receiving the Bronze award for 50 to 74 hours of volunteer service we honor Nutley High School 10th grader meline [Applause] Nasco can we ask the board to come up and please take a picture with our winners uh thank you so much Mr Len solo um you want to can we bring up the Poetry pen winers for a photograph with the board um there's two I believe uh oh [Applause] thank you we we have one more award to celebrate uh tonight um I'm very proud to say n high school has earned the college board's 2023 AP Computer Science female diversity award for expanding young young women's access to AP Computer Science principles um I believe our student rep tonight is looking to go on in computer science while not a female you have uh taken computer science you're looking to go on at NYU next year correct that's great this award acknowledges schools for their work toward equal gender representation during the 2223 school year we are honored to be one of the 834 schools to be recognized nationally for achieving this important result in AP Computer Science this honor recognizes the outstanding work n High School is doing to engage more female students in computer science Monica try who teaches computer science at nle high school and principal Dennis Williams are with us tonight thank you for all you do for our students but especially our young women in this program Dennis thanks everyone and a lot of great stuff going on uh in District uh proud uh to uh congratulate our female AP Computer Science students and their teacher on this step towards gender parity and computer science education uh we are honored that our school earned this distinction and look forward to seeing those young uh women and others pursue an achieve success in computer science education and careers research shows that female students who take AP Computer Science High School are five times likely more to major in computer science and college research also shows that providing female students with access to computer science courses is critical to ensuring gender parity in the industry's high-paying jobs and to driving Innovation and creativity and representation the median annual wage in computer tech occupations was around $100,500 in May of 2022 however women still represent just 24% of the 5 million people in computer oper uh occupations so what we are doing in AP Computer Science is is important stuff um all of this starts and ends with our incredible AP teachers and tonight is my pleasure to recognize our AP comp side teacher Miss Monica Trudy Round of Applause I have Applause in parenthesis Monica um Monica has been a beacon to many considering uh taking her AP class uh she challenges and inspires them to gain competency each and every day and she inspires female students as a role model in the AP classroom uh as well well as her sponsorship of the girls who code club uh so I am honored to be notified of while I'm honored to be notified of this distinction I am more honored to give public claim to uh Miss Trudy Monica congratulations than that concludes our awards for tonight we're going to transition the board back up to the stage um if you're a family and students have homework and stuff you're more than welcome to leave at this point don't feel like you have to stay for the remainder of the meeting thank you so much [Music] we it back to the okay thank you [Music] okay Mr B do you want to do the superintendent report uh thank you Mr President uh first I want to reflect on the joint meeting that we had with the Board of Commissioners what a great event a lot went into that evening and while I recognized many PE when I while I recognized many people that night there may be uh some unintentionally left out and thinking about that night All the Small Things our students did made all the difference from greeting people to demonstrating the use of our weight room to interviewing videotaping creating and presenting culinary treats and showcasing the robotic skills you made that night special for us and you also reminded us what it is all about I thank Joe pyro Dennis Williams M viell Jess shoa but I would also like to highlight members of their departments including John gardo and Linda boyman from culinary Aaron baglia from media Specialists Andy KY from TV production and Chris Helm our head football coach and dean of students I don't think I mentioned Dave Thea enough who prioritizes our facilities and improvements and makes things happen or Karen greo our director of communications uh to help us get the word out thank you so much uh with the overwhelming interest in the TRS program The District had open more seats and I believe it hit capacity today uh thank you to Nutley Educational Foundation for co-sponsoring this event the Nutley Educational Foundation is also sponsoring a math night for students in grades K to six on February 29th leap day uh working with the nut Le Mathnasium in the John Walker Middle School gymnasium um from 6:00 to 8 that night I would like to highlight the high school team for welcoming parents of eth graders and to discuss uh the high school programs and offerings this past month scheduling has begun in our high school for next school year the middle school team will be doing something very similar for sixth grade parents on April 9th uh the counseling department has also been VIs they hosted a an assembly for seniors highlighting the available scholarships and the application process there's a lot of available money for seniors and we encourage them to apply now we have a very generous Community Nutley High School counseling department is also hosting a College and Career Fair again on Leap Day 229 we have 77 colleges and universities attending and we have had an overwhelming interest in our preschool program to date we have 344 new families that have requested a seat for next school year I believe this is due to the success we are finding in early childhood I'd like to thank April viello and her team who are helping us grow in this area we'll be holding a lottery mid to late March once the state confirms our seat requests for funding uh additional seats today an email went out to 115 third and fourth grade students inviting them to begin small group tutoring next week and great work by our leader Tracey Eagan in this area leading this initiative uh with support from Janine loo lean Martin and Mike guer uh on the curriculum side thank you also to the 44 district teachers uh that are tutoring there will be two rounds this is the first round of invitations using the high impact tutoring Grant the district will support uh this through the end of the year as we move into February the district recognizes Black History Month as well as the Lunar New Year our high school is working with Courtney Johnson from the department of public affairs for school day programming our students will also be attending a symposium on social justice on the campus of calwell University through our calwell partnership throughout the district uh whether through exploring literature or art lessons and programming will be built into this day into this month as we honor the many accomplishments throughout the month thank you Mr President thank you Mr B uh Mrs loan solo assistant superintendent of school work instruction thank you Mr President the start of 2024 brought continued growth for staff and students here in Nutley staff participated in professional development on Friday January 12th that focused on how to utilize our student assessment data platform performance matters to analyze data and drive instructional decisions elementary teachers all participated in required enjoy math PD this winter and grades five and six will begin month ly horizontal articulation to support to support our departmentalization later this week our Science World Language and ESL programs are winding down their program reviews and plans are underway for them to present their findings in the coming months our next PD session is February 16th we look forward to welcoming Dr Ahmad Zahir from moner State University to present on strategies to support students with dyslexia for our K3 staff and other topics for staff K12 thank you thank you um our assistant superintendent of schools business and our board secretary Mr dep is not here tonight so um we're going to move on to the uh director of building and grounds Mr [Music] PRI thank you Mr president like to start off with we have public service scheduled this Saturday to replace the wiring for the service enter cable at Washington School uh if you know about two weeks ago we had an issue with the power line shorting out and they want to replace the wires this coming Saturday uh we're waiting for an engineering report to replace the hvc unit at the IT location at the high school uh we're having issues with that class that uh unit and we are using temporary units right now to cool it uh the Boe has delivered 50 tons of rock salt to the tow yard for our contribution for the salt delivery this year our grounds Department with the assistance of parks and W delivered and set up Cod arena for the SS County wrestling tournament that was on Wednesday and they helped us pick up the equipment on Thursday as well we completed our pcng Clean Energy Efficiency program give the details that public service we had five projects planned and completed that started back in 20122 uh the pro project cost would have been 1,1 120,000 the district paid $175,600 for these projects with this incentives from pscg and it's estimated of 16,000 798 in energy cost savings per month and they are completed any questions that's it Mr brii that's it all right thank you one more that last one's a big one yes B we are still waiting to finish that off um the two schools that we did not do was the high school and the middle school they did not qualify for this program at this time but the information I'm getting is that they're going to include larger projects um more kilowatt per hour more kilowatts which is means that the school is too big for these uh two incentive programs that they have now well I'm waiting on that one we thank you and your whole team for your efforts thank you thank you uh with us tonight um we have our student representative Kenyan tat Mr tat I have it on my phone one second okay so seniors are getting ready to graduate and with that Miss AAS came to all the health classes which seniors are in now they're all in health she came to all the health classes to go over the scholarship application process with us scholarships are due February 23rd and students are working on them like as we speak we had a bilingual fasta presentation after school which was open to All Families um there's a fashion show which is going to be sometime later but students are planning for that now picking out what they want to do either be behind the scenes working with the cat not the cathol like the stage crew or if they want to actually go on the show and then um freshman sophomores and juniors they're picking out their schedules as of right now they're talking with their current teachers getting recommendations and then also talking with their future teachers to get accepted into the course this is going to end at the end of the month and then students enrolled in the Ruckers program just took their Ruckers exams and Miss Rubino should be sharing their scores within a few days um there's going to be a winster winter instrumental on the 13th the National Art Honor Society is having its induction night on the 8 of February and then the National Honor Society is having its induction April 30th um we have a college fair coming up and lastly student council is planning for Raider Fest a whiffle ball tournament March Madness and our first ever Friday night Powderpuff game that's all oh thank you you're you're welcome to stay with us uh but if you have to leave because you have uh homework to do or you know you have something else going on don't don't feel like you have to stay but thank you okay thank you um I think I just want to highlight one thing that Mr tat mentioned which I think is very important and sometimes our students don't take advantage of the scholarships uh but there's a lot of organizations in town uh who offer scholarships and it's you know they should they should at least our parents should encourage their the their their child and um to to go out and see what's what's available what fits them and to apply for it because there is a lot of money out there that can help um with that academic Mr BOS I no no Mrs M Martin I'm sorry thank you Mr President I don't know why I always get that wrong the academic committee met on January 18th Mr an and Miss Chone from NHS attended the meeting meeting to discuss plans for the student trip to South Korea in the 2024 25 school year Mr Kona and Miss rude joined the committee to discuss graduate research that they'd like to complete in Nutley misss Rabino District science coordinator joined the committee and presented data and Trends regarding njla science scores Miss Rabino also discussed science instruction common assessments and progress in the year-long program review of the science department Mr bana highlighted ways in which the district will be evaluating components of the special services department and multiple tiered systems of support through external Consultants Mr van shared with the committee two draft academic calendars for the 20124 25 school year Mr Vana previewed The Joint meeting of the Board of Commissioners and Board of Education meeting Miss loansolo reviewed field trips and professional development requests for the upcoming board meeting the next meeting of the academic committee is set for Tuesday uh February 13th at 5:00 p.m. thank you thank you Mrs Martin Mr basam I think I'm gonna have to switch you to academic so I don't get this wrong anymore but for tonight you can you do the administration report yes M yes Mr President um the administration uh Administration committee met January 18 myself and Mr kasinsky were present with Mr B Mr depa and Mrs loans solo Mr B highlighted ways in which the district will be evaluating components of the special services department and multiple tiered systems of support through external Consultants Mr B shared with the committee two draft academic calendars for the 2425 school year Mr Bia previewed The Joint meeting of the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education uh Mr B updated the committee on the 2425 preschool projections the lottery process and provider uh contracts uh Mr discussed the with the committee the 2425 uh extended day rates uh Staffing projections and rates as well as accommodating more students during District half days more information will be discussed at the February meeting the next meeting of the administration committee will be held on Thursday February 15 at 5:30 thank you Mr President thank you Mr basamo Mr baglia Finance uh thank you Mr President uh the finance committee met several times over the last month with representatives of the central office to discuss key Finance topics of focus these included meeting with David depa and his team along with our finance consultant to discuss our current budgetary spend internal Process reviews and procedural enhancements to weekly monthly and annual controls we also discussed the financial components associated with new property acquisition projections for infrastructure related projects and annual maintenance needs to be completed during the upcoming summer the finance committee is scheduled to meet again the week of February 5th as we shift Focus to the upcoming annual budgetary process for the school year 2425 which we put up for board vote in the spring of this year thank you Mr President thank you Mr baglia 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 number 0167 a lot 20 minutes for these communication each person shall be limited to 3 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 a 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 okay seeing none Miss D Martin can I get a motion for academic resolutions yes Mr President I'd like to move academic resolutions one through three as written second okay Mr baglia yes Mr balamo yes Miss stek Martin yes Dr DEA yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes and Mr Ferrer uh yes abstaining to number [Music] two Mr basamo can I get a motion for administration yes yes Mr President I'd like to make a motion Tove administrative resolutions 1 through four as written discussion uh yes Mr President I would like to read resolution number one school board recognition month 2024 be it resolved that Nutley board of education acknowledges School Board recognition month for January 2024 whereas the New Jersey State Board of Education which adopts the administrative code to implement State education law has established rigorous standards through its promation the New Jersey student learning standards which set the expectations of academic achievement for nearly 1.4 million public school children and whereas New Jersey's locally elected and appointed Boards of Education play a vital Ro role in ensuring that their local school districts meet state standards and adhere to state and federal education statute and regulations with the goal of preparing all students for college and the workplace thereby enabling them to compete in a global economy and whereas New Jersey's 5,000 nonpartisan local Board of Education members and Charter School trustees are public servants who dedicate their time without pay or benefit to the oversight of School District Operations sound financial practices comprehensive policies curriculum Staffing and the well-being of academic achievement for all students in the district and whereas the efforts of local Boards of Education in conjunction with the State education officials and local Educators have built a foundation of success that has led to New Jersey status as a leader in student achievement as evidenced by the national assessment of educational progress scores and whereas the national school boards Association the New Jersey school Association have declared January 2024 to be the school board recognition month now there therefore be it resolved that the New Jersey state board of education and the acting Commissioner of Education recognizes the contributions of our state's local Boards of Education to the academic success of its public school students and expresses its sincere appreciation to the local Board of Education members for their continued focus on the achievement of children throughout New Jersey and being it further resolved that the New Jersey state board of education and the acting Commissioner of Education encourages qualified New Jersey citizens to consider serving as members on their local school boards thank you thank you Mr B any further discussion roll call Mr baglia yes Mr balamo yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr deia yes Mrs cork yes Mr Scotty Mr Ferraro yes Mr Balia uh Mr President I'd like to move Finance resolutions 1 through 16 as written discussion roll call Mr bagle yes Mr balamo yes Mrs danek Martin yes Dr DEA Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty Mr Ferrero yes I'm sorry Mrs Quirk can I get a motion for personnel yes Mr President I move Personnel resolution number one as written have a second discussion roll call Mr bagia yes Mr balamo yes Mrs Dan Martin yes Dr deia yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr Ferrer uh yes abstaining to section g okay is there any old business to come before this board any new business um I just have one thing under new business um we um as a board have reached out to St Peters University uh we're looking to uh meet with them in in the coming weeks and to partner hopefully the similar to what we currently have now with Caldwell University um with Ruckers seat and Hall to some somehow create some type of dual enrollment program so it's a it's another University that this board is reaching out to this Administration to uh to offer more for our students so that's uh hopefully will'll be able to report at our next meeting uh more more on that whereas the Board of Education will be discussing matters exempt from public dis discussion pursuant to njsa A10 col 4-12 now therefore be resolved that the Board of Education recess to closed executive session at this time to discuss negotiations and property acquisition be 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 or when the reasons for discussing such matters in closed session no longer exist I get a motion to adjourn into executive thank you okay good night everyone we'll be an executive session and uh no action will be taken