##VIDEO ID:Xjjs_ofvAYg## meaning of the Board of Education notice has been provided there we go try that again good evening everyone thank you for coming out tonight and braving the cold weather uh this is a regular meeting of the Board of Education adequate notice of this meeting has been provided schedule of regular meetings the Board of Education was adopted at the reorganization meeting on January 7th 2025 uh schedule uh and notice of said meetings has been posted um and maintained the interior window of the uh exterior door to the administrative offices in the retrospect and The Courier Post uh please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all and roll call Mr DeMarco here Mrs Fel here Mrs love here Mrs Maran here Mr McMillan here Mr Schaefer here Mr STS here Mr tab here all right uh item two is executive session there's no executive session at this time so we're going to move on to item three which are presentations we have two on the agenda tonight we're going to start uh with our elementary program highlights um our special recognition that's also on there will be tabled until the end of the meeting tonight good good evening everyone so we're going to change things up a little bit um I've done this presentation for I'm going to say the last at least 10 years I can remember and tonight I'm going to hand it over to Mrs salaway because I'm a little under the weather um and I think that Mrs salaway uh doesn't always get the recognition well deserved she actually is considered one of our Ops highlights so I'm happy to introduce her as one of our Ops highlights to do the elementary program highlights report thank you good evening not nervous at all don't worry got my notes just in case so we're going to start tonight with um the preschool and kindergarten um curriculum this year is our first year we brought um creative curriculum down into kindergarten um it was a big help for the jump from preschool into kindergarten into elementary school so so it's a nice balance they still have um project center-based learning um and we also have the district curriculum implemented in there as well um in prek and kindergarten this year we introduced Alp Pals and Alp Pals is anal program that's designed specifically for pre kindergarten and kindergarten students um it has interactive stories songs and puppets the kids love it um and then we also have Nonie which is an app for the teachers and Nonie that goes along with Al Pals um is a digital coach with real time support it can have individualized plans for certain students it could have group um class plans for uh group learning and um it also has teaching cards self-care cards and um some professional learning library there available for the teachers as well and here's some of our friends in action in preschool and kindergarten enjoying their their day uh next we have hegerty so hegerty is um it's focus on phen pheic awareness it uses decodable books uh to build literacy skills for both whole group I'm sorry and targeted support it's a supplemental um curriculum that we use with our language arts curriculum and there's some friends doing Hagerty uh Orton Gillingham this is for our first grade all I say all three of our first grade teachers meaning our two first grade teachers in our L are all trained in um Orton Gillingham and it's a systematic uh literacy approach to teaching reading using a multi sensory U methods which are very explicit and uh sequential so they go in specific order that really gives them a lot of pheic awareness it really strengthens that a lot um geod is next this is for kada 2 this is phonics um it's phonics books for emerging readers it can help them build literacy skills and knowledge it also teaches phonics decoding and uh vocabulary so it's the beginning uh reading skills and we have amplify and Dibbles which is our Universal screener it is um where we get a lot of our data to see where the students might need some uh more more help and um we use that data to personalize the learning for each one of the students we use it for interven interventions we also use it to progress monitor every so many weeks to see that their their growth is continuing on to math reflex and fra this is for an online program it's to help develop math skills um the re ref reflex I can't say that correctly reflex um to help specifically for facts math facts and fractions it's very interactive and um adaptive as well according to the student skills it also provides like uh student recognition at the end when they finish different parts of it they get um a little certificate that uh shows that they've reached that goal and do the math do the math is designed to support struggling um students there's um scaffolding models in there and um it's used to progress monitor you go exactly through the uh 13 modules in order and it um really helps build the students skills and they get um like a little quick every five week check on what they've learned and then map we use brought map back we had map here years ago it is actually the most aligned to the uh State Testing so that we can get accurate scores and know what our children are our students are making progress um it's uh measures academic progress It's it's adapted on the computer it's um test to measure achievement and growth it also helps teachers to tailor instruction based on the needs for those exact students and it tracks um tracks it tracks academic progress sorry next oh our multi-tiered system of support mtss it is a systematic process um that we can use for students to give them either additional academic or behavioral support we use data to monitor their progress we use that also to make some informed decisions and like what the next steps might be for that child and our weekly enrichments we have gy twice a week we have music Library art and Spanish oh our steam program so the students come in uh in every trimester we have two different grades coming in they get to explore steam science technology engineering arts and math uh a lot of Hands-On activity that's actually our stem area over there it's filled with lots of great um activities for the students they come down weekly and um every every trimester it changes to another set of of grade levels and there's our friends playing in Steam banding chorus we have Miss poo um she teaches music she also does choir and band lessons weekly and our fifth grade safety patrol so we started the safety patrol a couple years ago and it's for the fifth graders and they absolutely love it they have lots of it's all on a volunteer basis there's lots of jobs um for them to do if they like or posts they are changed monthly um it helps some responsibility skills for Middle School uh and they take their jobs very seriously caught being a star so caught being a star uh was created a couple of years ago actually after that time we were away from school no want to say the word um and we noticed like kids needed some more socialization skills so we brought um came up a couple of teachers and myself got together and tried to come up with a program that would um help elicit some of those behaviors so we decided to call it caught being a star um every staff me member in the building um can give out Stars they're hanging all around in the different rooms they're in the classrooms and students can get caught doing something um good and their star goes into a bucket we pull them out at the end of every month we have lunch with Miss Balin and I and they get a couple of little prizes so at the end of the year if you want to look at the very last picture to the right um at the end of the year we take all of the tickets that weren't pulled and we pull one or two winners out of there and we have a big event well last year Miss balen and I got to get pies in the face by our two winners so that's a a photo there if you'd like to enjoy that um we're looking for an idea for the end of this year's big event all right Hulk of the month is um also another this is celebrated every trimester um every month the students get recognized but we have um a lunch in with prizes as well with Miss Balden and I much larger group we've got music and fun stuff and they really enjoy that and to get a be a Hulk of the month you have to um exemplify one of the character characteristic traits up there honest um attentive works hard and being kind um and they get recognized and put on a bulletin board in the hallway as well and our attendance committee this is new this year uh we really wanted to emphasize the importance of attendance being on time and being ready to start your day and being present um there's a handful I think there's nine of us on the committee and we're just working towards uh ways to improve our tardies and our lat and our absences and also helping like families that might have a hard time getting their students here if there's anything that we can do they're non-punitive ways we want to help them um to get their students to school on time and on a daily basis and we also have two new bulle boards that are under construction that will be focusing on our attendance committee and policies any questions huh all right uh moving on to section four committee the whole uh do I have a motion to enter uh Committee of the hall so moved second second all right all right so moved uh just some updates on my end uh from committees that I want to share to kick off committee the whole um one of the things that we had talked about um since not everybody gets to sit on every committee uh to just include in our board updates just some general updates that might be uh captured from the committee conversations not necessarily agenda items but things that inevitably come up so um uh just want to run through some of those real quick the Winter retreat for the board is scheduled for uh February 1st um that'll be in the Collingswood Media Center um we originally said talked about Oakland being in the morning but then the calendar said we're in the PM so I just want to make sure I have that right for my notes for the yeah over the morning all right so we are we are the morning then okay um one of the things we've been discussing is the uh restorative practices code of conduct um so if anybody has any feedbacks or comments on that we can talk about that um also uh theres had the opportunity to visit uh Kings with high school and do a tour um and uh the last piece uh which has been an ongoing uh discussion is the fun funding advocacy meetings that we have folks attending uh the most recent meeting was on the 16th um and we want our community and board members continue to Advocate at the uh state level uh to address the funding inadequacies that we are experiencing as a district um so those are just some general updates uh trce did you want to talk about your visit a little bit yeah I just wanted to say publicly just thanks to um to Dr mcdal and um Miss how Turner and and um Mr Newman and Miss principado who hosted me and Denise bko our former president board member um for a tour a couple of Fridays ago um I it was really wonderful and and I'm so grateful for the time I'd never really been in the halls I have two middle schoolers and and and a student here in Oakland but I hadn't spent any time in not being from this area in college go high school um I encountered engaged respectful students amazing faculty and staff um and I just wanted to highlight a couple of the really interesting classes and projects that we witnessed um everything from a wonderful graphic design studio to an audio production class that was doing insanely Innovative stuff languages music of course which was near and dear to my heart heart um and even a biology class that especially in the month of January was doing an interesting um exercise about how viruses are spread that I think uh hopefully they took a lot of lessons away from and then I was also kind of Blown Away by all the supplementary ways of learning um everything from the greenhouse on campus to pause TV which I knew about but really to see it as a communication major in college that was something incredible and then the senior leaders um who are a smaller group of seniors who go out into the community um and have encountered my children I know in the middle school but also they had just come back from Z North that day um The Wellness Center I know some of us have seen it but it begs repeating it's something I've I've never seen in a school environment like this and it's really remarkable um so just my my biggest takeaway is kfood high school is a very diverse and vibrant student body with amazing staff and I encourage anybody who has questions or wants to see how things are in our you know especially our board or in our community to reach out to Dr McDow um and go for toour all right thank you um any uh comments or or uh thoughts on the uh code of conduct that we've been discussing any wanted to share I'm sorry what was any questions on what rich on the uh restorative practices uh uh code of conduct guide any comments on it comments okay uh I I don't know that I'm terribly in favor of that I think it's much more complicated that what we have is much more complicated than it really needs to be uh I think restorative uh justice and keeping kids in school is very important I think we should do everything we can to do that but I think what we have uh right now is overkill uh we also have to remember to the it's good to keep that one kid it's disruptive in class but we also have to remember that the other 20 kids in that class uh are not getting the learning they're entitled to because of the distractions what we're we're trying to keep the uh uh that one kid in class so uh the way it's proposed at this point in time I don't think I'm at all in favor of it just with regards to the last thing you said about keeping children who are having trouble or you know misbehaving in class speaking of the wellness center and correct me if I'm wrong any of this I think I remember being told that students who are maybe having some kind of disciplinary action that is a space where they are taught as opposed to the regular classroom and do I have that right okay so just to that point again the wellness center is a really great resource for that reason um any other thoughts on the uh code of conduct can I ask a question because I think we've talked about this publicly but again um maybe it's helpful to hear the reasoning why this is being done and maybe some of the results that we've seen so far obviously we're adopting we're we're talking about it for oakin but is there anything Dr McDow would like to share about you know because it is already in action in the secondary campus so good evening everyone um first I think it's important to um acknowledge uh restorative practices are not um take it easy on disruptive behaviors the restorative practices guide the purpose was in response to what um School administrators requested last year they wanted to have more options and more flexibility to look at children on a case-by Case basis um and it's also important to note that Oaky has been doing restorative practices for several years now and so uh the majority of what's contained in the guide is already in practice here in Oakland we just wanted to make sure that we had a document that was public facing so that the community understood what it is versus what it's not and that there are a multitude of options now available for young people um who may be struggling um in school but also making sure that schools um have more access to more tools uh and that there's consistent language being spoken both on and off campus uh and then to make sure that there's also through line um uh when they get to middle school and high school where uh we see it put into practice uh for more severe behaviors uh just a a question would it be possible to maybe get some teacher feedback um have staff at Oakland gotten an opportunity to review these policies and if so would there be an opportunity maybe to just get some feedback from the the staff on that uh policy is the exclusive right and privilege of the board the guide um is is simply implementation and so um teachers would not be weighing in on board policy that would be exclusively for you as the board what we've done is we've just codified um what the policy actually means in practice and so administrators from Collingwood uh and Oakland all levels uh uh preschool Elementary uh middle and high school uh providing feedback uh we also had teachers um both in Oakland and Collingswood be able to provide initial feedback back in May and June um and then we use that feedback in order to make uh necessary revisions in terms of what it looks like in practice and so yes there has been a degree of feedback but in terms of the policy that's the exclusive right of the board uh I understand that that's exclusive art of the board uh honestly God I do but I fail to see a problem in getting as much feedback as we can from the people that deal with this every single day uh I I I don't see why that's a problem that uh we we can't uh do everything we can as Todd says that uh it's better to get more more feedback than less so let me be let me be clear in who actually uses to guide um the principals and the school administrators use to guide they had several months and multiple rounds of feedback in the development of the guide um and so we wanted to make a document that faced the public so that families were understood processes and then the range of options that were being uh utilized when it comes to these kind of challenging conversations with their children the the uh the guide uh for the teachers and for the staff uh I I believe it's 14 pages long it it it's a it's a very long guide it's very detailed it's do this do this do this do this uh I honestly don't know that that's absolutely necessary personally I don't think it is I think the the teachers and there there should be uh uniformity I mean uh uh we can't have you getting one punishment coling getting another punishment we want to have that the same but I don't need know that we need 14 pages of you know boom bo boom bo boom and also as I've still go back to the same thing I I see no problem getting feedback uh understanding full well that uh uh the teachers and the staff are not going to do the implementation that's the the board's policy so if I could propose something could this be something that we talk about at our Retreat number one and to Todd and Bill's Point get some feedback from administrators at Oakland would that be is that what you well would be helpful to hear not just the administrators the teachers are the the people that are in the classroom every day with what's going on uh they're the ones that are are uh either helped or hindered by what we managed to do and I I think we should have that as well and if Oakland has been doing this for two years without any problems why are we trying to create something that's much more structured so maybe we're being a bit confusing because what's uh for vote from the board is the one-page um code of conduct policy that's the only thing that's actually up for for a vote the implementation guide um is the administration of said policy but the actual policy itself is what's up for a vote um and that is the exclusive privilege um of the board but in terms of the administrative guide we're just codifying and then just sharing and giving the rationale behind um the policy and then statute the last thing I'll say on this is that I've said in our committee um and I'll say again that I think the communication of how this is being used um needs to be it done correctly with families and with the communities that we you know I'd suggest in our committee maybe bringing back a public address to the parents at back to school night um at the very least in some of the communication um mechanisms that we have like the texting and email and things like that so I hope that's going to continue to be part of the plan the other thing uh just to chime in on the the policy and and and the handbook and even teacher feedback one piece that plays a major role in that is uh you know looking at the data right we saw great presentation tonight that included uh math data and reading data and the way the teachers collect that but also to monitor uh student incidents and behaviors and the data that comes with that um as part of our ongoing data review so that you know we could see you know we're implementing these restorative consequences we're imp implementing character education programs like Alp Pals um our PBIS uh supports um to see if that's really paying off right based on that data so that's something too that we want to look at all right uh anything else for committee of the whole yeah I hate to monopolize this but uh two things number one the the uh Retreat what what time does that begin I've seen different different times shown 9 9 o' 9 o' mhm thank you and the other thing I just want to mention that uh you know I'm I'm back to pushing for the curriculum or the uh Committee of the whole I see had in Township just decided that they're going to go to the committee at the whole uh for the reasons that I think you know the whole board knows what's going on it's not like you know this and this and this you know everything about it before you make your decision I still think that's a good idea but I know I'm a extreme minority so just want to keep it in front of everybody all right all right anything else for committee of the whole all right we get a motion to adjourn Committee of the whole so mooved second all in favor I I hi all right up next is uh future dates and miscellaneous information just let's just we thre it no just tell it's and all that is listed in the board agenda uh item six routine board business any updates there um the minutes gotcha um we need a move a motion to uh recommending the superintendent to approve the meetings um from the December 17th 2024 board meeting do I have a motion so move second all in favor all right all right uh up next uh item seven is the public comment section um please stand state your name and address um you can also leave your name and address on the paper if you prefer to do that um please remember to keep the comments to five minutes or less um the purpose of this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda additional more General comments be be made in the meeting uh during the next uh public comment section Public's reminded uh that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through the appropriate staff members and administrators any public comments all right seeing none we will move on to the superintendent report uh good evening again section uh 8.01 is the enrollment report uh December 2023 enrollment was 269 December 202 4 is 274 uh and that is attached also attached uh 8.02 is the safety drill report uh 8.03 is the uh suspension report and 8.04 is the anti-bullying report uh and all three of those are also attached and the business M business administrator board secretary report item 9.01 is uh your December 2024 monthly transfer report item 9.02 is your December 2024 board secretary Treasures report cash reports um and all the financial backup item 9.03 is a listing of the purchase orders that have been issued for the month of January and a 9.04 listing of the warrants that will be paid tomorrow morning uh pending approval this evening moving on to finance buildings and grounds committee Mrs marmian thanks um so 10.01 is um moveing the recommendation to approve the transfers in 9.01 10.02 is to um accept the board secretary certification of no overe expenditures 10.03 is um the board certifications of no overex exender proval of the secretary and Treasurer reports that were um just presented by Mrs Coleman tempor 05 are um to approve the purchase orders and 9.03 10.06 is to approve the warrants in 9.04 10.07 is the approval of the 2023 2024 audit is attached there um and there are please note that there are no findings 10.08 is an addendum to an existing rental agreement with colins with public schools for preschool space as attached 10.09 is recommendation to approve the revision of the hourly rate for all nonseasonal minimum wage employees 10.10 is the child study team shared services agreement with Collingswood 10.11 is the approval of the shared administrative services to agree agreement with Collingswood 10.2 is approval of the shared assistant principal prek K3 agreement with Collingswood 10.13 is approval of the shared preschool instruction Services agreement with Collingswood 10.14 is the approval of the shared media specialist agreement with Collingswood 10.15 is approval of the shared technology Services agreement with Collingswood 10.16 is approval of the shared maintenance services agreement with Collings wood 10 .7 is approval of use of facilities for AMC gym nights that are listed here 10.18 is use facilities approval for AMC over 30 basketball for the spring season so we are seeking approval for items 10.01 through 10.18 have motion so moved and a second second second um any comments or questions from the board yes I'm sorry the uh a couple of things on on the agreements these are are the shared service agreements uh are where my questions are uh the the fee this uh service fee the administrative fee uh the percentage is not the same for each one of these agreements why is that I'd have to go back but in some years it was 2% I think we first started went to three and in some case and then we dropped it to two and some of the newer ones varries between 1.9 and five or five and a half right now I would think it should be the same for each one of the AG it's either two or 3% on all of them but I can go back and check them all but okay uh and the the one line and I asked about this at the committee meeting that uh the line that says this agreement will be renewable and will be made after an analysis of the cost as of the costs is reviewed uh I don't understand what that means when we started the Shar service agreements back in 2013 it was the agreement of both boards that we would meet before signing the next year to make sure that it was still cost effective that Collingswood was still getting a little something out of it in that in that Oakland you know was H they were happy with the services and it wasn't costing too much so what I've done every year I like I presented in the committee meeting I redo each shared service agreement with the actual staff because staff move around their actual um salaries with the salary increases and the health benefits I don't do it like a tuition adjustment when it was originally written that way it was probably considered that way like if it cost more then Collingswood would build Oakland and we never did and if it costs less you know like it would kind of like a tuition adjustment it would square up we've we've never done that I've never gone back and looked at the actual cost versus the shared service agreement cuz I know we're estimating year in advance what everybody's salaries are going to be okay I that was the answer I gave in committee also I he what you're saying I'm not sure that that's what this that line says that's what the attorney told me to put in that both boards could meet and look at the Shared service agreements the Oakland attorney said that yeah who was the Oakland attorney that said that the same one Collings would have back in 2013 11 years ago yeah but this is it's an every shared service agreement this is this is 2025 agreement okay Oakland has Oakland's attorney reviewed that no okay our insurance company both insurance companies have reviewed them and they're okay with them so okay I answer the yeah another question the shared assistant principal uh it would seem to me that the charge should be not 25% but 37 a. half% based on the number of classrooms that uh the preschool operates between collinswood and Oakland okay okay uh I this was discussed in the committee we could have i' don't know what you want me to say at this moment well I I've got we went through all of them in committee that was a week ago for an opportunity to change the shared service agreements in committee if you're making a motion make the motion and then it's up to the board to vote it down to be reconsidered again but okay I'll make on a commment I can't do anything I'll make a motion that we table all of the shared service agreements until next month uh do we have a second okay hearing n I'll go one then uh the admin admin fee for uh the media specialist is 5% as opposed to the two or three or four that uh you had indicated was had been used in the past uh there's a duplicate paragraph in that agreement that one of which can be uh eliminated I believe uh and I've got the same question on the analysis of the costs um the Information Technology uh that fee is only 1.9% you're you're not getting uh the same amount there and uh there's a question on the review of the hours on that one uh analysis of course on the custodial maintenance agreement same question summer hours uh on the I'm sorry on the child study team uh the summer hours are in addition to the the fee which is okay I don't have any problem with that but I just uh the administrator uh the head the supervisor uh is a 12-month employee so I'm assuming that she doesn't paid extra for the summer hours is that correct correct okay and the Social Security the the charge for social security for The Intern uh is 20% is that social securities uh charge 20% no why is 20% on here what we're paying for them then is that the childa that's everybody that's everybody which contract are you referring to at this moment it says SS psych intern okay that's not everybody that's the psych intern there's only one is there a mistake in that what is the Social Security that you take out 7.65% not 20% okay 20% is what it is on there uh the admin Services agreement uh as you know I disagree with the charge for the assistant VA uh there's a double Aster that doesn't have a reference what what it refers to and the question there there's also a paragraph in there that we were're eliminating claims uh against each other Oakland uh says they won't make any claims against collinswood and collinswood says they won't make any claims against Oak Clint correct we hold each other harmless and we swap yes we hold each other harmless yes uh I'm not sure that's appropriate but uh that was at the recommendation of um the insurance company The Joint Insurance Fund that was a recommendation of the insurance company joint Insurance Fund okay I hear you okay that's it um just a quick comment on my end uh as we look at the shared services uh agreement um one uh eye openening piece that came up in committee um uh the the tech technology costs and the Divergence that has been in that particular area um over the last couple years um we've talked a lot as a board about um uh managing devices we've talked about repairs and those type of things but the one thing uh that hasn't really come up and uh plays an important role is having a a technology person dedicated to uh State reporting um and so just like to make a note that that uh we we have a full-time I don't know if it's fulltime it's a shared service but uh we have a person dedicated to that um the state reporting that is required continues to grow continues to be uh it changes month-to month there's a brand new uh civil rights report that that the state's requiring that that's going out uh shortly um in the past um you know that was one of the things that was kind of handled through the typical heal desk type of things um not the best way to uh keep that moving so um you know at some point in the future you know maybe will talk to the board about what what goes into the state reporting the NJ smart reporting as it's called um which impacts our funding it impacts testing it impacts everything we're going to do so um and I did send that out to the board as well after committees but just wanted to make a note of that for everybody any other comments or questions yeah I just had uh a comment on item 10.0 um 11 the shared administrative Services agreement I'll be abstaining on that vote uh just so there's no conflict of interest as some of those administrators are my bosses so will be abstaining on uh 10.11 uh for any potential conflict of interest all right I have a question for bethanne about um some of the things that bill brought up are these have there been changes in language to the agreements from last year to this year no I'm just pointing out we we approved these in years past so yeah I haven't changed not I'm not questioning the question but no it that hasn't changed it's a one contract that makes no difference what we did in 10 or in uh 2013 this is the contract for 2526 all right let's uh vote on a roll call Mr DeMarco yes Mrs Vel yes Mrs love yes Mrs Maran yes Mr McMillan yes Mr schaer yes abstain on 10.1 11 yeah Mr STS uh yes except uh 10.06 I abstained one they were just posted today and honestly I haven't had an opportunity to uh to review them and no on 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 and 1016 Mr tab yes all right moving on to curriculum and Personnel committee Mr schaer all righty good evening everyone uh so just a couple of uh items up for approval tonight item 11.01 we're looking to approve home instruction for uh a kindergarten student at four hours uh a day um which began back in uh October 30th and this will be until further notice uh and we're also looking to approve a couple of field trips um in the spring fifth grade uh field trip one to the aquarium and one I believe to the um to Independence Hall so we are seeking approval on items 11.01 and 11.02 all right do we have a motion so mooved the second second trying all right any comments or questions uh just a quick comment uh was really excited uh when we talked about uh our prek program uh during the committee um we have applied to the state for a total of 70 general education seats in our program um which would put us at uh serving 100% of our uh what we call our universe and prek so that's pretty awesome uh so excited and and hopefully the state will approve that um the other exciting thing um on the curriculum front um as part of our board retreat um we're going to have some WI data reports that will include Dibbles um NW nwaa math assessments that was uh discussed earlier tonight along with key performance indicators that includes um some of the discipline data includes attendance data and really can highlight a lot of the work that uh our school is doing um so looking forward to seeing that next month as well all right um on a roll call Mr DeMarco yes Mrs Fel yes Mrs love yes Mrs Maran yes Mr McMillan yes Mr schaer yes Mr STS yes Mr tab yes all right uh moving on to item 12 school community relations and policy Miss marmian item 12.01 is the collinswood board report Mr McMillan yes so far we've uh you know this is my first year on that so uh we've just done the reorg meeting so far far we have committee meeting uh tomorrow and then there our first actual meeting the following Monday um as of right now we voted for Roger Chu as the president Kate Seltzer as the vice president and then we got Matt Craig as the chair for the finance buildings and grounds Sarah Sherman for curriculum uh Kate Seltzer is for personnel and Kelly Maya for policy and that's pretty much all we have so far if I may ask which committee you're serving on I'll be on policy I don't 12.02 is the PTA Le is on report um but Mrs Rondo isn't here and the PTA has not met since our last meeting but is continues to do amazing things including I'll just shamelessly plug the PTA Community blood drive is this Saturday um from 8:30 to 1:30 or 2 and appointments are still available and that's here in the school um gearing up for lots of other events sorry wasn't prepared to present but uh including the Oakland talent show which will be March 14th so that's exciting item 12.03 is the omac report Mr Tav thank you um updates from omac we have our gym night this Friday um also of note is that uhac is partnering with the PTA on on events as well so they're partnering with the PTA for the family fund night um they are sponsoring Hawk Awards and um next meeting is to be determined but we be coming up shortly item 12.04 is the Oakland Education Foundation report Mr schaer uh yes uh no news to report as uh we have not met since our last meeting uh but I'll be reaching out to Mrs divis and looking forward to uh working with the o f to serve our great school so can I just add that which is just being put out there and um I don't know Kim you want to talk about it but um the o f is going to have a meet and greet this Saturday at the same time as um the blood drive at Common Grounds from 9: to 11: so you can give blood and you can go get replenishment at Common Grounds you can meet your o f board members actively looking for more people to join that group um so anyway that just kind of came together quickly and apologies for not communicating that well but um all right item 12.05 are policies for first reading we have four um policy 5512 is harassment intimidation and bullying revised 5533 is student smoking revised 7441 electric Sur electronic surveillance in school buildings and on school grounds um and then 9320 is cooperation with law enforcement agencies item 12.06 is the harassment intimidation and voting report as presented um during the December 2024 meting meeting of the board so we are seeking approval for items 12.05 through 12.06 all right um move second do we have a second second all right uh any comments or questions on uh this committee all right hearing none uh we will move to a vote Mr DeMarco yes Mrs Fel yes Mrs L yes Mrs Maran yes Mr McMillan yes Mr Schaefer yes Mr STS yes Mr tab yes all right um should I open up public comment and all right moving on to our second public comment section uh this section is for any items uh everyone's reminded to please stand either state your name or or write it down on our list there uh keep your comments to five minutes or less public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should go first go through the appropriate staff members and administrators before we get into the public comment though we are going to jump into some of our recognitions of Mr Bill Stouts okay so good evening everyone um thank you uh for being in attendance family friends um dignitaries uh and so uh we are all here uh to honor the 50 years of service uh to Mr STS um the time and attention to detail that was clearly evident this evening um he's brought for the last 50 years in serving this community and we are all here uh out of respect admiration and appreciation for Bill's Collective effort to the children and families of Oakland um to get us started uh we would like to call um our mayor mayor Brantley um to come and say a few remarks on behalf of the buau thank you and good evening is this on yeah okay thank you and good evening everybody um just want to say thank you to the ukland board of ed for sending out the invitation to Mayor and councel so we're we could be here tonight on this very special night for uh Bill stalks um it's great being back in the Oakland Public School place I graduated from uh many years ago looks a little different but um it's it's great to be back here um and it's it's it's my honor to uh be able to present this Proclamation on behalf of the bar of Oakland for Bill STS so at this point in time uh bill could you come up and if you'd like to bring your family up i' just like to to read the proclamation to you please okay um Office of the mayor Bar Oakland Proclamation Proclamation honoring William Bill STS for his 50 years of service on the Oakland School Board whereas Bill STS has served the Oakland Community for over 50 years in many capacities and whereas Bill STS has been a member of the Oakland School Board for 50 years and whereas Bill STS has served as the board president from 2015 to 202 to and whereas Bill STS has earned a designation of certified board member from the njsba board member Academy in 2011 and whereas Bill STS has dedicated his life to the children and residents of the burough of Oakland now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the burough of Oakland County of Camden and state of New Jersey that special recognition be given to Bill STS on his 50 years of service to the Oakland School Board be it further proclaimed that this Proclamation be made part of the permanent records of The Bu of Oakland and that a copy of said Proclamation be presented to Bill STS on January 21st 2025 congratulations for all your years of service we appreciate we are also Al uh joined by um Mr Ray Penny from New Jersey school boards uh who will say a few words I'm with the Jersey Schoolboard Association uh my one of my best parts of my job is giving out the 50e plaques it's not the first one I've ever given out actually I gave out two last year but it was funny when I was giving this one out I sent it on to get TR and you know I sent Bill's name out and he came back he goes just proof it and said Bill status I go what the heck so I go to type it back and auto correct change thoughts to status so and I was thinking about it I said so much has changed you had no auto correct I don't believe when you came on the board uh I think we had white out though that's what we used to use right uh but so much if you think about how much has changed since he's been on the board Microsoft wasn't around Apple wasn't around we didn't have social media um we didn't have Facebook we you know we didn't have any of that uh but through all that time you have stayed on the board committed to the community and students of Oakland and I think that is a really amazing uh achievement if you think about it that you stayed committed for all those years and I can tell that you read everything too uh which is the first thing I tell people to do when they come on the board is read your packet so uh we have a plaque here for your 50 years of service um to and I like you to come up but you know what you can't carry plaques around so we have a little pel pin that says 50 years of service on it so that you can wear around a lot easier I think than carrying all the plaques that you'll be getting so congratulations actually you can try that put his name in it'll come up status I get that a lot well you have good status too I mean You' been on the boook yeah sounds are you taking a picture don't sit down bill so on behalf of the um Board of Commissioners for Camden County there's also an additional Proclamation recognizing Mr STS uh it says whereas it is the desire of the Board of Commissioners in the C uh County of Camden to recognize individuals who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to education community service and the betterment of society whereas Mr William Bill STS has devoted more than 50 years of remarkable Service as a member of the Oakland Board of Education profoundly impacting the students staff and the Oakland Community throughout Bill's tenure he has exemplified an unwavering dedication to education and governance including eight consecutive years of exceptional leadership as board president from 2015 to 2022 his enduring professionalism leadership and vision has left a lasting Legacy on the Oakland School District fostering educational excellence and inspiring generations to come and whereas bill has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the development and excellence in school board service or earning the distinguished designation of certified board member from New Jersey school boards a board member Academy in 2011 his extraordinary contributions have been recognized by the New Jersey school boards Association which acknowledges his remarkable five Decades of service in advancing education within our community Bill's Work has ensured that the students of Oakland receive a strong foundation for their Futures and his contributions have strengthened the community for over half a century and whereas Mr William STS has had an extraordinary impact during his many years of service on the Oakland Board of Education and his contributions will continue to shape the future of education for years to come Bill's unwavering dedication to education remains an invaluable asset to our community and his name will continue to serve as a shining example of selfless service and leader leadership for future Generations now therefore the Board of Commissioners of the county of Camden do hereby declare William st's day and calls upon all residents to join us in celebrating Mr st's Incredible achievements and contributions to education which have positively shaped the lives of so many congratulations let's give round yeah I have a little uh presentation to make myself you know I'm uh thank you very much I it's it's really good to see all you people out here uh this is unusual for schroll board meeting anymore we had used to have some uh usually a lot of controversy was going on but thank you very much for coming I appreciate uh the effort and uh coming out on a night like this uh I really appreciate your effort so thank you very much don't sit down yet Bill uh Dr McDow uh in the proclamation read uh that your name Bill uh will carry on for Generations as someone who has cared a great deal about his community and has helped lady his community Through many changes as we learned we went from white out to remote instruction over the course of your time uh as a board member um so on behalf of the Oakland Board of Education and the uh Oakland uh the OA uh we are officially naming our media center which we're currently standing as the William Bill Stouts Media Center yes sir here all right any uh other public comments anyone wish to address the board at this time congratulations Mr sou um my name is Aubrey George I'm at 3:15 Landis Avenue um and I'm here representing uh Oakland Little League um filling in for our president uh Brett love who's um not here for a family emergency um but Oakland L leag would like to submit a proposal to the board uh seeking permission to proceed with uh making improvements and modifications to one of the fields on the school's property um it's known as the Junior's field and it's the field closest to the school um basically Oakland little leag has grown and we need more room uh currently the field is that we're proposing to fix is unused and unmaintained um the field does not meet requirements for age appropriate games the backdrop is Warped the uh pitcher mound is eroded and the infield contains uh hidden divots so we are uh planning to make several improvements including field modifications to remove grass so that it's usable for softball and baseball um establish base paths so that they're up to regulation Implement a movable pitcher mound to make and make other necessary uh repairs and add storage solutions as well um it's important to note that we are not seeking funding um we are planning to raise funds independently through fundraising efforts um and any grants that that we are able to receive as well um we want to make it clear that the um the field the The Proposal makes the field usable by all age groups um including a baseball field which is uh currently I believe what what it was used for before um so it does not take away from the functionality it only adds to it um so we're hoping to get this approved so that we can uh create a versatile and well me team space that benefits the school and the community um and provides opportunities for the children to have physical activity teamwork and Community engagement thank you thank you need to know by know you need to know by yeah I can ask um real quick Aubrey uh what's your uh time frame for this in terms of our response and and and that piece I'm Sarah Pelle I live at 215 Newton Avenue I'm the secretary for the Little League um we don't have a timeline right now we are in the process of raising the money um we cordially invite the school board to help us with grants if that's possible um building inrs um but we definitely not this year um so we still have to raise quite a bit of money in order to make this happen okay any other questions I know this is last minute I'm looking at that direction there is a local rep Grant okay um but it's due January 31st okay um you can partner with schools or the municipality to raise funds to do these kinds of things so um Mr love uh president had spoken with uh John Longo about um I thought he had said and he's not here to confirm but I thought Mr long had said that the school had to there is a matching fund component okay so so um could we get some more information on that from someone here or um you send me an email I can send you the link to the Department of Community Affairs they have like like what's required in their grants okay but I do know like they do it every year so even if you're not ready this year okay usually every year they throw out like a local wck Improvement Grant like for Parks like specifically for these kinds of things for children okay they're usually you um partner with the the school district or the municipality and there's like a matching component sometimes it's 50% we get the other part so if you didn't make it this round probably this time next year there'll probably be another round that's wonderful fa let you know great thank you very much I appreciate it you all right any other public comments yeah can I just make a a comment on that uh one of the disadvantages of being around so long is that you have a certain amount of institutional uh recollection what what's transpired that field uh when it was first built was a skin in field uh there uh we had a number of complaints from uh the residents on Landis Avenue about the dirt was blowing into their yard uh every time the wind blew they they were cleaning the yard so going to a skin INF field will have the same problem you'll have that that same problem that uh people be complaining that uh and understandably so from the people over outside so just so you're aware of that uh I I'm I'm definitely not anti little Lake I spent I'll bit 30 years in Little Lake uh in various capacities so I'm all for your your efforts to do that but uh you face a potential problem with that one field back there so just say you're aware of that all right that's it all right any other public comments hi Denise Pia 507 kle Boulevard um I couldn't stay away for too long sorry I just wanted to thank Bill once again um for your unmatched dedication to the children of Oakland uh 50 years is well I did seven and that was more than enough for me um it's astonishing and I just really want to thank you um for your leadership for your commitment for your dedication um for your service so thank you thank you very much Denise I appreciate it all right um all right we will uh close the public comment section and uh we'll welcome everybody for Refreshments after adjournment uh do we have a motion to adjourn sove move second mov in second uh meeting is adjourned all in favor I I meeting is adjourned Sports what's what's the point