##VIDEO ID:f5tXy6VL5jA## thank you for joining us this evening and if you're uh joining us from home thank you for joining us as well at this time I'd like to ask if you would please rise for the flag salute aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay I'd like to mention that this is uh our November 19th regular meeting I do not have a president's report this evening so we will go right over to our student representative um Ball Sports just came to an end we wanted to recognize the boy soccer team who finished 145 and one they won the B north public division championship made it to the semi-finals in the sh Conference tournament and the quarterfinals in the state tournament fresh Lea starky of the girls cross country team placed 10th in the meet of Champions the gymnastics team finished 10 and four they were co-publication Champions they finished fifth in the shore conference and qualified for State sectionals and individuals winner sports tryouts start on November 25th and then some activities from the school yesterday the freshman sophomore and Junior students had an assembly with Miss kazuba discussing the upcoming schedule change for next year um in Deca the second major event Deca giving was today which is when the students come and celebrate Thanksgiving and in January they're going to Kane University for their District's competition student council just announced their annual blood drive which is taking place on December 4th the senior class has their friendsgiving this Wednesday last Sunday The Varsity Club had their annual empowerment brunch where the students brought a woman who is significant and inspiring to them and the drama club had their School preview of their play today which will be performed this weekend thank you girls we appreciate your very thorough reports um with that we will now move on to our superintendence report Miss Welden thank you very much good evening everyone it's so wonderful to see a Pat's house this evening we have much to celebrate so I'd like to begin by introducing up one of our graduates and I'm going to ask him to stand up here while I talk about the his countless achievements Mr Joseph Valentino would you please come forward jino is a graduate of the CL if you could just stand and you just just face yeah you're good just stand right here and look out at the audience okay perfect a a graduate of the class of 2024 he is here this evening because of two unbelievable recognitions first he is earned Eagle Scout with Five Palms the national court of honor of scouting America formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America has announced that Joseph Valentino of Scouts BSA Troop 71 of Oaker New Jersey will be formally promoted to the rank of Eagle Scout at a court of honor this Saturday November 23rd Valentino was will also receive the additional honor of five Palms indic indicative of earning 25 more merit badges than required for advancement earlier this year Valentino was named top of the class of 2023 when he was presented the Glen a Melinda W Adams Council Eagle Scout project of the Year by the national Eagle Scout Association and that's only one of the recognitions we have this evening the second achievement is that Joseph also so earned National Junior firefighter of the year for the city of Long Branch New Jersey he also is a member of the township of ocean Fire District number one in Oakhurst New Jersey as a the national Volunteer Fire Council named firefighter Joseph Valentino as the National Junior firefighter of the year for 2023 2024 Joseph is a proud Third Generation member of the volunteer fire service firefighter Valentino has distinguish himself in his community as a member of the independent fire engine and truck company number two of the city of Long Branch and also with the Oakhurst independent Hose Company number one of the Oakhurst Fire Department in the township of ocean Fire District number one ladies and gentlemen Joseph Valentino thank you so much it means a lot uh first of all I want to say h thank you to a lot of the faces I know here um it's been a true honor of being part of ocean made a lot of friends lot of great memories and I couldn't done it without my teachers and my few principles um who I want to give one Applause to Mr and MBA who are both amazing and helpful people who brought the best in everybody here I would assume and uh and um mostly me um I wanted to say also thank you to um my captain of Chris sonino who is here tonight I want to say thank you for your help too uh all I'm going to say is um uh just believe in yourself and possible be nice to others and just big so thank you so much congratulations Joseph you are an inspiration and we thank you for being here this evening okay thank you very much okay our next honores I would like to call up the kid the Panasonic kids Witness challenge Award winners Miss Ava Santino Kathleen Amaral Anthony Hernandez florz and their teachers Diane Brandon and Mr Mike Houston if they're here Mr Amada will present you with a certificate while I explain how you earned this recognition these students in miss Brandon's life science class worked with Mr Houston on creating a short documentary the film was based on their class project of building building a bat house for our school garden they submitted their film to the Panasonic kid Witness News global contest and their film B Holmes was selected from hundreds of submissions to represent the US in the Primary School Division there were over 4,000 students who competed in the competition worldwide and we are proud to announce that our Spartans brought home the kids award from this great organization in front of the Spartan wall and parents if you'd like to come up and take a picture as well I agree and Joseph can you come back up for a quick picture as well and how about Mrs kazuba and Mr Amato you want to CL for a picture as well okay okay thank you very much next up okay we'd like to I would like to introduce and bring up Isabella santui and her coach I believe Mr cisano is here this evening her other coach Miss picket couldn't be with us but I'd also like to recognize her as well come on up Isabella Mr Todd and Mrs kazuba will present you with your certificate Isabella is here this evening because she has set a new school record for the most goals and points scored in a single game in girl soccer in school history congratulations go ahead you guys want to get in it's up to you parents if you want to come up and take a picture great congratulations okay now we are going to recognize our gymnastics team ladies would you please come on up I'm G to call all of your names but you can come on up as right away Al together I'd like to recognize Emma bonfor Belle castalano Kaye castalano Sati Francis Addison Paulson Ranna pelli Alexandra rolinski hyana Rodriguez kiai sarino Brook Schneider jacqulyn Smith Kayla Smith Alexia Tapia cada and their coach Miss Nicole Bina the girls gymnastics team this year have been crowned the gymnastics B North co- public Champions congratulations l pleas and I'm sorry I didn't realize she was joining us this evening their coach also miss Karen done I'm so sorry congratulations to you both and we would like to take a group photo over in front of the Spartan wall if we can fit you in there good J I just want to say congratulations to all our students we're very very proud of all of you great job we'll take our time parents so you can wait for the perfect shot congratulations ladies very proud of you okay now I'm going to ask Mrs leznik to come up as we recognize our next Honore okay I would like to introduce Miss Andrea sod please come on up miss sodi last year Mrs leznik nominated Mrs sodi for the New Jersey Department of Education exemplary educator award the goal of this program is to identify Educators who are valued by their school community and have exhibited strong Knowledge and Skills an inspiring presence and a Clear Vision for Quality teaching and learning our ESL teacher Miss Andrea sodi is exactly that she embodies the tenants of this award and she is absolutely changing the lives of our students every single day at Ocean Township Elementary School it is my honor and privilege to recognize her here this evening for this wonderful award congratulations let's get a picture of you too Mr pres Miss s over here no no no our last recognition for this evening is a retirement it's always sad to see one of our staff members retire and leave our district uh but we are always always hopeful that they are moving on to more exciting times and uh a life of their choosing and travel and time with family and children and grandchildren and I know this will absolutely be true for this individual after 12 years of dedicated service to this District Mr John Bosman Senor is retiring I'd like to ask him to come forward Ward Mrs parlamis is going to present him with a plaque and while that's happening I would just like to say a few words about Mr Mr John Bosman as a director of facilities you are often working behind the scenes without recognition without Praise You are called on in emergency situations you are called on to answer why something happened why something is not working how did this go wrong and then you are asked to solve it in a matter of moments something that was not your doing that you had no control over and yet you are tasked with coming up with the solution and for a dozen years this gentlemen has done just that I'd like to thank him for his service I'd like to thank him for overseeing countless projects that have expanded our offerings to our students improved facilities for staff parents the entire community and in particular I'd like to thank him for his help last school year in my first year of superintendent when I had to make very difficult decisions about weather and school closing closings Mr Bosman was on speed dial and he answered my phone at 4:30 in the morning or 10:30 at night whatever the case may be he has been loyal and dedicated to this District and the success of ocean Town trip schools and we are forever indebted to him I'd like to wish you the absolute best in your retirement you will be missed and I hope that you go on to spend time with these fine people here in the audience and you do for a little while what makes you most happy don't lose my number you want to get a pH and then we can get a family photo put your arm here someone sck Mr Bosman if I may if I may on behalf of the Board of Education I know you will be sorely missed so don't be mad at us if we call you okay thank you so much for everything this concludes my report all right thank you Miss well then with that we will move on to the school business administrators report you know we should mention that if um maybe you don't you're welcome to stay but if youcome to prefer to move on with your evening understand understand we won't take it personally thank you Mr hater actually okay with that we will now move on to our school business administrator report Mr Hastings uh I have nothing to add to the uh report made at the workshop thank you okay thank you very much all right we will now move on to public comment regarding agenda items the following are a series of motions to be read by the committee chairpersons all motions have been discussed at a recent public work session some motions have been approved at a public work session and the minutes for the approved items are posted on the district website at this point in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comment sessions first session will be open for public comments on agenda items only the second session will be at the end of the meeting and can be on any topic the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration the superintendent's contact information is on the podium and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by participant shall be limited to five minutes duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and lastly the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any agenda item at this time Miss hay um Alex say is oerst um I noticed that in the agenda when we when you guys are voting on I think it's called instructional Aid possibly for students of uh hard of hearing students um you put the students number you know that's non-identifiable um but for instructional assistance that seems to be um not done anymore so I'm just wondering if there was like a wholesale reason behind that so that you know like some instructional assistance might be needed for after school extracurricular activities you know for six students a week 14 students a week I'm just wondering why we stopped doing that for the student numbers and then I only have one other thing and that is the school un's um discussion during work session it was pretty awesome to hear a little bit of progress um I believe it was hard to understand down here with the audio um everything that Mr Hastings was saying but it seemed to be if there could be you know a one-pager written about this and correct me if I'm wrong um that you did talk to sedexo they are going to remove a few things that have the red Dy so that seems a plus you might be buying new cereals I think I heard that too um you got a pledge from sedexo for Better data on you know what our students are actually buying um it's crazy that organic and really healthy options could cost eight to10 doar I mean I hope hope y'all don't go forward with eight to10 doar because um going up to 450 uh breaks a lot of people's banks already um but my more so comment to all this is I hope you publicize this discussion um because I think a lot of parents would love to have some input on uh school lunches where they're going where they used to be the options their kids have I think Miss Dam um brought up a novel idea to try to change our school lunches but if you don't Engage The primary stakeholders which are the children and the parents and just make these decisions in a silo I think you're missing a lot of the key folks that you want to talk to so it' be awesome if you publici it and asked for input thanks thank you Miss Hayes Miss Conway is there anyone in the queue no Madam president there are no commenters thank you very much at this time we will go on to our action items Mr McCarthy move to approve item 5.1 second this say item 5.1 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr T Rico obain Mr Weinstein yes M paramas yes motion carries thank you very much Mr McCarthy Personnel Mrs McGovern um I would like to approve items 6.1 through 6.8 may I have a second second items 61 through 68 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mr par yes Mo cares thank you Mr McGovern financial management and Resource Services Mr Weinstein uh thank you madam president I like to move uh for approval 7.1 to 7.14 Second 71 through 714 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman I recuse from two items on 7.3 and no to 714 thank you Mr McCarthy yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes M talo yes all except 714 abstain thank you Mr Weinstein yes M Paramus yes all items carry okay thank you very much Mr Weinstein we will now move on to instruction education and Student Activities Mrs Gilman yes Madam president move to approve items 8.1 through 8.5 is there a second second all items 81 through 85 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes M McCarthy yes Mrs McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Val Rico yes Mr Weinstein uh yes all except for 8.5 I'll recuse myself thank you m par yes motion carries thank you Miss Gilman and now if you would not mind doing policy as well certainly um move to approve the third reading and final revisions to the following policies and or regulations second this item 9.1 Mr doton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs mcgoverin yes Mr Schneider yeah yes Mr Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes M paramas yes motion carries thank you again Mrs Gilman now we will move on to Old business is there any old business from the board right is there any new business govern um I just wanted to say I'm gonna try not to get an emotional after Mr rosman's um I will not be here next month because I have ch somewhere to be for my children who you know have to come first at times so I just want which is hard to put them first over this but um it will be miss paris's last meeting and I just wanted to say thank you for your leadership all of these years um to this board to this um school to every Spartan that's walked through these doors from actually the moment you were on PTA probably until now which has been just a little bit of time um and you have always LED with um your heart and with what is right and um kept us in check when maybe our emotions are different and needing to be you've you've kept it at Bay when maybe we've wanted to go places that we shouldn't go in a lot of ways um and I just want to thank you um for all of that I know that there will be more people to speak next month um sitting here at the Das that do appre appreciate everything for you um I have I'm the longest 10e person here with you so I have um appreciated all you have done for me which you know more than anybody throughout the years so thank you thank you so much M McGovern I do appreciate that and um I I value your friendship and the time that I sered with you on the board as well and I know this is not the end of so I'm okay with that but can I just say something about that don't worry Amy I'll get a little motion won be alone there will be a crier here no doubt all right um any more new business no okay we will now move on to public comment on any item and just to uh repeat um the um public that public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant should be limited to five minutes duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person person does not observe reasonable dequorum so with that would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time Alex a urst um for number 7.14 request for RFP for the legal services I can only imagine from the um recusals here on this board that the special education attorney is out so it sounds like Mr lesser Taylor or Mr gross is um not going to be at one of our attorneys anymore so um I will follow up with the superintendent on why we are doing a new request for um proposals and I'm just going to reiterate what I said earlier um I'm just curious if it has anything to do with the two ethics complaints um and you know now one of them is obviously in the office of administrative law in a you know going to court and then there's also that um unlawful firing discrimination lawsuit against the district um against some board members and former superintendent Jim stanit so I'm curious if that has anything to do with why we're asking for new RFP for the legal services so I hope I phrase that in a question so that it's something that I we I can get back to on um and then um so in the last several Council meetings in town the mayor has made a few uh mentions of oh that property we're doing with the school board and I did an Oprah request for the school board and for the town because on more than one occasion he mentioned s Cindy Lane um and both opras yield did nothing when because I was trying to find out you know what what's going on in Cindy Lane what are you guys talking about because the mayor mentioned several times that it was a joint project between the bard of Ed and the town but yet the bard of Ed has never said anything so um this week the mayor literally confirmed that there are plans for shared services with this school board and the town to build something behind like a All-American um by the apartments that were built several years ago off Cindy Lane so I'm curious he said it would be for new Department of Public Works building so I'm curious what this board has plans to do with that building because I've what have I come to nearly every meeting and I've never heard you guys discuss plans for any new construction um so what are we planning on Cindy Lane who's going to pay for it um if you are planning for something um and the town is having to go to the D because that's a contaminated site it's either state or federally contaminated so it would need some remediation um so it just seems a little secretive which doesn't seem super shocking in this town lately but um if some of those questions could be answered uh it would be great because as I as I view our school taxes go up every year and sometimes I am a proponent of that because I think more money is better for our schools um if we're talking about some kind of shared services building with the town that's in the millions of dollars in my brain and I've never heard anybody here talk about it so would like to know more information thank you thank you Mrs Hayes is there anyone else in the room that has any other public comment all right Mrs Conway is there anyone in the queue no Madame President there is no one in the queue thank you so much okay with that I need a motion h second Happy Thanksgiving yes I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone enjoy your families and we'll see you back here in December have a great night thank you thank you --------- ##VIDEO ID:2Sm4XGnMHME## hello everyone thank you for joining us it is November 19th Welcome to our Workshop meeting I do not have a presort I will Mo on to the superintendent thank you um I have I will have a much larger report downstairs downstairs this evening I'm happy to say we have a number of recognitions which will be wonderful so I'll just have I just have some information to share this evening up here we have uh this morning we had preschool playground ceremonies at all three elementary schools it was a beautiful sunny morning in Ocean Township at Ocean schools had great dedication and the students came out to play and are using this new age appropriate equipment and it's a wonderful advancement in what we can offer our preschool age students at each elementary school so thank you to everyone here who's had a hand in making sure that our district continues to expand our preschool offer and expand the use the budget the preschool expansion Aid to the best possible use to benefit our students I think it was really wonderful to see it in action and thank you for those who could be there we also had as you know uh just to share probably have heard or I know you have but Community as well that we did have a power outage this morning at Ocean Township High School the power went out around 720 um jcpnl was there probably about 20 minutes later working on it and we had full power restored by about 840 so um unfortunately it was the result of a squirrel on an electrical line um and so unfortunately for the squirrel but we we were able to um activate I want to thank Mrs kazuba and her team who quickly uh worked to create safe spaces in the school we had some lighting from our generator and only part of the school was out of power so any students who were and staff who were in Darker areas we moved them to more well-lit areas and they worked on a plan to move everyone safely uh through the building where they needed to be and luckily the power was back on before we were done really with first block so so that was um a lot of good work by a lot of different people facilities it uh and and the administrative team and the teachers and the students at OTS remained calm and handled everything extremely well so I just want to applaud them for that in addition we have some events coming up at the at the schools this month in the next couple weeks we have a financial aid workshop at the high school on November 21st our fall drama is beginning this later this week we have an early dismissal next week Wednesday November 27th it's the day before Thanksgiving December 5th wanasa Winter Wonderland December 7th Wayside Carnival December 7th and preschool I'm sorry conferences for the elementary schools December 10th through the 12th okay they're just a few of the things that are coming up and then today I did receive an invitation for the board members to come and see the Wayside Shark Tank so I will uh pass those along to you and if you are able to join please let me know that is always a fun event where our fourth graders put their best foot forward and and show us about their their inventions so there you go that concludes my report for Workshop thank you very much business administrator Mr H thank you madam president um the U District's auditor willcon company is uh starting to finalize the annual comprehensive financial report for the school year ending June 30 2024 uh there's been a change in the deadlines for submitting the audit summary uh in years past December 6th was the day that uh the information had to be provided to the state however they they' changed that deadline and moved it back a little bit to January 1st uh so that will be met the deadline will be met and then in January and or early February the order will become auditor will come before the board and do a presentation of his audit for last school year and then the other only other item I have is uh we will be opening bids on Friday here at the central office for the new boilers that are going to be installed at the Intermediate School thank you all right we will now move on to the action items McCarthy yes Madam president move to discuss uh item 6.1 up the discussion no movement discuss questions all right move on to Personnel down financial management and Resource Services Mr wi um thank you madam president um so from discussion is 8.1 to 8.4 is there anything you want to bring up um Jeff uh no we have just the some out of District placements and we do have some tuition students coming to us so that's excited for mckin vento students I think I asked this previously the last G who who pays for that is it the state or is it the the sending District sending district and and so that's the same for all these that are present here today the sending district is is paying the yes cases yes anyone else have any questions Finance all right we will move on to instruction education and Student Activities Mrs Gilman yes items 9.1 through 9.4 Madam president for discussion and we will be voting in our regular session thank you does anyone have any questions Mr McCarthy 9.3 the artificial intelligence literacy Summit do can we just get some color on what that entails if you know putting you on the spot here yeah no it's okay I mean I can is that just like learning how to to read the blur but I would say that it's probably Educators learning how to use artificial intelligence in school how to utilize it for our support how to how what do you mean for our like for to support our staff and and your educa there are a lot of plat educational platforms that use AI as well so how to use it in education Yeah in our field yeah at the school boards convention there was a lot of discussions around how it helps people create curriculum testing and and those kind of things so I think was I think it's probably about the um implementation of AI products right I would say yes I'm just trying to bring up the the memo itself but yes I mean if we're sending teachers to professional development or administrators to professional develop development it's based in education so how to use it for educ yeah okay and Miss Ley is a presenter which we should be very proud of as well absolutely so I'm sure she's going to be educating other Educators about the best use for AI thank you anyone else okay we will now move on to policy just on that if I'm not m not mistaken this is not her first time presenting at a conference on AI and some of our other staff members have done so as well they have been you know we we are very forward thinking about this and and how to use it and so the training is just additional her her presenting but also awesome just advancing our learning that's awesome okay it's a new yes Madam president uh we have the second reading of revised new policies and or regulations and we'll be voting on those downstairs anyone any [Music] questions all right we will move on to public relations Mr Weinstein um I guess I don't know why we're discussing this because we have um about the launch program did they come back with something well miss welen and Mr Hastings met witho and I just think they just want to report on okay I because I didn't see the attachment great k [Music] questions uh so excuse me superintendent Wen and I met with uh our uh district manager from sedexo and the regional manager from sedexo earlier this week well this week yesterday um to discuss uh what the board has been talking about in terms of the Food Service program and how we can um improve and make that program better and and look at more nutritious options and and make it uh healthier for for all concern um in in going through uh various areas of the program um so we are part of the national school lunch program the national school lunch program dictates uh the nutritional requirements of the meals that are served um there's a connection between the USDA uh the state department of bag a local food nutrition uh group in Trenton uh and the schools themselves and how they administer the programs um the part of that program also includes commodity food so the district receives about $1 135 $14,000 worth of commodity food so back in the 30s uh when farming was having problems the government decided to purchase food from Farmers uh to help support them during those times and that program has continued on ever since so that food is then uh offered to districts through the national school lunch program to help offset costs and to you know provide supplemental resources for districts to provide to to our students um in looking at some of the data uh 15 to 20% of the lunch comes through those programs through the commodity programs um it's Bas the allocations are based on the activity of the program how many lunches we serve you know we serve upwards of 250,000 lunches during the school year um to our students so that is a basis for how they allocate and what they allocate to us to utilize um we did uh look at the California law the California school food safety act uh that was passed uh in the fall uh that talked about different dieses and banning different dieses and setting new uh nutritional requirements for their lunch program and we talked to sxo about how we could maybe piggy back off of that program and how we could take what's going on there and incorporate into our program as well um that program does not go into effect however until December of 27 so we can't have sedexo contact you know their division their region that handles that area and look at those menus and look at who their uh providers are in terms of of food and and snacks and such and then you know sort of piggy back off that and have us then order according to those menus because those aren't set yet um as we sort of discussed at the last meeting um the criteria the nutritional requirements are set through the USDA and through the national school lunch program other programs that participate with them um and there was a a movement to change and improve the um the requirements of the program and then additional standards uh that's going through sort of a governmental process where there's sort of uh they put out query that this law is going to be passed they ask for comments they ask for people to give input and then they look at the input and make decisions on on things that they're going to implement so again that's a slow moving process where they look at sodium content they look at Sugar they look at various dies and those sorts of things and have published over the course of the next two and three years adjustments they're going to make to the program so they can reduce sodium intake they can reduce sugar and those sorts of things over time and give excuse me manufacturers time to uh catch catch up with the rules and the requirements in terms of what's then provided to sxo through their suppliers um we did talk more locally about the program and about what we're offering here and what tweaks or changes we can make to the menus um all of the meals that are served breakfast and lunch are screened by nutritionists that work for sedexo the nutritionists are making sure they meet the standards set forth by the national school lunch program um we talked to them about different offerings that that we discussed again last week you know different cereals that are offered they can make adjustments to those offerings um we talked about dyes and red dye for instance that's was noted in one of the snack offerings and and can have that removed from the selection we also talk to them about uh production uh records and keeping track of what's sells and what doesn't sell and and looking at the reality of how that impacts Us in terms of cost and our relationship with sedexo our contractual relationship with sedexo in terms of their guarantee for our program to break even at the end of the year and should we decide to make changes how that may or may not impact that guarantee so we can make tweaks around the edges uh right now because we're in the middle of a contract with them and not impact those guarantees um or uh depending on what the board comes back with for us we can make additional requests and then that then may have sedexo re-evaluating contract and giving us a letter that that typically goes out that says you know you bid uh your business to US based on these assumptions change the assumptions therefore we can honor the agreement that we had uh to to guarantee a break even um we also looked at the different companies that are available to us should we go out to RFP there are eight uh state approved companies that are servicing Mammoth County right now uh most of those are the names that you know and the names that we see when we go down to school boards you know sxo charwell Aramark ponan companies like those like sxo so um there is no one out there right now offering you know more organic or a a different option let's say um I think I think they explained to us just like we know that we have to choose from approved providers they they have to buy their food from approved vendors manufacturers that provide the food I think that was one other right we did also talk to them about offering you know different options and and those sorts of things and you know if we were to go out to RFP and if we changed our criteria to include you know more Whole Foods more organic foods those sorts of things they said they could certainly bid on those sorts of things and other companies May bit on those sorts of things however the cost per meal you know could be upwards of8 to10 I believe maybe two months ago U maybe three the board approved the pricing uh through sedexo which is about four and a half I think it was dollars and that was to break even so again making these decisions impacts the financial viability of the program and what we need to do in terms of directing funds to support the program and breaking Mr Weinstein so did you leave it with them that they were going to think about they were going to come back with some suggestions of menues that might fit the financial part of this that may be more to get us better that is that what they is that the so okay we talked about so we talked about different serial options and looking at Alternatives that they could offer that maybe didn't have as much sugar or or sodium you know those sorts of things so you're expecting to come back men not so I think I think we asked them to review all of their menus for red dyes uh anything that was maybe more sugar content than others in in the meeting the items that they pulled up were all very similar because they have to fit a certain criteria to be to to meet the guidelines so was we focus a little bit more on the red dye so they have not completed that search they they look through breakfast and provided us with some of the names of cereals that have that include that and they felt that they could pull those and not and not negatively impact our relationship too much they are going to continue to look through their other lunch items snack items and they are going to get back to us on that they were very receptive very willing to work with us within the parameters that Mr hings and I laid out last meet last meeting which was that if the changes that we request may impact the the the terms of the contract and then what budgetary implications that may have for us so within those guidelines they were absolutely willing to work with us but knowing that their dietitians do review all of these and everything that they're offering right now does fit the guidelin my takeaway and we did also talk Mrs Dam did share a company that does a price match on cereal so we did uh cereals and snacks I think it was so we did share that with them they're going to look into that to see if that is an approved vendor if they can purchase from them what that would cost them and then again the second part of of that is if we put that out will that sell or will it not sell right because some families may not choose some kids may not choose it some parents may not choose it for their kids we're not really sure I I think one of the other things we expressed to them was that we are absolutely in a mind in a place where we want to be a nutritious district and so when you're making food selections and you're establishing the men within the guidelines and with all of food the foods that you get from the commodity program and that are available through the approved vendors please make the most nutritious choices you can make for our menus that's what we encourage them to do but that's the mindset we want to be if there is a poptart or protein egg bites I kept saying that I was hoping that that would be an option pick the protein egg bites and on the menu that week um and they understood so I I they were extremely receptive I do believe that they will do those things they we are not done with the conversations I think that they will come back to us with what they find out about about the um other items that have red dyes we can talk about if they don't if they are not their absolute best seller and every kid is buying that I think we'd have to have another conversation because that might impact revenue and we'd have to discuss if that's the direction we want to go in and if it is it is um but we have to be prepared for that we can't just do it um but ultimately I will tell you that at the end of the day my feeling is if we truly want to make nutritional change and I think that we do I think everyone around this table will say that poptarts and sugar-loaded yogurt and tricks is not the healthy is not how how children should be eating right it's not the healthiest options but it is within the guidelines so we have this legislative committee it would be my suggestion that we as a board you as a board start to take this to the legislators to move as quickly as California to change the guidelines because if we can get the guidelines changed we can impact school lunches across the state but if we cannot then I don't know that we have the budget to sustain the choices that I've been hearing we want and I'm so and I feel bad about that because I know there's what's right and what's possible and somewhere in there is where we have to be but I think we can make some inroads with the relationships that we have with the lawmakers set Miss Gilman I commend you both for taking that discussion to Sone it sounds like they're receptive so whatever changes we can make whatever tweaks we can make I think it's a start my question is about the commodity food so we're talking about buying food from Farmers that was the origin of that bill correct yes so the government buys government buys excessive fruits vegetables so 15 to 20% of our lunches are made up with those commodity foods that are purchased from yes Farmers we buy it at a great I'm I'm learning as well we buy it at a great discount okay I never never knew but again that may not be the foods that I don't want you to I don't I I didn't take away that this was apples and oranges only right no this is so American cheese is provided they may say to us you're entitled to 500 lbs of turkey how would you like that process so beginning of the summer really a little before then sedexa would meet with us and they talk about about the menus and look at the menus how would we like that turkey process so you may look at so much as deli turkey that would be sliced for sandwiches you may look at Turkey patties you know however you process turkey and chicken and beef and you know vegetables and potatoes and it is informative so um just to touch on the financials of it and and no no one is altering financials of lunches today or at any time in the future at this point right but I just want to understand implications you you mentioned the number Mr things of uh doubling the cost of the lunches do we know what that what that would equate to in a total annual spend do we have any idea of a way to back into that number you mean the $8 versus the $4 right so you're saying that at $4 right now we break even is that correct so at $4 and I'm just estimating here but $4.50 let's say so that's charges us they're able to guarantee that we break even progam if you go to $8 or $9 or whatever it is we can certainly back into what that would mean in terms of a district contribution sounds like a million dollar 250,000 maintain 250,000 lunches at $4 Lun it could be up to a million dollar cost to achieve like the big beautiful picture of a fully organic menu and they they that range you know when we said what if we ask you to be completely organic or completely and they dropped that number as like a million dollars said we would bid on it but but you could then have a cost of a lunch between the range of8 eight to10 they didn't do math right in front of us the only thing the only thing on the math would be that not everybody goes for the totally organic right so probably like the average I think when I looked at the number of meals served that we claim over the course of the year year and again back of the napkin it was $800 some thousand that we would have to contribute okay and then just to ensure that I like understand the synthesis of the the situation or sorry the more of the the program so we go out to bid our bid is solely solely based on the national launch program that was the only standards that we adhere to or does the state of New Jersey have more restrictive standards that we also have to adhere to within the national lunch program do do we know the answer to that if not I can do my own research I believe we participate in the national school lunch program which the state of New Jersey also sponsors I don't believe there are more restrictive requirements put on that that program you know so currently when we go out to an RFP they just have to adhere to the stand set forth by the federal government by a department of the federal government yes okay now as a board you could change the specs of yeah we could be more restrictive right yeah and and the state the state could also choose to be more restrictive so the legislative lasis on committee can discuss that with suest but then we would not qualify for some of these other benefits that we receive through the program can you expand on that what do you mean so we wouldn't qualify for like the Commodities so we may not qualify for the Commodities because we wouldn't be participating entity in their program so if you don't so if you don't participate in the National lunch program because you're more you so by being more restrictive you can't participate in the National lunch program I believe that's be the case yes we'll certainly check on these things and let you know kick got get the kickback you know that's certainly something we can ask at our meeting John okay we touch on your business anyone else have any more questions St thank you guys for talking with them and getting all this information and I'm going to make a joke right now but we should have put it on the goals because we're crushing it right now on this topic um and I appreciate everyone's input and I think this is the ball is certainly rolling and I don't see this I did we didn't see this as like a very short issue we saw this as a long-term issue and there's always going to be improvements to be made but I think our district being concerned about this is going to do wonders for our kids and every small step matters and this is a really big step I think so thank you guys again and I'm excited to see where this goes so anyone else have anything Food Service no okay all right thank you um with that we're g to move on to Old business anyone of old business govern I just wanted to let Jeff know and and you know that that uh Mr Schneider's been on since 7 o' so just so you know for the minutes and then in case you need to ask any questions anyone I'll just comment um we did have our uh District cell phone social media task force meeting yesterday and uh that went very well we um are moving forward you know right now things are are still going very well so we're we're very happy about that um happy for all the work of all the school teams we have decided to put the school teams on hold for now because we feel like we've worked through the uh design of the plan the implementation of the plan and now it's sort of maintaining the plan and the district team will meet again in the spring to assess overall how things have gone and if we need to make any tweaks for next school year um I have also asked the parents now to really pick this up we feel that the school has taken a giant step forward in changing practices in the schools but we are asking the ptas to at least float the idea of uh the pledges there's a wait till 8th pledge and also a no social to 16 pledge and and we would like them to just share that out with their membership to see if there's interest or not because we do believe that this would be even more successful if there was a partnership from SCH to on the initiative so I didn't want to just share out that committee did I know that we I to speak you're good I I know that we the the board and and the uh teachers are very big on you know the the teachings of the anxious generation book right and I think there's some really good good stuff synthesizing there I think making the case for the argument to these parents is very important is there is there someone from our District staff who is well versed in this that can talk to why it's so important for young minds to wait till 16 to to participate in social media and and most importantly why it's so important for all of us to do it right that if if only some of us do it we lose the we lose the momentum that you could gain from that is there anybody making that case so we've had parent presentations for the last number of years and we had one this year as well about the dangers of of social media and SEC cyber security and about your identity and and acknowledging where you may be in a certain location and all the things that make it unsafe so we have done those things and if the ptas want more of that we can certainly do that but we can't they would have to ask for that and I think I think we are providing we are providing that but you know I explained that we are not in the business of telling the parents what to do correct right now we're at we're we're creating the space we're asking for it to be an item on the agenda and we are hoping that the parents will will meet and partner with the schools with what the school has done and now hopefully there'll be a Home Connection and I would encourage any parents to attend PTA meetings and express your interest and support of these initiatives Mr yeah the the program you referenced I went to the one at the Intermediate School was fairly well attended um and some parents were kind of shocked right at what they were learning so I think it was good and I believe Mr arato because I've seen some of his videos joked about maybe I need to do a video on this but I think that that's an important way to reach people now right because we get so many emails and so many things coming at us sometimes a video from the principal or something having done that might you know it's it sometimes is an appeal so maybe things like that but the people that they brought in were phenomenal they were awesome and the parents were asking good questions and I think it was a great opportunity for parents to hear about all that yeah um I apologize I called a meeting and I could not could not get there I knew you would speak about it if if you sorry about that um but I I did reach out to the people on the um what is it wait till I did reach out to those people they do you know they do provide you like a lot of material I don't know if if that was aware of that they give you a lot of material I think they'll also have a speaker come out and kind of do some hand holding is I think the group I think the group originated in Long Island or something like that so I Linked In with that person you thought you wanted me to do something with that yeah I think I did share some of that information with the PTA president and and I can do that again um and if they come back and are looking for more guidance then I I meet with them monthly so I'll talk to them about it again to see what supports they need to move it forward and offer all these options but the general feeling through the meeting was all positive people feel good yes did the Middle School make any the middle school did move to um the door hangers with the slots um you know again they did not have the same issues that the high school was having so I think um they feel like the door I'm sorry West bu no um you know I think they believe that the kids had their phones in their lockers you know most of the time in the past but they see with since the door hangers they report that they see much many less incidents in hallways and bathrooms and things like that because the point is if it's in the door hanger you're not leaving class going to your locker grabbing your phone before you go to the bathroom you're it's here it's here in the room so is there any other new business new business um the legislative liaison committee is on the calendar with our Assembly women and our senator for January 13th at 3:00 uh our plan is to host them here at 163 month road so um if there's any specific topics that you would like brought up to them please send an email to me we'll bring it up for discussion for that meeting um and we will definitely take down note to bring up our board's position on the nutrition provided our students in the restrictions that the state of New Jersey can can Implement for that and talk about all those things I guess we a million dollar Grant boom problem um but yes so uh and any other topics that you would like brought up you can email that to me at any time up to 24 hours prer than me awesome anyone else okay at this point we will move on to public comment on any item the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and the answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration superintendent's contact information is on the podium and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration no participant May speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time there's no one in the room uh Miss Conway is there anyone in the queue or downstairs yes Madam president there there's nobody in the queue but we do have an inperson commenter in the auditorium uh Alex Hayes please go ahead hi Alex Hayes from urst um uh once again there's no Wi-Fi or guest wifi or guest password here so I'm wondering what the latest is I think uh the superintendent was going to look into maybe we could get Public Access um when I logged into my own private Wi-Fi here it said that the Chamber of Commerce um uh has a free guest or has a guest one maybe we could um you know since we give them such a great discount to be housed here in this building maybe they could give us their Wi-Fi for these buildings for this building for uh public meetings um there's also no agendas by the way down here for the work session there's only agendas for the regular meeting so maybe we could get some copies of those for the next public meeting um the district enrollment figures still remain hidden from the public access every month um just asking once again why we hide the public enrollment District enrollment every month um I see we've been getting quite a few homeless students joining us and I find that awesome that our district is welcoming to homeless students from other districts um I'm just curious if we have reached out to the community help fund and our um School Board president runs it maybe she can shed light on if we're doing anything to help the homeless students since that is part of the community hope funds Mission um I have a question about the RFP for Legal Services um I'm just wondering which attorney the new RFP is mentioning it just says School Board attorney I believe is what it says so I'm just wondering who are we seeking new RFP about Is It Michael Gross is it Lester Taylor is it the Special Ed counsel um um I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the two ethics complaints um that are against members of this school board you know one of them is now obviously in administrative law in court um and then there is also that discrimination unlawful firing lawsuit that board members and former superintendent Jim steng witz is facing so I'm just curious if the new um RFP for attorneys has anything to do with that I think I still have some time left um so also I think my last question is um it says I think it says a student was going to Allenwood school and we are paying for them but then we are canceling it tonight unless I have It reversed and somebody from Allenwood is coming here but I understand we're cancelling it but then in the that's in the work session and then in the regular session y'all are voting to pay for $19,000 to bus a student to Allenwood is the way I read it so don't know if those are two different students or if that was an error and then I think my final comment I'm sorry I always lie when I say one more comment um for under the approval for bills it always for the last few months it says um Natalie Torell at the top of the page as the um School Board member committee chairperson um you know she hasn't been here for a year maybe that could be updated thank you thank you Miss Hayes Miss Conway or anyone else no Madam president there are no further commenters all right thank you very much um I'd like to ask the board uh for a motion to adjourn work all right see you downstairs