Regional High School District Board of Education for December 18th 2023 um if you would please join me in a salute to the flag do that first pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible yes could you please call the role Mr blundo here Mrs bares Dr blundy here miss Calderone here Mr Lisi Mrs Martin here Mr Stanis here miss stefins Mr Weaver here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing copies of said notice to the record filing copies of said notice with the municipal Clerks of Hillsdale Montville riverville and woodcliffe lake and Publishing said notice in the record on July 21st 2023 um we have routine matters uh Mr Stanis can can you give us a finance committee report uh yeah well they're going to do an overview tonight but uh we did meet uh on the 11th and we met with the Auditors and we went down the uh the different numbers and everything else it was a very productive meeting and uh it's a pretty positive report to your point which we'll hear more about later tonight okay um we have our student reports Olivia G from pasc hills good evening everyone my name is Olivia G and I will be presenting the pascy hills student report for the month of December for our first classroom item pascy Hills AP Literature students travel to New York City Theater District on December 6th to view Teresa rebeck's I need that apply with Danny DeVito Ray Anthony Thomas and Lucy deito set in modern day New Jersey the characters in this play Sam and his daughter Amelia along with their friend Foster wrestle with loss and how it takes courage to move on from grief this play was paired with Eugene O'Neal's play long day journey inight and added a modern twist to the unit of study about home and family culture classroom item number two students from Mrs maison's Advanced sewing class crafted 10 beautiful dresses dedicated to Maui supports Services created with passion and Care in hopes that these dresses bring comfort and joy to the individuals who receive them students have poured their creativity and skills into each garment so that they will not only serve a practical purpose but also serve as a symbol of care and support classroom item number three this year Miss Karin gamgort our business education teacher was recognized as the teacher of the year and the Educational Service professional of the year is Miss Jennifer Zimmerman our student assistant counselor congratulations to our teacher and education services professional of the Year and thank you so much for all that you have done for our school Community classroom item number four on December 6th the pasak hills chamber choir and concert band made a long awaited journey to Orlando Florida to share their music on a global stage on uh November 7th the concert band was brought backstage to Disney imagine imagination campus an opportunity that allowed band members to learn how to contribute to guests experiences at Downtown Disney the band then performed repertoire including Star Wars the marches by John Williams and Jerry BR Brewbaker and Pirates of the Caribbean by clous bedel and arranged by Ted rickets on the waterfront stage for an audience of people from all around the world the following day the chamber choir was featured at iccon Park in downtown Orlando singing songs that included The Circle of Life by laoang Mor and Han Zimmer and arranged by Roger Emerson as well as Oh Come All You Think faithful arranged by Pentatonics in front of the iconic Ferris wheel co-curricular item number one the project Patterson toy drive is a long-standing pasc Hills High School tradition that embodies the spirit of community and giving each year the students faculty and community at large rally to support this significant Endeavor project Patterson Works in collaboration with the New Jersey Community Development Corporation a nonprofit cor organization based in Patterson dedicated to community outreach and engagement the toys we collect are distributed directly to families in need during a holiday celebration hosted by the njcdc last year our Collective efforts resulted in a remarkable 1,574 toys and this year we've set an ambitious goal to surpass 1,500 once again the call is for new unwrapped toys for children aged from infancy to 12 years old pasc Hill students actively engage in the process by visiting the njcdc to assist in organizing donations and boxing the gifts for families co-curricular item number two on Wednesday November 29th music and Harmony filled the Alexander CER theater at Montclair State University as it hosted performances by various uh Coral ensembles including the pasak hills chamber choir their performance was part of the njsma High School Coral Festival a collaboration with high school choirs around North Jersey the choir received live feedback on their Pieces by clinicians Dr Heather J Buchanan and Deborah melow two accomplished monster clate University's faculty members and for our first athletic item for the first time in pasak swim history the pasak girls swim team defeated uh Northern Highlands and two wins from Amanda Bramley in the 500 yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke led the team to a victory in their season opener athletic item number two uh winter track went to the Jamar coaches Hall of Fame Invitational this past weekend congratulations to MOA Alden for placing first in the girls 55 meter hurdles and third in the girls long jump Ben manler for placing first in the boys's pole vault Peter prer for placing second in the boys 400 meter Michael da for placing third in the boys pole vaults Ben Malone for placing fifth in the boys pole vault Kira hickey for placing fifth in the girls 1500 meter and girls 1 m and myself Olivia G for placing six in the girls triple jump and for our last athletic item congrats to the pascot girl swim for making the nj.com top 20 in the state rankings keep it up and for my joke of the day in honor of the holiday season what's a snowman's favorite breakfast Frosted Flakes oh there you go thank you thank you Olivia and from Pas Valley meline Gibbs hi good evening uh my name is Maddie Gibbs and I'll will be presenting the pasek Valley student report for December for classroom items classroom item number one uh junior Eddie gersi on tuba and sophomore Caroline V on trumpet both finished first chair on their respective instruments for this year's Bergen County band they will perform a challenging program of music with the Ensemble on January 14th at Bergenfield High School classroom item number two the chamber Jazz Ensemble collaborated with pv's music technology class to convert the py band room into a recording studio on December 5th the group recorded three songs by The Jazz composer Charles Mingus for their entry into this year's Mingus National High School competition if selected the PV chamber Jazz Ensemble will compete in the final in February in New York City item number three Abigail comr lla doof Olivia Glasser Angelina Graham Sarah mastowski meline woo Marcus Koshi Anthony lcai Kevin mcnamer Tyler Miner Nathaniel V and mtech po trosi completed in a stem League Challenge on December 5th at pramis High School in a challenge entitled engineer the flow master the momentum students were tasked to design and fabricate a robotic arm that moved by water power using Pascal's principal the boys team earned third place our students will be competing next in February at Bernard's High School in addition py will be hosting a steming challenge in April for item number four students in the PV graphic design 2 class were presented with the unique live design challenge by Hillsdale police chief Hillsdale police chief Sean Smith to redesign the police's Department letterhead the students went through an elaborate design brief and process trying to identify what Chief Smith desired in the new letterhead the students initially created nearly 200 different handdrawn sketches that were reviewed by Chief Smith Chief Smith was ultimately presented with three design options and eventually selected a letterhead that will be printed and used for all future Department use congratulations to the entire class of students for their effort in helping to create the updated version of the Hillsdale police department head letter head for co-curricular items item number one the PV NHS partnered with the Hillsdale environmental Commission on November 18th and worked to clean up Patterson Avenue in additional NHS news thanks to donations from the py community and fundraising efforts of the PV NHS the NHS was able to provide 12 complete Thanksgiving meals to local families in need through its partnership with Hillsdale helping Hillsdale lastly the PV NHS will be running dropin midterm tutoring for students who need help preparing for their midterms tutoring will run from January 17th through January 26th in the media center item number two the environmental Club donated 250 used toys to a homeless shelter in nework we we are glad to keep these toys out of landfills and bring Joys to those in Need for item number three pv's chapter of its International despian Society held their annual fundraiser for Broadway cares Equity fights Aids on December 1st we raised over $150 to support this worthwhile charity PV theater welcomed playwright Jeremy Bloom to a performance of our fall play Peter Wendy he held a post show TalkBack with the audience and spent time with our cast and cruise a cast and cruise of over 7 students are now hard at work on our spring production of High School Musical coming this March item number four members of Pas Valley's habitat for humidity volunteered time on November 30th and December 3rd at htk Hot Chicken on Route 17 promoting a fundraiser for their organization hdk hot hdk hot chicken agreed to donate 10% from each sale to pb's Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity of B County will be using the proceeds from the HCK Hot Chicken fundraiser to help a local veteran who just built a house in Hillsdale for athletic items item number one congratulations to Jessica mocha pasak Valley Senor and member of the swim team for being recognized as a swimmer to watch in the Bergen records preseason swim preview this is a wonderful acknowledgement for all that Jessica has achieved over the past three seasons in recent swim news the pasat girls swim team was recently ranked 20th in the entire state they're off to a tremendous start of the season good luck with the rest of their season item number two good luck to all winter seasons teams and athletes we wish you best of luck as you begin your seasons for a fun fact PV Student Government hosted another successful Valley cup the day before Thanksgiving break it was a spirited week culminating in an exciting assembly uh the highlights were musical chairs and a volleyball tournament and now for my joke why did the computer catch a cold it left a window open very good thank you um excellent the next uh item is we have four minutes uh two each from October 30th and November 20th uh is there a motion I'll move it so moved there second any discussion roll call Dr blundy um yes to the regular meetings abstained to the executive both executive yes okay Miss Calderon yes Mrs Martin abstain from November and approve October Mr stankis yes Mr Weaver m Mr blundo yes I'm going to go out of order for selfish reasons and move um item seven because we have a nice audience and I'd like to have as many people hear about this um before you all leave uh so uh we do have one board member who chose not to seek another term and uh we were very uh lucky to have her serve with us for three years um and and contribute in many many ways uh I know she's going to say a few words in a moment but um what sticks out to me for you Kelly Dr blundy is your consistent tie into student wellness didn't matter what we were talking about you you cared about everything but you always had that angle of how is this going to affect student wellness and you're very consistent and I think you kept us all on point on that topic on every everything we do so I want to personally thank you for that um I'll read the we have a couple of plaques we have a proclamation and a plaque so let me read this whereas Dr Kelly blundy was elected to serve as a Woodcliff Lake representative to the pasag Valley Regional High School dis District Board of Education starting in January of 2021 and did serve until December 20 23 whereas Dr blundy did Faithfully attend and actively participate at the executive and public meetings of the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Education during that period of time and whereas Dr blundy did serve as a Committee Member of the pasek Valley Regional High School District wellness and safety Equity Communications negotiations policy curriculum and instruction and Technology committees and whereas Dr blundy supported staff students and the community in her actions to move our entire School Community forward in the right direction and now therefore it be resolved that the pasag Valley Regional High School District board of education does express its sincere appreciation to Dr blundy on behalf of the superintendent board members students and citizens of our for sending districts for her efforts on their behalf and be it further resolved that the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Education members individually and jointly thank Dr Kelly blundy for her contributions and camaraderie over this time frame and does wish her well in other endeavors be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution recognizing Dr Kelly blundy be spread upon the minutes of the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Education before I turn it over to you I I you know when I was reading the dates something else struck me um the first two years of that three-year period probably had more activity in it than the previous seven and so and they weren't simple items so all of us that served during that period um should always take that to heart we had our own self-inflicted issues with logos and mascots and and names and we had covid in an unprecedented time so it was not every every administration every tenure has its challenges I believe this was among the the the hardest to go through those two your first two years so thank you and I'll turn it over to you thank you I'll keep it hopefully short and sweet here but I just wanted to collect my thoughts and and say a few things um so as I sit here today at the end of my term with the pasek valley Board of Education I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude it has been an honor and a privilege to serve alongside such dedicated individuals as John Dewey once said education is not preparation for Life Education is life itself and what a lively Journey it has been hence the first two years reflecting on my time here I'm reminded of the Inc incredible resilience and commitment of our Administration you have been the captain steering the ship through both calm and stormy seas and your lead leadership has been nothing short of inspirational to our teachers the heart and soul of our school you have not only taught our students but you have also illuminated their paths with wisdom and compassion it is true what they say a good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others I want to congratulate Stephanie Wang on her new role she's right there I'm going to point her out wave as board member she will be a great asset to this team and it will come to no surprise to her or those that know me that I offer this piece of advice never underestimate the power of a healthy mind and body and education encourage and support initiatives that Foster health and wellness because a well student is a well learner remember in the Quest for knowledge A sound mind and body are your best allies and to our students the reason we are all here I wish you all the best in your future endeavors may your journey through education and life be as fulfilling and enlightening as mine was has been thank you one and all for this incredible journey as I step down I do so with a Heart full of gratitude and a spirit eager to see the wonderful things you will all continue to achieve thank you you want to just come up for a sec or we I guess we'll go so we can family [Applause] my fly was on my fly was open He he'll Photoshop it okay and now we have um some student recognition got a great crowd tonight uh we will start with the Governor's School of New Jersey whereas Amanda pinc a senior at pasak Valley High School completed the Governor School of New Jersey program in The Sciences this past summer this is a 3-week residential program where each student completes Three core courses one laboratory and one group project all in the Sciences on the final day the groups presented their projects Amanda worked on a biochemistry project entitled exploring the kinetics and inhibition of yeast Aldo Kito red uction reductases you should have done this although redu there now therefore be it resolved that the pasek Valley Regional High School District Board of Ed recognize and commend Amanda for her outstanding [Applause] achievement okay next award is the AP scholar with distinction whereas tlu wani basid and Alexander deasio seniors at pasag Valley High School are advanced placement Scholars with distinction these students received an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of three or higher on five or more of these exams now therefore be it resolved that the pasek Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize and commend to luani and Alexander for their outstanding achievement [Applause] it's next is an AP scholar With Honor whereas the following students from pasak Valley High School are advanced placement Scholars these are students who receive scores at least 3.25 on all advanced placement exams taken and scores three or higher on four or more of these exams Dylan dersimonian Kieran dudy Amanda pinc Min langang Quinn Jillian Suarez coochi tazaki and Isabella [Applause] valz okay AP scholar whereas the following students at pasek Valley High School are advanced placement Scholars these are students who receive a receive scores of three or higher on three or more AP exams Sophia bovino Nicole Choy Le sang Luke dorgan Sophia KX Carly malamut Ethan Pearlman MAA slesinger Nathaniel vit Isaiah Wescott and Juan [Applause] zapatio B so my parents South Carolina and I bet this year [Applause] and my my brother and my sister twins how about you okay next we have National Merit Scholars commended students at pasak Valley High School whereas about 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise commended students placed among the top 500 thou excuse me 50,000 students who entered the 2023 competition by taking the 2021 preliminary SAT National Merit scholar Scholarship qualifying test toi toluwani wasid Alexander debiasio Kieran dudy Ming Lang Quinn coochi tazaki Isabella valz Isaiah Wescott me [Applause] hey next is the Bergen County band whereas Carolin vit a sophomore at pasag Valley High School has been selected to play first chair trumpet and Eddie Greek a junior at pasag Valley High School has been selected to play first chair tuba with the pasag Valley High School bound now therefore be it resolved that the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Ed recogniz and commend Caroline and Eddie for their outstanding achievements we also have the Bergen County Choir whereas Ashlin Choy and Matthew Kovac both sophomores at pasek Valley High School have been selected to be part of the Burgen County High School choir now therefore be it resolved that the High School District Board of Education recognize and commend Ashlin and Matthew for their outstanding achievements yeah great and next is the first team albergen County athletes whereas the following students were selected to the first team olber in County third time for Amanda penc for girl soccer Tyra Stewart girl soccer stevenh gford boy soccer Kevin regula football Patrick Curts cross country and Bergen County cross country division B Champion hope gaspero gasperino gymnastics and Cara Jennings [Applause] gymnastics good okay okay next we have the super Football Conference Steve dorio uh D Gregorio young man of the a of the Year Awards whereas Tyler Duffy a senior at pasak Hills High School and Colin Foley a senior at pasak Valley High School are recipients of the super Football Conference Steve degregorio Young Man of the Year award this award was established in 2017 New Jersey super football conference is the largest High School Football Conference in the United States with 111 public and non-public teams in Seven Counties based on various attributes that were core to Steve degregorio the award emphasizes community service selflessness leadership academic standing and a positive [Applause] attitude next is the Bergen County boys soccer coaches association unsung hero award whereas Ethan Pearlman a senior at pasak Valley High School received the Bergen County boy soccer coaches association unsung hero award used to be okay the Garden State press Awards to the trail BL Blazer at pasak Hills High School whereas the Trailblazer The pasak Hills High School student publication was recognized for the following at the Garden State student press Awards a med media awards first place for social media presence individual Awards Paige ganopoulos third place in in-depth reporting on Masha amini's death the state of Iran and its online discussion Ethan Kaufman fifth place place in review writing every Lana Del re album ranked Thomas samoas eighth place in news writing turkey Syria earthquake brings fourth Global Response now therefore be it resolved that the pasag Valley High School District Board of Education recognize the staff of the Trailblazer for their outstanding achievements did I miss one the media Awards okay I apologize social where are they they're not there right so that wasn't me I'll find it somewhere else am I wrong do you want it's in the agenda I have it there um I apologize for that that's individual Awards Olivia G and Caitlyn verie editors and Chief and uh social yeah that's it okay first place social media presence sorry folks it wasn't on my cheat sheet don't worry that's we here my last meeting as president Jenny's [Applause] problem almost great all right the uh Garden State press awards for the valley echo which is pasak Valley High School whereas the valley Echo the pasak Valley High School student publication was recognized for the following at the Garden State press Awards overall online experience third place for the valley eeko multimedia news third place for Megan Austin multimedia Sports honorable mention Ethan Pearlman social media presence second place and where are the names here next page there they are Maya slesinger Carly malamut and Sophie klex right okay and overall online Excellence Maya slesinger Carly malamut Sophie klex I just want to make sure I I got that news writing division a third place Sophie KX Carly malamut the legacy of Zach ler lives on at benefit basketball games on Sunday feature writing third place Maya SL PV senior tresan nyoa nyoa self-publishes a fantasy novel review writing division a second place Sophie KX Carly malamut Gabriella Rothenberg Maya slesinger meet me at midnight a review of Taylor Swift's newest midnights division a fifth place Megan Austin the super Mario Brothers movie bringing the game to Life Division a sixth place Sophia kak the inherit the inheritance game series a terrifically twisted and tricky Trilogy timely Sports third place Aiden Burke and Timothy NY we got everybody all right now therefore it be resolved that the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize and commend the staff of the valley eff damn I was doing good too good job a long one all right I did that is the order right here yes oh jeez at least it's not that far I know let's have one last round of applause for all of our winners tonight folks you are more than welcome and wanted to stay um we'd love to have you stay but that's the end of the recognition part we have our audit presentation coming up and then some routine matters but you're more than welcome to stay if you want to leave now would be a good time you're welcome oh jeez you oh they you can come up sure okay they're really cute thank you love you thank you [Applause] please okay uh next we have a presentation Brian Gibbons from our auditor is here Brian please come on up she's so cute can speak at the podium good evening everyone hello there we go good now so I just wanted to start by saying thank you to Yas and the rest of the business office for doing uh another great job again this year uh it's they're really huge help uh for everyone um and it it it just a testament to making the AUD goes extremely smoothly um year after year so far so um thank you again so we are happy to report that this year the audit was filed by the December 5th deadline and with an unmodified opinion and I just wanted to start breaking down the Acer itself uh which is a large Blue bound book it's presented in four sections first you have the introductory section which which includes the transmitt letter the listing of principal officials at the district the C consultants and advisers and the organizational chart of the district next we have the financial section this includes the auditor's report Management's discussion and analysis on the financial statements and the basic financial statements and the related notes to those financial statements next we have the statistical section and this gives a comparative look at the district over the last 10 years financially and lastly the single audit section and this covers all the various reporting requirements for the federal and state Grant and other funding sources that the district receives there's also a small separately bound book which is the management report which reflects any recommendations or suggestions to management that the Auditors may have uh with that being said I would like to start um audit schedule C1 is really the most important schedule in the audit uh it's a 12-page schedule that walks you through the budget to the actual for the revenue and Appropriations for the district it's the most detailed and informative section because it really has the whole picture of the district's fund balance and it shows you uh where you are the final page of the C1 uh you will see that the district ended the year with fund balance of little over $16.3 million this is approximately a $1.7 million decrease from the prior year and that's primarily in the area of capital reserve and the funds that the district used to support capital projects in 2223 in addition fund balance is made up of the following a little over $2 million was utilized in the 2324 budget that you're currently in 8.3 million in capital reserve which 1.6 million is also being utilized in the 2324 budget approximately 850,000 in a maintenance Reserve 260,000 in an emergency Reserve 224,000 in unemployment compensation reserve and 957 th000 of incumbrances that were carried into the 23 24 year and almost 2.5 million of unassigned fund balance which is the maximum allowed by the state which is 2% of your total expenditures so that left the district with excess Surplus in 20 2223 which will be utilized to support the 2425 budget of a little over $1.4 million some additional financial highlights uh the district received and spent approximately $2.8 $2.9 million in federal state and local grants which are accounted for in the special Revenue section of the Acer moving on to the Enterprise funds which is your food service the Milestone program Transportation Park Academy uh overall all the programs uh in the Enterprise funds continue to increase their overall net position by approximately $400,000 in the past year specifically Food Service increased a little over $882,000 the Milestone program increased $186,000 Transportation program increased $59,000 and Park Academy increased $68,000 so looking at the management report which is a smaller separate report uh this year we do have one formal recommendation uh was a small isolated housekeeping item uh that was required corrective action um which has since been resolved by the district moving forward um as in Prior years as as well um we do have a couple suggestions to management in the report and these are mostly deal with items that are not necessarily A a direct issue that the that the district is experiencing just something that we see in other districts and we just want to bring it to your attention to possibly get in front of anything that could potentially in the future uh rise to an issue uh the first one deals with the covid-19 federal funds uh that the district has received for the past few years uh we anticipate at some point there's going to be some level of a desk review from State Andor federal agencies that will come in and do some sort of review or an audit uh very similar to uh the audit in addition to what we also perform on an annual basis the next one deals with food service management company records so we're just saying in here we've seen kind of a thing throughout other districts and state this year um that just suggesting that the district reconcile the the district's accounting records with the Su Food Service program to the uh Food Service management company's records on a monthly basis just to make sure everything lines up and it's okay and again not necessarily uh anything that we saw with the district specifically just in general uh the next deals with the deficit in the operations of the Enterprise funds and that is the Region 2 Transportation fund and the Milestone program re region two uh really what causes the deficit is we have to record the applicable net um pension liabilities for the transportation employees and just because of the size of the pension liability allocated to that program it puts the that Fund in a deficit um but other than that it does not it does not indicate any financial difficulties for that program in its own the Milestone program also partially relates to the uh recording the pension liability uh as well as um as we kind of spoke in the financial uh meeting um just how the district is charging themselves for the program but as I said mentioned earlier uh the program increased in that position Curr in the current year so um The District's already working to resolve this over the next couple years and it's trending in the right direction so other than that everything was everything looked really good and I just wanted to say thanks again for having me up and uh if there was any questions here anybody have any questions thank you Brian and as always uh you could reach myself or Valerie Dolan the partner um contact information at the office or anything if anything ever comes up if you have any additional questions yeah uh Brian thank you very much and uh I apologize I sent Brian to the wrong school so took him a little bit out of the way but um he came here on time did I met the uh the theater committee or something in there so I didn't know if that was the meeting my apologies for your extra travel no worries great thank you everyone thank you thank you so we're going to be open to the public for the first time tonight and the first time it is on agenda items only citizens are invited to make comments regarding agenda items and are limited to 3 minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name town of residents and which agenda item they are referencing we are open to the public I see no hands oh okay I'm sorry the podium is in my way if it's on agenda item you can you can come up there will be a second open on everything any topic all right so are there with that restated is there uh any members of the public that wish to speak now on an agenda items okay seeing No Hands we'll close to the public uh we have three consent agenda items under policy um are there any is there a motion so moved any discussion roll call please Dr blundy yes Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin Mr Stanis yes Mr Weaver Mr blundo yes we have two education consent agenda items is there a motion don't moveed second any discussion roll call please Dr blundy yes M Calderon yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Mr Weaver yes Mr blundo yes all right we have 20 consent agenda items under Human Resources one of which is a supplementary which was provided uh but there are 20 in total is there a motion second any discussion roll call please Dr blundy yes Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Mr Weaver yes Mr blundo yes we have 22 consent agenda items under Finance motion please so move any discussion roll call Dr blundy yes Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Mr Weaver yes Mr blendo yes do we have any old business I have one so last meeting we uh the board approved um goals for I don't know do they start in January well whenever they start um and committees were referenced and I guess board member participation and attendance at committee meetings so I guess the two questions I had maybe to help um provide board members with Direction in the upcoming year is kind of what is the role of committees I feel like I haven't had a clear Direction on on what board members roles are on those committees I guess maybe because there are committees that maybe aren't meeting as frequently or or are meeting infrequently um and I guess what the expectations are for how often committees should be meeting um I know like for example I've been on the equity committee but the equity committee has met like one time in the last two years um maybe twice I don't know um I speak with other board members and other districts and it seems like they meet monthly or every other month and there's a regular schedule for that and I know that the schedule used to appear on the Friday briefing um where you could see when all the Committees were meeting um so if going forward that's the goal of the district or the board is to participate in those meetings some direction on on on roles and just how often we're going to meet would would certainly at least be a help to me you have any comments on that or um that was actually one of the board goals that was developed by the for themselves so I think that could be open for conversation among board members as to what you see as your expectations and put your mic on oh sorry so that was a a goal that was created by board members for themselves it's one of the board goals so I think that could be a conversation amongst board members as to you know what they see one thing um that has come up was because there was uh not robust attendance at The Retreat that we held this summer trying to hold a retreat this winter um perhaps to to set some of those board Norms um and set some uh expectations among the board members as to what you all would like to see uh with regard to to board Norms board goals um you know board participation and board meetings so if that's something that is interesting we can certainly look at setting something like that up for you know January February that might help to better Define what that expectation is um and if there is a desire to have additional meetings we could certainly uh entertain that maybe that's something we can think about between now and rorg and then have a conversation at rorg as to whether or not we want to try for a retreat and try to have you know full attendance at at a retreat to have these conversations would be helpful and maybe doing it not in the summer would be easier because I know a lot of people were on vacations um and there's things that are prescheduled that are hard to get around chis I was going to say too with the Committees I think different committees have different frequency for obvious reasons like negotiations might be really heavy one year and then be lighter the next two so I think that that's something we have to be a little flexible with if we're start trying to define the number of meetings and frequency but I do think also taking you look at availability I know Mondays pretty much every board member makes available but when we start getting to other days MH I think that's something that we need to consider as well if they're going to be especially in person any other comments I just want to say I agree with uh Mr Weaver um in the old days it was presented to us we're having these meetings and I Dan did it different than Eric you do it different than Dan and Eric um it wasn't really the committee that would say we want to meet the administration would schedule the meetings I'm not saying we have to do it this way the administration would schedule the meetings um would bring topics or subject matter experts into the meeting um if there was no real business they would give updates and then have a dialogue um but I want to also comment on like your your comment about the uh Retreats again in the old days Retreats were heavily attended and they were all day Affairs and it dunk but we got a lot done okay we got a lot done and you might get one person that couldn't make it or one person that could only make half a day and you tried to have seven or eight or nine people there and have some real substantial conversations about what the upcoming year was going to be uh that that hasn't happened in the last two or three years we we schedule the meetings then we end up canceling them because we don't have a quorum we um squeeze them in in an hour before a meeting or after a meeting and they're really not substantial um I would like to get back to a true uh Retreat um if I mean we would get presentations from curriculum we'd get presentations from technology or whatever we wanted they would be significant uh I think one year was even a day and a half um um but we have to have participation to do that right and it's been very difficult over the last couple of years to get quorums and to get people to attend these things and everybody I'm I'm not singling out anybody it's everybody okay um my opinion is we have to get back to those things also I I believe in the past we had U meetings with the Board of Ed of the elementary and middle school that that was actually pretty good maybe somehow we can work that into the Rivervale president asked me to resume them and then he said he was going to well I don't know who said they were going to pick it never happened I don't want to blame him it never happened and it it it died because of covid I think a lot of things kind of got sidetracked was disrupted and the one positive that came out of Co I don't mean positive overall was that we now can have these committee meetings via Zoom so it should be very easy for people to attend them you know have them want some month once every other whatever the right Cadence is and I don't think there need this is opinion um because the next thing I'm going to say is going to show that it's just opinion but um the uh even if there's no hardcore issue gives the uh the people uh the members the trustees an opportunity to bring up things to go after so good I feel I put the nail in the cofin with my 10minute committee reports at the end that kind of killed it probably it was a substantial report so were these Retreats typically during the work week well what we they were um we like I'll be honest there were times that I had to take a vacation day didn't like to do it but that's what I had to do uh other times I would bring my work computer and try and multitask um and um just trying to get through it we typically did it in the summer uh and I know it's not always good because people going away and they got Sports and they got this and they got that but so would you consider a weekend or that's not I think because for me taking off of work it's the board I just never know what's going to go on dating Mr blundo here I was here um they used to be on Saturdays perfect I mean that would work from morning to like late afternoon or something that's fine I think it's pretty common for them to be on Saturdays M like we did for the superintendent um for those involved in the superintendent search we had Saturday meetings they were painful um we got through well worth it yes so um any other old business any new business so I don't know if it's new or whether it's been talked about before but um I have been hearing some grumblings about the drop off in the mornings H myself included um yeah so um with all the development that's going on right it's just going to get worse and worse and worse and this morning granted it had rained last night Soh course I kicked Charlie out of bed really early this morning said we have to leave by at least 22 latest quarter 2 we left at 22 I got here at 8 it was insane yeah is I mean have we ever thought about staggering like drop offs maybe senors get here first or they get La get here last or something CU it's just I feel like you almost kind of like read my mind in terms of something that I have to contribute to this which is like I know you didn't didn't know that this was happening but this is a very fortuitous uh timing of this so as you know we had a meeting with the Montvale planning board a couple of weeks ago to talk about possible property expansion and during that meeting one of the things that actually came up is that they are looking at potentially making some changes um traffic-wise around where Hills High School is and they said that once they had a public plan for some of the traffic changes that they were invest instigating not that they're necessarily doing them but investigating um they had asked if we would actually uh consider um Contracting with a traffic engineer specifically to look at the drop off times specifically at Hills um valys does back up but it doesn't back up as substantially as Hills does Hills is a is a It's A disruption to the roadway it's also very difficult we also have substantially more parents dropping off at Hills than we do at Valley um we have extraordinarily low bus ridership at Hills almost nobody takes the bus in the morning which is also contributing to this so um they had asked us and I had said that that I would um bring it to all of you for you know consideration but I would say with in the next my assumption on this is that it would be within the next few months we would be looking at it so we do actually already contract with an engineer a civil engineer uh to do work for us on a regular basis he work works with the traffic engineer that he could refer us to the cost to us would be minimal considering the outcome could be pretty substantial if he were to say hey I've got some very easy um suggestions for you in order to make this um a quicker and smoother drop off the other thing that usually happens is mornings like this morning when we know there's bad weather there was flooding on the roads and there were trees down usually um the police is very generous in sending extra officers to assist with it and unfortunately because of some of the traffic issues in the area I don't think that they sent as many officers as they would have on another day that was like this which is just happen St I mean it happens obviously emergencies are going to take precedents over um extra people to help help us with traffic flow but um it's it's I think it's a really a great time for you to bring that up because it is something that they had asked us if we would look into which I think is a great idea um especially if there's the possibility of the overall traffic structure in that General area to change it makes a lot of sense for us to have an actual engineer tell us what they think is happening we had a a a a very quick and it was just halfen stance we were meeting with our civil engineer and the traffic engineer that he works with actually happened to be walking by and um pulled him in and kind of said hey this is what they're looking to do um just to give you a heads up and he just in the two seconds we spoke with him said basically what they would be looking at doing is mitigating the extreme spikes that happen with a drop off like Hills because what ends up happening is you have almost a thousand students being dropped off within what amounts to be a you know 5 to 30 minute time slot and he said that with schools what's really interesting is that that type of P traffic pattern doesn't exist anywhere else so you might have a lot of people exiting um say a religious facility or you may have a lot of people exiting um a shopping market at around the same time but you usually don't have a thousand people all at once within an extraordinarily short time frame which creates some um issues that he has helped other schools uh deal with and mitigate so I'm kind of excited to see if he has some some opportunities I know sometimes when I'm going over the hills if I um am you know if I leave our office around you know 7:30 745 it's I mean it it is it gets backed up it gets backed up almost all the way down to the elementary school so um it definitely is something that if there is a way to mitigate it I think everyone would be open to uh hearing that so I appreciate you bringing that up and it's definitely something on our radar and something that hopefully we can have a uh you know at least some uh input on uh in the next couple of months so thank you thank you any other new business um I just want to I think many of you know this but um next year I'm entering my last year in my term um I think it's a good time to first of all you might have wanted to do this anyway but to turn over the um presidency to someone else so I'm I'm just going to say I won't be here on the reorg meeting so if anyone intended to nominate me I am going to ask you not to if you weren't I'll never know um but um I will serve out my my my term uh as a as a trustee but I think it's time to hand the gavel over uh to whoever else is interested and whoever you all choose so I just wanted to to make that point um since I won't be here to say it myself on January 4th um any other new business okay um we are going to open again to the public citizens are invited to make comments and are limited to three minutes according to the pasag Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak um must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name and town of residence this section is open to any item at a whatsoever so we are open to the public ma'am before I start I'd like to offer some SS for the holiday for everybody thank you very sweet thank you appreciate it uh good evening everyone um my name is Zahir Khan and I am a Muslim Indian American um along with my husband who is a Muslim Pakistani American and we are residents of our beautiful town of matville um we have two children my older son he recently graduated from hills and I have a younger one in fieldston I'm a parent that volunteers heavily in the the schools here in Montville I'm a class Mom I'm a pizza mom I help all year along with all the events in the school and I attend many uh community events in the town as well um 60 days ago in October we received a letter from Miss bot about the war of the Middle East I understand your letter was to provide acknowledgement of the stories and sentiments you heard from the school community and faculty and may have been encouraged to provide a statement from the district however this letter was not inclusive to all students of this community this letter was very divisive and un uninformed it was incredibly hurtful that you did not even mention the word Muslim or Palestine in your statement at all 60 days ago we appreciate that you took the initiative to personally speak with Jewish faith leaders and Bergen County Educational Community the same res resourcefulness should have been taken with the Palestinian Community Arab Community Muslim residents and Muslim faith leaders 60 days ago we appreciate you condemning acts of hatred and terrorism and we all common and we as we all common sense individuals do in addition to that we would also expect you to condemn the genocide against innocent Palestinian children who are being murdered by masses there are Muslim Jewish Christian Hindu Buddhist Catholic Etc students in this community when you condemn anti-Semitism we all as we all should we expect you to also condemn all other forms of hate racism including islamophobia especially when discussing the middle east region 60 days ago your letter clearly showed the anguish you felt in writing about geopolitics and the lack of information you have about it what about the rest of the board I'm sure the board members here are from various backgrounds and should have also seen your letter as non-inclusive how are you all okay with the statement myself and other parents sent out letters expressing our frustration with your statement your reply was please let me know if I can have our school counselors reach out to your children directly to offer additional support what our children really need is not to feel ostracize in schools the US has experienced 180 2% jump of bias incidents against Muslims since October since the 60 days ago the letter that you sent according to the Council on Islam on American Islamic relations simply not knowing is simply unacceptable this being said January it has been declared by Governor Murphy Muslim heritage month in New Jersey next month we will be observing this for the first time in the state of New Jersey I am alazon with the Muslim Heritage Month community in Burn County and would like to officially invite you all to our first Muslim Heritage Month Expo on January 7th ma'am I just if you could wrap up only because of our policy um I'll give you I'll give you a few more moments absolutely appreciate it it will give you a chance to learn and reflect about the long-standing Muslim contributions in areas of literature Math Science music food and more we'll also have Muslim Heritage Month display at our Montreal Library so you can have more literature and more resources we cannot be divisive we cannot remain ignorant and we cannot remain silent we have the encourage we have to encourage dialogue we have to encourage awareness and we have to stand by each other we expect nothing more than inclusivity on all aspects of student life from this District thank you um I'd like for you guys to wait to respond until we all finish our speech thank you appreciate it okay we are still open to the to the public hi um I'm Sabrina Kareem um I live in woodcliffe Lake and I have two young impressionable boys at Dorchester while they're not yet in high school they will eventually join this high school and I'd like to believe they're going to be in a safe inclusive environment as an indianamerican Muslim woman I'm ad admittedly shocked and saddened by your letter Miss Patti and I spoke to you about it um I would have much preferred no email at all than an unbiased message um than or an unbiased message of peace I emailed you and I called you about this I asked for a follow-up message but never received one you said that you didn't know any other Christian or Muslim faith leaders and that's why you didn't reach out to them so I introduced you to two Christian faith leaders and a Muslim leader and you did not reach out to either of them um you had mentioned in your letter that you'd spoken to all those affected by the these events but you intentionally excluded any Palestinians Christian faith leaders or Muslim leaders in your Communications Palestinians are both Christian and Muslim and to Discount their pain and suffering in this war is to discount them as human beings this is not inclusive American or in keeping with the spirit of Education welcoming including all viewpoints I appreciate you condemning acts of hatred in addition to that I would also expect you to condemn the hate speech used against Palestinian Christians and Muslims right now they are being called Children Of Darkness animals subhuman animals human Shields AMC and collateral damage this is hate speech that dehumanizes them and all who identify with them I appreciate you condemning anti-Semitism but I didn't see any mention of anti-muslim bigotry or islamophobia anti-muslim hate crimes are through the roof a child was stabbed in Chicago a Pakistani Muslim doctor was stabbed to death in Texas three young ivy league Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont one of whom is now paralyzed and most recently a school teacher in Georgia threatened to behead a 13-year-old child who asked about his Israeli flag that was in his classroom again I agree that the school does not need to weigh in on international events but if you do it is imperative that you consider all people affected by such international events October 7th was a nightmare for Israelis and the Jewish people and Humanity I would not wish that upon any human being October 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th the rest of October the all of November all of December to date over 70 days have been a nightmare for Palestinians Arabs Muslims indigenous black brown people all over the world it has Unearthed our generational Trauma from Colonial violence oppression and genocide that has happened to all of our people and sadly is concurrently happening in the Congo Sudan China and Myanmar to ignore our pain is to Discount us as human beings we are struggling with the sanctity of our mental health as we continue to see the violence unfold daily we see blown up bits of children with their names on their limbs to identify them crushed bodies under the rubble and skin burned off their bodies from white phosphorus we struggle with our place in this world that doesn't value our lives and we fear for our children in our communities when even our schools that are supposed to uphold the American promise that all men are created equal fail us as we come to I have to ask you also to wrap up now okay I have just a little bit left as we come to the end of the year with Christmas Lon a week and away I implore you to make an inclusive statement to all your students Jerusalem is a holy land to tr Christians Muslims and Jewish people Palestine Christians in Bethlehem are not even celebrating Christmas this year in honor of their brethren in Gaza I implore you to issue an updated statement on peace and love for all I implore you to mention our communities by name and to acknowledge our pain if not for me then for all of our impressionable children thank you we have one other hi my name is busha shik I'm a resident of fliff lake and I'm an indian-american Muslim women today I stand before you as a parent of two sons rayan shik and Isa shik who graduated from pasc Hills High School in June 2021 and June 2023 respectively additionally I am a parent of two younger sons who are currently in elementary school and will be going hopefully to Pas KS I want to share a glimpse of my journey from being an immigrant working tirelessly to support my education to achieving a leadership position in the corporate world all while proudly embracing my hijab breaking barriers and defying stereotypes along the way this journey led me to Woodcliff Lake seeking a better environment for my children today I've gathered the strength to speak to you as you are the influential figures in the education system of our district as your decisions have direct impact on the lives of our children and our community much like the media irresponsible leadership has the power to shape public opinions often un justifying a sense of authorization without considering the profound grief and frustration experienced by the broader Community the list of hate crimes since October 7 in the United States fueled by islamophobia is extensive Miss bilot in I wrote to you in response to your letter 60 days ago to the community in your letter you stated quote but I'm listening to your voices I I hear you I support you I was moved by your testimony UNC I ask you again did you consider voices of all victims of war wises of minorities of the towns you represent wises of all communities to whom your message reached and will reach I'm requesting you to acknowledge that all lives matter and they matter equally I kindly urge you all to issue a re you I kindly urge you to issue a re letter exp explicitly stating your opposition not only to anti-Semitism but also to islamophobia please condemn not only the attacks on innocent civilians in Israel but also those in Gaza irrespective of the majority in our community I implore you to please exhibit consideration and responsibility towards the diverse student population whose lives are and will be influenced by your leadership in Your Capacity as an educator and leader I implore you to leverage your influential position to advocate for justice and to condemn violence impartially your voice carries weight and it is crucial especially in times when fair and inclusive statements are needed the most thank you thank you the I as the board presid am not going to comment on um that letter um our our role here and anybody can comment on their own is to educate all children of all faiths of all sexual preferences religions and um as a as the board president I'm not going to comment I will say thank you for bringing your thoughts to us as a board and we can all internalize what if anything we as a board want to talk about in the future is anybody else on the board have any comments they'd like to make I wanted to thank you guys for coming it's it takes a lot of courage and strength to come up and say everything that you said tonight I would like more information on when you said in January the the heritage month is I think it would be great to be able to know what activities are taking place and and so that we can get that out for for people to know about it okay any other members of the go ahead Michael sorry so those treats never made it around to me I'll figure out where they there they are uh thank you for coming out this evening I I do appreciate your words um as Dr blundy had referenced if you could share information on the January 7th um event uh with times and location uh i' would certainly like to attend if I'm able I I want to thank you too um voices of the public are very important and uh it is of utmost importance to hear all the various viewpoints and uh you know we do take it to heart any other comments is there any other member of the public that wishes to address the board seeing no hands I'm going to close to the public uh do we have any remaining executive session items we do not so we will skip item 17 Sor was there something I think it's only if anybody wanted it all right and we don't have it right so all we the next is a motion to adjourn we're adjourned to everyone