okay um good afternoon everybody notice is hereby given that in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 the laws of 1975 notice of this meeting has been sent to All School offices officially designated newspapers file with the Township Clerk and posted in the Board of Education Office 48 hours in advance of this meeting roll call please certainly Mrs assor here Mrs Austin here Mrs burwitz here Mrs Pinelli here Mrs Sande here Mr White here Mr rosini here flag salute Ali to the flag United States of America and to the Republic it stands one nation God indivisible and jusice for all um with regard to my report today I don't have much to say other than it looks like we were um able to work around some of the bad weather we had which is good and keep the schools going without a snow day um which is good um wish we had last year's weather um apart from that um I've got nothing to say and I'm going to move on to committee reports um buildings and grounds Mrs burkwitz I have nothing at this time but our next meeting is February 13th okay Communications and policies Mr White nothing to report okay curriculum and talent uh curriculum and Technology Mrs Sande no update at this time Finance Mrs Pinelli um yes uh I'm pleased to share that our recent audit presentation was exceptional as always um there were no comments recommendations or corrective orders to discuss um we would like to thank thank misso and her staff for their continuous dedication and their hard work I believe the word of the day was fortunate um we are totally we are truly fortunate to have Miss bito and her staff ensuring that the Rivervale School District remains in good standing and doing well financially so thank you well thank you and uh we are fortunate um with regard to negotiations uh we're just working toward negotiations with the RVA um that's all I really have to say on that topic and Personnel um there was a Personnel meeting today um does do you want to talk about that sure we had a meeting um tonight right before this meeting um nothing really to comment other than when looking at enrollment it seems like it is staying pretty much steady and we don't expect a major influx or uh you know um or a decline in enrollment for next year and at this time we don't have any open positions either that's it for personnel okay thank you okay with regard to agenda items we're going to move on to agenda items only on public comments um just before that everyone just take note of the committee meeting schedules um with regards to to agenda items only in public comments the Rivervale board of education is committed to encouraging the citizens of riverville and employees of the Rivervale School District to speak directly to Board of Trustees in order to facilitate this communication residents and employees are requested one to sign in before speaking two to maintain an appropriate sense of decorum and three to limit their remarks to no more than five minutes the board will also take under advisement the written comments and opinions of non-residents that are submitted to the board secretary being mindful of its responsibility to maintain the orderly conduct of meetings the board retains the right to rule on such matters as the speaker's right to address the board as well as the appropriateness of the subject being presented the board's decisions in such matters is final the board also reminds all members of the public that while it subscribes without reservation to the principle of keeping the community informed by policy and law it cannot allow public discussion of personnel matters nor can trustees comment on any current or pending litigation if a matter concerning an employee of the riverville public schools is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal or the superintendent of schools by telephone letter or email and I'm going to open the meeting to the public comments at approximately 7:05 p.m. and this is on agenda items only things in the agenda does anybody want to make a comment on agenda items okay all right seeing nobody who wants to make a comment on agenda items I'm closing the meeting to agenda items at approximately 7:06 p.m. and I'm moving to the superintendent report okay thank you good evening everyone tonight I wanted to highlight the incredible job our teachers and staff do in maintaining a high level of education for our students in addition to the professional learning opportunities that they take advantage of both in District from people we bring in to them going outside to other districts or to other workshops we also plan professional learning days for our staff throughout the year last Monday while our students had off from school our staff was was engaged in one of these learning days staff attended various learning workshops that focused on strategies to support and teach our students a wide range of topics include but not limited to discussing the ELA the English language arts curriculum with a focus on writing lessons and creating cross-curricular connections with the social studies Department middle school science teachers edited the curriculum infusing content so that it would spiral throughout each grade level Math teachers plan datadriven instruction periods which you guys may know as DDI periods and Infused the new New Jersey student learning standards into curriculum teachers learned more about the tools to support datadriven instruction and created differentiated plans to meet the needs of individual Learners differentiated instruction and tailored learning has been a huge task of ours the last couple of years and teachers are doing an amazing job it's a lot of hard work we also had um several staff get CPR trains and recertified and health music and art planning was also taking place and collaborating among their colleagues I did also want to publicly thank Kim ding our supervisor of curriculum who plans these valuable days for our staff and she continues to ensure that everyone is involved in meaningful learning I also want to thank the PTA for providing breakfast to our staff on this day and everyone uh really does appreciate everyone's hard work thank you thank you um moving to board secretary's report Mrs EPO yes good evening I just wanted to publicly thank our buildings and grounds and maintenance staff for all of their efforts last week with the weather uh we're not out of the woods yet but they've they've done a great job so far as they always do and I'd also like to thank the board for their support the the audit is in part due to your support and allowing our staff to do their jobs and my staff is is phenomenal and I can't thank them enough because it's it's not just one person so we have a great team from the top to the bottom and just thank you very much and that's all I have tonight thank you um moving on to General resolutions general resolution G1 through G6 will somebody move it please I'll make a motion uh second please I'll second uh discussion anything okay roll call vote please certainly Mr White yes Mrs assor yes Mrs Sande yes Mrs burkowitz yes Mrs Pinelli yes Mrs Austin yes Mr rosini yes uh moving on to business resolutions B1 through B17 may I have a motion I'll make the motion okay second anybody second okay thank you and discussion okay anything anybody no okay roll call vote please please certainly Mrs burkowitz yes Mrs Sande yes Mrs Austin yes Mr White yes Mrs Pinelli yes Mrs assor yes Mr rosini yes moving to Personnel resolutions P1 through P6 uh um again a motion I'll move second please I'll second and discuss okay anyone any comments questions okay um then roll call vote please certainly Mrs Pinelli yes Mrs assour yes Mrs Sande yes Mr White yes Mrs Austin yes Mrs burwitz yes Mr rosini yes okay now moving on to public comments on General items I'm going to uh read the following the Rivervale board of education is committed to encouraging the citizens of riverville and employees of their riverville school district to speak directly to board trustees in order to facilitate this communication residents and employees are requested one to sign in before speaking two to maintain an appropriate sens of the Quorum and three to limit their remarks to no more than five minutes the board will also take under advisement the written comments and opinions of non-residents that are submitted to the board secretary being mindful of its responsibility to maintain the orderly conduct of meetings the board retains the right to rule on such matters as the speaker's right to address the board as well as the appropriateness of the subject being presented the board's decision in such matters is final the board also reminds all members of the public that while it subscribes without reservation to the principle of keeping the community informed by policy and law it cannot allow public discussion of personnel matters nor can trustees comment on any current or pending litigation if a matter concerning an employee of the riverville public schools is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal or the superintendent of schools by telephone letter or email and I'm going to open this meeting to the public uh to comments at approximately 7:13 p.m. would you like to make a comment sure thank you there's a little button thank you I'm so sorry I want to say thank you for um having a public comment period um and good evening it's I've never been here before um I guess I'll just start with oh thank you it's so I'm so impressed it's everybody's so professional I had um a great concern um on November 7th with the ballot issue um the three armed guards um kind of um in the vernacular blew me away um and it only was defeated by 53% to 47% that was my third grade math I'm also a graduate of holdren Public School 1969 so years later I know so I was so happy when I read that so I I prepared a little um three minute speech or something but I don't think I need it because I guess is it appropriate to ask um would that be coming back into play or is it is it is it a concern of the board to continue to reach out to um try to place armed guards in each of the three Public Schools or um will we see it again on another Ballot or is is it is is that okay for me to ask or um sure what I could do is um I'll fill you in a little bit on on how it came to be and and then um misso might be able to fill us in on the logistics of how it you know how it works with going out for a second question and and then what can come after that so basically the board uh we put together a security committee and we did a deep dive into our security and the multiple layers that we have and one possible addition would be adding armed officers at each building when we looked at the budget that is not something that we could put in our Reg regular operating budget so the board decided to go out for a second question which means that the community votes on it which would allow us to raise our um I guess would tax levy be the appropriate um over our 2% cap and then that would become part of our budget that we would then be able to hire them um once that gets voted down as ours did uh we're not we're not able to put that into our budget and then I'm going to pass it over to miss IO because I'm not sure there is time you have to wait you can't do it so to speak but I'm going to pass it over to her thank you so to continue with Miss sori's statement the second question for an addition to the tax levy cap is only available during the November election for larger items for instance the referendum there are four other times of the year in which you can put forth a a second question but typically on a on a smaller scale this is the only permissible time that you can go out for a second question our budget is a um fiscal budget which runs from July 1st to June so going out for that question if it's voted down you cannot put implement it into your budget if it were voted in then it would start sometime um the money would be raised in the following calendar year for the remainder of the school budget which would end in June so to get to the bottom and answer your question it is something that the board could in the future seek to do they could either put it into their operating budget or if they wanted to go back out for a second question it would be again on a November ballot does that answer your question I think so so basically it's moot right now correct and uh we we possibly could be raised again in in the next November election correct okay thank you you're welcome I guess um I guess I well thank you I I don't want to see it again but that would I just like uh the New Jersey I didn't realize the New Jersey preparedness uh emergency program how good that was I had no idea there was so many things that are already in place that people can work with and the kids themselves can work with um so that's really um inspiring to me my my fear was just children you know the mindset of having an armed guard like walking by all the time but then I didn't realize the police do come and drop by and and the children should know the police and vice versa so I think everything is good and I don't have to like be worried of you know the kids are so great in this neighborhood in this area I don't have children in school right now um I don't have children at all I have a lot of young friends but um but all the kids are just you know whether they're working in in the Walgreens or you know so polite and and that comes from the school system and it comes from um being raised without fear and and being raised as a community and helping each other so thank you I'll St my address and leave you yeah sure thank you thank you for your comments you have deep roots in the community so thank you very much okay anybody else want to make a comment no no more public comments okay um so I will close the meeting to public comments at approximately 79 p.m. any old business anybody anything anybody want to bring up new business I just wanted to um make a comment about the class trips this year and I wanted to give a little shout out to the Rivervale Ed fund who is funding all of our class trips I believe in the entire District um I just got my daughter's permission slip home and you know there's a little note saying that the riveral Ed fund has paid for all of the trips which is so nice and I think all the kids are looking forward to it so thank you yeah Ed fund has been terrific that's just just one more thing that makes it just that much better here yes thank and thanks for uh acknowledging that yes the Ed fund is going to be sponsoring all of the elementary field trips and at middle school they are doing um something special for the graduating eth graders um which will be going out soon and then next year they're even going to add some more stuff so it's very generous of them thanks okay that was great anything else any other new business I'm sorry yeah new business uh no okay do we have to go to closed yes I think we do okay so um May a motion to enter into closed session I'll motion second please I'll second and uh thank you and are we coming back out no okay so we're going to enter close session um we're not going to come back out we're not going to take any further AC or business um so thank you everybody for coming thank you for coming thank you for coming um thank you