e e e e can I have a motion to resume public session so moved second second all in favor hi hi any n or abstentions no sorry I didn't notice we had two board members that weren't here they'll be back in one second okay please plan for the Pledge of Allegiance all right good evening everyone I'm pleased to welcome you all to our uh June 2024 monthly meeting I'd like to begin by acknowledging the success uh the I'm sorry the successful conclusion of another Academic Year our schools recently celebrated a series of end of year activities and graduations each event showcasing the hard work dedication and achievements of our students and staff to our graduates congratulations on reaching this significant Milestone your perseverance and commitment have brought you to this moment and we are incredibly proud of you additionally I want to extend my congratulations the best wishes to our superintendent Brian Betts with his retirement thank you for your leadership over the last four years I know there have been several issues that have impacted the community over the past month namely the elimination of jumpstar program and the middle school math placement please know that we are committed to exploring alternative resources and programs to support our students educational needs we will continue to keep the uh I'm sorry we'll continue to keep the community informed of any new opportunities that may arise as we look ahead to the summer I want to wish our students parents teachers and administrators a wonderful and restful break uh this time is well deserved after a year of hard work and dedication may your summer be filled with joy relaxation and the opportunities for growth thank you all for your support and commitment to our schools let's look forward to the upcoming year with Renewed Energy and enthusiasm and now the superintendent's report thank you Mr hbert uh good evening everybody um as I finished my tenure here in Robinsville I wanted to take a moment and recognize some of the people that are uh in the process of implementing what uh will be a an amazing program here in Robinsville and will change this District forever it's the uh the preschool expansion program that will be implemented uh in September um and those things just don't happen we're hiring 14 teachers and and IAS we're getting 14 classrooms ready hiring people um administrative staff and whatnot uh aligning Transportation making sure the rooms were ready for September I mean it's a huge huge task and uh I wanted to recognize those individuals tonight because this program will change this district and the lives of children uh forever uh few I guess a year a few years ago Victoria and I were were talking about how to recognize leaders within the district and within the building we came up with the idea of doing this superintendent's leadership award so I thought uh it would be very befitting uh as my one of my last acts as superintendent is to recognize those people through that award because this truly is leadership it is life-changing for those children and uh if we're not in this business to change lives in a positive way we shouldn't be in this business so I do want to call up those individuals I'll stand up give you your award uh get some pictures and uh and know that you have my heartfelt thanks for everything you do every single day here in the district uh first Dr Steve wusi assistant superintendent Mr Dick Nick mccre business administrator Miss chrisy defasio director of curriculum Mr orene Johnson our director of student services Mr Brian Murphy buildings and ground supervisor and Miss Tammy atwine our transportation supervisor some of them couldn't be here tonight but I call those individuals forward to uh to get their recognition and again thank you so much for all you do e and then finally I wanted to thank um the staff in ation for finishing up the school year it was again a terrific year here in Robinsville you can see some of the stats there um which don't really tell the whole story of of this amazing School District um no place is perfect and and we do have our our warts like any other place um but I'm telling you coming to to work every single day it didn't feel like work um our children here are just amazing um they will do great things once they leave the the doors of Robinsville and make this world a better place and that's thanks to parents our staff from administrators to teachers to IAS to custodians bus drivers everyone else uh it really is a great place um you'll meet uh the inter superintendent tonight uh this district is in great hands under his leadership uh and I look forward to see what happens with this District in the years and months to come so thank you again okay uh the aison reports there are no reports right now I think that they're going to be kind of stagnant through the summer we'll catch you up in the fall sounds good thank you the ba report Mr mcre please good evening uh an update on the superintendent search and process so this evening uh we start to review the uh the applications and set up interviews uh with the board um we will have that discussion in second executive session tonight there will be no action taken we're also going to be reviewing another matter as well uh with an evaluation uh with that being said after the meeting ends tonight for the public we're going to I'm going going to dismiss uh the staff to clean up and everything but we're going to spend about an hour and a half going through um all of the applications um so the public can you go home we will not be having any action taken afterwards there will be no votes we're just going to come out close and go home so I just want to give you all the the heads up on that there's no need to stay uh after that um at the same time uh I'd like to bring up uh in July next month we have a board goal Retreat as well as a budget discussion so we've talken about this and and budget's a big it's a big topic and how we take this District forward and what goals are you going to be set setting um for the uh interim superintendent and the future superintendent um we start that process next month but the Highlight is that we start an hour earlier so public so executive session will be at 5: p.m. and public session at 6 as opposed to 7 so we add an extra hour um um because we expect it to be a little bit longer and be having more discussions on top of having a regular board meeting as well um that is it for me any questions any questions comments from Mr McCree all right uh public comment on agenda items only these are the agenda items only I have a motion to open public comment uh for energizing only for three minutes uh for 30 minutes sove mov D second all in favor I any n or exensions okay uh three three minutes each will be allowed uh will be allowed for public comment at this at this meeting members of the public wishing to address the board of education on agenda items must State their name municipality and the group if any they represent a member the public shall not be permitted to speak until he or she is recognized by the officer in accordance with District policy each comment shall be limited to 3 minutes no participant may speak speak more than once no dialogue between a speaker and the board or the superintendent shall be extended uh shall extend that three minute time live streaming at the public meetings shall be for viewing only the public will not have the ability to participate in public session comments unless they are physically present at the meeting although the board encourages public comment the presiding officer can interrupt Warn and or terminate a participant statement question or inquiry when it is too lengthy and may also interrupt and warant a participant when the statement question or inquiry is abusive obscene or may be defend atory moreover the presiding officer can request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum an adherence to the protocol established by the njsba the board will use this public comment period as an opportunity to listen to resident concerns but not to debate issues or to enter question and answer session issues raised by members of the public may require review and investigation it may or may not be responded to the board meeting or by the by the board or the superintendent during the meeting all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the floor is open hello okay hi uh Arun kpur uh resident of Robinsville uh I'm up here uh in lines with uh uh you know just to appreciate the work uh our superintendent has done uh I think no leader is perfect no situation is always correct uh but one thing I wanted to Echo here is on behalf of the community we are thankful for all the work you did at the same time I understand there were many different challenges that you caner uh that that you were confronting with um and we just wanted to just show our sense of gratitude we believe in the process of your uh work here that we have shown you Grace kindness and uh support that you desire this is uh not only for you as an outgoing superintendent but for anybody who wants to assume your role should understand that Robinsville is an inviting Community we are compassionate we are kind we can be Rous we can fight on different issues but we feel uh the sense of gratitude and understand that you have a life to lead you have a family to feed and that your reputation and your family reputation matters a lot and we'll work hard to ensure that whoever resumes your place that we deal with them with the same amount of Grace and uh better Behavior thank you very much any other comments oh on agenda items only hello my name is Nicholas and I am 11 years old I wanted to say goodbye to Mr bets in person so if we could like shake hands after this thank you um I also wanted to share with everyone what have gone through this year I have been bullied very very bad kids have made um fun of me because I have autism they've made fun of me by screaming in my ears flapping their hands making noises at me and making fun of my simming I have been called many times and I was told I'm so stupid I should go work for a circus the same kids have made fun of a girl that isn't able to speak she has autism too I have had kids say to me bad things about my mom for for example they have said my mom was a in the past they have also made fun of the benches I've made that I've donated I also was told that my mom and I were but kissers this last bullying time Mr gizo and Mr Connor helped me a lot I also learned what a biased crime means now I have to go to another school because I do not feel safe here anymore I'm really sad about being made front of at a meeting that was here I heard a lady making comments about me as my mom was trying to answer questions adults should not make fun of kids and kids should not make fun of kids with autism all my mom and I have tried to do is help the schools and the community I will miss my friends and my teachers and I will really miss Mr gzo especially Mr bz thank you than Nick can we just pause the time for one minute so I just want to read a statement from the board regarding issues that are going on so recently the board has received many inquiries regarding posts by the Robinsville mayor please be reminded that the township and the school board are separate and distinct entities while our responsibilities to the Robinsville Community sometimes overlap many board matters are outside the periview of the town and vice versa while we appreciate the mayor's concerns as how as as to how the board will handle board matters will not and cannot violate the school ethics act which requires the board members to hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools this is an ethical responsibility our members take very seriously we will continue to abide by our ethical standards and requirements and can and can make comments and cannot make comments on police invest and can make comments on police investigations and other matters without exposing ourselves to ethical and legal liabilities While others may not abide by this we we continue to abide by our legal duties and decline further comment and lastly we stand here United State that we will always stand against any form of bullying and cyber harassment of any kind thank you Mr MCC please continue the timer any other public comment on agenda items can I have a motion to close public comment on agenda items so moved second all in favor I any needs or abstentions okay approval of minutes um can I have a motion to uh approve the minutes from the May 21st board meeting so moved second all in favor any needs or abstentions not seeing any committee reports Ed policy Miss Leman uh the Ed policy committee didn't meet this month we'll be meeting next month um I'm not sure the date I'll send an email probably the middle of the second Tuesday of the month sure Personnel Dr Pi Personnel committee met on June 18th uh virtually presentent was uh Jay Nadia Anthony and myself I'm also steveen christe um were present as well from the administration uh Dr Zusi went over the monthly Staffing spreadsheet um covered two administrative appointments for supervisor Elementary curriculum instruction and assessment and also assistant director of stem we also went through the hiring of our preschool teachers prek teachers I'm sorry um and finally we talked about a Personnel matter our next meeting is July 23rd at 6 pm thank you Dr Pierro business committee is me give me one second to pull those notes up okay uh the business committee met on June 17th uh at the high school those from the the board that were present were myself uh Mr Gatti Mr Nandan uh those in attendance from the uh for the administration were M Mr mccre Dr wusi Mr defasio and Mr Murphy um we reviewed general maintenance items for all the buildings went through the um the rod Grant activities for the air conditioning change out um we also reviewed the use of the um facility rental funds the auditorium is going to be upgraded this summer you're seeing some of the upgrades here in the in the Middle School all again all coming from those facility rentals because we want to put that money that we're getting from the rentals back into the buildings um uh summer projects that are ongoing we reviewed the preschool uh Readiness we reviewed um activities at the at rhs the cricket pitch at is going to be uh built at the Sharon ele Elementary School and um we're going to be working on the rhs walkway one of the big initiatives that we discussed was that the district is actually performing a lot of the labor in house to save some money they're they're they're digging their own trenches using their own equipment so we're not Outsourcing some of that so we're Tak we're internalizing a lot of those activities um and then we we reviewed um some of the grants for uh upgrading some of the security items without throughout the district the next uh business committee will be on July 15th and any questions comments just a quick question um I know last meeting we started talking about paint like rental from this room and possibly painting this and I know that there is an action on community relations to figure out if there's community members that can do murals um but just did it come in business committee and in what capacity I don't think we talked about whether or not we could do it in that if if you want to talk about it in in community relations make a recommendation we can we can do that sounds good thank you yep then I'll pass the floor off to community relations with Mr n uh community relations did not meet this month thank you oh you didn't give me time to switch to my other one thank you you'll be meeting next month we is next month yes okay one second to switch so the security meeting uh security uh committee met in May uh in in attendance were myself uh Arthur Jay and Anthony um we met with all the rsos the building principles um and the police department so um during the meeting the principals provided the safety update for each of the schools rosos provided their safety update from their perspectives for each of the schools in Old business we talked about the it activities needed to secure the buildings and and maintain safety in the buildings the facilities and other and other um facility upgrades that we could we could potentially uh recommend to uh keep the building safe um we also had a security audit from an from an outside Source um I think the the district did fairly well on that and I think we're going to we're probably going to further discuss that next month or actually the ne at the next business committee which is going to be next week so we'll further make recommendations to the business committee for those security items to further um secure the schools so we're targeting July 2nd for the the next uh security meeting any questions comments oh and the grant that I mentioned in the um the business committee is for security so we are also pursuing that that was submitted it was a heavy lift for the administration it was about a 50 page grant that had to be filled out so I appreciate their effort to again try to get some more funds to you know secure the schools any now any questions comments all right uh uh special education Miss D'Angelo hi everyone um so uh so we're going to talk about some celebrations we had end ofe festivities occurring across the district some of those notable events included uh the senior clap out at mahand Road Middle School the annual Sharon school sendoff and Boomer bash the Pond Road Mill School promotion Sharon School retire clap out with student services um our student services very own Kim Gibbs was one of the honores congratulations uh the Sharon Elementary School had an end ofe ice pops and Dance Party esy begins next week we're excited to welcome our students back to Sharon and Robinsville High School on July 1st through August 1st as a reminder esy will run Monday through Thurs Thursday 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m. the department of student services would like to express a very grateful goodbye to all staffs retiring or accepting another chapter in their lives you have all touched the lives of so many and we wish you all the best thank you Amanda any questions comments for Amanda no technology Mr glot the technology committee did not meet thank you monthly resolutions the superintendent recommends that the Board of Education approve the following action items a through C before we take a vote okay there's a typo uh page 12 maintenance Reserve that should be up to 500,000 not 300,000 so before you take the motion I'd like to make sure that says 500,000 page 12 item I approval of transfer up to 500,000 for maintenance Reserve okay the superintendent recommends the Board of Education approve the uh following actions a through C with the change Nick just mentioned uh can I have a roll call please oh can I have a motion I'm sorry moved sure just could you explain the difference like okay yep can I can I have a motion then we'll explain it yep motion for discussion yep can I have a motion for discussion yes Move Motion second all in favor I I any n or extensions go ahead Nick so uh at the end of the year in June 30 by June 30th so the June board meeting you is the only time you're allowed to make a decision of how much end of year funds you transfer to either capital or maintenance Reserve Andor other accounts it could be Debt Service and so forth so at the end of the year we do an estimation and so in this school district um we call an item called fund balance whatever money's left over um goes to the following Year's budget we have to reserve at least 1.4 million after you cross that hurdle you then can decide how much to put into capital and into maintenance now it's preferred to put a little bit more in maintenance because you can use it many items as long as it's maintenance related when you put it only into Capital it's either Capital Equipment or cap anything above $2,000 or Capital structures so we put a statement of up to one and a half or up to 500 so we'll most likely max out the 500 I I surely hope we get that much in capital to put in there as well why do I not know is that some of the money um in Grants that we put in for technically extraordinary Aid the state gives it to us you apply for it we've applied for it over a month ago they don't tell you the number until after your budget is closed and it could swing by hundreds of thousands of doll I've seen it go from 8800 to a million4 and then down and up and so you just have to take a guess and so at this point we say up to when we get the real number by the auditor sometime in December we'll bring it to the business committee how much should we put in and and and do the math over there and then we go through it if we maxed that complete amount out it then automatically goes back into fund balance so it is just a way to balance and um weigh your risks and your projects now my you hopefully a million in capital we've got 10 million in projects to do with hbac so um it'll it's a big discussion I'll bring this back to the table in the July board meeting to talk about a proforma of what it's going to cost to maintain our buildings debt coming off many years from now and how to and what things that we have to let go and not maintain and so we'll go through those options as well okay thank you was last year was 300,000 last year was 300,000 this year's is 500 you're just increasing it from last year we we used to put 300 every year but we pull 300 yes so you you reach that maximum you put yes but this time they were like well maintenance allows you to do more things and so let's play a little safer um so if you need to pull 500 next year then you pull 500 but if you do that then you have to do it every year or you're going to cut again against it and so um it has to be a conscious decision of to keep it at 300 or it'll grow but that is a decision to be made by a future board um we just don't want to we want to give a little more flexibility to Future boards any other questions comments yes I know I got you can we have a motion for monthly resolutions so moved second all in favor I I any n or abstentions you a second all right point of order um take a motion I had Mr Gatti first who was second Tanya Tanya motions on the table you're allowed to discuss oh I'm sorry yeah and then we'll go through and I'll do a roll call vote for every person so if you need to say a abstention or no please call it out or say all in favor for all the items any discussion roll call please miss vuka yes Mr Gadi yes Miss Hill DeAngelo yes yes Mr Howard yes Miss Leman yes Mr nandon Yes except for A9 Yes except for A9 A9 Mr Ray yes Dr Pierro with the exception of A9 yes Mr alberg yes right thank you everyone motions pass thank you Mr McCree is I believe we're up to Old business is there any old business not seeing any new business okay can I have a motion to open public comment on on agenda and non-agenda items for 30 minutes so moved second all in favor I I any need or abstention thank you Mr GL thank you Miss hild DeAngelo same rules of for three minutes please come up Lonnie Jacob Robinsville over the past month many parents have been reaching out to our School District administration to express concern concern about various topics including Pawn Math course placements the elimination of the jumpstart summer program and our District's vision for Math and Ela programming and curriculum I respectfully ask that our Administration and Schoolboard members consider the following suggestions for improvement regarding the items mentioned above for current pwn Math course options provide more transparency behind the rationale of our math placement Pathways and visibility into the waiver testing process consider implementing a parent waiver process for students within one to two points of the math placement rubric revisit the student growth potential in these Pond Math course Pathways to ensure that we are not stifling any child's ability to reach their overall academic potential or creating a socioeconomic Gap among our students that can supplement additional math support through outside tutoring I do want to thank our school board for the follow-up email regarding our funding history of the jumpstart summer program I look forward to reviewing the comprehensive document listing all recent Grant grants the programs they support and their expiration dates that being said I do ask that the school district look into what supports can be provided now to typically qualifying students students in place of the canceled summer program since parents were not a made aware of the jump start program's elimination until recently as well as how we can include this program back into our operating budget in the future regarding our District's vision for Math and Ela we should look into reinstating the quarterly curriculum Corner newsletter that our curriculum Department used to provide to District parents this newsletter effectively informed community members about each school's latest program of studies it served as an excellent platform to communicate the district's math and Ela programming Vision many new math and reading programs have been implemented this year and will be implemented next year we have also made new program purchases such as reading 1880 and magnetic math so having additional visibility into how this aligns with curriculum um requirements and our District's strategic academic goals would be extremely helpful for all parents to understand thank you hi uh my name is Steve scatana and I live in Robinsville so I'm here to discuss the uh middle school math placement concerns that have been raised by parents um I find myself in the odd situation of having a child at Pond who's currently an a na math student and scores at about the 90th percentile on I ready and the link at waiver assessment um but he's being denied the opportunity to enroll in pre-algebra next year um I understand there have been many other parents that have similar concerns especially on uh two major determinants of math placement for the coming year uh the link it assessment and then the need to score at the 95th percentile on the waiver exam in regards to linkit um my understanding the math placement is based in part on the linkit score which is Link at a software program three assessments are given over the year fall winter spring the midyear winter uh link it assessment was utilized for placement um rather than the spring assessment after all the content had actually been taught um so I'm not sure how that uh works or makes sense to assess our children um many other parents have also questioned this and the written response that uh was preferred was that it's important to note that if a specific portion of the standards was not taught all students would generally find those questions challenging however many students succeed in these sections indicating a student's intellectual learning capacity for mathematics um to be clear link it itself makes no claim to measure abstract intellectual learning capacity uh it's simply benchmarking software that tests children on math knowledge that correlates to the New Jersey math standards and at the point in time that it's administered and further some students answering questions on material not taught in school yet that's more likely an indicator of access to outside tutoring than a students inhering capacity for math another issue raised by parents is why use the 95th percentile as the waiver cut off to determine placement next year the response to parents has been quote regarding the 5% threshold for program entry this percentage stems from using the 95th percentile as a benchmark to determine eligibility on the waiver assessment this is a circular answer um I'm asking if there's any data showing that only children scoring at the 95th percentile of the waiver will be successful if there is I'd love to see it um when the inquiry was made directly by myself to the curriculum team broadening the range to be more inclusive uh the response says we would have to go back and notify parents of those kids and we don't want to do that according to the New Jersey state policy lab a study done at Ruckers late uh last year noted that early access to Algebra 1 in middle school has significant and far-reaching effects on a child's future so I am asking that um the board uh and our new superintendent work to together to provide oversight and to consider modifying the waiver cut off uh to a more inclusive percentile the 80th the 85th uh and modify the use of linkoln so that students are tested on cont that they have been taught not just students who can afford outside tutoring thank you for your time good evening Mary Caffrey I don't have any children in the schools anymore my graduate ated in 2016 and 2017 um as some of you know I have an OP request pending based on the previous statement I'm not too encouraged but I wasn't too encouraged going in um I want to talk about transparency because the last time I came to the former board most of the whole board has turned over I came to talk about the um at that time curtailment of public comment and I feel pretty strongly that if you're going to speak in favor of transparency you have to do on All Occasions and not just you know you have to do so even when it looks like some of your friends and people that you genuinely agree with might be in the hot seat and that's why I'm here um I share your frustration with some of the posts um some of you may not know that I was the first business administrator when Dave Fred became the mayor so I've had to deal with some of that too hopefully that will uh will understand that I understand the position you're in but simply acting like what's out there is not out there is really not an option for you now um you're going to need to deal with it and I would strongly encourage you given the multiple players that are involved your best course of action may be to engage a third independent party and have a full look at what's happened um I did make pains this weekend to remind certain individuals that this is at least the third time over the last 15 years or so maybe longer that we've had episodes of people using fake screen names to take shots at their opponents or using you know their public employment email accounts but now it's reaching our school community and that's a first and that's really upsetting to me and many others and we don't want that to continue um I'm upset at not just the stupidity of what appears to have happened but also that arrogance because people think they can't get caught um so again I want to ask you for a full accounting the idea that you can just not acknowledge the political culture of this community that you have to operate in which is really difficult at times and I don't want to be in your shoes and I'm not anymore thank goodness um leads us to having to select another superintendent only four years after Mr bety arrived and leads to little boy who came up to this microphone and we all have to stop that and you know my boys only graduated a year apart but they had very different experiences and sometimes I wondered if they even went to the same high school um The Bullying has to stop it has to start from the top and I say this even if you don't want to do it for moral reasons let's be practical here okay sometime you're going to have to go out for referendum again and if you don't deal with this right now today you're going to have a tough time because you're going to lose voters like me and you can't afford that thank you hi my name is Michael brander and my name is Cole brander we live at 23 Cornflower Drive in rinville New Jersey we are going into eighth grade at Pond and we really like our school and teachers we are here to tell our story about the math path we were on and how it got changed through no fault of our own we have excelled in math throughout our elementary school along within both sixth and seventh grade our mom was an elementary school teacher and now is a middle school math teacher as you can imagine she has been teaching us math since we started talking and as a result we love math it's our favorite subject in seventh grade we in sixth grade we are placed in 6A accelerated math and only 60 out of 260 qualified for this class so we're in the 20 top 22% we followed our sister's path who was one year older we were on the track to go into pre-algebra accelerated math in seventh gr grade like she did but the class was cut so we had to take prealgebra we we enjoyed the class and our teacher but found it too easy to be easy since much of what was covered was what we learned in sixth grade we don't mind working hard in math because we enjoy it and find it very rewarding when we solve the tough problems we are also competitive sometimes too much but it has helped us in our studies especially in math we achieved all A's in math in fact straight A in every subject for two years now and we have done very well on just about all of our assignments we also have a great work we also have great work habits and like to be challenged we both have college career aspirations that require advanced level math skills we like the opportunity to follow the same path our sister was given the opportunity to take she is now going into ninth grade Robinsville high school and her schedule includes honors Algebra 2 and honors physics our performance is on an equal level to hers we just want the same opportunity that she was given before the seventh grade class was cut and before the criteria was changed thank [Applause] you hi my name is Christine brander and my address is 23 Cornflower Drive in Robinsville New Jersey thank you for this opportunity my husband and I are the parents of four Robinsville students we are also both educated ators I'm a middle school math teacher in nearby Hamilton Township our daughter just graduated from pond and our triplet sons are moving up to 8th grade this year Robinsville school district has provided an excellent education for our children however due to a short-sighted decision that was made at the end of the 2223 school year when my sons Michael and Cole who are here with me this evening had just completed sixth grade they were short changed regarding their math education in seventh grade and high school path to advanced math classes the district at the end of that school year made the shortsighted decision to cut the seventh grade pre-algebra accelerated math class my sons are two of a small group of students who would have been placed in that class but had no choice other than to take pre- alible this past year this class only covered the seventh grade math curriculum which they had already learned in 6A in my professional opinion as a m middle school math teacher this year's curriculum and Pace lack the rigor and content that fit their performance level and passion for math now that my two sons have completed completed this year's math class with straight A they are being denied the opportunity to take Algebra 1 next school year the criteria that was used for the eighth grade placement was sent out after the winter Benchmark and I ready were already administered it was given midye and only 50% of the material was learned at that point a best practice mandated by the New Jersey doe is to use multiple measures in the placement of students this did not happen using multiple measures would have included considering their math grades end ofe math final and just NJ SL scores multiple benchmarks and teacher recommendation my sons were one point away on the district rubric from qualifying into Algebra 1 they were given the opportunity to take a waiver assessment about two weeks later a document with helpful links and resources was sent home nine days before the waiver test it listed the njla standards for grades seven and eight covered on the waiver assessment as a middle school math teacher I am very familiar with the NJ doae math standards these eighth grade standards were not taught in the seven grade pre- AAL class my sons wanted to prepare for the waiver assessment so we crammed to learn a Year's worth of material in 9 days it was an impossible task but they tried their best this waiver assessment did not evaluate Mastery of previous content or algebra Readiness it covered material they had never been exposed to I have all of the data that supports the appropriate placement of my sons into Algebra 1 as a matter of fact my son's data mirrors my daughter's multiple measures of data and math as mentioned she is going into ninth grade and is placing into honors Algebra 2 and honors physics she was given this opportunity to advance and my son's path has been derailed both boys have career aspirations that require advanced math and science classes it is my understanding that under federal education law a parent can request placement of their child in a class that best fits their academic needs furthermore denial of a placement would be an inequity I'm challenging my son's unfair placement on a slow track which will result in them being excluded from college prep classes it is also my understanding that there were 150 students in Algebra 1 this school year making up five classes for next school year 60 students are slated into Algebra 1 this seems to me like a step backwards in providing a challenging R rigorous education for all students please know that I have been respectfully following the chain of command into appealing to District administration my plan was to request a meeting with the assistant superintendent and superintendent this week however the last response I received stated I could appeal to the assistant superintendent but my appeal would not warrant a placement change also the timing of this meeting pushed me to speak tonight I would welcome a meeting with them to present my case and research supporting the critical decision of placing middle school students in math and its profound impact on their High School Math course trajectories and potential Edge when applying to college thank you hi good evening my name is Julie scatena I live in Robinsville New Jersey and I'm here tonight to advocate for my son and also to advocate for all middle school students in our district I want to express my concerns regarding the current Math course placement process both the rubric that is being used and the path of courses which significantly limit our students abilities to reach high levels of math at the high school I strongly urge the district to revise the rubric to include additional attributes such as course performance assessments course grades and weigh teacher recommendations more heavily and to limit the overreliance on linkit and I ready benchmarks for which we have no historical data to suggest that students need these scores to do well in pre-algebra or Algebra 1 I also recommend that our district re-evaluate the existing mathematical academic Pathways at the middle school provided to our students and revise them to be more inclusive this approach will ensure that a great greater number of our students have the opportunity to reach their full potential during their high school years the current system ineffectively determines a student's entire mathematical trajectory by the seventh grade which may limit future opportunities the best indicator of a student's future academic success is their current academic performance therefore it is logical and fair to use a student's grades and a teacher's recommendation as the primary criteria for determining placement in subsequent math courses students who have consistently demonstrated excellence in their math courses should be given the opportunity to advance based on this proven track record the current heavy Reliance on standardized assessments like linkit and I does not adequately reflect a student's comprehensive understanding and performance in their math coursework finally I believe that the district should reconsider the current five % waiver threshold to be more inclusive of students increasing this threshold would provide more students the opportunity to excel in higher level math courses historical data does not suggest placing students in these classes that would negatively impact their student performance by broadening the criteria and increasing the threshold we can create a more Equitable and supportive educational environment that better serves our students needs and potential I strongly suggest that the school district revise the current math placement rubric for pond Math course placement and to consider other attributes such as course performance assessments course grades and obviously teacher recommendations this is a more holistic approach and it will ensure that all students who demonstrate success are given the opportunities they they deserve thank you for your time and consideration Barbara Gould uh five Whitmer way five different parents have reached out um some of which are here this evening for support with their concerns about the math pathway process and Pathways for students at Pon Road Middle School although each student's story was unique all had similar theme restrictive criteria worth an over Reliance on standardized assessments of linkit and I ready LED their children to a math course that would timately prevent them from reaching their fullest potential as an experienced educator and administrator I wanted to share some of my thoughts parents have reported that the district justifies using standardized assessments as the only objective measure of Student Success in higher level courses due to perceived inconsistencies in teachers grading practices however extensive Research indicates that standardized assessments can be influenced by external factors factors such as test preparation anxiety test bias and socioeconomic differences these tests often ex exhibit racial and socioeconomic biases and show performance discrepancies based on gender additionally well-resourced students have greater access to test preparation tutoring and educational re Rich experiences that provide an advantage over other students consequently relying on only on standardized assessments for student identification May exacerbate socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities further widening the achievement Gap within the district a more holistic and Equitable approach to student identification is essential one of the best predictors of future academic success is current academic performance students who consistently excel in their math courses should be permitted to advance based on this track record high- performing neighboring districts like West Windsor Plainsboro use course grades for placement and have successfully implemented inclusive math programming with 93% of eighth graders enrolled in Algebra 1 or algebra one honors research from University of Chicago indicates that GPA is a stronger predictor and indicator of college success than standardized tests as earning good grades reflects consistent academic behaviors and sustained academic effort by students as a short-term goal I would recommend the district and education policy Committee of the board revise the program of studies to include a waiver process for the Middle School course sequence similar to the high school course waiver process at the high school level students who do not meet the eligibility requirements for a particular course are permitted to submit the waiver form given the significant impact of the middle school math courses on future high school and science course sequence this is crucial Math and Science enrollment are tied together in the sequence at the high school restricting access in the Middle School will impact the number of students eligible to take Advanced AP courses in science and math at the high school level for long-term goals I suggest the district establish a stakeholder committee to conduct a complete o math program review revise the placement criteria update the math sequence look at the curricula and provide professional development for teachers these steps will support increased student achievement and ensure that all Learners have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential thank you for your time and consideration I would like to provide the board with my statement if possible because I have all of the research that I um cited on the back of of it if possible or I can just email it if that's easier either way is is fine good evening how is everybody tonight so as uh my son has uh mentioned about the bullying going on I want to comment about that I'm Jennifer man I'm sorry I'm Robertsville um I'm here today to express my thoughts on the issues surrounding the schools first a thank you all the staff and the administration that helped my son Mr Betts Mr gizo Lori rundo CLA corish Georgi all of them through his last four years here I appreciate and so does Nicholas he's accomplished a lot we can do 10 jumping Jacks in a row now that's pretty good I also want to thank the Robinsville police department and the Mercer County prosecutor's office for handling the biased crimes against my son in fact for the very first time this year I feel validated of listened to in regards to the treatment that your special education Community has received from other students my son as he said has been called repeatedly a slow monkey a someone that is autistic who should probably work in the circus a as a mother he has and a kiss ass to Mr bets and the mayor Upon returning from my son's day from school lman issues would happen I would chase him and get him to keep him safe I'm concerned about the behavior of the residents and some adults in this district for example there was a post put on Facebook that was Mr bets's portfolio pictures of children were included in that and after cor Leon posted it I became enraged Mr Betts and I had a meeting and yes I screamed at your superintendant for one hour straight he sat there he apologized and I saidd do not give up and then Mr oldberg I asked you personally back in February for a complete investigation of this you stated to me the pictures were taken down and the rest crickets you never reached out you never reached out to other parents and you never made it a point to tell us the community who PID taxes for every teacher in here including the union President we never got a word you can be mad all you want about Dave freed dropping the bomb okay how else were we going to find this out interesting so who is coral Leon does anybody know who are the folks behind all the fictitious accounts the public has a right to know don't we you can beep it all you want I'm not leaving until I'm done why all of a sudden this year was my son a Target I don't know I have many questions following illegal and private we appreciate your comments but can you please wrap it up for us sure thank you I've also been attacked on social media I've been accused of getting on Town Council a plant for Dave freed it goes on and on and on and on so Mr bets we're leaving a with you I admire you I'm not saying you're perfect and I say thank you but we've accomplished a lot here this belongs to you may I come up it's Nicholas the cheaters off hi I'm Michael Mana I I live in West Windsor um father of the little boy that was up here earlier Nicholas um good evening all and first I want to thank say thank you to Mr gizo and the Mercer County prosecutor's office along with Robinsville Police Department for the recent handling of biased crimes against my son the treatment my son received since the dissolution of the first cpeg has been atrocious I came here before you a couple of years ago to speak about the chair of cpeg forwarding very personal emails about my son to former board members I'm here again tonight to ask the same question to the Boe regarding confidentiality what has been done to protect what has been done to protect confid confidentiality with Mr bets's emails and computer system did the Boe ask the perpetrator in all this to resign so she can still collect a pension why have none of the victims been notified of the state of breach Mr olberg is it true that Financial contributions have been made to some members on the board by the Rea do you find it appropriate that they are still allowed to maintain Boe positions why were they permitted to have any input in the investigation of the Union president any Boe member that received Financial contribution from the Rea should be removed from position immediately it's also come to my attention that there's been a girl scout daisy party recently where a present Boe member was in attendance with an upcoming potential Boe candidate I understand alcohol was being consumed by underage children and this is allowed this is okay the child was taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning these folks are the same people that are allowed to make decisions on behalf of the school in the district where is re accountability in all of this and where is the apology owed to Mr buts where is the ownership of who did who did what with the fictitious accounts created why not make a statement to the taxpayers and name those responsible lose it's it's an investigative process and we can't say anything I don't buy it and I don't expect everyone who has had a part of this to be exposed thank you to the mayor Robinsville to finally expose a truth behind because of the Boe most certainly had no interest in letting the community know I especially have a difficult time understanding why an adult makes fun of my son it's bad enough to have these special need students treated the way they are in school but now adults are doing the same thing my son was targeted so many times by so many this year there was a planned Ambush on my ex-wife at a Boe meeting nothing was done about that either I know this because someone was kind enough to turn off the text chat to turn over the text chat to me Mr Betts I most certainly hope you find you file a lawsuit and hold everyone single person of the perpetrators responsible including the Boe my son has been through a ton and while I'm far from perfect in my actions at least I own it and have received the help I need I love my son and I'll be moving forward my with my own investigations while in the process of hiring my own counsel and private investigator firm lastly if folks have an issue with me take it up with me leave my ex-wife out of it and especially leave my autistic son out of it my son did nothing wrong to receive hate mail at his home calling him outrageous names his mother doesn't deserve to be called names in front of my son either I am not okay with this treatment thank you very much Trisha Dany Robinsville um where do I begin um as my little buddy Nick expressed bullying I guess I knew it was an issue with the kids it's definitely an issue with the adults and where do you think they get it from it's rampant here in Robinsville I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I have been the target of bullying and harassment by a group of women in Robin V possibly some people in this room and their friends they've used my status as a district employee and co-chair of the special ed parent group as a weapon against me they have made disparaging remarks about my character and my advocacy efforts in an attempt to silence me so that I don't interfere with whatever their agenda is well I submitted my resignation last week as a district employee and you all just approved it tonight so I'm no longer an employee and the reason is because I don't want to deal with this anymore I don't want to deal with emails being sent to administrators with screenshots of things that I put on social media of my own personal opinions but you know that's what they do um I've also submitted my resignation as cpad co-chair so that their false claims about me does not drive parents away from the one organization in Robinsville that can support and help them and it needs to stop this all needs to stop I hope that it all comes to light and that the person or the people who are at the center of this are appropriately punished and they will not do this again we need to change the the culture and the vibe of Robinsville for our residents it needs to get better moving on to uh the more important issue of what I originally came came here tonight to talk about is jump start I reached out to several people last week I don't know when everybody heard about it a month ago but parents brought it to my attention um about a week and a half or so ago um I reached out to georan Johnson Christy defasio um Amanda D'Angelo and Nick mccre and not one person could give me a good answer as to why jumpstart was not included in the regular operating budget after the Sr funds ran out prior to covid it was always part of the operating budget I was told that the decision was made earlier in the year but no effort was provide to provide Alternatives was made I was told that no one fought for it to be in the budget but who even knew that it was at risk certainly the parents didn't know was the Board of Education aware that jump start was being cut and was not going to happen this summer this is just a huge fail so now after this afternoon's email am I to understand that jump start will not continue at all what alternatives will be offered for struggling students reading and math interventionists have been reduced there is no summer remediation for struggling students and yet we are not meeting State Ela and math proficiencies how many nurses do we have are we back up to two for each school as I was promised like two years ago or a year ago and yet we have more Administration than ever before several of whom make over $200,000 a year and two more positions added to the agenda tonight and yet you all drop the ball on helping our kids succeed academically but thank God we saved courtesy busing hi there Arun kpur uh resident of robins um wow it's been quite an evening for all of you um so I want to sympathize and acknowledge the fact that it's been hard to hear stories of a 11-year-old child come up and talk about the fact that he felt unsafe in the school the schools that you all are uh overseeing and it's a terrible thing uh and then um also the unveiling of uh different Facebook uh posts that have uh opened up a whole lot of scab that exists so what is this board going to do about it I think it's important that you all who all our parents who all have children who go to school uh take a unanimous decision to one uh stand up against bullying show your resolve against bullying in meaningful way have independent investigation done to the extent that is allowed Within within the Constitutional framework of the operation of Poe and commit to community in which that you are in unison to make sure that this never happens again to see 11-year-old child come up here and tell us that he felt unsafe and be bullied to the extent that his parents are being denied the dignity and respect to live in our community I think that's not the Robinsville we know so I urge you all to come together and make a resolve against bullying the second element I hear in today's comments is about transparency of how we making decisions I understand that you all are working hard to communicate with the community and I applaud some of you who already taken the charge of telling us what's happening in each of our Boe meetings but there needs to be more to be done where decisions that are being made are some how being communicated directly to families at the moment that they cannot do anything I appreciated the email where you said you're going to take a stock of all different programs and the grant funding and its expiration and that needs to happen as a routine process within the bo this is what community means by lack of transparency and most important part is the bullying piece needs to be addressed bullying online bullying in person everywhere else because to the extent I have understood about the bullying scenario here is that it is being deployed as a matter of political expediency and remember political expediency has a price to play and that pricee is the trust of our community and the futures of our kids so please I urge the board to come together and in one voice declare that we stand against bullying we will create a culture of uh inclusion we'll create a culture of Oneness and we'll reach uh we'll reach out to each other as human beings thank you very much hi Erica and Dave leanda 25 Brookshire Drive um we're here to talk about the math placement for Pon Middle School our daughter um Alexis was in the gifted talented uh math program in fifth grade in uh the advanced 6A math program in sixth grade and then like the other parents and students who have spoken before us um have stated when that was cut she was put into uh regular pre-algebra in seventh grade she has performed extremely well a every every marking period um um a very high a mark on her end of the year benchmark test almost top of the number scale um and for from what we are getting she is in the high range of meeting expectations um not quite exceeding which is what we were told would be the only factor to get her into Algebra 1 next year um we were also given the information from a stem supervisor who will be leaving the district that it didn't matter next year whether she was performing exceedingly well her placement would not be switched even if the teacher requested it and uh even anybody who was in a higher placement if they were not doing well uh they would not be switched to the lower um class and that was the exact words we were given by this uh supervisor regardless um I would like to propose um that the board look into this waiver program where like the high school um where students and parents and teachers can come together and say Yes uh you should be placed in a higher class than you are um um are going to be just merely because of standardized tests and as parents you know we would support our daughter not being held back um because she will have to double up on classes and lose out on valuable electives if this is the case and she has expressed interest in higher level math classes for her career uh which she won't get to take because she has to um be put uh solely where link it uh and I already you know state that she belongs without any teacher input um or parent guidance uh I'd only like to add um as someone who has pursued a career in stem as a computer engineer the opportunity to take Algebra 1 in eth grade set of course for me personally um that has allowed me to you know allowed me to go through High School make it through into a Calculus class in high school and therefore get ahead in my degree and as my wife mentioned my daughter having a similar interest in you know a similar path not having her given that opportunity uh would be quite disappointing given when we moved here 10 years ago that you know what we everything we'd heard about the Robinsville School District being exemplary um our son who is in just finished his nth grade year was able to complete Algebra 1 successfully and has successfully completed Algebra 2 and so he is moving up to uh geometry honors next year and we expect that our daughter would be able to at least uh you know keep in line with her brother um and as much as she was in the same class as the two boys who spoke earlier today with her peers as well thank you hello I'm Mike brander Robinsville resident however I'm reading this on behalf of Eileen Asen borski and her son Sheen who have been robino re residents since 2008 first and foremost I'm grateful for the Forum to be able to voice my concerns as a community member veteran educator and mother while I've already conveyed my concerns to the proper chain of command I'm asking for an additional statement to be read aloud since I cannot be here in person today since April 15th I have shed many tears and lost countless hours thinking about how another year of change in Robinsville math placement processes is impacting my son Shane aonori in the 16 years my children have been in the district this is the first time I have ever felt the need to escalate publicly for me this started with as Sheen's story but has become more much more than that I understand many things that have been explained to me over the past two months regarding the current math placement process standardized testing and math curriculum what I what I still don't have answers to are the following why was there no more transparency about the new math Pathways and math placement process before March 2024 had Parents known in September many of them would have had time to find resources help help their child before winter benchmarks which were half of the this year's math rubric and administered well before the March math presentation why are teachers being blamed for the lack of uniformity and Grading practices but no one has acknowledged and assumed responsibility for The Gap that has been created from the lack of uniformity in math rubric placement and process as well as Math course offerings the past 3 to four years the students are the ones whose Futures are pigeon hold here as we we have seen the administrators come and go while making short-term changes or changes without proper rollout why is a district acknowledging that there are real socio socioeconomic disparities that impact test scores in Robinsville but cannot do anything about it not all families including ours have the means to afford extracurricular test preparation advanced level course instruction or continuous tutoring Services if Shane had the means to this type of external in instruction or tutoring chances are high that he would have received the extra points needed to continue on the accelerated math path in Algebra 1 instead he took the waiver test which he has never which he is never going to pass as it had content he has never been taught in class now after two years of accelerated math class classes Shane has been placed in Algebra 1 part one for 8th grade because this is a non-accelerated course he won't have the opportunity to take honor science class until his sophomore year in high school and most likely won't have the opportunity to to take honors math classes until his junior year of high school Shane won't be afforded the same opportunities to start high school his older brothers had just a few years ago not to mention the ne negative impact it will have for him on College admissions especially for STEM related field I am still left with grave concerns about the trajectory this district is face forcing Shane and most likely many others who are overall good students but don't have the means to pay for academic advancement outside of school three years ago the district eliminated parents rights to wave their children in into math classes that they knew their children could demonstrate success students are more than a subset of winter benchmarks and should have the opportunity to demonstrate their math abilities through other indicators which show growth and capability and allow them access more challenging Pathways to reach their full potential please reinstate the parents ability to wave their children to a higher level math placement thank you [Applause] Steve isuki assistant superintendent you weren't getting out of here before we as the directors got a chance to say thank you to you Mr bets the um honor of sitting with you every Tuesday at N9 o'clock in the morning is something that certainly isn't lost on me or or anybody that has the opportunity to be there um in our time you have been humble uh you have been optimistic beyond belief and you have been a friend and Brian I want to wish you all the best even though the Dolphins are never going to win you a Super Bowl and you probably should just get off that train but whatever you do going forward you are going to be successful at life because you are a good person and we were honored to work with you so thank you Brian hi Debbie Blakeley Robinsville Brian I just wanted to say thank you you arrived at this District when the world turned upside down you kept our kids safe during the pandemic everything that has been thrown at you you've done it with Grace and I'm sorry to hear this about the recent events you did not deserve that at all and that's not the Robinsville that I know and love so I asked this board I know I was told it's an internal investigation Peter but I hope that if any of you are conflicted with your relationship with the accused person that you accuse yourself because our children are watching and listening and they deserve better so Brian you're on to a great adventure and I wish you all the best and thank you so very much hello uh hi Amit Chopra uh Brian I wanted to wish you the very best thank you for everything that you have done for the schools uh I have had uh the pleasure of knowing you interacting with you uh both as a parent as someone who runs a nonprofit and uh you know it's it's been nothing short of delight to work with you to see how gracefully you have handled very very difficult situations I've seen how um in presentation when there was a crisis committee and all those things that were going on how shameful the behavior was from some residents from uh some other members it was disgusting and you I'm seeing you watching you it was it was pure grace and elegance thank you I think that was a teachable moment for our leaders that was a teachable moment for our youngsters and I wish you the very best and and uh to you your family thank you so much for all that you've done for the thank you hi Jason mesta resident of Robinsville um no disrespect to the outgoing superintendent I'm sure did a great job um but board you have a new leadership coming in place um I am sure that person has heard a lot about the math Pathways math decisions it's very important to to me as well father of a of a math student I'd like changes to be in place immediately with the new superintendent taking I don't want to wait a year I don't want to wait until the new school year has started and oh we can't change things I'd like things to happen now July 2nd uh thank you very much [Applause] hi Gundam Maga Robinsville so I know everyone's talking about Pond but I just want to make sure that the next time we get together we have an opportunity to talk about Sharon and what um if there are any changes that are going to happen so my kids are in they're going to be in the fourth and second grade and it seems like 90 minute math and 90 minute reading Ela is a lot for them and the lunch seual is still too short you know if the line is long 10 minutes in line 10 minut to eat it's not enough time and my kids are not very big people right so they need all the calories they can get so would really appreciate us revisiting the schedules especially when it comes to enough time to play eat and then not bore them to death with academics thank you Matt losio uh athletic director at robertville Public Schools Brian I can't thank you enough um for giving me my start on the side uh you are the exact kind of boss I always dreamed of having you never meddled you let me do my thing you're always there as a soundboard to check myself to make sure I was on the right path but most importantly the lesson that you taught me with every fiber of your being is the decision you're making good for the kids every single time I asked you a question that was the first thing you respond with and I will take that with me the rest of my career thank you for giving me the opportunity to do well by these kids in Robinsville these amazing kids from Robinsville um and good luck hello D kaburi Robinsville uh first of all Brian thank you thank you for your service thank you what you've done for the past few years for the school district really appreciate uh all your effort and your PO in the face of difficult circumstances I just wanted to address the uh issue with uh buling and uh the uh School issue going on with uh conflicted members or Rea um and uh I just wanted to uh address that we've talked about increased transparency and communication and as the uh as a resident of the township we want to see more of that we don't want to hear School issues brought up by the mayor there should be more communication from the board president or School administration about important events like this that we don't hear on Facebook or Whatsapp especially from mayor school we expect School uh events and school matters to be notified by the school administration or the Boe so let's let's work on that let's work on most transparency and communication uh and uh uh you know increase Trust on the board so that is that is a main issue right now thank you not see any more public comment can I have a motion to close the public comment session so moved second all in favor I any ner exensions um before I call a uh a motion to call the second um exec session for this evening we have to change the CSA evaluation from the first exec to the second EXA so we we're going to move that to this one can I have a motion to open uh any questions comments yeah I can I just offer my cond not condolences my best wishes to Mr B oh sure y Ryan everything that could have been thrown at you was thrown at you in the last almost four years that I've known you and I think you've done a a really nice job of modeling Grace Under Pressure and Leadership and I think it's important that we all acknowledge that I'm excited for you I hope to see amazing pictures of all the artwork that you're going to be creating wherever you're going to be living and I just want to thank you for a lot of what you've done for this school and um it's been a pleasure knowing you thank you yeah wanted to do the same Brian so the last four years have not been the easiest um coming into school district where remote learning was your first year and Then followed by getting people back into schools followed by teacher negotiations followed by our amazing town which is truly an amazing town but I think sometimes um growing pains right the town is going through a significant amount of growing paints at this point and I think we all need to come together as a town but through all those four years you've held it up you've held your your head high you've kept us going so thank you thank you for everything that you've done for the students thank you everything that you've done for this board for this town and with that hats off to you and wish you the best of luck uh in your retirement and I'm sure you'll have a great time thank you yeah I want to Echo Tanya and Jay uh sentiments as well Brian you know coming in um you know unprecedented times and challenges um a divided country divided town in a lot of ways and you had to navigate that which was no no easy task so I just like to thank you for what you given to the district and I appreciate all your efforts on behalf of our children Brian I go the same sentiments thank you very much for all your service to the community and towards the kids and I certainly love the way how you actually carry yourself um you're you're always a great great leader and you always remain that and I'm just jealous of your retirement hope I could retire soon like you thank you Brian I just um I had to write it down so I could be coherent um but thank you for listening to our suggestions the last year U we've worked together uh you were kind you were always kind you always showed up when we wanted to ask questions you if you didn't know the answer you got back to me or us or anybody who came to you you showed up at a diversity event that I thought was very kind of you um and just I know it's been difficult and I know we all have differences in how we might approach things but I think your ability to work across came through um and just thank you and also jealous of retirement I don't know about the Dolphins I don't watch football is it football it is football um but just wishing you well Brian I want to also uh congratulate you on your retirement um in the 30 years I've been doing this I've seen lots of uh superintendents and I would say you're one of you're one of the good ones um you didn't know me from Adam and um I reached out to you about this initial with my kid and you got back to me within a half an hour of of me uh sending you an email and that told me everything I needed to know about your heart so I appreciate everything that you've done in these four years and you've done like a a remarkable job and um I wish you really the best in retirement and I think I'm going to be there with you soon so but I wish you the best in retirement great job Brian I just wanted to say thank you for your time and your service something that you might not know in the audience is that a superintendent does a great job of coaching new members and walking them through the process of what this looks like and I really thank you for that yeah I want to Echo the same as I said my intro Brian congratulations um what man said was true of I think all new ones PA your patience was profound with us new board members that didn't know you know the ins and outs of how to how to be in this role so I appreciate your guidance with doing that um it's it's was the first day was we do this for the kids right and it carries on and that's what you that that's who you are so appreciate everything you've done and what you've shown us and Brian uh just to close things up I know it's been a long evening um but very heartfelt one thing I want to say and I think I said this a couple months ago when you first announced your retirement was my first impression with you was seeing you in Sharing school and with the kids and and how they just gravitate to you and how you gravitate to them and I think that says a lot about how you approach your position here superintendent I think you know you've had some uphill challenges and you've handled it tremendously and we are indebted to you and thank you and I wish you nothing but well in your retirement and I hope the Jets beat the Dolphins thank you Brian you want to I'll give you the floor for anything else you want to say before you go no I I'm barely holding it together but uh thank you all um like like I said this is an amazing Community um there's a little rough patch right now but I know this this uh district and this town will get through it um Arville strong is something that matters to me I have it behind my desk on a big giant poster I've had it there for four years and it'll stay there as Jeff takes over um it's a great town a great School District work together um and I thank everyone for the support over the past four years and their kind words tonight thank you very much all right any other comments before we go into exec fwell picture farewell picture sure Victoria can we do a farewell picture e can I have a motion to enter the second exec for the evening so moved second thank you Jay thank you Jeff all in favor I I any ner extensions thank you everyone as as Mr McCree said up front we're going to go into exec come out and close the meeting there's me know further action thank you thank you for coming out have a good night everyone