##VIDEO ID:tSwRifSx7H0## e e we here can I have a motion to return to Public public session second all in favor any need or extensions Nick did you get them Nick okay all right uh please uh stand for the Pledge of Allegiance all right can I have a motion to approve uh the minutes from the December uh uh second right from the November meeting still moved second all in favor these are extensions all right president's report one second all right can everybody hear me good evening board members staff parents and community members thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules during the holiday season to join us tonight for the December 2024 public meeting as we close out the calendar year I want to begin by celebrating the tremendous efforts of our staff and students in completing the first half of the 2024 2025 school year it's been a busy and productive year so far and I'm proud of the hard work dedication and achievements we've seen across the district thank you all for your continued commitment to Excellence in our schools I would like to begin by providing an update on the public hearing regarding the uh proposed crematorium originally scheduled for December 17th the hearing has been rescheduled to allow for further review and collaboration between all parties involved I want to extend my sincere thanks to the residents and parents who voiced their concerns to the mayor and to our school officials for their active involvement in addressing this important matter I'm particularly grateful for the collaboration efforts or collaborative efforts made with the cemetery's owners to uh explore alternative options this ongoing dialogue is critical I am pleased to share that later this week I'll be meeting directly with the owners to continue these discussions I'm optimistic that we will find a res a solution that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved this meeting is also a Bittersweet since it'll be the last that we share with our interm superintendent Dr Gorman who has served us for the last six months I would like I would also like to take a moment to recognize and thank him for his dedicated work over the past several months his leadership and commitment during this trans uh transitional period has been greatly appreciated he has worked closely with Dr piso our superintendent our our new superintendent who will start on January 1st and who is actually in attendance this evening although his uh time with us was brief we are fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside him and we wish him the best in his future endeavors as we approach the holiday season I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday I hope you all have the chance to spend quality time with your loved ones recharge and come back refreshed in the new year thank you and happy holidays and the superintendent report Dr Gorman good evening everybody hear me okay great thank you Mr Giza um as as always it is a pleasure to share some of the wonderful happenings across our district I would like to apologize to the kids for keeping you out later we planned on being here at 7 promptly but we got had some business we had to uh conduct as I deliver my final superintendence report for the Robinsville Public Schools I want to take a moment to express my deep gratitude over the last six months I've had the privilege of working alongside an exceptional Board of Education dedicated administrators teachers staff a highly engaged community and most most importantly our students together we have ensured that these same students remain at the center of everything we do the trust collaboration and commitment to Excellence I've witnessed here will leave me a lasting impression as a district we've had achieved a lot of different milestones in a short time that reflect our shared dedication to continuous Improvement and Student Success um for example the smart pass roll out at Robinsville high school has shown early signs of success in reducing hallway traffic improving the student experience thanks to the feedback driven approach of Administrators and staff the New Jersey pbsis implementation and its second year at Pond Road Middle School and Sharon Elementary School this has created Equitable access to behavioral and social emotional interventions supporting positive outcomes for all students our new pre kindergarten program has been implemented at an incredibly high level of fidelity I'm always drawn to visiting these classrooms and watching our three and four year olds engage with an inquiry based curriculum as they start to figure out their role in the world that they'll grow up in the roll out of our new math Ela and special education curriculum components has been exceptional and this in turn lends support and resources to our teachers along with a high level of professional development for our staff members and I think we've done a really nice job in the last six months of increasing communication and transparency ranging from our business administrators Public Presentation six mon months eight months in advance of um of a budget being created for the district um the communication we've embraced some new technologies such as parents square board docks and in a few minutes I'll turn it over to our director of curriculum and she'll show you another level of transparent communication through Atlas Rubicon amongst other um I'd be remiss in not thanking everybody that I've worked with transportation department building and grounds technology um highest level and I'll mention it at the end but this has been the easiest job I've ever had because of the people around me in the community so I thank you for that our student executive board members are not here tonight as they all have conflicts this month including a robotics competition and a basketball game and actually one of the kids is having surgery as well um we look forward to seeing them next month to that end the first superintendent student student advisory took place with student representatives from grades 5 to 12 meeting with both myself and Dr withuski last week um we brought them lunch and had some truly insightful discussions on topics relevant to students and the school experience such as cell phones and schools artificial intelligence and proactive social and emotional learning um we've scheduled three more events of this nature for the rest of the year for Dr piso your incoming superintendent to continue into the next year and Beyond and I will tell you the kids tell you the truth they tell you what's really going on in the schools um our B building principles continue to provide outstanding leadership and support for students and staff um this week is Spirit Week at Robinsville High School cating in the winter pep rally this Friday students and staff have been participating in activities at Foster school pride and celebrating the holiday season at Pawn Road Middle School the choir and band here has been uh performing in the hallways throughout the week I do believe they had a standalone performance for our prek kids today which I got pictures of which sounds incredibly festive and inclusive and at Charon Elementary School of the same some of our eighth grade Pawn Road students visited um to teach conflict resolution lessons to our fourth graders this initiative developed by the counseling departments at brms thank you Lori for your leadership and Sharon promotes positive relationships among students provides leadership opportunities and it builds a bridge between the two buildings Aid students hang on you got about five more minutes to get through me and then I'll turn it over to you moving on tonight um I'm really excited to recognize one of our Board of Education members Jay galot um he has been a dedicated Board of Education member um for the Robinsville School District Jay has served on the board of education from February 2021 through December 2024 his commitment to our students staff and Community has been unwavering and his leadership has made a lasting impact on the district um Jay we'd like to present you with a plaque of recognition for your dedicated service on behalf of the entire Robinsville community and Board of Education we extend our heartfelt thanks to you Jay and if nothing else transparency and open dialogue are a strength and I appreciate our conversations even if they aren't always um totally agreeable so um Jay if you don't mind Victoria can we get a picture moreover on Friday December 13th the Robinsville Asian-American dance Association R held their annual showcase at Robinsville High School the event which included spectacular dance performances dinner and an open dance floor was attended by 369 guests it was proudly sponsored by the Gadi foundation and oura Foods tonight we are honored to welcome sharid yarla president of Rada and Rya Shad vice president who are here to present a generous donation to The District we extend our gratitude to Rada the Gat foundation and our foods for their continued support of our schools a special thank you to Jay and his family for their unwavering contributions to the Robinsville School District um shua and are you here come on up to the mic and then we'll take another picture hello do you want me to speak a few words I do oh lovely um hi everyone my name is Sherla and I am a senior at Robinsville high school and I'm the president of R hello uh I'm a little shorter my name is Rya I'm the vice president um and I was so grateful to work with shy on our showcase and we were so honored to have Mr Gadi sponsor our showcase um a little bit about our club for those who don't know R stands for Robinsville Asian-American dance Association on the team all four grades at our high school participate in numerous styles of dance such as classical dance like Ci Barnum kak and also contemporary Styles like Bollywood bonga Garba and we try to include all different styles that we have all around India and every year we annually put on our Showcase in December with all of our hard work as as well as all the community like middle schoolers and Sharon Elementary School kids who love to dance and just want to be on our stage as well as a special teacher dance with our Robins High School staff great Nick there was a donation given by this Association uh yes I have two checks here uh one that they they fund Rose um and I'll deposit it to the Student Activities account um that's run by the high school and the Gat Foundation is also giving another donation this one is a grant and this grant will accept it next month I'll create a Grant Line and if any other organization wants to do this as well uh we'll take your funds we'll keep track of it purchase orders audited and as you want your funds to be spent we'll keep track of that for you on behalf of the students and and and your foundation so we have two checks for that so we'd like to recognize you with the leadership ribbon and Bo once again nice picture Jay and your foundation thank [Applause] you for okay keep keeping with a strong theme of showcasing student work and achievements at our Board of Education meetings which I thought was really important um practice and we've done that stayed true to that since I've gotten here um we are excited to welcome our Avid eighth graders are there Avid seventh and sixth graders also just yes they're all here all of our ads our seventh graders and eighth graders great um who are proud of their accomplishments and looking forward to continuing their Journey next year at Robinsville high school tonight we'd like to do something a little bit different um we'd like the Board of Education members um and I know there's a lot of parents here so I don't know if I could get to the public but I really want the Board of Education um to engage with the students the Avid students are have four stations set up um here for you and the we want you to engage with the students ask some questions learn a little bit more about Avid I know they were here last year but that was more of a presentation and keeping with the theme of avid as a student centered approach where kids really um share their student voice I want you to feel their voice and engage with them um there are four stations one is a testimonial from the Avid students sharing their Avid experiences one is a station focused on Wicker strategies wicker strategies are writing strategies inquiry strategies collaboration strategies organization strategies and reading strategies specific best instructional practices there'll be a showcase there'll be a station showcasing binders and organization and notetaking and then there'll be a station dedicated to the Avid tuty process which Embraces high school and college kids serving as inquiry based tutors for the Avid students while they're in school that's a real good role model piece as a reminder Avid stands for advancement via individual determination it's a College and Career Readiness framework that focuses on supporting students in the middle who have academic potential while emphasizing best student centered instructional practices that could be implemented school and districtwide special thanks to Mr gizo our PMS Avid principal and Miss Tori Mason Tor thank you um our prms site team coordinator for their leadership and commitment to the success of the Avid framework our Avid teachers are here tonight um welcome Beth Vino and Chris perum and special shout out to Lena ning nen who is a passionate teacher and an avid leader um who's currently on leave so um Avid students I'd like you to go to your stations and no more than 10 minutes board members go in talk to the kids ask them questions ask them what they're doing and then uh we'll just engage a little bit with the kids and then get back to our meeting yep yep you're going to have to abandon for e e e e if you want to come up and Jo us for a couple are you be able to absolutely I tell you to e e e spe e e e I e e e B e another five minutes and then we'll wrap things up e e e e e e e e e e e e all right if you could hear me clap once if you can hear me clap twice if you could hear me clap three times when I say Avid you say rocks Avid Avid all right thank everybody thank your participants students and thank you so much for engaging with us and we'd like to get back to our Board of Education meeting CH are you set good all right thank you all for coming out um Avid students I know you are probably going home to work on your on your trfs Jeff I re Jeff I recommend more than 10 minutes next time yeah yeah um I before I move on um any initial comments thoughts takeaways from this from the board I think first of all I'd like to thank the kids who actually took out times and thank you for actually bringing them here I think we are learning a lot um I know Avid I think there was one presentation before this where we were as actually asked to take the notes and come back and they will actually review it you know I taught me something and I think today I learned a lot so as I said we need more than 10 minutes this is not enough yeah I maybe a special meeting I want to apologize for coming out late so we you know only had 10 minutes with them it was fantastic um I mean I'll let Dr Pio summarize what he said to the kids but for himself but it was spot-on I mean the presentation was great there's clear process they embody it it was phenomenal so I'm glad to see you know the see it in practice right not just hear about it but actually see it in practice it was great thank you Dr Gman yeah one of the comments I made to the kids was just you really see one of the public speaking how much that has improved the confidence they spoke with and even when I kind of made not of there's a lot of things you notice in education that you you just know that the preparation happened because of you know and they way they had their Transitions and their you know thank yous and they all that prep that went into it was just so evident um and that they took the time they really cared and they really wanted to make sure that they presented this in a very positive light and I think that in itself lets me know the value that they are seeing in this program for themselves and for their own growth and you know as a board member as educator as a community member that's what you want right you want that you know what's that return on investment and you could tell by the way the kids are you know internally taking this that they're seeing a lot of improvement in themselves so I think that's really worthwhile great I love your comments okay this evening we also have the opportunity to give you a short and I promise short presentation on increasing communication with our famili staff and students by embracing a great curriculum software called Atlas Rubicon you may have heard about it in the past um we are ready to debut in some capacity our director of curriculum instruction and assessment Christy defasio is here with us tonight her and her team have been diligently I mean diligently putting in hours with our teachers in writing curriculum and getting it to a point where you'll be able to see a clean scope and sequence and what expectations are for your kids um so um chrisy I'd like uh you want to give us an overview and see tell people where they could access Atlas Rubicon absolutely thank you Dr Gorman um so this presentation will be live on the website uh by the end of the week so we are very excited from the curriculum Department to finally launch a public view of our curriculum guides and in the spirit of transparency this is where we want to bring that to light so we did partner with Atlas it did come to light from cusac which is how we are evaluated as a district especially when it comes to our instruction and programs and we just really want to be able for All Families to be able to access what we're doing within our courses and within our classrooms across the district so Atlas is basically a warehouse for our curriculum guides so you'll see on quite a few board agendas that we approve curriculum writing and all the curriculum writing that is approved will be housed on this website it has been a work in progress but we're really excited to finally offer this to our community as well as to our teachers so when you access this website with our curriculum guides for any course that we offer that's present on this website you'll be able to see a course description a unit calendar by year as well as the standards and this course description is basically going to be an overview of what that course offers and the course could be spanning from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade so you'll get a nice kind of capture snapshot of what that child will be experiencing in that classroom the unit calendar by year is just giving you an idea of when when certain units are taking place within a school year and it's on a week toe basis you'd have a nice outline of what your child's experiencing in the classroom throughout the school year and of course we are fully standards aligned so not only are we able to Showcase which standards we're focusing on as well as interdisciplinary standards so if you're in a math class you may also have science standards tied to a course you'll be able to see that Within These curriculum guides but we're also able to ensure that we're hitting every single standard this platform allows us to run reports and see when we're hitting certain standards across certain courses and grade levels so it's a great tool from an admin perspective a teacher perspective as well as being transparent with the community and navigating Atlas and again this is our district website so step one all you have to do is get to the district website Mr MCC there we that's okay you can say on the presentation I can just go the slides okay so what you would do this is a snapshot of the district website so and at the top it's linked it's hyperlink at the top so you can access it easily um the on the website you would go into departments so that red band's there where it's titled out we click click departments and then you're going to scroll down to the curriculum tab once you access the curriculum tab you're going to come to a launch site like this and it's the second bar RPS curriculum guides Atlas now on this site there's a direct link that is going to bring you to our public site the public site this is what the Launchpad is going to look like and it's just a window it gives you the opportunity to just get a quick overview of what I just stated about the course description the standards and the unit calendar and all you have to do is click the all courses button there once you click the all courses button you are going to have a comprehensive list of all of the curriculum that we currently have for public View and you can use the sidebar which has a filtering system to be able to dial down and drill down into what school you want to access what course you want to access um and so on and so forth and by grade level and here is an idea of what once you click into a course you're going to come to this page which has again the features that I told you about the course description the unit calendar and then on the sidebar here you're going to have a full list of all the units that are comprised in that curriculum guide you'll be able to click into a unit and then you'll have the list of the standards there so it's just very simple everything is right there for front and center for you with hyperlinks to be able to access our curriculum so we are currently in the process of transitioning fully to Atlas so anyone who's writing um curriculum right now from a teacher perspective it is being funneled through Atlas but we still do have some curriculum guides that do live on our Google Drive and it's going to be a bit of a transition phase by this time next year I am very hopeful and Dr Gorman has tasked me with the challenge of getting all of our curriculum fully uploaded to Atlas so challenge accepted Dr Gorman I will invite you back here at the next December 20125 board meeting to put your front and center for that so yes um but in the meantime if there is a guide that you would like to access that you cannot find on the atlas website we're going to follow the same procedures as before where you would just contact the curriculum Department the number is there with the extension that is also available on the website and we will happily reach out to you and provide you with the links and proper attachments until it is fully accessible on Atlas all right and thank you we're very excited for this so please we'd love any feedback thank you it's up there right now right Public Access totally public anywhere in the world Jeff as as chrisy was speaking I went in there and tested yes it is there it is working all righted mple times thank you thank you Christie all right as my time here comes to a close I'm confident that Robinsville Public Schools is in strong in a strong position to move forward the incoming superintendent Dr Patrick piso is with us in attendance tonight Dr P want to give a wave so any problems go to [Music] him after Friday um Dr pel and I have been working together for the last month to create a smooth seamless transition Dr piso you will find a district that values Innovation collaboration Student Success and most importantly potential and I really believe this to lead the way educationally in our County State and nationally I remain committed to supporting a seamless transition and ensuring that the good work that we have started and have been doing continues to thrive um it's been an honor to serve as your interim superintendent over the last six months I told our team today this has been the easiest job I've ever had in my lifetime because of the high level of efficiency commitment and hard work that comes from people around me Robinsville is truly a special place defined by its people its pride and its focus on students while my role here may be ending the relationships and lessons I've have taken me have taken will remain um it is a Bittersweet for me because the people here are are really special people um lastly I like to wish everyone a happy and healthy winter break looking forward to to an amazing 2025 spend as much time with loved ones yourself and health and happiness thank you and that concludes my superintendent report thank you Dr Gorman uh board secretary report Mr mccre good evening uh so I have a few minut few items uh less than 10 minutes uh you have a copy of next year's meeting calendar for the Board of Education how we make this is we uh we kind of look at last year's we take a look at uh what the budget meetings are going to be and the deadlines for that we copy that from last year as well uh those are not put out by the state yet um so those May adjust but uh it's probably 90% accurate summer times we don't know what everyone's schedules are but they're advertises will advertise us for next month so if if people have different timelines and vacations we'll adjust those meetings and then we uh adjust around uh uh New Jersey school board's Convention as well so that's how we we adjust those times and Frames um in addition we have a budget calendar to approve we're starting budget meetings tomorrow with all the budget managers uh and go through that same process there is an additional meeting uh in March uh for a special budget meeting U with the public and the whole entire board um sometimes we've canceled those meetings if it's a very good state aid number and makes a lot of people happy then we'll cancel it if if it is not and there's some some rub on a couple items will come in and get more of your direction what I do ask from you is to start thinking about what you would like individually as a board get together um Dr piso um is going to get with all of you technically it's his budget and we'll go through it and we support him creating that budget but I have seen in the past in this District you know what are the priorities I've seen priorities go from you know um Staffing levels let's let's let's add more teachers teachers are a priority I've seen it where taxpayers were priority I've seen it go back to teachers and then you know for me personally it's always you know is students and and and and student performance so think about that obviously if it's a good state aid number you make everybody happy if it's not then there's a rub of what we're going to prioritize or not so think about where you would like to go forward what programs you have and information and we'll try to put those in together um but tomorrow we'll start the budget process with all the budget managers and that gives us a couple of months uh to get together and figure that this all out uh going forward so let me give my quick presentation um Mr mcre real quick um so the reorg meeting for this year I know you had the one for 2026 on here for 2025 is what date January 2nd January 2nd so just so Thursday when we come back we'll have a reorg meeting they typically last 20 to 30 minutes uh we'll we'll swear in um the new board members board member uh and then everybody else will take their Oaths as well code of ethics will make make appointments uh committee assignments as well you also have to elect a board president and a vice president and we'll shift all those things but they're usually done in 20 30 minutes uh and for that so we always try to and for next year we've decided on here is January 5th it's the first Monday back uh for 2026 so okay so uh this month I will be presenting on the Assa report as well as um a transportation item and some resource materials next month is the audit presentation so we'll bring our Auditor in the audit is finished I have electronic version I'm going to get hard copies soon and we'll hand you all hard copies and electronic uh to review that and we'll talk about the next next meeting um what's the Assa is the application for state school aid um this is data collected across every school district in New Jersey on October 15th we look at MLL the uh free and reduced special needs and so forth uh where our kids sent and votch so there's a lot of math that goes into this they use this data to create the state aid formula they input that in there you know and and and look at the coefficients and then you'll give you a number at the end of February this is your state aid number uh enrollment districtwide uh you will see uh there's a pop why is there a pop we've been we we were growing for you know almost two decades we flatlined started decreasing and then we have a pop why is that it's preschool expansion so Sharon you can see those numbers at 93 Pond is 86 179 students in 14 classrooms as of yesterday uh each class is 12.8 kids on average okay the max is 15 you do have to save spots for in case a special needs student comes in towards the end of the year um and so that's the question is what would it be without preschool continuing Trend downward 44 and a half students from last year estimating $85,000 Less in state a based on that number and that's just an average number okay uh and why why is that occurring this is my belief it goes off of the demographic study that was done in 2017 a lot of much of this town has grown through massive developments those developments are aging and you'll see on the right as homes age they typically have less and less children so in the beginning there was a pop these are School AG children think about it if you're a homeowner for 30 years and you're probably 50 60 70 years old how many children are you going to have right God bless you if you you know um but the numbers decrease over time so that was one of the the the things that I saw and that stood out to me um and that those numbers are continuously going down this is the enroll by school um you know even with preschool uh you'll see Sharon is much less than it used to be over the years uh Pond is hovering around its height um and then you'll see the capacities uh you know you'll see some schools have capacities of 100 to 150 children more uh of the present moment this is a median graduating high school senior class this is gened only I've done this just to see the trend to see it and you can see it's going down there was an anomaly in 2022 with a big pop at 263 gened students that was an anomaly going back when they were in kindergarten and it went over the years so I take that and say you know the last 10 years and see what the trend lines are and in this example you can see uh this is very detailed it's hard to see uh on paper I even have to take my glasses out um you would see who graduates and and what the numbers would shift um so high school 218 seniors this is Jed uh with 223 coming in not much of a difference there's no change there and you go do the same thing at Pond 223 coming out and a fourth grade coming in of 184 right so there's 40 children Less in that school okay and you go and you do the same thing and you'll see the numbers at the kitten garden and first grade levers there are 140 gened students and so it's it's slowly going down and we can see that as that happens you use that when you check a look at your Staffing levels class sizes and so forth so we'll use this data when we make our own budget as well and see how that goes what it also does is free up space and this is why preschool came into about when we have right now so additional preschool classrooms will be coming out and we're putting in a budget for that as well uh last thing this is just good news here at the same time we also do Transportation efficiency this is a state number October 23 last year we are the most efficient uh transportation department uh in the entire County and so um a one is 100% the state wants to hit make you hit 1.2 we're almost at 1.9 and you'll see some other schools much much less than that U basically you're running two runs for every one bus um and that's it any questions think with the enrollment going up because of the preschool would that actually see a positive positive side of the state aid or great question so it will not change your state aid number um because that is for uh without preschool your numbers go up they'll go preschool is completely separate it's an aidg Grant it's treated like a grant but it's technically Aid uh and it does not affect your other numbers they actually look do the math and they delete those kids off that are preschool because a different calculation for that those children we actually get the full amount so instead of getting a little less than 2,000 a child we get we receive 15,000 roughly per child um and there's no impact there to the to the budget and to the taxpayers and the preschool number that you quoted 170 UHD students that's for third and that's third three and foury old that's three and foury old with uh the special needs students that are inclusive to those classes right so it's not represent what's going to happen for kindergarten because it's the two years together it's two years together exactly and and the funny part is that's how they look at your total Universe they take your kindergarten numbers and they double it okay right so our numbers are about 140 for kindergarten they for for gened they would just double it okay you should have 280 I think our universe is around 300 320 320 320 um and it'll take us some time to get there the goal is to get there we may have to use third party providers Outsider outside contractors to meet that or we can meet internally over time I think you have five years to hit that number um and we've done a phenomenal job I mean launching 14 classrooms that's the size of some a small Elementary School uh in in in six months um so we're looking to add some more for next year um and then expand that as well so you'll hear more about those preschool in the future um the next couple of months as well thank you okay that's it for me thank you thank you Mr McCree board committee reports so just a reminder to the public if you go on to board docs you click on the board committee reports tab all the all the minutes are there so you can take a look at them it's all available uh we'll start with at policy uh Miss Leman could not be here tonight but I think Mr Howard has them uh yeah thank you uh that policy uh committee met on December 10th um topics that were discussed was the um the high school course catalog um they talked about the counselors pushing in the classes to discuss course the course selection process um the new uh TCNJ dual dual enrollment program uh the waiver process um option two and uh also the new electives that were being offered True Crime and suspense literature and film comics and graphic novels um there was also discussion um about the uh class action lawsuit uh for social media that a lot of districts uh around the the state are um getting on board for um that was included on the December agenda for board approval uh talked about the proposed board meetings and committee dates which everybody has in front of them uh the pond River Middle School Math parent information night uh that went over uh the zoom webinar that was scheduled for the 12th um is hosted by David husco the assistant director of steam and they review the uh middle school math program and placement criteria rubrics they talked about option two for Spanish uh policy 2363 the pupil use of privately owned technology policy uh Dr wusi went over some of the policy updates um all schools meet monthly and are articulating amongst the schools to establish the framework and that's going to be presented at the board meeting in the spring um there was a crematorium discussion which uh president actually already had discussed um and uh that was uh pretty much it the uh next meeting says 2bd I I don't know when that is so that's that's pretty much it for uh that report thank you CLK questions comments not see anything Personnel Dr Pi Personnel met on December 10th at 7:00 in Dr Gorman's office uh uh topics discussed were um Mrs Tremor went over the monthly Staffing list uh we also talked about um being involved in the class action lawsuit against the social media Giants um that relates to uh ongoing bullying that's been occurring in schools we have joined that lawsuit just as well as neighboring districts I also know my district the Gateway has also joined that lawsuit uh we talked about uh the board meetings and committee dates so Nick uh presented the calendar to us um as just like Arthur mentioned we were talking about option two for Spanish we also Dr Gman brought to us a uh they're going to be presenting to us next month a non-affiliate evaluation tool looking through a better way to kind of assess uh people who are not affiliated and uh we also had a crematorium discussion um the public hearing is postponed but there will be uh you know the idea of making a strong statement you know trying to work on a a win-win situation but um opposing the crematorium so resolution and action items on the agenda tonight is a motion to join the class action lawsuit and our next meeting will be based on uh Rec restructure committees thank you Dr Pi any questions comments no business committee uh the business committee met December 13 in Dr Gorman's office uh we reviewed many of the maintenance items from the prms energy audit um Sharon Elementary School uh door installations the W doors at the high school uh interior doors that need to be placed at the high school so just various um maintenance items which are all in the the minutes that everyone can take a look at uh we went through the rental uh funds uh I believe they're all done except for a couple punch list items Mr McCree in here so otherwise the stage is done please go take a look at it go attend one of the shows the that the high school students will be putting up in in the spring the stage looks fantastic please go enjoy it um summer projects uh the Crick pitch that's underway we're working with a contractor to schedule the installation uh Mr Gat reviewed the uh bills list for the month uh we we talked about Mr mccree's presentation uh the budget calendar for uh the next uh educational year um the proposed meeting dates the class action lawsuit crematorium all the similar kind of items that were already discussed um and um for transportation uh there's a recommendation to purchase another bus the buses are getting old and breaking down so we have to replace one of the buses um we review the grants and and and potential grant writing uh that Mr McCree is is uh is recommending to move forward with um the next meeting will be January 24th at noon any questions comments all right uh community relations Mr n thank you uh the community relations met on December 4 2024 we discuss about the crematorium stance in the DP meeting as we all know the DP meeting has been postponed however I think the board will be joining the community to kind of take a not only a strong stance but also to read out a statement and we'd like to thank all the community members who are actually fighting for the cause of the school we are with them on this particular um journey and also the fight um regardless because we are not able to kind of take any legal action we will still support um with a strong statement uh we also discussed the class action lawsuit against the social media just be noted that Princeton School uh is suing the social media Giants for negative impacts uh we're joining it without any expense from our side we're not spending any effort or money uh but if that particular lawsuit stands to gain you know we would be actually benefiting monetarily that's the reason we joining um the 202 we also discussed the 2025 proposed B meeting and committee structure dates um we also discussed some preschool updates specifically connecting with senior community members and this has been a long work that's been happening so like to thank Christie and the administration you know for their effort in connecting the seniors to the school um and I'm hopeful to see a lot more things getting done there and Grant updates thank you very much I think the grant document should be uploaded for everyone to publicly actually see uh that's the major grants that we receiving should be available for the public Multicultural calendar we are uh trying to get a multicultural calendar where we will be um getting all the festivities and all the important dates across all culture you know to in to be inclusive of the diversity uh we request the community members to kind of you know go through review and please let us know if you're missing any dates that we can include um we're also partnering with the local Mont schools I think there has been some discussions which is going on we discussed that particular item um no more actions at this point in time and we'll wait for the new committee structure to come in for the next meeting thank you just a just a clarification was it the montauri and presol like General Ed preschool or is it just montor I think it was yeah it was related to the preschool thank you Mr n any questions comments okay um ad hoc security there was nothing on the agenda for this month so it was postponed until the reor till after the reorg um ad hoc special education same thing there was no meeting this month and I believe ad hoc technology Mr GL there was none this month as well okay any other questions comments for committees all right move on to the public comment for agenda items only that's agenda items so time be allocated for public comment of this meeting members of the board of the public wishing to address the board of education on agenda items must State their name municipality and group if any they represent a member of the public shall not be permitted to speak until he he or she is recognized by the presiding officer in accordance with the district policy each comment shall be limited to three minutes no uh participant sh sorry may speak more than once no dialogue between a speaker and the board and or superintendent shall exceed the three minute time limit or so extend the three time Li provide we're here within live streaming of the meeting shall be for viewing only the public will not have the ability to participate in the public comment session although the board encourages public comment the presiding officer can interrupt warrn and or or terminate a participant's statement question or inquiry when it is too lengthy and may also interrupt and warn a participant when the statement question or inquiry is abusive obscene or may be defamatory moreover the presiding officer can request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable the Quorum can I have a motion to open uh public comment on agenda items for 30 minutes so moved second all in favor any n extensions okay Mr GRE good good okay the floor is open Agenda items only please Amanda Gruber Robinsville resident um I had a question about well you have to answer it but um I see that we are joining the lawsuit against meta um and the other social media platforms um and I guess I kind of have to push back on the concept that we can't have take legal action for the crematorium but we can take on meta which one of those is bigger than the other um so respectfully I would like you to go back to the books and see if you actually can do um carve out money to be able to do legal action thank you good evening Jeffrey yep Robinson president um thanks for acknowledging the community efforts as well as all the grassroot efforts of folks talking to the cemetery owners uh as well as informing the parents about the NDP meeting as much as it was rescheduled so I think uh while I understand your still to make an official statement or something is forthcoming I it's important to recognize it's at least led to a perception that maybe this issue isn't as critical to the board as much as I know it is because you're having all these conversations so I would probably respectfully request that you have an official Boe statement whether for or against doesn't something that uh lays out the stance that the board has with regards to the crematorium uh make sure this is a reoccurring agenda item on your business uh versus in the committee because I think this is important important topic for the for the town to be aware that you are discussing regularly and um we're happy to engage directly with the board on community efforts to so socialize this to the community because there are still pockets of individuals and neighbors that just don't know and we really need the assistance from the board with respect to socializing this um lastly I think what I'd like to see is if you can share some information with us uh Amanda already covered about the legal council piece I'm curious about the environment and the health professionals and the impact this Creator would have and the percentage of the student population that's vulnerable from a health perspective and respiratory perspective if this thing were to be built right I think it's important for us to know that what the impact is going to be and lastly as much as the meeting has been rescheduled um would encourage that you still send your public comment in before December 31st because that period is up to this end of this month uh in recognition for the for the permit so whether the hearing occurs or not not you still have the ability to submit your public comment in and email it in and I think that's important for the board to submit it because you're only given three minutes there as well to speak so I'm sure you can give a much more lengthier response by emailing your public comment so um I think open communication collaboration with the community is important uh just so we're ensuring this you know facility is not built so I you know look forward to hopefully addressing this all together with the Board of Ed thank you hi nin Canon Robinsville I'm first of all Dr Gordon we are going to miss you and uh I wish you nothing but the best and I wish we could keep you nothing personal but I really wish I could keep you so the next thing that I want to talk to you guys about about um that Nick talked about the students and everything I wanted to ask you about the charter students uh are there any more Charter students are the expecting more are we calculating more are we having less I would like to know more about the charter students because that's important and that I do not like something that to just come by and we get surprised um the next thing is the uh social media uh situation that we are getting uh involved in it if it is a possibility for you guys to explain a little bit more because um Googling it is gives you some idea of what prinston is doing I want to know where you stand and what it what are you guys doing about it I know that is no money involved but um I'd like to know where we stand about it the next thing that I wanted to ask you guys about is about um what happened in one of the one of the schools two days ago that um student um open fired on teacher and students and uh students got killed and teacher got killed and uh I would I would like to ask you guys to not to forget to have your meetings it is very important that we keep at the top of it it and don't let anything um just bypass you because we are not in a bubble as much as we would like it to think we are also I wanted to ask you guys about let's talk about the crematorium um as Amanda and Jeff already brought up the most points uh about it uh I like to know that how much have you guys talked about it the count the township I would like to know that if you are talking to Township are you sending uh your comments before the 30th and God forbid we have been talking about I hope um we hope that it's not going to happen it's not going to happen it's not going to happen let's say if it's going to happen it's 200 ft from Sharon school what are you telling anybody of the parents that it's happening are what are you guys going to do I mean let's think about what are your plans going to be doing are you going to put money aside for getting a lawyer and then being against it are you going to do anything about it um we need you guys to come out and let us know as much as you can I know that your lawyer is not here and if he was he would have stopped me from talking but I am asking you to talk among yourselves and bring us something we are going to make an statement and we stand with the residents thank you very much but it's not good enough so we like to know that you have plans that what if happens we like to know that what is it exactly that you like to do and I am one of those people that I don't like surprises and I've been saying that to you guys and I will be asking you guys that what are your stance I like to know what are your STS and this is very important because yes I do not have children in Sharin school but I live here thank you hi my name is gundo masasa and I am a Robins resident so two things I know we've decided as a board to not move forward with any sort of legal action or um uh excuse me considering any legal action to deal with the career atorium but it'd be helpful to understand why I think we're all making an assumption that it is a budget issue but perhaps there is some other reason that the board has decided not to move forward so explaining that in our January meeting would be really really helpful the second thing is in the broader Community my sense is that when the board doesn't speak feels like the board doesn't understand or um doesn't really hear the gravity of the situation from the perspectives of the parents in the community so yes the meeting was postponed but there was an opportunity to come forward with a statement from the board so the ask is for that statement to be published at some point before the end of this month you all have had your meetings I'm sure you have put your thoughts together together in some form so please before the end of this year before the 31st publish that statement and then if possible submitted to the njd for consideration thank you any more comments on agenda items not seeing any motion to close public comment on agenda items so move second all in favor any n or extensions okay approval of the monthly resolution consent items superintendent recommends that the Board of Education approve the following Personnel education policy and business action items um can I have a motion motion yes second and Jeff yep in favor oh no sorry any discussion not seeing any Mr mcre I think we do roll call yes Miss banduka yes Mr Gat yes Miss Hill D'Angelo absent Mr Howard yes Miss Leman Mr nandon yes Mr Ray yes Dr Piero yes Mr olberg yes thank you all items pass thank one skipping down to Old business is there any topics under old business not seeing any new business so I have new business um we've talked about the crematorium I I said a little bit in my opening statement about it uh breaking development that literally has fallen into our Labs as I said within the last day so we we have a meeting with the town with the owners of the cre of the Cemetary to go through options for that land so um I'm cons i i as a board I think I I heard the sentiment last month I wasn't here I apologize I wasn't feeling well um and I know that the board is not in favor of a crematorium being built 200 feet or yards from Sharon Elementary School I I agree with that wasn't here to say it I agree with it um so we're trying to find other options I I I'm from my perspective everyone on the board I'm hesitant to say anything until we have that meeting because I don't want to have anything that may be beneficial to us as a district come out prematurely and then change any sentiments so um I think we should have that meeting I believe the meeting is tomorrow and um we'll go through it and we'll make it public for you know once the outcome is is reached and no later than I think the January board meeting will be effective and if if it's if it's not something that the board is aligned with then that statement will come out ahead of time and we'll send it in before the end of the year so I think we're all aligned on that but I don't want to speak you know for the whole board I think you know that's just my perspective on it I I agree B I think you know to me uh we should get the statement out officially um I know that we worked out the statement I think we just hold held it back because of the dates and stuff like that which was very much up in the public domain of you know postponing but I think yes we will be we should actually work out to release the statement uh the second thing is about this particular legal stance you know um I know that as we discussed V stood absolutely zero you know legal stand for us to actually take this on as a board of education um is there anything that we could do to educate the community members as to why we lack that particular legal stance and maybe Patrick can help but I just wanted to open that up you know maybe maybe it's something that Patrick can work with the the township on when their lawyers that say what you know what what everyone's P perspective is because we need the Le we need the lawyers to tell us it's the lawyers together for why and what the legal recourse I how I understand it for what the Board of Education can do yeah yesly you know budget was not a concern in the sense we don't want to kind of what do you call uh it's not because that we do not have the money that that we don't want to actually take a stance and I think you know to me it is more like can we win this you know if we win this can we actually go there and you know take upon them but I think you know the answer but at least by our legal experts was we don't think so this doesn't fall under the Boe but I think it'll be good to actually kind of you know have Patrick talk to Township lawyers and you know see if there is any legal stance that we can take and give the perspective that makes sense thank you any any other y I just want to uh you just want to make a statement uh this is obviously it's been a pleasure uh serving on the board and you know as my tenure in the school board com to close I feel with gratitude it's been an immense privilege to serve our district for the last four years uh had an opportunity to collaborate with dedicated individuals uh again we all share a common goal which is providing the best possible education for our children I'm extremely thankful for the trust um the community has given your voices I understand that some of the decisions are not easy they're tough uh but whatever decisions we have made I have made as part of this board is truly looking at you know shaping the future of the school uh it's been a challenging at the same time of rewarding experience and I TR great pride in our accomplishment together as a board uh we've done a lot right um if you go back sort of History Lane you there's there were healthc Care things physical education curriculum uh a lot of lot of things that has been transformed from middle school to elementary school you know we implemented linkit Avid some of the programs that we now hear about we talk about we look at data these things did not exist uh two years ago uh three years ago we established Early Childhood launch a preschool uh you know which saves a community anywhere from 10 to $15,000 in daycare expenses again focusing on how do we make sure we're giving back to the community new curriculum and you know Christy talked about that earlier today uh looking at data to support the children as well as making sure it's done through a scalable process uh lot of Technology obviously being a technologist at the core of my heart a lot of Technology a lot of infrastructure update you know thank you Nick uh for your support thank you the board for your support for bringing that into the school and kind of getting us to the 21st century where I think we were in the dinosaur ages when it comes to technology uh when we kind of uh came on when I came on the board re-roofed uh repair sidewalks I mean I'm just go on and on and on and you know I had a parent come earlier today and talk about hey why have we spend so much money on the solo program well guess what that saves us a quarter of a million dollars in electricity that we were shelling out of our our pocket so that's a savings back to the community back to the educ education back to teachers back to everything that we do for the students can't forget covid uh navigated Co I remember being on the board where I think we're all wear masks I think some of us are wearing masks and we realize we forget oh my God can't really speak but navigating through covid navigating with bringing children back to the school negotiations who can forget negotiations right uh we went through that process and had a great uh experience with uh settling with the the teachers union as well as going through various budget cuts if I look at these achievements they were not M alone they truly reflect collaboration Spirit unbearing support dedication of this board um our retired superintendent our interim superintendent uh as well as others such as um yourself Steve U Christie Nick the staff uh I mean we've got an exceptional staff exceptional teachers and truly the engaged Community I mean um we've a lot of great Community fully engaged which comes out and talks so uh can't happen without the community but I'm truly uh grateful and thankful for this board our fellow board members um for the interim superintendent our prior superintendent as well as Nick for your leadership division a lot of the starts with division which started gosh three four years ago and here we are today um again uh I am concluding my term on the board uh my last board meeting but it's truly been a privilege uh it's been a commitment my commitment remains strong as you know right we have a family Foundation we will continue to do what's in the best in interest for the children um I'm confident that um there's a future which is a bright future I know we're going to have some tough challenges coming up when it comes to budget it's not going to be easy uh but I do congratulate um our incoming board member I believe it's Dr gold who's uh who was elected so I do congratulate her coming in as well as uh want to congratulate Dr pizo uh you know for U joining you're coming at a great time also a challenging time right uh and I think your experience is going to serve us well and serve this District uh for years to come again uh thank you uh for everyone here thank you for giving me the opportunity serve and it's truly been an honor and privilege thank you Jay so Jay you beat me to it I was going to say thank you first but you you have you have a knack for knowing when I'm going to say something and go before me so I I always appreciated that about you um you know I have to say that you know Jay has been kind of like my my a little bit of a compass for me the whole time you know I came into this I had no idea what I was doing no idea right just a I'm a I'm a chemist by training and I work at a pharmaceutical company I had no idea I I know school's valuable I went I went to school I knew it was valuable so but I wanted to do this to help the kids so the first meeting I had was with Mr glot we were in Personnel he was the chair and I said something and I was way off balance I was way off base I had no idea what I was talking about so he helped be that compass for me and we've had plenty of you know I would say good discussions again it's the discussions you know we may have been on differing sides of those discussions but it's always a good discussion I I never saw it as a debate maybe people saw us as being passionate about it but that's how we are when it when it's comes down to you know the benefit and the and the um you know the good for the kids so and Jay always had that in mind I I never thought he had any other motives because everything was always about where are the kids on this so I always appreciate Jay for that and um you know it's it'll be tough not having his perspective at the meetings um um I'm sure we'll get a text message or something with his perspective every now and then maybe but um but I I I I do I know we will miss him and I and I truly appreciate everything he's contributed to this board so thank you Jay and I wasn't here last I know other people are going to say things about Jay just one more second Arthur congratulations T's not here congratulations wasn't your last time to congratulate you on your win and Dr G wherever you are congratulations we look forward to continuing in the 2025 calendar year yep yep Jay um I'm a junior member so uh I came after I appreciate your discourse um healthy debates they were um they were always I mean they're always productive and I would never say unhealthy so I your questions your line of questions promotes me to ask those questions I know to the audience that feels like you know we haven't addressed all the questions about the crematorium acknowledging that there are tons more to discuss and answers that we need to provide so we hear you um and in the spirit of Jay and your style you know continuing that dialogue and being open um you know it we we appreciate that so continue it Jay behind closed doors we know that we do it as well so I thank you for your service and the Grant and uh hope it's not the last time we hear from you Jay what can I say I think uh we'll certainly miss you on the board um you know you've been you've been a great confident I think um I certainly like your passion you know do understand when you come back with hard questions it is not just because you want to have to have the you know hard questions you're very passionate about this particular area which I certainly love and which I certainly Miss so thank you for all your contribution and congratulations to Tanya and also Barbara for for the new ter they have and I also don't want to forget Jeff is leaving us at the same time too so thank you Jeff for everything that you have done I think you were a very very what you call a fresh bit of fresh breath of air um when I started to actually have a conversation then I like the way how you and also Jay you know always keep kids in the front when you actually have the discussion so thank you very much for everything wait wait I thought our farewells to Jeff was a different tear Fest hold we can come back again I'll come back just thank you no no appreciate it we're gonna focus on Jay for right now uh so one thing I would like to say I like to be known is that my impression of Jay when I started in January has done a complet complete 180 from where it was um I think from sitting in the audience and seeing Jay he comes across a little rough but a lot of that just passion and having closed doors meeting with him and him asking the right questions and him willing to go in a direction that others may not be willing to it has been refreshing and helped get a lot of work done and one thing I can truly say is seeing that and seeing him backed up with action with his organizations and grants has really been freshing and I think that's what people need to understand that when someone like J is on the board he's doing it because he's doing it from a place of passion and because he truly wants what's best for the children and having worked with you the past 12 months Jay has been ey opening it has been a great experience for me and I've learned so much from you and I appreciative of the opportunity I've had and I hope this is not the last time we see you and I hope you remain with that passion and come to the meetings and keep us accountable as well and thank you for everything you've done I'm GNA Echo a lot of uh what Anthony just said I think that uh on the core we have a lot of different personalities and beliefs and your ideas and perspective really challenged me to reexamine some of my own beliefs my own perspectives on things and that has really helped me grow I think as a person as a board member as an educator and I'm very thankful for that um and so I just wanted you know the amount of time that you've dedicated to this community Through Your Foundation as a board member is not to be taken lightly you've been a great service to the district and uh thank you very much for your time all right yeah yeah you w already all right so um I want to read a a message from Tanya but before I I do that I just also want to kind of echo what everybody said um passion I think that's understatement when you see this guy in in the back there you firing at people with these questions like he like I I appreciate uh somebody who kind of says what's on their mind so you don't really got to try to figure out what they're thinking I mean this dude will tell you exactly what he's thinking has no problem doing that at all but I appreciate that you know and like everybody said I hope that this isn't the last time that um we get to work together and and see you engage with us here because your voice is needed definitely uh but this is what Tanya wrote uh she said um I wish I could be there to thank you in person but I had to make up a certification class I miss that being said I want to express my deep appreciation for your four years of service to the Robinsville School Community I have immense respect for your unwavering commitment to making decisions that prioritize the best interests of everyone involved particularly the undeserved you're a man of Great Character Grace and humility you are un you are unwavering in your principles and you refuse to be swayed by outside influences on a personal note I have been incredibly fortunate to become your friend and have grown from your wisdom humor and kindness I will keep in mind your motto do what is right even if it's unpopular you have left a profound impact on our schools students and staff and I have no doubt you will continue to serve our community and make a difference I know I will continue to enjoy friendship with you and Som but I will sincerely miss your presence on the board and the contributions you have made thank you everyone all right Nadia you want to start DR Gorman I um i' I've worked with a lot of leaders um I know I look like a child but uh almost 15 16 years in Corporate America I have to say you're just one of the most fantastic easy personable genuine I the on and on I can go on and on about your leadership style the first time we met um it was just light it was a breath of fresh air you take consideration you have strong Fe like you you have strong opinions but you really take your time to listen to everybody I um I just know anywhere you're going to go they're going to be pleased and uh you set the bar so high Dr pizo I'm sure you'll feel that void um as well because we loved the thorough interview intervie by the way which I just want to tell the entire Community it was extremely thorough um but and endless it felt sometimes but you you set the bar high and I can't wait to just hear about your your next chapter please please please do do stay in touch allow this I get a second chance to actually say something I'm sorry I I jumped the gun before but you know yes I I completely kind of you know Echo what Nadia said and you know it's not only me knowing you but it's also teaching me a little bit of more leadership skills you know which is which is really really helpful so thank you thank you for everything Dr Gorman Jeff uh the one thing I will say I'm truly appreciative of you came to us at the right time where we were your leadership has been a calming presence and a storm that we were in and you helped write the ship so much I think the thing I admire most about you is seeing you with the staff and the children in this in the district and I think that truly shows like how passionate you are and why you are so good at what you do because you truly do care um you make sure everyone's heard I've never received an email or for an email where someone even if they did not like the response did not get a timely response and I want to emphasize timely there because I think that has been a big thing that has really helped the community understand that they're being heard by the administration and all I can say is thank you so much for what you've done for us um and lastly I hope we will continue our conversations uh regarding the Mets Dr uh you know thank you again for your leadership as echoed before for those last six months as a fellow educator I've just learned so much from watching your steady leveled approach to problem solving as Anthony and every El said you came in during a very challenging time and there could not have been a better person to hand the keys over to to kind of write that ship and to always keep in mind you know watching it you make a decision what was the most important thing the students and the staff and always being able to kind of ground yourself in that authentic you know style it it was just watching that was just really inspiring so I thank you for that you know as a community member and as an educator for seeing uh you know and also for you know outside of rville just knowing that you've had this approach throughout your entire career and the L you've touched and you know have benefited from your presence you know thank you for uh just for being you all right Dr G I already said something but I'm gonna say more because now I have another I have another chance so I knew at the interview as I said in my quote somewhere that you were the right guy immediately just like I knew as I said Dr piso was the right guy at the right time to follow you um I think it was the first board meeting you attended as a as a audience spectator and you were taking over that week you came up to me right after and said we don't have any time we have to get together and meet immediately and we're going to meet regularly yes he grabbed me and we met reg we met regularly so um you know I appreciate all our conversations uh the journey we went down in six months it feels like a year but you know because we did a lot of things and it was great and I appreciate your leadership through it um The Experience going on the first day or the day before the first day of school was is phenomenal my son still talks about it this day you are fantastic he still talks about the movie clip that you shared um and uh you know I just can't thank you enough so thank you very much for coming to us when we need you again uh echoing everything that everybody has said but uh you know thanks Dr Gorman I know uh we've had some prible discussions and you know passionate discussions but I think you always come out at the end um focusing on what's in the best interest for the community what in the best interest for the children I think um you that moral compass of in sh that you know U doing what's right so thank you for your leadership thank you for again spending the last six to seven months with us um and thank you and you know wish you the best in the future endeavors and like I always I stay in touch don't be a stranger um and I think next year you have to come back and look at christe to make sure she fills U whatever the atlas was it uh right uh deliverable so look forward to that thank you than you well just Echo again and I don't know why everybody got me going last all the time I should have I should have just started when I was over here the first I should have just put in reverse order I apologize reverse I'm learning so next time that's what we'll do yeah but um yeah I do I do uh want to Echo what everybody said like I've been in education like almost three decades and I've seen lots of of supers um some good some not so good um it's a tough tough tough tough times three uh position to hold especially for an interim CU um people don't really understand the damage that the wrong person can do to to your District even in a short amount of time that that they're there but never had that concern or or worry um about you um in New Jersey for as many people as in New Jersey it's not really that big of a state like all Educators know other Educators and you couldn't find anybody who would said anything bad about this guy over here everybody would say the same thing like about your your your your kindness the fact that you're really responsive and that you that you listen to everybody and that you have a level head and all the things that have have run true so I mean like you did a phenomenal job you know you know and and again this is not an an easy gig to step in and and try to do but you did it with Grayson style so I appreciate it I appreciate you and um wish you all the best and your future endeavors thank you guys are awesome um you I I got the privilege to work with another um superintendent Bruce Watson up in faon um 25 year superintendent just a great guy and he he always would share wisdom with me um in the short time that we were together we were only together for six months and he said you know people come through your journey and through your path and they make an impact and they they impact your journey and I am so lucky on my journey to have met everybody here and um and hopefully it goes back um to everybody that I've encountered um and like it's not good about me it just sort of like I'm just going to continue we're all going to continue our journey and I'm better for being here and uh truly grateful and love the authentic like real honest um open dialogues we've had and the and the connections that we've made they were real there's nothing fake about this um so thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you Dr G thank you everybody any other new business I just wanted to uh address for the public um and N kind of brought it up during her public comment about um a little bit more detail on what that social media lawsuit was there it's a class action lawsuit so it's not Robinsville going against you know Robin spending no money on this um and the reason why Princeton joined is really no no different from what anybody else has joined and that is that the allegation is that these social media you know Giants have created an addictive product that targets adolescence at a very formative time and have created a ton of stress on the resources both monetary and and Personnel trying to combat the damage that the social medias uh Giants have caused and so part of the lawsuit is my monary like to try to recoup some of those expenses and some of it is also in the hope to change the practice and how they Target and they use the algorithms and the and the things that they use to um you know again Target children um during this time so um there's really no difference between District to District why we're joining it it was an opportunity for us you know we are dealing with mental health you know crisis just like every other District across this you know country um so it was a way for us to become part of that process as well thank you Dr Pro any other new sorry I had one question about the agenda item which I forgot to bring up I just had a question uh I see that we are actually disposing some old books I was just curious how do we do that in the sense when we say dispose of old books list is provided and we weed out the list um usually the Librarians or the media Specialists give us a list torn up books old ones and to recycle them um sometimes they're donated sometimes they other school districts want them specifically if they're textbooks and we'll have to post them if they're really old then you don't have to do that it depends U but typically they're recycled thank you you're welcome any other new business right can I have a motion to open public comment on school related matters for 30 minutes second all in favor any n or extensions okay hi gam masasa so first thank you for stating that the attorneys are going to get together and help us understand the position of the board with respect to the potential lawsuit my ask is that we don't only speak to the attorney from the township but we also get experts who are not affiliated with the township just to make sure if there are any conflict of interests or any um positions that are not in favor of opposing the crematorium that doesn't color the conversation between the board attorney and then the township attorney so that's one ask um the second one thank you for bringing up school books I don't believe we have a librarian in the middle school and I think that's been the case for the entire school year so far so when we come back together in January it' be helpful to understand what the the plans are to make sure we'll have a librarian there so that students who are coming through have some sort of Education that's provided and it's not just parent volunteers checking books in and out and I forgot my third thought maybe I'll come back if you'll allow me thank you Jeffrey yep Robins will resin I'll join in on uh thanking Dr Gorman I appreciate the late night responses that you sent email that was pretty quick I was pretty impressed so thank you for doing that um with respect to the legal action and or the lack thereof I think uh it's important to realize there is other precedents as well as legal action being taken currently Baltimore Maryland is an example it is actually an act active lawsuit so I'm not sure where that's coming in terms of that there's no legal stance uh in the limited time ah had to review the NJ DP regulations around the air quality permit um there is no air quality analysis report associated with this permit because it's not a major pollutant but considering that we have a thousand students and 100 staff members nearby I think you have enough grounds to request that and I think that needs to come from someone who's an environmental legal expert uh in addition we should engage Environmental Specialist to assess the air quality impact this is going to have because we're talking about near based on my research which can be double checked 270 semi trucks worth of emissions uh just purely in the particulate matter 2.5 and 10 um that's that's how many semi- trucks will be running idle next to the school from this one facility so um we should realize that if this facility were to go up then there may be an ask about how is the board monitoring the air quality and the health impact this is going to have on the kids are you going to be installing air quality monitoring systems to monitor the aqi which results in increased cost to the to the board so now is the time to take action not later and that's where I would encourage the board to seriously look into this as well as consider all the other uh points made thank you nin Canon Robinsville I um thank you very much for all the explanation that you guys gave me I appreciate that thank you um the only thing that I want to bring up is going to the township Council and talking to the um um lawyer of the township I was told by the lawyer and I ask permission to bring it up here that I was told that they are not going to discuss anything with the uh with the public and it's a done deal because the school and um the owner of that um near that uh place that the crematorium is going to be made which is the school has to be doing the talking and their lawyer has to be doing the talking so I don't know where we stand you need to talk to your lawyer and see if you need to hire another one or you need to have something else because I did out of my own as a resident talk to the lawyer of the township and he said it is nothing that they can do it's a done deal from their end until the conversation and everything else is happened so I am asking you please have that conversation with another lawyer do whatever that you need to do because they said um we need someone to represent this and again you need to have a what if um action plans what if and then what happened what's going to happen because this is extremely important and I do not want it to be something that we look at it later and say oh maybe we should have done this and we learned from our mistakes let's not make a mistake let's do something correctly um I appreciate it and again thank you Dr Gordon Amanda grber Robinsville resident um we apparently went backwards so we can do it um so the one thing that uh I think is very very important is that regardless of what how the discussion goes tomorrow or whenever it is that you have that meeting um with grimorium whatever you have decided your statement should be should be sent in to um njd because at the end of the day that is still going to be an issue regardless of how well the conversation goes regardless of what ends up happening your concerns and our concerns are still the same and hopefully we can something can happen that's positive but it's important that those still get submitted um I'm also going to piggyback on what everyone else said um I also have spoken with Paul the township attorney and he has made it clear a multiple times that he is the lawyer for the township um not for anyone else full stop um he has also I've talked to him about the land use board and a lot of their uh flaws along with theu uh Community um planning team and he also said the only thing that can be done is legal that's it nothing else can be done so it's good to talk to them not saying don't talk to Paul but we need to do our own due diligence and there's no reason why we can't the board Ved cannot reach out to a different lawyer there's no reason that you can't spend money on say um someone environmental to come and speak on your behalf there are many options to be taken that are not just I'm going to sue you there are many legal options that can be taken that don't go that far um so I just ask you to keep an open mind and to also not rely on the Township because there is a conflict there because they are covering themselves and their mistakes with the land use board and what's happening now so just recognize that fact thank you so much oh and I'm sorry also thank you for addressing everything and thank you for all that you've done because you definitely have answered me many times like while I'm sitting here like you've emailed me before you even gotten home so thank you so much for that any additional public comment I have a motion to close public comment on school matters so moved second J Jeff all in favor I any n or extensions okay so Nick the motion to go into the second exec is no longer necessary so how do we do we just have a motion to not go into and then adjourn the meeting no just just skip it just adjourn the meeting just resolution to adjourn the meeting you have a resolution to adjourn the meeting I move j is first there a second all in favor not yet any extensions all right happy holiday