##VIDEO ID:QrBvHqYOh5A## good evening I'd like to call to order regular meeting the rer Board of Education anyone who's able to stand I would ask you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible good evening Mr Wolford will you please take a roll call Mr ban thank sir present Mrs Cole here Mr KY present Mr Healey here Mrs Jones present Mr Mone here Dr rine here Mr Sprayberry Dr lot you have a quir thank you so good evening the New Jersey open public meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of this act the reer board of education has called notice of this meeting to be published by having the date and time and place posted on the Bolton board outside the burough clerk's office mailed to the Harold South bergenite and record newspaper papers and filed with the burough clerk hard copies of the agenda are available here in the meeting room and the agenda has been posted electronically on the Friday before the meeting date on the district's website uh subsequent to this meeting a video of the meeting will be uploaded to the district's website at www retherford schools.org and the video link can be found by opening the Board of Education link clicking on public meetings and then videos um I'd like to start this evening by um approving the minutes of our regular meeting of September 9th before I do that um anyone have any comments or adits okay not having any like to ask say be entered um at this point in time I'd like to open the meeting up to Sarah our student representative hi good evening um so first on behalf of all the students I'd like to congratulate Mr Hurley on being named the regional superintendent of the year um congratulations thank you um so the school Year is off to is going really well so far everyone's adjusting really well and there's events being planned a lot more going on that's exciting um a lot of the clubs have started planning their first activities of the year um back to school night went very well we had a lot of student council volunteers that were helping direct parents answer their questions and sell items in the school store um a couple weeks ago the textiles class and the FCCLA Club took a trip to the Kindergarten Center um we taught the younger students about worrying and like how to manage their worries we read a story called The Very Hungry worry monsters and then the kids designed their own monsters which the textiles class are now turning into stuffed animals for them um a lot of rhs students showed interest in being pole workers for the upcoming election um it had to be limited to only about 25 seniors since there were so many people signed up but they completed the training last week so they will be helping out the community on Election Day uh the fall sports are in full swing girls socer is doing really well and it was a tough loss for the football team on Friday night against Glenrock um very close game but they will be back this weekend for our homecoming game so speaking of homecoming the dance is this Friday night there's a lot of excitement there was a line outside of Miss Leonard's room every day last week to buy tickets and we ended up selling about 500 um the homecoming parade and game will be this Saturday the parade starts at 2:00 and the game is at 3 uh the event is always really fun it's very well attended and it's always full of school spirit the SATs will also be hosted on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon and the PSATs for all sophomores and juniors will be Wednesday October 9th um there's also a financial aid night for high school students and parents on October 10th and um that's all for tonight but moving forward I definitely want to try to find information on all the other schools in the district to share in my report as well if that's okay with every great job that would be great thank you I I would Echo Mrs Jones's uh comment tremendous report um really think it was informative really impressed with our students as well volunteering to be pole workers I think uh really important cause so that that's uh that's great any other board members have any other comments I I'd like to just if I can um first on on the pole workers just so people understand that I think that's a new um policy regulation I'm not sure what it is that the county and the state has put in to try to get more involvement first of young people involved in in Civics and and um and the election and and democracy um and also to try to you know increase the numbers of poll workers that that we have Miss Jones has been a poll worker for a long time and she can tell you 40 years over 40 years right my back can't hold up she she needs she needs help right she needs help um so I I think it's really great that we had such a turnout you know when I I received a an email from the county uh Board of Elections in the summer and I sent it over to Mr Mr Morano you know I was somewhat skeptical like would we get kids to want to do it and uh the fact that we had more students sign up than they even can take is uh and and also Dr Lacy who's our one of our social studies teachers had uh taken on the um responsibility let's say to kind of coordinate it and manage it so I I thank him for that as well uh your comment at the end I think is a great comment um I often you know sit here now you know last 11 years and hear the reports and when I was principal I'd go over the reports with the students and yeah you're the high school representative but you're the student rep and I think when we get some information from the other schools that's going to be great uh is in line with our profile of The Graduate that we're talking about right this consistency so uh you know what we'll you and I could talk I'll come over my mic keeps going after all these years you finally figured out okay turned my mic off right Mr um we could talk about how to maybe get some information to you uh which would be which would be great okay so I I appreciate that great thank you um so it's our fabulous report this is the opportunity in the meeting where you're more than welcome to stay or if you have homework or other things you need to attend to you're more than welcome to also head thank you thank you thanks sir thank you thank you they never stay so I'd like to move on on to the report of the superintendent okay oh thank you before I get to the U RF grants homecoming if um if board members are yeah I don't know they're trying to tell me something maybe this is a sign if I want to leave I can leave is that yeah but then you're going to need it too right um is this better not really not really yeah it's working now it's working now so you have to hit it I didn't say that delete that from the video um if board members are interested in participating in the parade part I mentioned to be here about like 145 right and uh we could do that if you're just going to go to the game the game is at 3:00 kickoff it's a little later this year because of the SATs um I want to you know back in June we um accepted the board accepted grants from the RF uh and the kadan family I thank Mrs kadan for being here tonight and again for her continued support of the um of the RAF and and our and our faculty and our students mostly our students so thank you um we could clap and uh this year the uh the board graciously accepted uh a grant of 73,74 I don't know which one of you put in something for 98 cents out there I'm not sure um but U and 69,000 and change 69041 uh came from the RAF uh and $463 from the kazanan foundation um so thank you there are um numerous gr there are numerous grants and um we want to recognize them all um we have a certificate uh for the uh teachers who put the grants in and the proc again I know most of you are aware of it uh teachers throughout the district can uh submit an idea to um through their building Administration and then to the RF uh for consideration for things that often um supplement programs that we we have that may be um go beyond what we can put into the budget or or things just a little bit extra and there some of them are big ticket items some of them are small ticket items and then the RAF um you know reviews them and awards grants uh each and every year so I'm going to call your name I'm going to briefly say what the grant is uh Mr maon is going to present you with a certificate uh if you're not here obviously for those you not here hope you're listening you don't come up and then Mr maon can stay in so come up slowly if you're call so he knows that you were one of the people not here um from the Kindergarten Center Eric farell for building motor competency through play um from Lincoln School we had the following grants uh Jen oo for all hands on deck collaborative H uh work on classroom Works spaces Janine Smith uh from alternate communication devices for nonverbal students Bonnie debower for becoming a secret phonics agent and Cassandra Bodo for iPad devices for uh linkoln Learning Center classrooms Liz fry tag Mo modernizing classroom with Furniture updates and Lori Catalano one school one book so Lincoln we'll get all those over to lincol school okay so just you bring them back to me when when time comes um we have a big peer Pon contingent here as I say right okay so from Pier Pont a lot of Grants from Pier Pont as well uh Rebecca Macker broadcast journalism iPads Joan Macker and Tara Engles for a coloring Club [Applause] uh LS Cuomo for uh fantasy for all uh Sean Bach for the Green Team Joan Macker for and Aaron Fallon for improving facts with extra [Applause] math pursue deir Baki for iPads for scribing aah Jordan for keyboards and headphones for the music program Kate Jeff is for pbsis and Dana Roman for pbsis incentive program uh Tara philp for pier ponts March Madness brain games and social emotional [Applause] learning uh Brienne to Stacy for some outdoor basketball hoop set p p um Gian Lampert and Caitlyn Jeffers for SPO bolt in for there Technology [Applause] Program from the high school uh Carmen Spina for a batting machine Danielle Moore for a chemistry Club initiative Melissa Dugard for publishing Children books through uh illustration kits Michael stco re Across America uh Andrew Santiago two Grands for uh girls who code and Tech and Design Studio workshops uh Stephanie Balman textiles room update part two which is a which is a a very large grant that the RAF has given us in two stages to up do to redo our textiles which for those of you who aren't familiar with sewing um used to call it sewing now it's textiles because you do a lot more than just sewing uh Steve Steve Dunn weight room replacement and upgrades and Daniel Moore for women and stem um from Union School bill helfenstein for build your own drone also Bill helping sign for Minecraft license uh Grant and a scope um telescope project um Kurt schwitzer making math visual Colleen fensi uh and Albert bookal from Pierre deck for interactive presentations and Colleen welcome back to a board meeting yeah you get her back yeah does this mean you're running again or for president um uh Brienne bilau for reinvigorating Union drama Tech uh Trisha laa for vocal Unity bringing very long title bringing Union Middle School voices to the RO community and Beyond and Morgan Deming for uh fine motor fund at Washington school she's our preschool teacher so again I want to really thank for the teachers um for putting in the uh time and energy to develop the grants and then for implementing them uh the RAF and the kazanan family for their um you know partnership I think we have an RF person here right we have representa from the RF and I'm sorry give me I'm you know all what to apply next and we will okay thank you Kath cther and um and again uh thank you all for for your support yeah can we do that can we get a group picture uh you want to do that come on up get do Ward wins in the back and we'll take uh you want them up here oh you want the ward members come on up here we'll do it we'll do it with the board members and this is also going to be your segue to leave after this picture you won't have to we can sit and make a stand you want to do that yeah you you all want to come up stand behind where the board is is that can we fit I think we can fit and then some board members come around the outside right you need all one come on too late decisions have been made no no no you you have to you're RF you have to be in that picture um think we can employ Mr you're up front oh Mr me can take Mr M can you take the picture so that Mr whff could be in the picture [Music] you here my name are we standing we all standing I think if we sit we might I think I think we I think if we sit we'll give a better right right all right please add this out of the mve on three one two three all right we got like seven in there superstars awesome thank you thank you all so much thank you thanks everybody okay and then um want me to continue okay so briefly then the um the rest of my report was the U I do want to mention that we are um that I met with Miss Coy and Mr Ryan this week and then following up with the administrators on developing we hope a very strong parent program this year and we're focusing a couple of live uh why I say live inperson uh presentations on our new math program a new phonics program we're looking to develop and then um two aspects that came out of that anxious generation book um on cell phone use and On free play so more information will be coming out about that I already mentioned homecoming uh October 14th uh professional development day uh it's a uh a day off for students uh faculty will be here working on a number of of activities throughout the district is rather again a rather U ambitious and and um well-developed schedule on a number of initiatives we're we're undertaking and with the number of initiatives we are undertaking with Atlas curriculum program coming in uh the new um math program developing a new phonics program looking to examine a new science program uh there's a lot of things happening uh we are going to um if you remember last year uh we um Revis the calendar to put three one session days in for more professional development uh this year we're going to ask the board at our next meeting to revise the calendar to add one additional day um a one session day on March 3rd and that would be a one session for students and professional development for uh faculty and staff so um if we do that and we and and the board agrees to um revise the calendar at the October 21st meeting that would give us ample time to let parents know about the additional one session day on March 3rd and um and then um at the next meeting also on October 21st we will be uh doing a board of ed Scholastic Awards and I'll remind you of all this when I send out the the agenda but we'll meet in the auditorium do the awards then come down here uh for a regular meeting and that would also be the night uh that statutorily I I need to present the um report on student achievement so that will be a um a little longer meeting with but you know a lot of good stuff the awards and the report on student achievement so that's it for my report today thank you thank you uh any comments or questions for board members okay then uh I'll move into the report of the president um so uh Dr aot uh send his regrets for not being able to join us here this evening um just a couple matters of business um so again the 21st is the Boe Scholastic award so just to make sure you put that on your calendar that'll be uh a regular board meeting but a great event that we all look forward to um I know most of you have probably already gotten on the uh the sign up list for uh homecoming but again that's going to be a meet up here on Saturday the 5th at 1:45 here at rhs um for the parade and then the game is at 300 pm. so hopefully everyone can make it looks like a great showing so far um I'd like to Echo uh the comments of our student representative acknowledging our superintendent um Jack Hurley for being acknowledged uh the regional superintendent award um we are truly honored to have you with us Jack and U leading our district thank you thank you um and last but not least um the RF um I just would be remiss for not acknowledging them all those great grants that have been um awarded I know um they're greatly appreci appreciated by um our district our teachers as well as our students so um just we couldn't do it without their support um comments or questions from board members sir I I I do want to say um you know I might as well say I I never like to talk about these rankings but I mean I do today I sent you the email you know uh nich uh I think I'm saying it correctly that does the rankings that a lot of people use throughout the the state and the county when they're looking to come into a community um you know we always did very well but Bergen County which is noted for some really outstanding high schools and districts we know we came out uh fifth in the county uh which um is remarkably high for um School of our size and in our area and uh 22nd in the state out of what about 600 school districts so um that's a credit to the board it's credit to the community credit to the faculty of Staff the students uh that we we rated that high so again you know these rankings are things that um you know change with the win sometimes but it it is nice to see that the good work we're all doing is getting recognized agreed so moving along um I'd like to open the meeting up to the public for any agenda item so at 7:22 p.m. I'd like again to open the meeting up to any member of the public who'd like to speak uh regarding item on the agenda okay having no one step forward at 7:22 I'll close the meeting to the public and I'd like to move on um to our regular meeting to new business where action will be taken uh I'd like to start with Personnel uh Mrs col uh good evening personel did not meet this month and there are 16 motions to be forward to be uh put forward tonight at the recomend ation of the superintendent number one is to accept the resignation of a social studies teacher at the high school number two to resend a lunch monitor at the K Center number three to approve a long-term substitute elementary teacher at P Pon School Number Four to approve a lever replacement teacher assistant at the high school number five to approve an adjustment in the approved ad uh hours for a part-time teacher assistant at the K Center number six is to approve a middle school co-curricular assignment number seven to approve an increase in an hourly rate for Bulldog Care Program lead counselor number eight to approve the following for the Bulldog Care Program counselors as listed number nine to approve the following as Helping Hands at the Bulldog CARE program for the district as listed number 10 is to approve disability leave of the pay for employee 2061 number 11 to approve the following internship clinical placements at Rutherford's P public schools as listed number 12 is to approve the following substitute teachers as listed number 13 to approve the following substitute teacher assistance as listed number 14 to approve the following travel reimbursements as listed and then also number 15 to approve a long-term substitute elementary teacher at Pon school and number 16 to approve the following substitute teacher uh as listed thank you uh Mr Hurley um any comments uh just one on the um travel reimbursements you don't you'll see there's um two four about six people going to Atlas conference that's the curriculum program that we're doing and we got lucky that they run um training all over the country and we have one close by so we were able to get folks but I do want to mention that we have about 20 maybe 30 teachers who volunteered you know to um be part of this committee that's doing a lot of a lot of heavy lifting a lot of work um to implement this working with the supervisors um on it and um you know and and these folks you know are representing that committee so I I I'm very appreciative of the of the fact faculty for um taking on this initiative and and working to really make a major significant change to how we manage our curriculum agreed um any board members comments or questions okay now hearing any uh Mrs Cole you want to move those items uh i' would like to move motions one two through 16 under Personnel okay I need a motion in a second Mr Cony Mr Gilly Mr ban uh abstain on 11 yes on all others Mrs Cole yes Mr KY yes Mr Healey yes Mrs Jones yes Mr Mone yes Dr rine yes motions Carri thank you moving on to curriculum instruction Mrs Jones you want to take us through these items thank you we did not have a sing and I meeting uh in the past month and tonight there were six MO itions put forward on the recommendation of the superintendent one nursing service plan two out of District placements which there are two individual student service providers for field trips there are 49 overnight trip uh swimming team and as I AA wrestling possibility and Spring Track all of which if they make it and six home instruction for two students and that's it very good um Mr Earley any comments as Mrs Jones alluded to the overnight trips are there in case there's qualification because often the uh as you board knows overnight trips require board approval and should a wrestling team for example um qualify on a Thursday night and they have to go on a Saturday uh we don't have time to do that so we do it in advance in case it's needed and they're the and they're the only three sports that have a state finals so far away that would require overnight very good any uh board members comments or questions for Mrs Jones not hearing Annie can you please move those items I move resolutions 1 through six under con instruction okay I need a motion a second okay Mrs Cole Mr ban Mr bosan yes Mrs Cole yes Mr KY yes Mr hey yes Mrs Jones yes Mr Mone yes Dr rine yes motion's carried great moving ahead with Finance Mr ban uh we did not have a finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting tonight on the agenda we have five motions uh number one is the routine approval of bills number two is the July secret uh Treasures report number three is budget line transfers for the month of July number four is to accept with gratitude a donation of two basketball hoops for the Kindergarten Center from Megan Koy and number five is to accept with gratitude a donation of various video and photo equipment from Michael Michelin uh for the high school's TV production photography classes great thank you uh Mr Hurley any comments okay Mr Mr met any comments no Mr W thank you I I immedately thought of Mr Met in light of the donation to that great class it's a big day for Mr Met they won yes that's true they did um any board members comments or questions okay not hearing any can we please move those items I'd like to move motions 1 through five under Finance any a motion a second feel yes Mrs Cole Mr bosan yes Mrs Cole yes Mr KY yes Mr Healey yes Mrs Jones yes Mr mazone yes Dr Asen yes motions carried thank you moving ahead to policy Mr Healey yes uh we did not have a committee meeting since our last board meeting and uh there are no motions for this meeting thank you um moving ahead then buildings and ground ground uh Mr ban uh if you would please yes uh we have not had a buildings and grounds meeting since our last full board meeting and tonight we have surprisingly nothing on the agenda okay thank you business okay some old business I see uh not that you're old business but Dr Moore Daniel Moore has just come in right you're here right you were she received an RAF Grant and uh so we could have her pick it up right now we could just abbreviate from her take her picture though uh she didn't get the picture but uh there's two I'm looking for the two that she had so uh for chemistry Club if you remember and for I think women no was yes women in stem right so here we go I got I found them so Mr so you just wanted the thunderous Applause Just For You Alone [Applause] and I guess under old business too um Mr whiffer will be we'll be starting our U audit right uh tomorrow um and also we're going to be meeting uh Mr wher and I thanks Daniel uh we'll be meeting with our Architects tomorrow and and Mr gamb Bard we had talked about some projects to close out the referendum and um you know other things we're going to meet tomorrow to try to solidify that a little bit and then come back hopefully uh within short order to the buildings and grounds committee and then to the board with what what we determined in our meeting okay yes Mrs Jones I did I inter you are you finished okay just under all business the sen Association was recognized in the paper with all that they have done to make the pool such a wonderful place to be now and where our decisions have helped them along when we were a long way from not thinking we were going to have the pool anymore to have this and now a sustainable business they should be congratulated yeah and the other thing was that the um the high school choir Sayang at the 911 Mr Hurley was there Mr maone was there Mr hey and myself were able to be there but it was lovely it's always a wonderful thing but it's it's always moving and nice to have it that's all thank you Mr Jo um anyone else legislative update I'm sorry legislative update oh I always have one of those too don't I um it's been have it well I like try to find one this is Senate Bill 3599 introduced September 19th we're talking last week uh and this is requires uh who did this um Christian M colado District 40 burken essm B requires the Department of Education to establish program for coaches of school district and non-public school athletic activities to obtain certification and CPR I thought they had to have that me too well well again like I I told you there A lot of times these bills get put forward especially in an election year uh because you know they they they get a little pressed the only thing that may have been different is any c of impling the program established pursuing to subsection B of this section will be born by the state now did Boards of Ed have to pay for their we pay for yeah well we don't have to do that well again we'll see if that comes if for wish well that's that's that's the new part the new one right thank you uh there's there are two things that are are Brewing down in Trenton that that you know may have um some impact on impact on us um one has to do with um finance budget um you might have read today's record um a lot of the schools out in um Western pay County and Sussex County have gotten some really big hits in terms of State funding being cut but there's been a lot of um of hits across the state and you know one year you're getting a a little bit of a bump and the next year you're getting a 10 or 15% decrease and so there's there's a lot of of discussion and um I think Mr wiford probably could comment on this as well to try to come up with some Amendment to the um the funding formula and some change so that there's a little more uh consistency but also a little more um you know whether and I don't know if you want to chime in on this whether it's a like going to be a a minimum and maximum that you could possibly go increase or decrease so you can plan a little better because we all know right if you're on the finance committee we we get to the zero hour right where our budget has already been submitted or about to be submitted uh to the county for approval and then we find out what our state a is going to be and you know we've been fort that we've either stayed flat or we've had a modest increase but you know therefore you know with the grace of God they say right I mean you know other these other districts get the rug pulled out from under them so I don't know if you want to add anything to that there there are a number of uh legislators that are working with njasa which is the superintendent Association and NJ asbo which is the business administrator Association to try to um contain the extreme Vari you know variables that are involved in the the state budget um or the state aid budget to school districts um so they've definitely been using the district's resources uh to try to create a a new formula rather than just only down and Tron kind of blocking out the the words from the school district so um the again the ba and the superintendent Association have both been working with them uh but it is still up in the air right now uh the the formul formula is fully funded quote unquote fully funded for this year um so we'll see what kind of new formula they want to propose in the next coming year and then the other yes so then the other um there's a task force that's been working again with Representatives uh from njaa and njpsa and and njasa and also from the legislative to look at the teacher evaluation system and that task force released their um their report today I believe or uh it's 150 page document so I mean I just gave a a quick look to read into it and that's just their recommendations on what they think should happen with with um the evaluation system for lack of better word and included in there is things like um whether um student growth objectives should should stay or should they be modified you know how should we be measuring achievement of of students and what impact that should have on the evaluation and assessment of teachers um you know training on the evaluation system for both uh administrators and um teachers uh so we'll see where that goes well there's there's U there's been a lot of discussion about a need to change make some changes I think it was probably about 10 or 11 years ago when maybe more give or take a couple years probably a little more when um they they made a radical change to how the the uh valuation system was done and we've all gotten kind of customed to it and I think it works well but you know there does come a time when you have to look at look at it again so this task force was put together they their reports been presented and now we see where it goes some of this is tied into legislation and some of is tied into uh State Board of Ed policy Mr so we'll keep you updated on both those just to reinforce that last May at the New Jersey Schoolboard Association uh delegate assembly uh a number of districts uh were putting forth you know petitions uh motions to get the assembly to work on that they were hurting and they explained it yeah yeah yeah and and when these things happened you know we we all felt it in 20110 I want to say or maybe 11 million when you know St Patrick's Day and you know you're trying to enjoy your corn beef and you heard that governor christe was making these massive cuts and and and you know everybody had a scramble well that happens now every year but on a small smaller scale to a couple of districts where and it's at the Zero Hour you know so it's so I mean if if there could be a little better a system of of equity and also notification when you're planning you know it seemed to be post pandemic also a problem with some of the districts they named the funding they had and I don't know what how in the mix you know that yeah and a lot you're right and a lot of money that came from other sources federal government um they gave people a lot of money that we didn't really ask for right and then told you specifically how it had to be spent right and if you and then if you couldn't spend it they said well now you got you have to spend it we don't want it back and you know you had to develop programs so you know one of these things you know like like for example grants right I mean RF grants are great they're they're helpful they're wonderful but you know I always remind administrators when you do your budget you know don't put a grant into something that is essential because you don't know if you're going to get it again you know so one year you get a big you know influx of money from state aid and you say wow we could hire those teachers we wanted to hire or we could start that program we wanted to start right and then the next year that state aid goes out the the door now where are you so you know a little bit more consistency and and um and predictability you know that's the word that they're using a lot in this discussion we want a little more predictability where we kind of know what's coming um and again we've been very lucky um we don't get a lot of state aid I mean 97% of our budget is funded by the local taxpayers I mean we hear that every year right when we do is 96% something like that um but we've been consistent in what we've been getting from the state give or take a few dollars um but you know like I said it's only every year it's you know it's finger nail Bing time when you wait to see the figures getting released so it' be nice if they could work that out so we'll keep you posted thank you um anyone else any comments questions okay they not hearing any I'd like to move on to open the meeting to the public um for agenda items or anything else um The Time Is Now 7:41 p.m. so open the meeting to the public um you're welcome sir please step up uh please state your name and address please can I lower this uh Deacon Raymond shimy 22 East Pier Pont Avenue Rutherford thank you um hello everyone um I first like to acknowledge the board I mean I know how tight my time is and um to valune your time to do something like this is really appreciated and I have looked at Niche recently I'm like like wow look at the Rutherford school system you guys are doing a really good job I've had some interaction with them very professional I see the grades are great but um really the reason I'm here tonight is um extracurricular activities and homeschoolers so um I've been going my daughter's been going to Catholic schools for 10 years um and we just had a little sniff uh snafu or whatever and we switched to homeschooling and um found out that homeschoolers are not allowed to participate in the high school sports um and I I'll but I'll read New Jersey inter Scholastic Athletic Association who guides all the sports in New Jersey eligibility of C of uh athletes students being homeschooled by parents or other parties may be eligible if the local Board of election has approved their participation and the requirements the homeo scho guidelines have been satisfied but I was told that the Rutherford Board of Education says a blanket no um and the reasons were because um you guys maintain academic standards which I would absolutely support and behavioral standards and because you can't monitor academic and behavioral standards of homeschoolers they're not allowed to participate and then there was also an insurance question like I said my daughter's been going to Catholic schools for 10 years she's a straight A student our academics and we're also going into a homeschooling program that has some professional teachers she goes in twice a week they will be giving her grades they're all New Jersey certified so I don't see how the the grades and the um Behavior would be a problem and certainly once she gets on the team you can monitor her behavior um and you know when a new person comes into a school that you don't say oh we don't know your grades and your behaviors so you can't participate you get the Assumption of the benefit of the doubt um and I would think with Insurance 7 800 students to put another name or two on the list of the swim team that's where I'm going by the way maybe she'll get to use that really nice pool that we just heard about getting so many honors um so I think the other thing would be funding now since I moved here 15 years ago I've been paying school taxes it's now $88,000 a year if I average all that out that's about $100,000 I put into the school and as you guys obvious obviously know with a budget there's income and expenditures by not sending my daughter to your schools for 11 years I think your average cost to students is 20 to $25,000 a year that's a quarter of a million dollars in expenditures I've relieved from you so you know coming here and saying hey can you help me out a little so I've never made a 20 to $225,000 contribution to any charity I'm a deacon I love to give to charity I spend I tithe never made a $25,000 contribution certainly not 11 years in a row so I mean I could come in here and say hiy I'm Deacon Ray and if you had known that you'd be thank you Deacon Ray what can we do for you like that's so nice that you've given so much money to all the other kids in the district well my answer is yes there's something you can do for me please let my daughter swim on the Rutherford High School and then in addition please reconsider the blanket rejection of all homeschoolers um it is encouraged by the national Federation of State high high school so the national level they encourage homeschoolers to participate in sports um my daughter has been swimming on Club teams she knows 14 swimmers on the team this one girl was actually three girls that all live a block from her so it makes no sense to me that she's on a club team the same club team we live in the same town we pay the same taxes but we're not even allowed to try out we collect taxes from the borrow for Education because we know that it's best for our town our society our country if all our children are educated we collect ruford public funds to provide an education that's open to all children but this blanket rejection means that Athletics are not open to all children and I'm looking at I'm going wait a minute so we're taking public education funds and we take some of those funds and put them into to Athletics that's essentially private sir I'm I'm sorry we try to limit comments to 3 minutes and I I I apologize for cutting you off if you could wrap up your comments please okay sorry be no no no I suspect academics is not the real issue I know that this has changed relatively recently homeschoolers were allowed to participate from what I understand I heard they took band classes and stuff like that so um I think part of it really has to do with people on the board maybe in the past worried about oh my kid will get cut from the team if the homeschoolers come in and um so one of the things I'll bring up is you can have as many as a hundred swimmers on a swim team and still probably not even cover every um Immaculate Heart Academy has 60 girls alone most the really good teams have about 30 men oh boys and women um you guys have 45 so most of good teams are running 60 an addition to your team would be a health but really when it comes to swimming it comes down to numbers it's not only how good they are but how many swimmers do you have to cover the 12 events three lanes several Heats so and then the other thing is swimming is is really well defined you run a race the two kids that touch the wall first are your fastest two swimmers so there's not a lot about cutting like a swim coach is going to know after a couple of races what he's got and he wouldn't be crazy enough to cut someone unless there are other problems maybe budgeting or whatever because you really want as many swimmers as you can so look I just want my daughter to swim on a team um I'll go to recommendations it sir we're at four minutes so just if you could kindly wrap up please okay so um get rid of the if you can get rid of the blanket and say wait do you want to do cuts um do you want to say hey these particular sports or this particular activity is very full and we don't want homeschoolers um can maybe you could have the coaches get involved or have everyone come in individually present it to the board and you guys can think about so look we're all paying into a public education system we really should be all entitled to use it whether it's completely or partially thank you thank you please know the board does appreciate your comments um we generally don't have a back and forth with community members but we do hear your comments um we usually allow time for the superintendent if he has any comments to respond back but board members generally don't but please know that doesn't mean we don't appreciate your comments this evening I just want one point of clarification um I appreciate you coming and what you had to say um The Homeschool uh change several years ago was Statewide prior to that change it was a blanket across the state they could not participate then the change came in I don't remember exactly when somewhere between five and 10 years that said it was up to local boards whether or not they could participate so it's not what I I don't ever recall band members homeschooled band members participating here so that's how that's how the change came into place okay just as a point of clarification okay thank you again so the time is now 7:51 p.m. um unless there's anyone else in the public who'd like to speak not hearing any I'd like to close the meeting to the public at 7:51 um there is no need for an ex ex session no no need for an executive session um so I'd like to ask for a motion for an adjournment Mr Bean seconded by Mrs Cole and I believe that's a WRA thank you thank you see you Saturday