##VIDEO ID:iFFiXrasD3Y## e two e e e e e e e e e on [Music] everybody good go okay I'd like to call to order the December 19th 2024 regular public meeting Mr Jones can you please call the role Miss Barb here Miss Bower here Mrs Boral here miss Brody here miss serani here Miss Williams Miss Winkler here Dr Kowski here Mr Murray here cor is present can we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance give us a minute ready I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and Justice all all right we just had executive session we did personnel Hib suspension detention and the legal status report uh superintendent report Dr Mast short report tonight we are sliding into winter recess we've been so busy with so many wonderful Student Activities and um student sporting events I think that we've also participated and watched students do some significant fundraisers which I know we will hear more details about in our student report tonight but just um thank you everyone for all of your help in 2024 and we are looking forward to what's what what is ahead for the rest of this school year thank you Dr Bass business administrator report Mr uh yeah so just two things uh our netting ham fire alarm pass inspection today so that's great and it was a it's a million dollar project took almost two years to complete um because we had to run we ran both systems at the same time um so pretty excited about that uh the other thing I want to announce not on the agenda but we did get a um an SDA grant school Development Authority grant for almost $400,000 and we're going to apply that to um our storefront project over at Evergreen so when I say storefront I mean just new windows new windows and new brick um to secure the perimeter of the the school because there's some leaking there yeah there's some leaking at the on the there we put some doors in previously they're leaking so we have to uh take them out that's it thank you Mr Jones board president announcement New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the ACT Scotch plan family board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted to the Board of Education offices located at 313 South Avenue in Fanwood New Jersey such notice was also provided and written notice for forwarded to the UN County Hawk Star Ledger Township cler Scotch Plains and B cler of Fanwood and the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings as adopted April 25th 2024 and revised August 27th 20124 we are going to first recognize our alumni student board rep that's sitting in the audience CRA welcome back and now we're gonna pass it over to R2 she's on the starting L we'll embarrass her later um bu reps sorry Hi everyone so we're about halfway through the second marking period and students are already very excited for winter break which is coming up soon so there's been a lot going on at the high school recently last night we had our winter choir concert um which was a lot of fun we sang a lot of holiday songs and going along with that today the choir took our trip to the middle schools so we visited Terell and netting ham which is always such a great trip it's really fun to perform for all the students and also meet with the eighth grade students in choir to talk to them about the music department at the high school um also staying in the realm of the music department we had our fall play game of tiaras um in the end of November and that was a really great success we have Freaky Friday the spring musical starting up right when we come back from break going back a few weeks we hosted Mr spiffy high at the high school which was was hosted by our Deca Business Club and that's always such a great fundraiser event this year they raised over $5,000 for Jam cancer in the can which is a local cancer nonprofit um it was a great event the auditorium was pretty much sold out and it's that's always a fun one every year um and then recently we had a senior meeting held at the high school by Dr Hines and our counselors and Dr hin talked a little bit about senior project which is still going to be happening this year it just has a few more guidelines and they also had a presentation on the scotch plan Scholarship Foundation and all of the opportunities they have for students for winter sports we have our hockey basketball bowling wrestling and winter track season are starting and the hockey season is going pretty well and right now boys basketball is playing Summit our JV ice hockey team is back on the ice with our new qu our new coach Mr and Bush who is the physics teacher here at the high school as well as they have a game on Friday at Union Sports Arena on Route 22 as well as students are reacting to the implementation of lanyards at the school starting in February high school students must wear a lanyard with their ID card at all times and people have begun to wear customized lanyards to school starting early and yeah thanks great thank you both for the updates it's always wonderful to hear everything going on in student from the student perspective all right so now we're going to turn to our instructional update so we have our 2023 2024 annual audit presentation sure being small anyway good evening everyone thank you for having me come for a few minutes to talk about the audit um had a pretty good year and so we talk about the fund balances in the school district and they were down slightly this year down 925,000 there're a lot of components to that but I think the greatest takeaway is that um the district utilized a lot of funds for Capital and maintenance during the year and I would probably add to that my end comment was as I go through through the financial highlights was the um long-term liabilities of the district so I think everybody's aware that the um bonds from the past referendum expired they were fully retired in July of 23 so ever since that point there isn't a tax levy for Debt Service and the district's been managing that through the 2% General operating budget so that really is something that is admirable but it's also very challenging and so in talking to a lot of districts in the last two years the inflationary inflationary costs not only in salaries but in maintenance and capital and other services has been far beyond that so you're not alone in the challenge that stands ahead but I think that you're um reacting very well to um the pro the amounts that you have to utilize but definitely a difficult task so with that um even though the funds are being used for two $2 million is being used annually to offset the budget um again money for Capital and maintenance but there were some good takeaways so some revenues have been up interest earnings over the last several years have been up it adds a little bit to the bottom line and then each year the state Awards extraordinary Aid and non-public Transportation Aid late in the year so that can be carried forward in use in the next subsequent year so at the end of June of 24 the 2% that the district is allowed to utilize as unassigned fund balance was 2,285 and 93 was the extraordinary Aid that can be appropriated but um I think it's really a good sign when the district strives to keep the amount of surplus being used in the budget on a level plane and it has been and you should be commended for that you're really working within some kind confines with that um at the end of the year anything that was left was put into capital reserve for those purposes so you began the year with 14.5 million in capital reserve you ended with 14.1 150 and that's because you were able to deposit 4 million and you utilize 5 million during the year for different capital projects maintenance Reserve is a little bit smaller you started with 987 you withdrew 113 during the year and another resolution by the board for another 57,000 so at the end of the year you ended with 850,000 another fund of the school district is the Food Service Enterprise fund and this is really I guess the end year of coming out of the pandemic and the operating revenues were up almost 100,000 the nonoperating revenue is interest earnings they're very uh nominal and the operating expenses were up 150,000 so the net change was was about 90,000 and of the net position at the end of the year 56,000 is the amount that represents your Capital assets that are being depreciated from the cafeterias and the unrestricted was a little below 50,000 so that's what you have to utilize on a go forward um and then again going over the long-term liabilities the district has several leases that are being utilized to purchase Tech technology equipment compensated absences was a new accounting and auditing standard this year um dictating how compensated absences are to be calculated net pension liabilities is for the PS employees because that's the portion that the district pays directly tpaf is paid by the state and then o other post employment benefits is um a plan that is um created by the um district for post balance post employment benefit and again um I just want to remind everybody that the audit process is long and complex it's a financial statement audit to make sure that the financials are properly stated um the other set the next uh piece of the audit is doing NJ dooe compliance so again there's an audit program and in there are a lot of things that the state wants you know policy procedure and all of that that we do audit procedures on and then if you spend over $750,000 and I think that amount is going to be raised in a year or so um you're subject to a federal single audit if Federal Awards go over that amount and a state single audit if your state Awards go above that amount and because you receive every District in New Jersey receives state aid almost every district is subject to a state single audit but again Federal single audits so the management suggestions are just reminders they're in every single School District audit that our firm does talking about the fact that um through the pandemic with the ARP and Esser funds that have been out there that there are um very stringent requirements dotting eyes Crossing tees and making sure that everything is done meticulously and um it's just a reminder so we do know that the district was monitored and I had sever of my districts monitored our firm had a lot of districts who are monitored and we've been saying over the past four years when we as the school district auditor have to um adhere to a compliance supplement for federal and state programs it's not as intense as a field person coming out who is a program person for a specific award and so in the situation there were a lot of um districts who were monitored for acers it was very small um very small um amount and it was a very picky question cost and we went further and looked at the procedures that was under the 23 Grant we looked at them under 2 24 and we were satisfied from our point of view that the district was following procedure so in the audit you'll see a Rec a comment with no recommendation saying that they issued a report they questioned it but we don't know what the ultimate outcome is but I think you should do everything to defend your position and so I think that is really speaks well for the district that you go through the all these levels of audit on different levels and you come out with um very little if anything um procedural so speaks a lot for the district and it is really such a pleasure to be here and be able to perform the audit excellent group of people thank you anybody have any questions all right thank you so much I really appreciate it thanks for coming tonight thank you and very happy holidays you too thank you all right first public comment section so accordance with Scott's family public bylaws 0164 0165 the meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comments maximum 3 minutes per speaker speaker addressing superintendent items business functions or other board business will be heard first if time remains speakers May address other or matters please note when you come to this mic please State your full name and the town in which you reside board 's public comment period is an opportunity to listen to C and concerned but do not debate issues or in to question and answer session or cross- examination between the public and individual members be aware the not all issues brought before the board will be resolved that evening boards May respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate with that I'll open up for 15 minutes so if you have a public comment please come to the mic Gary Morris Fanwood um I wanted to get clarification on uh the bond referendum uh the cost I think was 21 to 25 $4 a month was that including the operating cost or that does include the operating cost is there some way to break it out and show it without the operating cost so we would we would see that as well the website right uh yeah we did it the presentation we did the other night it was in there so if we posted it I believe to the website on the documents you can go to that I forget what slot it is but I don't think it's I don't think it's said the the the the dollars per month yeah so anyway yeah okay so just just if we could do the the dollars per month so that people could uh possibly see that U the other question I have is and again I know it was kind of mentioned the other night but a if somebody votes no on the first one is it an automatic no on the second one um because it kind of doesn't make sense like why are you funding a school that you're voting no on so if somebody can vote no yes that doesn't it doesn't really make any sense that should be locked out as in other words there should be only be three choices yes yes no no and no yes no the other way yes no sorry you know what I meant you know exactly what I meant so so so in other words there's there and that was a problem the first time around that was very confusing for people cuz everybody's saying contingent is it contingent on the entire community a contingent for the way you vote so in other words if I say yes for this do I have the option to say yes and no on the next one or if I say no on this can I say yes on the second because we had a bunch of people who did no on the first one on the first go around and said yes on the second question which we were told that could not happen and it did and so again I it doesn't quite make sense can we make that more of a clarified thing can that be uh built into to how I mean they these are computers they should be able to program it any way you want it to but clearly it wasn't done in the first referendum so is that is that something that we could look at at uh clarifying and and and making clear uh to the public the other question is on the operating expenses obviously you're not going to have operating expenses next year you're not going to have it until the school opens I would imagine so are we giving permission for you to to increase by 1% next year or is that only until if and until the school is open that that kicks in it's really not clear in any of the presentation when that would kick in thanks thank you Mr Morris any other public comment okay seeing no one we'll close the first portion of public comment uh additional reports so letters of the board five emails were received by the public and they were sent to the appropriate administrator and now we will move over to committee reports Bry Miss Winkler yep so on December 10th the curriculum committee met um among the things we discussed we discussed uh changing some of the course level naming conventions that we use um to realign things with the self-reported academic record um which is something that the kids fill in for in their appli colleges uh ATF we've been using the terms academic and accelerated for different levels of courses that we offer but these terms AR really used by other high schools or on the self- recuited academic record that the college re that many colleges require as part of the application process so moving forward we changing instead of accelerated classes will be uh designated as honors instead of um academic those classes will be designated as College Prep instead of advanced the designation will be two and um names of electives will more or less remain the same U then we talked about some dual enrollment programs with the University of Delaware um we're modifying two of our existing classes such that they become part of the University of Delaware dual en program since students taking these courses will receive college credits uh which can be transferred to other universities so the current product design class will become sustainable product design dual credit and there will be more focus on sustainable design both environmental and financial suain sustainability there will also be a Capstone project the C class that is entrepreneurships will become entrepreneurship dual credit and this uh class will essentially remain the same there just some minor changes um it'll be an excellent class for students who have no experience but also for students who already have some business experience that maybe a lawnmowing business um and with this addition students will have the opportunity to potentially graduate with nine college credits in in business um we talked production courses um there's going to be some changes there we're um ping the the video production and broadcast journalism courses out of the language arts program and creating a separate video arts program among our course offerings um a new class and new titles for existing classes will offer clearer paths and delineation for the students new class introduction to video production will provide an introduction to a broad range of aspects of video production including screenwriting cinematography conducting and broadcasting interviews um students will develop an understanding of the various roles in a television Studio through TV journalism and film making and then our existing digital video production class is going to become creative storytelling and digital video production one the advanced digital video production class will become creative storytelling and digital video production too intro to broadcast journalism and Studio TV will become broadcast journalism and Studio TV since the intro portion of this will be part of new introduction to video production class and the TV news broadcast journalism class will become broadcast journalism greater TV news um additional course name changes um in accordance with the changes that we're making to betterer align with the self-reported academic record our um our introduction to food will become Foods one and our Advanced Foods course will be designated as Foods two but the content of these courses will remain the same um and two new courses that we're adding uh for multilingual Learners um ESL high-intensity B will be a second term for students that are following PSL high intensity a um our multilingual Learners uh who enter the US school system at the secondary level tend to struggle language arts classes specifically but also across the curriculum because they lack the Mastery of the English language arts standards so this second ESL course will focus on the ELA standards that they need to find success um also academic support for multilingual Learners in this elective course students will work collaboratively with an ESL teacher or other staff member on assignments and material from other classes and time will be spent strengthening English language time management and study skills so um our committee recommends that the board approve all of these items and then our next meeting will be January 14th thank you Mr Winkler any questions okay Miss Brody I have the finance committee report um we discussed this Mr Jones also had mentioned the using the uh SDA grant for the Evergreen window replacements we talked at high level regarding the LR renovation and the number of classrooms first and second floor use in the new PA system we've ALS we're also uh Mr Jones is looking into other creative funding mechanisms and um we we at a high level we talked about different funding sources and the budget process has started now so one of the largest cost drivers as usual is Healthcare and salaries and Mr Jones is exploring different healthare options so hopefully save some some money and we also discuss worst case scenarios if the public funding sources were decreased in the potential Inca to the budget and that's my report next meeting is January 13th thank you Mr Brody any questions any other committee reports okay uh we receiv received the enrollment report I'm going to move to superintendent curriculum and Dr mass will also include personnel and she going to block everything and roll call the whole thing here we go so one is our out of District placements two is the Hib reports from November 21st three is the gifts to our school four our field trip requests five are the new course proposals that Miss Winkler just discussed six is the proposed 2526 10mon school calendar and at this point it's just a draft we are going to vote on that in January um we certainly are are um putting the calendar together by looking at what local districts neighboring districts are doing um we also met with a a calendar task force where um different community members um and employees took a look at this this particular um version of the calendar so I think it's very close to being finished and seven is a revised um 12-month employee calendar um requesting to um not have schools open on New Year's Eve this year um and going to Personnel asking the board to approve the Personnel agenda as discussed in exec thank you Dr Mass any questions for Dr Mast do we have a motion to approve those items we're voting on tonight so moved Dr Co kowsky do we have a second Miss Brody Mr Jones can you please call the roll Miss Barb yes Miss Bower yes Mrs borup yes Miss Brody yes Miss serani yes Miss Winkler yes Dr kakowski yes Mr Mayor yes motion carries thank you Dr Mass uh board business Mr Jones thank you uh number one is the annual audit two staff training three related Services um um for preschool classroom size waiver um we weren't sure we need I wasn't sure we needed this waiver when we did the previous waivers for the bathrooms so this is similar um student services this is for uh Professional Services for uh certain students um a used technology bid we get the bids in yesterday um see attach pretty uh pretty robust uh response uh for the technology so pretty good um I think it's over over 100,000 we got on this bit seven library book disposal eight nonpublic uh budget for yeah St Barts um and that's again we just uh Union County manages that those funds but they come through uh we have to prove them on this budget I mean on this agenda and through the school we have to monitor it um nine fire drills 10 Financial reports see 11 dispersements 12 is paying bills thank you Mr Jones any questions for Mr Jones on any items that he went through do we have a motion so Mo we have a second second miss wiler all those in favor I opposed motion carries minutes do we have a motion to approve the November 21st regular public meeting minutes so moved Miss serani do we have a second second Miss Winkler any comments or questions all those in favor I opposed motion carries new board business no new board business liaison reports do we have any liaison reports um yes so the Garden State Coalition of schools met yesterday uh and uh the guest speaker was the acting commissioner for the Department of Education and uh I I want to share a number of things that were discussed uh he talked about some of the things he wants to accomplish this year um he he talked about literacy um and the supports that the department of Ed is um providing in that area he talked about um um new student assessments and high impact tutoring he talked about um quite a bit about technology and the kinds of internal and external um improvements that they were making including they piloting um Mr Jones a a improved RFP system that's supposed to be great for construction and help with the bureaucracy with we'll see um but I thought of you okay and um there was discussion about uh information literacy um and um related to technology talked about the improvements to the certification portion of the website and making it so uh when people uh go to the website or call in it immediately recognizes who they are if they've already visited before and a number of improvements like that there was a lot of discussion about the FASA um and I know that um uh there's a form now that all the students are uh asked to complete um but they can also opt out of it and I just want to make sure our public realizes that there are a lot of dat data privacy issues related to that form it's not required there is an opt out I would encourage people to opt out because why would you submit that information to the state um and uh so I just want to point that out um and the counselors at the high school have those opt out forms um and uh there was a lot of discussion about funding um since the US Department of Education is uh potentially disappearing and um uh the state of New Jersey gets a billion dollars um has in the past so um and a lot of that has been passed on to districts so what does that mean uh in terms of the um po potential financial cliff uh that may be facing us uh a huge number of employees also uh and programs at the state are have also receive federal funding so um and um then uh there was also discussion about um some of the kinds of um potential legislation although nothing is happening right now with the holidays today was the last date they were voting on legislation this year in Trenton um uh but there are important things in the pipeline so that's kind of a quick summary and I don't know um Miss Winkler and Dr Mass were part of the meeting if they have anything they want to add no yes Dr McGary I would just add that um senior parents will be receiving notification about the FAFSA on uh the week of January 6th okay thank you and just to clarify that form is really only saying uh they put that form there there because higher ed wanted to make sure that students knew they could apply for college and financial aid and yet that's the purpose of the form but it asked for a lot of information so and I think our students know college and financial aid or a possibility okay County School boards Association met on December 10th Union County School boards Association met on December 10th um they talked about uh number of things in the legislative update talked about s 3917 is a bill that was put forward by VIN gopal um suggesting changes to the school funding formula it would include things like increasing the property tax levy cap um new a new Aid category um that state aid can't be cut more than 2% um more State reimbursement for special ed costs more transparency around school funding and various other things so I'm sure we'll hear a lot about this in the coming months um the freedom to read Act was signed into law uh by the governor and it will take effect in one year it was uh and it will will require um it will require the uh I'm sorry because now I'm scanning through my notes quickly but it it will require um Boards of Ed and public libraries to have policies uh about uh about selecting books but also about where about uh how to deal with challenges and they'll be uh forthcoming with some um some guidelines for us on that coming out of the date soon hopefully um also uh public notice requirements for the open public meetings act uh as a lot of as you all know the um we're required to publish uh our meetings in advance in the local papers and a lot of uh local print is is going out of print uh is no longer going to be print available in a lot of parts of New Jersey and so this this law is going to need to be changed in some way because a lot of places won't won't have anywhere to advertise these meetings um so uh there we should look for some changes coming with that in the near future um uh we were warned that the state budget is going to be tighter next year that we should uh expect to have our aid from the state either the St or lower um what else and then there was a presentation by Charles Muer who is the business administrator and Resident at school boards Association he talked to about the budget process uh and how budgets are developed and the next meeting of the Union County School boards Association is going to be February 5th thank you m wingler any other questions for Mr M leis on reports m b off I don't have a CPAC um just because it was a caregiver and parent only meeting um but I'm sure it was wonderful I do uh just a quick report out on the um New Jersey state um board delegate meeting um it was not as exciting as everybody else's it was simply a voting on policy meeting um but I do just want to mention um that following up with Amy said um that uh there was conversation about um moving away from going in print um so that that did come up also on policy we did vote on that um and just to share uh two of the very common things within our district that um other districts are clearly struggling with as they are formulating some policies around um handling of the holiday calendars pilot funding and then communication um so those that those were the three uh trending policy issues that's it thank you any questions for M Bor no but don't sell it short it was pretty interesting I like that stff any other L on reports okay workshops request to attend workshops no no resolutions all right second and final public comment see get my script in accordance with Scotch planes Family Public bylaw 0164 and 0165 the meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment maximum three minutes per speaker speakers addressing superintendent items business functions or other board business will be heard first if time remains speakers May address other matters speakers please state your name and the town in which you reside please not board use a public comment period is an opportunity listen listen to citiz and concern but not to debate issues are enter to question and answer or cross- examination between the public and the individual members beware that not all issues brought before the board will be resolved that evening boards May respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate with that I'll open the second and final public comment section for 15 minutes if you have a comment please come to the mic State your full name and the town in which you reside Gary Morris Fanwood um I'm wondering that the the the lanyard thing that you were talking about is that going to be where people can are they scanning into the school is it just for identification purposes or what is what is that for and could that potentially be used as something where kids have to scan into the bathroom so we know exactly who's in the bathroom if something shows up on a wall or something like that it might be another way in addition to cameras that may maybe you could uh I identify uh issues not sure if anybody's ever been to a bies in your life um unbelievable the bathrooms are spotless when when things are kept spotless they stay spotless and nobody if somebody marks it it's removed immediately it's gone nobody cares if if if if stuff is left on the wall the person who's doing it is trying to get attention By REM moving it immediately the attention is gone and and so it has to be it has to be a quick thing removed done not a big deal it's gone and then if you have the scans you do that sort of thing and you could find out who was in there um the other thing just throwing it out there as a potential senior project you could have you could have a student take it on as a senior project of redesigning the bathrooms they have they have uh stalls now that are almost impossible to mark or if they do get marked the the stuff can be removed very easily have them have them work with a local contractor and make it a project for a kid uh by having the kids involved in the solution you give them ownership it makes it something that they're proud of and they'll be upset if somebody does something to it um next thing um this came this came up at a I think the last meeting talking about a gazebo at Brunner um my concern with that is we we told the public that we can't expand the schools or have temporary classrooms or anything like that because of environmental things and now we're going we're paying for a study to to put in a gazebo paying thousands of dollars to do that was there any thought in talking to that person making the donation like maybe donating a classroom would be a more lasting impression on the community and be a great PR thing for that particular person just throwing it out there that in other words just because somebody's donating it you might want to be more constructive with it a gazebo's a nice to have but right now we have needs and I think a a the potential of uh extend expanding a school uh you know and adding in a classroom we're doing this study anyway why not expand to add a classroom or two whether it be a music class or something like that um just again just think off the top of my head it it makes sense and uh just to reiterate back to um uh the thing that I was saying about the uh the referendum item being uh possibly where somebody might want to say yes no somebody May really like their prek class right now but they think it's a good idea to have the Board of Ed offices in that building rather than renting for you know2 200 or $210,000 a year I looked at the I looked at the lease and that was great that you guys were very forthcoming and sented I really appreciate that that speaks volumes about building trust and everything but it just the um I I think it it makes sense at this point it doesn't look like there's any out as far as getting out of that lease there was no like hey in case you want to get out of this lease I think it's I think it's Ironclad you're stuck again that's just meing looking at it I'm not an expert but it looks like you're stuck for for for 3 years unfortunately Mr Mor you have't exceeded your time you could just finish your thought yeah I mean there's nobody else speaking so we have 15 minutes I could sit down and come back up right theoretically I have to follow the rules oh I know I'm just saying otherwise we don't have any of and the other question I have again I just in my first go around I know you you interrupted me when he was trying to answer can he answer some of those things now about the about the options on the referendum is that something that can be answered tonight or is that something you're going to get back to the public on because it's very frustrating that there's no give and take you have to wait a month to to find out something it doesn't make sense we need some way of communicating back and forth quickly on something like that I have people who are trusting my opinion on this stuff and I want to be able to give them accurate answers and I can't because I don't know I consider myself a common person if I don't understand it a lot of people other people don't understand it so simple as that thank you Mr Morris so two things one is um Mr Jones has your questions and we'll put that on that frequently asked questions page that way everybody can get an answer because I know not everybody watches or we'll respond we'll respond to you accordingly as for the lanyards Dr Hines as the new principal already initiated badging in and badging out of the school and badging in and out of the bathroom so that's already in play this year um the lanyard thing is more of uh having it displayed as opposed to just putting in your back your iPhone or whatever any other comments public comment one more thing oh the Graffiti's addressed weekly she's coming she's coming what to your point about the graffiti in the bathroom it's it's addressed as soon as it happens we we're aware of that that study and research so we clean it right up hi uh Sano Scotch Plains I just wanted to say thank you to you guys for everything that you do and have a happy holidays to see you great to see you in your TC sweatshirt but yeah that's I thank you for coming we appreciate it good seeing you so ni this is what want hopefully your first semester went well it did it did it went really well she now you're making it so they have to come back too winter break fun you're showing up Ethan because he was GNA come tonight but he's working at Darby checking IDs was like I wonder if Ethan he came the other night he was at Darby all day and now he's tonight he's checking IDs so I question that judgment sometimes myself any other public comment okay seeing none uh I'll close that portion um upcoming meeting so we have our reorg meeting on January 7th at 7:30 in this room the 16th is our next Community Forum we had one this past Monday night at the high school here the one on the 16th is a Terell middle school hopefully everyone will join us for that Community Forum on the bond referendum that's at 7 pm and then um we have our next regular public board meeting on the 23rd of January in this room at 8:00 p.m. um it may or may not be somebody on this board's birthday and we're going to move to the good of the order so does anybody have anything to the good of the order I do okay one of the amies can go um I'll let you guys fight it out I was just I want to um congratulate uh we had several dozens of Governor educator of the Year recipients in their District um I'm sad that I didn't get to see as they um were honored um and received their Awards but it was wonderful to see how many um teachers there were selected um and I also want to thank the netting ham self-contained students and particularly TJ who packaged this for me um for our reindeer Chow um and wish everybody a happy and healthy holiday season thank you m borov Miss Winkler so I have an update I have an update on our Esports teams um so uh when in the fall uh we competed in two leagues the Garden State Esports league and the play vs which is a National Organization uh where our teams play against uh other teams in the Eastern Time Zone uh we we had 28 students competing weekly across seven different games um so we had a varsity and a JB team in rocket league in Garden State Esports uh and one team in Super Smash Bros uh we didn't qualify for the playoffs this season but we had a standout moment with senior David spay sperg um who's been on the team all four years of his high school uh experience and he was named an Allstar in rocket league for the first time and he recently achieved the rank of grand champion placing him in the top 32% of players in North America wow wow yeah and um in playvs uh we competed in Street Fighter 6 valerent fortnite and OverWatch 2 uh and this season served as a preseason opportunity to integrate new players ahead of the Garden State East Sports competition and um our OverWatch two team is a two-time state champion remained undefeated and secured top seed heading into the playoffs and additionally our playvs teams qualified for the playoffs and um what else a special highlight was Serena Tully our top player in Street Fighter 6 who maintained an impressive undefeated streak across two seasons boasting a 22 nothing record uh in this game tennis likee format where top players from each team face off against each other she continues to excel um we participated in a kickoff tournament for college football 25 which is a new title being introduced in the spring and Tristan sermans uh who is also a senior um and a first year Esports team member uh won his semi-final match and qualified for Eastern region Championship um and then that's our fall update but then um he he was competing in the inaugural tournament um uh and won the bracket and Eastern region uh huge accomplishment um he'll be competing in a full regular season in in the spring and um he's also a wrestler uh and headed to York College for wrestling in the fall and um so we you know we're we're excited about that for him um our OverWatch two team uh underw a bit of an overhaul uh after winning the state championship two years in a row um and we ended up losing three three out of five our starting lineup due to um we we ended up losing three out of five of the players on the team in the starting lineup due to graduation uh in the last last year or so but um and so they ended up losing in a thriller game uh in the Mid-Atlantic region finals of the play vest um uh league and then we lost the first two rounds in a best of Five series but fought back hard to win the next two rounds um and then ended up in a winner take all game where that was very very close but in the end Norwin high school was able to Edge us out in the final minute of the match so it's it's pretty amazing that these students uh you know really rallied after those first two losses to to bring it that far and that close so it's exciting for them and uh and I want to congratulate our our Esports teams for for what they were able to accomplish this year thank you m and Mr Moscow for being a great great coach for them more on go to the order anyone yes Dr rimus um Mrs borof mentioned the gifts on your um at your seats our self-contained students at netting ham as part of their life skills and their social skills um experiences came to the high school and um used the foods room to prepare the snacks for you and um to wish you warm greetings for the season and if you notice as Mrs borof mentioned the student who um who made her snack you each have an individual name on the snack so um just a a nice piece uh a little gift from the students to share with all of you and happy holidays it's great thank you you could please let us know who we can email to thank so that the teacher can read it to the class I'd appreciate we'll do um I just wanted to mention following up not esport but uh uh got to go to an ice hockey game so that was very exciting they won and I know they won more recently since then and um also wanted to mention that our um uh student board member here uh did a great job in the fall play as did all the all the cast and uh soone to recognize him and I also would like to um give kudos to our business department because uh and and to Christopher Jones because you don't get great audit reports like we do without a lot of hard work and actually I don't remember a year where we haven't had any recommendations in recent memory so I just want you to pass on thanks not only but to your staff and thanks to you as well thank you thank you go ahead this isn't a school event but I think it's something that um a lot of students will be interested in so I just want to mention to everybody that the Scotch Plains fan would Martin Luther King Day of Service is taking place again on uh January 20th it's a day off from school so it's a great time to volunteer your time I know all of the students need volunteer hours um there is a Facebook and Instagram page um if you look up MLK SPF MLK Day of Service uh right now there is um a link to sign up to lead or host a project I know there are a lot of Civic minded clubs at the high school that might be interested in leading a volunteer project so if anyone does want to do that um or you could email me I could send you the link um and then um another link will appear in about a week or so to um volunteer for those projects thank you and the projects that are listed there I think the site goes public tomorrow so if people want to sign up to volunteer for the the activities that are there thanks Miss Park um I just wanted to shout out the um Kohl's had a steam night last last week and it was so amazing and not only were the parents who volunteered great but the robotics team the high school robotics team there were like rock stars there the kids were so enthralled with everything they had to say um and it was so amazing to see what our high school kids are doing and just they did a really really great job and also be careful at drop off just one more before the new year don't want to miss that anyone else for the good of the order me yeah yeah thanks I was fortunate enough to accompany Dr Mass Dr McGary and Adena to go to the schools and it I was so fortunate to be able to see the expression on the teacher and the teacher aids faces when they were recognized for teacher of the year or assistant of the year and the students that were in their class were so uh also very proud and honored that their teacher was being recognized I I was just moved at every school that we went to we went from school to school to school it was uh a great morning and a great opportunity for our teachers and AIDS and I just congratulate them all those who were recognized and I want to wish everyone a very happy healthy and prosperous new year thank you Dr Co anyone else okay do we have a motion to adjourn so move do we have a second second all those in favor I opposed we're adjourned thank you everybody have a great holiday time off New Year enjoy that holiday is the members