##VIDEO ID:b_r572Ea_Sg## welcome to a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with open public meetings Act and the advanced notice required therein has been provided this is a meeting of the Board of Education of Somerset Hills at which formal action may be taken the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda roll call please Mr Baker here miss Ballard here miss Cooper here Mrs G gr pre here miss gills here Mr Joyce Miss Nathans Mrs Santoro Mrs Ry here and Mrs frienda here executive session the open public meetings act authorizes a public body to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which specified topics are to be discussed under circumstances where the public consideration of such topics will clearly endanger the public or where the personal privacy or guaranteed rights of individuals whose activities or Affairs are to be discussed would clearly would be clearly in danger of unwarranted invasions and the matters about to be presented for discussion clearly meet the circumstances test of such act the Board of Education of Somerset Hills now adjourns its public session to reconvene an executive session for the purpose of discussing the following Personnel student matters contracts negotiations and litigation can I please have a motion to go into executive session Mr Baker and Miss Cooper second thank you okay good evening every everyone we have just returned from executive session if you could please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all hey thank you all for coming this evening and I am going to hand it over at this time to Dr brochel for the report of the superintendent thank you okay one second here so it's always a pleasure to be able to start off uh with our kids and our our student reports and uh our first uh student report uh is from the middle school and we have uh Xander dear and Olivia Hamada that I will invite on up I see Xander back there and uh and uh Olivia come on up how you doing hi I'm zener dear I'm in seventh grader at Burnsville Middle School I'm on the culture climate team cross country and the Spring Track teams I'm here to speak a little bit about them currently there are 35 boys and 28 girls on the team we are led by awesome coaches Mich hollerin Miss inod and Mr D Simone we have nine meets this year and the Great and the greater Moors County Invitational is taking place tomorrow this event is for the top six to eighth grade Runners last year we played second overall in our division we're looking forward to a great finish again this year our BMS culture climate team helps plan events to encourage spirit and Community last year my friends and I organized a staff versus student cookb tournament through culture and climate that was very fun we are brainstorming some new and exciting ideas for this year so stay tuned lastly we have our student council election coming up this week with the winners being announced Tuesday October 22nd thank you for allowing me to come tonight and share some of the great things BMS is working [Applause] on hi everyone my name is Olivia Hamada I in e8th grade and I'm in the BMS culture and climate committee I came here today to talk about an anti-Semitism presentation I attended last week at BHS an inspiring story told by Carol mosca the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust Survivors she told us her experience of getting to know her grandfather who passed away during World War II with the postcards he sent her grandmother alongside Miss moscot were a panel of Jewish Community leaders who all brought forth their own personal experiences with anti-Semitism and how to deal with it something I took from the presentation is the importance of planning on being an upstander today instead of in the moment while the focus was on anti-Semitism the message was clear that hate towards any group of people should not be ated never again is now meaning anything similar to the Holocaust should never happen again and we should be aware of this thank you so much to miss garao for letting us eighth graders have the opportunity to listen to this inspiring story and now Take A Part in spreading the message thank [Applause] you and we have Claire Taylor Who's going to represent the high scho school tonight come on up Claire good evening everyone I'm Claire Taylor a senior here and filling in for Nora jerac the usual student rep at for the meetings we have so much exciting news happening here at Bernards just yesterday girls tennis are State sectional Champions after playing against mendum at mendum and winning 4-1 they're backtack state champs tomorrow the girls head to Mercer County Park to play in state group finals also as of yesterday girls and boys cross country are group divisional Champs boys football are also divis divisional Champs and they have a game this Saturday against Governor Livingston homecoming week was two weeks ago and everyone had a great week every every day was a different theme and to end the week off we had a pep rally on Friday October 4th in which hoppy said it was one of the best ones he seen in years we had red out and football one and it was a great night the next day we had our homecoming dance organized by student council and there was a record of 460 people who showed up the fall play is approaching on November 1st 2nd and 3rd students will be putting on the play Rumors by Neil Simon in the pack tickets are on sale now and we of course cannot forget about the environment here at Bernards the green team is still doing the next Trek's plastic film recycling Challenge and they have recycled a wang 650 lb of plastic they still need 350 lb to get to their goal of 1,000 if they get to this goal They will receive a free bench made entirely out of plastic and Statewide recognition the Crimson Bernard's high schools award winning newspaper has sent their first issue out to print they will be traveling to fall press day at Ruckers University on October 28th to receive awards for last year's work last week as the BMS representative mentioned student leaders from BHS and BMS were invited to the youth Summit on anti-Semitism in the pack this event was amazing and we learned from amazing speakers from all over the state and people took home lots of information the Bernardi and the school's yearbook has also started the yearbook process and people are very excited for this year's upcoming events and that is all I have for you tonight thank [Applause] you thank you Claire Xander and Olivia we now have an opportunity to recognize um some very powerful kids uh up at the high school that have um worked very closely uh with some partners of ours over at community and crisis and um I have a resolution for them all that I'm going to read uh but the work that they have been doing and spreading uh the good word and the great messages regarding um healthy living and healthy choices is um nothing short um of amazing and uh they've gone um all the way down to Washington DC on multiple years uh for similar recognitions and um it just really is great to have Partners here I know that I know that um we have some great folks uh just across the way um that do help us uh Focus on on um student services and student support and they are also here to ensure that nearly Around the Clock support for students and families um is a norm um in Bernardsville and in the Summerset Hill School District and Beyond so I'm going to read a resolution that is that each of the students are going to receive uh it's a resolution honoring these particular students for their contribution to the community crisis youth Leadership Council whereas the Somerset Hills Board of Education gives special honor and commodation to dedicated students who are outstanding leaders locally and nationally for community in crisis and the youth youth Leadership Council whereas these students are part of the Bernards high school and serve as a liaison between the high school and community in crisis now therefore be it resolved by the Somerset Hills Board of Education that the members of the board hereby commend these students for their accomplishments as community and crisis youth sector representatives and for participation in the National Youth Advisory Board uh as members for Substance Abuse Prevention and participation in three National panel discussions very impressive when the somerset Hill's Board of Education adjourns this day it does so in honor of the achievements earned by these students and the board secretary is directed to have this resolution reflected in the permanent minutes of the Somerset Hills Board of Education on the 16th day of October 2024 Fiona Vitali come on up Anna kolina borola manari [Applause] Daniel [Applause] Christie Leah yich [Applause] August [Applause] Roy inia [Music] [Applause] sanan Claire Taylor [Applause] Anna T [Applause] gbck although she couldn't be here tonight Amanda wedling [Applause] final congratulations to all the student leaders here um in the room tonight well [Applause] done um our next presentation tonight is a um bit of a uh historical moment for me I've never had this before as a superintendent um but I have a uh resolution here that I would like to read for Mr David brothers who I think is in the back somewhere and Mr Brothers I'd like to invite you on up here [Applause] today so I understand Mr brothers that uh you're no longer coaching lacrosse for us and and uh you have made your intentions to retire known uh we have a um a resolution from the New Jersey Senate and the New Jersey General Assembly um that was presented to me uh and I was waiting for uh the perfect moment to to invite you in and to share this with you and I'm going to read it it's a joint reg legisl legislative resolution uh by Senator bramnick assemblywoman Munoz and a assembly woman M stakus um and um this was read out on the legislative floor uh honoring your work uh in your career as an educator uh and again was forwarded to um to my attention uh whereas the state and general assembly of the St in New Jersey are pleased to honor and salute David Brothers a highly esteemed member of the Garden State Community upon his retirement from from an exemplary coaching career that has spanned a remarkable 34 years and whereas since 2010 David Brothers has utilized his knowledge and experience guiding the boys varsity lacrosse team at burners High School having previously coached at both Livingston and Columbia High School and whereas as a testament to his talent and exemplary effort David Brothers has amassed more than 300 career victories in Lacrosse including eight Division and nine conference championships and a New Jersey state championship title and whereas David Brothers is further appreciated for imparting his considerable expertise as a wrestling coach at Bernards High School from 2006 through 2024 and prior to that at Columbia High School a superb tenure marked by 315 total career wins and whereas a devoted Mentor who inspires his players to be the best they can be David Brothers has established a model to emulate and set a standard of coaching Excellence toward which others might strive and whereas it is altogether proper and fitting for the members of this legislature to pause in their deliberations to acknowledge David brothers and to praise him as an individual of strong character and boundless determination now therefore be it resolved by the Senate and general assembly of the state of New Jersey that this legislature hereby congrat congratulates David Brothers on his well-earned retirement pays tribute to his meritorious record of leadership and commitment and extends sincere wishes for continued success in all the days to come and be it further resolved that a duly authenticated copy of this resolution signed by the Senate President and assembly speaker and attested by the state senate secretary and the assembly clerk be transmitted to David Brothers congratulations sure so I see that you have uh some paper there yes sir okay thank you go ahead have it thank you good evening everyone um very special uh night for my team and I to be recognized by uh the committee here um Dr brochel I can't thank you enough for your support this past season um I've only known you a couple a few couple short years um but you're just an amazing leader an amazing man and uh you really showed my team and our families and myself how much you cared um you just showed it you know you didn't tell it you didn't tell us how much you cared you showed it this this man was at our games uh whether they were home or away excuse me um came to all of our uh postseason games our tournaments he was out on the field um it was just amazing and the kids noticed it and the parents noticed it and it just made didn't play that much harder um so he really showed us what it's all about um so that's my round of thank yous that's my first one uh Mr hoppy who's here tonight I can't thank him enough for giving me giving me the opportunity to work at this in this school district and Coach here um I moved to Bernardsville in 2005 Mr hoppy somehow we found each other he found me um 2005 uh 2006 all of a sudden I'm coaching freshman football here 200 I have a teaching job here and then um 2010 he got me to coach lacrosse here um so it was just an amazing journey and I can't thank him enough for his unwavering Support over the years um just a great man and a great friend um obviously I'd like to my team who's who's not here tonight but I'll get into those guys in a little bit uh my coaches the same amazing guys just an amazing staff uh my parent group what an amazing group of just professionals total Pros um I was so fortunate I became friends with all them when our boys uh were in third and fourth grade and it just been a great journey with them um he very special people and then my wife Dana who's here tonight um I knew I forgot something glasses um who um just been my you know the most amazing wife and and partner in crime in all this she's been been with me through it all and most importantly allowed me to do it the right way um which is just countless thousands of hours years um of of being away from home and being you know with the team and with the kids um so just you know those are few few thank yous so here here's the journey and um I apologize for the length of this but it's it's very important that this story be heard because it's a great story so 2024 was my 34 High School lacrosse season so I was 22 years old when I started 26 years as a head coach one year as an associate head coach 7 as an assistant so I learned a lot it was a fun run and I'm still trying to figure out life without coaching um be honest with you I'm going through a lot of withdrawal right now the last couple months um it was just it was just a whirlwind last the 2024 season so as we all know all good things eventually come to an end in this case the end was called 2024 our theme was last chance that's what our kids said that's what we that's what was written all over our locker room as far as posters and things like that as I watch 2024 unfold I still can't believe what I witnessed for me it was it was just amazing because football 13 in1 State sectional Champions uh having a kid on that team most importantly being able to hang out with all the parents in the stands that was very special time uh wrestling 22 and four um we lost in the semi-finals uh for the states and had most wins in the in a uh season at Bernard High School and then lross we were 21 and three um and you know got got a ring the second ring that my family got one from football and then one from lacrosse so we we were literally points away from getting three rings um what a magical year what a special group of kids and what great families to share what proved to be the greatest sports year I've ever experienced these kids had Larger than Life personalities and were the most confident fun energized bunch of young men I've ever had the privilege to be around our little burnard's high school boys lacrosse team proved to be one of the most feared and respected teams in New Jersey they called us the dragon slayers and many newspapers would call us the giant Slayers because we're a small school and we'd compete against all the group fives and group fours and we were had lots and lots of success against the big schools the 2024 season Seasons with the culminations of 9 years of careful preparation sacrifice commitment determination and passion we set a goal to be State Champs in the lower gym on a rainy day 9 years ago and these kids saw it through during their youth during their youth phase it only took about 3 to four years to become one of the top teams in New Jersey as freshman they were undefeated in games and had only one loss in a preseason scrimmage in overtime to none other than rson who we faced again several other times proved to be our Nemesis as sophomores they all were Varsity starters and won 10 games in the elite Fitch pit Division and really grew up in to men that year the state sectional final game this year was against rson what many people who witnessed the game said that it was the greatest game that they'd ever seen um I'd have to agree with that the greatest game I'd ever witnessed myself so this the the Slate was set early for the 2024 epic battle um and what what a battle that was um 2024 was our last stance of the 9-year dream Journey it proved to be a fair tale story with a fairy tale ending with one of the most incredible scripts imaginable so how did we do it well the key ingredients there's basically six of them one was fun I had so much fun with these kids every day we were so tight-knit family was our motto and these kids truly loved each other two the uh second ingredient stay home this is an important story that everyone needs to hear uh in the Sports World especially but we were able to keep our kids home we had so much talent in this group and over the years many of our talented players would go elsewhere pingry Del Barton seen Hall Prep not this group we were able to keep this group home and we proved when the kids stay home how powerful and how un unbelievably unbeatable they can be so instead of being champions for the other schools this group made a commitment to stay home and we were able to beat all those other teams this past year um they started out when when we were kids we'd go to the tournaments when they were younger all the summer tournaments and I'd be with them all every step of the way and we had jerseys made and on the back of the jerseys we had stay home printed on them and people would ask what's that mean and we just let them know and the kids knew it and the parents started to buy in and as they say the the rest is history um so um we we uh preached it practiced it and we kept our talent home in number three was family like I mentioned earlier the kids knew it and chanted it multiple times a day that's how we broke up all of our huddles that's how we uh entered games that's all we talked about was family every game our families were a huge part of our success especially all of our family legacies and that's what it was all about for example my kid followed his two older sisters who were lacrosse alumni the caldwells Mr Caldwell's here tonight we had four caldwells Jake was on this year team he had told two older brothers who both played in college and the younger brother is currently at Bernards okay um two honey Wells Charlie and Shawn um by the way Jake's at baps and Charlie's at Liu now two sises um Trevor who's at Harvard now Matthew who graduated MIT two Petersons Aiden who's at Clark University now all these kids are playing lacrosse by the way and his younger brother Colin who's a sophomore two D Mitch who's at Kane University now and his little brother Blake who's a sophomore two Stevens Logan who just was accepted to Cornell and his older brother Tyler who's at UVA two Austin Max one of the greatest lacrosse players who right now is although he could probably play at most D1 schools right now he's focusing mostly on his studies but his older brothers both played lacrosse and this last one Kaden cursed you know uh pure inspiration for us he's one of five curss and he's the one who stayed home his older brothers went to Sean Hall and Del Barton Kaden stayed home and helped us win a state championship here we were able to keep him home um he pure inspiration and the team in return played their hearts out for Caden um we had all the pieces all the pieces that it took for this for this to happen it was crafted these pieces were crafted early on and nurtured year to year and we all knew what we had to do fifth ingredient toughness commitment combined many of our players were multisport athletes they played two and three Sports not only were they multisport athletes but they were tough in the classroom as well um higher education was extremely important to my team um and then the commitment of course they were always working hard and striving to get better no one had to tell my kids to work out no one had to tell my kids to study no one had to tell my kids anything it was all self-motivated sixth ingredient with competition best on best every day in practice best best schedule you could ever play we we didn't shy away from anyone we played the best in the state so what did these kids accomplish 64 wins in the last four years they were ranked in 2021 number 13 in the state 2023 last year 14 in the state and this year they were ranked number seven in the state that's a group one small School playing against all the parochial privates and all the big powerhouses 2024's first ever State sectional Championship we were in we made it to the final five times and this team finally broke through this team was in a state sectional final three times and finally winning it as seniors 2024 School record most wins in the season 21 they were able to beat rumps in their senior year which was a great win and and and two overtimes unbelievable first ever state championship we won group two beating perennial Powerhouse Blue Blood Mountain Lakes um only a feat that only a small handful of teams have ever been able to accomplish Waterman division Champions Water Division uh Team of the Year and Water Division Player of the Year first ever Somerset County finals as far as individually what these kids did we had 10 kids on the All State team on one team we had 10 we had three kids make all groups we had five group one first team two group one second team three third team this never happens ever ever happens 2024 is we had two all Americans it never happens 2024 is we had an academic allamerican okay who actually was an academic All American last year as well we had 11 College commits from one team five division one six division 3 this is one team little little burnard high school best LAX team ever in berners high school history in closing I can honestly say that I truly lived the dream and in the process had the time of my life I live across the street you know I walked to school I was able to walk to school with my three kids all who went K through 12 here um I practice I'd hear my dog barking I'd hear my wife and kids in the yard playing I'd see the cars coming and going from my driveway from the field Saturday games I'd get to walk my son to uh the high school he'd be in his uniform amazing stuff walking home from games the same he's being his uniform trophies we won Big Time trophies this year and i' got the I got to walk home in a neighborhood I live in holding the trophies back to my house we'd pull up to the high school and and the parking lot would be filled student body family and friends waiting to greet us beyond amazing getting back to my backyard be my family friends and all the young alumni all the kids I'd coached over the years the lockers are in uh the room tonight uh Matt was my first Captain here on my first team our theme Mantra of Last Chance turned into we did it which is amazing um I love these guys so the parents know the parents that were here um I'll never forget the price that we paid for this and um I uh appreciate you everyone here allowing me to tell their story cuz it didn't happen by accident uh they were one one-of-a kind team so apologize but thank you very much [Applause] congratulations Mr brothers and uh congratulations Mrs brothers and he's all yours now okay um going to continue through um our report [Music] oops Mrs St hours who is a teacher of physical education at the Middle School uh and also the head coach of that tennis team that just won their second sectional championship in a row um she applied for a grant with the American Heart Association and that Grant is in the amount of $2,400 to purchase equipment uh for middle school students to promote healthier lives through the association um this um this story actually began last winter when middle school nurse uh Suzanne Ryan um partnered with Miss SE hours um to contact the American Heart Association to take part in the kids heart challenge and its Mission focuses on teaching children and family uh handson CPR um so it's a um it's a very worthwhile cause um to to apply for and certainly uh we are most pleased uh that the Middle School um was awarded a $2,400 grant um this is done in conjunction with heart healthy week uh it was a bit of a um a homecoming of sorts from for me as one of my uh former students as a high school principal uh was there to hand us the check uh unbeknownst to me and uh it was was kind of a cool homecoming um so it's important to us here to teach this in in Bernardsville and and in in Somerset Hill School District according to the American Heart Association 90% of the people who suffer from a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital do not survive uh so um take that fact home and uh teach yourself and your family CPR too um it's a uh it's a staggering statistic and it highlights the importance of the kids heart challenge uh for the kids that we're serving here today and we are indebted uh to miss St hours and also to uh Suzanne Ryan who has been a um a Hallmark uh over at the middle school Ari Rosen is the burners high school everyday hero uh for this month and uh it's uh you know I kind of feel like a lot of people around here know Ari he is one of the first kids that um introduced themselves to me when I started here uh so it's great to see him um you know be honored and recognized um Ari has been um has a lot of interests as uh we've all kind of come to know certainly in the area of podcasting and media and photography which is uh great uh but he also has an infectious smile and a desire just to make the high school better um so it's uh it's great to see him uh recognized here he represents the student council um again uh creating content uh for the crimson and uh he's also uh not only served as an a leadership role for the Crimson but he's also uh been engaged with some fundraising efforts uh namely with st baldricks um and has had his head completely shaved um for cancer research uh so it's uh great to see him uh honored um as a peer at the high school uh we have some academic achievements that next month we will be recognizing students that have been recognized uh by the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program um more to come there and we also had two students uh who awarded the national Hispanic recognition award and uh we meet again in November on the 20th and we will have a full uh and appropriate recognition there uh as referenced in two student uh reports we did host uh an a first youth Summit on anti-Semitism uh in order to uh educate our student leaders uh in this area and to begin um the process that is um you know a long one to continue to um to educate our young people um not only in the area of of anti-emetic behavior but also um to to to reinforce with all of us adults included uh that it is important um to be an upstander and it is important to confront uh situations that that aren't right and um you the day was uh not only productive um from an exposure perspective to different speakers uh but it was also productive because the students um also had some small group time uh to connect with each other on the topics which uh I'll argue is always um always where kind of the rubber meets the road and you really get to see um just how powerful and how impactful our student body is we have a very successful uh marching band um I did attend uh the marching band preview uh this past summer and I also attend uh many if not all of um their performances at football games and um looking forward to attending um their events in Wayne Hills and at New Brunswick High School as they are in what we call competition season uh so they will compete with the New Jersey music educators Association they hold uh a marching band festival and also the New Jersey Mar marching band directors competition so these are great competitions for um our folks in marching band because they receive direct and immediate feedback from a panel of Judges uh regarding uh the quality of their work and they they also receive uh some great critique on how to move forward and I think in the spirit of um trial and error uh it's been great to see the marching band grow and develop as many of you know if not all of you they practice uh out on our parking lot here and uh they do to keep me uh very entertained from from August throughout the entirety of their season and um it's been it really has been great to see the growth there U that is taking place and um during during football games in particular uh they are becoming louder and louder from the stands and kind of part of uh the fabric of the success of that team and certainly the part of um what I enjoy about um those nights hearing them play and um you know it's been great you heard a little bit about the green team tonight we had Claire back uh Claire tonight is uh this is kind of like the Triple Crown of board meeting participation she served as a student speaker she earned a recognition and she's on a slide uh so that's a that's a busy night and so the green team is close to their goal of 1,000 lbs of uh recyclable plastics uh to be uh collected um but I'll note that they are 400 lb away from their gold so I think it's important that we all recognize that and if there are opportunities for you to um to bring some recyclables to us here at the high school they will certainly take them and it's for a great cause and um certainly Claire and the Green Team um have asserted themselves very strongly uh as student leaders from from the high school in this particular area and it's nice to be able to see um that growth um and that leadership from uh from this great group of kids the beginning of our school year we host a lot of safety initiatives whether um a variety of drilling um that are um not only required by the Department of Education but they're important exercises for us and some of these drills here uh also do include uh bus evacuation drills and not only for uh those students to ride a bus but for every student because at some point along the way they could be a part of a team or a field trip or you know find themselves on on a bus and they do need um they do need to know how to evacuate a bus week of respect was uh just this past week and um more to come on that in the pathways uh the next edition of the pathways which is set to be released uh around Halloween uh and we are doing a lot of our um promotional activities in Pathways around U major holidays I think we have five issues that we're planning this year the first one uh being in a few weeks uh more to come there but um you know certainly um you there were some initiatives to honor the week of respect and to to reinforce uh the importance of um helping uh everyone respect others and you see some initiatives um over at Bedwell here the fall play is on sale uh Neil Simon rumors is um going to be performed on November 1st the 2 and the 3 uh the first is going to serve as a double header of sorts uh we have the play at 5: and football later that evening uh that we're planning on um is is said in the80s and it is a comedy uh during an elegant uh dinner party hosted by New York's deputy mayor uh and I would encourage all of you all to look at our website and look into um our Friday folder uh not only for um instructions on how to access tickets but also for a host of other events so we're looking forward to um to that event we are in the process of reviewing our website and we do have a task force set up uh to examine that and we will be doing that in November uh we do have an outdated website and we we have identified uh two platforms to examine uh one is called final site and one is apto they are both um pretty prevalent in the education space k to2 as far as hosting platforms and uh we do have a group that is going to offer feedback to us regarding uh what they like about each one um what's what they view some of the challenges are we do have some representatives from the HSA and from each of the different schools and and the various departments um trying to get as wide of a a feedback loop uh as possible in order to identify uh a platform to move forward with so we can really hit the ground running with uh that transition throughout the winter and spring spring in advance of July um tentatively uh we're also in the process of developing a District budget believe it or not um so at this point all of the um all of the Departments and principles Etc have uh received their marching orders uh from from me and from Mrs DeMarco regarding the development of that budget uh they typically um have them to us uh by December uh Mrs DeMarco and I then take uh December to really kind of call through a lot of pieces before we start engaging with board committees uh as we did last year uh we will have a retreat that we host uh not only uh for the board's benefit but for the community's benefit and um we're looking forward to doing that in the beginning of March uh we will then adopt recommend a tenative budget to the board in March um and we will set forth that will authorize uh myself and the business administrator to engage with the Department of Education uh in all areas of the budget and then ultimately uh the board uh revisits a final budget um in the April time frame um the dates are somewhat broad at this point the department typically Waits until about January to to kind of issue some of their important due dates um but we definitely will have another retreat in March I found that very valuable um for you and for the community members that were able to attend um so we're looking forward to that um we are looking to install kind of a multi-tiered approach to the lower Fields here at the high school uh so we have a host of a host of items that we will be doing in advance of the next school year and uh we did meet uh recently with facilities and operations committee I want to talk about uh what we're going to do in November and possibly into December and then what we're going to do uh to get the fields ready um in the in the March time frame uh so what we'll do for baseball and softball in the November time frame particularly in the Outfield grassy areas between those two fields and the outfields that comprise the totality of those fields uh we will aate um the grass there uh top dress um the grass by baseball and the grass by softball uh that's about 190,000 Square ft uh by our estimations um the field will be air rated with deep th uh solid core tines that will kind of extract um uh some some fill there uh we will power seed the entire Turf with a sports blend um for those of you that are interested in this we do use a Bermudagrass blend with tall fescue um that process will Appo will apply starter fertilizer as well uh to hasten germination you know of those seeds and uh ultimately topess The Outfield with um 125 tons of uh fertilizer mix baseball and softball will have a similar um a similar approach in March uh that will address um infield preparation uh for the for the playing season uh we typically have done this um in the last few years uh as well and we will be um we will doing we will be doing that uh again um in advance of the uh the season Once the weather breaks um so we got to get the winner first and then then we'll get there um baseball has a similar um similar maintenance plan um in advance of the the playing season um we will address some side issues on the perimeter of the entire infield and Outfield to Define you know what those lines are and removing uh any excess uh side that's unnecessary um and um getting the bases ready uh in and raking the infield um that will that will kind of a bring better clay up to the surface for those particular Fields uh we will uh grade the infield to address any low areas and uh do the same uh with any particularly low areas in the in the Outfield um pitcher mount does need uh to be addressed on an annual if not a semiannual basis uh as well uh so we are um eager to do that work um we have designs to uh engage with a company that's uh involved in the Ed Services Commission of New Jersey Cooperative uh that has done work uh in this space uh before um so a a particular motion due to the uh nature of the vendor uh is not a requirement of the board and and the board is not being asked to vote on it but we will uh certainly have a um purchase order um generated from the business office to conduct that work in advance of the in advance of the playing season um and um you know ensure that the fields are playable now as as a board you have heard me discuss the lower fields in Concept in past board meetings and this is an area that we have taken a deep and Broad look at um we have engaged with Engineers who did develop a report uh who did provide um recommendations to us to address the actual issues that are taking place on the lower Fields uh the long and short of it is that um well below the surface uh there is uh there are multiple um soil types below the surface we did do core samples all over the lower Fields uh there is a significant amount of clay um about 6 or 8 Ines down uh that is making water impenetrable um and creating further uh issues and challenges for that field and I just want to be clear with the board and clear with the community that we are getting the field to be playable for the coming season there are larger projects that we need to address in the lower Fields um in the coming in the coming future um this process is a long one uh this process will include uh regrading of the entire the entirety of the complex uh that process also will include if the if the board elects to go in this direction uh to essentially uh shut those fields down from multiple growing Seasons uh which would require relocation of particular Athletics um it's no secret that we are um don't have a lot of recreational spaces here um in the general vicinity of the high school but uh to do it right and to really address what the engineering reports require um it's a significant project uh with multiple multiple layers of challenges um not only from the engineering side and just the the scope of work side but also from working out logistics with uh teams that currently practice there so um you know and that would be in order to address the the issues that are taking place under the grass um and again we did engage with our Engineers um who were very deliberate in their work and offered us uh about six recommendations overall and identified really which of the recommendations really would be the best uh so in past board meetings and committee meetings we did talk about a trenching um a trenching initiative and a trenching project and ultimately that Still Remains to be the best thing that we could do uh in that space um in the lower fields and what that would do would uh it would create a trench essentially from the baseball third Baseline all the way to the school uh about 5 or 10 ft apart for the entirety of the field um and it would redirect water um from from the field you know outward to uh some drainage and would be moved away from those lower Fields uh so the the lower field initiative is a broad and deep one um so we kind of have a multi-tiered approach here the first uh the first non-negotiable is to get the field playable for this for the coming season um however what we are proposing to do is essentially kicking the can down the road a bit um and then does rely on uh future budgets to absorb that work um now we did in the budget motion that I asked the board to approve last year uh we did earmark $250,000 to this work what will happen is um we will return uh the balance from that 250,000 back to our Capital uh Reserve allocation okay and then um the our budget season will be highly instructive as to um you know what we can do uh when we can do it um and uh certainly in the event that uh we move forward with with what truly needs to be done um in this space um we will then kind of talk about uh Logistics uh as well on on how that is done but I just want to be clear with the board this is a scenario that um that has culminated after tens of years of um just kind of maintaining the status quo and um you know not not really um evolving and it's no no one particular group's you know issue or or responsibility but at this point um as your superintendent this is what I'm telling you the experts are um recommending to us and this is what you know I'm sharing with you as far as um kind of like a long-term a long-term scenario I wish the news uh was better long term um but um you know but certainly uh there are some opportunities to um to certainly examine you know what's what's in the best interest here but the way the fields are constituted now um multi multifaceted uh challenges they are taking on a lot of water that are coming down um from the upper Turf um and essentially there's not a lot of place for it to go due to the composition of the soil so just wanted to be able to provide as direct as possible of an overview of of the lower fields and um you know we will continue to work uh with vendors and uh and our engineering team um at uh at Solutions and you know certainly we don't want um you know we look at like the worst case scenario as to you know shutting Fields down for very long periods of time but um you know ultimately if the goal is to solve the issue then that is what a um that's that's how you get to that solution so shared um some good news tonight about community and crisis and we are working with them um they um know surpris a lot of the work they do is is rant on grants uh they have a major grant that they that is ending it's a five-year Grant and they're looking to reapply uh for that and in order to reapply for that we do need to do a um kind of a status check on their services uh what the community in general um from our perspective is in need of and um to help them develop a strategy to renew their application um so there are some major topics that are on cic's uh radar uh certainly student mental health and substance abuse um being one of them uh or two of them uh they will be aligning their application to the newly released uh CDC report called promoting mental health and well-being in schools and um they also are looking to expand U Mental Health First Aid training and that is a training that uh we have done in the k to2 space and they're looking to um expand that work probably at the community level um and um also focusing on new substance abuse uh prevention messages and um targeting uh particular populations which are vulnerable and they have cited uh athletes as being uh part of that Target population um just as a look ahead uh we are continuing to take some initial steps here in doing some energy auditing uh in an effort to be uh more energy conscious as far as how our physical plant in in all of our buildings operates uh as school board members you have some training opportunities coming up shortly uh we will be commencing our work on the lower field um a bit repetitious but the fall play is November 1st 2nd and 3rd uh we have our committee meetings uh that first full week of November Athletics is ending and we are reviewing our website and Madame President that culmin is my report okay thank you very much Dr brutel um we will now move in to public comments for actionable agenda items we very much welcome input from the Public Public comments are welcome at this time on any actionable agenda item towards the end of the meeting there is a second public forum on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes you will be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with New Jersey statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel public comments will be limited to 30 minutes a reminder for all parties in attendance to remain respectful and there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt the speaker's comments thank you in advance for your input and for anyone coming to the podium please reference Mrs DeMarco's timer which will countd down from the 3 minutes so that you're apprised of your remaining time as you speak is there anyone that would like to make a comment on an actionable agenda item right now Cafe redling Claremont Road uh with regards to item number six you're voting on the tuition to verify for Somerset County vocational and Technical High School I want to ensure that that includes options for full-time and part-time students as that was an issue many years ago when my son attended and want to make sure that and appreciate you encouraging students to go part-time or full-time so that they can and yes coach Brothers was my son's wrestling coach while he was a votch student but could still participate in burnard's program thank you very much thank you for your comment is there anybody else on an actionable agenda item U Madame President I just want to uh confirm that that's full-time and part-time students on that motion okay thank you very much um seeing no other comments can I get a motion to close public comments Please Mr Grand pry and a second Miss Nathan thank you so much we will move into approval of the minutes um I will need a motion to approve the public input and action and executive meeting minutes for September 25th 2024 can I have a motion please make motion Miss Cooper and a second Mr Baker and is there any discussion on the minutes NOP okay then roll call Mr Marco please miss Balor yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D grume yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce obain Miss Nathan obain Mrs Ry abstain Mr Baker yes and Mrs frienda yes two three four five six motion carries okay thank you um we are going to move into uh the report of the finance committee but before we do so we we made um a structural change to our agenda which we just implemented last month and we will be having an old and new business section after all committee discussion and roll call has been taken so for the board just a reminder if um an item has not been read out by the committee chair if it is not an actionable agenda item or been discussed through the superintendent report this evening that constitutes New or Old business and um that would come after roll call so I just wanted to clarify that and with that I will hand it over to Mr Baker for the report of the finance committee thank you the um Finance committee met on September 30th um for about an hour all five members were in attendance along with Dr brochel and Mrs DeMarco plus um Mr Brian Morris from Phoenix advisors um we talked um it's Mr Morris was uh attending via um a phone call and he was doing that so he could answer questions from the board about the possible referendum that we're thinking about having next next November um and he's done some calculations as we' talked about in the past about what it would take to do a referendum for major projects um and those projects that we have on our radar would be stem res stem reservation Renovations security upgrades HVAC upgrades and anything else that would come forward once the architect finishes the long range facilities plan um he came up with a number of 35 million which would be tax neutral um using a 3.5 to 3.75 interest rate and assuming that the state would fund 40% of those capital projects um the reason it's tax neutral is a lot of our bonds are coming off um and they're going to be maturing over the next two years so the taxpayers could certainly um fund the $35 million that's just the ballpark as we March closer to the um to the referendum point that could change so we he answered our questions and he stressed that we need to make up our mind on this issue to put it on the ballot by the end of this year here so the board's going to further discuss so the board's going to have to make that final decision that we're going to go to a referendum next November because it takes a lot of work as many of you know who worked on referendums before it's not an easy thing to do and we have to get all our ducks lined up um the second item we talked about and Dr brochel talked about about the donation from the American Heart Association we're formally approving that that um grant that we reive for 2400 hours that will be that's item number seven on the agenda the third item we talked about was the use of rev track which is our point of service um credit card processing system we use for all Student Activities fees athletic fees things like that we've converted to Genesis for all the school lunch fees and breakfast fees and when you use a credit card with for food you're picking up the fee of the school pays for the credit cards the use of rev track we are now um the school is picking up the fees and the parents are are not paying them um the plan is to convert everything to Genesis by next school at the start of next school year and uh the board has to make a decision whether we want to push these fees out to the parents the parents La the fees last year were $4,300 for credit card processing um so Mrs Demarco is going to come up with some more information on that and we'll continue to talk about that um at our next few meetings um last item was our uh our financial audit the the work has been done inhouse they're writing their reports um in the exit exit interview they did mention that we need to do a better job on our Student Activity fees that are done by each of the three schools it's inconsistent between the three schools the the the reconciliations every month are not done as the accountants would like to see um so Mrs Demarco is going to come up with a plan the board can approve because it will be in the audit so that would be the only audit finding that we expect to see in the final report and the final report will be January probably more February February okay so so our our auditor will come in February and give us those nice thick books um that we can read through um so that's the end of my report I'll turn it back to Mrs fra thank you so much Mr Baker um at this time I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1 through 12 on the agenda Mr Baker and can I get a second Miss Cooper thank you and any discussion related to the finance report just just to clarify because we talked about it a bunch of committee in terms of R track versus um the fees for the families there's still the option if people choose not to use credit cards to be able to pay in cash or by check directly to the district right to help to remove those fees so if we do choose to use that $4,800 potentially for something that goes more directly to the students in the future um that is a um outlet for the community if they don't want to incur those additional fees um or if they don't have a credit card available to be able to use we still do accept everything through other forms of payment so I just want to make sure that was clear for the community yeah I think the only thing we're not accepting is is no is crypto right now so yeah we can stay away from that I know or or or or gold bars I don't think Mrs DeMarco has a way to handle gold bars but anyway um yes that we will certainly take cash or checks yeah that that's a very good point anybody else no okay roll call please miss Cooper yes Mrs D grite yes Miss Gil yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Bard yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay and does anybody have any items for New or Old business this evening for finance nope okay then we will move on to the report of facilities and operations Mrs Santoro is not here this evening so I am going to stand in for her and read the report of the fno committee um the committee met on September 30th at 4:30 p.m. and um we just it was a brief meeting where we discussed a few items the first of which was the committee received an update on the status of the BHS lower Fields um I'm not really going to reiterate that as Dr brochel gave a very in-depth explanation regarding that work and where we are in that process um following that discussion we reviewed a presentation by Schneider Electric the company that performed an energy analysis for the district in February of this year the utility bill analysis revealed that the district is not in the best position in terms of Energy Efficiency while Bedwell is performing slightly above the national average BMS BHS and the all cup building scored well below and all district buildings have a significant way to go to become energy STAR certified increasing Energy Efficiency would dramatically reduce utility bill cost and allow the district to reallocate those funds to other areas in need of improvement or growth throughout the district this was just an initial discussion on the topic to view the implications and opportunities that upgrades would provide and discussions will continue on the potential for that work and then uh for information the committee received an update on the status of the turf lights it was expected that our land use attorney would have the application for the planning board completed by Friday October 4th and that the presentation given by musco um to the public was sufficient and appropriate to submit as part of the application and subsequent presentation before the planning board and there will be more information to follow and that is the totality of the facilities and operations report for this month so at this time I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through four on the agenda can I have a motion please miss Nathans and a second Mr grandpre thank you so much and is there any discussion for facilities and operations yeah I have a question regarding um the shortterm work on the lower fields that you you uh presented today is do we have a sense of the cost of that work uh approximately 38,000 2 I'm sorry so uh it's about 28 for the Outfield and a little under 10 for the infield work to be done prior to the season thanks follow up on that so of the 250,000 that was originally set aside we're going to we're going to take that money out of there so approximately $210,000 going back in thank you approximately yeah is there anybody else for f Ando just to combine the conversation with Bob's on a potential referendum is this something that we would ball into that approach or so I think it's early to say one way or another um I have a few few items that I'm juggling in the area facility ities as we look at next year's budget preparation so I'm not prepared um to say that it's not doable you know budgetarily um I will say it's a lot of money um and I will say that it's a it's a bit of a challenge um you know overall but it's I think it's early to say you know let's let's not do it through the general fund let's not do it through our budgeting um and in instead do a referendum I think we're early on that so that'll probably be a winter situation that I'll give you my final opinion on okay thanks anybody else NOP okay then roll call please Mrs D grume yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes obstain on two three and two and three and number two and three okay uh Miss Nathans yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Cooper yes and Mrs fenda yes motion carries okay thank you and are there any new or old items for future fno agenda and discussion nope okay then we will move on to the report of the curriculum committee Miss Cooper the curriculum committee met Wednesday October 9th for two hours all committee members attended along with Dr brochel Dr Butler Mr Catelli Dr Nigel and Miss Galo uh we're also lucky enough to have a special guest miss Karen Maxim the executive director of group grouo coola a group designed to help the Maya mom community in Morristown she joined us to discuss the history culture and challenges facing the mom Community both here and in guala we began the meeting by discussing a brief overview of the mom community in our district according to Mr Catelli survey data indicate that approximately 40% of our Hispanic students are originally from a mountainous region in the Southeastern part of Guatemala a region uh of the of the country known as palestinia Palestina de lalos he then uh introduced Miss Maxim who gave a highly informative presentation on the history of the the mine culture within Guatemala as you may already know the ancient Mayan civilization included Guatemala along with Southeastern Mexico Olive B and the Western portions of Honduras and El Sal Salvador this Mesoamerican civilization thrived between 2000 BC and the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s it is known for its ancient temples mathematics calendars astronomy and architecture it's also had the most highly developed writing system in the Americas in the pre-colombian period although the Spanish Conquest Stripped Away many of the defining features of the Mayan empire at least 22 different Mayan ethnic groups along with its uh each with it own language remain since the arrival of the Spanish the indigenous May Mayan people have faced centuries of Oppression and discrimination with limited access to Education Health and fairly paid work um in fact Guatemala has the lowest budget for education in Latin America and the oligarchic government that rules Guatemala is notoriously corrupt education past sixth grade is limited and only 58% complete sixth grade um even when children are able to attend elementary school resources are limited and transportation can be difficult most students who are able to attend school learn in both mom and Spanish however until the recent past students used to be punished for speaking mom in school even when children can read mom in latinized characters there are few Books available to read in their language however Miss Maxim is working with a publisher to make B books and Mom more widely available unfortunately poverty is endemic in Palestina delalos and is the primary reason people migrate in fact 52% of families in the area have sent family members North to escapee Poverty uh remittances from migrants comprise 13% of the economy in the region and for people who remain farming and subsistence farming is critical uh corn and the corn growing cycle anchors the community uh Miss Maxim emphasized the cultural Rich of richness of the region in which community members value family their neighbors and respect for elders Miss Maxim also emphasized the difficulty of the journey from Palestina m alos to the US and the toll that it can take on can on children and their families in fact the journey North is long and dangerous even under the best of circumstances and migrants making the journey inevitably incur an enormous debt which they must pay off when the when arriving in the US many migrants may be traumatized from their Journey but are often unwilling to discuss it consequently these students and their families need our support and the committee plans to continue these conversations in uh in future meetings uh next Miss grao and Dr joined us to discuss the summit that they held to address anti-Semitism in our district which we've heard about a couple times tonight um during the summit a group of student leaders who included members of the student council the leaders of the larger clubs and 15 to 20 students identified by by the student leader leaders participated in the summit adult panelists included local leaders from the Jewish community and highly highly experienced in teen Outreach both Dr Nigel and Miss grao reported that the meeting was successful powerful and highly productive and and that the students were actively engaged uh when the committee asked about the rationale for this particular format the administrators emphasized that the most successful initiatives for students require the buyin of students still the community the committee emphasized the need to communicate these messages to the en entire student body and not just the students identified as Leaders efforts to more broadly communicate these messages are still in the planning stages the next on item on our agenda was the response to a request to at the last public meeting regarding a survey on health standards conducted in in 2020 Dr Butler discussed the objectives and the results of this the survey of the school Community which was conducted before the new curriculum was implemented the purpose of the survey was to help inform the administration on community concerns regarding the health new health standards at the time and to determine the percentage of parents who might consider opting their children out Dr Butler uh also presented the numbers and percentages of the students who opted out of the health curriculum in the past couple of years in the 2020 2 to 2023 school year 6% of students opted out while last year only 1% opted out the significant decline in the number of opt outs suggests that families are comfortable with the sensitive and thoughtful manner our teachers have in Incorporated the new standards into the curriculum Dr brochel has also also indicated that he has not received any complaints or concerns regarding this curriculum and emphasized that any P families that have concerns about the curriculum should reach out to their students teacher or principal given the declining numbers of opt outs and the lack of complaints and the fact that the board unanimously approved updates to the curriculum in August the majority of the committee agreed that no changes or additional discussion in committee were needed at the present time the next items on the agenda were field trips and professional development and school business requests no concerns were raised by the committee regarding any of these requests we then briefly reviewed several um informational items distributed prior to the meeting uh first we reviewed a schedule of the of the standardized assessments that would will be ad ministered this year such as the NJ GPA the NJ SLA and access assessments Dr Butler also provided the summary of the members and the goals of the committee recently appointed to enhance our District's AI policies the new committee consist of staff and administrators from Somerset Hills and the Bedminster School the committee will me meet at least three times to discuss goals and challenges work in small groups to draft policy language and review and refine the draft we're also given access to results of a survey on AI use designed to inform the committee's discussions and to guide their work in this survey our staff was asked about current use within the district attitudes towards AI use and outstanding needs and challenges related to AI these data will help the committee draft an AI plan for consideration by the board and finally Dr Butler informed us that the district has completed its Hib self assessment which is required annually in this self assessment the anti-bullying Specialists evaluate the strength strengths and challenges of the team and the process to continually improve and that concludes my report thank you so much Miss Cooper at this time I would like to ask for a motion to approve action items number one through four on the agenda I'll make the motion uh motion and Miss Ballard for the second and um is there any discussion regarding the curriculum report I just wanted to comment on I'm very happy to see that the district is doing the AI committee I was just reading yesterday I believe um in the paper record that um parents are now beginning to sue districts over punishments needed to students who use AI on their papers and I think that a clear um definitive policy on the use of AI when doing writing is um is Thoroughly appropriate not only so our students understand what the strict are but also so that um you know teachers have good guidance on that as well okay yes Mr gr pre to that point I know a bunch of us attended the AI um presentation by New Jersey school boards in the last week I thought it was incredibly informative in terms of how it can be used safely but yes there does need to be structures placed around it ensuring the students are using it appropriately as well as the Educators um but it can be incredibly engaging and Incredibly helpful and thoughtful in promoting student growth um so so we obviously are working on the policy and everything else but we will be looking at that carefully but it's not a not in the district I would say it's a carefully in the district um after listening to that presentation yeah and to that end um those of us that attended received the actual presentation that was given and they're embedded blanks so if there's anybody you know on the board that would like to take a look at that you can certainly share that I assume they're giving a similar presentation next week I didn't look at the I didn't look at the okay no worries I Haven I'm sure there's something I would think so right there's got to be something yeah yeah the um I also heard the same talk and and um I would recommend all the board members who go to Atlantic City attend as many AI seminars as you can and I've been reading since the Nobel prizes were given out to three three gentlemen this week um who were the grandfathers of of AI um and I interview I read the one interview of of of one gentleman and he says CU that's the problem he says it's not as dangerous as people think it is you know CU it's not artificial genuine intelligence which for 10 years from maybe 20 years from but he say it's it the current generative AI is about as smart as your pet cat um which I laughed at and then I started thinking about my pet cat and he's right it regurgitates the large language model it regurgitates a lot of information um a lot of companies are going to small language models that keep it inhouse there's been a lot lots of articles are just every single day there's articles so I I implore everybody to read about it because it's very complex a lot of misinformation there's good and bad just like any new technology good and bad so I'd recommend we all need to get better attuned so we can make it make a good decision when we have a policy in front of us finally to vote on so they spoke a lot about augmented intelligence versus augmented yeah there's there's um so many different ways you can make it better but it's just it is phenomenal but it's a little scary and I think what what the gentlemen that we all heard the high school kids are not being taught how to do how how how to engineer a prompt because prompts are important for AI if you don't give a good prompt you get bad bad um bad result so um back to garbage in garbage out right right so I think we all we all have a lot to learn and I'm looking forward to going down this path thanks is there anybody else for curriculum um sorry and another um I really appreciate um the district bringing in someone who could really explain to us in pretty Frank terms uh what some of our students have experienced in their Journey from their native country to America and and how that affects every aspect of not only their life you know at home but in particular um the way we we I don't want to say deal with the way that we treat them in the schools with the kind of caring and um concern that we have for all students particularly for students who have experienced extreme trauma thank you is there anybody else I just want to add to what Pat said because I don't it wasn't mentioned um I think it was 85% right Nicole she mentioned that 85% of females crossing over can expect to be assaulted um in a way that no one would ever want to that's 85% that was sobering she Shar she shared a lot of very important and in informative and instructive information for us um thank you is there anybody else okay then roll call please miss skills yes Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathans yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs de gr pre yes and Mrs frienda yes motion carries okay is does anybody have any new or old business for curriculum no okay then we will move on to Personnel Mr Grand pray okay so the policy and Personnel committee met on September 26th for approximately an hour and 15 minutes and in regards to Personnel we reviewed the proposed agenda items for personnel okay thank you so much then at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to approve action items number 1- 16 on the agenda I'll make the motion Mr Grand prey and a second Mr Baker and any discussion for personnel okay roll call please Mr Joyce yes Miss Nathan yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D gr pre yes Miss gills yes and Mrs fenda yes Mo okay and is there any new or old business for future agendas for personnel no okay okay policy so so in regards to policy I'm going to break our second reading discussion which was most of our meeting into two separate discussions um the first was looking at um the facility use policy so 7510 um came back to the committee with input from the community there was a request that we received to look at time for Youth Sports um in recommending either having the lights on later in the evening with an extension time to 9:00 p.m during the weekday or more late night opportunities for them to use the field um the committee is recommending um that the current light time seems to fit the high school needs in terms of 8:00 p.m. and the 16 uh nights in the evening um and there is some additional space within that for district Town youth sports teams to be able to have access to the field what we are requesting of the community um is to take a look at what times people are needing over this fall and this spring um to see if we truly do have a true need for more light time um then we can certainly have further discussions with that the other piece that is um of note I'm sure many people have seen it if you've been around Bernardsville and the sports fields at all is that the polo ground lights were going in and are currently in um so that will be an additional lighted field that the community will have access to um now before our lights could even potentially be going up so we'd like to see how that all balances out before we make any decisions and be very thoughtful about it and moving any time changes um or any add additional hours um additionally we made recommended changes to those policies to include that facility requests are going to the business office um rather than to the principal's offices to help to remove um a little redundancy um and also we are looking to remove the language that was in there related to Pop Warner for five and 5A from the policy so that it would not be um selective to any specific Sports um additionally we looked at the fees for usage um and we made some minor changes there regarding the eliminating of a separate CH separate charge for the tier 2 light usage um and we decided since there was no rush to implement our changes since many of them do focus on the lights we were going to keep this policy in second reading um and hold it from approval to be thoughtful in our process ensure we have no further Community feedback um and move it forward when we were ready to in terms of procedurally um and if we even are up lights we're not done with that yet um in terms of approvals um the other policy we looked at was 9181 in terms of volunteer coaches and booster clubs which came up in our meeting uh last month in public and it was a request to look at it um there were some minor changes that were recommended in the meeting um but after the meeting we did realize that the policy that we reviewed in committee was not the current Post-it policy in its comp in its complete form um so we're going to hold that again and take that back to our November meeting and make sure that we have um a true look at what is currently in policy and any changes that we want to do um to those policies going forward um and then the other policies that were in second reading did not have any comments so they would be moving forward for approval this evening and that is 2200 the curriculum content 3160 physical examination and teaching staff um 3160 which is the regular ation 4160 physical exam of the support staff with their regulation as well 5200 in terms of the regulation of attendance 5337 for service animals 5350 for student suicide prevention 8420 for emergency and crisis situations 8467 for firearms and weapons and 84 um 67 the regulation as well um so I believe that is it and in terms of f fut topics will still have on their facility use and the combination of booster club and volunteer coaches okay thank you and at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to approve action item number one on the agenda I'll make Mr Grande and a second Miss Ballard and discussion for policy I have a question for policy number 5350 the board director all School District staff members to be alert to a student who exhibits warning signs of self-destruction or who threatens or attempts suicide any such warning signs or the report of such warning signs from another student or staff member shall be taken with the utmost seriousness and report it immediately to the principal or designate um the only thing that concerns me is the paragraph that follows it um if the parents don't want to participate then um uh uh I'm sorry dcpm p is called in what if the parents just want to deal with it privately and not involve the school I know the school's been involved now because the child has said it or somebody reported that the child said it or was overheard what if the parents are like great thank you for informing us we want to take this on privately so we still have a responsibility to ensure continuity of care um and and frankly partner with W with the family at at their discretion but we also have an obligation to ensure that um the child is able to return and we also have an obligation to ensure that we have a third-party medical examination to ensure that uh the child is safe and not a danger to himself or herself um or or their classmates um so there is a level of co-operation there um so it shouldn't be inferred that the family wouldn't be involved but if we're going to hope you know host them into our classrooms we certainly have to go through uh an appropriate clearing process as well so they showed you their the child is seeing a doctor see that kind of is in that hip of violation then so we would need an assurance from um a medical provider that examined the child that the child is cleared to return to school okay and what about a child who threatens or self hars offsite and no one knows about it but the family is the family obligated to tell this the district so you know you as a school district you're kind of you can only work with what you're given so um I wouldn't say that they're obligated many or most do um just so we are aware on the dayto day um but there's not a okay parent obligation per se but I would say that most look at the schools as their Partners uh particularly as it relates to um the health and well-being of their child so many do alert um a school counselor or a nurse nurse or a person that they feel most appropriate to deal you know with the information in a sensitive way okay thank you anybody else else I'll just say I like the idea of sort of putting the um facilities usage pertaining to lights on the shelf for right now just to gather more information on uh the need for it no one else roll call please miss Nathans yes Mrs Ry yes Mr Baker yes Miss Ballard yes Miss Cooper yes Mrs D grume yes Miss gills yes Mr Joyce yes and Mrs Renda yes okay anything for New or Old business for the policy committee no okay then um the next item on the agenda is student services however the committee did not meet during this cycle we expect to meet every 6 to 8 weeks um as the work of the committee is going to be more in-depth we'll take more preparation and meetings will tend to go a little bit longer um we will be e we will be meeting again on October 28th and there will be a report out on that meeting at our November public meeting um and we are going to move into board announcements the views and opinions that may be expressed by individual members of the Somerset Hills Board of Education during board announcements are solely those of the individual board members and do not reflect the views opinions policies regulations Andor positions of the Somerset Hills Board of Education Andor any other individual members of the board um is there anyone that has anything for board announcements this evening yes um building on uh something that Mrs rling broke up brought up about um the Somerset County votech I just wanted to bring to folks attention that they are having an open house uh October 19th 9:00 a.m. to noon um I feel strongly about the program there um I have three kids who went through the school district and um my son's went a more traditional path but my daughter split her day between uh votch she did all her academics here at Bernards and then she went to votch for all of her other courses and she made she focused on Dance there and she went on to um get a BFA and dance and she currently is a uh program director of a dance company and School in New York and um she serves on the alumni Advisory board at votch and I don't say that because I'm extraordinarily proud of her which I am but I think it just shows the higher regard of which she holds the school I've known other students have gone on to successful careers in uh in auto repair and also students in the theater program who have gotten accepted to schools such as juliart and I can see on the um this program here that they have new programs in HVAC Finance biomed Transportation Logistics so I think just how we work to honor our students where they are a lot of students have different needs and this is an opportunity that folks might be interested in so I just wanted to present it um if I could on that point I meet with our kids and and students in general from uh Somerset County votek on site there uh and I can attest to the quality of their programming um I believe that it's our role to prepare students for careers that don't exist yet and um whether that happens here or at uh vote it really is up to the student there are outstanding facilities uh terrific um uh terrific instructional staff there and great opportunities um frankly there is appears to be a significant amount of funding uh going in at the county level um to Somerset County votch uh they are building you as we speak and um it is a very very strong alternative uh an opportunity uh for kids um and I I get the ability to see what it can be firsthand and it's uh I concur it's very strong do you think they're expanding it MH yeah I think they're bringing on Supply Supply Chain management uh program they they are building a new facility I know it's very competitive yeah there's an application process um but there's there are programs as as traditional as as um HVAC and and auto mechanics to uh things that are um very technology heavy um and everything in between they just did a great presentation at BMS a few weeks ago our our kids came home talking about it talking about careers that really never thought would have crossed their minds before so they did a good job so same feedback yeah it's probably obvious but I don't like to miss a meal and there's a there's a culinary arts program there that is uh typically the best meal of the month um very very good as well as a medical science program it is considered one of the best in this St very difficult to get into tremendous County resource that our kids have access to so certainly um a good announcement thank you Miss Ballard is there anybody else no okay we will move into the second public comments period Then public comments are welcome at this time on any topic please state your name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes at 3 minutes you'll be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so an individual May return to the the podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board feels there is a misunder understanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent May address the comment in accordance with New Jersey statute the board will not discuss matters regarding specific Personnel a reminder for all parties and attendance to remain respectful and there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience no members of the audience should interfere with or interrupt the speaker's comments we thank you in advance for your input and I just direct you to Mr Marco's timer again she sets it for three minutes and if you are at the podium and speaking it will be counting down for you to just be mindful of how much time you have remain in because I unfortunately do have to interrupt at that 3 minute Mark so if there is anyone that would like to come to the podium to make a statement good evening my name is magdala I live here in Bernville in Douglas Avenue and today I'm reaching out for my son Braden who needs help at school he's currently attending BMS um Britain used to have a par in elementary school that helped him navigate through his daily routine and because of that he was very successful the par got taken away almost at the end of the school year being that be uh fifth grade is a new building and part of the Middle School Bren is having a hard time navigating and keeping up with his classes schedules and homework and sometimes wondering the hallway lost so causing him not to make in class on time and full of confusion unable to concentrate and very frustrated Bren is failing to bring the required materials needed for his classes I do not understand how the school system is allowing a child who is so clearly struggling to get acquainted clearly has an IEP and on the Spectrum for autism and ADHD to fail so terribly we believe that Braden has the ability to be successful in middle school but only with additional help that's what I'm here today to urgently ask that his parot be reinstated I also reach out to Dr Butler he was very professional responding to my email but um she forwarded the email to miss kwans she never acknowledged or respond to my email so that's why I'm here tonight thank you thank you for your comment hi Alison lebrero Steven Street my daughter had the pleasure I'm here with magdala my daughter had the pleasure of being in class with Braden during kindergarten first grade and second grade when he started in kindergarten he really struggled although I was not in the classroom daily I did get to witness his educational and social growth throughout the years unfortunately his Aid left abruptly in the middle of last year and his parents were told that he no longer needed this assistance this is similar to what I mentioned at the last board meeting once the district provides children with the support they need which can be a long and difficult Road this often leads to great success and then it seems to be taken away without much forethought instead of recognizing that the child Su is succeeding because of the accommodation it seems the school often assumes that the problem has been resolved rather than continue to build on the growth children can regress when not providing with the proper interventions last week during my son's IEP meeting the school counselor emphasized multiple times that Jake would be reevaluated this year when I asked what this re-evaluation would involved I was told he would take two tests the issue is these tests will assess his cognitive abilities which I'm confident he will perform well in however these tests don't address the underlying neurodiversity while these children may learn coping mechanisms they will remain on the Spectrum for the rest of their lives therefore their needs will always be fluid as a result different support systems may be needed from year to year to ensure they continue to grow now that Braden is in middle school he faces a new school different teachers each period and a rotating schedule for a child on the Spectrum this can be incredibly overwhelming he's been arriving late to class and without the proper materials materials which must feel extremely dysregulating to him when a child breaks their arm an accommodation is made they and a friend will leave class early to avoid getting bumped in the hallway shouldn't a child like bradden have a similar accommodation as he acclimates to a new school why does there need to be a visible disability like a broken arm to have this type of support shouldn't we also be anticipating that there will be a need like this is it necessary to remove the aid and wait until the child is floundering and missing out on his education until changes are made I would hope that our goal is to be proactive with educational planning yet at the very least we could be reactive as we are a month and a half into school Braden has also been involved in some physical altercations this year this is heartbreaking because the Braden I know is sweet and Mild mannered the only explanation I can think of is that he's suffering from pent up emotion and frustration he is at risk of developing a stigma among his classmates and this is on the school and them failing to provide him with the proper support to be successful [Applause] thank you very much for your comment is there anybody else who would like to come to the podium sure again Kathy redling Claremont really one I have to say thank you Dr Brussel and fici all for talking about the votek high school for kids on all levels of intellect Felicia's and a daughter and son grw up around the corner from each other so it was really cute to see them Go in different ways and I really also have to share with these moms my son has ADHD he had issues we had went through all the struggles in the middle school and why we chose to send him first part-time freshman year and then the L three years full-time because he needed to be Hands-On it was a struggle to what kind of learning the accommodations weren't giving him his full potential and I thank God for my friends the opportunity at the votek high school and I'll bring in AI if I will have another minute that Bob knows he worked for Tesla for six years technically he put himself and his entire group out of business they lost their jobs because AI was trained so well they were all diagnostic technicians computer car mechanics they now work for a variety of Motorola rivan Etc they all found jobs very quickly but AI took very talented jobs because they were very good at their jobs from them so we never know what's coming but I thank you for what you said and what you can do in your future for other children thank you very much for your comment is there anybody else that would like to come to the podium for a public [Music] comment no okay then at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to close public comments Mr Grande and a second Miss Cooper um thank you very much and um the only thing we have left then is a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn okay and a second anybody miss Cooper and in all in favor hi okay thank you very much for coming everyone and for your contributions have a great evening sa November know it's still