good evening and welcome to the South Brunswick school boards um meeting I would ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and please remain standing I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God into divisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for a moment yesterday we were given the extremely sad news that a ninth grader Alan ranit ranit excuse me passed away very early Wednesday morning from a medical emergency the entire board and the district are saddened by Allen's passing and we want to send our condolences to the family and loved ones of Allen as well as his sister Christy who is currently a junior at South Brunswick High School prior to South Brunswick High School alen attended Elementary School at Brooks Crossing and was also a student at Crossroads North please know that tragic news like this affects everyone and it affects everyone differently the high school has shared shared this information as well as it sh it shares resources and information to students about counseling that is available as well if your school does need support please reach out at this time please join us for a moment of silence as we reflect on Allan thank you and please keep Allan his family and his friends in your thoughts and prayers thank you I'd like to Now read the statement of advaned notied the New Jersey open public meeting Act njsa 10 4- 4-6 also known as the Sunshine 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 any business reflecting or affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon the primary purpose is for board members to discuss and vote on board business in accordance ordance with the provisions of this act the board secretary has caused notice of this meeting 48 hours prior to the public including date time and location to be posted in the South Brunswick Public Library the board office filed with the Township Clerk and communicated to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger it is also posted on the district website Mr powalski can I have roll call please miss Julie Ferrara president miss Laura Hernandez here miss Deepa carthik Alicia Khan Mr Raj Krishna here Mr Mike Mitchell present Mr Barry Nathanson here Dr Smith araj here Mrs Lisa Rogers here we have a quorum thank you sir um may I have now a motion in a second to approve tonight's meeting agenda moved by Mr Mitchell um Mr Mr Krishna I'm sorry he had already his hand up Raj Krishna Krishna thank you may I have a all in favor any Nays thank you we will move forward next order of business is the board minutes of December 14th 2023 January 4th 2024 and executive Mee minutes of December 14th 2023 board secretary Mr palowski has drafted the minutes from both meetings and they were P posted on the board portal are there any corrections to the meets as distributed by any board member seeing none we will move on and post the minutes next is the the report of the student representative Defan Lee good evening everyone starting off with some news from the high school we're very excited to announce our upcoming winter spirit week from January 22nd to 26th uh with this year's theme hsbg getsocial student council will be hosting a Spirit Week contest to see which first block class is the most spirited the class with the most Spirit points will earn a free breakfast with extra points awarded if teachers are dressed up as well on Wednesday student council attended the njasc winter conference 24 students from student council and the class councils attended the conference where they were able to participate in multiple workshops and networking opportunities our student council presented a very well attended workshop on running a successful student Senate we are excited to announce that for the 17th year we earned the honor School award this award recognizes accumulated years that schools follow criteria recognized by njc as being important for developing and maintaining a successful student council program we also earned the top 10 projects award for our sbhs feeds the hungry food drive the top 10 projects award recognizes only 10 School each year for outstanding projects or activities that they conduct in their schools we are moving to the next steps in our application process for the standards of excellence award and will be both hosting and visiting the student council from Cherry Hill East High School to conduct evaluations of our student government programs the sbhs pandela play players have been preparing for their opening performance of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory taking place this evening Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the sbhs auditorium more than 30 Deca members were qualified to compete in the State Career Development conference which will be taking place in March and includes a two night stay in Atlantic City the class of 2025 is hosting a spikeball tournament tomorrow night and the World Language Club is hosting an around the world talent show on February 1st the Viking closet is H hosting ing their red carpet prom dress Drive where they will be collecting new and Gently Loved prom dresses formal attire and shoes items can be dropped off at the high school from 7:40 to 3:30 p.m. that's all I have for everyone tonight and I hope you have a wonderful night thank you so much for your report moving on is the report of the president I'm just going to highlight a couple things as you'll see tonight we have a say it again okay I it's something with the sound I'm sorry the um board the board memb seating is a little different this time um we are trying to adjust it so that the board can interact a little differently and better so that's why we have a little different seating tonight um we're going to try it out hopefully it'll work but now all the board members can actually talk to each other um and so that's why it's a little different so we if there's any comments from the boards after word the members would be I'd be um appreciative if I could uh get your comments um the second thing is is the committee structure for 2024 has been set um the following committees and chairs and members are on the following for business operations and Township shared services which includes facilities security transportation and Technology we have Barry Nathanson who is the chair Raja Krishna Mike Mitchell will be the members and the administration point of contact will be Dave poow for policy Alicia Khan is the chair Deepa carthic and Laura Hernandez are the members and Dave is also the admin P for Education which includes curriculum instruction and student services Laura Hernandez is the chair Smith araj Deepa caric are members and Suzanne lbour and Evelyn M Dr Evelyn Mammon are the admin poc in finance mik Mike Mitchell excuse me is the chair along with Barry ethon and Julie Ferrar Dave paloski is the administrative P um we do have two ad hoc committee which is the um advocacy committee myself and Deepa carthic are members and for negotiations um we have Barry Nathanson Raja Krishna Mike Mitchell Alish Khan and myself and our superintendent Mr feder is the point of contact um we also the the board chairs will be responsible for completing the agenda after confirming with a respective admins and ensuring posting of the agenda and minutes to the portal um please ensure that all 2020 3 minutes have been posted you've also received the template to follow for the agenda um please ensure that you review the 2023 goals to ensure compliance within your respective committee and also ensure the goals of that committee are relevant in regard to Liaison positions two members are identified for PTO and school um meetings please ensure you both notify the principal and the PTO president that you are the liaison also just a note when reporting on liaison activities the individual uh the board member liaison that's identified either one should be the one that reports on all um events and meetings at the PTO this way it limits to one individual but you should recognize any board member that was in attendance okay this way it'll also be a more efficient process uh finally the township Liaisons are not listed as yet as we plan on discussing these positions with the township officials to ensure agreement um of or need for the town Boe Liaisons and all all of this information will also be posted on the district website um one goal that we will be doing and I have spoken to Mr feder about this is uh board communication uh that's one of our goals to enhance our stakeholder communication so I've received um approval from U Mr Su Mr superintendent Mr feder I wanted to say doctor Mr feder um that we're going to move forward with a monthly update to the public um we re we send or excuse me the administration sends out on Thursdays updates to the district um what we're going to do is uh relevant information from the board will also be posted on that on the first Thursday of every month so it will be guiding you to specific information regard board committees board information Etc to keep the public much more updated on board activity so you'll be seeing that soon um and I believe that is it yes so that is my report next order of business any questions no okay um next is the report of the superintendent of schools Mr feder first welcome to all of our um extras in our audience today thank you for doing this and coming out um I think they're here because of school recognition month I I'm going to share something before the meeting officially uh was underway um Mrs Rogers held a moment of silence I know that there was sound um issue with the community um for Alan ranit um he's a freshman he was a freshman in our high school who passed away suddenly following a medical emergency so obviously this is you know hits a town hard hits a schools hard and uh moment of silence was held I just want to share that with the community who missed uh any of the word wording that was spoken at that time um on top of that we do have our Schoolboard recognition month which is why we have so many wonderful guests uh so they're going to do their thing but but uh personally on behalf of myself and our team up here uh this is amazing board I can actually look in One Direction and see all the board this is an amazing board um extremely supportive of the staff um the families the kids and um it's as administrators we're we're very thankful that our relationship is incredibly solid always working together does mean we always agree exactly sometimes you're wrong um and times we let you be um but really it's it's uh not not every board is like this so this is an outstanding board and uh glad to have you all back and are another year with the same board so that's awesome and uh so thank you but you'll get you'll get a bigger thanks shortly um it'd be weird to do this and not really talk about the reality that we have a snowstorm coming tomorrow so um I would imagine you're all looking for me to use this opportunity and maybe share some news for tomorrow yeah no I'm not going to do that but I understand why you'd want me to do that I do I do understand that that's mean that's mean I do I do understand that um but right now we're at a board meeting we cannot do that kind of thing at a board meeting so I'm not going to sh share yet plus we have to we have to still work through a few things on that um but we'll be reaching out and letting the families and the students and the staff know what's going on and um I sent out a letter to all of you today at home and to our staff so that's kind of where we are but we are watching very closely and uh we will make uh the decision shortly um another important piece of information uh the preschool Lottery was held and I know fam's involved with that you'll be getting information on that uh by around January 31st so that's what you can expect information on that quick note we have an advisory committee meeting um with the township level for January 24th which is next Wednesday and now I just want to spend a little time on something that affects everybody it's a school calendar so um right now we're asking the board to adopt uh a calendar for the next school year um with that calendar I want to point out a few of the features of the calendar number one starting in September the calendar starts with students and all staff coming back after Labor Day so that's always nice when we're able to do that um another highlight is we're maintaining the week off of no school in November starting from November 4th to November 8th another highlight that we're presenting to the board for approval tonight is that when we hit the winter recess it will actually be a full two we recess he almost jumped out of his chair no that face was the best that what was that you this light right here but extra school for you in July don't worry but um so all that is is scheduled in this one spring break would begin the last day would be April 11th snow day um Ina like you know one of those inclement weather day that we might need is April 21st which is the Monday that follows spring break uh and then the next important piece of information on the calendar this by the way this calendar includes all of the holidays we always um honor and celebrate and the downside to the calendar is it does end very late in June and that is because all of the holidays this year fall on school days this year for example we're ending a week earlier than next year because a lot of them fell on weekends so we didn't need to take off school days so the last day and graduation which we have secured at the Cure Center in Trenton for 10:00 a.m. which is our our time that the high school has tries to keep all the time will be June 27th OU Friday ouch that's the downside but it has a lot of good features uh and there's really no way to make it that much earlier to be honest there's no way to get out of that week and make it earlier make it a couple days earlier but we sacrifice other things um another feature of this calendar for football fans is on February 10th next year just like February 12 this year um the day after the Super Bowl the Monday is an delayed opening scheduled now another one almost jumped out of his chair very nice so the delay opening is because um our teachers do a a nighttime uh conference and we give them time back for that every year so we've just placed that time then it's a time it's a win-win um you know we need to give the time back somewhere either a delay somewhere or an early release somewhere so we do it there so that you know people that do stay up for that game because you know the Jets will be in it again next year I I say I say again because it was only about 50 years ago but it isn't again um uh yes why is this what's happening a lot of you know happening going on tonight I made a very simple comment the Jets will be in the Super Bowl next year I made that comment this year too not work out um so that's what you're being asked to approve um the board has had this for a while and we sent you information uh interestingly enough the last thing I'll share is the school district will actually be closed on Halloween which is Thursday little boy I love him I should be doing this while the students in the audience um so on October 31st this year which is a Thursday we're going to be closed uh that is uh honoring uh the day of Dali and then we are back in school on Friday and then off the next week so it's a wacky scenario but we'll make it all work and other than that that's the calendar that we wanted to make sure the board knew you have had any questions please we can ask those questions but let's hold the questions till let's hold all questions about anything I'm saying now until after because we want to get the kids going um lastly The Invention Convention had to be moved it's now going to be January 27th and that is oh and the pendel players I know Defan mentioned that but the Friday tomorrow night is canceled and they're doing two performances on Saturday and um cool thing about about one of our students I'm going to share this and I'm going to be done um we're going to share with you that one of our 12th grade students um ishan Sinha was named a scholar in the regeneron science Talent search 2024 this is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors competition is owned and produced by Society of science each student who is named a scholar receives $2,000 and each School receives $2,000 we only need like 11 million million more to break even so we need um a lot more students getting than $2,000 this is amazing we congratulate uh isan and this is really you know we we obviously I'm not announcing 20 of these kids this is rare and uh really cool so that's fantastic good stuff and just a shining example for South Brunswick and I will end my report and again hold questions on the calendar if you have any until a little later in the meeting thank you very much and I would like to turn it over to Mr atin principal of Indian field for recognition thank you Mr feder thank you and uh good evening board members students staff and community members tonight we take time to recognize the board of education on behalf of the principles our gift to you tonight is hearing from those you impact hearing from those you do all this work for hearing from those that make you smile hearing from those that make you work so your work so deeply important from preschool through high school students have come to acknowledge and thank you for all you do students will be coming to each board member after their words after the students come visit you we'll have them stay kind of where they are with you so that we can get a nice group photo when we conclude as a momentto for you as well as for the students and their families we hope you enjoy this gift of students words of gratitude Excuse me while I move the podium because we need some all the faces and bodies to be seen we'll have the students start coming up do you hear [Music] yeah you're so good okay go ahead your paper ready hi hi my name is Logan from Dayton free school thank you for numbers for going to Los and L of [Applause] me [Applause] hi my name is Felix from de's play school thank you youtiful staying up wait pass my [Applause] bedtime okay good evening my name is AIA Patel from Indian Fields Elementary School thank you board members for giving your valuable family time for all of us to have the best education [Applause] [Music] possible okay go ahead good evening my name is Julia Herz from booksc crossing school thank you board members for working hard working together to solve problems like we do in school for one second I'll tell you good evening my name is Hari Vera from Brunswick Acres Elementary School thank you board members for creating and joining communities to solve all those [Applause] problems right here go just nice and slow all right go for it nice and slow take your time good evening my name is Frankie Maldonado from Greenbrook school thank you board members for asking all the hard question that needs a a lot of [Applause] thought just wait one second I'll tell you when to go yes yes wa yes L of what you loud no okay take your time nice and slow all right go good evening my name is Chad store from Cambridge Elementary School thank you board members for preparing before meetings so you know what you're talking about oh yeah I like you a lot that was the best dude I can't give you a hug but I want to let me shake your go ahead shake my hand honey gorgeous thank you go ahead that's so cute oh Sour Patch good evening my name is vanela Munchi cutla from monid Junction school thank you board members for holding high expectations for teachers and students that's how we can be our best oh very good excellent good job slow go ahead good evening my name is Connor JN from conso school thank you board members for highlighting important community events so we all know what is happening in South [Applause] Brunswick [Applause] wait good evening my name is Liam Robertson from Crossroad South Middle School thank you board members for attending events at every school that's a lot of events you [Applause] the okay good evening my name is edeline jaquez from Crossroads North school thank you board members for partnering with the Ed Foundation to support needs in our [Applause] schools [Applause] good evening my name is Blessing choma from South brck High School thank you board members for going the extra mile to Trenton to advocate for our district Beyond South Brunswick when she comes back [Applause] good evening my name is kathern Canan from South Brunswick High School thank you board members for taking such great care of our South Brunswick schools okay yeah [Applause] whoop thank you so much to the students in our prek through high school programs for this board presentation and more importantly to recognize the work that you do we hope that you appreciated the gift of hearing directly from them and seeing them in person so that concludes our board appreciation and again we hope you have enjoyed having the students here and hearing directly from them thank you for all you do on behalf of the school district and the principals of South Brunswick thank you um let's have a small favor to ask if I can have all the students in the audience come up here please uhoh you're in trouble all the students in the audience I don't think your mic's working is this working is this on all the students all the students in the audience you want to come on up over here right over here by me right over here he want us to double up or something no no no I don't need you guys for this okay he doesn't need us us but we need you that's PR come on all the way up hi buddy how we doing can I have a handshake all right come on you got to get closer closer over here anybody else in the audience kids only I don't need any parents on this one I don't know what he's doing so we can't do anything yet over here yo yo yo right here right here right here front look at me no you're not taking a picture you're talking to me come here look at me face this way y look at me look at Mr fed listen I'm just going to I'm going to just hit my record button okay uhoh all right so listen so I'm just going to ask you a question and I just need a onew answer to the question okay one word YouTube stop [Laughter] it I love this Kitt he's so cute all right hold let me get this working you ready you ready little guy you ready give me give me a fist bump there we go oh man that was brutal all right here we go how about turn around I'm going to ask a question listen you have to loudly answer the question loudly should we have a snow day tomorrow Friday yes or no no snow day tomorrow they got confused saying yes he meant no school so you want me to try again let's do that one again we'll try again and tomorrow is the 20th tomorrow's the 20 to the questions try again tomorrow's the 19th here we go ready one more try should we have a snow day all right hold on I'm going to delete this one I'm going try again yes here we go I'll start the whole thing ready just don't wait till you hear me ask a question though hello South Brunswick we're here tonight with all of our students and I just have a question to ask them students should South Brunswick schools be closed tomorrow due to the [Applause] snow all right we'll see listen to the recording okay I was just curious I wasn't sure you'll be on the recording you'll be on the recording great now the parents are going to get mad again at the last time listen that wasn't a decision I was asking students their opinion okay that was phenomenal first I I the first thing I want to do is thank Peter and the team thank you so much for doing this it's an honor to be a board member in South Brunswick it truly truly is um we truly respect um the administration the teachers and staff for all the hard work that you do so this is very special the recognition that you give us um and for the children that participated tonight I cannot extend our thanks enough I really can't um the preschoolers come on I mean seriously how cute are they um they did a phenomenal job we also know that we now have Dave's replacement uh he's already dressed in a suit and tie that's Mr that you could be the new business administrator I'm telling you you got the tie going very handsome very handsome but I appreciate it I know that every single board member here appreciates the time that you took to come tonight we know you have homework and we know some of you it's past your bedtime I'm so sorry um but thank you and thank you to the parents for um raising such wonderful kids uh this is why we do what we do um they're they're just great I love kids um thank you so much and now the best part you don't have to stay any longer because we know you have homework and you want to go to bed so if you'd like to leave we're going to take five minutes or so to allow you guys to leave you are more than welcome to stay to see how it happens but feel free if you'd like to go and parents thank you again what what's going to happen this we finish our meeting and then we all get to go home we have the whole rest of the meeting now do you want to stay for the meeting he goes like this dad was like no we're out of here milk and cookies right that was cute milk cookies hot chocolate yum no Sarah patch oo Sour Patch see I don't have any time me give me a chance is that on oh they could hear me okay we are going to continue now um the next order of business is committee and liaison reports um since we have not had an official meeting yet any Committee Member um is there I don't believe there's anything to discuss but I want to open it to the previous chairs if you have anything that you want to speak about um Dr Raj miss carthic Mr Mitchell or Mr Nathanson previous chairs anything no Mr Mitchell oh he was waving goodbye was bad timing that was funny all right great thank you so the um committees will start up um as I had mentioned before please reach out to your point of contact and provide all committee members the schedule of meetings okay next order of business is public comments M yes you I I want to make a comment about uh an event I attended last night yeah um I promised that I would say something I was able to go and visit or support the uh Middle School football banquet last night and I want to thank uh coach Rodriguez and his staff for the wonderful job that they did putting us together last night to recognize our student athletes um the Middle School football program for how handsome how decked out our football team was they all had Ties on and even the one that didn't have a tie on he had a tie for them so I was so impressed and and so thankful for the invitation to attend and and support them it was well worth the extra hour and a half uh you know like they said you know we we put in extra hours not only for meetings but attending events too so this makes it worthwhile and just wanted to share that with the board excellent thank you so much thank you Mr Nathanson yeah so as a member of New Jersey school board uh legislative committee uh I got an update on the law the governor just signed as far as the fer was concerned there was a lot of and I'm going to send it out to you all there was a lot of changes made to the uh Bill the sponsor wasn't happy but we don't care uh they made it a better bill it's still not perfect but it's a lot better it's a lot easier to opt out there there's a lot of other things in it that makes it a lot better so I have a pretty good explanation coming from the legislative Comm so I'll send it out to everybody excellent thank you and that's in regard to the FAFSA by thank you anybody else no very good all right that closes that section of board committee reports in liaison next is public comments on agenda items only the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meeting are available to the public at the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office to permit the fair and orderly expression of comments we ask that participants be recognized by the presiding officer and peras excuse me preface comments by announcing his or her name place of residence and group affiliation if appropriate and by completing the sign in sheet please print legibly or we may be unable to document your name for permanent record each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic Mr palowski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant May address or question board members no discussion between a participant and respondent shall extend the thre minute timeline Mr palowski do we have any um anyone register for public comments we have no pre-registration very good is there anyone in the off audience that would like to make a public comment on consent agenda items only seeing none we will close this portion of the meeting at this time moving on we have no old business at this time and we have no new business at this time next order of business is the consent agenda review by Mr pulowski all set all set all right here we go 5 minutes or less we have uh a very short consent agenda this evening we're approving some transfers some financials and a bills list we're approving the acceptance of revised uh chapter 192 193 funds we have a transportation contract we also have some outof District tuition and we're approving displaced students tuition uh approving um display students tuition contract we have our harassment intimidation bullying student field trips the standard uh professional development travel expense and that being said we have a school calendar that Mr feder talked about earlier and we're approving our board committee and liaison assignments uh will be upcoming other than that you have your personnel agenda or your personnel for the consent agenda and that's your whole agenda this evening thank you agenda in five minutes or less very good may I have a a motion in second for the consent agenda of nov excuse me of January 18th 2024 we will open it for discussion after the second motion may I have a motion please Dr Raj Miss Hernandez is a second does anyone have any questions on the consent agenda Mr Nathan I just have a comment uh under the uh the human resources uh tonight the Mark babage has put in his papers to retire he he is at the high school right now he started in 1990 so he's got 34 plus years so I want to wish him the best you and we also want to wish all those that are retiring as well thank you okay so we have roll call Mr poki for consent agenda Miss Julie ferara accept Miss Laur Mrs uh Laura Hernandez yes Mrs Deepa carthic yes Miss Alicia Khan yes Mr rajer Krishna yes Mr Mike Mitchell yes Mr Barry Nathanson yes Dr Smith araj Mrs Lisa Rogers yes motion carries thank you moving on public comments the second opportunity this is the second opportunity for the public to comment on any matter you are reminded of the previous statement made regarding public comment rules of policy 0167 again at the podium please State your name spell your name and announce your place of residence as well as sign the signin sheet clearly and legibly you will be limited to three minutes and the rules that I had mentioned earlier still apply do we have any members Mr palowsky who ple pre-registered uh we have no pre-registrations but we we do have somebody standing at the podium yes um we have someone standing at the podium yes good evening state your name my name is Albert J lovsky lip OAS and victory sky I'm a resident of North Brunswick New Jersey as you may have seen I've attended most of these meetings over the last year I just want to comment on this Arrangement um as a spectator member of the public this does not seem like a good idea to me uh every I was in management for decades every uh meeting that was organized you always had the chair in the middle and people on both sides this is now more isolated for those two folks down the end there they don't even seem like they're part of the board they should be sitting right in these two seats right over here these people are not on the board they're not elected officials I don't understand the principle behind what you did you before when you had a question from one of the folks standing in you easily turned your head and you could speak to them with no problem why can't you turn your head this way and easily speak to the people here why do those two people have to be isolated like they're like they're in outer Mongolia over there thank you for your comment I am going to respond to that that the board had requested a better Arrangement this is not a debate sir you've made your three-minute comment there's no further debate the um it is also the responsibility of this board to discuss how the arrangement should be this is an arrangement that this board has requested I appreciate your comments thank you very much moving on is there any further business to be discussed no very good please hold on Barry please note that the next scheduled Board of Education meeting is set for Thursday February 8th 2024 may I have a motion to adjourn Mr Nathan second Mr Mitchell all in favor hi thank you thank you South Brunswick and have a wonderful night it is now 7:45 p.m. thank you