right I'd like to call everyone's attention today is Thursday January 25th the time is now 6:00 p.m. uh Mr bernside roll call Board member Elizabeth Callahan present board member nuia dval Wilson present board member Regina eer here board member Bill gford board member will Meyer here board member Shaina sacket Gable here board president cowi telesford here board member Arun VOD lamani here board member Caitlyn Whit letter here thank you all right please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America stand one nation under God indivisible liy andice for all all right notice of the meeting uh okay please take note that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in the following manner that written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board at 2:30 on January 5th 2024 that said notice was sent via email to Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the news record Star Ledger tapa and the Village Green um I'd like to make a motion to go into executive session to discuss attorney client privilege and Personnel all in favor that vote is unanimous and now we go into executive session all right good evening um we'll get back to the regular meeting um the first thing we're going to do is vote on approval of board minutes for the executive session of special meeting minutes from November 3rd 2023 and executive session and regular meeting minutes for December 21st 2023 all in favor thank you all right the next will be the student uh board rep uh update hello all our report this month is especially long so we will be splitting it up between the two of us and also please bear with us in supporting District achievements and addressing student concerns to begin here are the January recognitions congratulations to student artists Z hunt and Kiara na Navin on having their artwork selected for Exhibition at the 2024 emerging artists exhibition a Statewide student art exhibition event see Hunt's piece is a mixed media work acrylic wire marker and pastels titled exoskeleton kiar Nan's piece give give give was created with colored pencil and acrylic paint special thanks to chsr Educators Alexandra kuchi and Candace Stewart for guiding students through the entry Park process additional thanks to parents for their support the 2024 emerging artist exhibition awards ceremony will take place on Sunday January 28th from 1: to 3:00 p.m. at the James how Gallery at King University's Von eam building three CHS students Carlos Sanchez Jules Melman and SII ragi are student photographers whose work has been selected to be a part of the annual jaxo University high school photography contest exhibition there will be an opening reception for the student photographers at Drexel on Saturday February 17th and their work will be on display at Drexel's Photography Center in Philadelphia through March 9th thanks to the CHS photography teacher Richard catrona for supporting these students and engaging in this opportunity congratulations to Junior ASA Glassman who was one of the winners of the New York Times what high school is like in 2023 contest his photograph collage of students and their phones brilliantly demonstrates what it is like to be a high schooler today this is how we communicate this is how we connect this is how we catalog our achievements as well as our failures and show our peers that we are not alone glasman wrote in his New York Times piece pomp tonian our food service management company is putting together a group of students from all over the state to create a student culinary Innovations Council we are pleased to announce that two CHS students have been selected for this Council Violet Nichols and Carol agela their focus will include menu development legislative activity promotional Innovation and school Food Service Innovation congratulations to CHS senior Molly Bigalow for being Columbia High School's recipient of the 2023 to 2024 women in sports award Bigalow is a senior who has played Striker on the girls soccer team for all four seasons in high school she has also played girls lacrosse and will play in the spring in the position of Defender she has been accepted to the University of Virginia and intends to major in cognitive science Bigalow was honored with recipients across the state on January 14th which was National women in sports day at the Rucker women's basketball game among against Penn State congratulations to Columbia High School wrestling coach Mike fredman who won his 200th career dual Victory as head coach at Montclair High School and now at Columbia High School congratulations to Columbia High School junior Oliver nessen who was who was a first place winner in the Essex County Education association's Annual Pride essay contest nesson responded to The contest's Prompt for 11th graders which was looking back who in your school career has had the biggest impact on your life nessen wrote about the south Orange Middle School teacher Lis Liza Lisa mcferson congratulations also to Columbia High School sophomore Carol agala who responded to the same prompt and wrote about Columbia High School teacher Jazelle ionus the following students were semi-finalists for their grades with essays submitted for Judgment at the county level first grade arah gertman teacher April tanari at Marshall school second grade Isabelle OD teacher April tari at marshall School third grade Phoebe seven teacher Rosemary Connell at Seth boen fourth grade aelia Bena teacher Daniela Danielle Patterson at Seth boen and fifth grade Oran Bernard and the teacher is Jess Hine at Seth bordon congratulations to Maplewood Middle School health teacher Carrie Guido who was elected vice president for health on the executive board for the NJ Association for health physical education Recreation and dance this Statewide organization is dedicated to providing inspiration professional development and Leadership opportunities for health and physical Educators higher education professionals and future professionals the Columbia High School model un delegation did well last weekend at Yale University's 2024 model un conference the team brought home five Awards after competing against 140 schools and more than 2,000 students from around the world senior Rowan wesler Junior Sam hanger and Junior Hudson ebite all won best delegate in their committees which is the highest award a delegate can receive senior Sabrina Manion won the outstanding delegate award and sophomore Ren Crawford received an honorable mention model un faculty adviser Stephanie Rivera said it was a very competitive conference and these Awards truly reflect how hard the student delegates worked all year she added that the entire delegation did a remarkable job and represented Columbia High School incredibly well the 2023 edition of The Guild script Columbia High School's art and literary magazine has won two national awards it has received the rank of Superior in the 2023 National Council of teachers of English recognition and excellence in art and literary magazines program in addition to this The Guild script was awarded first place by the American Scholastic press associ Association in the category of senior high school with an enrollment of 1,701 to 2,500 students this club/ publication continues to be a wonderful collaborative experience for students while highlighting the abundance of talent at CHS the Columbia boys varsity swim team placed third at recent SEC Conference championships on January 15th the 200 medle relay comprised of yel benad Luke Robinson heish Wilson web and Mason Keith broke the school [Applause] record and now for the student report we want to first thank the administration at Columbia High School for continuing their work in the district value of protecting student voice we are taught that school is a safe place to learn about differences respect one another and express ourselves the administration team's handling of the student Walker walk out earlier this month heavily reflects the standard of Education where students can advocate for themselves and what they believe while maintaining respect for one another and each other's differences however students have heavily suffered following the removal of principal Frank Sanchez I could spend all report describing the amazing work of Mr Sanchez but instead I will explain what the students need to rebuild in his absence we need stability each year we meet new administrators and are expected to give them 100% of our trust this is unreasonable right now not only only is our principal gone but half of our rights principles are new this is no one's fault and these relationships take time but in making these invaluable Personnel decisions we implore you to think long term students have heavily expressed this to both ASA and I yet the student body is feeling this loss not only because the principal is a large figurehead but because of the connection Mr Sanchez had with the student body this connection must be found and form again this being said we wanted to extend a huge huge thank you to miss Bodner in the entire ire CHS Administration team for their hard work this is an extremely difficult time and they have been very receptive to all feedback and a pleasure to work with this unease is also reflected in feelings of safety unfortunately this past month CHS has fallen victim to incidents of anti-Semitism and hate while these incidents have been dealt with by Administration fear lingers among students in speaking with this Bodner she informed as plans and Motion Set to begin in the very near future that will be great resources to students stud who need assistance or additional support outside of academics we will update next month on these projects in better news safety is largely improved in the last month vice principal King explained how they are cracking down on students who leave the building and heavily enforcing the checking of IDs when students come back in the building these efforts can be seen as now most security guards make sure to check each student who enters back into the building everyone has begun to use hall passes so we want to thank teachers who've been enforcing this new guideline additionally security has been making sure students check in in the morning this is not over policing it instead gives confidence in Security's abilities and care for student protection Freshman Academy has been reworked and starting semester 2 students will have the ability to choose if they would like to fulfill their financial literacy requirement meet with a teacher work on group projects which will largely benefit athletes or use the time as a study hall I know that I would have heavily benefited from having something like this my freshman year so we want to remind everyone that when piloting a program it is never perfect it is great that the CHS team has continued to improve the program and hopefully we will continue to see increasingly positive results that build great study habits and social relationships we also wanted to take the opportunity to promote the program tutor.com which is an incredible resource all students in the district over third grade have access to this program allows students to access a tutor for free at all times they can study be T topics have papers reviewed and so much more this program is especially incredible for students who do not have current access to sat or act tutoring we really want to encourage students and families to look into and take advantage of this program which the district is supplying to us ASA and I want to express student support and concern regarding the installation of turf on ritzer field we met with Mr boredo the athletic director who explain that with Turf all gym classes will have the capacity to be outside with the installation of turf no outside eating will be harmed as right now students do not eat on the part of Richard that would become Turf as it is dirt it is very important that we support our student athletes and provide them with facilities that we can not only be proud of but that can protect them from the injuries that occur as a result of poor conditions it is however vital to take environmental concerns into account and aim to create a solution that has the least environmental impact whether that impact be from the current upkeep of ritzer or the turf type and installation process ASA and I visited Psalms last week and it is clear that the issues of guidance that we have been pursuing the last month at CHS do not just end at the high school unfortunately there is a strong association between guidance and discipline as all also seen at CHS this can be problematic because the idea is to create trust between students and counselors and that trust can be broken when there is a threat of disciplinary action especially when the majority of s students do not have personal relationships with their counselor we were also told by students that a lot of the disciplinary action that comes from guidance is not taken seriously according to them the information we had received about increasing counseling about increased counseling at the middle schools is not evident in fact students reporting cursing mocking and harassment that often goes unreported and unpunished these are not light issues but they are certainly ones that appear to have gotten worse since ASA and I attended Psalms we believe that this blur between Authority and adult support is doing more harm than good after all all students need Advocates we also know that these issues are far too great to tackle in just one board report so we plan on meeting with MMS next week and following that Administration to learn more in depth about the practices of the department as a whole hopefully over time change can create healthy relationships between peers and adults that continue on to the high school the S students also requested revisions to lunch that would provide healthier options and advocated for additional filtered water fountains these are things that we can meet about in private and discuss in more detail finally we wanted to bring attention to the elevator at CHS currently the elevator is broken but it is Con constantly unreliable at an age full of physical activity it is disgraceful that students who cannot use stairs due to injury or disability must sit in the nurse's office and tune into their CL classes virtually when they would be getting much better instruction just 30 ft above that concludes my report thank you all for bearing with us for this busy month and we will now be open to any questions from the [Applause] [Music] board any questions all right then we'll move on to the superintendent update thank you and um just as a quick update on the elevator last I checked I think they were doing a check tonight to make sure the elevator was servicing they were getting parts and so we hope that's up and running tomorrow but if not Miss Brown and Mr glasman I expect to get an email or phone call from you when you get to school and it's not working okay sounds great good uh good evening to the uh boorder the the Board of Education uh and the members here as well as the citizens and the people who've assembled here uh this is my superintendent's report Sophia Holm a CL High School junior who aspires to be an engineer working for NASA has been admitted to the Disney dreamers Academy the announcement was made on January 15th on ABC's Network Good Morning America H is one of a 100 high school students from throughout the nation to be selected for this very special for 4day immersive mentoring program at Disney world that helps young people realize their dreams uh Miss Holm follows in the footsteps of our older sister Alexis who pre previously was admitted to and participated in the Disney dreamers Academy in 2022 Alexis Holm is also a Columbia High School graduate who is now a freshman at Northwestern University studying engineer the good morning American Pro profile of home also featured her mother Cynthia her father Rodney her sister Alexis as well as her former teacher Anna crane at South Orange Middle School the story also explained how it was the it was the story of Katherine Johnson Dorothy vaugh and Mary Jackson the three black women whose experiences in NASA's math mathematicians inspired the film hidden figures that sparked her dream to study aerospace engineering or mechanical engineering with the hope of working for NASA herself a unit that started with the focus on Spain and its contributions to the world of Art in Mr Curtis Grayson's the third class took a new Direction after Mr Grayson students saw the news about Ricardo the bull in mid December Ricardo at 600 pound steer escaped a fate at the slaughterhouse by taking to the streets of Newark and making National headlines Ricardo's story also inspired Mr Grayson and his students to create artistic works that are now currently displayed in exhibition called empathy for the bull at Columbia High School's art gallery thank you to Mr Grayson and all the student artists and their families who came to a special reception on Monday evening the exhibit has made a powerful statement about protecting the lives of bulls and allowed our students to make headlines of their own the exhibit has been covered by wabctv Channel 7 Fox 5 New York tv as well as our local Outlets the exit News Record tap and tap in s and the Village Green Omar Ortega who has worked for the past 7 years as a security guard at South Orange middle school now has a new Post in South Orange middle school classroom that's because orta is now working as a par professional working alongside special education teacher uh Ashley sarino together they work in a self-contained classroom for students with autism who are in their sixth seventh and eighth grades Mr Cino said that Mr Ortega is doing well and has established a great rapport with his students Miss ly Herby Hill called Mr Orga pillar of the South Orange Middle School community and say she is glad to have him uh on the PA professional staff I personally want to wish Mr Ortega a warm congratulations and all the best of luck to his new career on Wednesday January 31st from 6:00 to 8 or we will March the mark of my first listening Tour event with the first stop stop being at Clinton Elementary School the purpose of the Acting Superintendent listening tour is to provide opportunities for the district's families toor their concerns give perspectives and offer ideas about South Orange and Maplewood School District in a venue that is more casual than a Board of Education meeting we hope that the parents and Guardians will join us and come prepared to provide their thoughts on three open-ended questions which we will discuss the questions are what do you think is working well in the district what are some of the challenges families face in the district and how could those How could a district do better in supporting families and what is something that you wish we knew two more listening stops will be planned in February more information will be provided to families as soon as possible I've also begun a listen and learn session with students as part of my continuing Outreach efforts I've begun these series of listen and learn sessions these sessions are informal conversations with a few students at each school that allow allow me to hear the students perspectives on what life is like at their school and in our district today I had a wonderful visit with a few students at South Orange middle school and I greatly appreciate they're taking the time to talk with me about their experiences as students I want to thank all of our School principles and their teens for helping us plan these listen and learn sessions I'm looking forward to visiting the rest of our schools and hearing from more students early registration for 24 to for the 2024 and 2025 School term is now underway many thanks to District registar Tiffany Barnes and her team for the launch of early registration for PK on Monday January 22nd early registration for high school grades will begin on February 12th element Elementary School will begin on February 20th and middle school will begin on March 11th early registration runs only for a limited time and not all grade levels are open at the same time please check the district's website for the specific early regist ation dates for each grade level and Registration Department has sent hard copies of the registration Flyers to all district schools as well as the municiple buildings and other public locations information has also been sent to our families and staff via email and posted to our social media channels we are we ask for everyone's help in getting the word around about registration and please share our social media post and forward any emails also we would like to announce the launching of so MSD Stars series there are so many people in the South Orange and Maplewood School District families but how we do uh but how well do we really know who they are a new series The District is launching called SSD stars is dedicated to helping all of us get to know the people in our district family a little better look for our first three profiles to be posted on the district website the district social media platforms and upcoming newsletter I want to give a special thank you to assistant superintendent and acting principal an Bodner South Orange Middle School principal and ASA president ly Irby Hill and World Language teacher and Soo president rosil Lopez for the participation in these first three profiles I also would like to conclude this report by saying that it it is very uh um hard for me to say that there are students in our district who do not feel safe or feel welcome and and that has has been something that has been very top of mind for me and we are really being very proactive now starting to do something about that we announced at the beginning of this term our renew and Reset program was an initiative in all of our schools where the basic Foundation is around trying to build uh welcoming and belonging communities in addition Miss Carrie W who is uh leading the office of access and Equity has also been meeting with the new New Jersey Division of civil rights to discuss the professional learning opportunities that the state could provide and also comat in combating anti-Semitism islamophobia racism and other bias in schools she's also had conversations with the Department of Education and the team has offered in in-person or virtual work workshops which will provide additional information on creating safe and learning environments for us in schools we also have had conversations with our social work intern program and Miss Jenny Easton at the Columbia High School as we discuss what type of ways we can ramp up our counseling supports throughout the district to help support our students who feel they need support during these challenging times additionally uh we are looking at uh with the New Jersey bar Foundation who is offered to give us some professional development learning opportunities for our teachers in the upcoming months that also deal with some things as they pertain around bias in addition to help create some more safety for our students to give them an opportunity please know we are ramping up and improving our reporting mechanisms as they be as they turn into biased incidents I met with all the principles and assistant principles and the expectation is clear we will be reporting all biased incidents to the proper local authorities so if there's an incident of bias and something that comes up please report these to our principles and we will be taking the appropriate Act action in addition we know that our anti-bullying Specialists are working around the clock to investigate the large numbers of islamophobic anti-Semitic and racist of remarks that we are seeing arise in our district that also allows us and gives us the opportunity to know where we can combat this and what kind of supports and things we need to put in place in our schools and finally uh I do want you to know that it is important that we also feel work with our teachers and I know that we have a committee that's working on an adult well-being plan that can also support our teachers who also may be having challenges through the things that are coming it is my commitment as an Acting Superintendent of schools for this duration to make sure that we move our district into an area where we have safe learning environments where we have safe communities and we Foster a spirit of belonging if there's one student or one educator that does not feel like they are welcome in this District we have a lot of work to do and it is my commitment as a leader of this District to make sure we do everything we can to create those safe environments and that concludes my report thank you and next we have the business administrator's update thank you good evening I'm going to start tonight with a construction update and then I have a bunch of other things I'm going to mention um first up is is the Marshall school um the contractor has completed the majority of the roofing they've completed 95% of the exterior brick installation they've continued with the HVAC hydronic piping on the first and second floor um they're continuing with classroom and Corridor sofit metal framing they're continuing with the second floor window installation which is now approximately 85% complete they've completed the primary and secondary underground conduit piping for the exterior Transformer and switch gear and they've completed the North and South South stair Tower concrete stair tread and Landing placement Marshall's I'm sorry mantro school is uh still scheduled and on track for the summer of 2024 at the Columbia High School the boxing beam Pockets at the pool area are underway I just visited that space on Tuesday and the pool is completely filled in with concrete at this point so that's a solid area now um the duct work installation is completed in the vwing in the first and third floor and the on the first and third floors is completed um framing around the new opening for the double doors area in the pool area is complete the rough in on the electrical and piping for the new bwing science labs is continuing they're in the process of sheetrock and spackling at the on the bee insulation for all piping at the B on the first and third floors is completed the steel beams for the pool pool area are installed on the first floor the plumbing work for the common area is continuing the delivery of 53 uh unit ventilators was done over the Christmas break the ding Penthouse pads are poured and the boiler room and Transformers are delivered and inspections are continuing and moving quite right along uh for the South Orange middle school and Maple with Middle School um the Smitt and purchasing of the equipment and materials is ongoing so in addition to all the construction our maintenance team has done a tremendous job as well I've got a really long list here I'm only going to pick the highlights but they they they've been incredibly busy as well um one of the things that we've done in addition to all the construction that's going on the uh gym floor was refinished at the deli Balton Elementary School uh we removed trees at the Maplewood Middle School for a power feed for construction uh they cleaned up the overgrown veget vegetation at the teachers and students parking lot um they repaired a uh a boiler at the Maplewood Middle School they paved the dumpster area at Marshall also at Marshall they rebuilt The Faculty uh bathroom which was a total renovation and at the Marshall school they also um there's a new patio and Outdoor Learning space that was installed by the side entrance this is where it's uh being used for student arrival um additional circuits for some pumps in the Seth boen Boiler Room were installed and the entire facility team did all this and they cleaned up two weather storms as well so for our Board of school estimate resolution tonight I just want to put some clarity on some things um one of the big questions is why has the ritzer field gone from 2.2 million and now up to over $4 million uh the original high school ritzer budget included construction and soft cost from the original doe submission was $231,200 the scope related to that estimate was less than the current scope which is expanded including additional Turf area added Sports Fields added support structures and infrastructure related to this expanded scope the differences are substantial in terms of area covered infrastructure to support this is also including the underground along with added Sports Fields types of fields and event Support also included is the CHS girls locker room which is approximately 2.3 million these two items explain the increase as well as the guidance suite at the at the high school and also other classroom alteration which would bring the total up to 29992 765 that's the Ba's report thank you and I guess now is the I'll give my update um good evening everyone my intention for my first update was to talk about initiatives started this year for the board I want to talk about our efforts to increase increase communication and collaboration as well as plans for a retreat next month to increase our interactions and level set expectations amongst board members I also want to speak on my wish to have this board work in true partnership with the district so that we can prioritize student outcomes and remove barriers to access wherever they may be however I recognize that tonight is a bit different judging by the many emails that have been coming into the board surrounding products for the long range facilities plan particularly for Planned work at reter field I thought it would be important to speak to you about our vote tonight and the upcoming meeting at the board of school estimate I'll first begin with some background the longrange facilities plan was approved in July 2019 and included turf fields for Underhill field and ritzer field in 2021 the scope expanded to include softball fields at ritzer field the revised plan was approved by the board in NJ doe in 2022 in 2023 completing all projects at the high school and middle school were not possible within the original lrfp Bond budget due to post-pandemic inflation so in late November 2023 the district provided the board of school estimate with three different proposals for finishing plans at CHS and soms this Thursday the board will vote on approving projects and requesting specific funding for the board of school estimate this vote does not alter the original lrfp plans which included turf at riter field our vote is about requesting additional funds to complete out standing lrfp projects not debating Turf versus grass in February the border of school estimate will vote on approving the requested additional funds the border of school estimate has the authority to modify the scope of the project and specify how money is specifically allocated reading through the questions and concerns from community members we recognize the importance of the district providing a clear response to those questions as such I'm compiling all questions concerns support and forwarding them to the district for review and while we cannot promise a complete answer to every question our goal is for the district to provide a response to as many Community concerns before the border of school estimate meeting next month the board encourages you to continue your advocacy I would like to reiterate as a board we remain committed to this the supporting the district's efforts to fulfill the lrfp while also addressing Community concerns thank you the hearing of individual individual Del um and delegations um just oh I'm sorry I'll do the board president statement um sorry the school board meeting is a business meeting in public and not a meeting with the public often times it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote before matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of school/ Chief School administrator if the superintendent of of schools is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education it is then referred to the appropriate board committee the members of the board committee work with the administration and the superintendent to assure that the members fully understand the matter after the committee discusses the matter it is then shared with the other board members for consideration only then is it placed on the agenda for board discussion and action at a public meeting and now we'll have the hearing of individuals and delegations all right all right thank you for coming in person and dialing in by phone this evening the South Orange maplehood Board of Education certainly respects that you've taken the time out of your busy day to address the board at tonight's meeting we value public involvement in our school district and we are eager to hear what you have to say the board does have time limits by policy and will be enforcing those to enable as many people to speak as possible this evening each individual will be given 2 minutes to speak please do your best to stay within the time afforded to you the first public comment period is usually limited to 1 hour and the second public comment period may be limited to 30 minutes all input shared with the board of education is taken very seriously and will inform future deliberations and work by the Board of Education and its committees and for tonight we're going to prioritize students so we'll have all the students go first before we have any adults all right so the first person we'll have up is Ellie [Applause] [Music] Martin one okay it's on all right hello my name is Ellie Martin I'm rosent of South Orange senior at Columbia I want of three Varsity Softball captains along with Addie seor and samstein I'm here today to ask you for your support in ensuring that a turf ritzer field is included next month's bond proposal the softball team calls the town old metaland field 3 otherwise known as M3 our home field though we're grateful to the town for letting us use her property it's worth noting that softball is the sole outdoor Athletics program without the privilege and opportunity to play at a school-owned field not only is our home field located almost 2 miles from Columbia not only does it feature dangerous divots while every other varsity team at the school gets precedence at their home field softball does not we have been kicked off of our field for games to accommodate Rec Baseball we as players have been yelled at by wck baseball coaches who complain that we need to hurry up and leave the field despite these issues in my four years as a varsity athlete softball has not only broken numerous school records we won the school we won the state sectional championship for the first time in 47 years it is my hope that after I graduate I'll be able to turn and see the Columbia softball program thriving and playing on a Turf ritzer but that future cannot exist unless this District begins to prioritize their athletes as especially their female athletes and give them a playable field for those who argue to improve ritard as a natural field claiming it'll be more cost effective I believe that a natural riter no matter how well intentioned is one that will fail our district already lacks the funding to pay for a ground staff that can that can sufficiently manage their fields even if this board and future boards pledge to provide funding for an adequate maintenance the reality is that this funding will be one of the first things cut when other District needs arise what be left to Columbia athletes is a poorly draining hazardous field that will further seal our Legacy amongst other towns as a school with horrible Fields but who does this impact the most I and many of my fellow female athletes notice the trend our district seems to have boy sports are prioritized under Hill whereas the girls sports are left to use ritzer and metalin by not turfing ritzer it reveals to me the type of District we have and the township that we live in one that condones to disparities between male and female sports though any changes done to riter will happen after I graduate I want this I want what is best for the fut our school please follow through in the promised me in 2019 to tur fritzer please show this community that you support Equitable Fielding access for the girls Athletics programs at our at our school okay our next speaker is Molly bigo hello my name is Molly Bigalow I'm a senior at Columbia and have played soccer and Lacrosse all four years of high school I'm also captain of the lacrosse team I wanted to start by explaining how much being a student athlete has impacted my experience at Columbia my freshman year was mostly virtual and so many of my peers struggled while school was online Sports continued to meet in person having practice and games to look forward to really got me through a very challenging year as I continued through CHS Sports have kept me both physically and academically disciplined given me leadership opportunities and allowed me to have a lot of fun as a district we should not underestimate the importance of investing in our athletic facilities when I put on my uniform and step onto Underhill to play a game I'm proud to be a cougar I don't feel the same Pride for our grass fields it is frustrating to hear parents and players from opposing teams make belittling comments about our team just because of the poor conditions of our facilities our Fields don't reflect our playing abilities and more often than not girls sports teams are scheduled to practice on badly maintain grass fields far from Columbia while boys teams are prioritized for Underhill this fall when girls soccer was practicing on the fields in South Orange which are in almost as poor shape as ritzer I suffered a season ending injury I went up for header and when I came down on the uneven Rocky Fields my knee hyper extended this is my last year playing soccer and I was devastated to miss the time playing for my high school team all because of a preventable injury I can tell you firsthand that the grass fields the girl teams are often made to play on are dangerous they're also often unusable after raid a turfield that ritzer would be able to accommodate more use by all teams and decrease the disparity between girls and boys sports teams my time at Columbia is coming to an end but I have a younger brother at CHS and a younger sister in elementary school I hope you will consider their Futures and the future of all our town students please show your support for sports at Columbia especially girl Sports and vote to fund the turf improvements at riter thank you next we have the CHS environmental Club um Ela all right um next we have Eevee Campbell thank you all for your volunteer service my name is Evie Campbell I grew up in Maplewood I'm a junior at Columbia High School and I'm a two sport student athlete it is time for our Board of Ed members and the leadership in our two towns to fully fund the overages in the long range facilities plan including what is needed to complete the ritzer field project Columbia High School students desperately need more usable and safe field space as a student athlete I'm proud of the beautiful and safe turf field at Underhill we have a high school field available to our community members that is playable all year around even in the dark or when it rains it is comp comparable in quality to our turf fields in neighboring Newark West Orange and Milbourne but one reliable in our towns one reliable field in our towns is not the answer for students and in particular our female student athletes in the fall season season alone 11 teams spanning field hockey hockey football and boys and girls soccer are expected to share this single valuable space as for our marching band they practice at the long neglected and unkempt chisa witch field jvn freshman teams seldom if ever practice or play games at Underhill and are sent to floods Hill when it isn't flooded girls varsity soccer often practices and sometimes plays at metal lands in the Outfield of the baseball fields in South Orange female players either walk or must arrange transportation from Columbia to lands for many competitions meal lands field is a Minefield of rocks bumps divots puddles mud and goose poop in the last two seasons two senior team teammates suffered season-ending injuries while playing at metaland on the uncared for a grass field surface we're guarding ritzer right outside our gym door with an outof order scoreboard no irrigation system and rocks marked with spray paint to alert injury alert athletes to avoid injury we have a sad excuse for a sports field fund the overages in the long range facilities plan including what is needed to complete complete the riter field [Applause] project next we have Ana Terry and Josh broy hi everyone I'm Ana Terry and I'm Joe's broy and we're the captains of the Columbia girl soccer program we're here today to talk about additional funding for turfing ritzer field the district currently has $2 million reserved for this project and we are urging you to vote on an additional 4 million to cover cost increases accommodate softball fields and follow through with the promise of health and safety upgrades each fall 11 teams have to share one turf field resulting in numerous scheduling conflicts since each team practices or plays a game roughly six times a week as a result the vast majority of our soccer practices have taken place at Meadowlands while JV and freshman's practices have taken place at floods Hill the conditions on these fields are less than ideal they're full of goose poop which as a goalkeeper is really gross to dive on um there's divots long grass and metal grates all of which make drills aiming to improve technique dribbling or passing extremely unproductive constantly switching from practices on bumpy grass fields to games on smooth Turf also puts us at a huge disadvantage these grass fields are also much less reliable than Turf as availability is subject to change depending on weather and the needs of the town the Freshman girl soccer team had 10 games at floods Hill canceled this past season mostly due to rain which could have been easily avoided if tur Fields were available many nearby schools such as Milbourne and West Orange have multiple tur fields that are accessible to all teams helping their program programs to succeed in a way that we are unable to not only does the lack of turf fields and mapo prevent Improvement it also causes injuries the past two seasons two seniors suffered from season-ending injuries due to the divots across metal lands the turfing for ritzer would have a positive impact on the entire CHS Community as the fields could be used for sports teams of all levels the marching band Gym classes pep rallies and many other student events we urge you to approve additional funding for this project in order to build a large safe and accessible field as soon as possible thank you next we have Charlotte kpes hello my name is Charlotte Kish and I'm a current 11th grader at Columbia High School I'm the co-founder and president of the women in sports club as well as a member of The Varsity softball team I'm here to speak in favor of turfing the Richer field which benefits all Columbia sports teams and promotes inclusivity and fairness being a member of the Columbia softball team is something I take great pride in I was fortunate enough to be part of the history-making season last year where we brought home the state sectional championship for the first time in over 40 years currently Columbia softball plays at a town field that splits time with wck baseball our field doesn't have access to a bathroom a water supply or any type of area to store our equipment our field is a hazard with many divots leading to multiple girls getting injured throughout the years as it currently stands the boys baseball team is fortunate enough to have two fields at their disposal this discrepancy not only creates an imbalance but also hinders the growth and development of my fellow athletes on the softball team it's time for our school to consider a more equitable distribution of resources ensuring that every team regardless of gender has access to the right facilities turfing the Richer field presents a solution to this issue by transforming this field into a Turf facility we open up a world of possibility for multi-purpose use this means that various sports teams can benefit from a versatile space that accommodates different activities whether it's softball soccer field hockey or any other sport a turf field provides a Level Playing Field for everyone turfing riter would not commence until I have graduated but the mission of the women and sports club is to advocate for girls and the present and the future to feel like a supported female athlete at Columbia I look forward to coming back as a proud Columbia alumni to watch softball games on the Richer field thank [Applause] you next we have Sally O [Music] Sullivan um hello my name is sallyo Sullivan and I'm speaking on behalf of students enrolled in the CHS special dance class who wish to remain anonymous out of fear of unfair repercussions um it is very SP scary to be speaking about the special dance teacher as we have all been threatened by the teacher not to discuss our experiences we are begging the board to take our experiences seriously for years students have left the dance room defeated crying vowing to quit after occurrences of emotional abuse manipulation and threats it is for this reason that we are at Great personal risk coming to the board who is tasked with overseeing our safety last year we asked to alter rehearsal time so we could to attend our academic classes in the 2 weeks before AP testing as a result of just asking for this accommodation the teacher threatened to cancel our show in asking for this change we were told that we had quote destroyed the legacy of the special dance um Team please understand that the show is the culmination of the entire year of our hard work and part of the class it was then up to students and parent volunteers to save the show in a district that Prides itself on student voice we have been silenced the teacher has told us we are replaceable we are just children yet we the students leave every rehearsal in class we each fundraise $400 a year as a class assignment we should not be fearful of a teacher but we are we are completely alone we are scared of our grades in this class being jeopardized we are scared of being removed from the class as has been threatened repeatedly and over many years we have told many different administrators over years about our mistreatment we have visited guidance in tear and begged administrators over and over again to help us and we have been told that there is quote nothing they can do it is our love for special dance that brings us here we want to continue the student choreography and performance opportunities we're asking you to support the special dance team student artists and stop overlooking the abuse and mismanagement that continues to occur year after year it is so upsetting that we must be here today publicly begging the board to take years worth of allegations seriously the board would take any other allegation seriously so we are asking you to do the right thing here it is your job to keep us safe students have been saying for years that we are not safe we are now here publicly telling you that we are not safe please help usk you next we have ACA Glassman right we have Matt Moray and Jasper r uh hello my name is Matthew Mica and I'm a junior at CHS and a member of the boys varsity soccer team I'm here tonight to urge the Board of Education to request additional funding from the board of school estimates uh for the plans to turf ritzer field consistent with the original plans that are already approved I recognize that this will um increase taxes um on top of the 157 million that is already being paid for the longrange facility plan but I feel like this is the most important thing to do um the plan for rer is extremely critical um the conditions that we play in right now are terrible and 25% of the JV and freshman soccer games were already cancelled were canceled this season for boy soccer [Music] um too long have had we we've had to deal with subpar facilities and I think that this plan is crucial for our school that's all I got thank you next we have sahana Lynch hi my name is Sana Lynch and I'm a freshman at Columbia High School I'm here today to ask you to continue the plans to Turf fritzer so that girls teams like mine have an equal opportunity for access to CHS Fields I'm also asking for the girls locker rooms to be renovated and become usable I've been a soccer player in this town since I was 3 years old for my first season at Colombia the girls freshman and junior varsity soccer teams were required to practice and play games at metalin field we get to walk a mile and a half to practice every day after school and over half of our games got cancelled because of the poor grass conditions it was difficult to get there on time after school because of the long distance and two backpacks we had to carry unlike the girls teams the boys got to practice at rer every day which was so unfair to us additionally changing in the locker rooms was not an option since they were always locked the one time my team and I managed to go in they were dirty and the lights weren't working we typically had to change in in the for practicing games and cramp bathrooms with field hockey tennis and volleyball girls having a turf field would make all the students lives so much easier and provide better access to CHS fields for girls this is also important to all the CHS students enrolled in a gym class Turf would enable gym classes to have more time outside which is vital for students cramped inside all day staying active helped me maintain a smooth transition into high school by keeping me relaxed helping boost my mental health by doing something I loved surf is so much more accessible despite the weather and can be used more frequently than grass I'm asking you to please invest in the student athletes of our community by moving ahead with turfing riter thank you for your time next we have Olive [Applause] wit hi my name is Olive Woody and I'm a ninth grader at Columbia um as captain of the Freshman field hockey team I often had to run captains practices at Underhill field the girls freshman team had to practice and play home games on the baseball fields one day we had practice and we arrived in Underhill field only to discover there was nowhere to practice every field was occupied by Boys either playing games or practicing and we had nowhere to go so we had to cancel practice we lost a lot of practice in playing time this season due to wet fields and Rain even when we did play games the field was slippery and muddy our varsity coach Stephanie Rivera started a feeder program for our high school field hockey teams when I was in Middle School I joined the spring League which had enough interest to form three girls teams the league cons consisted of teams from a few other towns including Milbourne we could not host any home games here in s because there were no available Fields there were times when we had to drive to Butler New Jersey which is about an hour away only to play another Columbia High School team my brother plays flag football and because they play on a turf field he played nearly every weekend even in the pouring rain even though he's only in middle school I'm here tonight to ask you to please keep your commitment and vote to tur fritzer Fields this will dramatically help all sports teams in our districts especially the girls sports teams and we have some students online so can we have them um do their public speaks all right so the first one we have is Charlie Dressler but she just she just was here hi my name is Charlie Drexler and I'm a junior I am one of the captains of the field hockey team and begin to play right before I started at Columbia playing a sport has been incredibly valuable to me especially since i' never stuck with one until High School it has taught me leadership skills confidence and teamwork being a part of it all has made me a better part of the Columbia Community a big part of our field hockey program is the middle school teams that coach AA has created I learned how to play with this league and I have volunteered to coach this league for the past two years we have got we have a lot of girls who want to play so we usually have two full teams and they have about two games per week because we do not have available Turf our teams are driving to other fields to play and practice mostly have been in Scotch planes are up to an hour away in Butler more than once we have had to have parents drive players to Butler so that our two teams can play each other when players get to high school and make the freshman team they are relegated to practicing on one of the baseball fields and playing almost all away games this is unfair to the Freshman players as well as their Improvement as a team this sport should not be played on grass especially un kept grass of ritzer Memorial and the baseball fields once our freshman see the JB and varsity levels they will have to adjust their playing and are expected to perform on Turf which is a much faster game every year our high school team gets better and better and we are now in a highly competitive league multiple times this season and last we were splitting the field with the junior varsity and freshman teams or with other sports like football or soccer this prohibits our progress as a team as well as affects the sports for sharing Turf with not only that we have to split the field we also have to have late night practices because there isn't just enough Turf to go around I recognize that improvements to ritzer won't happen while I'm still in high school because I only have one more season left to fly but I don't want future student athletes to have to go through the disadvantages that we have faced I believe Turf could change the future of female sports for the community of Maplewood and South Orange thank you next we have Al ala fredman good evening my name is ala Friedman and I am a junior at Columbia High School and a member of the Maplewood environmental advisory committee tonight I'm speaking on behalf of the Columbia High School environmental Club to point out how damaging it would be to install a turf field at ritzer installing a turf field will release harmful pollutants and toxins into our environment destroying an essential Wetland and overall exacerbate the climate crisis Chrome rubber is a primary material in artificial turf and contains toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons volatile organic chemical and carbon black which are all hazardous to both humans and our environment regarding wetlands and storm water ritzer field is a managed Wetland and its natural grass and soil contribute to rain water absorption which helps to prevent flooding considering how much our town suffers from flooding this would only be made worse by removing this large field of natural grass and soil Additionally the turf will weather and wash millions of tiny pieces of plastic into our nearby Watershed in relation to the climate crisis the Columbia High School campus area is already a heat island where the temperature is hotter than the surrounding area in addition to sports r field is where students have lunch gym class uses a space to study and hang out with friends and is frequently used by nearby residents the grass is a natural cooling agent and if we replace it with a plastic surface it will make this heat island hotter than it already is and more difficult to use and the use land around it when it is time for the turf to be replaced the hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic Turf will end up in a landfill only contributing more to the climate crisis building a turf field on ritzer would pollute the environment with toxin and Plastics irreparably damage the only natural Wetland Green Space in this heat island and increased funding among other issues as youth Advocates whose Futures will be most impacted by the climate crisis we are asking you to reject this proposal we must think globally and act locally thank you next we have Isabelle Livingston that Community member is no longer online and then we have Josh o one moment that Community member left all right we'll go back to in person then and we have Michael Solomon good evening and thank you for this opportunity to speak uh my name's Michael Solomon I live in South Orange on Raymond Avenue my son Gabriel is a 14-year-old freshman who has become quite a bowler and he's discovered through Bowling um through sport um self-confidence the kind of self-esteem that you see among a lot of these student athletes here tonight it's been the most meaningful thing that's happened to him I I would say in his 14 years last year last summer he qualified ified for the national championships representing the state of New Jersey in Indianapolis and finished in the top uh one3 of children uh 13 to 15 even though he was the youngest um in that group and now his entire bowling cohort is bowling on their high school team except he's unable to because there is no high school team here in South Orange Maplewood and so I'm here tonight to ask if we could please get a bowling team for children like my son and others or if we could at minimum get a Cooperative agreement between our District and either Milburn or West Orange or any other neighboring District that does have a bowling team so that kids like my son can have a chance not only to continue to reap the benefits of being student athletes because as I'm sure you can imagine his school work has gotten better everything in his life has really improved as a result of his ability to find something that he excels at and that translates so well to the rest of his life such as discipline and persistence and I'd like to have it for him to be able to continue to have that because he's only going to be in high school once and I hate to be able to think that for the next four years he's going to be unable to do the thing that really means the most to him and I'm sure there are many other kids like that um and also I'd like uh to point out that he will someday hopefully bring glory to this District through his bowling so please give him a chance and other kids like him thank you next we have anetta Hana hello my name is anetta Hannah I have lived at 53 Hixon place since 2013 I live at the bottom of the hill directly across the street from ritzer field and I can tell you in all that time I have never received any notification of a d Loi or a permit request in more than 10 years my basement has only flooded once that was during tropical storm Ida when the pipe that manages the water under ritzer's Fields Wetlands broke during every other storm ritzer field has been able to absorb all excess water if and when this planned Astros Turf makes my basement flood I will be forced to protect my investment in my home and take legal action against the district so I'm asking you to please consider before it's too late whether you should be supporting this Reckless inequitable and irresponsible Financial measure I think the prudent answer is no thank you next we have di Ruskin rosin thank you dear board members and Acting Superintendent Gilbert my name is Dena rosin I'm a parent of three daughters in the district my oldest is a freshman student athlete at Columbia who plays on the girls soccer and basketball teams before CHS she played travel soccer with kougar soccer club since she was eight which my husband was a volunteer coach almost all of these girls were on this year's freshman girls soccer team these athletes train all year and they try out in the summer before school has started anyone who knows our family knows we spend more time on the fields than our own home last week we found out that the board will be revisiting ritzer Fields upgrades and you all will be voting again why now we know it's for Budget overage this was passed unanimously in 2019 as part of the long rage plan to repair crumbling buildings and property it's to it's 2024 and the buildings are still crumbling and there is still no playable fields to accommodate our young athletes the people in this community who make it their primary mission to constantly find ways to say no to to or hinder progress for our youth athletes should be ashamed of themselves through sport my daughters have learned perseverance empathy grit assertiveness Focus respect teamwork endurance and what it takes to get back up again when you fall down all on the fields entering high school can be daunting for any kid this Freshman Class went home at the end of fifth grade for fifth grade year due to co they spent their first year of Middle School on their computers and the rest of Middle School figuring out where the past four years have gone the one constant with Sport and team here we're facing another fall season and their sophomore year without adequate Playing Fields ritzer field was approved and budgeted as a dedicated all-weather field with lights where all of our student athletes girls and boys who play sports such as soccer field hockey and Lacrosse can safely practice and play their sport through rain sleep snow and well into the winter Darkness with Underhill at capacity there are no other options for these athletes this district has so much on its plate your time is up make the investment in sport aim to reflect the costly rebranding this District underwent to promote a diverse Community unified in the belief that everyone belongs choose riter next we have Jessica Herz hello I'm a resident of South Orange and my living room window looks directly on ritzer field I am here to voice my opposition to the proposal to turn the field to artificial turf many here have stated and will state the many reasons that this would be detrimental to the school students and community members first and foremost are the health safety and environmental concerns I'm a bit baffled that in 2024 with all our communic knowledge on climate change and the effects of toxic chemicals and microplastics that our community would move towards these toxins and away from nature especially where so many young people spend their time there is no way that millions of dollars should be spent into taking away Green Space for students and community members I have no doubt that there is a better use of those funds thank you next we have Peter Malika good evening thank you for your time um I was here with a long speech to reiterate a lot of what our student athletes have said but I think they were much more eloquent and convincing than I could ever be I will continue to encourage the board to pursue the turfing of ritzer field as quickly as possible even at the excess cost I was a little confused on tonight's business update that's quoted a $29 million request when the three presentations from the bosse meeting showed a 21 to 27 million range um so you know I realize this is not the form to get explanation but at some point would love to see kind of an explanation of where that additional two $2 million came in the past month um and and then I would just like to address some of what I think are spacious arguments around the environmental concerns associated with Synthetic Turf certainly water engineering can be accounted for when you rebuild the fields and and done in a way that alleviates any concerns one has around flooding in their homes and in the homes around around the field and also I would urge kind of the pr grass solution to just think about the impracticality of a field that needs about, 1300 hours a year of Play Time Turf natural Turf can't sustain that it can only sustain about 600 hours of playtime and that's with topnotch maintenance which includes mowing twice a week chemical pesticides used to grow the the grass those alone will create more CO2 emissions per use than a turf field will over the course of its 10 years so like these are spacious arguments that have already been decided upon we need to move forward with tur it's the only practical solution next we have Dave em Emma caner good evening and thank you I'm the parent of two athletes in uh South Orange Maplewood we live in Maplewood I have an eighth grade softball player which is why I'm wearing villagers softball sweatshirt and I have a fifth grade baseball player which is why I'm wearing a cougars baseball hat you could say I wear many hats um I also coach both Sports I'm a member of the baseball committee the rec the youth baseball committee and I'm the president of the South Orange Maplewood baseball boosters as of about a week ago our Fields here are a disgrace in this town it's an absolute embarrassment I coach travel teams every time we go to any other town the kids look at me and say wow that would be great be great if we could play on fields that were playable why can't we provide that for our high school athletes which would actually get those high school athletes off of these fields that my kids still play on but they at least have a chance to look forward to playing on good fields at the high school how is this not a Title Nine violation it is a Title Nine violation all these girls these height these amazing high school girl athletes who came up here tonight they don't have equal fields to the boys they don't have a dedicated field they deserve that the seniors who spoke tonight who've played for years on M3 which is a disgrace I'm sorry for them they won't get to experience what will hopefully be a better turf field lastly I'm also apart from I'm not coaching I'm an Environmental Lawyer and I'm a land use lawyer it is eminently possible to design as our one of our last commenters said a field that counts for flooding issues voc's P's past no those are there are there's no studies out there that show that any of those things are present in these fields or would have any health effects on kids who use them it is the it's throwing stuff at the wall climate change granules none of those things are so I know I'm out of time but let me just close by saying you've budgeted the money finished that process let's give our kids something they can be proud of and Fields that our community can say yes that represents map thank you next we have Mary and Rob Mary and Rob good evening my name is Maran RAB I'm a resident of Maplewood and I have a junior at CHS thank you for giving me the time to speak this evening I really appreciate it I'm speaking to you as the CPAC liaison to CHS and I'm going to stay in my special ed Lane here a lot of things have been said today about Turf but I'm not going to talk about Turf I want to talk about funding and other critical funding issues that are vital right now at CHS including the broken elevator my son is a junior at CHS who has cerebral paly he needs to use a rolator a walker that has wheels and has a one-on-one par to help him navigate the hallways which we all know can be crowded and jostling um I knew the elevator had gone down before winter break I did not realize until I sat down at this meeting tonight that the elevator is still not fixed let me just say that one more time there's one elevator at CHS and it's been down in before it's been down since before winter break my son is lucky I I guess you can say he's a lucky disabled person because he can manage stairs with the help of his parah who is 7 and a half months pregnant who now needs another parah to help her manage the stairs with Ethan sitting here I've heard that there are students student athletes in fact who are disa who are temporarily disabled and spending their entire days in the guidance office trying to do classes virtually so here's what I have to say if we have 4 .5 million to Turf most of ritzer field we need to find the money to fix that elevator I know $100,000 has been dedicated to it uh principal Sanchez told me that right before he went on administrative leave $100,000 is a Band-Aid if you don't if you have $4.5 million to turf ritzer field I highly recommend you find money to replace the CHS elevator otherwise you're looking at a massive Americans with against Ada americ Americans with know the law I'm talking about and it's going to come down hard on you guys thank you have a good evening next we have Dan Secor good evening everybody thanks for the opportunity to speak my name is Dan and I'm a lifelong resident of Maplewood and a proud graduate of Columbia High School class of 1991 I currently have three children at Columbia High School and feel that Turf and gritzer will settle the inequities that girl Sports face we all agree that the challenge that the school district has is a lack of open space for our female student athletes to use his proper athletic fields for example softball has to get permission to use two softball fields in South Orange that are almost 2 miles away from the high school and organize car pools to make the games practice and to make the games and practices on time the boys have a feel at their disposal the girls need to uh be off their fields by a certain time so wreck baseball can start their games on time while the boys they just show up and play as as they need the girls need to move bases remove pitching Mounds so they can play their games the boys all they need to do is show up the girls need to use Port Port tootes located around the corner from the field the boys have actual bathrooms the girls do not have a locker room to change in and need to use the backseat of a car or even better the corner of a Dugout to put their uniforms on yes our teenage girls need to change in the back of a car or a Dugout before a game or practice the boys they have a locker room that they can change in uh so uh by further investing in in ritzer we will alleviate the need to borrow fields from the South Orange recreation department and after the state of Art and have a state of art Athletic Complex for our softball team to call home you the members of the Board of Ed and hopefully in the near future the board of school estimates uh all are who are all the stewards of a decision that was made years ago and the adults on these committees owe it to the high school female athletes to resolve the inequities the CH uh the columb high school female athletes have faced for over 50 years thank you next we have Amy basuchi all right have Jessica Miller good evening as a neighbor of this area I have serious concerns regarding the lack of a storm water plan in the ritzer estimate storm water regulations dictate costly retention basins to collect contaminated runoff to alleviate flooding and proceeding with this infrastructure in place would not only violate state regulations but would Place area residents and CHS at risk of catastrophic flooding ritzer as a wetland absorbs the storm water from a vast watershed this project will disrupt the complex hydrology of the area when the next storm comes along and our homes flood due to the negligence we will litigate and it will be costly to the district I'm not sure why we are here even discussing building a plastic Sports Complex on a d protected Wetland the D permitting process is pretty stringent and the protections are in place for a reason even cutting down a tree requires a permit how does the district think that such a permit will be granted as a very close neighbor I have never received notification of a d Loi or a permit request this would indic indate the permitting has not been sought regardless the estimate of $4.6 million is not nearly enough retention basins are costly rerouting the storm water pipe beneath the field will be complex and costly or is the plan to place a $4.6 million investment over a pipe that failed during Ida very shortly the Boe will be back in front of the board of school estimates asking for additional funds I have been emailing superintendent business administrations and Board of Ed Presidents since 201 19 trying to learn the details of this project being planned in my front yard and I have been given the runaround for years we neighbors have children and we want the best facilities for all of this Comm all of this community's children but not at the expense of our homes and quality of life I would urge this Boe to reach out to us and work together to formulate a wetland friendly plan to improve ritzer for all students thank you next we have Eric Levan hello my name is Eric I'm going to give you the Abridged version of what I'd written previously I'm opposed to turfing ritzer field to which I live directly adjacent I would like to submit a few points of opposition to this proposal firstly the cost estimated at close to $5 million over roughly a decade how many badly needed repairs could be completed or how many teachers could be hired with that money perhaps double that hypothetical number as it's very likely the final costs of this project will grow as such things inevitably do yet even if the cost were to be far lower than what's already projected it simply does not make sense to spend into the millions to replace a field with a field this is not a project to turn a vacant concrete lot into usable space after all the benefits promised should be weighed against what everyone else stands to lose every neighbor who adjoins the field every nearby neighbor who brings their kids to the field every grass and shade tree loving high school student who attends CHS the countless residents who if asked should we rip up this big grass field and replace it with Turf for millions of dollars would respond no why would you do that they all stand to lose natural Green Space every day forever and at significant cost some stand to suffer water runoff issues once there is no more soil and heat from the giant plastic sheet baking in the sun I also think I saw an endangered owl in one of the trees once so Checkmate I would ask that you sever the motion vote no and save this money for something else thank you next we have Jerry [Applause] Hall good evening thank you everybody um as a former female athlete I certainly hear the plate of the young women who have bravely spoken out but it does seem like the boys need to learn to share a little bit more however um I'm here as a concerned Citizen and a parent of a child in the district to write a strong object objection to the proposed expansion of artificial turf at field this will not only have major environmental and pollution ramifications for the area but it will open up the area to further flooding additionally this expenditure PRI prioritizes Field Sports over other much-needed academic and district-wide infrastructure improvements as a board it is imperative that you ask yourselves crucial questions of the long-term and irreversible impacts of an expansion of turf will make have you considered the wider impact of such a drastic expansion has the board asked themselves what other priorities will go deferred within the district spending this money many families make S their home because of the reputation of the schools yes fostering a healthy love of playing sports and physical activity can and should be a part of a child School experience but it does not Trump academics and a healthy and safe School environment and other school activities my most recent experience is apparent is its PS there are bathrooms that students refuse to use because they're in such disrepair the lockers are in atrocious condition and the seats in the theater are coming apart among a myriad of other things if we leave these items as they are it does not demonstrate a board that values creating a welcoming academic environment for all there are more pressing matters that affect far more students than spending money on more artificial turf have the Boe and advisers asked themselves what will happen if the field continues flooding as has occurred in our town over the last several years where will the storm water runoff go how will this environmental impact impact the surrounding Community thank you for your time there's much more I could say but others in the community have said it first and I do commend the student athletes for coming out thank you next we have Lucia Ramirez Lucy Ramirez um resident since in 1998 okay when my daughter first was going to start high school I was going to move to Melbourne and this FY man billionaire asked me why you moving from from Maplewood and I FR because the school he says honey you have a real good Colombia is one of the best and I say yes so I stay in my Bo and I realized and I say what make you say that he goes because you have a teachers when the student is good the teachers carry the students exactly what happened my daughter graduate my son graduate now I have another one that's going to gr graduate I have a middle school coming okay I remember the incident with um the principal erand okay Elizabeth erand Maple dispose her Maple Summit to her right end Okay the reason that I say that because my nephew my cousins will benefit from her to be now working in the summit school they told highly about her she did a big impact on their on their lives in Summit which I have TI and Ramson okay we get rid of that that principle now you guys doing the same thing with Sanchez when they shooting they was a shooting shooting shooting my son called me mommy they a shooting I drove by I came in I was here in less than three minutes I saw the staff running in panic I saw students with the backpacks the staff was as they walking in the St was laying on the floor it was no fun to watch a couple days later I found out the students assult the 7-Eleven uh attend um clear and then what what this the the the boards went they went and tried to crucify Sanchez because he tried to find a solution for that there is more that I can say next time but 1998 I saw many faces in this town next we have Melissa Randazzo hi thank you everyone for staying so late so that we would have the opportunity to speak I'm Melissa Ando I live um right here bordering the field and I have a fifth grader in the district it's amazing to be here tonight and be inspired by all these articulate young adults who are advocating for themselves I'm truly sad to hear that they've been put in unsafe and inequitable conditions unfortunately turfing ritzer will create more problems for the students in the town I hope the parents that are here tonight advocating for their kids consider how they might feel if this turf field put their home at risk if they had to foot the bill for increased cost to cool their home and the mitigation of major flooding this is not just an environmental issue it's an infrastructure issue now you know about the complex hydrology and Wetland status of the field you've received emails with maps data history and regulations courtesy of Jane Conrad Jessica Miller and other concerned stakeholders in the community it's evident that due diligence has not been pursued the appropriate permits and permissions have not been sought most importantly a plan to address groundwater has not been presented now we know that you know so we will hold you accountable for the impact to the town Valley Street borders the field it's called that because it's literally a valley with the increased rains projected for the area we can expect flooding that will further damage the CHS building impacting all the students in the district the flooding will impact homes like mine that border the field we want our student athletes to have a safe healthy place to play but not at the expense of the homeowners that taxpayers and all the other students that deserve a functioning school with green space thank [Applause] you next we have Jane [Applause] Conrad earlier this week I sent you document ation that richer field had been classified as a type of managed Wetland freshwater Wetland for the last 30 years I urge you to see this discovery as more evidence that the plan to put artificial turf here is not well considered likely to be either blocked outright by the D or if approved likely to be fantastically expensive and also increase flood risks please don't make the mistake of thinking this Wetlands evidence is of historical interest only hydrology is enduring the whole Hillside drains to this area with huge amounts of water moving both above and below ground we may have forgotten this is happening because ritzer is doing its job as a wetland and preventing flooding putting an artificial turf would hugely disrupt ritzer's hydrology and would replace at Great expense a field that does not flood with something much less reliable ible there's also the the enormous cost if you were to put in artificial turf there would be the huge expense of trying to intercept and divert the massive surface and groundwater flows and then since the construction process to create a stable field base results in an impermeable surface you've got to have detention structures which I believe are not included in your current cost estimates to handle the 5 in in 2 hours or 11 in and 24-hour rain depths that the new storm water rules require so my suggestion to you is avoid all this huge expense and risk omit the turf field funding from the bomb request invest instead in soil-based Athletic Field care which can easily and inexpensively solve ritzer's essentially superficial problems of excess wear and compaction in particular location there are a lot of us with some expertise we'd be happy to partner with the athletic community and have been willing to do that for many years thank [Applause] you next we have Jonathan [Applause] Conrad hi um John poor and Maplewood resident um truly thank all of you for being willing to serve on the school board um the board should consider whether this ritzer project is really serving the needs of all the students in the district a small number of people clamor loudly for this project which they say will address the needs of student athletes but to be fair we are really talking about a few hundred participants in field sports not even all sports at CHS and even for them the improvements are incremental uh soccer play soccer and lacrosse players are already practicing on ritzer field so the proposed project would marginally increase playing time there are but there are all kinds of students at CHS not just athletes and listen I say this as someone who comes from athletes I I was a high school athlete I was 72 uh Monclair you know was uh ESS County Champs in cross country I was a state champ in bicycle racing and 7s so I'm I'm I'm all for athletics um but the um the natural grass the field isn't used by other students every day the natural grass surface is flexible in addition to sports activities it can accommodate picnics concerts Gatherings even outdoor instruction this is not the case for plastic Turf surfaces you're going to basically make it a single-use surface um so the solution from my point of view is that can we figure out a way to address the concerns of the student athletes that are are that need more practice time without taking something away from everybody else and my answer is that yes we can we can commit ourselves to understanding how other towns have dramatically increased playing time on natural grass fields and the figure of 600 hours a year is basically from propaganda from Turf companies there there are towns in Massachusetts that are there are empirical studies showing 1,200 to 2,000 hours of of uh of use on on natural grass fields and I can share those case studies empirical case studies with you um so rather than destroying the field by dumping my time's up thank you Jonathan hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic let's do the right thing thank you next we have Macy Conrad hello my name is Maisie um I'm Miss A former CHS student and also student former student athlete um and I do believe that we should meet the needs of the women's athletic teams but I also believe that we can do that um with an improved maintained natural grass fields and we can do that while also supporting the needs of our larger diverse community of CHS students and residents um in the last few days I have gone around to different high school students many of whom do not know did not know about this plan and are against it and I've collected last I checked 186 signatures against artificial turf in the last week or so um I'll also add that um the national US Women's Soccer Team uh protested playing on Turf from 2016 to 2019 due to proven serious health risks including and not limited to increased severity of concussions burn injuries and your body tearing before the turf tears there's lot lot of proven research on this that I can share with you um and beyond that as a recent alumna I also know that ritzer field is a community green space in the midst of a heat island um I'm also prone to heat stroke and I've experienced this um this is where students eat lunches hold protests have fire drills um Turf is flammable uh and get all kinds of relief and this would be replaced by plastic we the young people are the ones inheriting land and waterways that you choosing to pollute Ritz field performs important ecosystem services that we've talked about meanwhile turf fields now uh 3 acres would generate 83.4 tons of carbon dioxide probably more than that because that is only the creation installation and Disposal calculations um there would be more over use and then replacement after 10 years I commend all of the students who have come to speak today um but I also think we need to consider all the health risks that are in plastic turf thank [Music] you all right we'll move to online first is shakina Samson that Community member is no longer online all right next is Allison Baker hello my name is Alison Baker from Maplewood um I making this statement on behalf of the special dance parents and students uh they are scared to speak for themselves for fear of retaliation students and parents have been raising issues for years regarding this class at CHS despite emails meetings the filing of HIV claims and many stering students appearing in the guidance office emotionally distraught year after year nothing has been done students have gone the adults um they they ask for help and their their their pleas have gone and answered I am here to ask one is the district okay with a teacher who sends direct messages to students throughout the day and demands prompt responses two is a district okay with a teacher who demands that students Miss other classes to immediately come to her classroom three is a district okay with a teacher who leaves students to be supervised by individuals not approved by the board and whose names have not been shared with administrators or parents four is a district okay with students being required to rehearse for 12 consecutive hours during the school day far longer than any Union would permit professional dancers to be required to dance five is the district okay with a teacher who admonishes students that they must not discuss or complain about their class to other students and if they do they will be put on probation or removed from class six is a district okay with a teacher who relies on a select group of students in the class to routinely create lesson plans and instruct a class seven is a district okay with students being required to miss multiple cons bu his schools to attend rehearsals eight is the district okay with the administration doing nothing when the student after student tells guidance and the principal who are being bullied who are being intimidated who are scared and do not feel safe an investigation should be conducted the investigator has heard from 15 individuals eight more thank you Alison yes your time is up okay but thank you next we have Julia flath hi I'm a South Orange resident asking the Board of Education to sever the artificial turf project from the longrange facility package being voted on tonight I acknowledge the testimony from the many female athletes who spoke um as they pointed out the district consistently and unfairly gave the male teams more convenient fields and got away with it by promising the female teams they would get turf fields later is the solution to this really that we need to add new to fields or can we make another plan that involves sharing Fields because the district made that promise without fuling fully considering whether they would actually be able to secure the permits or the extra funding Beyond what's proposed tonight for the extra planning and drainage that will be needed to properly install Turf on a recognized Wetland I was shocked when I learned there is a pipe to Brook that runs underground where they want to install the plastic Turf the cafeteria already flooded recently we are opening ourselves up to the risk of catastrophic flooding once we remove the neighborhood's largest expanse of permeable ground if you want to take more money out of taxpayers hands do it for any of the many more pressing needs don't do it for this irreversible ecological mistake we have so little open space left here why would we keep taking that away some of you may think you want Turf now but what about years from now when we are once again being asked to pay to replace it and further down the road when our children come back to and ask us why were we all complicit in ruining our environment finally my seven-year-old asked me to tell you that she doesn't want to play on a plastic field when she's in high school thank you next we have Julie mccort allowing me to speak tonight I admire the students speaking tonight and respect their voices no matter our differences in opinion tonight's business update about underground construction at riter field remains vague and the continued lack of transparency is disturbing already tonight athletes describe overuse that will disra degrade the artificial turf surface prematurely richer field is a designated Wetland by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with active subsurface streams flowing through 100-year old pipes beneath it this proposed artificial turf requires numerous collection basins with an overflow pump system to be installed otherwise it will flood and or float away during heavy rain and snow melt this will require removal and replacement of soil 4.5 $4.4 million is insufficient to cover the cost of this project properly the useful life of the artificial turf expires 5 years before the useful life and maturity of the long-term Bond and nine years after the expiration of a short-term bond this useful life of an artificial turf also ends before its debt is paid off which the CHS financial literacy course should teach is a dangerous position to take for debt servicing based on three scenarios presented at the November 29th 23 S Board of Ed meeting two scenarios include richer field there's only one scenario scenario when Richfield is excluded if other two or three is chosen it is within your authority to sever ritzer field from the bond proposal obtain a transparent and complete analysis of artificial turf costs compared to Natural green costs include those in those analyses maintenance emergency repair and cost of the New Jersey Department of Environmental protection application for a permit to build then make a decision on how to bond and spend it on necessary pressing costs for safe buildings keep in mind there is nothing in the title 9 laws or regulations which require an artificial turf field for any athlete is your fiduciary obligation to us the taxpayers and the public to make fully informed decisions is within your power to serve rer from The Proposal thank you Julie next we have MK hubner the Community member is no longer online next is Rebecca scha good evening I'm a resident of South Orange a mother of two District students and a neighbor of ritzer field and CHS I'm asking the board to sever and vote no on the proposed riter field project aside from the very real threat Synthetic Turf poses to the health of athletes neighbors and the environment this project is a financial disaster for our district the current estimated Financial cost of removing natural grass on ritzer field are replacing of plastic grass is 4.5 million the cost and magnitude of this project has already doubled since the original proposal and work has not yet begun I don't believe the current estimates include water mitigation costs or take into account the fact that ritzer is a registered Wetland how much more funding will be required for litigation when neighboring homeowners are impacted by the water management issues you will create during Hurricane Ida ritzer field suffered damage when an underground pipe broke where will all this water go when the field is no longer covered in grass and trees which help absorb water how will you reroute the stream and Wetland that currently exists just inches below the field F surface how much more will be required to see this project to fruition what will it cost to maintain the plastic Turf once it's installed that this District would even consider spending Millions on Synthetic Turf is surreal considering the transportation issues facilities issues and staff vacancies throughout the district how many school bathrooms and leaky roofs could be fixed if we prioritize maintenance of our current structures I hope you will consider the various ways whicher field will impact our community and schools I'm dismayed to hear this evening about inequities for girls Sports in this District I also can't understand that turfing ritzer field is the only way to address these inequities please Sever and vote no on the ritzer field project please consider that any votes to move forward with turfing ritzer would be putting the health of our students community and District financials and Jeopardy thank you Community member MK hner is back online yeah next is Mike benedon I do not see that commun Community member online all right Dana Luciano that Community member is not online all right and Steve lats Steve you're unmuted can you hear me yes sorry uh thanks for the opportunity to speak Steve L now living in Hardon New Jersey and that gives me something relevant to say it is possible to maintain grass fields in a manner described by Mr Conrad and the case studies for Massachusetts every day I walk at White Lake fields in Sparta uh they're in beautiful condition they get a lot of play they are playable and the day after in the heaviest rains because they are prepared well they are scaled well and the water drains off so the first thing is whether you do turf or not you've got to do something about management of facilities in the district you've got to either fire some people to get their attention or supervise them so that fields are maintained better and so that buildings are maintained better so uh number of people called me about this issue and asked me to weigh in on uh the process process by uh which these requests go to the board of school estimate um first of all um njsa 18a colon 22-37 provides that when you pass this resolution you need a 2third majority of the entire board not a 2third majority of those present that means you need six votes to pass I would urge you because of that uh to sever the consideration of artificial turf so that you vote on them separately so that everybody can stand and be counted whether they uh support uh this proposal or not because it's very clear there's been a lack of transparency and had there been more transparency it would be clear that Administration has not done adequate to look at the EP regulations both wetlands and storm that have been ignored to dat thanks thank you Steve 180 all right follow the law next we have our committee reports so we'll just go just go down the line so the special services ad hoc committee met yesterday on January 24th 2024 we began at 6:30 p.m. and adjourned at 8:37 p.m. myself board members Meyer and Whit letter Dr Gilbert Susie budine our assistant superintendent of special services and Kristen melen supervisor of special education were all in attendance for the duration of the meeting Miss Budan began our time together by providing a comprehensive presentation on special education to level set the understanding of our committee members and provide contextual information related to the state of special education in our district this presentation covered a wide range of basics in special education including the district Special Education team structure in overview of tiered responding for students who are struggling the IEP and 504 processes our District's Continuum of special education programming and parental rights the presentation provided specific insights that committee members appreciated including information into self-contained programming and the percentages of our student body receiving special education services which is currently 20% of our student population that percentage of students in our district who receive special education supports and services underscored this committee's commitment to collaborating at a high level with our senior leadership and Special Education team of experts to continually grow and improve and of course celebrate the winds along the way following this presentation Miss budine provided an update regarding the District's corrective action plan that was created in response to the federal audit findings and the following steps have been completed a comprehensive training was conducted with all child study teams and speech therapists on November 16th 2023 and that training covered a wide range of topics including data regarding special education students and students with 54s processes of support for struggling general education students the referral to CST delineating between I IEPs and 504s compensatory education parent R State put and resolution sessions we also discussed the chain of command for resolution of issues within the district prior to executing parental rights we discussed compliance monitoring systems and a documentation chain of custody that were also put into place and are currently operating as intended finally a group shared calendar for all meetings is being used to monitor timelines overall it is reported that the child study teams are adjusting to these monitoring systems that have been implemented and the outcome is that paperwork is being completed carefully with attention to detail documentation is being secured and is reflective of requested parental changes in timelines uh additionally Miss budine shared that the processes have yielded more points of dialogue for troubleshooting issues as they rise and opportunities to provide written or verbal guidance to the team next we discussed the 504 processes and concerns that were brought about the process and team composition that had been brought to the district and board's attention at Columbia High School this matter is currently under investigation to ensure that concerns are mediated and that operations are consistent with both District policy and regulations relevant to 504s finally we received an overview of power professionals from both Miss budine and Mr Mullen who's responsible for their oversight some of the topics that were discussed included how power professionals are trained once we receive them in our district from our vendor ESS and what coaching and oversight mechanisms we have in place the committee was encouraged to hear about some of the progress that's been made in partnering with ESS including the use of the mobile app documentation of performance engaging with a field coordinator and having weekly status calls with a site coordinator to discuss specific items such as par professionals fit with specific students requests for additional training and identifying any other barriers issues that might come up along the way there were no special education budget related items or policies up this month um and I'd like to thank the district committee members for their graciousness in getting myself and the other new board members up to speed and answering all of our questions at a very high level um and I would also like to thank my returning board colleagues for providing helpful contexts along the way I think our first meeting was really informative and set the tone for both a collaborative and productive year ahead thank you we have personel setting the bar for collapse after um the Personnel committee uh met on Monday January 2 second board members VOD lman dval Wilson and board president telesford and I were in attendance um my readout will be slightly brief as much of the meeting surrounded confidential topics that we can't discuss uh we kicked off the meeting reviewing the Personnel resolutions as usual Mr adido briefed the committee that they are in the final rounds for the K through five special ed supervisor role which uh was very encouraging to hear we then reviewed the monthly report for vacancies and have requested more data to be included in these reports moving forward to really better understand um the vacancies on a school level during old business Mr Adan shared with the committee that we will be working with Gallup to assist with Employee Engagement surveys starting with the 20 24 to 25 school year how the district is tackling retention has been a really big priority for me as Personnel chair so I'm happy to see that we're moving forward with this and that HR is working closely with the ba office to ensure that this is budgeted for during new business Mr Idan shared the Slate of recruitment events that the district will have a presence at in this spring it's an extensive list of New Jersey education career and job fairs and also included a number of outof State HBCU the committee also had a brief but productive conversation around how we can help to improve Communications with regards to things like teacher reassignments while recognizing that we are limited in what can be disclosed with personnel decisions it's not a problem that we expect to solve in one meeting but was very encouraged that Dr Gilbert was very open to thinking about ways central office and building Administration can work together on improving these communications with District families to help build and restore trust we close out the meeting with uh discussing the recent changes made to the district's exit survey as an action item I'll be following up with Mr Idan to review recent data and Trends in our next meeting and our next meeting is is Monday February 26 at 6:30 p.m. any questions you next is [Music] fft uh the first fft meeting of this board was held on January 17th with new committee members and the administration team uh the one thing to note is the financial Auditors will present the audit report for 23 during the February board meeting uh talking about Board of school estimates the discussion on what to present at the board of school estimates meeting took up most of our time one light one line item that had been left off the last Board of school estimates meeting was a girls locker room the original long longrange facilities plan asked for $900,000 for asb's abatement and new lockers during the FF December fft meeting we had a presentation on the current state of girls locker room versus the boys locker room the girls locker room is barely usable it's always locked and in rare circumstances when it's used it is scary the F50 committee and the board unanimously agree that we should add the cost of rebuilding girls locker room to the board of school estimates request the cost is approximately $2.3 million and this brings a total to 29.92 99 million for the whole ask at Board of school estimates also in the last meeting the board of school estimates had asked to asked to analyze Turf versus grass at the rsor field The Architects returned with some numbers all fft members and and indeed almost all board members had more questions than those addressed so the analysis ongoing project Ed so the couple of things that I'm going to put in here is that project Adventure is not getting demolished the walking path is not not impacted all changes are within the path moving on to Marshall the the seens provided switch gear for Marshall construction would have arrived only in December of 2024 and this would risk putting the entire project back by a full School a full school year the other option to expedite this was to buy switch Weare from a private vendor who would build it for us and this change order would cost about $77,000 and in the committee we agreed that this was although obviously be paying a lot for the change order it was worth spending it in Le of you know so that we can have the project done in 20 weeks instead of 48 weeks at the Marshall School a new patio has been put down to help uh kids waiting for the school bus because uh now a lot of the area that they used to use previously is under construction another item that we discussed about was for school auditoriums and the need for a part-time Auditorium manager the lighting and rigging in school auditoriums are old and are reaching the end of the lives this could pause a safety hazard work is currently being performed at Seth boen Auditorium for about $250,000 safety inspections are being conducted at SS and subsequently at all other schools the consensus on the board is that if you're going to spend many millions of dollars fixing lights and Equipment then we need to have some level of In-House supervision a quick note on the boilers at uh Seth boen uh there was a boiler fail I'm sorry said boiler failure at SS we have three boilers they're about 15 years old the boiler was last cleaned and certified in August of 2023 insurance has been contacted and one more thing about boilers uh we have brand new boilers at Seth boen but the room got flooded in the at the in the last storm luckily there was no damage the water is seeping in from the downstairs gymnasium which has been closed for the rest of the year and that's it for the fft readout any [Music] questions thank you next we have policy thank you uh the first policy Committee of uh 2024 met on January 16th with our new committee members uh myself board members gford sack Gable and Whit letter uh as well as Dr Taylor Miss budine uh and our incredible admin ative support staff and we started the meeting with an overview of our current policy committee processes and procedures uh we discussed our subscription with stra Esme Associates through which we receive policy templates uh alerts as changes in law as well as free available legal guidance on our policies uh our increased use of which could help cut down on our legal costs no offense Patrick um we address the order of priorities in which we identify which policies we need to be addressing uh starting with legal mandates down through missing policies policies that have been flagged for review by Strauss asme policies that are out of um compliance date wise and then all other policies uh including uh a rolling five-year review of our entire uh policy manual uh we discussed the processes for Distributing policies to committees for review uh with the goal of trying to push our work forward without overwhelming the Committees uh uh other work they have on their plates uh we discuss where we are right now in uh policy work and I do want to give credit uh to the work the board did uh last year in the significant number of overdue policies that were passed and I really wish the bill was here for this the these were policies that were in many cases several years outdated uh which um getting those done has put us in a much better position for uh qac review and just generally speaking so uh kudos to them and to the administration for the really tremendous board uh policy tracking tool that we have developed so that we have a top level view of where we are on all of our policies uh and keeping them up to date uh the big Focus we have this year is working through uh our regulations uh of which we do have a number that are mandated and are either out of date or missing uh including ones that require board approval uh there are no policies up for first read tonight because we're at the sort of transition Pivot Point uh there are several things in the hopper right now that will be coming up soon uh including some uh that are at committees right now uh waiting for uh review uh we discussed briefly the three pal policies that were identified as board goals this year for family engagement and considered our strategy as far as ways to update those as well as what other policies May uh help us meet that larger goal of family engagement um and I just want to take a second here as a this being my first month on the board to acknowledge um the incredible members of our Administration that uh I've worked with so far this month including Dr Gilbert miss budine Mr Burnside Mr bonds uh Mr gilio and Mr Mullen um and the incredible M quadrado you know I knew before coming on the board how hard these folks work but I actually did not know just how how hard the incredible uh hours of dedication day night weekend um so just want to let you folks know it's incredible to be working alongside you so thank you thank you now we have cni okay thank you so um the curriculum and instruction committee met on January 22nd at 7:30 p.m. with all members in attendance we started out with an update on inrs Miss kareah gave us the update um since it is included in our district goals she and her team developed more consistent practices and have detailed these in a new inrs manual so far administrators have had professional development where they watched and debriefed a real live inrs meeting taking place Miss kareah also provided provides ongoing inrs demographic data with District administrators to look for um Trends and to remedy challenges that they find um through the data lastly miss kareah explained how inrs functions at the high school since there are more complexities and the solutions to those we had an update from Dr Gilbert about Freshman Academy at CHS and he sent communication to families on Tuesday describing the pivot to this year's Freshman Academy uh so for the second half of the of the Year students will have opportunities to receive tutoring extra time to study confer with teachers or take the financial literacy course we discussed the phonics program that um is being piloted right now the committee received an update the current resources have been well received by The Faculty even faculty not piloting are working closely with teachers who are because they just like the materials um they seem to be working and they also like the supports that are included with those resources piloting teachers are also working on suggested uh tweaks in order to tailor the materials to our student population teachers evaluation of the program as well as student achievement will contribute to the to the decision to fully adopt the phonic program and if the program is fully adopted the implementation plan will be as follows May of this year um if the purchase orders are approved then resources will be delivered by June professional development will begin July additional professional development for teachers who would like to attend September through December roll out uh professional development and implementation support we received a ton of information about how the Eureka math program is uh how the roll out is going and here are some of the highlights teachers started receiving PD in the summer and this continued into the fall mostly around structure and pacing for the program there have been breakout sessions specifically for special education teachers formal PD continues this month um but the instructional coaches provide actually Dex month but the instructional coaches Provide support to teachers regularly also math subject leaders in each building are the main conduit for communication to and from the math supervisor the math portion of the K5 progress reports were revised to align with the sequence and content standards of Eureka Math teacher response has been positive about the program there's a general feeling that students have more opportunity to develop conceptual math understanding and that the program is well aligned with State Standards the ongoing challenge as with many new programs is pacing but teachers in grades 35 May timing and pacing adjust ments quickly because they know what students need uh prior to State Testing in grades K2 the timing and pacing is taking a bit longer with younger students um the pacing of the progress report report indicators though uh which assigns content by marking period will encourage everyone to maintain the pace in February through March I Exel will be introduced as a tool for benchmarking student progress identifying student needs and providing differentiated tasks uh we talked briefly about the high school schedule Dr Gilbert and Miss Bodner shared that they are currently brainstorming and gathering information to make improvements for next year based on the learnings from this year and we look forward to finding out more about those changes there were no cni related budget items or policies up for this month we scheduled our meetings for the rest of the calendar year and adjourned at about 8:30 p.m. I'd like to thank the district's committee members for being very patient amid this midyear transition as well as my returning board ofed colleagues for helping me get up to speed um I think this first meeting set the tone for collaboration and productivity in the year ahead actually I just have one question I think with the roll out of all these new programs um do we I guess could we I guess ask the district for some sort of feedback mechanism about just getting I guess a survey or feed I guess feedback from teachers to see what do they like about the roll out and what can be improved and what are the challenges sure yes they did say that you know they they got had received feedback informally but we can see if there's a way to make that process more efficient and to get us the information in the future thanks all right with that now we're going to move to the action portion of the meeting board members this evening I have resolutions 4563 through 4571 are there any requests to sever seeing none hearing none can I get a second we're now in discussion all right um for member valman uh I'd like to strike resolution 4 4566 n as in Nancy from the uh The Current financial from A2 J 4566 n that's correct done can we take a v on that right away get a second second thank you this is a technically a motion to amend so it isable all right uh anyone have any comments orone I can Le at least explain why I why I did that I mean this is not some you know secret things that have asked to be removed but there is a resolution in here that is 4566 n where we where the ultimate club which is technically not a sport in CHS is paying us $40 an hour to use our facility it's I I think you mean I sorry of course the wrong one well that's top of my head I mean yeah actually my my mistake hang on sorry give me a second yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no no I mean that's that's the most important one soor which one 4566 I okay I moved to reverse my previous strike let's get that done first thank you all in favor let's get that in okay okay fantastic Robert rules again I move to strike resolution 4566 I subject is authorization business administ to enter an agreement with ultimate fris second now we enter into debate okay fine now we at the right one sorry that was scary Okay so ultimate is you know I mean it's I believe I mean we invented it the entire world plays this sport because it was invented here at Colombia probably on reder probably in one of the parking lots and we should not be charging them money to come play on our site I agree that they are not a a school sport they are an outside Club but the least we can do and show respect is by not charging the money so that's why I'm asking you to strike it so that we can talk about it and figure out what the right thing to do is and come back again with a good resolution all right seeing as there no more debate now we come to a vote 4563 through 4571 so it's the vote on his motion oh it is okay that's why okay okay 4566 I yeah just to strike that from the collective motion okay all in favor all in favor it's unanimous thank you with all the Motions or all the resolutions is now tending okay 4563 through 4 571 now open for discussion yes any discussion all right board member all I just want to point out that um the first week of November in our school calendar has been um adjusted and um we now don't have the entire week off you know we we just have the Tuesday for voting and then Thursday Friday and I want to call out Regina because I know that she worked really hard to advocate for that it has been a hardship for many families and parents in this district and so I'm happy to see that that is a change this year um I do also want to acknowledge um Beth centino reached out to us about um the extended school year esy dates and perhaps if that's able to be figured out sooner than later maybe it's something that can be discussed in Special Services yeah um and we can always amended and vote on an updated version later but um yeah all right well close discussion and Mr B Roll Call board member cian yes board member dval Wilson yes board member eert yes board member Meyer yes board member sacket Gable yes board president telesford yes board member VOD lman yes yes and board member wh ladder yes motion is passed thank you next up a two hand carries 4572 A and B HIV appeals can I get a second second we're in discussion see discussion see there's no discussion roll call Board member whitler yes board member VOD lamani yes board president tford yes board member sacket Gable yes board member Meyer yes board member eert yes board member dval Wilson yes board member Callahan yes motion's passed all right now we come to our second hearing of individuals and delegations do we have any new names there there we go hi I I missed my chance earlier my name is Amy basuchi I'm a 24 year resident of Maplewood and I'm also the AP biology teacher and environmental science teacher at Columbia I have two kids in the high school currently um one is a student athlete um I was a student athlete and I have a lot of sympathies of um gender equity in sports for real I don't see though how Turf is going to solve that problem I think there's a lot of other solutions to that problem in fact I'd be happy to watch my son play baseball at The Meadowlands while the girls get the Underhill field but there was a lot of uh environmental impact uh eloquently spoken about today and I'm not going to reiterate all of that except to say that it is real there is a huge negative environmental impact and I am speaking against um Turf to think that today we can lay down that much plastic and and toxins in so close to a Riverway is kind of mindboggling to me and although we see these things as as short-term things good for our kids right now that and they're innocuous enough it's just a small parcel of land these damages in the long run are irreversible and I'm here I think this is a a community that I always thought chooses sustainability and forward thinking and health climate change and toxins in the water and doing this Turf and creating heat islands for our athletes um I I can't stand when my son is playing on Turf um is a public health problem it's not just a tree hugger kind of situation this is a public health problem that is going to go on for Generations so I didn't follow this um you know we we I'm hoping that this school in our district is about education the board has approved environmental science the Wild Flower Garden we celebrate those things I'm almost done but I hope that's not just lip service when it comes down to it thank you Amy thank [Applause] you all right now we're on new business does anybody have any new business all right so then I'll just read the final statement here a meeting of the board of school estimate will be held on Tuesday February 13th 2024 at 5:00 pm. at the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education Administrative Building 525 Academy Street in Maplewood New Jersey for the purpose of discussing the remaining projects in the district's long range facilities plan action will be taken the Board of Education will meet in public session on Thursday February 29th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in the district meeting room at 5:25 Academy Street Maple New Jersey immediately following the opening of public session the board will move to go into a closed session in the superintendent's office at 525 Academy Street as well as using an online video conference platform to discuss Personnel matters within the attorney client privilege legal negotiations and other matters that may arise and require discussion to be announced at a later date immediately following the closed session the Board of Education will meet in public session estimated to be at 7:30 in the district meeting room at 525 Academy Street in person utilizing an online video conference platform which will include hearing of individuals the community can view the meeting by following the steps which will be listed on the agenda if there are members of the community who would like to attend the meeting in person please note that mask and social distancing are optional in accordance with the guidance received from the local do and the CDC action will be taken all right and with that um motion to adjourn thank you member eer I'll say all say I I and we are adjourned at 10:45 [Applause] p.m.