##VIDEO ID:vThnVG-gP9Y## now good evening Mr Deandrea could you do the roll call please I I apologize in advance as I learn individuals names so I hope to get everyone's name proper a board member Elizabeth Callahan here board member Nubia dual Wilson here board member Regina eer here board member Bill Guilford here board member will Meyer here board m board member Shina saki Gable here uh board president qu tford board member Aaron bod lamani here and board member Caitlyn Whit letter here thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America to the repic which it stands one nation under God IND liberty and justice for all please take notice that the adequate notice of this meeting me had been provided in the following manner a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board at 2:30 on January 5th 2024 the said notice was sent via email to Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the news record Star Ledger tap into Soma and the Village Green whereas the senator Byron M Bayer open public meetings act requires all meetings of South Orange Maplewood Board of Education to be held in public uh New Jersey njsa 104 12b sets forth nine types of matters that can be lawfully be discussed in executive session without public being present to attend whereas the board has determined that one issue is permitted by njsa 10 104-1 12b to be discussed without public attendance and all discussions discuss during the exec session will be held on Thursday September 26 2024 at 6:30 p.m. and whereas the nine exceptions to open the the open public meetings outlined in njsa 10-2 4B are listed below and next to each exception is a box that will be marked when issues to be privately discussed fall within that exception after each exception is is really what is this I'm sorry I'm confused okay maybe where additional information that will disclose as much information about the discussion as possible without undermining the purpose of the exception shall written I'm going to skip I'm to read all nine no okay good so I can I read the ones that have an X okay number one any m by express provision of federal law state statute or rule of Court shall be rendered confidential or excluded from public discussion the nature of this matter described as specifically as possible without undermining the need for confidentiality is attorney client privilege Hab reporting and Personnel item number four any collective bargaining agreement on terms and conditions which are proposed for inclusion in any collective bargaining agreement including the negotiation of terms and conditions with employees or representatives of employees of the public body whereas the length of the executive session is estimated to be 45 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene immediately now therefore it be resolved the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education will go into executive session for the above stated reasons only and be it further resoled that the board hereby declares that its discussion of the affirmation subject will be made public at a time when the Public's interest is in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental interest in being protected from disclosure make a resolution to move to is session second thank you for member Callahan all in favor unanimous now we going to exec session thanks and I apologize since I don't know individuals when you make a motion if you can just please announce your name so I know who made the motion so you made the motion all right thank you so much do you want me to e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e sorry i' like to make a motion to make approval for the special meeting minutes on August 21st 2024 and executive session regular meeting minutes for August 29th 2024 do I have a second thank you b m Callahan all in favor all right we'll start with the um student rep update from Oliver neston and ASA Glassman hi to all I hope everyone's starts of the year has gone smoothly uh my name is Ol nessen I'm a senior at Columbia marking my 13th year in the district and I'll be the new student rep to the board of education for the 24 to 25 term alongside returning representative ASA Glassman ASA and I have held meetings with administrators to hear the plans that are being laid out for the coming school year as well as possible solutions to issues that have grown in our district in recent years as the year began problems with guidance were at the Forefront of many students Minds with the release of schedules coming only a week before the first day of school as these schedules finally released problems were ubiquitous with many students having gaps in their schedules being double scheduled in the same periods and not being able to take the classes that they registered for I want to give a big thank you to the guidance counselors who work tirelessly to fix these [Applause] problems with most of these significant issues being resolved within 8 school days however these scheduling errors that were relegated to the counselor and teachers are still being felt across the student body especially among our many students with additional learning needs some of whom are taking classes without a co- teer when their needs require that level of support from the school both our guidance counselors and our students deserve a better level of organization so that the simple issues can be worked out and the focus can move to real guidance for students in their high school years and planning for their lives after Columbia IDs are once again declared to be a requirement for students in Columbia however this is a promise that has been uttered to Columbia students many times leading students to view the policy is nothing more than a joke I'm hopeful that this time the promise will be kept and our security will be made a priority the negotiations now being held between the board and the teachers union cannot be overlooked by the student body both for the immediate and future effects that they will have on students teachers salaries need to be made a priority for our district although many of the teachers of our district possess a true passion for Education they are still people who need to be compensated for all the work that they do the teacher retention rates and performance booths due to raises have been shown to be correlated with higher student performance in addition the district's upcoming requirements will need to be filled by new teachers who will have no incentive to come to our district unless they are attracted by competitive wages if we are nothing else we will be a place of learning both the board and so need to ensure that the students are not forgotten in their disputes as the senior class approaches deadlines for higher education amidst chaos spurring anxieties from students and parents alike I hope that this District can overcome its internal struggles to become an environment where students can truly Thrive and I look forward to a productive year with all of you thank [Applause] you like to make a motion to move public speaks up can I have a second thank you Morman Callahan all in favor all right we'll move up public speaks are there any students that would like to speak I'll first give the board president statement hold on very slow today the school board meeting is a business meeting in public and not a meeting with the public often times May oh no I'm just confused sorry thank you for coming in person and dialing in by phone this evening the South M 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 timeles by policy and we will be enforcing those to enable as many people to speak as possible this evening each individual will be given two 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 in share with the board of education has taken very seriously and will inform future deliberations and work by the Board of Education and its committees uh I like first like to ask do we have any students here that would like to speak yes come [Applause] forward have you're ready whenever you're ready whenever you're ready so you can pull down oh yeah thank you my name is Gabriel Taro I'm a junior at Columbia High School and I would like to say that I wish I was shocked I wish I was shocked but this this is more than expected it now it's it's something that it's something that I've come to know will happen over and over and over again because this board does not seem to have any compassion for its teachers W asking for a living wage is not greedy it is a human right yeah and if there were if there were if there was as you say a shortage of money that then how come we've just spent millions of dollars on student comments which which while are nice nobody asked for and a new library which again nobody asked for because nobody used the old library which you would know if you actually talked to the students Y and that brings us to the main problem there is no communication if there were communication and yes this is another topic I'd like to speak on our stage would have been fixed by now we may be the only school on the East Coast that has gone into this year without a working Auditorium and it is Despicable it has gutted the it is it is going to gut our programs people are not going to join our Arts programs if there is no outlet for them to be creative and perform programs like the Orchestra program which I'm a member of the choir program which I'm a member of the musical and special dance dance Shakespeare Festival and so many more that I'm not naming need this stage fixed this is not something that can be pushed off into the future this needs to be this needs to happen now and so I ask once again is it greedy to demand what we deserve is it greedy to ask for living wage is it greedy to ask for a functioning stage is it greedy to ask for a competent Board of Education is it I wait your reply no he's not thank [Applause] you all right um actually looking at the list we can I thought we have a much longer list of speakers so we'll actually have that for each person gets three minutes so the first piece in the person will be an [Applause] Rosen good evening I'm anina rosson mother of two CHS students I'm following up on the issue from this past spring when the director of guidance and counseling position was eliminated citing budget cuts as you may recall I wrote to you and spoke publicly about my concerns for your proposed elimination of this position the importance of this role in developing the master schedule among many other responsibilities that directly support our students cannot be overstated as CHS stakeholders have now learned the hard way as at the June 6th Board of Ed meeting in response to letters of concern about the master schedule Dr Gilbert spent nearly five minutes outlining the plans for the guidance Department specifically he conveyed that the high school principal at the time Mr Pedro would manage the master schedule while two Vice principles learned how to do it he said quote the elimination of this position does not impact the creation of the schedule for school year 2425 end quote what he neglected to say was that he had already entered into a contract with a consultant to be paid $42,000 to create the master schedule the plan he described was pure fiction why wasn't the hiring of a consultant to do the master schedule communicated to the public at any time over the course of 3 months was it because after citing the budget for the elimination of this important position Dr Gilbert had gone ahead and spent 37% of Mr Von's annual salary on this outside consultant and had allocated other parts of it for stiens for existing counselors to take on a lead role this makes no sense and is disingenuous when the commu when the community learned about the consultant only last week due to an oiling it was clear that Dr Gilbert had lied to the public while not required to bring an expenditure of this amount to a Boe vote in a followup by The Village Green on September 22nd Dr telesford reported that quote the Acting Superintendent informed the board as a whole about the expenditure end quote so what the president is saying on behalf of the Boe is that you all knew that Dr Gilbert was lying to the public and you were okay with that that is unacceptable and antithetical to your spouse dedication to transparency our students deserve better than having the adults in charge lie and obus skate to avoid accountability thank you next we have Andrea [Applause] Alexander good evening I'm Andrea Alexander a 24-year resident of South Orange the parent of a 3 Columbia grad and a current senior at Columbia I sketched out yesterday what I was going to say tonight only to be faced with another ridiculous District's challenge just this morning my senior's guidance counselor was let go in June and he finally met his new counselor today only to learn she's leaving next week I immediately emailed Mr Sanchez who responded that they will have a new counselor lined up so it'll all be fine this will be his third guidance counselor in as many months while having three college applications due in 19 days I adore Frank but when the district tells me something will be fine experience has taught me usually it isn't and the current counselor is leaving for more money and less chaos which I guess is the perfect segue into what I wanted to initially talk about our teachers my kids have been in District since they were in kindergarten in my 15 years I have seen six superintendents three different principls during Elementary School and three principles during the high school and now four guidance counselors in four years yet almost all of the elementary teachers who taught my kids are still here the the consistency and stability that the teachers provide is unmatched at the administration level and we are going to lose them if we don't get our act together just like the guidance counselor our teachers are the heartbeat of our district in addition to actually teaching in elementary they are the surrogate parents in the middle school they help our kids develop Independence and in high school they become mentors advisers and even friends and I can't believe we're here again in my view this is so much more than percentages in dollar amounts it's about how they are valued it's unfair to the teachers to have this drag out for many months on the heels of the last negotiation it's exhausting for them and it's exhausting for the community in my professional life I have sat through many negotiations and I know that there were when there is a critical impass parties will lock themselves in a room and commit to staying around the clock until it is resolved it can be done if both sides show up and are willing so lock yourselves in a room and commit to getting it done before we have a mass Exodus of teachers either through retirement or resignations and all of you with kids in the district should be very afraid of losing our very best teachers in the next several years and as for money during the May 9th meeting board member gford made an emergency motion to request a forensics accountant that was denied four months later where are we with that if the district can find $42,000 to hire a master scheduler which which should be handled in house they can find the money to do a forensic accounting my kids have gotten an amazing education and have done exceptionally well as many of these teachers can test to In Spite of the district and only because of the teachers it is time that we show them the same level of respect that they show our kids every single day thank you next we have Jen Spiegler Jen Spiegler Jen [Applause] Spiegler hi I'm Jen Spiegler I wasn't prepared to come tonight but after what's going on recently I decided it was important I hate doing this I'm shaking my blood pressure is high but it's so important for all of these people here I just want you to think for a second do you remember what your parent and or teacher taught you basic learnings treat others as you would like to be treated be be respectful transparent and honest the only valuable com valuable commodity in this District are teachers that's right y our students are feeling the tension not only the seniors but certainly the seniors the teachers love what they do and even more their students this is a really unfortunate situation ation they can't pay their electric bills with the granola bars that our suppor of HSA and families provide to merely express our sincere appreciation and the respect the lack of respect that some of us are giving them is really awful I trust you all here to come to a respectful solution their children who they go home to at night not the ones that they teach every day are scared for them and worried as I was outside I overheard a few teachers talking to their children because they're not home tonight they're making sure they're doing their homework taking their shower or simply consoling them that they are safe and they are doing the right thing as one teacher said whose child marched with him today it's okay I'm getting in good trouble that's right and just a a and just a friendly reminder since some Boe members have said stated that we're just making noise I'm going to make a little more noise since I'm here tonight the need for a marching band truck still exists it's like the football team playing without a football and what is that dat the CHS Auditorium will be functioning for our community our students School groups and assemblies just curious what the plan is it's October there are no concerts scheduled this winter because they can't be on the stage there are cast and crew meetings happening with no idea of what the venue will be if there is a plan please share with this dedicated Community has offered to help and support and lastly we're in a financial disaster who's overseeing our finances while no business administrator or assistant business administrator exists the impact of our teacher Community is our Silver Lining here and if we don't make a change to keep them here we will be completely lost thank you next we have Iana Castillo Elana Castillo good evening guys sure I don't want to be in your side right now my name is Elana Castillo I'm a parent of two children currently in the school district Columbia High School and Maplewood Middle School and I'm a teacher but in another school district I'm here toight tonight because I fully support the teachers we all know lately it hasn't been easy for anyone but I want to highlight just how tough it's been for our teachers they're the ones shaping the future yet their hard work often goes unnoticed these past few Year sorry these past few years have been difficult for teachers dealing with pandemic chaos in the district and so many other difficult conditions that have challenged them to their limits many of them are parents themselves juggling their responsibilities at home and in the classroom yet they show up every day fully committed to our children educations and wellbeing it's more than just a job to them it's a calling I see them go above and beyond not just teaching but also supporting our kids as mentors and Role Models even when they're exhausted they keep showing up always thinking about what's best for their students I know there's a lot we can always improve but tonight let's focus on our teachers their passion their resilience and their dedications they deserve our support our respect and to know that that that we're standing with them to all our teachers really thank you and many of us really believe it or not appreciate you in other words just give them what they want they really deserve it thank you next we have Leah van [Applause] dorick good evening my name is Leah van dorick I am a resident of Maplewood a single parent uh to four children the youngest of whom is now a senior at CHS and I'm the music teacher at Seth boen so I know we like numbers so here are my numbers this is my 11th year teaching in this district and 15th overall my salary here is $65,625 so if we round that up and then if we include the $1,129 stipend I receive for doing bus Duty which is a third of actually a full stipend and based on my experience really should come with additional Hazard pay the total goes up to 66,800 so the threshold for free and reduced lunch in New Jersey this year for a household of four is $69,000 888 I mean this is I make $3,000 less than the threshold and I should be getting free reduced lunch but you know why I'm not because my kids work multiple jobs which is required as all part of the income so I work multiple jobs they work multiple jobs we're all working hard this is great thank you I value this community I respect my colleagues I love my students and I'm proud of the work that I do I refuse to acquest to divisive missives that are intent on pitting members of this collect Ive Community even neighbors against each other does this District really want to reflect the current political climate in our discourse is this really the example we want to set for our kids I I don't understand this as of this afternoon uh I counted there were 56 unfilled positions in this District wow but in resolution 4668 on tonight's agenda you've laid out your goals for the district before I describ the first two I just also wanted to add since I have this little extra time this $422,000 that you spent for the scheduling snafu did you know that that is the total of my take-home pay for an entire year back to resolution 4668 the first two goals for the district are described this way number one we will prepare our students for College and Career through through the design of learning experiences that will prepare them to become leaders designers problem solvers and innovators and two we will nurture responsible fulfilled and successful Global Citizens through developing an awareness of their interconnectedness with the world and learning skills that can help them contribute to change fantastic goals by the way but who is this we that you speak of you know the people who will be in the classrooms and the hallways actually making it happen that's right it's us and we are worth it yes we are next we have Jesse [Applause] H next we have Jesse Hine J make me follow that Leah hi uh I'm Jesse hin fifth grade teacher at Seth Boyen and a SOA member this is the third contract negotiation I've been through since I started working here and honestly probably the most disheartening one and it's a pretty high bar in the past week or so um our new superintendent has resorted to tactics that are downright insulting to me and my colleagues before even meeting the entire staff face to face there have been attempts to Gaslight and vilify our Union to bust the Union by turning community members against individual teachers yep nice to meet you misleading Communications have been sent out including a false SOA salary guide shared by a board member to make to make the community believe that our compensation was greater than the two districts he selected according to the guide he posted this morning I should be making about $88,000 more than my current Frozen salary that's not a mistake it's a blatant disregard for facts and a slap in the face to every teacher who has worked tirelessly for our students this year I'm managing a class 50% larger than my previous one I'm in an inclusion classroom for the first time in my career without a special education co- teer I I've poured my heart and soul into ensuring my students succeed so they don't feel those deficiencies all the while my salary is frozen and letters are sent out to the community labeling me as greedy wow and how many other SOA members have similar stories a budget shortfall is not our problem years of mismanaging funds is not our fault we refuse to accept less because of someone else's failures where was the concern when upper Administration received big raises this year where were where were their sacrifices when my colleagues were being fired and transferred involuntarily yep it's time to stop brushing off the realities we Face teachers deserve respect fair treatment and fair pay we demand real action and accountability we deserve better next we have Rosio Lopez Rosio [Applause] Lopez um my name is Rosio Lopez I am a resident of Maplewood actually moved here because I thought it was the right thing to do after teaching here for so many years I thought I love the community and I thought that it was the best thing to do to be here with all of us I am also the President also mayor and I am here today to tell you that after 23 years I am finally fed up with the level of hypocrisy lies mistreatment and abuse we receive by our s members okay are we tired are we tired recent Communications from a board member and the superintendent demonstrate a CLE intent to mislead the public let's start saying that saa's offer of six 4.5 and 4.5 did not include longevity so stop with the lies nor we ever say that that was our final offer what we did instead is we decided not to respond anymore without an offer that made that it was made in good faith that's what we did so stop with the lies one post that got my attention was a crazy you know post that he said that some salar is proposal would lead to nearly 5% tax increases this is deliberate and unethical Distortion of the facts the Bo's 2024 2025 Appropriations budget already allocates 138 million for salaries including Provisions for increases SOA CET salaries so you all know are frozen at 65 million so I don't want to hear anymore that SOA salaries are all the money it's only 65 million and any future increase is still under negotiation the communication FY suggest that agreeing to a fair contract for teachers will drive the district into Financial ruin so rather than working in good faith toward a fair solution that the communications uses fear to divide the community and pit residents against teachers these tactics are a diservice for our s and I don't know if you know we call it s a mapso for the new kids Community there is no budget crisis like you call it pretty much what we can see is that these fail negotiations are simply the product of the desire punish to S this budget chooses to allocate money elsewhere instead of compensating our staff if the board want to compensate the staff it can find the money to do so look how fast you found the $42,000 that actually is 84 because you are going to pay again but by Example The Board budget extraordinary a for 2024 you wanted to find money I found you money for 2024 2020 2023 24 2024 you bu you budget a million dollars for Extraordinary eight yet our district receive 2 close to5 million this past June almost 1.5 million more than budget do you see okay so now let me say this if a 1% increase in teacher salaries corresponds to $651,000 approximately right right then 2% equals 1.3 million approximately right Which is less than the money not budget that you got and I'm going to say exactly the number 1,400 482,000 that you received extra two or three months ago that you're saying you don't have the money for us so give us a contract next we have what was what was the number Rosia extraordinary Aid 1 million and a half almost you have next we have Alexander [Music] kuchi Al you want money you got the money Alexander kuchi hello everyone so I know the board knows my name but it's time for you to see my face my name is Alexander kuchi I'm the CHS AP art teacher one of our chance tonight here has been no more praise we deserve a raise and I know here in this room I've received got and quite deservedly so a lot of Praise I'm the 2024 NJ teen art educator of the year I've worked with Community leaders to highlight the work of our students in professional galleries resulting in them having some of the highest opening nights on record in the wake of last year's budget crisis I created an art Department fundraiser with Soma boosters to mitigate the funding loss for my department and in the past two years I've grown the AP art program 146% I've had a student receive the runner up where the governor's award in art I've had another student get a perfect AP art score and I had another student get the Scholastic American Vision award one of 50 in the entire country in two years of being [Applause] here so I'm here to ask what I what else must I do what more praise can I acrw for you to not live at poverty level the average cost of rent in New Jersey is $2500 a month not including utilities and that is over 60% of my pay and like many teachers here I qualify for subsidized housing assistance lowi income assistance I can't afford to save up for a home I can't afford to start a family and I was going to ask if that mattered to you but clearly after hearing the testimony of one of our teachers and mothers of the community it's clear that it doesn't I love my school yes I love its students I love their parents who fought for me when they were afraid that you were going to fire me cuz I was the last one hired last year I love growing the arts program and yes I do in fact love your praise but it's not enough we're supposed to be a partnership and so tonight you see me now and you know my face and you can come say hi to me in D105 at CHS because I am here to sit at the table with you to sit with my colleagues with you it's time for more thank you [Applause] we'll move on to our online public Peak we have James McGregor hi can you hear me yes hello okay all right can you you see me okay great thank you um hi my name is James McGregor I live in South Orange and I have two children who are students at wait can you hear me the clock hasn't started I just want to check I can hear you okay all right um I have two kids who are students at Psalms and CHS um like so many other folks tonight I'm here to talk to you about the teachers union contract I think that my family has had a fairly common experience in the South Orange Maplewood School District I've been a parent of students in the district for over nine years in that time we've had our fair share of ups and downs but regardless of anything else that's been happening there has always been a bright spot for our family which is our amazing teachers our teachers have definitely been for us the glue that holds the district together we owe it to our teachers we owe it to our entire Community to stand with them the way they've stood by us and right now while they're working under an expired agreement our teachers are telling you what they need a fair contract please listen to our teachers thank you next we have th [Music] Joshua good evening my my name is thier Joshua I'm from South Orange New Jersey and I have two kids in our school district I'm here tonight to give some context about how Union president negotiates and sometimes it's against the best interest of her membership and our community from where I sit on the outside this time and I'm glad I'm on the outside this time it appears as though the district has negotiated in good faith now it's worth noting that everyone who represents the district is new to negotiations where everyone from Sam's team Remains the Same and yet just like two and a half years ago there's been a declaration of impass when we completed negotiations in March of 2022 uh March 25th at 6:30 a.m. I was tired but proud of the deal that we had reached with SOA to increase salaries over 133% in three years and I should clarify saa's leadership determines the salaries of their members not the Board of Education the board authorizes the lump sum and SAA distributes it amongst its members as they see fit now you can Google perk perc Soma 2022 to see what happened shortly after that deal was reached when we agreed that there would be layoffs as a part of that deal SAA then sued to say sorry about those layoffs you can't really do that this lawsuit is why so may members experienced a delay in receiving their retray pay for the 2122 school year because the money that was held up in litigation by their leader before the perk hearing Sam's president proposed a different solution $550,000 in sance pay for the outsourced employees even though there was 580,000 allocated for the back pay basically she tried to have her cake and eat it too eventually the mediator agreed with the district and told samas president that she could not renig on deal she had just made that background is why I'm dismayed at what I've heard this evening it appears some of these same tactics are being used Again by some's leadership this evening president excuse me this evening Sam's president has decided to weaponize her power by trying to force the district to do her bidding instead of being a true partner but it doesn't have to be that way it doesn't have to be that way I remember when I was the president of the board trying to just enforce a meeting it said I was a bully but from where I sit trying to extort $550,000 after the fact is actual bullying but it doesn't have to be this way I know negotiations are hard but they don't have to be dramatic knockdown drag off fights that is when the community loses trust in both institutions you should focus more on working instead of winning because the only winning happens because the only winning here because the only winning here is when our students feel supported by our teachers and when our teachers feel supported by the district negotiations should be confidential but without secrets and as qtip says please put the Eagles to the side and get off of those Head Trips now I hope somebody will attend the plan October 8th board meeting I October 8th negotiations meeting and return to the bargaining table in good faith and negotiate a good deal for their members our taxpayers and most importantly our students board members thank you for your time and as always for your service have a good evening and I really hope hope and I hope I hope excuse that you get excuse me please do not interrupt anyone speaking excuse me there's the door please do not anyone speaking and I hopeite to each other thank you and I hope that you get home at a decent hour AAL thanks to Mrs woodlet and dval Wilson who would not shut that booing down even though I made this crowd not boo you a couple of months ago much appreciated have a wonderful night everybody bye bye [Applause] [Music] yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm going to say one quick thing I don't know what the history of public common in C in this District we don't call out people we don't we set a model for our kids and students we don't call out people on no matter who they are we don't and when we come to the and I appreciate many of you who came up you came up with a solution but we don't attack others we don't attack Union president Rosio can you let me speak we don't attack Union or Association presidents we don't attack parents we don't attack board members we don't attack students I agree with you we're not in disagreement let's just keep those ground rules in mind I beg of you all for hearing everyone and for those of you who did speak tonight thank you I know you have much better things to do with your time than come here you have family you have friends truly appreciated that you came so now we'll move on on to the superintendent update um so what I did hear a lot is keep negotiations going uh we are all for that we're also all for a healthy competitive increase plain and simple and trust me this is now my 14th year as a superintendent I've been on boards who don't want to pay we're in a good group right here you guys have a good group on your side we have a good group on our side side let's get back to the table and work it out my my I can only speak professionally from my relationship with your Association president uh and your executive team which has been wonderful since I've gotten here and that's been all of 90 days uh 90 days um and I sit here and maybe I'm not I don't know if it's me being naive or me just part of some really bad negotiation throughout my career I'm pretty positive about this one I I just was at a faculty meeting the other day saying I do believe we're going to come back to the table I do believe we will settle on something and I do believe that and it's going to be competitive and a healthy increase I believe in taking care please when we first came in we Ted talked about family throughout my career that's how I look at districts I am in as family and when this board started the negotiations we had three non-negotiables kids first a healthy competitive increase and take care of our family those are the three non-negotiables we had and we remind ourselves of the three non-negotiables every time we meet so I can only speak from this side I could I can speak slightly from talking with your executive committee we all want this to be solved we all want our teachers paid well we want to be competitive as a district as I've said to this board onethird of you are retiring in the next 5 to seven years the most out of any District in this County and if we're not competitive in offering salaries we're going to be in some trouble it's very C you're right we all we are in trouble so how are we going to change that narrative cuz if you're not tired of being the butt of jokes I can tell you I am after 91 days I am I'm tired of hearing the word we are unique which is code for dysfunctional I am tired of hearing it I hear it from families I hear it from staff I hear from admin that we SSD is just unique we are not unque unique it is dysfunction that we need to fix as leaders that means this board ourt your leadership needs to fix it unless you want to go on another 20 years of being the butt of jokes we have a choice we can change the narrative around this District we can only do that if the leadership Works collectively I'm not putting this on teachers because teachers are up to their knees in the classroom but the leaderships of this District can change that narrative and that's the work that we need to do we have a lot of great energies a lot of great energies in this District whether it's families Community teachers admin we have to synergize those energies so we move in the right direction and 5 years from now we're not looking at 40% rate of not being able to fill teacher spots because as I believe the young man noted and if you've L looked at recent Department of Labor surveys it is now teachers that are the hardest spot to fill on the East Coast it is no longer Healthcare or nurses teachers have now moved into that top spot and my expectation is they're going to be in that top spot for the next five to seven years just like nurses were for the last 5 to seven years unless we choose to do something and I will put out there that one of those things is collectively getting together as a leadership talking to assembly people senators and talking about the aid and the cap and going down the Triton collectively because not only SSD but every other school district cannot survive with a 2% cap and the current Aid districts like us are receiving so when we talk about synergizing energy I'm all for getting a team together and putting some pressure on some folks so we change that I'm all for let's get back to the table we've got good people at that table but let's change the narrative please that's the work we have to do I talked too much already see next meeting thank you all for coming out it's [Applause] important all right I'll give my update um thank you all for coming tonight I understand that our teachers as for our teachers you began the school year in a position I never wanted you to be in one without a contract I'll keep this brief as I have a 5-year-old daughter to go at home and we be leaving shortly after this but I want to be here tonight to share some thoughts both as a board member and as a former student first I ask that we tone down the rhetoric there have been many mischaracterizations and false statements made about the board claims that we don't respect teachers that we refuse to meet with you that we don't that we have contempt for educators or some or that someone said excellent at the proposed impass one statement likely directed at me suggests that we only see teachers as data points when I hear these statements I feel hurt because I see this District as my extended family the place where I grew up many of you talk about your students as your kids and in that sense I am one of your kids I want you to be paid well and I have nothing about respect for our Educators one of our former Union presidents was Paula Bea I went to daycare at her mother's home when I was three and I was thrilled to see as a guidance counselor at South South Orange middle one of our most recent CHS Hall of Famers was Mike Gigan he was my saxophone teacher my sister was a TA for his father at CHS I remember names like Anthony cinia now an assistant principal at South Mountain I remember when he first started student teaching here but mostly because I was in his mother's class Missa in her chemistry class and if you do not know me you should know I love all my science teachers the year before I joined the board I missed the retirement of Dr Bennett herfield the teacher who encouraged me to pursue a PhD this past June I was proud to honor the retirement of Vanessa Carney the athletic trainer who helped me whenever I was injured and I can only think fondly of Miss harrian the Clinton school nurse who was still there today she took care of me when I was sick but mostly my sister because she was sick all the time I could go on but I share these personal connections to make one point none of you are just data points to me some of you are my classmates others shape the person that I am many of you shape the person that I am today I return to this community not only because I love it but because the education I received here and that's all thanks to you I don't believe we should be at an impass we need to get back to the negotiating table as far as the numbers and data that has been shared publicly data is important but data should be part of the discussion that we mutually share not for exchanges in public when I joined the board I was happy to support the rise our teacher received which was the largest in the state in over a decade we know that competitive salaries are key to attracting new teachers but we lose the opportunity to reach the agreement when we're not at the negotiating table at the heart of negotiations though it's more than just numbers it's about building relationships that will serve Us in future discussions when I think of Patrice I remember she's a triny just like me Shear you're an Alum just like me these connections are invaluable additions to the relationships we could cult we should cultivate so that in three years our next contract discussions go more smoothly it may not be sitting here then but I believe our community is tired of turning every issue into a crisis let's go back let's get Back to Basics I came back to this community because I love it and it's where I want to raise my family with that I'm off to be with my 5-year-old daughter my five day old daughter sorry sorry I'm very confused who I hope will continue the legacy of being one of your kids thank you and next will be the business administrator update um at this point I'm going to turn the uh turn the presentation over to speed Architectural Group they're going to give you a small presentation on the status of your referendum and your capital projects [Music] thank you thank you thank sir you're [Music] right they they're control yeah I [Music] to simp what's up tell key next slide yeah okay good evening on yeah yeah good uh ready okay uh Keith you can go ahead in the next slide so um just some quick introductions Scott Downey I'm a principal of the speo group Todd wasit associate principal with spel group and uh you see the picture up there for Kathy tartaglia so Kathy couldn't be here tonight but she is with epic management Kathy and epic serve as the uh project managers for the capital Improvement U plan the long range facility plan projects that have been implemented uh next so just by way of a quick overview when the process started back in 20178 there was a fairly in-depth assessment there was a list of needs that was identified and the highest priority of those were set aside to be Advanced under this building program we'll get into where that stands but the um just in way of overview obviously the buildings in the district had AG there were a lot of infrastructure and upgrades that were needed to maintain their condition and improve them uh the building plan uh program focused on eliminating the modulars that were at the elementary schools which had aged and become problematic adding on to the elementary schools to handle capacity and uh other needs in the district as well as make substantial improvements at the middle schools and the high school um now that said obviously a program like this doesn't address everything and buildings continue to age as they operate so the district is undertaking and will continue to undertake other repairs and other work that will be ongoing as it is in any District uh with several schools next all right I'd like to get into an overall status uh with each of the improvements planned at each of the schools but collectively we're about a little greater than 80% complete uh of the overall Bond referendum uh a bit of a milestone was achieved with the start of school this summer uh all the elementary schools are now complete or completing uh as with construction there's always the last couple things and and we're working through those now um and actively we've got both of the middle schools under construction at various stages and continued construction at Columbia High School Underhill sports complex that was completed uh in the spring of 23 and any improvements at ritzer that's currently in design uh pending with some applications uh so we're going to go quickly through each school to highlight some of the features um so Clinton Elementary um it received a secure entry vestibule I'm going to kind of hit on some of these CU a lot of these were repeated initiatives across all the schools so one of those being a secure entrance vestib uh as well as a faculty privacy room and a faculty restroom and an all gender restroom so you'll see those those components across each of the schools um as well as some infrastructure upgrades um Clinton for instance got 12 new classrooms uh as long as as well as some building management systems Etc next keep Delia Balden uh again secure vestibule five new classrooms faculty privacy room and a new playground and there you see an interior view of uh of the classrooms um what you see kind of in the distance is the typical approach for all of the classrooms across the district uh it's an individual hbac unit in each classroom that controls the obviously the temperature as well as humidity fresh air componentry so uh it's a very streamlined approach that the district district has elected to proceed with though you'll see that as a common theme through all of the photos uh as well as a new fire alarm that was common through all the schools as well uh over to Seth Boyen it received the the full gamut of improvements um one thing we'd like to point out in this photo is just we we tried to to embrace as much natural light into these classrooms the new classrooms as much as possible um also Seth Boyen also received an exterior basketball court as well which I have seen the community enjoy and the student members there uh Keith you want to go to the next one please um Scott for a minute could you talk about how each addition slightly different but fits in yeah so so while the interior improvements we tried to um build fairly consisten consistently across the schools each one of the schools obviously is in a neighborhood each one of the schools has an architectural character to it so the additions are different purposely designed that way to try and fit each addition in with the um character of that building and its and its surroundings all right um you'll see new HVAC listed on many of the schools um that's Improvement that not only the classrooms but the the common spaces your auditoriums your gyms cafeterias uh go ahead Keith uh at tuskin school there was four new classroom removal of four port portable classrooms here and this image is a an illustration of how that looks differently than Seth Boyen but both fit in very well with their each respective neighborhood so you'll find that uh throughout all of the schools and Keith the I want to pause here for a minute a bit of my personal favorite um side note I was reviewing this with with the team and um hopefully you can see it but it's the colored glass that we used uh the district elected to to incorporate each of the schools but um the students and the teacher used the wall to to to as a part of their education U I'll share one little quote it's a it's a bit out there but um one of our designers said his his vision was that the colored glass would bring the wall to life but he said wow the students they brought light to the wall and that was kind of kind of hit me there and I'm like that's what it's about so that was a very personally rewarding uh situation there so there's little moments like that through each of the schools so go ahead Keith uh South Mountain uh now that entrance has some common themes with Clinton as well obviously its own themes but that was 12 new classroom there over three floors we also had a new elevator in there so we've p accessibly through the building as well uh there you see the photo of the three-story Courtyard uh obviously the expanse of the glass it it's quite interesting as the light reflects in through the different ways um very exciting space I I believe they also have a greenhouse now in in that courtyard as well good Keith at South Mountain Annex we had the secure vestibule renovate the main office as well and four new classrooms as well as we replaced a parking lot and made some exterior improvements as well than at Keith um so again you'll see the the same set set up through the uh the classrooms uh it it's very good we use the different colors to to customize it so each each school can have its own personality all right over to Marshall which is in the completing stages right now uh 16 new classrooms that's the largest Edition in the district um so we bringing out online right now but the students are in using the spaces as we speak de key and interior view of one of the new classrooms um we're working on finishing up the building management system now each School received a new building man management system that allows the facility to observe monitor make sure everything's working properly with mechanical systems throughout the buildings and throughout the district so go ahead Keith montros Elementary um photos were a little bit more challenging but you get the essence we created a secure vestibule replace the boilers in there so that would be good for the next 50 years and put it a new faculty privacy room as well South Orange Middle School we are in the preparation stages for everything contractor is on board materials have been ordered we're going to start using some of the times during the breaks to do some infrastructure improvements but most of the improvements are scheduled to be um undergone under started and completed during the next summer of 25 Maplewood Middle School uh we got a great jumper the great jump the contractor and epic put together a great plan for Maplewood Middle School they have sorry ke go ahead there we go um much the same improvements as South Orange middle but we have a lot of the groundwork in place and that's tracking to completion probably in the spring but definitely by next summer and Columbia High School I'm sure everyone may may have seen but we have most of the roof replaced um we've cut back drastically on the leaks we have five of the 10 new science labs completed and occupied right now the commons is scheduled to be coming online uh towards the end of this year with the media center coming online early in 25 uh overall we plan to have the construction complete at the high school by the end of the summer of 25 and uh in the middle lower image there you little sneak peek of The Commons uh along with a rendering of where we're going as well as the nurses suite and a newe science letter and Underhill Sports Complex as mentioned before was completed uh prior to Spring uh new turfield new grand stands new Press Box does the board have any questions so I I do want to comment um and it's probably one of the best jobs I've seen how the exterior of the schools how the new Blends in with the old it's probably one of the best jobs that I've seen in many capital projects I've been part of so kudos to you guys good I just well thank you for that presentation um I you know and it's hard because I feel like the photos don't always do it justice but we board members got to tour and it was just really wonderful to see all the hard work and um I know in particular I'd love for you to expand a little bit more on the guidance Suite because when I walked through it that rendering doesn't do it justice I mean it really is beautiful I can't wait to see it when it's done um but I know that there was there's supposed to be like a cafe there's supposed there's other glass glass um like like study rooms there's like then there's like a whole another area so I mean I feel like I'm saying it for you but if there other things you could expand on because um I feel like the community doesn't really have a good sense of that space and what's going to be there and after the tour I was really excited to see what what our students are getting and what they actually deserve as well um whether you like to use a library or not from the last student it really is an amazing um multi-use space yeah so uh part of what drove you know some of the development process that was worked out with the with the district folks on those types of spaces the library the commons um you know education is evolving it it always does right the high school is an absolute Jewel of a building it's a beautiful building it's been around for a very long time it's you know an edifice in the town but within that building education needs to evolve also so those spaces are specifically designed to provide a flexibility that some of the traditional classrooms can't provide you know the ability for students to work with each other the ability for small groups large group groups multiple classrooms to come together or just informal activities to occur it's tough to do that in in many older school buildings which were designed in a different age right so those spaces including the media center and some of the other improvements at the school will um you know it will what we see when when things like that are done is that there's a there's a development process that happens so when the space opens the teachers and the students will find new and interesting ways to to utilize those spaces and put them to use as well as the ideas that we and your teams had going in with the design so should be very exciting just going to follow up on that um so I appreciate you gave us a preview of this in our last fft meeting um and I wanted to highlight you know as we've mentioned in past meetings this project uh has moved forward with remarkably few change orders overall uh We've kept pretty close to the contract the one piece that has been sort of the exception in that regard has been the work at Colombia and we've talked about the pretty unique uh unique but the uh circumstances that that you folks have found uh every time you opened up a wall to do more work um and that's where dovet Tales not only with looking at some of the Changers that we've approved um which of course were within the bond but nonetheless uh but we're also talking about separate work with uh working on the Columbia Auditorium and Stage just not within your purview but it relates to the same building uh could you just share with us overall a little bit more of um the condition uh that You' found Columbia in and the work you've had to do to get this project done sure overall it was with the building of that age it it's it's quite expans and conditions are going to vary but we we suspected that the amount of water damage inside of the walls was it was actually more than what we thought it was and due to the complications of the construction pipes it it comes very methodical as you have to work through so we were cognizant to make sure to remove any of the damage and stop any further damage from occurring uh and then we strategically brought it back um so we've had a couple of those complications it's not always best when I get the phone call from the contractor as he starts a new area but we we discover we TI you know make a plan we get through it so we're uh it's a work in progress yeah I think it's worth noting that um you know the the district has taken the right approach with regard to these issues when they've Arisen right it's not just well what's the quickest fix and let's move on it's yeah we have a condition here we now know it's there let let's address it right let's make sure that we are truly renewing this building for many decades into the future and um you know in 30 years when they open up a wall they won't have those problems so um you know that that approach is the right approach but that approach is also um led to us doing some additional work that you know wasn't wasn't anticipated at the answer so I'm a little embarrassed asking this question but what is a secure vestibule no embarrassment necessary so um you know one of the things that has changed in school over the years is uh how we handle Security in the design of buildings right so um you know gone or the days where you can open the door and just drop in for a visit and walk in so a secure vestibule provides a point where entrance and access to the building can be carefully controlled uh I by example I arrive at the building I have to buzz in I have to say who I am the person operating that door can decide looking at me is it a nice enough jacket should I be let in so to speak right but they have the opportunity to assess the person at the door I'm then led into the vestibule and they're given another opportunity to assess me as more information might be given uh ID might be scanned so forth so the um secure V is set up to support that kind of uh scrutiny for security reasons and it just means that the school is given the ability to uh have a higher level of control over who and how people enter the building um to make sure that uh they're as careful as they need to be um just a couple other things first I wanted to I should in just pointing I should say board member Meer for you uh so I wanted to first name Che the I appreciate that we have gotten done not only the security vestibule but also the several other security updates throughout all of our buildings uh in light of you know the environment that we're currently in it has been great as we've gotten to tour through to see the ways that um though perhaps imperceptible uh We've made all of the classrooms and buildings uh safer uh I did want to highlight and I will surely regret asking this question but we have ritzer field on here on the progress update uh and as we know that's been sort of a touch point in the community as we discussed plans for it uh but it just wanted to uh we discussed briefly in our last committee meeting uh the steps that are being undertaken at this time uh if you would just recap those briefly for the community sure uh yes um in May of this year the application was made to the D for an Loi which is a letter of interpretation uh to get clarification that Ritz or Fields may or may not have any protected environment um that has been accepted by the D and we're in administrative review currently they don't have a strict time frame to review but typically it's four to 6 months and so we get a letter back yeah so once once that process concludes we'll be able to know whether there are any uh special considerations that need to be taken into into mind as as the design moves forward and then we will uh work with the district to assess what imp fact should go there how it should be designed and and Advance it forward so I I did just send all the board members nubo you asked for a little breakdown of the media center I gave I gave every board member a more specific map of that and we could share that at the next meeting but uh you know you a tutoring center you got a conference center uh a mobile Conference Center with closable walls that can be divided into two you've got an artifact Center uh to really uh dedicate to the history of the school uh podcast room quiet room room um tech room it's really is built for the 21st century thank you no other questions this is really good I mean things look really nice thanks thank you thank you [Music] and just in conclusion of my report um I look forward to working with the board members for my time here um I'm excited to be here and to help the district until you make your transition to your permanent business administrator uh I did have two meetings already with your construction team uh they are thorough they are efficient they're looking at it at the best interest of making sure this project moves forward in the appropriate manner uh so uh looking forward to being here and working with them and helping the district make sure that everything goes smoothly so thank you so I'd like to welcome Mr Deandrea I mean welcome um and anyone has any questions for him for the construction operate okay no sure go ahead not a question but I just I just wanted to clarify I was going to do this in my readout but um he's come on as a part-time interm ba so I don't know if that thank you for the proper introduction to him and welcome and thank you for taking on the work I I believe we have no other presentations at this point do we no okay moving on next up is actually before we go on there are two things I wanted to point out number one is the board president qua telesford he had a new baby aaya pan pan telesford 5 days back and that's why he came in here and he had to leave very early as you see he was sleep deprived and but extremely happy and smiling I mean that is what new dads are supposed to be like so you know I he was to point on that and the second thing is if You' noticed we're all wearing these you know very fancy t-shirts and sweatshirts I mean the board Star had a has started a tradition started by board member Whit L out here and who wearing School t-shirts to show solidarity with our students and celebrate School openings so we have rep representation all the way from montros preschool to Columbia High School and all the other schools in between so I think that's pretty cool I mean I'm glad we do it and so that the two things so now we move on to committee readouts board member kalahan yes thank you all right so the special services committee met on September 11th 2024 we began at 6:30 and adjourned at 7:30 was myself board MERS Meer and woodlet superintendent Bing Dr Jess Maria we were all in attendance and we started the meeting with Beth centino the president of CPAC who began the meeting with some insights from our members at CPAC we discussed a variety of topics with them those included beginning improving beginning of year communication ensuring accuracy of website information for families we discussed our 504 process and timeline the need for additional standard operating procedures in special education and some different Staffing suggestions as well as inclusion in classroom needs and paraprofessional training and fading this was our first committee meeting where Dr Jess Maria was there um and so also exciting that beginning on 101 when we officially welcome our last supervisor we will in fact have a fully staffed special services department and we are really really excited about that at the leadership level uh we're excited to welcome her into this role as the assistant superintendent of special services um and excited to see where her expertise and vision takes us we talked about improving internal communication with principles CST members teachers and emphasizing the shifts in the par professional roles and their impact on least restrictive environment and underscoring the importance of student Independence we talked about some of the issues with P professionals and transportation AIDS how the district was able to identify those and the steps that they were taking to ensuring compliance and amarate those issues we also discussed our special services profile both both the federal uh monitoring that occurred as well as the board commissioned audit we reviewed what we've done internally so far to socialize those and then discussed the presentations that will be forthcoming and the release of those results to the public which are forthcoming in October but I will leave it to superintendent Bing to announce those um and then we talked about IC classrooms the district working on transitioning to a model where teachers move between classrooms and instead of moving students uh progress is being made on hiring for various roles we have upcoming interviews and hiring updates planned in the future um and some of the achievements are shifting to underscoring student Independence within and across the department improved collaboration with CPAC by having them in meetings and shifting this committee from ad hoc to standing our next meeting is has changed but I believe is October 10th at 6:30 um but I could have that wrong I have the 15th we will have a the special services profile will be presented on October 15th I believe our meeting is the 11th but I would have to double check um that's our next meeting um but if anyone has any questions about this committee please let me know yeah so I mean the first thing is just a comment I mean I'm actually very happy that the special services committee is now a full peer committee what a permanent committee along with as important to us as cni and fft and personnel and and uh policy because we just with about 15 to 20% of our Stu student population being special needing special uh Services I think it's important that we do that so that's that's awesome the other question I have about the meeting itself is will a parent from the district like the you know the CAC president will someone like that always be joining a meeting the way we've structured it thus far has been that a representative from CPAC has joined us for the first 15 to 20 minutes and they either ahead of time or during the meeting share with us a list of things that they would topics they would like to discuss and then we've been discussing them um in committee we also um have made it a point to be at the CPAC events which I think has helped the relationship feel B directional right so we've invited them into committee with us and then we're also attending cup chats and meetings and I think that's helped to really make sure that the lines of communication from the board and the district are are open and and information is being shared in a way that feels productive and is helping us I think stay on top of things that are important to families I mean I I think we should treat this as a as a what should I say a pilot project because if that really works out where we have a parent of or some from the community show up for the first 10 minutes and there's no reason why we can't try that out with other committees I mean obviously this is far more you know there we could we could think about that I mean again it's open to the board and we can done something El yeah I think we have good examples of how we've made that happen this year I think the inviting the parents to help thought partner on the stage um and and what that looks like and planning for that is a good example of how we've invited parent engagement into variety of different things in the board and I think yeah these are both two good models of how we can kind of structure that that type of collaboration yeah great thank you next is oh sorry um I just wanted to thank Mr Bing for scheduling the special services presentation um for October 15th um and I have gotten a lot of questions just about this particular um consultant in the work um so I just wanted to just provide a little bit of History we had a federal audit of our special services department which concluded last year and during the district goal setting process we as a board um and actually our our newer board members you weren't even on the board yet but you participated in that that process of I saying we need to look at this at a deeper level than even what came out of the federal audit findings um so back in November there was a resolution we spent $43,900 um on bringing in a consultant to make sure that we could identify the challenges and basically create a blueprint going forward and what I'm really excited about is that we do have an assistant the new super assistant superintendent of special education who will help us set those clear goals and help us move forward um I'm very eager to hear the audit presentation from the consultant and I just want to thank you cuz I know it's hard for a scheduling perspective Personnel committee the Personnel committee met on Tuesday September 24th at 6:40 p.m. in attendance were board member VOD lamman and myself and miss Idan and Mr Bing from the district um the public facing minutes are posted on the website but just a few highlights to share um already got the introduction but our part-time interim ba welcome Mr danda and thank you for taking on this work um the full-time ba position has also been reposted on NJ asbo for those that are not aware that is the NJ Association of school business officials um the district will start to bring in candidates for first round interviews as as applications come in uh Mr adido discussed year One updates to the 5-year uh diversity Workforce plan he shared he's progressing well against the goals and the timelines he shared he has selected a vendor for the survey which was related to the goal to conduct a needs assessment targeting October november-ish for launch cost is around 13k with the possibility of going up to 15K these costs have already been baked into the access and Equity budget we had a dis another discussion around the two co-lead guidance positions um I had expressed concerns around having 10-month employees in this role as scheduling requires work over the summer we discussed the possibility of bringing the director of guidance role back and um Dr Gilbert had to miss the meeting for other matters but Mr Bing explained that it's not off the table um Dr Gilbert is exploring how this role can be brought back can be possibly reimagined so that scheduling doesn't fall on one person as it has in the past um which also includes better utilization of power scheduling and power school and more more cross training um across staff members uh everything else was confidential so we can't really discuss any questions okay I'll go next for the fft committee minutes we met on September 18th it was uh Dr telesford uh balahan board member Meyer and myself for the meeting along with the administration uh the the first thing we spoke about was construction updates which actually the Pres the presentation that you just saw and it was pretty it was pretty nice to see that because you know it's nice to see projects that started off 2 three years back and have actually been completed and they look fantastic and they've been used I mean I think that's probably the most important thing um one question that came up which we had to clarify was the state of bathrooms in the Marshal Elementary new wing and you know I mean we've been told that they've been open they're available and uh the the presentation not sure about how the in Ultimate usage of the bathroom is left to the school itself so that's that's where it is we we spoke about rser field we have all the paperwork given out we're expecting reply from them in about March to June of next year long range facilities plan so now this is every 5 years we're required to do a brand new long range facilities plan the last one we did exp is expiring now which is what we put the bond out for and we did the construction so let's call this let's name this thing as longrange facilities plan 2024 so what will happen is the Architects and the project managers go through every school that we have and write down a list of things that are required and upload it into the you know the the doe website and that becomes our template for what we need to fix in the next round of uh uh the facilities plan if we choose to we can we can go Cherry pic we can say we want to do these five things together prioritize or when we choose to do nothing but by law we're supposed to follow the process and it will get done by the end of the year uh we spoke about the Underhill complex where we wanted there was talked about tightening up security get more cameras get more motion things and also limit the use to an from I guess very early in the morning to like late Dusk and make sure that when students are present nobody else should be there because right now it's an open facility for the entire community and there are lot of private companies that are coming there and using that for their own you know Boot Camp or know boxing training sessions so that was the main thing um status of the business office we have the interim ba which is which is great hiring is proceeding for a full-time ba and a new assistant ba is starting shortly the budget timeline will be finalized in in a coord in coordination with the inter MBA shortly and present it to the Community Transportation we had a bunch of questions on transportation and uh one of the one of the issues that you know Mr B brings up all the time is that we do not have any standard operating procedures for many many processes so therefore this was already one of them where a lot of Google Sheets were used to schedule things especially students with IEP and then when data does not get transferred over correctly there there isn't appropriate support for them on the transportation side all these minutes are of course on the website and you know you can see that and I'm just kind of skipping down to the next thing we're starting a new project for Yonder which is basically a lot of parents have expressed desire that middle school at obviously not elementary school but middle school children should not be carrying cell phones in the classroom one way to kind of handle that is to have Yonder which is like if you've ever been to a con and seen it it's a plastic pouch with you know very strong magnets and they lock it in you can leave it at either at the door or you know some safe place and then end of the day they can always unlock it and take it back with them it's going to cost us about $28,000 for about 500 pouches and lock stations and this is a pilot and you know once it works well we can expand it to other schools we had policies uh you know first read and second read we had you know a few things that we went through emergency and crisis situations this is actually a lot of us has gone back for updates from uh security and there was no other new business that's pretty much it for fft happy to take questions it's okay um so I just want to clarify um in public speaks and I apologize I can't remember who it was um they mentioned that there's another bill coming for the scheduling consultant do we is there truth to that do we know what's going on with that I had understood that comment as suggesting we would have to do the same thing again next year I'm not aware of oh oh sorry I thought confus to clarify I didn't interpret that but if I don't know if any Bill coming up for any other scheduling okay wasn't right now yeah I guess that was the question cuz I had that down too the it said that the master schedule was actually 84,000 so I guess the question is is there another invoice forthcoming for the work um from gem solution so that the total amount is 84 versus what we're all aware that was spent of 42 so sorry 80 yeah 40 so is there okay all right thank you I just wanted to a quick call out here one piece it's a pretty small piece uh but that we discussed is uh that we uh had some movement in the pay schools uh system for those of you who uh put money on for your kids lunches the district made a change last year uh to a new system for doing that uh and one piece that the system did not have last year was a way to restrict what purchases your child was making uh and so for those of you like me who are being put out of house and home with sunship purchases every day there is now an option that has been enabled so that you can put limitations on it was enabled I think on the day of our meeting uh last week and you can go to the pay schools website uh and set up those meal restrictions uh if you so choose small wins any other questions policy committee policy committee uh the policy committee met on uh September the 11th uh we had uh myself uh board member Whit letter and we had a cameo from board member Callahan thank you for joining us uh in addition to uh superintendent Bing uh our new liaison Miss just Maria joined us as well as our amazing administrative uh secretary team uh we addressed a few things in policies first of all there are three policies that are up for first read tonight uh 5537 regarding service animals 5350 regarding student suicide prevention and 5610 suspension uh all three of these are uh iterative updates that are putting uh in place updated language from the Strauss Esme our vendor uh in light of changes to the law uh nothing really significant here to report except I will note that in the service animal policy we've introduced an entire new section on miniature horses um that is pursuant to the law uh so ponies and fullsize horses are not included in that definition uh also in the policy committee discussion your students don't ask I yeah it's individual needs uh the policy committee's definition was recently expanded to include uh a governance scope and we spent a little time discussing what that governance scope looked like as far as recommending best practices for uh board operations and uh embarking on next steps to look at what other districts do in that regard recommendations from the New Jersey uh State uh School Board Association uh and um what our next steps will be as far as the operation of the committee uh one big piece is that we had discussed uh ways that we could change uh and modify procedures for these meetings to make sure that they are uh efficient they're of most use to us to the community uh and that they don't they keep them within one calendar day uh is one ideal so we have a a questioner app with certain ideas a lot of them that superintendent Bing had identified uh we're waiting to hear back from the board and hope to develop some of those and uh everything else you can feel fre to check out in the policy committee minutes on the website but I will stay here and talk about the data committee as well oh you know I guess we can have questions first sorry to have had to miss that meeting but um I was wondering in the discussion about governance and um the scope of committee work and everything if there was any um further discussion about perhaps bringing Stu the student reps into either policy committee or or any other committees like we had um started discussing at The Retreat um it's a good question we had uh some discussion on that for sure we have a policy that does actually discuss uh incorporating uh student board members into committee work uh and as was discussed I think uh board Deval Wilson at The Retreat uh there was a discussion recently with the uh the State School Board Association about ways to bring in in our student board members uh later on this evening we will be tackling among our resolutions is uh our approved board member uh board goals for the 2425 school year one of them is consideration of a uh committee that is focused on the uh needs of students and families and pulling in a lot of pieces of our District Operations that directly impact students uh and uh that absolutely incorporates the concept of bringing in uh the student rep uh so I think that is definitely something we want to look at and consider going forward sorry I just have a couple comments and then um just a few questions so I want to focus on regulation 512 for the internal student transfer weight lless regulation which has been in draft form for a few months um because at this point now the board has heard from parents about their experiences with hardship trans transfers and getting on we at specific schools uh that has occurred over the last few months I feel um and I shared this feedback with Mr Bing that the regulation in and of itself lacks detail particularly explaining the process the guidelines for submitting hardship requests timelines and requir documentation um I've encouraged the district and I know you did as well last year Regina to review how other integrated districts are handling hardship and weightless policies I sent materials to Mr Bing today for Cambridge Public Schools cuz it they've been an integrated district for 40 years um they clearly Define what a hardship is and they outline the process for all stakeholders so that there's transparency um and in our next policy meeting I would like to have a conversation like when do we feel like this is going to get to a position where it can be presented to the community um and then this month I've also asked Mr Bing just for clarification on the district's hardship parameters so how are we defining it and and one of the things I've been curious about is whether socioeconomic status has been a factor in the hardship decisions um for me I personally don't believe that it uh your sces should disqualify a family from having their hardship reviewed um when you look at what Cambridge Public Schools does they review each hardship case on a case-by Case basis and the focus is solely on what's in the students's best interest sces is not considered when determining a school transfer um SC is only considered when they're determining which school the child will be transferred to because just like here we want to maintain integration balance so I hope that uh going forward we can see some of this information in the um transfer weight lless regulation and then just regarding the implementation of the regulation I did have a couple policy process questions uh earlier this month I expressed some concerns to the district about the fft committee's involvement in reviewing student transfer appeals and their August committee meeting fft members were given access to student and family information and made Final determinations on student transfer appeals I know of at least one family whose request was a was denied by the fft committee so I do have three questions why was fft involved in this administrative process how many transfer appeals did fft review in August and why wasn't the full board notified of ffts involvement our district policies and processes on student placement and transfer Appeals should never involve the board we've known this for a while now um so I'd really like to understand why that occurred but then also just like Cambridge Public School does recommend considering forming a hardship appeals committee that's made up of neutral staff to handle cases like this um and the materials I sent will cover that but it would be good for neutral parties to be looking at these things and yeah I'm just curious why that happened and um I just want to make sure that that does does not happen [Music] again we didn't we didn't discuss any family I I brought uh one of the examples of what the hardships have been looking like so I wanted to inform fft of this is what we've been receiving and I think we also talked about getting data off these meaning how many hardships are we receiving what if they're being denied what are the reasons for being denied we really talked about protocol didn't talk about any family I I I simply shared that especially being a new superintendent I'm getting these across my desk on a regular basis uh these are the reasons that I'm I'm getting so we need to accumulate that data and really figure out where we want to go can that data be shared broadly with the board we haven't seen is a& is currently uh putting that data together oh but oh Oh I thought you guys looked at it AUST um the talk was that we're going to start collecting that data because it was a request from one of the so and and un fortunately this family I don't know how many and that's why I'm asking but I they forwarded me the email where it said this is going to go to the table this uh part of this transfer appeal it would go to fft for determination they literally it's in writing we're meeting on August 20th then it says uh we met last night I'll call you and it's a whole back and forth that fft made this final determination and I just want to make sure that it doesn't happen again no I shared my final determination with fft just to clarify it did not happen so it cannot happen again it never happened in the first place so just clarifying that it never happened so it's unlikely to happen again right no but I could see the confusion so I I shared my decision with them and went over the hardships in regards to here's what's here are the trends and patterns that I'm getting uh and we need to start collecting this data nobody was involved in decision- making it was just an example to see that this is the data that coming over my desk I think we need to be collecting it uh so we can be more informed okay and I think it does tie in quite well with the Cambridge [Music] yeah um just hearing all this U makes me realize that uh we really need to explain to the community how this works because there's just so many info gaps and of course there's a lot of sensitivities with related to trying to get a transfer being on a weit list and I think to kin's point the regulation is so important I know Mr Bing we've talked about trying to do we I I love that you love your town halls I also an upgraded website will make a big difference upgraded website having an annual town hall to explain to parents what this process is because we have so many new parents coming in and they don't know what they don't know and um it's a it's a sensitive topic and even as for for new board members coming on and understanding what that process is and so I think um being able to do something on an annual basis having a better website and getting that regulation finalized with the things that Caitlyn glad it's already on Mr Bing's radar is really important so that we know that um this is going to work right any other policy questions okay uh moving on to data committee we had our quarterly data committee convened on September 16th uh in attendance where for uh myself board members uh eert Callahan and uh board president telesford uh as well as numerous folks from the district uh we discussed several of the upcoming data presentations and our protocol for uh uh how we are highlighting data making sure the most Salient pieces are being uh produced to the uh public making sure the board has an opportunity in advance to review uh and also highlighting uh some very helpful Community contributions as far as their observations of our data and making sure that we are taking those into consideration uh we also spent a lot of time talking about uh sort of one led to the other our overall uh procedures and our growth areas for Data Tracking we've uh we collect a whole lot of data many parents might have received today the long list of different evaluations that we use for students uh every year but taking that data and actually digesting it using it making it available to staff is something that uh we could definitely do a better job on uh we discussed the linkit uh database system which is being rolled out right now and is um supposed to be really remarkable being able to digest lots of different pieces of data different assessments uh and uh create actionable information for uh for school leaders uh and teachers to be able to understand Trends uh in classes Trends in school and with particular students we had our first Workshop yesterday for uh District administration fantastic great they came in hour and a half Workshop showing them the uh features of it and their data for the njsla was already uploaded magnificent yeah so there's a lot of detailed uh discussions of this in the minutes uh encourage folks to take a look through uh so we discussed how that system was working what the roll out would look like year by year uh we also discussed other systems that are in use in our district number one being power school which usually the Hub uh of the functioning of our district for better sometimes for worse uh which often relates more to the way that we use and know how to use all the pieces of the software than uh its abilities uh one piece involves the degree to which we're sucking in data from other systems such as IEP information uh Transportation information Aid information so that can be adequately used in doing things like planning bus routes um the discussion of uh ad hoc systems that have been used in the past different Google Sheets that people create you lose a person you lose all that person's Google Sheets Etc uh and making sure that we are instead adopting standard operating procedures and using the systems that we have and that we're paying for uh to best effect uh a component within Power School the power schedu which is used or ideally should be used in creating uh the schedules we discussed this this in the context of the difficulties that were had at CHS this year uh a lot of which had to do with uh suboptimal use of power scheduler in the past in our creation of schedules uh and our dedication to moving forward fully using this software tool that has the ability to actually track uh classes make sure that the classes are correct not double booked on top of each other triple booked on top of each other uh as well as the graduation planner piece of the tool which will ensure that students are scheduling classes that are correctly acre their classes and credits toward graduation uh this is a piece it's sitting there it's in the software it is apparently a real bear to get set up and for that reason it had not been fully used uh but moving to that place so that we have better schedules for students and a better overall plan working with our guidance staff uh again more info on that in the minutes uh we talked about the transfinder system which we've recently taken on and that's uh what we're using for transportation going forward again all the features of that software that we're getting up to speed un using the degree to which that can uh take information from power schools and put it in and other systems so that we do have a fully connected place and we're not manually copying pieces of data back and forth and back and forth because that has been I think the uh default standard operating procedure in lack of an actual uh defined plan so uh and lastly systems 3000 which is the system we use for our financial tracking and our Personnel tracking uh which we've discussed is it's wellknown it has uh a lot of features it is fairly ancient in its architecture and its abilities um and uh would be very difficult to move off of it but we could find some some growth opportunities if we did look at other systems so we put a a pin in that certainly we have to wait until we have a new business administrator fulltime on staff uh but keeping an eye on how we can again create opportunities for automation connecting our systems not having all these siloed buckets of data um any questions okay thanks okay the curriculum and instruction committee met on September 19th at 6:30 p.m. um all of the board committee members were in attendance so that was great we started out by discussing the anti- um bullying Bill of Rights res act resolution and we talked about providing the anti-bullying resolution to the delegate assembly we're asking them to take a position on our resolution and then move it on to our assembly members our goal is to get the state's attention get our assembly people uh to bring it up with the state to further help New Jersey schools get the ABR funds uh board member dval Wilson handled moving this along according to the timeline thank you for that and board member will Meyer will attend the delegate assembly meeting and also just thank you to anti-bullying task force chairperson Shannon cuddle and Essex County SBA president Reggie bledo for their guidance we had a robust discussion about the CHS students schedule the District provided us with the timeline of the scheduling process that took place from January of this year we reviewed the challenges of the rollout in the context of what was not a typical period of time for CHS and while our current staff worked hard to address scheduling issues over the summer and a week into the school year we offered our appreciation and we were reassured that the process will only be smoother moving forward some key Chang to practices to help make that happen include power Schuler training for all counselors CHS admin Dr kareah Miss Bodner and this is this is actually a critical step in moving away from the manual process that had existed for um creating the schedule and now there is standard operating procedure and the district will produce a scheduling timeline so everyone is clear on what to expect and when we received an update on the professional development taking place administrators received an introduction to link it as Mr Bing mentioned our new data warehouse there are also several um access and Equity related training such as anti-bullying HIV and Dating Violence uh just to name a few of them because there a lot going on regarding the dis the budget the district's ARP funds have been spent down to zero and they're almost finished spending title one and two funding a couple of recent purchases to highlight are gifted and talented supplies for teachers as well as supply supplies for um a new PE option at CHS that will be available next semester gardening and horiculture um so purchases for this class include a shed and hydroponic carts just to give another option to students who um may not be as into the current options there's some items for Board of V approval tonight enhancements to the K12 Fine Arts curriculum the annual list of field trips presented in advance although not all of those destinations will necessarily be used this year and the policies that board member Meyer mentioned on curriculum content Suicide Prevention and um suspension no policies for second read um that are cni related and in new business we reviewed our tracker for any outstanding questions from the board discuss the wins for the month uh there's a lot of good happening such as Ela curriculum nights that are scheduled and will be recorded for families the njss work that's ongoing Dr karea and Miss Paro will be presenting at njpsa on math maturity and teen development insight and solutions and we'll meet again on October 7th any questions um sorry so this is a question more about process communication I think across all committees um but just going through the cni and fft meeting minutes from May through August regarding the CHS scheduling consultant there was no reference or discussion um about this consultant in those meeting minutes and nor was there any reference to it in our Clos session meeting minutes which by the way for close session meeting minutes that's not a surprise because this wouldn't have been a confidential matter so I just want to ask these two committees were there any conversations about this consultant in fft what the costs would be to hire sorry I I must you I mean we had the fft readout I'm sure you could have asked then but I mean are you asking about CF cni or fft or is a general question for every committee I'm confused I'll just I'll finish cni I'll do cni but what I want to know is were the costs ever discussed for the CHS master schedule consultant in in fft and if so I also just would like to know why there wasn't a financial resolution brought before the board so we could vote on that and then with cni like I said I don't see any discussion I've watched the meetings again just did I miss something it wasn't in the readout so were there updates happening in cni about hey we we hired this consultant let's give a progress report where is this going um because like I said we've not had board conversation about that um and for some of us the CHS scheduling consultant and the issues it came out of nowhere so moving forward I would just hope that we can all make sure we're capturing conversations and meeting minutes that we're talking about it when we're here publicly which is the for for that to occur um and I think we owe the CHS families and their students an apology because that transparency did not happen and in this case it caused a significant disruption to these kids and their families um and lastly I also just want to go back to the question that we asked before so the first payment went out in early July the work wasn't done did the consultant continue work in July and August yes or no and is there another invoice coming because everyone's looking around like I don't know do you have another invoice like did this consulting firm firm work over the summer and continue to work and is there another $42,000 invoice coming so those are the things that I hope fft why didn't we do the resolution was it discussed was the cost socialized cni was it discussed were there updates status reports and why wasn't there more transparency with the board and the community about where we were and then is there another invoice forthcoming well I can I can start from the cni part um at our June meeting Miss Bodner shared that there was a consultant working with the CHS department heads on the schedule and creating standard operating procedure for the lead counselors and assistant principls uh to follow in the future they conveyed that there was a lot of work that needed to be done in a short period of time and this person was helping with that there was no mention of costs um associated with that um why wasn't it in the CN notes well not every detail is transcribed in the committee minutes um instead we provide summaries and for Board of Ed knowledge this had been previously shared I don't know if I'm allowed to say that but okay um and I believe the important part at least at the time for the community was to know that the schedule was being worked on and that there would be a return to the N9 period day uh with Conference during the 9th period so um and just to add before board meetings every month I share my readouts with the board members who are on cni for feedback and it's typically been quite helpful they may suggest you know emphasizing certain parts of our cni discussions or adding in any key details and I've always accepted those suggestions so while we didn't have time for our committee reports um to be read aloud at our June meeting I had shared my notes with the Comm committee and um didn't receive any feedback alerting me to any essential information that hadn't been included so this piece of information wasn't maliciously omitted it just wasn't deemed critical for sharing at that time the important thing that I shared was that the schedule was being worked on and what the key changes were to the schedule I know a lot of families really wanted to know about the structure of the day so I'm sorry what is the question again I lost it with the cni um so the question I had for fft were there conversations about the cost and then why was the decision made not to bring a financial resolution to the board so that was not an fft committee issue at all that information was provided by then Acting Superintendent Dr Gilbert to the entire board at the setting and obviously I can talk with the setting but it was offered to the entire board so claiming that it is secret or not known is obviously not true he mentioned it right to everyone and you know we I'm sure I'm sure many of us have it in our notes when that happened and that that's why Dr tord put out the statement to Village Green saying that the entire board was told about it so and then also the the dollar amount does not reach the limit required for a financial resolution so therefore it was never come up I we do this this happens all the time this is matter of fact this is how business is done if it's less than 44,000 the superintendent does not need to come to the board but he did inform us that he was hiring a super an external consultant that is very clear um well I guess I'm the only person on the board that didn't know and I mean I think people know me by now if I knew first of all many of us didn't vote for the budget many of us didn't support the director of guidance termination and if someone turned around and said oh by the way we're hiring a consultant and we're hiring a consultant at $42,000 I think every single person around this horseshoe would have had a lot of questions about that so um this idea that yeah it doesn't fall within the parameters of the $444,000 but Nei we we Alves group for our integration program that's a resolution at $440,000 we special education audit $43,900 like it's about transparent I don't sit on fft I don't sit in cni so if it's not in the meeting minutes and it's not in the readout we don't know and we're all looking at each other when the scheduling is an absolute mess because we didn't even know how we got here there weren't ongoing conversations and maybe we could have gotten ahead of some of this thing this or at least been transparent with parents to say hey guess what scheduling is an absolute mess so we're setting out the schedule but it it's going to be a nightmare and here's what we're doing um none of that occurred so I just I I understand a statement went out but I personally um felt like the statement that should have gone out was an apology not you know we all knew because if we knew we would have been asking questions and we would have been having conversations at this hesho and again is there another invoice for $42,000 coming cuz that I mean right now is there another one [Music] coming all right again ify one more time nothing happened in the fft committee so your assertion that oh fft committee knew and did not put in the minutes is absolutely not true it was told to the entire board by the Acting Superintendent and I mean I am not responsible for everyone's note taking abilities I mean I remember it clearly and obviously Dr tford put out a statement so it happened you know I mean I don't know why you maybe you don't that's fine it happens you know I don't pay attention to everything that happens in in the board minutes but it happened and that that statement put out by Dr tiis word is true if it happened then shame on all of us because none of us asked the questions that needed to get asked and no one made sure that we were getting the progress reports no one asked about just willy-nilly spending $42,000 in an environment where we should be counting every single penny and making sure that the Investments and the allocations make sense cool I mean I'm glad we have uh you know I'm glad we have you know Collective amesia but that's fine I I don't want to be accused of having Collective Amnesia but um I take copious notes in every single committee that I lead every meeting I'm in I'm not going to say it didn't happen because also at the time there was a lot going on so I'm not going to I cannot with 100% certainty say that it did not happen as a full board it sounds like there was some committee discussion which I'm not a part of um but I also do not have any notes going back into whatever these meetings are that we discussed about it that said at this point I think we just need to really focus on how do we move forward because you know contrary to what some people might believe that is actually a really important topic to talk about coming off of a riff where a budget was approved by some of the board members to eliminate this position so I personally we can disagree on this but I do believe that is an important topic to be discussed as a full board in public with the community and as Caitlyn mentioned just all of the the chaos that was going around the scheduling aspect of it and a lot of the community members calling and emailing and showing up to public speaks asking what the plan is to me and listen leadership is hard leadership means owning up when something has not gone the way that it should and I think that you know as we talk a lot about trust that has been fractured especially tonight we talked a lot about that you know that could have been that moment but that moment is in the past and so I just want ensure that moving forward that we are not um that we are just operating more transparently to the community and quite frankly again I always say it you know we are leaders and part of leadership is owning up and addressing when things have gone wrong but then addressing how are we going to improve that moving forward so I I hope that we can all commit to that thank you Regina I agree I I don't have it in my notes doesn't mean that it wasn't discussed I do take very good notes as well but there was a lot going on and also I just realized and I know I sound like a broken record but and I've talked to run about this that our resolutions are not synchronized because I always had it in my mind 40,000 40,000 I've had it in emails I've heard it told to us before in meetings and so um when I see resolutions that say 40,000 is a limit and then also 44,000 is the limit it's confusing and so it's confusing to the community um so we need to be better at look I mean we get a lot of things that we read right things get missed so I want us to make sure that moving forward if that number is 44,000 and at 40 then that our resolutions need to say that because there have been many this year and in the past that have said two numbers in one um and uh so anyway I know that you and I discussed we need to move that forward to make sure that that is is synchronized and I do agree with the communication and look sometimes things don't get captured in notes right um I try my best to do to do what I can I write I actually type really fast so that's why I was looking because I I feel like I would have said oh where is the resolution but um and and I did not so I will definitely own up to that so I don't want to beat a dead horse here but just to talk about some of this you know we um it is my understanding that the the uh threshold for a board you need to vote is the threshold that's above what a uh qualified purchasing agent is allowed to purchase which is at that 44,000 limit um you know after we uh learned more and and saw the uh the reference of invoices from this consultant I went back and looked and indeed you know in the uh July uh documents uh that we're provided the board uh secretary report you can go through and look at the check register and indeed you know it shows up right there on page seven of it which I sent around to a few board members and um you do expect every board member to go through man these things are difficult to look at they're sideways you can't search them uh this is probably you know it's it's part of our uh ancient data system for this stuff it makes it a little bit difficult to actually go through and keep track of all of these and I mean look you go through and you look there are a lot of purchases that are below that 4 $4,000 level and that is my understanding just how a district works right we give a budget to each department this is money that you can uh operate the district with and part of that is is going out and getting people who are going to do work should we have a process of better tracking what's happening with uh amounts that are below what we have to uh do a resolution for maybe we should uh and I think we should look at that and see if there is a way of using the systems we have to have a report so that we know what's going on and that can be part of the Cadence of our uh oversight role I do want to note I do recall it was in I think a semi formal setting when it was relayed to the majority the whole board that was assembled at that point that there was a big concern regarding the status of the schedule at CHS that this was I think late late spring or early summer there had been a tremendous amount of work that just was not done uh and and that we were going to have to uh work tremendously hard uh over those next few months to get it in place this had to do with notifying students of what AP classes they were going to have there was communication out to the district on that um you know the there was an invoice that was opra and put out into the community right on that uh uh page one it says you know lift and power scheduler it's nothing in power scheduler so uh clearly we had a lot of work to do and you know among all of was in that setting hearing that should we have made sure to March out the next time at the uh horseshoe and said hey everyone this is a concern we're dealing with you know in retrospect uh maybe we should have made sure that it was publicly uh uh more widely known um I think that there was obviously a lot of transition happening uh and uh I am glad that it looks like most of the problems have been fixed and that our guidance staff is focused on fixing the rest and ensuring a better process next time yeah and I just um went back to look at our cni question tracker and the only questions that were there for cni this month were from me and people are usually really diligent about sending me questions so I remind you also if if questions arise ask um I've been very forthcoming with information you email me I get the answer to you sometimes even before rcni meetings um I've pasted the scheduling timeline which also in is embedded with some sensitive Personnel information but again I just direct your attention there um because there has not been any attempt to be secretive about any information so just want to respond to um this comment about having to look at the bills list so if it's on the bills list that mean it's already been paid and I don't know about any of you but I had no idea what the consultant one I didn't know we hired a consultant but until we Reed this opra invoice I did not know the name so even if I go through the bills list which by the way I also did after this exercise I would not have seen gem solution and thought Oh this is the master like so we as board members should not be weeding through bills list and then finding random names and Googling them to try to figure out what's going on um I just want want to make sure that that's something that we don't think is a new habit of the board um yeah and I think tonight you know I I don't know if the consultant was discussed in cni but I think with everything going on being able to have um that information and the readout would have also been helpful just to kind of understand what happened how we got here um but anyway that's my last comment on this cool that's end end of the committee reports we move on to the action portion of the meeting and this is a question actually I have for you Mr Dandrea I mean this is your first time here doing this it's my first time here doing this so let's kind of figure something out traditionally the ba brings up a resolution and you know then we kind of discuss it and then we call for the vote and you take the vot is it how you want to do this too oh excellent so so before you continue one question I have for everyone anyone want to sever any resolutions no I I I know what the hand car separate yes thank you thank you good night do you want the first then seate or SE first okay they'll still ask for SE right now seate all right theid have separate you wish to have a mo someone make a motion to table or sever yes that's great so what how about we start with uh is there a motion for anyone to sever a vote first we have no such resolution so no one's looking to sever anything no are there other any motions to table anything yes resolution 4668 District GS for 224 2025 we' like to table that to for next month just 4668 that is correct and that's a motion being made by you yes I'll suck in it and I apologize I just got to find names so that's motion and second B yeah that's and you are Wilson uh and these aren alphabetical so I apologize and why don't I see your name oh I put the wrong one second I apologize and I was gonna say just put it this is strictly the motion to table resolutions 4668 board member Callahan yes board member D Duval Wilson yes board member eer yes board member gford that's Gord no I'm kidding if you said it right um yeah yes okay thank you I needed that at 10 o'clock thank you board member Meyer yes board member sack Gable yes uh board member vad lanii yes and board member Whit leer yes okay so the motion to uh table 4668 is passed just a a point point of order we didn't have um a discussion on that it is ought to be helpful for the community to understand why we're tabling our district goals I apologize you should correct I'll just make a note uh so in the uh discussion that we had at our uh board retreat earlier this month we discussed these District goals which as a community member mentioned that the mic tonight are beautiful uh however these are top level goals and we went through uh with the superintendent flesh had a large number of sub goals that are uh specific measurable Etc uh those are near finalization uh and we intend to I believe have them forward for presentation and adoption at our next meeting so I think the board is uh not in any way in disagreement with these goals we want them to be memorialized with all of the sub goals okay so we'll move on to uh the a motion to approve resolutions 4656 through 4670 with the exception of 4668 and we will have a separate resolution for the Walk-Ons that were handed out at the beginning of the meeting so I have a motion for that I make a motion to pass all resolutions from 4656 to 467 zero with the exception of 4668 second thank you board member Callahan any discussion we are now open for discussion I just want to highlight resolution 4659 M uh which notes that uh Dr Gilbert and our um uh team was able to secure State funding in the amount of $250,000 uh for work related to the intentional integration initiative which is uh a great win so uh I just wanted to congratulate uh Dr Gilbert and the whole team for that work uh and grateful to know that the state is is putting at least some money toward initiatives like this echoing that second um good job Dr Gilbert I know a lot of work and also was just curious um I agree with all of the five items that um it's going to be put towards for integration and I was just curious is that is the money going towards our Consultants to do some of this work have we figure like do do we know how it's going to be allocated because it sounds like some of the action items which are very much needed are things that maybe our Alves group Consultants would be doing or is this all going to be in house I'm just curious if that's been figured out yet still a work in progress um board member saki Gable already did an amazing job recapping our resolution for the assembly um for the delegate assembly but I also just wanted to Echo the the thanks to everyone for putting this together thank you to the cni team and Mr Bing for um his support and the central office staff because there's next steps that they have to do to make sure that we get this to the delegate assembly by next I think it's Thursday whatever October 3rd is um and so so same to um our ess6 County SBA president Reggie blitzo and our anti- building task force chair and former board member Shannon cuddle um they all have been really wonderful and supportive and it's great to this is my first time having this experience doing this with so many other local leaders and it's just nice to have people coming together and working for something that is for the greater good for the state take the role please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes [Music] yes our resolution 4671 do I have a motion for that uh we have 4671 a b c [Applause] and yeah no but but for one of them would I which one would you want to S to I'm I'm going to be abstaining from a vote on b c and d so if we can just s we can note it that way y sure yeah a and then the others a through D and just we'll note that he's vot abstaining on C baining on b c and d abstaining so he whate for a so should we just pull a out take a vote first and then do BCD together I can just noted that he abstained on all three that's fine so I'd like to make a motion to bring resolutions 4671 a b c and d they're four different hi Appeals where by voting yes we are overturning the determination of the hivs do I have a second board member eord second thank you uh we are open for discussion I don't know how much we can discuss but ches okay call please right board member Callahan yes board member dval Wilson yes board member eer yes board member Gord yes board member Meyer with the exstension of BC and D already noted yes board member sacket Gable yes board member vad lamman yes and board member Whit lender yes and I believe those are all your resolutions all motions have passed we are now in the second hearing of individuals and delegations do we have any signups sure um hello my name is Jeffrey Ben I live in South Orange um in reference to the teachers public speaks earlier I want to say like we nearly need to find a way to pay our teachers better like how can you hear all those statements and not be affected how can you hear those statements and not be worried about the future of this District um I was glad to see the superintendent talk about the tax cap in state aid those are very important when the 2% tax cap was passed in 2010 inflation was 2% and New Jersey had just had Decades of 5 to 10% annual property tax increases it made sense then but things have changed and there is a need for reform um regarding state aid I don't know if you know the superintendent being but I was on the board of ed before and I was very involved in state aid like I led our Board of Education and passing resolutions on state aid and the soot and the TC too um at the time though our problem was different from what it is now like now our problem is that you know we get 100% of our statutory state aid Target but it's only $10 million which is 1,500 per student at the time we only got 25% of what we were supposed to get so we were under AED now the problem is the state aid law itself um the problem with our state aid law is something that has gotten almost no attention from including from this board even though we're a victim of the state aid law despite the fact that I've tried to raise awareness of it the problem with the state aid law for our district is that New Jersey unlike almost any other state calculates local fair share based on a combination of aggregate income and tax base also known as equalized valuation some districts have a very high ratio of income to tax based so they end up with high local fair shares the highest local fair shares in New Jersey are 1.8% the lowest local fair shares which is usually at the Jersey Shore are only 1% the state average is 1.3% we're at 1.6% because we have a very high local fair share um we have to pay $20 million more um than a district would if had the average local fair share and that deprives us of $800,000 of Equalization Aid so instead of getting $800,000 Equalization Aid we get zero imagine if we had another $800,000 in the budget that's over $1,000 per teacher on what this District do what the board should do is it should pass resolutions on the unfairness and irrationality of the local fair share calculation you should find a alliances with other districts rural districts are often hurt by this and suburbs of Philadelphia are often hurt by this like that's something you should do at the New Jersey SBA um anyway as important to State also you could also Lobby for Extraordinary Aid to be fully funded extraordinary Aid unlike K12 operating Aid is I think funded at like 60% or 70% of the statutory Target and since we do have high o tuition you know we could also benefit from that um as important as state aid is and I hope you take that up um it's not an excuse to not look at our own budget things which are directly under our control like our prek busing is extremely expensive in per student terms I got the numbers for last year you had 139 kids assigned to 13 bus routes and six of those 13 bus routes were untiered so we're spending sometimes tens of thousands of dollars per per prek student and when we have so many needs in the classroom I think that that is much better we could rehire head of guidance for instance um also I urge you to kind of consider the fact that our enrollment is much lower than was projected to be when the long range facilities plan was passed and we should find Optimum uses for the additional classrooms we have um which could improve education in the district but also help us budgetarily thank you very much do we by any chance have any online public second public speaks so that s the second public speaks down to the any new business board member with letter um I guess can we get a commitment uh from the negotiations committee that will stop Facebook posts uh about negotiation I think the what we've seen is that the district historically handles those type of communications and what we've heard tonight from board colleagues and also from the audience is that you know these posts are doing more harm than good and so if we want to change the narrative we have to change behaviors and I just would like a commitment from negotiations that the Facebook post will stop uh I know that you know it the intention is transparency but I I do think that um you know it it's poking a bear you know and uh I think that it does threaten the Integrity of our negotiations and so we should you know really allow the the board president and Mr Bing to to speak for us I'm just point of order I think the comments are well received but is this it's an open discussion was is there a format within new business for a discussion like this um new businesses reserved for items that um need to be acted on immediately it's that's what is I understand that it's more of a comment at this point it's not really something to be acted upon so the committee certainly can take that under advisement any other new business seeing none I'm supposed to read something Hang On The Board of Education will meet in public session on Tuesday October 15 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in the district meeting room 525 Academy Street mapolo New Jersey immediately following the opening of the public session the board will move into a closed session in the superintendent's office 525 Academy Street Maplewood New Jersey as well as using online video conference platform to discuss Personnel matters within the attorney Clan privilege legal negotiations and other matters that may arise and require discussion to be announced at a later date immediately following the close session the Board of Education will meet the public session estimated to be 7:30 p.m. in the district meeting room 525 Academy Street Maple New Jersey in person utilizing an online video conference platform which will include hearing of individuals and a presentation from Mr Patrick kinoi regarding the special education audit the community can view the meeting by following the steps which shall be listed on the agenda action will be taken that concludes our meeting it's 10:17 p.m. like to make a motion to adjourn today's meeting second board member eord all in favor excellent thank you for