##VIDEO ID:enAi9qf-Vqk## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e up like e e e e e all right welcome everyone November's meeting Wendy reading uh the okay announcement the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the sparta board of education has caused notice of the time and place of this meeting to be published in the New Jersey Herald The Star Ledger tap into spa.net and notice of the meeting has been posted on the sparta Township School District website thank you we get a roll call J Man Miss K here here miss gagman present Miss McMichael here Mr pesi here miss seander here miss seraphino here Dr Serrano here Mr wood here Mr Morris here now if you all rise for the pledge of lead congratulations to the flag the United States of America to the stands one nation God indivisible andice for all all we're going to start off this evening with the student representative reports um so first we're going to talk about the SP Ski Swap that happened this past weekend that was very successful we had a very good turnout for that um our girls varsity soccer team is playing in their state sectional final game tonight so if we can all wish them good luck started at 6 p.m. tonight um the seniors are planning a class trip um we don't know where yet but it's in the works and then um our powerder puff game that was not able to take place this fall is being planned for the spring we have a Food donation collection for the sparta food pantry um that's pretty much ready to go we're about to send it out um it's going to be really really important if we try and get a lot of um donations because it's very hard this holiday season um we have potential Partnerships with that with um HOSA and some of the honor societies as well um our Deca is running the um stuff the stockings fundraiser and they just successfully ran their Crispy Cream fundraiser um the VFW Christmas tree sale is coming up and student council is helping to unload the trees um which it happens the Wednesday before Thanksgiving um we're currently planning a holiday spirit week and we're finalizing the 2024 prom and 2025 prom has been booked where's the prom this year the Meadowwood the what the Meadow Wood good very nice all right can I get a motion to approve the minutes motion thank you second second you all in favor thanks superintendent report thank you I would like to begin by congratulating and welcoming the newly elected board members who will begin serving the Board of Education in January the newly elected board members are Dr Michelle Hinkle Dr Rocky Martinez and Ms Rebecca Williams they are here tonight of course I would be remiss to not congratulate and welcome back Miss sarafino to continue her work on our Board of Education as well M black and I met with the incoming board members this evening prior to the board meeting and we look forward to working with you and continuing a smooth transition to the board of education on this evening's agenda you will find my recommendation to approve the submission of the qac district performance review for those that are unfamiliar with the process qac is the method by which all School District in the state are monitored on a three-year cycle school districts submit their own scores and are then monitored by the County Department of Education in the late winter early spring we are submitting for full credit in all of the indicators while we await the NJ doe to assign us the student performance scores in instruction and program in our last qack monitoring our district earned scores that placed Us in the high performing category and we hoped for repeated success in this cycle also on this evening's agenda you will see my recommendation for Ms Barker to be appointed to the director of student Support Services position Ms Barker has been part of our high school administrative team for a few years and her performance as the high school vice principal and her experience and knowledge of the director Roes responsibilities make her a great candidate for this position her move leaves a vacancy in the shs vice principal role which has been posted and we will look to appoint the new high school vice principal at the December Board of Education meeting we have one retirement on this evening's agenda for recognition that would be M Kelly Miller who is a fifth grade ELA and social studies teacher at Helen Morgan school and M Miller has served the district for 22 years so congratulations and thank you to her thank you to Tobias Pilger of Boy Scout Troop 95 for renovating the HMS butterfly garden as a component of his Eagle Scout project Tobias leveled over 50 p planted more than 500 native plants beneficial to butterflies and fixed two loose papers he also renovated the garden by adding a border to clearly separate from the grass which h a nation and thank you to Tobias and Troop 95 last month the director of the Holocaust Resource Center Dr ad Adara Goldberg contacted Mr Bill Brennan and asked his students to create artwork to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the Babin ya Mass the largest single mass shooting of Jews carried out by the Nazis during the Holocaust Mr Brennan worked in collaboration with Ms mace the Sparta High School art teacher to have students research the stories of the Holocaust Survivors and create art to commemorate this terrible tragedy Kane University in turn shared Sparta students art on their website and this one is fresh today greatschools.org announced the winners of their 20 24 College Success award which recognizes and celebrates public high schools that excel in preparing students to enroll and succeed in college congratulations to Sparta High School they are among only 1,400 schools Nationwide to earn this year's honor thank you thank you anything Mr no sure okay moving on can I get a motion to move the hi report please motion thank you correct second second thank you J Miss Kier yes Miss gagman yes Miss MCM yes Mr plushy yes Miss cander yes Miss sarafino yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes okay anyone have any for communications nothing this time delegate liaison reports I have a couple of things um to talk about for the sparta Education Foundation I've been reporting out the last couple of months about the Turkey Trot that is coming up very fast on Thanksgiving they are still looking for adult volunteers there's quite a few student volunteers but we do need some more adult volunteers if you go to their um Facebook page the link to sign up through signup genius is posted there to register a volunteer I do believe they're going to put it on their website um but for now I know for a fact that it is on the Facebook page and they do need volunteers race week um packet pickup the night before as well as race morning um so pretty much all the days leading up to it so if you are available please register to help support this amazing event they also were awarded a check from the um giving pump fundraiser that was going on at the last meeting the check was for $5,000 which obviously will go back to support the school so that was great to see that happen and then they also decided on the date for the wine tasting event that's going to be at the barn and Andover again which is the same place as the last two years and that's going to be on March 22nd so they are busy planning that next event and the last update on SCF was the readathon was finished it was a huge success and a big congratulations to Helen Morgan with um they were the school with the most minutes read so I think they're going to be planning on doing it next year I'm not certain but it was a huge success this year thank you K the only thing I have was that uh for cpeg they have their first meeting November 20th uh it's a virtual meeting and EM Emily and I both plan to attend so we should have more to report out uh next meeting uh Town Council because of the short time frame we had didn't have a chance to meet uh but we do look forward to hopefully meeting with them before the end of the new uh the end of the year in terms of the strategic planning committee uh we had a very successful meeting recently and we were able to invite and meet our field service representative Kelly Mitchell and she is a blessing to work with she has so much good information uh and we're in the process of finalizing and uh approving our uh what's it called action plans and we are working through them and we've already made tremendous progress but we want to come to you next meeting with a full report ready to go um to begin our quarterly reporting on our board goals um but in the meantime be on the lookout for next meeting and piggy backing on that um reporting out of Finance we're happy to um present on the agenda the motion to approve um uh Millennium I'm sorry it's motion motion the Millennium Consulting Group for our grant writing initiative so one of our board goals is to promote Grant exploration for the district and this came out of um very successful um collaboration with the township with Caitlyn and with Kurt attending and um Mr Morris has personal experience with successful grants out of this um we hope to see a great Roi to the district thank you anyone else moving on to public comment number one public comments are invited in all matters pertaining only to action items at this time please State the action item number as well as your name municipality and group affiliation if appropriate for the record each participant will be given 3 minutes to speak once you've allotted your 3 minutes to speak you will not be permitted to speak again until public comment number two all statement should be directed to me as presiding officer the board or Administration may or may not respond to questions or comments after the conclusion of public participation okay motion to close oh you're okay go sorry about that how was a little quick on make sure he talks about what agenda item it is yeah hi my name is Cassie iara and I'm the one who's trying to start the dance club at Sparta High School is that mic on is that mic or can you stand a little closer to mic pleas thanks and I'm trying to start the dance club at Sparta High School I think a dance club would really I'm not interrup what item number you talking about on the agenda is what you're talking about is on the agenda yeah okay what do you know what item number it is I don't know the dance club the dance club I think so I just signed it today yeah that's not on the agender you're going have to wait till public comment number two okay okay sorry about that okay if there's nobody else we get a motion to close thank you second second all in favor I okay moving on to personnel and policy before putting it through I just have to make an addend to it to policy number 7435 it's item number 15 .24 um at the end of the policy where it reads School District employees who violate this policy or are present on school premises or at school sponsored activities will while under the influence of alcohol we need to add in there and or cannabis will be subject to discipline so and or cannabis will be added after tonight's meeting this is only first reading so that'll be in there for the second reading so now I get a motion to move 151 to 15.2 7 thank you second second discussion Miss Kier yes Miss gagnan yes Miss McMichael yes Mr pesi yes Miss seander yes Miss sarafino yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes I you get motion to move agenda item number 16 curriculum motion thank you second second thanks CH discussion Joan Miss Kier yes Miss gagman yes Miss mcel yes Mr pesi uh yes to everything except for 16 uh six which I need to abstain from for my wife's involvement with SCF Miss cander yes Miss sarapo yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes moving on to item 17 Finance motion motion Lauren thank you second second Craig thank you discussion quick discussion I just want to give a shout out to the finance committee for um the quick turnaround with Millennium I think it's going to be a huge asset to our district and I'm proud of the collaborative work we've all done to make that possible for us so looking forward to that good work and uh yeah kudos to the finance committee for making it happen so quickly thank you and just a special thanks to Cutting Edge Landscaping for their donations to moak that we saw in the front this past month anybody else Joanne Miss Kier yes Miss gagnan yes Miss McMichael yes Mr pesi yes Miss cander yes Miss sarapo yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes I get a motion for agenda number 18 operations 181 to 186 motion thank you Craig second second thank you discussion on operations Miss Kier yes Miss gagman yes Miss McMichael yes Mr pesi yes Miss cander yes Miss sarafino yes Dr Serrano no new business once twice sold okay now moving on to public comment number two the board uses a second public comment period to invite comments on all matters pertaining to the school district please state your name municipality and group affiliation if appropriate for the record each participant will receive 3 minutes to speak once you have had your alloted 3 minutes to speak you will not be permitted to speak again all statements should be directed to me presiding officer the board or the administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after at the conclusion of public participation thank you thanks for [Applause] [Music] waiting sorry about that but I'm no that's okay so my name is Cassie and I'm trying to start the dance club at Sparta High School and I think it would be great for our school Community because so many students are interested in dance around the school and they even like they go to dance studios around Sparta they even go participate in the musical and other clubs and as a so I think it would be very helpful as a patient of the Valerie Center dance has helped me get through even the hardest times so I know how dance can help people My Hope Is that students can find that joy that I find in dance just like I do I am also hoping that this club will be able to create a Danon fundraiser to raise money for the Valerie Center at moristown hospital I know that Roxberry also does this and raises a lot of money for the Valerie Center and I really hope you consider approving this club thank you thank [Applause] you now we're very proud told I was told to say that by oh I've been told to say it too uh good evening Board of Education everyone my name is Andrew bis and I am the very proud president vice president of the Sparta Education Association Miss Del Lucha couldn't be here tonight um this is the first time she's missed in about 3 years which is probably a record or deserves some kind of reward um but I am here instead November is most certainly a month of recognition Veterans Day is observed on November 11th and the Sea would like to acknowledge the faculty and staff who have served in the United States military from the sea Gerald Carter Eric Hood Chris iadarola William Brennan from the buildings and grounds crew Matt Lawler and from the administrative team Shannon Benson the sea would also like to thank community members and alumni who have served or are currently serving on November 20th we will celebrate educator support professional day with a dinner and certificate program with the Sussex County Education Association and recognize the sea ESP of the Year Kimberly Peterson and the rest of the county esps of the year the education support Professionals of spart are truly amazing our ESP members the secretaries professionals security guards and it professionals are the backbone of support for our students and our schools Alpine Educators Denise Kimble and Kimberly O'Brien were awarded a very large Grant from the SEF for flexible seating to enhance learning for K2 classrooms all the seating has arrived and is being used teachers are already seeing excellent results and are very grateful to the SEF it should also be comforting to know that our Mohawk Avenue school nurse Harriet Anderson has been recognized by the national school nurse Association as the njssna school nurse of Excellence we are so proud of Harriet and lucky to have her in our in Sparta ensuring the health and safety of students and staff the sea has partnered with members of the community to plan for a Day of Discovery we are collaborating with members of the board Town Council and pto's so that those folks can truly experience a day in the life of a Sparta teacher and perhaps glean a snapshot of the hard work that goes into just one day finally we would like to acknowledge Kelly Miller she will be retiring in December and has served the sparta students for over two decades she has also served as an sea building representative and most currently as the education association's Treasurer we are grateful for the opportunity to share this good news with the board and the community on behalf of the sparta Education Association we would like to wish the board and the entire Sparta Community a very Happy Thanksgiving thank you very much thank [Applause] youse anyone else for public comment yeah right go ahead a motion to close public motion thank you Craig second all in favor thanks now it's okay Cassidy thank you very much for speaking um and for promoting the dance club so that application actually crossed my desk this afternoon and I I signed off on it so uh I was very interested in I thought it was a great idea I thought the dance club itself was a great idea I thought the charity was a was a great cause and uh I saw there were 28 students that signed that signed the petition to create this club so again it just came across my desk this afternoon so we'll work to get that on uh next month agenda thank you anybody else okay for the good of the order um I'll start again I just want to congratulate the three new members to the board look forward to working for you with you and uh congratulations I can't um I have something brief too um I actually also wanted to give a shout out to the curriculum uh committee because it appears that we approved an improv Club I wasn't aware that we didn't have one so that's awesome um as well also to Cassidy thank you so much for telling us about this um I'm super uh happy that it came across Dr Beck's desk and I'll look forward to supporting that fully um lastly on November 2nd my family and I had the pleasure of attending the US Navy commodor jazz band performance at the high school uh it was one of our favorite events yet at the high school and I just want to thank everyone uh for arranging that for our district especially Mr Lopez and lastly I too would like to welcome the new board members uh we look forward to working with you welcome back Emily I think we're going to have a very productive uh and successful year ahead so thank you last night I had the opportunity to attend the junior honors choir and band um concert that was held at bernon high school and I just wanted to extend a thank you to our Administration and fellow board members for the support of the program as well as Miss forado and Mr Lombardo of um SMS music who really did an exceptional job hosting all of the um rehearsals and um you know seeing 96 choir students 80 band students a huge contingent of spart of students um I believe there were 24 directors across 17 schools and it was really just a great it was a great reminder really of what we can do in public education I was actually really moved um not just because my own student happened to be up there but because just seeing so many students um coming together and the director said you know this is an opportunity for all these kids to come together from all their different tals and different experiences and to continue in their their craft and their art and you know it's a huge County a lot of different um just a really great place for them to share their craft and talents together so I appreciate the support of the program the students did an exceptional job so kudos to them I have one more quick thing about SCF I've already talked about that we approved the donation but I did want everyone to make note that the was over $177,000 for iPads cases and keyboards to help with Computer Science Education at the elementary education level so all of these events that you guys are volunteering for showing up for they are making a huge difference and we're seeing it almost regularly at the board meeting so thanks again to the SCF anybody else okay we're now going to convenient to close session we'll be discussing legal and Personnel matters no actions will be taken after Clos session so thank you all for coming motion to go into close session motion motion thank you second all in favor I 72 let's see how long executive in the car this been the mer reason quick e