you all right like to call the meeting of the February 15 2024 public meeting board of education to order Mr slam may I have a roll call please Miss Brock here Mr smaga here miss ciani here Mr cantino Mr Krauss here miss pellet here Mr Sweeney here Mr Zimmerman here we have a quorum item C is recommended that the board enter close session for the purposes of discussing discussing legal and Personnel matters I have a motion so moved moved by Mr zimman seconded by Mr Krauss all in favor I I opposed we are going to close session okay we are live all right it is recommended that the board uh return to open session may I have a motion Please Mr Zimmerman second second by m pellet all in favor hi hi we are back in Open Session U item e uh roll call and pledge of elit Mr slam Miss Brock here Mr smaga here Mr colan Annie here Mr cantino Mr Krauss here miss pet here Mr Sweeney here Mr Zimmerman here miss federici here we have a quorum okay please rise and join me pledge of Al to flag the United States of America and to the republ it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you item F Mr slam 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 interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with provisions of the ACT Vernon Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published and adequate notice has been provided and notice of this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting law uh just a quick note our next uh sess work session is Thursday March 14th um that will also be uh where we start to talk about the budget for the next school year and then following that we have the public meeting uh Thursday March 21st thank you Mr slam item G approval of the minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the various uh meetings listed so moved moved by Mr Krauss second I got Miss Kiani as a second she can second it but she has to abstain we're noted um may I have a roll call please miss Brock yes Mr smaga yes Miss Kiani yes you have to say abstain un noted okay stain okay stain we're noted Mr Krauss yes Miss pellet yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Zimmerman yes motion carries there's this item H is the president's report there is no president's report because I wanted to get to the next presentation as soon as possible so Mr Rogers item I or we have a presentation on restorative practices at low Middle School by uh Jacqueline benen wardon Eric kosak Carol Gonzalez Janice vasic mckena and Josephine Morocco thank you all for coming here and presenting do we need to move are you going to use various media yes thank you yes thank you that's that's good good evening Board of Education members Mr Rogers Mr slam Miss federici and to the participants in the audience my name is Jacqueline van Orton I am the proud principal of Glenn meadow middle school to my left I have Dr Eric kosac the assistant principal of Glenn Middle School and those that I brought with me this evening were here to speak on restorative practice practices to my right I have Miss Carol Gonzalez school counselor I have Miss Janice vosovic special education teacher I have Miss McKenna general education teacher and I have Miss Josephine Morocco one of our teacher aids in uh Glen Meadow middle school thank you for joining us this evening a few things that I wanted to start out this presentation with um is regarding myths surrounding Glenn Meadow restorative practices so I know that there's a lot of conversation surrounding restorative practices in local and and and National communities and I just wanted to dispel some myths before I get into the presentation the first myth is that students that are surrounded by a restorative practices implementation do not receive consequences that is not in fact true the fact is students do receive disciplinary consequences per the code of conduct another myth is restorative practices let the students with disciplinary infractions slide without consequences and you'll see within this presentation this evening that is simply not the case restorative practices aim to build student teacher and student student relationships and enhance the learning community in an effort to reduce misbehaviors students who break the code of conduct are in fact issued consequences but that is coupled with restorative conversations and interventions which we have seen result in positive outcomes finally a myth is that I myself Mrs Van Orton am only initiating restorative practice to satisfy doctoral requirements that is in fact not true the New Jersey Department of Education restorative practices pilot program was initiated by this district for Glenn meadow middle school before I became principal of Glen Meadow Middle School we are in our third year of restorative practices I am only one and a half years into my educational leadership classes I have not begun my disertation I am simply taking classes right now to fulfill the requirements of my doctoral studies restorative practices to be quite transparent have actually sparked my interest in pursuing my doctorate certainly not the other way around it is what encouraged me and motivated me to go back to school to better myself as an educational leader I'm going to turn this over to Dr kosak for just a moment to share about data shifts that we've seen since full implementation in the in the building thank you yes because we have people online good evening um I've been fortunate enough to be the vice principal here in Vernon for 11 years I've been in Glenn Meadow for nine if it's one thing I've seen unfortunately it's discipline it's discipline referrals I can recite for btim ad nauseum numbers and statistics but I'm not going to bore you with that unless you so ask okay the restorative came out at Mrs Gart a former principal we were brought this back in the first year 2122 and it was a pilot program and it's a grant but a misconception with it and let me just say restorative has been around forever all right I was a special education teacher for 11 years despite the consequences you always try to make it hold again whether it be through mediation whether it through uh conflict resolution or a simple apology the so the restorative peace does not work in a vacuum all right it works in Tangent with structural frames what's going on with the human resource frame the teachers okay the system around it but since we have this the numbers are the numbers and I would love to say causation this is the reason why but it certainly is one of the ingredients that lead to what you see before you so regarding chronic absenteeism that's 18 or more the state deems that 10% or higher 180 days 18 is 10% you can see in 2122 we were 17 last year 12.8 this year it's actually significantly lower but it's only half the year in so me giving you the data of 1.5% is meaningless because we only have 100 days in that is to be determined hibs when I was here in 1920 right preco we had no no 1920 the year school year 2000 I was here I remember I was here I remember no it's not even on the chart I'm giving you bonus data no no no I see it I don't need I'm good all right 1920 right that school year right before covid Co hits March 13 we had 29 confirmed hibs now we call everything if it happens we investigate it we are fortunate I think to have one of the best anti-bullying specialist in the dis in the district who's an actual attorney um 29 in 1920 right so 2021 I believe was 18 because I just read an article on that because it's always two-year-old data thanks Russ okay um but it's data now 2122 it's nine we're not calling it any differently but for whatever reason it decreased 2223 last year it was five all right culture takes time you just don't do an initiative and you just don't do things and boom there it is I wish it was that easy because I wouldn't be there for 11 years okay with the discipline referrals which I can write a book on because that unfortunately is 90% maybe 70 80% depending on the week of a vice principal's job is discipline referrals last year numbers in my head 1654 with restorative but this year okay you can see and this the data you have up on there is marking period one and two right so you can see there's a spike from uh 222 is 537 marking period 1 and two to 827 but this year we're down to 389 and you could have all sorts of suppositions about why that is but again I'm not going to bore you with unless you want to know what it's part of it but part of it is what we've been doing restoratively organically from administrative end with what the counselors do and the CST does is now brought down to ground level which is the teachers and the teachers now because we always try to make the wrong things right you're still getting a consequence if Russ Rogers does something silly listen it's a x equals y That's the code of conduct but in addition to that is that piece is now extended all the way throughout the school and that was kind of jumpstarted with this Grant and it performs a framework that allows them to be successful and they're going to tell you about their success stories utilizing this not new program just common sense program so some of the data that shows grow that we wanted to share this evening is um where we've seen students academic tours increase and while Dr KAC said this is just one tool in toolbox we do feel that it has a contributing factor to it so within the building we do ask our math and language arts teachers to choose Focus standards based on last year's State assessment data that they can focus on in order to assist our students as they navigate this year's njsla in math and language arts and what you see with that first bullet point is the percentage of students who threw nine points or more or maintained Proficiency in that first round of focus standards that we assessed our students on it's about a six to eight week span they take a preest six to eight weeks there's this a tier one intervention in the classroom with the classroom teachers and then ultimately a post test on the same information and we are seeing significant growth with that in order to prepare them for the upcoming State assessment in May I'd like to also point out that last year we had 66 students who were invited into the John's Hopkins Center for talented youth which is students who are recognized in the seventh and the eighth grade with a 92% or better cumulative average through their sixth and seventh grade year um this year we're proud to say we had 140 seventh and eighth grade students who were invited to attend the meeting and of course be a part of the center for talented youth what we've also seen as we we assess our students through Benchmark exams in math and language arts again to prepare them for language arts and math and jsla in the spring what we found is we've seen growth across the board they took the first Benchmark a in the month of September they took the second Benchmark a in the month of January and what we've seen here the data shows that between A and B assessments A and B students in sixth grade language arts and eighth grade math showed growth in the bubble area which tells us they are almost there to meet meting proficiency they are points away from meeting proficiency and we saw a significant growth there furthermore The Benchmark assessment for students who are meeting or exceeding expectations in sixth and seventh grade math eighth grade algebra and seventh and eighth grade language arts they showed growth as well from the first assessment to the second these link benchmarks are indicative of what to expect when they take the assessment in May and again just wanted to show that that we are seeing a positive trend in the building at Glen Meadow restorative justice and education so I want to give a little back history for those who don't know what this is or where this pilot program came from so in 2020 the New Jersey Senate and the general assembly of New Jersey put out through the commissioner of Education Dr McMillan put out a a call to schools all schools in the state of New Jersey to apply for this threeyear restorative practices pilot program I was still administrator at the high school but is my understanding that my predecessors applied for this grant when I walked into the building in September of 2021 I was handed two grants one for the 21st cclc and the second one for restorative practices and I was told Mrs Van Orton here you go and I will tell you I was eager but I quite honestly was learning as I was going that year because I was not aware that both were applied for until we were the recipients of those grants so what that looked like for and and proud to be recipients of those grants I may add so what that looked like is we partnered with the New Jersey Department of Education through cane University and we would partner with them from 2122 2223 and 2324 and what that partnership entailed was us as faculty as well as Administration receiving ongoing training as well as re resources that we could share with our students our families and our staff in order to encourage others to understand and perhaps Implement restorative practices as well one of the things I wanted to point out is that surveys were pushed out to voluntary surveys to our faculty our staff our students our administrators and our parents and Guardians twice a year that was not surveys that I created but in fact the New Jersey Department of Education and they asked as a part of the requirement of the grants that they be sent out to all of those stakeholders in the in the fall and in the spring and of course I complied to that because it was an important aspect to maintain compliance with the grant finally I just wanted to point out what the grant aimed to satisfy it aimed to satisfy addressing a loss of classroom time for all students not just the students that misbehave yes that is part of it but when we know when a student misbehaves it also impacts the students in the classroom who are there and willing to learn so this was a grant addressing loss of classroom time for all of our students it was to improve students socio emotional and behavioral responses when faced with a challenge and ultimately reduce repeated behaviors of which we are seeing all the great so I just wanted to show you where the funing has gone and the funding that we received from the New Jersey Department of Education over the three years we've received 12,000 12,5 and 12,5 this year our final year partnering with the New Jersey Department of Education the money was slightly raised because there was a school that dropped out and therefore they took the funds and allocated them across the remaining 14 schools that were piloting this for the state we've used the funds for professional development for our faculty presenters for our students and their families curriculum materials not required to be used as resources should a faculty member or staff member wish to read and or engage in some literature on that as well as we had anal social emotional learning coordinator who was working alongside us to work alongside our students and their families and ultimately this year we are creating a restorative space because many of my teachers has have said they would like to have a proactive Circle in their classroom but there's not enough space when you take to Pi account desks and furniture and whatnot so there will be a space for them should they wish to facilitate that so what are restorative practices I'm going to turn this over to Mrs Carol Gonzalez and um I want to share with you that she has certainly worked tirelessly with me um on this for the last three year years we were brand new to Glen Meadow together in 2122 coming down from Vernon Township High School so I would like to give her an opportunity to speak as well Carol thank you so yes I have been working with gie um regarding this and I was part of the first part of this as it was instituted when we first both came in so what this is is this isn't just about um disciplined for disciplined kids or kids that are this is really and they they'll tell you this with restorative this really should start with with with anything so for instance like the setting classroom in the beginning of the year um when kids are coming back to school they're coming back from from a from a holiday it's it's getting to know them it's going over let's get into a circle let's talk about something any hobbies that you you did over the summer let's talk about what what you might have did you visit over the summer what are some of the things that were positive and we share in a circle we get to know each other every year they move a different grade teachers don't know these kids it's a really good way to get to one know your students and to for the student can classroom to get to know each other so that's that's like that classroom setting those Norms in the classroom and teachers in the beginning of the year this is our expectation this is what we want respecting each other in the classroom and setting those guidelines from the start that's part of it's being respectful for each other it's having empathy Etc using effective eye statements to State how one how one feels so this is basically like when the teacher when you're sitting there and you're saying you know how do you feel how how do I how does this me you feel well I feel this way it's being able to express our feelings amongst our classmates um it doesn't have to be in a necessarily in a circle we have to be a physical Circle but sometimes we have to take a step back in you have tojust some things Community Circle another thing for a circle isun circle it could be for teachers who are in a classroom and you might have a test and you might get the feeling that some students aren't understanding or maybe know everything that they should know hey guys let's get into a circle and let's let's how are you feeling about the upcoming test what what maybe did not cover maybe what do we need to cover more maybe that teacher says Hey listen I don't give that test on Tuesday there's a lot of kids that are feeling unar so there's lots of reasons to do a circle and then sometimes unfortunately there is those those disturbances in the classroom where you maybe take a small group out where you come to the guidance office we part of that Grant also was a a fing room that we we implemented in our in our guidance offic meow um in addition to our the counselor classrooms and you can come down and we could do a small circle of as to how that behavior is interrupting just affecting yourself but you're affecting others in the classroom taking responsibility for that and sometimes you might just have to take a little bit of time not to do that um and that's also part of that into um small in conf bringing effective students together to solve a problem we do it all the time in in in our guidance office but sometimes now like Dr Co said it's trickling into the passs like you know how is that affecting like this is all affecting everybody this Behavior in the whole classroom why is why right so you you make them see how their behavior expecting not just them not just the teachers but all their their um it's important for for kids to understand how their behavior affects this and then of course that last year he put uh in place this school based ment that has been huge the oneon-one ment with these kids that are some of are ones that really need it have really shown a tremendous growth we're going to share some of that with it you know with you but it really does when you when you bring make the time for these kids and you show that you really care on another level it really makes makes a whole difference it really really does and and I'll just say one more thing this isn't really this isn't anything more that the teachers have to do and one part of us um trying to lay this out and get people on board and teachers especially because people are skeptical and the teachers are really busy you go a lot on your plates we're all busy but this isn't this isn't anything more this is just a way of this is a way of conducting and talking to students and and and and bringing students together in just a small way doesn't really not all lot of extra time so with that so I just wanted to put this infographic out here to kind of show you the Continuum of restorative practices starting off in the top left where restorative practices look to address and disc the needs of the school community and that's what we've talked about so far here this evening and building healthy relationships between Educators and students our goal is to reduce prevent and improve behaviors that are happening within the within the classroom within the walls of Glen Meadow and with that of course there are consequences when when harmful behavior um has been shown by a student but it's to also repare that farm um it's it's I I liken it to you know there there's something you know you go to your your position at work and something's G A and and your boss needs to talk to you and maybe you'll get do to days of pay there's your consequence but it's it's it's helpful to have that conversation with the person in charge or with the teacher or with the counselor because often times students will say to us I know that I'm I'm acting out and I know I deserve this consequence but like what what am I supposed to do where am I supposed to get get this out and not to make excuses for the behaviors but finding ways to build positive relationships in the building has really given a lot of our students those that do get into trouble and those that don't an area where they can um exhibit how they're feeling and build positive relationships and finally to resolve conflict and again hold individuals and groups accountable there's nothing about restorative that says we don't hold students accountable according to the code of conduct it's certainly just another added layer to give them the support that they need this is the Continuum that we are using in the building starting with the bottom up tier one is prevention and Community Building um a lot of what Miss Gonzalez spoke about in regards to community circles I have some teachers in the building that once a week it's only five minutes they'll they'll they'll get their students together and they'll just talk about something such as an upcoming test or what did you do this week and or what have you moving up to tier two is restorative interactions I've been a part of a lot of these situations a lot of these circles um and so have the counselors and so have the teachers so have parents they have come to me and they they're struggling and can we get together with teachers and with with my child and counselors and and and can we come up with a plan here to help my child succeed so those are the more small group restorative interventions and finally tier three is individual interventions that's the onetoone mentorship we did establish that last year this is strictly voluntary I have about 10 to 15 teachers who want to do this um this year after about the first marking period when we were able to identify the students that would need that additional support and it's not all behavioral I want to make that clear that there are students for an array of reasons why they need this mentorship and I have teachers come to me and say Mrs Van Orton when are we going to start that mentorship again it's important we get it off the ground our students need us I am so proud of that that this is something that my staff just wants to do so those individual interventions are one toone mentorships but also onetoone with counselors clinicians and additional support person in the building to help our students who were struggling at this time I want to pass it over to Mrs Janice bosic special education teacher in Glen meow who just shared with me she's approaching 30 years in the district um I want her to share a little bit about how she has been a huge proponent of proactive circles in the classroom and uh she'll share some of her experiences with Hi Well I'm going to speak to basically what happens in the classroom uh I am both Jed and I do the icr classes I also have't do a class so I do it in both classroom settings um organizing it it's just students standing or sitting in a circle and if you look at the little guy there on the picture he is actually methane he is a model of methane which the kids love because they find out what methane is and you know and this is the talking and they love to throw him around the circle and they only allowed to speak if they have methane and it does make somay going in the class to once they especially when they find out where thing comes from um and we talk about environmental issues because it is a science class so uh it's all you know tied into the curriculum um and students are not forced to participate I have students and and I've been doing this for three years now myself I started in the first year start doing the practices about halfway through the year um and even the ones that don't ever speak in circles they will come to me late or come to the other teacher in the classroom and have things say um with to to one of us and sometimes there have been some very uh touchy situations some profound some of them their Joys they sh to share their Joys with you too um in circle um we it lent itself to becoming more familiar with our students um faster um it goes back to the old thinking sometimes I like I like when I I first started thinking about this remember K and iight and getting to know you um that was one of the things I liked about teaching especially in the beginning when I was very long time ago and uh and it does this actually um get closer faster doing these five minute circles um finding out what they like um and they' actually learn to be more respectful and it's middle school they're not always taking their turn and talking to each other and the sck helps um and it does lend itself to better classroom Behavior basically um practicing um participating students or nonp participating in the circle conversation are more likely to talk and I've already said that ahead of myself uh share the things that bring them Joy it supports a better understanding of how differentiation um can help um be better understood for each individual student we have actually been doing um some of our PDS the last couple of months have been in on differentiation and almost every article talks about making connections with the student to better um connect with them and better give them a better class experience and even for their testing I know them better so I can differentiate who me what um in testing uh um give students an opportunity to explain how they feel about things for example understanding their classmates are bothered by some of the things they do we were so surprised because they are all are tappers Hummers all that those talkers they were all agreed and it's every year that it annoys me but they all do so it brings them more awareness that their other classmates are being bothered by all of these little noises around them um they were able to help them understand the facts about rumors they maybe floting around there was a particular um bad one last year and it was towards the end of the year and my co and I um been this regularly and because of that the kids felt so comfortable talking about these RS that and we were able and they were upset about it so we were able to calm them down they had they had the right information through these servs and a better a better understanding of how their teacher feels too sometimes you know I I explained to them especially when I was first doing this they get noisy oh go iuse ey statement like Gonzalez had referred to um the eye statement that I actually start to maybe get a little anxious because it's too noisy in here and then that's not good for any of us so and they actually start to C down and they get and they were getting it and very lovely to um to see but one of the other that doesn't have to do with the circle but I wanted to add that another component the story which I just love was the language it gives you right right from the beginning when I say to the students instead of like say they threw their hat in the hallway and they're hanging off their Bud instead of going what are you doing stop knock it off stuff like that you know you say tell me what happened if the F this the situation they're explaining themselves and then saying what could we do better in the next time and it actually go in their brains a whole lot better in that sense than me just chastising them and telling them what they're done um and that also connects to what I did in the circles in the class better I have to thank thank you so in regards to restor we going touched a little bit upon that before um so I won't spend too much time on this year but it is just what I spoke of earlier it's it's getting smaller groups of students together um perhaps they're in the same class perhaps they're not I had one teacher come out you know come to me and say van I'm wondering if you can come into my classroom and if you could help me with this because I feel like I'm I'm struggling with students with certain behaviors and it wasn't egregious behaviors but just not focusing not paying attention and it was interesting just to talk to the students about what would help you to learn better and be more successful in this classroom and it opened up the eyes of the others who were maybe disrupting the class as to how they were excuse me disrupting their their peers or their classmates so that is something that we've done and as I shared earlier we've also facilitated the same parents and also uh teachers and counselors I'm going to turn it over here to Mrs McKenna who is the general teacher in the building and she's going to talk a little bit about um two different mentorships that she's been a part of for the last couple of years and what she's seen with her involvement with those students hi I'm McKenna I teach six and E grade soci studies at Glenn Meadow this is my second year at Glenn Meadow as well as my second year a part of this student Mentor program our goal through this Mentor program is to make a positive impact on a student's life while also assisting in learning and social emot help as a mentor I have the opportunity to guide and support students help them navigate their educational journey and achieve their goals I am part of the disciplinary process one-on-one mediation and group mediation as well as following up with the student after consequences of Miss one of the most important aspects of being a mentor ising a strong relationship by establishing trust open communication and a safe space through restorative practices my co- teer and I are currently mentoring the same two students as last year and I would like to share some of our successes both students qualified for the mentoring program based on behavioral interactions that were causing them to valuable instruction time in the class so student a before mentoring I personally sent this student to the full day detention room three times within the first month of school last year by this time last year student a had 21 discipline referrals in marking period one of last year 2022 to 2023 the student finished with the following in their core classes science 65 social studies 68 math 63 language arts 64 for an overall average of a 65% in their for student a rarely completed assignments in class and would refuse to make work or turn any make up work or turn anything in this student frequently causes trash and disruptions which were're infringing on the learning process not only for themselves but the people in the classroom after one year of mentoring throughout the mentoring process student discipline referrals down by 50% having 11 thus far student A's first marking period grades for the 2324 year are science 82 language arts 80 math 79 social studies 78 for an overall average of an 80% and correctly brought their grades up 15% student a now rarely has missing assignments and is willing to make up any outstanding assignments during our Mentor meetings student a rarely disrupts the class on task and has an education plan through the mentorship that benefits JY and I'm happy that as of NK Period 2 student a has made the honoral for the first time ever with an average of 91% um student B before mentoring last year the student rarely made it to my class n period due to being sent to the full day detention room in the beginning of the day student be rarely completed work or made up missing work due to time spent in full day which led to missed instructional time and ultimately failing grades stud caused many classroom disruptions and actively tried avoiding those classes at this time last year student B had 29 discipline reports after one year of mentoring student B regularly attends their classes this student still struggles to complete assignments due to avoidance but uses Mentor time and enrichment as an advantage to complete missing work through building a relationship with student B and understanding their learning style and needs my co-teacher and I offered an incentive student B would help us teach social studies class once a we if behavior and academic remained in good St student be love to assist us with teaching the class and strive to ensure their peers understood the lesson this compounded behaviors in our classroom as well as others based on the intentions of reaching their goals stud currently has 17 behavioral referrals this year which is a 58% increase this Mentor program is about restoratively empowering our students to make the right decisions while also supporting them along the way being a student Mentor is a rewarding Journey filled with growth and meanful connection it is a chance to make a difference in someone's life and contribute to their success we are grateful to have this opportunity and to continue to watch the success of our students as we strive to make them lifelong Learners and Theodore Roosevelt once said nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care thank you this time I'd like to ask Mrs Josephine Morocco to come up she is one of our teachers Aid I GL met Middle School I been at GL this is my second year uh last year when I first got to work I told to go pick up a child at the bus and uh to my knowledge it was a very difficult time he had several challenges behav challenges and I found myself talking to miss van oron quite frequently on what to do and she introduced me to restorative practices she gave me some books and I read them I started to apply these to with this child last year and at times it was difficult and it took a long time to talk with him to get him to understand what we needed to do in school and throughout that year we built a really really good relationship and this year I have the privilege of having him again and he is now staying in his classes he is doing his work we had holl for the first time this year we are striving for that for the second time and when he made the honoral he came to me and he said Mr do you think that maybe when I graduate you can come to my graduation and I said I'll be there with Bel and I'm gonna wrap it up with his little Christmas card that he gave me this year Miss Morocco thanks for being here throughout my journey always you have been here for me and have turned me around Merry Christmas so restore the practices work thank you I also wanted to share some student testimonials these are actual quotes from students and I'll read them aloud talking about things after I do something wrong helps me to understand what I did wrong and helps me to not want to do it again they my teachers help help me to make better choices so that I don't get into trouble again student two they meaning the circles make me think about what I need to do to improve things by talking it out when I am bothering other people teachers help me by telling me what I should do instead of what I was going to do I still get in trouble but at least I know what I did wrong and how to fix it student three I like them classroom Circle because I like to hear what people say and I get to say what I want to say I have made friends after a circle because I understand why they are upset we were never friends before that principles and teachers care and worry about you they want to help everyone and student for they the circles are helpful because it puts rules and boundaries in the classroom they are a warning for kids to fix their actions and if it can't be fixed a consequence will be given teachers lift me up when I need it and I know that I can talk to them about any so what does the Glen Meadow faculty say I personally surveyed my staff regarding this because their feedback and their buyin and their support means more to me than anything and I want to elicit any feedback positive or negative um to Garner either the support or not of the teachers to see how can best support them in the classroom a total of 41 respondents replied to my survey this was only a week ago and of those 41 39 said they do believe in implementing restorative practices I also asked them do you implement restorative practices in your classroom three quarters of them did 31 out of 41 do of the 10 that didn't I won't say all because that wouldn't be truthful but the majority of them said with more training and more support I would be willing to try so what does the research say an inclusive restorative learning environment results in less hivs less disciplined referrals and less absenteeism which will lead to more instructional time gain for all students it also states that academic achievement scores increase as a result of more instructional time in the classroom and a student a sense of connectedness to their learning environment and as Dr kosac started off the presentation saying this is just one of the many facets of being an Engaged inclusive Educational Learning agency is all that we strive for at GL meow to give our students everything that they need academically socially and emotionally and yes sometimes it results in consequences but we want to make sure that we follow up making sure that we are meeting them where they're at with restorative conversations and interventions to hopefully remedy struggles that they're facing so where do we go after year three after this year we are no longer a part of the New Jersey Department of education's pilot program but we do want to continue to implement restorative practices as we have been to continue to build a greater sense of community with our students while also holding them accountable for their actions we will continue to offer in-house professional development and resech resources for our faculty and staff we will continue to offer resources for parents and Guardians and students if you follow my swore newsletter every month there's always something on there for our parents to take home regarding stored practices and how they can utilize them in the home and finally we will continue to routinely analyze data through academic achievement scores HIV data discipline referrals and of course our absenteeism rights so with that I thank you for all of your time and attention I know this was a very long presentation but it is something we up here are very passionate about and I encourage anyone who has any questions any concerns any followup feedback this is my direct line This is Dr kac's direct line as well as our email addresses to feel free to connect with us contact us at any time and I would be remiss not to say thank you to everyone who stands behind me here because they have been phenomenal and a wonderful support system not only for restorative practices but for the students interested in their Care thank you all for your time thank you I ask can I ask a question or no just a quick question how many mentees are there I have 12 thank you great program it's absolutely phenomenal yeah uh I'm I'm in awe of all that you do I mean that everybody that's here and thank you so much with some of the baggage that I've seen some kids have uh anything you do is wonderful and I can see that there's passion in what what you do thank you very much I appreciate what you all do with uh the students in the middle school as they transition through their teenage years and the amount of growth seen in those three years is just tremendous and it's an attribute to what you do your school and with your students so thank you all and these Improvement numbers are really impressive um thank you Sonic absenteeism and um you know it's very eye opening to see the numbers and people speak it really was nice I not against you or Mr kek but here from the teachers who are kind of in the battle so to speak but two questions is I'm assuming this is for for all grades six seven and eight but does it also work for younger kids or just these absolutely so I last year Mrs Gonzalez and I we went down to lsbury hollow as well Mr citro had invited us down to speak with the staff there okay and um we were able to share some resources and uh we we had some staff members that day come to us eager and excited to also Implement restorative down at lury Hollow and then the last question is so it's a three-year program kind of ends with the state but is there a four five and six that maybe they're not offering but is it kind of like continuing training on Beyond or recycle that charge years four five six okay so so it's not going anywhere and because of the the positive response that we've seen um we saw you know with the numbers and what our students report to us and how it's really changed their lives so um we we are are looking for outside funding uh through through various grants Miss Gonzalez was looking at one through the through the uh NJ um but we are looking for additional funding just to keep the momentum going but with or without it Mr Zimmerman we'll keep the momentum going okay good to here thank you you're welcome thank you thank you very much Charles I just actually I just want to start off with I'm John Hopkins 140 kids yeah I I remember being in the classrooms with my kids and I I I think we had 30 people with the parents you know so that's that's very impressive thank you um so good job uh a lot of my questions I think were answered I'm glad to hear that you guys are going to continue in it what I actually would like to know is I don't know I don't know if you have the numbers or or anybody's had a feedback but so now this is the third year these kids have been through the program or how will we what are we seeing in the results in in high school are we seeing the kids moving up we seen a trend continue up there or the students that have been a part of the entire three-year program are our eighth graders right now um I would be more than happy to share my knowledge and our Resources with high school administration if it was something that they wanted um we haven't I haven't personally uh looked into perhaps scores and whatnot of the students because our first year was really a getting to know restorative and educating ourselves so really to give you that information with Fidelity you would have to be the current population that we have in the eth grade now because they've been a part of the program all three years thank you very much we appreciate it okay I'm G to move on to letter J public participation for agenda items only and or students who want to comment the meeting is open to the public anybody in the audience would like to say something please come to the microphone state your name and what town you're from than I'm from I have a lot of questions going this way that's fine you can address it to me okay because you're on camera stand at the podium Denise it's really uncomfortable to them it's really uncomfortable you don't mind big you can clearly hear me you mind using the microphone absolutely go home here I'm not understanding 12 n went from sixth grade 12 students participated in this okay did not understand that um the the tier the third tier uh with the mentor program I would say if I was to classify that student population those are our recidivists those are our students who are in trouble time and time and time and time again um for our students who one two offenses couple of consequences the restorative conversations and interventions tend to address the situation we have about 12 students in the building that I would say need that additional layer of support so the mentors come in and work with those students that are so every student is a recipient of restorative interventions and conversations Proactive or restorative but when it comes to the mentees they are the mentors I apologize they're aligned with students who need the extra layer of support because those are the students we heard about earlier 20 30 40 discipline referrals leading to detentions in school so on and so forth okay um as I my question all over the place and iiz I trying to take notes but of course see so how many students total do we have in the three grades in the school system 645 okay so out of 645 students the majority of the classrooms teachers have been since they started sixth grade also the are all doing from the beginning of the year all through the year this excuse the language Kumbaya kind of a feeling with kid it feels like that the way explains like we're we're getting other talking about emotions feelings and whatnot so we can get to know better now it's not been something that has been mandated um so this is something that if teachers want to learn more about it so I do I have every teacher doing that absolutely not um do I have some of course you have some that make it a part of five minutes once a week that's all it is it's a five minute conversation with the class once a week yeah some some schedule that into their weekly plans others it's once a month um but those in the beginning of the year yes every teacher did a getting to know you at the on the very first couple of days of school and I encourage them to establish classroom norms and expectations with their students have them tell you what they feel the expectations and Norms should be in the classroom not to say that it's the end all but at least they'll have more buyin because their voice was heard as to what they need in the classroom in order to be successful when it comes to expectations so I wouldn't say that it's something that every teacher is doing absolutely not it's really at their discretion so you mentioned in the beginning presentation about total conduct I think those were the words you I and now you speak to Norms and expectations I'm sorry I'm future no that's okay don't apologize I don't understand why 100% AR on board if this isn't in five minutes doesn't seem like much um I could go to the negative of everything that M experienced when my daughter was in school and you know she behind because our daughers are your part total respect for you talking you as a parent without child in the school system I have no clue what's going on in GLA right now I know what my child went through and the stories are not different and I know we hate social media for what they say but the stories tend to come out unfortunately in a public forum rather than coming back through the chain but the stories are also being said that what's coming back they go back to the chain and results don't happen so my biggest complaint was always been the reason is that the adults don't follow real consequences I did Dr poac and talk to that I don't remember youting vice principal when my daugh was there you go but I had a really bad experience was anything this whole restored EV right is just a Common Language almost like a teacher evaluation system right we have to sign off we all have Sor I'll make it real quick it's just a Common Language right so but when it gets to me and it's on a referral consequences happen 100% And I don't take any pride in that but I'm a simple x equals y but with that y comes the piece that you heard which really hoping it doesn't get to that anymore because of the conversation that have been had in the relationships Bill yes so that consequence whatever syncs up with Cod cond whichever board policy board regation syncs up to the handbook unfortunately that child going to receive a consequence that's going to commensurate with what they did flip side of that coin is when your daughter and I'm sorry for that exp I was because in my not so humble opinion I think I could help I think I could have helped and reached and did whatever it is and I cried by something and if I missed one out of 600 bless too many so it just with that it's just another V Avenue to maybe prevent what gu to me and m v literally had a conversation a couple days ago a couple weeks ago with this like a whole situation and it was resolved before it even became something because of that act that you did in the in the classro okay thank you um so there's a lot of talk about the bathrooms the bathrooms have been in existence since long before my daughter was ever in that school I heard the mo was Prior being there's a specific problem in that toilets getting jammed up the the vandalism there the smoking The Vaping whatever all of this is all well and good but the and I'm going to ask you this program that you're doing within the school have you I know you said to do it with your more letter have you actually presentation for the parents and I don't know this I'm asking as a question so that the parents can say yes we well we're going to do a YouTube so that you have something to refer to like what's out there for the parents to understand what this grant has done and how you can now three years or up to go forward with it because I do believe what was said it should be in the younger grades if you want to have success as they get older you got to start when they're younger and you bring up a great Point Denise um that's one of the things where I feel like I have fell short is not properly educating our community and our parents um I've been so vested on the faculty and the staff and um and the administration that that's one area where I need to do better and while I've had um individuals in to talk to um our faculty and staff and and and our students and then come back in the even guest speakers but who also their message is in essence really restorative in other words being kind being respectful speaking your truth um i' I've what I've done this evening I feel is now what I need to do for our families and and so I appreciate you bringing that up because I do feel I take responsibility I feel like I fell short there because every fall you do you or they did again I'm out of the Middle School a long time they did a program in the fall where a person came in and spoked about you know I don't know talking about but literally that same day my daugh was so I wonder how effective it's getting into the kids and again I'm ads are on board and the parents don't know what they're doing Denise you have one minute we want other people we want other people to it's all good you know I I just but I do the question really is I mean it's a big thing about the bathroom and you know you have a resource officer yes people want to know because they feel I your presentation is great I really was hoping it wasn't going to be all flued the patient St great I I'm okay with um my can't word I have no problem with with building and growing and teaching kids how to deal with stress and all that which this is what it is um it's also knew from when I was a kid we didn't have this um but there's still other underlying problems that that's what the Public's talking about and this is all well and good please address those other things because we do have we still have students that are big fathers and are extremely disrupted and that's all the parents can hear they can't hear they can't hear the single thing you're saying here because those things still exist and it doesn't matter if it's on social media it's true I mean one former Aid indicated that she was told years ago this is years ago she watched the seventh grade boy hit a seventh grade girl in the face she reported to the teacher the the teacher reported guidance and guidance called her down the next day and told her to say that what she saw was an accident now let me tell you the former I thought to principal he's a principal of school right now told me the resource officer was involved in something when my daughter was Cyber Bullied and then she was bullied by a Bo that she had been bullied all year that guidance counselor got moved up to the high school mid year and I had nobody to go to nobody who's not on so I called the resource officer uh Mrs Young cousin resource officer and I told him the scenario he walked me through he talked me through it and I said something to him and he said he said what's your daughter's name I said you must know my my daughter we have this cber buing problem he goes what's your daughter's told him he goes I don't know who your child is so I was lied to this is now 5 years ago I give all credit for things are going better because I want to believe in the system but if it happened five years ago what's going on now is it better prove to the parents is better if this is thank you thank you um I don't know am I out um if you'd like to say something yes I'll give you a couple of minutes Dr I just GNA say I just want to make sure everybody has the opportunity to talk of course I will you can talk okay okay um I've had I've had the pleasure like I said of being in vir for 11 years I've been at Glo for L metal for nine of those years I was at a high school seven years and then two years at our high school year um I know middle school I know kids I love them both the high school end of it and also the Middle School although I do think the Middle School may be more challenging okay um everything that comes and I do wish I had the pleasure of meeting with everything that comes our way and I can only speak to what comes on my desk is dealt with whether that's 1,654 discipline Recs last year or 240 issues of peer mediation or whether now was my 91st okay Middle School is challenging make no bones about it that is the age that is the age that keeps me up at night because of everything that you just said which I do not want that little girl or that little kid to to internalize Billy or whomever being me and I get that as much gravitas as God forbids someone gets hit in the face and he gets investiga and if you ever want to stop by my office there are folders on my desk that you can't really look at because it's not your child and there confidentiality but it does get investigated so I wish I could speak to what was but I can't but I do know that under paing Anderson correct I did it I know I did under l mury g par same game okay and with Mrs Van Orton um so everything get looked at um 100% to avoid hopefully what your daughter felt it's not all right thank you Dr kosk um Denise we we need to move onor if you would like to set a meeting with about my and thing here is please go back to the parents because you obviously have people who are experiencing things and aren't hearing this or aren't going through the channels I understand when people don't go through channels and they run to another Outlet because there's a lot of going to be there's going to be a percentage that don't believe a thing that they're saying right now because their kids experience something and obviously every thats me I'm mine's irrelevant mine's irrelevant the story to tell you that this exists and We Know It exists all right thank you very much Mrs hard I appreciate that is there anybody else in the audience who' like to comment anybody online yes we have uh Jesse paladini okay Mrs paladini hi um is this only for the restor restorative practices because no it's for agenda items okay all right that's what I thought thank you and thank you for the present by the way um I see from the agenda that you are again recommending the saaia as the auditor for 2425 what happened to the bids that you promised to put out uh I don't go ahead Mr SL I don't recall that we promised that we would fit but go ahead uh I believe before I started uh in District there was an RFP that was released um can't remember the number of offers that came in off the top of my head um maybe four or five uh but based off of the review uh which included their proposals and also their prices uh Nashi was the chosen out of that group of uh Auditors that submitted proposals we did well don't you have to make that decision at a um at a public meeting it's no that that that decision would traditionally be made at the finance committee meeting since it's a financial audit and then recommend it to the full board for approval so you don't have to open bids at public meetings and decide on them at a public meeting is that what you're no no you do not see this is a request for proposal uh would you would not submit a bid uh for this type of Service uh I think you may be referring to a regular bid opening process which uh could happen at a public meeting but I have not seen that happen in a public meeting generally that includes construction projects uh where uh the contractors will come they'll ask questions specifically uh related to the bids and then they have a chance to review all the other bids which are open because they're sealed up until the time of that bid opening okay I understand what you're saying how about for attorney or Insurance did you put any of those out for bid uh yes I released an RFP uh to four different firms uh we received proposals uh we held interviews at a finance committee meeting uh was not so not this Tuesday that just passed with the Tuesday prior to that um and then uh we obviously analyze it based off of the evaluation criteria in the RFA okay so you put bids out for all of them quick question can teachers living out of state bring their children to burning schools without tuition I believe according to our board policy they can okay how many state students do we have do you know how many out of state I I don't know I I have to get back there I we'd have to look into it okay no problem do you want us to look into that yeah please I'm just curious I'd like to know yeah um okay on page six lines 24 25 27 and 28 you list names of teachers getting raises for what appears to be because they got an additional 15 credits my question is are these credits from an approved New Jersey college or are they Excel credits um what's an Excel Credit an Excel Credit is an is from an unapproved um New Jersey college it's credits for other things well let me say the second part of my question if they are Excel credits the vtea contract states that any increase in pay for Approved credits from programs other than universities is at the discretion of the superintendent and that's why I'm wondering if any of these are Excel credits because if you're looking for ways to save money then this would seem to be a uh prime example so since you don't seem certain about what Excel credits are I could wait for an answer on that I could contact Mr slam they're from accredited colleges and universities they are all from accredited colleges and univer approved colleges and universities accredited yes right but from approved New Jersey colleges not new J it doesn't have to be New Jersey University okay I thought there was a list of approved New Jersey universities um many many people have attended colleges and universities outside of the state of New Jersey yes but then they have to be at the discretion of the superintendent that's my point yeah I believe in uh lifelong learning and and teachers learning from uh colleges and universities to to improve their craft just like as uh Mrs Van Orton talked about before improving uh her her job okay that's my um only questions for now thank you thank you okay who's next all right we have Doran Edwards Mrs Edwards yes hi good evening how are you folks good evening good you thank you fine um I have a question about the presentation that was given and I was just surprised at something I was curious to perhaps why that would be so the increase in math was a lot lower than the increase in algebra and to me that seems very unusual and I'm just curious if anybody excuse me if um anybody's left from Glenn meow might have insight to that Mr roges I'm not aware of what she's referring to all right uh would anybody like Dr kosk or Mrs Van Orton do you have any insight into that is number of students alra as compared to the number of students taking ma ma talking about both of those grade mathematics courses it's very hard to hear her I'm sorry you have to go to Mike Mrs Ben I'm sorry good evening Miss Edwards good this is Mrs Van Orton the building principal of Glenn Meadow um I did want to share that in regards to the increase in the scores um we are looking at uh two different populations when it comes to math 8 versus algebra 8 in regards to the number of students um registered for or enrolled in each one of those courses so whereas we have um you a certain a larger number of students taking algebra 8 that could certainly account for the increase in the scores when we've got more students actually participating in that assessment so you think that is why then I think it's a part of it I I think that um it it it could certainly be you know more students could certainly add to the increase of the percentage um that are taking that assessment um but we've seen growth across the board um and uh including with our math 8 students we we've certainly seen growth we've not seen it go in the opposite direction with any one of the assessments we've given the students okay thank you and uh Mr um Mr Sweeney um would I be able to ask a question about the forensic audit and what we talked about last time about possibly having a town hall meeting um you can ask yes uh it seems as though interest has waned in that oh I I I beg to differ because I I guess people heard me ask the question and you're enthusiasm enthusiasm about it and I've had people call me and say have you heard anything and I I said actually no but I missed the last meeting so I'm trying to catch up so I haven't heard I have not heard anyone asked about it except one person asked me well I don't was so now you make two all right and then another three that asked me so that's five and then you know I don't know what is it you have to get inquiries on Facebook or how you know a lot of parents are interested and they're running from you know job to sports to this to that daily living so they may not reach out especially since the fact that we had a little chat about it and you seemed enthusiastic about it well so so send me an email my email address is public what so what do you want me to say I'm telling you in person you have any questions I'll answer those questions oh specific questions sure or if you want to have a conversation we'll have a conversation I think you're missing a great opportunity though I really do okay I really do that's my opinion and opinion of many others who reached out to me so I would hope you would reconsider that all right thank you I will thank you anybody else Angel uh no we do not have any more hands okay with that in mind we are gonna close the meeting to the public and move on to uh let okay student representative report good evening everyone Miss Young started a food pantry last year with the Grant from last year's Food Service this year she worked with the Elks Lodge and received the $2,500 Grant to stock the pantry Mr Richard green played a huge role in organizing this so thank you so much as this will go a long way in helping bths families anyone interested in donating to The Pantry drop offs can be done at the bths main office boys basketball is going to hws championships tomorrow at cener University at 5: Key Club is selling greeting cards $2 each and opening a thrift shop during lunch starting tomorrow girls basketball won the division title for the first time since 1978 spring Musical Friday will be showed March 7th through 9th senior citizens lunch in will be will be helped helping with students from the high school in March today is National school resource officer day thank you to Vernon Township Police for providing your assistance with officer retto thank you thank you J you stld my thunder in a lot of those uh reports but like I said last meeting I was going to talk about a lot of the great things happening here at Vernon uh congratulations to the following students who successfully auditioned and were accepted in the 2024 North Jersey Junior region band Renee kesor seventh grade from Glen middle middle school second chair tuba and the symphonic wind band and Matthew Lee ninth grade from Vernon Township High School second chair alto saxophone and concert band this is a huge honor I'd like to congratulate those two um congratulations to the Vernon tanip High School academic the kathon team who took third place in Region 2 on February 3rd at the regional competition uh they did a great job special congratulations to Natalie O'Keefe uh Trevor Pratt Samantha kullick ree Moore Abby Bona Simone Jones Quinn Manon and Kaylee vogle Kaylee vogle uh congratulations on that uh on your performance at the academic the cathlon um I attended various Honor Society inductions the last several weeks the trim music Honor Society desban indu induction thesbian induction ceremony was held on February 7th congratulations to all members it's really a joy to see uh parents celebrating a long commitment from their uh from their children who have excelled at the at the high school um some of these are repeats uh the boys basketball team upset the top seated phsb in a semi-final round I hope to see you all Centenary tomorrow the girls uh like I said the girls basketball team first time Champs again I I have to say I have to repeat that as well um our indoor track will competing in the state sectionals this weekend and uh me of Champions on March 3rd girls wrestling took fourth at the conference championships and will be hosting the region Vernon will be hosting the region state tournament on February 25th the boys wrestling will complete in compete in the district next Saturday Fe February 17th and the girls ski team is currently undefeated individual boys and girls will be buying for State placement in the upcoming weeks yesterday at Glen the seventh grade students participated in the don't get Vaped in presentation and uh on February 27 22nd 8th grade students will have a vth presentation by guidance counselors uh Mr Ray logren and uh our uh supervisor director Dr Shep and we'll see an overview what to expect next year at the high school they're going to meet individually with students a lot of other things happen at the other schools as I saw a lot of our elementary schools celebrate their 100th day today so lots to celebrate I I'll keep everyone informed of uh a lot of the happenings around the district it it is quite a joy to celebrate the students here and their accomplishments and Vern in I'm very proud of the community and students here in in our schools we're pleased to announce the Vernon Township High School students as the district's artist of the month for February their artwork is deem displayed at the board office we're pleased to announce that the lbur hall students will have their artwork displayed on at the municipal building during the month of February item two recommendations it is recommended that the board approve the following faculty staff appointments assignment changes leaves mentoring resignations uh retirement salary adjustments stiens student teaching terminations and transfers as listed Item B it is recommended that a board approve the following policies policies regulations for a first reading there's four of those for the first reading letter C it is recommended that the board approve the following policies regulations for a second reading final approval there's quite a bit I think we've seen those on the agenda the last several board meetings it is recommended that the board approved the 2024-25 school calendar attachment a it is recommended that the board approve the 2425 paid holidays attachment B it is recommended the board approve the revised 20232 24 school calendar attachment C hopefully no more SN uh snow days it's recommended that the board approve the revised 2023 holidays attachment date letter H it has recommended the board approved to professional development travel conferences conventions workshops that comply with the provisions of the New Jersey statutes annotated njsa 18a 11-12 for Vernon Township High School Vernon Township School District employees in the chart item I it is recommended that a board approve the harassment intimidation and bullying school safety and random drug testing reports letter J it is recommended that the board approve the revised m randum of agreement between Vernon Township Police Department and the Vernon Township Public School District for the 2023 24 school year attachment e so may I have that in the form of a motion please move moved by Mrs pellet second second by Mr Zimmerman discussion anybody yes ahead Charles I got a bunch so um I just want you know what in the future I know we we try to consolidate this to make it easier so we can get through the meeting but when we had like this many um we just cut it like to suggest that we change it well yeah May I'm just saying like we have a lot of stuff maybe we just break it into pieces just so I've been trying to I've been trying to do a preview and a first in a second as well just just oh no no no no I mean I mean the number of items that we're approving at one time we're approving like eight to a to J 10 yeah we're nak okay I got you we'll talk about it okay that's not really this right so yeah I had a couple questions so the first thing is um on the the recommendations on and I'll give other people talks after I'll do a couple and I'll let other people talk but um we had um there's um adjustments for hours five to seven this is on page five I have the same page as you guys um I was just wondering what why they were being adjusted and is this a permanent adjustment looks like they increased uh three people's hours did you give me some line numbers to yeah five five six and seven usually they meet to meet IEP requirements with a okay so then it would probably be continuing for the the end of the year or unless uh students change or schedules change so they that's why that's why they're addresses so frequently okay then and then number item 20 um I was just what is what is the coordinator for for educat just only uh those that's the uh program where we uh have students from abroad oh coming into the school okay all right so that's no longer at the end of this year we'll be advertising for another person okay oh she's staying for remain okay yeah got it and then um I was just curious what the this is going to um conventions there was a be strengthening your RTI program response to intervention that's the multi-tier supports that we provide for students okay then I have a couple more but I'll let I know John had a couple of questions so I had one about the revised calendar why is it being revised is it because of the snow days uh I believe it was celebrate juneth on last the third Friday of the all right thank you month yeah is that because that was one my questions too is I thought it was still the 19th it's when I when I do to search this morning because I wanted to double check it still comes up as the 19th for this year and next year it's is that a contract thing or from the state i' I've understood that it it works it's being celebrated the third Friday of of June okay this year and next year as well okay Charles you have the floor again okay um just had had a comment sort of thing with the Girl Scout but we have is Mr Joseph's helping out with robots there and um is that something continuation he's bringing from that's number uh page 11 155 156 157 that's not on we're not up to that yet oh yeah okay yeah that's why I got to because the attachments are all the way at the end so I had the questions for the calendar at the end and I also have questions for let me skip while you're doing that I have just a quick question um for the policies can we just go over again um why some of them are out because I know someone asked about this at a previous meeting and I don't know that we explained it um why some of them are saying that they have been out of date for many years how does well we're we're getting we got another we got hit with another policy revision update of quite a bit of policies coming through and I had the discussion uh with my Administrative Assistant as well as probably chunking them as well um we have a company Strauss ese that looks through the policies and make sure that they're up to date with the with as the laws and the rules and regulations change for Education um so we're being very aggressive and and having Strauss esate to look through our policies to make sure we're compliant with with the uh state laws rules and regulations and every once in a while they'll be where we have to make or you have to make a decision as a board which which way to go on some of these policies so um they've been sending us uh chunks of 20 or 30 policies on a regular basis that need to be revised so these are from them reviewing what we had in place and and saying no you need this and then also anything new that's changed that they are surfacing as it changes right uh yes it's it's mainly based on as as as things change to look at the policies we have because they are Strauss esate policies from years ago as well and saying that there's a need for them to be updated or or or or placed based on the how how the the laws have changed over the years okay thank you I have the first p no else I have the first policy um the legal services I just had a question about it because it has to contact the lawyer right this is uh the the superintendent the business administrator administrator this the board secretary which is the same um human resources manager director services and as board president but in our situation we we're you're you're conflicted right so would not the vice president be allowed to call and if that's so wouldn't it have to be in the policy good question yes since it's a first reading we can add yes we corre that board president or um when I'm conflicted not I'm not always conflicted I but when I'm conflicted vice president or vice president when conflicted yeah okay good good point Charles than you Charles yeah that is a good catch then I saw uh it the next policy was the uh eligibility of residents and non-resident students um first thing was um right on the top it says free your charge persons over five and under the years uh of and under 20 years of age there's a on page 95 we have another policy which I have to skip down to and it's U it says free and appropriate public education which says the ages are 3 to 21 so is there any other sentence with that or is just special needs children or yeah I think that's it just says and appropriate public education available to all students with disabilities between the ages of so that's the difference it has you qualify it earlier for that and then you also extend it to 21 when it's if they have special needs it goes higher okay they start early start early okay that makes okay thank you and then um don't feel shy here serious um so then we had we had the other policy not too long ago where we talked about um allowing employees coming into the district to bring not employees coming into districts employees of the district to bring children into uh register here um we had should there be any serious on the same policy I mentioned before this is on page yeah but this is not one of the policies that we're approving tonight no this is first reading it's on oh 511 what okay yeah sorry and sorry I lost my spot um this is the same policy that was the previous one it says um should there be any serious educational issues may require May any unique or special education program the non-resident student will have to be returned to their own District I'm just I'm not sure if that's how it's written in the other policy as well I don't what policy it was but we proved it back in like the same number we we just changed one line about uh people bringing their students here having to pay to this is okay I I believe it was a paying tuition in in the last year of their 12th grade or April to the end of the year I think the only change is in red or in blue right yellow yeah it says without yeah right okay oh it was the it was I didn't read the revision notes on the bottom right but then it also says um it says there this provision should not supersede any provisions included in any collected baring agreement and not that it has to be taken out of here or anything wrong with that that statement but if there's something in the collective bargaining agreement it should go with and then the policy mentions that it can't supersede it it should be it be nice if we could just have that in in there as well to see what the what what's in the collective what's in the agreement to see if the policy even makes sense so you want to see the collective bargaining agreement yeah I know it's online now and I know the business off put online I didn't have a chance to download it yet but uh but I'm just saying if we get that with our notes next time just it' be if it something comes up where it the policy specifically says that Collective bar bargain bargaining agreement supersedes it so it should be we should have it with the other notes okay makes sense so you next time you'll go to the uh website and then uh um this is just about the drug random drug testing one it says um I was just wondering are we notifying or all children or all students that uh about this policy is that part of when they sign up for a sport or car car because it says it in there that they have to know but right that was that was asked by the president I think uh yeah a lot of these are now back in their first reading although we had them last time for first reading but there were some changes made because I read through them and I discussed them so not that I didn't like them didn't work in order to get your gold card there's they have to check off on a lot of a lot of this in order to get their gold card okay so that's that's part it's in the policy but it's also in the process of students become eligible to be participate okay and then I then I guess the one part that was changed up to 25% uh I just want feel like that what if you what if we had more random testing in the beginning of the year year we limit ourselves at at 25% that kind of discovers up to up wasn't it up to 50 no it was it was up it was uh 25% and then now it's up to 25% oh so what what's the question so if you go over that limit of 25% does it not just say to the students out there that there will be no more d random drug testing they don't so they don't know how many times we're testing I understand but it's been uh I just think I think I know what your point is but I just think it doesn't it doesn't go well point is the Discover drug use the way it was it was a district will test a minimum up to 20% minimum and we we weren't even getting to that yeah so now it's going to say the district will test up to 25% okay so we're not we weren't even getting to 20 so all right so we weren't hitting the minimums yeah why weren't we hitting the minimums volume and other things that the the tester is doing the tester is the head of security oh so we just don't have the V to do that that's all thank you um any other questions no comments roll call please Mr slam Mr saglia yes Miss colani yes Mr Krauss yes Miss pellet yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Zimmerman yes Miss Brock yes motion carries thank you item M the business administrators report Mr slam uh please see the use of Bones and grounds as noted below and then down on page anyone's through page 13 uh the field trips as noted below I'm at now number two recommendations is recommended that the board approve the following Financial reports list of checks number 91 999 through 92152 for February 2024 in the amount of 1,4 $1 74,7 eight20 that's attachment F1 uh list of hand checks for January 20124 in amount of 4,580 10133 that's attachment F2 transfers for January 2024 that's attachment F3 and purchase orders for January 2024 in amount of 1,851 123 that's attachment F4 approval of the board secretaries and treasures reports that's attachment F5 and F6 letter C it is recommended that the board approve Transportation as listed below we have quoted routes as seen in the chart and quoted Trips Trips as seen in the chart below that uh additionally we have a contract addendum with birkshire transportation and the CHP low letter D sent and reive 2023 2024 whereas the special services department department has determined that individual students require special education placement based on their individual needs and whereas the special services department has determined that services are needed and will continue into June 30th 2024 and whereas the special services department as the cherine that the schools service listed below is the most appropriate placement therefore be it resolved that the Vern Township Board of Education approve the contracts as listed below letter e is recommended the board approve the disposition of the following items as they either obsolete or in disrepair letter F it is recommended that the board approve to accept the restricted total donation of $2500 from Sussex Elks 2288 this donation will be utilized for the high school food pantry letter G is recommended the board approved to accept the restricted till donation of approximately 17 00 from Julie Freeman a former band parent this donation is for a Rogers holiday drum set to be utilized for the Vernon Township High School ban program it is Rec letter H it is recommended the board accept the funds of Project Lead the Way Grant agreement in the amount of $110,000 for the engineering program at the high school the grant start date is December 21st 2023 through May 31st 2025 to be used in the 2425 school year thank you to Mr Po potzer oer for his assistance in helping secure the grant letter I is recommended the board approved this of AIA as a district auditor for the 2023 2024 school year letter J it is recommended that the board approve Princeton speech language and Learning Center For Speech evaluations for the remainder of the 2023 2024 school year attachment F7 letter K it is recommended that the board approve the firm porio bronberg and Newman to act as legal coun coun for the Vernon Township School District effective February 16th 2024 for the remainder of the school year uh and there is an addendum tonight let me just pull that up real quickly uh it is available at the front of the room if anyone uh and the public had did not pick that up on the way in and everybody on the board has the on the last page of their packet yep that is correct and this is letter L it is recommended the board approve the following extension for Elevate K through 12 in the amount of $ 2496 for high school Spanish teaching Services effective March 4th 2024 through March 17th sorry May 17th uh 2024 and I would just like to thank everyone that has uh listed above that has donated uh we appreciate your support and it's great to see the community giving back to those in need and also to the students of the district okay do we have that in form of a motion please may I have a motion motion Mrs Kiani second second by Mrs uh pellet sorry questions or comments letter Charles letter was uh the disposition of of this the commissioning of the equipment technical equipment I just want to make sure are we sanitizing equipment I mean if it's a if it's students I'm I'm sure there's nothing personal on there but any some of these look like there might be office computers are we is there a pro process in place that's actually what I to make sure that I I imagine the answer is yes but I'll double check with it uh tomorrow just to make sure okay um none of these have been uh removed from uh our facilities they are still on site um so I will double check to make sure though okay is this Princeton speech language and learning center is that replace something we have or letter J sorry Mr Rogers I'd have to i' have to ask the director of special services just to make sure all right it's just a question um in the Spanish um just that's the program that we are streaming the is that the one we're streaming the teacher so it ends May 17 so essentially um the issue we're running into is that at that point it will be at the bid threshold um the district is actively searching uh and has been actively searching uh for a uh uh an individual to hire to the position uh that is our you know you know number one priority in the situation this is just to kind of get us through to that um but we will be looking at you know contingencies uh just in case uh the the you know we're not able to find an applicant by the time yeah um yes uh it's it's essentially um with the hope that we would not have to go out to bid just for a month of services uh and there is you know a current candidate I believe so a couple so couple colleges will have had their commencement exercises perhaps there'll be certified Spanish teachers yes that we could hire yeah and we we uh we have please apply if interested yes we have we have been pestering the colleges but that is a good point at that point there could be uh new people in the app pool sure sure I just have one more question too um letter C the contract amend them the last the last one by for G it says the the uh it was for an increase of 104 miles is this a because it looks v61 it says bus rout v61 is that I thought that would be like a normal is this for like an out of out of District placement or is this for I'd have to follow up on that one uh up the top of my head I I can't remember what which route that is off of v61 uh off the route number um but I can follow up okay get because if it was Nor if it was in town that's like an extra hour the kids would be on the bus for it's 104.5 miles per day yeah so so that's you so I2 and a half 52 and a quarter each way wow that's like a maybe you could uh see maybe send us an explanation as to what this is all yeah I I I can find out tomorrow and I I'll email though the full board uh what I'm able to find out maybe that's it maybe it's something wrong there maybe okay uh anybody else roll call please Mr slam Mr Krauss yes and everything EX accept letter L I voted miss pet uh yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Zimmerman yes abstain we're noted Miss Brock yes Mr samaga yes miss colani one of these agendum I'm not thrilled with because I know it lists the checks but it doesn't show the Departments and stuff where for me it's not it's not really an accurate picture of what's going on so that's I can't find the number what it is are you referring to only the financial attach attachments yes uh so um are if you could direct me to which one I maybe I could answer any questions you have uh generally uh so the only way to see what department it would be from would be to look at the uh account number if you're looking at maybe the uh it could be the board secretary's report where you're looking at the balances have names of the account uh no I I so it just uh it's just based off of the Gap chart of accounts off of the NJ doe website but if there if there is uh I could it's also something we could go over and something may perhaps I could do a presentation on do you which attachment it is Mrs what I'm looking for I've been going through so much like it's not be in there though right you don't have it in your packet yeah it'll be in the well she has the hard copies yeah I don't think she has all now all the addenda and all the attachments are online she got I don't see them over there too so um Mrs K I recommend you abstain or vote no okay on the recommendations a which have the four attachments or was it attachment F5 or F6 so we need to know which what you're staining on you know she's it's the financial one we all with the checks and the distributions remember training we're not supposed to obstain on that supposed to be a remember recusal recuse I believe you're looking at the a second please I got I'll show F1 this is F2 ear it's F2 F2 yeah have F2 and F3 okay thank you Mrs scani so it's uh F2 and F3 it's an informational item the recommendations a so be recommendation a I'm trying to figure out which one she's uh it's the um check register report by vendor name and also the appropriation uh adjustment report which is basically the transfer report it's uh yes item F2 which is the list of hand checks for January of 2024 and the transfer for January 24 so it's it's under your recommendations a that she's yes refusing her okay soing continue with the roll call please yep uh so uh so yes and all the above except recusing from uh recommendation a uh motion carries you have to call the rest call the rest of people that was just that was the last person on the um in the role on the list everybody else had already voted yep y yeah we've been I've been rotating all right so now that we're finished with that we'll move on to item n which is public participation the meeting is open to the public sorry for the confusion everybody nobody in the public is uh wants to say anything uh in remotely we have Anna Garcia Miss Garcia you state your name and the resident of what town and you have the floor hello Miss Garcia we have like a muting problem we can come back to Anna we also have Jesse paladini okay Mrs paladini yes hello again um Mr Sweeney I have to say that your comment to Miss Edwards about interest waning on the forensic audit is really pretty shameful you said that you thought it was a good idea to schedule one when she requested it and now you are saying interest is waning well that's correct I did say that yes yes I know you did I heard you well it's not waning with with me and I'm asking you to keep your word and have the meeting with that I'm going to go into the next item what about the summer SAT prep Mr Rogers promised that he would bring to this meeting numbers and data and let us know what was happening with it is interest waning on that as well uh yes it is uh I provided information to the board president and we gathered information the last time we ran a summer class there were six students from Vernon Township High School that that attended and the stien was approx it's a details in the email that the stien was approximately $7,000 well you didn't tell the parents that you didn't tell the audience that you said you would present information at the next meeting and this is the next meeting and you just blew it off and just I just presented information to you Mrs paladini on right you presented information because I asked for it but you said you were going to bring it to the next meeting for the board to hear and discuss and presumably for parents and interested parties so your answer on that is that you're not presenting anything on it but now you're saying we're not going to have it correct I presented data to the board we could discuss it at the next board meeting as well um there were six students from Vernon Township High School that attended the summer session the last time we held it and the stiens were approximately $7,000 at the next boarding meeting I could give you more detailed information but I just presented that information to you yeah no I don't need more I don't need further information I needed you to present that information tonight as you said you would without without my having to ask for it so if the stiens are $7,000 how many did you have but that was a total stien to run that in the summer oh it's 7,000 for the whole summer program approx approximately and we had six students at $150 a piece for a total of $900 so the program cost the district approximately uh $6,000 for the six students I see so those six students are not worthy of having the summer program and they have to miss their entire Spring sport when are students ever worthy of something of activity buses of SAT prep programs of not missing their spring Sports when are students ever worthy of anything in our district that's all I'm going to say on that because you've obviously made up your mind once again to take away from students my last question is when are you going to uh begin having your budget meetings we've already uh begun having our budget meetings in the finance committee so we've had uh an update on the timeline and then we have a second finance committee meeting um set for the end of this month uh I'm on a little bit of an accelerated timeline uh you know do the uh my wife's having a baby so congratulations uh second uh so very exciting but got to finish the budget up so we do have a second meeting for this month uh set um and you know as I've mentioned before uh the budget process is going to be very difficult um you know with a 35% cut in state aid uh over the last several years um 2% cap on tax levy and we all know just from day-to-day life that things are increasing significantly more than 2% uh just across the board uh in terms of insurance in terms in terms of liability insurance health insurance uh supplies Transportation uh just in our day-to-day lives uh sure I understand so I understand that um when I ask about budget meetings though I'm not referring to in your finance committee I'm referring to when are you going to begin presenting it to the public uh so the preliminary budget presentation will be at the March uh work session meeting uh and the reason that's at the work session instead of the public uh uh the public session uh is because of the timeline involved when we need to have that submitted to the county uh so we're required to have it submitted to the county I believe it's by either the 15th or the 20th um and I believe our work session is on the 14th March 14th yep that was the answer to my question when I asked when are you going to have them the answer was the March meeting and Mr slam I want to reiterate again I think you're doing a very good job and it's a nice Improvement it's got to be improved a little more not on your end overall but thank you for the job you are doing that's all thank you we'll have Anna Garcia you want to try one more time sure Mrs Garcia hello Mrs Garcia you want to move on to dorine Mrs Edwards yes okay hello Mrs Edwards hello again so Mr Sweeney make that number five who's asking I just think there's more people out there than you know who want to hear about the results from the audit the forensic audit so I'm just chiming in once again since Mrs paladini said something about it so okay thank you thank you have a safe trip home folks I didn't mean that want try Mrs Garcia one more time when she's on yeah she has I lowered her hand and she hasn't raise it again so I don't think she's okay so seeing nobody else there it is hello Mrs Garcia can you type to her to tell her how to turn out off the mute Maybe Mrs Garcia you're muted is there a call in number perhaps you could email us Mrs Garcia I'm sorry that we are having technical difficulties at somebody's end all right we're gonna move on um letter O open board member Forum anybody have any items that they would like to discuss um Mr Zimmerman to bring up during the presentation L that up Mr at one point the public couldn't hear will that presentation be on a website or somewhere for people to tie in and will the volume be back um so we did check back on that you could hear if you turn the volume all the way up the batteries had died on the microphone that was the problem um so I turned that all the way up on these microphones here hoping hoping to pick up some stuff okay it did pick up audio um but yeah that's the best best I have I can I can reach out to um Mr lasso and ask if we can put the presentation on the website is is there any way to add to I don't know to the when you post that actual video um to tell people that turn you're going to need to turn your volume up to hear that section like I don't know if there's a way to uh the information um I'm sorry in the description of video we might be able to do that that would be great you know just yeah we we checked back on it and when we turn the volume all the way off we could hear but it wasn't as loud as we would had yeah we we have an obligation as a school district to protect student information um student information that occurs in the schools is confidential any release to the public is a serious matter Beyond disciplinary action the action carries potential personal liability for the individual in addition to the potential liability of the district just remember when posting things about students their students their children in the district and please be careful I also wanted to talk briefly about the SAT prep um I understand that you know it's probably for six students C prohibitive to hold it but could we not try to say Market it and get more kids and if we can get the number you know we could just release it as we need to hit I don't know what the number is what's your max you know 20 something like that and then it's you know it's 3,000 paid for right could we try that and then if we don't have enough we can't run it but at least it's that's why I originally released the information to the board members for further discussion on possibly setting a a maximum or a minimum to run the class and maybe even uh taking the the cost per per student and raising it as well to make it more yeah I mean I'd hate to have that go away because you know it is such a great thing that we offer and this true you don't want kids missing your after school activities so if there's any way we can explore and if we get enough kids and maybe we can you know build a little momentum and try to get more kids involved maybe also I think students need to know that it's off offered in both the winter and the and the spring season so please don't miss out on one of the seasons that you might not be running right now though when when's the winter one I I just talked to the adviser um I believe the the the winter one is was it started oh I started end of January and it's finishing the last week of February yeah I was gonna say I think it's too late for winter now so like because they're in the middle thank right thank you yeah just you know thank you for looking into it and if we can make it happen I think it and that's why I sent the information for information for the board to maybe future discussions yeah and it's if any parents are listening it's a great program we can put it on next month's agenda for the work session thank you next month's work session is gonna be a little busy Financial Le yes but we can put it on if Ray gives us a couple minutes maybe we could talk about it TR yes J uh I just want to say as I was traveling this week just this week and uh the mailman got stuck in my lawn and every all the neighbors came out we had a push out the nail truck I was thinking about how we have such good support staff here that probably doesn't get recognized for all the clean up they did over the this week and uh making sure we got the schools um running and and U so I just want to say thank you to all the janitors and everyone who have Sports and helps get the school up and running for the next day so listen the custodians and maintenance did a phenomenal job I came in to check in on them uh we were lucky the sun came out as well uh but it they did they did a great job in cleaning everything up this last stor good point Char thank you Charles anybody else motion to adjourn no move moved by Mr Zimmerman second second by miss pet all in favor me J thank you everybody for coming yeah right