e e e e e e I'd like to call the meeting to order roll call please here Mr Bono here Mr foki here Mr medo here Mr Rivera here Mr sabran present Mr Silva is on the phone Mr Silva say again here Mr Holmes here Mrs Scot body present in compliance with the New Jersey open public meeting law commonly referred two is the Sunshine Law the vinm board of education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time and place thereof agenda Etc The Daily Journal SNJ today the Press of Atlantic City Nesta kiad Vista Bueno the clerk for the city of vland and the administrative office public bulletin board can we all rise for the flag salute we have public comment on agenda items or any other matter please limit yourself to three minutes to each person Mr mustell do we have any yellow we do Dr Tom mccan would like to speak about District history good evening Von Board of Education uh this evening I'd like to um request or ask the V Board of Education to open up the process to name buildings after individuals in the city deserving individuals uh specifically Vine High School South as a longtime principal there and and a community person I'm very interested in having this process reopened thank you casy rusan wants to speak about lunch conflict with Performing Arts good evening my name is Casey Russman and I am a senior at Vinland High School I also am very proud to say that I am the drum major at of the high school marching band I have been very involved in our arts program since the beginning of my high school career and I have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from every second of it between our wonderful and encouraging staff to the talented and hardworking students we are a bright Bunch who constantly strive to make ourselves in our school better however a wedge has been squeezed between these amazing qualities most of our performing arts classes are held during our lunch periods we do offer our studio arts classes throughout the day but our extracurricular classes the ones that require intense amounts of work outside of our 45 minute period together are offered fourth fifth and sixth usually with select choir being fourth concert Ensemble being Fifth and marching man being sixth as of the 2023 2024 school year lunch periods have been optional to students now lunch Es are aimed to be a requirement this affects over 90% of our program and I have some of my peers here today who are directly affected by this I have never had a lunch in my four years at the high school because our main performing classes are held during lunches forcing a student to have to miss this class to take lunch ruins our department bwing where we have these classes is where I spend most of my day I do not have to ask how was your day or be asked how was my day because I get to see see these teachers and students all the time throughout the same day the dynamic And bwing in regards to teaching and learning would be greatly affected by this new policy as well I would like to note that one of the reasons Administration wants to apply this rule is because during lunch periods hallway traffic and altercations are at high risk however I would like to point out that quite often the children who have dropped their lunch are not the ones roaming the Halls they are not the ones starting physical conflicts and they are not the ones being called into guidance to discuss concerning grade averages the students who drop their lunch are willingly giving up the one time they get a break and they are doing it to learn more they want to be in class why should our art students suffer at the hands of Behavioral issues they cannot control our choir and band perform at countless community events we give up our free time for our community and we are happy to do so but if I don't have the opportunity to learn and rehearse in class then I cannot fulfill a performance request you'd be quite surprised what we can accomplished in 40 minutes however it is still not enough we cannot Lo afford to lose the incredible bond that has been made across beeing I've spoken recently at one of these meetings and I have also asked to challenge you to Shadow a student for a day you can even Shadow me a senior at violent High School who plans to continue music education in the future I've learned quite a many life lessons in the Band Room however I don't remember learning many in the cafeteria thank you for your time Angelina medo same topic good evening as you know I'm Angelina medo and I'm currently a junior at VHS and I'm going to speak on behalf of our Performing Arts here at VHS I been involved in the Performing Arts at VHS for the last 3 years I remember my freshman year I took a lunch and missed the opportunity of being involved in the V HS marching band due to having to take a lunch I'm here to show you how forcing students to take a lunch can be very damaging um to our performing arts program first off a lot of our students in the ARs Dro their lunches to be able to take these classes you encourage us to be a part of our high school Community as most of us are involved with our community they are involved in the art which is a big one you for you forcing us take Lun to take our lunches takes time away from these students who are willing to learn and achieve more than what they need to learn this is stealing many opportunities away from other students I want you to sit and reflect on this decision that you are about to make it takes a lot of time to put together what we put for us to put together what we do For Your Entertainment we do a lot for our community but it doesn't take just a few minutes to put together what we put together if we are missing just one person or more it truly affects us in our performances making students drop one class can put a strain on the Arts as a whole I'd rather you sit and reflect on the decision you're about to make and how it's it's not going to affect one but an entire department as a whole thank you and have a good [Applause] night name topic good afternoon I would first like to thank you for letting me speak today I'm sure all of you know who I am and some of my achievements at violent High School I not only here speaking as the violent High School marching band captain or the JC Commander but as a senior wanting to leave the most positive impact for the students who will follow recently I participated in a spotlight interview with our superintendent Mr yanana we went over a number of things mainly highlighting my achievements and my time here at our school Mr Yano describes me as quote a young leader who exemplifies taking advantage of what a school has to offer both academically and through our activities we highlighted my time in marching band jrtc concert ensemble and my enrollment in AP courses that video got over 300 views in my time here at VHS I was able to be a part of all of those activities alongside taking my core classes without a lunch over the past 3 years I've had the privilege of work privilege of working alongside some amazing friends who are given the same opportunity and who have achieved so much more I will be graduating in June and my foot is halfway out the door but that only means that eth through 11th graders are halfway to their next Journey to pull the opportunity to drop a lunch is to strip a student of the opportunity to perform to their full potential whether it's band art Junior Roc choir or one of our many CTE courses I'm aware that students are able to change their schedule in September but here's the worry classes become full when classes are full there's less availability to take the class during a different period the students of violent High School take pride in the things they're able to do and to not give them the opportunity to be quote to quote take advantage of what a school has to offer both academically and through activities here at VHS would be very heartbreaking there's an even bigger picture that than we are all thinking the future the future impacts that this could have on the Arts and CTE if we tell students that they must have a lunch in their schedule then they will be less motivated and excited to be a part of our many programs which cuts the Freshman population in these programs significantly less participation means less opportunity for the programs to show off their talent at concerts carnivals or showcases which could potentially lead to these programs being terminated in the future The Chain Reaction would would be quite bad but like I said I'm halfway out the door and I just want to be able to look back at my school my community and at my friends and be able to see that the place I left in my past is setting them up for the best future they could possibly have thank you Ken Meyers same topic good evening my name is Kian Myers and I'm here today because VHS is trying to make students take a lunch and not allowing them to drop their lunch for an extra course until September forcing students to take a lunch would cause me and many other students to be forced to drop classes like marching band theater select choir and other performing art courses this will harm our performing arts program significantly the amount of students in them will drop schedules are not available to students until sometime in August and by that time in the summer marching band members have already begun practicing for over 2 months a lot of time and effort would have been wasted if a student were to practice all summer thinking that they are a marching band only to find out the class was dropped for a lunch this doesn't only just affect students in the Performing Arts but also seniors and students wanting to graduate early if a senior doesn't meet all the graduation requirements because they need one more course like a CTE or a language they could drop their lunch and take an extra course to meet those requirements if students are forced to take a lunch those seniors will have to wait until September to change their lunch for that course and have a very slim chance of getting into that class students that want to graduate early won't be able to won't be able to get enough credits for the junior year to graduate early this also affects incoming freshmen when eighth graders are selecting their courses for nth grade they are supposed to Circle a lunch period if those students were thinking of taking a class like marching band they might not want to do it anymore because they don't feel like switching their schedule in September students should be allowed to drop their lunch for an extra course I am aware that students can email their guidance counselors after they get their schedule asking them to switch their lunch period for another course but this just adds more work for the guidance counselor since many students ask for changes in their schedules during the first weeks of school not letting students drop their lunch until September would in turn harm the Performing Arts in every student at VHS thank you for your time Jackie McBride jacle MC McBride I'm sorry it's okay so my name is jco McBride I'm a senior in bent high school so my junior year I had the option of not having a lunch that year and I told my mom about it and she was like take the take the lunch cuz that's a time for you to unwind relax your mind from all the work you do from your other periods and I said okay I won't I'll take a lunch so this year came around and I had some difficult choices to make those choices being either I can have classes that I need to pass to graduate or I can take a lunch and I chose I I'm like I need to graduate I need to have those classes so I chose having band having my science class over lunch cuz I band I didn't need to graduate but band has helped me what helped me show who I am break out of my show if you will and so and I wanted to like the people in my section my flute section I wanted to help them so when they get to senior year they'll have people behind them that'll look up to them the way they're looking up to me now so sorry about that so so what I'm trying to say is band has helped so many people and for the lunch thing that's happening right now for them to force them to have a lunch taking away opportunities that I have had in B to make friends come out of my shell and just have a good time in a violent High School like okay so I know they sld them in September they can always change their classes that's not always the case because sometimes the classes are full so then they're like left with no other option or they're taking a class they really don't want to take or need at that moment so all so what I'm trying to say is to not have forc the kids to take something they really don't want to take or if they don't need band is something that helped me a lot in my life that I didn't realize I needed until I got to high school and I realized how much I I have grown as a person as a leader as who I am today really so that's all and thank you for letting me talk to you guys and have a good night hold on don't call yet I just wanted to clarify for one moment because a couple times it was mentioned that there will be a vote that something is being voted on tonight that would impact scheduling for next year Kean and I had a conversation yesterday she emailed me made me aware of this change in the schedule and practice at the high school I'm looking into it because it's not something that I was aware of before yesterday there is a reason a rationale why the high school staff is looking into doing this but has not been approved by me yet so we will be looking at it there may be a change I have to get more information but I just want to let you know that I am looking into it and thank you Ken for reaching out and making sure I was aware of this excuse me president cpot as Yogi Bearer said it's deja vu all over again so this is what's going to happen you're either going to let them have this lunch and do what they want or else at your next board meeting you're going to have about 75 or 100 parents and I don't know how many kids come out and then you're going to let them do what they want so it's a lot easier to just let them do what they want now these aren't our problem children these are some of our best and most accomplished people it's ridiculous to put Reigns on them Tiffany Harold hi I'm not used to doing this I don't care to do this but when it comes to my daughter in the band I'm here my name is Tiffany I am a very proud band mom and I am here to speak on behalf of my daughter who was a 10th grade marching band student at VHS my daughter chose to not take a lunch this year and because of that she was able to take the new Cam's class in which she loves and enjoys Ariana who has been a class officer for the past two years and is passing all of her classes and that is without taking a lunch next year my daughter won't have the opportunity to take Ceramics too because of this because she is forced to take a lunch and she does not even eat the school lunch Ariana has to take Marine Science which is an elective to continue her dream of becoming a marine biologist in college as well as marching band my point is please let the students have a choice to not take a lunch so they can continue to enjoy the passion and Performing Arts in marching band as well as experiencing the great electives VHS has to offer thank [Applause] you I'm sorry I can't quite make out the first name Alvarado appears to be this the last name I apologize hello the board my name is Chris aado and I am a senior VHS I am speaking to all of you today so that I may express my concern with this post to remove the opportunity for students to not have a lunch period also use as a lunch study as one of their eight periods throughout school day I myself chose to not have a lunch period this was a conversation that I had with my mother and she saw okay as long as I was okay with it and now because of this decision I have been given the opportunity to reach the highest level of academic success I take five AP classes a language a CTE in my required gym period this year six out of these AP six out of these CL six out of these eight classes are taught only once throughout the whole day what do you want to do instead then not take a environmental science not take Russian not take AP Calculus let not be mentioned that these classes are taught by some of the greatest teachers I have ever gotten this opportunity to study under in my 12 years of going to Violent public schools by removing this opportunity for your student for V for violent students to utilize utilize this opportunity you're denying their chance to further explore and expand expand their knowledge and craft as it is known lunch is given out during period 4 5 6 and 7 period that offer pivotal classes only during that time the CTE program a program that some of you have gotten a chance to further know during the C during the CTE Carnival that few of you attended has classes that students would simply not be able to take as they would said have to take a lunch period various art and music classes off the top of my head Conant emble and band are taught only once and during set time frame various levels of language classes namely the highest level such as Italian 4 Russian 4 and as and ASL 4 are taught only once and during a time frame lastly countless AP classes such as two of the AP science classes AP Calculus and AP eror until only once and during set time frame but rather than take these classes you suggest that they rather take your lunch period if your concern is people not utilizing the lunch their lunch at lunch period let it be known that whenever I walk past the cafeteria is full full of room is f is a Filled Room of people talking laughing and eating and this is during seventh period the last period that once lunch is given out a key concern of yours is budgeting saving money that is not the way to that is not the way to achieve such thing you would rather have people not utiliz it in this classes that which you are already putting money into the classes will continue on all of them will progress forward but they progress at a weaker more unstable State and so I am Christ alberado and I thank you for your time Nicole McBride hello how are you doing this evening my name is Nicole McBride I'm here to speak on the decision to make lunch mandatory which will affect students who are trying to excel beyond what the school requires academically I do understand what they said that this has not been enacted yet but this has affected the schedule already for the marching band we had a meeting last night and actually one of our parents they already changed her schedule that band member uh again I am just to get off topic but I heard him say that it has not been enacted yet it has it has affected the student schedule they are getting their schedules back already she reached out to the school and the school told her that they can check back in August for her to get marching ban but again here to speak about the decision my daughter jacole McBride is a senior she has been playing the flute for the VH Marching manand for 4 years I actually the president of the parent bandaids fundraising group we support the students Creature Comforts and fundraise to help keep the VHS marching band going since my daughter will be graduating I am now ensuring that the next board is in place so there's no time to miss for fundraising and but here's the Dilemma like I said one of the year next year's board memb daughter has not been has been been made to drop ban fundraising starts in the summer not having a board in place will get in the way of raising the funds that's needed I'm here as a parent also again I was my daughter last year for her junior year this came up as a decision do I let her have a lunch or not and I told her no like she came up here and said take the lunch even though she's not you know teenagers you're not eating a whole big full lunch just take the time for downtime she has all AP honors classes just take the time so guess what had to make that decision again as a senior do I allow her to take marching ban or do I make her take a lunch again she's been in marching band for four years it's something she loves to do and I may let her make that decision we work we made that decision together as a parent so it's not like the kids are making this decision us as the parents have to sign off on it and I allowed her to do it she's still maintaining her 4.0 gbaa not having a lunch again well I thought she would need that downtime with all her stress from all her classes but she is still maintaining her grades so again I understand they're saying have not having making a lunch mandatory but allow this decision this decision to be made with the children it's a personal decision and the parents are the ones agreeing like I said I was one of those parents like no you need a lunch you can't go all day without eating but again just making sure I have breakfast items at home she eats before she goes she needs a little snack she can pack that again she does have after school activities she'll pack a lunch take a snack sometimes I'm running things over especially when we have marching band after school many days that that season's over but September and October and November pretty busy where they're after school we got games right after especially on Fridays so but again she's still maintain her grades so this is not a the children that are not taking lunch they they're trying to achieve things academically that's not just above and beyond what the school is requiring and you should allow them to continue to do that I just want to thank you again for allowing me to speak and my name is Nicole McBride Adriana Harold good evening my name is Ariana heral and I'm very concerned about the lunch and how we're required to take a lunch when we really when some of us students really don't want to it affects the Arts because some students who want to take several Arts programs like choir and marching band can't because they're we're required to take a lunch now and incoming freshman who want to take marching band can't because they would have to wait until September and our season will already be started so they can't so they can't do marching Dan so I would say and it hurts everyone who wants to do take several classes and try new things and like with the lunch with us required to take a lunch it really hurts everyone cuz they want to take several classes they want to try new things they they want to learn new things and it hurts everyone one so I would please try to consider not having us request to lunch thank [Applause] you Kristen Speakman 2425 budget good evening everyone I'm Kristen Speakman proud principal of Dr John H Winslow School and president of the vinand administrators and supervisors Association so as we begin the process to collaborate to create at the 2425 budget i' just like to acknowledge the significant role of our current 19 assistant principles which does increase to 20 as of April 8th with the Petway assistant principal position reinstated and also expressed the critical need for our district to maintain the current assistant principal positions in the budget since I do have less than three minutes although I am a fast talker I can only highlight some of the responsibilities of our assistant principles they serve as instructional leaders of their school Community they hold a strong knowledge of curriculum instruction and assessment at each grade level in their building they Foster an educational vision of their school as well as maintaining a positive School climate that has at its core high achievement for all students assistant principles promote a culture of continuous Improvement and leverage their leadership through conducting walkthroughs classroom observations leading professional Learning Community meetings focusing on student achievement and cultivating professional development focused on improving teaching and learning in addition our assistant principles play a crucial role in maintaining a safe and secure learning environment for our students so in New Jersey the Statewide ratio for students to administrators is about 140 students per administrator in vinin that ratio is significantly higher at 186 students per administrator when we zero in on building based administrators to students in K to 12 that ratio is 200 students per principal and assistant principal so this data does show that we're not a district that's topheavy in administration our middle schools have greatly benefited from an additional assistant principal at last week's board meeting the vacant Petway AP position was rightfully filled through a transfer Vasa advocates for our elementary schools to maintain our current APS throughout the next school year and Beyond and we hope that if an AP position we hope that our APS are considered for any retirements or vacant positions it's critical that that position is promptly replaced just in a neighboring School District three elementary schools their enrollment ranges from 425 to 440 students all of those elementary schools hold the assistant principal position in vinand with the exception of one small Elementary School all of our elementary schools have higher enrollment counts demonstrating in the need for an assistant principal position discipline and safety have been recent concerns addressed by the board maintaining all of our assistant principal positions is a critical component of a successful learning environment that's CR that's safe supportive inclusive and fair thank [Applause] you is there anybody else who'd like to speak seeing none superintendent recommendations requesting discussion and approval of items A and B A being the 2024 2025 preliminary School District budget for submission to the state of New Jersey as follows total 224,000 second second roll call please miss Acosta yes Mr Bono yes Mr fii yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs cispa yes motion carries requested discussion and approval of items six and seven item six approval of the maximum travel amount as noted on our agenda $ 43,50 and number seven is approval of the New Jersey Department of Education Office of Early Childhood 2024 2025 paa state aid notice and budget questions or comments do I have a motion motion second roll call who was the who is the first motion oh thank you Miss Acosta yes Mr Bono yes Mr fi yes Mr Medio yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs kispa yes motion carries before I ask for adjournment on behalf of the board I'd like to thank everybody who came out to speak tonight do I have a motion to adjourn I'll move second all in favor