##VIDEO ID:N1IfMDMaXTQ## the adequate notice of this regular meeting as required by the open public meetings Act was provided by the posting mailing delivery and filing of this notice on January 12 2024 this notice was on that date posted on the bulleon board in the township office sent to The Courier News and tap into Warren and filed with the Township Clerk of the township of Warren all in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America right I will call the role Mr Desai yeah Miss Keller yes here Mr molfetta Mr Otto here Mr tour yeah Mr Valentino here Mr Weinstein here and Mrs Zan here we have a quorum thank you good evening everybody um the first order of business tonight is uh to do interviews of our prospects our candidates for the empty seat on the board of education I would call this an embarrassment of riches with um very highly qualified candidates we're very fortunate that there was so much interest um I'm going to just briefly go over how we're going to proceed we will be drawing names for the sequence of speaking the first opportunity to speak will be your opportunity to share that 5 minute introduction as to why it is you're seeking a position on the board of education following that introduction and oh by the way 5 minutes is a lot of time don't feel compelled to use it all um we just don't want you to feel restricted in any way so please feel free to share anything you think it's important we know following the introduction you will be asked three questions we will rotate the order of response for those questions um with about a minute answer expected so these are not long questions these are short questions following that the board will adjourn to Executive session to discuss the candidates upon return we will be um appointing uh a a member of the Board of Education who will be sworn in will be seated immediately okay so with that I'm going to ask Miss Keller to please draw the me our first um candidate a is Nikki Dalton wait till we're going to pull all the names first and then I'm going to do this okay candidate B is Mr revas candidate C is Mr spara and candidate D is Miss Wong and so with that Miss Dalton you have your five minutes uh good evening my name is Nikki Dalton uh I have lived in Warren for nine years and I'm a parent to two Mount harb students I'm applying for the vacancy on the board of education because I think it's important to be an active participant in my CH my children's education I believe I am well qualified because I have been very very involved in the district since my first child started kindergarten in 2019 I participated in community stakeholder meetings that created the district's current strategic plan back in the fall of 2019 I have also been an active member of the Strategic plan stakeholder voice and engagement committee for the past several years specifically serving on the safety subcommittee I was part of the planning for elementary growth working group that evaluated different rezoning possibilities and ultimately aided in decision-making for the district's resoning process I'm thankful that the district continues to provide stakeholders with so many opportunities to give feedback and be involved in the decision-making process and I think it's important to take advantage of these opportunities I've also worked as a substitute teacher in the Warren Township school district for the past two years I am currently still on the substitute list but I willing to give up my ability to do so in order to serve on the board of education as I'm aware that I cannot do both this is also my second year serving as co-vice president on the m horb PTO I have really enjoyed working closely with Mr cook and the mount horb community and I'm in the building frequently with all the volunteering opportunities that the PTO has afforded me I would also like to share that I have attended Board of Education meetings either in person or on zoom and have spoken at meetings and corresponded with the board on several occasions another thing that sets me apart as a candidate for this vacancy is my unique dual perspective not only am I a District Parent but I also o taught public kindergarten for 11 years in Morris Plains New Jersey this helps me understand issues from multiple perspectives I am aware of the opportunities and the challenges that arise in education as well as the dynamic learning Dynamic nature of learning I have no agenda other than to do what is best for the students in District I would personally strive to uphold the district's mission statement and keep an open mind and considered board Matters from all angles because I am involved and visible in the district I feel this helps me to be a approachable to many of our stakeholders while I hold a teaching certificate from the College of St Elizabeth I also received a business degree from Villanova University which could Aid in understanding the business side of things I also want to share that I fully understand the commitment and responsibility that is involved in being a board member I have the time to commit to regularly attend meetings in person and participate in various other related committees I intend to be a present and active member if selected to fill the vacancy I appreciate your time and hope that you will consider my dedication to the district along with my specific qualifications when making your choice to fill the empty seat thank you thank you Miss Dalton candidate B is Mr Ras good evening everyone my name is R Rivas and I'd like to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to speak to you this evening my wife and I have been a Warren resident since 2019 and our two children attend alt Elementary School I was born in New York City and raised in Edgewater New Jersey my mother is uh immigrated from Columbia as a teenager my father retired nyp uh NYPD Captain immigrated from Cuba to live the American dream as a child I attended Leonia school system and graduated from Ruckers University in 2003 with an administration of justice degree I have been an active member of the community since 2019 I have coached our sons Teo I help instruct kids at Warren combat martial arts school and I'm act actively seeking a coaching position for the W young Hills Pop Warner football team and I am an active member of the Stone Crest community church here in Warren my reasons for wanting to serve on the Warren Board of Ed are as follows one I want to continue to ensure the children and the families of this community are put first two we need to prioritize the Safety and Security of our schools teachers and children three my wife and I sought to move to warm because we knew the reputation of this community and schools were the best of the best I want to be a part of keeping our schools at this level and better them each opportunity we can as best we can I am best fit for this role because as a career original business manager I have been responsible for serving my Physicians and their patients similarly as a parent and a taxpayer it would be my responsibility to serve our children and Community multiple times over the course of my career I have been a member of ethical and diversity committees for companies for whom I have worked for my diverse cultural background as well as my oftentimes challenging educational Journey as a child has molded my reasons for seeking a seat on the Warren Board of Education many people can speak about what changes they feel is needed I want to actively pursue that role while honoring the values and the wishes of the parents of Warren and serving our great Community thank you again thank you Mr Ras candidate C Mr spara good evening uh my name is Doug Sabara I'm a uh 45-year-old resident of Warren Township and a proud parent dedicated father of two beautiful children brenn age six my daughter uh attends the alt uh School in first grade my son is a four four-year-old little firecracker who attends the mount horb pre for last uh six months we've been preparing for the journey into kindergarten migrating completely to alt um the the reason I've applied for this board position I provide a broad set of skills uh rooted within 20 plus years of corporate America I have Vision value agility and partnership and I'll explain that a little bit vision is not something that that is is easy to identify or create it comes from broad experience um observation and taking time to learn diverse perspectives certainly the experience is a very big piece of that I believe my vision for this Township is to make sure that the school is one of the most valuable assets that we represent as a community when it comes to agility 20 plus years in Corporate America very simply put I'm experienced in negotiating public speaking uh high value budget experience um the value piece this board has an obligation to provide value to the community to its residents to the students I believe that my skill set would bring or enhance the current mission of this this board and then the partnership piece I I'm an exceptional and empathetic listener with that I have broad communication skills those will only complement what the the current work that this board is doing listen I'm not applying for this board position trying to change what anybody here is doing I'm only here to enhance it through my broad experience and my passion for this town thank you thank you Mr Sabara candidate D is Miss Wong uh good evening everyone uh my name is Cynthia Wang I live in Warren Township and I have three children all of whom are either attending or will all be attending Warren Township Schools um I'm an uh I work as a lawyer I graduated from seen Hall School of Law in 20 2010 um I mostly do trial practice um mostly in civil litigation and commercial litigation um for many years I was working at a nonprofit organization Somerset and they actually had a school there and I was very much involved in uh helping to uh operate and run that school um it was a private international boarding school it had a little over a hundred students um about 10 to 15 staff members and it has students both locally and uh students from abroad um I worked there for many years serving as their assistant director and uh legal counsel and uh in that position uh it was a great place to work um in that position it really allowed me to see both the ins and outs of uh how a school operates I got to see all the daily workings so students coming in buses coming in um talking to parents uh managing teacher schedules and making sure students go do go to their classes and do what they're supposed to do and make sure that uh teachers do the same um so all the daily operations of the school um but also as serving as their legal council I got to see uh the school from a broader perspective so whenever there were legal issues or they had to do some kind of educational research I would help the school with that and uh whenever they would have to appear before a regulatory agency of some sort if they were expanding facilities I would also represent the school for those matters um and also at some point um when I was working there it was also going through the accreditation process so I was their leg legal advocate so I think um you know working at that school in that role um it really made me understand how much goes into a school just so kids can go to school every day and not worry about any of those things um it was a very rewarding role and I hope that uh my position in that role and experience can help me um assist in developing good policy and Warren Township um thank you very much thank you Miss Wong we're going to move on to the short answer questions um starting with candidate B Mr Rivas be followed then by candidate C D and then a as we will be rotating for each of the short answer questions so to Mr Rivas um the first of our short answer questions is as follows what do you regard as the number one issue facing the Board of Education during your proposed term of office and how would you propose addressing that issue the number one issue regarding schools that the number one issue facing the Board of Education during your proposed term of office and how would you propose addressing that issue I would say providing somewhat tighter security for these schools I understand that there are several of the schools in the surrounding area that already provide that um I think it would be a matter of coming to a common understanding a common ground and really just doing what's best for the children putting the children first obviously the teachers and um just our school systems and making sure that you know we have protection in these schools obviously we've seen you know so many of these tragedies have that have occurred throughout the country um I think you know children are our greatest resource and treasure and um that's what I would prioritize at the moment thank you Mr Ras Mr Sabara same question what do you regard as the number one issue facing the Board of Education during your proposed term of office and how would you propose addressing that issue technology the application of the sourcing of uh the introduction of Technology into the school system the the the next generation of students as they would aspire to join the workforce will be challenged more than any generation in history having access to to the technology teaching them how to apply those Technologies in a way that they can become valuable and uh contribute to society that's going to be a delicate balance of technology and human interaction um and it's it's going to be a complicated issue for a time to come thank you Mr zabara Mrs Wong same question what do you regard as the number one issue facing the Board of Education during your proposed term of office and how would you propose addressing that issue um I think uh for any school district or Board of Education right now we're um in a very rapidly changing Society um kids nowadays have to know more and more and it's really overall just preparing our kids equipping them with uh skills that are marketable in the future and um useful um in society and how to be competitive I think technology was a great Point um we all use technology now um and I know that schools are right now you know introducing smartboards um my son uses um an iPad a laptop in school but right now it's um I feel that uh kids are using a lot of technology I use technology but I don't know how a computer works I mean I can use it but uh I can play games on my iPhone but um how to develop a game on an iPhone how to actually take this piece of machinery and not just use it but but work with it I think um is something that kids can actually start learning from very early on um and then we won't we won't need to you know send our kids to like Coden injur or something like that thank you Miss Wong Miss doton same question I think I would have to say student achievement is a big issue right now um I know that the district is implementing some new programs so I think staying on top of that as I mentioned before um learning is very Dynamic and changes frequently um I know when I was a teacher you know we started with certain programs and by the time I was leaving teaching you know things were coming back it's very cyclical so I think staying on top of those things that that is going to keep our school district at the top you know one of the top in the state um and and really you know make sure that our kids are getting those good test scores and and keeping up the uh reputation of the Warren Township School District thank you Miss Dalton the next short answer question will'll start with Mr zabara and that question is the Warren board of education is a high functioning public body with a reputation for mutual respect candid dialogue and compromise please describe your experience working with committees or groups so I've worked with a variety of committees uh worked with a variety of business resource groups I I think one of one of my my proudest achievements was being a board member for uh the United Way of the New Jersey district for UPS um a lot of compromise took place in regards to how to allocate funds understanding that when we would drive or or we would go into our campaign drives we'd be raising in excess of six7 million so there was a lot of competition a lot of conversation about which programs would benefit the most from our time and attention uh which programs we could bring in front of the workforce to bolster additional or increase those contributions compromise was a big part of that it it was those were some tough conversations to make sure people understood why a decision was being made uh making sure that people were comfortable and we were very visible in communicating why a a decision to abstain from supporting one organization in favor another was made um communication is the key to any successful board conversation or organ organization and within conversation you need to to be an empathetic listener you need to listen to someone's perspective take the time to understand what is driving their passion and with that make recommendations and and do it with confidence conviction thank you Mr Sabara Miss Wong question now goes to you I'll repeat it one more time the Warren board of education is a high functioning public body with a reputation for mutual respect candid dialogue and compromise please describe your experience working with committees or groups um I would say most of my experience in working with um committees and groups uh is through my nonprofit work like I said for many years I worked at a nonprofit organization um it was called um the New Jersey Chinese Community Center and it had a variety of programs um everything from helping asian-americans assimilate to the US to helping them with obtaining visas the school thing the the school they later operated was out of necessity and it was actually not there when I first started or working for the organization so seeing how they started a school you get all your licenses and approvals but then uh there were no committees so I think a lot of my work was um helping prioritize what we needed what committees we needed um someone to do Student Activities someone to do grading someone to do parent communication someone to do scheduling and I really learned learn the value of in terms of having limited resources learning how to prioritize and uh um try with limited resources to still give the maximum um environment for the students thank you Miss Wong Miss doton sure um so just from my you know introduction I mentioned that I was part of a lot of different committees within the district um I have been involved with the strategic planning committee in the beginning that was the community you know input committee meetings where we had we met with a consultant and it was teachers um you know residents parents uh Administration lots of different people involved in that and that was pretty broad just to to kind of narrow down what we were looking at for the Strategic plan um and then I as I mentioned I've been on the stakeholder committee where I've been very involved with the uh the safety subcommittee and again that is also comprised of teachers and parents at Administration um and then uh the PTO I have more of a leadership role on on that one as a co-vice president um I feel like I work very well with the other members of the PTO we got a lot of stuff accomplished last year and I think that it will be the same this year um a lot of sharing of ideas like I said lots of opportunities to be in the building and see what's going on in the school um and uh yeah I I think I've been a a big part of several committees that are very involved in the district and I look at this as another opportunity to continue to be very involved Mr Ras would you like the question again or you good I'm good thank you yeah I appreciate that so for 17 years of my uh career I've been a regional business manager working with some of the largest biotech companies in the world and I work directly with hospitals uh negotiating contracts and treatment protocols for patients and I've been a top ranking business manager several times through throughout my career because of my ability to negotiate listen and communicate with our business partners find uh common ground and create the best solution possible for our um for our business partners and make sure that it's a you know it's a win-win for everyone and it's all about understanding the needs of your um your clientele on and um just you know compromising and making sure that you're providing value always and not putting yourself first and thinking about what their needs are and that's what I would do if I was given the opportunity to serve the taxpayers and the children of this community thank you Mr Ras the final short answer question we'll start with Miss long and that question is as follows acting as a member of the board of education is demanding and includes preparation for and attendance at board meetings committee meetings and various outs side events each of you are valuable and busy members of the community with various other obligations please share your thoughts on balancing your time commitments in a way that meets the obligations of being a member of the board um I believe that given the nature of my work um right now I have my own solo practice um I have a case load and I work on a on a task basis so you finish your work but can you're you're basically done with that task so I feel that I can be flexible with my work schedule um and my case load and uh I would have the time to uh devote to attending meetings and um coming to uh whatever the board uh whenever the Board needs me um and I think that uh um the reason why we all take the time out to apply for something like this is because we just care enough Miss doton uh so I currently am a state home mom so I do have the the flexibility with my schedule um my husband is also in education so he is able to be home when I am not which is very nice uh to give me that flexibility um I do understand the commitment and I would be able to attend all the meetings and as I mentioned before I would also be able to participate in any subcommittees that may arise um I would take it very seriously as I know that it is a big commitment Mr Ras so um with my job it's very flexible I create my own hours so I do have the ability to rearrange my schedule as I see you know as um as necessary in order to make sure that I fit in all my priorities um but um I'm very passionate about this and this is something I take very seriously and I'm sure when I say that I speak for all of us here we wouldn't be here you know um this is important not only for us but for our community and our children so I you know like anything else we all live busy lives and we just you know we're I'm very organized and very coordinated and um I make sure that you know when I have something important like this that it's at the top of my priority L and it's getting done thank you Mr Reas Mr saara there is no thing more important than my children their development and the development of the children in this community personally I made a life-changing decision almost six years ago when I left the position as a regional operations director um and took a job in procurement leading Logistics procurement for a multinational cpg I now work from home three days a week when I am in the office my commute is 9 miles to Piscataway I am within Striking Distance of Mike children at all times so to say I don't have time would be completely incorrect I've made this community a priority um making time to be part of this board and contribute to this town no issue thank you Mr zabara thank you to all of the candidates I described this as an embarrassment of riches it truly is you're all very qualified and we're fortunate that each of you have stepped forward and and come to us and sought this position at this time the board will move into executive session to discuss your candidacy Miss C whereas the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 permits the Board of Education to meet in Clos session to discuss certain matters now therefore be it resolved the Board of Education adjourns to close session to discuss material the disclosure of which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy action will be taken upon return to public session the length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 20 minutes and be a further resolved the minutes of this Clos session be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists do I have a second second all in favor I opposed obstain the board is now in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for motion to return to public session motion to return okay all in favor opposed abstain the board is now back in public session do I have a motion motion Mr Weinstein resolve that the Board of Education appoints Nikki Dalton to the board for a term of September 16 2024 to December 31st 2025 do I have a second second do we have any other motions seeing no other motions Mr Hegel right I will call speak Mike I will call the role on the mo motion before the board Mr Desai yes Miss Keller yes Mr molfetta yes Mr Otto yes Mr T yes Mr Valentino yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs on yes congratulations congratulations to miss Doan I do want to um board is just going to take a a brief moment here so that Miss Dalton can familiarize herself with the oath of office and I also want to personally extend a thanks to the remaining candidates so we're in Open Session but breaking first than you thank here thank all right can I see be and motion question yeah absolutely oh you that requires me to like one that didn't know uh that side is prob they all go there oh was we are live yes are we ready ready for the oath of office okay then miss doton and U Mr Hegel so where where you're on camera maybe not because I want you to raise your okay hold my Mrs doton can you please raise your right hand repeat after me I Nicole Dalton do solemnly swear I Nicole Dalton do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the United States and in this state in the United States and the this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I Nicole Dalton do solemnly swear I Nicole Dalton do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education of member of a board of education that I am not disqualified as a voter that I am not disqualified as a voter and that I am not disqualified due to a conviction and that I am not disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office all duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations SE right over there take a quick picture before we yeah go back into all on photograph Swit up you want to go behind all right great Miss K minutes resolved that the Board of Education approves the public and private session minutes of the August 26 2024 board meeting do we have a second second right I will call the role Mrs Dalton you can say abstain abstain Mr Desai yes Miss Keller yes Mr molfetta yes Mr Otto yes Mr Tor yes Mr Valentino yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs Z yes motion passes correspondence and information Dr Mingo the board received one email regarding food at class parties there is no HIV information to report and there was one in school suspension at War Middle School thank you Dr mingle um again congratulations to Nikki Dalton the newest member of the Board of Education and um gratitude and thanks to the applicants who sought this seat all of whom were um exemplary and and it was really hard Choice thank you to um an anonymous donor who has U made a donation of $946 for a front lobby display at Mount horo which will be approved on the agenda this evening um I also want to uh extend a thank you to the Middle School choir students from all five of our schools um countless members of Staff uh who participated in the Township's annual commemoration of 911 I had the opportunity to attend that commemoration on 911 last week and um it was it was wonderful to see the children there participating uh a thanks to Cathy Reese in the township who uh assisted in in making sure that our students were able to participate and uh to the student speakers and I have no doubt that Dr mingle's probably going to thank them as well um really really proud of these kids who have spent um the beginning part of their school year um engaged in acts of kindness and encouraging others to pay it for forward and perform acts of kindness as well um so really wonderful opportunity to see them and a thank you to um a couple of local businesses uh Starbucks and Ambi who um are located here in town who generously donated coffee for the commemoration which our students and staff served to those who attended as in fact an act of kindness um those are my remarks Dr mingle superintendent's remarks thank you Mrs an uh first of all just to build on that we were really excited and honored to be a part of the 911 ceremony here in Warren Township the township has already asked us to do the same thing again next year which I accepted on our behalf I think it's a great way for the students of the district to not only learn about what 911 meant on that day but also on how the country came together in the days that followed and that's where the days of kindness comes from and the Pay It Forward 9911 work that we've done in the schools um but adding the student speakers I thought was particularly beneficial this year Constantine Bellman and James Esposito are two eighth graders who wrote their speeches worked with staff at War Middle School to fine-tune them and deliver them I mean if you were there you saw in quite remarkable fashion uh especially given you know all of the gravitas at the moment brings to to that experience if you haven't had a chance to see the ceremony the full video is up on the township website there was a link in last week's Community briefing which you can also get off of our district website so I encourage you to to check that out we've had a great opening to the school year I've been hesitant to say that every time somebody asks me how the opening was because I didn't want to jinx anything but we're now Midway through September so it feels like a good time to uh compliment all of our students our staff administrators on the work that it takes to get ready for the first day uh even from a transportation perspective normally we prepare families that the first several days of school we're going to have all kinds of bus disruptions for the most part that didn't really happen this year and so that's due to a lot of people working really hard over the summer so uh we're of and running here in the school year with that I do want to remind the community and you'll see more about this uh in the near future that on Monday November 4th that's the day before election Monday November 4th we will be doing strategic planning Community input sessions during the day in the afternoon and in the evening uh there will be specific details about how you can get involved these are open to all members of the Warren Township community to come and participate with outside facilitators you'll be asked what you believe the vision for the district should be for the next five years between 2025 and 2030 so as we conclude this process and open up the new one this is an opportunity to have your voice heard and uh that feedback really does generate the goals that go into the Strategic plan moving forward so we encourage everybody to participate we will also be offering focus groups for students at the elementary schools at waren middle school and students at wat Chung Hills who went through our school so that we can hear about the experiences of current students as well as those that have come before for the evening session we are working with wung Hills Regional High School to have child care available there will be wung Hill students providing free child care so that if we don't want child care to be a reason that families don't come and participate in community input sessions we will also have Spanish language interpreters at those sessions and we are working on providing transportation to those that might need that to come as well so we really want to make sure that everybody who wants to be here and contribute the events will be here at the middle school have the ability to do that and our facilitators will also do a survey so that everyone even if they can't come that day has a chance to give input as well and then finally the American Heart Association um has a challenge for fundraising across the country and we have some pretty remarkable success stories to share they have asked uh permission to come and speak at a future board meeting to to recognize what I'm going to share with you now which I assumed everybody would be okay with uh so I did say yes already so if you're not okay with it it's a little bit late sorry um Warren Middle School was honored as the Rookie of the Year school this is for the entire country for being the school that raised the most money raising over $18,000 in its first year participating in the American Heart Association challenge this was last year uh War Middle School was also one of the top 10 schools in the country for its fundraising number six which is even more remarkable considering it was the first year the school ever participated and mo Middle School student Brandon volosov was recognized for being the top individual fundraiser in the country for the second year in a row but last year he did that as a student in another school district before he moved to Warren and joined our community he's the one that brought this uh to nurse lantai who brought it to the middle school and the rest of the the community so congratulations to everybody involved and like I said they'd like to come to a future meeting and recognize all those individuals here which I think would be would be great absolutely thank you all right thank you Dr mingle we do have a presentation so I will be handing it back to Dr Mingle okay all right so every year at our first meeting after the school year begins I give a little bit of a snapshot of what our enrollment looks like to give an update to the board and the community on on where things stand uh board members I did share this via my update last Thursday so if you need to see a closer up version because there is some small text on it that's uh in your email as well so by enrollment by school over the last three years uh a couple of things I want to highlight on the slide here is that as as you all I'm sure remember between the 2223 and 2324 school year we rezoned our our elementary schools and you can see the effects of that rezoning on the slides Central's population went from 308 students to in K K through five to to 255 in K through 5 plus 31 preschool students Manor prior to rezoning was at 175 K5 students went up to 292 as a result of rezoning Woodland went down from 263 to 220 that was all by Design to match the enrollment to where we expected growth to come from in the coming years with uh development in the community in this 2425 school year you can see alt's population has come down a little centrals went up by 24 student students from last year to this year I'm just looking at the K5 numbers not the preschool there Mount horb went down a little bit and you can see the numbers from there across the bottom that's the total as of on the first two years that's the total as of October 15th that date is important because that's the date the state defines your enrollment by so whatever your enrollment is on October 15th becomes the basis for all kinds of things state aid and how you calculate however the number for 2425 was on the first day of school so you can see it's a little bit lower that has already gone up since the first day of school and so we will see it be probably closer to last year's number by the time we get to October 15th but that's where it was on the first day of school so as far as the enrollment goes is it yeah the the orange there is the actual enrollment in the years going going back to 1819 you can see we were continuing the decline that had been going on for almost a decade at that point we hit the end of that decline in the 201122 school year and we've been coming up since then the the two blue colored lines are the Dem demographic projections the lighter color being without new enrollment from housing or new housing enrollment the darker blue color being the enrollment projected to for us to experience in the new housing what is unknown is when those new housing developments would open and so there's sort of this exponential increase over time depending on when they might open and we've been ahead of that so far so in the first year after the demographic study which was 2223 we were already above both projections right now we're kind of hovering uh just under the high number but we know that many of our new developments are not actually open yet and so there's still more to come as far as enrollment goes if we look at our enrollment only by the K5 schools only by students in K5 I wanted to share what our demographic projection was compared to our actual enrollment for both last year and this year so in our rezoning year we were pretty close to what we were hoping to hit with the rezoning central was actually a little bit bigger as was Mount horb than we were looking for but not considerably more that's the new students that we weren't expecting to be here yet yet in those schools this year 2425 you can see that alt eight students lower than projected by the demographer central is 39 students bigger than projected by the demographer mount horb is about 22 smaller than projected and Woodland is exactly on what the projection said so we're fairly close we're in the range I will say that most of the explanation for Central being bigger than projected has to do with the fact that we house our autism program there and that program has grown much faster than we would have expected uh based on students who qualify for those Services again this is very small data on a screen right here but this comes straight out of our demographic projection which is published on the district website and it's looking at each school we were expecting to see from year to year there to be different discrepancies and that's because children aren't born perfectly aligned to the zones where their parents live and so for example in 2526 we project a big bump at Mount horb from 278 to 332 that's projected based on what is a small fifth grade class going out and a large kindergarten class coming in we'll see if that all plays out that way I share this only to say these kinds of es and flows are built into the modeling with the idea that at the end of five years our schools are basically even as enrollment levels out with full development of the community just an update on where kids are moving in uh in new housing but just to restate we are also getting new students from existing housing this is not just from new housing uh at the beginning of last school year we had 62 students living in homes in new developments at the opening of this school year that number was 82 from just those developments that are on the screen however Aster Grove uh which is by the 78 King George 7 8 opened just late in the summer enough that it popped up on our radar uh with registrations right before the school year started we have 19 students living in asttr Grove and many more to come as they finish occupying and we have started getting inquiries about the hills at Warren which is in the Woodland Zone we have seen signed agreements for people to move in during the school year and Hill Crest Crossing would be the next large one after that which is also in the Woodland Zone we project a total of 889 students in Astra Grove that's including high school students so that's not ours to worry about but across the entire span but the two there in Orange in Woodland are the two biggest new developments we project 110 students at the hills at Warren and 109 at Hill Crest Crossing and we don't have any of those students yet so lest you are concerned about the small number at Woodland right now at the first day of school this is why there are 213 students there now is so that we have room to bring in the students that are coming into new housing so one thing I did want to highlight about how the population of students has changed is the number of students who qualify for no cost lunch preco when we didn't run a lunch program frequently people would speak about there are no students who would qualify for a free lunch program and the truth at that time was there were very few we didn't know for sure because we didn't participate but probably it was in the single digits as of two years ago when we launched our uh the current model of the program 46 students or 3% of our student population qualified for that and as you can see on the first day of school this year 142 students that's a significant shift in just two school years it doesn't just affect lunch it affects everything we do it affects the way that we support families who want their children to go to general education preschool which costs a significant amount of money it affects families making decisions about whether their children are going to participate in organiz a in town that cost money in school sports and all sorts of things and so it affects our operations in a lot of different ways we've been planning for this as you all know we've known about this obligation of housing units um for a while this is the 2015 to 2025 affordable housing obligation which is a percentage of the total of 1060 1,60 units our demographer projected a 418 studed increase from those housing units so far the numbers are pretty close to projection the part we didn't know two years ago when we made our resoning decisions was that from 2025 to 35 there will be another round of affordable housing obligation this is in the news a lot right now because the numbers are going to be released in October is what I understand we don't know what that number exactly is going to be for Warren but the numbers that are being floated are larger than they were in 2015 to 25 and so while we may not know how many new homes are coming in the next 10 years years unless something dramatically different happens than the legislation that was passed and the governor signed earlier in last year we can expect to see more than 418 students coming out of the next round of housing now that may not happen till the far side of those 10 years I don't know but we have to be thinking about what that means for us as a school Community we were okay under the last round because we had declining enrollment for a decade but at the end of this enrollment increase we're going to be back right around where the district was at its High Mark over 2,000 students we will not be able to absorb 500 or a, more students at the end of 2035 without carefully planning for facility expansion and capital planning this board approved back in June a capital plan that includes lots of different things that are really important nuts and bolts facility things like cell phone and Wi-Fi upgrades uh having Storage security features like strobe lights making sure that our doors are the best they can be as far as SEC being able to secure our classrooms and you can see the list on the screen there these are the kinds of things on the districtwide list right here that would be in our next contemplated zero debt referendum which we'll be talking about during the school year and then there are some site specific items as well that address areas that were either identified by our director of operations our district architect or the principles as being High needs in those locations for example adding a security vestibule at the middle school would mean that all of our schools had a similar kind of entrance system in the district the other thing that we're doing to prepare for future growth is we have applied and we've talked about this at at least two board meetings uh in the last few months for preschool expansion Aid this is a program that the state of New Jersey offers to increase the space available in your in your school for general education preschool students to be educated when they're three and four years old we have an obligation for students with special needs we have dramatically increased the number of seats for general education students but that's at parent expense this program would fund the tuition for the children of general education in our preschool programs but in return we have to commit to having enough seats for all of the three and four year olds in the community whose parents want them to access preschool to be able to do so we will find out in the next six weeks or so whether we've been granted this Aid we we expect that we will be as many other districts with similar profiles to us have been granted the aid if we get that Aid the good news which I don't think everybody has fully processed yet is those families paying for tuition this year will get a refund of their tuition for this year and their children will continue going to school their in our preschool for free it's a swing of $10,000 for families who are paying for their kids to go to our preschool and we will then start the process of continuing to expand seats as we've been doing over the last few years and to that end the finance committee the board has been discussing what it would take for us to be able to have room for all three in four-year-olds to access Universal preschool over the next bit of time with that preschool Aid coming from the state of New Jersey through the idea of An Early Childhood Center where we would have access for all preschool students to go to school in a specifically designed facility for the needs of a three or four-year-old in a way that our current buildings can't accommodate we do we do a really good job at Central and mount building preschool programs but those schools were designed for older kids so this is to build sight specific Early Childhood Center solve our districtwide kitchen access issue which we've been talking about for five or more years and give us the ability to expand to make it a true Early Childhood Center for kindergarten as well so that we can relieve pressure on the Four elementary schools as the enrollments go up over the next 10 years we will talk about this a lot more U but this is work that we're doing behind the scenes with Community Partners on the finance committee with our district Architects so that we are not caught off guard as the students are moving in that I talked about at the top of the presentation the other thing that is still under consideration is the need for an all-purpose room at Central School Central School for those that are not as familiar with the each of the school buildings is the oldest building in the the district personally from an architectural standpoint it's the most interesting building in the school district because it was built at a time in in a way that we don't build schools anymore but it doesn't have a suitable APR that's comparable to the experience at the other three elementary schools and so as part of these construction projects we do need to solve for that in the in the near future as well that's another ongoing project all of that brings me back to what I said when I was making my opening remarks it it will be extremely important that members of the community share their voices during the strategic planning process to tell the board yes early childhood education is important to us or no there should be priorities somewhere else and this isn't the area that we should go down we need to hear from the community about what's best for us in the immediate future but also what's best for us five years and 10 years down the road with that I'll take questions from the board if there are any um that I can answer are there any questions from board members Dr Mangle you mentioned the grant for preschool that is only given to us if we can accommodate or we currently have the space for all preschoolers so the commitment is we get the money for the current students and and our commitment is over the course of five years we keep on adding more spaces so it's immediate but then grows over the course of time anything else additional questions from board members no okay thank you Dr okay we do not have an item of discussion on tonight's agenda so we will move to committee reports curriculum and Technology committee Mr tour so we met on uh Monday the 2 Monday the 26th uh first couple couple of areas I'll cover off three actually so the first was looking at the fiveyear plan and the 2425 goals uh two key areas we looked at were student achievement where we focus on Ela and math and also within that social emotional learning as a foundation for future academic growth and success second area we looked at was belonging um specifically prioritizing culture and values belonging within the community and also individual student backgrounds and voice and then the third element of belonging was prioritizing um improvements in Middle School culture and at the end of that session we recommended that moving the committee goals to the full board for approval thank you Mr to I'm sorry I got some more I apologize I thought I thought you passed please continue sorry it's okay uh spring njsla preliminary results we focused in on grade level overview and uh the Strategic plan achievement goals and specifically they looked at transparent benchmarks for achievement in the next school year um we also discussed as a committee the uh opportunities for teachers and principles in the administration to reiterate the importance of nightly reading at home so while we obviously can't mandate that we did suggest that perhaps Dr M and and the administration goes back to principles talks about perhaps integrating that into the back to school night discussion or let to students parents rather Etc have one more era we brief promise um there is actually a pretty exciting academic Support Program pilot or ASAP that was developed by Miss Mrs Messinger which is the Middle School uh assistant principal and this is uh really to help students who don't necessarily fall into to need an an IEP but there's clear clear suggestion they need additional assistance PS into three categories uh there's Level One support level two level three as you would expect you level one is relatively um lesser need so the student will be pulled in in a specific Rim period and assigned a teacher to help with an intervention level two goes a step uh step further with co- teing within the class and level three is the most intensive and that would be a pull out program for for the sixth grade for identified students um we'll hear more about that over time but I think uh both staff and the administration and we were pretty excited by this program and the opportunity offered and with that I se are you finished are you sure may I speak all right then please well done Steve thank you Rich yes very well done uh Finance operations and security committee met Monday September 9th um we had council with us were part of that meeting appearing tonight on uh the agenda as item B7 are the committee's recommended goals for the coming year um the committee does recommend the adoption of those goals uh we spent a considerable amount of time um being advised on uh our next steps with regard to evaluating an Early Childhood Center the uh business administrator Mr Hagel presented us with a summary of results of the recent audit a complete audit presentation will be made to the board on nov November 18th um we received an update on the Middle School Wetlands delineation which we had submitted to the um New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection um the NJ D requested some minor revisions we do expect that the revised um map will be approved which approval will be good for five years with a fiveyear possible extension so up to 10 years um we had the initial conversation with regard to fiber um access a fiber Network creation of a fiber Network and we moved the October meeting to October 7th and that was the last item there and seeing no other committee meetings we will move to the first opportunity for public commentary this is the first of two opportunities for public commentary I ask that anyone interested in addressing the board raise their hand or use the ra hand feature in Zoom each commentator is asked to limit their comments to 3 minutes please Begin by stating your name and address and by directing your comments to the presiding officer please know that the board welcomes comments from the public but this is not intended as a question and answer session if appropriate the superintendent or presiding officer May respond following the public commentary for this first opportunity we ask that your comments be limited to agenda items there will be a second opportunity for all other comments later in the meeting meeting looking first to the room and seeing none is there anyone on Zoom that would like to speak Last Chance seeing none do I have a motion to close public commentary motion to close second all in favor I opposed abstain first opportunity for public commentary is closed Dr do you have any comments on agenda items just one I want to call the board's attention to item A5 this is an educational research project uh this is here at the middle school Dr Miller who's one of our science teachers is working with uh the person who you'd be approving here Miss O'Brien on which will bring two lessons to our students in science class I just wanted to point out that Miss O'Brien is the lead astronomy educator at the smithonian air and space museum so quite an exciting educational research collaboration and thank you to Dr Miller for bringing that to us thank you very much does any member of the board wish to pull any item for a board consideration for a separate Vote or conversation I'm seeing none Miss K motion to approve items A1 through A6 B1 through B10 C1 through c18 and C C8 is a new item which is resolved that the Board of Education accepts the resignation of Nicole Dalton as substitute teacher effective September 16 2024 that's the new C and then D1 through D2 motion second all right um I will call the role Mrs Dalton Stein Mr Desai yes Miss Keller yes Mr Metta yes Mr AO yes Mr Tor yes Mr Valentino yes Mr Weinstein yes and Mrs Z yes motions pass thank you we do have an unfinished business item that's been carried a couple of times this is a board retreat item board self- evaluation and goal setting Dr mingle you want to up lead us on this yes so uh each year the board does a self- evaluation these results were shared quite a while ago so just a quick summary of the evaluation results the board goes through nine different areas this is from the New Jersey school boards Association identifies areas that it feels are the greatest strengths of the board in all different kinds of operational spaces and then areas where there's the biggest opportunity for improvement um for the sake of the discussion about goal setting the areas for improvement that the board identified had to do with um meeting attendance and and preparation following policies around operations the mission and goals communicating uh with the larger community and attending after school activities and other things when available so typically what happens as part of that discussion is if there's anything that's really about the operations of the board that needs to be addressed this would be a place to talk about that goal the only thing I recommended to the board is around the Strategic plan we all know that this is the strategic planning year and adopting a new strategic plan is one of the most important things the board can do because it sets sort of a vision for the the next five years but that's not really part of the self evaluation um if you find it helpful on the back of the agenda you will find the 2324 board goals from last year uh so at that I open it up for conversation okay so I think we at the very least need a board goal that relates to the um New strategic plan you'll see that that our last year goals uh included support the implementation of year four of the Strategic plan priorities um I think that we are currently in year five so it would be appropriate to carry that forward with support the implementation of year five and then perhaps have an additional board goal um support the um undertaking of a new strategic plan do we have thoughts on that yeah okay all right two of them right there um we also had previous board goals around the adoption of a 5-year Capital plan we successfully completed that one um but perhaps this would be uh a place that the board would perhaps set a goal on um relating to the next referendum which is a no tax referendum that would be um in support of the recently passed Capital plan is that something people think is good yep yep okay okay there we are we have three goals um we successfully negotiated a successive a successor Collective barging agreement and do not have negotiations for this coming year so I don't think we need a goal surrounding that okay um we did also have a goal last year draft Communications messaging strategies for key key Community topics uh this was our way of trying to have some sort of a board goal surrounding um supporting the administration and in addressing um climate and belonging within our Middle School primarily I don't know do we want to have something similar to that for the coming year and if so language like this or something else so I think we keep it um because I think we we intentionally made the language be a little open-ended um so when I read draft Communications messaging strategy for the community topics when I think about what was just presented I feel like there's between iic plan engagement between updates to the community around enrollment I feel like it's still valid to keep it I I wouldn't change language I think this is also an opportunity to um for the Personnel negotiations and communication committee to um really pick up the communication piece of that committee now that negotiations are done because we do have a number of items where messaging is is something we need to be considering things like early childhood the preschool program Etc um growth and facility growth within within the district one of the things that um was like a takeaway for me at the 911 ceremony is one of the students I think it was Bellman spoke to Constantine um spoke to community service and like the you know the value that he found in it and I do think it's something that would be a great inititive itive for all of our schools and elementary schools to do like consistently with the real plan just teaching them you know what it is to give back to your community um and and to your point about you know whether it's environmentally whatever that looks like that type of community service I think um teaches our children a really great lesson I agree um I think that probably how we craft that as a board goal would be to for the board to support the administration in out in their respective yeah those types of efforts um we do need to at least contemplate whether or not we need a board goal that relates to um board operations because that was an an an item on the board self- evaluation um does anyone have any thoughts on that I think that that drives most directly at um a continuing effort to um comply with board nor forms as well as perhaps encouraging board members to participate in um school events more than you we have a more robust Presence at school Road events is that something we should set as a goal I think I think it makes sense right if we're going to be speaking to the district just to be involved in that to see what it is you know firsthand um I do also think we we have to be strategic in how we do it because it is a commitment right and and the commitments do come up when you're in committees Etc um but I think it's a great idea and I think it'll allow us to have additional insight to our goals and and how we handle what's what happens in the coming years as well does anyone else have any thoughts on that I don't want us to be burdened with too many I think we got we're at five at this point um although perhaps the two strategic plan ones kind of go together can can we just view uh I guess it's number three are we keeping the same language draft Communications messaging strategies for Key Community topics is that what we're using for this year unless you have unless you have thoughts on I I think it's vague and I know we left it intentionally vague last year I don't know that it needs to be that vague this year um in my opinion when you have a vague goal it's difficult to accomplish because there's no clear metrics on how to actually accomplish it and that's when I read number three that's the feeling I get uh that said I don't have an exact solution or wording to make it less vague but it it just seems quite open-ended and I just get nervous that if it's open-ended we're not going to accomplish it because we don't know what we're trying to accomplish y I think the reason we kept it vague was that we were going to say we would sort of know what is an opportunity what is an opportunity that we say this is a this is a key and important Community topic and so now we need to do a messaging strategy around it but I mean we could add I would want I wouldn't want it to give specifics and then have it be limited by that so so but we could put can we put examples of yeah yeah that would help if we add examples so feels a little bit more concrete but doesn't feel like well this is it is that yeah that's fine so we need to determine those examples tonight I think we should probably because what's going to happen is that these board goals are we're we Dr mle here's diligently writing down our thoughts is going to craft them in ways that look really super and they're going to come back to our um next agenda as an item to be approved yep if I make a couple so I would love that uh I mean I'm just thinking about what things that will happen this year where we'll need your help with coming up with a a communication strategy there's a zero debt referendum there's always a communication strategy around that it would be with no offense to the finance committee it might be helpful to pull that off the finance committee and give it to the communications committee I approve of that idea strategic planning will need a lot of Outreach to make sure that we're getting to parts of the community that maybe I don't reach the same way that you might be able to reach um and wherever we go with the conversation about An Early Childhood Center is a whole different part of the community than we're even used to talking to so beyond even the district goals those are already three big examples I think well let's put them in okay I think that also has the benefit we put we published this with our agendas and so people will see this and that's a messaging document so let them know that that these are things we want to communicate with them about maybe whether or not we include the Early Childhood Center specifically or just a message around growth I think there's um a lot of community members who still believe that we're about to close a school like not happening right there's a lot of I think misinformation about oh we're on the decline and that's absolutely not the case so I think maybe it's a broader message of growth maybe less specifically about the community you know the Early Childhood Center so and typically I put a draft out there we have a lot of time between meetings our next meeting is until October 28th so we have a lot of room to iterate back and forth and if we want to bring the Personnel committee together to talk about it some more we have time to do that too I think that's um that leaves us with some pretty solid board goals so we're all content with that we'll let Dr mingle do some drafting yeah okay all right okay um moving on to a new business item um we've been talking about the election calendar the possibility of moving board uh member elections from November to April um uh Dr mingle and Mr Hegel put together a memo uh which took a look at the uh process for doing that kind of an estimated cost and so uh we're putting this back for fur the conversation here did everyone have a chance to read the memo thoughts questions I did attend um last week is it last week already um the high school's um most recent meeting where it did appear on their their agenda and I just want to share that um they did discuss it they were briefed on what the uh law provided and they seemed interested in knowing more about what the K8 districts were interested in doing um so that's kind of a um a continuing question on their minds they haven't really jumped one way or the other on it they want to know what we're up to and the other k8s as well and uh I do think they intend to bring that up at the next uh regionalization and shared Services Commission meeting which is later in the month I we said yes to it right we're all on board we did yeah that that was the the sense that you know the members that were present at the last meeting that there was interest yes in moving the 2025 election of board members from November to April the um deadline to advise the county um that we intend to do that is in late January so um the um suggestion was made in the memo and I think it's probably smart that we uh put it on the reor organization agenda which is the first agenda meeting in January because then all board members affected by a shortening of the term will have been seated uh we have one board member yet to be elected and that's this November um and that person will be seated in January and so everybody then affected will will be able to say that yes this is something they want to do so the next step here would be for us if if the board is in agreement that they wish to do this that we would put this on the agenda agenda the the reorganization agenda beginning of January for a vote of the board okay yeah just remind me the if we move the board election to April schools are open that day correct well here's the beauty um and it's beautiful schools are open that day but it turns out that if we do this we have a lot more control over the process petitions for election would come to us not to the county clerk and we can set the hour for the polls so we can choose for the polling which takes place in our schools to happen after school is closed for the day okay I'm good with that when we do it practically we might if if the um High School also changes at the same time it would make a lot of sense to make sure the hours that they select are the same as the hours that we select but it doesn't have to be from 6: a.m. to 8:00 p.m. um another factor in in doing that is it does reduce the cost of the election in that you're not paying whole workers for 15 hours it would be some lower number four o'clock to 8 o'clock in the evening I think unfortunately you would have a significant less of a turnout yeah we we talked about that right I would I would say maybe 10 to 20% of what we normally have I think that's G honestly I think it'll be we only have 10 to 20% of people that actually vote Yes or 10 or 10 to 20% less no no no 10 20% will show up but the ones that do will probably know who's on the ballot and care to be there one of the things about having um your elections in November is that people show up not knowing anything about the Board of Education they're there for the other ballot items and this this year it's presidential election right so they're there for the topof the ticket type of things and then they just tick off whoever was lucky enough to draw one of the first three spots on the board so you know there is some thought that moving it to April would allow the candidates to be less subject to the whims of the county drawing positions yeah I think it takes the political component out of it or or at least lessens it l we talked about right now the year is sort of split so new board members join in at doesn't align to the budgeting cycle it doesn't align to the superintendent evaluation cycle so with this it would be it would align with the actual school year so it would be kind of I think Mr maetta mentioned like when you join as a new board member you kind of feel like you're inheriting what's been decided already and so you're kind of seeing stuff in process already in play and so then you can join at a time when you actually get to see things in real time impact the schools and the school year so that I thought a smart of course I I do feel for Mrs Dalton who probably has to come up to speed because she would be impacted by it yes as as would we all everyone sitting here today um with the exception of Mr Desai who's not running again lucky one well would in fact have their term shortened by approximately seven months I think this is this is good but I think we have to you know in the spirit of communications and transparency we need to make sure that gets out that should things with the four gos essentially right to maintain communication because I could hear a lot of people saying oh I had no clue how come I didn't get to vote for the board and they weren't on general election there will be some tight timing here um because if we are contemplating um approving this at the first meeting in January the notice to the county that we're doing this is within days thereafter um and then we would have to set the date uh when we we want petitions to come in so I think yes that we we should be saying right now to all of you out there listening and to the Press who is uh sitting over there listening that it is the intention of the Warren Township Board of Education to put on its agenda in January a motion to move elections of board members from November 2025 to April of 2025 so take not got it got it not right um anything further on that anyone no okay we're going to move on to the second opportunity for public commentary this is the second of two opportunities again please limit your comments to 3 minutes if you wish to speak raise your hand or use the raise your hand feature in Zoom this is on any Topic at all so I'm going to look first to the room seeing none does anyone in our Zoom audience wish to address address the board is there somebody yes Miss Andrews please hi can you hear me yes yes okay hi thanks Nancy Andrews uh president of the Warren Township Education Association I just wanted to say on behalf of the WTA extend my warmest congratulations to Mrs Dalton's appointment to the board your dedication and experience will undoubtedly bring valuable insight and Leadership to our district and I look forward to collaborating with you to advance the goals of our district and support the members that we all represent so I wish you all the new success in this role thank you very much thank you Miss Andrews do anyone else wish to address the board last chance see none do I have a motion to close second public commentary motion to close all in favor I opposed estain the second public commentary is now closed we will be moving into executive session Ms Keller whereas the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 permits the Board of Education to meet in Clos session to discuss certain matters now therefore be it resolved the Board of Education urance to close session to discuss specific perspective or current employees unless all who could be adversely affected request an open session and a matter involving the purchase lease or acquisition of real property with public funds action will not be taken upon return to public session the length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 30 minutes and be a further resolve the minutes of this quot session be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists do I have a second second all in favor I I abstain opposed the board is in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e thank you it's the same one it just GRE one it's motion to return to public session motion to return all in favor I opposed abstain the board is now in session and motion to close second I all in favor opposed abstain the meeting has ended thank you