##VIDEO ID:RBoMxB639LM## please rise for the plag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay we have present we have a presentation we do we have a presentation you know what um can we um can everybody stand for a second please um I'd like to have a moment of silence we had a devastating loss this week for poor luchiana um an amazing student at heri can uh we please just bow our heads and take a moment um and and think about the mjeri family thank you okay Dr Dr Nathan yeah very good we to talk quick discussion about our learning walks Dr Nathan off to you good evening I I have the pleasure of sharing a district practice that we regularly engage in uh called learning walks and essentially as you can see uh on this slide our learning walks are um the purpose is for our administrative team to be able to engage in conversation centered around the instruction happening in our classrooms um it's also a way for us to calibrate we're using the Danielson evaluation tool um and that's new for us this school year um so being able to go on those walks talk through the domains within the Danielson um evaluation tool and really be present in our classrooms is the goal of these learning walks um so just kind of a quick rundown of what it looks like or feels like to be in a learning walk um essentially uh we have attendees across the district so every administrator participates um each administrator is at least going to attend two as well as they're going to host one um so we use a chart similar to this in the site that kind of helps us stay organized um and each administrator then looks at the dates for which schools are hosting and signs up by placing an X in that spot so we know who's coming that day um the ultimately we talk through the process of what a learning walk is um so here you can see some directions essentially we pick a problem of practice or a problem of success um and we're then able to talk through um essentially what does that look and sound like in a classroom from the students perspective from the teachers perspective if those things are happening um afterwards uh we break into small groups usually about anywhere between two to four um administrators we walk through the hallways we visit classrooms um we're able to uh really engage and ask students some questions ask teachers questions um and we come back together and we talk about what we got to see um and then as a district we look across all of our learning walks for things like patterns um wonderings and then areas for um continuous focus and refinement we're a learning organization so we get to see lots of things to celebrate and we always want to be setting our goals and setting our targets for the next areas that we can focus on professionally um and continue to develop um within the site we have lots of resources so again learning those Danielson um domains the components um our power components within the Danielson tool so we have our framework we have an observer guide um and we're able to have conversations around what we're seeing and hearing um within those learning walks and then our other area of focus which is part of our professional development plan for the entire district for every staff member um is the small moves big impact and these are tried and true instructional practices we just know where your attention goes is what grows so we know these are important moves um so things like circulating and collecting data um conferring questioning and feedback and then small group instruction um and the use of stations those are are important key components um and this is a progression that just shows because we're all um we all have strengths and we all have areas where we continue to set goals and grow um so that's true for our students that's true for our staff that's true for our administrative team um so this is an example of a progression to show well what would it look like if we were mastering these things and where are we now on this progression so that we can continue to move together over the years so that's it in a nutshell just wanted to share we recently were visited by the county uh we had our education specialist and our County Superintendent attend a learning walk with us um they had nothing but uh praise for the classrooms that we were able to visit and see and the teaching and learning that was happening so uh these are just great ways for us to continue to keep that dialogue centered on instruction thank you thanks Dr Nathan thank you Dr Nathan um school and Community not little business old business I'll ask our student representative Cali do you have a report for us okay so on Friday December 6th RC had their successful headquarters inspection we met Dr hibs Mr dilio Mr Anderson and I met with the high school superintendent cabinet and discussed service learning for grade levels in the high school just the overall High School climate discussions about what is and what isn't working in classrooms Mr dellio we are leadership podcast episodes are available on WTV Productions and the township web page and they showcase student leadership and opportunities and then Washington Township Food Services launched their Smoothie Bar in the core for Tuesdays through Fridays mornings launched in November Cal I want to give a first off great job uh I give a shout out to RC uh colonel lcan um is it Sergeant Hood yes Sergeant Hood did an amazing job two events that had just happened so we just had the inspection which was just a truly remarkable thing to experience to see just how many kids are are truly enjoying and taking advantage of our ROTC program and in addition um I had the opportunity last week last week or the week before to go to the dining out right um it was an amazing experience we've never never seen it um you know essentially um it is a a huge camaraderie um morale just dinner where all of our students are you know Cal how would you explain we're making purposeful mistakes right to get sent to the Grog yes okay um you take like 10 seconds 20 seconds 30 seconds talk about it sure so dining out is a military tradition it's a lot of Customs a lot of rules um we do it every November it's it's a lot of fun it seems it's a lot of rules but the rules are fun rules and then you get sent to the Grog it's kind of hard to explain without witnessing it um but we do things like we'll flip our name tags upside down on purpose or something like that or switch name tags with a friend to get sent to the gro on purpose so so it was an amazing experience so great job thanks very cool okay any old business from the board yeah real quick oh sorry um yeah at last meeting um I got some clarification on um teacher in charge uh that uh those positions were eliminated and um when I when the principal is out the new position of um Dena students is the one then that takes over for the teacher in charge that was before so then they're the they're the one that's there in place of the principal here's my question when a principal is out for a week or 10 days or two weeks you don't have have the Dina student in that particular building every day so I'm just wondering what's the what's the procedure in that situation that's a that's a that's a great question I'll be happy to go offline we didn't have any opportunity to talk about that and I can I can form a response to the board thank you of course is that it okay real quick um just wanted to clarify something my name was kind of bounced around and I was wasn't here at the meeting um just want to clarify when it came to the the insurance broker and the voting um I think Connie wanted my opinion and my name came up on the podium um I voted based on the bid being the best and saving the district money that's really a no-brainer I was unaware of any type of scoring sheets um or any kind of attorney um opinion letter I was unaware of that wasn't told about so just wanted you know the public to know um since I was my name was brought up and what I knew so that that's what I knew so any other old business I I have something so um the last meeting we talked about having at the reorg meeting ethics training I just wanted to confirm are we definitely I think are are you going to do ethics training that's confirmed um I don't know if the board agrees but I just want to pose this that maybe this would be a good time for us to since it'll be the swearing in of the board of the new board that everyone would be aware it's typically a very short meeting right we reorg they're sworn in and then everyone leaves so instead if we can actually make it a board meeting so we can take advantage not for agenda items or anything like that but strictly our business um talking about like budget timelines date for meetings I know Pat's brought forward the um New Jersey school board's planning calendar several times so if we can kind of bring that up then and have it a broad discussion about board goals um today it came up Hib training those things that when we swear in the new board members that we can kind of really get off on a good start where everyone has that training or at least a majority of it at the first meeting instead of waiting subsequent meetings and then if people don't know about hibs you're voting on it so I just wanted to throw it out there that maybe we can have a real like meeting as as the new board so I don't know how you guys feel about it but we can really take advantage of us all being together and do some planning and solidify dates for Budget which will be coming up like in the you know in February we start talking about dates so do you guys feel that that would be appropriate at the reward to have like a full meeting to plan I don't have a problem with it yeah I think it's a great idea okay so then maybe I don't know if you mind Lori sending out to the members that are being sorn in to be prepared to stay and then maybe we can all start talking about board goals we can come with a few ideas we're not going to solidify it at that meeting but at least we start to kind of have like a really good robust conversation and get off on the right foot yeah I think that's a good idea but I think um all as well as the new people and the people that are here um there'll be somebody that's going to be voted in as president and I guess that person could take the lead on that if everybody know knows ahead of time your thoughts what you follow me no so I'm not talking about anything having to do with like who's being like president or I'm not saying I'm not I'm saying that there would be somebody sworn in as president well we're going we're going to notify the the two new board members yeah right so what I'm saying is your thoughts are well taken that everybody should be thinking about that because we don't know who's going to be the president yet that person then might want to take what you're saying and put it and implement it it's yeah no I I sorry if I misspoke I'm just talking about having a broad discussion like as a board so we can be prepared in January at that meeting to start brainstorming some ideas get our calendars together make sure that we could plan as a board instead of and and the last minute trying to get dates and then everyone scrambling it's really just a general discussion whoever is president vice president doesn't really make a difference in terms of us having a discussion it's really a brainstorming discussion that's what I wanted to see if Lori and everyone was in agreement of letting the new board members being sworn in to be prepared to stay instead of swearing in and leaving a lot of times that's what's expected right we reor we swear in and then everyone leaves I would never want to have someone think that it was going to be a short meeting and then we're asking them to stay an hour or two hours that's not what we would typically do so I'm just trying to like get off on the right foot in 2025 as a board member to say we're all here why don't we start that conversation early all right well if there's no problem then we'll we'll count on it anything any other have we been here since um the drama put on Harry Potter yes I were we we talked about amazing it was either way it was just amazing if was Mr Stefan and Mr cigano and I don't know everyone's name the choreographer the music the coral it was absolutely unbelievable so kudos to them um and Shrek is a musical in the spring so coming out for that yeah and I think we should also Shout Out Mr Scardino sitting right there who made Miracle on 34th Street come alive right um amazing great job if you uh if you didn't have the opportunity to see either they were they were both amazing performances um you know and if you saw raise your hand if you saw Harry Potter anybody all right so you had two uh two of the leads were were freshmen right and were they both from Ridge yes yeah so so much to be proud of across all of our schools but Harry Potter was truly amazing you know magic effects and and all that went into that and all the planning uh if you've never read the cursed child it's it's it's an amazing you know story about um the children of Harry Potter and the Weasley and the mouth boys so um I think I'd be remiss to not mention then Bunker Hill did oink yeah right which looked awesome online and then I don't know what Orchard Valley did I missed that one um but anyway yeah super cool to see the middle school students like they're very talented group so um shout out for sure anyone else okay all right I have a motion to open to the public on agenda items only so moved second it all in favor I they opposed just a reminder try and keep uh your comments to to the five minutes uh Mike Maro good evening Dr Hibbs members of the board thank you for your time after 18 years of teaching this is my first time ever speaking at a board meeting so uh first time for everything uh because normally I have faith in most things working out in the end uh everyone within our district and our community despite certain fundamental differences agreeing on doing what is best for our students uh but today I have the unfortunate need to speak on something pretty egregious that goes against that deserves to be corrected I'm here excuse me I'm here to speak up specifically for Bunker Hill Middle School and our special education staff Bunker Hill is a place I've been proud to call my home for the past 11 years I've grown exponentially both as an educator and as a person by working there because I get to work with the most talented and selfless staff members in this District I've also had the absolute privilege to not just teach gened art but to also work closely with multiple sections of our MD and autism programs I watched these programs grow for years into what they are today thanks to our specialed teachers I've seen students in these programs make significant strides in their progress both in the classroom and with their social interactions with their peers and our staff so much so that by their eighth grade year some of them are even cycling out for classes more than they're staying in the actual MD or ASD classrooms I also know that our special needs population is diverse and absolutely a case-by casee basis I know there are also students who have more severe disabilities and may not possess certain motor skills or capabilities to work as IND dependently as these aforementioned examples so you'd probably think how could they survive let alone thrive in a class like an exploratory arts class like art or tech ed or music or fiz Ed but they do every single kid every single day and this is not me patting myself on the back these kids thrive in our gen Ed classes and our exploratory arts classes because of the versatility flexibility and unconditional love care and Round the Clock support given to them on a literal daily basis by our power professional staff classes like mine in an art studio or a class like technology in a wood shop surrounded by power tools or in an open space like a gymnasium those classes don't work let alone succeed at the level that they do especially daily unless you have a lights out teaching and power professional staff working diligently alongside these students giving them the same experiences and enrichment that our gen Ed population deserves I'm proud of our special education staff of Bunker Hill without you my class with your kids does not succeed my job is teaching content obviously modifying it when necessary so every student in our programs can create meaningful artwork but I like to think of myself as just the person throwing up the ball for an alleyoop while our Paris and our special ed teachers do the slam dunk portion of that they do it day in and day out again I actually see what goes into the day-to-day with these programs so I couldn't be more grateful for the special Edge staff we are so lucky to have at Bunker Hill there have been some negative comments about this very program and the staff who make it unfortunately you were all here at the last board meeting there's also the ugly side of social media which unfortunately will always exist I wouldn't use the term unfair to describe these people's sentiments because that word sometimes hints that there might might be a shred of Truth in what was said I'll go ahead and say these comments about our special education staff at Bunker Hill is outright untrue never in all my years at Bunker Hill working so closely with our special needs classes have I ever witnessed a teacher Aid substitute anyone acting incompetent or negligent with our most sensitive population of students in the building let alone to a point where a child was unsafe or In Harm's Way of any kind I work closer with rmd and ASD groups than any other group of students in Bunker Hill and we interact with each other constantly if I were to ever witness a staff member being negligent or lacad isical with a specialed student as a gened teacher I would be the first one to call that behavior out so what our other exploratory arts and fizzed teachers our jobs become immensely more difficult and dangerous if Behavior like that is allowed or enabled we would be the first to speak up against it and I can reassure you we don't have to because it does not exist again I am unbelievably proud of our special education programs at Bunker Hill and the massive strides we have made as a group of special ed staff gen Ed staff AIDS supervisors administrators and everyone else in between who has helped these programs grow into the rich and fulfilling places that they truly are that is the truth and I'm here to reassure all of you that the completely f fabricated remarks made to you at the last meeting and over social media is quite literally the opposite of what we have a staff have witnessed and are willing to stake our careers and reputations on thank you col mcnight hi everyone um I'm Kye mcnight and I'm a learning disabilities consultant on the child study team at Bunker Hill I have overseen our autism program at Bunker Hill as the case manager since it's first year there in 2018 so in this role I work really closely with our teachers our support staff and behavioral staff and our specialized programs as I have for the past seven years throughout this time I've seen many students of iring ability levels participa in educational and functional programming what has remained constant is a level of care concern support and skill of our staff working with students with moderate and profound disabilities every day I'm proud of the team of professionals that I have the privilege of working with within our programs although most often we speak about what an honor and privilege it is to work with the population of students that we do it's important from time to time to also highlight the exceptional individuals that make it possible for our students to learn and to grow every day although these staff members are highly trained and highly qualified to support this demographic of students there are some aspects of these jobs that you simply cannot train I'm constantly in awe of the extreme level of genuine care and warmth our teachers our assistants and our clinical associates so our students in these roles we're trained in what we call rational Detachment this is important because we have to respond to crisis situations I but I don't know a single staff member that I work with that does not go home in the evenings and think about their students it's an honor to work with such passionate and skill staff and I could not be more proud of our staff our students and the families that we serve at Bunker Hill thank you Mary Grace peski good evening Dr hibs um Ford of Education my name is Mary Grace paresi I'm a seventh grade ELA teacher at Bunker Hill and I'm also a parent of a seventh grade my daughter uh is in the MD program I'm here tonight because I would like to share with you with our family's positive experience with the MD program at Bunker Hill Hannah our daughter loves going to school at Bunker Hill being a Bulldog is a source of Pride for her and she cannot get to school fast enough each day she loves school so much that she was actually disappointed that school was closed for Thanksgiving and was not able to spend the holiday with her teachers her support staff and her friends being a teacher in the building I am so lucky to witness firsthand why she is so enthusiastic about school her teachers Mrs um Mrs hom alash and Miss moli along with our fabulous support staff have created a beautiful Community where each child is valued and loved she has friends engages in meaningful learning and has grown so much both intellectually and socially thanks to the hard work and meticulous planning of the teachers she is engaged outside of the classroom through CBI trips giving her authentic real world experiences where she can practice her social and academic skills she has the opportunity to interact with her regular education peers during team up activities such as the Thanksgiving feast I couldn't ask for a better placement for my daughter because of the inclusive environment Hannah is also able to actively participate in many of the extracurricular activities and after school programs offered at Bunker Hill alongside her regular education peers her teachers worked with us to find activities that were a good fit for her and were honest with us when some of them were not their truthful input allowed us to make informed decisions about Hannah's participation that met her needs while creating a positive experience for the other students due to the open communication and responsiveness of the teacher and sta teachers and staff Hannah is meeting success currently she's an enthusiastic member of the dance team and is looking forward to next week's holiday on the hill we have been so fortunate with the special ed Department from the beginning of Hannah School career at Grand loock Terrace um Elementary School at TJ and now Middle School at Bunker Hill I swear I wasn't going to cry I always share at Hannah's annual IP meeting the most terrifying day of my life was when we brought her home from the hospital as a newborn in my arms I held a beautiful baby who had Down syndrome and heart a heart condition and I was so scared and unsure about what life would be like for her standing here in front of you this evening I not wish I knew what I know now that all of these beautiful people these teachers these assistants were going to make the best possible life for my daughter not only did they take care of her they take care of us as a family too if I knew what I know now I wouldn't have wasted a second worrying about her future I want her teachers and assistants to know how unbelievably amazing each and every one of you are that you matter and that you make me want to be a better person just by knowing you thank you so much for giving up so much of yourselves to my child oops this my last page so she can Thrive and Foster her love of school and education thank [Applause] you Mike Deo Washington Township hi I'm Mike dilio parent um tonight I plan to speak as an invested parent specifically today I'd like to share my opinions about the wonderful educational professionals and the specialized programs that my youngest daughter is privileged to attend tonight she's singing for the first time at the rbac but I'm here because tonight advocating for her programs are equally important I feel in recent months the vibrancy of our specialized programs has come under some scrutiny and that is unfortunate because in those programs are true honest kind professional individuals who have spent their life's work to make a difference seven years ago Lieutenant General Jay Silvia who was then the superintendent of the US Air Force Academy delivered a speech about the consistency of fostering better ideas so instead of using my time as a dad at the podium to offer criticism I honestly do believe I have a better idea it's just to say thank you thank you for the teachers and the assistants that I've worked with my child from a toddler till now whether you were at grenlock TJ or Bunker Hill as a teacher or assistant it's plain to see that your job is harder than most and you have a myriad of educational needs in your classroom some academic some behavioral some developmental yet you do it with Grace there are rough days when children need behavioral support yet you put yourselves In Harm's Way all the time to support a child going through a setting event let's celebrate the exploratory teachers who are not special education teachers by trade or by degree but gladly take the time to learn the students and provide them with essential life skills thanks for teaching my daughter how to love music among other lessons thanks for teaching my child the magic of pottery how to assemble a birdhouse how to shop how to bake I think a much better idea is to Lodge you for devoting your professional life to caring and advocating for every single child and trusted in your care when they can't advocate for themselves or do the daily life functions themselves thank you for seeking opportunities to make sure each child shines you are rare and amazing people who recognize that a life of purpose is rooted in the service of others you could all do several different things to earn a living but you decided your life would be to bring the love of learning care and friendship to others something that's also a much better idea is to celebrate all the opportuni the children and the specialized classrooms have to interact with peers in the General Ed setting the teachers create opportunities for all children to generally interact with others my daughter sings in the chorus as she is able she participates in the dance team as as she is able and met new friends at the all-inclusive Better Together Club another much better idea is to thank the clinical associates the rbts the bcbas and the schools ironically people who mostly aren't in the arena sometimes like to negatively pontificate about the work of Brett novian Associates I will tell you with every fiber of my being that without the novian associates supporting the staff at the various schools we cannot support some of our most complicated and our most fragile children so instead of boning what we spend which is actually small in compar comparison to the services they provide let's say thank you for caring for our district children thank you for your guidance thank you for your teaching thank you for being the first Into The Fray thank you for saving the district millions of dollars by allowing us to keep as many of of our neurod Divergent students in classrooms in their Hometown and supporting our abilities to provide an inclusive atmosphere thank you for being part of the team a much better idea is important to bring to the podium at times better ideas come from celebrating the work of professionals with a with a simple thank you better ideas come from spending board meetings celebrating students and teachers better ideas come from trusting the highly qualified assistance teachers and AD administrators that the board is hired by observing the profound and loving work that the teachers do a much better idea is to trust and value that the educators are doing their jobs and holding each other accountable when needed great ideas come from that mindset great ideas come from lifting each other up and not tearing each other down so I choose to participate in fostering a much better idea of appreciation discourse collaboration trust and thoughtfulness with my child's teachers assistance and case managers a much better ideas to recognize that feeling appreciated and supported in an incredibly difficult profession is all that anyone asks thank you got you Angela Tusa good evening um in light of everything that's been said tonight um and as a specialized assistant myself who worked in an ASD classroom I am so proud so proud of every one of our assistants and all that you do for our amazing students these people always put their students first and they are their voices we're so lucky and so fortunate to have them and I'm lucky to have all of you and they come back every day some days are harder than most but they come back the next day and every day is a new day with these kids they're hard nobody's saying they're easy but these ladies and gentlemen do an amazing job with them they care about them they love them I know you guys already know that and I can't say it any better than than what they've said so you know I just want to say that we are very fortunate to have them um and I'm fortunate to call you my friends um in light of that I do have an agenda item so I'm I noticed that on the agenda you are hiring assistants thankfully um I saw that there are two on there tonight and I'm really happy to see that um however I need to ask um as part of our contract and um the collective bargaining agreement in article 7 we we have an agreement that says you have to offer people who are rift positions so I want to know if the people who were Rift were being offered those positions first um in light of that so that's kind of my question um I don't know if that's something you can answer tonight or if that's something you can answer at a different time but okay Mr lucarini yeah I just heard Angela mention that she does have an agenda item and this isn't mentioned as a slight on the uh BN Bunker Hill people cuz my uh daughter actually texted me tonight and said well I hope you saying nice things about Bunker Hill because on Thanksgiving aah said it is what she was thankful for so not a knock on the school but uh it's not an agenda item so in the future Ralph and Dr Hibbs and maybe the entire board should hear this can we cut this nonsense about the agenda item only and just give two five minute periods to the public all right because what happens Ralph is when you make up special rules for special people like you did in the past where you extended the time people start thinking it's a fix and that it's too political and we can't have that in a school system that uh doesn't have the Trust of the public at this point over the last 6 seven years regardless of all the good things that are going on in the classroom and that's a fact so uh I'm not talking about that I do want to mention one thing Dr dilio or Mr dtill uh my comments about denovi and Associates stand I'm not saying they don't do anything in the classroom but uh we could my comment was we could train our own people to do the same thing and that's what I said and I stand by that and the reason why we don't is because we save millions of dollars by not paying them uh you know having our own people and paying them um benefits and so on and so forth all right but since we're not talking about agenda items specifically my main point for coming up here is and as a segue to my next uh session 5 minutes is um I've come up here a number of times and talked about the rankings of the Washington Township school system as a whole uh not individual middle schools but as a as a whole the rankings uh that have us in the bottom third of the state of New Jersey and based on our demographics and per capita income we should not be in the bottom third okay okay now that's not a knock on the teachers but it's certainly not a knock on an Administration that has just come here in the last year or so all right and I think before we can have a conversation which this country needs this country needs a conversation at the highest levels which I don't think is going to happen based on who I'm seeing being uh recommended for the cabinet under Trump but we need that at the highest level and we need it all the way down to the board of education and this board of education more than any is uh like the poster child for that need of a conversation all right and I don't see us having that conversation Dr hibs if we're not going to come to the realization that we are at the bottom third now when I heard that originally and was sent this information from I think it was world news and Report or whatever it's called us world news report I I I was a little suspect but then couple of my friends who were into this sort of thing sent me other rankings of other you know uh I guess reputable organizations or whatever and we were in the bottom third sometimes even lower than number 355 so we have a problem right now you know without even blaming anyone because sometimes you have to look at how did it happen right but before you even go there you have to admit that that's where we are right if I have a losing record if I play you know uh the Tri County League or whatever it is and we finish three and 23 every year all right we have a losing record we have to recognize that then we have to have a conversation of what we need need to do to turn it around all right and I don't see that conversation you know occurring I don't see it in the in the near future based on the demeanor of this board of education and some of the things that are said and some and quite honest with you the uh you know support of the Union from an academic standpoint and recognizing that we have a problem all right it's like before you can go with any kind of future plans you have to admit that's where we are and that will lead to the second part of my uh statements when I get the five five minutes thank you have a motion to close to the public agenda items so move second all in favor post okay committee discussion we this is a new format for us we had committee meetings separately but yeah I just want to say to the all the staff and H from Bunker Hill that are here thank you for all the work that you do it's much appreciated yeah good yeah and ditto um I think we all want to feel valued and I think that the work that you do every day sometimes can't even be measured um so thank you so much for all that you do and all of our staff because what you do makes a difference in the lives of kids and will last forever in their memories and that's what they'll remember and Mike I I actually uh I I think that you you put it as lights out right I'm gonna I'm going to steal that from you lights out bunker man that was awesome so good stuff okay as I was mentioning the format we had where committee meetings and then we would come and vote on those committee meetings we've opened that up to the public now and uh we're going to have discussions on all of our uh committees Dr hibs will you yeah give one yep for sure lost all my stuff okay um okay so this is this is brand new so we are this is a brand new format so we're navigating This Together uh so I think we we can't talk about anything in session that would be you know something that would tie to Personnel so that would all happen in executive so you guys won't see that those discussions and nor can you but for HR which is where we're going to start uh Sean I think you had two items you wanted to really kind of share with the board the updated updated job description and then uh the college fair correct sir yes so there's a an updated job description that appears on the agenda for tonight it is the secondary level School library media specialist position um it was definitely in need of an update last time this job description was updated was 1984 um the uh position right now is overseeing the three middle schools and the high school um the job description you know we fielded input from um curriculum supervisors assistant superintendent for cni and staff um to to make it relevant to 2024 um the other item was we held a college job fair um last week here um in the boardroom um we started the college job fair approach um last year we ran one in the fall and spring um this was our fall College job prayer where we reached out to um a lot of colleges in the tri-state area for um welcoming soon to be college graduates to come on through um and offer them the opportunity for first round interviews um kind of giving them the uh chance to kind of bypass that that standard application process but um allow them to gain some experience allow us to um do some recruitment um the fall is typically our smaller of the two job fairs spring we see a larger turnout just because there's more college graduates at that time of year um so we had about 15 first round interviews we conducted there were supervisor and administrators here um who led those interviews um we brought in folks from ESS to also promote um substitute opportunities both you know daily and longterm to the college students who were here and we had some of them sign up for ESS and and uh we look forward to getting them started um subbing in our schools again that's a great experience for them as they enter the profession um we also have a partnership with Rowan where um there was a handful of pre3 students who weren't able to be here for the job for that day but Christina Cox went out to the the Rowan campus and conducted some interviews as well that's it question U I know we we've had a history uh in the past year or two where we were not able to fill positions certain certain areas and uh we had to actually hire people that retired and came back at H hours what kind of proactive kinds of things are we doing this year for those types of situations um to try to make sure that we don't continue to run into this situation yeah so that there's always going to be tough to fill positions with unique certification requirements you as you're referring to Connie um a lot of it you know what we've seen is making those forging those relationships with the colleges and directly contacting them when we have you know a certain certification that we're looking to find somebody for um this past job fair we were fortunate to have some people with um secondary level science uh certifications that were're able to come through and interview and um those are candidates that we'll keep in touch with I I have a question um so I just wanted to follow up I guess probably in January it would be a better question to be answered but I brought it up the last committee when we had a real like a committee meeting of just us but I talked about um Market data and salaries to kind of see you know sometimes comments are made whether we're underpaying overpaying and I'm going to make a general statement to make sure that I don't go anywhere with any specific position but I just wanted to say if we could get an update maybe um Dr Hibbs in the first quarter preferably January February of that like Market data of what we're Gathering and then lumped into that um I think I mentioned this last meeting uh pay equity in terms of our assistance and kind of what that cost would be as we enter a budget season so this is like encroaching upon HR and business but maybe we can start to talk about what that number would look like um so if we can maybe have an update maybe sometime in January February I don't know if that's feasible but I think that we have to look at the market to see what areas and where we are and how we stack up and then what the numbers would be for pay Equity why don't we connect and make sure that we're doing exactly what you want so maybe a three-way conversation to talk about that awesome Yep good question Sean do we have exit conferences for people who are leaving the district we do all um folks who are retiring from the district are off that opportunity or if they're leaving for another school district or um weit them think we do it for res ations just a standard form for retirement is there any way that we can do res that would be something that would be probably uh advantageous so why people are resigning yeah we can we can offer right I mean it's an offer for sure uh okay um sorry uh next up will be business and Janine yep okay um so the the first item and again just because this is a new um format for us normally what we do in committees is just I try to make a list of action items that are coming up or discussions that we need to engage in so I tried to do that and we kind of mapped that out um for the board so the first um item is discussion of professionals so we haven't had this discussion as a board and executive yet that we'll do that later tonight but one of our policies um what we do is when we do um rfps for professionals we rotate every three and at least tried RFP every 3 years um we changed our policy a little bit recently to discuss it um in the fall namely in November which didn't happen this past month as we didn't have committee meetings so what I do is present this the current cycle so who has been RFP who's coming up up on the three years and then that gives the board a chance to weigh in if yes we should stick to the schedule or let's throw this one in for one reason or another so that is coming in executive and then as we um discuss more what we did last year is shared with the public what our schedule was going to be for this year and why so that that'll be coming um I also just wanted to give a couple of updates on the budget specifically the budget calendar so um normally again um through the committee we work on the budget calendar together and um not doing and share it with the full board and then update it as things as things progress and as the state releases the budget calendar so I have a copy that I can share with everybody and again I put on the dates where we absolutely need to do certain things at meetings and the first couple of items is what we're doing internally so back in November we opened up uh our financial software tracks all the details of the budget so all of our budget managers in the district prepare um their needs and we do Staffing analysis and all that most of that is due on December 15th so we'll be looking um harder at our overall figures um obviously some of the projections at this point we go based on what we know and then find out more accurate information later so we can keep tweaking that um it usually in and again the the official state budget calendar isn't out but we map it out on what it usually is the end of February we usually get um our state aid numbers and I can talk about um what we've he I'm going to talk about what we've been hearing about that um we also discuss and I kind of have that highlighted in yellow for right now um we also discuss additional meetings that we want to add um between like the January and marchapril area so you know to Carol's point that um she brought up for reorg we always have the list of regular um meetings and work sessions kind of roughed out for you guys to discuss so we can also um discuss the the budget calendar and additional meetings that we want to have so I I have that place marked on here um in the past the budget is normally due to the county office on March 20th so um our March 18th work session would normally be the presentation and Adoption of the tenative budget which if you remember from last year we have to submitted a tenative budget to the county office so they can review it and and um provide feedback the budget gets submitted on the 20th um 25th would be our regular session um around the area of April 18th the county office has to approve our budget and that's usually the timeline for them to be finished April 23rd would be our work session so we would be able to provide more um updates at that time and then April 30th would be our regular session and public hearing on the budget which is the final adoption of the budget so we would talk at that time if there were any changes between the tenative budget hearing and then the adoption so I do have a draft of that I I can circulate so you guys can look at it and then again as we get more into it and I I'll tweak it at if anything changes with the state budget calendar which I don't think will happen this year um and then you know just a couple other points on you know what we're working on um as far as capital projects you know we've had conversations about how we haven't been able to deposit money in capital reserve and we we sometimes end up cutting capital projects out of our budget however we do have um projects that we applied for grant funding for our Rod grants we did get um we have the ability to get 40% of some of those projects paid for so that is something that's going to be a part of the budget discussion is trying to to get that local share budgeted um as far as state aid we haven't heard a whole lot but we are being told um by m multiple sources at this point in time that we can expect flat funding at best um but it could be a decrease for everybody so we um have to work on projections for both scenarios we have a meeting coming up with uh our County Office midyear budget reviews so we're going to discuss different things with them um tax levy obviously tax levy is capped at a 2% increase for our budget and our tax levy that's under $2 million which isn't a whole lot when you have increases you know everywhere else in the budget and no um new revenue streams we haven't heard yet there there are some adjustments like for healthc care increases NFR enrollment increases we haven't heard if there's going to be any new uh bills like there were last year allowing us to recoup Aid if we lose it or increase the tax levy so you know obviously I'll update you on that um and I think that's it for right now we're working on our Revenue projections we did have um in two areas tuition and extraordinary Aid we came in lower than what was projected so we'll definitely have to um adjust those as we move into um the new budget and that's why it's really important to when you budget the budget conservatively because had we have budgeted more there then we would had a shortfall and we had a shortfall thinking that we budgeted close anyway Connie is Rand just want to make two comments I want to go back to the rfps just for the for the public to understand as well uh you correct me if I if my facts are wrong uh we have a policy that says we have a rotation every 3 years however it's important to know that the um professionals are on a year-by-year basis so um I can yeah okay yeah I I can just um add a little bit more to that so Professional Services you um it's good practice to do an RFP because you know each time you're getting um you know competition you're promoting competition um but you can renew them you can only renew for one year if you don't do an RFP process you do have to have an internal way to um price shop so you want to make sure that um you're paying comparable prices so if we decide you know we did an RFP last year for this professional we're just going to renew them this year cuz you know we're happy with their services whatever the case may be we do gather data from the county that's shared um from other Bas so you can kind of look at what you're paying and we document that internally um so again the the RFP every three years that's a good standard practice because you you know you keep promoting the competition um but that's why it's also acceptable to renew or obviously change up the schedule so if if you know three professionals are at threeyear Mark you can wait or you can add other ones that may have been sooner than that so that's what we discuss and then would come back and let everybody know uh also uh I think at the last meeting um I was asking the question about having a a monthly update on the status of our budget um I don't know how much you can do or not do but you know there's all these kinds of things out in the Facebook and social media about you know kinds of problems we're going to run into at the end of the year and I just wonder if we can have an ongoing every every budget meeting that we have and it's going to be at the board meeting that there is some type of an update as to the status of our budget the health of our budget is that is that something that can be done I don't know maybe the other board members don't want that I don't know what are the other how the other people feel but I'd like to have more more information on a on a regular basis I don't know how everybody else feels so I think we're certainly happy to to put forth information I think that you have to be mindful that if we have we all have a whole lot of jobs right and we seem to be getting more by the day um if that's that's what you want us doing then just know that that's going to that that that take takes away from other things that we do not saying we shouldn't provide information but every meeting I I don't know is doable my my question I I'm not aware that we've ever done that doesn't mean we don't do it but I guess I just want to understand is that Cadence typical of a board to have an update monthly I don't know Ari would you know that like I'm saying is that a typical Cadence because I don't know that to be true like every month we have an update of the budget I wouldn't say that's typical amongst boards I'm not you know maybe more specificity as to what you're looking for would help answer that question though I just I I I all I know is my own experience last year it wasn't until March that I as a board member that I found out we were in such trouble so what what I'm trying to say I don't know you know I don't want to give you more work to do but I want to as a board member have more of an idea about where we are in in in the state of our budget and what's going to be happening in the spring I mean we we're hiring people we're creating positions we're doing all these kinds of things and uh there there should be some way to see how we're doing what the breakage is uh are we going over it um I just I just don't want it to become the March and I find we're 9 million and a whole okay so all I'm saying is I would like to have as much information on a regular basis to help me understand where we where we're going and what we're going to have to do in the spring unless some of the kinds of things that I'm reading just isn't accurate I don't know what I don't know what you're reading we don't post to social media me I think there's two two pieces to it right one is how are we doing against the current budget and you can get that by reading the secretary and treasures report that comes out every month that we totally vote on um you know and I think Genie and I ask you questions a lot of times like hey this one shows we're under what's you know projected and this one's above and we could go over that if there was significant deviations and I think you do bring that up and there's significant deviations that's how we're doing against this year's budget then I I think you've got the problem of next year's budget which is the whole crystal ball right of trying to figure out where we're going to end up there's a lot of unknowns um some of them we can project because we as you said we know what the tax Lev is going to be we can estimate what salary increases might be we could estimate uh inflation right assume inflation is 3% you got $171 million budget you're going to have 3% of $171 million as additional cost and uh you know health benefits have gone up can project some of that out but a lot of it's I think it's like it's kind of like it's guess work and I do think you know Eric and uh Dr hibs and the staff of his administration been making efforts to show hey I'm adding this position but we also are saving here and here's your net you know and I think you kind of been showing like some of the savings you're trying to project for this year next year by some of the restructuring that you're doing so I'm not sure what else we can do I mean maybe we could talk a little bit more about some of the projected shortfalls based on some of the estimations but and earlier that's and that's what we've been trying to do through this whole the committee and the task force and things like that yeah so I guess um what what I would add is that I think for years since S2 started us along with many other districts were in the same spot have been talking about the fiscal cliff we've been talking about cutting anything excess we that we have we've been we talked about cutting vacant positions we've talked about health benefits going from one year you have a 0% and then your experience um gets a little shaky and it's 15% and how do you deal deal with that so I think we've been talking for years about getting to the point where we are now and that was the last year of S2 too um it's it's very hard while we can talk about things that I talked about I absolutely intend every meeting to give updates there's an update on the budget calendar um maybe we when we get information on insurance things that we're struggling with like you know we're being told electricity could go up 25% those types of things but to to to come up with a final number of when we're in a whole and that number is used over and over again you don't have that number until February so again we we have had Revenue shortfalls I just mentioned we are going to have less Surplus I've mentioned that in many um budget meetings because again the more you cut out anything extra the less you're going to have left at the end so absolutely we can talk about those amounts those struggles and how we're doing it but to but you're probably not going to know the overall number until later in the budget process but before March and and and if there's like if you're saying something on social media and you have a question I would absolutely send that to us if you if you're hearing something or you think there would be something helpful for me to share you know sometimes there are questions out there that that I'm not even aware of I would absolutely include it in the update yeah so I would Dr jump in real quick reference hiring break and I think um Scott touched on this a little bit I think Scott touched on that aspect a little bit as well um that that's a standard practice for us in terms of giving the board that information when we are looking to hire um you we we've done that through committee meetings in the past we've talked about it in confidential memos and executive sessions and with committee meetings now being taken off taken out of of the equation um I think the the amount of information is even increased that we've given the board and giving them the opportunity to preview and and have good conversation about it's the importance of asking those questions in advance um and we can gladly get that information but I think um that's something that that we're constantly providing the board are you saying that you use the breakage in HR in terms of when you're hiring the amount of money that you may be given your you're breakages involved with that when when possible yes and and in those situations that information Shar with you right yeah I I know uh Janine when I first came on board we had some conversations about breakage and at the time you had indicated that breakage we use to run our budget like in other words what I'm saying is if you have certain amount of breakage and somebody leaves and somebody's coming in and you could actually give them more money because of the breakage but I but maybe it's changed I I are we using breakage to run our budget like you told me two years ago bu we budget for it so like knowing knowing that we're going to have breakage every year we consider that within the budget right but do you use breakage to run the budget I don't know I'm not really sure what you mean what I'm saying is we we budget for it so so based on um history we actually reduce to account for it so I wouldn't say at all that it runs our budget but I think it's used it's used so yes it's used in the budget yeah so everybody just you understand the concept here long gone are the days and not many school districts could can do that so it used to be where if someone leaves at 90 and we hire at 60 of $30,000 it's breakage right it's in the budget in the old overall pot it used to be where all those that money would all be extra money and at the end of the year what would typically happen is that you would do projects at the end of the year and then the extra would would flow over into either a maintenance or a capital reserve account that is not the case for us so you know we that that money gets utilized to offset our deficit so it is 100% used so I just want to make sure it's very clear that breakage is not some huge pot of money that we're like haha we got Christmas shopping money that that is used so that we stay afloat at the at the during the year correct okay there we go jie yeah on the rod grants what what's the timeline for that we have to use them by the end of next year so we um let's see so in it's 18 months from when your you first get notification which was last February so we have to make decisions um about including it in this budget or coming up with another way to fund it okay so as you build this budget you're either going to have to build in the capital for those projects yes and that's where we talked about maybe like using something like lease to purchase as an option right and I have some ideas that I'm exploring on that that I absolutely will make sure I update when I have all the information yeah because me need of were the cost of the money is like 7% or 8% and you're getting 40% from the state right we want to take advantage of that those options don't want to give up free money from the state never okay just just for clarity in case you don't know and I'll make it 10 seconds so we were awarded Rod grants if you don't know what they are it essentially gives us 40% on the dollar from the state but the you have to have the other 60 so we did uh a few projects already window projects Roofing projects but we have other projects in Q to about $3 million right about $3 million but we don't have anywhere near that much in capital so we have to figure out creative ways to use that month to use that or to figure out a creative way so that we don't lose the 40% which would end up being you know call it 400 time 30 call it 1.2 mil you know from the state just so you understand what we're talking about yeah and I think also just kind of stressing that those projects we would use the rod gram money for there things that are going to have to get done eventually right so it's not like you can never replace a window or never replace a roof or anything like that right so it's better to take that 40% yeah and offset the cost and have to pay for it down the line on our own ABS 100% And and make make no mistake about it we don't have anywhere near enough money and I talked about this last year when I when I had discussions our Capital has about a million dollars in it correct which for a district our size is nowhere near enough we couldn't probably pave the high school for a million dollars so just put that in perspective right and we have 11 real buildings that we're that we're that we're that we're running right now there will absolutely come a time when we will not have enough in capital and we will not be able to do what we need to do here that time is coming and that's where the board's going to have to have conversations because that's going to require the referendum conversation because at some point we will not be able to pave or concrete or deal with the big ticket items roofs that we have we don't have anywhere near enough in reserves for that now the energy audit just so you know will probably get us millions of dollars we're in the very infancy stages but there's a limit to that and it obviously has to you know come through the Energy savings so that will get us things like boilers and chillers and unit ventilators and things of that nature along with taking LED lighting like we can we're going to be able to creatively address the the High School stadium with LED lighting uh that will come for free through the audit but that also will run its course so just just for for just Clarity and transparency the capital is running out and right now we don't even have the money to get 40% back on on projects just so everyone hears that um just a quick a quick comment so if we could just uh Dr hibs I don't know if you're okay the last budget hearings that we had there were some comments made by I think a few community members if we can hold that April 30 30th date where there wouldn't be like an elementary concert or something going on that prevents a Community member to attend that budget hearing so I know there's like a lot of events that happen but if there's a way that we could just carve out that one April 30th budget hearing date it came up last time so I think that everyone should be able to attend and not have a okay does that date move Janine um could right it it could but only if the state changes the calendar and we should know that soon so we'll know we'll know in a once we know that can we we' have to touch face with everybody that would schedule things to placehold that Tuesday okay off yeah as much as possible if it's not possible I I get it but if we could make it possible I think okay yeah lur can you keep me on track with that okay thank you okay you got anything else on the committee um I think we're almost yeah we're almost just a couple more sorry um there there'll also be an an addent for our agreement with ESS um as of January 1st because the minimum wage is increasing any um sub rates that need to increase will be on there that's a standard thing that we do um there's an action item on the agenda to approve a resolution that allows us to use the competitive Contracting process to um choose an Esco which is a type of com professional company that we need to get us through the rest of the energy audit process um so as of right now we went through an initial phase where they kind of identify everything within the buildings that will definitely get us Energy savings to allow us to do the project to do to to move forward with the projects and now is where um it's more full scale the full SC cost and we have to have certain professionals involved so competitive Contracting is similar to the process that we do for Professionals for the rfps you put out your proposal you have your criteria um you spell out exactly what you're looking for just so you know for this type of contract there's a a very specific template out there that um um help me out Michelle BPU BPU so certain state agencies kind of weigh in on it and make sure all the information is accurate like you know some somebody like me who's not like you know to involved day-to-day on like Energy savings type stuff our engineer looks over it um and competitive Contracting again it's similar to the rfps so we spell out the criteria we accept the proposals and then we score them based on um what we what we laid out in in The Proposal competitive Contracting though since it is a little bit different it's not like a bid where you have to pick the low bid it's not like a professional um you have to have the board has to approve for you to use the competitive Contracting process so that's why um I wanted to add that because there is an action item um we'll also have two other professionals that will eventually come into play one being our financial advisor who we already use when we do our annual lease um and then another is a um a bond Bond Council because when we get to the point there's two different ways that you finance it and remember you're financing it through the projected Energy savings you can do what's called an esip or it's it's actually called a refunding like a bond refunding even though technically we're not refunding Bonds um the fees for for those two professionals fall under the threshold where you would have to um do the RFP process and all the professional service fees are worked into um the Energy savings project so all those fees are worked in so we know exactly what we're paying over over the life of of whatever the borrowing is um again so for right now the only thing on the agenda is approving us to through the competitive Contracting process and then as we go through the that process if I remember right the timeline in sometime in January is when we accept the proposals we'll be you know sharing them talking about them um and then eventually appointing I I I'm pretty sure if I'm not mistaken at the February meeting jump one quick thing and just just for for just Clarity sake those two those two things that Janine mentioned are rolled into the savings the only cost that's not rolled into the savings by law is the uh investment grade audit that happens so that will end up being something that we have to pay but there's no moving forward to get millions of dollars without that it will be in the thousands and I don't think High thousands but we don't have a price on that yet so just so just so I want you to to understand that's coming but that that's the that's the key to unlock the door to get all the the Energy savings and all the things that we will get including lighting and everything everywhere I had a question on that that one the resolution on M which is M1 right that last sentence of it where it says now therefore be resolved um it says proposals for competitive contract can be solicited for an allinclusive software suite why would we say software suite when it's a Services contract um are you talking about in the the last sentence of M1 that just struck me as okay that need to be changed I think so yes your question so that needs to get struck um I think we could just um correct um approve the corrected resolution it's just the two that we need right yep so it would be um competitive Contracting to be solicited for um the Energy Services Company so basically what's in the first paragraph So it would be now therefore be resolved that don't committ contrac and be solicited to select an energy basically taking that first paragraph for energy an Energy Services Company to develop and Implement an energy Savings Plan through an energy savings Improvement program that should be there yeah with it yes so we just need to read that change in when we yes third paragraph coming out I think yes that's yeah yeah okay thanks Scott sorry everybody anything else um I think that was it for Poli Sor for business can I give a quick update on the task force yeah just uh yeah go ahead all right all right just give everybody a quick update that um just to remind everybody so the board voted and approved to uh put together an ad hoc task force which included community members to look for uh cost savings ideas or potential Revenue generation ideas to help with the budget uh you know thinking that we might have another shortfall coming so trying to come together to find ways to help solving the budget issues um we had have had three meetings so far and we had a great group uh come out we've got attorneys on there we've got accountants we got people that own their own accounting firms we've got um presidents uh of colleges uh it's a very impressive group of professionals that have volunteered their time come forth and come up with ideas um we've done several design thinking sessions brainstorming on ideas and just to be clear all the ideas that we have there's we excluded anything that's Personnel related so there's nothing on there about Personnel um Outsourcing privatization all that was specifically excluded within the first meeting if that ever came up it was immediately put into a parking lot put to the side and said hey we can't talk about these things but we did come up with with several good ideas um we then went through and ranked them based on the amount of potential savings versus the level of effort that it would be to make that happen and tried to come up with some some some of the ideas that have come up just to give everybody an idea what we discussed um we did bring up the concept of uh charge backs for games that did come up we talked through the amount of money that that that could potentially generate um and also some of the negative effects it could have on the community but that is something that I think we as a board are going to have to decide whether we want to do it or not and um you know I think it would be good for administration to come back to us with how much they think we potentially could save and when we would have to do that but that as a bridge I think we're going to have to cross at some point um we talked about sponsorships and trying to get more money through sponsorships things like you know sponsoring the name on the field or on jerseys or on buildings or all those types of things and potentially using an auction process for that which could command higher uh amounts of money than just you know putting it out to bid but that's something I think we'd have to research more with uh the attorney on our ability to do that so I don't know if that have to be a board action to ask the attorney to look into that or yeah I I don't know I mean you could action ask me to research and yes yeah okay I guess I don't know this is a working session so how would everybody feel about asking the attorney to research the legality of us using an auction type process for sponsorships like I think RBA the rbac is going to be up soon for sponsorship right so absolutely we potentially could use a auction process for that and maybe drive a higher premium there anybody oppos good idea IDE I'm going to need some more clarity from you off the Record obviously but auction how fast can you talk anything else yeah uh we did talk about lobbying and uh lobbying you know lobbying in general as well as school choice so you we talked about trying to become a choice school and use that to to bring in your tuition students um we're not we don't have the ability to do that anymore right I think uh the state has uh eliminated our ability to be school choice so that's something that we'd have to Lobby the state to open back up yes yeah the state has uh the state has frozen current school districts at their current number of seats so you're if you were fortunate enough to be in that system you were in it and they are not accepting new people which is an unfair practice so we're trying to Lobby so that there's lots of people that would love to come to Township that they could come and that we could accept their tuition in y uh couple more here with show promotion so basically trying to get the uh RB our back um open for show and bring Revenue in that way I think back in the day we used to have big shows in there and bring folks in and I think uh councilman Bennett tied in like hey maybe we could tie that with like a dinner and a show promotion so that not only we bringing more money into uh the school system through the shows but bringing local businesses some business with uh dinners and things of that nature so that's uh something that we're investigating might entail like bringing in like a service provider to manage that to uh you know to help generate those funds so we're still exploring that uh we talked about grants and um one of the committee uh members task force members is researching um found some examples of grant writing services that are out there and some some uh towns that have used that to where you're not really putting any money out this they would get a percentage of the grant so if they went out and got a grant for repaving the the parking lots um they would get a percentage of that Grant return so we wouldn't necessarily be putting money out in advance but that's something we could do talk through Transportation potentially like waving seats on buses or consolidating routes but I know a lot of the route consolidation was already done and then we talk through shared services uh with the town like different things that we could share on like hbac uh type repairs grass yeah grass social media HVAC Plumbing yep had a great conversation with the incoming mayor and and and council president I think we talk through like potential expansion of some programs too like um uh blanket the uh emotional oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's the concept of tuition and kids tuition and kids yeah certain programs we could expand for tuition and kids and I think that's most of them so right now we're in the stage where there's additional research going on and hopefully we'll be able to bring a few of these the fruition and generate some dollars for the for the town I I do want to just thank all the business task force members that we have they put in a lot of nights and a lot of research and uh to the administration as well for being so open and supportive of the process yeah one more quick one then we can move on um just to update the board we're having some issues with the lighting in the RV Pac uh RB Pac lighting dates back to about 1997 um it it actually I'm being told it's a Dos system um which is yeah right maybe I need some we need some help um so we're uh we're working with one vendor that still operates in that technology where they're trying to rewrite a motherboard for us so I want to thank um I want to thank uh Mr cigano Mr Stefan and um Miss Richardson and then also the members of aoi who came in on Saturday really brainstorm some solutions and try to get us into a good spot so right now we are operational but it is not happy in any way shape or form so we're going to have to address this um you know everybody here knows the rpac is is the biggest amphitheater that you can probably you know touch in a in a very large distance you know you have to go to Philly uh to really get bigger um you know you know Len Regional has one but it's half half the size so it's a it's a serious it's a serious Endeavor um every year we we put money out into lights uh where we rent so the the thought process is to huddle up and find a long-term solution and and possibly even rely on hopefully some energy audit to to help us in that endeavor but I don't have any final answers right now but I am definitely reporting that houon we have a problem and uh unlike bunker that's you know lights out for a good way see what I did there um um we um we don't want to be lights out in a bad way in the rbpa yeah okay report of the superintendent uh ask for a motion in a second to approve the Hib report hold on I'm sorry that another one yeah hold on I'm yeah I'm so sorry that you know it's on that one um so we have um IIA which has a couple things for discussion Dr Nathan you want to take the floor sure sure and and there's only about three things so it'll be uh relatively quick um typically when we have our um instructional Affairs committee meetings we have a mix of some items that will be on the agenda for um consent uh for voting um and then discussion items that just kind of help us share um some of the things that we're talking about and and for future implementation so of the three things the first one that I'll talk about is the entitlement grants that's a pretty typical um annual approval so we get our um Title One Two 3 and four Gretchen does an amazing job with those grant writing and uh uh funding Appropriations um and that happens every Every Spring late spring we get our amounts that we're going to have for the next school year and that gets approved we spend Down based on how we write the grant um and then that we're allowed to carry over a small amount every school year so what you in this time of year is that small amount that we've carried over that we now reallocate within the grant um so there's a little bit of rewriting a submission again and essentially you approve the new amounts um that we're getting from the federal government for those title grants um so you'll see that on the agenda the other two items are really discussion topics um we're looking to uh potentially run two courses this summer um we'd like to add some op for our students additional Pathways um really there could be some um we're hoping side effects such as reducing some class size if students were able to take an option in the summer like an English 12 or a geometry class um and also open up Pathways for students so in our math track in order to get to some of our higher um level courses our calculus um you would want to make sure that you're taking a math class each year that counts for a high school math class some of our students as they enter the high school math is a lot of frontal lobe a lot of development um they are they're can be strong math students they're just not developmentally ready yet um so having the ability to take a course in the summer gives them an option to get back on that track so that they can take those higher level courses into their 11th and 12th grade school years as well um this is also a nice option because students already have these options they can take a class with a different um organization right outside of our school district it's called option two um but instead we can hire our own teachers um we can bring our kids here in the summer we're already running the extended school year um in our building so they're already open with staff um so we would be able to advertise see if students were interested in taking an English 12 or geometry class or both potentially um and really have it run here throughout that summer um so in order to ad ize and see if there's enough interest to run it because it would run at cost in other words it's not a budgetary impact um so it would be a cost for students to take the class no different than if they were to go to another organization a community college or another vendor um that offers summer classes um except that we get to use our own teachers and and house it here um the other discussion item kind of dovetails that because we do already have a um a summer course uh financial literacy that runs it's a little bit different because unlike a geometry or an English uh 12 course those would be full credit classes um they would have the inperson um as part of that education experience in the summer our financial lit runs um asynchronously and is a is for half the amount of credits um currently we don't charge students for that course um so there would be a difference between an English 12 a geometry and a financial lit so are just conversations do we want to charge students do we want to keep our current practice how does that impact budget um and what kind of opportunities can we continue to open up for our kids um so that that's really it for the discussion items and all of this in order to run a summer course would all be um it would all be pivotal on how many students want to take them if we don't have enough interest then we can't run them so thank you and the only thing I'll say is I I think that as my suggest my my advice would be wherever we land that it should be consistent so we shouldn't offer Financial lit for free but charge for geometry I think that's gonna people going to have a hard time understanding that piece it's just my suggestion okay can I ask a question to this group U Mrs Gerber actually with the math program I've read online again about parents can't figure out what to do at home with some of the math have we ever thought of I know you've had classes in the past but maybe every marking period or quarter offering a class in let's say first grade math one night second grade math one night so that the parents know for the next marking period or semester what's coming up and how to help their parents their children at home yes so Pat you're right we do we do run those parents as partners nights um but in addition to that there is a a family letter that does come home as a part of the program that talks about each module that's coming up okay and the skills that are going to be taught in there so I'll uh make sure and remind everybody that they're being sent home I'm sure they are but uh just for parents to look out for that okay thank you you got policy yeah uh Sean anything you want to add for policy I know the board the board received all the policies in the packet right yeah information we share with policies the agenda one through three on the agenda are all second reads they're title one uh mandated policies um and then four five and six are first reads you know all been vetted by the appropriate U administrative staff in the district and um stra estim updates have been accepted all second readings one two one two and three are second readings four five and six are first reads okay off to approvals okay superintendent report first all right report of the superintendent uh I ask for a motion as second to approve the Hib report to the board pursuant to policy 5512 of the superintendent of the superintendent's report President we ask for uh discuss u a a vote sub second right all in favor second talk about it polies yeah no I I think yeah it's roll call for go for Mrs Baker yes I don't know Mrs Bloom yes M chill yes M Mayo Mr Li Liberty abstain from incident one incident 5 incident 8 and incident 14 yes to all the rest Mr Sano yes Mr Arpino yes Mr Ross Yes okay what discussion on no you're good so now you're going to call vote for policy all right vote on I have a motion to vote on the policies just uh present one through six 1 through six move roll call discussion discussion roll call no discuss Mrs Bloom yes Miss chill yes M de Mayo Mr Liberty yes yes Mr Sano yes Mr Arpino yes Mr Baker yes Mr Ross Yes um HR H HR HR items number motion for items number one to 44 so move second yep second we're good discussion y I just had one just wanted to give a shout out and uh to uh Joanne Haynes who's an English teacher at the high school retiring after 26 years so thank you Joanne for your service any other comments we're good vocal M chill yes Mr Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Sano yes Mr Arpino yes M Baker um L1 A5 professional development initials GS no number 12 number 14 abstain yes to the Russ Mrs Bloom yes Mr Ross Yes Finance facilities finance and uh facilities number one to two so moved discussion so this is where item number one will be as amended right yes amended removing the third paragraph correct replacing it Revis third do we need to read that in or is it ready helpful to read it unless you have it written there it's fine because you guys read it before okay M de Mayo yes Mr the Liberty yes Mr Serrano yes contingent upon the necessary changes being made Mr Arpino yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Miss cha yes Mr Ross Yes special education I need a a motion to approve special education items 1 to 1 to 12 so moved second do I have a second second second discussion roll call Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Serano yes Mr Arpino yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr de Mayo yes Mr Ross Yes okay um negotiations no items this time new business any new business okay have a motion to open to the public second all in favor a roll call I guess a roll call that roll call all in favor I opposed okay let's get started here Chrissy Kosar good evening everyone Chrissy Kar I am a resident of the township um I'd like to ask um Mr Li Liberty about the committee um how it was formed and were the unions involved in possibly sitting down and coming up with some resolutions on how to fix some of the issues that were being discussed yes sorry the committee that was formed right um were the unions consulted were there any outside entities apart from people on the board or friends or whatever who were on this committee uh was anybody else included that had a more uh far-reaching view of what could possibly be suggested as an aid no y I can I'll talk about how we formed it I mean there was actually a memo that went out um announcing it and um asking for people to uh well it framed up what the board had approved right that we were seeking to get ideas and uh what the commitment would be had put in a certain amount of time some of the types of skills that we'd be looking for uh and then it had a process where people would submit their resume letter of intent uh we reviewed all of those um we actually ended up taking everybody that submitted in uh as far as Union representation or faculty representation I don't know if you can maybe help me out on that because we did specifically I don't think I don't think we had any of that I don't have the parameters in front of me or the ground RS in front of me but my understanding it I'm sorry could you speak up I can't hear my understanding is it was all members of the public for this particular ad hoc committee there were no uh employees included and I believe that was dispersed to to it it was publicly available the parameters so I'm sure anyone who wanted to see could have seen it is was there a reason that nobody from the staff was you know approached or asked and none of the staff asked to be on this committee to possibly give you their thoughts CU they kind of know what they're doing here you know so we're not allowed to have it back and forth but what we discussed with Dr hibs was that he would work with the staff to come up with budget saving ideas right you would work with your building principles and those types of Staff oh great be appropriate for the board it wouldn't be appropriate for the board to be interacting with staff type thing okay so Dr hibs you have AAS on with the unions and the staff here to come up with that kind of idea um do I have a liaz on yes will will people be spoken to about it yes absolutely that just wasn't the purpose chrisy of that committee that committee was a budget Community task force so I I I honestly I'm not being tlon I didn't have anything to do with it but the decision was to only have Community there in those com but we are Community then you could have put in for it if you you did so what you're telling me is every single person that applied to go on that committee was allowed on the committee and not one of them was a Community member I can't go I can't go back and forth to yet that's against all right I mean Mr President it's not the that's not what we do here um it was that so how do we get questions answered then if we don't we're backwards and forwards I ask a question and you don't answer it and I go away is that is that how Works no I I think I I think Mr Liberty answered your question the question was is that was there was there was there staff or Comm or was there staff involved and the answer was no it wasd he actually put the onus on you and said that you were responsible for speaking with staff yeah I'm not going to go back and forth with you I feel like I feel like it's it's just I don't I mean I'm if you don't have an answer that's fine you just have to say I don't have an answer and I'll I'll move on but you know no the question was answer you're provided an answer okay it was advertised and any committee it was screened by um Mr uh La Liberty okay and some members of the board so it was advertised enough and we got enough response okay thank you Nicole Ludi I have a no voice sorry um so first first I just wanted to start by saying that I can't speak for every parent but I can speak for myself um and others that I know that among the issues across the board with special ed none of them have ever stemmed from a teacher um and especially a teacher not caring about a child um I have never heard a parent say to me that they felt that that specific teacher does not care about their child um all parents in special ed knowing a teacher whether it's an Autism teacher an MD teacher um any type of special ed teacher the first thing you know is that they care about kids because that takes a special human to have that job same thing with assistance which is why I stand up here so many times and basically beg you to pay these assistance because we're losing wonderful ones to other districts [Applause] among all the issues that parents have in special ed it's a common thing that I've heard over the years that has outlasted a lot of the teachers that even been here the one thing that parents say that they feel nobody cares about it's not their child it's situations that happen in special ed that we here we agree with you we get it but then nothing ever changes so because it happened to another kid then it happens to my kid and by the time it happens to my kid I felt like if somebody cared they would have changed it the first time and when it doesn't get changed in my kid it's going to happen to another kid but it's never once stemmed from a teacher damn my phone went black sorry I'm losing service um that's one of the main issues that PE parents feel that when they say people don't care it's situational it's not about a child um however hearing all these staff members come up here and speak which they absolutely should do for their peers and it shows at the kind of family that they are however what goes on with specialed families a lot of these teachers and support staff and the internal people have no idea what really happens to hear a staff member say that what parents say are false is alarming because that shows that every parents fear is true that what's happening at a different level is truly not being commun communicated to the staff that is with their kids every day and if it's not going down the line to those people nothing will ever change nothing that parents say about their kids is false these are our children you may not know the whole story if you think it's false and if anybody has any wants to know what happened to my kid or any other special ed kid ask us we would all be very happy to tell you the truth and the whole story not pieces that you may hear and it's unfortunate that parents or staff members feel tacked because that's never what it was about the only person what happened right there was invalidating parents that has been the issue across this district for so many years the only person at least to me that I've never feel in in validated by was Dr hips and now miss Bato who has been a very good breath of fresh air for special ed parents and I hope that continues other than that parents have always felt invalidated about their own children it's whether people aren't listening to them that they're telling them they're wrong or they're communicating to other staff or faculty or whatever it is pieces of the truth that's why nothing changes I was so happy to hear when Hannah's mom spoke that she was in all of these extracurricular activities that do Mr disa's daughter is in all of these extracurricular activities my daughter doesn't get that it's of no fault of anybody in that classroom that's not their fault but we have had an awful experience with extracurricular activities and not just this year I've been told a thousand times from other parents that happens to my kid K that happened to my kid that happened to my kid this happens my at least I feel like I'm not the only one but it's literally alarming how many times I've heard it over and over and over in the extracurricular activities that she did get to participate in which is very seldom this year and it's unfortunately due to what I keep being told lack of Staff she's been excluded and how she has been excluded in different manners over the years is sad Mr Maro said that these kids don't get excluded he doesn't know how my child's been excluded and how these other kids have been excluded by ways of taking her off stage 45 seconds into a play and not letting her participate there's a thousand other ways and I can go over all of them but that just showed right there how parents are invalidated one last thing there are some denovi staff members that are absolutely wonderful at their job and he's right that some of these kids would not survive without them they are fantastic but then there's some that aren't and unfortunately because they're not a District staff member it happens if a staff member if a District staff member said that an elementary school in our district was a show and then said I have other things to do and walked out of a meeting in a parent would that be allowed for a District staff member when Mr luk said you know we got a decide where we're at um and admit where we're at our rankings are what they are and having been through every level of this district with my daughter I could tell you we've come across some amazing people like what we've heard today any thing anywhere we're at it's all about leadership it's all up here board Administration uh we had an opportunity doc when when this board started Dr hibs was here for maybe seven months you cannot judge anybody in that short a period of time but yet factions of this board Mr Ross when when you started and announced your base you Mrs Baker Mr Serrano you have been undermining this District the entire time you can't judge performance of anybody in seven months but yet you had it in your mind that he had to go and that that's the only people that suffer that because there's no accountability to you guys who suffers is the kids in this District and it's not bad enough that we have to try and undermine Dr hibs Janine Mr Serrano when you went to back to the candidates night you made one of the most disgusting comments I could I've ever heard you want to look at the blo salaries of some of our underworked and overpaid administrators so it's not enough to throw these two under the bus can I stand by that statement yeah that that's wonderful cuz you're throwing everybody under the bus so you can stand by but have you ever offered 1 ounce of constructive feedback to anybody to help with this situation no one time you were very surprised to hear that your role as a board member is to support the superintendent that's it's in the ethics I came up and I said no it's not just the super it's the entire District all Personnel you failed you owe them an a yeah keep rolling your eyes look at them and roll your eyes please look at them and roll your eyes look over there and roll your eyes that is one of the least professional things I could ever imagine what you said and what you're doing respectfully though there's no rules I'm not asking a qu I'm not asking a question I making a comment whether I look here or I look here it's the same comment this board those three especially have been undermining this District we are falling behind we are not moving forward so whether I look here at you Mr Ross you know when you're a board member and you're out in public you're supposed to say am I speaking for the board or am I speaking for an individual you didn't do that so I ask every board member do you agree with his comment I would like to hear from everybody do you agree that our Administration is under overpaid and underworked because I find that incredibly disturbing irresponsible unprofessional call it whatever you want it's got to stop we have a new board coming on we need to support this District we need to support make decisions that are in the best interest of our kids I haven't seen that it's just constant undermining and even if you believe it to be true saying it is an Ethics violation it's wrong again roll your eyes this is where there's no accountability now I wish the board would call out that comment it's disgusting and again why don't you look at the back table and say they're underworked why don't you look back and tell them all that yes it's one of the most unprofessional things I've ever seen if you treat people like that and that this is this is who our Union leadership wanted I hope that they follow Mr trashy I saw you put a card in please tell me all the great things they've done because since our board has been politicized our scores have gone in the tank that's a fact we are not doing the right things for the kids that's what we need to do we need everybody to do that so thank you for the ones that are here for the right reason because there are some of you I know that I guess for me um a comment like that and I'm not pro Administration Pro I'm Pro kids right we have to work together we have to be here for our kids I mean I can't imagine if we sat down you gave me facts of how like what reasons why you would say that right um I just don't know how you can make like a general comment like that and not just say that because who knows what you're saying about teachers or by anyone else you I doubt there any facts behind that you don't know what they do every day and again I'm not just saying that Pro administrator I know I'm just saying I just think that's um a very irresponsible like you said comment it's just not fair honestly understood yeah I I I appreciate the feedback Mr Mayo uh two things so if there's anyone who would consider anything I do or say an Ethics violation I believe there's an entity that deals with that right that they have to file with that's correct what is that Mr solicitor what's that agency called it's the school ethics commission okay so if there's anyone who feels like I have committed any ethics violations by what I have said or done please file an Ethics complaint you have every right to so the the the reason that I said what I said is because we have almost and we just gave them a raise a 3.2 million dollars in nonunit salaries that we can try and and decrease is that number accurate or is it inaccurate and that's why I said what I said so not not to not to not to I'm not going back and forth with any board member or or but Steve that's not what your comment hold on hold on I'm not going to I'm not going to go back and forth with uh one of the biggest keyboard Warriors this town has ever seen but you know I am I am listen if I offended any of you by what I said please have an offline conversation with me and tell me I would be more than happy to take ownership for my statement and speak to each of you individually and look you in the faces and explain what I meant by what I said because I owe you that respect if I'm going to make a comment like that and and if you are offended I apologize that there is no intention to offend you but we do have salaries that need to be cut jobs that don't belong here anymore that could been phased out long ago that still exists and we're worried about  on people that make $14 15 1617 an hour no no no no no no I'm sorry my excuse my language but we're looking we're looking at cutting AIDS we're looking at cutting teachers we're looking at cutting programs but the people who make 160 170 180 they just got a raise I'm I'm sorry I'm sorry listen I am truly sorry that I'm losing my core right now and I am I AP I will apologize to each and every one of you personally after this meeting if you want to stick around and but that's what I meant by that comment so if you want to speak to me offline I'd be more than happy to I'm not a combative person in nature but what I will not do is sit up here and be accused by somebody like that who's a I will not sit up here and do that so please please come speak with me if you really want an explanation for my comment and what I said cuz I stand behind every single one of them and if I'm corrected and I owe people an apology down the road I'd absolutely take ownership for anything that I've said thank you but see you didn't I'm I'm done I'm done going back and forth Mr May saying no no I you know what I have nothing to do with what you're saying is wrong or right you didn't speak to their salary spoke to their work ethic how hard they work what they do that's totally different you didn't just say their salaries or any comparison and I just made an explanation and you can't really speak to the administration here because since you've been on they haven't been able to do their job so I think we need to not talk about job responsibilities because you've been a there have been people people here that held them back and not a to do what they're supposed to do you didn't talk about their salaries talk about their ethics and how they work and that's not fair okay just listen I all I'm going to say is this you know for for if we're just talking about non-un people or nonunit people that was never CL clarified everybody here works hard and everybody deserves basic respect so to my crew that sits right here if you're not onine thank you for all you do you know you are here and we work tirelessly just like everybody else does and you know so thank you so please that know that you're respected all of you Jer tarachi I'm not sure that I'd like to follow that conversation but uh I have very little choice to be honest with you uh first and foremost I want to commend those who spoke during the opening public session I to commend the special ed departments the teachers the AIDS everybody because I see on a daily basis what you have to deal with and you are to be commended and believe me I applaud you the other reason that I uh decided to come tonight and speak was in regard to uh as it turns out something that Dr Nathan made reference to we've recently received information regarding discussions to change part of the high school curriculum in the areas of English as well as the math programs it's my understanding that they have the intent to offer six weeks of summer classes resulting in seniors having virtually no classes their final year if they go through those summer classes as an example we already have the physical education option two available for our seniors where they don't have to take fys a classes now we're going to be offering them the opportunity to take an English class the summer before their senior year so they do not have to take English during the regular senior year as well as a math class whether it be for 11th or 12th well the only two required courses that many of our seniors have to take are English and fette so if they don't have to take those what are they going to do all day and when it comes right down to it I get the idea that was offered to us meaning the staff several years ago for the implementation of the pride schedule we were told this would open the door for more electives being taken by our seniors well at present I believe without those options we have an excess of over 200 seniors leaving our building every day before lunch they have nothing else to do they have the early out the senior privilege so we're going to add to what Dr Nathan is proposing I'm sure that that that number is going to double at least double so in the meantime the structure of those summer classes they're going to get a full Year's instruction in six weeks in the summer and how is that instruction going to be delivered probably online and I believe we learned not that many years ago during Co that doesn't work so how are we meeting the needs of our kids my opinion we're not now let's carry it one step further we have a number of athletes if we have senior athletes who are participating in their Sports and they're not in school according to our policy I believe they're not eligible to participate so how do you answer that oh I know we can bring them in and just have them sit there in a study hall all day this doesn't make sense other than it opens the door for more reductions in staff and in my opinion saving more money we've already lost a number of teachers we're losing more because they can go elsewhere and make more money what is the real purpose behind this what's the real agenda behind this that's my question thank you [Applause] address Dr Nathan sure Dr Nathan you want to address something first sure um the the purpose of a work session is to introduce a discussion topic so there the in I'm not sure where you got your information from but it there's many inaccuracies and mischaracterizations um the goal in Sharing in a work session is to then be able to advertise to our families to our team of teachers um to post and hire for in-person sessions in the summer um so that again there's many inaccuracies I'm not sure where you got your information from because today's session was to open up the conversation and share that idea so that we now can share more details with our teams of teachers and our families and see if students are interested so I'm happy to have further conversation with you and I'd hope you'd reach out to me yeah I mean if it is going to be a conversation if it is going to be a conversation that is exactly what Dr Nathan just made reference to uh The English Department sent out a letter that I have my possession that's where I got my information about the English being offered in the S I've also been told from a member of the math department at the high school that the same idea is being discussed for the math as well so that's where I got my information Dr Nathan absolutely I didn't I didn't bless a letter did you was there a letter that we all the one out when when we're meeting in public session for our uh discussions for committees we want to make sure that our teachers are are hearing it from their department leaders as well as the board is hearing it so we're trying to make sure that everybody is in the know um essentially as closely at the same time as possible but the only accurate thing so far is that you're you're correct there is going to be discussions around geometry being offered in the summer and English being offered in the summer the other um the other statements that you made around how it will be implemented or being a curriculum changed those are inaccurate and we're also we're not looking to to put more kids in study halls actually we need to abely really look at study halls we have way too many study halls um that's not the purpose of of coming to school um but we're happy to have conversations with each J as always so we can uh we can continue this dialogue for sure um Mr Tashi I just want to thank you for coming up and sharing your thoughts as a board member that was very helpful for me to understand what's going on and I hope that we see you more often thank you Joe Tav barelli hi Joe tery um my first question is what are we doing um I was here a couple years ago and I talked about this amazing program that our district has FBLA future Business Leaders of America they literally could run a better meeting than this and I don't say that to be mean I'm like what are we doing I sat at home the last meeting and I was yelling at my TV like it was a football game like what is happening here please can we get it together we have to remember that we're here for the kids per period whatever you hear I will gladly come up every month and give you all a briefing on what's happening on social media because I hear about it every day everyone's messaging me I don't know why probably because I have a big mouth but that's besides the point so besides FBLA running a meeting um the adults need lessons in reading the room after our staff comes up and tells stories and parents come up and tell stories about their amazing kids read the room there was hardly a dry eye in this room when these parents and staff members were speaking and then we come up and we complain and we go on and on and just read the room and I don't have a child with special needs so I can't even talk in that realm but I hope that as people and human beings that we are not denying the lived experience of parents regardless of their children's learning experiences can we work together as staff and parents so that everyone has the right amount of information at all times okay now that the the are gone Mr Serano I have spoken to you on several occasions and you have had nothing but respect for me you have come to me with answers if I was confused on something you took a moment and you explained them to me this interaction tonight did not need to be had because you are the person that I know if I have a question about how the if I can ask a certain question or anything you have always said Mrs tarelli whatever you need you just let me know and I'll answer it and you have you have always shown me that respect what happened tonight no one deserved it take it someplace else and that goes for everybody else and that's all I have to say thank you Alissa Shin sh sh Melissa shme I'm a teacher at Birches um I'm hoping I'm the last person to speak tonight uh I just want to share a positive um after listening to these meetings uh we need more of that so uh I am one of the MD teachers in the elementary level and MD across the board from preschool to high school does something called CBI and that is community based instruction and Community Based instruction is amazing uh it looks different at every level we have goals at every level and I wanted to share that the elementary level um at Birches last month we went to shopright we go every uh November we go a little further away from Thanksgiving because it's a little dicey um but we shop for a uh food item that we are going to make by class um I have very picky eaters so we make a trail miic so we can try everything and talk about if we like it or we don't like it this trip was the first time that we had all positive interactions with the community we explained why we were there we had families coming up to us sharing that they wish that their child had opportunities like this and so um I'm going to try and come up here and talk about positives every month because we're doing some pretty awesome stuff and we might have some stuff to work on but there are positives and our kids are positive and the cbis are awesome at every level so whatever school you're at ask what they're doing because it's pretty cool thank [Applause] you Bliss thank you and I think that we need to have more of those discussions because there are so many amazing things that happen in our district every day across every school by every teacher there is just hundreds of incredible interactions and that can't get lost here because it's very easy to lose that it's very easy to be emotional about things it's very okay to have feelings about things but at the end of the day we are amazing we really are and there's so much good here and that can't be lost thank you and thank you guys you guys probably know I'm special at is my life and teaching is the hardest job there is and I I will tell anybody that and I mean that from the bottom of my heart um I'm almost done here I'm working on my end of my four years I got one more meeting left um just to it's been rough just to give you an idea there are some of us up here that are here for the right reasons that try really hard to communicate to talk and do the right thing maybe a year or so ago May maybe two years ago we sat here before a meeting and and I said or we said how can we make this work we're fighting this is ridiculous it doesn't work look we've had problems in the past we've made it work and someone looked at me and said I don't like you and you don't like me I said okay so that's what we're that is what we're dealing with here we can't we have to all be in it or some of us CU my point was let's get together and I was pretty much told I don't like you so it's really hard to get to work as a group when that things like that happen I just want you to know that there are people up here that are here for the right reasons that are here for the kids it's just been really really challenging because everything that's been done or tried to do has been stopped and it's just really really difficult so thank you for you guys I can't imagine what it must be like to come here and listen to this because I certainly don't enjoy it I can't imagine what it must be like being out there so thank you for all of you and I appreciate your understanding for what's been going on oh okay I had something just real quick so um Miss shme did I say that correctly shme okay so if we could because what you described the CBI experience is super cool I did it one time when I was a board member years and years ago and it was awesome I think we were like making coconut eggs in a classroom with somebody the high school it was very um it was awesome it was probably one of the best experiences I had as a board member Dr hibs would you is there a way and if we could just start it even in January if there's a way that we can just have an awareness of some of those things if teachers wouldn't mind that we would join and like meet you there and just kind of see the cool things Pat you and I talked about it last month awesome okay so if we like that would just be really cool so then that way we can start talking about these things I know I've said it a few times of just catching perfect so if we could just have that and I know everyone's busy it's hard to capture all the awesome things but just as board members if we could just kind of like email with your permission Dr Hibbs through you to say hey can we join you can we if I may um we'd be more than happy Christina and I would be more than happy to share with Eric and the board all of the great activities that our staff they do amazing things every day we do community based instruction but do a lot of other things that are outside of that um that initiative but we can certainly share that so it's a little bit more organized you don't have to go back and forth with staff and I can definitely work with Eric um to get you that information I know our staff would be more than happy to share what they do yeah I mean just because I know Dr hibs you've done the cafe at the high school I had to take off because I work so I would have to know in advance so I could take off and then attend but I think it would be really cool that we could start um to your point very well taken and Joe your point very well taken and just catching people doing things right and having a little bit more interaction of all of the good and so if we know about it that would be really cool if we could do it as long as anyone doesn't mind it's certainly we serice students ages 3 to 21 so we have a lot to share trust me awesome all right thank you okay Mr lucarini [Music] yeah let me get back to my uh Original Point number 355 okay uh I resent I know there's a lot of great things going on in the district I had support from so many people in the elementary level all the way up to make uh a number of projects over the years very successful and we always acknowledged that it was you know a collective effort I know there's things that go on in the classroom every day that are really you know good nice whatever however we're at number 355 okay the scores are low uh even the best middle school which I believe is uh Bunker Hill when I looked at the scores uh compared to other districts they weren't doing as well as I thought they they had you know what I anticipate let's put it that way so last meeting I was at at uh sitting in the back there Mr Scardino was there and I said made a comment I said I couldn't believe that the wtaa allowed Mrs kmle who was running for the board all the emails of the staff to promote herself and put out this uh what I thought was absolutely false uh commentary about um Outsourcing when we've already used denovi and Associates all right and Mr scardina said oh oh that wasn't us that wasn't us that wasn't ex uh tarashi didn't passed that by executive so Jerry terashi and I have witnesses to that statement and are sitting over there uh so Jerry trashi supposedly put this out and I don't really care whether he put it out and he's going to come up here and say No I discussed it with people I don't really care about that but my comment was that the support uh a woman who has ethics charges legitimate e ethics charges against her who was trying to hire a superintendent one of the biggest problems in this District that leads to where we are is the hiring practices that go back 40 years not just the you know when kmle was here which is you know the brother-in-law system all right uh everybody I know can come up with a a somebody who got turned down for a job who was more qualified than the person who got it all right on paper all right so you know that's in itself with Mrs Goble then you get the the the idea that uh this situation with the bid rigging for no for lack of a better word that might actually result in a criminal prosecution all right an indictment then the association with Mr milm who was already under indictment and yet uh you know supposedly the union supports a woman like that all right then let me get to what the union put out at a meet about a meeting voted no confidence Mr Scardino you read it and it struck me it says whereas ER there was a million wear asses and they all pointed to hibs uh Nathan and um the other guy the Personnel guy okay every one of them we're number 355 we've been number 355 for seven years all right and yet they're citing just these three people and then they don't want to say they're political then they give a possible criminal access to emails without the approval of all the staff all right if you gave my email out to somebody I'd be pretty upset about that all right so here's what they said say and whereas ER kid has hired s Sean Sweeny and P Pamela Nathan who've taken steps to undermine our staff our students and our programs uh basically saying they're the reason why uh you know they're undermining our progress we're at number 355 and they don't want change that's what it seems to me right then we get Sano all right let's let's get back to him Mr Wonderful over there he has he has an email I mean I got an email today about another meeting he was it was a candidate night and here's what he had to say after he made that this is the board minutes okay Mr Sano commented on a statement he made about the budget after he made that statement he was made aware that when he stated to be out of line and a possible violation of school ethic I was also notified that what I said was largely inaccurate all right so he really he he say states that it was inaccurate so in light of these comments I would like to make an apology to absolutely no one and for nothing for absolutely nothing nothing he does a possible ethics comment uh a comment that he made that was inaccurate which he admits but he apologizes for nothing okay these are the two people kmle and this guy who this board is going to contemplate putting up as the next president of the Board of Education it's a joke and no matter what tarashi says what tuso says there's you want to play to the room you're not the only people in the room there's thousands of people who watch these meetings and trust me that's the problem people come in here and play into the room all right because the room doesn't realize or doesn't want to acknowledge that we're in last place and that's the bottom line we need change and before you can have change you got to have an honest conversation and you can't have an honest conversation with a bimbo like him all right thank you that is that your first amendment is that is that something appropriate no that's a comment that's inappropriate obviously as I just said well yeah that's inappropriate Mr lugarini should be charged in this room get him out now officer can you please remove him from the room thank [Music] deserves a do that all right so let me let me let me just grab let me let me grab this hey guys hey guys let let me say something let me say something first you know we get harassed up here and I talk to the attorney and say can he say this can he do that according to his first remant rights he can but something that he says when he attacks somebody like that I think is extremely inappropriate and should be removed we we take a beating up here listening to some of these people getting up harasses the way it is so here's here's the one thing I I want to say right hey guys give me one sec sorry it's okay listen I I want I want everybody to hear me on this it doesn't matter what your political views are it doesn't matter whether you like someone or not but people are going to watch what happened here tonight and Us in general right and I I live my life always trying to do the very best I can trying to do the very best I can for everybody here the children the staff everybody and it's very important for us to look at the image that we portray to children we are examples for children and I I just I want everyone to reflect on that it's it's it's it's the most important thing we do let me it's the most important most important thing that that we do and I think that no matter what our message and no matter what our feelings are in general we all have to be respectful in our conversations and there's never a time that I'm disrespectful and people can say they don't like my message they can say they don't like me they don't like the fact that change is happening they can say all those things but what's happening you okay okay but what is happening is the fact that education is a system that's built on change we have to adapt and if we don't we fail that's what happens but no matter what we do we do together and we have to do it respectfully period I think you need to tell the people who get up here and make these negative comments all the time I think most 99% of the time we get people get up here and they make some very positive POS comments some helpful suggestions for the board and then we get a couple people up here not only Hammer us but they Hammer what we what we're trying to represent and I think a good example of that is what happened tonight you know if we're number 355 and all this is why we hired a new administrative staff last couple years to try and straighten that out and we would hope that we're going in the right direction but people like to come in from The Birches and on have these positive things to say I think that's what we're all about too and I I asked the lawyer every time when somebody gets up here hammers one of us could he say that could he say that he gives them they're okay because of the First Amendment rights but that doesn't make it right just because he gets up and calls people dumb or or stupid or whatever they whatever they want to suggest yeah you can't call him a bimbo I think it's the other way around maybe yeah go ahead all right just real quick we can't control what the public says but we can control what we do and our actions and it's embarrassing to be up here I mean I I wore this shirt tonight to remind myself where I came from it's a shirt from my album Mo the United States Coast Guard Academy it says those who live here rever honor and honor Duty and I have to remind myself of that why why I cut up come up here and put up with this um we can't control the actions of the public can control the actions of ourselves we all took an oath when we got sworn in that we would follow the laws of the state of New Jersey and we would follow the ethics code and I've never seen so many people that just blatantly disregard the ethics code I mean you said you were going to follow it and you don't need the state ethics commission to enforce it I mean my first term as a board member I got accused of an Ethics violation and it wasn't right I went on social media and I responded to a comment cuz I felt bad about what was going on negotiations and people were worried they were going to lose their jobs and I said hey we care about you don't worry you're going to get a contract and that was alleged there was an Ethics violation CU God forbid you might not get a contract and it might not happen but took it seriously and I stepped off that um committee because I knew it was for the good of the board right I don't want to have any controversy with negotiations or anything else was it a black eye for me did I did I take a little bit there yeah but I did did that because it was the right thing for the board we shouldn't you know there are multiple ethics violations being committed by multiple people up here every single meeting and then to just say file ethics charges it's that's not the right thing to do I mean hold yourself we can't hold everybody accountable everybody's like oh you should all bring ethics charges against them we could as individuals all we're going to do is cost a district a deductible for the insurance that's going to go for years and years and be litigated out and nothing's going to change that behavior the only person that can change that behavior is the person that's you know you have to hold yourself accountable we can't hold you accountable we got to hold yourself accountable and it's not going to do any good well maybe it will it's going to come to a point where we're going to have to start filing ethics charges but I would ask we got one more meeting in December it would be great if we could all just come and try to keep in mind we're here for the district and conduct ourselves as professionals that's it thanks okay uh the board's going to go back into executive session um action will not yeah no action motion to close motion to close the regular session close close Public public session we to close right s yeah motion to close public session motion to close public session motion second second Jim all in favor second by Scott Scott you need a roll call Lor okay all right motion to go into executive session Mo moot motion to go in executive session so moved second for