went a little longer than we had expected Dr J do we have any board correspondents we do not okay great um we have student representative comments and this I believe is the last one for the school year for Sophia and you guys have the latest update from this afternoon correct do you I believe so I can share the score if if need be I'm going to keep everyone suspense we don't have that score I can I can help you out with that at the end okay sounds good thank you okay uh who's going first this month's student achievements are as followed congratulations to the highlights at the hills newspaper staff for taking first place in the American Scholastic press Association National contest for best newspaper for a large High School J demon a junior who was accepted into the Stevens Institute of Technology summer program Stevens only accepted 20 out of 350 applicants congratulations to Junior Esme mcclaflin whose colored pencil piece secondary still life was runner up at New Jersey Congressional Arts competition and will be displayed in Congressman kean's office for 6 months in his Bernardsville office and six months in his Capital office Ethan Chen a junior will be participating in the prestigious Ruckers physics program the summer it's an intensive program where he will have the opportunity to learn about Cutting Edge research from current Ruckers faculty in fundamental physics including cosmology elementary particle physics Quantum Computing and and high energy cosmic rays this program is sponsored by quarknet an organized outreach program of the US high energy physics community supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the office of high energy physics office of science US Department of energy the program is also supported by the physics and astronomy Department of Ruckers University sophomores Rebecca Clemente eloisa mton Addie klet and Payton calus made and distributed safe space stickers for people's class freshman Belle barelis Kat Escobar and dilana Hughes collected dance costumes that will be donated to a dance school in Columbia seniors Kim monteroso and Laura Perez brought in supplies and hosted two lunch periods in room 117 where students could write letters of appreciation for their teachers freshman Alina perck and Grace elen hosted two lunch periods where students came and made friendship bracelets for kids with can and had them delivered to kids in the hospital moving on to our school events this year's Coffee House sponsored by The English Department and the folio art and literary magazine brought in a larger audience than any coffee house over the last several years folio adviser Miss Violet bernberg along with 23 Wong Hills student performers read from their own original work sang or performed instrumental music this year's coffee house was also the first evening event to take place in the atrium an entirely student run event from the tech crew to the development of the program to the evenings MC coffee House's Spirit of collaboration celebration and support for performers continues to grow under Miss Violet burber's leadership on Thursday May 23rd the annual instrumental concert wowed the audience in the pack featuring outstanding performances by the symphonic band Wind Ensemble and Orchestra the students treated the crowd of community members to an evening of exceptional music it was truly a memorable event the community was invited to our whrhs annual spring Arts Festival on May 30th which featured our students artwork on display in the atrium in addition students were inducted into the National Art Honor Society and the event finished with the spring chorus concert the Memorial Community awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday June 4th at 7:00 p.m. in the pack this year we are anticipating over 200 people will attend this event there are approximately 45 scholarships and awards that will be presented to over 80 seniors we are extremely proud of our students and grateful for our scholarship B benefactors the senior awards ceremony will be held on June 5th at noon in the pack administrators supervisors and teachers will be presenting Awards to 71 seniors and now finally for our athletic update the spring season was full of County and state competitions and we kept things going well into the tournament season we are proud to announce all of our spring teams qualified for the state tournament this year congratulations to the softball team for clinching the north 2 group 4 sectional championship title they will go on to play Morristown in the group 4 semi-finals on June 4th and finally congratulations to the girls and boys track teams for advancing to the group four meet this coming weekend at Franklin High School and that is all for our student report Dr you want to just add yes we won 6 to one this afternoon so we will be uh we will be playing in the finals on Friday I believe it's at Ivy Hill Park in uh Newark so the details will come out about that um I don't think anything's been posted yet yeah it was a nice a nice win for us so they I'm sorry oh thank you Brenda they're going to play Vinland okay so we happen to have a former uh Softball Championship winning coach in the audience tonight that I'll be speaking about shortly uh Dr JWT has recognition but I want to thank uh recognition of the student Representatives but I want to thank uh Miss Sophia lamb and Miss Juliana Santos for this past year and all they've contributed to the board meetings and if I'm not mistaken if all goes well both of you will be with us again next year so I I do thank you yes lucky you um and as a quasa reward Dr JWT has some words and something you said it all so I'll keep it brief um but we do have just a token of appreciation on behalf of the board and the administration so it's it's been really nice getting to know both of you I enjoy getting to see you in the hallway and see your progress and it's really nice that you're uh only 10th graders soon to be 11th graders um so that we get to usually by the time we get to know the board reps they're leaving so it's nice that we'll actually get to to see you grow over the next couple of years and hopefully see you back at the table so I just would like to give [Applause] okay again thank you very much uh now we have recognition of a few retiring staff members Dr jitt has some uh uh resolutions to be read and presentations to be made so we have three retirees uh one of whom could not join us tonight Greg Ross he is a member of our buildings and ground staff uh he's been a member of our staff for a number of years and has done a tremendous job keeping our grounds beautiful uh certainly as you drive around our campus it's a very impressive campus and a very large campus to take care of uh so we appreciate all of his hard work and wish him well in the future in his retirement and now I'm going to read the proclamations for the two retirees that we have here so I'm going to ask Mr Michael delandro to come up here please and if there's anyone you want to bring up here with you you can bring them you can bring Laura up as a friend if you want um so and I get to to talk hear Mike talk about his grandkids I have a feeling that's what you're going to be spending some of your retirement time doing perhaps um and Mike has been a tremendous contributor to our school community so I'm really honored to get to uh recognize you tonight and read this Proclamation on behalf of the board this Proclamation regarding Michael delandra shall be read at the public meeting of the watchong Hills Regional High School Board of Education on June 4th 2024 whereas Michael delis Sandra was first employed by watchong Hills Regional High School in September 2007 and whereas he has been noted for his passion for teaching business and his boundless patience and strong desire for personal growth and whereas because of his expertise as a learner his knowledge of business and his ability to motivate all levels of students he has been invaluable to the school as a whole and whereas he is a lifelong learner who's above and beyond the Call of Duty sacrifice of his personal time for his students needs prepared them for the challenges of life and the highest levels of post-secondary academic academics and whereas he has been a stalwart in the business department for 17 years he coached girls softball at whrhs and won a State title in 2016 under his coaching and he has also won various County and Softball League championships I was at that championship game that was really exciting I remember that whereas after an outstanding career as a teacher who inspired all with his love of learning and Perpetual search for a better lesson he has decided to retire now therefore be it resolved that the Wong Hills Regional Board of Education extends its heartfelt gratitude to Michael delis Sandro's 20 years of service and Devotion to our school and wishes him a healthy and happy retirement to pursue his passions travel and whatever Adventures lie ahead thank you [Applause] so [Applause] yeah Miss Goodson your turn come on down so and you Laura has contributed tremendous a tremendous amount to our school Community um it's really nice to have both of you here tonight and actually get to to recognize all that you've done and I am going to share where Laura and I have most of our conversations because her classroom is very close to the superintendent's office and so she's been interviewing replacements for um I and this I'm just going to share this because it's become kind of a joke where she's my bathroom buddy we see each other in bathroom all the time we doomed you know she I think she might actually you know we might find her in there when the school year starts next year and like a recliner just uh holding Court but actually one of my first remembrances of coming into the to when I started at the high school was there was this woman who would come into the ladies room with like seven bags every day and that was Laura English teachers we carry a lot of bags yes so but we had some some great conversations right outside right I started having them right outside because I felt like I was being discriminatory for the people who couldn't come into the ladies room and have conversations so but it has become kind of a joke because I she needs to find a replacement for for when she departs um so now I will get a little more serious and read this Proclamation about all of your fine work at watchong Hills this Proclamation regarding Laura Goodson shall be read at the public meeting of the watchong Hills Regional High School Board of Education on June 4th 2024 whereas Laura Goodson was first employed by watchong Hills Regional High School in September 1997 as a teacher of special education and transferred to the English Department in 2007 and whereas she has brought immense energy humor insight and a love of literature and of learning to young people through her teaching in all levels of English coursework and in her work with the all school council and the ALS Alliance and whereas she has empowered students to have a shaping influence in their lives by showing them how we create ourselves by our choices and whereas she has shown scores of students and colleagues alike when life is at its most difficult to just keep swimming and whereas whether standing at her classroom door or walking down the hall during passing time between Bells she is invariably greeted with students cries of Miss Goodson and whereas Miss Goodson has advocated unrelentingly for everyone everywhere to read Charlotte bronte's novel Jane air and love it as much as she does and to dance with Reckless abandon and whereas through her teaching through her coaching and Advising through her mentoring and friendship Miss Goodson shows us that we are at our very best when we dedicate ourselves every day to making the world a little brighter and a little better for others that there is much joy to be found in service now therefore be it resolved that the watching Hills Regional Board of Education extends its heartfelt gratitude for Laura Goodson's 27 years of service and Devotion to our school and wishes her a healthy and happy retirement to pursue her passions travel and whatever Adventures lie ahead can I change my [Applause] mind and I realized Mike I didn't give you a chance to say a few words if you want want to please feel free to come back up that's up to you come on up you can be my friend um I just want to say thank you it's been a I need kids around um a great career love my job [Applause] uh yeah I'll just say thank you it's uh you know I always kid around because I have had two careers uh my first career in business I was for a little Financial Security my second career was really for my purpose and uh I loved every minute of it I'm going to miss this place but I'm sure I'll be back uh quite a bit living right in town but thank you so much I appreciate it 17 great years [Applause] take e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ports um educa education excellent uh thank you Mr President um on May the 29th the education committee met in attendance were Katherine Lee Susan obber Carol pra Janine Potter uh Dr JT Nicole Caro Mary Ellen faen and principal William laera uh a number of topics that we touched on uh the AI committee uh Miss faen informed the committee that many conversations were held with teachers and supervisors on the the appropriate use of AI in the classroom some teachers have been experimenting with AI over the last few months and express positive feedback the technology committee is recommending an AI committee to be formed with interested staff members this is planned for the 2425 school year uh Dr JWT then shared with us that uh a group of um of the administrators and a teacher went to see uh Scarsdale High School in New York uh to see their Steam and Design lab as many folks know we're in the process of uh getting our new steam lab ready to go for I believe the new school year um so this was an informative day and um provided the opportunity to give uh our Administration some great ideas and for continuing the discussions about course design and lab utilization once that we're operational in the new school year um he also shared with us the uh career day and career internship uh program expansion career day was held on May 29th for the 10th and 11th grader students it was a a big success uh Mr laera gave an overview of the day which included about a hundred different members uh two panel discussions and breakout sessions the students were engaged and had the opportunity to have individual conversations with vendors which led to potential internship opportunities uh for a students and also provided them just an opportunity to explore the different career paths are out there for them not only those that relate to you know going on to college but also career paths for those students who may not be not be necessarily College Bound um we also discussed the flex day um redesign uh Mr laera described Flex day as it was currently being implemented uh we currently run Flex day once per month during which students have a flex period for catching up on homework getting extra help or other items uh the change will be to create home rooms for all students students that they would report to on flex days during their flex period we would look to utilize the home rooms for character education distribution of pertinent information to students and as a structure for an emergency evacuation during a non-class period such as lunch before and after school information on home rooms will be disseminated by the supervisors to their departments and articulated to students uh lastly uh we had a discussion on regulation uh 5200 regarding attendance uh Mr laera explained the proposed change to the attendance regulations to have students with 30 or more absences from school receive a p fail grade this aligns directly with our current home instruction regulation which states that a student who is on home instruction for 30 or more days will receive a past fail grade Mr laa talked about absences and the rationale for the 30-day time frame the committee asked questions and discussed issues around chronic absenteeism the committee was in favor of the recom of recommending the changes to the board uh the regulation is on tonight's agenda for first reading um a copy was provided to uh all board members in advance of the meeting tonight um and as we discussed in committee uh again chronic absenteeism is a raging problem not only in New Jersey but across the country um and the proposed change is actually a benefit to students who may be out of school for 30 or more days with absences because it will allow them the opportunity to recover the credit but as a pass fail so they'll they will get credit but in a pass fail format considering that 30 days of Miss school it's basically one6 of the school year uh and it's not appropriate to provide grades when students actually are not participating in that instruction but they will be able to receive credit for those grades which is an improvement from the way the policy exists now uh the current policy would be they would have no credit recovery option uh whatsoever other than an appeal um to the administration so uh that is the education committee report I'd call on any of my colleagues on the committee who want to uh make any comments I'll open it up to the rest of the board any questions or comments seeing none that concludes my report Mr President thank you Mr Morrison uh Tim or Liz can you just tell me where the steam lab is going to be um so we're our current Robotics and uh Pho our current photography lab which we're relocating um to a different space that we're renovating for to be the photography lab we're taking we're combining that and the current robot robotics area the robotics area was like it's an ancient space with relics in it I think and it is so it is such a poor use of that space when they cleared everything out it is enormous uh it's it's going to be so much more functional when you used to go in there in the past be there were walls and and just machines and things that weren't even used and were students were like sardines in there um so when we walked in there after they had uh gutted the space it is it's such a tremendous tremendous uh amount of space that it's we're really excited about what that's going to um bring and that's why our our visit to um Scarsdale which their space is you know definitely smaller than ours and we were really interested in looking at how they use it um and how they um how it's outfitted with different supplies and things and what's nice is a lot of the uh Essentials that they mentioned are things that we already have they're just not situated that they're super conducive to use right now currently at so yeah we're really excited about it and that'll be ready for the school year start it's going to be tight it's close to the beginning of the school year it's a lot of work tell you great a full disclosure that question was presented to me by the student [Laughter] Representatives okay uh I know I'm person there's actually going to be a really nice entrance that says what it is so we know it's not always so easy to find things in the school so question um I know Personnel we discuss certain matters an executive session is there anything outside of uh yes executive session that we can discuss um Personnel committee met on May 28 2024 um in attendance were Dr jitt Katherine Lee Tim sty myself Heather Trump por Susan obber Lisa dagio and uh Donna denen um the uh first item we talked about the professional learning communities or PLC Fair um this is a culminating event at the end of the school year it happens once in May and once in June where our faculty reports on the work that they've done um throughout the year groups of teachers work collabora collaboratively on a problem of practice with three main areas of focus they have a compelling purpose they utilize instructional planning they and then data analysis and then each PLC Group shares its findings at one of the PLC fairs where the other half of the faculty gets to go to each group and kind of learn about um the outcomes uh that were found from each group um so I do want to thank our faculty we had our first one on May 22nd our next one is tomorrow and just both of those were great events I think showcasing the professional learning um of our teachers throughout this school year um the second item that we discussed were that all of our teaching positions are filled for the 2024 2025 school year which is something that we are very happy about uh we do have a hiring update for the board um we have three positions currently open one for groundskeeper one for transportation coordinator and one for director of special services at that meeting the committee reviewed two policies that are on the agenda this evening one policy is policy 1530 the equal employment opportunities policy policy the second one is 1550 the Equal Employment anti-discrimination Practices policy um there was a discussion regarding the policies and the um the committee wanted to bring some results forth um to the entire board um some edits were proposed for policy 1530 um that the committee would like to consider um they'd like to discuss the removal of paragraph six on policy 1530 and to add knowingly um to paragraph 7 so the board shall not knowingly enter into or maintain um for and then for p uh paragraph four on 1530 um they have some proposed language changes on there including um the board will mandate fair just and impartial hiring practices for policy 1550 the committee discussed um language in paragraph F 3 and some of that language comes from um Federal code so in terms of policy 1550 um the committee was suggesting an addition to paragraph three where it says in addition the board in collaboration with the administration will encourage uh minority businesses women's business enterprises and labor Surplus area firms to submit bids to be considered for the awarding of contracts and that is all from personnel Nicole I have a question if I'm not mistaken uh those uh policy um suggestions they were passed through the uh our attorney for comment and recommendation and he was satisfied with uh those comments yes and then um the feedback on the language changes proposed on paragraph 4 are in the um in the new proposal fair just and impartial so I I take it then just for clarification purposes that um the text that is in red is the new additional text me look at the it's it's in the highlighted yellow portion yes I'm assuming let me see there were so many uh oh thank you yes the the um yeah there's one section that's been crossed out I just want to make sure that the the there's one edit here where it there's the word fair and then a comet is inserted the so the the whole yellow was edited from the original version the red is actually what Mark added um after I sent the edited version to him so thank you for asking that clarifying question and then he and then and then based on this feedback striking of yes paragraph what he was fine with excellent any additional questions okay great thank you Nicole um Miss pra operations the operations committee met on May 3 May 31st at 8:45 a.m. pres present were Elizabeth jwi Tim sty Chris Bick Michael bernberg Bill merich Heather tror Dan Gall and myself Chris updated us on construction projects the nurse's Suite is 95% complete the new rooftop unit should be placed on the athletic and trainers and lock athletic trainers and locker room roof within a week the robotics room is progressing and the photography room and track construction are scheduled to begin on June 14th Tim uh Tim updated us on the bid for lighting in the new Lighting in the pack he also noted noted that all clean Building Services was the lowest responsible bid for custodial Services all clean has provided this service in the past and their bid was below the budgeted amount we only received one bid for Food Service vendor which was pomp tonian the bid is for three-year period and will represent a 4.5 increase necessitating an increase in student lunch prices in order for us to break even after reviewing the information the committee believes that these increases are reasonable Tim indicated that he anticipated higher anticipates higher interest rates for the lease purchase bid to be open June 12th we also discussed the results of the bid for the health broker of record uh Tim said four bids were received with our current broker Brown and Brown being the highest due to the significant differences between the highest and the lowest bid to suggested a subcommittee be set to interview the biders Tim will Aid the committee by identifying portions of the proposals that are relevant prior to our interviews Tim notice Tim noted there are several larger larger purchase orders on the agenda which include uh the Freshman Chromebooks and carpeting for the pack uh the committee reviewed the year's excess funds that would be remove that would be will be moved to Surplus Tim noted that there is a need to review and update the board's booster club policy the committee needs to review further review and further understand the background before making recommendations um and we will convene doing that the committee recommends a0 increase to the Murray Hill Chinese school for the 2425 school year um are there any questions or additions from the folks present that last one was their rent oh yes I'm sorry their their rent um Tim might explain so so the rent will be flat as opposed to zero oh did I say that wrong no no no I know I'm having I'm having hearing problems so I could have very I misheard I just wanted to a zero doll increase I think I I hope hopefully I use the word increase yeah we like to we love the Chinese school but we don't love that not that yeah if they were watching I'm sure they started dancing yeah they're cheering yes okay thank you uh Miss pret and I just want to uh take the opportunity because I didn't mention it before again graduation is next Thursday so looking forward to seeing everyone there and congratulating all our seniors Mr President uh just before we move on uh just on the uh shared services regionalization committee uh we will be the committee itself will be meeting uh on Monday May 24th at 6:30 June 24th June June 24th I'm sorry um uh here um and we'll be meeting with the uh Consulting team to outline the work that will be conducted over the course of the summer as far as their initial phase of research that will will be going on uh that's a committee meeting that is not a public meeting uh we will look to schedule the next public meeting for the beginning of the new school year and um 6:30 on June 24th so I'll an invitation to anyone about that yes please then I apologize I'm putting that into my calendar so that I don't forget um I mentioned the graduation earlier because it tied into the um our construction work as Miss Pro alluded to the uh that work is commencing Friday we are they might be chiseling the turf as you walk off the field so you know and uh rolling up the track has if you have not let me know by the way that you plan on attending um and the main reason just being so we can send you all the information ahead of time of where to park and those kinds of things so if you do plan on attending and you have not let me know yet just please do so and we say it basically every year with regard to construction there's a lot going on on campus for the two two and a half months of Summer and uh you know and again I want to thank the board because certainly pursuant to our uh our budget we have significant Capital Improvements and we try to do you know significant work every summer because we're trying to better the facilities keep up the facilities and the board is dedicated to doing that so we allocate a significant sum of money every year to doing that and of course most of the jobs have to get done during the summer because we don't have the luxury of doing it during the school year just too many students too much going on um so I know Tim will keep a close eye on that and keep all the workers going okay this is the first opportunity for public comment the first public comment period will will be limited to agenda item for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes um if you have a public comment hopefully you've signed in already and when you do come up here I see somebody's already beat me to it um please tell me who you are and where you're from and great hi um my name is Ann Butler um and I am Millington resident I would like to comment on agenda action item A3 proposed changes to regulation 5200 attendance the policy language in section g does not include exemptions for students with documented medical illnesses or chronic conditions this needs to be addressed I'm a parent of a child with a chronic medical condition documented and verified by her doctors and school doctors I'm not here to discuss my students particulars but I want you to know I am speaking from that experience it unfortunately happens often enough in a school of this size that a student misses six weeks consecutive or non-consecutive due to a medical condition and subsequent medical care whether from Sudden illness surgery accident or the result of a chronic medical condition students in this unfortunate situation have enough stress from their medical situation threatening the loss of credit and subjecting them to an appeals process to restore credit that's something I think you need to question why what is IR rationale for such an action let's assume the student wins the appeal process for the loss of credit after all automatically documented and confirmed condition the regulation then does not allow them to earn grades the regulation only allows them to earn a pass or a fail on their transcript this includes students working on their assignments while home on home instruction what about the students emotional needs how does the student feel about being denied grades due to their illness or disability if it happens in the early part of the year in the fall or early winter imagine that student attending class the rest of the year taking tests turning in assignments for a pass or Worse being removed from class and placed in an online learning program now unable to interact with friends and peers that they had met in the beginning of the year do they shut down give up maybe they just have a pit of sadness in their stomach because they're being treated this way due to their medical condition maybe they work for a d because why work for an a these aren't ideal situations for a student's emotional health or academic growth and what about a child who's work diligently all year and something happens in the spring they suddenly lose hard-earned grads because they have fallen ill or have a chronic condition how does this contribute to their emotional well-being and their feelings towards their school let's think about a student's college prospects your policy all but forces students to self-disclose their private medical information to explain the transcript irregularity medical privacy should be protected a protected right for students and colleges don't look at P's the same way they look at A's and B's removing credit from children with absences related to the care verified illness or chronic conditions is discrimination removing the grades from the transcripts of students with illnesses grades these students have earned through their hard work and diligence is also discrimination furthermore these decisions do not provide a clear path to college enrollment now I understand that this policy may be intended to address treny and chronic absenteeism in students absence without documented needs as it's currently written it overlooks students with documented health conditions whose conditions in Medical Healthcare lead to an acral of absences please revise this regulation to make it explicitly clear that student with documented medical conditions who ACW more than 30 days absence retain the right to earn grades under certain conditions and I understand that those conditions would need to be stipulated and that Dr JT and her administrative team would need to work that out I would imagine conditions would include things such as a student being underneath the care of a doctor providing communication between the school and the doctor regarding the condition and the absences Etc uh in the regulation section H titled School District response to unexcused absences during the school day that counts towards treny it details specific steps for administration as absences begin to acrw for truancy I would recommend adding a similar section for school district response to absences during the school year as a result of medical illness or chronic condition have that transparent for your Administration and for your families who are dealing with this you also have a statement under section one discipline number three which reads no student who is absent from school for observance of a religious holiday may be deprived of any award or eligibility for or opportunity to compete for any award because of the absence you might want to consider a similar statement for students with medically documented illness and or chronic conditions something like no student who is absent from school as a result of or to seek treatment for a documented and school verified long-term illness and or chronic condition May dep be deprived of an award or eligibility for an opportunity to compete for any award because of the absence I just want to uh add uh these were not scripted notes that with the committee report um what I heard and I hope I heard accurately um was that the committee felt that this regulation did uh provided a benefit for the student um I I disagree I I think that needs to be questioned uh I think your district has an obligation to educate your chronically ill and your long-term illness students and the committee report shared that the committee felt it was not appropriate to provide a grade for students in home instruction who've missed 30 days which is the equivalent to a six of a year but the district has an obligation to educate all of its students regardless of disability a medical chronic illness uh falls under the category of disability furthermore the district is in a position to provide home instruction that is the equivalent to the classroom expectations with your watch Young Hills Regional High School teachers with the same assignments and the same tests so students who are working on home instruction Meeting those same standards as their students who are not working on home instruction I I it just is I think it's something that the the board I would appreciate would question the administration further why would it matter where the student is working on the material if the student is working on the material at home with Watchung Hills teachers why take away a grade um I also just want to comment that I have done some research online uh with uh practices at neighboring high schools uh and high schools that are just uh exemplary in the uh New Jersey uh surrounding area including Ridge chadam Livingston and Berkeley Heights uh this policy is out of sync with the way that these districts treat uh long-term illness in home instruction for their chronically ill medically documented uh as looking through their own policies and regulations that are posted uh and I just want to end by saying I I do appreciate your time and your consideration of my comments uh and I thank you for your service to the district and the school board anyone else with any public comments please hello so uh I've never been to a board of education just tell us your name and where you're from please I was about to okay so I've never been to a Board of Education meeting before okay so my name is Benjamin Ruben Ben Ruben uh I have two sons I have one who graduated from wung hills okay I'm from Sterling okay and so I have two sons um both of them have 8hd okay um my older son I appreciate the accommodations he received uh here uh with his disability and he's doing very well at pen state with a very aggressive Computer Engineering major so I'm have very positive things to say about this school okay but my younger son unfortunately has a significant disability which results in many excused absences however he's an honoral student so he has many excus absences and based upon this current policy um he would after an appeal just receive a pass for his hard work and the grades that he earns okay what I thought was really surprising in in your discussion about uh this attendance policy is I didn't hear one word about students with disabilities all it was was purely about attendance and to not take into account the students who have disabilities in this school is wrong absolutely wrong and I have to say with the situation I've received in late April of my son's junior year mind you a disability documented in his 504 in his freshman year there was no issue his sophomore year there was no issue April 18th I get a call from the vice principal Mr Rubin your Sen's too many absences were taking away all of his grades and credits no meeting no notice nothing just that so I want to be clear that if you have policies they have to be followed so one point that hasn't been mentioned yet is that everyone in the Administration has to be educated as to what the policies are because clearly they're not being followed didn't happen in this case I want to let you know that after have spending rather significant money with h a counil okay who has an education background and a specialty with disabilities okay with an appeal that was filed it didn't even wait to the appeal process my son received his grades and credits right back but why did he have to go through that stressful situation of losing his grades it's egregious that that happened he was embarrassed after the call the next day there's a letter that goes to all of his teachers C seeing him an honoral student saying his he loses all of his grades and credit yet he still needs to attend and please continue to grade he's got a disability that's probably based upon stress how stressful was that I have to say I spoke to a number of educational experts in this area and you know what they had to say about watchong hills they said they're the most difficult most difficult district with regard to students with disabilities I don't think that's a ranking that Watchung Hills wants that this is known as a school they were saying it tactfully nicely that discriminates against student with disabilities it's outrageous this is an affluent area okay you've got a percentage of the students that have disabilities why in the world does this school take such a negative a negative process and affect student with disabilities I was really surprised and it's kept very quiet because parents do they want to talk about their students with disabilities of course not so it's quiet but once you get involved and you start talking to other parents you find out that their students were also discriminated against this has to stop okay I understand this treny problem but students with disability aren't TR truen they didn't choose to have their disability their chronic medical condition and by the way I've also learn that students who join national sports teams that they miss many days of school their parents are able to financially support their ability to go on these rather expensive teams they easily receive exclusions from the attendance policy so you have students who choose to go on national sports teams they get excluded however a student doesn't choose their disability and yet they have to fight with the school they there's no exclusions here with regard to their disability on this very strict policy regarding the 30 days it's outrageous quite frankly now I want to discuss something of legal background and by the way I am an attorney I have an intellectual property background I'm not an educational expert and I would request more time if possible because I do want to go through the specifics of the terms because I've looked at them and I know how to resolve them well again part of our policy is that all comments are limited to five minutes you're more than welcome to come back another time or there is a second round of comments and you can I I would request more time please okay I was very patient I heard everything here okay and I have some very I think helpful information to address this area okay if I could be a court additional sirate I join that OB I the the you know the the the time limit has been met and there's obviously some other issues that the speaker would like to bring forward including issues that are legal in nature and if that is the case I think that needs to go through the appropriate appropriate channels well by legal in nature excuse me by legal in nature okay I just want to excuse me I just want to address the policy and the wording of the policy you've already you've already done that I'm not here as an attorney I'm here as a father of a student with disability you made think I should be accorded the appropriate time to step through and you were the recommendations you were accorded the five minutes that you're allowed now you're basically saying that you want to speak for another hour and a half that's what I'm hearing I didn't say that don't put words you said you wanted more I said an additional five minutes let's be respectful to each other I don't appreciate that comment let's agree to disagree but again it's 5 minutes and there's no support from the board you can come back at the end at second public com second comment and I said that you have the opportunity we'll go through our agenda and then you have the opportunity to come back again so the board knowing well that there is a discrimination issue at this school regarding students with disabilities doesn't want to hear right now my very specific recommendations which would be very helpful do I have a second to the motion second to the motion all those in favor I I I okay public comment first opportunity for public comment is now closed outrageous are there any items for board discussion any future act discussion with respect to Future action items okay Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A4 any comments or discussion with respect to items A1 through A4 seeing none roll call vote Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Mr May yes Mr Morrison yes Miss over M Potter yes Mr pra chour yes and Mr Burber yes motions carry Mr President I'd like to move uh walk-in item a five any comment or discussion roll call okay um Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Mr Mayor yes Mr Morrison yes it's over why do we not have you on this thing is I mean it's not starred it's not starred yeah Miss Potter you should you should be yeah that's it okay Miss rasa M chur yes and Mr Berber yes motion carries thank you uh just to reiterate A5 for those who are not here and have not had an opportunity to see this walking agenda item this is actually the ratification of the uh memorandum of agreement with respect to the uh affected teachers contract the watching Hills Regional Education Association contracted uh contract dated as uh May 2nd 2024 uh it's for contract period July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2028 so in effect it's a four-year contract uh again I want to thank uh Dan Gall and his committee uh Bill Susan Heather were you on the committee I forget no Catherine Catherine C and yourself yes myself so I want to thank and of course I thank Administration for all the hard work they put in and also certainly with respect to the union and um as I mentioned before both sides certainly made some concessions but I think at the end of the day both sides think it's a fear agreement we're excited to have Labor peace for the next four years and uh I think this year we did a great job because we uh settled um the old contract and now we got the new contract so we kind of settled uh seven years of contracts in the last 6 months I guess that Affair statement so a lot cont that's a lot of contracts so that's certainly exciting so um Mr President yes sir I just on on on this particular item I also wanted to just thank again the committee and the administration um you know for this particular agreement and particularly want to uh congratulate you on being able to significantly uh improve our compensation for our uh Athletics for our extracurricular activities um we've been working for the better part of um six or seven years to try to get on par or get closer to on par with our peer districts and this particular contract goes a long way in moving us there we're not all the way there yet but we are working toward getting there to make sure that uh all of our fantastic coaches and extracurricular advisors and Club advisors are compensated appropriately and competitively for the contributions that they're making for our students so I want to congratulate everyone for doing that I know that was no easy task long time in coming but well worth it so thank Youk yeah I too want to just thank the committee um and I've already done that in the past me but I also want to thank the teachers the negotiations were respectful and productive and I think um it was it was a good experience it was tough experience but it was a good experience and I want to just thank the the staff and the teachers and Liz and Tim and Nicole in their guidance thank you okay moving on Mr re president I'd like to move items C1 through C13 comments questions concerns roll call Mr maio Mr Gall yes Mr Mayor yes Mr Morrison yes M obber Potter yes proa M chour yes and Mr Burber yes motions carry Mr President I'd like to move items D1 through D6 comments or questions seeing none roll call Mr maio Mr Gall yes Mr mayek yes Mr Morrison yes sober Mr Potter yes proa yes tror yes and Mr Burber yes motions carry okay thank you now we have the second opportunity for public enjoy the summer by second opportunity for public comment I already mentioned my name is Benjamin reben I live Sterling so a after I had that explanation um I just want to First explain before going into the text of the policy the individuals and disabilities Education Act Ida requires schools to evaluate students with excessive absences to determine if a disability related condition is causing the absences this is part of the school's child find responsibilities which are are intended to ensure that students with disabilities receive the special education services they need current policy is non-compliant with that in determining the potential need for eligibility under Ida or Section 504 schools and districts must consider all relevant information including attendance chronic absenteeism may be a red flag indicating the need for a referral so that puts the obligation on the schools to be monitoring excused absences and to see that if there are notes coming from a doctor perhaps in the 504 there's an indication of a disability that that then is turned over to the child studies group where the child studies group then reaches out to the parent and seeking consent for an evaluation That's the Law we're not doing it and now I want to just step through a number of the changes here okay so if we go to uh section uh G denial of course credit the way to handle that is it needs to be prefaced with subject to section H5 H5 lists all of the protections for students with disabilities or unless the child study team of the school district is administering an evaluation of a student's medical or psychological condition or performed an evaluation of a student and determined that the student has a disability as documented in the students 504 or IEP which causes the absences excused by the students Health provider so what that would do is make it clear that this school is in compliance with idea with find okay that you don't just strip away a student's grades and um uh and their uh earned credit simply because of the effects of disability you have to step through the process of evaluation and it always has to happen that way okay and then there should be an additional number three in G which says a student who has a disability documented under their IEP or 504 which was evaluated by the study team of the school district provided the student is passing a given course the student may receive home study of the given courses as medically required and shall retain their P applicable grades and credits again students don't choose their disability my son is a B+ a minus honor rooll student he does all of his work he didn't choose to have the disability that he has so there needs to be exclusions based upon the law with regard to child study and evaluation and the school needs to monitor absences which it really isn't doing right now to triggers child study evaluations so these this policy really needs to have an expert look at it maybe bring in some consultants and really step through this because right now it is not compliant with many of the state and federal laws I also added a number s which and I won't go through the detail of it but for 11 cumulative excused absences the principle or design shall and essentially there is no term in the policy where when a certain amount of excused Happ has happened that then it triggers either sending to the vice principal or directly to the study group so that there is an evaluation done it should not lead to a discipline Direction it should be about helping the student with disabilities to provide them the appropriate accommodations that they need and if yes they're supposed to have some exclusion on attendance that they could do their work at home given their disability which they didn't choose certainly that's the way the policy should be okay I think we all want to treat students with disabilities appropriately respectfully okay and that's not happening right now and you know I I think this needs to be taken seriously I understand there's a focus on treny but students with disabilities are not truants you need to have a uh a bif here and understand they need to receive the rights under the state and federal laws thank you I appreciate that thank you are there any additional public comments motion to close public comment all those in favor okay great is there any other business go ahead good right I appreciate everyone would do that I'm sorry talking about the uh every year we have to evaluate uh Dr JT CSA evaluation uh and U the evaluations went out a week or so ago and uh I'm just asking all the board members to finish theirs uh by June 11th so that uh myself and Heather volunteered to help me put it together so that we can and I thank you uh which means Heather's GNA put it together uh so that's great I I just want to make a comment with respect to public comment if I may we are bound as a board not to disclose student information we don't know who students are we see numbers even when we're in executive session and we're discussing uh various Personnel type issues student type issues we don't know who the students are so that is protected from us we don't have that information protected from us so we can't disclose it and we're not supposed to disclose it parents or other individuals certainly have the right to disclose that information but that's not us so when an individual comes in front of us during comment section and they now identify their student or their child I'm sorry with certain issues they've now identify the student just want to make it clear that's not us doing it they've taken that upon themselves to do that and whether that's good or bad that's not for me to say but I just want to make that clear we're not doing that we're not allowed to do that and that's something we take very seriously uh Liz do you want to make a comment just a clarifying uh piece of information that the policies that we're discussing do not address special education exceptions they they don't address what might be included in IEP there's different laws and policies for that so that's addressed in a completely separate um way just to to make that clear thanks Mr President yes On a related note I just I cannot let a comment be made in public that accuses this District this board and this administration of discrimination that is an unfounded accusation that was made from the podium this evening it is unacceptable it is not appropriate and I would urge any member of the public making any type of accusatory comment that you are responsible for the comments that you make and those then that kind of accusation is unacceptable and I just want to make sure that the public hey this is not a this is not a public discussion yeah you're okay motion toour we are adjourned thank you