e e e e good even and welcome to the West Orange Board of Education public board meeting on Monday April 15th 2024 I would like to thank all of you here in person and those watching from home for joining us tonight we would like to welcome my fellow board members as well as Mr Moore and Miss Flowers Miss Flowers would you please take the roll call good evening everyone roll call please Dr Bryant present Mr ifer here Mr Stevenson here miss Vera here Mr Rock here thank you notice of meeting the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests are discussed or acted upon in accordance with the pro provisions of the ACT a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on February 27 2024 that set notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township Clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and by email to The Star Ledger that said notice was posted in the lobby of the administration building of the Board of Education and posted on the district website please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district's website at a future date please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance uned States of America thank you Miss Flowers in consideration of the closed in public meeting of March 18th 2024 do I have a motion to accept the minutes so moved thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr ifer any comments hearing no comments Miss flowers please take the Roll Call Dr Bryant here Mr ier yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you right and good evening to our student Liaisons Leila abona and Kai James would you two please share your student aison Report with us please okay um on AR on March 26 the West Orange girls basketball team paid a meaning meaningful visit to Kelly Elementary scho school to inspire the youth during women's History Month also on March 26 the West Orange High School Wind Ensemble gained an astonishing gold rating at the North Jersey school music association region concert band Festival on April 3rd West Orange Public Schools district was once again named the 2024 best communities for music education in the nation by the National Association of merchant music Merchants thank you for to our amazing music staff for their support throughout the years the United States Marines brought the heat to West Orange High School gym classes challenging students with drills and competitions on April 5th Roosevelt Middle School is putting on an amazing youth production titled Once Upon a mattress on April 18th to 20th at 7 p.m. come check it out Liberty Middle School is presenting Mean Girls Junior on April 25th to the 27th and Edison Middle School school's performing Matilda Jr uh on May 3rd and 4th spring sports are off to a start and with only a little over two months left of the school year seniors are getting ready for graduation West Orange High School students will be participating in a joint campus cleanup with CN Hall Prep students for Earth Day Monday April 22nd after school and all students are encouraged to help out seniors have begun making their college decisions and you can go follow our decision Instagram West orang High School decisions 24 thank you thank you both all right Mr Moore it is now time for your report would you please share your superintendent's report thank you president rck tonight we have the pleasure of recognizing the outstanding work of our students involved in the youth Advisory board at this time I ask that principal Guerrero please join us at the podium so we can recognize These Fine students good evening everyone we have some amazing students at uh West Orange High School and um we often recognize uh some of our best athletes our students that perform in the Arts uh and obviously the many academic achievements of our students uh but it's equally as important uh to recognize our students who work hard to make our our community a better and in this case safer Place uh I would like to call up the president of the N bani Foundation uh Mr seil badani to speak a little bit more about our youth Advisory board and the amazing work that they've been doing thank you principal Guero for the introduction um sorry oh okay so uh my better half and the force behind the foundation is traveling and presenting at the Cancer Department Transportation on the power of traffic advocacy so she could not be here today uh so you get me um I'm sure it w come as a surprise to anyone that to know that traffic crashes are leading cause of death in teenagers obviously you got uh gun violence and mental health and as as close U close seconds but last year alone in 2021 actually about 28,000 crashes involved uh teenagers between um 16 and 20 and at a national level it's about eight teenagers a day who die just absorb those numbers across the country that is not just in new now the underlying reason for these alarming High um statistics is the lack of experience behind the wheel in these young drivers but so who better to advocate for the safety of these young drivers than the teenagers themselves now at the heart of a mission lies a recognition that the voices and contributions of our young people are essential in shaping the policies that um directly impact their lives and um communities so we piloted the youth Advisory Board in U 2020 with the goal of empowering students to make a difference in their communities and uh provide them a platform to express their views on traffic safety since then this program's expanded to um Indian Hill in Burlington High um and our goal is to really keep this uh spread this um uh H have M multiple organizations across the state so they can work together and in concert really impact safety across the state so that that's a end vision and um Advocates and organizations such as triaa have been advocating for the 50 practice our legislations believe it or not since 2008 um when a study conducted by the nits that's a national highway tra traffic safety administration they revealed um they did a study which revealed there was this was there weak Link in the New Jersey drivers um driver head program so our students working on started working on the campaign to get this bill passed in 2000 and then 2001 the first time they actually testified um in the assembly and it took took four graduating groups and a lot of hard work and patience for the bill to be signed in law so my congratulations to you for the incredible work and to let you know how it happened I'll um have Rish from um youth Advisory board come in and uh and share how how they go went about it thank you oh I have it right here good evening uh my name is Chris Patel I'm a junior here at bestest Orange High School and I'm also a part of the youth Advisory board so today we will be talking about what we have accomplished this year like all the different committees in our club and what we plan to do to finish off the year all right so our mission is to make a difference in our community Through policy and changes and educa through education through road safety and advocacy right uh we want to make Traffic Safety a known issue like throughout the town throughout the state Etc uh we have three committees in our club policy Municipal and education I am a part of the policy committee this year we advocated for fif the 50h hour practice hour bill um we made several trips to Trenton uh May uh me and a few other uh members of the club uh testified on behalf of this bill what this bill does is require permit holders between the age of SE uh 16 and 21 who don't have their probationary license to do 50 hours of practice uh driving with the supervisor with 10 hours at night um with this um bill being passed we hope to reduce that number of Team related accidents that happen on a daily basis we testified uh before the Senate Transportation committee the Senate budget and Appropriations Committee the assembly Transportation committee and on January 8th 2024 the bill was signed into law by Governor Murphy um hi I'm part of the education committee but I'll be talking about the mun Municipal committee uh our goal is to engage our community to promote Traffic Safety uh We've collaborated with the West Orange pedestrian safety board and West range police department and then we've generated Solutions with local traffic safety leaders and we've addressed Community Brad traffic issues and we actually created the first ever Street mural to slow down traffic oh sorry um these are some of the accom lishments that we've accomplished um we were awarded $10,000 in cash prize for the last three years we provided three behind the wheel lessons to 20 students and we continue to offer the scholarships to our seniors uh the some other accomplishments we hosted two Traffic Safety fairs we collaborated with Easy Ride for bike safety skools and learned to ride lessons we also had Booth raffle prizes and fun activities and we curated a mural with local purchase and you can see some of the pictures here uh some more accomplishments um West we reached the West Orange go level recognition from New Jersey safe routs to school program and we participated and conducted a schoolwide audit on Transportation means to and from school hello my name's April I am part of the education committee and the I want to talk about how the youth Advisory Board chose a new route this year we tried something new we did the Traffic Safety Week it was to spread awareness and educate others in the high school about pedestrian and driver safety the topics that we tried to talk about was speed regulations distracted driving substance awareness pedestrian and bike safety in doing so we offered this Raffles and prizes and in return they submitted forms we gathered over 200 responses from students and on average students who filled out our post served got 83 correct all right um along with the youth advy board and the two committees we also have the education committee this year they made several trips to uh elementary schools all around best orange uh to uh inform those children of pedestrian safety bus safety Etc um we incorporated a mu design for students uh at some of the schools I believe and we projected and we project to present uh to local elementary schools furthermore this year all right all right so for upcoming plans uh we want to obviously continue advocating for Traffic Safety uh present to elementary schools and finally present our final presentation to yug Got Brains contest which we we have for the last couple of years and you can keep up with everything that we do on our Instagram uh andb uh Nu bani Foundation you RIS board yeah no and a little surprise for our uh youth advisory members from triaa hi everyone thanks for having us here tonight my name is Tracy Noble and I am the public and government Affairs manager for triaa midatlantic and I have had the honor and the privilege of working with the youth Advisory board for the course of the last four years so during the height of the pandemic I testified side by side with the students via Zoom then we moved to a very limited audience testimony masks included um back at the state house where the students were grilled and held their own this is one of the most impressive groups of students I have ever come in contact with and you guys should be Beyond proud when I tell you their dedication their followup their just drive to do this so initially the practice hours which we all now know for the gdl that was a recommendation that came out of the teen driver study Commission in 2007 so the first time it was up before the legislature was 2008 it took the entire time that a person could get their license to get this past and I honestly don't know if it would have been done without the dedication and the life experience of the youth Advisory board when I tell you they changed the mind of senators who were going to vote no they walked into that committee room and the senator said you changed my mind I came in here today planning to vote no on this legislation and they changed Minds so I am beyond proud to have worked with you you guys are going to do amazing things as as you leave West Orange into your next Endeavors and with that I'm going to let Lauren say a few words and then I would like to give you something hi everyone my name is Lauren pno I'm with triple A Northeast um I just want to say that I'm a newbi in New Jersey and when I came in here I said to tresa I was like we're going to get this legislation done and it would not have been possible without the group of students that are here tonight when they came in to testify and I was thinking about myself at 16 years old no way would I have been able to get up there and speak so confidently and with such fruition the way that they did and they made a significant difference as Tracy said in terms of how this legislation was able to get to the finish line so you guys should really be so proud of yourselves because it would not have happened if you guys weren't there every step of the way testifying so again congratulations and you guys have been part of the process don't stop there are other legislative initiatives you can Undertake and this is only the beginning for you all okay so my name is shaie Jarvis I'm the Outreach manager for tripa Northeast and um while I definitely defer to Tracy and Lauren on legislative affairs I just wanted to say how proud I am of you as well because I have watched them work with you for the last four years and I have never been so proud of a group of students to be able to sit in front of senators and legislators and speak so eloquently and you know they said it as well but you you helped us you helped this bill pass and so you should be very proud of yourselves and with that I would like to present the youth Advisory board with a govern signed copy of the bill that is made out to the West Orange High School youth Advisory Board you made this a reality in remembrance of Nelle stay strong sincerely Governor Phil Murphy e e I just wanted to take uh two seconds to say thank you to the students and to Mr pigney thank you so much and of course Mr badani who we've had a longtime relationship with and you know we're so proud but students um I know that I'm speaking for Mr Guerrero as well I'm so proud to be a mountaineer alongside you guys uh what you did was no small feet but once again your Stellar example of what it means to be a mountaineer in a West Orange student really appreciate what you've done thank you for the example you've set and thank you for the initiative it's a very important initiative and I appreciate it so we're very proud of you thank you okay moving right along to my report um is the HIV report since our board meeting there have been two Hib investigations I reviewed the summary of the investigation throughout the district one has been determined and founded I concur with the findings presented by our anti-bullying specialist president rock that concludes my report this evening thank you Mr Moore and the rest of your team for that presentation and those updates and congratulations again to the youth Advisory Board um when when professionals get things through traton it's impressive so when you guys as high school students can actually get something done down there it's even more so as a former Civics teacher I I appreciate the work that you are doing um with that we'll move to the committee reports uh from the board think Mr ifer had want something to share uh thank you uh just very briefly since the last meeting uh a couple things number one is I had the pleasure of uh continuing our tour of schools this time extra special pleasure with vice president Maria Vera we went to Roosevelt and walked around and it was you know it's great to go to uh all the schools it's especially great when it's uh school where your child has been we saw along with Mr hush a couple of my son's old teachers and they remembered him and we remembered them and it was really special and actually uh one of the teachers uh Mr Jay W asked me to come sit in on his class he was teaching them about the Holocaust and it turns out that I do a little a little bit of work with Holocaust Survivors so it was so meaningful to me and I hope the students got a little bit more out of it but it was really uh a very special day uh when we were there we heard a little bit more about the traffic issues and the drop off safety issues that they're having there plus some emails from parents um so fast forward to this morning where we were able to bring all the uh parties together and there was a meeting with uh parents uh Nicole rufo Shannon Breen and the traffic safety Bureau and the um engineering department of the town and uh of course Mr hush running the show and I think they're going to get something done and this is exactly the way I think it's supposed to be there's a problem everybody's involved the town the the Board of Ed the uh superintendent and I expect that this is the safety issue at Roosevelt is going to be resolved uh fairly quickly and next month hopefully uh the vice president and I will be headed to Kelly Elementary School thank you anything from Mr Stevenson no reports Dr Brian or all right thank you I'd like to share a brief note for my board president's Report with all of you now the New Jersey Department of Ed has released uh the 2022 23 school performance report our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Miss Evony dandz presented the 2223 results for West Orange at our November 13th Board of Ed meeting uh please note that the school performance reports summarizing these and additional School related data can be accessed through the district's website the other thing I wanted to take a minute to talk about was the uh schools or the the state school funding formula uh when the aid numbers were released back in February uh we we were met with the news that we were going to lose $700,000 uh like many of you I was kind of perplexed by that we had all you know speaking with the administration and my fellow board members expected to receive additional Aid this year um at first there were not a lot of explanations for why that was but after looking into the data and having some conversations uh I've come to a better understanding of how it works uh and I it is quite flawed how it works but we've unfortunately been the uh victim of a formula that's got some flaws in it so I wanted to take a minute just to explain that for transparency sake so that my board members uh understand how the formula works as well as anybody that's watching from home and I I'll start this by saying that the formula is complex there's a lot of data that goes into it so if anybody's really interested we can have a longer conversation I'm going to try to boil this down to less than five minutes and just hit on kind of the the big ideas of what's going on in West Orange and around the state and so what you need to kind of basic fundamental idea understand about the funding formula is that there's four big buckets of money that a district can potentially get the biggest one is called um Equalization Aid then the other three are called special uh Ed category oral Aid Transportation Aid and uh security Aid those other three are largely driven by enrollment so if your enrollment goes up you potentially get more Aid to support special ed programs Transportation Security if your enrollment goes down you potentially lose some of that the other thing is that over the last seven years that part of the funding formula has been being phased in so we never got 100% of that no one across the state did and they've been phasing that in that only represented about a third of the money that we received from the state the majority of our Aid came through its called Equalization a that's calculated based on two numbers so the the essential promise is that if the district raises What's called the local fair share what the the state decides based on its formula we can afford to raise in property taxes they'll calculate what they think is the basic cost of an education What's called the adequacy budget whatever the difference is they provide an aid now that was a promise they made back in 2007 when they wrote this formula they never fully funded it so there were fluctuations in there that nobody really realized until this year when throughout the state people hit their full Equalization Aid or full Equalization Aid and some of those fluctuations started to appear is what happens is the the the two numbers in there can kind of go up and down independently but the adequacy budget itself is largely driven by what they call the base cost the district looks at how much it costs across the state to educate people that number has gone up 5.8% when you compare last year to this year so that's kind of the inflation number if you want to think about how much increases to spend just to provide the same education then there's enrollment which goes into that so our weighted enrollment went up about 1% so our adequacy budget what the state said it should cost you X to educate the kids in West Orange went up about 6.9% last year to this year so everything else stays the same that would mean we'd get more money our adequacy budget goes up they fill in kind of the hole that's left by that the problem is the other piece of the formula which is our local fair share and so that's calculated based on on the equalized value in town the the value of all property in town and the aggregate income of everybody that lives in town those two numbers each at 50% make up how they calculate this local fair share the kind of nitty-gritty isn't important but if those numbers go up faster than the adequacy budget what happens is your local fair share goes up quicker than the adequacy budget and that difference goes down if you look at last year to this year the equalized valuation of property and town went up about 7 or 8% our income I don't know who made an extra $500 million last year but if you have some of that and want to give it to us we'll we'll take it but apparently our income as a town went up $500 million or 15% so because of that our adequacy budget went up $9 million but our local fair share went up $12 million so that actually Aid into what we should have gotten by $3.5 million those other three buckets of Aid also went up a little bit they went up 2.8 million so the net impact on us that we see is $700,000 being taken away when in reality if our local fair share and adequacy budget had kind of stayed at the same level and our Equalization Aid had stayed the same we'd really be getting about $3 and A5 million as opposed to losing 700,000 so that in West Orange is what's happened if you look across the state we're not alone there's a small group of districts about 50 to 75 they kind of fit the same classification is us they're largely Suburban districts that still get Equalization Aid because they can't afford through local property taxes to pay the full rate of what it cost to educate our kids but because of fluctuations in their either their equalized value or their income they lost a significant amount of Equalization dat um at this point we're in conversations with our legislators here in white sores to try to get the state to do something about that uh there is a bill that's in the legislature um the the text of it as written today probably would not help us it probably would help some other districts that have seen a much more drastic cut uh but that's kind of the the basic explanation of what's happening because I know we were perplexed when we saw that cut um I know other people had kind of raised the question on on social media or in conversations privately with board members just wanted to kind of explain that a little bit uh and again I don't want to take up an hour and do a fancy PowerPoint but if you do have questions about how the aid formula is calculated you want to understand some more about that I'm happy to whether it's with my fellow board members or someone in the community that wants a detailed uh discussion of that we can we can get together over coffee and and talk about it so unless there's any questions from the board members that would conclude my board president's report all right next we will have questions from the public on agenda items only any Community member who would like to make comments or ask questions please come to the podium at this time please state your name and home address for the record then begin your comments please limit your comments to 3 minutes do we have any members of the public here in the audience tonight who want to make a public comment all right well we will move on to our resolutions then uh may I have a motion to approve the Personnel items A1 through A6 so thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Dr Bryan uh may I have the motion or sorry that was motioned and seconded um is there any discussion on the motion no I want to congratulate the following retirees Cathy deltufo an academic supporter at Washington Elementary for her 27 years of service Anna Flores our assistant business administrator at central office for her eight years of service Matt salsman who works in special ed at West Orange High School for his 25 years of service and an at Talen acting Director of Human Resources and assistant principal for her 26 years of service thank you all for your service to the West orang students and our school Community best wishes to you and welcome to the club where every day is Saturday with that Miss Flowers would you please take the role Dr Bryant yeah here Mr ifer here Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you next may have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction items B1 through B3 so moveed thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Dr erer uh is there any discussion seeing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ier yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you all right next may I have a motion to approve the finance items c special services item A1 and business office items B 1- 12 so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you vice president ver is there any discussion seeing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Bara yes president Rock yes thank you all right and lastly may I have a motion to approve reports items D1 through two so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr ier is there any discussion hearing none Miss flowers please take the roll call Dr Bryant yes say Mr ifer yes Mr Stevenson yes vice president Vera yes president Rock yes thank you all right thank you very much to all my board colleagues for that next up we have petitions and hearings of citizens for any agenda or non-agenda item that you wish to discuss uh you will have three minutes to speak please approach the podium at this time state your name and address for the record on there we go thank you good evening um I have these copies in case the board members want to see what I'm referring to you do not have to but good evening my name is Mea froz I reside at 28 Ridge viw Avenue West Orange New Jersey and while I am a West Orange Schools employee I am also a resident and a parent of a West Orange schools student and it's under that hat that I am here today I'm here today to express my dire concern over the possible reduction of force in our school library program specifically in the Middle School realm while I recognize that nothing is set in stone yet I urge you to consider preserving what we have left the West Orange schools Library program has taken a number of hits in the past 13 years the removal of our library a who assisted with shelving covering vital tasks that allowed our media Specialists to conduct and manage the library as needed the removal of the itinerant librarian happened recently who took on classes at our larger schools to ensure that our school media Specialists were able to conduct classes as necessary and manage their rooms the shortening of all our elementary library classes kindergarten is now 30 minutes 1st through 5th is only 40 minutes rather than a full period in order to fit more classes in the day I've spoken with some of our media specialists at the elementary level and it's my understanding that some now Teach as many as seven classes in a day which will contribute to burnout and I hope that's not true furthermore I'm concerned about Equity equality and access for all of our students especially now that the public library is so challenging to access for many of our West Orange residents the school libraries are needed more than ever for curious and growing Minds if the school libraries are not open daily this will very likely increase the achievement Gap and why because at our middle schools two of our libraries are off the beaten path unless your destination is the library you likely won't see it or have a need to be near it the more a child tries to go to the library and it's closed the more likely it is that that child will stop trying if my pleas aren't enough then I implore you to consider the data that I've provided you today in what I am giving you tonight you will see the studies that show the direct correlation between having certified media Specialists with literacy and test scores test scores have been a heated topic of interest in our Township over the past several years so why would we remove the media specialist from our schools when there is a direct evidence that their work improves test scores as well as graduation rates even when controlling for both school size and income levels I would like to point out that bill number 2316 that is currently in the New Jersey senate will require a certain number of certified Library staff per School building based on population I have provided that bill for you if you wish to reference it it's item two line 13 that in each Public School having an enrollment between 300 and 1,400 students of October 15th the prior school year the Board of Ed shall employ a minimum of one full-time staff member who holds a library media specialist endorsement as of now we're already in in compliance but the removal of even one member will I lost my spot of one talented high- performing individual will have to be replaced as soon as the bill is made into law as my time is running low I wish to remind you that Library serves many purposes from literacy events as Book Fairs giveaways author visits and battles to Partnerships with our other Educators to create Eng engaging cross-curricular lessons enriched with information literacy digital media education and perhaps the most important of all a Zone where every student is on even footing and a safe space for those who need a moment of Solace during the school day thank you Lisa tuo 15 Carter Road Liberty school liary media specialist good evening Mr Moore and members of the Board of Education as a lifelong resident of West Orange with deep family roots in our community I have witnessed the evolution of our public school system over Generations I am here to express my concerns regarding the recent challeng es facing our Middle School library media Specialists the role of the Librarians extends far beyond the books we are Educators curators and advocates for our students academic success despite facing numerous challenges including staff reductions and position eliminations we remain steadfast in our commitment to provide the highest level of Education research consistently demonstrates the positive impact of a full-time librarian on student student achievement from fostering digital literacy lessons to promoting a love of literature contrib our contributions are invaluable to the educational experience our libraries are safe havens for students providing social and emotional support in addition to academic resources we spearhead Innovative initiatives such as maker spaces that can promote critical thinking and problem solving skills that are essential in the F the children's future in the Workforce qac underscores the importance of providing library media Services connected to the classroom studies in every school building yet our department continues to face threats to its existence jeopardizing the well-being of our students and the Integrity of our educational Mission you tell the parents you do not want to uh affect the classroom learning but that is in fact what you are doing my teachers rely on my resources and expertise to inform their instruction without a librarian in every school there will be a negative impact on student learning I urge you to review the librarian's presentation to the board which was sent to you this afternoon by myself it outlines the vital role of school library media specialists in our school district let's not Overlook the dire implications of neglecting the library media centers particularly during this school Library month I implore you to stand with us to safeguard the future of our students and the Vitality of our school libraries thank you for listening good evening superintendent Moore members of the board my name is Patty Richardson and I'm an eighth grade teacher at Liberty Middle School serving this community for over 20 years I felt compelled to speak tonight to address the possibility of eliminating library media specialist positions within the district more specifically the thought of eliminating a library media specialist position at the middle school level is absolutely heartbreaking and would negatively impact our students and staff as an Ela teacher I do not know where I would be without the help support collaboration of our library media specialist Mrs Lisa tuzo she has been an absolute blessing and Lifeline for the faculty and staff and children of Liberty Middle School she is the heart of our building nurturing lifelong learning while also creating a special place in the hearts of our children and staff one could make the assumption that library media Specialists are not teachers and are easily replaceable I'm here to tell you unequivocally that is the furthest thing from the truth Mrs Lisa tuo is an extraordinary library media specialist who at a moment's notice will have the necessary resources for for any teacher within the building when tasked and is always willing to assist not only the teachers and staff but our students as well Mrs tuzo is one of a few teachers within our building who teaches every student as L English language arts and Social Studies classes alike go to the library on a monthly basis at both grade levels to participate in carefully designed lessons these lessons include use of online databases and ebooks having students create their own reading equation celebrating their creativity and Imagination about reading creating blackout poetry understanding fake news and media Specialists excuse me media bias and recognizing AI just to name a few if that were not enough Mr tuzo puts together a monthly newsletter filled with resources while also highlighting special events within the school she creates month-long interactive daily calendars celebrating Black History Month and women's History Month in particular the list goes on with all this being said the most important role of Mrs Tu Mrs tuo's job at Liberty Middle School is getting books into the hands of our students especially those who need to feel like the characters in the books they are reading especially at the middle school level where students are trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in why would we want to eliminate this experience and opportunity for our students how are we as teachers supposed to build rigor within our classrooms having our students read every day if the materials and books necess necessary are not available to us because there is no one in the library to fill these needs in the words of Judy Bloom Librarians save lives by handl handing the right book at the right time to a kid in need our library media Specialists have saved Our Lives time and time again now it is our time to do the same for them and save theirs please keep the heart of our buildings intact please keep Mrs Lisa tuzo at Liberty Middle School thank you good evening Joyce SoDo 16 Prospect Place I am also a librarian here in town but tonight I speak to you as an upand cominging fifth grade parent who will be going into the middle school with a possibility of not having access to the library as our students currently do with the elimination of a position at the middle school level we will be doing a disservice to our students my son may not feel impact like some of his other friends that are in his school because not all of our students here in West Orange have access to the public the West Orange Public Library where they can go and get some resources that they may not have access to in school and now we are looking to take away the opportunity that they have to go and speak with a certified School librarian to get the resources that they need to explore their interest and to build upon what what they have been learning in the middle school it is going to be a disservice to those students and I stand here and speak on behalf of those parents who may never be able to come to a board meeting because they are not able to and they are not able to bring those resources to their children our of school media Librarians especially at the middle school level they are preparing our students for when they are coming up here to the high school and on to life as well we need to really take into effect the con what is going I'm sorry what is um going to be the impact of removing the media librarian at the middle school level for example we will um not have the horses where they can have um time to have critical thinking where they can explore their curiosity and their lifelong learning and establishing um their inclusivity Librarians and libraries are a safe place for them in the Middle School especially as they're transitioning in that sixth grade level I am employ you to take a look at the studies that miss branis is um shared with you and to keep in mind how our um libraries help our children with research and confirms their values as um as they are growing and becoming their own people sorry I got this hi my name is Molly Eisen I live at 242 Gregory Avenue and I'm also a teacher at Edison Middle School so I feel like I'm living in Groundhog Day every few years it seems like the district tries to eliminate a library media special library media specialist position and every time there's an outcry so here we go again leaving each Middle School without a full-time librarian in each dis in each building is foolish shortsighted and a deficit to students and teachers alike the ele M CS are welcoming places that for many students also provide a place of Refuge I would know I was one of those kids for whom the LMC was home and I still get that same feeling when I walk into the LMC just as I did 20 15 years ago and watching my students get the same feeling is one of the most rewarding parts of my job there's a certain feeling when you walk into any library in the West orang School District it's calm it's safe it's welcoming I a special education language arts teacher and many of my students are reluctant readers reading is something they've struggled with throughout their schooling and for which they put up a wall every time the prospect of reading a book comes up which is you know Ela pretty much every day when they come to the LMC their whole demeanors change you can see them visibly relax and let their guards down this atmosphere this Vibe is a true statement to the care and love the library media Specialists put into their work there are few things were gratifying them being able to share that love of libraries with my students according to Common Sense Media nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year if that as an Ela teacher that hurts my heart and soul one way to prevent this have daily open access to a library and Li library media specialist from when they are young Common Sense Media also reported that 11 is a critical age for saying reading habits for the rest of one's life guess what type of school they're in at age 11 Middle School even though they think they're high schoolers most of the time it makes zero sense for any librarian position let alone one who works with students when they are at such an impressionable age to be cut on another note research demonstrates over and over that students and School staff with a full-time librarian achieve higher scores on standardized tests how many more times does the Board of Ed need to hear that cutting library media Specialists is a bad idea these are the individuals who stepped in and stepped when the town's public library was closed they are the reason that many students all over town kept reading I implore you to ask yourselves what kind of message you are sending to the students and Community when Librarians are treated as dispensable it's not a positive one this is not what west darn should be doing especially during National School library month this is no way to celebrate and recognize our major amazing School library media Specialists thank you Sharon Ortiz L Lowel Avenue and an 18-year educator at the high school good evening Mr Moore and esteemed Board of Ed members as a community member and taxpayer I appreciate the Board of Education being fiscally responsible and prudently managing our expenses I come to you with two areas of concern however concern number one in light of the universal preschool mandate and the associate cost of busing and Outsourcing to neighboring towns to educate our West orang preschoolers I'd like to ask if we are working towards a more permanent solution to educating our West orang preschoolers here in our town and if so is repurposing the board office as a preschool only building an option that is being considered my second area of concern is I am confused and concerned by the possibility once again of the elimination of our valuable library media special they play a very important role in our education team as a viable resource to myself and colleagues and in the lives of our students both inside and outside of the classroom they are more than line items and they offer more value than whatever savings and salaries the Board of Education will realize my colleagues many of whom live in West Orange as you heard work very hard and make valuable contributions to our children and staff they deserve praise appreciation and ability to continue to enhance our West Stern School community and the education of our students good evening and I thank you for your consideration and look forward to your answers good evening Jason Jackson 25 Westview Road uh teacher here at the high school and Career and Technical education department as well as cross country and track and field coach uh first um I wasn't going to mention but president Rock when you were kind of explaining and giving the breakdown of the funds and how everything works as a visual learner I was trying to picture it when you was like oh if we had this on the slide presentation this would be great so definitely want to take you up on that just so I can kind of piece things together and see it it was really good as you were as you were explaining it I understood but would like to be able to visually see it um I I was here today on on another note wanted to come and kind of find out what was going on in terms of the finances and different things which heard about but wanted to just kind of switch gears a little bit and um we had professional development today uh my supervisor Nancy Mullen who's also we library media Sciences we had Dr Candace Bland that was in it was amazing right so uh most times PD when we have it you know it's it's tough right you don't know when you're bringing somebody in how well they're going to do or but today she was amazing right so it was a teaching strategies to support multilingual Learners grades 6 through 12 and so uh I just want to kind of give a shout out to miss Mullen and whoever else helped to to put that PD together was really really good uh I I will come back to talk more about kind of chat chat GPT lesson plan student works and how we kind of view that whole thing and I think more of us embracing it um because I know a lot of individuals are looking at it as a a negative um and I think we really need to embrace that uh last week we had a CTE annual business forum and one of our student leaon was uh I'm not sure if anybody talked about this but actually spoke alongside of a few alumni and individuals that were there and it was really great miss Hansen an Hansen that's in the department help put it together um and just great to say I've had Leela in class and so to see both of them sitting here just wanted to kind of give both of you just really proud to see them grow and do very very well um and then lastly not related just want to say congratulations on uh completing Jersey City Marathon yesterday uh to president rock thank you thanks coach hi my name is jacn Kaiser I'm a resident of West Orange and a proud member of the Edison uh family um so the beauty about or the beauty of having a central six Middle School is the ways in which students are empowered to find out more about who they are um and they're able to do that by connecting with diverse voices and points of view from individuals of different background grounds of different places of different worlds they do that through their connection with the library and more specifically through the library media Specialists um like those not only at Edison shout out Sandy um but at Roosevelt and Liberty as well earlier this year as the West Orange public library opened I offered my students an opportunity for extra credit go to the library take a selfie prove that you were there easy 100 easy peasy lemon squeezy um if the grade was not incentive enough I think some of the incentives included uh unlimited manga and Minecraft as long as you could um and while many students were very interested in that latter part um many students voiced that they were unable to go at all the majority in fact were not able to participate in this extra Credit Opportunity lack of Transportation the conflict with personal and athletic schedules after school and the ways in which their grown-ups have work prevented them from being able to engage in the most simplest of Joys right existing in their Public Library the LMC more specifically the LMC Specialists make this possible not only for extra credit um but on the daily engaging students in Fantastical fictional Adventures to engaging the future Engineers of our town through maker space the LMC provides students the space to develop their perspectives and points of view that allow them to grow into the incredible high school students that we heard from earlier tonight those who are literally changing the future I encourage you to reconsider any type of elimination of any LMC specialist position and more so look to you to continue to invest in the future of literacy and intellectual curiosity in our town in our community right thank you all for that is there anyone else um for public comment seeing n Mr Mor do you want to say something about the so let me uh start with I'm in full agreement with you I've known many of you for many years and I'm in full agreement that our library media Specialists are vital I also want to make clear that any positions through this particular unprecedented budget and any cuts are across all departments from Administration throughout not it wouldn't just be library media or and I'm not saying that's the cut but I'm saying it wouldn't be just them it wouldn't be just music it wouldn't be just math it wouldn't be just English but I will say you're absolutely right that it's tough to make any of these decisions as they all Impact student achievement and from some of the esteemed people that spoke and advocated for the librarian they're excellent teachers and the Librarians they were speaking about do make that difference and I want to say that to the community because of who they are so losing anyone is not a choice and we do not want that I don't want to make promises that I cannot keep but what I will say is I don't disagree with what you said I do have to make tough decisions as I said before you I was on the other side and I understand how that feels and that for sure doesn't feel good but I will have to make some difficult decisions going forward that you may agree with and you may not agree with but I will promise you my commitment is to make sure that I can fulfill as many jobs as I possibly can employment is very important and I want to make sure I can do that and with this budget I will not tell you that that is 100% I cannot promise you that as I'm looking through it and I'm working with real numbers I'm transparent with the union with it we are in a deficit but I don't want you to think things fall in deaf ears and I am the first to admit to this community whatever cuts are going it is a de it is tough on student achievement and especially losing a library media specialist it's not a it's not something we wanted to consider but we are at a real point and I have to address that as such in terms of our preschool and the added cost with bu in and all yes we've encumbered some cost right now are we in plans of making sure that we have a preschool right Under One Roof or that we can do um to answer that question we explored it this budget definitely is not going to help us with that so we won't be able to do that in the present we looked at the um office at Eagle Rock and asked our architect on what that would be like to maybe transform that as we understand that our students are the priority our staff is the priority the problem is it will not be able to do as such because there are certain regulations that the building does not have that will not we will not be able to do that and convert the Eagle Rock so we would have to look for a new situation for that there are many different fiscal Endeavors that we're coming up with and we're going to face um I will say president Rock has a way better handle on um talking about that as we talk to senators and other people as we're trying to procure some more money because we can use it but that hasn't been the case so I have to prepare for where I'm at right now but I don't want you to think I don't appreciate the advocacy because I do and I don't want you to think that I feel anyone's IND dispensable they're not I don't feel that about the Librarians or or all the other departments as well that will be losing positions but I don't want to make false promises and I don't want to tell you something that isn't going on that is what's going on there are tough decisions to make at the end it's a tough budget but I will and I will go back and speak to the team of the board as well and we'll discuss as we wrote some of the things down and we'll talk but I cannot make you a promise that there won't be some things you will agree with and some things you won't agree with thank you president thank you Mr Moore I'll just Echo what Mr Moore says that as as an educator and many of us have some some relation to the education profession up here we understand the value of what you all do you know from the janitor and the bus a through the school librarians to the school counselor to the class from teacher uh so we don't take any of these decisions lightly we don't want to cut any positions at all uh we're faced with the harsh reality of the the funding issue from the state and that's putting pressure on our budget we're doing what we can to move monies around to to handle that in some ways but at the end of the day there's going to be you know the the Administration has presented some scenarios where they needs to be some positions eliminated and you can move the pieces around on the board but there's no way to put them all back on the board and so you you put one back on you take one off and we're meeting with the administration to go over their final uh projections what their final proposals are um but unless the state comes through with additional funding that the sad fact is that some positions will have to be eliminated and none of these are good decisions you know there there's valid educational reasons for saying that these are all stupid decisions uh but it's the unfortunate reality of budgeting that we can't invent money we can't print money we're not the the federal government you know we're to some extent relying on the state for that we already tax our uh Community quite heavily as Mr Stevenson will say um we've approved a tax increase that will collect as much as we can statutorily from the the town to continue to fund our schools um but then you know that once that's done we have to balance the budget as best we can and rely on the professional advice of Mr Moore uh to do that so again we don't take this lightly appreciate everything that you've said tonight um and we do hear you um and I'll just leave it at that any my other board members have any comments they want to make before we wrap up all right then may uh thank you very much our next board meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on May 6th 2024 this meeting will be held in the West Orange High School library media center we will not be going into executive session after the close of this meeting there will be no further business discussed and no additional action will be taken may I have a motion to adjourn may I have a motion to ad motion thank you Mr if is there a second second thank you Dr Bryan uh all in favor I I thank you all for joining us tonight our meeting is now adjourned we wish you a good nights for