##VIDEO ID:63Z2l9x9It4## [Music] hello good evening everyone great to see everyone here um we um uh we called our meeting to order earlier in our closed executive session so thanks for your patience as we made our way out here um the first thing we'll be starting out with is a special uh presentation and I'd like to introduce Dr Lee McDonald uh for our special public hearing on the and I'm going to make a verbal correction here for the 2023 2024 annual district report of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying or the student safety report um over to you Dr McDonald all right good evening thank you very much uh as stated this is the 2324 student safety report um just to begin this report is grounded in the ssds system which is the uh Department of Education software that is required of all districts each year to input uh incidents of um violence vandalism HIV harassment intimidation and bullying uh we also have to document what our hip trainings are and our programs so I'm not going to read all of the ssds incident types uh other than to say that fortunately in wwp U most of these uh examples here are not something we see on a regular BAS basis although they do happen and it certainly doesn't mean that we are immune to these types of uh incidents in our community uh especially um in this uh current state and climate uh in terms of uh not only having over 9,000 plus students but uh in a world that is at times chaotic to say the least so looking back a year ago 2022 2023 incident totals by grest in terms of where we were last year compared to this year among those uh different categories there's five different categories by grade level you can see the numbers here I'm not going to go through each one of them but when you think about violence what does that mean right typically that is uh some sort of physical tication a fight uh between students that has to be documented that of course might lead to some sort of disciplinary action uh when you think about vandalism that could be graffiti or some sort of damage to a facility that occurs uh that could also happen after hours for example uh doesn't necessarily mean that happens uh during the school day a substance some sort of controlled substance um is uh either found on a student or somehow a student is under the influence uh as you can imagine with the legalization of marijuana uh the access in terms of uh a controlled substance has significantly gone up in recent years um and then when you think about weapons uh typically that is the situation where somebody might bring something into the school uh I'll give you an example that might be more about show and less about intention to harm somebody else uh a child bringing in say a hunting knife that is not appropriate of course for a school setting as an example so those are tend to be the types of scenarios that we encounter as a school administration uh the last category is a hip confirm so harassment intimidation and bullying you can see last year here our total was 194 that has significantly dropped uh this current school year and I'll explain why in a minute so just comparison to this year uh the violence category uh was 26 and that was down from 29 a year ago the vandalism category was 15 down or up from nine uh the substance category uh was 14 uh down from 29 weapons overall was one uh went up to six again these numbers fluctuate but they're pretty steady if you go back and look at our data the last few years and then certainly prior to the pandemic um The Hip confirmed uh 23 24 103 cases uh incidents 194 so that's a significant drop and the biggest reason uh I believe because of that is because of the change in board policy that we made that allows for preliminary determination and what that essentially means is that if an incident is reported and it is uh submitted via the 338 form which is the online hi reporting form uh whether that's by a staff member whether that's by a parent a student um there are four prongs to uh look at when it comes to HIV and if the administration believes that the incident does not assuming all facts are true in terms of what was reported if it does not meet those four prongs uh then it is something that they're allowed to make that preliminary determination and not use the Hib investigation process as an Avenue to uh Rectify it that doesn't mean that we don't address it that just means that it's being handled in some other capacity that could be uh a code of conduct violation that could be uh conflict resolution that could be a counselor intervention there's a lot of different uh Tools in our Arsenal to address those types of situations so that would be the biggest reason and we've spoken about that in Prior board meetings as well so in terms of Hib trainings and programs that's another piece to the ssds reporting system that is required um so these are just a few examples of the things that we input into that system as part of our annual report to the Department of Education I think about school counselers classroom lessons and Sac uh counselors so our school counselors serve as anti-bullying specialist in all 10 of our schools uh they do push in classroom lessons to students at all grade levels uh reinforcing number one identifying what Hib is and number two identifying uh strategies and coping mechanisms um things to discuss with students with with regards to conflict resolution and so forth um School climate initiatives so as you're probably aware we have school climate and culture teams in every school uh AKA school safety teams is what they were formally called that really is meant to be a proactive approach to making sure that our schools have a positive culture and climate uh where students feel safe and secured and valued uh the Summits the climate Summits we've been doing this pract we've been uh having school climate Summits for some time now now uh we started these back up post pandemic where we bring the schools together twice a year to just talk about number one what is happening what are the patterns and Trends things that we're seeing we share ideas sometimes we bring in outside speakers to reinforce the things that we're working on in our schools so it's been very beneficial to bring in students staff and even parents as well uh parent teacher Association engagements um you know various PTA events uh whether it's a counselor an administrator talking about what they're doing in that particular school around culture and clim um Administration trainings anti-bullying Specialists we're fortunate to have a board attorney Mark desano who comes in every year for us and facilitates that training to our school administration and our uh counseling staff as well so external professional development as things change uh sometimes it's necessary to send staff out to different trainings uh njpsa often has different professional development that we might leverage it could be something related to how we're conducting student interviews it could be something related to policy programming but from time to time we do utilize external professional development opportunities so this is the week of respect uh across the state of New Jersey um but as I like to say uh week of respect is really it should be a daily uh respect this is not just about a weekly um recognition but it's something that we strive to do each and every day in our schools it's really about making sure that we're doing everything we can to build a positive School culture climate in our schools making them inclusive sa safe spaces when you have incidents of harassment intimidation bullying when you have different types of situations with students um it's often times that uh they don't necessarily have those connections maybe with their peers or with an adult we strive to provide those opportunities so that each and every student feels welcomed and respected uh in our schools so in terms of the themes uh the things that are being done this week character education read alouds it varies by grade level of course but in each and every schoool the anti-bully specialist is taking that lead to make sure that students are well aware of what this week really means and how we can continue to do that throughout the school year in two weeks uh we will recognize School violence awareness week again this is uh required across the state of New Jersey and this really is an opportunity for student Staff Law Enforcement uh Administration to uh to think about what we can do to prevent violence in our schools I'll talk about health health and safety a little bit later in this presentation but it's an opportunity for us to recognize that again making those spaces in our schools in as inclusive as possible uh having lessons around conflict resolution how to connect with your peers giving students those opportunities um be it morning meetings perhaps at the K5 level um teaching tolerance when you think about Middle School and High School really creating spaces that are safe for our students having open conversations that are sometimes difficult uh and certainly thinking about self self-regulation when you think about our goal four work or goal three work rather around social emotional learning that's a huge part as being uh you know having that self-regulation self-awareness um and being able to engage in friendships and connect with your peers really important stuff that happens during that week school climate uh as I said before really critical to this work um if I could change the law from anti-bullying to school climate I would I think that's really where the focus should be uh that being said these are just a few items here that uh we think about uh when we talk about school climate right health and safety first right are are facilities clean are they welcoming are they bright are classrooms warm and uh are there are staff members visible are there opportunities for kids to feel safe when they walk in that school first and foremost right um social emotional learning I highlighted that a second ago really critical you you think about our Danielson framework for our teaching staff domain to do we have classrooms that are welcoming spaces uh where where students feel uh included really important uh culturally responsive classrooms uh we certainly are a diverse Community we come from all different parts of the world uh we celebrate that diversity we want to make sure that our students are represented uh in that classroom in the school itself whether it's instructional materials whether it is uh recognizing where they're from whether it's how to pronounce name simple things like that go a long way nurtured heart approach uh we we're leveraging uh the dreams uh Grant currently to train multiple staff members in the nurtured heart approach which is really about trying to uh work students that might have challenging behaviors how do you respond to that it's not just for our staff but it's also for parents so you will see workshops and proactive measures put in place across the district in the coming months um we have offered our staff uh every summer youth Mental Health First Aid which is a great way for them to kind of recognize uh youth U challenges that kids might be facing when it comes to mental health we certainly don't expect our staffs to be professional counselors but it gives them a background and training to recognize that when unfortunately when you see um incidents that happen across the country and and related School violence incidents a lot of times there's a social emotional there's a a um a mental health first aid type of scenario there uh that's an underlying root cause so we want to make sure that our staff is aware of what that looks like uh for students and adolescents trauma informed care uh I say it all the time our students walk into our schools they're not just unpacking their book bags or their Chromebooks right no different than adults we bring into our work lives we bring into our day-to-day lives uh as students uh things that we are kind of carrying with us so we need to be conscious of that uh that everybody has perhaps hardships that you don't necessarily see so that's really important work when we think about trauma informed care um restorative practices we've done a lot of work uh in this area when we think about our code of conduct discipline how do we how do we provide an opportunity for healing when something does happen how do we move forward how do we address underlying kind of Behavioral challenges when there is something that happens um that's something that we continue to work on with our administrative team and certainly our staff as well uh policy changes I mentioned the HIIT policy change uh a few moments ago that really has been huge for us and giving us an Avenue to address issues uh without necessarily launching a formal hip investigation which truthfully is not always the best uh mechanism to address an issue um code of conduct that's something that we update yearly uh if you look at our code of conduct today versus where it was three to five years ago uh there are a lot more restorative practices in there in terms of the language in terms of how we might handle certain student situations that come up that doesn't mean that when we have to implement discipline um we don't do it of course there's there are times where consequences have to be put in place but we also want to make sure we're addressing the underlying issue so I'm going to shift gears second half of the report is really a focus on School Safety and Security um it is perhaps the most important thing n nothing else happens if we're not safe and secure I think we're all aware of that um the goal work that we do the classroom learning that we have the Arts the Athletics all that above it's really incumbent upon us uh to make sure that we're doing everything we can to provide a safe and secure School Community the district invests a lot of human capital time energy into schools Safety and Security um that goes without saying but I always say too it is a collective responsibility right so it is not just about what the school district does it it's about each member of our community our staff our our our community members our parents our students right we always say you see something say something right no different than when you're going to an airport um you don't want to leave a door open right you don't want to let somebody into the building that perhaps shouldn't be there things of that nature so but with that being said it really starts for us with a collaborator relationship with West Windsor and Plainsboro police they are outstanding Partners uh when we have certain situations uh they are uh always available to us you know it doesn't matter what time of day it is um that's something that we work work uh very closely with both police departments on a regular basis um class three police officers believe everybody's aware we' this is now I believe our seventh year um our sixth or seventh year having class three officers in our schools um at the end of the day they they are an insurance policy while we do promote uh community policing it's really important that you have that insurance insurance policy in that God forbid scenario um security monitors and AIDS we had a significant sh shift uh recently with our formerly eyes on the door staff uh we now are are are titled security monitors that's helped kind of streamline some of our shifts and our covers particularly after hours when our facilities are used um with that being said I want to recognize Mr Perry Ray in the back here um he is our security coordinator for the district and he helps me immensely and he does a great job uh keeping our schools safe security vestibules Now with the referendum work that we did are in every building we have visitor protocols we have software that monitors when somebody comes in they have to swipe their license um if you're dropping your son or daughter's lunch off school sorry you're not coming in the building you put it in a box you put it somewhere where we can get it and get it to your son or daughter but really try to enforce that unless you have some specific reason to come to the school um you're not getting in right so that's really something that we we make sure that we follow cameras everywhere there are 700 plus uh security cameras that can be accessed 2477 certainly they're a determent but when you have situations that arise typically there's some sort of security footage right that you can go back to so you can address it uh fire safety security drills every school does two drills a month that is a requirement in the state but we make sure that we're practicing different types of drills so of course everybody knows a fire drill you could have a um lockdown drill right in that incident um if you need to lock down our staff our students are well aware of what that looks like we train for that on a regular basis uh part of that is communication out to the parents when we do those drills uh medical emergency drills we do lock um in addition to lock down we do lock out drills so there are very types of drill various types of drills that we do on a regular basis to make sure uh that we are well prepared when uh an incident does occur gagle software to manage student safety on school provided technology so Google Chrome uh Google Chat uh Gmail things of that nature this is not meant to be a gotcha thing this is meant to uh intervene when our students might be struggling or might be doing something inappropriate but there's always a learning opportunity for there for that or to get them the help that they need uh when that time arises so we have a partnership with Ruckers University mental health clinicians um that's very valuable in supporting our student mental health Needs school counselors Student Assistance counselors child study School nurses so there are a lot of resources that go into keeping our schools safe um a few pictures just want to share these are some of our class three officers I mentioned go they're not just there as an insurance policy we we promote Community placing so they they do their best to try to get to know the students to be a fabric of part of the fabric of this particular School uh at the high school level you also have security AIDs that serve in a little bit of a different capacity I mentioned the security monitors you see there on the lower Le hand side that's the security vestule over at high school north um so those are we have various uh staff members that serve and help keep our schools safe and keep a watchful eye out on a day-to-day basis um this I talk about the partnership with West Windsor and Plainsboro uh police First Responders uh they use our facilities on a regular basis obviously not necessarily when school is in session to train to prepare for the what of situations right this is not a great image or uh to necessarily look at but this is something that I think is really critical for the community to know our police come into our buildings and they practice for those what of scenarios um and it's something that's a best practice uh regardless of what community you're in uh that includes our First Responders right if you have Hazmat you have some other tactical response they need to know what where when and where they're going when it comes to our facilities they have access to things that uh allow them to be able to respond to a situation in a timely manner um that work Contin so about a year and a half ago we started work with the office of emergency management and thinking about reunification plans and what that means is that if you have some sort of incident that requires you to relocate an entire school for example you may recall um superstorm Sandy uh Princeton Alliance Church uh one of our schools was relocated uh to use Princeton Alliance but and they are one of our partners along uh with St David here in West Windsor have officially become board approved uh re reunification sites this work started with a group of Administrators First Responders in this room about a year and a half ago um this past summer we did walkthroughs at both facilities for our Administration for our buildings and grounds for our transportation just to be familiar with those spaces so that we're prepared if we had to relocate an entire school um and and if we had to do it during the school day this is kind of what that looks like when you think about reunification this is just a simple snapshot of what that how would you plan accordingly where would your First Responders be where would your parent pickup be there is a whole process behind the scenes that would have to occur there's a lot of work working with law enforcement working with office of emergency management to make sure that we have a plan I hope it sits on the shelf for 30 years and collects dust and we never have to use it but it's there if we need it so that's really important work site assessments these are also things that we do especially over the summer to just look at security vulnerabilities using the Department of Homeland Security as a checklist if you will working with buildings and grounds the school administration just to do walk throughs right could be shrubs that are too high it could be uh you know fencing that allows access to the HVAC unit things of that nature that we want to stay on top of that might need maintenance that might need correction that's a really valuable tool for us internally to discuss about what do we make sure where how do we make sure that we're removing any security vulnerabilities finally uh I'll leave you with our mission statement for the district again um none of the great work that we're doing here in wwp happens uh unless our schools are safe and secure thank you thank you Dr McDonald um now I want to ask the board if there are any questions or comments for Dr McDonald um I go ahead Dana I just want to say thank you for all you do with us it's pretty comprehensive and appreciate you um the work that you and your team do do for this to keep our kids and our um staff safe and um uh also that you adapt your program for whatever comes our way so I appreciate that so want to say that thanks thank you um I do have um I was curious about one thing that you mentioned about the nurtured heart approach and the training for not just staff but also the parents um what um for I know sometimes we have parent universities and not everyone can attend in person but we do have the recordings online um would there be something similar available for parents who can't attend so that's we're hoping we're just developing that now the first step is just been to get uh at least multiple staff members trained in the nurtured hard approach and then think about training our staff and the past um we have done nurtured heart workshops for parents right just um coping mechanis M how to respond to uh challenging behaviors things of that nature is how to do positive reinforcement not necessarily reinforce negative behaviors so we anticipate at some point uh putting that out there and then certainly get an opportunity for people that can't attend whether it's recording something whether it's doing something in person but that's all in the works perfect thank you so much for the presentation you're welcome oh uh actually uh on the same note um that grin just asked about nurtured harder is there any type of parent training for youth Mental Health First Aid or just noticing signs and symptoms for parents so not specifically for youth mental first aid we've done that specifically for our staff but we do plan on having parent universities so we've done parent universities every year where we might have topics such as adolescent anxiety we might have topics such as U you know other mental health related challenges that parents are facing um we actually just had a meeting this week to talk about what those dates are and potential topics we leverage our ubhc clinicians too to talk about some of the things that um parents should be aware of and signs symptoms sort of seek um so we do anticipate doing that for the coming school year as well thank Liz thank you for the presentation as well um I was just curious about the comparison in the incident charts between 2022 and 2023 I'm surprised by how much violence has increased in of violence if increase at the K through five grade level and if you can give examples of what that looks like but also is surprised by the decrease with substance abuse you know um from the two years sure yeah it it is interesting I look when I look back at the data going back a few years and then you kind of have to take what you what happened during the pandemic with a gra of salt a little bit and look prior pandemic the numbers have kind of fluctuated year to year so there's no necessary Rhyme or Reason but when you think about coming off the Pand pandemic and the disregulation for students that perhaps weren't in a classroom didn't have those regular structures um there definitely has been an increase um thankfully we're not seeing as much this year as we did in years past coming off the pandemic in terms of those social interactions um and again violence relative it it falls into a category if there's a fight that happens between two second graders it still has to go in right um so that that's you know what that looks like versus a a fight between uh a high school or or two different things but more than anything I think what you're seeing there is that those uh minimize social interactions across the board especially for students that were in front of cameras and not necessarily in front of adults didn't have that same structure um led to more disregulation so I think that's what you're still seeing with some of these numbers but they will fluctu fluctuate year to year right great questions um anybody else all right thank you Dr McDonald all right you're welcome um okay so now we turn to our special opportunity for public comment on the 2023 2024 which is a verbal correction I'm making now to your uh printed agendas or your digital PDFs um 23 24 annual district report of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying which is the student safety report the board now invites thoughts and reactions on the annual district report of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name an address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167 all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes um do you have anything specific uh about the report the it it is not so just to note for everyone uh there we still will have uh two public comment periods for General comments so anything about um the report no okay then I'll close this um special opportunity for public comment and move to the um approval of the report um so I'd like to get a motion to accept the 2023 2024 annual district report of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying known also as a student safety report as required by the New Jersey State Department of Education um with the uh title 18a 17- 46 and uh njac uh 6A 16 to 5.3 f um it's a mouthful um fuja and Dana all right okay we'll start we'll start with Miss Krug Yes actually said that back backwards sorry Start and next is Miss bonsel yes and next we'll go to miss chiera yes um and next we have Miss Shetty yes Miss zovich yes Miss MCU yes motion passes perfect and that will uh now adjourn the special public hearing on the 2023 20124 annual district report of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying or the student safety report um I'm actually going to uh turn it over to Mr Mark Toscano just real quick mam president just in addition to the items that were noted on the agenda that was pre-printed prior to the meeting uh the board also discussed an exception number seven the matter under docket number P is in Peter 2021 d39 everything else is accurate all right thank you um Dr adle do you have any comments good evening everyone good evening um I just want to take a moment uh to recognize one of our colleagues that's in the audience um September 1st 1987 District hired Miss Andrea Bean um as yes you you bean um as Andrea sits with a month ago prior to retirement I'm pleased to announce um just public that she is the proud recipient of the amtnj max soel award um max soel was a 50-year mathematics educator in New Jersey who went on to become the president of the National Council teacher of mathematics between 1980 82 um Andrea is the past president of ammj and this past uh three weeks ago um the nominating committee came together where they recognized one educator in the state of New Jersey and the email I received to inform me of this States we're happy to brag about the profound impact that Andrea has had on the countless students teachers and colleagues throughout her career your work embodies the highest ideals of our profession a commitment to Excellence a passion for equity and access and an unwavering belief in the power of mathematics to transform lives you have opened doors challenged conventions and inspired a love of mathematics and generations of students as you retire as As you move into retirement know that the seeds you have planted will continue to grow and flourish we especially appreciate all the work you've done for ammj over the years Andrew congratulations and welld deserved recognition thank you so much congratulations um and now I'd actually like to uh turn it over for our student representative reports um from High School North I'd like to uh welcome and please correct me if I mispronounce your name uh Ana samal all right perfect and welcome back Johnson Lynn and then also from High School South uh welcome Anna Chen and welcome back Rachel Joseph and I'll turn it over to you guys all right um hello thank you for having us we are very excited to be back here and grateful for a successful start to our school year uh we were glad to see our new student orientation held back in August was a large success with the help of our staff and our peer leaders and as a senior I can confidently say that I saw a lot less lost freshmen which is always a great sign within our first week we had all of our class assemblies where our Administration and our class advisers got a chance to go over a lot of new policies and exciting things for the upcoming school year and speaking of these exci EX in events uh we've had a few fun programs including our senior sunrise and although the forecast was a little cloudly cloudy we saw great attendance and a lot of embracement of school spirit from our seniors uh back to school night was held last week and it was also very Su successful uh we had over 50 student volunteers help guide the parents and facilitate the night and looking to the Future on October 26th South is holding their Hall of Honor event where esteemed alumni and staff are invited to come and socialize seeing our school in its new and improved condition and we are very excited to get to celebrate and welcome all of those guests thank you Rachel um so our call um our seniors have happily started their college applications and so a lot of our um a lot of college speakers and uh have visited during lunch um next week um we are looking forward to college fair and seeing some of our student volunteers uh several of our advisor run clubs have started and our fall drama Harvey is in the works um this Thursday the PSAT is happening for our sophomores and juniors and um our our freshmen and seniors will come later on and we will have Club fair and our other clubs will officially start um in the after afternoon we'll have um a time for special guest speakers to come and and students to listen to and then for juniors and seniors they can begin their college application or they can speak to a counselors about the college application process um and finally student council is hosting their first outdoor night on uh movie night on October 18th and they're featuring featuring Goosebumps so please bring your friends and family uh we also had homecoming a couple weeks ago and the theme was fairy tales our classes worked very hard on their decorations and they turned out great um on Monday we had um for a spirit week on Monday we had traditionally pajama day um Tuesday we had sports jerseys day um Wednesday we had anything but a backpack Thursday Hawaiian day and Friday class colors for our pep rally um then we had our hoko game and we also crowned our pirate crew um 12 our final pirate crew 12 and um then we had our dance on Saturday and the seniors um ultimately won hoko to end this off I would like to highlight our Sports uh we've seen great participation and very successful Seasons so far from all across the board uh so starting on September 19th was our red card cancer soccer game where North and South girls and boys team face each other very proud that our girls soccer team was able to take the win and they've moved on to impressive 61 and2 record definitely the best we've seen in a while but overall very grateful that the fundraiser for the American Cancer Society was able to raise $1,662 74 and we saw I went and there was a lot of uh participation and support from friends family staff Etc our girls south tennis team just won their match today to move on to the semi-finals of the Central Jersey group four tournament so we're very proud of them our field hockey girls South team is celebrating their seniors tomorrow for their senior night uh so we wanted to just have a shout out for all of those seniors that have been dedicated to that program and last but not least Seth is very happy that our boys cross country senior Runner shravan prep won boys NJ athlete of the week on milesplit.com so that was something we were very excited to be able to see um with winter sports registration being open we hope to see similar participation and great success all right thank you so much we will pass it off to North for their report all right thank you South um good good evening everyone we started our school year strong and we decided to work with the pur leaders and we chalked positive messages in front of our school on our walls on our grounds so that the first thing that students and teachers saw when they walked in were our positive messages to kind of start off the year strong we also had our senior Sunrise where we had our very own students Connor and Sam DJ so that was really cool to see and in the first week of school we had class assemblies where we introduced class expectations fun events coming forward and we also got the chance to introduce our new Administration the vice principal Mr delpor so our students got the ability to kind of meet him in person and kind of interact with him and get to know him better moving on during our second week of school we ran our successful annual Club fair and this year we approved a lot of new clubs in High School North so we were really excited to see all of them show up for Club fair and kind of have a chance to introduce themselves to the students so that they could get more involved additionally our fall sports are up and running and many of our our sports teams are in the height of their seasons in fact our boys soccer team has their spir their senior night right now so we I will be going to that game afterwards and we had our spirit week for homecoming last week so we had Monday for PJ day Tuesday Jersey vers Jersey Shore day Wednesday decades days Finally Friday we had class color days and we had our homecoming game that Saturday which is a little strange but we made it work um this year we won our home coming game thankfully 28 to6 so it was a good victory and we had a pretty successful homecoming dance um we had to move the date but due to kind of holidays religious holidays and the SAT being on the same day we were able to work with Dr adhal get a new date for our homecoming dance and we saw a record amount of attendance so we're really pleased with that and kind of despite having to adjust for the dance day we were able to get over 400 participants and then I'm going to pass on the mic to my colleague thank you um so continuing off that we had back to school night last Tuesday where parents got to experience high school for a couple of hours and they got to meet teachers and staff um along with that last week our marching band had their home competition on our field with uh over eight different schools being there and it was a huge hit additionally seniors are starting college applications with October 15th and and November 1st deadlines coming up quickly and they've been meeting with counselors and to continue on with College North has had multiple colleges come visit during lunch and college fair is coming up as well we have also started to collect payments for the senior Disney trip which is coming up this year and students and parents have had the opportunity to attend an informational meeting and to learn more about like what's going to happen there our student council also attended the njasc fall conference today and we are looking forward to sending one of our uh one representative from HSN to run for State office this year and then last but not least PSAT testing is this Thursday and we're wishing our sophomores and juniors good luck with their testing thank you all right thanks wow I think this is why four years of high school goes by in a blink because it's only what the first week of October and I can't believe how many things you guys have done and um as I think on behalf of all the parents who were at back to school night lost uh very much appreciate all the volunteers who helped because um it was interesting so appreciate your report and giving uh keeping us up to dat with all the goings on at at both high schools and uh so but feel free to enjoy the rest of your evening so thank you and now I'd like to move on to the first opportunity for public comments the board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name address prior to making a statement which will be limited to 3 minutes in accordance with board policy 0167 all statements shall be directed to to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 60 Minutes hi can you hear me uh gorov Honda Plainsboro uh I come here today to talk about strong women I also come here today to talk about bullies and the importance and strength of character uh this is my OD to strong women uh I'm after all married to one and raising one with the help of a school district and I only see strong women here in front of me as well uh Rachel I wish she was here has been at the helm of this board for over a decade now and I wanted to congrat congratulate her on an excellent tenure and setting the tone and Cadence of these meetings and her many many other contributions to this District we all uh Marvel at Louisa's dedication to the district's children long after her kids have graduated uh I still remember the time I used to drop my daughter at a house for LEGO League years ago I felt like a child myself in her home with all the toys and Exhibits and Legos and uh you know that any kid would like to play with uh it's always tough it was always tough to get my daughter to leave her home uh Robin's dedication to duty and perseverance always deserves a mention I was always impressed with her attention to details and her many volunteering tours of Duty in the district uh I still remember her door knocker and I'm sure she R out of things to write on it about her contributions to Comedy Service uh I remember rubbing shoulders with Dana uh as we staffed the convenience stall at the volleyball games trying our best to fund the booster clubs hoping that we raise enough for getting jerseys and equipment for our girls team but this is not to take anything away from the men and I always take comfort in the fact that we have a very strong personality Dr ad hold as the head of our school district uh after all residents in the district are always demanding the best from the people who serve them uh but we need more men as well and you know strong personalities better Menor women and more of them in our schools support structure and Democratic institutions to share the burden with all the strong women that we are also proud of one of them a close friend passed away last year in a tragedy that befell his entire family we had a one-year remembrance service over the weekend for friends to pay respects a p a picnic table installed in the memory of our friends and their children in the park and also releas releas some balloons to Mark the occasion uh we were happy to have the mayor the police chief and a lot of friends in attendance I was hoping that the W of PTA members and some members I guess some of them are not here uh who had grieved for them would have joined us on the occasion as well since he had worked very closely with them as part of the PTA uh I did convey your regards to the family who was present on the occasion thank you thank you um anybody else for public comment for this first good evening my name is aanta sha one Parker Road Plains row New Jersey good evening everyone I wanted to say hello introduce myself I am a proud graduate of the district uh kindergarten through 12th grade gr and I'm a graduate of high school north um I'm a parent of two young children in the district and I'm also a candidate for Schoolboard running for Schoolboard this year the district has had a really positive impact on me and has had a positive impact on me as a child and as an adolescent and I ultimately chose education for my career pathway starting as a teacher and then transitioning into Ed policy and into data science and data analytics which is what I do now I wanted to you know I'm very glad that I was able to see the presentation this afternoon because I wanted to Showcase um and highlight a shift that I've seen a positive shift that I've seen as a parent and as a former student which is the prioritization of our students mental health and social emotional well-being I really appreciate um how much the board our teachers our staff have really prioritized that just as much as academic Excellence I think as a parent of two young children um it has been extremely helpful for me to kind of utilize and be familiar and have access to resources that my school's children's counselors and teachers have provided to me to sort of navigate really tough conversations and difficult situations I know there's still more work to be done some of that was sort of alluded to today and I hope that if given the opportunity I'm able to kind of continue to Champion that work um and prioritize other important areas that our children need for their success thank you thank you and I see be there was another public comment hello hello usually I sound better just that I've been screaming a lot for a kids tournament over the weekend so I sound a little like this but good evening I'm uh ragi a proud pboro resident and U wonderful uh actually I wanted to say say wonderful father but I I'd rather say father to two wonderful children in the wwp district um thank you so much for the opportunity for having me here today uh I'm here today to endorse hanif Pak my friend of 24 years to the Board of Education I know being in this position requires uh a deep sense of gratitude and service towards the community and very strong leadership skills as exhibited by each one of you here so I want to share some stories uh from his life which I think would be relevant to his candidature here the first one is about perseverance having known him for 24 years I have seen the ups and downs of his life he grew up in a family with very modest means worked his way to college when we were in college and this was the first year there was an unfortunate incident of bullying against a lady student hanif took it upon himself he mobilized more than 900 students for over a month and got Justice for the student in the end he was all of 19 years of age at that time fast forward in 2008 when he came to the US his financial situation was extremely tough but he was determined to make a difference he started over the next N9 years beginning 2008 he started several businesses but unfortunately none of them worked out he didn't lose hope he just kept working and today I'm proud to say that he's the head of a multi-million dollar technology firm all of this while devoting an extraordinary amount of time to community service to social events to serving people the best he can especially during the covid-19 initiative on a lighten note when you see how much time he spends on activities other than his work you would wonder if he's really employed but I've seen his tax return so I know he is he's always accessible and always there to help I think that's a great quality in him the Second Story I want to share about him today is about handson roll up your sleeves leadership in 2021 when hurricane Ida hit New Jersey we had a big storm drain in our community that got blocked and threatened to flood a lot of houses my house was the closest to it unfortunately and I called everybody from the township to any board officials I could think of but the situation was so bad all around that no one could help hanif actually picked up the phone he called me and he said why don't we try doing it ourselves I said that's foolish he said let's try what other option do we have we actually got out there 40 minutes in bone drenching rain both of us with rakes tried to clear that storm drain we were able to do part of it at least Water started flowing out I'm thankful for his initiative and for even for motivating us to do more thank you but I'm not telling you these sorry I know my time's up if I could take we do have a second opportunity for public comment if you want to hang out wonderful thank you I think that proves he has an ability to make we have to be fair to everybody for the minute limit thank you thank you thank you yes um does anybody else have a public comment hi everyone um good evening and uh thanks for the opportunity my name is shes and um from Plainsboro uh from proud residents of this community um and a great friend of hanif uh I have two kids in this U school district one is attending Elementary right now in town center and the second one is just about learning how to walk um so I'm looking forward to a great future for both of them um in the school district um today I'm here to endorse hanif hanif P for the West Windsor Plainsboro Board of Education um we live in the same Community as I mentioned um and we've worked on multiple initiatives uh to serve the community um in many selfless ways I've witnessed uh him being part of multiple initiatives around like fixing potholes in the community um arranging for multiple uh sports facilities um and even uh participating in multiple events across the community to Foster the spirit um that I feel is going to board well um as part of his candidacy um I came to the school district primarily because um of the great reputation it has and um the academic Excellence it promises but at the same time um it's it's usually a conversation we have while we are trying to drop off our kids off at the bus stop is like it's not just academic Excellence that we pride in um what is the best way for all of us to ensure they have a well-rounded ability right uh and me being part of a leading TCH executive um at Adobe um where we p when you're in AI we recognize our kids will will grow up in an age uh that we've probably never witnessed right like um what's the role of AI that our kids are going to have as they enter Middle School and High School uh what's the role of devices uh smart devices that they would be having access to and and what sort of ramifications or advantages is it is it going to have um this is where I feel hanif is um with his background um as a leading Tech entrepreneur uh can help us out because has um he's worked in multiple different initiatives to ensure like the responsible use of Technology he's advocated for it um I've witnessed it as I mentioned within the community and I'm hoping he continues to do so um I also share the same passion as hanif uh for sports um I've played multiple Sports around the year um I play field hockey uh play soccer um he's arranged for a lot of these facilities to be made available within our community whether it is solar lights to ensure kids can continue playing uh soccer towards the later evening making sure there is a cricket Peach available so I hope um all of this serves as good examples for all of you as team personal to consider his candidacy um and urge all of you to vote for hanif payak and support a brighter future uh for our children in our Township thank you thank you anybody else for uh public comment at this first opportunity okay seeing none uh I'll move to close this uh first public comment period and move on um now we don't have um any committee reports we haven't met since the last Board of Education meeting so we can go on to the voting portion of the meeting so for administration items numbers one through five can I get a motion to approve those um Dana and Liz any questions or comments before yes yes yes yes yes yes um we don't have any curriculum and instruction items so um can I get a motion to approve Finance items numbers 1 through 17 but I do have um verbal Corrections on um Finance item under transportation number four uh for the um cancellation renewal just correcting the final route cost to um 1,937 43 also for finance item and that was for four in case I miss saying that and finance item number 17A um instead of one District coach it's I'm correcting it to say two District coaches and we also have a blue addendum uh so um scha and Robin any questions or comments yes yes yes yes yes yes okay and can I get a motion for personnel items numbers one and two plus the green and the Pink Agenda um Puja and Dana yes yes yes yes yes yes um and actually before we move on I do want to recognize uh three retirements um that we just voted to approve um first is Kathleen Costello um uh she's retiring after 25 years serving our district um she's a special education teacher from high school north we also have uh Melissa Copa hopefully I'm saying that correctly Melissa um 29 years of service to wwp um she is uh the art teacher at Community Middle School and we also have Tracy Lee who is retiring after 17 years in the district um she was she's in C assistant at Maurice Hawk so I just want to thank um thank the three of you for your years of uh dedication and service to uh the school district and congratulate you on your retirement and wish you the best of luck um enjoy and um so now that means we can move on [Music] to here we go um to um can I get a motion to approve the Board of Education minutes from August and September uh Liz and sha all those in favor say I I um do we have any extensions yes uh for September 17th meeting and close executive session please perfect thank you for the August 27th minutes all right Perfect all right um and um do we have any board liais on reports thanks Dana um I am the board liaison to the New Jersey School Board Association and there been a few um things that have come up over the last um few weeks since our last board meeting so um I am the Mercer County delegate to the New Jersey Schoolboard Association board of directors and I attended their first meeting um of the Academic Year on September 20th um the executive director shared the reorganization plans he has implemented based on his three pillars of content connection and advocacy and we will see these themes run through the um annual Workshop which is in less than two weeks and we are all looking forward to the professional development and networking opportunities at Workshop I'm also serving as the vice pres president of the Mercer County Schoolboard Association and I um recently led the creation and update process for the bylaws for the Mercer County Schoolboard Association and these bylaws will be presented to all Mercer County school board members 30 days before the next uh County meeting which is on November 21st and we will um vote on that then and um we will be having uh no November 21st will be at the that meeting for Mercer County Schoolboard Association will be at um Trenton Schoolboard office and that we will feature um George Scott who has come before to speak in our district and also to Mercer County Schoolboard Association he'll be talking about um social emotional learning and providing support during chall challenging times in the winter we'll have um a virtual meeting on artificial intelligence and um we the district West wior Plainsboro is going to be hosting the second year of the Mercer County unsung hero ceremony on March 20th at um High School South and then our final meeting um will be in May so I just wanted to give you guys that update thanks thanks Dana um yeah lots of lots of things to put on the calendar so thank you um do we have any other lay on reports no okay um any new business okay that takes us to the second opportunity for public comments the board invites comments from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to make a making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167 all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to to 15 minutes any any comments tonight for our second opportunity just want to make sure all right looks like we've got someone so G of Honda Plainsboro since Rachel is not here I'm going to say she was uh more generous with giving time so I hope gring you would continue the Legacy uh the second topic I wanted to talk about is one of bullying and October after all is bullying prevention month and uh bullying is not just a school issue but continues into adulthood as well in most cases over the past year I have grieved over my friend who I spoke about but also learned a lot speaking to friends and families going over the conversations we used to have I introspected a lot I joined the citizens Police Academy and now volunteer as a certaint member as well but then I realized the problem was of a different nature for the mind is a prison of its own and the bully remains in it rentree and there are really no r no laws to rule against this yet we should remember though that people who are bullied tend to document their experiences and share their feelings with people close to them so while it might well be outside the jurisdiction of the Law Society is still very mindful of these things therefore I request all of us to introspect as well sometimes the bully is not aware of the consequences of his or her actions and may end up setting into motion a chain of events that eventually spiral out of their control just thought it would be nice to share that experience uh how do we get how do you as a community get around this I think this brings us to the question of character which we talk about in our mission statement as well strength of character a question my high school often asks me what is character for me the answer is almost always the same character is what you do when you think or know that nobody's watching you it's how you treat the most vulnerable among Society what we seeing in the current election environment in the school district is not character we have a strong Legacy of positive campaigns in this District commed residents have been calling our wwp Coalition of parents and highlighting some of the disturbing and concerning things that they're witnessing law signs are being stamped upon candidates are being intimidated by calls from proxies under false pretenses to remove their signs which are then replaced residents are getting calls from someone claiming to be from the PTA office asking them to pledge their allegiance to the board candidates by putting up lawn signs on their home properties the PTA is sacred ground and should not be weaponized in election campaigns I know the PTA is outside the jurisdiction of the school district but it's more of a moral and ethical issue we need to show the highest levels of prudence as this at times is a legal qu is not a legal question but one of moral and ethical issues I don't want to cast aspirations I don't need to cast aspirations or Inspirations or anyone as some of this as you can see is being played out in public in social groups which brings me to the exhibit I have shared with the board it's one thing to blur out your opponent's name on the ballot to not give them visibility but to completely deny their existence on an official Ballot or depiction of one is election misrepresentation and ballot fraud at best as a society we should Rise Above This behavior and hold ourselves to the highest standards thank you stick the rules minutes thank you so much but I I invite you to come to the next board meeting though I'm just wrapping up this is a 21st century and someone is always watching thanks thank you so much um are there any other public comments for this second period do only have 15 minutes so okay seeing none um I will move us to uh to adjourn uh can I get a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting uh Dana and Liz uh all those in favor say I I all right thank you so much for participating and attending good night