001And we are out of executive session. The next item on the agenda is a pledge of allegiance. If everyone will please rise. During October, we'll have two presentations on the 13th. The first presentation will be the HIB for 2024 2025 self-grading. The next presentation will be the public presentation regarding the November 4th board of education funding question for $700,250 to renovate the second floor of the Riverview annex and to provide funding for staff to keep sizes at optimal levels. October 27th during our board meeting then Dr. Cullis will present the NJSLA scores for the 2024-25 school year and the green sustainable program leaders will present uh the achievement of the bronze award. Looking forward to that. Uh superintendent comments. Dr. Forte, if you will. >> Thank you. Um we have our golf outing for the
002foundation on October 16th. It's been in the Friday folder. It's posted on the website and you can get the tickets on their website, Denver Education Foundation. Um, I included a document in my f in my Friday email to you um with all the dates I have for the public question. So, we still have a few coming up. We have um the public meetings on October 13th as a board meeting. Wednesday the 15th at 10:30 a.m. at the senior center and at 100 pm on October 15th right in this room and then on October 18th at 10 a.m. at the Lake View Media Center. And then also I'll be doing a tour of the uh PTA meeting. So we have Riverview this Thursday to the 25th. Lake View will be October 10th and Value will be
003October 16th. I'll also discuss it at the Denver Ed Foundation golf outing. And I want to update our goals, our district goals. Um I'll do my part, M. Dr. Cullis, and then I'll turn it over to you. Um the first one for me, goal two, is uh continue to investigate, report, and decide on solutions, challenges in the areas of instructional space, class size, finance, and operations. Um so going along with our goal from the strategic plan, we work with our board of ed um our architect, demographer, township administration, and the public to come up with both long and short-term plans. And this is all based on the dem demographic study done by Dr. Grip presented in in uh May of 2025. One of the other things we did this summer is we created the new
004lavatories and classrooms for Riverview for the additional kindergarten or preK classes that might be needed in the future. We moved several students from the Lake View area to Riverview. So the area traditionally Lake View has been becoming more Riverview and that's the area mostly close to Route 46 on the south side. And we have a funding question on November 4th. And then um our uh EI associates, the board approved the proposal on August 18th to study some possible solutions. And then also we've been investigating other properties around town. My other goal is goal number four. It's number number three. Sorry, is not it's number five. And it's uh the district will have a new or updated uh an updated or new district website in place by the start of 2026 27. The today I had
005a call with the um with the provider and they did provide a uh sample they a draft of what our of what our um new website will look like. And the template chosen is on the on my uh district goals. And if you take a look at it, you'll see it's um called Skyline and it takes you to an actual website of a different school district that's using the same template. And we look to kick off this website on or around October 1st. And this is a fully free upgrade. So it's not costing us anything in our tight budget. And if that is something that the district board and administration feels is not up to par even after these changes, then the board could look with the administration to fund an upgrade or changes to
006the to the website for 2627. Most likely would need some more personnel as well. And I am going to hand it over to Dr. Collins to go over her goals. Thank you. So, goal one is just to continue increasing our achievement. Uh we do have our NGSLA data back and we have been meeting with our grade level and department teams going over the data to determine are there certain areas that we need to focus on within this school. Uh and then I'll be presenting that same report on October 27th to the board. So, we're right now in the process of writing our each school's professional development plan as well as the district professional development plan moving forward to address these areas. Goal number three, I'm working with uh our director of special services, Mrs. Johnson,
007and we're doing an audit of our special services programs that we offer. So, right now we're just doing a spreadsheet at this point of all of the thing information that we want to collect about each of our programs, filling all of that information in. Then we will be able to analyze it and determine if there are programs that we uh would like to add to Denville or are there programs that we need to revise or might even be obsolete. So, we're looking at those um within the special services programs. Goal four is to create a vertically aligned social emotional learning plan. That's really working with our school climate teams as well as the school counselors and they will be the main authors at of the original document or the initial document and then those will
008go back to staff for feedback. Um SEAL is taught not only within the class but at specific times in advisory and also at social emotional health which is the first period of the day in the elementary school. Thank you, Dr. Cullis. Uh, thank you, Dr. Forte, for that update on the goals. That was perfect. Um, while you have the form, M. Dr. Collis, did you want to um provide any additional assistant superintendent comments? >> Sure. Updating just our numbers. We're still at 169, 77 kindergarten students at Lake View, and 92 at Riverview. So, our classes, we have five sections at Riverview and four at Lake View. Uh and so our class sizes are 20 or below. Um and that which is is a nice size to build on our work from the anxious generation. We
009have um joined the membership of the screenagers project which is a series of four movies. We have shown the first two in the past but the first movie has been updated for 2025. Uh so with our membership we can show all four movies uh multiple times and there's a student version that will be shown to them and then there's the parent version. So our first showing will be on October 15th at the in the Valley View Gym from 7 to 8:30 and it is growing up in the digital age and it's the updated version. The next one will be the same movie but in elementary version which includes so where the original one talks a lot about social media. The elementary version brings in smartwatches and video games and has a focus on those areas.
010Then we will revisit the next chapter mental health in the digital age which we did present right at the beginning of 2020. And then the final one that we have not shown at this yet, but we will this year is uh screenagers under the influence. And that's really talking about the connection between drugs, alcohol, vaping uh and the internet. So I think that and each of those we're planning on having action planning sessions with parents, coming up with building off of what we started with anxious generation and coming up with some actual plans uh not only from this movie but also from what we did last year. and GSLA reports, score reports are going to be available next Monday, uh, September 29th at 4 o'clock on the parent portal in Genesis. Parent conferences, October 29th
011and 30th. I've had this question often. The 30th is the evening conference. So, if parents are wondering which one is the evening and this concludes assistant superintendent report, >> thank you very much. And business administrator comments, Mrs. Gowski, >> no comments. Excellent. Thank you. Um uh I want to use this time to open it up to the board um if you have questions about the goals that the uh administration presented. Um otherwise we can bring it back uh for at the during the good of the cause. But Dr. um Dr. Moore floor is yours. >> Yeah, just a quick clarification. Uh Dr. Forte, when we talked about the website, um my understanding was that even if we were um happy with the template, we were still going to look to uh look into redesigning the
012website itself and allocate resources to do that. >> I was under the impression that if the upgrade was sufficient, then we wouldn't be doing it. But if you if you want to do that, that's fine. >> Yeah. The discussion was we we might be happy with the um company itself, but according to uh uh Susan, what we want can't be accomplished with the way that it's designed currently. And uh that's when when the discussion came up about the hours and the money that we would need to do that and and the and the manpower. >> Okay. So, um let's see how it looks, right? It's going to be up pretty soon. And if um everybody feels that it's not sufficient, then let's try to fund an upgrade, you know, it's going to be a decent
013amount, but we could put that in the budget for next year if we could fit it in. >> That was the discussion. Yeah. That we were going to do that. >> I I I came away from it saying like given this chance that if it was good, we're leaving it. I didn't realize we're going to do this. >> We were agreeing that maybe um the actual website itself would be okay. But as Susan said, the reason that some schools could get a one click where it takes three for us is a design issue that can't be fixed by either any of the the vendors we were looking at that it required actually like looking at the uh design itself. So we agreed that you know we would stick with this template and everything if it
014looked good and we were happy with it but it would still require a redesign in order to get the functionality that we were looking for. >> Okay. Um, again, I'll have to say I came away with a different feeling. I felt that if the if the upgrade was sufficient, there would be no reason to go and spend more money and and do a second upgrade. But if the board wants to do, you know, change it again during the budget cycle, there's no reason why we can't put that money in there. >> We're not changing again because it's it's a free template design, but this would be a a redesign itself. like we look at where that information needs to go, how to host it. Like um Dino had talked about the idea of um we
015could host it on on uh one site and then you go from there to the different elementary schools and that sort of thing, consolidating the information. I mean, all that conversation about what we can't do even if we like the actual skin that we're given and all of that, the the additional functionality can't be there. Like, and that was the idea that that the company we have now couldn't do it. No company. In other words, if we went to a different company, it wouldn't change anything because the actual design, according to Susan, has to change. Um, if I may, let's um, so I'm hearing uh, October 1st is when the uh, the new template will go live. Um, and let's see if it is in line with what uh, Susan had presented in terms of
016recommended changes, which Dr. Moore is communicating that it probably will not. So, uh, but yeah, let's, uh, and then from there, let's, uh, let's create a plan of what how much it might cost, uh, to try to achieve and, uh, uh, achieve all the goals that was, uh, sort of outlined in uh, Susan's presentation. So, and if it's something that we could fit within our budget, then uh, then let's uh, um, let's see uh, let's see how we take it from there. But I don't know who who can best answer this question, but is it um the company that's currently doing our website now, would they be able to take it to that next level, Dr. Moore, that uh Susan is uh recommending? >> Yeah, it didn't really matter. The the conversation with that it
017didn't matter what company we went to. It would require some some people on our end to sit down and look at how the whole website was structured. You know, it didn't matter we whether we went with Apogee or we went with the company we had now. it wasn't going to change some of the things that Dino and I were saying we wanted to change. So the idea is okay, let's look at this website. Um so uh the company we have now could do it just as easily as anyone else if we we like what they offer. >> So then it's a matter of whether or not we have the resources internally to achieve what we're looking for. So um I I think I understand what you mean now. I was totally I I wasn't understand
018what you meant. Um okay. So, why don't we pick one of the committees to take a look at the new website like in a little more detail and maybe it goes through your committee. Um, Sandy, it's the education committee curriculum. They'll look through the the updates like spend some time on it, right? And then because budget season's coming up, like the marriage is going to want, you know, the information by uh Christmas. So, we'll we'll have to we'll have to take maybe a month to look at it and then make decisions. We'll get we have an idea of the costs and we have an idea of how much personnel we need and we c we could actually because Susan's a consultant we could we could book more hours with Susan to spearhead this. She has
019her team that could do that too. So that might be an option. >> Great. Thank you. Any other board members with questions? Okay, we'll go ahead and open it up for public questions or comments. Um, it is 7:47. Seeing no one in the chambers and no one online, we're closing up open public comments at 7:47 and we'll go to all business action to be taken. Mrs. Eststerino, can you walk us through that? >> Sure. Uh, the following resolutions have been recommended by the Superintendent of Schools to the Board of Education for approval. Um, I move that pursuant to NJAC 622.1, we certify that as of September 2025, after review of the secretary's monthly financial report and upon consultation with the appropriate district officials, to the best of our knowledge, no major account or fund has
020ever been expended in violation and that the sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. looking at reports from August 2025, the treasur of school monies, board secretary education reports were have no actions on this agenda and then minutes to be resolved that the board approve the following minutes from August 18th, 2025. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Sidelis, >> yes. >> Miss Eterno, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. Mr. Kim. >> Yes. Okay. Uh, new business action to be taken. Dr. Moore, can you walk us through uh Mr. Capella's section of personnel? >> Uh, sure. Um, I'd like to move for approval the uh following resolutions under personnel. Under item number
021one, we have uh two individuals for the afterchool enrichment at Lake View. Um uh and afterchool support in Riverview uh for nurse um some additional hours for crisis prevention intervention for the school psychiatrist, school psychologist rather and school counselor. um some instructional aid uh additional hours uh literacy coach uh workshop to provide a workshop and um Spanish translation. Under item number two, we have a leave of absence and three is a leave of absence. Uh four is to approve the voluntary flu shot clinic for staff on Thursday, October 16th. And number five is the uh uh attached update list of leave replacement staff. Item six is the list of staff for the enrichment program at Lake View and Riverview Elementary School for 2526 school year. Item seven is the uh to approve the revised substitute
022list. And item number eight is uh the board to approve the updated master staff list for 2526. >> I'll second. Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Delles, >> yes. >> Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> I'm going to abstain from item number four and yes to the rest. Okay. Next item on the agenda is imp. Dr. more if um the floor is yours again. >> All right. So, I'd like to move for approval of the following resolutions. Under instruction and program, under number one, workshops and expenses, there's um a workshop for uh what should I observe in an NGSS classroom. And B is for a International Dyslexia Association fall conference. Uh number two is to approve the attached list
023of field trips. Item number three is to approve uh the staff resiliency training program. Item number four is to approve a student from Mars Nolles High School uh to intern at Lake View. And item number five is to approve the uh mentor mentee relationships uh for this school year. And item number six is to approve the revised remote learning plan. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Questions or comments. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Adelis, >> yes. >> Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. Okay. I will take uh the next section, governance. I move that we approve section one policies for first reading and adoption. All the policies are listed uh on the agenda and I'll just bring to your attention that
024the second to last one uh policy 1648.15 is to be abolished. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Uh questions or comments? Uh I did enjoy um I did see the revisions to the uh artificial intelligence. So definitely um agree with some of those changes. Uh so um I'm wondering um you know and this is a question that doesn't have to be answered tonight but uh would there be a need for a a policy for use of AI by the staff and by the administration. So I'm not sure if that's something that was ever discussed in the presentation that you went to um or if that's something you've ever heard other districts talk about. Dr. Forte. So this policy basically says that we had to create a plan. So we have the plan but we realized
025to create the plan there was a couple things in our policy that needed to be updated. So once this policyy's updated the plan will go live. >> Yeah. But I the way I read that policy was the plan of how students could use it uh whether it's for their homework or projects or anything like that. I didn't read anything with regards to uh any policies towards use by uh teachers or staff, you know, which I I'm not against. I'm just wondering has has there ever been discussions from other districts or uh or if you've seen any of that? >> We do have a little mention of that in the acceptable use policy as well. So, um it's referenced the staff is referenced in the um in the plan mostly on what their responsibilities are when
026guiding students, but the acceptable use policy does address um how it can be used as well. >> We had decided not to list specific programs because it's changing so fast. It would be very hard. So, we were just really talking about what um what the guidelines of what programs can do and how they could use them. I guess more than like you can use this a list of programs and we intentionally took that out because I think by the time we approve it the list will be obsolete. >> Yeah, I agree. It is a quickly changing um um subject I guess or um just the technology itself is uh moving at light speed. So that that was a very good idea on that part. >> Any other questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Dr.
027Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Delis, >> yes. >> Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kim. >> Yes. Uh, Mrs. A. Dallas, can you walk us through finance, please? >> Sure. Um, I move to approve the following resolutions under finance. Uh, one, be resolved that the board approved the enclosed checklist as described here in the agenda. Uh, two, the have be it resolved that the board approved the disposal of the equipment listed below within the agenda. Uh three, the donate be resolved that the board of education accepts the donation of various boxes of colored paper with an estimated value of $200 from the Toro book binding uh facil facilitated through Miss Julie Gzi. Uh four, five, six, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are the approval for Michael Anderson, Dina Capello, James
028Kim, Andrea Zadellis, Dr. Christie Forte, uh, Miss Michelle Oliviveri, and Miss Allison Casper to attend the New Jersey School Board Workshop Conference 2025 in Atlantic City at the cost of 130 per night plus travel cost. And 11, the board approved the agreement with St. Clair's Behavioral Health for the 2025 2026 school year as follows. back to school clearance evaluations at the cost of 250 per evaluation and one-time psychiatric evaluations as needed at the cost of 510 per evaluation. Uh at this time we will be omitting number 12 on the agenda. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, just to repeat that uh board members if you want to please strike number 12 from the agenda since uh we're not including it tonight. Any questions or comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Moore, >>
029yes. >> Miss Dallas, >> yes. >> Would you like to abstain from number seven? >> Yes, please. Abstaining from number seven. >> Thank you, Miss Asterino. >> Yes, >> Mr. Cass. No on the milk fund. Yes on everything else. >> Mr. Kim, >> I wish to abstain from number six, but yes uh for everything else. >> Okay. The next item on the agenda is operations. Mr. Cass, can you walk us through that please? Be glad to. Under operations number one, transportation. There are no actions to be considered on this agenda. As for building and grounds, we have item 2.1 that the Denville Township Board of Education retroactively approved the attached quote from Makeo Heating and Air Conditioning Incorporated for a compressor replacement for the Lake View Cottage number one in the amount of $6,575. It
030is to be paid from maintenance reserve. >> Can I have a second from a board member? >> Second. >> Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Adelis, >> yes. >> Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. The next item on the agenda, good for the good of the cause. committee reports correspondence discussion items such as board meeting highlights or um any school events that the board members should schedule to attend and classroom space consideration questions or comments. Yeah, I mentioned to Steve on the way back down from the executive session that uh I go to a lot of soccer practices throughout the year and take the pen the parents pulse and temperature make sure everything's going along okay and um
031when they founded that uh you know I was on the board of education which I didn't publicize but um I got a lot of positive feedback about Dr. Fort's presentation and the overall communication process we've had with the Riverview Annex expansion. So, um, and again, I reminded when I was around for the, uh, first middle school drive 18 years ago, and it's like night and day. Um, and and what's interesting is how informed the parents are from, um, the videos, uh, Dr. Forte's presentations, etc. So, it's a very well educated public on the on what we're doing. >> Thank you, Mr. Cass. Any other comments or questions from the board members? Dr. Forte, do you have board meeting highlights? >> So far, I have the donation and um that we that the board approves staff
032in the BOE to attend the convention to receive the stainable jersey award. Anything else? Um I is there going to be um sort of like a a view a beta version of the website before it's actually released to the public because I was wondering how you're going to handle that or how do they handle that if it is available on October 1st? >> You mean like to show it to the public before I probably there probably is a way >> or or more like >> built it's already built but it's just hidden. Oh, so like is it being tested to make sure all the links work and everything else? >> That's the process right now. Yeah. >> Okay. So, they're going through that. So, they should be done by October 1st. >> Yeah, that's what
033they told us. Yep. >> And is that something you want to include in your board highlights? Is that Look for the new >> I'll include it, but I want to put the date. I'll say coming soon. >> Sounds good. Okay. Uh since there's no other questions or comments, we'll proceed to the second public comments section at 8:00 p.m. on the dot. Again, there's no one online and no one in the chamber, so we're going to close it at 8:00. And since there is no need for another executive, correct, Dr. Forte? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I I Any nays? Abstensions? We are adjourned at 8:01 p.m. Thank you everyone.