001If everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. for special presentations. During our next board meeting, which will be on April 28th, we will be um there will be a presentation for the 2526 school year final budget uh and as well as a hearing for the final budget. On May 12th, the updated demographic study will be presented by Dr. Grip, who will be attending virtually. Correct? Uh I think Dr. Forte. Yes, that's correct. And then on June 9th, uh New Jersey school boards will be uh recapping our goals for this year of 2425 as well as presenting our self-evaluations and goal settings for 20 and helping us establish goals for 2526 school year. Uh this will be in a format of a board retreat. So the meeting will actually start at 6:00 pm
002on June 9th. Superintendent's comments, please. Thank you. So, we had our third session of the anxious generation and Dr. Collins ran it. So, maybe Dr. Collins will give a little update when you get to your part. We have the next one on the 22nd. The 22nd is going to be a panel. The panelists have been uh informed already and there will be a press release going out. We have we have a few questions now. Um, I asked the public for input on questions. Um, if you could take a look at them, too. If you have if you have any uh ideas for questions, you could submit some. It's on the website. We probably have about 15 already. Um, so we'll have a moderator and we'll have a panel of six people and we will ask
003a few questions and then see how that goes. That that's going to be a little longer than the last one. Um, but I'm excited to see how this panel goes. The other question I had, the other comment I have here is about the um persons of the year. So, that's already gone out on social media and through the Friday folder. It's going to come out in an email. It'll go in the it'll go in the uh local newspapers and we'll be asking people for their input through the month of April. And then I'm looking at May 19th. How does May 19th sound for the board meeting? any uh any issues with that? It's one it's one of the ones that we don't have anything and it'll give me enough time from April April 30th. I
004could have a meeting with the people the the committee members maybe on on May 1st and get the names to the to the engravers by May, you know, second or so and I'll have enough time to get the uh get it ready and back by the 19th. Um any uh reason why the 19th is not good for anybody? Okay. So, I'll I'll plan on getting that on May 19th. Um and Dr. Grip did say you'll have the study for us. It should be before spring break, which will give you a little bit of time to review it before he does his presentation on uh on May 12th. And that's it for the superintendent's comments. Great. Thank you. Uh assistant superintendent comments, Dr. Cis. Sure. Um I this was our last uh besides the panel, our
005last discussion of anxious generation. I think the big takeaways were that uh those that were participating were all in favor of looking at phone-f free options whether it's in their community or at the schools. Uh we as personnel of the school was were also of that mindset and also increasing or at least making aware of the opportunities that students have for free play uh and just physical activity um during the day. So, I think those were the big takeaways that schools and community would both like to work on. Um, I know that Mike and Zena Andrea were both there if you guys want to say anything. Yeah, first of all, Dr. Calls, thanks for leading it. I think it was uh it was an interesting discussion. I think um I think that not many people
006understood maybe our policy within the school. Uh although slightly different than what uh is talked about in the book. It certainly removes them a little bit from social media or at least from their phones. Um you know I talked to Dr. Forte actually today about this. I was I was asking him can we and you know one of the things I think that's really tough with this generation and by the way it's not even just this generation because even people that I have in their 20s that work for me even in their 30s it's the difference on how to communicate on technology like when a text message is appropriate when a social media post is appropriate and when a phone call or a facetoface meeting is more appropriate and I don't know if that's something
007we can infuse in the curriculum we can discuss in like a have a speaker come talk about it sometimes I I say infusion the curriculum because I feel like sometimes when we have a single speaker, it's like a hit and run. You don't like remember it. But if it's something we can start talking to staff about to get them to understand how to communicate appropriately, it's just a little bit of a thought that I was having as I was reflecting on the um on the uh last uh book study. But I I thought it was a really great dialogue and discussion. Um I think I think there was I think we got to a point where it's easy to talk about this problem. it's hard to talk about the solution to it because I think
008there was like a pause in the beginning and nobody wanted to talk. Um, so then when the conversation started getting going, I think it was good, but it still got to a point where it's really hard to make these decisions on what to do about it because it's such a big problem that I think it's hard to figure out those individual things that might make a small difference. So, I I don't know I don't know how to change that, but that was really I think what the what the room was kind of feeling like to me. Uh just to add, I I think it's a great conversation starter and it's a great jumping off point from the last discussion. Hopefully in the panel we'll see uh maybe some strategies on how to really have those
009next action steps for us. Um and I and I do think it kind of comes back to us as a board. Um so I think there will be discussions in the future in terms of maybe in IMP or governance or somewhere where it can live. uh where that conversation can start with us with what what does that look like for our schools and for our district. Just to add one more thing too, I was just thinking I mentioned this to Dr. Forte also today. The challenge with this is that we had a really great group of parents that seriously want to make a difference, but we have that might say they shouldn't have their phone at all or should be put into a locker as you walk in the building and everything. you have as
010many other parents that are going to say,"I need to get a hold of Johnny if there's an emergency or I need to get a hold of him for this or that or if there's a lockdown I need to know what's going on." Um, so I just want I'm not saying good or bad. I'm just making a statement as to what we may see as we move through a process if we were to make any changes that you're going to see as many individuals that might have a challenge or an issue or not believe that it's the best route to go. Thank you. Uh, and just an update on the kindergarten registration. We're sitting at 150 students right now. Lake View at 71, Riverview is 66, and I have that I'm just holding in the flexible
011tenant zone at this point. This concludes assistant superintendent report. Thank you, Dr. Cullis. Business administrator comments, please. During the last meeting, I mentioned that uh the district received notice that we were uh needed to implement the breakfast program at Lake View. I did request a waiver and they grant granted that waiver last Thursday and we will have to implement it for the 2627 school year. Another comment. Uh, if you are intending to attend the New Jersey School Board Conference in October in Atlantic City, please uh let me know. I did make make reservations for everybody, but I do need to cancel if you're not coming. Thank you. Excellent. Um, thank you, Miss Garowski. We'll now go ahead and open up the um evening for public comments at 7:40 p.m. Seeing no one in the chambers
012and no one online, we're going to close it at 7:41 p.m. Old business, no action to be taken. Miss Dallas, can you uh walk us through that, please? I sure can. Um at the next meeting, myself or someone else will go through the following resolutions for approval. Uh the board reports for March 2025, the education reports for March 2025, uh the minutes for March 2025, special meetings and regular sessions. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is new business action to be taken. Mr. Capello, can you walk us through personnel, please? I'd be happy to. Um if there are no objections under personnel I would like to move items 1 through 4. Um item one includes resignations, retirements, employee leaves, extra pay, salary adjustments. Those items include um two resignations, uh some leave replacements, uh
013some lunch uh lunch uh recess aid replacements and and resignations, and also uh retroactive math tutor and additional hours for a 20-hour math tutoring. Number two is a board approve an employee for an extended leave of absence under the FMLA act. And finally uh number three sorry not finally but number three uh another uh approval for FMLA and then finally number four is to resolve to uh hire a new hus substitute uh and v via teley via I'll second thank you questions or comments roll call please Dr. Moore. Yes. Misselis. Yes. Miss Eststerino. Yes. Mr. Cass. Yes. Mr. Anderson. Yes. Mr. Capello. Yes. Mr. Kim. Yes. Dr. Moore, can you walk us through, please? Yeah. I'd like to move the uh following uh for approval under uh resolutions. Uh following resolutions under instruction and program.
014Item number one is to approve the uh following uh title three consortium purchases for uh looks like Longill Township, Minehill Township, Riverdale, Rockaway Burrow. Second. Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. Dr. Moore, yes. Miss Adelis, yes. Miss Asterino, yes. Mr. Cass, yes. Mr. Anderson, yes. Mr. Capello, yes. Mr. Kim, yes. All right. There are no actions under governance. So, Mr. Anderson, under finance, please. Sure. If there are no objections, I'd like to move under uh D, finance the following resolutions. Number one, let it be resolved that the board accept the 2025 safe safety grant through the New Jersey Schools Insurance Group, Eric West, in the amount of $3,200 for the period of July 1st, 2025 through June 20th, 2026. And item number two is let it be resolved that the board approve the
015attached contract for student number 20302333 for the 2024 2025 2025 2026 and 2026 2027 school years. I'll second. Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. Dr. Moore. Yes, Mr. Delos. Yes, Miss Asterino. Yes, Mr. Cass. Yes, Mr. Anderson. Yes, Mr. Capello. Yes, Mr. Ken. Yes, Mr. Cass. Operations, please. Under operations, there are no actions to be considered for transportation tonight. Number two, building and grounds, you have two items to move. 2.1 is I'm asking the board to rescend the motion of March 28th, 2025. E2.2 for DNL paving to repair the damaged collapsing storming at Lake View School. They're not able to do the job. 2.2 is that the board approve detach quote from R. Alrich and Sun LLC in the amount of $5,000 to be paid for maintenance reserve and the repairs necessary for
016the damage and collapsing storm drain at Lake View School lower parking lot. Can I have a second? Second. Oh, thank you, Mr. Anderson. Thank you. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. Dr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Adelis, yes. Miss Asterino, yes. Mr. Cass, yes. Mr. Anderson, yes. Mr. Capello, yes. Mr. Kim, yes. All right. New business. No action to be taken. These will be resolutions that will be discussed uh or approved during our next board meeting. Uh Mr. Capello, can you walk us through your personnel, please? Uh sure. I or someone else at the next meeting will be moving items under uh personnel. Uh right now these items include uh new hires resignations, cashing out vacation days, uh summer uh 2025 uh prep and summer hours. They also include a series of uh FMLA uh leaves. They
017include uh the updated list of staff for the ex uh ESY school year. um the attached will be the attached list of the summer exploration staff for 2025 and um more FMLA. Uh yeah, I think that's I think that covers it. Great. Thank you. Uh there were any board members with questions or comments? Okay. Um M Dr. Moore, can you walk us through IMP? Uh yes. Uh either myself or someone else will approve the following resolution under instructions and program. Item number one is workshops and expenses. There's uh one event. It's an all-ins summer inclusion leadership conference at Kain. Thank you. Uh any questions or comments regarding this resolution? Could I take a moment to ask a question about the uh agenda? Not the agenda, but the minutes for the IMP committee uh that was
018held um in April or last week. Um it looks like that uh Miss Johnson reported the IMP percentages. Um Mr. Capello or Dr. Moore, did you guys want to comment on that? Did you find uh that discussion um like what was uh part of that discussion and what did you guys feel? Uh Sandy, you can uh correct me if I uh if I misspeak at all. I I I mean the the gist of it was um uh that number seemed I was I was curious if that was a growing number, if she anticipated it growing. She said it was a fairly constant number like it's a little lower than last year. um and we seem to hover around that number and um we looked at the where the um the identifications were coming from uh
019a majority of them if I remember correctly I don't have it in front of me was um later in the school year but there was a a bulk that came you know as a result of uh uh prek and um um a smaller number was was transfers and um some uh increase as I recall all if if I remember correctly around 2010 um had to do with um changes in the way that um eligibility was and uh the dyslexia laws and dyslexia screenings. So we saw a bump during that period of time. Um trying to recall off the top of my head um there's anything else the number is slightly down. Um the number of students that are being declassified is up. And although it's not a huge number, we're excited to see that more
020of our students heading into middle school um are being declassified. And we did have a handful of our prek students being declassified before they're going into gened kindergarten. So that is great news. Uh we are still working but uh very closely with how do we fill those gaps um as they move through elementary school so that we can have them declassified in ele excuse me in middle school. That was really one of the goals. Uh and I do feel like we have a very strong CST team right now and are are working pretty hard at setting rigorous goals that will lead them to declassification. So I feel that that that is an improvement. Uh but it was nice to see where the numbers were and just the process just explain the process of how we
021classify and what are some of the criteria. So great thank you. That's very enlightening. Appreciate that. I had a question. How does that percentage match up with or like in same schools that we often compare ourselves to with you know testing and uh salary administration etc. we are higher um than some of our comparison schools than most of our comparison schools. Uh and we've talked a lot about why is this um we do offer quite a range of services that not all of the schools do offer and I feel like we take it pretty seriously. If a student needs a certain environment, we find a way to find that service. Um, I have heard a lot of anecdotal stories of districts that have turned students away from getting IEPs that might have benefited from a
022service that they didn't have. Uh, we do have quite a wide range. Our hope is that we can put those in early and get them declassified heading into, you know, middle school. That's our hope. less important that we di diagnose the problem if there is one for all the kids and not uh leave somebody out and I would guess that um the state would be higher if you lump the whole state together or those stats aren't available. I don't know what the actual classification rate is at the state. Um we've pretty much been comparing ourselves to our area. Um I think that ours is on the higher end. you know, when we look at it, we are always trying to see what would be a realistic number, but it's very hard to say if there's
023it's hard to say, let's try to get it lower because it's the only way that it gets lower is if our students are able to achieve and either they have found strategies to work through disabilities or um well, that's really the only way because the disability will still be there. It's just that can we work through strategies to get them to compensate and be able to get to an achievable level. No, it sounds like it's a it's a good plan and it's and it's working. That's like a turn style because eventually our kids go on to high school and they're not in that percentage, but you're getting a new bunch of students to uh evaluate and some of them will eventually go in there. We do have a lot our preschool has more than doubled
024in the last decade of the number of students that are coming to us through early intervention. Um you know uh child find where there are advocates in the community that find children that may need those services. Great. Thank you very much. Uh if there are no other questions or comments, we'll move we'll move on to governance. Uh under governance, we are going to be reviewing uh for first reading three policies. Uh the third party the third policy is the board committees that we're revising to include the government governance committee and the roles uh that the governance committee thought uh we could uh be responsible for. So please feel free to look at that and see if you have any comments regarding that. The first two policies are actually in reference to um a comprehensive equity
025plan uh which is being mandated by the state and I want to thank um Dr. Forte and the administration because there was a list of over a hundred different policies that needed to be updated and they found only two that uh the Denver um bylaws or policies uh were sort of not in compliance. So two out of over a hundred is a phenomenal statistic. So uh thank you Dr. Forte for keeping us up to date with all the policies. Um the second resolution uh is the resolution that um uh so I sort of put together uh under Mike's advisement uh to discuss the economic impact or the impact to the board of educations uh from all the housing development policies that the state is enforcing. So this uh resolution is whereas a Dville Township school
026district is committed to providing highquality education to all students while maintaining reasonable class sizes and ensuring adequate resources for instruction and student services. And whereas the state of New Jersey housing development policies have led to an influx of new residential construction within Dendle Township, resulting in significant increase in student enrollment within the district. And whereas the rapid increase of student population has placed substantial strain on the district's facilities, staffing, and financial resources, making it increasingly difficult to maintain the high qual the high educational standards that the community expects and deserves. And whereas the increase in student population has also led to a greater demand for special education services requiring additional personnel, specialized programs, and support services to meet the needs of all students. And whereas the current state funding formulas and aid allocations do not
027adequately account for the immediate and long-term financial burdens imposed on the school districts facing sudden and substantial enrollment and growth. And whereas local taxpayers are unfairly burdened with the cost of accommodating additional students, while school districts have limited while school districts have limited avenues for generating revenue to fund the necessary expansion of educational services, facilities, and educa special education programs. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Danville Township Board of Education urges the state of New Jersey to acknowledge the challenges faced by the districts experiencing increased enrollment due to housing development policies and take action to provide additional support, including but not limited to adjusting school funding formulas, ensuring that any modifications to the state aid formula also reflect student enrollment growth in impacted districts and provide increased financial assistance accordingly. Increase special education funding.
028Allocate greater resources to school districts experiencing an influx of students requiring special education services to ensure that all students receive the support they need. Infrastructure grants establish state funded grants to help school districts expand facilities, upgrade technology, and improve infrastru infrastructure to accommodate new students. CL uh class size reduction assistance allocating additional funding for hiring teachers and support staff to ensure that the class sizes remain manageable and instructional quality is maintained. Impact fees on developers. Implementing policies that require developers to contribute financially to local school districts to offset the cost of increased enrollment due to housing developments. Transportation support. Providing additional state aid for transportation services to support the increased number of students who require busing. Enhance planning and coordination. Require closer collaboration between municipal planning boards, school districts, and state a state agencies to
029assess and mitigate the educational impact of new residential developments before approval. Emergency aid allocation. establishing a mechanism for districts facing rapid enrollment surges to apply for emergency funding to address immediate needs. Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution shall be forwarded to the governor of New Jersey, the New Jersey Commissioner of Education, the New Jersey state legislature, and other relevant stakeholders to advocate the necessary policy changes for financial support. So, I'd ask the board members to review it and make comments whether here or, you know, by email. I'd be more than happy to uh take any kind of comments and uh adjustments. Yeah, I'll make one right now. It's a very well done resolution and it includes solutions which is, you know, it's like somebody's going to say, "Oh, they're complaining about it,
030but they don't have a solution." So, you do have a solutions there. very well done and long overdue and uh obvious going down to uh to Trenton, but I'm wonder if we could share that um with was it 27 districts or the in the uh and the lawsuit about the uh that's going on now with affordable housing and the mandates, the numbers and everything like that because um this would be a just a great thing to see if it doesn't have to copy us word for word But if uh you had more districts doing this type of thing, passing the resolution uh because there is an election coming up and uh I mean this affordable housing is a mess and you stayed away from the the non-educational issues that are associated with it which also
031are a problem especially the environmental issues and the cost of taxpayers with the uh the increase uh need for more utility support sewage water etc. Okay. Uh we'll be uh voting on that resolution during our next meeting. So uh if there's any other thoughts or changes or suggestions, I'll be more than happy to um listen to them. Uh Mr. Anderson, under finance, could you walk us through what we'll be voting on next meeting? Sure. Let me just get back to my spot. At the next meeting, uh, under def finance, I'll be moving, uh, our normal checks list as well as, um, the 2025 2026 budget for the Dville Board of Education. Uh, the numbers are listed in the agenda and the full resolution. Um we'll read through it at the next meeting, but please feel
032free to ask any questions tonight or uh before the next meeting. And the final item will be uh so far, at least on the agenda, is to approve the resolution regarding providing milk for students for the 2025 2026 school year. Uh and the uh listed prices uh are in the agenda. Thank you. Questions or comments? Okay, Mr. Cass, can you walk us through the uh operations portion, please? I'd be glad to. Under operations, nothing coming up for transportation under building and grounds. I'm going to ask the board to approve detach uh MOA with the county college for 2025 26 and that's to uh use their grounds in case of emergencies and we have to transport students to that location. Item 2.2 Two is to approve the attached share services agreement with the township of Dembele
033for the purpose of sharing services of class 3 special law enforcement officers for the 2025, 2026 and the 2026 and 2027 school year. Thank you. Questions or comments? I just if I could uh just one uh about the class three officers. Um in watching the news lately, I know there's been some pretty large districts in northern New Jersey. actually Wayne is one of them that has a significant uh budget crisis and they are looking to either phase out or switch out of their class 3 officers and try to find another solution. I just want to point out that uh you know we are obviously even in a tough budget environment continuing that our commitment to that. So I think it's I think it's admirable because again a lot of districts are are really struggling to
034to keep to keep that program going. Thank you for pointing that out. Mr. Capabello, did you notice there was um I believe Middletown, I think it was Middletown recently, they were just about to get rid of it and the township pick is picking up a much larger share now. And that I think that has to do with the fact that the township budget gets to be passed, right? And they can do things without some of the things that we can't do. But I did notice what you're talking about in several districts. It's it's a financial burden. It's not not going to say it's not. Um and uh Dearis and I are going to talk a little bit about a possible funding question after we get this budget passed and then we'll bring it to the
035finance committee to talk about if we want to go forward with that. Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Okay. The next item is uh for the good of the cause committee reports, correspondence, discussion items or other items that uh board members wish to discuss in today's meeting. I want to congratulate the Valley View performers who put on The Little Mermaid Jr. this past weekend. Uh three wonderful shows by a really talented cast. I want to thank the teachers, the administrators, and the students because there was a student director this year. There were some other um you know, opportunities for the kids to get involved. The sets were wonderful. Um and the it really came together. So, I want to say thank you to the to the administration and to uh the students.
036If you caught it, it was a great show. Um, additionally, I was able to volunteer for lunch uh at the middle school uh even though my children protested uh multiple times, but uh I did it anyway. And um I would say thank you to all the parents who volunteer for that position for 10:30 to 1:00 handing out lunch every single day. Um it was not easy. It was not easy and I think we should have a conversation about that about you know providing some help there or if you can volunteer please do um but it's a big job. Uh but thank you. Here's my uh four points for highlights unless anybody has any other ones. On the uh May 19th meeting, we'll be doing the um persons of the year. At the May 12th meeting,
037Dr. Grip will present an updated demo study. On April 28th, we'll have a the board 2526 budget and approval, and the board approved the $3,200 safety grant from our insurance carrier. Anybody have anything else to add? No, that sounds good. Thank you. Um I do want to share a few things that are going to happen as well. Uh we do have um Dr. Forte's review that we have to um provide. So please uh um look for an email from me this week which will include maybe links for his review um that we'll have to um have an evaluation done. And then we'll have an executive or board retreat on May 19th uh prior to the May 19th meeting to discuss uh his evaluation. Uh we also have a board self-evaluation as well. Um we all
038I would like to use the new school board's tool that's similar to the superintendent tool that's provided by New Jersey school boards. Uh so that will also be included in my email to the rest of the board so that we could uh provide us uh provide a self-evaluation that will be presented during the June 9th meeting. I think that's everything. Yes. Okay. Any other board members? not that anyone needs to be reminded, but spring break is next week. Just so thank you. You all know. Okay. Uh is there a need for a second executive session, Dr. Forte? No, there is not. Public I think you have public comments. Yes. Thank you. Um, I'd like to open it up uh for public comment at 8:07 p.m. Seeing no one in the in the room or no
039one online, we'll close it at 8:07 p.m. as well. Since there is no need for a second executive session, could I take a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Second. I heard um Mr. Capello, but I um I'm not sure about the second. So, I think Mr. Mr. Cass. Mr. Cass. Okay. He beat me so fast. All in favor? I I. Any nays? Absentions? We are now adjourned at 8:07 p.m.