001All right, good evening everyone. This is the legislative advocacy and community engagement meeting for September. Um, for those of you who um are not aware, Miss Fabiano um who was our prior board president um moved to Delaware with her family. Um and so um she resigned as board president as of I think it was officially 11:59 p.m. on July 31st, right? Because I think I made that motion. Um and Mr. Mr. Ding was elected as our new board president. Um and then two weeks ago we um had interviews for our vacancy and Mrs. Ziz was appointed to our vacancy um that was held by Miss Fabiano and so she will be um on because Mr. Payne now is exeicio is the official term of the committee. Um Mrs. Ziz has taken her spot on this
002committee. Um so I just wanted to share that quick update with everyone. um you guys all know but for the public. Uh so we're going to start with um legislative items. Um there really hasn't been a lot of movement um because of it being summer and campaign and all of that. Um and so I figured I would just ask if anybody wanted to talk about any legislative issues. Um I know Mr. Rob had something you were going to bring up. So >> I don't have a I don't >> I just wanted to bring up something. I know. I announced at the last meeting that we were going to have um Oh, no. That's policy. Never mind. I know. I know. Well, >> find out in half hour. >> That's right. He's not coming for um
003county, >> but it's going to be talking about legislation. Thanks. >> Okay. So, then does work for this candidate. >> It's going to work. >> All right. Corona. >> Uh I will uh remind everyone that's going to school boards that they just I think a couple days ago they they released their agenda. There's there's some interesting uh topics pursuing to this some of the things that we talked about in this committee. >> Um I just started looking through some items um that we that relate some of the things we talked about last meeting that we're excited to check out. >> Um I just wanted to circle back also a couple meetings ago you had asked for uh the committee had asked for a landing place for all the professional and corporate partnerships that we have
004in the district. So, we did create that. If you go on to Oh, sorry, the screen's off. The district services uh the district services tab on the website and if you go under community partnerships, um not only do we proudly display the artwork and the banners of our community partners, we also include a link to their website that was agreed upon in the eel. >> Nice. but also um at the top kind of speaks to the purpose of the partnerships and also offers a link which is currently disabled because I had to fix one last thing um but it offers a link to for potential partners if they just want to reach out talk about things so I know that that was something that we had discussed and um you know we're happy to be
005able to deliver that for um for the the generous people in the community that have stepped up and they have we've been very busy this this fall and summer with bringing on new partners. One of the things that uh we mentioned in the previous meeting when we were talking about strategic plan and how advocacy has supported some of the uh elements in the continuum of uh of education. So while we talk a lot about capital projects and state funding and things like that and full day kindergarten of course you know we've been quietly growing and expanding our programs including uh bringing in new uh facility items thanks to the support of these private partnerships and most recently uh Mr. Barantika and I were working with the Modern Township soccer club and uh about a dozen
006local businesses who came together to coordinate out of respect for the soccer program and the athletic department and and uh purchased some some pretty interesting items that were going to roll out this fall sports season to directly benefit students of the district. So this is a great example of how we had where it had been traditionally just one business coming in and helping out here. They organized, they got together, and we had about 12 businesses very generously coming together to help us on board these these new items and facility items that are going to well really athletic items, but that are going to benefit our students. So, that was exactly what these partnerships are designed to do and we're seeing it pay off. We're currently working with the wrestling program to bring in some new
007bats. Um, and none of these items are going to touch our operating budget. And so we are we are creatively trying to find ways to not only bring in private funding but while this is going on we're strengthening our ties with the community. So every time I'm looking at Bagel Bazaar right now the gentleman has got children in our district. Every time we meet and we discuss the partnership we're talking about the school. We're talking about how to improve the town. Not just the the school district but you know things going on in Apple Road. Things are going what's going on with the golf frame. So but we're talking about the district and that's what we want to do. It's not just about the money, >> right? It's about getting more people that are committed
008to this town talking and getting involved in the school district. And I think the citizens advising committee is is a nice little product of that because now more people are coming through the door. >> So that that's up and running. Um just pursuant to the other we we talked about uh updating the advocacy page as we're ready. I know you had talked about some other things that we want to get up there. Uh so we're trying to make our web presence um stronger and more up to date. uh and have to compliment the the tech staff that works with us on that. The other thing that we learned with partic uh with rel relations to uh how we can advocate for our district and get the word out on some of the things we're working
009on. So we've been studying how we can get picked up by uh AI uh language models more frequently. So like if you were to go on to chat GPT ask about the modern attached district school district, how do we get the best most accurate answer? uh and because sometimes you know AI can sometimes have a six-month uh lag on information. So what we learned is we we started getting away from doing Canva graphics because the language models don't pick up JPEGs. >> So like little things like that we're learning along the way. So you'll see us typing more into the into the website form versus creating images. So because we want to use AI to our advantage for things like that. >> So I'm going to show you like my weaknesses when it comes to
010technology. But I feel like with images there was something where you can put like the meta data. Is that the right word? >> Yes, you can. Y >> into the image so that if people are searching it comes up is that >> you could but um what we if I was going to write a statement let's say about our current our our current advocacy initiative of of the month >> and I was to publish that on the advocacy site. uh there's a better chance of getting what I want to say >> right >> uh on there if if it's so we're we're evolving the site and the new website that Mr. Feldman and the staff has rolled out have been very helpful with that. Uh we've also we mentioned last meeting that we added a
011portion to the website that highlights our enrollment and and demographic information. So more information put it out there gives the community more opportunities to engage with some of the topics that we are are working on. and a better informed communities and make our job easier. So yeah, >> absolutely. So because you sort of went in this direction, I think we'll sort of jump topics around. I don't know if we're able to get display up there. Um but >> I'm sure we can. I um because one of the things that I know like I was very excited about I know others were as well with the new website was the calendar enhancements that were made um and the be being able to subscribe to the calendars. Um I know that there are like I've heard from
012people who aren't really sure how to do it or they feel like they're not seeing things for their child school. Um, you know, and I think I like I've mentioned personally here that you have to like subscribe if you want like the overall district things, but then you have to go into each school's website at least right now um in order to then subscribe to the school's calendar as well. But I thought um since we've discussed it here before, if we could sort of just you know show how to do it, that would be really helpful for people. So, uh, we had I mentioned we looks like we're currently having a syncing issue with the Facebook feed here because these look about 20 days old. >> Uh, we did previously have a syncing issue with
013calendar. Looks like it's fixed now. Um, >> I'm not going to give out step-by-step instructions. >> I don't know how to do it, and I'm probably just going to play around with it and end up doing something that's not going to help anyone. But uh similar to the message that we sent out about how to update your communication information, we could very easily come up with a here's how you do it. >> Okay. Um and then I just because >> I'm sure it's not as easy as just clicking this. >> It actually really is. >> Now you had asked about how do you personal like how do you check off like I want Bill Lake, I want >> Right. So, I know when we first went over the website design at that point, it, you
014know, we discussed that the way that it was on there at that time was, and I think it's still like this, if you subscribe to the district overall events like days that the schools are closed or things like that, right? um on like the home website, but then if you wanted to get specific events for Oak Tree or the middle school, you have to go to the middle school's website and then also subscribe to that calendar. Um, and so then I think we had said there was a possibility maybe at some point in the future where you could sort of select in like one shot um the specific calendars you wanted to subscribe to, but um obviously there's been a lot of other things and you know this is still an option of just going
015to the different websites to subscribe. Um but I feel like that sort of has to be information given because unless people are watching this they may not know. >> No, that's an easy fix. Yeah. So you can see right here, my guess is that if I had did Brookside and then the high school, I would then go into besetics and and show both of them. But I'll I'll work with people a lot about making this stuff and put out communication. That's their DC. >> Okay. >> Um website wise, I guess since we're sort of on there. Any other things anybody wanted to discuss? Um I definitely feel like there's been some some really good updates um besides the initial overhaul which in itself was um appreciated. I also have noticed with um attachments now that
016are coming from the school district that more of them are just opening now um instead of downloading and then you have to open and I remember you mentioning that there was something on the back end that had changed to allow that. >> Yeah. So, we we had uh uh just we really just with the start of the school year started using the new messaging system. >> Uh we're not we just unlocked what it's capable of. Uh you may have received transportation text messages. So, we were trying to work on on using that. >> We got a lot of things. >> Yeah. So, I bet the uh >> not as many as I thought we were going to do. >> No. And that's what we tried to do was also not saturate. So we are able
017to target specific routes uh and and people rather than just shooting out a million. >> Yeah. >> Um but uh it does have some more media rich options. We're actually looking at news one of the newsletter functions in there to find ways to read newsletter and stuff like that as well. >> Adam, I have a question. Um I believe that high school students can now access Genesis. Um, and when I go to the district website, I can see parent access. So, how do high school students access it? >> Uh, let's take a look. I um >> I went to the high school site, but it's sad. >> I You know what? I don't want to speak for the high school. >> Um, but I will find out a way. And if we and if it's
018we if we figure that it's not visible enough, my guess is maybe you gota pop somewhere through here. But let me take a look and I'll and I'll find a way. But uh I'll see how the high school administration is communicating that out to the students. >> Okay. >> I also when I opened up the high school's website, I noticed the athletic calendar is also there, but um it's on the high school's home page. Um I didn't open up the middle school yet to see if middle school athletics are then on the middle school home page. They >> probably are. Um but you know, it's definitely such a improvement in terms of the calendar from where we were. So, it's really just fine tuning it to make it more efficient, I think. Um, and you
019know, I definitely have the confidence that, you know, you and the tech staff can get that done. Um, and it'll, you know, it's really helpful because then like if things change, they automatically change if you're subscribed. And, you know, ah, I mean, I I like it. I'll just leave it there. Um, it's definitely very helpful for those people who use the digital calendars. Um, I have a paper calendar doesn't really help, but you know, I could paper one of my >> the uh we um that I'll I'll I can get you some feedback on all those things for next month. >> All right, that sounds great. Um there really, like I said, hasn't been a lot of movement on any of the legislative um bills. So, I think I'm going to table that item um
020until next month, unless there's anything specific anyone wants to talk about. Um because the other item on our agenda was just a discussion of um an advocacy calendar the school district. Um I'm steal this. So I sort of I used AI. You'd be proud of me. Mr. Pink I know you're our AI expert. >> Oh yeah. That's it. I'm the AI expert. What am I doing sitting here? I should be having the job. um that I um to sort of create like a very generic like mock advocacy calendar for districts in New Jersey um for school boards specifically. So I thought we could sort of like just take a look. I just do this one time uh and see like if there's anything that you know we maybe want to add or or take away
021from it. Um, you know, I'll sort of just go through it really quick because one thing that I've always felt is it would be a lot easier for us to plan our advocacy topics and, you know, documents and things like that if we sort of know what's coming up. Obviously, we can't really know everything. Like last year, there were the school funding hearings that sort of surprised us. Um, but >> 24 hours in advance. >> Yeah. But um I you know in general you know we sort of know when the state's going to do their state of the state and their budget hearings and things. Um so the first thing is it says July August planning and preparation. Um review state and federal education legislation. Set the advocacy priorities for the year. Um it says
022funding special education mental health facilities. Hold a retreat or workshop with the board advocacy committee to align on strategy. I feel like that's kind of what we're just doing here. um build an advocacy toolkit um which we have the website or and then meet with local legislators um which you know we have done in the past um and I think you know that's something we can definitely try to do again uh and then September and October one thing it mentions is to host a back to school night advocacy corner um sharing info on state funding issues um but I certainly don't know if we need like a actual designated spot it might be nice to share information maybe not this here, but in the future about, you know, funding um a community newsletter, focus on
023updates and advocacy priorities. Um encourage parents, staff, community to sign up for advocacy alerts, monitor initiatives, and you know, start outreach to the PTA, senior communities, and other organizations. Um November, December, it says to track early discussions of the budget, submit district specific funding priorities to local legislators. I feel like that's something that I would really like for us to start doing earlier if we can. Um I feel like a lot of times at least for the four years I've been here like it's really when the budgets announced we see what we're getting then we find out about the hearings and then we start to work on you know what we want. But I feel like we sort of have a idea of what we need earlier. >> Are you saying spoiler alert we're going
024to ask for money? >> I mean don't always. Um, but you know, I guess sort of especially knowing that we're on this full day kindergarten h um and we'll have a better idea of what types of funding things we might need um like specific items we might be able to. >> So that was going to be um it seems and just based on comments from last meeting with regards to the $500,000 that we received. I think that if we if if you want to start the advocacy discussion now, which would be a nice time to do, especially heading into election season, >> the um see if we can get some people to come record process money, >> the uh we could archive the current advocacy site and and then if you go on the site
025actually show up there. So you can see we have this was a 2000 this fair fight for funding. This was a 2017. What I would suggest is we take this, you know, don't lose all this because it it documents all the work we've done and it wasn't a wasted effort. We got $500,000, right? Um it also shows, you know, did their shoe, right? And then um >> and and this Boris testimony we have up there. I think it's important to keep that there. So, what I would suggest is we archive it, pop it right down here, start a track one for this year, and then based on what we decide how we want it to look, that way we're ready to go. We have a lot of the bones in place. We've got a sample
026letter. We've got that we could obviously update. We've got our toolkit down here with the direct link to the legislators. Um we have to make sure this is all current. And I did we also had that that form letter that is still active. >> You know, we can check what we wanted to go to, >> right? >> Um so that the good news is is that if this is something that we want to refresh depending on how this comes out, >> um there's no reason that we can't just build on it and not forget about what we've done in the past. Right. Yeah, that's what I think you need to I think you need to build on that letter. Took a while for us to put it together and right >> we can get it
027out a little bit more. >> I see Mr. D'Angelo is on there and I think he's running this year. >> He is. >> So >> and Miss McCoy is a meal. So I don't know if we want to kind of um pinpoint him since Senator Greenstein has been very generous to this district. I mean, it doesn't hurt to pinpoint her, but I think maybe we should um pin I was going to say go after, but no. Um approach Senator uh D'Angelo. I mean, he's in our district, so let's ask him. >> Well, he's visited they've all visited with us before. >> Yeah, he and he's I remember he spoke. He's a very good very good speaker. >> He was very uh my if I remember correctly, he was uh he's pretty well verssed in our
028situation. >> Yes. as well. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Uh well, that's uh you know, we could we could have the the website at least dumped and and and fresh for next meeting and then we could talk over. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um >> update our parent access. >> Okay, sounds good. I'll just say like if you guys could maybe for next month be because this obviously has plenty of like flaws on it or if there's anything else you feel like we want to add or make more specific to Monroe and we could talk about Monroe news or you know other things um you know let's plan to put this again as an agenda item for next month and if you know if you guys want to come back with feedback on it um
029and then we can sort of finalize that. >> Yeah. >> So parent access is the same link as the student need to go to. So students click on parent access and they use their account, they get in, they see one thing. >> Parent access gives them access to the parent version of Genesis. >> Um, but there are occasions when parents give their students their login. So, but the students log in through the parent access. >> So, you go right here. >> Yep. Right down on this guy. There you are. Although I am not a parent. All right, sounds good. >> But I can hear you. >> I can give you my but I don't know if my daughter wants her grades being plastered all over our social media. >> Is it November? December legislative committee
030movement. >> December for the uh state for school where school board. >> We haven't heard from this month. >> It's what when is it this month? >> Oh, are you talking about the >> I'm supposed to be the rep for it? >> You're talking about the delegate assembly. I'm sorry. >> Okay. You know that's November. >> But that has to where they put that the districts put a lot of different name changes and policies and >> right like last time if I remember there were only four resolutions. Oh the ones before that there were like 20 >> but I can give you like a heads up because I'm actually on that resolution. >> Yeah. You're on with Sharon Miller from >> Yeah, she's definitely on the legislative committee. I don't know about the subcommittee but
031>> so that's something we can report on after those meetings. >> Right. And we can also put on here you know the possibility of you know because they sent out the second request if you want to put a resolution there. So we can put that as you know discuss possible resolutions if you wish to submit or >> so. Yep. All right. Sounds good. So we'll I'll put this on there for next month. Um and you know I'll put the calendar feature on there and then anything else that comes up that anyone wants you let me know and we will go from there. Okay. >> Great. Thank you everybody. Have a good night. >> You too.