Monroe Township Board of Education 02.21.18 Regular Meeting

001sit down who do you want to talk about okay I can hear you all good evening the meeting of the Monroe Township Board of Education will come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I of the United States of America to the stands na indivisible withy and justice for all may we have a roll call Mr Gorski certainly Mrs armeno here Mr Braverman Mr Chella here com he's back let it be noted Mr Braverman is present Mrs Deo here Mrs kapano here Mrs Lang here Mrs Corino here Mr Rybeck Mr Russo Mr rutsky here Madame board president you have a quarum present this evening thank you in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monroe Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be

002published by having the date time and place thereof posted February 16th 2018 at all schools the home News Tribune the cranberry press and filed with the clerk of the municipality thank you Mr Gorski at this time we will have a moment of silence for om perik one of our eighth grade students who recently passed away after a long illness and for the 17 students who lost their lives in Parkland Florida last week thank you at this time I'm going to go up the agenda for a few minutes um we have a um some visitors here tonight as I hope you all know the safety of all of our students is the utmost importance to all of us and you cannot put a price on safety of our students in phone conversations that I had with

003the mayor today he asked to be at our meeting this afternoon this evening uh he has an announcement to make regarding school security so with us this evening is Mayor [Applause] tamboro Mi Mr Alan Weinberg our uh Township business [Applause] administrator councilwoman Maran Cohen and councilman Charles depiro thank you for being with us today mayor thank you madam president um as you said you and I have spoken uh I guess back and forth uh several times today and I want to thank you and the board for uh asking us to come here giving us the opportunity to speak um I guess we were all moved by the tragedy in Florida and when we look at these young kids over here that's the uh the thing that the most precious things that we have are these

004children the father of six the grandfather of nine it's even more important in my family and uh if you come into my office the only thing that's on the credential behind me is a picture of the family and these kids and the kids in in all our schools are the treasures that we have to protect um following the event down in Florida uh spoke with our chief and we increased our patrols throughout the day uh after the tragedy in Florida just to make sure if there was any occurrence here we had uh foot soldiers out there to uh deter anything that might uh occur um the Munroe police as we know is the finest in the state our chief is the uh president of the police Chiefs Association for Middle sex County and we can

005talk about all the safety issues that we accolades that we get but still this is something that you never know where or when it's going to happen and as I said to the chief uh the day after the tragedy being proactive is better than saying I'm sorry so what I'm here to talk to you about tonight is being proactive um I know the school board has been working uh very hard to come up with a uh safety enhancement to all the schools and I applaud you for that effort and we know also as you and I had spoken it's going to take a couple months to put that fully in place um we're a great Community we must all work together and I think we have worked together and there's nothing more important as I

006said than our children I'm pleased to announce that by the end of next week we will have uh armed off-duty policemen monor Township policemen station each of the eight schools we will pick up the cost of that it's so important that we have that protection in our schools now and when you get the uh opportunity to have your uh security people and give them the opportunity to carry weapons then we will phase out but we will still be there to help the schools I know it's a difficult time for all of us but Monroe is a wonderful community and we have great people we we will get through this challenge by working together and I would like to ask our chief uh just to say a few words uh and it's important to understand that

007this is going to put an impact on his Workforce but it's worth every dollar that we spend and every hour that these men put into it thank [Applause] you Chief Lloyd I'm sorry I didn't introduce you you were kind of hiding behind the and I didn't see you I apologize thank you good evening um the second with the said our staff is is second to none um we are well trained we have a motivated group and I'm sure that all the men and women of the police department are going to step up to the plate although this is an extra assignment to what their normally uh what their normal Duties are without a doubt they're going to step up accept extra assignments and provide security for the uh for the students the young men and

008women of Monro Township um we have a great relationship with the with the school board with the executive board um the administration and in particular we work well with uh Pete pyro head of security one of our retired detective sergeants and all his staff so this is just going to Foster the relationship that we have with the school board with the school security and better you know our relationship and provide the utmost security for the children of Monroe Township the best that we can um as the training gets completed like the mayor said we'll phase ourselves out but we won't be gone um on a daily basis we Patrol the parking lots of the schools we make random checks to to the interior of the schools we work in conjunction with the school staff regarding

009training um School awareness so that will never go away but between now and the point where the staff is fully uh trained and everything's put in place we're going to be the stop Gap in between and we'll fill the void until that point where the school board's ready to accept that or the school staff and then we'll step aside and we'll get back to our secondary duties and still Foster that relationship so I thank you for this opportunity I'm sure the men and women of the Monro Police Department will step up to the plate and you will all hopefully sleep better at night thank you on behalf of the board of [Applause] education on behalf of the board and the community we thank you for um arranging this because we know we had the a

010security and safety meeting last night where we heard from hundreds of people in the community and to get this accomplished so quickly is is very nice of you so we appre appreciate that very much this was this was a collaborative effort today between my Administration your Administration the police department it went on all day um Dr kak worked tirelessly today along with his security staff from last night's meeting to get to where we are today so within the eight business hours of this morning or nine business hours we had this plan pretty much sealed and ready to go so it was a great working relationship today to get something you know something this Grand a scale you everyone should be proud of themselves man thank you and it's another example of shared services between the

011Board of Education and the township which we so much appreciate what you do for us and and and thank you again um and and at this time I would like to reach out to um the mtea president bethanne osberg and if if when you have time um you can contact me at your earliest convenience so that we can work together to make sure sure that our employees are get the training and the necessary um training that they need in order to for us to accept the um inhouse so that we can get everything accomplished in-house instead of using outside services so I look forward to working with you to accomplish that I look forward to working with you as well thank you okay thank you again for being here wow so at this time we

012will go to the approval of the minutes for the public Board of Education organizational meeting of January 3rd 2018 I need a motion and a second moved by Mr tiella I'll second second by Mr rety any additions or Corrections to the minutes all in favor I I opposed abstentions or recusals none the um approval of the minutes for the closed session meeting of January 3rd so move Mr Chella I'll second Mr rutsky again any uh comments or questions seeing none all in favor I I I opposed so no abstentions or recusals okay then we will go to the approval of the minutes for the public Board of Education meeting of January 24th 2018 so moved used to these new microphones yeah I know I think we all GNA have to so Mr tiella moved it

013I'll second it Mr retsky second it all in all any comments or questions all in favor I opposed abstentions okay and the closed session meeting of January 24th 2018 so move Mr Chella and Mr retsky um again any comments or questions then all in favor I opposed extensions or recusals okay then all the minutes have passed for this evening and we will have a at this time a presentation by Woodland School um Dr Alvi would you like to introduce them absolutely so a continuation of our pride presentations and the things that and the great things that our students and our teachers are doing in our schools Woodland School is celebrating um African-American month and they've done a non-fiction unit including an iMovie and writing their own scripts and timelines so I'm going to turn it

014over to Mrs North and Mrs brunatti to share the work of their students having a student introduce the whole project here good evening monal Township community tonight our class the Wen School fifth grade students of Mrs North and Mrs Brady is excited to take you back in time to learn about the progression of the African-American history in the United States this project was part of of our non-fiction unit study in readers Workshop first the students in our class were separated into study groups each group was assigned its own non-fiction book that related to a time period of africanamerican history in my opinion these events were interesting and shocking our BS were African in colies by [Music] then we read every other day we learned a new nonfiction skill and applied it to our book when

015we finished our book each group Crees own timeline to portray the important events described within it I personally think the three biggest events in my book that I read the March on Washington were the actual March JFK's presidency and Linda B johnsoning the Civil Rights bill passed then each group chose one event to turn into a film we wrote skits and practice acting them out I had a great time writing the lines myself that's when we got the green screen our groups chose a background and then Mrs North and Mrs bernady recorded us Mr Layman and Mr tag helped too the green screen made me feel like I was a real reporter finally our project was completed please sit back and enjoy our video [Applause] we do we have lights we get light y healthy

016slaves for sale I hope we don't get separated I know they'll never see each other again I'll take those three slaves I'll be $1,000 I can't believe the CLS took us to South Carolina yeah I'm surprised we survived that ship ride it looks like there are more of us here than there are colonists why don't we listen to British and Tred to escape but even if we were free New York passed that law where we can't own property there was a slave named mum in Massachusetts and he won a court case stating that there wasn't slavery allowed there anymore we should escape to Massachusetts during the years of slavery mothers children and siblings were separated from their families they are treated cruly and put to work if slaves refused to work then they would get

017whipped or possibly killed hi I'm Henry Brown I'm being shipped to Philadelphia to Escape From Slavery I only have three biscuits and a bottle of water Henry Brown was a slave that escaped slavy he shook himself to Philadelphia to escape it's open 27 hours and 350 mil to get to Freedom hi I'm James Smith and I'm the one that put Henry in his box I also put him on the ship I tried to do it again but I got imprisoned hello some people called me Moses but you know me as Harry tummy I was born asleep but I died a free woman I left 300 people up north and to freedom I followed haret T because I was tired of being beaten and whipped every day I followed Harriet tman because I wanted to be

018free and and I miss my family I found haret T because work was 18 hours a day on the plantation and there was no bed for me follow me the freedom I'm Abraham Lincoln and it's 1863 I'm issuing the Emancipation Proclamation so all PE persons that held as slaves within any state should be forever free yes yes we are free we are free from backbreaking labor we are free from cruelity thank you thank you thank you it's a miracle we're free no more getting whip no more picking tobacco no more cleaning the Master's Mansion I'm free I'm free hi I'm really is this really public school you're not supposed to be here you're an africanamerican I'm getting the cops I'm still going to the school I'm reporting live from William France public school where an

019africanamerican girl Ruby Bridges is trying to enter a Caucasian school by law it's not allowed in Little Rock Arkansas as a result um Ruby brides's parents for fought with the court and they won that paved the way for other African-Americans to fight for their rights I am happy to join with you of what will be going down in history is the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation Jim Jim j I have a dream that my poor little children will one day live in a nation that they would not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character in conclusion the March on Washington was a historical event that led to JFK's billing past which forever impacted the lives of everyone in the USA Today come to

020the front and take a bow yeah [Applause] [Music] and again I'd like to thank the mtea and and your staff for showcasing another wonderful um program that we offer our students and especially showcasing our students thank you again okay at this time oh we have the educational support staff of the Year presentations Dr kak Dr alvik and Mr Gorski yes would you join me at the table yes this is causing a lot of it's just so it's just big it's just it's taped down it's not like but it's just it's just you it's just me that walk so good evening everyone dear it's uh it's a tough act to follow to follow the students they did such a such a terrific job but I'm going to try my best and uh it's uh it's it's

021an honor and a pleasure to be able to recognize the some of our staff members who work throughout the district and as I know that I have said and Dr Alvi I'm sure Mr Gorski and and Mrs kalap panovich you know it's the what makes Monroe Township School District a great district is is really the staff that are involved in the uh in the school district and we consider everyone that works in the district no matter what their position to contribute to the education of our children in some manner or another or to contribute to just making this a great learning environment for our students and our staff and for our community so I'm very proud to announce the following individuals and I'm going to ask that I'm going to I'm going to call up

022each person individually and if you would come up and accept a plaque on behalf of our Board of Education uh and certainly you know a little symbol of our appreciation for the hard work that you do every day throughout the year so I'd like to start with Maria Feliz who's a PR professional at at Oak Tree School [Applause] [Music] [Applause] next we have Brian Barry one of our security officers will Lake School [Applause] next Susan Maser secretary [Applause] next we have Robert nikash from one of our mechanics [Applause] Robert isn't here so we would like to next honor Francine Wilden a power professional at Brookside [Applause] next we have William mlin our lead our lead custodian and Apple [Applause] next we have Nikki Park a power professional as Barkley Brook [Applause] would John payer please

023come down our security officer from Woodland School [Music] people [Applause] next we have Darlene Rosano a power profession at our high school [Applause] and last but certainly not least we have mwit Lee custodian at our Middle School [Applause] again I'd like to congratulate all the educ educational support sta of the year as Dr kak said every one of our our employees has a piece to Monroe Township School District and without any one of them if we didn't have every one of them we wouldn't be as great as we are so we thank you for everything that you do to keep our schools running safe sound and secure and for what you do for our children every day thank you so normally we would go to the student board members reports but they are not here

024this evening so we will go to committee reports are there any committees that need to excuse me need to report this evening Mr Mayo all right we how close we had a curriculum is that can you hear me little closer Clos this is creepy you have to speak we had a curriculum meeting tonight um we reviewed seven things we started off reviewing the new sixth grade math curriculum um you can look for it online if anybody's interested we also reviewed a club the moo Alpha Theta math Honor Society Club this is an Honor Society club that has certain requirements in order to be admitted you students must have an 80 or higher an 80 or higher for an honors or AP math mathematics class and an 88 or higher for a regular mathematics class members

025must have completed at least two years of college preparatory math Algebra 1 or geometry and must be actively enrolled in a third year of mathematics additionally they must also need to be actively participating in another math um Club such as Mathletics the academic team chess club math competition or math tutoring within the school so if anybody's interested in that we are starting that we also talked about the Summer music program currently we have a Summer band program that's offered to elementary schools and Middle School CH students we are now adding a summer chorus um program in the summer it'll be meeting for three hours um and where's my here we go and that there's will be one session from August 6 to August 10th um and it will be $50 for a week-long session so

026if anybody's interested in that and the time is from 8:45 to 12: noon we have also partnershi with the Monroe historical commission um to do a student essay writing contest for 10th and 11th grade students this will be rolled out in eight weeks um and there are four topics that students can pick from so students who are interested in history and writing should look out for this to be presented to them we also reviewed the eighth grade Algebra criteria for getting into eighth grade algebra and um that has been tweaked a little bit if anybody's interested in getting their children into e8th grade algebra they must have a score of 75% or better on the district algebra Readiness assessment a final grade of 90 or better in seventh grade math a score of 72% or

027better in the Middle School computational skills assessment and a grade seven winter or spring map test of 23 5 or higher we also reviewed the Seal of biliteracy which we have had in place for two years um the Seal of by literacy is a program that began in California in 2008 um New Jersey signed the seal into law in 2016 the seal recognizes fluency in English and a second language um we had 31 we sorry we had where's my notes 36 what 36 36 36 we had 36 36 3 31 students took the seal and then five took the AP yes okay so we had 36 in 2018 earn the Seal of biliteracy um and in such languages German Hindi French Italian and Spanish um and there are other languages that students can learn it

028in it such as Latin and American Sign Language um and that's that we also talked about what Monroe Monroe is doing for non- colge bound students um we have a senior option where students can go out in the workforce and gain experience we have a comprehensive trade skill um program where if kids are interested in construction cabinet making or what was the other one welding welding um the construction we the students have been um commissioned to build sheds throughout the district and they also created a peace bench which commemorated the holocost and we also um I wanted Dory to give an update on the homework policy and where that um has been going okay so since the last meeting in um January we did send out surveys to all parents students in grades four and

029higher all staff um and we've received to date um that the survey is currently closed but we received almost 1,00 responses from parents which is wonderful and please know that if you took the time to write in a comment at the end I took the time to read your comments um we're going to take this information back to the committee another part of the committee is also working on Research so they are researching homework practices how it helps our students how it hurts our students and they're going to bring that information back to the whole committee and share that information we're also reviewing policies from other districts and taking a look at um what other districts might be doing and then we will be making a presentation to the Board of Education uh through the

030curriculum committee and the policy committee if there are any changes to be um recommended for um the homework policy so the hope is to bring that to the board in May um so it is an ongoing process but we are in the process of looking at all of that data thank you any other committees um before we leave that one uh Madam president because it's going to eventually be to the policy committee I'd like to be included in the meeting in the curriculum meeting that reviews all of the end result before it comes to the policy committee since you're reviewing other policies from other uh Board of EDS and districts I'd like to be included in that meeting as long that would create a quorum and unless I bow out of the curriculum meeting and

031Michelle takes my spot well that could happen but to add coordinate that but I'd like to be considered so I have a heads up on on what the other policies what the other reviews have for the homework policy okay thank you anyone else Mr tiella yes thank you on uh February 15th we had a buildings grounds and transportation meeting we reviewed five items so the first was a potential solar project uh we had been looking at putting solar panels on on on several of our schools in the district um and we were just doing a study to look at whether or not we there were grants available whether or not it was cost prohibitive or cost effective to do that what the return on investment would be and those kind of things and uh a

032deter a determination was made at the at our meeting to not move forward at this time because of the falling value of the srax um that's the that's the uh the money you know the um compensation that we would get for having the solar panels on our roof and and selling that electricity back so that the rates for those have fallen because oil prices have fallen and those kind of things so uh that was that that's that's one major reason for us not to do that the other one is that uh the federal and state grants that were once available are no longer available they've dried up so uh we're going to keep monitor ing the situation if the SRE values increase and if grants are available again then we'll look at that um number

033two was the wireless microphone frequency changes so that's been a federal change that's going on where um there's been more and more a need for Broadband for cell phones uh and I'm not a I'm not a an expert on this but I'm going to wing it uh basically the the federal government's mandating that we give up the 600 megahertz ban uh in order to allow the the cell phone companies to have that or the cell whatever that is whatever that thing is the megahertz megahertz right um but the issue is that that uh we we will need to upgrade in order to have communications with our within our building so I can tell you that we were just you know we just had a negotiations meeting last week where we none of us had cell

034coverage uh in this building and um which could potentially be dangerous So eventually we have until 2020 July of 2020 when that when those regulations kick in to to make uh to decide what we what we're going to do but we need to decide by then and the cost is probably going to be about 25 to $35,000 somewhere in there to to make that change but that change will cause us to go move be able to move our radios to a different band width or different frequency so that our security Personnel our teachers our Administration could communicate with each other in the event of emergency those kind of things so it's an important thing even if I botched it up somehow but uh fuel pumps and uh gas boy management so we have to replace

035our fuel pumps our fuel pumps at the garage are broken and um while we were looking at replacing those we also realized that the uh the administration informed us that the gas boy was broken so what the gas boy is is it's a it's a computer that monitors who's putting who's getting gas who who's withdrawing gas from the tank so that we don't have people stealing gas and doing those kind of things so that we could we could better monitor we could we could maintain efficiency in those kind of things um those things are broken so we our our committee has agreed to replace those so the uh the the uh amount and that that should be in our in our agenda tonight the amount for that is uh third $38,000 right for fuel pumps

036and gas boy and then the uh the number four was Barkley Brook School Paving project close out so uh Jerry tag and uh Mike Gorski um we we had some issues with the with with the paving at Barkley Brook uh there was nothing wrong with the the paving itself it's just that we didn't get everything that we paid for in the as far as the uh uh the stone layers the tar layer those kind of things where they had they had promised us in our contract a certain amount we didn't get that uh Jerry went out there and measured it which I guess is a good thing and was able to get $60,000 back from that vendor so that's what we were reporting on tonight about that and then the uh buildings grounds and maintenance

037care so we had uh we had that went out to bid and the lowest uh responsible the responsible bidder was Pleasant View Landscaping uh in the amount of uh $644,000 so we we voted or we moveed to accept that and push it to the full board that's it thank you thank you any question yes you can Ken yes so since we didn't get what was required from the the contractor and we got less does that mean that our pay our Paving Project's going to degrade quicker no and that's a good question that's a question that we asked at the meeting so no it just means that there were certain things like compaction and things like that that were supposed to happen that they didn't do and the reason that they didn't do some of those

038things is because the the the the ground in that area has been compacted already anyway so when they removed the the tar that was there and if you remember it was broken up and a mess but when they remove that it was already compacted from having buses drive over it all all these years so they didn't need to do that uh they need to scrape it up and do all that stuff so they were able to put the tar over it but that lessen the what we were supposed to get and it made it smaller so that's not going to just you know hurt us it's not going to settle or anything because it's already settled but they also didn't give us everything that they said they were going to give us in the contract

039so they owe us money and that's what happened here thank you thank you any other reports Miss armino okay okay uh last at the last meeting we mentioned that we were going to have a discussion of of of uh marijuana issue and how uh the board is going to respond to uh the use of marijuana certainly uh it hasn't you know happened in New Jersey yet so we are still talking about it we had no resolve for that at that meeting so that is going to be the subject until we come to a decision uh we we would like I we ask the superintendent to please please um have some counselors give us some information about uh marijuana use and um so we're going to gather all that and have a discussion we we don't

040want to make a uh decisions without hearing from the professionals and and what it does uh to our children so that's an ongoing discussion uh we all we also had a discussion about employee outside activity uh again ongoing so you won't see anything new from as a new first reading for any of the policies because we are taking our time to review these properly um but in your uh current uh agenda on 13-18 so page 13 on o uh that instead of a second and final reading we're going to ask to remove um not just 7440 School District security because um in light of our new circumstances we're going to revisit that again rather than have it um as a second reading and a final reading so we're going to open that again and the

041electronic surveillance I think we should probably put that in along with it so uh for the public if you want to read the current policies that Monro has and I think that was part of our discussion last night um those two policies again are 7440 you can find on the internet at our website and 7441 we will be having um again in light of current uh things that are going on in in our uh country we are going to have a special meeting on March 6 for the policy committee to review just these types of uh policies so um that means the policy committee will meet twice in March but the first time will be in on March 6th we want to expedite um all the security issues and and uh you know keep these

042things moving we're glad for what the mayor said uh you know in the interim but we have to move forward with our security concerns so we'll have a special meeting just about Security on March 6 the public is invited it's a public um meeting however the public cannot speak at that meeting and we are in a very small and I didn't really um disuss this with anybody I hope it's okay um we are in a very small uh meeting room at the board office so if people think they would like to attend perhaps they can email myself Michelle armino or uh Kathy konowitz or the um the superintendent so if we need a bigger venue if we need a bigger room we'll accommodate people but again it's not a it's it's a public meeting where

043you can listen to the committee uh discussing these issues but there is no public forum because it's not um we don't have a quarum it's not the the whole board but that will be the discussion item on March 6th okay thank you thank you so are we removing those Mr go Gorski we could remove those for tonight those two sure thank you Mr I guess that leaves finance committee so the finance committee met last Tuesday the 13th and we basically discussed the upcoming budget so as far as an update on that is concerned um we started with an update just talking about anticipated revenues matching Appropriations meaning that the budget is tentatively at cap subject to State a state aid release uh confirmation on James Burg's tuition numbers and the refinement of appropriation estimates there

044is included in the revenue for this year's budget is 600,000 of the retained earnings that we transferred from Falcon care ECE uh there's additional tax Revenue commenor commensurate with the board's budget philosophy and utilization of some capital reserve to fund the budget priorities um and the emergent need to replace a boiler and an HVAC system at Brookside school which uh seems to perpetually give us problems every time we fix it another part breaks um there are some big ticket items um that we have to budget for in the upcoming school year including trailers approximately 30 addition staff members nine buses one van new textbooks and supplies an approximate 7% increase in special education spending uh some good news coming from the town is that there we looked at a comparative schedule of ratables for Monroe

045and it looks like there's a 1.9% growth in ratables compared to last year uh which will once again help suppress the tax increase that was that was good last year and it's once again good again uh and helpful this year year um an area that we hope to become slightly better news is healthc care insurance costs um at at first glance Horizon is looking to uh raise our premiums by with a 10% increase and Mr Gorski believes he will be able to negotiate that down to a lower number uh which we hope to know before we finalize the budget we're looking more in the 7 to 8% range as a median versus uh the 10 that they initially came to us with regarding um us finding out about our state aid everything's been delayed two

046weeks out of the governor's office the new governor um is getting an extension of two weeks so what was supposed to be the governor's budget address on Tuesday the 27th has now been pushed off to Tuesday March 13th and if I'm correct I believe our we should find out our eight amount on Thursday the 15th so we look forward to that obviously um with baited breath and uh there is just a uh at this point in time the district has gone into a non-essential spending freeze which means um only Emergency Equipment or um supplies can be ordered everything else is sort of put on hold for the time being until we can figure out and finalize this year's budget that concludes my finance report thank you anyone else then I just have a very short

047report Personnel committee um from Mr Ryback who was not able to be here this evening and he said we updated the job descriptions for mail carrier maintenance mechanic head custodian and custodian each description clearly states the title qualifications who the employee reports to job goal performance responsibilities physical requirements terms of employment and evaluation information so that concludes the Personnel committee so if there's another no other um committee reports we will go to public forum for agenda items only anyone wishing to speak to the agenda please come to the microphone give your name and address for the record and so that we can get through the business of the meeting we're going to ask that you just speak on regard to the agenda items only if we go in another Direction um on something that is

048not on the agenda I'm going to ask that you hold your comments until the second public forum so I I know that um things sort of like the referendum not on the agenda the contract for teachers is not on the agenda and there are other things that I'm sure that you might come up with that are not on the agenda I will ask you to please hold those comments to the second public forum so anyone who has an agenda item only please come State your name and a and um name and address for the record and we will have our 4minute time limit good evening Chrissy scurby uh 21 pness Drive um this is in regards to the agenda item of um Mr ventr trillo's retirement I just want to congratulate Mr ventrillo on retiring

049from our [Applause] district I'd like to say a very special thank you to him um it was a pleasure being the PTA president at Oak Tree starting from the ground up for six years with Mr ventrillo um he absolutely um did everything in the best interest of the students and to make their time at Oak Tree and then at Applegarth pleasure Bowl so thank you um also uh Dr kak I would like to thank you for leading our district at this very serious time uh your leadership and dedication to Monroe shines through with what we just saw from our mayor this evening uh you moved quickly Thursday night to communicate with parents and it is greatly appreciated that you led that you led the safety meeting last night was absolutely wonderful that parents had the

050opportunity to come out ask their questions and voice their concerns this is the type of leadership that we need in Monroe you asked for 24 hours last night to put some stuff into motion and I think it's an Testament to your dedication here that this evening the mayor came and now we are going to have off-duty officers in our schools last month we saw in Dr kak's presentation outlining the board goals and how they were met this is a testament of Dr kak's commitment to our district we need the board to do the right thing and renew Dr kak's contract we do not need any more distractions in our district we need to move move forward and not let personal feelings interfere with making decisions that affect thousands of our children additionally we need this

051board to continue to make our district safer there are a lot of suggestions last night that should not be overlooked thank you Miss AR Mino for having that special meeting coming up on March 6th to discuss them lastly we need to support our teachers with a fair contract Excuse Me Miss gerby that is not on the agenda as I said the teachers contract is not on the agenda please hold those comments to the second okay well we need to support our with a fair I'm asking you to please hold your comments to the second public forum if it's not on the agenda that's fine we we need to show them some respect here and we need to support them that's all [Applause] what I have passed my name is May name and address for the

052record yes Krishna deal from L Jak place what I have passed around is a petition that I put together supporting our superet Dr kak um I want that petition to be placed on the record and um to be honest I'm very pleased with his leadership um of the school town um of the and I'm also very thankful for Dr kak having to reach out to all the parents the day um the unfortunate incidents happened in Florida and told them that you know the school is evaluating any threats seriously and gave us the comfort that we could send our children to school um I want to place that on record uh for this meeting and I have a um other uh thing that I wanted to bring up uh the elementary schools that um on this

053side of the town the roofs are leaking are they on the agenda is that on the agenda it's related to education it should be on the agenda no it is not it's not on the agenda so if you can hold those comments to the second public forum okay I want to say that the bathrooms are leaking the roof is leaking and it is the safety and the security of the children I don't know how you decide which one is agenda and which one is not but that should be on the agenda thank you thank [Applause] you prash par 33 Data Drive uh thank you very much for the yesterday's meeting you know we got lot of input uh thank you very much but one thing I have like to ask is transparency okay I saw

054the letter from the school today but want to have still there are people in doubts the transparency hypothetical okay if the student threatens to kill or extremely harm the student in the school if some student says he's he's threatening to kill or extremely harm the student will the school district without publishing the name alert students don't publish the name of the student will you alert the students and parents what actions you are taking against that students in question and justify your childrens are safe so that gives our children a confidence to be in the classroom walk because they don't want to be scared oh that guy is coming let me go this way they don't want we don't want children to be scared so are we going to be [Applause] transfar uh absolutely we are

055very interested in being transparent um to that end on Thursday in particular there were there was uh at least one if not more situations that we investigated through midnight Thursday night and we relied on the police department we relied on our director of security we relied on our ad or on our administrators to investigate everything thoroughly one thing that we have to be careful of there are students who may have been falsely accused as well and so it's something that we're always very careful about and but when I get reports back from the police our police that whom we trust and they tell us that there was no evidence of any kind of uh threat that there is no uh evidence of any other kind of situation that would put our students in danger then

056I have to trust our security and I trust our Police Department that that is the truth should there be a situation where our students are put in danger I will give you my word that that we will respond effectively quickly quickly efficiently and we will not tolerate that kind of threat that student will be removed our police will be involved in the entire process and we will not allow our students nor our staff to be ever be put in danger so I know it's there was a lot of information out there we looked as the police we had our um I guess our recap meeting the the debriefing the next day there were hundreds of uh of leads that they investigated if I felt that any of our students or staff were in danger we

057would have taken steps whether it have been to remove students student or students or close the school or do whatever we would need to do but we would not allow anybody to be harmed thank you very much another one request is Dr kak for your leadership we request Boe because it's going to be in close session to please consider for his extension because of him teachers and and everyone our school today I came to know is 49th ranked 49th in New Jersey and second best in Middle sex so our teachers our teachers deserve a p and Dr kak wish you all the best and we don't want to lose any teachers to other schools we want our teachers to be well paid they are working making sure our schools are the best so thank you

058very much thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Anthony preso a equestrian way uh I want to piggy back on this young man we have 600 signatures for Dr kak to stay and I have a 100 personal signatures that I've gotten on my own in two days to stay I also have six former board members that made statements and I'm going to read them as a former board member I have always found out Dr kak to be courteous and open to suggestions he has demonstrated to me that he cares about our school and the children that's just part of it I'm reading just a little bit of each one as a former board member I have found Dr kak a true experienced superintendent who cares about all our students teachers and residents as a former board member

059I have found I have had the pleasure of working with Dr kak I have found him to be truly energizing force in our district as a former board member since Dr kak came to our district he has handled Rising St student enrollment and still managed to raise test scores he is also an advocate against the nepotism and cronyism that has plagued teachers and students from the past administration and the teachers know what I'm talking about as a former board member I have found Dr kak more than capable of handling any problem that comes with the large growing District Dr kak I hope you reconsider and I hope this board reconsiders cuz there's 700 people that signed this in less than two weeks thank you and one other thing I want to thank the teachers for

060giving my son a second chance at life thank you thank you good evening Betty saberito to Barrymore Drive I wanted to come up and commend officer Brian Barry who just received the educational support staff award Mr Barry is a security officer at mil Lake and I know that my children are in great hands with him and that he cares so much for our children and he is very protective of them he is an incredible asset to this district and does all possible to keep our children safe together with our principal Kristen MCN and our front office staff Denise jimnez and Christine bris bricks so thank you officer Barry it is curious that we just witnessed recognition of support staff in the district and yet they are currently working without a contract and I know that's

061not on the agenda but the support staff was I understand that you're not able to discuss specifics but we are asking yet again that you settle on this contract meeting after meeting the public has come up to speak in support of our teachers and staff and nothing is being resolved I cannot speak highly enough about our amazing teachers I have spoken before on this and I will continue to speak until we settle on this because I believe it's worth repeating I have twins in the district in the first grade one of which pleas hold your comments about the teacher contract to the second public forum like I've asked the other we've already discussed security we've already we've discussed security the teachers contract is not on the agenda that wasn't on the agenda we've discussed Dr

062kak that's not on the agenda Dr kak is on the agenda okay then the only other thing I want to say is um not all of you some of you Board of Education members you're elected by the public administrators you're paid by the taxpayers if you could look a little less annoyed when the public comes up here and actually pay attention we would appreciate [Applause] it Ragu churi 23 green ey Street uh today we I came to see about the report uh about the school ranking as somebody pointed out it came out at 49th uh in New Jersey uh the reason for that I would attribute it to the teachers thank you all the teachers who were who helped this school district to get the rank and also I want to thank Dr kak for

063his programs for his guidance and for his uh various program that he has implemented maybe that those are the one that help the kids to progress and two things that I want to add about the uh curriculum part A lot of people are inquiring about robotics there are other school district that have within the school programs uh within the school they have a robotics program where kids are interested they can go and join I don't see any robotics uh specific programs in M Township is that something that's in plan or sure the I just want to make sure that you're talking about the robotics program at the high school yes yes uh we since we hired a new teacher last year uh or for this year the robotics program is back up and operating and

064we did uh host a robotic competition uh or we attended one we look to continue that program and really strengthen that program I feel that's a just such a crucial area that we need to work on that whole stem area but robotics in particular I would like to see that program strengthened not only in its current form but really look at the areas that it's not we haven't been looking at and that is the medical area robotic surgery how can we look at combining the robotics the way it's being used in the field of medicine so we're looking to continue to strengthen that program uh it we did take a step back when one of our teachers left about a year and a half ago but that program is back up and running and hopefully

065will continue to be strengthened uh one thing uh programs like these needs to be run continuously um with adequate staff I know um with limited staff there will be always a pro problem with the continuing this programs right and the number of student that are showing interest maybe like more uh do we have a right amount of teachers or right amount of resources to accommodate those many teams those many students who are interested to go towards the robotics programs do we have the enough staff or enough uh teachers to accommodate these programs yeah do we have the staff for it it I I just want to make sure I understood we have the are you asking if we have the staff for the robotics enough staff or enough teachers enough uh resources I I think

066we do uh one thing I would like to uh and I would encourage you if you would be interested in contacting me tomorrow or whatever day would be convenient uh I would certainly like to maybe open it up to more Community involvement I I know we have a lot of uh parents that work in this industry or in a related industry and I know my own son who works for Lockheed volunteers at in different school districts to work with the robotics programs and I I'm sure that we have people in this community with expertise in that area that could help us with that so I would welcome a conversation with either yourself or others who might be interested in that I would like to involve our supervisor of course and also Dr Alvi our assistant

067superintendent um to see you know to bring in ideas about the robotics program sure and uh last one is about the science programs science Fe back in my childhood days we used to have a science science F where we people do some kind of experiments along with other school members and participate inter school programs um I don't see any any such thing in Monroe at least no I I checked South dwick has it and I heard West wi also has it I believe can we have such programs in Monro Township too well we do have a number of science programs in the district but that's a that's an area where we can always as others we can look to improve so uh again I would welcome a conversation about that um perhaps our supervisor of

068uh science could sit down and explain some of the programs that we do offer and also look at other programs that maybe we could be looking at or science competitions or other areas like that sure thank you sure quite welcome good even evening uh RAM ragat 6 o in strive Monro um a little disappointed that we don't have the neither the referendum or the teachers contract on the main agenda obviously I'm not going to speak about it but again the board of education has to realize what are the important topics and it should have been particularly with the referendum just a couple of weeks away uh something for future consideration now I just want to talk again with Dr kak again very complimentary as you heard from everyone the public the 700 plus endorsements he

069has done a fantastic job the township can ill afford at this time change we need his leadership uh to continue so please Dr kak please if from your side reconsider your actions and same thing with the Boe whether it's a missteps or egos whatever it is please put that aside the township is begging you requesting you to please um you know let's have Dr kak in the saddle for another few years we need us leadership this is a critical stage we are in with all the growth explosion the new school security uh so it's Paramount that his leadership continues and your support is there for him to execute and deliver okay thank you very much thank you thank you hi Deb Pella 15 Louise Lane I'd like to started by saying thank you for last

070night and thank you for continuing to listen to what the people of Monroe are saying uh I think last night was a wonderful opportunity for um the town's people to come together in support of not only the safety of the children but of the teachers and the staff no one wants to see anything terrible happen so we appreciate the Swift Movement we just hope that it continues and the temporary solution will become there will be permanent ones we're looking forward to hearing what comes out of the March 6th meeting uh and hoping that there will also be other public times that we could also speak um Dr kak thank you very much for having that openness with with the community uh I think it's evident in what you do and including Facebook posts that people

071are very pleased with you and and what you're doing um regarding the um separate topic the budget meeting uh you mentioned happening um one thing I heard you mention was textbooks and I just wanted to make an observation uh if textbooks were to be purchased I have a middle schooler who is not permitted to take home a science or social studies book because there are not enough for all the students so because there are not enough for all the students none of the students can have any books so there are hundreds of books sitting there not usable some can sign them out and some can't so if we're going to look at purchasing if we don't have the exact number to cover all the students then no one gets them and then we've wasted money

072again so perhaps this is another time to look at online books if it is a feasibility or some system where these children can get these books home so it just seems that it doesn't make sense another time where money spent so please take that into consideration thank you we'll look into that thank you anyone else have uh want to speak towards to the agenda Laura Grant I'm a high school teacher last Friday I came to school literally making the decision on whether or not my life was in Jeopardy that day that is something that I've never had to face in my years of teaching that is something that is still affecting me and my decision after getting phone calls at 10:30 at night from Dr kak and emails that went through was that long before

073I teach them content and I'm a history teacher and long before I teach my students skills I teach them how to speak how to get evidence how to get better in their writing I'm sorry I am emotional and I the decision to come in cuz I can never look my child in the face and I mean my students when I say that if I'm not there to make sure they're safe and I don't know that the sub's going to take care of them and I sure as hell don't know that I could ever live if something happened and I have to tell you that's the commitment that you have that's what your staff does because this building and I'm sure every other building in the district was not right on Friday and I was not

074right all weekend and I'm still not right and the fact that I'm simultaneously dealing with the fact that I don't know that my board is giving me respect for the fact that I literally risking my life which is not the job I signed up for but I'm going to be here every day for them and how dare you not take care of us how dare you [Applause] hi my name is Christine Lester 261 cranberry Halfacre Road um I'd like to ask the board to accept Dr kak's resignation and not to renew his contract um I do not feel like he's a good fit for the district nor does he reflect how we feel about our students and our staff um the first reason is the gross mishandling of the passing of Michelle fenari who is

075a nationally recognized teacher and teacher of the year it took a week of emails with Dr kak in the board for to finally acknowledge her passing um when Dr kek finally responded to read from his email he said we did not notify the entire Community as Mrs fenari only taught at Applegarth and most parents would not know her all of our teachers are important that's why we're here we're asking them to put their life on the line and she wasn't popular enough to send an alert um after pressure from parents like myself and the board he finally acknowledged something on Facebook now her Pierce couldn't say anything cuz they risk losing their job um there was not a moment of silence at the next Board of Ed meeting there was no acknowledgement of her passing

076the only acknowledgement was when I came to the mic at public forum the second thing among among many other things that I don't feel like Dr kak has a handling on is what happened last week obviously following Wednesday's events the anxiety was high Dr kosak could have used that that Facebook live to address the concerns um at the referendum broadcast he did not maybe he didn't have information I'm not really sure I was told that there was a robo call that went on at 10:30 I did not receive that on all three of my phones and I know other people did not get that I chose to keep my kids home on Friday even though I knew that they would be safe because they were so anxious the email from from Dr kak did not

077come to my email address until 1:30 in the morning um I did call the secretary the next day and I was told he was not in the Board of Ed office and he from speaking to other parents and students he was not at the high school he was not at the middle school he was not at any Elementary School I would want a superintendent that shows up when our district is in crisis even if you have a planned day off you need to come in you are the face of our district you are the face of our teachers and if it if you don't feel like you can come on Friday how did you expect our students to how do you expect our parents to and our teachers like I I'm just so disgusted I

078want a leader I want someone that values our teachers lives and everything that they do I want a superintendent that hires from within that recognizes everything that these teachers do these teachers are amazing I would not send my children to school if I didn't have the quality of teachers that Monroe has they will go to other districts we will lose them we need to retain them because of our teachers and how strong they are I was able to send my child to school when normally I would probably have to homeschool I want a superintendent that shows up when everything is wrong off I want to say thank you to Mr Gorski the board and Mr Goodall it was his email the next day on Friday that reassured most parents it wasn't from you Dr kek

079I don't know where you were everybody's asking where were you on Friday anyone else from the public wishing to speak to the agenda gazala Bora one M Drive um I just wanted to make an opposite observation here uh with reference to Dr kak um as I've made very publicly known that I am not in support of the referendum and I will be voting against it I had a personal conversation with Dr kak and I wanted to share that with the public here that um contrary to what we just heard Dr kak has been spearheading this referendum um process and even though I do not support it at all Dr kak took the time in the middle of the day to answer my con questions on a phone call um and he was very patient he

080went through everything in great detail with me it's unfortunate we don't agree I don't agree with the administration because I've been involved in the whole overcrowding process and how to solve it and I knew they were better Solutions so I don't agree but I still do really appreciate what Dr kak did as a superintendent and has done with a lot of other people in District he has taken the time to explain the the administration's logic behind it um and while I choose not to vote in favor of the referendum I have a lot of respect for Dr kak um uh for what he's been trying to do and I don't think our district has the money or the time to waste looking for another superintendent when we have a a huge overcrowding problem to solve

081we have not one we have at least two referendums that we're looking at so we should not be wasting time when we have the right person at the helm um I also wanted to make another observation about how the district has come together in the wake of whatever has happened in the past week um how we are all as parents as Educators and administrators scared and doing the right thing but um I think the most important thing that I feel every time this happens and this happened twice in almost four little over four years um while I lose sleep and we we all struggle through this whole emotional appeal one thing that is on top of my head at that time is what these teachers are doing for my children I am I am comfortable

082knowing who my kids are in the classroom with and I know they will do everything in their ability to save my child and so I feel embarrassed that my district cannot come to a contract with these teachers for a whole year I think we need to do better with them thank [Applause] you good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Elliot stroll 110 moker Drive Jamesburg I am president of the Jamesburg Board of Education I listen with great respect to all who have spoken tonight and everyone has a valid point one way or another I would just like to tell you that in this time it is tough for everybody and that we all need to be proactive not reactive we have to let cooler heads prevail we have to let party po politics be

083completely forgotten in order to ensure the safety of our community our schools our children and our administrators and teachers so let's all work together instead of fighting about it okay thank you anyone else wishing to speak to the agenda then at this time I will close the public forum and go to the superintendent report Dr kosac thank you madam president I didn't have this as part of my report and I will make it very short but I would just like to say thank you to the parents that got up and and spoke on my behalf um and I'm I'll just leave it at that thank you very much it is very heartfelt is a very heartfelt appreciation thank you um as been has been mentioned several times we had the security presentation last night and

084a lot a lot of great suggestions came from the community um a lot of important information we've been acting on that information we're going to continue to act on that information and um I'm looking forward to our policy meeting with uh Mr armeno that that and and others the other members of the committee that will be able to address that uh the issues and the concerns and I also would like to thank the mayor uh for providing the police force and of course our police chief who has been tremendous throughout this entire process on the agenda tonight and Kathy I know that you you're going to speak to this as well but I would just like to offer my uh personal appreciation for Mr ventrillo uh in the uh the short time that I've known

085uh Dennis uh he has TR has truly shown his his dedication to this District to the kids to the uh teachers the staff and certainly someone that I've been able to talk to and and kid around with and trade ideas and uh you know for the number of years you know that he has been in education and I believe his letter States 46 and I really have a hard time believing that uh that it's been that long but I just wanted to say thank you uh on behalf I'm sure of all the students whose lives you have positive have have had a positive impact on over the years so thank you even though it's not on the agenda um the referendum certainly is something that we're all it's it's on our mind we've been talking

086about it we've been presenting we have a newsletter going out that we've been offering presentations we have videos uh we're still trying to reach out to the community we besides all the presentations that we have occurred in our schools and at some of our adult communities we still have a few more this Thursday tomorrow night I'll be at the ponds Adult Community Monday afternoon at the municipal building at 1:00 the League of Women Voters I'll be uh presenting there as well and I have to offer my congrat or my kudos to the League of Women Voters they were very um important in trying to register voters uh for the for just to register voters um I'll be at Regency Monday night at 700 p.m. for the presentation uh on the referendum Clearbrook Wednesday night on

087the referendum presentation on the referendum and on March 7th Mr Gorski is going to be presenting a Greenbrier Whittingham that night uh because that night Kathy K Mrs K panovich uh and I will be attending a student presentation in the county uh for some of our students so uh we won't be available that night but I can't stress enough how important this referendum is uh we've been doing everything we can to to make this information transparent put the information out on the website I know that not everyone it agrees and and I respect anyone as we've heard tonight there are people that don't agree um but I have to disres respectfully disagree and say that this referendum is so important that we get this Middle School built I walked around with Kathy Chang a order

088from the uh Sentinel uh as well as Kathy K kapovich and uh Sherie uh chandley our principal the middle school and we we walked through the the school as a students were're trying to navigate through the hallways that we you know walked into the lunchroom when the students were trying to get their lunch uh you know talking to the students as part of our student Lea's part of my student Le aison the students will be the first to tell me and to tell anyone about how crowded the conditions are so I know that we have other issues to deal with in Elementary in addition to the high school and this is step step one or phase one but it is important uh we're continuing to try to get the word out we have parents in

089the community have who have really gone above over and above with talking to their neighbors with sending out information with offering to help it's been uh it's been wonderful to see that kind of uh that that cooperation and that interest in coming out and helping with that so again we have plenty of information on Facebook on our website I'm always available if anybody wants to call and ask any questions about this as I'm sure Mr Gorski and Dr alvik and anyone else uh so again March 13th uh 7:00 am to 8:00 pm for that referendum and recently uh I was able to communicate with a number of superintendents throughout the state uh just to have a another meeting about where we are with state aid we are anxiously awaiting the new state aid numbers from

090the governor and we have now expanded our superintendent group to around 40 superintendents and we had a video conference that I hosted um yesterday actually and that conference we basically said that once we receive the numbers if the districts including Monroe Township are not receiving the state aid that this Township this District deserves and I'll certainly talk to our board president Kathy K panovich and certainly Ken Chola the head of the uh the chairperson for the ad hoc committee but the talk from the superintendence is that we continue that Grassroots effort to continue to address our Senate and our assembly at the budget hearings so we're anxiously awaiting and the parent groups throughout these 40 districts and I'm sure more are willing and able to stand up and and to go and testify again as

091I know many of our Monroe Township residents have done and we certainly appreciate that so I just wanted to give an update on that and with so many other things going on tonight I won't uh continue anymore with anything else other than to respectfully ask the board to approved approve the attached Personnel items a through AF on the agenda so move second Mr tiella and Miss armeno are there any comments or questions for Dr kosak Mr cherella I just I have a comment so I just want to um thank Mr ventrello where'd he go oh there he is for his service and his time here um also for his friendship uh you know over the years and and all the great things he's done for the district including stepping up and filling in as our

092interim superintendent and uh doing just doing a lot of great things going way back um I'm goingon to I I'm going to vote now just because I I want to put that down that I don't want you to be miserable I want you to have have a good life but I but I just want you to know that we'll miss you so thank you anyone else okay Mr V usually I have things written WR down so that I know what I'm going to say and this time I'm going to wing it so um we go back like 27 years when you were new principal at Brookside and I was a new um parent at the Berkeley Brook Brookside PTA and we ended up being new principal and new board uh president of the PTA and

093a lot of people don't know it but I would not be sitting here today if it wasn't for you because you've encouraged me to run for the Board of Education and it it took me a while to to feel like I could do that and I did and you probably don't know this story but when I ran in in 1999 for the board um at that time we went to the um to the township office to get our results so now we get them from the county so we have to sit home and wait but at that time we went to the township so I got home about 10:00 that night and my kids were waiting for me and they were very excited the first thing they said to me is Mom did you win

094and I said yes the second question and they only asked me two questions was does that make you Mr V's boss and I had to think about that for a while because it it it never hit me that you know you you could that could possibly be but um I I thank you for everything especially your your friendship and it's mean meant a lot to me over the years I know we've had a lot of conversations and and I I am proud to call you my friend and and I know that even our little grandchildren unbeknownst to me have met and they're only four months old so um you have done amazing things in Monro Township you are Monro Township you will be missed and um to think about all the the the vice principls

095and the principls and the teachers that you have mentored and the countless kids that you have had a positive effect on I I mean you say that people can be replaced and they can but there will be nobody that will able be able to fill your shoes so thank you Mr V for everything you've done for me and for this District [Music] and and if you get enough votes tonight I might vote no too anyone else okay then we will have a roll call Mr Gorski Mrs armeno yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes on everything except a the retirement of Dennis contrell no on that's a no on v no on Mrs Deo yes Mrs Lang yes Mrs Kon yes Mr rutsky yes Mrs kapano I am going to say yes on everything because

096I know you it's your time Madam board president Personnel items a through AF has passed thank you Dr kosac board action items I I just want to make sure that we removed the it's at on the board action items okay next one okay thank you would like to recommend that the board approve the attached board action items a through P okay with the exception of policy and regulation 7440 and policy and regulation 7441 which will be removed for further yes consideration review consideration so move second Mr tiella and miss armino any comments or questions for Dr kosac seeing none we'll have a roll call Mrs armeno yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherell yes Mrs Deo yes Mrs Lang yes Mrs Kino yes Mr rutsky yes and Mrs K Pano yes madame board president board action

097items a through p is passed thank you and at this time we will go to the business administrator's report Mr Gorski thank you madam I would just like to take a moment and also thank Mr ventrello 18 and a half years ago you were the second person I met in this district and I could say looking back I've interacted with you more than any other administrator in this District on a host of different issues um like Mrs kopan which said I'm going just for memory but we reopened appli art school together when it was closed for a period of time um inclusive of all your artwork that will remain in school and it was a pleasure serving you as the business administrator when you filled in at a a time when a superintendent leadership position

098was needed and uh we'll miss you greatly in the business office because we're not going to have that volume of purchase orders anymore but but uh wish you all the best and the best of health and your retirement [Applause] Madame board president and members of the bun Township Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through G be approved by consent roll call so move Mr Chella and Mr retsky are there any comments or questions for Mr Gorski seeing none roll call Mrs armeno yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mrs Deo yes Mrs Lang yes Mrs Kino yes Mr rutsky yes and Mrs kapano yes Madam board president board action items a through G has passed that concludes my report thank you okay thank you at this time we'll go to

099the board president's report and um I have two things to today um my first one is about the district Safety and Security information meeting we had yesterday and it was written before I had the conversations with the mayor this afternoon and then he came and offered his services to the district um in in having security Arm Security at all of our schools so if I repeat myself I'll try not to but last night I attended the district Safety and Security information meeting along with Jill Deo and Michelle armino and I'd like to thank everyone who came out yesterday there were quite a few hundred people there and offered their questions their comments and their suggestions the Safety and secur Security of all of our students is our priority and everything that we heard last night

100and through the emails we've been receiving receiving H will be considered and evaluated um we will work with our director of security or Monro Township Police Department other districts who already implemented security measures and any other people we feel are pertinent to the security conversation after that recommendations will come to the administration from the administration to the policy committee uh for their review and input and I had asked Miss armano to please make this a priority and put just the safety in Security on for the next meeting um if the policy committee is in agreement the new and or revised policies will be put in on the March agenda for a first reading and approval by the board and then we should have a second reading of those policies in April so it is only

101after a second reading that a new and revised policy can be implemented um we did check with our insurance company this morning and you can let me know if I'm wrong and armed security Personnel are covered under insurance but only if we go through policy so this is something that we need to do and we will do um our administrators spent the morning making sure that all the procedures that are already in place such as making sure that every person who comes into one of our schools is seen through the C close circuit monitors and has to show an ID and and um that will be put through the school data banks that that these policies that we have in place already have are or will be followed if they're not at this moment we

102will look at redistricting our security Personnel so that we have a retired policeman in every school we have Safety and Security policies and procedures in place we just need to make sure that they are followed we know we can always do better at the high school Mr Goodall followed up with his students who spoke up last night at the meeting safety semin webinars for all grades will be given on Friday and Monday for a Q&A with the students at the high school and what the expectations are of students the high school will also go be going through a building assessment to see what security measures can be improved and as we said um Dr kak said yesterday um we got on this right away yesterday as soon as the meeting was over there have been

103things that we've been put in place today we've worked with the mayor so we are moving with making sure that every in our district is as secure and safe as possible my next thing is the um the March 13th referendum this is the last board meeting as Dr kosak said before the referendum for the Middle School the middle school just to reiterate some of the information going around um is on the corner of Applegarth and cranberry station roads it is a cost of $ 68.8 million that piece of property is now owned by the township the former owners agreed to the eminent domain process and are continuing to negotiate the price of the Land There is no lawsuit on that property when the referendum passes the new Middle School will open in September of 2021

104also when this referendum passes in March the board will start the process of planning for a high school edition and a new elementary school with the information we need and the time it takes the state to authorize all the paperwork needed for a referendum it looks like it would be 9 to 12 months as I said at the next meeting before another referendum can take place there will be a next year there will be 10 additional portable classroom trailers at the middle school so even with the additional trailers our core facilities such as the cafeteria the gym the media center and especially our hallways are having a difficult time accommodating the influx of new students every single nook and cranny we went on the tour we did Tuesday and every every like closets are now

105used and small instructional spaces are used for small groups and classrooms have been divided in half and there there is nothing no more room to put any more classrooms so per state law trailers are only allowed to be utilized for 5 years the trailers are here the kids are coming so our options are limited we build now or we build later if we wait and the referendum goes down the state will not come in and give us the money to build a new school for some of the following reasons we in Monroe Township give our students a thorough and efficient education that's a good thing our district is over adequacy by offering more opportunities to our students than many other districts around that's a good thing the the state considers monwell to be a wealthy

106community and able to cost cover the cost of Education not exactly true there is a wealth of information on our district website and I hope that you go to it and familiar familiarize yourself with the information and please make an informed decision when you go out and vote on March 13th thank you and that concludes my report so at this time we will go to Other Board of Education business is there anyone I do oh I have something Miss Mayo yes so the legislators came back from um break in January and with the new um the new governor there was a whole slew of new education um bills that were at the Senate um education committee and one of them um caught my attention which is S1 055 it requires full day kindergarten in all

107school districts and establishes a Uniform age requirement for enrollment in kindergarten and I read the bill and it in no way had anything it there was no money assigned for this so I felt the need to go down to Trenton and to speak to the Senators and here is what I said to them thank you chairman Ruiz and the entire Senate education committee for giving me the opportunity to speak today my name is Jill Deo and I'm a parent of two boys in the Monroe Township School District of middlex County and a member of the Monroe Board of Education I'm here today as a parent and My Views don't res represent that of the board and I'm not authorized to speak on the board's behalf I am here to speak on Senate Bill 1055 requiring

108districts to implement full day kindergarten I believe in kindergarten and I believe all schools should offer full day kindergarten that is not an issue here but I want to explain to you the challenges we face in my district and the impact this bill will have on us my district is seeing an influx of 300 new students each year these new students require an average of $4.5 million additional funds each year to educate our state aid is only 3 million we have been seeing this growth over the past 10 years and we currently have, 1500 unhoused students with an additional 1 1500 projected in the next 5 years because of this grow growth we need a new Middle School a new elementary school and an addition onto the high school we are going out for a

109referendum for a new Middle School in March but until the new Middle School gets built we need 10 additional temporary classrooms at the current middle school next year at an annual cost of 1.5 million including outfitting and Staffing the current middle school is so crowded that when my son was in 8th grade last year he wouldn't buy lunch because by the time time he purchased his lunch lunch period was over this problem is going to be exacerbated with with the addition of the students filling the 10 temporary classrooms in addition class sizes are growing the hallways are crowded and the gym isn't large enough for all the physical education classes needed we also have schools that need repairs we have two schools that were built in the 1930s that are in constant need of repairs

110to replace districtwide outdated and unreliable boiler and HVAC system it is estimated to cost millions of dollars and next year we are going to bid to replace one at an estimated cost of over $800,000 about 5 years ago we put full day kindergarten on as a ballot question at that time it would have cost my district $750,000 to implement but because of the growth and unhoused students the passage of this bill would require us to purchase an additional eight temporary classroom at the ele elementary schools this will cost upwards of $1.5 million that's a $1.5 million unfunded mandate for a district that only receives 3 million in state aid in order for my district to comply with the new law I ask that you give a more generous time frame for planning include funding for

111the first year of full day kindergarten thank you so we'll see where that bill goes that was only a first read but it diday pass out a committee thank you thank you Mr Braverman did you have your hand up I move that this board of education ask Dr kak to withdraw his resignation the secretary of the board should ask in writing for Dr kak to resend his letter of resignation this should be done within five business days of this meeting if and when Dr coac resends his resignation the board President and Vice President should start negotiations to extend Dr kak's contract for not less than two years the negotiation should be done at a mutually agreed upon time within 10 business days of the notice of repeal of the resign I'll second it any comments

112or questions by the board I I just have a question so we're if we're going to vote on this we're going to ask Dr kek to resend I I think what has to happen is we have to if you can make an amendment that the board has to be asked to resend Dr the board has to be asked to resend their acceptance of Dr kak's resignation if that's the proper way to do it the well the proper way to do it would be to take it into close session and have a disc there's a motion on the table yes I I understand that if if Mr uh just to be correct that the we're asking the board to resend their acceptance of doct kak's resignation and if you can put that language in if I

113am correct that motion can only be made by somebody who is on the um affirmative side for accepting his resignation and I I know our um I I opposite mayy no I don't think so I think there's a there's a there's a motion and I don't think uh Mr Braverman ever voted on it so it do he did not well then I'll make them if if you allow me I'll make the the motion that's what you're saying you cannot ask because you were on the negative side only somebody who has voted positively to accept that motion can make that motion to now resend the contract and and where does it say that I'd like I'd like it to be read into the record that you're saying that that's um C can we ask the board

114attorney I never heard of I don't know I never heard of that Madam uh I'd like to hear from the board attorney I'm sorry so I I I can you identify yourself please I'm sorry can you identify yourself Mary Smith board attorney um can you repeat the the the the question can we make a motion to ask the board to resend our Dr kak's contract no that's not what that's not what he's saying we're asking the board to resend the acceptance of Dr kak's resignation so the motion can be made and what C what the board president was saying is you believe that you can't be done if you were on the unless you were on the positive side that was my my impression yeah I I I I think you can make the motion

115I think you can make the motion okay okay Mike Mike Gorski you've got Robert's Rules there yes I do and and the motion out were that's on the floor is a motion to resend not reconsider reconsider as Mrs kapano said would require someone voting then I I had that that way yes the motion to resend can be made regardless of how you voted on the original motion so the motion to resend the prior acceptance is what you're saying that's correct okay so Mr Braverman would you please repeat that motion repeat it repeat it please I move at this board of education ask Dr kak to withdraw his resignation the secretary of the board should ask in right waiting for Dr KAC to resend his letter of resignation this should be done within five business days

116of this meeting if and when Dr kak resins his resignation the board President and Vice President should start negotiations to extend Dr kak's contract for not less than two years the negotiation should be done at a mutually agreed Pawn time within 10 business days of the notice of repeal of the resignation and I seconded it okay and there's no comments or questions yes I have some comments uh I would just like to say you know in in in favor of that and I and I and I hope you um take this up and and take the opportunity to resend and then we could all discuss it in close session or do whatever we have to do but um I think that number the 49th the uh highest ranked High School in in the state out

117of 600 and something districts from what I understand that's that's an excellent thing and even though I also give credit to our teachers um you know you deserve that credit also um we have a referendum just a couple of weeks away uh why we would why we would send a signal out to the public that we're we have instability and uh you know and and and the perception that I've heard on seen on Facebook and out in the community is hey why is he running away he must be running he must know something we don't know that is not giving our residents the confidence to vote for this referendum I'm sorry so as much as we talk about it that's a strike against us we have 700 signatures from our residents who are telling us

118to do something and we're in the middle of mtea negotiations why we would want to change leadership in the middle of all this is beyond me so uh I hope you uh take that and I hope the other board members just vote to resend we're not voting for a contract here we're voting to just resend thank you I would also like to say something um you know we ask a great deal of the taxpayers we ask them to pay their taxes we ask them to uh to vote for a referendum we know their taxes are going to go up so when they speak to us about what they would like to have in this community and the leadership and their and their pleased with Dr kak I think we should respond like to them in

119a positive manner Dr kak for the last three years I've only known him for three year three and a half years has been a gentleman he spent time in the community he he is um from from all my experience is interested in uh student achievement which is one of the basic important goals of this district and um I think we should support him um it you know from from the rest of the administration down to the uh the the people you know in the frontlines uh students and teachers and parents and we have we have you know we always ask for community support well we've got community support for goodness sake let's ask Dr kak to stay I believe he's Rec he has thought about reconsidering I believe he he cares about this District a

120great deal and I think in in in in undermining him for those who who seem to be undermining him it's a disgrace to our district and our our parents and our teachers um deserve more and so does Dr k [Applause] anyone else yes Mrs K I am going to vote no to resend the um ask Dr kak to resend his resignation I am voting no because I believe that my seat here on the board is to be an individual as a member of this team who is making decisions in the very best interest of every one of our students I believe that as a board we have met numerous times and there is information that has not been shared publicly which cannot be I I this we can't go into Personnel right I'm just saying

121that there are reasons that we've made these decisions and I am sticking to my decision make your decision I have made my decision and I am sticking with my decision and I have no regrets excuse me but that was uncalled for anyone else then at this time we will have a roll call do you know what the motion is you the substance of of the motion is to ask Dr kak to resend his resignation withdraw what withdraw withdraw withdraw what I understand Mr bman said I'm unclear about that I thought I I thought the substance was that we are asking the board to resend our acceptance of his resignation see that's different than what Mr braan said so I I we got to be clear here Mr braan repeated himself twice and I thought I

122understood it withdraw as resignation that's what's on the table oh we can I'll make another motion after that go ahead can make ask a question I'm not a board member but can I ask a question about so if I heard the resolution correctly it was resend my resignation no withdraw withdraw withdraw my resignation and then within 5 days within 5 days and then negotiations for an extension of my contract for a minimum of two years I'm I'm paraphrasing so I just wanted to make sure this to the record M let me read that again The Bu okay this is from Mr Braverman I move that the Board of Education asked Dr kak to withdraw his resignation the secretary of the board should ask in writing for Dr kak to resend his letter of resignation this

123should be done within five business days of the meeting if and when Dr kosak resends his resignation the board President and Vice President should start negotiations to extend Dr kak's contract for not less than two years the negotiation should be done at a mutually agreed upon time within 10 business days of the not is to repeal the resignation so we're we're voting to with have Dr Co to ask Dr kek to withdraw his resignation okay everybody got that I have a question am I allowed to vote if I'm conflict no what what is the vote it has to majority rules simple majority on thisle majority okay Mrs armeno I'm voting yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mrs Deo no Mrs Lang no I'm gonna ask Mrs karino oh use recuse thank you Mr rutsky

124I'm G to vote Yes Mrs Cole p no Madame board president motion to ask Dr kak to withdraw his resignation with further stipulation that the Secretary of board should ask him in writing to resend his letter of resignation should be done within five days of this meeting has passed okay so you can keep [Applause] this m armino yes I and I would be willing to put another motion just to protect what I understand just happened that that the board has now do I have to make another motion that the board has rescinded their their acceptance of Dr kac's resignation that that didn't happen because this was not that was this res this resolution was for okay wait it didn't happen that we do do we need to have that happen no because this has this

125basically covers it as long as Dr kak is so inclined okay then I don't need to make an additional motion well I shouldn't I shouldn't say that I mean this covers this covers do if Dr kak wants to withdraw his resignation he's going to be asked by the board board um business administrator in writing within five days of the date of this meeting if if he is then so inclined he will withdraw it negotiations will then happen and then ultimately regardless of whether or not the board accepted the resignation the board can always offer a new contract at any time do you know what I mean yes but I want to okay I'm going to read this before I make a motion to see if it's appropriate okay for us to do it you want

126to do this in closed and then no no I think the public should should know this okay you know and as long as we understand whereas uh Dr Michael Coan kak sorry herein Dr K kak is currently employed by the Board of Education herein referred to as a board as its superintendent of schools and is serving under the terms and conditions of a written Employment contract that began July 1st 2015 and extends until June 30th 2018 whereas on December 13th the 2017 Dr KAC submitted a letter of resignation to be effective June 30th to the board and which was accepted by the board at its meeting on December 13 2017 whereas members of the board were opposed to to Dr kak's resignation and have requested that he resend his resignation and continue as superintendent whereas

127members of the community are opposed to Dr kak's resignation and have presented a petition of over I have seven uh 500 signatures requesting him to continue as superintendent whereas Dr kak is has is agre a able to continue to serve as superintendent and it request that his resignation be rescinded whereas it is best interest of the school district for Dr Ken to continue serve as superintendent in order to provide for administrative stability completion of education programs and projects and to minimize disruption to the school district be it resolved that Dr kak's letter of resignation be and is hereby rescinded be it resolved that the board and Dr kak enter into negotiations okay for uh future Employment contract effective beginning July 1st subject to approval of executive County Superintendent if you don't think that that's necessary

128I will not move it I think we accomplished that by Mr braverman's I okay and and then it also goes into a whole another legal issue so okay thank you very much and in that case I was didn't know that resolution is going to be proposed but it was always hopeful and optimistic so I have a letter I'm going to hand it to Mr [Applause] G Dr kak would you like me to read this sure letters dated February 21st 2018 dear members of the Monro Township Board of Education I hereby request the board resend my letter of resignation dated December 13th 2017 I wish to continue to serve as superintendent schools beyond June 30 2018 sincerely your's Michael kak superintendent of [Applause] schools okay there's other I have other Bo I almost forgot if that's

129okay I think that's what we're still on all right so just a couple things right so I'm not on policy so when when policy takes up the security measures and those kind of things I would just like to ask that we also look at procedures for fire drills when teachers would know that a fire drill is real as opposed to a prank where somebody pulls a fire drill to draw kids out and draw teachers out those kind of things so that we have so that we're covered in those things that those procedures are all covered and we're doing the right things and we have that kind of training going on because that's what scared me the most about Florida is that you know from what I understood a fire a fire alarm was pulled the

130kids rushed out and this guy was sitting there waiting for them and I just want to make sure that in our schools that we're that we're we do something where we we able to give the the teachers and the students and all clear telling them that it's it's it's it's a real fire drill or it's a real fire and to proceed out um the other thing is uh just to look at also where backpacks are allowed in the schools um and and things like that and then and then maybe metal detectors and and those kind of things uh and then one more thing that I have but not not in regards to that is just that I know do a very good job with with sports and head injuries um or other other injuries too

131but if you have someone in football and and the doctor puts them out because they've had a head head injury or something that we require a doctor's note for them to come back um I just want to make sure that our policy is also very clear when it comes to other other sports like things like cheerleading for instance where that's a very vigorous sport it is a sport it's not you know and I think we I just want to make sure that we're treating it as a sport and that if those injuries happen that we're also doing that followup with doctor's notes and making sure that those those kids are are 100% healed before they can practice again and come back and do those things that's it any other board of education business yeah I

132would like to thank the board for the hearing devices and the microphones as somebody who is deaf in one ear and losing my hearing in my opposite ear this is the first time I've been able to actually hear our meeting so I thank you very very to the whole thing usually when people stand at the microphone it's very difficult to hear so I really appreciate that we've brought this system in and from what I understand members of the public who might need hearing um assistance this is also available for you to use so thank you very much okay I I I just want to say you're correct I I'm hearing much better as well and now that I know it's so boring I don't think I'll comment any don't quit more okay so if there's

133no more Board of Ed business uh we will go to public forum so anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone and give your name and address for the record and we will adhere to our 4minute time limit uh the name is Doug po I live at for tamarak Road uh several months ago uh I did a study of the attendance of our board members for the past year 2017 and in doing that study I found that we had at least two board members who uh had missed a significant number of meetings during the year and in response to that I wanted to suggest that the policy committee consider the development of a bylaw which would deal with excessive absences from meetings now I think it it's very appropriate in light

134of what we've seen tonight Dr uh kak's uh letter of resignation was accepted one night when I believe we only had maybe eight board members here six and had we had a full board member here a full attendance by the board here then maybe the deliberations would have been uh a little bit better than they were I'm not speaking in favor of uh exactly whether the superintendent should continue or not what I'm speaking of is in terms of how this board has operated a and I regret to say this because I am a prior member of this board but I think it's been very very awkward for Dr kak to to deal with this it's obvious it is quite obvious that there was pressure for that resignation I don't know this from from having attended

135any meetings I just know this from what I've observed by attending these meetings these meetings of the Board of Education I wish Dr kak well whatever he uh in whatever Direction he goes in the future if he stays here I wish him well and I would say God bless you for having to work with this board of education thank [Applause] you um board members and uh Dr kak uh I'm coming here with could you please give your name and address for the my name is David Rothman and the hat I'm wearing tonight is I'm on the Henry rickest Holocaust Memorial committee uh we have uh we've had 280 essays that were submitted from last year it's taken us a while to read through uh we're having our final meeting on March 22nd and I'm sure

136we'll have the top 10 to 12 who we'll be giving awards to and I'd love to have them on your agenda if that's available in April so for your April agenda bring those 10 members maybe have one or two read their essays so you can see what's we've done that every year and we look forward to that be my pleasure thank you very much thank you right by now my name is mahen sha I live at two Elliot drive I'm a student here at monor tonship high school I'm standing here today to fight for the future of mono Township's youth I'm here to fight for the rights of our Educators I was not asked our probe to stand here today but knowing what I knowing what is at stake here pushed me to come and

137voice my concerns as a young voter respect is something respect is caring about what individuals who by the time the contract is made will be able to vote on the seats that you guys are sitting on currently will have to say respect is paying attention to the hardworking individuals who attempt to uh hardworking individuals uh one second hardworking individuals and the Brave Hearts that come and stand here in front of a group of individuals who attempt to intimidate others to fight for the rights of our teachers respect is something that all individuals deserve whether you are tired or bored respect is not playing on your phone or looking at walls but instead looking into the pleading eyes of those whose lives are affected by the changes you make based on what I saw at the

138meeting last month with all due respect I believe this Board needs a reminder of what respect is the people that came up here demand to be heard because we are are the ones affected by your choices we the students are the ones that will lose extremely qualified teachers due to health insurance prices uh false raises and injustices we are the ones that will lose teachers that care whether we succeed or fail think back to your favorite teacher and what they did for you think back to them having to work multiple jobs on top of teaching in order to put food on their tables [Applause] it's heart-wrenching to think about it truly is the struggles that our teachers go through because of the teacher the choices that you've made so as you make this new contract

139I keep I ask you to keep the teachers that have changed your life and mind thank [Applause] you my name is Joe hoki 61 halfman wrote uh I've been around a long time back in the 9s but this is the first I never seen anything like this before I just like to say that Dr kak I haven't had too many dealings with you but the times that I did they were extremely positive I know that you have been a very open individual very caring about the students and the community but I want to talk about the referendum I think it's very important that the board is Unified in this respect I've been through a number of referendums sometimes we won the first time sometimes we lost the first time and almost every second time and

140this is very important for everybody the second time if it goes down it will cost more no question about it it will cost more not only more but it will be more time another twoyear delay and that will be very critical for our students so I'm really hoping that it will pass and I hope that the board will be unified and whatever the problem is with the board and a superintend I hope you can work out so uh good luck to everybody and I hope the referendum passes thank you prakash pup 33 Dana Drive again about the referendum because here tonight the public is hearing so please support this referendum it is very important our schools are overcrowded Middle School is overcrowded so that is the first preference and our board has promised our president

141has promised that once this passes we are going to work on expansion of high school and elementary school so they're not sitting back they're going to do it and for the senior citizens and you know my request is please consider this because there are senior citizens which I'm hearing that they don't care for public education so please here put put your politics back please vote for this there are many senior citizens where are very rich our I thought that our average senior citizens make $14,000 so they're rich so that's why we have become a affluent society here and we don't get state aid okay so please vote and another one good news is Dr our assembly man Benson today sent me a whatever his publication that clearly says that the seniors who whose income is

142less than 100,000 they will have the deduction State deductions increased to 40,000 and it will be phased out in next 5 years there the those who are having income of 100,000 need not have to pay state tax so they are getting State Relief okay and secondly the senior citizens whose income is [Music] $72,000 there will be a tax freeze so please consider that so you are getting a relief for the taxes please vote for this referendum so that is our request okay on referendum and whatever we have to canvas in next few weeks we will do that we have volunteers to support you president the next thing is about school safety again there's lot of thing going on in Washington the students are Marching and requesting for you know change in our law you know

143whether we are Republicans or we are Democrats it is our question of our children safety of the people coming to the school teachers you know security everyone okay so there should be even the president is talking about there should be some checks and bounces you know so please consider this is not political please consider to have some resolution from school schools supporting stricter regulations at state and federal level for gun control background checks why people should have automatic guns you know that is not the amendment they said they have gun not automatic shoot everyone within 2 minutes so please consider to have that resolution and lastly another one thing I just want whatever I missed marijana thank you very much I'm against recreational marijuana I'm for the medicinal marijuana and even for the medical marijuana

144we have to think in a positive way the people who have cancer Parkinson's and all they want to use medical marijuana small quantity cost $600,000 $600 and it is not reimbursed by the insurance so where we have to act I'm a pharmaceutical scientist we have to act with the Senators to make marijana not like opad re decrease it standard so that researchers can make a research so it will be approved by the FDA so we can have prescriptions on marijuana so we can our people who have cancer Parkinson's and other things can a relief from the T you know the insurance will pay for that so I'm ready to work with you all as an advisory committee to give pluses and minus on this issue so thank you very much for considering it thank you

145thank you Betty saberito to Barrymore Drive um I want to speak in favor of the teachers and um I did see it on the agenda so I'm not sure we all saw it back there on the agenda why it was said that I couldn't speak before as I started before um I cannot speak highly enough about the incredible teachers that we have in this District I have twins in the district that are in the first grade one of which is a special need child with a diagnosis of autism the fact that my children are doing as well as they are is a major part due to the Educators that they have been privileged enough to have and I say privileged because we have an incredible group of individuals in this District that is currently not

146being valued by this board they would not have the foundation in these early years that they need to reach their potential and be successful if it were not for the teachers that they had I want to commend Gan Barca Susan huy kuki Lisa P Andrea and then Danielle pandaly for giving one of my sons a foundation to SAR and it is amazing to see how he loves learning and is enthusiastic about school all thanks to those teachers I also want to give a special acknowledgement to Paula DeBlasio both of my twins were lucky enough to have her in prek and she started them on the right path and most especially and another parent said this I want to commend Jennifer bck Jim Bo Anette Hardy and Stacy leebros because they gave my son his life

147these educators are worth more than what they are currently being paid and what they are currently being valued from what the public sees by this this board the most amazing group of individuals came into my son's life and into my family without them we would not have come as far as he has come and he would not continue to soar I am forever grateful as I said before they gave my life Jennifer bck will always be the teacher of reference in his life it is thanks to her that my son not only got his life but has a chance in life that is something that is irreplaceable and that you guys cannot put a price tag on of Ed members I bring this up because you need to know what these teachers mean to us

148and how important they are to our children not only today but helping them build their future if my son will be independent in the future it is thanks to the teachers he's had in these early years please settle the contract with them and give them what they deserve in terms of salary and benefits we cannot lose them to other districts and on a side note Dr KAC congratulations I am very thrilled that you will be safe [Applause] good evening my name is Al ker I live at 419 Schoolhouse Road doctor I'm sure you remember me from last night or maybe you don't um I do I I I spoke um about school security not only as a parent but a 30 30-year law enforcement officer with extensive background and in um school security in particular

149since Coline like I told you later last night introduced us all to it some of you weren't there so if I'm being redundant I apologize um I want to commend you whoever got it done to put these officers in the school because um we're at the point where if we debate and debate and debate somebody might get hurt okay and you whoever got it done listen I came last night to tell you that how I felt about armed officers and I still feel about that that that has that's the way to go so I do commend you for getting it done and uh I think the community in a whole will that especially people have children will will rest a lot easier because it's a frightening thing and not only is it frightening for the

150kids and the parents the stress that's put on Law Enforcement Officers because if you don't think that any guy or woman or security officer or cop if that that's not our greatest fear of kids getting hurt then you don't know cops okay because I didn't fear much when I was on the road but I worried about these kids in these schools and I still worry about these kids in these schools my point is that I know you guys are going to build new schools it's inevitable I think that you really have to take into consideration security okay you have you have to if you if you haven't planned on I'm sure you're GNA you have to have people come in with security in mind is is it the most important thing in my mind it

151is because without people feeling safe in a nurtured environment they're not going to learn okay also you know we talk about the kids and we the parents I think that you need to see how your staff feels too because you know what they they got to work here and they they have to feel safe too so and I don't think it's anybody's fault or intention you know because we obviously we worri about the kids and the parents get up here but they work here this is their careers so they they need to uh have some input and I think that when you do these schools you you better have that you know somewhere on the stove because um you know I'm going to give you a perception of a law enforcement officer when when I

152first came into the school you know and this um it's a beautiful school when it was built when I come in and I see all that open space I'm saying oh dear God I I hope we never have to enter here because it's going to be a problem you know for safety for for that that's how officers think the general public doesn't think that way but I think that um when you build these schools it's I really think that you you have to take certain things into consideration okay and I'm sure you will um one of the U mistakes or pitfalls I think people make are I don't know what your profession right I I don't know about curriculum you know the way you guys do about a different studying methods I don't that's why

153I rely on you guys and I think like I told you last night I think a lot of people think they know security think they know what what it is to be a cop you know I we all watch the shows cops and everything but I you're really going have to rely on security let security you know you may not understand it or understand why M you know Mr pyro is asking for certain things him him and I are personal friends so I'm only I'm here and suppor of him okay and I um just so you know I'm offering my support to the school district I told him as a volunteer I'm not looking for a job I got plenty of them I got plenty of people asking me to do security so um when

154this process starts to arm these guys I'm certified to qualify anybody I I I have proposals that I did for other townships I'll gladly give them to you I don't want a job but I'm I'm just letting you know besides stating my opinion I'm a person of action too so I told Mr pyro if they need help with anything because you're going to have to work on this continually because the school year is September right because you know we're going to have to work on so I'll write to you and I'll give you my information and anything I can do to help as a officer as a citizen and as a parent I'll do it thank you thank you [Applause] if if you would like to come to our policy meeting on March 6th we

155we're going to be having policies in regard to Safety and Security so um we don't usually have people um allowed to speak but uh maybe Mr arino will give you that opportunity listen I'm not here to circumvent the the Monroe Police Department or the security they're they're all competent I'm just saying that I I know Mr pyro personally we've worked jobs Together in Manhattan we've done different things you know that I'm just here to help that's all I'll volunteer and people that don't know me I've been a volunteer coach in this town for many years I volunteered a lot of hours I I don't care about volunteering okay because it's it's that important to me okay I I it's not only because I have kids here it's it's because like I told you that I

156didn't fear much but I I I worried about kids at school thank you that's thank you [Applause] one Miko Drive um I've been a resident of Monroe for 9 years eight years my kids have been in the district in the schools I've been very active in the PTA volunteering and as an officer and um it breaks my heart for the last few months when whenever I drop off my kids at zero period or whatever I'm driving by and I see teacher standing with a sign and it and I know all of us have the same amount of respect for them so I am puzzled as a resident as to why our district is taking so long to come to a contract for our teachers there has to be an sense of urgency by now why

157are we not giving them what I'm not saying an unfair contract I'm saying why are we not coming to an amicable decision as a district with so much talent in the administration in the staff what is taking us so long we are all residents as residents we are all puzzled but at the same time every morning ATS drop off we are sad because they don't say anything they just stand quietly with signs that says that caring and that without a contract it just breaks our heart so every single person that is thinking looking at it and thinking about it is is wondering what is going on I hope we can come to a solution really quick um the other question not really a question the other um little Spiel that I had to give was

158about the referendum and I have been very publicly vocally against it and I wanted to take the time today to say that I am sad that I am not voting for this referendum but I am not guilty and the reason I don't feel guilty for not voting for this referendum is because we should have brought this referendum out um a few years ago uh the the problem in middle school did not happen over overnight we we knew it was going to happen yet we did not consider bringing out a referendum 3 4 years ago and now that we are finally bringing out a referendum we are putting all our eggs in one basket we are only addressing the Middle School while at the same time putting trailers in the middle school I know that the

159statistics of the history of the biggest amount referendum that I've passed is about $80 million we bringing out a referendum for $68 million for one school why could we not have pushed the envelope why don't we have numbers on what it would cost for the extension of the high school either break that project into two phases and add one part into this referendum or just break the new Middle School into F there were so many creative ways of doing this and and the student growth advisory committee that deliberated on it deliberated on all the three Schools elementary Apple goth is a big problem it it it is being told in presentation that everything is in control it is not in control high school creative scheduling high school lunches are starting so early in the day

160we're not offering some classes because we don't have the space there is problem at every level but when we make these presentations for the referendum we only hire Light Middle School we only talked about how the schent students are bumping into each other in Middle School in a year or two we'll be putting trailers in the high school because we ignored that in the first referendum and the residents did not vote for the second referendum within one year because I don't see any statistics of any Town voting for two referendums within one year so as a as a resident who has been involved in the overcrowding problem and process for the four past 5 years I feel that we did a disservice by coming up with this referendum I don't understand how this happened but

161this has happened the only logic I could see was that the town offered us a piece of land but that land is really not ours not the towns right now because they're taking it by eminent domain and the court hearing has been postponed till March 22nd the referendum is on the ballot for March 13 so if this referendum passes and something goes wrong in that court hearing we really don't have a piece of land for which we designed this whole plan so I felt I felt cheated as a resident that we did not we did not not do the due diligence to all the three schools and come up with a plan where when the public questions during presentations we are not told that it is too late to change this referendum why did we

162come up with a plan which for which you have to justify by saying it's too late to change this okay thank you very much for your comments I'm just about to conclude I will vote now and I know there are a lot of residents in town who don't come and speak like me but are voting no and I'm hoping this board will take it back to the drawing board if it does not pass and include other schools when they come up with a new referendum in November 20 2018 thank you for your time and I will say this again there is no lawsuit the M the land is owned by the township the only thing in dispute is the price of the Land There is no lawsuit the former owners have agreed in the eminent

163I we're not going to have a debate um the former owners have aged agree to the eminent domain process their money is put into a fund the state fund and to say that there is a lawsuit you said they're in the courts they're not there it is not in the courts thank you it is not in the courts that ex I've explained it many times so the letter is on the in um the district website so please go to the district website this cury 21 preiss Drive um I want to um I guess piggyback on what uh Miss Bora was saying um I did attend the council meeting the recent council meeting and when I asked questions they said that they could not answer because it is in the courts right now and the letter

164is dated December 29th regarding Monroe Township versus Lewis Properties it is in the courts there is a court case right now Cory Masters and I'm Michaela Court okay so my question is going to be about the referendum so as many you should all know if not we're going to have voting there on March 13th at Oak Tree as we know the voting and the cafeteria are one room which is divided by an accordion wall so my concern is obviously going to be I know there going to be extra security but my thought is is that if maybe one of the board members could make a motion to make that a half day we wouldn't have to have the 700 children come down to the lunchroom during that time to have lunch it would keep them

165out of the hallway where the voting will be going on because the only thing dividing the voters from the children who are in the lunchroom which would be all 700 given throughout the day is an accordion wall so even the extra security people vote the pollsters or whoever is there will still have to go up the ramp to use the bathroom and as I've stated many times I have seen gentlemen elderly gentlemen who are working the PO or whatever come out of the children's bathroom more than once and I've had to go to the office and say there's another man in the bathroom even though the faculty bathroom is directly next to the boys room so I think by maybe making it half a day this will avoid some of these problems so I would

166just suggest you know or for the board to consider making that a half day you still have time that it would still be a regular school day it would count for a default day of school those are my two sounds on that um my second thing is as far as can um and I'm guessing this more for Dr Albert can you tell me what the amount is per pupil for the um stem tag program at the middle school like how much we spend per student I don't have that information tonight okay I'm only saying this because because right now um my son is doing a project he's building a ski ball machine so he told me he needed cardboard for to build a ski ball machine so luckily with my husband's you know aversion to

167Amazon I had plenty of boxes so I went I dropped all the boxes off to him so he would have them for that day he came out I picked him up I said how was it he says I couldn't work on it I said what do you mean he says well I don't have tape and scissors I said you need tape and scissors he said yes I need tape and scissors to start I said okay so I went to the store and I got masking tape and I got scissors from my drawer and I labeled them and then I will say I Dr cuz we need obviously to cut cardboard we can't use safety scissors so they're adult scissors but I drove them to school and I dropped them off to security because I didn't

168want him to get C with them in his bag and have someone take them and blah blah blah so I just feel like there should be some kind of budget that should at least cover masking tape and scissors because now at some point I'm sure I'm going to have to buy ski balls for the ski ball machine which is fine I I I don't mind putting money out but where my child came from appleo last year where he was designing a robot to now I have to provide mask tape and scissors it's just I I don't think it's fair that's the question you're asking I misunderstood the question um yes there is a budget and the teacher should be submitting that and we can take care of that I mean it's B I don't care

169I'm just saying for a future like I just think there's some money should be given to the tag program so that's it is there is a but there is a line item in each of the school's budget for tag okay but you don't know how much it is I not off the top of my head that's fine I'm not gonna I'm not okay that's all thank you Angela verod n Angela Court um I know that the mayor had uh made that announcement but I'm sure that there was previous conversation about it with you Mrs president and I just wanted to ask some clarifying questions with the children here earlier it was a little hard to really hear what he was saying um so I want to clarify that it's only going to be one armed

170officer at each of the schools yes and that will be temporary it will be temporary until the board of education has the opportunity to um revisit our policies get them in place and have our own employees trained and what does that training mean does that mean that we're going to be training our current security guards or retired police officers that are security guards here to be armed as well or we're just going to say temporarily we're giving you armed guards armed police officers or armed security guards but we're going to take that away once we feel that our staff is unarmed but well equipped well I I believe our policies are going to be looking to arm our own security people so that we can put our people arms in place and um get rid

171of the or not get rid of but we no longer have the need to have the Township Police guard or or guard our schools okay and another clarifying question would be um so these armed professionals that are going to be in the school are they going to be in the school from open to close meaning zero zero period all the way until after Falcon care closing is I think we still have to talk with them about what their schedule is all I know at this point um is that with between me and the mayor and the the um uh Chief Lloyd that they will have school uh security armed guards in every school while the school is open and I don't while the school day is going on so I think we really have to

172work with them to see what their timing is um because they will be using Off Duty Officers to work overtime I just want us to all remember that they do have Falcon care in the morning and Falcon care in the afternoon and children are there early and late and to have just the school when most of the children are there doesn't really help the children that are going to be there when something could happen in the early or um evening hours um I just wanted to remind the board and maybe some of you are not aware that there was a serious issue um for the last two years with an elementary School child that um currently has an aid and I'm not going to name names um my child had issues with him that um

173I even brought to Dr kak's attention and unfortunately didn't really go anywhere with him but thankfully the principles were able to handle it um so with all due respect I'm I'm still on the fence about you staying or going um however I'm still very concerned that this child has an aid and has been able to evade the aid and still harm other children by pushing them down or pushing them up against walls and nothing is still being done about it um this is a huge bell um from someone that is not only a health care professional but also runs the largest mobile crisis unit and Community Mental Health Unit in the country in Manhattan and um it is a a huge concern for me because this child shows all of the classic symptoms but yet

174he has this one Aid that he may or may not have when he goes into the middle school and we know he's a potent he's a huge problem and I just don't see that anything's being done because we're still hearing that he's continuing to have issues he's continuing to do things even with an aid present and I just want you to be aware that um you're going to start having lawsuits and you're going to start having children leaving the school district because of your inability to handle these issues respond um and my final comment that I want to make is um I've only been in the school district for two years my family and I moved here two years ago because of the school district and because of all of the opportunities that Monroe had

175to offer and I will finish up in just one minute but being here tonight has shown me that there is a significant amount of dysfunction amongst our board members that is apparent by several scowls on your face and it is really alarming and concerning thank [Applause] you I would like to respond uh just to one section uh as you are well aware I can't speak about a specific student I can tell you that I'm on the phone including today uh with the principal of the school uh there has been numerous follow-up conversations between the principal and myself regarding your concerns and I would welcome uh a conference if you would like you know if you want to contact me we can sit down with the principal myself I certainly would listen to your concerns um

176but there has been continual followup and and I I want to make sure that you are comfortable so if you decide you would like to do that I would suggest that you uh you need to do is contact me phone email however you would like or contact the principal and we can set that up at your convenience thank you willing to do that other um maybe she call you yeah I I would say why don't you call and let's discuss that rather than trying to make a decision in in this form thank you okay anyone else from the public okay seeing none we will close the public forum and go to the Clos session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monroe hereby moves to go into close session

177in accordance with the Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa 10 colum 4-6 through 10 column 4-21 to discuss the following subjects harassment imit in intimidation and bullying personal ma Personnel matter level three grievance superintendent contract and matters falling within the attorney calling in privilege with respect to the subject negotiations with the mtea following closed session action may be taken the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public at such time as the need for confidentiality no longer exists I need a motion and Mr cherella Miss Miss Gino all in favor I opposed then at this time we will adjourn into closed session I'm not sure how long this is going to last paperwork okay so at this time the board will move back into public session and

178I have a resolution it is recommended that the Board of Education hereby denies the level three grievance regarding employee number 0500 dated December 1st 2017 the superintendent of schools and the board's business administrator board secretary are authorized to take all necessary steps to implement this action of the board of education so moved second miss m who's first Michelle either way okay motion by Mr Chella oh second by Michelle armeno can any comments or questions no oh we'll have a roll call Miss armeno yes Mr Braverman is absent Mr Chella yes Mr Mayo yes Miss Lang yes Dawn is not here Steve is not here Frank is not here Mr rutsky yes and Kathy colano is yes Madam Bo president president the resolution passes right thank you thank you Miss Armenia Michelle we go back to

179here and is there any other business we don't have anybody in the public so there's no public forum so the next schedule Board of Education meeting is March 15th Tuesday March Thursday March 15 2018 7:00 p.m. at the Monroe Township High School February March 22nd yes it moved to March 2 the bud this is still on my agenda I apologize that's right nobody's watching now the next board of education is Thursday March 22nd 2018 7 o'clock p.m. at the Monroe Township High School motion to adjourn so move second okay see mmino all in favor opposed then the meeting is adjourned at 116 Mike left our things he left without our things and and he didn't take your C