001We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. If you could please rise to the flag of the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Mucci. >> We'll start with you. >> Good evening. Welcome everyone. We're very excited um and grateful to work in our outstanding district and wishing everyone the best of a Thanksgiving holiday and uh tremendous appreciation for all of the great work to the start of an amazing year and enjoy Thanksgiving with your families. Awesome. Um, yes. And we also wish to share uh a happy Thanksgiving to all of our fellow board members and to all of the district. Um, and hope that everybody enjoys a few days of good food, rest, and relaxation. Um, and with that, we'll
002go to reports and we can start with. >> All right. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Daisy and I'm one of the board lens of Morrison High School. Unfortunately, my partner Garrett cannot make it due to extenduating circumstances, so I will be delivering tonight's report. Um, fall sports have come to a close with student athletes preparing for winter sport tryyous and practices starting this week. Four students from the high school, Caroline Condan, Eloise DS, Henry Rosenfield, and Josiah Brown have signed contracts to continue their athletic careers playing D1 sports at Michigan, Brown, Wake Forest, and Villan Nova, respectively. The theater department just finished their fall drama production of Little Woman with it selling the second most tickets out of any production since 2015. The winter band, orchestra, and choir concerts will be on December
0034th. um 11th and 18th respectively. The Heritage Club has been delegating committee work amongst its members in order to preserve to better preserve the school's history and serve the community. Recently, the Heritage Club honored the the Vietnam War veterans and all the veterans who have served from MHS at their Veterans Day ceremony. Over the next few months, the club is working on various projects, including a digital collection of the teachers corner, documenting who the teachers were and their legacies, archiving important historical facts and documents from the high school, and hosting a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony to honor its significance and impact in our school and community. As the end of November is swiftly approaching, we are close to the end of No Shave November, an annual fundraising event where teachers shave their beards into
004unique styles based on the amount of money raised. As of today, we have raised over 1,500 for the Colonial Cancer Foundation. Furthermore, in response to the government pausing SNAP benefits, we are collaborating with all school clubs in an initiative called club sort cause to donate food to NJourish, a nonprofit organization aimed towards addressing hunger, homelessness, and poverty. We have seen great success in the matter, having prepared over 150 emergency food bags for donation. In the spirit of giving and the holiday season, we are also hosting our sixth annual holiday drive where we invite families to donate gifts to those in need based on age, gender, and a wish list. Similarly to Angel Trees. Additionally, we are participating in a night in the cold, which is an event held by homeless solutions to raise awareness and
005funds for our homeless shelters and programs for their homeless shelters and programs. The basis of the event is to spend the night outside on the school's football field, encouraging family and friends to sponsor participation. Moreover, on December 6th, we are hosting a winter craft fair for parents to shop for presents and a separate event called Santa's winter workshop for kids, which are with arts and craft stations like paper snowflake and gingerbread making, as well as coloring stations paired with Santa and Elsa actors for them to take pictures with and live music. For most students, the extended schedule due to testing was disorienting due to long periods of instruction time. The schedule was easier to follow than expected, but the general consensus was neutral, leaning negatively because it was hard for many students to stay focused
006for 2 hours or more. However, most did enjoy the calendar schedule for November for its generous off days. In fact, what everyone is excited about is a long break for Thanksgiving. The half day will provide more time for students to travel and spend time with their families. And that concludes the report. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And if you need to go, feel free. We're going to move into the other reports. Thank you so much. Um Susan, could you please give us a curriculum update? >> Yes. The curriculum committee met on November 12th and approved the following items. The October 15th meeting minutes, various field trips across the district for grades K through 12. A full list can be found under educational matters motion number two. The committee also approved summer curriculum writing
007for summer 2026. By approving this now, HR can post for curriculum writers, organized professional development sessions, and begin administrative review and resource preparation for writers. It's important to note that the revision process is based on the district's curricular needs related to periodic updates, new state standards, and newly approved courses. This is under educational matters motion number three. An online ondemand foundational module series to support teachers as they prepare for teaching their college board preap English course was approved. This is educational matters motion number four. The committee also approved the newly established artisan academy at Marstown High School. This program, funded through a generous private grant, offers a dedicated pathway for student artists who want to blend their creative talents with entrepreneurship. Students will learn how to design and produce marketable products, develop branding and marketing
008strategies, and build a profitable small enterprise. The academy also provides valuable mentorship, mentorship, and internship opportunities. I would like to thank Marstown High School principal Mark Manning, assistant principal John Pino, ceramics teacher Liz Austin Dorp, and graphic design teacher Jim Booby for joining our meeting and to present this exciting initiative. This is under educational matters motion number five. Our last approval was for proposed ESL changes to the FMS and MHS schedule. Students in the ESL program at FMS and MHS would be placed in appropriate level courses by grade and linguistic ability to allow for intentional correlation between grade level ELA standards and the WEDA English language development standards during instruction. Thank you to Dr. Pentagomez for presenting this information. Dr. Mucci and Mr. Kryley informed the committee about project search. This is a groundbreaking program
009that empowers young adults with intellectual and developmental dis disabilities with competitive employment opportunities. Mr. Kryley also presented the 2026 summer programming. Although summer seems many long months away, believe it or not, this is the time the district begins to plan for summer programming. Matt Kryley, director of elementary education, shared an updated 2026 summer academic program chart and schedule. This is under educational matters motion number seven for board approval. Lastly, the curriculum curriculum committee revisited the discussion on NJSLA subgroup data and the supports in place to meet the needs of students performing below proficiency. We also connected this to a a review of the committee's responsibilities and briefly revisited the committee calendar so that key curriculum topics such as intervention check-ins and data review are addressed at certain points throughout the year. Thank you again to
010everyone who joined us at the meeting. Wishing the Mars School District community a very happy Thanksgiving. Our next meeting is on Wednesday, December 3rd. >> Thank you. Um All right. Uh Linda, could you please give us a finance update? >> Sure. We met on uh November 17th and [clears throat] a good part of our session was taken up with a discussion of uh the referendum and the project lists associated with same. Um Anthony and uh Matthew Jaro joined the meeting and presented the projects are being recommended for submission to the state department of education for approval and uh with that approval will come a determination of the amount of state aid that will be made available to us. So we uh the projects cover each of the 10 buildings in the district. Uh we looked
011at a summary of projects by building. We saw [clears throat] a copy of a schematic drawing of each um building so we could see where the work was being done. And we also had a summary of uh potential construction costs by project and by building. Um we um there's a long laundry list of that. Uh, also we um looked at some programs that I'm missing something here. Uh, some programs that looked at the impact for uh the need for additional classroom space. For example, we have Oh, this is from this is a follow-up. Never mind. Um, buildings and grounds gave us a report on the work that they've done. They have been so busy since the school year ended last year and over the summer. Um they have conducted training within the department on the
012following subjects. Uh boiler training for some new um equipment that we've installed in some of our buildings. A new building management system which will allow us to have remote control uh of the temperatures both uh from a cooling and heating standpoint um professionalism. And they also got our custodians got training on a new floor scrubber. So, uh, there's no detail too small for the buildings and grounds people to, um, to train on. The main gym, which you remember from a previous report, uh, had been, um, damaged while we were doing the roofing project at the high school, has since been cleaned and repaired by the roofing contractor. So, that was back in business. We um did some ABSUS abatement at a a water heater exhaust flu which was completed over the teachers convention um which
013was early November. Uh the auxiliary gem um uh which you walked by if you came down the quarter has been recoded for upcoming sports. Uh there was a shed replacement at Woodland and we uh have been procuring um any number of quotes for our upcoming budget which will be built into the budget as we roll that forward. And last but not least, we're uh finalizing a punch list uh for the roof project here at the high school. Um so again, that was uh business matters motion 12. If you're following along on the agenda, we uh as usual have a number of surplus assets that we'll be um disposing of or trying to sell. Most of those things are so old that they probably don't have much residual value, but but if uh if we can
014eek a dollar out of it, we will. That's business motion a business matter motion 11. Um, and finally, we uh are able to close out our remediation project at Alexander Hamilton. We're doing a filing with the DP and a deed notice to the town clerk in Marstown. That's uh under um motion 11. And then we also did a bid award for wall repair at Alfred Vale. Motion 10. Um the transportation department um has completed evacuation drills. They were required to do evacuation drills twice a year. So um every school got through that um uh um this last month October and November I think and um that's business matters motion seven. In addition, Greg Samsky reported the October in district trip summary. We had uh this is for our sports and um um bands and day
015trips and whatnot. 244 trips which are over and above the regular bus routes that take students to and from school um on a daily basis. And in addition uh we provide transportation to a number of other schools uh the PC school, Morris Plains Assumption, Neighborhood House, and Children on the Green. and that was an additional 39 trips. Um, and the total amount uh so far that we've earned through supporting these other uh public and private schools is $28,000 um and change. So, uh busy busy in the transportation group. Um, we uh are providing the Morris Educational Services Commission with meals delivered to their Central Park School through a shared services agreement. That's business matters motion 9. Um, and um I'd like to report that we got two donations. One uh is from Mars Arts for
016a residency grant. It's for Alexander Hamilton School, which was selected to receive um a grant in memory of Lauren and Emily Fail who were students at Alexander Hamilton several years ago. The value of this grant is a total of $9,000 and the Fail Foundation will fund 6,000 and the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey will fund the remaining three, so 9,000 in total. Um the Shakespeare Theater educational staff will be working with the entire fourth grade at Alexander Hamilton and uh they already have gotten underway in November and will conclude on December 12th for this residency. Um in addition, we got um uh some costume supplies donated by another donor. I don't I don't remember that there was a number on that, but it was things that they used to put costumes together. So that was
017much appreciated by our theater group and um our food service. We um had a very successful um collection of uh gift cards for people who were affected by the government shutdown. If you remember, a lot of people were food insecure and we have a very generous uh school community and community at large here. We're blessed for that. So, um, Dr. Mucci, uh, reported that, uh, our SNAP families received, um, full bags of food. Uh, students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch, uh, received full bags from K in the K5 area. At FMS, SNAP students received gift cards and, um, our teachers union also donated 105 full bags of food to the middle school. and at the high school SNAP students received gift cards. So that was really something that was sorely needed at
018that time by those students and we were very happy to be able to support them. Um we also did um an assessment of year-to-ate sales for our food service. Uh as of the end of October the total so far is $632,832. So that is um um I think that's significantly more than we've had in years past. That sounds like a lot more. Um and uh we also have been able to manage down the accounts receivable for um u [clears throat] school meals u and that was a decrease of about u 13 almost $14,000. So we're managing that receivable down as well. Um, our next finance meeting is December 8th and happy Thanksgiving everybody. >> Thank you. Um, Melissa, could you give us an update on the resources creep? >> Yes. So, the HR committee met
019on November 18th. Um, the one thing I wanted to highlight besides the regular comingings and goings, um, they are planning for the extended school year earlier than they have in the past. So, you will see some motions for various positions to get that hiring started um sooner than later because earlier is better. And our next meeting is on December 9th. >> Thank you. Um Beth, could you give us an update on pause? >> Yes, sure. So, we last met on November 14th and um the board will note that we had quite a few items for discussion um which led to robust conversation. So, I'll probably be talking a little bit longer than I normally do just to touch on everything briefly. Um, so for discussion, we um started with discussing um changing our reorg meetings
020back to Mondays, >> opening at 7:30 to not only accommodate our Morris Plains representative um but also to allow as many board members as possible to attend. So, Morris Plains begins at 7. We have changed ours this coming year, so mark it on your calendars. Monday, January 5th, uh at 7:30. Um then Dr. Pinto Gomez reviewed with us our newly formatted nursing services plan. Um this will also be shared again at the end of the year as is now required. >> And you will see that the plan will also be on tonight's agenda for approval and that's in the lower um list of policies for review. Then we had quite a discussion on um policies on the use of motorized ebikes and scooters on school property. We had our two policies to look at. Um
021that's policy 5514, student use of vehicles on school grounds, as well as policy 7480, motor vehicles on school property. We had some language to consider from Strauss Esme. We also had some examples from different districts. Um basically uh we're obviously no decisions have been made. Dr. Mucci shared with us that um uh Harry and Ruiz our director of safety oper and safety operations is in discussion with local police for guidance and uh partnership. We discussed, you know, possibly holding education sessions on safety of electric bikes and scooters for students much like we do uh for our drivers where we kind of are at this moment is that uh Mr. Ruiz will attend our next committee meeting and give us some updates and then we will continue discussion on this before any action is taken. We
022also looked at our fundraising policies, fundraising policies for student fundraising as well as booster clubs. We looked at a lot of different um examples from different districts and basically realized this is a a big issue. A lot more work is to be done. Um so Dr. Mucci will be meeting with all fundraising groups along with some uh volunteer committee members to begin outlining a very cohesive district-wise um districtwide rather fundraising plan that is you know consistent amongst all updates will be shared um in the future. We also discussed the introduction of a 612 helping mode which is a non-punitive uh policy for students seeking assistance with drug and alcohol dependency. Dr. Mucci shared um an interest in developing a support program to assist students with drug or alcohol issues in coordination with initial discipline and
023violations of our policies. Um we also oh we also touched upon um an ongoing tabled issue u with regard to board member attendance and policy 0145 um some unforeseen delays with our attorneys in terms of guidance. So that remains tabled at this time. We will get back to it shortly. Um then we went on and we reviewed we had 14 policies for review um together with any corresponding regulations. You'll note that um 5230 and 5240 we had uh reached out to stress as may to see about combining them because they were very um there was a lot of overlap and almost seemed redundant. So apparently they have told us that we can combine both policies above or eliminate one or eliminate both. So uh we will get back to those as well. Um, please note
024also uh policy 5420 reporting student progress. There is um updates in red in that policy on tonight's agenda. Um Susan, [clears throat] thank you for pointing this out to us. But we just needed to do some updates um post meeting when we realized that um our policies were not quite matched up with um our current practice specifically with regard to how many report cards are being reported out in K5 and 6 through 12 um as well as the means in which those report cards are provided. So that was an easy fix that has been updated um and that is uh has been approved for tonight as well. The only other thing I will note is 5511 which is our dress and grooming. um that policy has been tabled for further further review and discussion at
025further um I don't know if it's our next policy meeting but down the road we uh as per usual we reviewed our district and individual school p school counts report as of October 31st as well our well as our see I'm trying to rush because I feel like I've been talking too long as well as our K5 section counts. Um, lastly, I'll just say I'm thankful for everyone here and all the work that hard work that you do. Um, wishing everybody a very happy Thanksgiving and our policy meeting will meet again on December 5th. >> Thank you. >> Um, yeah. >> Um, Meredith, could you give us a governance? >> Sure. Governance met on November 13th. Uh we reviewed board agendas as usual and it was noted that the board will wait for our new
026members to join to weigh in on the uh date of the second June meeting. Um committee also reviewed the key communicators list and made recommendations. I shared this list in an email to the whole board. So please review it when you get a chance if you want to make any additional recommendations. Um the committee also reviewed the timeline for negotiations um for our process to define committee functions and duties. Committee chairs will do a final review of narratives with administrators and then we'll try to wrap this up in December uh the December meeting and so we can start fresh in the new year with our roles and functions and duties defined and our calendars in place. Um, we also set the agenda for the December 8th retreat uh with the board self-evaluation and and referendum
027updates front and center. And last but not least, uh, Katie and Meredith planned a review of our orientation packet for any needed edits for welcoming our new board members in the new year. Uh we meet again on December 4th. >> Great. Thank you. Um Tina, do you have a planes update? >> Uh we met on November 11th. It was mostly routine business. Um we did discuss board goals updating them and and what we want to add. >> Awesome. Great. Um and thanks for doing backtoback on the fifth and accommodating that. >> [clears throat] >> Um, okay. We will now move um to public comment. Before we open the meeting to public comment, we wish to remind you that our meeting is now video recorded and publicly aired. While the board welcomes and encourages public comment,
028we ask that you be respectful, including in any comments you might make about staff. The board does not endorse any comments made by a speaker, nor will the board be held liable for any comments made by members of the public. The law prevents the board from speaking about specific students and about personnel matters. For this reason, the board will not answer any questions on these subjects. Finally, the board's policy limits each speaker to three minutes. We ask that you respect this policy and the time of your fellow comm community members by concluding your comments once you reach 3 minutes. Public comment is open for an hour or until public comments are complete, whichever comes first. At this point, I would like to invite any members of the public to come forward and to please provide
029your full name and address. Okay. If there is no public comment, we will close public comment. And um we'll move on to business matters. >> As the appointed representative of the sending Morris Plane School District to the Morris School District Board of Education, I would like to clarify that my votes on tonight's business agenda items will relate only to those items that are identified as applicable district-wide to grades preK through 12 or to the high school grades 9 through 12. I am abstaining from voting on any agenda items pertaining solely to the elementary middle schools grades prek to 8. >> Thank you. >> Okay. U moving minutes motions one and two. >> A second. >> Thank you. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. Please call the vote. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. Miss Murphy, >> yes.
030>> Mrs. Mrs. Pilino >> abstaining motions one and two. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fota, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wall, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Um, did I just do pause? >> Matt, you did minutes. >> Thank you. Um, moving policy motions one and two. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Okay, please call the role. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pedalino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fota, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. Moving educational matters motions 1 through nine. >> A second.
031Thank you. Any discussion? Okay, please call the RO. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pedalino, >> abstain from motion one. Yes. To all others. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pota, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wool, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole. >> Abstain on eight and nine. Yes. To all others. >> Moving pupil services motions one through three. A second. Any discussion? >> Okay. Please call the RO. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pedalina, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pota, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wall, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole.
032>> Abstain on one and two. Yes. To three. Moving human resources motions one through 23. >> I second that. Thank you. Any discussion? >> Okay, please call. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pedalino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fota, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wool, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. vote. >> Yes. Moving business matters motions 1 through 15. >> I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? >> Okay. Please call the role. >> Mr. Lloyd, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pilino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perry, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mrs. Spa, >> yes. >> Mrs. W. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Davidson,
033>> yes. >> Mrs. Gold, >> abstain number five. Yes. Okay. Any new business? >> All right. Make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Susan. Thank you. A second. >> I'll second. All in favor? I I >> Thank you.