001if we could stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all this meeting is called to order at 7:33 p.m. can we get the roll call please Mr G here Mrs Mara here Mrs ricardi here Mr Smith Mr pear here miss Taya here thank you Mr mamura good evening everyone so tonight we have a few items on the agenda um first we'd like to make a couple of presentations uh to some of our student athletes uh so with that uh do we want to make that presentation sure um and you'll take some pictures okay all right um we'll come on we'll come on up over here first
002okay so who's up first first one up is ay laac um we've done this a couple of times and one time we did it without but um for those who don't know Avery is our one and only gymnastics or gymnast uh here here at Emerson and let me read this uh whereas ay lat has won the New Jersey North one group one sectional championship in gymnastics and whereas aier laac has receed the award of First Team all County for gymnastics and whereas the accomplishment is T to her dedication tireless efforts and commitment to Excellence and whereas the Emerson Board of Education Emerson New Jersey County of Bergen wishes to recognize his outstanding accomplishment now therefore be it resolved that the Emerson Board of Education on this 27th day of January 2025 hereby congratulates AV laach
003on this achievement [Applause] that now I know that there was many other Awards other different other things that you've won uh I can tell you it's been an honor watching you uh ever since you were a little girl with gymnastics and I know you've had a fantastic career you had a lot of options uh coming into high school but you chose to come to Emerson high school and compete for Emerson high school and we're very very proud of you for that so um and also thankful to Mom where is she there she is um for taking on the job of coaching you for these for these last four years so I'll stand so here let's thank you next up Mikey grab Mike this is for one achievement but I know that there's many many many
004more um well let me read this first whereas Michael graph has received the award of First Team all County for boys soccer and whereas this accomplishment is testimony to his dedication eff for the commitment to Excellence and whereas the Emerson Board of Education Emerson New Jersey County of Bergen wishes to recognize this outstanding achievement now therefore be resolved that the Emerson Board of Education on its 27th Day January 2025 hereby recognize Michael graph on this achievement so congratulations take this now I again You've Won many other things too all League all League honors some All State honors for some of the State uh Publications fantastic what a lot of people may not know is just how hard I know you've been working at this and when we talk about things like investments in athletics and
005some of the investments in facilities I remember when we put that field up the tur field you and your friends were out there every single day on that field practice no adults around just you guys just playing and playing playing I remember seeing you in the in the Armory you're probably in eighth grade playing with adults at the time with your older brothers playing and competing really working hard at your Craft um so we're we're extremely proud of you great job thank you good job [Applause] that's it that's it for students yeah congratulations uh again U Mr graph and Miss lauderback fantastic accomplishments um next item on the agenda we're we have a uh presentation by Mrs Espinosa on the sixth grade uh Student Success so good evening thank you for having us tonight um
006I'm going to let you know that when I decided that I was going to talk to you tonight about what we've done for sixth grade this school year I asked great team if they would want to join me and as you could say I can see I brought the entire Entourage with me um because they really are making this work happen every day in the classrooms and they are very excited to share about it along with me so I'm thrilled to have them here and let you listen to someone else talk besides me um especially because they are doing the hard work each day so uh a little bit of our backstory we've made some changes to sixth grade this year um we had the opportunity to bring a fifth grade teacher up into the
007team and that was Miss Hill and then we started thinking about what we would do with this kind of so supposed extra teacher would we make a double block of language arts a double block of math because in fifth grade they have a double block of language arts in seventh grade they have a double block of language arts and math and what could we do so what we came up with was a cross-curricular class where we would teach a little bit of math and a little bit of language arts and also um some Student Success skills and Liz has taken on that opportunity to be that teacher and it's been a wonderful course that she's going to share with you on the flip side of that we also had some other needs in the grade
008level we really needed um some more support for our struggling students and some targeted intervention so we figured out some ways to incorporate that uh we wanted to focus on the transition to middle school and some of the organizational skills the students need and we hear about them meeting all the time we also knew that there was a gap in our Spanish instruction especially more at the middle school level we thought about ways that we could incorporate that so tonight you're going to hear about how we put that all together into this schedule um what you see up here is kind of a sample schedule of what the students experience each day and we went from four periods to five um including that cross curricular class and then we also added an exploration win period
009so in the exploration win period students do receive Spanish along with some other Cycles but the win period allows us to provide a lot of different services to our students when they're not coming out of their regular academics so it's really been quite exciting and I'm now going to turn it over to Li to share with you about her course in cross curricular thank you hi thank you for having us so I am the lucky person who had opportunity to take on um this course this year so we just kind of broke it down there are some major units within the curriculum where we have an ongoing book study the book is called success skills for middle schoolers which I'll talk a little bit more about in a moment um there'll be an upcoming passion
010project and career project which the sixth grade has done previously but it's something that I'll be helping out with as well um and then key Concepts beyond the success skills are um math support skills support skills and again the habits of work and skills so in regards to the success skills we're using that Su success skills both for middle schoolers which we have on your table um as a book study it's not something that goes home with a student the book stays in school and we dive into one chapter at a time and some of the topics that you can see that we've already addressed so far through the chapters we've looked at study skills organizational skills time management effective communication and having a growth mindset um and these are theills that I think as
011Mrs esosa said we often assume kids just kind of have but we know that they actually need to be taught this with intention so this class gives us the opportunity to do that and then as you can see on this slide there's a poster so at the end of you have I try to do something meaningful that for theard time management to go home and hang up at home um and then addition to that at the end of each chapter I have them just do like their takeaways from that chapter what they want to from each of those chapters and their why so this is one students um wrap up that she shared with me and this is what she's trying to take away from each of the chapters that we've done so far okay
012and then the academic support please so in addition to sucess skills so any given day of any given week it may be a different um topic that we're covering so for example one day or two days I may skills and then the next day it could be a supplemental math lesson to support Alison's work with the sixth grade math classes um often what I try to do is more activity driven since she's doing the direct instruction um and something that Allison came up with which in my opinion is pretty awesome um the students do um spiral assignments every week and then after they do the spiral assignment they do something called an error annalysis so that's where um Alison was kind of looking at the mistakes kids were making and it looks it's mostly mistakes
013that are Precision mistakes where maybe they're just reading the directions wrong or they're not working carefully enough um computational mistakes which is just a mistake in solving an operation or conceptual errors which is where they're really just not understanding the concept and by looking at those um types of Errors they're seeing what they're doing wrong so that hopefully they can learn from those mistakes when they make their Corrections and then potentially not make them in the future and we also see the mistakes that we they're making so we can support um so that's some of the support that I do in the math area um also doing word studies in the F and panel program so for example today we did work with analogies while I was pulling kids to go over their Spiral Review
014um and the way that we make this work is we're just continually planning as a team so when anyone needs something for me to support them in that's how I know what I'm doing um that week and if if they're good and everything's going smoothly then I do the success so that is the course the cross curricular course that we just spoke about the next thing is that we have going on is the exploration enrichment cycle so there are five different courses that the students engage in um they go in cycle blocks for about four weeks at a time and they do the five courses we are just finishing up the fifth course and then they'll start the five courses again so that they're revisiting them throughout the year and it's not something where they
015have current events sometime in the year and then never again so they are revisiting it um they have current events with Mr Martinez movement with Mrs mfy puzzles and problems with Miss Hill Spanish with Miss Pena which the high school was kind enough to share her a bit with us and then St with Mrs Freedman so the course time is right after lunch so it's a really optimal time for our students because it gives them the opportunity to do something a little bit more fun in their day a little more relaxed before they get back into their heavy academic courses so we really are enjoying the timing of each course hi um so I teach the current events uh cycle course um so a lot of it and a lot of the skills that I
016focus on are things that were in the social studies curriculum that might have kind of gotten glossed over um in the times part that comes in the school year um so some of the topics that I've covered so far U being that it was a presidential election year we did spend some time talking about um elections we focused a lot on the Electoral College and how that um kind of works because that's something that a lot of students especially as they come into six trade is kind of boring to them um researching and debating about uh more current events are are some topics that students might consider more real life because learning about American history in 1770 seem so far away from them um so some topics that we've looked into this year um you
017know kind of focusing on the election topic is the voting age or should it be lowered um raised um Freedom versus security so you know the issue of should you you know give up some of your freedom to be more secure um social media and we've also debated the issue of keeping animals in zoos um and so as you might kind of gather some of those are are very student l i i at the beginning of each cycle I kind of give them this broad idea of okay we could have a debate or discussion about something that you guys want I get a whole bunch of posted with a bunch of scribbles on them um and I kind of you know kind of pick out what they kind of like um and it kind of
018you know as they do that they do research they have conversations um and it requires a lot of active listening and you know kind of listening to different perspectives um and you know kind of making their own opinion based on evidence as opposed to something that they might see um online um and the why is it kind of gives additional time to focus on these discussion um and listening skills um that were previously in the social s so I'm l m cery um I teach the movement cycle and um I do have a background in dance and in dance education so miss espanosa thought um that was sort of an unta resource for us to use for students but we call it movement because I don't want to make anybody nervous we have to dance
019say you were all worried um so um you know I went into it thinking it would be stretching and moving and then really quickly understood that the kids just did not know anything about their muscular skeletal system so um I gently stole the skeleton from the high school and um you know so we have been going over the muscular skeletal system and there's no test or quizzes this is really just a learning experience for them um but understanding how their bones move and how their muscles work and things like that for a lot of them it's very eye opening especially our athletes they're like oh so that's what happened when I you know did this or that um we do a little bit of yoga we do a lot of stretching we work with rhyth
020rhythm and balance um so you can see you know I tell the students to just do their best and have a little bit of fun and I am so impressed with them because they are doing all these stretches and balances and all these different great activities and they really um have just really embraced it so I really enjoy that about the course um I of like my favorite 35 minutes I'm stretching with them no it's okay um so I do ask the students what they're taking away from the course so just um some this is some student feedback that I got about the course um what did they like about it a lot of them never considered stretching part of um being an athlete or part of being healthy and some of them do walk
021away with him and you found interest in it um they enjoy the class L more than they expect to um so they they tend to leave feeling kind of energized that they got a little of their energy out so they tend to leave pretty good and I'm thoroughly enjoying so I'm gonna go to this one so Mrs Freeman who's not here with us tonight she teaches the stem cycle and the students have two major units fores in motion is one of unit that they're in and then their second major unit is energy and um from the time that I've been in the class they've been building uh miniature cars or Racers I'm sure some of the sixth graders in the room to describe it better than I am but then they are timing the amount
022of speed that it takes to go down the ramps they're doing a lot of different collaborative activities along with that and it's focused on a variety of different areas in terms of the energy um she's teaching them Newton's laws of physics so there's a lot going on in that course as well so my cycle is puzzles and problems and um the why behind this just to start with this is really to help kids experience productive struggle um and that sense of perseverance so the puzzles and are meant to be challenging um they're meant to have to persevere through them and often if a student is having a lot of success I'll say you know wow that's great now let's try something you haven't tried yet right and they'll see you know it can be frustrating
023but sometimes they'll finally figure out how to solve something and that feeling of success when they've stop with it um and they have their options of all the different types of puzzles that you see when we start the next cycle I'll bring some new um pieces into it but right now for this cycle these are the types of puzzles that they and lastly we have Spanish so I've been in the class for Spanish where the students have created their own skits and they're having some very simple conversations Spanish which is something um really great to see the students and we've also seen them say I can't speak any Spanish I can't do this and then within two or three weeks they're speaking Spanish with a classmate and having an actual conversation about their favorite color
024their favorite day of the week uh Miss Pena has also started teaching them about verbs cultural celebrations uh different emotions and objects among the classroom so it's really been a great introduction into Spanish for the students so the last part of the sixth grade day and what we've been able to accomplish is within this 35 minutes that Cycles are going on we've been able to provide some scheduled intervention student Support Services um and some enrichment so we have intervention and enrichment happening um every day for students along with for ELA and math we have Mr Gibbs doing jazz band at that time once a week um we have counseling happening at that time with our school social workers and school psychologists we have speech happening and we have Orton happening so any students that might
025be being pulled typically during the day are now being pulled during this time and so they might be missing a bit of cycle not every day um but they also are getting some of the support or intervention or enrichment that they need um right now I've did some calculations we have over 60 students that are receiving some type of win throughout the the week uh which has really been incredible for them to receive that and now I will have Miss Pritchard explain what's happening in her intervention hi I'm Megan I'm sixth grade teacher and I'm able to provide both the intervention and so for the intervention I try and kind of touch upon a lot of different topics so we' been provided with the L system which focuses on fiction and non-fiction pieces where students
026are able to study words make like practice reading comprehension skills and that's done both independently as well as in a small group so essentially like to even give you more like a a bigger look at it Mondays and Tuesdays are a certain group from BSI and then Wednesdays and Thursdays are another group and then the weekends on a Friday will be in Period so I'm able to kind of capitalize on the time um with two separate groups I also kind of kind of pigy back off Miss Hill as well with word study so that's reviewing root words and apix I'm also part of or ining program um through Emerson so I'm able to kind of transfer some of those skills um which I find really helpful and I use it pretty much on a weekly
027basis and then after some review miss m and myself have kind of revamped our enrichment as well so now we're working on current things like current things that we're teaching so that's MLA formatting racer responses which is like the ability to site evidence in your in your writing obviously topical material review and then P revision so that's like that 4 day a week for 30 minutes um and then on the flip side for intervention rather for enrichment it's been a joy because it really allows us to be like creative with what we're doing so right now we're doing a book study of Art and the spell which is a novel that I normally wouldn't be able to teach in the sixth grade um we're working also on non-fiction annotations which is tied to the culum
028at um high school and then we've been working a lot with the creative writing programs big hit um in the origin days and more recently we've been working on Joseph pamp's the hero's journey through arel andon so it really is like a great time for us to be able to pull pull things from the curriculum that perhaps we weren't able to pick before M will share with you about Ma I'm Alis M I'm ma teacher and I provide the enrichment and the intervention um for the intervention uh we focus on a few different things um that are basic skills such as number sense just basic fact fluency um operations the traditional algorithms for whole numbers is kind where we started we've moved more into fractions and decimals um and then on top of the basic
029skill intervention I do a lot of current curriculum support so just giving them some extra practice on the skills that we're currently learning in class um and then as Miss Hill described earlier with the error analysis that's something that I go into little bit more detail for the students in basic skills intervention um we look a little bit more in depth and take more time on their class assessments and especially the spiral assessments that are a mix of all the skills they've learned and PRI skills um and we kind of are able to look through those in more detail and give them more time on the skills that they specifically need that I wouldn't always have time to do in the full class setting so it's been nice to have a small group and as
030Mrs Richard said I have a separate Monday Tuesday group and a Wednesday I can tell my days Wednesday Thursday group um so it's nice that we get to more kids that way and the groups aren't too big um and then for the math enrichment that's been really fun that's something I've always kind of wanted to do and um it's challenging to find time to do that in the everyday when you know students are in need of the intervention fees um so for the math enrichment we meet every Friday and we usually open with some type of like number sense challenge um we do like estimation challenges and different things that like challenge their number sense and um typically I'll do some type of mini lesson we kind of extend what we're currently learning in the
031curriculum so like for example currently um we're starting to learn about the introduction of integers in sixth grade um the seventh grade scale is more operations with integers but we're starting to do a little bit of that in the enrichment cycle um which they really enjoy because they know they get to learn something a little bit extra and something that will benefit them going into seventh grade um and then lastly we do try to throw in some projects so right before Christmas break we did a little um project on the corn plane they come to learn that a little earlier that's something that everyone will learn but they learned it a little bit earlier and they created very tiny in the picture but they created a very large brinch um just based on plotting points
032in theate coloring it and they were so excited to kind of share that with the school and kind of just show everyone that they were learning something new and a little bit more challenging so essentially uh we have taken as much of our resources that we have had and try to creatively utilize them to really support our teachers and our students more individually and focus on their individual needs and also allow more time in the curriculum for both math and language arts to kind of receive that time a bit more equally and I have to just give a shout out to this amazing team because I came to them with this idea and not only did they embrace it but they ran with it and they have surpassed even the vision that I originally had
033so they are amazing I'm so lucky to have them and we are lucky in Emerson to have them as leading our sixth graders in their first experience of middle school as they prepare to come up to the high school so that's it thank you Mrs espo any uh questions from the the board no U just had a question about that when uh is the what I need is that is that uh like an on an as needed basis depending on what the child needs or where you feel like there might be Improvement or is it structur so for the most part it is scheduled and it's been kind of scheduled since the beginning of the year in terms of enrichment or intervention if we find that students are needing more support or need some of
034that challenge the teachers have been flexible to realize okay this group needs support in the current curriculum so I'm going to pull them at this time of the day um so there has been some flexibility there and then also if there's counseling that comes up that we could fit into that time spot then we do that but a lot of it was previously scheduled at one point Mr Gibbs was pulling like different groups and then I why don't you just do one whole group so that's when he started to incorporate jazz band at that time so it has evolved a bit but we have tried to keep it somewhat scheduled because those people that are doing the Cycles don't want to be chasing kids around um making sure that they are where they our so
035that's been a bit of the challenge that we Face great thank you well it sounds like an amazing program and it looks like you're doing an amazing job and sounds extremely engaging so thank you for for the work we appreciate it good job one more round of applause so with that I would like to move on to the uh agenda Mrs maror would you mind opening the meeting for public input and comments on the agenda items only I move to open the meeting to the public for input and comments on agenda items only second seconded by Mr grolik all in favor I I and just a uh a reminder to the uh folks here that uh this input and comments section is only for items that are on the agenda there will be a second
036opportunity for anybody who wants to discuss other items that are not on the agenda to to bring those up so we will get to that I just want to make sure everybody is aware okay I'll just come up I can't oh okay waiting with anticipation okay looks like no uh Pard I I couldn't hear you from the back is this said okay so I'll I'll try to speak up a little louder so what I was saying that right now we're going to have uh a session for input and comments on the items that are only on the agenda and then we'll have a second opportunity for anyone who wants to discuss other items with that Mrs bardi could you close the meeting for public input and comments I move to close the meeting the public
037input and comments second seconded by Mr grck all in favor I I board has had the opportunity to review the agenda items if there are no items that a board member wishes to discuss uh Mr grolik would you please uh adopt motion B yes I move to adopt all items on the above consent agenda with exception of items number 27 and 28 and request separate consideration for those items indicated seconded seconded by Mrs Mara roll call please Mr G hi Mrs Mara hi Mrs ricardi I Mr pdar I and Mr grck would you mind adopting uh motion C I move to adopt the following items numbered 27 and 28 requested for separate consideration second seconded by Mrs Mara roll call please Mr g i Mrs Mara I Mrs ricardi abstain Mr pdar I thank you
038we'll move on to committee reports I know our agenda has the new um committee assignments but I'd like to keep it as our old ones being that that's how we R so with that um Mrs May would you mind contining with your curriculum update um sure I will uh defer the update on the curriculum instruction and student achievement report to the next meeting um when the academic committee has the opportunity to convene which should be in the coming month um but I will say just briefly um if there are ever any questions about curriculum instruction or student achievement there's always access for the parents and community and stakeholders to um view the curriculum fully online on our website and to certainly reach out to uh Dr nissanoff as well as Mrs oerman with any specific
039pointed questions as to um the curriculum and uh as we just voted on the agenda item for the reconfiguration of our committees I want to express my deepest thanks to Mrs oerman for um the opportunity to serve on this academic committee with her uh starting from when I was serving with um professor tigan and then having the wonderful introduction of Mrs ricardi joining me for the past year two years of is certainly not enough to grasp what it is that the academic committee encompasses and every nook and cranny of curriculum and instruction um but my time on the this particular committee has been so eye openening it's been wonderful I've had such a a wonderful time really diving in and learning and having some very difficult conversations on this committee I have nothing but the
040utmost um optimism that Mrs ricardi is the chair is going to carry this committee forward in a very purposeful meaningful and engaging way with not only the administration but also with our community and I think that Mr Grow is going to be a very happy and um very educated uh addition to this Committee in the upcoming year so I'm looking forward to seeing how this committee shakes out for the coming year so thank you great thank you Mrs Mara uh for facilities buildings and grounds m Mr brck if you could make your final report as the chair sure uh thank you very much um I'm very much looking forward to continuing the work on uh the buildings facilities and grounds committee uh and I'm thrilled it's going to be uh chaired by Miss Mara um
041we've uh um had some great projects and exciting and it's just it's so great to see uh the community continue to grow and invest in our schools and a lot of great things on the horizon uh you forgive me Community I'm going to uh be that guy to read my notes off the phone um I had one printer page left at home and uh didn't make it on there so um uh for the community this evening for uh buildings and grounds uh update on the tennis court project right now we're waiting for the temperatures to thaw out uh the contracts contractor is going to return in the spring and at that time we're going to pour the acrylic surface coating and complete the remaining uh list of items so spring to come waiting for temperatures
042to rise uh the turf field project uh uh Mr Mur met with the district's architect last week uh they reviewed uh final design drawings uh the immediate timeline and that project is going out to public bid next month in February um with regards to uh HVAC uh projects here in this building on tonight's agenda earlier the board voted to approve two HVAC projects at the high school the first project completes uh work for two classrooms that will be funded with remaining referendum funds the second project will address the high school gymnasium uh and the adjacent classrooms uh that project will be funded with capital reserve funds uh and those projects are all uh dependent on how the bids come in compared to our cost esates so cost estimates so something we're looking forward to uh
043and that concludes my concludes my report for you great thank you Mr grck I'll go ahead and make the uh report for budget and negotiations uh the most important thing we have right now is our negotiation with our amazing teachers that's ongoing we had a meeting last week made some good progress and we'll continue having another meeting a couple other meetings to finalize that but uh things are going well in that front and uh I know the staff is working on the budget as well so that will be coming forth as well uh moving on to individual board member reports Mrs Mara sure thank you um first and foremost I don't know if they're still here but I wanted to congratulate both Avery and Michael on their achievements and I wanted to also congratulate their
044families for their tireless support of our student athletes in the district thank you to Mrs Espinosa and the sixth grade team um this is one of those projects that came uh to the academic committee while I had the opportunity to be on the academic committee and I was thrilled I was thrilled with um everything from the integ and thoughtful use of the time to really address sixth graders on a holistic level every single sixth grader is here like no man or woman Child Left Behind um everybody is being addressed and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what the seventh grade teachers think for this incoming class that's going to be elevating to Middle School um there was a slide up there about time management and I took a little note that if one of these
045books goes missing I have it I'm going to review it um the first one is sometimes it's okay to say no I think we all should be reminded of that and also one of the time slots is actually right at my lunch hour so I'll just zoom in and I'll just there you go be a part of it so but thank you truly I don't want to minimize um anything that you all are doing to make this program a success and I think it's going to be very instrumental setting up our sixth graders for success in the years to come um from the Bergen County level there is a Bergen County School Board association meeting this Thursday that I will be attending and I'm sure Mr Pasdar will be as well it'll be on Zoom
046so I will report back um at the February meeting on on that uh thank you again to our finance committee for all of their continued efforts during this negotiation time I know that this is their busy season so it's um truly appreciated and lastly I just wish that all of you out here sitting close together we all stay healthy um there's so much going around right now and I know the staff they're all trying to accompl absences and everything like that but I really do wish that our community stays healthy and safe during this time period so thank you great thank you Mrs Mara Mrs ricardi switching it up tonight like to mix it up a little you are uh very much so echoing everything that Mrs Mara just said congratulations to both Avery and
047Michael on their tremendous achievements thus far they have so much to be proud of and looking forward to see what comes from them and their futures thank you very much to Mrs Espinosa and the sixth grade team I sat with Mrs Mara at the curriculum committee when this was first introduced to us and it was such a an eye opening and and breath of fresh air uh concept and it's wonderful to see how it's been implemented and how it continues to transpire I think it's really wonderful how you've all been pivoting with any challenge that comes your way and how you're also collaborating together to make sure that it really is the most impactful uh lessons that your students can be learning so thank you for all of your hard work and your continuous desire
048to make the educational experience the best that it possibly can be for the students of Emerson uh and finally I'm going to say Mrs Mar it's been wonderful working with you on the curriculum committee and I will certainly miss having you at those meetings but I'm very much looking forward to working alongside Mr Grow and hearing some of his expertise uh and just collaborating together so thank you everybody and that concludes my report great thank you Mr M ricardi Mr grolik thank you uh good evening Emerson uh congratulations again to Michael and Avery uh pretty amazing athletic honors there um always making us proud uh thank you again to Mosa and the sixth grade team thank you for being out late tonight appreciate that um I think it's really amazing and I applaud you all
049for your willingness to say no the status quo is not good enough let's let's shake it up let's take a look let's use data um and so that's really uh that's really cool and um it sounds like a uh it's great to hear that you're supported um by each other and your Administration it's pretty neat um big Kudos on this program with regards to identifying and addressing needs for targeted uh targeted intervention academic support um I'm really looking forward to see how that kind of pans out and how we can uh debrief at the end of the year and take a look at all that and um I'm just really thrilled uh as M Mar Miss Mar stated with regards to this emphasis on the skills um um I'm very optimistic those types of things
050um are going to translate really well um as students uh come here to this building it's a Junior Senior High and um I'm also looking forward to see uh how those students are going to be doing next year too and I'm I'm confident they're going to be better for it so thank you all very much um winter sports extracurriculars and full gear I know there's a lot of senior nights coming up so congratulation in advance to all our senior athletes and uh stuff we've already heard but uh very excited to Jo the curriculum committee with Miss ricardi uh and continued to look forward and collaborate and work with Miss Mar on the buildings grounds committee um that's it thank you very much great thank you Mr groy uh board president report uh I won't belabor
051this but again thank you to uh all of our sixth grade teachers and Mrs Espinosa Mr Grow kind of took stole my thunder but it's nice to see that you're not sitting back and just letting status quo uh take course so we appreciate the initiative and your passion for doing what you do so thank you for that um congratulations to Mr graph and Miss lauderbach uh I know that my son played with Mr graph many years ago and uh so I could relate to and I and I watched this young man grow up and and how he conducts himself and in his achievement so uh congratulations to him and to Avery really just amazing the a one gal team there so um just amazing accomplishment congratulations to both of them um I want to thank
052Mrs Mara for her work on the curriculum committee uh and I'm looking forward to your work on the as chair of the buildings and grounds thank you uh I I appreciate Mr grolik uh pulling uh double duty on two committees and looking forward to your work on that and thank you to Mrs ricardi and looking forward to working with you as the chair of the curriculum committee so got good things ahead so thank you all for that um Mrs Mara mentioned that the county meeting is on January 30th I will be there in person and we will report as Miss Mar always does and my New Jersey School Board Association at the state level is on January 31st and I will report anything that is relevant to to the district at our next meeting uh
053that concludes my report and with that we will go to miss Taya who's been patiently waiting and and uh we uh we look forward to your report so may may to Maya um good evening so first I want to say congrats to Mikey and Avery I was lucky enough you know to grow up with them and really know them they're both very humble and very um outgoing I got to work with Mikey with Key Club and Avery we both share similar interests within the medical field so I get to talk to them once in a while at school so congrats to them um something that's going on in our school uh quarterly just finished up so that means uh the second marking period ended and uh the second semester just started so the stress is
054slowly going away with that with the students especially for seniors oh yeah but yeah everyone's starting fresh uh third markeing period so some of the clubs uh like Cavo cancer Crushers they collected uh puzzles and games and they dropped it off at the hackin sack hospital and they delivered it around the holiday season so that was a big thing that was going on and then also um student council had their last hot chocolate sales last Friday since um we couldn't do it this Friday but uh those sales went pretty well so upcoming now for February we have a cordination sales so we're looking forward to that and then um um within the wellness center uh there was some students that were rock painting to decorate the wellness center and also we had some students write
055letters towards teachers and um uh in Key Club we also did some coloring pages to display in the wellness center so it's like nicely decorated for students can feel you know comfortable there um Key Club also recently went to midnight run everything was really successful all the donations were greatly appreciated uh with the toiletries the foods from different stores and of course the clothes and the shoes and uh that's that's that's my report yeah great thank you very much well done thank you and we'll move on to Dr Nissen off with the superintendent's report sure I usually I uh embarrass Diana with something or another but um I won't do that today let's for for for many people that are here may not know uh what the midnight run is actually is so why don't
056you describe what the midnight run is so basically we collect donations it's all uh very we don't really do fundraisers we more rely on the donations that we get so we leave boxes in the main lobby people can donate clothes shoes it could all be used um toiletries obviously those have to be new um and um we get those we put them in in the box and we collect them and we sort them out women's clothes um men's clothes men's like shirts hats all of that and we bring those bags into the like the school bus we also uh make sandwiches it's 150 meals and those like goodie bags we have sandwiches um like fruits like bananas oranges and cookies so we put those in the bag and water bottles we put those in the
057bag we bring those too we also bring toiletries like I said before um and we pick 10 people from the Key Club um club like the members in the club and the board goes so like the Key Club board goes we pack up the bus we leave around 9:00 p.m. we go into different stops in Manhattan which is pretty cool at night you know you get to see all the lights and we do those different stops we give stuff to the homeless people in those stops there's five different stops we we lucky enough to reach all five usually we only go to three because of time and um we try to get rid of everything as much as we can and this year we were successful and we got rid of everything which is great
058and regarding it was really cold that night it was it was almost in the negatives but it was good we got home around 1:00 a.m. 2 a.m. around then and yeah everyone had a good time so yeah it's great how many times a year we go twice twice a year twice a year so the next one is in March okay great job okay um I've got a I I have a few things to talk about uh this evening but the first thing I'd like to do if we could we should have did this at the beginning of the meeting but we'll do it now um if we could just take a quick moment of silence for uh Mr Robert MTO who passed uh this past week thank you I just want to you know um
059just take this opportunity um for for those who didn't know Mr MTO was a longtime administrator here at Emerson High School uh he was a former teacher coach um just a wonderful man former mayor of Emerson as well uh myself personally when I started here as you know a young 20-some Young Turk administrator and Mr MTO was the experienced season administrator and while I was fumbling around making mistakes left and right he was always there giving me good counil guiding me he was always a a a good friend to me and uh I'm forever grateful for his friendship and uh I will certainly I will certainly miss him um couple of things before I get just uh get into into my report uh a lot of praise for our sixth grade team I can tell
060you that I've seen them in action they are absolutely phenomenal the plan that you saw is a result of extreme uh planning over a long period of time under Mrs Espinosa's guidance uh that show that you saw is actually on the road uh other schools are interested in the model that they put together they presented at the county level the program that we've that we've put in place so it's something that we're very very proud of um we're very proud of our sixth grade team who is also representative of our entire faculty uh here in Emerson so thank you thank you for that um I'm not repeating things that were said uh this week we'll be registering uh uh registration for pre kindergarten and kindergarten we have some of our kindergarten teach here I mention
061it publicly because we want to keep them uh in business so uh we're we're excited to see what our uh enrollments are going to be for uh for for next year so I have two uh I have two uh annual reports uh to give to the board today the first one is on a strategic Plan update uh try and talk quickly and uh go go through some of the this is a plan that put in place three years ago it's sort of been our guide in our district for our goals each and every year and it really is a great exercise for the administrative team to review that plan to make sure that we're on Target and we really have been we've been hitting uh many of the points few things that we're still working
062on um but we're we're moving along the plan really really well this plan goes through 2026 so next year it will be time to uh to begin updating I'll start with uh School Community member personal growth and development uh our teacher professional learning groups meet regularly with teacher leadership uh this year we uh added academic coordinators um uh to uh uh various grade levels um we supported a second cohort of teachers that went through the Orton uh Gilham program partnership with fdu we have a few of our teachers here who have actually in through that program uh our student advisory groups are meeting uh weekly at the high school and one of the new things uh on the list is memorial is planning a parent seal night for later this year on uh diversity equity
063and inclusion uh this year we instituted a new family liaison position providing connection and uh translation support to our Spanish-speaking families here in Emerson uh we have uh additionally we have ESL certified uh staff working at each of the building uh and they are working to support some of our um newcomers who are here uh to the country and to our schools uh previously we only had one ESL teacher we now have three uh certified ESL teachers in the district um we have many uh Multicultural topics included uh in the uh Emerson Junior Senior High School advisory and in the volano family time as an example of one of the activities that uh occurred this year uh under uh Miss Espinosa's leadership was the Ruby Bridges walk at Bano School uh alignment of academic expectations
064and 21st century skills uh We've updated the memorial report card Ela section and Rubik's align with volano and our K12 proficiencies um and we're working on math for next year here um previously presented to the board with some of our work with the Otis uh software at volano allowing for grade level conversations around important skills uh there's uh conversations around classroom data collection and support the work of our IRS irns committees and our mostly new uh child study team tiered Sports work continuing in all buildings uh an example uh in tonight's presentation uh about the sixth grade interventions as an example of uh the work we're doing in that area and uh at the uh High School teachers collecting uh habits of work data to sports students and focusing on uh formative assessments and important
065proficiencies within their units Community participation and citizenship for democracy uh Emerson High School uh uh uh training and expanding in-house internship coord coordinators to uh broaden options for senior students one of the staff members who's actually doing that work is actually here uh present in in the uh in the meeting so we're really excited about that um we have a grant proposal submitted for uh an AI course considering uh we're also considering other stem electives and and Staffing I don't miss oerman here yeah I don't think we got the grant uh I think the the the word came out but great work on that any um we uh participated in a county program that trained a cohort of uh high school students become pole workers this was extremely successful you may have read about it
066on the paper um we had probably over 20 were you one of them I was not oh okay um we probably had about 20 Emerson high school students that were trained last year they uh they started with the primaries last year they participated in the general election this year um they were so much appreciated by the county by the buau um uh Bruce and I went and spoke to the seniors and they commented uh about how great it was to see young people participating in the in the uh electoral process so we're going to continue that um we've talked about in previous meetings our successful AP government course uh a component of that course is a we Service Learning component that allows students to apply what they've learned in the classroom to the real world
067setting uh our after school uh clubs are uh extremely active and we're signing up now for year two at Memorial School and family program lined up to uh some of our PTA meetings in the spring of last year and we're considering additional options for 2025 District Operations and infrastructure um one of the things that we've looked at is the we talked about was the uh otus software for collecting efficiency information and other student data uh at volano and uh we're working with our vendor and we're working with our teachers to make sure that that's uh the right fit to continue that work still in the works not yet accomplished uh according to the plan uh timeline and these are just a few of the things um an Emerson educational fund uh that was a goal
068of the plan we've uh yet to make progress in that regard um and additional internal paperless workflows to be explored for forms and vouchers and the paperwork and that was a that that's been a goal that we're um that we're still working on and lastly of course um you dating a plan is you know we we we we said about this plan a few years ago and you know the idea of a 5-year plan what can change well AI threw us a curveball so not in the plan is uh artificial intelligence and its implications in the classroom and the professional development around that that's required and so that is going to take a little uh emphasis away from some of the things that we were currently working on so that was just a strategic Plan
069update an annual plan the last thing uh I need to do which is twice a year report on um our uh student safety and data system and it's where we report publicly uh those items which are reported to the state um with regards to student uh data we do that twice a year this report is from July 1 through December and um next uh summer I'll do a second one for the next six months so um I basically have will report on all three schools I'll start with the high school the high school there are six items to report two of which are uh two fights uh one occurred after school one occurred in the uh uh foyer uh outside of the auditorium um there were four other uh items of misconduct um one involved
070uh a student using social media uh to um um harass other students um another involved the student who decided to pull out a lighter and light a piece of paper on fire um another was one student who was disrespectful to a staff member and um the last one involves students um using a phone call to make uh using a phone to make prank calls during the school day uh uh to a member of the community and all six of those items resulted in removals of students from school that was at the high school uh at volano there was one um Hib uh confirmation or confirmed and that involved the group of four students again um using social media to make videos and distribute um uh uh harassing media to to two students and lastly rarely
071do we have a report from aoral school but we do we have one that did involve uh the removal of a student um and uh that was with regards to fighting with another student uh the removal was not the result of one incident but more the result of multiple incidences so that's the ssds report you with that conclude my reports great thank you very much Dr Nissen off and so now business administ oh I'm sorry I moved on just gone down there yeah I apologize thank you Mrs Mara no problem uh Mr mamora business administrator's report no report oh great trying to give thank you Mr mamora and with that um Mrs ricardi would you mind open the meeting to the public for input and comments yes I move to open the meeting to public
072our input and comments second seconded by Mrs Mara all in favor I I so uh this is the portion where anybody who wants to discuss uh not discuss anyone who has input or a comment on a topic you can step up to the podium allow me to just give some of the ground rules if you will um when you step up please slowly and clearly state your name and address and also um I don't think the time is an issue typically is a three minute time but you know if that comes up we'll address it and with that anybody who wants to uh make a comment please step up evening everybody hi um um before I I speak uh I would just like I'm speaking with regards to the uh Park Bridge potential High School
073merger for so before you start could you state your name and address please uh my name is Tomia I live in 25 midan Avenue in erson um I just want I'm I'm bringing one of my athletes up one of my Recreation athletes uh to speak on behalf of the player side uh of the children's side his name is Lucas Benfield he's a uh sixth grader at and he Place defensive tackle and Center for Parker Jefferson he's got a little speechy good evening members of the Board of Education my name is Lucas Benfield and I'm here to speak on behalf of my teammates and myself tonight as a player that has been in PR tackle program since second grade I'm here to share why it is so important for us to continue playing alongside Park rdge
074and to ask for your support in making this possible our team is more than just a group of players who practice and compete together over the years we have built a bond that feels like family we have grown up side by side facing challenges both on and off the field and have formed relationships with our coaches in our community that are irreplaceable every practice every game and every moment we've spent together has been about more than football it's been about learning to trust each other supporting one another through tough times and building a sense of pride in representing Emerson and Park Ridge our team is not just a collection of individuals it is a United group that thrives because of the connection we share our coaches um know us as players and as people they
075have taught us not only the skills we need to succeed on the field but also the values we carry with us off of it such as hard work loyalty and perseverance most of them have invested years into helping us grow and we have worked hard to build the kind of team culture that makes us stronger together when considering the next 5 years please reflect on the unique Bond Emerson and Park rdge have formed and the progress we have made as a team starting over with a new group would mean losing this trust chemistry and Rhythm we' worked so hard to create it's not just about winning games it's about being some part of something bigger than us something we've built together for many years and want to continue to build we believe there's value in
076honoring the relationships commitments and growth that already exist within our team fighting for us to remain with Park rdge would enable us to keep growing improving and representing our representing our community with pride as we have done all of these years on behalf of my teammates and myself I ask for your support in letting us continue to play alongside Park Bridge thank you for listening and for your dedication to student athletes like us with this luck following that right yeah that was great um I think that just kind of exemplifies everything that we're talking about when we discuss this matter so um again I don't know if I can follow that but I'm going to do my best uh my name is Tom I'm a resident of the burough of Emerson and a father of
077two students in the district um I came I come here representing the parkbridge and Emerson Co-op recreation football program as a coach and with the full support of the P the parkbridge athletic association to speak on their behalf first as as one of many devoted people in this town who donates their own time as a coach in our rep programs I appreciate anybody such as yourself who serves to volteer the public in this capacity especially such as positions as yours that can be scrutinized in a public manner like the board of education so thank you for your for your time and efforts I'm here before you all you tonight purely to convey information uh and the sentiments of stakeholders in our Emerson Community as well as the parkbridge community those of you here who know
078me know my background in education Youth and High School athletics as well as my standing in multiple communities around the area the people in our town and the Sur the people in our town and surrounding ones can surely testify about who I am I believe in a level-headed and fair approach to sports and activities and always do what's best for the children and will Ser well will serve regardless of a competitive outcome winning in competition is important and it's more more fun than the alternative but it's it should not be our primary objective as we all know our for our community and our High School athletics our primary objective should be to create a safe and developmentally positive environment for each of our athletes and our participants to perform while growing their understanding of whatever
079it is they are tasked with along with that primary objective and and something in my 21 years of experience that I have noticed as a high school football coach I found the undeniable truth to be that the overall Community involvement is Paramount for overall success bettering the environment for the kids leads to far more positive experiences for all parties is involved our two towns are united as one program from the time they were in kindergarten and up until 8th grade and in my experience that relationship has been simply amazing I'm not here to talk about things that most of us all already know I'm here to address issues that led to our merger not being approved two years ago by the state of New Jersey how and what we should do moving forward with this
080potential merger is something that will require open continuous and prolonged lines of communication that's why I'm here tonight to set this off but before we go to that direction I'd like to discuss our current merger with Cresco Cresco before we go any further allow me to say that all all about all the experiences related to the creskill co-op it's made been made very clear to me from everything that I've heard from the kids the coaches and the parents involved in the creskill co-op with Emerson that the experiences have been nothing but positive fair and enjoyable experience for all cesco welcomed our kids in the in in and theirs and there's nothing negative to be said in any direction about what has happened over there the last two years it's simply time for us as a
081community to follow through at the high school level with a journey our kids start from the time they are in kindergarten that spans all the way up through 8th grade a journey might a journey might I add that almost every other football player in buron county is offered this is no this is no no way shape or form an indictment on the experience that anybody has had at creskill for these past two years they've been an awesome host for our football program and our football program itself has benefited by sharing these last two seasons like I said earlier things have to change things have changed and it's time for us to for our kids to have the opportunity to finish out their journey in a high school sense the way everybody else in Bon County
082do the proposal would be this we not we notify crcll for our intent to propose the Park Ridge merge and with Emerson for the 2026 season as soon as possible so we might we might give them time to research other options for their 2026 season themselves it would be out of place for me to mention any other communities by name up here but with good reason and after many conversations with people who who often times are tasked with making decisions such like just like this I believe there are options for a different merger for them to be explored elsewhere like I said earlier my time up here is meant to to open a line talk so that more options can be explored the exploration of them however can only come from our end if our
083Board of Ed approved the attempts to go through with this process once again I have numbers from communities that aren't mind to share in a public form such as this but if we start the conversation they can all eventually become public knowledge properly I've been in contact with our athletic director Gus pudus multiple times sometimes two or three times a day and for the better part of the last month and he has been great to me for about all all this we all want this to happen keeps is what we all say to each other but how can we do it without leaving Crill high and dry has been a huge Factor the fact that we can discuss this again is is a starting point to get back to work so that Gus our district
084and potentially cres kill and Park Ridge can can follow through with their end as well reasons for our mer our merger I'm sorry reasons that our merger was put down at the state level two years ago but stands a good chance a much better chance this year this time so the previous attempts at the merger uh have fallen short for a variety of reasons I'm lucky enough to have access to the facts of the matter concerning the numbers of entering the of the entering grade levels into the program for the immediate future as well as the numbers that we carry in the lower levels of the program for younger grades in our eighth grade uh just from the Emerson side we have six football players in our in our seventh grade we have eight okay
085so seventh and eighth grade team Park Bridge had seven as well had seven athletes in the eighth grade they only had two seventh graders not a lot of kids um sixth grade we had a high number for our Emerson side we had 11 kids in Emerson which comparatively speaking to towns around the area is not very high but for us it was a large number at for Park Ridge they only have five this is where it gets kind of in fifth grade Emerson only had five in fifth grade Park Bridge only had three in fourth grade zero for Emerson um in fourth grade for Park rdge they had a high number they had 12 so they were we were able to to offset that a little bit uh again High number relative to what we
086currently work with in third grade for Emerson my son was the only boy that played football um in fact he was the only boy on the pee football team this year not one other child for Emerson played on his football team um um and for the park ride we only have five third graders so next year we're only going to have six if we're lucky fourth graders on that pee football team a special note must be given so the conversations about the 2026 season are kind of what we're what I'm kind of focusing on and what Gus has kind of steered me towards and what I believe is is a positive option and a positive effort to to go down um our senior class for the 2026 season for Emerson just from the emers side
087Emerson side would only have four players and at the time of our last merger effort there were zero kids so we're working the the Emerson side has four players as sophomores right now who would be seniors in 2026 none of whom were playing football prior to their freshman year the facts are pretty simple that the sport itself is is declining as a whole in some communities and to sustain a safe and positive playing environment you need numbers the rec level we are able to seamlessly merge our programs and now after many years of successful of a successful merg that hasn't yielded championships but has delivered an amazing football culture for these kids it's time to make the entire football Community for to time to make the entire football Community K through 12 for the sake
088of saving the sport in both towns this must happen why is now such a better time than it was three years ago all right so just getting into the facts at the time of the last effort to merge Park rdge was coming off a great greatly successful run with multiple state tournament appearances which clearly swaye Sentiments of the voting members of the State against adding more students to their already seemingly successful program successful in wins and losses their numbers however were vastly down my conversations with people in the state whose names I am not comfortable sharing in this public forum I now believe we stand a significantly better chance of receiving approval for this merger now two years ago at at a conference level in in the NJ I'm sorry now two years ago in
089the njic at a conference level there was a 2third vote required for by the conference for the movement in the co-op set it's still required for the board for the for the league but as I was informed from the state we can supersede that as most of you probably know from the last time we did that by by taking it up to the State Board itself as it stands right now there's a com there is is conference approval required for state to approve sorry there is conference approval required for the state to approve a co-op between uh Emerson and park Bridge no kind sorry no new there is no conference approval required for a state to approve or any other Co-op for that matter the co-op commission does not need the conference to approve okay
090um and even so looking at it purely per from a conference perspective let's just think objectively here those people voting all have a vested interest in keeping two programs like Emerson and parkd now their vote to disallow a co-op would hardly be made in the best interest of either down the students of each high school or the sport of high school football in the area itself as as a long time Westway football coach I can tell you you don't want other people to get better while you're doing what you're doing I can just tell you that straight up because then it just makes your job harder now all that being said we still have to be part of that conference though and regardless of how the state views it we will have to deal with
091our partners in the ngic at some capacity especially concerning division alignment should this ever go through it's been an overwhelming suggestion of our ad Gus pudus that we keep the conference aware and I agree wholeheartedly transparency with this will be key the N with the ngic will be key as we move forward with this initiative it's a sign of good faith and respect for our peers and colleagues alike now looking at it from other lens why is this so much better than it was three years ago Mr ome I'm sorry to interrupt you I want to be respectful of time limits and I'm not saying you should stop I just want to give anybody else I apologize if everyone's okay with it we can continue if there's somebody else who wants to make a comment
092we can go come back to so I'll just pause here for a second if anybody wants to step up now and then we can come back any questions from the board I please feel free I don't have any right now so so if that's okay with everyone else please continue all right I apologize good the lengthiness I apologize um so from another lens of Spectrum right um having coached in a smaller School environment a group two environment which we would eventually become should the merger ever go through I've dealt with the loss of a lot of athletes in a parochial sense all right inevitably there will be some kids that go to parochial schools for a variety of reasons and that's okay those places serve a purpose for many kids and do right by them
093but to witness the DraStic numbers in which two very small towns like Emerson and park Bridge are both losing student athletes to those institutions is quite alarming certain children who wish to multiple Sports at a high level are not really given that opportunity here at Emerson or even at Park Ridge for that for particular Sports and no way am I referencing this situation as a personal slate towards any coach or program it's simply a fact that I have this I many people have the opinion of this uh in both communities and sorry and people who I've come in contact over the years and it will continue to be a problem moving forward if we can't do something soon often times the athletes that go to F field schools are only able to perform in a
094particular sport due to their high level of competition at those places one one sport year round and that completely changes the multisport athlete which is a desired goal of many athletic uh departments that's not growing Sports at the high school level eliminating multisport athletes is hardly something we should do should be striving to do at this time of social change in an adolescent world as far as the competitive balance is concerned as it relates to what we could be should we ever combin or whatever playing our schedule at the recreation level as we do there are fair comparisons to be drawn from the sizes of the towns that we play that correlate to the sizes of high schools we might be compared to in the area should the opportunity merge come about our PR seniors
095our Park rdge Emerson seniors which is the seventh and eighth grade level had a record of 52 and one last year which is which is fine a fine level to compete at but hardly a dominant performance they lost in the first round of the playoffs with roughly 250 to 270 I might have those numbers off I keep getting different answers from different people uh in both schools um in Emerson and similarly in park Rich high schools that would leave us with the low 500s R rank for State groups which would make us a pretty small group two school to draw a comparison that would be similar to a program like Walworth Midland Park who's been a relatively successful group two school at the football uh level for about 10 or 15 years just putting all
096the cards on my table here and saying about as far as it relates to wrestling because speaking with Gus he helped me a lot um as far as this is concerned and I feel the ultimate support of many people I just wanted to put this out in the public forum um to say that the success of the wrestling program which has merged for over 30 years doesn't get factored in when looking at it from people from an outsider's point of view would not be fair at the time of the merger in the Amerson and parkbridge wrestling programs both programs had great Traditions but their numbers were quite low however the comparison between the potential outcomes for a merger between two football programs as opposed to a wrestling program is simply not applicable here the sport
097of football requires numbers and at a group two level which we would be you must have a minimum of 25 to 30 capable athletes on a VAR City roster to even come close to performing at such a high level as our wrestling program has for the last 30 years so I kind of have to address that but I just view that that that will be addressed at the state or at the league meeting so just quickly to close out and I appreciate everybody's time and patience um let me just say that I'm aware that everybody in this room here is probably most likely in favor of the mger some of us here are better understanding what it takes to get this accomplished but everybody's heart's in the right place tonight's purely meant as a display
098from both communities and there are members from both communities parkbridge and Emerson here uh taking time out of their lives to do this uh I also have many interactions with the Park rdge Board of Education uh this will eventually hopefully have to go to their Bard ofed for for an approval at some point um today it's clearly meant that to display from as a display for both communities to show Emerson B ofed uh to show the Emerson B ofed and the administration that we all want this our athletic director and you Dr Nadol have been nothing but short of fantastic with how they treated me in gaining all the facts before I came up here and trust me when I say they both want nothing more than to have this go through but like I
099said earlier the in Scholastic Endeavors you cannot just worry about one side of the coin you have to think of your decision affects others and all of the students and all of the athletes I hope this time spent up here helps lead to a positive effort toward helping all three communities find a safe and positive football environment for their athletes moving forward lastly I just want to make it very clear and I don't think anybody else has any other thoughts in their head our intentions for the merger of the pr football program the erson park Bridge football Community are in no way rooted in some misguided sense of gaining competitive leg competitive leg up on anybody our intentions as a football Community for our children are based in just that giving our children a true
100football Community thank you I I hope to I hope to through back channels or or whatever the proper Avenues would be moving forward throughout the course of the next month have this put on the agenda for next month and if it's I don't understand if it would be required for a vote or what not how we go about it but Gus and I are will contact and I feel the support of the administration uh up to this point so thank you I do have a just a point of clarification uh you mentioned that your objective with this is you mentioned the 2026 season correct yes could you just for clarity do you are you referring to a September 26th football 26 football season yeah um there are in conversations with many football parents who are
101currently part of the co-op uh with Emerson and creskill they're having a great positive experience so it would be it the time would be really probably not sufficient to have the leagues you know cater to what we have have offered here or try are attempting to offer up um it seems a little bit more feasible to put a year and a half on it for for all parties involved um and like I said I it wouldn't be prop for to speak about any other places in a public form like this but there are other avenues we can pursue should Crill uh continue to need a co-op rep so yeah okay thank you thank you let me let me I I just want to say first of all um you almost were able to attain Mr
102uh benfield's Speech so I want to to to to Lucas I just want to say thank you for coming here I I commend you on the courage to get up and speak and and uh let us know your thoughts and on behalf of your team so well done and I just wanted to thank you for that absolutely again not to make it a discussion just just as a response um uh thank you for for your passion and and your ideas we I don't think anyone here would disagree with why something like that would make sense um it makes sense we've seen the success on on the other programs as well so uh it is something that the board and the district looks at constantly right H evaluating it what's best for our student athletes what's
103best for the program and not just as you said for just Emerson but anybody who we're in a relationship with so um I don't I just want to conve that that's not lost on us we've obviously visited this in the past you you you have more facts than I have readily available to me can think of right now so uh again uh I'll I'll go out on a limb and speak on behalf of the board that I don't think anybody would disagree with why something like that would make sense and as you mentioned there's there's a lot of complications and things like that that would happen uh but I think your objective is really get the conversation started and I think on on that note uh you know message received and you know we we
104we constantly evaluate that and we'll we'll be in uh we'll make those decisions when when the time comes so thank you hi everybody um Marcy B 57 Washington most of you know Dominic my little boy and I use the term very loely as a rooc this year he also became a right tackle and a nose car who would have thought he enjoyed playing with his friends who members of the park rdge and although this was his first year playing football with Parkridge is was playing lacrosse with some of these boys in s grade those programs have converged forever and for a long time he was the only Emerson boy on the on the crust team by second grade goalie cuz why not um he was he's also in Boy Scouts or was in Boy Scouts
105with the boys from park rdge because Emerson no longer has their own Boy Scout program so that's another area where these boys are connected other than on the football field the coaches and the park Bridge families have been just wonderful when we all get together it's it's a blast like I know nothing about football well I've learned this year but before this year I never watched a game but it's fun and they all get so revved up and so excited and such great camaraderie and teamwork and it's just awesome that's all thank you anyone else for inut our comments okay with that Mr grck could you close this out with the for the public inputting comments I move to close the meeting to the public for inputting comments second seconded by Mrs Mara all in
106favor I I and Mrs ricardi could you uh close us out with motion B please yes I move to close the meeting to the public and adjourn at 9:01 p.m. to discuss an executive session legal issues in the conference room of the Board of Education offices no action will be taken at this time the board will return to open session upon completion of discussion and may or may not take action at that time the next meeting of the board of education is scheduled for February 24th 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school media center seconded seconded by Mr grolik all in favor I I thank you very much everyone appreciate you coming out thank you oh he's so good oh he's so great that was so fun good job well done well done thanks
107oh no