001in compliance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 entitled open public meeting act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as as specified in the ACT proper notice of this public meeting was provided in the notice said notice was posted at the entrance of the Board of Education offices mail to the Nutley son The Star Ledger the north Jersy North Jersey Harold News and the Nutley Journal mail to the Nutley Township Clark advertising not sun and Star Ledger posted on a district website this is an official meeting we have the flag Sal please Allegiance the of the United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Mr Mr here Mr car here Mar here mrr Mr K here m Russo here Mr scolo
002here M shman here Mr kazinski here is there any corespondence none this evening okay um we are I'm sorry approval of the minutes I need second okaya second all in favor thank you um our auditor is supposed to be here tonight she is doing another audit in Pake so she is on her way uh in the meantime we're going to go into the auditorium do the sports presentation then come back into our regular meeting um everyone's okay with that okay all right let's go into the auditor thankk you for coming uh happy holidays everybody thanks for coming out such a c light this a great evening as always we honor our athletes who achieved all conference all League status in fall and as you can see we have very few honor it was a great
003call for us as always um and we never measure our successes in the wins and the loss to we measure our successes by what our athletes achieve both on the field and off the field and I could never be more proud of a group of student athletes for their community service hours of which they put in hundreds for the way they conduct themselves in the building throughout our school community and within our within the town of Nutley it's Exemplar the things that they do on the field in their programs with their teammates and our good teammates is what our our department and the Raider Nation is all about I want to commend them for a great call take this opportunity to thank the parents for your commitment to your your sons and daughters your commitment
004to our program your commitment to our community you are just as much an important part if not the more important part of the Raider Nation cuz you're are the people that wash the uniforms have the hot meal on the table when they come home for practice shoulder to cry on maybe a little tough love help organizing countless breakfast dinners pregame movies all the events that help build that that thing that we love to call the Raider Nation so again I bring up our All Conference athlete we also do have three teams that we're going to honor uh that won an SEC Championship this year we hon them with the champion t-shirt please feel feel free we're going to bring each student athlete up we're going to give them their certificate they're going to stay here
005Feel Free Jump Up take pictures ask people to squeeze in do whatever you need to do these moments come around once in a while you know once once once every every season so take advantage of it and jump out here and and you're not you're not holding anything up and you're not bothering us by by all these are these are the moments you're going to watch out so representing our cross country program with first team team American Division honors James Quinn Jimmy Quinn first team American Division Ellie mccre second team of the American Division Eric Boulder iable mention Jayla small sh [Music] Lewis Matthew Thea [Applause] honorable and who's not here time the dra also horable men anybody want to take any [Applause] pictures our SEC Championship girls tennis team first team [Applause] James also
006first team Bianca [Applause] J first team Gracie arens second team [Applause] s also second team Mary Lany and Alexander [Applause] Bongo all we have up here one second while we have up here I want to call Coach Valerie congratulate the team on the championship [Applause] t-shirt it's a game at 7:15 [Music] SC see commission [Applause] chair the SEC division championship girls volleyball program call musal honor first Jessica Robinson [Applause] first first teeve s [Applause] mry second [Applause] chazar and [Applause] samanth thank you [Applause] didn't congratulate coach wi who in her first year as a head coach waited real long for that [Applause] honor representative girl soccer program um probably the best female a best female soccer player any the top five of the best female athletes I've ever seen here and probably in history of
007our school full ride to University of Connecticut the oldtime scory leader in soccer nobody's going to break our record so we [Applause] step first team also three sport athlete we should probably rolling around on the basketball court right now Jenny youi [Applause] [Music] [Applause] team All Conference honors boy soccer program first team of Liberty division CJ har first team Liberty division Lavo division second team Anthony [Applause] Cas second team Liberty division Austin sweed honorable mention John [Applause] cruzo [Applause] Flores start representing our football program in a brand new super Football Conference 113 teams 19 division so we make make it on this team it's pretty good on it's a lot of talent in the super football college first team Hunter leer first teeve Mark [Applause] Charles first Nicholas [Applause] Panero first team Sam abov unfortunately
008um this next gentleman had a very serious season ending injury he's laid up at home our prayers are with him now but a great football player and uh really really good leader of the team leader of the program sh [Applause] shto R Vincent Russo off [Applause] nickado RJ Fel Matt [Applause] Roser honorable mention Josh [Applause] O'Neal e last but certainly not least we're going to bring up this group of young ladies anybody that's a Bru Springstein fan has seen his concert at the end of the concert he think he talks about the heart stopping death defying electrifying earthquak and Earth shaking people think he's talking about the EAS Street be he's not he's talking about cheerlead are six five out of the last six or six out of the last seven SCC championships you talk
009about dynasties got the Steelers of the 70s 49ers of the 80s you got the Yankees and you got high school cheerers let's bring those girls up good job br again thank you for coming out tonight it's always nice to see the fruits of your labor the fruits of our L and then being so successful here's the great holiday season here's the great winter and spring ahead of us here's to the Raider Nation enjoy your one second one more presentation I want to recognize our fin stopped good evening everyone my name is R Sherman I'm a member of the medal board of education but right now I am also a member of the BFW auxillary post 493 it's my pleasure tonight to introduce to you three of my close friends at the BFW post 493 d
010r you please come up P Commander current Trustee of the BFW post 493 right here in the township of Nutley he's going to award us pres we also have Cent Commander Jack g p president Jack I know that but I see Jack and I can't help announce I like to call our effecte Madam president the president of the BFW auxiliary grp fish Kan um this year's BFW Patriots pesse winners going to have d r he will give out the awards too Samantha shy can you please come [Applause] up l [Music] l Veno Roso Army I present you the BFW Patriot pen essay [Applause] winners than you [Music] thank you very [Applause] much [Music] okay we're back to our uh scheduled board meeting before we begin I'd like to introduce mayor joose [Applause] relli thank you
011Mr gazin uh on behalf of the Board of Commissioners I just wanted to stop by wish the Board of Education happy holidays the administration the faculty and staff and I want Tok thank you for your cooperation in making our tree lighting a very big success and without the cooperation of all our departments in the Board of Education we couldn't get that done so I want to take a little time out just to wish everybody happy holidays and then thank you so I wish everybody out there thank [Applause] you you don't have to stay but you're certainly I know you may not stay long do enough torture at your own meeting but you're welcome to stay for ours if you like okay um we have Liz ship with us who is going to give our order
012presentation even everyone you have in front of you the June 30th 2016 audit report um do youis yes we have okay you have AIS yes okay so first [Music] Sy this is the June 30th 2016 report um as of June 30th 2016 the district was issued an unmodified a opinion is the best opinion get I don't think we hear that again can you slow it down a little louder so I'll just briefly go through some of the financials I'll keep it short and then go through the recommendations have any questions so at June 30th 2016 the district had over $9 million in cash and $400,000 in liabilities and fund balances of $8.7 million of that fun balance it's not all available for spending you had a little over $4 million in your capital reserve which
013can be used for projects in your long range facilities plan you did use $1 million of that in your budget you had 71,000 in your maintenance Reserve which can be used for um maintenance projects in your M1 report you had exra surplus of $52,000 that has to be used for tax we in your 178 budget you currently use 57,000 for tax in your 16 budet that was last year you had unassigned balance almost $400,000 on a gap basis which is um just under just add your that your from the state does anyone have any questions on that so overall the district's in a very healthy financial position you have reserves available that you can use for subsequent years for your capital projects your meance projects very good um the district has three very minor what
014findings and recommendations um the first two were just under financial planning accounting and reporting that would be on page 13 of your small hand the last page of your responses the first recommendation was that just that the district Implement procedures to ensure that your budgetary accounts are not ended there was some minor endes on your bu that's correct action already being taken on that um the second one budget appropriation transfers and year and board secretary and treasur report to be approved within 30 days of the fisc year end that's that's a state statute that's why we have to report on it July Bo meetings are very early and your year end not closed at that's just on that and then lastly under School Food Services um the district review the operations of EX Service Enterprise
015fund to ensure that theh do not exceed three months average expenditure that's a bad thing in the state guys but a good thing good thing in y you had you made a profit you have cash from the state standpoint you have too much cash you made too much money so on the Food Services service just on the food service operations and that was it it's an excellent audit cooperation during our anyone have any questions thank you and your firm for a very Thal job um I know speaking with Karen how how difficult of work to work through it and and and we appreciate that and u a good job from our our Administration staff also they're very they're excellent thank you very much thank you happy holiday happy [Applause] holidays superintendent's report hi everybody good
016evening first first of all I want to just take a minute and thank you all for your calls and emails your texts your thoughts and prayers on behalf of my mom she does continue to struggle but your warmth has had a very positive impact and I feel very very fortunate to have become part of such a caring and com compassionate town and school Community who who took the time um over the past few weeks to check in and see how she was doing so thank you we're in the midst of the holiday season obviously with a number of events including all of the school's holiday concerts we have spirit week this week at the middle school and the high schools and all kinds of celebrations at the elementary levels just a reminder to everyone that
017Friday December 23rd is a single session day and the district will be closed through Monday January 2nd with classes resuming on Tuesday January 3rd Tuesday January 3rd I'll say the third time Tuesday January 3rd um and like may i' just like to take this opportunity to wish each of you and ol of Nutley a very happy holiday with your friends and family if you're traveling safe travels and I look forward to seeing you all in a new year thank secretary board secretary report thank [Applause] you I just would like to give a little update on we had several heating issues over the weekend and early this morning um our maintenance crew and several of the custodians were on hand and to address them very early on and quickly so that the schools maintained um temperatures
018as much as humanly possible we had issues at Spring Garden over the weekend and at mutle high school and then um with due to some power outages it disconnected information going to the boilers at Lincoln and rad flip but again most of that was already arrest early this morning um I think we just had the science Wing which was addressed and then the media center at the high school which hopefully was finally addressed by the afternoon um the ice clearing our grounds crew was out early this morning as well as the custodians to get a handle on that and the ground screw was split up this morning to attack two of the schools that had the most Ice uh accumulation in the parking lots and on the sidewalks and that was at Washington and yapa
019school so I know they were working very hard it was very difficult for them to get to all of the ice due to the large chunks of accumulation especially from additional ice being view from all the traffic on street but it is something that we try to address as much as possible very early on in the morning to make all of our facilities as safe as possible for staff and students and I'd like to take a few minutes out to recognize the business office staff because the audit that was presented this evening is a direct result of their diligence each and every single day and their hard work and without them we would not be able to have had such a good glowing report this year uh they continue to rise each and every day
020to any challenges that come their way and are always looking for Solutions and creative ways of getting things done so I just want to extend to them my sincere appreciation for all of their hard work and finally to wish each and every one of you a wonderful happy safe holiday season thank you and continuing along that discussion with our um cleaning of the sidewalks and and the areas around the school we are going to um make sure we have a little better Communications maybe between the town and our are clearing are clearing some specific areas so we try to keep ahead of the ice issues at some of our Stores um how about our students activity report okay so um for student council we have a toy drive coming up so that's very exciting everyone
021who brings in a toy gets free pizza so bring the toys um we have Spirit Week like you said and today was pajama day so it's very comfortable um the concert went really well last Thursday everyone presented great and there are lots of flags for college admissions hanging in the hallway so that's always great to see um the history Department with the students help were able to collect around 13 boxes of supplies to ship over to Mr Rosati who is serving our country overseas so that was great to see such support and um there is a hybrid sat ACT SAT practice exam offered at the high school on January 7th for just $15 so this is a great way that students can go ahead and and expose themselves on what these exams are like so
022that's awesome too that's it thank you committee reports M uh yes the academic committee met on December 13th um we discussed uh communication strategy with Karen Greco for the new year we reviewed and discussed the demographers uh data report that was presented previously we also discussed the submissions from different architectural firms and uh additional interviews to be scheduled on January 3rd we discussed block scheduling um Mr van filled Us in on some of the Educators and administrators visiting other school districts and viewing how they um proceed with block scheduling I believe they visited Ridgewood chadam Summit Livingston westes West Orange just as much as my notes I can figure out no um and uh also presented us with some potential new courses um we were presented with some more field trips professional development learning days
023which are on the agenda tonight for approval and uh I just made a quick report regarding a policy committee formation and the framework for updating our policies for the district in the new year that's all for the academic committee this afternoon the district evaluation advisory committee met Kent vanana and Janine Lo cons solo present along with superintendent Blazer um we reviewed teacher evaluation process we reviewed the NJ dooe principal evaluation pilot Mr Odell Miss Eagan and a few other administrators are going to be part of a pilot program for the principal evaluation uh we're one of 10 schools that will be participating in this pilot professional we discuss professional development block scheduling models discuss the NJ QC uh 201617 report and statement of assurance report we also discussed District Bo and board goals including the
024Strategic plan review for for the new year that is the end of my report thank you Mr squ yes the administrative committee met uh December 12th I myself I'm Russo Mr carella Mr gazinski um from the administrative side Mr B and L cons solo and uh also Karen G Karen GRE our Communications person uh we had discussions requiring communication strategies for the new year um with Karen I reviewed the demographers data which had been presented here at a prior meeting but we discussed it more and we also discussed the RFP process for The Architects where we're going that we'll be having some further discussions on that uh also between the board uh Mr Manel a discussion on status of block scheduling discuss the AC academic benefits as well as a way block schedule positively affects
025the climate and culture in school um he's provided our committee with feedback from visiting administrators and teachers who have recently went to many schools throughout this area to visit with them and go over that and we also did quite an extensive review on preparing on all of our different buildings and uh configurations and our next meeting is not been scheduled thank you thank you Mr finance committee we met on December 13th we heard our comprehensive financial report uh similar to what we just heard here more from Mr Miss shik we also have from Mr n regarding current work orders future projects um Miss Leo missco um led a discussion around communication strategies also review the RFP process that we've already heard about Mr B uh came to our meeting discussed block scheduling the benefits the
026academic benefits as well as climate and culture benefits uh discussed uh PG billing dispute and we reviewed the resolution items that we V on tonight another committee uh special at parents advisory committee we met last Thursday the 15th and we had a seminar from a workshop from span uh special at parents advisory network they gave a workshop to parents on how that is was a couple hours it was really good thank you we now come to the portion of our meeting where we allow the members of the public to address the board in this section we allow questions or comments on only the resolutions addressed in tonight's agenda on board regulation 601 allows 20 minutes for you Communications each person shall be limited to 3 minutes and we ask you to try to stay within
027this requirement speakers may speak more than once only after all those wishing to speak on a topic has been heard all statements will be directed to me as the chairperson and no one may address board members individually please be reminded that if your statement is too lengthy abusive obsene irrelevant or redundant your participation may be terminated please remember to always State the name and address each and every time you address the board and sign in with Mr kakua before you take the microphone if anyone wishes to speak on resolution items now is the time thank you m sh will you take academic resolutions please yes Mr President I move U academic resolutions one through three second discussion Ro call Mr B yes Mr carella yes Mrs D Mar yes Mr kle yes Mr R yes
028Mr yes M shman yes Mr Kinski yes Mr sare take Administration please yes Mr President I Administration resolutions 1 through two discussion Mr B yes Mr carella yes Mrs D Martin yes Mr Klein yes m Russo yes Mr Scola yes M chairman yes Mr kazinski yes Mr CL cck Finance please yes Mr President [Music] fin second discussion roll call Mr B yes Mr carella yes Mrs D Martin yes Mr Klein yes m Russo yes Mr Scola yes M shman yes Mr kazinski yes Mr B will you take personal resolutions please yes Mr President i' like resolution second discussion I would like to um recognize the retirement of of Rosa F I believe her name is um she's done an outstanding job for us I I've interacted with her on different occasions and um I I
029think she's going to be sorely missed we do a roll call Mr balama I'm sorry someone else say something yes Mr Carell yes Mrs D Martin yes Mr Klein yes M sh Miss Russo yes Mr Scalera yes Miss Sherman yes Mr kazinski yes for this section we allow questions or comments on all School related matters our regulations allow 30 minutes for these communications again each person should be limited to 3 minutes we ask you to try to stay within this requirement as I stated earlier all all statements will be directed to me anyone wishing to address the board now is the time this morning I sent email out about um some issues that we had with the icing and the unsafe conditions on the walkways and I'm just wanting to come tonight to say thank
030you you had Swift action we got in there and got everything cleared away and so it was safe by the time it was ready for pick up today so just want to say thank you for reacting so quickly and making our welome sa thank you for keeping us aware of what's going on out there but I I do know that we are going to be having some discussions with the town and with our staff to try to alleviate these individual like you said we were lucky last year we didn't get too much know but it doesn't look like we're going to be that lucky this year thank you anyone else wishing to approach the board any old business to come for the board any new business I just like to um um you know we
031talk about our kids all the time and our students uh but I'd like to thank Mr Raley from Arts and Music director Arts and Music so one of the couple unique things we do is uh we have the high school band up to the hockey game um we bring them up twice a year once for the opening game and then for senior day um you have to see the reaction of of parents that come over from the other hockey teams that go how do you do this we don't get any support so I really am excited when that occurs and also then um we had a fundraiser in town for children's Presbyterian hospital and again thanks um we had the mixed choir come up and sing at that event uh it was a great event
032we had a lot of people up there so really well but our students are really involved and more than you see when you just uh come to a concert do programs they're out in the community and I just wanted to recognize them also our Outdoor Classroom um was used for the first time if you haven't been down visit it's a little cold now we're down the anall park but one of our first classes about a couple weeks ago um was down there um m wiim is also on the nut Educational Foundation um we worked with the county executive in bake Valley but it's in use it's uh being successful and those are things we have going on in our [Music] district all right we have a little bit more new business tonight I was fortunate
033enough to walk into uh my house on Friday and my steps son who was in the seventh grade here at the middle school um got L of some bad news that we only had a week off for the holiday so he he got off the bus walked into the house in tears and said you run the school and why are we only having a week off so I explained to him as best as I could so he took it one step further and he wrote a letter addressed to Dr Blazer and then Board of Education so I figured I'd share it with all of you tonight I tried to get him here but he was a little too shy for that uh dear Dr Glazer Nutley board of education I believe that the Nutley Public
034Schools should be closed for a little bit longer during the holiday season for a week and a half at least one reason I believe is this is because I think the holiday season is a time for families to be together also some families travel far away to be with relatives during the time during this time I have relatives in North Carolina New York and Long Islands and during this time of the year the weather can be cold and snow so school might get canceled anyway I understand that we go to school uh bya the law for 180 days therefore we would have to be in school a bit longer in June also we can look at the days we are off during the year to see if we really need to be off all those
035days having more time for kids during a holiday Bess would be fun and exciting for them this would give us a little more time than we have now thank you for listening to my ideas I hope you will consider them I believe this is a good idea for everyone involved thank you Christian foran and now I'm going to hand it over to Dr I'm going to say you were in charge and you I think Mike help him compose the letter I want him sitting right next election any other new business to come before the board if not I will thank you on behalf of the board have a happy holiday whereas the Board of Education will be discussing manag ex from public discuss to purs sa 10412 now therefore be resolved that the Board of
036Education reach us to close executive session at this time to discuss student matters and property acquisition we have further resolved that the results of this discussion be made public by inclusion on the agenda of a subsequent meeting of the Board of Education or when the reason for discussing such matters in close session no longer exist all in favor conversation