001Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Miss, could you please read our mission statement? Certainly. Working together as a community, our mission is to welcome all and provide opportunities for our students in a safe and accepting learning environment to become creative, empathetic, resilient, and who choose to make an impact. Thank you. You're welcome. For those who wish to make public comments remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Those remote comments will be addressed in the second public comment section. This meeting which is hereby called to order at 6:34 p.m. is in compliance with the notice requirements of the law. Public notice was posted in the office of the board of education and communicated to the municipal clerk in the daily record on January 15, 2025. Please
002stand and join me in the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Please have a roll call. Mr. here. MS present. Mr. Mor present. Miss Phillips. Miss Penellis here. Dr. Center present. Miss Shower here. Miss Sonis, Mr. Miller here. Okay, we have some presentations. Uh, our first presentation is our audit presentation. Uh, Mr. Steven Wil Coats from Wil Coats and Company. Yeah, sure. Good evening. I'm here to briefly discuss with you your audit for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2024 and the results of that audit. Um, as you well know, this was our first year with the district. Um the business administrator started late October I believe of of of 23. So he was
003partially in the year partially not in the year. And I have to tell you that number one we've issued an unqualified opinion on the financial statements of the district for the year ended June 30, 2024. a clean opinion. And in the audit management report, there's five findings, all of which are compliance-based, none of which have anything really to do with the financial operations of the district. I'd like to thank the business office and their staff for all the help they gave us during the course of the audit. we we kind of get in the way of the day-to-day activities of the office. So, we appreciate all the help we got from the staff. Uh and again, it your fiscal position at the end of the year was good. There was some excess surplus. You maintained
004your capital reserve. You've got a a nice emergency reserve. So you ended the year in in very good financial position. And again on the on the comments and the recommendation side, if this were not a dual financial and compliance audit, you would not have had any findings and none of them uh rose to be material in nature. Again, if it wasn't a dual audit with compliance, there would have been no findings. And with that, I'd be happy to try to answer any questions from the board members. Any questions? I guess that's pretty easy then. When it's all good news, usually is pretty easy. I thank you very much. I know we tried to do this last month, but unfortunately uh my schedule was such and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my
005little presentation this evening. Thank you all. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, Mr. Haimey, would you like to introduce the next one? Yes. The next person I would introduce Mr. Mr. Pat Pandoval. He'll be presenting on student safety data system. And so I'm I'm the director of students prevention district testing. I am also the ABC the anti-bullying coordinator. And part of my duties is I'm the person that receives the uh SSDS reports from the principles and puts it in the SSDS system. That's uh student safety data system. And that is the uh collection tool that the state uses uh to make sure that uh schools are reporting any type of suspension and suspension is like in they call it uh basically an exclusion where it's either in school or out of school
006suspension but also in uh the data is uh HIV confirmed which most of the time there is some type of suspension attached to it but not always and HIV be alleged and that's any report that an HIV investigation was uh was started and sometimes there's uh removal uh a suspension related to that sometimes there's other discipline related to that and sometimes there's no depending on the case there's no discipline at all so uh next slide right so the state requires that the district reports to the board of education twice a year uh because there's two different reporting periods and we're required to report the the the period from the previous from the the previous one. So obviously we're in period two now. This is from period one that ran from September to December. So as
007you can see there were 123 total SSDs reports and uh 36 were considered incidents. 46 were other incidents leading to removal and 42 were HIV alleged meaning there were there were an HIV investigation but it did not meet the threshold of HIV under incidents there's subcategories uh 17 HIV confirmed 13 violence three vandalism uh two uh weapons um the other incidents leading to removal is things that fall under code of conduct that were worthy of a suspension. Uh a lot of times it's jeopardizing the safety of others. Uh some of it has been uh cursing at a teacher or cursing at a principal uh things of that nature. Uh using obscene or profane language. Uh but also under that is any uh vaping violations that are not confirmed substance violations. And I know uh Mr.
008Miller asked in September because I think for the year last year was around the 150 and he asked me to estimate and I didn't have the number in front of me and I estimated um the number of vaping violations because vaping was really an issue last year and I said half it was it was more like uh it was more like a third was closer to it was closer to a third. Now, of the 46 that you see up there, it's only about fifth oneif of them, about 20% of them are vaping violations. So, the the vaping the vape detectors really for the most part have worked this that students have gotten the message, but unfortunately there's definitely an uptick in other types of suspensions uh leading to removal. Next slide. So if we for
009comparing last year the same period in this year this year's period period one we had 117 total last year we had 123 total reports this year uh we went down five down in violence uh two more in vandalism. Uh there were no substance violations reported in the first period, but you can see that other incidents uh leading to removal uh spiked quite high. Uh especially considering that uh the vaping went down and uh HIV alleged HIV reports are up by a little bit and HIV uh confirmed cases are up by a little bit. Next slide please. So this is the last slide just comparing the schools uh from this year uh to last year. You can see that Do High School has gone uh gone down and that's most likely for the because of vaping.
010Uh the middle school has uh gone up pretty significantly. Academy Street has gone up. Uh East is down because their their HIV cases are mostly down. uh North do is is up because their their HIV cases are mostly higher. So that's kind of the explanation of why those numbers are the way they are. And that's really the end of uh all the data I'm reporting tonight. Any members of the board have questions? I I have a question if I may. Uh Mr. When you mention other incidents leading to removal, does that include inschool suspension and out of school suspension? These are inschool and out of school suspensions, there's a lot more honestly in school suspensions and out of school suspensions, but inschool suspensions have to be reported as well. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Ser. Um,
011this question is for either Mr. Penduler or Mr. Haime. um as we look at certain schools or certain types of incidences that have gone up, what is the district's response to that in terms of looking at okay, there's an uptick in incidents in a certain school or of a certain type? How is the district using that data and um changing what we do to try to decrease those either in total incidents at a school or a type of incident um across the district? I I can jump on that question and Mr. Panda, you could jump in as well. Um, using some of the information has led for us to do more uh intimate assemblies within the classroom presentations uh where our counselors or our tech rep are going in to discuss you know proper social
012norms uh uh cyber safety and things of that nature. Uh also we are using reflection sheets uh during our uh consulting with counselors because it allows our students and our counselors to look at some of the reflection pieces and allow to have further conversation as opposed to sometimes not having something to build on, right? Because our students tend to maybe be guarded. But with a reflection sheet, it allows our students to be able to share the thoughts with the counselor. The counselor use that information to provide more strategies or suggestions and even as well information for our families and our parents. uh in in terms of anything regarding um cyber safety, it allows us to also bring the parents in on those conversations as well. And the administration to also discuss anything within their their
013abilities to how do they promote that information out to our families and I just want to sure I didn't forget anything because we do put a lot of work into the social and emotional support uh for all students. Um it u also sorry it also allows for our TER rep to also be more um purposeful in how they're with our students. They also go in to do presentations with school counselors. Um, also on anything that has, you know, let's say for example, there's an uptake, let's say, on any comments being made towards the LGBTQ community, we definitely do a an awareness with our students and understanding uh the alphabet. So, we use that data as much as we can to make sure that we're being proactive within the classroom or if it's necessary to have
014a full assembly as well. And Mr. Mr. Hime, if I may. Um, also there's there's some there's certain students in certain populations sometimes that are more involved in HIV, whether they're offenders, targets, witnesses, they just seem to be around it more. So, uh, I know some of the, uh, some of the students that need individual attention have actual intervention plans to try to be proactive um, in that way. And then there's also different social groups that uh address try to be proactive in making sure that the students are like Mr. Hime said reflecting so when they're they're working with the counselors. So we do try to make sure that we're we're proactive rather than reactive in because we do know there are certain populations uh within the school that seem to be more recidivist than
015than others. Anyone else? Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. P. And next we have our student athlete presentation. Mr. Bolock. Good evening. Uh, first I'd like to thank the board of education and Mr. Haimey for the opportunity to uh recognize one of our outstanding uh student athletes here at Do High School. Um, this winter we um had two student athletes uh reach uh tremendous milestones in the athletic world. Um, our first uh recipient or or student that we want to recognize this evening is a wrestler here at Do High School. Um he just finished off and capped a an outstanding career um representing the Dover school community and Do High School and the wrestling program. Um this young man um reached a milestone of a 100 wins in a
016career over his four-year span here on the wrestling map for Dover High School. Only one other wrestler in the history of Dover has achieved that. Um so he he's uh left his mark in a tremendous uh fashion. Uh this young man finished his career with 105 wins and 38 losses uh which is just absolutely tremendous. This season he was a finalist in the Morris County Championship uh uh wrestling for Dover High School. He was a district medalist and he's the first wrestler in over 25 years that accomplished uh qualifying for the New Jersey State Wrestling Championships and represented our school community in Atlantic City and did an outstanding job uh in and battled tooth and nail with the best wrestlers not only in New Jersey but uh across the country. our uh student athlete that
017I'd like to have up here this evening to recognize and award with a plaque for this uh outstanding milestone is Jaden Menddees. So Jaden, could you come up and be recognized? Can I also please invite uh Mr. Miller and Mr. Haimey uh up to present this I'd also like uh Jaden's been fortunate. He has a tremendous support system uh with his parents that are that are here this evening. I'd like to have them please come up as well for some photos. And uh we have our wrestling coach, Mr. Will Dodd, as well. We could just have a round of applause for that outstanding accomplishment. Okay. So, now we're moving on to our first uh public comments. Oh, Mr. Miller. Um, I'd like to say something about Jaden. Sure. It has been an absolutely excuse me.
018It has been an absolute pleasure to watch the Dober High School wrestling team grow and develop over the last two years. While my son has been a part of the program, under the leadership of coach Dodd, coach goal, and coach Moulder, the team has demonstrated remarkable dedication and progress. This season, the senior captains Jaden Mendes, Angel Buga, and junior captain Matt Lei have played an instrumental role in fostering teamwork and excellence. One moment that stands out to me from the 24-25 season was during a try match at Nutley. One of our wrestlers was struggling to secure a pin when from the sidelines, Jaden got down on the floor at the mat level and called out, "Lean into his shoulder." Within seconds, our wrestler followed the advice and sealed the pin. It was a perfect example
019of leadership in action and a testament to the strong camaraderie and Jaden's mentorship within the team. As we celebrate Jaden's outstanding individual achievement of reaching 100 career wins, it is important to also recognize that while wrestling is wrestling is often seen as an individual sport, Jaden was always there for his team. His leadership, encouragement, and commitment to his teammates have been invaluable. Has truly been inspiring to watch these athletes grow both as competitors and as young men. And I look forward to seeing the continued success of the DHS wrestling program. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words. It was really good. Thank you. Okay, so we are coming to our first public portion uh of the evening. The board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members
020of the public to express themselves on school matters to ensure fair and orderly expression of such comment. Each statement shall be held to a time period of three minutes. Public comments limited to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. Please understand that public comment portions of our agenda agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful to the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy
021protections. The board is not permitted to respond to public comments about students or employees. Please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Is there anyone in the public that would like to address the board? Um, please stand and state your name and address. Seeing no one, we shall close that portion of the the meeting uh for the con for the uh public. Do we have approval of minutes? So moved. Second. Second. Any questions or comments? Can we have a roll call? Mr. Suedo? Yes. Miss DS? Yes. Mr. Mccor? Yes. Miss Penales? Yes. Dr. Sinner? Yes. Miss Sher? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Um, I'm not aware of any board communications. Whole board communications.
022Did you see anything? Okay. Now, I'd love to hear from our student representative, Mr. Lee. Good evening everyone. Recently at the high school, we have had some interesting and fun events take place like our blood drive which was a success along with our musical Little Shop of Horrors. In the next upcoming weeks here at the high school, we have AP practice exams from Tuesday, March 25th through Thursday, March 27th. There's also a summer and job and volunteer fair March 27th in school periods 1 through 3 sponsored by Tiger Rap. Then here at the high school on April 1st, there's SAT testings for all juniors which then leads up to our do Olympics event going on. Recently, we had teachers from our from our organizations from student government go out to visit Tennifly High School to
023observe their school Olympics for ideas. There the teachers have gathered many interesting ideas that we could implement here at our Olympics. Some were schedulings like for day-to-day activities here for our Olympics and also a really fun and interesting one like creating banners for each grade that have include their theme color and also some type of theme like a mascot or whatever the students decide to come up with. And also recently here at Dover, our partnership with the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey or the BJ, the students here at Dover decided we were going to address the traffic issue that is taking the left turn out on West Clinton and White Street leaving the high school. Our main solution as of right now is to get a traffic cop to monitor the traffic in that
024intersection. However, as of right now, we had just finished a short video that we sent into the BIJ about our campaign to fix this issue. Along with our campaign, we had also come up with our slogan which is drive with care. Do safety is in the air. That is all for now. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone have any questions? Dr. Sainer? No questions. Just a comment. I absolutely love when students advocate for anything that is useful or beneficial to the community. So, that's a really great partnership and thank you to all the students who participated. Thank you. Um, that Matthews brought up a something that I don't think we've heard about in a while and I'm not sure if Mr. I may has any news on it, but the um stoplight that was supposed to
025go at the intersection of is it is it it was supposed to be Grace Grace and Yeah. Do we have any I haven't heard about that for a while. Um it's a county thing. I know. I just I didn't know if this was something that you've been looped in to by the town or by the chief of police. Mr. I I can give some insight on that. Um I've been in touch with um Our Dun in reference to this and she did some research not only with the town but with the state department of transportation and this was before the um sinkhole situation also. Um this was right after the holidays. she contacted me and she said that as far as the state department of transportation's calendar, there is no stoplight on the calendar. Um,
026even though I was told it was being installed in July of 2024. Um, and she also spoke with the town uh the uh Dover Police Department and they said they don't know what's going on at this point. So, she was going to keep me in the loop and she promised she would not let it go. Um, so let's hope something happens. Thank you. In our lifetime, may I? Sure. You mentioned the little shop of horarss. Um, I was able to attend with my family on Friday and was completely impressed by the production. Very creative. the plant was awesome and kudos to all who were involved. Thank you. So, um with the stop light at Grace Street, so uh in the beginning we did have um I think those were one of the issues because we
027had to address parking here. It was either coming down Grey Street or it was leaving that intersection and we we we decided to go with leaving that area. But my teacher and the organizers of this, they were also mentioning that um later in the future along the lines, we could also bring up this issue if if this is something that um everyone in the community would like, we can bring it down the line and bring it to like the town, talk to like the school here and everything like that. Yeah. I I would I would say that that whole stretch and not just on Clinton Street, even a block in towards the high school can be a bit hairy at times. Don't ask me how I know. Um so any attention that you all can
028provide to that and and and um uh you know light shined on it will be helpful because ultimately you are there are more of you driving to school, right? And so um it needs it needs to be safe for everybody but especially for you. So thank you for what you're doing. No problem. Okay. with the board's presence report. Uh it's been another extremely busy month for our board and our committees. Um there's lot been a lot of focus on our budget. Uh state aid figures came out a few weeks ago. Uh while we received some additional state aid, it unfortunately does not fully offset the rising fixed costs such as health care insurance, utility utilities and and salaries. As we look ahead to the 2025 20226 school year, I want to assure you that the
029board of education remains committed to developing a fair, equitable, and fiscally responsible school budget. Our goal is clear, meeting the educational needs of our students while honoring the contributions of our taxpayers. We deeply understand the importance of balancing educational excellence with financial prudence. Every decision we make is driven by our commitment to providing all Dober students with the resources, programs, and support necessary for their academic and social success. In the coming weeks, we will diligently review every aspect of our budget with a strong emphasis on transparency and community engagement. We value the input of parents, educators, students, and community members, recognizing your voices as essential in shaping the future of our schools. A few years ago, the Dober community voted on a referendum to fund a $69 million district-wide building project intended to add classrooms
030at Dober High School and construct a new middle school. Although this proposal aimed to comprehensively address our students needs, it was ultimately voted down by the community. We heard your message clearly and since then the board has diligently sought alternative solutions to provide essential classroom space while also reintroducing preschool s services here at a reduced cost. We have identified two promising initiatives that will estab accomplish these goals at a significantly lower cost compared to the original referendum. First, the purchase of the former Dober Sport building across from East Dover and Dober Middle School will allow preschool students to return to district facilities, saving approximately $1.5 million annually and enhancing curriculum alignment through in district teaching staff. Secondly, constructing the sixth grade annex adjacent to North do will centralize all sixth graders, effectively preparing them for
031middle school and simultaneously alleviating classroom overcrowding across our elementary schools. Further details will be presented along with a complete budget proposal at our next board meeting in April. Together, we remain dedicated to fostering a stronger, more inclusive educational environment for every student in Dover. And we thank you for your continued trust and partnership in these important efforts. Administrative reports, Mr. Haimey. Okay. I want to kick off first uh with number one, good evening to our culture and climate connection committee. John, did I get that correct? All right. Thank you. Um we had this upcoming week we had a meeting where we were uh introducing thought exchange which is right behind me. Uh thought exchange is a new program that we're going to be that we were using we're going to start using and what thought
032exchange is an interactive uh platform that allows us to engage with our community in on key issues by sharing thoughts and prioritizing ideas of others in collaborative manner. This tool will engage us to conduct real-time surveys where participants can anonymously contribute their thoughts and rate ideas shared by others. The result is ranked list by priorities that reflects the collective input of our community. And our goal with implementing thought exchanges to enhance transparency, increase participation in district decision-m and ensure the every voice can be heard in a structured and meaningful way. We believe this tool will instrument will be instrumental helping us identify and address the most pressing needs and ideas from our stakeholders. We also used the program to upload our last results from our last survey as a committee. We were able to see
033the results and I did share uh those results with the district so that our district can see that their voices are being heard and how it's being analyzed in order for us to make better decisions as we continue to move forward with our district. Um I I want to highlight uh our esports at Dover High School. Uh we are thrilled to share a remarkable journey and the achievements of Dover Tiger esports team. Within a short period, we have established ourselves as a formidable presence in one of the state's fastest growing esports scenes. Uh the timeline of success, and I'll share a little bit, the initial gathering of our journey began the first meeting in October 9th. Uh the quick organization we quickly moved to function. A team meeting by October 15th. Uh they debuted in
034the first competitive uh meet was on December 4th against Oak Crest High School in Street Fighter 6. Big fan. Uh impressive record. We we enjoyed an undefeated regular season and made a strong showing at our winter 25 playoffs, reaching the quarterfinals. Um, we also design our uniforms that properly represent DHS as at all the events. And for our current endeavors in esports and future outlook, uh, in the spring, we are actively uh, competing in the SSBU, Smash Brothers, and moral virals with a current record of one and one. And we are creating now more digital footprints. We are uh, you can catch highlights and game footage on our new YouTube channel. And for infrastructure development. We are using makeshift space as at the back of the library currently now and we look to establish a
035permanent home for the team uh in and enhance the current location. Uh so we're very excited about the efforts of our esports and congratulations against them to having a successful fall season and I look forward to see how they do in the spring. Uh our do high school play was this past weekend little shopahar as Miss D mentioned also Miss Lei Mr. play and mentioned uh the the play was a success. It was amazing to see all the work that our students and staff have put in. So, kudos to everyone. Uh the cast did an amazing job singing and performing on stage. Uh amazing courage to do that. And to our community, thank you for coming out and supporting our kids in their endeavors. Uh this month on March of Month, uh marks women history
036month. And in this month, we celebrated women's history month. And our school is proud, our schools are proud to host a series of educational inspirational activities designed to honor the contributions of women throughout history. We are excited to offer diverse programs that include trivia, specialized lesson plans, dedicated acknowledgements in arts and music classes. So, in trivia, we had fun-filled informative trivia about pivotal moments and figures in women's history. uh lesson plans. Uh our teachers uh develop specialized lesson plans that focus on achievements of women in science, politic, arts and more. Uh these uh lessons aim to provide a deeper understanding of the vital role women had in shaping our world. And then arts and music. Our teachers will highlight highlight uh women artists and their contributions to the world of art ex um and to
037see featured works, discussions and influential female artists and other unique perspectives. Um we look forward to the month a month filled with learning celebrations as we continue to finish off the month and join all the activities that participate and acknowledge the valuable contributions of the women throughout history. Uh read across America. I would like to thank all of participants in the community and the district participating in read across America. Uh I have to share a funny story. I uh volunteered to read at Delk 2 as well as North Dover. At Delk 2 I had the opportunity to follow up a helicopter pilot. Um as they shared their experiences as a helicopter pilot and then when I sat down to talk to the preschool students they asked me what did I fly? Um unfortunately I said
038nothing. I the superintendent of schools and the kids said what is that? I was like, "Okay, well, it's like being the principal." And uh it wasn't as exciting as a helicopter pilot. So, needless to say, I didn't want to follow up that individual for the rest of the day. Um but then I also was invited at Northf to be the mass reader. Uh there were several uh staff members that joined in and they were disguised themselves in several costumes from leprechauns to unicorns, uh Grinch, Wolves, and even Olaf from Frozen made an appearance. Uh the the uh staff read excerpts on from popular books but keeping their identities a secret and while having an opportunity to guess who's behind the mask based on reading um a few playful hints and the presentations were given out
039throughout slide and the kids had to take a guess. Um I have to say the assembly then put together to for the kids to us reveal ourselves who were the masked readers. Uh the kids were excited screaming. Uh my ears were ringing a little bit just from how loud the kids and excited they were. Um, I have to say that uh the upper grades did a good job at identifying me. The lower grades thought I was Mr. Hoy. Uh, I it was very unfortunate to disappoint them, but um, you know, nevertheless, they had a good time and I I thought it was a very out good showing of our staff coming together and participating in something and uh, that really uh, showed our unison and our love for reading within our schools. And I really
040look forward to hopefully participating in it next year. So, I have to already start thinking about what my next costume is going to be. I was dressed up as the leprechaun. So that was that was fun. Um we had our dual language visit uh recently. Uh we had our visit down at a a different district and we had an opportunity for our teachers and administration to really observe dual language program in action. This experience allowed us to engage in meaningful discussions about the challenges that we face and strategies to implement to address them. Uh it was truly an eye openening for everyone involved to see uh while we are making significant strides and accomplishing great things, there are still areas where we need to focus and our efforts to grow and this visit has a
041reinforcement of our commitment to enhancing our educational offerings and continue to improve our approach in the bilingual education um sixth grade annex building. I want to provide an update for the community. We are pleased to announce a significant step forward in enhancing our educational facilities and programs while also respecting the financial concerns of our taxpayers. After careful consideration and community feedback regarding the previously proposed um $69 million referendum, we opted for a more economical solution. Uh and I want to highlight a few of those things, right? Cost savings. We are revised our plan to a $12 million building which is less expensive option. It will not only meet and exceed our needs for space, but also program growth, enhance educational spaces. The new plan addresses our crucial need for more space, particularly at the elementary
042and middle school, allowing for our elementary uh specials to be taught in a classroom and not on a cart as well as providing more electives for our middle school students uh for special education and bring back special education students back to in district. Uh we anticipate a significant cost and savings, but this also will shift will shift will also provide these students with a better tailored educational support within our community and programming. The expansion of the range of electives once again as I mentioned previously at our middle school which currently offers courses in coding, arts, and Spanish. Uh this will allow us to our students to receive more electives at the elementary schools in the classroom as well as uh electives at a middle school level that are reflective of that of our do high
043school. So we're very excited at that opportunity and I just want to make sure I met I met all of those pieces and I that is all I have for tonight. Thank you Dr. Ser. Thank you Mr. Hammy. That was extensive and just a whole lot of good news. So really great to see. Um, as you were speaking, I wanted to chime in on how amazing the performances were at Little Shop of Horrors, but also to acknowledge the students who were behind the stage or in the booth who made that performance possible by working as a team. And also to acknowledge the staff members. There were an incredible number of staff members who um made that happen. The director, the the teacher in charge of light and sound, the teacher who helped our students choreograph.
044Um we had administrators as well as teachers in the uh pit. We had um makeup, costumes, the set design. So an incredible number of staff and parents um all of these people working together to make really incredible performances happen. And I would like to add the gentleman who was in the plant costume which took a lot of effort to move that mouth and make sure it was on tune. So that was impressive. Very impressive. And the last piece I want to do is I want to do an acknowledgement. Um, and I'm going to have Miss Gibbs just join me really quick. Give me one second. So, just sorry I just my apologies. I just want to make a quick announcement. Um we have two individuals that we want to recognize this evening. Uh Miss Sushaw
045and Mr. Miller for 15 years of service on the board of education. Uh that was something that we received. So congratulations on 15 years of serving on the board of education. [Applause] They're beautiful. since 2007. Thank you very much. And the last piece, uh, also want to acknowledge, uh, I know Miss Maria Solenus is not here tonight, uh, but Victoria, you made your first year as board members as well. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Miller. Um, I just wanted to say thank you very much for this. This is an honor. I really appreciate it. But I also wanted to add that I was very honored to be invited and able to read at Easttover Elementary School for ReadAcross America because it had been about seven years since I had done it and
046I really enjoy that. I read to three different classes and it was um first grade, fourth grade and fifth grade and I had never read to a fifth grade class. So, I really had to dig deep and borrow some books from one of my children for that grade level. And they were engaged. Our kids were absolutely awesome. And the school, I had not been in Easttover in quite a while other than my tour when Mr. Haime and Mr. McCauley took me on my tour. But to actually be in the classrooms, it was it was a wonderful experience. And I'm always so proud of our kids and they did a great job. and our staff was knock down dead awesome. They were great. They were really great. So, I appreciate the opportunity. I'm still trying to
047figure out who are these flowers for. What? There's nobody here. Okay, our business report. Good evening. Uh I'll be talking about the finance agenda items. Uh where first one is item seven. On the agenda, we can see that our cash in cafeteria account increased a little over $80,000. Uh I used to get some questions about some of the board members that is it allowed. Uh we are allowed up to $817,000. Uh we can keep that amount in our cafeteria account with no problem with the state. Uh it's good to have some cash in there so we can get some projects done in cafeterias and kitchens. We had a vulcan freezer done uh from this uh funds uh last year. in the high school. Item eight, uh the 2025 2016 tentative budget will be submitted to
048the county tomorrow, uh hopefully today's approval. While our state aid numbers came in very low, we are still able to maintain all the instruction programs for the 202526 school year. We're continually working on projects to find ways to save money. Item 15, the contract with our food service management company Pmptonion is up for renewal for 202526 school year. Item 16 is the official award of mobiliz for our sixth grade NX project. The court contracts will be under education service commission co-op. So it doesn't require bidding. Item 18 shows the bit results for high school generator project. We re recommend awarding the contract to Mayor to Electric Incorporation for the amount of $464,000 which is the lowest responsible bit. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Sabahulu? Okay, move on to the board of education reports. The
049Mars County Educational Services Commission attended the meeting last week and we approved a $ 48 million budget. Um, Dr. Sainer, legislative report. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Um, there was one new law signed in um signed by Governor Murphy. Uh, the temporary relief of posted public notices was signed into law on Friday, February 28th after being passed by the full legislature over the last week. The law provided that a newspaper eligible to be used by a public body in 2024 for the purpose of complying with the open public meetings act or other public notice or legal advisement requirement, including for providing adequate notice of a meeting and being designated as an official newspaper is deemed eligible for the same purposes from January 1st, 2025 to March 2025, regardless of the physical or digital format for the
050newspaper's publication. and this newly signed law extends the expiration of that law to be June 30th, 2025. Um, some items moving through the state legislature are the cell phone and social media policy um would require cell phone and social media guidelines to be developed by the New Jersey Department of Education and a policy to be adopted by each school district. Under the bill, the commissioner would develop guidelines applicable to students enrolled in grades kindergarten through grade 12 concerning student use of cell phones and social media platforms. The amended bill clarifies that the commissioner shall consult with various stakeholders, including the NJSBA, when creating the guidelines. Um, I think it is also noteworthy to address that the United States Department of Agriculture canceled over $26 million in previously committed funding that would have supported producers across
051New Jersey in providing fresh, locally sourced food to our schools and food banks. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture will not be receiving $9.9 million in local food purchase assistant funding over and over 16.2 two billion million in local food for schools cooperative agreement funding for fiscal year 2025. Um this program which is now unfunded aimed to strengthen the food system with an emphasis on purching from historically underserved producers and processors and bring um fresh fruits and vegetables into our schools. That concludes my report. Thank you. Marsh County School Board's report. Mr. Miller, I'm sorry. I just had a quick question. It was a actually a followup. We had brought up the subject of that farmtotable uh cut by the federals to Mr. Sabagul and he was going to check with Pmptonian to see if
052it affected their service the local food service program. Actually we uh get some uh fundings for it is I could say like three 4,000 a month but it's not a big impact for our size. It's going to be low impact. So it was so it has impacted us but it's a low impact. It's very low impact. So since we do have some money in the cafeteria fund can we supplement that program since we have now lost it from those fun service program. Uh are we talking about the same thing? I believe Miss Shower is talking about the local food to schools. The food the farm to table something. Yes. Farm to I mean I can talk to Ponian if you still want to buy it from them. Uh we can speak since we do have
053the extra funds in the cafeteria fund. Can we supplement it and if they could just give us a cost for what that would be? We can talk to them. Yes. Thank you. Hey, Miss DS. Good evening. There has not been a meeting um for the MCSBA. However, the 2025 unsung heroes uh Morris County unsung heroes will be on Wednesday, April 2nd at Morris Null's High School in Denville. Um the Unsung Heroes recognize students who have made a lasting impact through their unique and outstanding contributions to their schools and communities. Their efforts, often overlooked by traditional student recognition programs, are essential in helping our schools and communities thrive. We aim to honor and celebrate these remarkable contributions. Our own DHS student, David F. Guavara Aueta, will be honored at this event. If you would like to
054attend, register on the NJSBA site um on May 7th at Mount Olive High School. They will be having the third annual Nancy Hellberg memorial recognition ceremony dinner meeting. Um they'll have board member celebrations. The nominees of the fourth annual Irene M. V excellence in boardmanship award will be honored and the winner will be announced. Student recognitions. We will honor many students throughout Morris County with scholarships. unsung hero awards, tuition to CCM and much more. They will also hold their elections. Um, we will get updates from Dr. Tom Connors from the NJSBA. He will be joining us to celebrate the past year and to bring greetings from the NJSBA officers and Assemblywoman Orura Dunn will once again join us to extend greetings on behalf of the New Jersey legis legislature. If you're planning on attending, please
055register at NJSBA. That concludes my report. Thank you. Moving on to administrative approvals. Do I have a motion to approve items one through two? Mr. Shower. Do we have a second? Second, any comment, questions? Roll call, please. Mr. Su, yes. M. Down. Yes. Mr. MCO. Um, no. On um HIB NDE number 24 and NDE number 26. Yes. On the balance. Miss. Penelis. Yes. Dr. Ser. Yes. Miss Shower. Yes. Mr. Miller. Yes. Dr. Sander, can you please move personnel? Yes. I move that we approve items 1 through 16 under personnel. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Any comments, questions? Dr. Sainer. Um I just wanted to comment on the really great titles for the sessions. Um uh under the ed camp that's I believe it's coming up. Um thank you to all the staff members that
056have um volunteered to share your expertise with your colleagues. It sounds like an amazing day. Anyone else? I'm excited about the girls flag football team. I can't wait to see that. That will be a lot of fun. Okay, roll call, please. Mr. Yes. Miss DS? Yes. Mr. Mort? Yes. Miss Pales? Yes. Dr. Center? Yes. Miss Shaw? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Moving on to negotiations. Uh we continue to meet with the administrators and we have another meeting scheduled in April. Uh Miss DS report on governance. The governance committee met virtually on February 25th from 6:30 to 7:20. The committee members present were Miss DS, Mr. Haime, Mr. McCort, and Miss Selenas. Miss Phillips was the alternate to Mr. Miller as he was away. We discussed board progress on board goals and modified the quarterly goals report
057schedule. Goal one, increase training for all board members. Miss Phillips has contacted our field representative, Miss Charlene Peterson, for availability for training on finance. We also discussed the possibility of obtaining the status of an NJSBI certified board. We currently have 11 of 16 credits. Two of our current credit credits expire in July. So, we are hoping to coordinate the training before the July expiration date. Miss Phillips has asked Miss Peterson about the possibility of training our board on the new board self- evaluation in the near future. Miss Peterson will get back to Miss Phillips with availability. Goal two, to promote community and stakeholder engagement, provide more opportunities for students, staff, and school communities to be recognized at board of ed meetings. This has been ongoing at our recent board meetings with the recognition of the
058volleyball team and young writers. We are exploring better ways to engage Minehill and Victory Garden st Victory Gardens stakeholders. It could be a task for the community relations committee to explore. Goal three, promote and increase the board's efforts in sharing the factors that impact the district. Represent the needs of the district through advoc advocacy on matters of concern at the local, state, andor national level. Mr. Miller attended the Department of Education hearing in Somerset in January to advocate for equitable school funding. continue to investigate, plan, and communicate options to address our district's space needs. We are currently working on the purchase of the diverse sports building on Route 46 to house our preschool and bring the preschool back into our district as well as the grade six project at North Dober. Goal four. Goal four,
059the governance committee shall monitor and report on board goals on a quarterly basis. We modified the schedule as follows. March 25, 2025, June 2025, August 2025, and December 2025. Policy P0153, annual appointments. Mr. McCort discussed specifically the appointment of the delegate to the Educational Services Commission. It is listed on the agenda at the reorganization meeting. Mr. Miller previously stated that the appointment is done in July. Miss Phillips said we could modify the policy to state that the position is appointed in July. Policy 0155, board committees. Mr. McCort discussed the practice of setting up committees listed on the reorganization agenda. However, committees are not set up until the next regular board meeting in January. He proposed the possibility of setting up the committees prior to the reorganization meeting and that the process could start once the
060results of the election are certified in November. Miss Phillips stated that a possible option would to be take the committee selection off the agenda at the reorganization meeting since it would not be happening at that meeting. Mr. McCort discussed the policy regarding board members use of personal devices during board meetings. We agreed to review the draft that Mr. McCort would provide. Committee members felt it should include an opportunity for board members to glance at their phones in case of an emergency of relatives or loved ones and for board members to be able to check dates on one's personal calendar for setting up board dates. Would you like for me to read the proposed policies um that Mr. McCort? So are is it are we voting on that or that that's just part of the report?
061That's actually a question I have for the policy um section of the agenda. So So maybe hold that until then and then we can put it on the agenda for something you to vote on. Okay. All right. So just so we'll just save it for the next time so that we'll be ready for it to be voted on. Okay. Um, the next meeting is to be termined. This concludes my report. Thank you. Okay. Any questions? Dr. Ser, I'm sorry. I am now more confused. Are we voting on the policy during the policy session or are those policies being sent to the policy committee for review before they come together? This is the this is the policy that the governance committee would propose for how we operate the board. So, they just reported that they talked
062about it, but they didn't present it to be voted on tonight. Okay. Thank you. So, actually um and this this was the question I was was going to ask. Um we did it was presented at the policy meeting um last week. Um and Mr. Himeme had mentioned that he was going to reach out to Strauss Esme to to check on it. I'm assuming that it's not on the agenda for first reading tonight because we did policy committee did approve the the the um wording. Um I'm assuming it's not on the agenda tonight because we haven't heard back from them. That is correct. Okay. Any other questions it but it wouldn't be the policy committee deciding it's the recommendation of the governance committee only that section of policy. the the 0000 is the section that the
063governance committee would recommend. Gotcha. Okay. Mr. Miller, I have a question. Sure. Um, did the governance committee check with Mr. recruit or with New Jersey school boards on any um I don't know what you would call it. I there's a reason why reorganization is set up the way that it is every year for school boards. So, um, I did some research in looking up is there anything that stops you from not voting from or stops you from voting on committees at the reorganization and there is nothing except that our bylaws state that that's how we are set up. So, we would have to change our bylaws. That's number one. Number two, most school districts set it up that way so that you can immediately you're offering the committees to the new board members at the
064January reorganization as they're being sworn in. You're making the offer and then they accept you state and then for as in our case instead of it being a second meeting in January, it's February. We would then assign or you would or the president would assign the members to the committee and then boom, you start working. So they're really the only lapse in continuity for the committees is January because they meet in December most likely. January they do not because of reorganization and then they start up again in February in most cases. So we would have to check with Mr. Kroo number one to see how our bylaws have to be changed and then number two just checking with school boards to see is this typical is this normal to change it? How many districts do
065change it? Is there a reason behind changing it? Is it good? Is it bad? I would just be curious of that. I mean, I could give you a couple few few thoughts without, you know, looking at the current bylaws. Like just in my experience statewide, committees are totally a board uh it's a board issue. It's a the committees are created by the board and it's governed by the board. So, there isn't going to be any kind of state law or policy saying when you have committees or when you have to have committees. In my experience, committees are almost never done at the actual organization meeting uh simply because with new board members coming in, they're not part of the board, they're not members of the board until they or until they're sworn in, correct, at
066the organization meeting. So, it would be unusual to have anything done. The only exceptions I can think of to that is some boards do have in their policies, and dos may have even said this at one time, that the president appoints the members of the committee. And so there are there are boards that operate that way where the president appoints them. And so theoretically that could happen that you know the president could just do that at at the organization. But I think most boards go through a process where they want uh buy in from and at least at least get input from the board members as to which committees they would like to be on uh which so I I think it's very common in in my experience with other boards as well that um
067the subject may be brought up at the organization meeting but the finalization may not happen until uh you know the following meeting and and I think that you really need that time because people have different interest and then some people have different levels of commitment and it's hard to ensure that we have full coverage and trying to we also want to be sure that we have people that can take on leadership responsibilities of committees and so it's kind of difficult to do that without actually having the dialogue especially when you have new board members. We don't talk to them about any of that until they're sworn in. So, it would be kind of hard to be able to do that. I I agree 100%. Historically, the only board members who um really it's an advantage
068to keep them on those same committees or any negotiation committees where you want consistency. So, if you have open negotiations still and ongoing, you want to keep those same board members consistent with that. And then perhaps if you're adding a new board member to that. So that would be the only one that can be done perhaps ahead of time. Say that that committee will continue with the addition or the deletion of whichever board members are in and out. Okay. All right. Any other discussion? Okay. Uh we're going to move on to student achievement and curriculum. Dr. Sain. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Uh we met on Wednesday, February 26th virtually um to discuss the changes to the gifted and talented program. Um, we discussed the some of the um results from the New Jersey Association of
069of Gifted Children audit um and some of our own analysis where we were finding that um some of the students in the gifted and talented program had high scores in either language arts or math but not in both. And so there were students who were not involved in the gifted and talented program who had scores higher than those students in the gifted and talented program in one of those areas. And so one of the goals of the uh reorganization of the gifted and talented program is to try to serve more students who um show um giftedness in the areas of language arts or mathematics. Um in order to do that we are moving to a buildingbased model and providing gifted and talented services to students in grades three through six. Um there will be some
070flexible grouping of those students based on their strengths as I said in language arts or in mathematics. Um and we will have dedicated gifted and talented teachers at each of the schools. Um we talked about how we are using both I ready data the NJSLA and our new um Naglearyi assessment to identify gifted students. And again one of the um shortcomings of our gifted and talented program was our um lack of students who would be identified as twice exceptional. So students who are both gifted but also may have a a learning disability. um students in some subcategory populations that were underrepresented. And so again, we're trying to find a way to meet the needs of any gifted child um in the district. We are going to move forward with a project-based program and um also
071looking at um using I Ready to evaluate the success of the program um once it's reorganized and perhaps even asking the students to evaluate. Um if any parents listening are interested in the um reorganization of the gifted and talented program, there is a gifted and talented parent night being held here at Dover High School on March 26th. Um we will next meet on April 8th. This concludes my report and I move that we approve items 1 through 7 on the agenda. Second. Second. Any comments or questions? I have I have a comment. I'm just amazed what level of detail that the administrators and the teachers have to go through to try to figure this out. This is a very complex uh issue but yet very promising to to bring enriched learning to a wider group
072of students which is very heartwarming to me. And Mr. I I am was lax and not thanking there's an entire committee of educators working on this and so um a special thank shout out and thank you to those educators who are um you giving of their time to make our students education better. Any other comments? I Mr. Miller I did sure question um and this I I apologize if this is something that everyone else is already aware of but um I I see under number seven the ESY uh Do public schools summer schedule. Um I was very interested to see that it at the Delk One Center, Dover Early Learning Center that which is prek that we do have summer school also. So I'm just interested is this remedial or is this an ongoing? It's
073just an ongoing time slot for it's an ongoing sorry special ed ongoing. Yeah. So it's special ed. Okay. Extended school year. Extended school year for special ed. So, it's pre-K students, but special ed preK students. Great. Okay. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, I forgot my actual questions. Um, regarding the summer programs, um, I have three questions. Um, where do North students get their summer meals? Um, why is there no extended school year or summer programming at North Dover this year? And um, for those North Dover students who are I I saw in the agenda I read more carefully that are receiving their services at another school, are we providing busing for those students? So, so answer the the first question. Sorry, it's the first question again. Um, first question, I apologize. Um, where do
074north do students get their summer meals? Pomptonium. But where do they physically go to pick them up? They will be on the outside on site. They they get in the building. Sorry. Anywhere. It's spread out throughout the district. Correct. It's not picked up. Yeah. It's going to be like wherever the building they are, it's going to be coming to them. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And then the second question is why there is no um extended school year or summer programming at North. Uh because right now through the rod grants, we're going to have construction done at the north. So we won't be able to host any summer school there. Okay. So if students who live in the north region of our town are elsewhere, are we providing busing for those students for that program? We
075are not. No. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Roll call. Mr. SO. Yes. Miss DS? Yes. Mr. Mccur? Yes. Miss Penellis? Yes. Dr. Center? Yes. Miss Sher? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Policy. Miss Penellis. Good evening. Oh, it's DC. She can go first if she wants. Community advisor. Community relations. I skipped right over it. Sorry about that, Mr. McCort. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, the community relations committee met on Monday the 4th of March. Um, present were myself, Miss Panales, Miss Phillips, and Mr. Haime. We discussed the applications received to fill the vacancy on the citizens advisory committee. Um I first want to thank everyone who submitted applications. It was a very tough decision to choose the best one out of the group. Um ultimately we did have to make a decision. We thought there may
076be more than one vacancy to fill. Um but ultimately there was just one um which um I'll be moving that appointment momentarily. Um we discussed adding an attendance policy uh for the citizens advisory committee uh to uh policy 9140 um which is on the agenda for first reading tonight. Um we also discussed uh one of the one of the roles of the citiz of the community relations committee is to hold at least two community forums throughout the year. Um it was we were very grateful that Mr. Himeme was there because that that allowed us to have a really fruitful discussion. Um at the moment we are moving towards possibly holding a forum um that is victory garden specific in late April and Mr. Haime um also u said that he would investigate looking into the
077possibility of a student forum uh in late May early June um before they check out entirely. Um, and I think both of those are are something that that our thicker community will respond well to, especially the student forum, which uh to my knowledge, that's not something we've we've done in the past. Uh, our next community relations committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1st, um, in um immediately before the next citizens advisory committee meeting. Uh that concludes my report and I would now uh like to move approval of item one which is the appointment of Elizabeth Tapia to the vacant seat on the citizens advisory committee for a term expiring on June 30th, 2025. Second. Any other comments or questions? Okay, roll call. Mr. Yes. Miss DS? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes, Miss Penales. Yes, Dr.
078Center. Yes, Miss Sher. Yes, Mr. Miller. Yes, Miss Panales. Finally, good evening. Um, the policy committee met on March 11th at 6:30 p.m. We have in attendance was was Kim Phillips, Susan Shower, Tissy McCor, myself, and of course, Mr. Luis Hyman. For first reading, we have uh policy 5701 on academ academic integrity. Um it has been revised for this policy to define and explain plagiarism and as presenting work from another source without full acknowledgement that it is that is not their own work. It speaks on the prohibited acts such as fabricating data, providing false information, cheating, obtaining copies of examination, pres preventing other students from completing their assignments, using generative artificial intelligence AI, in violation of policy 2365 and the district's AI plan, selling of assignments, or any other conduct determined by the principle that
079compromises the academic integrity for of a student's work. We also have policy 8500 on food services. It it has been statemandated and revised to update ex to to to update extended eligibility for free meals. Free lunch or breakfast should also be offered to each enrolled student who is federally ineligible for free or reduced price meal meals who has who but but who has an annual household income that is not less than 186% and not more than 199% of the federal poverty level as determined pursuant to NJSA. This policy also defines um terms related um to the policy such as categorically eligible eligible student emergency meals among others. We also have policy 9163 expectator code of conduct for intercolastic events. This is a new policy and the board of education promotes a physically and emotionally safe
080and healthy playing environment at intercolastics events and insists on good sportmanship to be exhibited at all times by student athletes, coaches, officials and expectators as such events. This policy defines the expectation of students for inhome and away games. It is a guide and it has a disciplinary f framework of four offenses listing first, second, third, and finally a suspension from attending the remainder of the season. Um, our district suggests to three options. Also, this policy 9140 citizens advisory committee. Um, as mentioned by um Mr. M court. The Dover Board of Education recognizes the importance of meaningful parental and community input and advice. To that end, we are seeking assistance from community members who would like to become more actively involved in our schools and be part of a CAC. The CAC consists of 10 members
081from the public partnered with members of the board of ed. The board of ed will appoint members of the CAC for a period of 10 months. This has been revised through a process that ensures representation from all facets of our community. We will have a new attendance portion um which indicates that any CAC member who fails to attend three consecutive CAC meetings without prior notification should be deemed to have resigned. And the committee considered this to be a fair and a fair agreement so that we have members who want to participate and bring us ideas and we want to encourage community members to um be on the lookout when we send this invitation so that um you can also be considered for our next period. We also discuss discuss a new proposed PD policy. I
082don't see the name. I'm also confused um the number yet. So I wanted to know if because I don't see it on the agenda. It has been submitted also for further review with STS for the peed one. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to say what we talked about the board members the board member use of electronic devices at board meetings. The board of is indicated to fostering public confidence in the operation of the school district by conducting well organized and meaningful public meetings. The use of personal electronic communication devices during board meetings for private business or communication is considered distracting. Moreover, engaging in private communications that excludes other board members and the audience may lead to perceptions of suspicion and mistrust. Therefore, all personal electronic communication devices shall be silenced at all times during public
083and executive sessions on the board. For second reading, we have policy 9320, policy 7441, policies 5710, policy 5533, policy 5516, policy 5512, policy 5460, policy 511, and policy 2365. For regulation on second reading we have regulation 9320 on cooperation with law enforcement agencies, regulation 7441 on electronic surveillance in school buildings and on school grounds, regulation 5533 on a student smoking and regulation 5516 on the use of electronic communication devices. Um on this regulation we note that it's been edited to reflect our handbook and only the high school students school students um are permitted to the use of cell phones during lunchtime. We have job descriptions to be updated um transportation supervisor, bus aid, athletic trainer and confidential operations and administrative assistant. This is a new position and the confidential part um has to do with
084this employee being responsible for work orders and collecting confidential matters. Um, we review um things that were brought up by the board members such as policy 9163. And among other things, our next policy committee meeting will be on April 8th. And with this, I conclude my report and make a motion to approve items one to four. Second. Second questions. Dr. Singer. Um my first question is in regards to policy 8500. Um there are two options um in the policy. Bottom of page 15, top of page 16. Neither of them are indicated that we are choosing, but I I don't think that's possible. I think we have to choose one. Correct. And that's our that's on that was a misstep on ours. We're choosing option two. Okay. Perfect. And then on policy 9163 um it talks
085about on a first defense the suspension will be um for attending the next two away events. So how would we enforce a suspension at an away game? Um wouldn't a suspension from a home game where we would be in control of the audience be more easy to more easily enforced? Definitely at our home games it'll be easier to enforce. Um, in speaking to the RA, um, if an injection or removal of a player or coach occurs, the official has to file the report and contact the school principal, athletic director to notify them of the incident. Uh, the objective is to continue that communication amongst all the ads. Um, in preparing this specific policy, our AD made sure to meet with all ads in county so that they're all aligned with the same procedure, same protocol
086that we are able to enforce this whether it's home or away game. Uh, and if a spectator is removed from the event game, the host will call and notify once again the athletic director and the building principal. Can you describe how that would h Let's just say I get thrown out for being an obnoxious fan at a sporting event. How would anyone know that I'm Christa Sainer and I'm the one that the email went out about? Um, you know, across the county. Um, the uh the games are recorded and there are cameras. So, what we've done in the past and our own I can speak to our process. What we've done is we have provided a clip with the fans from the other team to the ad of the administration as well to say hey
087these are the parents in which we have specific situation or also if we are able to identify who the student is player we can then identify that through the coaches as well. Okay perfect thank you Mr. um sort of piggybacking off of what Dr. er was asking, one of the things that came up during the policy committee meeting, I think you may have alluded to this a little bit, was um the need for a u universal process at away games for identifying um people who might fall a foul of this policy and um and and to Dr. Sanders point enforcement. So, um, you'd mentioned that, um, Mr. Bulock was going to have a discussion with the other ads. Um, I'm just wondering if that's happened since. That has happened. Absolutely, that has happened. And the
088discussion has been what I just read now. That's how they're going to make sure that they're within compliance as well as that they're um, you know, they're the suspension or consequence administered also by the NJSIA. So, will there be someone at at um away games that is directed to be the eyes or are we just going to revert back to film? Uh we'll revert to to film, but as well as with the staffing from the the opposing team away. Um there is because of the connection between all the ads and communication that they have on a monthly basis. They've all agreed on the process so that they are able to hold our spectators accountable in event situation like that. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Roll call. Mr. SO. Yes. Miss Downs. Yes. Mr.
089Mort. Yes. Miss Penelis. Yes. Dr. Center. Yes. Miss Sher? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Finance and FA facilities. Miss Shower. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Uh, it has been a busy time for the Finance and Facility Committee. We met on March 12th, started at 5:30 p.m. and we we went a little over and extended past 7:00 to about 7:15 7:20. Location was at the Belmont building and present were uh Mr. Sabagulu, Mr. Haime, uh Dr. Ser, Miss Asavdo, Susan Shower, and Scott Miller. We discussed um at length the projects that are in progress and updated information about the um space utilization plan for the Route 46 building, prior Dover Sport building as we all know it by um with a confirmed correct purchase price of $1.54 million. moving forward with that, submitting our paperwork um to the
090state and awaiting uh word back on that um approval of our purchase. We uh continued discussion of the ROD projects coming up for the HVAC at Dover Middle School, North Dover with the low bidder being Hannah HVAC contractor um which is on the agenda tonight for vote. Uh due to the increased cost, 26 units will be included in this project instead of the original planned 41 units. uh Dover High School generator project. A low bidder was Manor Electric at $464,000. Uh the generator will be on order and hopefully late winter delivery um and installation thereafter and the replacement of the North Dover playground mulch remediation project. again um after the weather had cleared and the mulch has continued to be removed, remediation and replacement is now in progress. Correct. Because those kids, it's springtime, they've
091got to get out there and start playing. Agreed. Uh we we discussed at length the uh 202526 annual school budget as as Mr. Sabagula presented to us the uh lower amount in anticipated state aid figures presented somewhat of a challenge um after receiving aid over the past two years declined a little bit. This was a significant decline. He gave us a full presentation of the tenative budget which will be presented tonight um for a vote by the board and moves on to the county uh tomorrow on the 19th. The committee was advised of the many challenges with with this budget with significantly lower state aid, rising health insurance costs, and of course our fluid enrollment is always a challenge which uh Mr. Miller also addressed when we did attend the Department of Education hearing. Um,
092and I do believe that there were other districts that suffered the same challenge. So, we're not alone with that. Cost-saving options were discussed between the committee and administration. Committee members posed many questions and concerns regarding the continuation of the planned $12 million sixth grade annex building project. Um, and the timing and the feasibility of doing it now. The budget will you utilize the two full 2% tax levy and bank capped and there will be an anticipated tax increase to the average homeowner of a total of $50.81 per month. Noting that the $12 million construction of the pre-fabricated sixth grade annex building is responsible for $25.81 of that $50.81. Um committee members continued to be and he air their concerns about the impact of the increase of the on the do taxpayer lengthy discussion of the
093timing and need to move forward with this and taking into account all of the items discussed uh in the past regarding the referendum were all taken into account. The committee anticipates further discussion tonight when we vote. Um, we also reviewed the Atlantic leasing contract for the copers and another copy of that was sent home just today to board members. So, that is the uh in total my report. I will move items or ask to move items 1 through 26 on the agenda which include um the budget which include the discussion and contract for the uh sixth grade annex building which include several other uh preschool uh or actually transportation contracts, the preschool aid grant, the Pa grant um and I I think that's it. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Dr. Ser, I
094just wanted to acknowledge and thank Bristol Myers, Squib, um, Miss Derso, and the Wolfful family for their generous contributions to our district students. Anyone else? I I had a question. Is this the first time we got the Wolfful scholarship? I don't recall that. It's quite generous and I don't remember ever seeing that before. Okay. No, it's very generous. Yeah, we we did some research and we haven't received this money before. That's great. Um, one of the questions I had looking through the line items, uh, triggered a memory file bank and that's where we store our records. Um so are all our records uh kept at file bank or do we still I'll take that question if you want or do we still store some on premise recent ones we we keep it for the auditors
095like last three years we have it okay and then everything everything else is we we send it yearly that is does that include all the student records like if so you have to go back and look at um some of the student records as far as I know they're there but not all of them okay so the ancient ones like mine are still there. Uh, that's a tough question. We need to we need to request that record. We still have them on tablet. Okay. All right. Um, and the other question I had for our investigator, uh, looking at the dollar amount, I wasn't sure there were two lines there. Is it just for two investigations? It was $1324. So, the 13 uh $1,324 was for 30 investigations in February and 15 investigations in March. The
096February uh investigations were $800 and then the March was $560. That's where you get the combined 1300. Okay. All right. That makes sense. Thank you. Anyone else? I just want to make a a small correction. The Hannah's mechanical was approved last board meeting for the Rod Grant projects. Just want to correct that. Okay. It's not on tonight's agenda. It's not on this agenda yet. Okay. I did have two questions, Mr. Miller. Um, included in tonight's finance and facility is the um anticipated student count and preliminary tuition rate to Mine Hill. So, I'm just wondering, the numbers to me seem to be much lower. Uh but again I don't have the inside experience from the last few years. So I'm just wondering is the number the total number lower than it was last year and was
097last year's anticipated number reached or because I know sometimes they you know they give us an anticipated number and then we don't meet that number. Actually we agree on that number. uh we check the attendance and we go through with uh Minehill administration and they agree and uh they come up with like a number. We just do a estimate number. We usually we usually pretty close. Was it pretty close last year? Last year I have to check the records. Yeah. Okay. Um and then my second question was in reference to something that I had received several phone calls from from the community. Um, and I had to say that I really had no idea what it was because it's it's out of our area of management if for for lack of a better word. I
098know we don't manage the schools, but it's out of our area because it is covered under the preschool grant. But I did find in the bill's pay list, Outfront Media, Inc. um a charge of $250, $1,800, and $1,800. And when looking to see what Outfront Media was, I could see that it was the new billboard that's on Route 15 that um advertises our prek. So that prek and any decisions and also that amount do not fall under the need for a vote a vote from the uh the board. But um the community members that I did hear from found the um the billboard to be a little bit deceptive because the first word is free on it. So as we know there is no cost for preschool here in Dover and so technically it is
099free but it's actually no tu tuition charge to the families for the students. Um, so it is free to the families and there's no tuition, but the do taxpayer does pick up the cost of transportation for our preschool. So for the people looking for preschool, it is free, but it's not free to the do taxpayer. So um, I just was asking Mr. Sabagul, how long is the contract for for this billboard? And could we at any point change the wording to be more realistic on the billboard? I mean, it's free for the parents. That's was the the purposes for I don't know h how we can change it. I mean, we can work on it. Uh but it ends in August. It's a small contract. It was like six, seven months contract. It didn't start
100at the beginning of the year. I remember, but I can't I don't have the exact start date, but it ends in August. So, it's six or seven months long. And then and the graphic that they use now we can't it would cost money to start all over exchange for it but the purpose is it's like a free for the parents that's that's the purpose that bring the parents bring their kids. Okay. All right. Thank you for that explanation and that concludes my report. And any questions? Oh Mr. McCort. Yeah. Um I have a few. Um I'll do the easy ones first. Um just a note on item Nuh There is a zero missing under architecture and engineering. Um it's that type. Yeah. Um the item 13 is that correct that this is a contract for
101this school year and not the next school year with Patterson? Yes. This school year. So we just didn't have uh is this this is something new? Um I imagine then it's probably a new placement or Yeah. Seems a little late in the year to be is this is this amount for the balance of this school year. Yeah, this is for this year. Okay. 2425. Um all students comes and they go right during the year. Um the generator. Yes. The note was made that the hope was would be to have it um received by late winter. Was that this winter? Yeah. February. This winter. Yes. Okay. So, we have it already or I mean after we approve they're going to order it but they're going to prepare everything. They're going to prepare the concrete slab and
102everything's uh inside the connections going to be made. They're going to just wait for the generator when it comes in couple days should be so so we should receive it pretty quickly once after today. Yeah, actually February. That was my my I think it seems to me we're giving it February of what year? Uh uh 2026 this coming 26. Yeah. Okay. That my because winter's over in two days and I was like sorry to interrupt. No, thank you. Because that that was where I was going. So I appreciate that. Yeah. Um they didn't like back order this time. Yeah. No, that that that's why I asked because it was um I I used to be in the business of selling these so I was a little surprised to hear. I wasn't expecting that they would
103take two days. Yeah. Um um general question regarding the tenative budget. Um and I'll obviously have more questions about it next month, but I just want to make sure that I'm understanding the numbers correctly. Last year we needed to raise about 18 and a half million in taxes. This year it's almost 23. In layman's terms, that would equate to a roughly $3.6 million tax increase on our levy. Is that I'm I'm I'm understanding that correctly. Yes, correct. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that. Um lastly, the annex. Um admittedly, uh you know, this this was this process began under the last board. Um, and my biggest question is the words um, modular building are used. Are we talking about trailers in the in the traditional sense of what a trailer looks like
104or Okay. No, I mean from outside you can't really tell it's trailers or anything. They're going to bring like uh uh separately and they're going to merge and all the siding and everything else going to look like the regular school. You can't really tell. There's a trade. So, this amount is a purchase price, not a lease price. Yes, purchase price. It's going to be ours. This is going to be a a a building that will have a foundation and it will never move. It's an essentially an addition without having to start from scratch. Yes. And there are some aspects of the building that will will not be modular. There are certain pieces uh gymnas gym for the sixth graders and some other parts of the building. But essentially the classrooms will be modular and um
105the plan um shows that this will be a longlasting facility as long as we maintain it. Is it expandable? I mean If if this ends up being not enough space in 5 years, could we add a second floor? We can. I mean, not the second floor, but we can expand uh there's room to go a little further. Expandable if you want if there's a space. Okay. Um I would the one thing I don't I don't know if the finance facilities has seen this. Um I would like to see some if we have mockups of this. Actually they've seen similar one at south playing field they built the same uh but I can share the picture. Okay. I can share it again. I trust they did the same. Yeah they did the same thing. Yeah. I
106just I the one thing you know I want to commend the administration for finding a middle way. Obviously $69 million was too much. Um, and my biggest concern having been someone who um, and I may be the only board member that experienced this who learned in trailers um, in middle school and in high school. Um, I wanted to make absolutely sure that that's not what this was. Um, so thank you for clarifying that. And that is I believe all the questions. Yep, that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. McCort. I I went to high school in trailers in the early 70s and believe me they were not like the trailers nowadays. So it definitely something that I was not going to want to have again. Um but I do have a question and maybe Mr.
107Croo can answer this question. I know in the past with trailers um there's a limit to how long you can use temporary trailer um classroom space. Correct. I I think so, but I the way this and I don't h I've been talking to the architects just recently a little bit about this project because there are certain applications we have to make that I'm going to be assisting with. And um the way they described it to me, they're going to be getting me drawings that we need to submit. Um but uh the way they described it to me, it's it's they were very careful to say not, you know, it's a modular building. The word building was very important because they explained that yes it comes together like sometimes they build modular houses now. Yes. Where
108they come together and he he the way he the architect explained it to me it is not a temporary structure. Well that that's what my question was going to be. So if this were a trailer and it was a temporary solution it would have to have a start and an end date. You couldn't just keep it there forever if it was a trailer to be used as classroom space. Yeah I think that's true. There is a shelf. I'm not I think the shelf life is probably longer now than it would have been at some point. Yeah. For example, when we did the um the middle school construction, the East do addition to that building. That trailer once we were finished with construction could not be left at that school for anything else. And we moved
109it up here to North Do and it was used for office space and then then eventually it was renovated in classroom space again. But there it had to be moved. So there is I know that there is regulation that states that. So, this is not this is a permanent building. It will be on a foundation and it's not going to move. Correct. Great. Thank you, Dr. Ser. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Um, I do think it is Mr. McCor brought up a good point. I do think for the board members who have not seen as much as the finance committee, it would be a good idea to share some of the pictures and floor plans, the schematics that we've seen with the rest of the board. I think that would be good for them and it
110might be good for the budget presentation I as well so that the community can see what they're getting um with their tax dollars. Yes, all the projects is going to be on the budget presentation but I can also email the sample pictures. Thank you. And if you if you look at the construction that's currently on route 15 for do tubular alloys that is a modular construction with big obviously a lot bigger but they're bringing in the walls and it goes up quickly but it enables us to be able to move more quickly on the project so that we can have the space occupied within two-year period. Absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up. Um I think this has been mentioned before but I just want to ask again um start this would be 2627 school
111year. Yes, we would be September 206 September 2026. Okay. Any other questions? Everybody good? Okay. Roll call. MO. Yes. Miss DS? Yes. Mr. Mor? Yes. Miss Penales? Yes. Dr. Center? Yes. Miss Shower? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Okay, upcoming board of education meetings. April 21st, 24th rather, is a Thursday. So, uh, everyone mark your calendars. It's a Thursday. It's our budget hearing. Um, the and then we have a May 13th meeting and June 24th. Um, we have uh some New Jersey school board training sessions uh listed here. And then we have a facility request from a do soccer club um youth to use the youth soccer field and let's see I'm going to old business. Do we have any old business? Um something had just popped into my head and I apologize Mr. Hime for not
112communicating this earlier. Um, I just wondered if you had any updates on your conversations with Mine Hill regarding the um I guess it would be the 26 27 calendar. I have not at this time. Okay. Just check. So, I have I have one item. We need a board picture. Can we agree to have our board picture taken next month or is it too late? Miss Valdez is working on a date and get that going for next month. So, we're working on it. Okay. Yeah. Even if we just use an iPhone. Yes, we'll work on it. We got it. Okay. Before the school year is up. Yes, sir. All right. Uh any new business? No. Okay. Uh now we're coming to our second public comment portion. The board recognizes the value of public comment on educational
113issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters. To ensure fair and orderly expression of such comment, each statement shall be held to a time period of three minutes. Public comments not restricted to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. For those who wish to make public comment remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Remote comments will be read by a member of the board of education. The board of education will alternate between in-person and online comments. Please understand that public comment portions of our agenda are not structured as an question and answer sessions, but rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. The board may
114or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not present permitted to to respond in public to comments about students or employees. Please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability or defamation. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to come forward? Please state your name and address. Good evening everybody. John Keniglio, 24 Taylor Town Road, Montville. So, uh, first I would just like to thank everyone that
115came out for ReadAcross America to come to our schools. The students and the staff enjoyed seeing everybody come out and coming into our schools and coming into our classrooms. So, thank you uh for coming out for that. Much appreciated. Secondly, my family and I went to also see the Little Chapahores on Friday, which was outstanding. We um my my children had never actually seen the movie or anything, so it was all kind of new to them. And soon as we got home, they asked to if we had the movie and we busted out the DVD and it was it was good. So, um, very well done, excellent play. Um, it was nice to see some former students up there in high school performing, which is awesome. So, uh, kudos to everybody that was involved in
116that thing. That was just totally amazing. Students, staff, uh, even Mr. Carl down there with the drums and our other staff members that were in the, um, the musicians there. It was it was really fun to see. So, thank you to everybody that participated there. Um, my one item that I wanted to bring up tonight was something that we've discussed a couple times or I've discussed a couple times with the board and it's something that I would like to discuss another time. It's dual language. So, from what I understand, we are going to continue with this dual language program going into fourth grade next year. So currently it's K through three and from what I am gathering and hearing it's going to progress to a fourth grade level. Now as I stated earlier two months
117ago or three months ago whenever the last time I spoke about it I have and the staff here has very serious concerns about this program. There currently is nothing on the district website about dual language. I am wondering if the parents even fully understand what this program is. If the board truly understands what this program is because there is not a lot of information available. Um, and if this is something that we're offering, we should be proud of this. We should be publicizing this. But we have some serious concerns here. And about two months ago, we looked at test scores. And I know some members of the public were upset with the test scores. And these students that are in these dual language programs are not doing well. Just going to be honest. And what
118I would like to see and I think what the board should be able to see are results from K through3 for the students that are currently in dual language and the students who are not in dual language in the same grade level because you're going to see a difference. And this is a serious serious issue that we need to really look at. And I I I'm really passionate about this and I've spoken as you know multiple times about this and we really need to look at this and look at the scores and get some data. Is this working? Because if it's not working, we need to change it. And this is I I would say this is the number one thing for staff right now. And when we look at test scores and we say
119what's happening, why are we failing? Why are we not being proficient? that's coming down on our staff and we have to fix this. We have to understand what's happening here that students can't read in third grade. That's a problem. We need to look at that. Thank you. Uh any comments on the Google form? Okay. Anyone else from the public that wishes to speak? Okay. Okay, I'm going to close this portion of the meeting. Uh, do you have any comments on that? No. And I I definitely understand that there has been concerns with dual language, you know, and I will share that with the committee that went down to North Planefield and did the visit. Uh, they were very impressed with the results that they were providing in in North Planefield. We were also able to
120look at data in North Planefield, how the growth was going and they've had now the program for about eight years. And like I mentioned in my my superintendent report, you know, we realize that we are uh doing some good things and there are other areas that we need to grow in and we're going to continue to make those efforts as a team to continue to grow our dual language program and I'll definitely revisit to see to make sure that there is more than enough information out there for our families and our community to be able to read up on it as well. Thank you. Anybody from the board have any other comments? I have a question. Uh Mr. Is this I know that it's been the dual language program has been um in motion for
121this is our third year or fourth year. Oh, it's our fourth year. Is this are the first year in which students will be taking the first standardized testing for third grade? For third grade. Correct. Okay. So maybe this year we will next well early next year we will see the results of these tests and we can compare. Correct. Okay. So I guess the the question is also that the I ready data is that you know is that showing growth at the same rate for the students in the dual language as opposed to those not I would have to sit and look at comparison I was I know there's been some growth I just wouldn't have that I wouldn't want to speak without having all that information with me. Okay. All right. Um anything else anybody
122has a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Have a second. A second. All those in favor? I opposed. All right. Have a good night, everyone. You, too.