001then i think we're going to start the meeting i'd like to call this meeting to order due to the covet 19 health emergency and in order for the board of education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held via video conference and stream live on youtube on the district website at www.ebnet.org in addition members of the public may provide comment at this meeting through zoom by entering the url meeting id and password you see before you on the screen upon joining the meeting your participation will be muted to ensure that there is no disruption to the business being conducted by the board of education will the secretary please call the role mr carangelo here mrs chu here mr sismar here mr hong here mrs lax here mrs guass mrs reese here mr winston
002i see mr winston yes and president becker here we have a quorum please rise to salute the plan i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states and to the republic for which it will stand one nation nation under god indivisible indivisible with liberty and justice for all the new jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of it to attend the meetings of public bodies in accordance with the provisions of this act the east brunswick board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published at the board of education office written notice was also provided to the sentinel the newark star ledger the home news interview and the municipal clerk of the sponsor all board of education meetings with the exception
003of executive session discussions or videotape for later broadcasts it is the policy of the board of education that videotaped meetings are not edited for any purpose so individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening we're going to start off this evening as we always do with the superintendent's report dr moleski thank you president becker and good evening to everyone but tonight i want to reassure the east brunswick school community that in addition to returning to full days of instruction we will be integrating all the activities and student experiences that were enjoyed before the onset of the covid pandemic we will accomplish this methodically using data like we did last school year to make adjustments along the way that protect our school community populations but still with
004a focus on safely returning students to school and once again giving them and their families the full east brunswick public schools experience congratulations tonight to mr joseph crotchfield director of financial services mrs tara roseving senior manager in the entire finance department the district has been awarded the asbo international certificate of excellence and financial reporting award for the eighth the eighth consecutive year this is a testament to the diligence and high quality work the financial services department team puts forth every single day and i want to thank mr bernardo juliana who is the business administrator for the district and for having the vision and foresight to create a financial services department structure that supports excellence and recruits the best talent it should be a comfort to the east brunswick community that our finance department represents the
005highest caliber of fiscal transparency and accountability of taxpayer resources congratulations to them thank you dr valeski well deserved as the summer winds down i'd like to remind everyone of some important dates student information forums will be available through parent access tomorrow friday august 20th beginning at 3 p.m please take a few minutes to fill out these important annual forums tomorrow i will also send school opening guidance along with answers to the questions we have received by email as part of my routine east brunswick public schools update student schedules and teacher assignments will be available through parent access on friday august 27th at 3 pm an orientation for all schools will be held the week of august 30th bus passes will be available through parent access on monday august 30th after 3 pm if you do
006not have internet access please contact the school's main office to obtain copies of these important documents and forms and finally we knew it was coming thursday september 9th is the first day of school for all students thank you dr valesky and i'd like to echo congratulations on our finance team with an outstanding accomplishment to be recognized eight years in a row for fiscal exclu excellence thank you to all of you and now it's time for the good of the cause for the public members of the public may provide comment at this meeting the resume by entering the url meeting id and password you see before you on the screen in order to be recognized use the chat feature select the zoom meeting host then enter and send your name to the host you will be
007recognized to speak when your name is called and individuals will be invited to speak in the order in which we have received your request i'm going to repeat that understand if you raise your hand or make any motion we don't see everyone on screen you won't be recognized in order to be recognized use the chat feature select the zoom meeting host then enter and send your name to the host i'd also like to remind the public at the board of ed recognizes that this is a time for the poor for the public to come speak to the board please don't mistake our silence for anything other than respectful listening this is your time to come talk to us not to get into a dialogue with the board this isn't a town meeting all questions that
008anyone asked at the good of the cause dr velesky will make sure your questions are addressed by the relevant administrator as soon as possible again we're here to listen to you the board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff participants will be limited to three minutes speaking duration is there anyone wishing to speak to the board yes mrs becker um first we have um oleg dulin good evening hi um uh hi dr velazquez we exchanged emails um hi my name is oleg doon and i live
009at 13 lycoming lane east brunswick new jersey um i don't want to get into a debate over vaccine efficacy or masks with other families i don't i i don't even want to debate freedoms or responsibilities either i'm just going i'm here to stay for the record that i'm here to support the mask mandate and i also want the board to know that many of my friends neighbors and family agree with me as well my reasoning is simple and logical yes we all want choices everybody who opposes masks says they want choices we want we want choices also not sending my kids to in person school is not a choice schools closing because of a quoted outbreak is not a valid option to us either everyone wants choices vaccinating your child is a choice as any
010other as some parents say in in fact it is but that choice is not available to me or to other families of kids under 12. in the absence of vaccines our choices are limited or non-existent masks only work if everyone is wearing them the choice is therefore between all kids at school and all staff wearing masks to protect one another and and the community at large or a very real possibility of schools going back to virtual which would not be acceptable to to to my household to my family therefore until vaccines are available i fully support mask mandate as the only logical choice thank you very much thank you do we have anyone else wishing to speak to the board bernie yes uh next we have uh james carr good evening james excuse me can
011you hear me yes we can okay hopefully i can make this quick here um so on august 14th superintendent valeski sent out an email or sent out a message as we said regardless of your beliefs by last year in the rapid decline of positive codes and coping 19 cases in our schools it's a direct result of masking and baskination vaccinations was deniable so first of all uh superintendent velasque i find that kind of condescending kind of insulting the superintendent in essence is looking at each parent and students of the district in the eye and basically saying i don't care in your beliefs carrying your evidence what your doctors have to say i don't care what your scientists have to say you don't matter the only belief that the superintendent seems to think that matters is
012his and those are the governor the superintendent provides zero data to back up his undeniable beliefs on masking governor exec the governor's executive order also provides zero data no state agency agency to it has provided data i have data as a matter of fact i'm going to be sending uh to the board 23 studies are you harms of extended max mask use i'll also be sending the board 29 studies that suggest massive surgical and cloth are effective in reducing transmission i urge the board and the superintendent to read at least a handful of these basically what this really boils down to is a deportatorial imposition of a medical device on our children without our informed consent i think the burden of proof that full day masking poses no danger to the kids of east brunswick
013now lies with the superintendent and the board superintendent on the board also bear the responsibility also bear the liabilities should any harm befall any student as a result of the mass mandate and as reminded to everybody the superintendent is an elected non-voting member of the board the community's expectations of you the board the representatives is not just the rubber stamp the beliefs of an unelected superintendent but to the board i'd like to read a section there's three of the fundamentals of school board membership and it basically states the board members who are community representatives means representing the entire community not just the area in which they live their particular supporters board members have a responsibility to listen to all citizens explain to those of the particular point of view the needs of the school system
014as a whole so the community strongly urges the board to hold a vote decide to ask the governor to rescind his punitive mandate the wall school district has courage howell school district has courage they ask the governor to rescind for those of you with courage to stand with our children we will support you because you who lack courage we will vote you out what are you guys going to do when my children start getting sick from wearing these masks what is the plan you guys always have a choice accepting the consequences of your choices is going to tell the community where your obedience lies with the state or with our kids thanks for your time guys i'm sorry sir were you done he was finished mrs becker okay thank you very much and the next
015person wishing to speak to the board uh yes we have arlene shoemaker hello early mr shoemaker uh you will need to um there you go i'd like to address the board in favor of the mask mandate it is the only proven device we have for children under 12 that will allow them to go to school safely so that they themselves don't get sick and they don't bring this illness home to their family members there are many children in our community including the child in my own home who will go to first grade this year who live in a multi-generational household so this is not just parents and children this is also grandparents as well we can see with clear evidence the result of choice for masks around the country in states such as florida and
016texas and arizona mississippi arkansas where the governor himself has expressed regret in signing a mass mandate ban he is trying to get the legislation there to reverse that decision so i am again in support of the mask mandate i request that any child who shows up to a bus stop without a mask not be admitted onto the bus any child who shows up to a building without a mask not be admitted into the building and any child who takes off their mask in a school building please be have their parents pulled to have them picked up immediately thank you and have a great day thank you and who is next please uh next we have uh ryan mangles hello ryan hello how are you sorry about that um okay i i'm not here i'm just
017going to read what i wrote um okay so i'm disappointed at the events that unfolded on august 5th here at one of our elementary schools a school where our youngest most vulnerable students come to receive their public education a school where the children are least affected by covet and most affected by masks i think the east brunswick community is owed an apology we all make mistakes but can anyone explain why and for what purpose has served for murphy to choose our elementary school did he let you address him or did he just showboat his political agenda he endangered the police officers the community as well as the public elementary school itself murphy is a very divisive politician he has divided the people of east brunswick in new jersey with his rhetoric and name calling he's
018gotten one side to live in fear and believe that they are right and righteous and that the other side is endangering people for being hesitant to take an emergency vaccine or to have mass on their children in school we have to make sure the teachers don't instill fear in our children by disciplining them over improper mess wearing forcing them to wear masks when they're not required by order or sending parents inappropriate emails we need to spend more time teaching standard education and not grooming our children towards certain ideologies ideology should be taught in homes and in places of worship my children have not been taught to write script or type um sydney sugarman a discord just a court judge in new york once said teach the children how to think not what to think teach
019them how to think not what to think we cannot let somebody like our governor who shows fear and division mandate what is necessary for our children murphy does not follow the science he demonstrated that last year when he said i'm just not ready yet he is inconsistent in his policies on masking you yourself and the other superintendents of middlesex county pointed it out and the letter addressed to him at the end of last school year yet you still follow his mandates i can't even imagine what the contract tracing or quarantine policies will be this year i'm urging the school board at the very least just the very least to oppose his mandates and restore the decision-making to you the board of educators dr velesky if you and the board decide that you want to have
020mass on the children in school let it be your decision alone do not take the easy way out and stand behind someone else's decision there's plenty of support for you in east brunswick you have a bunch of good doctors that work here the mayor is a doctor you can tap them for any kind of decision and science that you need made i think the board of education with dr bless you should make that decision on what you feel is right for east brunswick students and not be held under blanket mandates for all the school in new jersey by you accepting this murphy has laid down the foundation for other mandates to follow do not yourselves climb your own political ladder on the backs of our community and children stand up against murphy please or any
021elected official that would take the decisions away from this board you say you swore an oath to the government plea governor police were an oath to our children that you are charged to they say you want the community to work together then allow our board of elected officials to make the decision not just one power hungry politician and i i do believe that if the board comes together i think it will bring the community together instead of allowing murphy with more mandates honestly the goodness mr mangles your time is up [Music] thank you and who is next please next we have alexander spielman hello alexander good evening board and superintendent my name is alexander skillman uh the six douglas rhodes brunswick i am an alumni from the class of 2011. um hearing what the governor
022has stated about our children when it comes to the mass mandates and seeing that it is now at the decision of the board to do such things from the next school year i am concerned for the students uh physical and mental capabilities and safety due to the fact that we'll be doing a blanket mandate on all children irregardless of informed consent to the parents and on top of that also making it so that they we're basically mandating it to the children without even considering their own medical histories and other forms of health doing this is going to be extremely dangerous because what may be beneficial for one child may be detrimental to another and the last thing we need is an issue where we're having a negative reaction to these things until such time as
023we have proper science and data which has never been promoted are presented by us locally statewide federally or by any health provider that has suggested these things this decision should be coming from a parent and their medical professionals who are dealing with that child and should not be coming from government officials or board members who may be doing these things either out of fear or through compliance by some other special offering have a good evening thank you and who is next to speak to the board please next we have shannon christie good evening shannon hi good evening um i would like to just address my concerns um so my daughter is going to be three in october and she has um a speech delay and she would be entering the program for children with learning
024disabilities and when i speak to the district they talked to me about um her speech therapy now with the mask mandates coming up they talk about how during those sessions she will be as a three-year-old who was not vaccinated during those sessions her mask will be off now um and her speech pathologist will also have her mask off um and then also with these mask mandates it uh states for lunch and music my daughter is three um i'm immune compromised and we live in a generational home my daughter is now going to be exposed so with her learning disabilities with other children who are in the school with no remote you know learning option this year i'm now put in a position where my daughter's um learning you know is gonna be put on i
025mean i have other options for her speech um but you know her health is at risk because i have to make the choice because there is no model or anything that i'm being told other than that mask will be off for an hour in the in that building where you're saying it's mandated that mask needs to be put on so it's a little misunderstanding for me because she's three years old and i am petrified for her life because you guys are saying this is running rapid it's mandated and i need to put you know she ness is going into school and it's mandated but it's going to be off for an hour for these sessions that she is going into school for this um this um support for her learning and then i'm also concerned
026for those speech pathologists who are there to help me and to help her aid in that learning so i'm also scared about this spread in that um so i'm just a little confused on that because my daughter then will be coming home potentially spreading to i don't know who if that's the issue um so i just wanted to to have that be addressed and you know more information on that because when i asked the child study team they just let me know that the mask will be off for those sessions mrs christie i'm sorry your time is up now thank you bernie who is next speak to the board please we now have uh wendy siegel hello wendy hi guys uh while i sat before you a year ago pleading with you to help for
027the teachers and the students i've been dealing with a severe immunocompromised diagnosis for my youngest child i am here today to thank you for following a state mandate i don't know why we're even arguing this tonight i had hoped i was coming here to find out what the day now looks like because i now have to figure out my kid can't be around other kids if their masks aren't on so i'm trying to figure out what the day looks like and i don't know why we're even discussing a point that we're following what our governor has said um and i'm kind of terrified because we're all acting like it's just business as usual and covet wasn't that bad for kids last year um and delta looks like it's going to be a nightmare um so
028i'm hoping at some point in this meeting we hear about what the day is going to look like i thank you uh actually in my circle of life i talk about how i stood before you last year begging and cleaning and the kids were safe and at the end of the day i can say my superintendent my board of ed did what was right and the students were safe and the teachers were safe please good lord i understand you can't just make a virtual option appear without the governor's approval there are immuno-compromised children that we don't have any choices now you want to talk about sides and discussions there is no family choice if i want my child to have an education i just have to be terrified that the heavy medication she has to
029be on she's not gonna get sick um so thank you for doing what's right and doing what a state mandate and the state we live in please um please don't let anybody sway you either way i need to know that my children are going to be safe this year thank you very much thank you and again anyone with concerns about a specific child or staff member can absolutely get in touch with dr valesky's office tomorrow whenever you'd like and he will make sure that you get answers to your questions mrs becker we have no one else in the queue we have no one else in the queue correct and seeing none i closed the public portion oh i'm sorry can i i'm sorry i stepped away for a second i was wondering if i could
030please this this is uh not how we conduct uh the meeting so uh mrs becker okay i'm sorry this individual is um saying that they had stepped away they had not uh texted to speak until after you closed the public portion it's your call i understand that sometimes we get called away from things and we're all people and parents so um was that lisa lisa gurvich that's okay i understand and again um for future meetings i want to encourage you please make sure you get in the queue yes yes um we certainly will give have three minutes for you but then the public portion is closed okay thank you very much i really appreciate it um i just like to say that i'm gonna as i'm coming to this um first i again i don't
031understand why this is even subject to a debate given the fact that there is a state mandate where the governor of our state has taken information from medical professionals to implement the mass mandate um i have personal experience i teach in a neighboring district that was open for full days last year and we wore our masks for full days our students were our masks for full days and we had there there were and i teach till i have a child with special needs who's able to wear one i teach children with special needs and even the children in the autism program in my school district were able to keep their masks on for the day without any issues um you know learn the school day felt very normal um you know our students were really
032just i mean the number one comment i heard from the students when we returned to school was just i'm so happy to be back you know that was really you know the number one priority really was you know we need to just you know to get our students back to school and we need to get our students back to school in a safe manner um you know we spent our summer we just returned we've been in canada for the summer because um our family lives there my teen daughter worked as a camp counselor they have they still have much stricter masking rules there she worked as a camp counselor where she was as you know as she's 17 as and she was required to wear a surgical mask for the full day because that's the
033provincial rule in ontario and she said they didn't you know they didn't even notice it and they were very physically active you know she was clocking you know walking about five miles a day you know at her job wearing a mask um they're going back to school um you know the same week that we are there and there is absolutely no public debate about the mass mandate that they're going to be implementing in their schools um and you know people that you know we talk to there think it's crazy um but we really i i don't want to be in and out of school this year as a teacher it was very disruptive um you know it's incredibly disruptive to our children especially those children who need you know who you know who really need
034to be there the most and you know i implore you to follow the state mandate so that we can open up and so that our children can attend school safely this year thank you thank you and thank you again to everyone who came and spoke to the board tonight moving on with our agenda first we have our board of education items before i ask to combine items one through six is there anything that anyone would like separated out seeing none can i please have a motion for items one through six on our board of education moved by laurie second by jeff is there any discretion see nuns will the secretary please call the role mr carangelo yes mrs chu yes mr sismar yes mrs gloss yes mr hong yes mrs lax this is reese yes
035mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries moving on to our curriculum agenda before i ask for a motion to combine items one and two is there anything anyone would like separated out seeing nuns can i please have a motion for items one and two on our curriculum agenda moved by jeff ii by laurie is there any discussion all those in favor aye aye opposed sane motion carries moving on to our facilities no i'm so sorry facilities correct misread my own handwriting very sad moving on to our facilities agenda we have one item on the agenda tonight can i please have a motion for item number one move by laurie second by leewoo is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed obscene motion carries for our financial services agenda before i ask for
036a motion to combine items one through nine is there anything anyone would like separated out seeing none can i please have a motion for items one through nine on the financial services agenda moved by lori second by mark grangelo um board members again please make sure you have your um microphone on if you want to uh move a second um is there any discussion seeing them with the secretary please call the roll mr carangelo yes this is true yes mr sismar yes mrs guass yes mr hong yes this is lex this is rhys yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries moving on to our human resources agenda before i asked to combine items one and two is there anything anyone would like separated out say none can i please have a motion for
037items one and two on our hr agenda is there any discussion will the secretary please call the role mr carangelo yes mrs chu yes mr sismar mrs gloss yes sister hong kong yes this is lex this is reese yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries moving on to our staff development agenda before i ask for a motion to combine items one and two is there anything anyone would like separated out thing none can i please have a motion for items one and two second by laurie is there any discussion all those in favor opposed obscene motion carries moving on to our student services agenda before i ask for a motion to combine items one two three is there anything anyone would like separated out seeing them can i please have a motion for
038items one through three move by laurie second by mark ii yep is there any discussion now will the secretary please pull the rule mr corrangelo yes mrs chu yes mr sismar yes mrs gloss yes mr hong yes this is lex this is um mrs reese yes mr winston yes and president pecker yes motion carries we have one item on our transportation agenda tonight can i please have a motion for that one item move by laurie second by i'm sorry i didn't hear was that leewoo yes second by lego is there any discussion all those in favor aye all right opposed abstain motion carries i believe we have nora our student rep with us tonight lou is that correct nora uh mrs becker i do not believe nora is here today oh okay i'm sorry i
039thought i received an email saying she was coming um no worries um nor we look forward to seeing to the next court meeting time for committee reports information items and for the good of the cause for the board any board members have anything they wish to bring up mark sismar today we had our security committee meeting i don't give details but we discussed the school opening i just wanted to start by thanking all of our ssos the entire security team they do a fantastic job every day protecting our children parents and visitors special thanks to our superintendent dr valesky our assistant superintendent dr figueroa our director of security is paul natalicchio and our newest member is our coordinator of school safety operations kevin zebro and i would be remiss i know he got some accolades
040earlier but he deserves special accolades today if people knew the job mr juliana did to insecure our our schools and get the equipment we need and the research he does is he's definitely an integral part of the team and i wanted to separate him out because he doesn't look for accolades he just gets the job done so thank you to the entire team and i hope we have a great school year thank you very much thank you mr sismar thank you mark and again echoing your words we do have a fantastic group of people keeping our children staff visitors safe and yes mr juliana you do a tremendous job so that's two compliments in one meeting actually three i'm i'm putting them all in the bag here yes treasure it it may not happen again
041i'm waiting for the downside now um any other board members um mark carangelo i want to ask a question regarding masks in terms of some masks work better than others is there any way that we can secure the type of mask that the students wear or give out the n95s the ones that are better you know so some parents will bring them you know have the children come with some mess that don't work well so to ensure their safety would it be an idea to have the students in a uniform type of mass that actually works well i don't know it's a you know costly thing but just wanted to throw that out there president becker um if you don't mind okay um mr angelo the uh the district has uh quite a vast array
042and supply of masks uh and they are distinctive based on uh the use so our nurses have a specific mask they use we have replacement masks for students should they get on the bus or try to get on the bus without a mask or come into school without a mask we'll have a mask a replacement mask for them they they tend to be the the more disposable mask for the students so what we saw last year is most parents would send their students to school with a specific mask that they had research that was best fit for their child i know some of them even have pockets inside for disposable filters so that's a parent choice there are guards that go behind the mask that some students and staff prefer that allows them to speak
043more freely but i want to make a comment too about our special education population uh we do have um face shields for our staff and we have barriers for our staff when they're working with students in situations like speech pathology and speech therapy uh to be able to actually visualize what a student's doing and so student can see them as well so we do have protective barriers in place and i did hear that that concern expressed tonight uh and i'll have the special education to barbara reach out to that parent specifically i appreciate that thanks and you said something important about uh the children being able to speak is there any way we can make a recommendation to the parents to say hey guys this is the better mask that the children could wear to
044school and maybe research that before we actually actually uh mr angelo we found the parents actually did did the research on their own and and the students themselves came to school with with mass their parents had vetted for them what was the best fit what that was more comfortable for them uh so we really didn't get any complaints from students about uh you know the mask was uncomfortable didn't work right parents took great care to make sure the mask was fitted right that the students were comfortable that it was clean uh and you know it was disposable mask that it was replaced you know on a routine basis so i i think that the parents were great partners with us last year and i i suspect the same insurance thank you doc yeah any other
045board members committee reports information items for the good of the cause for the board is anyone raising their hand and i don't see you susanna was that a stretch okay that was a stretch okay we do have a need to go into closed session whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and the board of education intends to discuss matters as follows those items listed in tonight's agenda blame for the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which a public meeting of the board shall reconvene in action may be taken can i please have a motion to go into closed sessions removed is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed obscene motion carries board members please log out and log into
046the closed session for those of you who are joining us tonight thank you so much and have a good evening thank you