001e e e okay this meeting to order due to the co health health emergency and in order for the Board of Education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held VI a video conference and streamed 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 part participation will be muted to ensure that there is no disruption to the business being conducted by the Board of Education good evening will the secretary please call the role Mrs Chu here Mr sisar here Mrs guas here Mr Hong here Mrs LAX here Mrs reee here Mr Simmons here Mr Winston here Becker here we have
002a quarum please rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance allegiance to the flag flag United States of America America and to the Republic for which it stands one under God indivisible the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies in accordance with provisions of this act the East Bruner board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published at the Board of Education offices written notice was also provided to The Sentinel the New York Star Ledger the home news and Tribune and the municipal clerk of East Brunswick all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive session discussions or videotape related broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that
003videotape meetings are not edited for any purpose and individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening we're gonna start off tonight with our superintendent report Dr figuroa I believe that you are going to stand up for Dr veski sir yes thank you president Becker and good evening everyone Dr veski continues to update the community about positive covid and close contact cases on Tuesdays and Fridays if any student or staff tests positive for covid-19 during our full remote instruction it is imperative they immediately contact their school's nurse to report it this will give us additional critical information that we will use to schedule our return to hybrid instruction at the capacities that we had planned for at the beginning of the section marking period this past November
00417 as you recall those plans were postponed because of our increased positive covid cases among staff and among students we continue to monitor changing CDC guidance regarding quarantine periods positive cases we work in conjunction our local experts and the middle sex Department of Health to determine quarantine periods that will contain the spread of covid-19 within the East Bruns Community as the fall Sports season has ended we would like to recognize and thank the high school and Churchill Administration the Board of Education as well as the central office team for their cooperation and understanding of the importance of having students involved in extracurricular activities we would also like to acknowledge the coaches the athletes and their parents for their commitment and teamwork during these challenging times as a reminder December 23rd will be a single session
005day and schools will be closed December 24th through January 1st schools will resume remote instruction on Monday January 4 thank you thank you sir this brings us to the good of the cause of the public members of the public May provide comment at this meeting through Zoom by entering the URL meeting ID and password provided on the screen in front of you in order to be recognized use the chat feature select the zoom meeting host and enter and send your name to the host you will be recognized to speak when your name is called individuals will be invited to speak in the order in which we have received your request the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment in order to to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board
006shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board participants will be limited to 3 minutes is there anyone wishing to speak to the board tonight we have no one in the queue at this moment okay seeing none I close the public portion next up we have a public hearing on the student safety data system Dr figuro is this you also this is me thank you again president Becker no problem on an annual basis school districts are required to report out at public hearing the number of acts of violence vandalism and substance abuse that occurred in the previous school year this report also meets the federal requirements of identifying persistently dangerous schools we report incidents of violence vandalism and substance abuse to the board on a monthly basis at this meeting I'd
007like to review a summary of the incidents that occurred last school year 2020 total incidents of violence uh which would be fights threats assaults were down from 46 in 201829 to 21 last year vandalism incidents were up from nine in 2018 2019 to 10 L substance abuse incident counts decreased from 36 in 20 8 2019 to 14 in 2019 2020 harassment intimidation and bullying in 201829 there were 121 investigations with 21 confirmed hivs last year there were 86 total HIV investigations throughout our schools with 28 confirmed HIV activities were available in all of our schools during violence Awareness Week to prevent School violence and highlight the importance of school safety in addition our Administration and staff review policies and regulations safety crisis procedures and important topics promoting student safety regularly some examples of the activities
008uh were sour sources of strength peer and adult mentoring program activities gay straight Alliance safe space budy activities in the elementary schools positive messages school spirit days through the district make a wish letters Mentor programs assembly programs cultural organizations peace pledges cyber bullying programs SSO and East Brunswick Police Department video safety Clips Peacemaker of the week OAS anti-bullying program with focus on class meetings violence prevention week activities and respect week activities I'm happy to report that due to our effective training of Staff the work performed by our director of school security operations Paul NATO and our security team supervisor of student services Danielle block our student assistant Specialists our supervisor of counseling and career Readiness rise salana our school counselors nurses teachers support staff and our administrators we continue to make significant strides in training
009and understanding what the needs of our students are we have work to do and we have more to do but we appreciate what Dr veski has done his work and also the support of the Board of Education in summary the East Bruner public schools are safe schools but we continue to look for ways to improve our school climate throughout the district we are presently working on ways to care for students in this virtual world and we are still working on additional ways to educate our students and the community on opioid abuse which is a problem in the state and continues to be a growing problem Nationwide we have strong administrators well Tred student assistant Specialists and school counselors caring teachers nurses and support staff wonderful students and supportive parents we continue to look at proactive
010approaches to addressing safety of our over 8,500 students and our over 1500 staff in our schools uh and just a quick note we most recently sent out a districtwide newsletter a reminder uh an easy guide to accessing our student service offerings and resources so I hope that would be helpful for everyone um thank you yeah I I saw the guide it was wonderful thank you so much for doing that uh is there any members of the public who wish to comment on this presentation and this presentation only there is no one in the queue okay is there any discussion with the board members any questions for Lou I actually had a couple of questions um given the I noticed that in a lot of your presentation you used a year-to-year comparison um not a year
011to date so much but a year over year so given the fact that the pandemic um has caused the majority of our students not to be in the building for so much of this year uh were the year over-year numbers that you used of your own designed for the purpose of the presentation or are we required by the state to do that comparison and if so so what are they going to do about this year well we we do have to report as I did tonight in this evening however I did take the Liberty to look at um the end of last year when we went out so that really was the primarily April May and June um from the two years ago to last year um it was very similar believe it or not
012because you have to remember hivs are still happening we're still investigating hivs and that and that includes everything that might surround an HIV there could be um an incident of violence involved in that it could be a number of different things so the that whole portion stays the same uh vandalism actually went up from from two years ago to last year which does include those those months the one area that I noticed that really had um which would make sense big impact was the fights uh last year uh well two years ago actually we had two fights in April three fights in May and five in June so for those three months at the end of 1819 we had 10 physical altercations where we had none last year so that would be the only uh
013major difference uh being that we started the school year in September and you know we'd have able to have students come into the buildings and uh which is probably unlike many of the a lot of other school districts um some of our numbers maybe couldn't compare to other districts had nobody in their building since last March um but I think the state is really looking at each individual District to see what they're doing about their focus areas so for instance um you know our hibs are um are violence or V any of those areas that may be um an area that we would need to work on the state wants to make sure we have a plan and a program and that we're progressing from year to year thank you so much I um and
014actually you you you segued beautifully into my second question so I guess the question more is um what this data is used for by the state is it to what effect it has if any I don't think so but on funding grants um programming um in terms of any kind of sanctions um how will they make a determination again this this school year alone from SE PE on will be impossible to compare Apples to Apples because you have not every school will be um in the same situation in terms of remote or hybrid so we'll be reporting data based on what happened with us I just I guess I want to know exactly Lou how and what is this data used for what effect would it have us because the state obviously is going to
015have to um recalculate well as I said in the beginning of this which is also very important part of why I have to report this out is because it meets the federal mandate on reporting on U required identifying of persistently dangerous schools so what happens is if we're if a school district has continuously had high numbers of of violence and vandalism HIV the state does have the ability to say you need to show us a plan what you're what you're going to do about it and you have to show us some kind of progress okay and if if the school district refuses or doesn't show the progress that is one of the things that the state will look at very heavily in terms of um you know you've heard of uh districts being taken over
016you've heard of issues of um um additional um monies needed to improve security or police uh so it's important that those areas that you have in your District that may be a concern are are always being addressed on a regular basis so in this particular case with us we have addressed those areas which are very minimal compared to many districts um however we do have numbers of um of incidents that have occurred that some districts may not have because they weren't in school that's where the state has to come in and say you know we have a district like in East Brunswick who has consistently shown progress uh if they have a high number one year they do they do put plans and programs in place to make sure that doesn't continue um so this
017should have no effect on us but it is part of the requirements that we do have to uh do this report at a public hearing thank you thank you so much for that answer anybody else Heather H are we having any increase in hibs like that are online I feel like with the students spending so much more time online the impact would be there we yes our uh numbers uh as I had mentioned earlier last year's numbers and I'll just I know it's the full year but we have to look at we did have these numbers also from when we came we went out of school to the end of June we had only 86 investigations but 28 confirmed hivs last year which was seven higher than a full year last year in school uh
018many of those were not only online but also in neighborhoods so what we have to do now based on the law if kids are at home and they are uh you know not in the schools not in the hybrid model but in the remote model and there is an HIV that occurs whether it be online or in the street in front of their house we have to get involved and we have to also do as we always have investigate it and we have to follow up on it um you know we have to meet with parents virtually students are we the focus is primarily on counseling and changing Behavior ra rather than punishment or suspension or detention um but it's still out there so yes we have had a lot more online and um we've
019also had since students have been home um a number of in your in the area you know in front of the house at the playground incidents that we have had to investigate and many of which we've had to involved Poli thank you ke Dr just a question on that and we've talked about this a couple of times um a as in the past I mean there are some Usual Suspects of uh well a usual group of children we've been told in the past who tend to get picked on maybe a little more than others have the guidance counsels reached out to those kids who are at risk in school and uh would be at risk of course uh through cyber bullying yes absolutely and thank you for asking that Mr Winston um we have not
020only have they reached out but also we have groups that are still running um so groups a lot of the students we may have identified who maybe um have had inance of being a Target in the past we do keep track of them we do reach out to them periodically we do have many students in groups that that want to be in groups we also take the opportunity for instance during this time of year when we're building schedules for students for next year not only to build that schedule but also to sit down and talk to them about what's happening what's happening outside what's happening in school basically try to get an idea of where they are in life right now so yes we do make sure we that's every one of our student assistant
021Specialists has a case load of students that they're following up on one way or the other including our yeah so just on that like through sources of strength up at the high school and things like that are they uh helping out with their eyes and ears because I know they're in touch with a lot of students right normally when we're in school there's even more being in touch with the greater population of in school kids but still those students are are also out in the community so they still keep in touch with us we still have our uh sources of strength meetings and and contacts so yes that's a very positive program to help us try to understand what's happening even when we're not in school that sounds really good thank you very much I
022loved what I just heard I appreciate it thank you Mr anyone else okay seeing none we will close the public hearing thank you so much Lou excellent job okay I'd like to have a motion for items one to three on the board of education agenda sove Jeff move by Jeff second second by Leu is there any discussion okay will the secretary please call the role this is two um yes accept if stain from number two noted Mr sisar yes Mrs guas yes Mr Hong yes Mrs LAX yes Mrs ree yes Mr Simmons yes Mr Winston yes president Becker yes motion carries moving on to our community programs agenda can I please have a motion for items one and two whoa moved by Barbara second by leeu is there any discussion Barbara I just wanted to
023say thank you to the community programs Department uh they have a lot of virtual offerings for the kids during a time where they can't do a lot of these inperson classes and uh they have things like mad science and uh cooking and cating and uh and coding they have ROBLOX Minecraft they're very in tune with what kids are interested in and it's a productive use of their time and they learning as well as having fun so I just wanted to thank them for their hard work Barbara um do you recall offand just a general sense of um in terms of our enrollment in in in Virtual um uh programs are we seeing a drop off at any of the particular levels like elementary school or middle school well we talk we talked about that um
024you know in in our different and I can get specific numbers for for next time but basically right a lot of the courses right now they're a bunch at the K through five level um and and there are some at the middle and you know High School is not as as strong an area for us but we're looking to ex I know that the programs and Lou you could uh uh fill in what I don't what I don't see what I don't fill in on but um basically that we're looking to expand uh uh I know that they're working very hard and expanding into different areas so middle school but they have it the eighth grade they're they're moving into that area seventh eth grade and uh so that there's a variety of offerings for
025everybody thanks Barbara L did you want to add anything or Barbera did a great job okay uh is there any other discussion all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries Mrs Becker Mrs Becker can we back up again because I saw hands raised but we do need a Voice vote so if we could please have a Voice vote on that please okay all those in favor I I I opposed abstain motion carries thank thank you okay and our financial services agenda I'd like to have a motion for items 1 through 14 but first I'd like to know if there's any one of these particular um resolutions that anyone would like separated at okay seeing none then I'd like a motion for items 1 through 14 mov by Jeff second by suzan is there any discussion
026um Bernie I actually have a question on item number 12 the master collaborative Educational Services agreement it's a mouthful um it's with the um our our shared services agreement with the Ed Services Commission of New Jersey you know we've talked in the past about cost-saving me methods and initiatives that the district district employs to save money and this to me always stood out um could you just give us an idea what some of these shared services are for and for the public sure uh so uh the Educational Services Commission uh provides us uh and other school districts throughout the state uh with opportunities uh for special education self-contained program programs uh to have children attend those programs when uh there is a program that we cannot um uh provide in District um joint transportation services
027um nursing Services there are Vari uh purchasing is a is a large piece of what they also do a Cooperative purchasing um uh Ventures so um they basically uh provide educational and educational support services to school districts not only in middlex County but throughout the state of New Jersey and um you know there's H power in numbers and so um when there are uh hundreds of school districts that are utilizing the services it helps to um keep uh costs uh contained just going back to Joint transportation services for a minute um in terms of how that works works is it bringing together many school districts for a specific uh transportation company to get a better price is it sharing in-house services like we own our own buses other districts might um so it's not so
028much with um utilizing our services um for for um the services commission's purposes that's not the case but the educational services commiss commission will uh coordinate school districts that require um transportation services so for example um we may have um a dozen students that uh require transportation to out of District placements and uh so it it may not be beneficial for East brunwick to go to bid for that on our own because we we might have 12 students going to 12 different locations and so we're talking about 12 different buses they'll coordinate on the educational services side and identify those school districts that have students going to the same locations as ours and consolidate uh the transportation needs of multiple school districts so that it keeps the transportation costs down so that's how that would
029work thank you you're welcome any other questions okay this is a roll call vote will the secretary please call a roll um Mr Hong just a reminder on number 14 you will need yes I got it yep um Mrs Chu yes Mr sisar yes Mrs gu yes Mr Hong yes AB items 14 noted Mrs LAX yes Mrs ree yes Mr Simmons yes Mr Winston yep imper yes motion carries moving on to our HR agenda I'd like a motion to combine items one through three and again is there anything that anyone needs separated it out seeing none can I please have a motion for items one through three move Jeff move by Jeff second second by Susanna Susanna any discussion this is a roll call vote will the secretary please call the rooll Mrs Chu yes
030Mr sisar yes Mrs gu yes Mr Hong yes Mrs LAX yes Mrs ree yes Mr Simmons yes Mr Winston yes pres backer yes motion C onto our student services agenda can I please have a motion for items one and two so mov Leu move by Leu second second by Jeff is there any discussion um I have a question sure um this is number two the monthly school reports it's just um something I was curious about so I you know so you have students there are three students who who dropped out for non-attendance so I'm wondering with them if students are on remote are we seeing more students dropping for non-attendance like is is it you know if kids aren't just aren't logging in um and these are 11th and 12th graders and I'm just wondering
031if that's the reason are you seeing any uptick in Dropout because of you know nonattendance uh due to remote um we do have more students uh that we are concerned about that have not um signed on and stayed on and you know uh checked in with teachers as they're supposed to we do have our teachers our counselers our administrators Student Assistance specialist Specialists working with a lot of those students I know Joyce you've been working a lot with with that as well um but uh you know we've we've tried to work it with these stent with every each student individually to try to make a difference so that they can remain on um there are students that um you know have had a bad time during this time because this the remote is not really
032something that they um are very uh familiar or willing to work with um but we are doing the best as a district to try to work with each student and to uh to assist them whenever we can Joyce do you want to add anything to that from the academic I think the counseling department is doing what they can to keep students engaged um you know we have opportunities in our Flex program um or to accommodate student needs um you know individual circumstances yeah I just hope we can do everything we can if you know kids are getting lost because of the remote situation that we do everything we can to you know to not lose them if if we can but you know I I I um it's a difficult situation for for for some
033kids so I'm just uh sad to see you know when kids drop out agre okay is there any other discussion questions okay will the secretary please call the role Mrs Chu yes Mr sisar yes was yes Mr Hong yes Mrs LAX yes M ree yes Mr Simmons yes Mr Winston yes Mr yes motion carries moving on to our transportation services agenda can I please have a motion to combines item one and two move by Lori second by Jeff is there any discussion I have a question of course um it's I'm I'm curious for for number two um in the situation where we're providing transportation for a student to um uh to uh in this case in this case to I think it was Princeton or something like that in to another area for special service
034but I guess my question is if in theoretically right if if if they go remote do we still have the full obligation to pay for the full year of Transportation um and you know in this case I don't know if they went remote or not but I'm just wondering how that obligation works if if you know if they did go remote for a period of time they wouldn't have incurred the cost right so this is something that um there was legislation enacted um in the early days of the pandemic last school year um that establish um basically the rules m or whether can payments continue or not and um if I recall correctly I think um after a modification in the law it's after three contiguous days of closure then um what will happen is
035uh we would get into a um a negotiations potentially of um what those costs are but this the uh uh provider of service would have to provide documentation to to substantiate its costs so it's quite possible that we would continue to pay for the full amount um if they've uh kept their employees um you know on the payroll uh if they haven't then there's a reduced cost then certainly they wouldn't receive payment but it's quite an arduous process we had been through that uh last school year yeah with literally probably 50 or 60 different contracts with the loss says is that it's only during a states of emergency pandemics and the um the the reimbursement is for their actual costs incurred so what happens like for example in transportation if school buses aren't operating you're
036not paying for their fuel uh you're not paying for the wear and tear on their trucks it was really meant to uh keep people employed so that they weren't without jobs and they weren't hitting the unemployment system so that's what it's a394 is law that was passed yeah I I recall our discussions on that law at the time and this in this case it's like for one student for one you know it's like a yeah so the same law applies here same law yeah yeah thank you okay any other discussion questions all those in favor I I I opposed abstain motion carries I see we have Anthony with us tonight our student rep glad to see you what's going on doing well president Becker how are you oh great thank you yeah I hope all
037of you had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving um today I wanted to talk mainly about the ways that students uh have supported others and have been supported both academically and non-academically and the first thing I wanted to talk about were certain events that are like holiday themed that are still occurring to give back to the community um one of them was organized by Miss mosit moscowitz who um organized her students and collaborated with all of them and eventually created 300 holiday cards and National Honor Society is doing something similar where they're getting their members who uh K to create cards and then send them to uh patients who need them in hackin sack Meridian and then the football team as well also raised over $3,000 for cancer research and those are all events that have
038happened recently and uh even in the the future there's a toy drive being planned that's supposed to be Drive in so the students can come in drive through ebhs and then drop off toys which is great to give back to children who need toys in this like holiday season um but it's still just nice to see Endeavors and you know certain events and the community being connected despite like the all virtual landscape um and then academically teachers have been supporting teachers or teachers have been supporting students and I've been working hard through that and one of the things that I wanted to talk about was um supplemental instruction and student voice and student perspective has played a large role in this where um there have been surveys that have gone out and there's been a
039large percentage of the students who responded and then there have been meetings where the students can come and collaborate and the general consensus is that it works but supplemental as itself could be improved and this is mainly due to the fact that there's it's a little awkward to as a student to leave or like leave school and then return an hour later um especially if some classes are uh treat supplemental completely differently um and then there's also time constraints in terms of uh exams that are administered in the supplemental time period because it's only 30 minutes um but I think what underlies everyone's understanding of it is that they are very um useful right teachers can use them in many ways where they can use it for extra help or they can use it for
040exams and then or they can even make it optional if they just want to give the kids a break and uh have let them work on their homework a little earlier um but it also praises the pro raises the question like is this the most optimal uh format like we could have considered the uh two and two system from like last spring when we first hit the pandemic where there were two courses and then uh lunch and then two courses afterward and extra help in that sense would be moved to the uh morning before school and one thing that this kind of does is it breaks the monotony of staring at a screen for four hours straight where you know you right now it's the system is you have four straight classes hour in a
041row um students also get to wake up a little bit later it would be like a small shift in 40 minutes but I'm sure no student would decline that opportunity and then it also would prepare us a little bit more for a model block schedule where uh if the school chose to implement that if we return to physical either this year or next year where um it isn't going to be all of your classes and then you go home and eat lunch you go to school eat lunch in the middle and then to finish off the school and then you return home um but then one of the concerns with that is that you know now you're asking students to spend a lot more time in each class right some students are struggling to make
042the jump from 40 minutes to over an hour with the virtual setup and then you are asking them also with this 2 and two to raise that up by another 20 minutes some students may not pay attention and then maybe the quality of education as well since it's in a larger time frame with decrease so um that's that both of them like there is no need necessarily to change supplemental Works um and there is really no wrong option because both of them are working systems uh I just really wanted to share the student perspective and like the main points of the student perspective on each of the respective uh formats of learning and that's all I add for today thank you that was a great report and I'm so glad you shared with us the
043um wonderful generosity of our students really um making a commitment to the community and and really doing something about it thank you for bringing that to us thank you are there any committee reports information items good to the clause for the board Barbara have the student services committee report uh we met on virtually on November the 19th and uh it kind of uh piggybacks on things that Susanna was mentioning some of our other board members Heather about uh uh talking about reaching out to the students during the virtual environment and we had reports from uh Luis Sultana from Daniel balock from Kelly Bond um talking about uh V virtual and hybrid Counseling Services during the uh hybrid time and and now during the virtual period and we saw some really amazing uh online offerings where
044right that you and you saw Vicki as well right the presentation was great and un believable and you had made the excellent suggestion to put it online so people could see it so folks can look at it online and um you know they different virtual guidance counselor offices um there's college readiness there's uh there's a zenen so they can figure out uh strategies to deal with anxiety and other issues uh make can make virtual appointments with their counselors uh then there was talk about how in the special education Arena that uh there have been benefits to the virtual IEP meetings and continuation of their counseling and social skill groups and virtual speech sessions and then uh from the health standpoint uh Daniel bleac talked about the nursing department and the protocols that they were using
045during the hybrid environment and all the great efforts that they've put in that area so again that that presentation there's a whole slideshow that folks can see online and uh it tells a lot of the different i i i there is pretty a wide range of offerings really that they have been doing to try to reach out to kids and to parents who and that like Lou said Dr Figo mentioned uh the email to all the parents so they're aware of all these offerings so through a newsletter and there's something for everyone there really to find out about if if you're if you're having issues if you need someone to talk to or you just need help at school there's there's something there for everybody thank you thank you Barbara anyone else Mark Mark go
046to the cause um in my personal opinion I'd like to list some qualities of a leader a leader encourages discussion in a public setting has dialogue with the public when appropriate and gives guidance to all to attain what is Right a leader addresses ethical issues and does the proper thing every time a leader defends students staff parents and board members necessary put their own opinion and fight for decision made by the entire group a leader of a board of nine should first have discussions with the entire grp of input from all instead of relying on a consensus of five that was achieved before the discussion before any vote a leader doesn't have to have all the ansers but they should make sure that all the ideas are heard first and foremost president of any board
047could be a leader with all this mind I possess those qualities and I would like to announce for pres this at the January reorganization meeting thank you thank you Mark anyone else Jeff I have a question uh and I don't know if actually if discussion even happens here but maybe Vicky you can give me Clarity on that I've had a lot of community outreach to me regarding the SATs coming this Saturday and we're one of the few districts in this area especially that are bringing the students in uh uh for testing for a lifechanging exam wearing masks for four hours in a crowded classroom under very stressful conditions uh environmentally right now so I'm just curious on the rationale you I know we were Pioneers uh when uh the original uh hybrid uh came to
048be and I'm just wondering is that the same approach we're taking on this one uh I I've been uh contacted by many in the community uh with great concerns and really being backed into Corner uh in that respect and uh I don't know if anybody VI uh president Becker or even if it's appropriate that anybody speaks to this but I'm really curious on the thought process I don't recall this coming at any point to the board uh it just seems to happen I do know sarraille is not doing it Monroe and many many other of our neighboring towns but it seems like we're open for business and I was wondering why we're comfortable with that decision where so many districts are not once again so normally at this point I would turn to Dr veski
049to share with has his thought process um Dr figuro Dr boy could you perhaps join uh jump been there please just bringing up some very uh valid points certainly um so in conversations with Dr veski uh we wanted to provide options for students many colleges will still need this test and we will follow the social distancing uh requirements and don't expect it to be a a crowded venue but I've come to find out though there are no seats available I think that was announced this morning morning on the announcements that uh it's a Full Slate so I guess I'm curious if it's not going to be a crowded venue I what can you speak to how many students will be coming into our closed school and uh What uh safety Protocols are going to exist
050where I I guess none really do at this point since we're closed uh I just find it very confusing why we would close our district and then open it for SATs it I I I'm just not seeing the logic maybe you could help me with that um it is uh a voluntary opportunity for students to come in and again all social distancing protocols will be in place um in consultation with the High School administration um felt that providing this option for students uh was uh reasonable at this time based on what though Dr B I I he I hear that but based based on what I mean this we're talking about the same school with the same Administration and this that's had issues with student athletes it it again then why don't why don't you
051provide the why don't you provide the community with the Comfort level and explain the format and structure that uh we believe is going to keep their children safe uh we already know they won't be comfortable so we could eliminate that and SATs in response to something you just said are always voluntary uh not just now but always um I we're open oh and also how many kids from other districts are going to be coming in because all those districts are closed can I hear some specifics around that yeah I can definitely get that information and get that back to you as soon as possible oh the the test is uh the day after tomorrow Dr buly I'm not sure where what value that would come in if there was some intervention it should take place
052at this point am I allowed to add to the discussion as a student no I'm not no um is there any reason why he can Matt you're you're he gave his report this is a board now talking about what's going with the testing what I can tell you what I've heard in other districts and I'm not an SAT expert whatsoever um the other districts are having the SAT this weekend because there's some aspect of this sat I don't know if it's untimed or open um that's different than when they do it later in the year and so that's why a lot of districts I've heard are doing it this weekend I don't I I couldn't speak I haven't taken the sat in uh maybe about 40 years um but that's what I've heard at other
053board meetings um what the law mandates so for all parents um everyone will have to wear masks they have to be socially distanced um they have to you all the every desk has to be sanitized before uh they're sitting down at them um so we have to take all the appropriate protocols that the CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have put into place uh regarding social distancing mask wearing Etc um and the uh you know the the the limits on on schools schools are not ordered closed Statewide the governor has not ordered that many many schools are operational it just comes down to to infection rates Etc um I know you guys your school is closed to January 11th operating remotely uh but it's not prohibited to have SATs under the law um
054that's presently in place with the governor's exe various executive orders uh as we sit here right now so parents can make the decision ultimately and board member Winston is correct it's it's a voluntary decision that that parents and students can make but I do know that there's a lot of students um have a lot of anxiety just because they're trying to get their SAT scores up for applications for colleges and many of the college applications uh close very soon so that's just my anecdotal information that I've heard from other boards I don't know if Joyce can speak to that about the SAT format but I think that there's something unique about what happens in the December format that's different than any other time um and I don't know if it's I don't know if it's
055untimed or if it's um there's some there's some aspect of it it's very for yeah and just piggyback on that Mr julan I appreciate that and I do understand that there's no legal mandate um I I do understand that and and and I and I'm very happy with our district that even without a mandate they aired on the side of caution because the reasoning given at the time was the uptick in our area and there was concerns surrounding that I don't know if those concerns have been abated one week after Thanksgiving which has been a uh an extraordinarily big red flag that we're hearing from scientists constantly that it would be this week that we could see the business biggest Spike so I don't know I see a lot of dots connecting together the last
056one I would want to see connected is bringing our kids into an environment that could create sickness but I but I'll accept your answer at face value then I go back to the other question that I asked explain to me how this is going to work not so much the parameters surrounding the test but specifically around the logistics of uh social distancing how many rooms are going to be used how many students per room how is it being proctored you know all the things that would have to go into spreading out the population to take this test safely that I do want to hear uh right now and tonight and I can't wait for that answer Mr Winston I'm not the appropriate person to ask a question I I oh no no I no I
057compliment I was complimenting you on what you or commenting on what you had said but I direct my question as it was originally directed back to Dr boy or Dr figuro Who who's ever who's ever put this together I I think the public deserves to know what is that going to look like that they've volunteered their children to enter this environment because of the uh dilemma that they're facing based on needing to get that score up or whatever uh whatever other districts are claiming to be the reason for opening so I'm I'm willing to move on from that but I'm very curious now that we are moving on to that tell me how and what we are doing to administer this test in the safest way possible besides washing desks um there so if you
058can just allow me to to jump in for a moment and and Mr Winston I can't give you the details on uh that you're asking for but what I can tell you is that uh the test is being offered with uh limited numbers of students in a in a highly socially distanced manner so it's not just a matter of washing desks it is keeping folks distant to be able to take the the test uh it's limited in terms of number of students and I can't give you those details but what I would ask is that since we don't have that information at this time and we didn't know that this question was going to come up uh I would request that we have an opportunity to get that information and send that out to the
059board there's not a lot we could do even if it was sent uh but I appreciate at least the data would be there but you know since we don't have data at our fingertips you know it's difficult to to respond to the question thank you president Becker can I comment sure um I completely understand Mr Winston's anxiety um these are really difficult times um I'm coming at it from a different perspective the level of anxiety um obviously I do work in a school where I do wear a mask four hours a day um and quite frankly that I thought that was going to be more of a challenge than it actually is you just sort of get used to things um but the anxiety that we're living with where I am is that the SAT
060is not being offered in very many places um and students are driving huge distances to find testing sites um the anxiety is so high about their future what colleges are going to ask for next year parents making decisions um I truthfully I wouldn't expect Dr figero or Dr bully to know things about the testing sites I believe that's arranged on a building level um and that would come from the principles and the uh Vice principles at the high schools or at the high school I would assume but you know making the same modifications that we made during our hybrid session or perhaps to an IT stream I can't imagine how complex task is at the moment and I totally understand your concerns I just know listening to students and parents talk that having you know
061here in New Jersey not as many choices as they're used to especially when we have so many students who do go on to fouryear colleges compared to elsewhere in the country where things haven't really changed that much anxiety is high for just a variety of reasons I know people I know in this community and in other communities are grateful for the testing sites that they're finding thank you didn't didn't we also hear from someone um perhaps it was in the student services report I I see you Mark um perhaps it was in the student services report that a lot of colleges were not going to be requiring the SATs um for this reason Jeff yes you remember that too yeah I I could tell you from personal experience uh president Becker that many of the
062colleges are waving Act and sat requirements this year and kids are going on their academic grades and co-curricular extracurricular essays because of the difficulty the one thing that's that's unique is the lsats uh the law school admissions uh in the mcats they're doing those virtually uh they have time programs Etc um where you they actually have something where you can't like Take Your Eye Off of it looking at at notes um I'm not aware that the SATs have done that um so right now the the the standardized testing programs for acts and SATs um are still done in an in-person format um so but you are correct many many colleges that have traditionally taken both are now saying they're optional but some people believe that if they've got okay grades but they're fantastic tax takers
063that could make the difference of getting into a top rate school so they want to do it or get their you know SATs I never had that problem uh you know my SATs were not not so Stellar but that a lot of kids you know take them over and over again to keep getting them up and out will they be um will they be temperature oh I'm sorry I'm sorry go that's okay you could finish Jeff and then Mark Mark had his hand raised before go ahead Jeff yeah this is just the last question I have on my time is uh will the students be safety protocol on the way in temperatures checked and we be signing a s a symptom waiver uh that's become uh all too common so what what I can tell
064you is that uh we will have our normal protocols in place um Security will be uh at the doors temps checked the standard questions asked so the same protocols that we follow now on a day-to-day basis and have followed will be the same ones that are uh that will be in place for the test and Mr Winston if I could clarify we do have 30 staff expected to come into Proctor 245 students expected to sit for the exam uh from other districts as well as Mrs guat said because we are a site a site for the College Board a testing site and we will be using um approximately 30 classrooms so that would be about nine students per room maximum except for the larger spaces like the gym and the cafeteria and the library which
065you know obviously are bigger places and can hold more students socially distanced thank you just Mr Winston also if I may just also reate what Mr dilana said um those protocols that we would have normally for instance temp checks ask the question there you know have the questions asked also make sure that they remain six foot apart those will be in place for anything that we would be doing anyway um and I also confirmed during this uh this meeting that that would also be the case for this weekend I'm glad we were able to get the information thank you I'm done with that thank you Mark just a quick question are there any other activities being planned during the closure bringing students in not that I'm aware of there uh U Mr sisar there had
066been pictures Middle School pictures that were originally scheduled that have now been cancelled told later on in the year I believe January or February at some point to be rescheduled for that right thank you Barbara and again this is just uh just personal experience I know for the uh sat in the past at the high school they have um they try to put them out the kids outside they line them out so any with there's a large group of kids um you know when they're first checked in all that's done out doors so that that that congregate grouping is not in the building and then they're sent to their particular classroom so that's just from you know like I said you guys said it would be the high school folks who would know best but
067this is just from personal experience okay anyone else seeing none we do have a need for a closed session whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting those matters are as follows those items listed in tonight's agenda the length of the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which a public meeting of the board shall Rec convene an action will not be taken can I please have a motion to go into close session so move move Jeff second Lori any discussion all those in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries board members just want to tell remind you to please log out and log into the Clos session everyone else good evening and thank you for joining us night e