001i'd like to call this meeting to order due to the covid 19 health emergency and in order for the board of education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held by a 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 will see before you on the screen there we go upon joining the meeting your participation will be muted to ensure there is no disruption to the business being conducted by the board of education will the secretary please call the role mrs chu here mr sismar here mrs guass mr hong here mrs lacks mrs reese here here mr simmons here mr winston here president becker here we
002have a quorum please rise to salute the flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all the new jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and 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 posted at the board of education offices written notice was also provided to the sentinel the newark 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 are videotaped for later broadcasts and
003individuals who speak at the board's public meetings should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening and thank you for joining us tonight we'll start out with the superintendent's report thank you president becker and good evening everyone the artwork displayed in the boardroom this evening is from grades k-12 across all 11 of our schools all the artwork displayed was submitted during the distance learning period of april through june of 2020. the continued dedication of our visual arts staff and students in any instructional environment is evident by the brilliant art pieces surrounding the room this evening i'm proud to announce we have 53 commended students in the 2021 national merit scholarship program so congratulations to each of them and their families churchill junior high school orchestra teachers sarah francino and dr anna braun demonstrate excellence not
004only in the arts but also in concurrent teaching and learning and let's take a moment to listen to our students [Music] wow with the aid of a generous grant from the east brunswick education foundation that provided all 167 orchestra students with smart music a web-based interactive music software these teachers were able to even further enhance their concurrent instruction this program enables students to practice and self-assess their performances while at home the video demonstrates smart music being used in conjunction with microsoft teams during the orchestra class so congratulations to them very cool east brunswick won the gmc sportsmanship award for the 2019-2020 seasons the nj siaa recognizes the conference winners with a banner for good sportsmanship the football games will be by invitation only as we are inviting just the families of the teams involved first
005we'll be following governor governor murphy's executive order limiting 500 people at outdoor events if you're a spectator any of our eb athletic events you must wear a mask and adhere to all social distancing protocols good luck to our fall teams and go bears on this evening's agenda is a resolution of proclamation for national principles month i'm proud to recognize the critical instructional leadership of our principals and secondary assistant principals we appreciate their dedication and commitment to the students in the community of east brunswick also on this evening's agenda is a resolution of proclamation for fire prevention week which is october 4th through the 10th the theme this year is serve up fire safety in the kitchen as cooking remains the leading cause of home fires we are grateful to fire marshals john talbot and sean
006verde the fire prevention bureau and all the volunteer firefighters who serve the east brunswick community in early march when schools and businesses closed for in-person operations due to the pandemic it became necessary for the east brunswick education foundation to postpone its annual partner and excellence awards dinner an alumni hall of fame induction ceremony scheduled to take place on march 31st due to continued extraordinary circumstances the partner and excellence awards segment honoring joanne chamillowitz leslie anderson and jane mueller will instead be a small socially distanced invitation only presentation on october 13th at the joanne magistro performing arts center and just as a reminder virtual parent teacher conferences will take place on tuesday october 20th through friday october 23rd and there will be no supplemental virtual afternoon sessions on those days thank you dr pileski have we
007been having virtual back-to-school nights we have we have not but we have this year we are this is our first when and back to school for this year yes absolutely we've so and they've been going on they have been going on since the first week how could you just tell us how that's been going we we have not heard anything uh pro or con from the parents uh about it but we suspect that it's going over quite well um people are logging in and they're hearing directly from from their teachers so it was it was designed to be pretty seamless and we we feel like it i don't know if any of you have heard anything different if any of our parents have attended mark on a different note i was hoping for a more
008detailed report about uh covet in the schools in september uh the announcement that came out today basically just said about one student that was positive correct one staff member with a negative right a false positive can we have more details on the impact as far as the amount of people quarantined students staff schools we had a total of five individuals five unique individuals that were close contacts so they were in close proximity to people who had been reported by families to have been positive coveted cases they were all outside of school but they came into school reported they were close contact so as a close contact your first tier you quarantined for 14 days if you're a close contact to a known positive covid case we did have one student that came in to the
009high school and was a positive and that impacted 27 students and it impacted 10 teachers so we had a total of 37 individuals at the high school that were impacted under quarantine from that event and then we had a teacher who had taken a rapid covet test tested positive but the next day went for the um the more invasive nasal swab which is the 24 hour turnaround and tested negative so but we out of caution we we continue the quarantine of those people that were identified there were about 25 students that teacher came in contact at an elementary school because she was a traveling moving teacher from classroom to classroom and that's that's been the extent of it mark that we haven't had we haven't had a case of known transmission within our school district
010all of the exposures have been outside the district and people are coming in which is part of my messaging to the community and if you know you notice a theme about self-reporting that's what's been so important to our success so far that people are coming forward and saying that they they knew they were in proximity to a family member they were an event and somebody said they were positive i want to let you know that i was there and then we go ahead and we quarantine them and we move on so it's been working it's been working well for us right now can i ask you that maybe and i don't know if it would have to be a motion or just something i could ask could we revisit letting the community know when it's
011a significant impact as we had with the uh the 25 students and i think i'm about am i allowed to say the name of the school yeah you can you can say the name of the school yeah there's the central school incident because then um when i think when it comes from you with a significant impact from that right it gives solid numbers and it takes out the uh talk amongst the community okay and also it gives you know people a sense of mind in the whole town i would think it's something that the whole town yeah we did report the high school incident out but the the teacher who is was a false positive and then and subsequently tested negative that occurred this past friday but by by sunday afternoon we were getting a
012report that she had already come back with the comprehensive test it was negative and didn't communicate any further on that but all the individuals who had been in contact had been identified individually by the building principal and they were quarantining so the department of health recommended we just continue with that out of abundance of caution uh and i assume that's because of the variability in the two tests so um but we didn't communicate any further on that one yeah i just like like i said the reason i'm making a suggestion is i just think taking out uh the guesswork that people have and right i won't even mention social media at this point but right at least it's a message from you of significant impact like that uh for the close contact incidents because that
013was taken off the table on the 14th of september and i don't know i just want to make a suggestion maybe put it back on the table okay for something that results in classes quarantined so we have solid information out there not rumors yeah and i think we're going to um we're going to create our own dashboard too about you know numbers so when people start to make decisions about and what you know you heard in the messaging today about making decision in your learning model selection so people have accurate information up to the point they they make that decision about how they feel about returning their child or their children to thank school thank you thank you dr valeski thank you mark okay as dr valeski mentioned we have a few proclamations the first
014one is fire prevention week october 4th through 10th according to the national fire prevention association this year's fire prevention week campaign is serve up fire safety in the kitchen as cooking remains the leading cause of home fires whereas east brunswick first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention and protection education and whereas committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our town including our educational community the east brunswick public schools welcomes east brunswick's fire and emergency services personnel into our schools to educate our students therefore be it resolved that the east brunswick board of education recognizes october 4th through 10th 2020 is fire prevention week and encourages all people of east brunswick to heed the important safety messages of fire
015prevention week 2020 and to support the many public safety activities and efforts of east brunswick's fire and emergency services and be it further result that the east brunswick board of education appreciates the efforts of east brunswick fire and emergency services personnel to make our community a safe place in which to live can i please have a motion for that proclamation so move move by todd second by mark is there any discussion i just think people don't realize how many volunteers in this community serve in that capacity it uh you know as a police officer i was paid you know and that and that's these people volunteer their own time they take time away from their families in the middle of the night it's uh it's one of the first responders that the sacrifice is great
016so um i'm proud to say i live in east brunswick and we have that many people men and women that volunteer to do that job so thank you yeah i think we've we've all seen too many times over the years that the first responders are the ones not only respond first but are first in line to put their lives online and they do that every single time they walk into a situation you don't know there's still so much we don't know about fire and a small fire starts out small turns into a a deadly blaze and the fact that they are willing to put their lives on the line so that we can all go about our lives is just incredible it's become a cliche but during this pandemic everyone kept saying the first responders
017are the real heroes but i think that we've known that for a long time maybe even before the pandemic they are heroes each and every one of them and we are so grateful to them anyone else all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries lori would you please read the next proclamation whereas schools inspire the next generation of professionals political leaders artists educators and others who contribute to a healthy and prosperous society and whereas principles and assistance are responsible for providing instructional leadership and professional management in our schools and whereas principals and assistant principals set the academic tone for their schools and they work collaboratively with teachers to develop and maintain high curriculum standards set performance goals and objectives and ensure high quality instruction and where school principals and assistant principals are responsible for their
018safety of their students and staff and the security of the school and whereas principles and assistance principles are key to implementing state and federal education reforms in new jersey and whereas the month of october 2020 has been declared national principles month and is dedicated to recognizing the significant contributions of our nation's principles and assistant principles and the enthusiasm they have for providing quality education experiences and guidance to their students and whereas the east brunswick board of education recognizes and appreciates the skills dedication and commitment of its principles and assistant principles and the challenges they face daily now therefore be it resolved that the east brunswick board of education recognizes and commends its principles and assistant principles for the continued service to our children may i please have a motion for that proclamation so moved by
019mark second by jeff is there any discussion lori they forgot the most important thing they are rock stars these building leaders are everything to our staff to our students so i appreciate you letting me read this because i have always said for years the principles when we were growing up were people to be feared you only saw the principle if you did something wrong now these principles run everything and they do it in such a way that these kids adore them respect them look up to them so every month should be national principles month as far as i'm concerned i thank each and every one of them we are so fortunate in this district to have such terrific principles and rock stars as my children would say so anyone else lee woo i agreed 100
020for everything laura said those principles is not just the school leader they are community leaders in their small community when people look at east brunswick public school they first look at dr velaski and then they will look at the principles and associate assistant principles so you guys are the backbone of east bronx community your you guys are the most i actually say is very important asset of our community thank you very much including dr vladski and all those uh principals and assessing principles thank you anyone else wishing to say something okay um vote i did we i asked for the motion okay all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries now we come to the good of the cause of the public members of the public may provide comment at this meeting through zoom by
021entering the url meeting id and password you see before you on the screen in order to be recognized please use the chat feature select the zoom meeting host then enter and send your name to the host you will be recognized to speak when your name is called and individuals will be invited to speak in the order in which we have received your request the board of education values public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest participants are limited to three minutes duration is there anyone wishing to address the board tonight no one has requested to speak no one has requested to speak seeing none i close the public portion we just had one person ask one person one person okay
022at the buzzer one person so uh this is a stephen shen welcome stephen hello hello i'm a fifth grader hi but i have two concerns about our school safety the first one is that our school doesn't require students and teachers to wear gloves for example if a student passes if a teacher passes something to the student then if the teacher infected the chronovirus will travel from the hand onto whatever she he or she is passing then it will go on to the student and sp and will spread cover 19. that's the major issue i have the second is not so major but i think it still should be recognized it is that some of our schools like mine because i go to one stop for elementary school have snack time during the snack time students
023are not students remain in the classroom taking off and then putting back all new masks i the solution to this i see is that we should let the students work eat snacks in in groups instead of just the whole class at once that way that would also minimize the amount of people taking off the masks and putting on the masks those are my only two concerns thank you thank you for addressing the board tonight that's it and thank you very much for addressing the board tonight stephen now i close the public portion moving on to our board of education items can i please have a motion for items one through four so move move by second second by jeff is there any discussion all those in favor aye all right opposed abstain motion carries can
024i please have a motion for our one item on our community program agenda by mark second by todd is there any discussion barbara was did you say something excuse me i could you don't have to i we just heard you beeping oh i don't know well i would just say thank you for community children because they are offering many lessons barbara if you barbara if you have your uh audio on the computer could you mute that please yeah we're getting feedback you know just quickly i'll say that it's better it's better okay the variety of programs that they're offering uh are wonderful and it's a good thing to have those options after school to provide the enrichment so i thank you thank you so much thanks barb anyone else all those in favor aye opposed
025abstain motion carries can i please have a motion for items one through three on our curriculum and instruction agenda so moved move by leewoo second by jeff is there any discussion i actually had had something to bring up um i had asked dr valesky um i am the biggest fan of the arts i've been behind spending money on the arts i've been behind art program development i just wasn't sure if we should be spending money on a cast and crew to build and design sets for virtual production i wasn't sure if that was a good use of our money at this time and i also asked him about a choreographer and a costume designer which are the two and three and he explained to me that this is actually a motion to provide funding if
026we have an in-person production of the spring musical at the high school but i'd like him to give a more [Music] full commentary on this because i still have some concerns well actually i'm going to ask dr bully to give the full commentary and then we'll be happy to address any concerns you have left certainly so the agenda item here is seeking to both secure these three artists in residences services if if they're needed and to seek board approval to put up a po to pay them for their services if and when uh the time comes that we will use their services so at this time you can see david kern is here for set and scenery and karen is the costume designer and kellyanne would be the corey choreographer at this time the drama
027production for the fall uh is in question we had hoped to do something in person the decision hasn't finally been made but it's looking like it would be virtual and if we do go in that direction then we would not be using the services of the artists and residents after all the spring musical has not been determined pending you know what occurs over the next few months so we were seeking board approval to again secure their services and pay them if and when the time comes that we do use them i know some other board members had their hands up first mark than jeff and susannah yeah i just just a quick comment you know i always i'm proud of the people that we have working here in the district and the the drama teachers
028i've seen the music teachers the productions they've put on i think we have superstars that work for us every day i have no doubt and confidence that these people are probably fantastic at their craft and we may even be getting them for a you know a reduced price but i just want to make the comment i think we have the the best employees around and when people come in from the outside to supplement that it always gives me a little bit of caution and that's not second guessing anybody's decision it's just the pride that i have in our people that work here every day so that's that's my one comment just so you know mark this is is something that we have approved every year since since i've been here at least but um point
029well taken again my issue was and i'm not trivial trivializing or minimizing a virtual performance i give anyone who tries to do that so much credit i just wasn't sure if we needed to spend the extra money on it jeff i just want one question what's the stipend for a uh for the the person who we bring in for a normal day production for director choreographer uh at the high school oh boy um gosh mr winston i don't know if the top of my head right i'd have to research and find out for you would you guess that it's more than fifteen dollars an hour yes well this is fifteen dollars an hour uh having spent my entire high school and long after career in theater these kids normally a normal production in school would
030be roughly 180 hours of work right uh to produce that uh in this case well let's call it a hundred because we don't have to 100 hours to put it together which comes out to 15 per hour and anything especially the arts that brings a minimal level of normalcy in these ridiculously hard times and crushing for every drama person as i think president becker also was one i could be wrong um yup you know what that's money well spent i get it it's cheap i can't believe you're getting people for 15 bucks an hour to build a set that is unheard of well i think too we have we have tremendous resources we have tremendous individuals that love to come here and work with our students and and obviously it's not about the money they
031they get a small stipend for doing it but they spend enormous amounts of time and they bring experiences outside the district and and to mark's point we have a lot of talented people within the district but from time to time we have the opportunity to supplement that with people who have experience on you know on bigger productions and in the city we've had people that have had experience putting together broadway shows and things of that nature and i think that's always a great experience to showcase that and have our students exposed to that level of talent and people have had that experience professionally and as it's been from the beginning of my time i clearly remember dr kimmel being brought in on many occasions uh to play in the company uh theater productions back in
032the high school days and um we were lucky because that was an internal resource i'm gonna guess he got paid but i don't think he did it for that reason either right and um so whoever thought of this whoever put it together who was whoever was able to get it into a budget like this a debt of gratitude for me i i think it's absolutely fantastic um you you brought up an aspect that i didn't even think about and you were absolutely 100 correct i was just thinking in terms of i don't begrudge again i voted for this every single year i just was concerned about spending money on a virtual production at a time when money is tight but you brought up a point that's so important in terms of establishing a closer sense
033of normalcy as we can for the kids and especially the kids in the arts who depend on this this is this is what gets them through so much so i thank you very much for bringing up that point and um there's one footnote then convince me on that point i agree with you football's starting fall sports is starting i'm sorry i'm sorry football is starting fall sports is starting all those things are starting and that other group um they they need an at-bat too this year so uh the drama people and um i'm good i'm good yeah got my vote if it is a vote suzanna did you have something you wanted to say no i think the discussion covered a lot of the questions i had as far as clarifying you know what our
034plans were for moving forward with productions like this and and you know i do agree if if there's a way to provide this opportunity to the kids that would be great um but if it turns out to be remote i trust it'll be great as well so uh you know with with sports starting it would seem to me that this is doable but bringing you may not be able to bring in an audience but it could be recorded so you know i look forward to hearing the recommendations from staff on the best approach based on the latest guidance from the state and again our motto is excellence in academics the arts and athletics the arts are as important and crucial to life is breathing and for some kids it is their lifeline it is the
035way that they can breathe and i would never ever take that away from them again my concern was spending money on set design for a virtual production when money is very tight however again jeff you brought up a very important point so without any further ado all those in favor aye aye opposed abstain motion carries okay moving on to our financial services agenda can i please have a motion for items one through three so move jeff moved by mark second by jeff is there any discussion this is a role called vote will the secretary please call the roll mrs chu yes mr sismar yes mr han yes mrs wax yes this is reese yeah mr simmons yes mr winston yes president becker yes martian carries am i the only one who keeps i keep thinking
036there's a cricket and i know that's okay um moving on to our human resources agenda i want to remind you that there was an addendum added so can i please have a motion for items one and two on our personnel agenda including the addendum moved by mark second by jeff is there any discussion this is a roll call vote will the secretary please call the role just to clarify that's actually three items on the agenda there were actually three items on the agenda yes great second still a roll call vote yes it is okay mrs chu yes mr sismar yes mr hong yes mrs lax yeah mrs reese yes mr simmons yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries can i please have a motion for our only item on tonight's student services agenda
037so moved moved by lee wu second by mark is there any discussion will the secretary please call the roll this is true yes um yes mr sismar yes mr hong yes mrs lacks yes mrs reese yeah mr simmons yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries bringing us to committee reports information items and the good of the cause of the board i believe our student rep anthony is here with us tonight how you doing anthony i'm great how are you okay how's it going i'm doing well it's always a pleasure to uh speak to the board even though you know i'm still uh in my bedroom obviously so still thank you for this opportunity okay uh i'll get into it um as mr winston mentioned fall sports has come back with a handful of
038students even having games today so that's really good for the athletes because they get some sense of normalcy and even though the spectator count has been limited and in some cases completely uh obliged as dr volesky mentioned making it invitational invitation only for family um it's still good for the athletes to get back on the field and at least have that outlet even though almost everything else has been cut off from the senior perspective a lot of seniors are now getting into the swing of applying to college it's october so a lot of early schools are have that applications in november application deadlines in november and um at this point i want to speak on behalf of all the seniors when we say thank you to the guidance counselors uh especially those of those that
039have been conducting senior interviews because uh on behalf of all the students they all think that it's really helpful and extremely necessary for comforting you know students and at least making them feel a little bit more aware on the process that is applying to college so thank you to the guidance counselors uh the school itself has also been doing a lot to help individuals and groups of people for example last night was the ptsa college night so that's just another example of the school you know extending their hand and helping guide people as well next week is respect week which includes days such as like hat day and pajama day which is always interesting to see especially considering the now online adaptation of that so um that would be fun to watch and continuing the
040appreciation for uh principles i do want to give a quick shout out to dr v um dr vanello especially for uh including the students and for example last week there was a principal's council meeting where he took the initiative and gathered a bunch of student leaders and asked them on their opinions uh regarding matters and what they may change and that initiative to include the students does not go unnoticed or unappreciated so on behalf of the students thank you to dr v and uh on a broader scale for principal's month thank you to all the principals of uh eastman public schools and yeah that's about it for tonight anthony tell me are you noticing as you and your friends are applying to schools that more schools are waiving the sat or act requirement because of
041the pandemic that's very true um test optional is almost ubiquitous in terms of colleges i can't really even think of any schools that are still requiring standardized testing uh this is mainly because you know there's a lot less opportunities east brunswick is actually an anomaly in the sense that they've been offering standardized testing since i guess late august where almost every other school in the nearby regions closed down and now they're kind of bundling standardized testing but even despite these opportunities most schools still they keep it as test optional but i think a lot of students will still send in their test scores if they have any but it's not forcing the students to you know risk their safety thank you i was just curious i'm sure that going through the college process right now
042is is challenging to say the least although i would imagine that there are going to be an awful lot of essays written about how i survived the pandemic yeah in the there are some schools that even have a specific covet essay even in the common app there is a opportunity to speak to covid but another thing to keep in mind is the fact that everyone has been affected by kovid so uh if your effects haven't been you know i haven't gone outside everyone hasn't gone outside it's it's it's in order to really write that essay you kind of have to um you have to have like not an extenuating circumstance but with everyone being affected um that kind of creates a standard that you need to exceed if you really want to write that essay
043but yeah a lot of a lot of people may take that opportunity to express how covet has affected them thank you so much are there any committee reports information items of the good of the cause for the board i just wanted to remark on the sportsmanship award that we received for our athletic program winning is great right winning is a wonderful feeling being a sport parent i can remember sitting in many games and just that feeling when your your team brings it home but the fact that our student athletes are recognized for not just winning but playing and conducting themselves with class and grace and respect is incredible i'm not saying it takes a place of a tournament trophy but man it's got to be up there and i just want to say first of
044all to all our coaches and to the entire athletic staff thank you for setting a tone and establishing a culture where our children know it's just as important to be respectful and do it with a lot of class on those fields and not just getting a home run making the win making the save i'm so proud of each and every student athlete who represents this district with pride and i just wanted to say congratulations to anyone involved with the program go bears okay anyone else committees are going to be speaking of normalcy committees are starting up again if you haven't received a call from your administrative counterpart for your particular committee please reach out to them we perhaps don't need to meet with the same frequency and a lot of the larger committees like the
045curriculum or student services or community programs are going to be by zoom because there's so many people but we are a board that runs on a committee system and we should be back into the swing of things with that as well okay if there's nothing else we do have a need for a closed session the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting whereas the board of education intends to discuss manners as follows and i hope everyone saw the amended agenda for tonight those items on tonight's agenda the length of closed session is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will not be taken can i please have a motion to go into closed session moved by
046mark second by jeff is there any discussion all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries good night thank you for joining us you