001bernie i have 529 and i still do not see susanna and heather do you oh they're not online yet i'm sending them a pen well since we're basically going to be opening the meeting and then going into a session right after the pledge um you could open the meeting and have them just meet us in the closed session absolutely i just wanted to see if there was going to be a delay that was going to extend good evening jeff hello okay heather is trying to get on so we will give her another minute [Applause] uh all right um it is 5 31 and as bernie pointed out we can start the meeting um i will let heather uh and uh susanna know [Music] okay hi susannah okay i'd like to call this meeting to order
002due to the covet 19 health emergency and in order for the board of education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held in 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 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 thank you bernie will the secretary please call the world this is true here mr sismar here mr hong here this is lax here this is reese here mr simmons here mr winston here and president becker here we have a quorum please rise
003to salute the flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america is 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 the provisions of this act the east forensic 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 are videotaped for later broadcast individuals who speak at the board's public meetings should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening i'm going to ask for a motion
004to go into closed session whereas the board of education you must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting those matters are as follows those items indicated in tonight's agenda whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be 2 hours and 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken care of please have a motion to go into close second by mark is there any discussion all those [Applause] we will see you in approximately two and a half hours thank you board members please leave the meeting and log in to closed [Music] do so do [Music] so my genius i'm going to sign right [Music] oh my god okay um okay [Music] peace that just makes sense [Music] foundation just got
005in period good okay ladies and gentlemen as you're logging into um the meeting you must keep yourselves muted we're trying to manage that but if you are unmuting yourself we're going to have to re-mute you so please we don't want any of the background discussions interfering with the board meeting thank you um bernie are you on i'm here um i've got um a lot of people in the queue to come in so i'm trying to manage that we're going to need a few more minutes because i i i'm going to need uh another minute just to step away for a moment i want to know if i have all my board members um i i'm trying to keep track so just a minute while i assess one two three four five six seven [Music] eight
006suzanne is not on i will give it another minute and then i want to get going can you guys hear me yes okay thank you okay susan is on we are back in we are going to start with the superintendent's report dr valesky thank you president becker and good evening everyone i'm proud to announce that east brunswick high school battled the classes food drive collected over 21 000 pounds of food so thank you to all the students staff and community members who participated last night i just want to clarify last night at our youtube town hall meeting i mentioned during that two-hour discussion about our summer pd and and quite honestly some in the chat feature uh didn't believe me so i wanted to share some of the elements of our summer pd that our
007staff participated in this summer 178 k-7 teachers trained specifically on google classroom 10 secondary teachers and administrators built a five-year plan for the canvas learning management system to outline what supports teachers will need for continual development of canvas as east brunswick's secondary learning management system all curricular areas math language arts social studies science practical arts or language and esl experienced a virtual learning environment by participating in summer staff development and made curricular adjustments to account for the virtual learning during the school year along those lines specific adjustments were made to integrate language arts curriculum in grades k through 7 to adjust for the hybrid virtual learning models uh 1 359 participants invested a total of 605 hours in online professional development and for the first september we have training on microsoft teams scheduled for grades
008eight through 12 teachers additional training on google classroom and google meets for our k-7 staff and we'll continue the year working on equity training uh classroom facilitation of difficult conversations and how to lead meaningful race conversations uh that will be um continuing all the way through this next year this next school year just some important reminders as the first day of school approaches the week of august 24th student information forums will be open through parent access and please take a few minutes to fill out these important annual forms it is very important that we have this information for your children and for contact information bus passes will be available through parent access on monday august 31st after p 3 p.m i'll say that again bus passes will be available through parent access on monday august
00931st after 3 pm and as always if you don't have internet access contact the school's main office to obtain copies of these important documents and forms wednesday september 2nd is the first day back for teachers tuesday september 8th is the first day of school for all students both in the hybrid and remote learning models i hope everyone enjoys the last few weeks of their summer thank you thank you dr valeski before i open the good of the cause to the public i just wanted to make a statement to the public um i'm glad to hear that we have so many people who are looking to speak to us tonight the key word there is keywords there are speak to us this is your opportunity to come as a member of the public and say what
010you would like to say to the board this is not like last night i'm sorry i'm going to ask everybody who is on except for the board members to please mute yourself i see some people are not muted and we can hear the background thank you i appreciate your cooperation i know this is a hard thing to do for everyone as i was saying this is not a town hall meeting this is not a question and answer period some of you who feel you may not have got on your questions answered last night and are coming here tonight to ask them please understand we will ask you if you have a specific question please send it an email i'm going to ask victor at the end of the closed session to at the end of
011the public portion to please uh give the email address the best email address to send questions into but i just want to set everybody's expectations straight we're not sitting here and not commenting because we don't care this is your time to talk to us you also all will have three minutes each mr juliana our board secretary will be timing you please don't take it personally if he says you're coming to the end you have 30 seconds left he's just trying to let you know that you should think about wrapping it up and i appreciate everybody's cooperation going into this so members of the public may provide comment at this meeting through zoom by entering your meeting id and password you will see before you [Music] on green in order to be recognized use the chat
012feature 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 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 on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board participants will be limited to three minutes duration i guess this is kind of a question i don't have to ask but i get to ask it anyway is there anyone who wishes to address the board bernie yes the first individual in the queue is
013lauren broderson hi welcome warren thank you good evening my name is lauren broderson and i'm going into my 20th year teaching in east brunswick last year was it was extremely difficult for me as i know it was and continues to be for everyone connected to our profession like many of us i have the perspective of being a parent as well as a teacher i have and continue to miss my students our interactions seeing their faces light up when they work hard and grasp the concept or learn a new skill and seeing their growth both academically and socially now september is nearly here and i'm excited to meet my new students unfortunately i do not feel it is safe to return to the classroom at this time first i have learned that one component of a
014safe reopening strategy involves the use of an effective ventilation system which i've repeatedly heard experts agree must have at least a merv 13 rating however last night the district informed us that the multiple that multiple schools are using filters rated between 8 and 13 depending upon the age of the system even though my school building has a newer system it does not function properly which is evidenced by several complaints that have been made to the faculty council by school personnel also it was said last night's forum that the filters would be replaced from time to time and i wanted to ask if you could provide a maintenance schedule for the filters or somehow let us know how often they will be replaced next but still concerning the hvac system it is known throughout my school
015that the temperature in the classrooms vary dramatically and children and staff alike regularly note how uncomfortable it is now especially with the staff and students wearing masks all day it is essential that the temperature in the classrooms be at a comfortable level the students are going to have a hard enough time continuously wearing masks in an ideal environment but i can guarantee that the kids will be constantly removing adjusting and even wiping their sweat with their masks if it is too hot in the room for them third it goes without saying that a thorough cleaning and disinfecting plan is a key component for a safe return to our schools while i understand and appreciate that everything will be clean more often i have concerns about potential cross-contamination issues resulting from other teachers coming into my
016classroom to teach their respective special areas these teachers will be coming after teaching other classes where they were just in close proximity to possibly 20 or more students in multiple classrooms this can easily result in he or she passing on their exposure to whomever occupies my classroom additionally has anyone specifically been designated for the responsibility of cleaning both before and after these teachers enter mine in other classrooms dr velesky stated that the strategy that has been implemented will be effective so long as everyone follows the plan i can only speak to them my family has taken which has simply been having limited contact with anyone outside our family since march however as the news has made us sadly aware many are not following the rules and guidelines that have been set up if adults throughout
017the country and yes even new jersey and middlesex county have not been adhering to cdc guidelines how can any rational person expect children as young as four to follow them thank you for taking the time to listen to the concerns i have about returning in september i can't even fathom the harsh yet possible reality possible reality that i can pass this lethal virus to those i love without even knowing i was ever sick in the first place that is why it is so important to me that anything and everything be done thank you so much and who do we have next uh we have chris finnegan hello chris hello kitty um good evening thank you for affording me the opportunity to speak to you tonight my name is chris finnegan i live in old bridge
018this september will start my 16th year as a teacher and my 11th in east brunswick i feel i have an obligation to myself my family my students and my colleagues to come before you tonight to implore you to consider fully remote learning until such time as we are completely certain that the safety of all students and staff can be insured it is my sincere belief that given new jersey's infection rate which has been recently staying above one indicating the virus is clearly still spreading we should exercise caution and restraint and keep our students out of harm's way in september additionally new jersey's guidelines for opening schools are as yet untested and will undoubtedly need to be revised as they are implemented in the coming weeks by opening our buildings in september we're exposing our students
019and staff to as yet unforeseen flaws in the reopening guidelines that could be avoided by a delayed start to in-person instruction the inadequacy of the initial guidelines given to hospital employees at the start of the pandemic when the cdc told them it was acceptable to wear a bandana when treating covet patients is a prime example of how initial guidance even when given by experts in their fields can lead to perilous outcomes even after employing negative pressure rooms n95 and surgical masks combined with face shields frequent cleaning and sterilization hepa air filters and other measures hospitals have been unable to keep their staff safe from this virus it seems unlikely that schools will be able to adequately counter the spread of infection especially from asymptomatic carriers recent outbreaks in public schools and universities show just how
020risky reopening too soon can be the american society of heating refrigerating and air conditioning engineers and the epa both recommend that buildings employ filters in their hvac systems with a merv rating of 13 or higher in order to combat the spread of aerosol aerosolized virus at last night's town hall it was stated the district buildings may be using a number 8 filter which is meant for particles far larger than the virus with which we are primarily concerned additionally our hybrid model becomes much less effective once we start to fill in the gaps in students days and where they are when they're not in our school buildings day cares before and after care programs social gatherings outside athletic and other group activities will all serve as pathways of transmission between cohorts 52 percent of families in
021the district have demonstrated that they do not believe it is safe to send their children into school buildings in september it is likely that many of the 48 who are choosing the hybrid model are also uncomfortable but are doing so out of necessity regarding child care or services that they feel must be delivered in person i sincerely hope that i am wrong if i am all that will have been lost is a few months of in-person interaction that can be easily made up for the consequences of a hasty reopening are far more severe thank you thank you sir and who is next bernie next is dana zimbicki hello dana welcome hi everyone good evening i am dana zimbicki president of the east brunswick education association two days ago we sent a letter to the board
022of education talking about the issues that we feel need to be cleaned up before we can safely advocate to return to school i just want to go over a couple of them to reiterate governor murphy publicly spoke stating that public school staff should not be harmed by returning to brick and mortar schools in fact on page seven of the restart and recovery plan presented by the state critical area number one it reads school officials will ensure staff and students who are at higher risk for severe illness are protected and supported such providing options for telework and virtual learning we cannot support a reopening plan that punishes our medical medically fragile staff which we think is only about one percent um and we do believe that their job responsibilities could go towards the 50 percent of
023students who will be learning virtually we hope that you will be supportive of this mandate from the governor additionally in the restart and recovery plan critical area 2 does talk about what you've heard tonight adequate ventilation operational heating and ventilation systems recirculatory air and fresh air component and the fact that those buildings which is just the high school that doesn't have air conditioning that the windows can be open and there are proper screens and proper opening although there are plenty of documents published all over social media and the internet we have to figure out where we're going to take our guidance from and the association is taking our guidance from the american society of heating refrigerating and air conditioning engineers known as ashrae we were provided documentation stating that east brunswick is using the highest
024mers rated filters possible which that was in the doe guideline they turn out to be an 8 and a 13. mers rating factors however that effectively uh deal with covid 19 particles according to ashrae the minimum can be a 13 filter which they say is at least 85 percent efficient in capturing particles to protect from covalent 8 19. however we have units which are only capable of 8 mers and ashrae says they are only 20 percent efficient at capturing these particles mers 8 filters are not acceptable to the association in protecting the spread of coven 19. we did ask for locations where the merv 8 filters were used so perhaps we could develop another solution to ensure that we could reopen in a safe manner we're concerned about dana dana um [Music] dana can you
025wrap up in about 20 seconds or so i sure can absolutely we're concerned about the high school too because they don't have air conditioning so we just need to make sure the windows would be open and that the screens are there as well i've spoken to hundreds of members over the past two weeks and this is their main uh concern and i certainly understand it and we're hoping that the board will work in the next 12 days to meet these standards so that we can reopen we right now are currently one of two districts in middlesex county who are opening in the hybrid plan we have 12 days to fix these issues and we're hoping that that can happen so that we can be open and educating our children thank you thank you thank you
026so much sorry about that thanks no thank you who's next uh next we have uh carrie hennessey hello carrie hi um i'm an east brunswick resident and two of my four children currently enrolled in the district the other two have already graduated i wanted to thank everyone involved in creating the best possible plan but there's always a bud this plan is the best possible for the students and for the parents that feel strongly that in person is the only option but it's not the best possible for our teachers and our staff it's overlooking the fact that the teachers and staff are there every day they're not in cohorts they're not with a hybrid schedule we're ignoring that teachers and staff potentially have medical reasons or family members with medical reasons that make it necessary to
027limit their exposure i'm also very concerned with the praise being shared for the procedure that's being used since july 1 with the staff and is being used with the sports checking temperatures and answering screening questions an important part assessing the procedure is being left out you haven't shared if this procedure has kept the staff exposure free since july maybe you've only had exposures but no positive tests perhaps you had a positive or two but that's not too many in your belief you didn't share that two days into the workouts the boys soccer had an exposure this was a tremendous breakdown of the procedure this student athlete came to work out after having a covet test before getting the results but he had his temperature checked and he filled out his questions assessment should always be
028a part of any plans i understand this is a very divisive issue and i don't expect your plans to be changed by my statements but i do want my teachers and staff to know that i'm concerned for their health and safety and i'm sorry that they have to work under these conditions i hope the day comes soon that we don't have to settle for the best possible i'd also like to mention that we have a petition on change.org that has 316 signatures so far just showing support for our teachers health and safety thank you thank you so much and who's next uh next we have kelly nichols hello kelly hello thank you my name is kelly nichols i live in east brunswick both my children attend the schools here i'd like to thank all of
029you for your hard work and careful planning not only into the road to recovery plan but for all the things you do for our school district on a daily basis it's not easy and you'll never please everyone but i think we can all agree when it comes to working and living in a community we have to look out for the collective good and it is with this idea of the collective good that i'm here to express my concern for the health and well-being of our faculty and staff students may not be in school every day but the staff and faculty will be they will be in the building coming into contact with students and personnel if a child shows symptoms they will go to the quarantine room according to the plan but which staff member
030are you going to choose to supervise these potentially contagious people how will we make sure that the students particularly the younger ones social distance what will happen when they cry or need a hug or can't open a glue stick how is a teacher supposed to do a running record or have a writing or reading conference regarding transitions between classes with the older students who will be wiping down the desks as stated in the plan will be the teachers the students with learning a foreign language or phonics where it is important and vital for students to see their teachers lips moving how will this work how will the students remotely learning be able to fully hear their instructors with their masks on additionally with regards to the mass on page nine number three it states that
031masks can be removed when students are seated at their desks as long as they are six feet apart but last night i heard they were to wear masks at all times what happens when a student or staff member contracts covet when this happens there will be immense speculation and community blaming and i know that's not something anyone wants if a teacher is not sick who will cover their classes will the substitutes be live stream i think you're approaching uh can you can you think about wrapping up yes i'm almost done thank you so much been a substitute shortage for years and this issue is only going to get worse with a little over 50 percent of families selecting the full remote and on most days 75 of all students working remotely all staff are still
032required to return to their buildings if a staff member takes a leave most likely it will be unpaid by the time you deduct taxes on health care i thank you all very much for your time i just wanted to make sure that i was able to express my concern for the staff and teachers thank you so much thank you kelly and who is next bernie uh we do not have anyone else in the queue okay i just i'll give it a minute i know that it can be a little difficult navigating zoom anybody no okay kill i'm sorry someone uh had just unmuted themselves and then re-muted so i think that was a uh they've been an error okay well we just received one rory reads okay welcome rory hi good evening my i'm thank
033you for letting me speak um my name is roy reese and i work with special needs children in the district for 19 years i'm sorry i'm trying to keep myself together on the daily family nothing gives me more choice than working with students during the school year with special needs i absolutely understand the importance of having your structure environment we are able to provide however i've been spending a lot of time wondering what the risk reward tree was as we consider returning to school in fact i've been agonizing over this despite the relative success the state has been able to maintain we are still very much in the midst of the pandemic when other schools have attempted to reopen whether scholarly colleges such as the university of north carolina or catholic schools in georgia the
034results have been disastrous and almost immediately cancelled districts throughout the state has made a decision to begin classes in all virtual formats to me this is a very clearly the prudent decision to make why is certainly not an optimal or permanent solution we are still in the early innings of this one tablet and potential for near-term benefits possibly available in a matter of months not years why certainly i feel that we are rushing back to an in-class front end and doing so the risk outweighs the reward why not wait a few months give the scientific advantage sometimes catch up yes virtual learning learning could temporarily just disrupt a child's educational development but the entire staff and students populations get sick or worse that will have much more higher and long-term seconds i appreciate you letting
035me speak thank you thank you thank you rory bernie is there anyone else in the queue uh yes we do uh we now have um lemay zhang welcome lenae uh please uh unmute yourself so you can speak these are so not hello okay i think we'd better move on to the next okay uh we will move on to jody crawl crawl i'm going live so jody welcome hi can you hear me yes okay hi i have to be honest i wasn't prepared or really planning on speaking i just came on to listen i'm a teacher a proud teacher at central school i teach second grade i taught kindergarten for many years already in the district and i've been listening to what everybody said and i felt that i needed to speak um i don't think
036that i need to go over again all of the reasons like dana and chris and kelly all listed and about the concerns that we don't feel have been addressed a hundred percent and that's just because it's hard and no one knows and i'll be totally honest and admit i'm slightly at risk because i have an autoimmune disease and yet i'm willing to go back into the class i was looking forward to going back into the class i missed my students last year more than i can put into words and yet what i keep hearing especially after i've heard my peers and other parents i'm a parent in the district three of my girls graduated from east brunswick high school we're super proud of that but i just think that one student getting sick or one
037staff member getting sick is just too much and i very much wanted to express that what is the hormone putting off a month a quarter till we know a little bit more and we're not rushing to make sure everything is safe let's make sure as much as we can everything is safe because i think like kelly nichols mentioned you know losing losing anybody is just too much and we can always go back and make up instruction but we can never get back a life and i i appreciate you listening i like i said i wasn't prepared to speak i wasn't planning on speaking but after listening to rory and tears someone who spends her life working with our special ed students at central i felt that i needed to speak up thank you thank you
038bernie who do we have now um i have a message from lemay zhang who has a requested to speak um zhang you're having some technical difficulties uh you do need to be unmuted to communicate with uh with the board now so it is your turn unfortunately if you can't unmute yourself we will need to move on yvonne who's the next person next person is erin perhaps we should take the next uh this is erin shaheen can you hear me well now yesterday now yes you have three minutes sir welcome thank you i won't need three minutes uh thanks for making this platform available to comment uh my name is erin shahin a parent living at 34 victory places brunswick due to my job in pharmaceutical industries specifically sterile manufacturing i am knowledgeable in use of
039personal protective next please keep yourself muted out of respect for the people who are speaking thank you so much go ahead eric uh thank you due to my job in pharmaceutical industries sterile manufacturing i am knowledgeable in use of personal protective equipment within the context of aseptic operations i feel obliged to caution the board that a safety plan reliant on use of masks necessitate qualified and validated use of face spinning masks used by highly trained personnel that is in contrast with use of a wide variety of masks manufactured from many different materials into many different designs used by children this contrast triggers concerns about the success of a mitigation strategy that relies on use of masks i'm also concerned that governance recognition recognition of east brunswick school district recovery plan may have generated a biased
040commitment to set plan thank you thank you sir do we have anybody else the only message i received was again from uh lemay zhang um but i think they continue to have well hold on they they are unmuted now uh ms zhang are you are you there yes yes can you hear me yes welcome and you have three minutes sure i'm sorry about that um uh my name is lee mai today i want to express my concerns about the criteria um the school set for my pay for math placement for 10th grade my son um he's going 10th grade um he was he was he was not placed in algebra to owner because of one criteria he doesn't meet which is his eighth grade grade is final eighth grade grade final is nauta meet the
041criteria which is uh 90 and above i think this criteria is wrong the reason first this system this rule i think is rule discourage growth and improvement because once you did not good in the eighth grade that's me you never can be good in your high school your neighbor can be intra owner in high school so if the student in eighth grade at the end of eighth grade he didn't get an uh 90 and above that's is done you never have chance to go to the owner in 10th grade so uh then i think the owner um system should encourage a student to you know have a motivation set up a higher level goal it's not just you know device student okay that's criteria you go this that's another criteria you go to academic uh
042second dr siran told me um algebra uh this criteria is uh is the prereq because she said algebra one uh mastery has a much more profound effect on success in algebra ii owner so i would like to know is there any statistics to show uh these two uh it's show this is a right um third um i think we we should look at student uh at this age the kids they're growing you know they're uh in their mind and intelligent so we shouldn't intelligence say we should not look at back it should look at you know at least the current not at least it's a current you know means uh really means anything the back doesn't mean anything so uh uh this is uh um i would like to get a help with the board
043member what should i do i think the criteria is wrong it's not fair for my son you know uh just uh not going to uh um uh algebra owner two because the eighth grade that was one year ago but this year he's um he got a 98 uh for his um uh i think he's definitely 95. time is up ma'am i'm sorry okay i think it might be helpful for this um parent who's dr bowley dr valesky what do you think dr bowley if you could contact dr bully's office directly yes yes ma'am if you if you heard that if you could call the district and ask to speak to dr burley who is our assistant superintendent of curriculum we can get your concerns addressed thank you for coming to us tonight bernie do we
044have anybody else we have one individual in the queue uh wendy siegel good evening hi thank you for letting me speak um i don't have a horse in this race my kids did fantastic with remote learning i thank central staff specifically miss alessandra miss pietro and mrs perduto um i didn't need permission from the district my kids will be continuing to stay home because i will do my duty to keep your staff and your teachers safe my questions and concerns are again that your residents didn't know anything of the plans you were submitting until you submitted them you then finally told us in the middle of a blackout and then went on the news here are my concerns are all of your children returning to hybrid resume services will you or do you plan to
045be doing daily walkthroughs to make sure that all of the safety procedures you have stated are being adhered to in all of the buildings we all sell the petition of more than 300 i'm hoping over 400 by now trying to keep our teachers and staff safe i'm not trying to be difficult i am getting vilified in social media because take away the take away our choice again we have the privilege in our house to continue my children if it means i can cut your classroom by half so that your teachers can stay safer folks i've worked in public schools my childhood 102 fever and no parent was coming to get them i have worked in public schools where a child has threw up my wonderful custodial staff who's already overworked and underpaid through some clotting
046materials and kept moving through their day i don't trust i don't trust you can keep the teachers and staff safe especially as all of middlesex county is slowly saying their plans for virtual my fears for the teachers i was raised by public educators my husband was raised by public educators i am terrified for your staff my baby's kindergarten teacher is a senior citizen she's not going to make it if somebody gets sick in that classroom i guess i'm up not yet oh okay so i'm sorry i know you love me dr valesky has met you before bernie knows me from last year um i i my heart breaks for your teachers i i can't i have nothing against you sir thank you for everything you do but i feel like now our hands are tied
047we went on the news with our great plan i am terrified for your teachers and staff thank you for letting me speak thank you is there anything else bernie uh yes uh marcy cares charistia welcome marcy sorry i had to unmute um i had absolutely no plans of speaking tonight but after hearing this meeting i just need to get a few words in i'm an instructional assistant in the district um i absolutely love what i do but i am terrified to go back to work i am immune compromised i have had um leukemia um as an instructional assistant i cannot i've been told it is really not a possibility right now for me to be working remotely my doctor has said he does not want me being with children he does not want me getting
048sick i could die if i get this disease and it's very scary to me and right now i'm in a very bad position it's take family medical leave act or resign my position which i do not want to do um as a caller before me the person performing said also from a family of educators love what i do love the teachers love my coworkers but i am downright scared to come back to work and my back is against the wall right now as to what to do so i implore you let us work remotely people like me who really want to be there love the children love what i do and as an instructional assistant we don't make a lot of money i do this also for the love of the children and i want
049to be there and i would hate to not be working this year so i really ask if you anything you can do for her not only teachers but us lesser you know instructional assistants and people like us i really would appreciate you doing it and thank you for listening to me thank you and you are not lesser thank you is there anyone else rachel thomas rachel good evening hi i am an elementary school teacher in the district as well as a parent of an elementary school student as a teacher so i'm not going to repeat everything you've heard i agree with everything we've been hearing um but as a teacher i'm very thankful that you've given us an additional day of training in the beginning of this school year however i want you to consider
050that the three days before school starts to truly understand the curriculum the expectations of us the expectations of the students plus new video conferencing applications and technology is simply unfair i agree with everything we've been hearing um i would gladly have spent my summer planning and training i understand that wasn't possible as things are constantly changing and being developed but even to have the last few weeks once we had a plan would have been a huge help instead teachers were mostly left in the dark and found out as parents found out the amount of work and preparation that seems to be expected of us since i'm not actually sure what's expected just yet is incredibly overwhelming and stressful to add that to a typical september stress is unfair these weeks to plan would have really
051helped a great deal and it would have eased our worry and it would have made september run smoother for everyone the parents are going to look to the teachers to be experts on how to navigate through all of this new technology and all of the websites that we're expecting them to use i keep hearing that spring was crisis learning but now the teachers have had all summer to prepare so they shouldn't be worried but we haven't i've done all of the training i could of course i went to the google classroom workshop that dr valeski mentioned it was for two hours and every other workshop that i had signed up for i was not granted i would have volunteered my time i understand that there's contractual issues with that but we had volunteer meetings and
052i would have gone to more i would have gone to them every day instead we have the three days before school starts to figure out what we're teaching and how to three different groups of students simultaneously in addition to teaching the parents how to use the technology based on answers to parent questions at the board of education meetings i feel like it sounds like the teachers are well prepared but i want you to know that we don't feel like we are i worry that the parents will see it as that i'm not prepared so i must not be putting in the time and effort since the district had made sure to convey that we've been given plenty of training i wish we were given more and i'm excited about the three days i just wish
053and wish it had happened previously thank you for your time thank you thank you rachel is there anyone else wishing to speak to the board robin zernitzky welcome robin hi how are you good evening um so as you know most of you i've been on on the ble meetings for the last month and i'm so excited to hear um the community speaking up as well as the teachers who i respect tremendously um there's a couple things that i'd like to say i don't want to repeat everything that everyone else has said with regards to the fears but i will tell you as a parent hearing the fear in our teachers voices i mean i'm really really hoping that it does make those of you on the board as well as dr valesky and your staff
054to really think twice about how to move forward and protect everyone i also want to point out that yesterday we did have that forum which i was happy to see lots of parents attended but i will say i was disappointed in the way that it was run in the sense that questions were sort of picked and chosen and i put several questions that were not answered and it's very frustrating as a parent to have certain questions and concerns that are not answered um i still do not understand and and it really probably is almost doesn't matter at this point but i really still don't understand why a meeting with you know to understand the details of the plan took so long to put together i also want to say that will there be future meetings
055with principals to talk to their individual schools so that parents teachers everyone's in the know um i think after hearing this i have much more concern than i did before and i had a lot of concern before um the preparation of the teachers is of the utmost importance and it doesn't sound like that has been thought out in this plan so i really just wanted to express those things today to make um each of you on the board who you know really does have like a fiduciary responsibility to the community um you know not to the superintendent but to the community to really think twice and how to make it the best possible plan that it could possibly be for the safety of everyone thank you thank you robin and do we have anybody else
056no one else in the queue okay seeing no one else i will close the public portion i thank everyone who came to speak tonight who took the time to come and talk to us i know i was taking notes fast and furiously and i'm sure my fellow board members were as well as our central office staff um if you have a question which you feel was not answered tonight or last night or in general the email address to send questions too is questions q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n-s ebnet dot org e-b-n-e-t dot org you can always call office in our board administration building and ask to speak with an administrator i urge you to use your building administrators also they are a great source of information and i thank you for coming to speak with us tonight okay i
057would like to make a motion to move the rest excluding items one through three on the board of education the three approvals other than that i'd like i need a motion for tonight's agenda i do not see board members uh mr simmons moved second second hello can you hear me yes we can hear you i'm so sorry i got kicked out my my computer didn't like the fact that i i had to take three items off of the agenda okay so um we do have we do have a motion on the table it was moved by mr simmons and seconded by mr han thank you so much mr giuliani is there any discussion uh yep i i think uh now you want to move if i understand correctly you want to move the entire agenda
058from here forward just all the um just so the resolutions jeff then we will go to the go to the calls for the board uh number four i'd like to hear a roll call vote on that the entire agenda will have a roll call uh because we do have roll call items on them i i understand uh so jeff you're making a motion that you'd like to separate out that item well right now i haven't made a motion i mean discussion uh but uh sure i'll make it is the motion uh to separate out for as a separate vote on the education agenda jeff okay seconded by mark is there any discussion all those in favor i need to show him folks obscene motion carries i'm going to ask for and uh a secretary of
059police about a motion for the entire agenda except for item number four policies to prove on second reading hey mrs chu yes mr sismar mrs guass yes mr hong yes this is lex yes mrs reese yes mr simmons yeah mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries and again i'm going to ask those who are still with us um to please keep yourself muted greatly appreciated i'm the item requested separated out item number four policies approval on second reading can i please have a motion for this item some movement second by somebody in just a second second second by mark thank you is there any discussion uh yes i i i do right here okay waiting to be recognized thank you very much uh yeah i wanted to separate now okay in light of the
06013 people who just spoke i think it deserves separate uh separate cover and uh for those who don't know this is the second reading on the department of education published the road back to recovery and uh for those who haven't seen this in the agenda and uh i appreciate the opportunity to have this voted on as a separate piece thank you okay anybody else before i asked the secretary to please um call the role mark yeah i also heard the public tonight i heard the public in the town hall meeting and former board of ed meetings i think dr volesky and his team did an excellent job with constructing the restart and recovery plan and when it was submitted that's when the governor said we must have some type of in-person instruction our plan was
061submitted approved by the superintendent the county superintendent and post that is when the governor said that districts could go to an all remote under certain circumstances which are still i think kind of vague from the state i don't think the state guidance was there i think our team did an excellent job doing the best that they could and you know there are portions that uh don't take everything into consideration from the state side for safety and but i do support dr valesky's efforts and i know he cares about the residents of east brunswick and the staff thank you thank you mark those are the public um the motion that we are discussing and we'll be taking a roll call on is that based on new jersey department of ed guidance certain areas of the district
062required a board policy to be in line with their recovery plan um rather than revising six or seven policies at this time the adoption of the single policy addresses the new jersey department of ed's mandated guidance when the pandemic is over this one policy will be abolished so will the secretary please call the role this is true no discussion i'm sorry i didn't i didn't know if it was just mark and i you didn't ask indian uh anybody else i thought i did so sorry anybody else scene then will the secretary please call the roll this is true yes mr sismar no for 1648 which is the restart and recovery plan but yes for 1648.02 which allows remote learning options for families honey can we separate um it's noted okay it's fine just want to
063make sure we're in compliance that's all thank you thank you mark this is gloss yeah mr hong yes this is lax yes mrs reese no as as mrs martin remarked could you specify please i don't have the number in front of me barbara if you wish to vote um as mark did he indicated no on policy 1648 we start a recovery plan and yes on policy 1648.02 learning options for families thank you is that what you is that you wish to vote yes thank you okay thank you barbara mr simmons yes mr winston uh the same as mr sismore uh 1648 restart i vote no 1648.02 i vote yes and it is my belief that none of this should be considered based on the date of june 26th there would have been multiple revisions this
064is really it's not the time for a comment i apologize uh mr president uh just believe my voting thank you mr julian president backer yes motion carries thank you now brings us to committee reports information items and for the good of the cause for the board does anybody have anything they wish to bring to the board tonight yeah mrs becker yes todd i would just say this look you know we have been following the state's directive we have been following the state's directives no matter how curvy that road has been and dr valesky and the administration has done an incredible job responding to that i just urge if anybody's in the state is on this to to just have a state mandate to go remote for a marking period a semester it would be the
065smartest thing to do sorry for my dogs there but you're leaving us with little choice um you've given us direction we've followed it i get it but it would be a really good idea if the state would just go virtual that's all anybody have anything for the good of the cause mark hmm she want to meet her yes if i haven't please i'm just gonna ask people to please keep their phones muted thank you so much mark when i got on the board i always voted for the safest option for the children it included bringing armed ssos in the schools and some other controversial issues that i've always voted for the safest option in my opinion the safest option is to keep people separated it's been working very well in state of new jersey i
066understand the parents that have concerns and want to send their children in i understand the parents that also have the choice to keep their children home and i want to say i heard the staff that do not have a choice whether or not to go remote and i feel for them i pray for everyone's safety with maybe a little extra emphasis on people that don't have a choice in this matter so that that's all i have to say at this point i pray for you all thank you mark jeff i didn't see your hand you did okay uh in in with in repeating uh rightfully so my prayers go to all those who will be placing themselves uh in this line of exposure uh my my heart works for the teachers that i heard tonight
067and the many who have contacted me on the side um i don't know what i would do in your shoes i i'm i'm not really sure i have a uh i have a profound disappointment in many things although i am happy with what dr volesky delivered he certainly addressed all of the areas of concern uh from the june 26 request uh andrew and i'm gonna get in july uh from uh or mandate might i say from the governor's office but much has changed since then including uh the rules of engagement is issued but all of that aside and all the politics and what should or shouldn't be done the bottom line is is that make no mistake it is my wish prayer that somehow in the next two and a half to three weeks that
068the state comes to their senses and doesn't assume that our teachers are uh assuming the same role of putting himself in harm's way where it's completely unnecessary and if a district does have the ability to pump the brakes right now and and what some of the uh the uh public uh did mention this evening the fact that we are not doing that i find irresponsible on every level when when all we would be doing is delaying the opening there is no harm in that very saddened by this day and i too will reiterate that my prayers go out to all students children and staff especially who are being put in a choiceless choice whether to support their families comfortably or put themselves in health's harm's way very very sorry i'm very sorry you're in this
069position thank you any other members of the board barbara i just want to reiterate that i i'm very thankful that we have dr velesky and our team they are very hard working beyond what you realize some don't realize how many hours that they put in to do this kind of work i think this and i think very highly of governor murphy but in this particular case i just am very concerned the vagueness of the state requirements and it doesn't put it puts us as individual boards in a situation where there's an evolving science uh about all kinds of transmission and we are not epidemiologists and we need more guidance from the department of health in numbers in specifics not in vague discussions and terms that leave volunteer board members from different states to make decisions
070for the for the for the life and death of of many people thank you are there any other board members who wish to speak tonight i wanted to say that i think i can speak safely no pun intended for the entire board saying that everyone in our community is in our prayers i'll extend that to our country i too have been hearing from a lot of parents and teachers people who want who are very angry with me and the board because they want their children in school five days a week people who are very angry because they feel the entire district should be virtual people who are upset because they think we're going to take away their option to go hybrid teachers who are concerned who are scared and also some teachers who just wanted
071to tell me how much you're looking forward to going back to work even a few days a week yes this is what i've been hearing from people we all talk to community members to come up with a decision to come up with a plan that encompasses everyone i think dr valesky i think dr valensky said it well we can't come up with something that's going to make everyone happy depending upon your personal situation that's going to be your reaction to this plan i applaud the parents students and staff of this district for continuing to have commitment compassion for themselves their colleagues for their students the parents for the sacrifices they make i'm in awe of all of you every single day i don't have school age children somebody asked earlier what board members were doing
072and um i thought about that a lot and it's kind of an unfair question for me to answer because i would be saying what i think i would have done because my kids are somebody is uh one of them is uh in his 30s and the other is a millennial smack in his 20s so my kids are out of school however i thought long and hard about this and i thought that i have one child who i would have given the choice to such he was the student he was and i have another child that i absolutely would have sent to the hybrid program so that's my answer again uh is it fair of me to give an answer on something that i'm not being asked to say today no but i wanted to answer
073anyway so we leave you all tonight with our hopes and prayers for a safe start to school are there any other members wishing to speak scene none i don't believe we have a need to go into closed session bernie oh not at this time okay so can i please have a motion to adjourn so moved by jeff anybody want a second mark second by mark thank you any discussion all those in favor all right abstain motion carries good night thanks for joining us stay safe everybody try and be safe you