Winslow Township Board of Education Meeting 1/6/2021

001what it's you ch you that's e oh good evening Mrs Pitts and Mrs uh Peterson good evening Happy New Year to you thank you same to you good evening good evening all for what good evening everyone good evening good evening happy New Year happy New Year good evening good evening good evening how is everyone doing well thank you good here good evening everybody good even good evening Mr how are you I'm doing well thank you Happy New Year all that good stuff Happy New Year to you happy New Year yes yes Happy New [Music] Year [Music] sh good evening good evening M Eden [Music] evening m j can you hear us yes I can can you hear me yes I can hear you okay good evening everyone Hi everyone good evening good evening good evening

002Miss good evening good evening good evening happy New Year good evening everyone good evening yes that's right to [Music] everyone it's not time to say to all good night good evening everyone good evening did I hear you say good night M you're muted Mrs Bo but you're on video it's nice to see you for first time don't start no stuff Mr long I think I'm Miss Mo congratulations good evening Miss Moore good evening good evening Miss Moore congratulations congratulations evening welcome aboard thank you [Music] Mr Blake happy New Year everyone happy year Mr Blake happy New Year Mr Good Mr Blake this over welcome Miss Moore hello hey Miss Mo hello Mr Blake better keep okay I have 559 we are we do have a lot of back background noise there now yes I'm I'm

003gonna mute myself quiet thing I don't think it's coming from here but we do have a l of background not coming from here good evening Dr po happy New Year everyone happy new New Year okay [Music] okay that didn't come from here okay it is six o'clock and I'd like to open up the reorganization meeting of January 6 20121 um the public notice of this meeting was given to all board members and Associates in a notice dated August 31st 2020 and December 2nd 2020 adequate and electronic notice of this public meeting has been provided specifying the time place and manner in which the meeting is being conducted it was advertised in The Courier Post posted in all schools the administration office the municipal building the library budall center Edward acre elmtown and the Winslow Township

004Post Offices the mission statement the mission of the Winslow Township School District a large diverse and growing Community is to educate all students to become independent lifelong Learners critical thinkers and caring and confident members of their Community The District in partnership with the community and in the climate of cooperation and mutual respect will provide an academic environment which values excellence and diversity encourages students to strive for personal excellence and assist them in acquiring the knowledge skills and attitudes necessary to contribute positively to a POS rapidly changing World Dr potit yes everyone would you please uh recite along with me the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the of the United States America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you election results

005members of the local Board of Education who were appointed for a three-year term Miss Cynthia Moore with 13480 votes Miss line dreaden with 10,1 31 votes and Miss Rita Martin for 10,14 votes members of the local Board of Education to serve a one-year term Miss Kelly Thomas with 14,95 votes the installation of board members and the administration of Oats of office are going to be handled by Mr long so Mr long I'm going to turn it over to you thank you Mrs Bole I'll them in the order that you have them set for on the agenda um starting with the uh one-year term with uh Miss Thomas I can't see or maybe if I switch over to a page I'll there you go Miss Thomas how are you I'm good thank you good nice to

006see you again if you would mind uh raising your right hand and repeating after me yes I State your full name I Kelly Thomas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey in the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I

007possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of the Winslow Township School uh board of education for the office of the member of the wins Township Board of Education thank you and I will and I am not disqualified and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to state law as a voter pursuant to state law nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense due to conviction of a crime or offense set forth in state law that that I'm sorry set fourth in state law set forth in state law and I will faith Y and I will faithfully and partially and justly and partially and justly perform all the duties of perform all the duties of

008that office that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you okay now we have Miss let me find and find Miss Moore oh there you are Miss Moore oh great and I have Mr Moore you have someone with you you can feel free to have them have them with you and hold a Bible if you have one but I'm going to need you to raise your right hand if you can you got it you're all set not mandatory but it's nice that you have that please rep after me I st full name I Cynthia Moore do solemnly swear do Sol solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the

009Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Alle and allegiance to same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further Solly swear I do further solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of the Winslow Township Board of Education for the office of member of the winow Township Board of Education and that I am

010not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to state law as a voter pursuant to state law nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense due to a conviction of a crime or offense offense set forth in state statutes set forth in state statutes and I and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations ma y thank you where's M there's m dreaden m Dre I think this might be the third or fourth time I've had the privilege of

011doing this this is the fourth time wow please raise your right hand it's my honor thank you for having me uh please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Lorraine dreaden do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will state true bear true faith and allegiance to the same the same and to the governments established to the government established in the United States United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people

012I do further solemnly swear I do furly solemnly swear that I POS qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by by law prescribed by law for the office of member of the Winslow Township Board of Education for the office of the members of the board of Board of educ winow Education and that I am not disqualified I'm not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to state law pursuing of state law nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to conviction of a crime due to conviction of a crime or offense set forth in state statutes impartially and justly and partially and unjustly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability the best of my ability so help me God so

013help me God congratulations M Dre thank you now the board member scares The Living Daylights out of me Martin she's on our negotiation committee she can be a little rough Miss evening I'm great thank you Sarah how are you Happy New Year to you same to you lovely seeing you if you would raise your right hand please and please repeat after me I State your full name I Rita Martin do solemnly swear do solemnly swear will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to

014the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do farly solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of the Winslow Township Board of Education for the office of the member of the Winslow Township Board of Education and that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to state law as a voter pursuant to the state law nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense due to a conviction of a crime or offense set forth

015in state statutes set forth in state statutes and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations ma'am thank you I will now do roll call Mr Blake present miss dreaden here miss Martin present Miss McLendon present Miss Moore present thank you Miss Peterson present Miss pittz present Mr Shaw present and miss President we have a I'd like to move on to the election of officers until the next reorganization which will be in January of 2022 I'd like to open the floor for nominations for board president Peterson can you hear me yes

016Miss Peterson I move to nominate Cheryl pittz for presidency Dre second thank you are there any other nominations Blake can you hear me yes I nominate abena mclinton as president miss McLendon all right do we have a second Shaw second thank you any other nominations okay hearing none Mrs Bo may I can I close the nominations Mr yes you may thank you great um hearing no other nominations I request a motion to close nominations Peterson closure sha second all right take a roll call vote to close nominations Mr Blake yes Miss dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss McLendon Miss McClendon this is a roll call just to close nomination yes thank you Miss Moore yes Miss Peterson yes Miss pittz yes Mr Shaw yes and miss Tom Thomas yes motion has carried Mr long would

017you like to to make your comment sure thank you Mrs Bole uh given that there are two nominations and this is a a practice that's been suggested through school boards uh when you go through the roll call and Mrs Bole calls your name since there are two nominations you should answer um in the name of the individual that you support to become board president um so you would either as your name is called for Mr Blake either say pittz or McLendon that way at the end whoever carries the majority will be declared the president of the board I also want to say that you can vote for yourself it's perfectly ethical under these circumstances that you support yourself unless you want to vote for the other person which you can do that as well but

018you can certainly vote for yourself should the that you desire to do so and any questions yes Mr Mr long yes uh I will need a motion in a second correct um so can we have a motion in a second to approve that procedure Peterson move for can do all in favor okay so I have Peterson and a as a um Miss Peterson did the motion and I heard another Dre I I heard Miss Miss dreaden okay so now I'm G to roll call and you can just um the name of the person okay you're gonna do a roll call and they're gonna State their name who they want to correct Mr long yes last name present the last name and your name is called of the person you support you're supporting right Mr Blake

019McLendon Miss dreaden pit Miss Martin pit get that I I did miss Mendon McLendon Miss Moore Clon Miss Peterson pit Miss pit pit Miss McLendon and Miss Thomas okay so one two 3 4 five five in favor of Miss pittz and four in favor of Miss mandon so we are electing Miss pitts's Board president thank you thank you board members thank you uh the president will now assume direction of the meeting and thank you thank you Miss Mendon and again thank you to all to all board members as we go forward as a as one one body at this time I would like to open the floor for nominations for vice president dreaden would like to make a nomination for Julie Peterson as vice president is there a second second Martin are there any other

020nominations for the office of Vice President Blake here Shaw is there a second more second are there any further nominations for vice president hearing none I will now close the nominations for vice president and [Music] proceed for vote Miss second nomin a voice I'm sorry I didn't I can't hear you Mr long Miss pits just a motion in a second to close nominations and yes all in favor would work fine okay is there a mo I'd like um a motion to uh close nominations for vice president Peters M moov by Miss McLendon second by Miss Peterson all in favor I hi thank you the uh nomination for vice president is now closed we will now proceed to voting we'll follow the same procedure as we did with the office of President thank you Mr long

021and I'll repeat that we will follow the same procedures as we did for Office of the President moving forward we will start Mr Blake uh sha Mr dreon Peterson Miss Martin Peterson miss McLendon Shaw Miss Moore Shaw Miss Peterson Peterson I cast my vot for vice president for Miss Peterson Mr Shaw uh Shaw and Miss Thomas Peter thank you Miss um M Bo will you give us the tally on that on that vote Yes it was five Peterson for Shaw uh Peterson has been nominated as Bo Vice President congratulations Miss Peterson Bo board members on now at this point you're at um of the appointment of the board secretary I'm asking for a motion to approve the appointment of Miss tyara McCoy Bole Pon M second move by Miss Peterson second by Miss McLendon would

022you like the roll call Miss Bo roll call please Mr Blake yes thank thank you Miss dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss McLendon yes Miss Moore yes Miss Peterson yes Miss pittz yes Mr Shaw yes and Miss Thomas yes motion has carried thank you looking forward I was s of hoping for Miss [Laughter] congratulations thank you Miss Bo looking forward to another year of um your guidance in in all things fiscal thank you Miss pits and before I go into public comments let me just say to the board as a board there's nine of us and there's a reason why there's nine of us because every person opinion matters we all come to this table with different skill sets we all come to this table with different backgrounds but I feel certain that we all

023have the one focus and one goal in mind and that is to make sure that as a board that we over see and present to our community the best education for our students that our resources can provide so folks we have we also know that um these are difficult times but I I think it's safe to say that we're going to plan to get the hard stuff done at this time before we go into public comments since this is reorganization meeting I would like to give each board member the opportunity to greet the public to make a statement you don't have to but if you want to please do so at this time we can start with Mr Blake oh um happy New Year everyone I didn't realize I was still on uh I was

024on mute I mean off of mute but Happy New Year everyone um just wanted to say thank you for all the things that um that you have done as a community supporting the board um and I look forward to working with you guys in this upcoming year thank you Miss Jaden yes I would like to repete Happy New Year to everyone and I want to thank you for nomination for being back on the board again um and I want to say we're here I am here for the children for the parents for the community and for the school and I want to do my best at what I'm supposed to be doing as a board member thank you thank you m Miss Martin good evening everyone welcome Happy New Year to everyone I'd just like

025to take this opportunity to thank the community for reelecting me and I am here to support you and your children as as well as the community and look forward to a great year thank you Miss McLendon yes good evening everyone happy New Year um as I go into my third year of my first term has been great being on the board um we've had some UPS some Downs some accomplishments uh definitely looking forward to this year being better than it was last year um everything that we've had to deal with this year with the pandemic our students working remotely uh hopefully going into um as we move through this year transitioning it'll be smoother better and more fruitful so um looking forward to working with everyone again this year thank you thank you Miss mlon

026Miss Moore uh thank you um I happy new year and I'd like to say uh thank you to all who voted for me I'm humbled by the number of people who came out for me and um I'm happy to be here and I'm looking forward to working with all of you and working hard to make sure that our students get the best education they can thank you Miss Moore Miss Peterson good evening everyone happy New Year I'm hopeful extremely hopeful that this year will excellent year for us not as a district but as a Township as a county as a state and a nation this pandemic has put us back a little but I am here to work for the good of Winslow and the good of our students I want to see our students

027district and Community Thrive and know they can so thank you for your support over the years thank you m Peterson Mr Shaw first of all I'd like to say thank you to all the community members um and for all that they've and students for all they've endured in the since March um you know I I can't say enough for the endurance and the the success that you've all shown us that throughout pandemic you've all especially the students and parents and teachers you've all done an amazing job in since March throughout this throughout 2020 and happy New Year and thank God 2020 is over with um the success the success of of Winslow Township moving into 2021 we couldn't have done it without you um and whatever you need moving into 2021 this board is is

028here for you whatever we can do to help Dr potit to move in make the his administration take steps to help your s your year school year move in a successful 2022 2021 2022 school year we are here for you so whatever you need please use that chain of command please use whatever you resource you need to let the school board help you and we again we are here and our emails are whatever minds of communication you can use let us know because we are here for you thank you thank you Mr sh Miss Thomas Happy New Year to everyone uh the board the community I just want to say thank you for electing me for this oneye term U I intend on learning from every board member and serving the community thank you thank

029you Miss Thomas moving now board members at this time I'm calling for a motion to change the order of the day just slightly so I'm going to ask for a motion to move the public comment portion of our agenda to after the informational items is there a motion Peterson move move by Miss Peterson second by Martin second by Miss Martin any further comments or questions hearing none roll call please Mr Blake yes M dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss McLendon yes Miss Moore yes Mr Shaw Mr Shaw Mr sha we lost Mr sha yeah looks like it [Music] yeah might have a bad connection he might have a bad connection right okay we okay continue with the roll call thank you Miss Thomas yes Miss Peterson yes and Miss pit yes motion has carried okay

030thank you Miss bu board members I at the top of page four business operations I am asking for a motion to approv the business operations information that begins the top of page four and continues through to the top of page five is there a motion move by Miss Peterson okay now I'm having a bit of a problem I think it's technology I heard move by Miss Peterson is there a second Dre second second by Miss Dre if further comments or questions on this motion uh yes I okay um I'd like to request if possible that we move the time of the meetings to 6:30 for me personally six o'clock is really difficult but if it's good for everybody else I'll make it work but I'm just wondering if we could possibly do that okay so

031therefore Miss Moore is asking board members that um we we list our Board of Education meeting that it be changed from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 any any further comments or questions on that Madame President yes Miss Peterson can I amend my motion to uh change under Item B eting time of meeting to 6:30 Who and the second mandon second are you amending your your second also miss McClendon well actually miss dreaden second the first time around right so I need to hear from Miss dreaden okay yes yes second okay so therefore with the motion in the second with regards to item number B the times will be changed I'm asking the times will be changed from 6 until 6:30 and so now I'm going to go forward with that because we've changed that and ask

032again for a motion in a second with the time being changed to 6:30 Mo mcon move Miss McLendon second by Miss Dre further comments or questions question Madam president yes Miss mundon will that include the meeting scheduled for the 13th is that going to be mov to 6:30 as well every meeting moving forward yes okay very well thank you okay any further questions hearing none roll call please Mr blade yes Miss dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss McLendon yes Miss Moore did we lose M did we lose M Moore yes yeah we're having problems this evening okay let's continue oh she's back Miss Moore oh I'm here yes okay Miss Peterson yes Miss pitz yes Miss yes and Miss Thomas yes thank you motion is carried at this time board members thank you we're going

033to move I just want to remind board members I'm sorry someone had a question yes no okay we're going to move at this time to appointment of delegates and board committees and we're going to begin with the New Jersey School Board Association uh representative to that will be myself the board president representative to the County School boards will be Miss Peterson representative to the New Jersey Urban boards committee that will be Miss Mar representative to the Camden County Educational Services that would be Miss McLendon moving now to board committee chairs and committees the athletic committee will be chaired by Mr Shaw its members will be Miss McLendon and Mr Blake the citizens advisory committee the administrative advisor to that will be Miss Martin and we will there will be no need to appoint members because

034as long as there are no more than four members who attend the citizen advisory committee meeting that's up to you yet that's your choice just make sure that you advise Miss Martin of your uh decision to attend moving on to the education committee the chair of that education committee would be Miss Peterson its members will be Miss Martin and Miss Thomas moving to the marketing committee the chair of the marketing committee will be Miss McLendon its members will be Mr Blake and Miss Moore moving to negotiations committee the chair will be Miss Peterson its members will be miss dreaden and miss Martin moving to the operations committee its chair will be miss dreaden its members will be Mr Shaw and the board president moving to the policy committee chair board president the members will be

035dreadon and Miss Moore board members I'm going to add another committee to our list I just want to remind some and inform others that at our Retreat on July 11th we did establish a committee to address diversity equity and inclusion and that committee is our Equity equality committee and that committee is to be chaired by Mr Blake its members will be Miss Peterson and Miss Thomas now board members moving now to adopt the school as you know this is not mandatory this is not something that every single District does but this is something that winow Township School District several years ago decided to do and that is to in a sense quote unquote adopt one of the our school buildings here that is that each board or board member will be attached to a school

036building um so that you can communicate with the principal and the principal knows that they can communicate with you now I do not appoint because this is your decision so I'm going to start with school number one who would like to be the representative to school number one okay now everybody don't jump up at one time now Madam president I'll be school number one I was school number one last year I didn't get a chance to get to school number one but this year I will try to my best to get there especially if it's open okay thank you Mr Blake School number two is there a representative to step up for school number two I'll take School number two okay thank you Miss Moore I think I heard in the previous um conversation did

037Miss Peterson say Miss Peterson did you say you wanted school three absolutely thank you okay Miss Peterson School three moving I'll take School four Madam president miss McLendon did I hear School four yes thank you School five Miss Martin Miss Martin School five School six Miss P Kelly okay Miss Thomas six all right all right now we move to our middle school middle school M Dre Mr dreon Middle School yes okay thank you m dreon and Mr Shaw gets to High School Mr sh Mr get the high school I'm sorry High School I wanted the high school well see we aim to please moving now board members to our addendum there is no addendum for tonight's meeting moving now to Old business would there be board members in the old business to time excuse me

038Madam president I'm sorry there is a a vote box um underneath that section did you want to make a oh I'm sorry I skipped over that I'm sorry let's make this official so all the schools have presently a representative so therefore I'm asking for a motion to approve Peterson move Char second move by Miss Peterson second by Miss Shaw further comments or questions hearing none roll call please Mr Blake yes Miss dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss McLendon yes Miss Moore yes Miss Peterson yes Miss pittz yes Mr Shaw yes and Miss Thomas motion is carried thank you board members moving now as I said there is no addendum would there be any old business that you would care to discuss at this time yes uh Madame President Dr po yes Dr Po and I

039think some of the background noise that we're getting is um you know I think everyone have their mics on so they're not speaking at this time if everyone mute their mics I think that will cut back on some of the background noise that we're getting okay all right um Mrs Pitts I sent out to all of the board members uh yesterday some information in reference to the Orlando um for the senior trip to Orlando uh board members did everyone receive that information and have you had an opportunity to review it okay yes um the the reason um I sent that to you because there is uh this is a sense of urgency and the time of the essence as you can recall we did have um a discussion some time ago about the senior class

040trip at the high school we also asked Mr Mel as the building principal uh to do a survey to find out how many parents were interested in that um senior trip and see how many would respond initially we had around 65 responses um but as of today based on the information you received uh it stated that there were 20 but I want you to know that there are not 20 there are 17 students who have paid their uh down payments up until the present date which means they should have paid um $1,000 um the last payment is due January the 20th um but that is um something that can be addressed at a later date however since I sent that information to you I also want you to know that the agency uh called Mr

041morela and stated to him that he will be returning the check that was submitted to them for the down payment and as we go through our discussion you will understand why the check was returned and I agree with the agency because he felt that returning the check now was in the best interest of our students and the school district because once that check was deposited in their account and this trip did not go through it will take an act of Congress if it still exist uh for our young people uh to get their money back based on the information you have in front of you uh board members um that is not the same trip that our young people had envisioned when they signed up for the trip at this point uh as you can

042see [Music] um because we have such a small group of students the price of the rooms could possibly increase because uh the prices that we received was based on a minimum of 10 rooms and at this point with 17 students we don't come anywhere close to 10 room minimum uh of course the prices were based on quads because we have a small number an uneven number therefore our children would possibly have to pay a higher price for their tickets uh normally when we go to uh Florida they have a representative at the airport to help our children to check in and make sure everything is taken care of at this point with the small number a representative will not be available and our students and staff will have to uh do their own registering uh

043boarding passes and all those kinds of things on their own one of the other issues they indicated uh was that normally when a group go down they provide a private security again because of the small number that we have uh we will not have a private security uh security guard our class or school will be um combined with another school because it's so small and then that security per person will be providing security uh for our students the other issue is they used to provide a hospitality room where snacks and drinks were available the students could go down and get their snacks at their discretion uh again because of a small number of those snacks and drinks will be placed in the room of one of the chaperons and of course there will be limited

044times that you could go in because at some point the chaperon would want to uh go to bed um the other issue at this point because of a small number you know based on your numbers you get a certain number of free uh trips for chaperons we were uh looking at two but with these numbers um we would only get one free chaperon and then of course we still had enough for two chaperon but that second chaperon would either have to pay their own cost or somehow the district would have to come up uh with that um with that money to um pay for chaperon the other situation is that uh we had one administrator uh because we never S young people uh to Florida without an administrator the administrator who committed to going on

045the trip because of personal reasons will not be able to go on the trip and of course we asked uh the other administrators at the high school would any of them be willing to go and at this point we do not have anyone who committed to go that trip um with all of the changes and the size of the group um this has changed totally and we have not of course placed this before the young people uh because they want wanted us to make a decision today no later than tomorrow um but in that information you received uh it did state that once that money was deposited uh we can't get that money back but the agent shared with Mr Mela that most of the schools who committed have cancelled they've pulled out uh some

046had tried to extend it to either May or June but uh most of the schools who were trying to get to Florida uh again Florida is still under Public Health Emergency and most of them have pulled out um after having this conversation with Mr Mel of course sharing the information with you um I don't think this is a a trip that we would normally take for our young people it's not anywhere near what we had anticipated for the cost which could possibly be even more so the gentleman stated that he would send the check back to the wio Township School District and if for some reason we decide that we wanted to go anyway then he would try to work out something if not on an individual basis but try to assist you if he

047possibly can the other situation that uh he mentioned was uh the rooms and the hotel that we allegedly uh or excuse me initially wanted to get uh they're recommending that again because it's a small number maybe moving our youngsters to a different hotel if another hotel is available so with all the changes and all the things that are um that I put before you um I wanted to bring it back to you for discussion and possibly make a decision as to what you think would be in the best interest of the young people under these new circumstances board members can we hear from you with regards to whether or not we would want to uh continue with this senior trip or whether or not we want to make changes I need to hear from you

048because we need to make this decision so that Dr poti can know what to uh bring back to that travel agency Madame President yes Miss Peterson uh the trip is schedule usually for the month of April yes during spring break uh Mrs Peterson so with a heavy heart because knowing the that we're still in the pandemic go I would have thought that we'd be further ahead knowing that there is a new Strength uh that has hit certain States I'm concerned If the parents and those administrators and staff that will be going feel comfortable and leaving the state and if they would have to quarantine 14 days before to get there and 14 days after if that would be an issue at this point um the 14 days returning is definitely required that would be mandatory

049right uh um we do not have an administrator at this point uh available to accompany the young people on this trip at least not from the high school so there is no admin now I just want you to know um we never send a group of our young people out of the state on a trip without an administrator because someone would have to make decisions particularly in the event let's say someone got sick or someone got hurt it's an administrative decision uh who would stay with the child until the parents those kinds of things but at this point we do not have an administrator who is willing to go at this point Madame President yes Mr Jen uh I would think at this time that uh we need not have this trip because of the

050pandemic and what's going on and just what Dr said that uh no one would really want to go uh so we probably need to not have this trip right now this year at least that the further notice and ladies and gentlemen before you make a final decision let me just say concern about safy of everyone uh but let's keep in mind that right now these children can get their entire refund so for those who PID $1,000 they can get all that money back um and that's why the gentleman said to Mr Mel you know if we deposit the check then of course if you don't come there are penalties uh he didn't feel that that was fair for these youngsters and because we had so few students um so I'm also concerned about the children

051and the families getting their refund under the circumstances $ thousand dollar is a lot of money uh of course those who wanted to make the sacrifice to go but keep in mind based on all the changes they're asking us to make this is not the trip that the children made their decision on uh back in September so there are a lot of things you have to consider but I want to make sure that I put the health and safety piece UPF front the full reimbursement of the children's money and at this point not necessarily having the full uh compliment of chaperons Mr go ahead Mr I just want yeah I just wanted to say you know first and foremost the health and safety of the students that you know wanted to go f uh is

052the utmost important and then you know the fact that out of you know the trip was initially meant for over a hundred students and the fact that we only have 17 um you know that and the changes made based upon the fact that we only have 17 students um that's you know that's alarming enough and then the fact that you never know what's going to happen down in Florida as as the pandemic and the new strain and everything else day by day things can change um and the fact that you know our students can get a full refund now on this money you know that makes the most sense to you know cancel the trip at this point so you know at this point I'm kind of with with the a you know recommendation of

053the travel agent and if Mr Mela and Dr potit are both in agreement then yeah that that's where I kind I'm going with this but Safety First and financial responsibility for for these students thank you Mr Shaw board members any other comments yes Miss Martin um I just wanted to say that the safety and the money the financial Return of the money um my my other concern also is is that it also mentioned that if they move forward that there is a great possibility that they're going to have to pay more money than they expected to pay in the beginning so I would much rather have them just get their money back and not have to spend a lot more and also to be safe thank you Miss Martin any further comments from the board

054yes M president yes Miss McLendon so for me as as I read um the information Dr PO said sent to us and also here and Dr po to talk about it um like everyone said we can all agree that the safety for our students and our staff is our most uh important concern um also to know that these room were going to be quad rooms which means to me that says up to four people in one room with this pandemic I wouldn't want to risk anybody with four people in a small room or a room period um because if one person is infected you now all four people so um that concerned me right off the bat that there was even a situation where there would be four people up to four people in one

055room um so with that being said um you know definitely uh I think that you know uh reconsidering and unfortunately I know the students that signed up for it you want to go on this trip we would love to send you on this trip but again taking a look at where we're at with the pandemic and everything that's going on around we want to put you first before this trip because a trip can come another time maybe um but your health you know can't be replaced if something happens uh so I'm on board with what was already said by the previous board members any further comments board members you know board members certainly um this is not um the best of times especially for our seniors um I'm sure that we've all have had going

056through our senior year where the prom the senior trip all those kinds of special things that take place for us in our senior year all of us have enjoyed correct yes no yes yes and so we can really feel for the class of 2021 we can understand but as Miss McClendon said our priority is your health and safety and so therefore at this time I'm asking for a motion board members with regards to Dr potit Dr potit would you repeat your recommendation please well at this point my recommendation would be that we cancel the trip allow these young people and families to um receive their re full reimbursement and um pretty much with our regrets um you know bring this opportunity to a close I don't think it's in our best interest to pursue thank

057you Dr P can I get a motion Peterson move second second can you frame the motion Peterson moov that we cancel the trip give the students a full refund and allow them to know that we is with regret that we had to do this thank you Miss Peterson so move by Miss Peterson was that second by Mr Shaw Direct okay any further comments or questions on this motion I would certainly like to add my liability concern the mix as well from a legal perspective I wanted the board certainly to express their opinion but from a liability legal point of view um I think we're headed regrettably in the right direction a shame for the for the children the young young people thank you Mr long so has been moved in second the motion has been

058repeated if there's no further questions or comments roll call please Mr Blake yes Miss drean yes Miss Martin yes Miss mundon yes Miss Moore yes Mr Shaw yes miss Tom yes Miss Peterson yes and Miss pits yes motion has carried thank you we're still on new business board members any any other items under new business yes madame president miss Peterson as you you may be aware and some may not be aware this year significant for Winslow Township School District this is the 20th anniversary where Winslow where Edgewood was renamed to Winslow this year in June will be the 20th uh anniversary where they receive their diplomas with Winslow on it and being a little curious I would love for the board to do something to celebrate that achievement board members can you hear me yes

059okay now I am having some technical difficulties here because uh I can't see any of you and I have a rainbow of colors appearing on my screen so so therefore Miss uh Miss Peterson I'm going to ask you to um to move forward with the uh rest of the meeting I'm going to try to come out and come back in board members is there any further discussion on uh recognizing the 20th anniversary of winow Township School District Madame vice president vice president yes yes um I think that would be a nice that would be a good idea to recognize um when it was AG because I certainly went there when it was AG and that to when the change over and went to slow I think it should be uh noticed it should be agenda

060for us to have something uh pertaining to that any further discussion uh Blake U Miss Peterson um what did you have in mind so what what was you thinking well I was thinking that the marketing committee could come back with some suggestions so that it would be more inclusive and then if there was different decades it's only two decades but if you have one or two people from each of the five or 10 years to be a part of that decision making it would something that we could celebrate at least since the pandemic there been very little but this would be another achievement and all the things that um has been accomplished any further discussion is there a motion to approve and I'm asking the marketing committee chair is Mrs McLendon are you willing to

061take on that task yes Madam you can do it thank you so much so is it a motion to approve that M second Dron been properly moved by Mrs McLendon and second by Mrs dreaden roll call Mr Blake yes Miss dreaden yes Miss Martin yes Miss mundon yes Miss Moore yes Mr Shaw yes Miss Thomas yes is Miss Peterson back I'm here you mean Miss pittz I'm here miss Peterson oh miss Peterson yes I'm sorry yes okay and is Miss Pitts back no all right so she's disconnected um motion has carried thank you okay any other new business informational item yes my uh Madam vice president uh I have a few information items as I normally start out I give the public and the board some updates on the positive Co um confirmed cases in

062Canden County uh we as a member wo Township a member of Canon County we are still under the public health emergency our positiv rate uh in Canden county is 12.74% 3,347 confirmed positive cases in Canden County in Winslow Township we had 34 new cases today which brings Winslow townships total to 2,22 unfortunately in Canden County today we had 34 new deaths which brings Canden County's total to 781 individuals who have passed Winslow Township again unfortunately had two individuals pass today um and those numbers unfortunately ladies and gentlemen continue to rise uh not only in our County across the state and unfortunately across the country I would like to begin my information items uh with a conversation that I had with real talk with the superintendent that I introduced to my parents on Monday night and

063I shared with them as I mentioned to uh the members of the board at our last meeting uh that parent uh excuse me student progress reports will be available today or are available today and I stated to my parents that in order for you to get your students progress report that you would have to take the parent survey and that parent survey uh will indicate or determine whether not your child will be returning in the hybrid model on February the 1 or whether or not they will remain um full remote I also stated to the parents um Monday night that the reason I was doing that is because we need those numbers as soon as possible and we would like for everyone to respond because as we grow uh closer to February the 1 and

064this survey will only be available until the 15th which gives the principles and teachers an opportunity to develop their class sizes however it was brought to my attention today that some parents felt that um I was overstepping my bound so to speak and having them to fill out the parent survey prior to getting their uh their child's progress report as of right now I have taken their survey uh down from the parent portal I'll place it somewhere else on our website probably as um as I normally do on the on our website in two places so therefore I don't want nor was it my intent for anyone to feel that I was violating their rights um but I felt that it was significant that we get as many uh parents to participate as possible because

065in order for us to start the process of developing classes giving parents the opportunity to tell us whether they were hybrid or whether they want to stay full remote is of the essence in order for us to start developing our bus transportation uh information to pents so who's coming who isn't those stops it's a lot of work that needs to be done and that's why we ask for the two-e grace period so with that being said we will not uh interfere with parents going to the parent portal to get their um progress reports um but I thought Again One Shot you wouldn't have to do two things but again so at your discretion however the urgency in the need for you uh to do the survey is still of the utmost importance uh one parent

066sent me a question today and said that she will not fill out the survey until she know how many people are in her child's class that's impossible how can I tell you how many students are in class if the CH If the parents don't fill out the survey so we'll know how many students are going to come back to be in those classes so for me to be able to provide that type of information it's not will not be available until after the survey has been completed but anyway it will be there uh you only have two choices either hybrid or full remote I would only ask those parents that if you do not fill out the survey for those of you who do fill out the survey and you state that you're going to

067come in the hybrid model then those are the only parents excuse me those will be the only students that we would expect to be coming to school during the hybrid model so if you don't fill out the survey then we are going to assume that you're going to remain in full remote and obviously of course that will be your choice and we'll just create our class sizes and do the things that are necessary for the open of school based on the numbers that we have I will not make that an issue for any of you um one of the other questions that was asked to me in reference to the survey was that people felt well at least this parent felt that she did not have enough information on how the full remote instruction would

068look like and it hasn't been spelled out thoroughly that sort of thing and I'm not sure how many times I have to or how many times I can uh go about this and explaining it but I'm gonna give it another shot uh first of all all the students in the windo Township School District already have a schedule everyone have a schedule the same schedule that you're using right now will be the same schedule you use whether we're in a hybrid model or whether we are in full remote the difference is as far as full remote is concerned the same teacher that you have now let's say it's your first class in the morning at 8 o'clock that is the first person you're going to see every morning whether you're at home or whether you're in

069the hybrid Market mod that teacher will be conducting his or her classes the exact same way they may be sitting in front of their uh uh device just as I am sitting in front of the device right now be giving you the the instructions to your children the class students in the classroom will hear the same instructions they will be giving you seat work as the same students in the classroom getting seat work I'm quite sure that the teachers right now aren't talking the entire periods so every period every subject area that teacher will be communicating with your child at home as he or she would be doing with the students who in the classroom maybe I am looking at this more simplified but it's not that difficult um for me to understand how this

070is going to work but I have given the parents the assurance that the teacher will be communicating directly with the students in full remote on a regular basis and they will be receiving instruction the same time those students who will be receiving uh instruction in the classroom and the schedule that you have now will be the same schedule you have when we go hybrid and you will have the same teacher I'm quite sure there may be some questions tonight but that's pretty much how it should look um the parent also stated that I was asking parents to be flexible because we're not giving them any flexibility with the dress code and I'd like to mention the fact that I have not asked parents to be flexible the only thing I have asked parents to do

071is to give us the opportunity to get things started because I can't tell you that your uh teacher let's say the reading teacher first thing in the morning is going to give the uh four remote students 10 minutes of in instruction every day um you can't tie the teacher's hands down um even in the normal setting you can't tell a teacher I want you to give 10 minutes of certain instruction every day because the teacher have to make that decision he or she may want to uh work with the students at home for 20 minutes 25 minutes 30 minutes um and that's the way teaching is it's at the discretion of the teacher but I want to assure you that you will be getting that face- to-face instruction there may be some of course some

072video conferencing whatever it may be but it will be uh what we anticipate that will meet the needs of the children uh but at no time that I ask for flexibility the only thing I ask for was opportunity so that we can get started and so that the children and uh the educational process may continue one of the other issues we discuss and I'd like to revisit that is student imuses um student Imus is requirement by law uh all students are expected to have those immus prior to returning to school so if you decide to be a part of the hybrid model uh we expect all the immunization shots that are required by law that your children would have before returning keep in mind that if you do not have all your imation shots then

073you will not be permitted to attend school again this is nothing new same thing we would have in place in September so at this time if you have not taken care of your Imus I'm going to ask that you make those appointments now so that those things will be in place for February the 1st um I'm also going to ask parents to please revisit the reopening School reopening plan that's on our website um 99% of everything that was submitted in that plan is still the same I think because of the rules regulations policy procedures that we have in place are still the same uh it's been some time since we Revisited the plan so I'm going to ask everyone to do so I have made two uh changes to the plan which are in R

074now if you go to the plan on pages 18 page 25 and 26 on page 18 I changed the Food Service uh opportunities because we no longer have free do students all of our students in Winslow Township qualify uh for breakfast and lunch so I changed from free and reduced to all students um and with that being said that's the only change um for all of our students for food service and at the high school I made a change because in the beginning of our plan the high school students were only getting one day a week through a for cohort procedure now we have uh cohort a cohort B and all the students at the high school will receive two days of instruction that does not change our class sizes none of our classes will

075be larger than 15 16 students but then that's if that's if everybody returned in the hybrid model but at this point we know they're going to be some students who uh or parents who going to decide to stay full remote so therefore we do not have to consider ourselves with overcrowding uh because that was not an issue we had when we put the schedule together and we want to make sure that we continue to maintain all the safety procedures that we have in place the social distancing everyone will be required to wear a mask and those things are going to be uh continued and required the last thing I would like to share on a positive note uh Miss Kitty Douglas a uh stem teacher or steam teacher at school number five board members if

076you can recall we are a member and participate in the power save program if you remember those $250 awards that the school were receiving and someone asked Dr poti you have is that 2500 or is that 250 well anyway the $250 that the school were receiving those uh checks were coming from the alliance uh to save energy and it's they are the ones who promote and support the power save program well anyway Mrs Kitty Douglas and her team uh submitted um two projects because you know you submit projects to the alliance they submitted two projects and those projects not only were well-received um they were recorded from home and the students did an excellent job um I am going to reach out to miss uh Douglas get the names of those students and their projects

077that were videotaped we'll put them on our website uh so that the community can see them but they did an excellent job very well spoken as a matter of fact um the uh gentleman uh the director of the program the project manager of the program spoke very highly of those projects and how well the young people handled themselves as well as the research so on behalf of this Administration and board we would like to commend Miss Kitty Douglas and her fifth grade um ex excuse me not fifth grade I'm sorry School 5 for an excellent job and we'll be sharing that information with the community uh Madam president that concludes my information items for this evening okay thank you Dr got a couple questions question too yes Miss Mendy well first Kudos and shout out

078to Miss Kitty Douglas and her team for a job well done um Dr po you mentioned about the survey so I see where you were the direction you were going with the survey um I also see the side of the parents now I do think that the portal would be a great place to have the survey is it possible to have the survey still come up on the portal but give the option for the parent to skip it or remind me later and have the um the survey still like on a tab so let's say they want to look at the grades but then they'll go hit the tab to do the survey so I think that the survey being on there will hit a lot of parents because parents will be going on their

079checking um but if it could come up when the parent logs on like it would normally do but have an option for them to skip it for now but then it will still be on the portal whereas though they can hit the tab to open it back up like probably once they finish looking at the grades um so that was just a recommendation or option that possibly if that's able to be done that way we can still keep it on the portal because I think that it will be beneficial being there but it won't block the parent from still viewing the grades um you know if and when necessary uh is that something that can be done do you think that you know first in your response Mrs McLendon you pretty much answered what my

080objective was in the first place I was thinking that since you're going to the parent portal to see your uh child's report um that you would do the survey of course my intent wasn't to violate anyone's privacy or I mean their rights here's the other I'm I'm just going to move it to another place because um I I think um it's it'll be in everybody's best interest and I don't want to make this a big deal we'll just move it somewhere else the other issue at this point is if we do not get the numbers we will go with the numbers that we have on February the 1 if we do if you do not sign up for the hybrid model then we are going to assume that you're going to stay full remote because

081at this point um and if you don't for example if you show up February 1 and you're not scheduled for a class we're gonna have to send you back and you'll have to stay there until the beginning of the fourth markting the so what I have decided to do uh before I left work today um we already moved it we'll put it in another place that's convenient for the parents and you know we'll deal with it separately because at this point I don't even want to give any slight the slightest indication that I'm infringing on anyone's rights because that was never my objective so we'll fix it and move on we'll fix it well I mean I understand it I was just looking at a way for us to keep it on the portal but

082not be um as you say infringing on parents um so that they know it's there and they can still be able to do the survey because it will hit a lot of ey for parents knowing that it's there um so that's why I was figuring how we can work around that so it doesn't become a um a to-do first in order to view right so that was just a suggestion yes okay I appreciate it um and the second thing is you mentioned about the remote learning um so one of the things you mentioned is if a teacher is teaching you know of course stand the students at home uh students in the class if a teacher I know we talked about uh Chromebooks not being able to go with students now I don't know if

083that's talking about all students like your upper elementary school students down to the high school because it may be for them I think they are more responsible to taking the lab the Chromebook and bringing it back home and it will also probably be uh no paper in school but also the teacher can do the lesson from the Chromebook where the students are there seeing them as well as the students having their Chromebooks in front of them you I'm just trying to visualize how it would be in a classroom setting uh so that way if the teacher is sitting in front of the Chromebook their direction is given to everybody at one time and they all have the same technology usage so that was just you know just kind of picturing um as you were talking

084about it right well well let let me say this um for the students not to bring their Chromebooks we're talking about everybody K to 12 we don't want them bring their Chromebooks here's my main objective if you're sitting in school and you're only in there two days a week then that direct instruction is important to me the Chromebook issue as far as I'm concerned it's not a major objective objection objective excuse me so that direct instruction the teacher have other resources available to them than and they can do whatever needs to be done in the classroom and the Chromebooks will be of course used by those youngsters at home then of course the other three days those youngsters who in the hybrid model use their Chromebook so at this point again I hear the recommendations

085um and I continue to but we're going to move forward at this point Mrs mcclinon what we have in place and one of the things I've said to my parents one night was uh give us an opportunity as I said before give us an opportunity to do what we have in place and then make the adjustments accordingly but right now we are prepared to move forward with the plan we have in place and if we have to make adjustments we'll do so but we're ready to move forward and I'm confident that the teachers and administrators will be able uh to conduct and perform their duties keep in mind you know this is what we do this is our profession we're Educators we're teachers we're administrators this is what we've been trained to do so let's

086give the teach an opportunity to move forward with what we have in place and if we have to make a make adjustments then we'll do so accordingly right but I think that we are doing that because currently right now what they're doing is using their Chromebooks so that's not making major switches okay why I said that right well Mr Clinton we have smartboards in the classroom for the teachers you know we have the textbooks Etc I hear what you're saying and I I I receive it uh um but I'm saying also let us move forward uh the teachers have the resources they need in the classroom and the chrone books at this point don't have to be brought back and forth along with the textbooks and things that they would need so let's see what

087happens at this point okay just something to think about that um Dr potit I just wanted to ask um how are you going to notify the parents about the change as far as the survey goes uh I'm going to do a rooc call as I normally do that will be tomorrow morning excuse me tomorrow evening uh we normally send out a text uh or an email to all the parents to make sure they receive it and uh I will be uh very clear on um the options U but I will also try you know you don't have but like a minute to do um but I will try to be very clear and letting the parents know the the urgency of taking the survey and I will politely say to them that if you do

088not take the survey then we will assume that you're going to remain in full remote okay thank you okay Dr po does that complete your information item yes it does yes it does board members I apologize again it was a technical glitch here everything on my computer went out so um um thank you Miss Peterson for just um carrying it along uh before we go into public comment I just want to make to um make a statement to our newest board members Miss Moore Miss Thomas with regards to your committee assignments you should know that you will be expected to meet uh as a committee once a month and your committee chairs will contact you to let you know when those meetings will take place any questions on that no all right and just one

089other thing with regards to um our new members um there is usually a brief new member orientation as it relates to Winslow District specifically and that's usually conducted by Dr potin and myself so Miss Moore Miss Thomas you will be contacted to let you know exactly when that will take place it's brief it's about a half hour okay and lastly for the board members uh we will be uh hearing uh perhaps by next meeting from Mr long with regards to our annual board member code of ethics training and um so just keep that in mind okay any questions hearing none we can now move on to our public participation public comments the wio Township Board of Education highly values the input of citizens and making important decisions that affect the children of our community we

090also believe in the rights of citizens to observe our board meetings to ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to attend or join in this case school board meetings and offer comment and to ensure that the board can conduct the important business of the district we ask that speakers follow these guidelines for making public comment the board president or board secretary will recognize those individuals who call in who wish to make comment please respect these following procedures number one all members of the public attending school board meetings must treat each other and the board with respect number two kindly State your full name and address number three please limit your comments to four minutes number four please submit any additional questions to the Board of Education with your name address and telephone number where you

091can be contacted your questions will be answered within a reasonable amount of time and number five individuals offering citizen comment are not permitted to make personal attacks on any District employee board member other testifier or member of the public at this time I'm asking for a motion to open this meeting to public comment motion Shaw McLendon second moveed by Mr Shaw second by Miss McLendon all in favor thank you we now in public comment portion of this meeting Miss Bo waiting for the call all righty all right we missed the call uh Miss Miss pits we missed the call so we're waiting for that person to call back okay there's nobody thank you so board members any New Year's resolutions no yes okay we have have a caller on the line good evening you've joined

092the public comments section of the Winslow Township uh board meeting if you state your name and address and you can make your comment to the board uh yes my name is Michelle Bernard I live at 133 white seater Drive in cville my comment is I've been sitting here listening and saying that you guys want to reopen your schools and everything with numers that's going on with the count the and everything I'm not understanding why you guys wouldn't want to just keep the kids safe where they are at home and work with them that way because at my district where I am which is up in Central Jersey we did go to a high bridge and brought the kids back in within four days we had to shut down because too many kids ended up being

093out um positive for the co I just wanted to know why can't we just wait and be safe until kids can get the shots that can get the shots before reopening bringing kids back in uh yes uh caller this is Dr potit um we have been um of course in full remote since March of last school year um unlike yourself there are still many parents in our community who want their children to return um we have an obligation um to accommodate those choices so parents who want their children to return if we can safely open our schools for children to return then we have an obligation to do so like yourself um if you want to keep your children home and under the full remote instruction you may do so um but at this point

094um we are a public school and we have quite a few parents out there who uh don't necessarily share um your idea on uh instruction so that's why we have to provide a choice uh so by direction from the New Jersey Department of Education the school district if you can open those schools safely you must provide a hybrid as well as a full remote um option for those parents now again I want as I stated to all of the parents as well as the board if we can safely opened if the positive if the spread of positive covid uh um 19 cases continue to rise uh then my recommendation would be that we close the most recent research that I saw uh yesterday stated that schools may not necessarily be considered a spreader however if

095your community has a high spread of co uh V uh covid-19 cases then the chances of your school having the high case of the spread uh is almost uh likely so we will continue to monitor uh things safely I will not try to force us back in school if it's not safe uh however if we're in a position by February the 1 and the schools are we able to open then we'll do that but keep in mind ma'am that you still have that decision to either send your children or to keep them home okay Dr I do understand what you're saying is anyone really looking at everything that's going on and now that they have a second soep the second type that's now out and how bad that is it's worse than the first one

096I I I do understand what you're saying because I am an educator and everything I understand parents you know really want their kids to stay you know don't want to be home because they're tired of being the teacher I I got that I understand that but are they really understanding what they're putting their child into even though you're saying that your schools are safe it's not the school it's the other students because you're not sure where these other students have been exactly and and I agree with you 100% um as a matter of fact um that's why we're still close and that's why we extended we're like half and half right now we cannot open because where I work it's a very hot spot okay are you in New Jersey ma'am yes I am sir

097yeah I mean you know where you work at is it in New Jersey yes it is Sir right jersey exactly and I think uh quite a few if not the overwhelming majority of the schools in New Jersey are now closed uh most of them are scheduled to open either the 11th or the 19th of January and we'll see what happens but at this point um we will continue to move uh in that direction and if it's safe to open we will open if it's not safe we will remain closed uh but keep in mind the option still rest with the parents okay thank you very much y'all have a good evening and happy New Year okay thank you caller good evening Coler you've joined the public comment section of the winow Township Board of Education

098meeting uh you may want to turn your device down um if you would state your name and address and then you can make your comment to the to the board yes thank you this is debie scolan I am located in Windville Township New Jersey I just want to ask is there an area on those like District website or somewhere I can be referred to where I can see the current terms of the Board of Ed and are the up when they are up for reelection I want to be able to keep myself informed before I vote so can somebody point me to the right direction sorry I'm sorry what was your question caller I'm sorry I didn't hear your question what is your question I'm sorry um I wanted to see if um the if

099there was an area where I can be referred to for the current terms of each individual Board of Education member and when they're up for reelection so that I can stay when I vote each um year okay um I am not sure if we had that information post it uh but if you call office tomorrow I'll be more than happy to provide you with that information and that would actually work for me quite nicely um but I mean not just for myself I would like to see this posted on our website District Le so that not just I'm informed that everyone's informed that they can look into each individual and decide how they feel okay so that's something we can incorporate into our website so that we are informed prior to election time okay um

100I would uh defer that to Mrs pittz and if Mrs pittz and the board if you want me to post that information uh tomorrow I can post the information on our website that would be awesome I would absolutely appreciate that thank you for taking your time to answer and happy New Year and hope everybody is well in this new year thank you for answering okay thank you all right have a good night Mrs PX if you're speaking I I can't hear you are you she's muted okay Dr can you hear me now I can hear you now were you saying something Mrs P what I was saying um especially to the caller was her request is very reasonable because many districts do just that okay and we do have we do have uh I see

101you shaking your head Mr Shaw certainly that is not new many districts do that and we do have a board directory and there is not a problem we will be happy to post our board directory with all of the information on all of our board members and our um terms of service service that is that is a that's an easy fix okay it'll go up tomorrow thank you Dr po uh we have no callers um Miss pits until this one okay good evening caller you have joined the public comments section of the board meeting if you state your name and address and then you can make your comment to the board hi my name is Megan berer my address is 34 Wilton's Landing Road Miss buer b r is this correct spelling correct thank you

102you can make your comment to the board okay um I'm calling in regards to the email I sent earlier today that Dr was referencing um I struggle with remote learning program because I'm going to take the opportunity to piggy back off what you said you said that you would make the argument that the teachers aren't talking to the remote students the entire period um and so if that is your assumption I want to take the opportunity to um sing the Praises of Miss Zell and Mrs Zuber at school five and Mrs furlick at school 4 um because they're talking to my kids almost the entire time that they are on um this the Google meet um and do a fantastic job with them and so that's why I worry that when you say the remote

103students are still going to be present every day I think all parents have gotten into more of what teachers deal with because we can see all the other kids on the screen and we see the behaviors that they're dealing with and when you put those kids in the classroom how are they still going to be able to discuss both so that's where I say I just am not completely sure that saying the remote program is going to stay the same is a accurate statement um I do appreciate you stating that there will be a Max of 15 to 16 students in a classroom depending on the number of hybrid students um is that the case for all grades no I was only referring to the high school because we have now two days of instruction

104so no um there will be classes uh smaller um depending on the size of the classroom and the grade level okay so like for elementary I'm sorry um for elementary level what will the maximum be like I I understand you don't know because of numbers but what is the max that can you would cap it at each of the Elementary classroom teachers have half of their class so if they have 20 students then half of their class would be 10 okay okay well thank you very much I understand um the frustration again of you guys needing our numbers and US wanting to kind of know more what the programs look like um so thank you for answering those questions and again Mrs ell Mrs Zuber Mrs furlick at schools four and five are amazing I

105think all the teachers are amazing um and thanks for all you're doing thank you thank you Cole no calls um Madam president okay and until this one good evening caller you've joined the public comment section of the winsell Township Board of Education meeting if you would state your name and address and then you can make your comment to the board hi it's Patty the board address is 51 choose Landing Road andler Road can you I'm par pardon me can you spell your last name sure v a l o r a theora thank you and I just wanted to take a moment and wish everybody a Happy New Year but also to um thank Miss pits for um reaching out and helping us um my daughter in the time of need over the winter break um

106with college applications and also a shout out to Mr you know at the high who save the day okay I wish everybody a Happy New Year and again thank you both thank you for the call thank you caller bye bye bye now bye bye there was one call that was missed that called through while Miss Zora was on the line um so I'm staring at the phone okay so board members board members I need your input with regards to our um public comment public participation at what point do you how long do you think we should wait for a next call to come through okay everybody I hear crickets Madam president yes Miss Martin um I noticed that when uh M SP takes the calls sometimes you hear a click so that the calls sometimes

107are missed so we're missing a caller so if we can wait for that caller to come in if that caller doesn't come in then we can close out the session so it's just a matter of waiting like if no one called while she was on then we might be able to close the public comment thank you there is a caller on the line that we picked up good evening caller welcome to the public comment section of the board meeting if you would state your name and address and then you can make your comment sure good evening happy New Year everyone this is Christy ruli from five conord Boulevard in cille um all the talk about will be opening and hybrid I'm wondering if we can get an update on the sort of air quality and

108HVAC system piece of that and if we can hear how that is going along as that will be another important component of all you know laying out a reopening plan I can provide you I can provide you with an update at our next school board meeting caller did you hear Dr Po's response no I I can't hear through the phone line okay can you hear me now is that is it because it's off the hook she through there all right hold on one second we're kind to try to Up the Volume thanks well Mrs Bo can you hear me loud and clear doc okay why don't you tell her uh that I will provide um the community with an update at our next Schoolboard meeting caller did you hear that great I did thank you

109very much I appreciate that thank you all right we have a good evening caller you've joined the public comments section of the board meeting if you state your name and address and then you can make your comment to the board hello yes yes am I I'm sorry having a hard time hearing yes you have to turn down your your device I am okay I am so if if you state your name and address and then you can make your comment to the board and you are live okay my name is Tina Marshall I live at nine Celia Street in cerville um I was just calling um I wanted to ask Dr POI about potentially moving back the or or moving it later the real talk on Monday nights to to maybe 6:30 and instead of

1106:00 um it's kind of a difficult time and um uh I'll consider it I just want um my uh parents who do participate um that uh after six o'clock that you are into my dinner time so six o'clock was convenient for me uh but I will consider that all right okay cuz I know that I logged on at like 6:35 6:40 on Monday um and um I everybody was ping off um so I think that I understand that it's it's your dinner time it's it's also our parents at the same time so I think that there should be a mutual respect there oh well at six o'clock caller I have to respond um six o'clock is no disrespect to anyone um and of course I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think it was

111a service to the community um I will consider that but um I was just stating that um we try to communicate and be online as much as possible and um there are certain things that I have obligations just like you as parents have obligations so that may and for the most part most of the people haven't had a problem with the time and just like yourself I have personal obligations also but anyway as I stated earlier and it has been no disrespect to anyone uh that I will consider it and will all of this be taken will The Real Talk continue with uh when the kids go back hybrid no it will not um this has only been initiated as long as we were in full remote um instruction I felt it was a need

112to make sure that we continue to have these conversations with parents uh so they they know where we are and to give them up updates as to what progress we have made toward the hybrid model so my initial objective was as long as we were in full remote we will continue to uh have these opportunities for parents to call in and share and whatever questions or concerns they may have so that they may be addressed okay thank you for answering the question I also want to to just throw a shout out there to the Middle School teachers that are doing a fabulous job um and congratulations Miss Moore um welcome to the board and may I also say um that one of the reasons when we log off of the real talk with the superintendent

113uh we are scheduled to be on from 6: until 7 if there are no additional questions or concerns uh then we bring that session to a close um so there have been times we've stayed on till 7 5: after 7 but if there are no questions or concerns by those who are there that's the only time we bring it to a close just for clarification do not thank Youk I like make a comment if it's not a problem um thank you Miss Marshall and Dr potit I think and I've heard from other parents that the issue is there's a whole um segment of parents who are missing out on it because they can't be there at 6 so um and I and I've noticed that it's pretty much been the same parent so I think

114if you do if you do decide to change it here and there you may find that you have a different audience okay Point well taken thank you Mrs pit I you um just as a matter of of uh practice in other districts they usually wait anywhere from 45 seconds to a minute and if nothing comes in during that period of time they close out the public portion oh okay thank you I know we're slightly behind much behind right but thank you Mr long I I wasn't sure because I I didn't hear anything from my board members especially um ones who um I see you Mr sha so oh wow what a face Miss McLendon what a face so therefore therefore um Mr long I think that's a point well taken I think that's a point

115well taken so therefore I'm going to ask um Miss Bo Miss Bo are there any any U calls and Q no Madame President nobody since the last caller disconnected okay so so did you manage to finish your article on the Cowboys game this weekend no I was worried about making my article on the Eagles game okay now okay that that does okay that's fine at this point board members I'm asking a motion to close public comment move move by Miss Peterson second by who Mr Shaw thank you all in favor I hi thank you our public comment Mo um portion has been has been closed and so therefore again uh Welcome to our newest board members Miss Thomas Miss Moore looking forward to a very Progressive year so that being said I'm going to ask

116at this time for a motion to adjourn motion Mendon second Mendon moov by Mr Shaw second by Miss McLendon all in favor I any Nays thank you everyone have a good evening good night good night bye