001I'd like to call the meeting to order at 7:06. >> Can I have a moment of silence, please? Please stand for the flag salute. [Music] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, roll call. Mr. Kenny >> here. >> Miss Blestein. Eileen Bllestein >> here. >> Miss Katherine Blstein >> here. >> Mr. Bramhol >> here. >> Miss Falconero >> here. >> Miss Iikome >> here. >> Mr. Mer >> here. >> Miss Trump >> here. >> Miss Fitzwater here. >> Statement is hereby made that adequate notice of this meeting was given by submission of said notice to the Burlington County Times. the Courier Post, the Cinnamonson Township Clerk, and the district website on the
002following dates, January 17, 2024 and January 8th, 2025. At the beginning of every year, I like to um remind those of you who watch uh monthly and um let people know for those of you who don't um what it is that we do as a board that you don't see. because a lot of the times you'll hear a lot of I I eyes motion approved and we move on. Um but a lot of behind the scenes stuff goes on. So I want to take this opportunity to explain a bit what we as your board of education do behind the scenes to prepare for our monthly board meetings. If you've attended or watched previous meetings, you may have noticed that we usually all call yes or I to the board business. We make it look easy,
003but it doesn't always begin that way. We have a process that we go through before we sit down here each month. So, here's a look behind the curtain. We receive weekly updates from Mr. Capello that tell us the goings on at the schools throughout the district. Each board member is assigned to two standing committees which meet several times each year. These committees are facilities and transportation, policy and legislation, curriculum and student activities, and finance and personnel. These committees make preliminary decisions that are passed on to the full board to vote on during our meetings. Minutes are shared with the full board. We occasionally form ad hoc committees when we need a small group to make decisions on items that are not part of our routine business, such as union negotiations and the current referendum ad
004hoc committee. We have the agenda available to us the Friday before our meeting so we can read through it beforehand. Occasionally lastm minute personnel items may appear on the agenda, but we are briefed when these additions happen. Should we have questions about any agenda item, we email, call, or text the appropriate person. The administrators up here are in charge of different parts of the district's operations. For general questions, we contact the superintendent, Mr. Capello. For curriculum, Dr. Goldburn. For special services, Mrs. Llewellyn. And for finance questions, we get in touch with Mrs. Wilkkey. They are all very good about answering our questions ahead of the meeting. So, we all come in with a clear understanding of the agenda items. So, that's why when we sit down here each month, we usually look like a welloiled
005machine. We work together to ensure the decisions we make are thoughtful and in the best interest of the children of the district. Thank you for listening. Now, on to tonight's business. All right. Once I pull that up, >> running a little bit on the slow side. >> Okay. All right. So, we're go on section four, routine business. We have the board secretaries report for May and June of 25. The receipts and appropriation adjustment for May and June of 25. The treasurer's report for May and June of 25. The monthly transfer report for May and June. The high school activities report for June and July. The sud the food service management cost performance statement for June of 25. the certified bill list uh for as of June for June of 25 July and August and the
006approval of minutes the regular session minutes revised from April 15th the regular session minutes of June 10th and the executive session minutes of June 10th Mr. Kenny can I have a motion to approve section 4 routine business items A through H >> so moved >> second >> thank you Mr. Trump. Comments or questions from the board? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Miss BL Miss Eileen Bllestein. >> I I >> I motion approved. Moving on to section five, routine matters. We have the enrollment report as of August 21st, the health report for June, the fire alarm for June and July, the crisis drill report for June and July, and the superintendence monthly report. Mr. Capello. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater, members of the public, members watching at home, special guests. Thank you for being here
007this evening uh for our first uh official school board meeting of the next school year. Uh it is officially been the longest Sunday night of some of our lives as we prepare for the start of the school year. The last two weeks have been very busy in 08077 uh with some culminating activities as we prepare to launch the school year. Uh last week we had our kickoff to our prek uh welcome orientation. Uh, we also had our kindergarten orientation last week. That was a very successful event. So, thank you to Mrs. Jones and all of the kindergarten staff over at New Albany for doing a fantastic job. Our transportation department allowing our kiddos to ride the bus, many of them, for the very first time. It's always an exciting uh adventure for them. Yesterday, we
008welcomed back our transportation staff and that always sort of feels like um the unofficial launch to staff is back and working and they're such a great and fantastic group. We appreciate everything that our bus drivers, our transportation assistants, secretaries, and mechanics do uh for our district, making sure that our students get to and from school safely. Uh yesterday was a very busy day in the district. There was a third grade orientation that went very well. Thank you, Mrs. Mey and the team over at the Rush School. Uh there was a sixth grade orientation. Uh likewise to Mrs. D. Simone and the staff over at the middle school. And finally, there was a ninth grade locker night over at the high school. So, Mr. Gorman and the team at the high school, great job welcoming uh
009the class of 20s. This is 28 >> 29. >> Wow. >> 29 math. Uh it's it's um it was a successful event and uh uh both today and tomorrow. Uh we are going through new teacher orientation. Many of our new teachers were here bright and early this morning and have joined us here tonight. And we're going to have another fun and engaging day tomorrow as our newest staff members uh learn about what it means to be a pirate. though looking out in the crowd some of them uh already have some experience as pirates in a couple different stakeholder groups. So uh we are excited to welcome our new teachers uh to our pirate ship and that sort of builds uh to ahead on Thursday when we welcome back the full staff uh for our welcome
010back orientation convocation and then that's followed of course on Tuesday of the launch of the 2526 school year. I would be remiss if I didn't offer some thank yous to some many hard workers from over the summer. All of our teachers who were here in various capacities running camp, ESY programs, writing curriculum, uh the secretarial and administrative camp who uh helped to maintain uh our schools on a 12-month basis. Uh Kickstart, Rush Camp, etc. All of the programs were very successful, very well attended by our students, and thank you to everyone who was involved in them. Uh also, if you look down at the floor, I don't know that I've ever seen a shinier floor in this room. Uh but our buildings and ground staffs just absolutely outdid themselves again this summer. In addition to
011the routine maintenance like the floors and the windows and the deep cleaning of the rooms that they do every year. Uh we are so fortunate, I said it before, to have such skilled crafts people who are able to uh just perform miracles in a matter of about 2 and 1/2 months. Uh they renovated six classrooms at the Rush School and that involves uh doing some asbestous abatement, putting down new floors, new lights, new fresh paint, new ceilings. Um, it just makes for a great educational space renewed. It's a commitment that this board started uh about nine years ago, taking four to six classrooms on any given year and making sure that we put some resources into refreshing them to make sure that our students have a great space to learn. The board was able to
012tour some of those spaces last night and another fine job by then. Uh, the building's ground staff also got to work uh outside of our traditional footprint. They refurbished some classroom space at our remote site at Temple Sinai and also renovated a classroom at the Newman Learning Center where our Cinnamonson students will attend preK classes for the very first time. If you recall about February of last year, our buildings and grounds staff opened up two brand new classrooms for prek students at the Memorial School. That was a part of grant money that we received from the New Jersey Department of Education. And at that time, they left space uh that was used for our SAC program in the third classroom. So, they refurbished that space over the summer uh to open up an additional classroom
013at Memorial School for our prek students. Our old board meeting room, room 120 here at the middle school, was renovated over the summer. Uh if you recall, it was a large group instruction space that they uh put a new false floor in, put a fresh coat of paint, new lights, and renovated the space to be ready to serve as a science lab for the upcoming school year to address some of the population um that is making its way up to the middle school and seeing some of the higher numbers that uh New Alb and Rush have seen over the years. Uh as I already mentioned, our transportation staff, uh they're the first group that are back. Uh we look forward to um a successful year. Uh obviously whenever we start the school year there's always
014some bumps in the road for transportation but our folks are so hardworking and dedicated and uh they just I know they're are the first face that our kiddos see and the last face they see at the end of the day and we so appreciate all of their work here this summer too. And of course I wouldn't uh be remiss if I didn't also mention Mr. Krillin the technology staff who did a number of summer upgrades uh some of which you can see in every classroom here at the middle school. Uh they renovated and updated uh instructional technology space with some new smartboards and Prometheium interactive whiteboards and are refreshing the Chromebook line for our students. Um and then uh fall sports are back this week. Scrimmages, if you've been by the high school, our teams
015are playing again. Our football band and cheerleading open up their season on Thursday verse Overbrook. And we're very excited that the marching band is hosting their second annual home competition. That is a great event at Cinnamon High School on Saturday, September 13th. A couple more key dates to throw out there while we're doing dates. Uh it is back to school night season. We're going to kind of catch um back to school nights uh right up against the next board meeting. So I'll put those dates out there now. But we have Memorial School on the 18th, New Albony the 17th, Rush on the 24th, middle school on the 16th, and the high school um on the 25th, I believe. Uh the enrollment report tonight, the board sees a number in there of 2991 students. That was
016as of August 21st. uh our registar has been diligently enrolling students uh every day multiple students a day. So as of publication tonight we had 30,05 students who are in our five buildings with another approximately 70 students who are learning uh in our remote satellite locations at uh Temple Sinai Memorial Program, the learning experience cinnamon sticks and the Newman Learning Center. So again, as of today, a grand total of 3,074 students. Uh, and this is the um the broken record portion of my superintendence report. Uh, our schools are are at capacity. Uh, particularly our new Albany school and our Rush School. And I want to applaud the efforts of the board particularly uh we're going to hear later uh some updates from the ad hoc committee on referendum uh who are working with our architects
017and our financial adviserss to try to put together uh a referendum uh to make available to the public uh to address some of the overcrowding issues in our schools and address some of uh our square footage deficiencies. So definitely a lot more to come in the coming months uh for all of the public and some opportunities uh to enter into some discourse as that begins to take shape. And as I mentioned, on Tuesday is the big show as we welcome our students back. So to all of our families, I hope you enjoy these last few precious days of summer and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, September 2nd. Uh I should also note that our next board of education meeting uh we do have to take a little bit of a deviation from
018our traditional Tuesday night meetings. We will be meeting on Thursday, September 25th, uh so as to not conflict, uh with the holiday that is Tuesday the 23rd. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater. >> Thank you, Mr. Capillo. Uh Mr. Bramhole, can I have a motion to approve section five, routine matters, items A through E? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Maker. Comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Miss Falconero. >> I I >> I motion approved. Moving on to section six, student representative reports. We do have a high school report from our new leazison and that is Carly Trampe. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Karly Trampe and I'm the board of ed board of education leazison for the 2025 2026 school year. I'm very excited
019to start this new position and I look forward to everything I get to accomplish this year on student council. The fall the fall sports teams have started practice for their 2025 seasons. The 2025 football team is ready to go and looks forward to their scrimmage at Overbrook on August 28 at 4 p.m. New this year is an online ticketing system. Follow Cinnamon Athletics on social media to scan the QR code to purchase tickets online. The CHS cheerleading team attended a twoight UCA cheerleading camp at Mammoth University. The girls worked from sunrise to sunset learning new stunts, routines, and working together as a team. Olivia Rajiri was named an all-American cheerleader, and Charisma Strial made it to the finals of the jump competition. As a teen, the girls were awarded the St. Jude spirit stick, noting
020their dedication to the cause. The girls are looking forward to taking what they learned at camp to our football and basketball seasons this year. The men's soccer team had a scrimmage at versus Lawrence on August 29th at 9:00 a.m. The women's soccer team had a scrimmage at Steiner yesterday and was successful 5-0 and another scrimmage versus Robinsville on August 28th at 3:30 p.m. The field hockey team started their season yesterday with a scrimmage at Haden Township. The women's tennis team had a scrimmage versus Deli today at 3:45 p.m. and they verse Gateway on August 23rd at 9:30 a.m. The men's cross country team distance squad is actively training and preparing for the fall cross country season. Many other athletes are gearing up for football. A few athletes participated in the vertical adventures beach vault this
021summer. Eddie and Max Frey achieve second and third place at the annual competition on the beach in Atlantic City. The women's volleyball team has a scrimmage at GCIT on August 28th at 4 p.m. On Monday, 25th, Monday, August 25th, the members of the class of 2029 attended the annual freshman orientation. The CHS pep band and the cheerleaders greeted the students as they arrived. The CHS student government offer officers provided fun informational activities and the students received their class of 2029 t-shirts designed and produced by CHS graduate Jack Shallow. The group of eager pirates concluded this event by gathering for a barbecue before joining their parents and guardians for the final presentation by administration and members of the CHS staff. We are excited to welcome our newest CHS students. At the conclusion of the presentation, the
022National Honor Society was able to was available helping our newest pirates acclimate to the building following their 2025 26 2026 schedules. Thank you. >> Thank you, Carly, and welcome. Uh we'll hear from our middle school representatives starting next month. So we'll get the down the lowown on that. We're moving on to section seven presentation. Uh Dr. Goldberg and thank you very much. Uh this evening we're going to talk about some of the student performance data from the last school year and we'll be back in either September or October with a part two. Uh this evening we're going to talk about the high school graduation test that was given last year to juniors. And when I'm finished, I'm going to pass the baton to my colleague, Mrs. Fischer, and she's going to talk about the access
023test results. The access test is the assessment that's given to students who are in our multilingual learner program. So, a couple facts about this uh test. NJGPA is the uh abbreviation. Uh New Jersey is one of a small handful of states that has a graduation exit exam. So our students who are in 11th grade have to take this test as part of the graduation requirements. You have curricular requirements like you need four years of English, three years of math, two years of a world language. There's attendance requirements. Um we have a graduation test requirement. So all of our students took this test last March. If they were unsuccessful, there are other pathways um for them to meet that particular requirement. Uh we received the official score reports uh two months ago. Families receive their sons
024and daughters score reports at that same time. Uh and again, students need to pass this assessment for both the English part and the math portion of the test. So, this test has been given four times going back to 2022. You'll notice the dramatic jump from 22 to 23. Uh when the test was first given in 2022, the passing score on the test was a 750. Uh and before the test had been given, the New Jersey Department of Education had set the score at 725. There was some push back from some members of the legislature that they were setting the bar too low. So they made it 750. And both the English and the math test had passing rates that were less than 50%. So in 2023 they put the uh passing score back at 725
025as had been originally planned. You see the red line there is Cinnamonson and that is the percentage of students who passed the test as it says on the report graduation ready. Uh 88.9 we'll call it 89% of students in Cinnamonson passed the assessment last March. The green line underneath of it is the passing rate for the state of New Jersey. So across New Jersey, the junior class, 80%, we'll call it 81, 81% of juniors pass the test in English language arts. So a little bit of a dip from the previous two years, but still it's always our goal, it's always our expectation to be above the state passing rate. Uh we take a look at the math results. The math results historically uh and high school assessments have always trailed the English language arts and
026the data there uh is no different for us here in Cinnammenson. Again, in year 1, we had the passing score of 750. They changed it to 725 in 2023 and we had an increase uh 67.8 76.4 67.5. So roughly twothirds of our juniors last year passed this particular test. The passing rate uh statewide was 58%. By the way, this presentation will be on our district website tomorrow if any of these figures are too small or anything and anybody wants to take a close look at them. When uh the No Child Left Behind law was passed almost 20 years ago, I think it's 21 years ago. uh it required school districts when you publicly report data you don't just talk about the total population but that you narrow down you disagregate as they call it the
027data and look at the different subpopulations within each school. So we're required to report out information for males and females different races um programs couple of examples here which I'll show you. Uh again this will be on the website these bar graphs. Let me explain what we have here. You report a subgroup if there's at least 10 people. So, there has to be at least 10 people in that subgroup for it to be publicly reported. So, we can see all the way to the left the black bar. That's the percentage of I'm going from left to right, female students. The black bar is the percentage of female students who were graduation ready in 2022. Red is 23, gray is 24, blue is the test from last March. So we see we have male and female.
028We have the numbers there again for English the passing rate was 88 89%. We then have four subgroups of populations for which there were at least 10 students. We have other populations which had for example we had Asian students but there was nine or fewer um Hispanic, African-American, white, two or more races. You see there's only a blue bar there because for the previous three years there were less than 10 students. um two or more races. So we see the passing rates there. Um the next one is free and reduced lunch. On our school performance report, we uh report the number of students who are economically disadvantaged, which in New Jersey, the metric for that is the students who were eligible for free or reduced lunch. We see the passing rate there. And the last
029column all the way columns all the way to the right are students with an IEP. And we see the passing rates there over uh the last four years. Uh we take a look at mathematics and again the passing rate for us in Cinnamonson was 67 68%. Again we see male female Hispanic African-American white multi-racial students free and reduced lunch and students with IEPs. So we certainly see a bit of a contrast with some of the racial backgrounds. uh IEP students. Obviously, we'd like to have that number much higher than it is right now. Last year, it ticked up a little bit, but ticked down a bit last year. So, what are we going to do with this information? So, we look at this from both the ELA and the math standpoint. We get a report
030and it says right on the port, not for public viewing. So, I can only explain it to you. I can't actually show it to you, but it's called an evidence statement and it lists all of the questions. You don't actually see the questions, but it lists the questions from most difficult to least difficult. It tells you what standard that question was based on. It tells you what percentage of the students in sentiment got it right. Let you know what percentage of students across New Jersey got it right. So, our teachers, our content area leads look at this information when it is published and they try to see what jumps out at them. So, uh, one of the things that I have said probably, this is my eighth year in this position and I've probably said
031this many, many times, but historically on both this test, the NJSLA, one of the challenges that we've always had is students uh, prefer to read fiction. They prefer, you know, your classic stories, things of that nature. But on these tests, there's a healthy balance of non-fiction where they're reading historical information, biographical information, scientific information. This last cohort of students who took this test actually scored above where we had historically been on reading science and technical subjects. So that was welcome news. Um as well as across all of the different writing areas. They break the score out from reading and writing. And in both sets, uh our students were above the state average. One of the ones that jumped out as trailing a little bit was the fourth bullet point down, excuse me, third bullet point
032down on the lefth hand side was one particular standard that had to do with an author advance. What is their purpose? Um, and that was one that was a little bit challenging statewide. It was one in which students had to usually they were given a text and they might have also been given a video or a cartoon or some sort of piece of art and they were trying to uh nail down what the author's purpose was in that particular task. That was one that trailed a little bit. A lot of our supervisors pair up math with science, social studies with English. This is something that they can uh jointly tackle together uh moving forward. On the right hand side is math. The math test by the way I forgot to say this. The English test
033is based on the 10th grade standards. The math test is based on algebra 1 and geometry standards. So the ma in essence based on two years worth of information. One of the ones where the students trailed a little bit was on quadratic equations. Something we probably all look back with with fondness thinking of that. Also some of the items on the test have a calculator section and a non-calculator section. Uh there were a couple of the non-calcul non-calcul items, excuse me, uh that tripped the students up a little bit. U so we will continue to work on that. One of the areas of growth that we saw was on the math test, there's three types of questions. Type one, which is just kind of a very straightforward question. Could be a simple multiple choice question.
034Uh could be a fill-in-theblank sort of question where you're literally typing in the number. Uh there's type two questions, type three questions which are more involved. They're multi-step explaining your thinking, explaining the process. They'll give you a problem, someone solved it, but they did it wrong. Explain the mistake that they made. This particular cohort of students made some gains u compared to the previous junior classes on those particular types of questions. So, our supervisors, our directors, and both of these subjects will remember to, you know, weave these in uh as we approach the test time. This is a high stakes test. It's a graduation test. Um so they will be um working to you know always best prepare our students um for this particular assessment for all assessments in that matter. If somebody was unsuccessful
035I called it a pathway that was the first pathway the NJGPA. If you were unsuccessful there are a bunch of other tests that exist and New Jersey has established a cut score. If you take any of these other tests and score above the numbers that are up there, then you have met that testing requirement through the second pathway. So we look on the left hand side, the ACT, PSAT, SAT, uh on the right hand side, same uh tests again, we had a number of students who met that requirement um for the class that just graduated back in June. So by August 31st of every year, every school is supposed to produce their graduation report and publicly report it at a board meeting. So what I just spoke about for the last five six minutes was
036the kids who were juniors last year and they're seniors. Now this slide here is for the students who just graduated back in June. We report out the number of students who graduated in the CHS class of 2025 and it was 225. We then have to uh indicate the number of students who graduated under the substitute competency test. So the number of students who were unsuccessful on the NJGPA but they passed tests on that slide that I just had up. So for ELA four students for mathematics 32. Number of students who graduated under the portfolio appeals process. So, if we didn't um get the required score for the NJGPA, didn't have the required score on the slide that I just showed you, the third pathway is called a portfolio appeal where a student works with a
037teacher usually for most of the first semester of their senior year. They literally develop a portfolio showing success on the different standards in English or math or both. Um, and that portfolio is sent to Trenton to the DOE. We had five students um meet the graduation requirement for ELA, 12 in mathematics, and the last one that's listed there, number four, number of students who received their diploma as a result of meeting an alter alternate requirement for graduation that was specified in their IEP, three students in ELA, three students in math for that one. Number five, total number of students who were denied graduation from the 12th grade class. So it could have been because of testing, could have been because of attendance, could have been because of um curricular or grade issues. The answer is
038zero. Number six, number of students deny graduation because of failure to meet one of these testing requirements. The answer to that, of course, is zero because number five was zero as well. Any board members have any questions about any of this information before I pass the baton to Mrs. Fischer? Go ahead. >> Oh, Blstein, >> Mrs. I have a question just for looking at the stats um across the board from um year 24 to 25 IEP students were a lot lower um just the one was saying it was from 75% the one year I think that was English and then down to 49%. Is there a reason why? Do we know why that happened? And are we doing anything to rectify that? >> Any of these subgroups other than, you know, some of the subgroups
039have just over 20 students. They might have 30 students. So, a couple students here and there can really move the needle, if you will. Um, but good question. We have most of our students are being taught in by either a math or an English teacher. they're taking part in, you know, professional development activities, monthly department meetings, you know, schoolwide meetings as well, talking about, you know, meeting the standards that students because a lot of these standards are new uh in the past year or two. Um but we do have all those teachers are participating in PD working with the same uh director who's pinpointed you know where along the school year we should be teaching all these different things making sure that everything is in done before the students take the test. So everyone should
040be getting the same level of instruction. All the teachers should be prepared for that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? All right. I'm going to pass the baton to Mrs. Fischer, who is our director of instruction for uh world language, our multilingual learner program and music, and she's going to talk about the access test that was given last spring. >> Thank you. Good evening. The access test is an English proficiencybased exam that's administered to all of our MLS in district in grades K to 12 and it's administered late winter, early spring. The test assesses a student's English proficiency in four domains: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And it's scored using WEDA's number scale score of a 1 to six, which you can see up on the screen there. One being our students who are
041least proficient in English and six being highest. um those numbers correlate to WEDA's can do descriptors and that tells us what that student can do in English which is very important for the teachers to use in their classrooms when they're modifying the work in the curriculum. Um a student has to score a 4.5 on the exam or higher in order to exit the program. This past spring we had 124 MLS take the assessment. The school averages are listed on the screen there. Um, and you will also see last year's average scores as well. There were 17 students who scored a 4.5 or higher and were able to exit the program. And this year we also had nine students who met our criteria to midyear exit by taking the WEDA model which is a similar assessment
042to access um but it is given midyear if a student meets certain criteria and then those students do not need to take the access test um in the spring. I've included some example test questions for the board to see. Um the first one is a reading question for the middle school grades six to eight. They're in clusters. Um it's called geometry and baseball. It is pretty contenheavy as far as mathematics. This next example question is a grade four to five writing question about a science experiment that they listen to and then the ML has to restate the the process in about six sentences. And the last example is a grade one reading um including some turtles and math. Um and these examples just show how much content and academic vocabulary is required for an ML
043to be successful on this exam. Um and the ESL teachers and I continue to work with the teachers to make sure that they have the tools and the resources to ensure that the academic vocabulary is accessible to all of our MLS in the district. Are there any questions from the board? >> Thank you. One more thing I would add to Mrs. Bstein's question was we give benchmark exams K to 11 uh that are given multiple times during the year and every time those assessments are given teachers are able to break down by the student level by the standard level to see if there's any students who are needing extra support. So for all the students who are up there, that is one of the things that we've been using for a number of years that
044helps us pinpoint when extra support is needed. But I thank you again for that question. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. [Music] >> Thank you, Dr. Goldburn and Miss Fischer. Uh, moving on to section 8, correspondence to the board. It's been a pretty quiet summer. Uh, we've received a couple of emails. Um, but most people have just been enjoying their vacation. Anyone have anything to report? >> I do. Um, actually, someone called me last night, late after our meeting, and wanted to know what the special meeting was. So, I did let them know that we toured all the buildings. Um, not all the buildings, but some of the school buildings yesterday. And then also I did just get this um a due process status. I guess it was an email to board.
045Um so I just received this today. I think most of us did. >> Yeah, I believe all of us uh received that email. Okay. Uh committee section 9 committee reports. We have uh just one for this month and that is the an update on the referendum committees subcommittees. Right. So on uh Thursday, July 17th, the referendum subcommittees met for the first time to discuss referendum planning. All committees met in the memorial school conference room. Some of us were on Google meet. Uh each subcommittee was given the referendum proposal. Mr. Capello reviewed potential projects and estimated pricing. The athletic subcommittee discussed turf fields and lighting. The preschool subcommittee discussed space for preschool classrooms. The construction finance subcommittee discussed overall projects and general buildup building upkeep. And the community relations subcommittee discuss ways to relay all information
046to community members. On Thursday, August 7th, the referend the referendum subcommittees again met to discuss um the referendum planning. All committees met in the memorial school conference room. Each committee began quickly reviewing overall projects. The athletic subcommittee discussed her fields for the football stadium as well as the lower fields and the need for gymnasium improvements. They also discussed the overall feeling that the community feedback is very important for these upgrades. The preschool subcommittee discussed the addition which would include six new preschool classrooms at the memorial school. They ended the meeting by discussing ideas for community involvement. The construction finance subcommittee reviewed the project projects at every building. They identified projects that could be removed from the proposal and completed in-house. Mr. Capella shared that we hope to have a potential tax impact numbers by the
047next meeting. The community relations subcommittee met with Laura Bishop, communications consultant, to discuss her services as well as her history providing PR services for successful referendum projects. The next referendum subcommittee meetings have not yet been scheduled. Thank you. All right. Uh, Miss Con, can I have a motion to approve section 9 item A committee reports? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Um, Mileen Bllestein. I >> I I >> I I >> I motion approved. Uh moving on to section 10, public comment uh on agenda items. Members of the public are reminded that comments should be limited at this time to items appearing on this meeting's agenda. There will be another opportunity during this meeting to comment on non-aggenda items. All members
048of the public wishing to speak on agenda items only should raise their hand or walk up to the podium to indicate their wish to speak. When called upon, participants should state their first and last name and address clearly for the record in accordance with sentiments and board of education policy. Comments will be limited to a maximum of four minutes per person. The comment period does not exceed 30 minutes. >> Mr. Post, before you begin, I don't want to interrupt you. Um I didn't want to mention any public working or watching at home. The reason I stepped away uh we did briefly lose our live stream. So uh Mr. Kel assures me it has is being recorded and it in our live stream we are back uh but ultimately will be replaced later for where the
049um the meeting went dark. So uh any members who are watching at home hopefully you figured uh that we were able to reboot it and reconnect and we're live again. So with that Mrs. Papowski. >> Hi. It was a nice summer, quiet. >> Um, but I came back to this, right? Um, I printed the agenda yesterday at home because you posted it late and I didn't get a chance to have a few days to review it. So, I was up till about 12:30 doing this. All the green tabs mention attachments that don't exist. There's no attachments. It says attached to report. It's not there. Um, there was one attachment that actually said, "No preview available. File is in owner's trash." I printed the screenshot for you, whoever does this, but I do have um comments
050on agenda items. So, you have under special education a very nice breakdown of fees that you would pay for evaluations. So I my question is are these fees that the school pays to people that you negotiated with for evaluations? Is this a guideline for parents if they challenge an evaluation? Is this what you're going to pay that? And then at the bottom it says there's an exception process. What is that process? Who leads it? What does it look like? Who's in charge of it? How do we go about asking for an exception? So, I guess that's for Miss Llewellyn because it's under special education. So, that's one. Um, and I know I'm not going to get any answers, but I do want to put that out there. The other one is is very convenient. You
051talked about a communication committee. So, you have Laura Bishop as a communications committee for $50,000. We have parents, special education parents, that need an app for their kid that's $7.99 a month, and we deny that. But we're going to spend $50,000 in a communications firm. Why? I mean, in all honesty, and then I dug a little bit on the communications firm because, you know, internet is your friend. Um, this same firm, Miss Trampe, works with your school district conveniently. It also works with Morstown, who's a a running candidate for the board, right? Um, who works for Morstown. So, you follow the money, of course. Um, I would love to know what we're spending $50,000 on for a communications firm from a school district. From everybody that's sitting here that pays into it, $50,000 for a
052communications firm is a lot of money. I work for a large investment firm. I know what that that goes to. I know what we use communications firms for, and it's nothing good ever. So, what are we trying to push and sell to the public that maybe isn't, you know, happy? That's my That's my thing. And then you mentioned the referendum committees, the sub and then you mentioned several committees. I actually printed a post from Facebook because you know Facebook is your friend as well. Um, I'm going to read to you. So, committee meetings are public. They cannot be private. So, if you're hosting committee meetings and referendums, they're subject to the open meeting, open public meetings act. They cannot be private. All of those minutes have to be posted. The public has the right to
053know what you're discussing in those meetings. And if you want to look up the code, it's NJSA 10-4-7, NJSA 10-4 10 semicolon 4-12A, and 12B is the exclusions. There's literally four exclusions. They're very, very narrow. So, where would I find the minutes to all these subcommittees on referendum that you're hosting? Why aren't they public? Also, where do I find the minutes on any committee meetings that you host? Cuz they're supposed to be public. That would be that would be all. >> Thank you, Miss Pabloski. Any other members of the public who would like to comment on agenda items at this time? Seeing none. >> Okay. We will move on to section 11 personnel certified and non-certified. Mr. Capello. >> Okay. Had a busy summer. Uh so I am under section 11 letter A personnel. And
054if you recall last year, we combined our certificated and non-ertificated staff into one section of the board meeting. Uh so we are seeking the board's approval for uh item A1, letters A through Q and and that is for certificated staff. And under number two, non-ertificated staff seeking the board's approval for items A through N. And under number three, non-affffiliated positions, seeking the board's approval for revised salary recommendations uh retroactive to July 1st. Under letter B, transfers, seeking the board's approval for items one, and that includes A through P as listed in the agenda. Under letter C, resignations and retirements. Uh seeking the board's approval for items 1 through 10, they are listed in the agenda. Uh under letter D, leaves of absences. seeking the board's approval for items 1 through 7. They are listed in
055the agenda by employee ID number. Under letter E, teachings overloads, seeking the board's approval for item number one, teaching overloads for the 2526 school year. Under letter F, advancements on the salary guide, there are three items for the board's consideration. Those names are listed in the agenda. Under letter G, extra duty uh seeking the board's approval for items 1 through 25. under men teachers letter H seeking the board's approval for bear with me while this loads uh items number one and those names are listed in the agenda under letter I student teachers seeking the board's approval for items 1 and two as listed in the agenda under letter J substitute teachers non-certificated and volunteers seeking the board's approval for items 1 through 5 and those names are listed in the agenda under letter K tutors
056seeking the board's approval uh for the tutor T list for the 2526 school year and that is a renewal of the folks who are on the tutors list and under letter J description. There is one job description for the board's consideration this evening and Mrs. Fitzwater that is the personnel section of the board meeting. >> Thank you Mr. Capello. Uh Mr. Trump, can I have a motion to approve section 11 personnel certified non-certified items A through L. So move >> second. I second. >> Thank you M. Uh sorry. Second >> comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Miss Falcono. >> I I >> I to everything except J4 to which I abstain. Motion approved. And Mr. Capello, you have some introductions to make. >> Uh I actually don't have
057any introductions to make. I am going to pass this over to some of my friends in the audience. We are going to try this again in birth order. Again, birth order of the students that the schools serve. So, with that, uh, Mrs. Sher Spear, do you have any folks to introduce this evening? >> We got all your folks at the last one. Then I'm going to pass it over to Mrs. Jones. I know you have some folks here. Mrs. Jones, the floor is yours. >> She's just what? >> Mr. Creel has a microphone for you. >> It was almost there. >> Good evening. I have numerous staff members that I'd like to introduce you to this this evening. Uh first up we have Victoria Dixon. She's going to be a first grade long-term sub for
058us and she is a graduate of Rowan. >> Okay. >> Then we have Melissa Mera who is going to be a second grade long-term sub and she is also a graduate of Rowan and she's returning after taking a short break to raise her family. She does have 14 years of teaching experience. >> Then there's Jennifer Whitleap. She is a TCJ graduate. She's joining our team as a special education resource teacher. Olivia Onell is also joining our special education team and she is an East Shroudsburg University graduate. Lindseay Kramer is also a long-term sub in our special education department and she is a Rucker University graduate. Rounding off on the corner, we have Rob McMillan and he is a Rowan graduate and he's joining our PE health team. And then we have Jonathan Neermmeer. He's also
059a long-term sub and he's joining our special education team. Thank you. >> That's it, Mrs. Jones. >> She did good on remembering all their schools. >> Good job, Mrs. Mey. >> Good evening. I have one new staff member to introduce who is joining the Rush team. Her name is Miss Kira Blaker. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware and she joins our special education group on the fifth grade team this year. So, we're very pleased. Good evening. I have, I believe, two of my two of my people here tonight. First, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Lauren Munos. She comes from uh teaching for five years in Belair, Maryland. Last year, she actually commuted from Penn to Maryland. I have to say that because I think it's amazing every day. Um, and she will
060be joining our special ed program at the middle school for English and language arts. And next up, we have a CHS graduate, Mr. Jordan Evans. Uh, he is also a Rowan University graduate and he is a long-term sub in special education for this year at CMS. [Applause] >> All right, thank you folks. And um, Mr. Gorman is good. Welcome to the team. Uh all of you folks have a bright and early morning tomorrow for the second day of new teacher orientation. So uh no one will judge if you need to go home and get some rest because you have a very very long day tomorrow. Uh so welcome. You're going to enjoy being a part of the pirate family. Congratulations on your appointment. >> A moment to uh exit. Where are we? >> Okay, we're
061going to move on to section 12, curriculum and instruction. Dr. Goldburn, >> thank you very much. Under number 12, letter A, professional development, uh, numbers 1 through three. Under letter B, the monthly field trip requests. Uh, nothing under letter C this month. Under letter D, we have one uh, curriculum map for the high school. Under letter E, disposal of textbooks as attached. Under letter F, the monthly HIP report from the end of the previous school year. Under letter G, likewise, the suspension report from the end of the previous school year. Under letter H, the annual readoption of evaluation instruments for this coming school year. number one, letters A and B. And under letter I, uh the annual approval of the emergency remote instruction plan, um as required by chapter 27, which is attached. >> Thank
062you, Dr. Goldburn. Uh Miss Miss Kleinstein, can I have a motion to approve section 12, curriculum and instruction items A through I? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Falconero. See how easy that was? comments or questions from the board. >> I actually have a question um just regarding if you could give me insight on um professional development um professional goals. I just was reading over there's a lot of information in here and um New Albony School, Rush School, Middle School, High School all address restorative justice practices um into student consequences in increase restorative justice practices, restorative alternatives to detention and suspension. I just would like if there's some input on what that is. I know we approved the code of conduct for all the different schools and I have a couple questions
063like number one, what is it and how is it applied? Who decides what the restorative justice practices are and um what you know is that an even playing field for everyone gets a restorative justice the same restorative justice. How does that work? That's my question. I think the um main emphasis is on an element of reflection when there has been some violation of the code of conduct and that it's not just you did something wrong, here's your detention, don't do it again, but some element of thinking through the decision that was made, what could have been done differently and moving forward. It is usually not an alternate alternative uh means of disciplining someone. It's not you did something instead of suspension, we're going to do this. It's that reflective piece that's added in. I don't
064know if there's any principles who want to second that notion or expand upon what I said. I know it's in the I know it's in the new Albany school code of conduct. I don't see it in any of the other schools, but it may have been some professional development >> and it was in the professional development in each school. >> Restorative practices helps to promote healing of whatever happens, especially if it's between one or more students. It also promotes a positive school community and it helps to create that supportive environment. So that could be something like conflict resolution um if if the parties involved in you know you know an altercation or an argument are able to come together discuss through it work with our counselors um work with administration. We have things such as
065check in and check out. So there might be kids um students who are you know struggling each to meet the expectations. So, we might set up a a meeting for them first thing in the morning. They come in and they either meet with an administrator or a counselor kind of talk that over talk over how their day is, what their goals will be for that day and then a check out at the end of the day. Uh we also use during we have a school suspension. Um we you know the students are doing their work throughout the day. We have uh teachers in there who are certified in the different areas that work with them, but they also have a piece of writing a reflection sheet on why they're in there and, you know, what
066decisions they made to to uh receive that consequence, what they could do in the future. And then we will review that with them once the day is over or the next morning once they're out of in school suspension, >> reentering. >> Okay. So just a question for older grade like middle school, high school. Um okay. So is that um responsible the teacher the teacher who witnessed it is responsible for doing the restorative justice practices or >> involved if it's something that happened in the classroom. They may be involved in that but typically it does come down to uh the counseling department or the administrators. Um if it is >> so it's a separate piece from the teachers responsibility typically. Okay. >> Okay. It's usually administrator. >> Okay. So is there like a guideline like code
067of conduct is this action this is the response is restorative justice just different and it's unique to each discipline each >> restorative justice is not really practic >> practices okay it says restorative justice practices >> no um I think the code of conduct is the consequence Okay. >> The conversation that goes around how do we avoid a similar consequence in the future. >> So that's not done in the classroom. It's done separate. So that not taking away from academics. That's my question. >> Uh no once you're talking about something at least certainly at the high school once you're talking about something that's being assigned by the code of conduct that application done by >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate all of your input. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you all. Okay. All right. Uh,
068we'll take a vote. Um, Miss Falconero, >> I I >> I motion approved. Moving on to section 13, special education. Mrs. Llewellyn. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater. Under letter A, contracts, uh, we have three to approve tonight. Uh, one, uh, an agreement with, uh, Prime Healthcare Services, Sinclair's LLC. Number two, an agreement with Bayata Home Healthcare Incorporated. And number three, the New Jersey Commission of the Blind and Visually Impaired. And the rates are posted in the agenda. Under letter B, student placements, there are none this evening. Under letter C, consultant agreement. We have one this evening with interactive kids to provide social skills program. And under letter D, criteria for independent evaluations. Uh the board is seeking or we are seeking the board to approve uh the independent valuations for the 2526 school year as
069attached. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Llewellyn. Uh Mr. Mer, can I have a motion to approve special education items A through D? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Kenny. Comments or questions from the board. Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Missing Blstein. I >> I I motion approved. Moving on to policy and regulations. Mr. Capella. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater. We do have a few policy, let's say, adjacent items uh for consideration of the board. The annual renewal of the code of conducts that were previously mentioned uh that is a part of the CUAC requirements for the district. So, uh the code of conducts for our schools are listed in the agenda. uh as well as a copy of our transportation handbook and that is uh a transportation handbook for our
070staff members and that is included in the agenda for the board's consideration under items one and two listed in the agenda. >> Thank you Mr. Polo. Uh Miss Falconer, can I have a motion to approve section 14 policy item A? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh thank you Miss Kate Blstein. Comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Miss Eileene Bllestein. I >> I I >> I I >> I motion approved. Uh moving on to business and finance. Mrs. Wilkkey. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater. Under section A, grants of business and finance. Item number one, that the board accepts the idea grant submission and salary distribution is outlined below. And item number two, that the board accepts the funds as outlined below. under section B finance. Item number one,
071that the board approves the establishment of petty cash accounts for the 2526 school year. Item number two, that the district approves the district purchasing that the board approves the district purchasing agent. Item number three, that the board accepts with appreciation the donations totaling of $380 from various donors in memory of Etna Kesler to the new Albany School Library. and that the board accepts with appreciation the donation of 80 copies of The Great Gatsby to the high school English department from Gabrielle Lopez. Item number four that the BR board approves staff mileage reimbursements under section C operations that the board approves the submission of the 2526 county facility approval forms and item D contracts. Item number one that the board approves the interlocal service agreements with uh Riverside School District for transportation services, Maple Shade Board
072of Education for mechanic services and Palmyra board of education for mechanic services. Item number two that the board approves the 2526 shared services agreement for school resource officers with Cinnamonson Township. Item number three that the board approves the following sending tuition contract agreements as outlined and the following receiving tuition agreements as outlined. Thank you, Mrs. Fitzwwater. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wilkkey. Uh Miss Eileen Bllestein, can I have a motion to approve section 15, business and finance items A through D. >> Actually, I'd like to make a motion to table um the contract number four, I believe. Oh, it's not on there. Is removed. >> That's why I read that. >> Oh, okay. So you removed the ones you've talked about. >> It was not on. It was removed prior to the start of the meeting.
073So I read everything before I left. >> Right. But I read everything for >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, I approve. >> Okay. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Iicon. Um, comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Mr. Danero ID. I time I I >> I I sorry I motion approved. Uh moving on to section 16 other business. >> Do you need to read that or >> I do. Okay. >> Uh so under 16 other business seeking the board to approve a revised version of the standing orders for the 2526 school year. Uh they are attached and provided by the school district's physician. Uh these are the standing orders that our nurses use uh for students under the doctor's care. So, uh, there was an addition
074that needed to be made that the nurses brought to our attention. So, we are asking the board to reapprove them, uh, for the 2526 school year. >> Okay. U, Mr. Kenny, can I have a motion to approve section 16 other business? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Trump. Comments or questions from the board? >> Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Miss Blestein. I >> I I >> I motion approved. >> Uh moving on to section 17. Uh public comment on other matters. All members of the public wishing to speak uh should raise their hand to indicate their wish to speak. When called upon, participants should state their first and last name and address clearly for the record. In accordance in accordance with sentiments and board of education bylaws, comments will be limited
075to a maximum of four minutes per person. The comment period will be limited 30 minutes in duration. Pursuant to Oakland public meetings act, the board will not publicly discuss or comment on matters involving personnel, litigation, negotiations, or the attorney client privilege. The board may choose not to respond to comments made by members of the public during this portion of the meeting. However, all comments will be given appropriate consideration. Matters requiring follow-up will be referred to the superintendent for resolution. Please be aware that all board members retain the right of privacy and shall retain all rights against defamation and slander according to the laws of New Jersey. The board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public. And with that, do we have anyone who wishes to make some comments? Scott
076Noriki, 8:30 Hilltop Road. Good evening. My wife and I filed a due process petition on behalf of our son on April 17th. We believe the district failed to provide him with a free appropriate public education as required under federal and state law. After mediation failed, we participated in two days of hearings in July, and we submitted closing briefs on August 21st. A ruling from an ALJ is imminent, but will likely not come before the first day of school one week from today. I want to emphasize that this is not just about my family. This is about the district's financial exposure and the board's role as stewards of public funds. As a governing body, the board has a fidiciary obligation to exercise informed oversight over due process proceedings to limit the district's financial liability and protect
077taxpayers interests. That responsibility includes ensuring that you, as board members, are being fully informed of pending decisions and the potential financial implications they carry. If you have not been made aware of this due process petition, its timeline, and the possible remedies sought, including compensatory education for the entire 2425 school year and each day of the 2526 school year without appropriate placement, that is deeply concerning. Over the past several weeks, we have attempted to work with the administration to develop a compromised placement for the start of the school year. Unfortunately, those discussions have not gone well. In my opinion, certain decisions or inactions may may be increasing the district's financial liability should my wife and I prevail in our petition. It is very important to us that our son begins his day in an integrated or
078general education setting. He needs the sense of belonging to a classroom that includes his non-disabled peers. A sense of belonging that all students deserve. These peers will not see him as part of their class without meaningful inclusion at the beginning of the school day. I am not sure why the administration is pushing back so forcefully on this simple request. Tonight, I am asking you as governing as the governing body ultimately responsible for the district's compliance and finances to ensure that one, all board members are fully informed of this pending decision. Two, you are aware of the potential financial impact of an adverse ruling and three, steps are being taken to ensure transparency and proper oversight moving forward. I believe our community expects the board to act proactively, not reactively. My hope is that this this
079becomes an opportunity for collaboration, transparency, and accountability for my son, for other students with disabilities, and for the taxpayers of Cinnammenson. I have three questions that I hope each member of the board will answer. Please answer yes or no to each. Whether or not you answer will indicate that to this community whether you value transparency and accountability for elect from elected officials. One, were you informed of the filing of our due process petition in a timely manner after it was filed on April 17th? Two, were you provided regular updates as the process proceeded? This would include the failure of mediation in May and the holding of due process hearing in July. And three, are you aware of the of the potential financial liability created by denying my son a free appropriate public education beginning on
080the first day of the 2526 school year which begins one week from today and I would ask for an answer from each one if you're willing to answer. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Nikki, the board does not typically comment on pending legal matters and certainly not on any student matter as an excuse not to answer. >> I'm I'm I'm happy to meet with you after the meeting or or meet my meeting. You've done nothing. It was a year ago I met with you. As you are aware, there is pending uh legal implications. >> I'm not asking you to discuss the legal matter in itself. I'm asking whether or not >> my advice and our attorney's advice to the board. I would advise the board not to uh answer these. However, we can certainly follow up.
081>> I'm asking the board. You are not on the board. Correct. >> I am actually a member of the board. Yes. Non- voting member of the board. >> Well, I'm not asking you and also the board. The board seeks my guidance. The >> voting members of the board. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Nikki. >> Thank you. >> Is anybody willing to answer the questions? Okay. >> I would just like to say that now >> that's your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ashley Neil and I live at 1012 Highland Avenue. Good evening, members of the board. Last year, I quietly brought forward a very serious concern to several administrators, the building principal, the director of special education, and the superintendent. At that time I shared that students in fourth and
082fifth grade with an IEP for ICS or ICR in all subjects were being placed in non a non-switching classroom and which is not the same as their peers. Unfortunately, here we are one year later and that has not changed. This practice denies students the opportunity to develop the life and executive functioning skills that come with switching classes. skills that all of their general ed peers are practicing every day. This is not a minor oversight. This is discrimination against a very specific group of students based on their disability. This matters because executive functioning skills like organization, planning, time management, self- advocacy can only be learned through real practice, not just worksheets or reminders. When students with disabilities are shielded from switching classes, they enter middle school with less preparation and greater vulnerability. Denying this access communicates,
083whether it's intended or not, that these students are less capable, which damages their self-confidence and long-term outcomes. This is important to explicitly teach these skills because it helps students manage transitions and expectations with greater independence. It builds resilience, flexibility, and problem solving abilities. It reduces reliance on adults for promoting, prompting, and fostering true autonomy. It gives the students confidence to self- advocate, something every child with a disability needs much be much more before they reach higher grades. As a background, I have been a therapist for children for over 16 years. and my own private group mental health practice. My work specializes in working with children with children with disabilities, complex medical needs, learning differences, and neurode divergence. From this lynch, I can tell you with certainty that removing access to daily skill building opportunities is
084not just inappropriate, but it's also harmful. This is so disheartening and disappointing. I after raising this concern last year, it's not been corrected for this upcoming school year. Our students deserve better. They need we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard of equity and inclusion than we are right now. I urge the board to act to ensure that students with IEPs are not isolated in non-switching classrooms, but are instead provided the same opportunities with the right supports to practice and grow in their executive functioning skills alongside their peers. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Neil. I I stood here now four years ago and I went through the same thing Scott is going through with you. Different members, but it the same thing. You forced our daughter into a classroom. she didn't
085belong in. And I proved you wrong continuously. And she's proved you wrong continuously. She's now in Jed and she's succeeding and she's doing great with the proper IEP, proper accommodations, proper support. It works. I don't understand why you keep fighting families. I don't understand what's in it for you. And it seems like it's personal. It has nothing to do with what's best for the child. It's absolutely personal. And you know what the funny part is? is it's never the teachers that we get push back from. I have yet to sit across a teacher that tells me, "No, I can't do that in my classroom." The teachers will sit there and they'll email back and forth and they'll discuss accommodations, they'll discuss modifications, what they can do, how they can implement them. The teachers look for
086out of the box solutions. It's the administrators that stop them. You essentially, some of you that are sitting at the tables, I don't understand that. I took a trip to Florida last week and just for you know options I met with a high school in Florida St. John's County if you want to know. I suggest each one of you take a trip there. You'd be surprised at what I got. The only thing is we we explored options to see what the difference would be in school placement and how the school would approach our child. And let me tell you, the information I got from them, holy moly, they came prepared. They gave us options for college. They gave us options for whether she wants to live on campus, colleges that have supports in place, colleges
087that have vocational technical programs on their campus. They literally took the IEP I brought with me and added to it and said, "Hey, we can do this. We can do this. We can do this." We argue about the IEP every meeting and we it's always like, well, you know, maybe, but we can't do that here. I don't understand that. Four years later and you're still making the same mistakes. Are we waiting to be on the news again? Cuz we were already there and it wasn't happy and it wasn't positive. So, are we waiting for this school district to be on the news again that we're yet declining, denying what is a basic civil right to every kid to be part of their society? It's a basic civil right to be part of your society. I
088really, really hope that one day you don't encounter the struggles you put some of these parents through because let me tell you, that stinks. It stinks to have to research case law. It stinks to have to know the law inside and out. It stinks to have to know the special education code. It stinks to have to take a a disability law class to Rutgers University to sit and be educated enough to fight for what your kid needs. That sucks. I'm going to say it that way. It really, really sucks. I have a full-time job. I have three kids. I have never encountered a more resistant school than this one. I don't understand it. To me, it seems like some of the the administrators have a personal agenda at keeping students segregated. I don't understand that.
089Why in four years you haven't learned, the parents aren't going away. They're going to get louder and there's going to be more of them and they're not going to be passive. So, I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday. Thank you, Mr. Paplowski. Any other members of the public who would like to address the board at this time? Okay, moving on to comments from the board. Mr. Kenny. >> Uh, yes. I believe Miss Blestein has some comments. >> I do have some comments. I number one wanted to say thank you for removing the um professional services contract from the agenda. I know it was just put on there on Thursday. It's a lot of money and I don't think the board had enough time to even look at that. We did get our agenda on Thursday.
090Um, a lot of those meeting minutes that we were discussing for ad hoc. Um, all the meetings that we had for the referendum took place three weeks ago, six weeks ago, and we just got the meeting minutes on Thursday. So, it's a lot of meeting minutes. We should have had them, I think, in a timely fashion back in April on the 15th. We did make a motion to have the policy 0155 that actually specifically talks about um a timely fashion for getting meeting minutes. Um that was sent back to the policy committee. I don't know if there's been any meetings regarding that. Um that's four months ago and it's not a timely fashion. Everyone voted yes except I believe one person and maybe someone was absent that day. But I think it's really important that
091there's a lot on this agenda. there are a lot of attachments and as the board I think it's really important that we have more time to review it. Um that was removed today. I mean I was looking at the agenda earlier and that contract was on there this morning and this afternoon so I'm not sure what time it was removed. I'm very thankful that it was and we always have to look out for the taxpayers. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh in the congratulations column I'd say welcome to all our new staff members. Looks like an impressive group and we look forward to you working with our students. Thank you to our staff for all your hard work over the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year and best wishes to everyone, the staff and
092students for a terrific school year and welcome back. The next regularly scheduled meeting will take place on Thursday, September 25th at 7 p.m. right here in the middle school cafeterium. More information can be found on the district website. That's it. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kenny. Uh we are going to convene into executive session. Uh we will have um probably one business item when we come back. Um with that um Mr. Bramal, can I have a motion to convene into executive session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Miker. All in favor? >> Opposed? All right, we're going into executive session. Good night, folks. Thank you very much. Yes, we are. Can I have a motion to reconvene the public meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Very excited. >>
093All in favor? >> I opposed. All we're back in public session. Um Mr. Kenny, can I have a motion to approve section 16 number two? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Trump. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Okay. And now we are going to Mrs. Miss Falcanero. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. Second. >> Thank you, Miss Cape. All in favor? I >> oppose. I'm meeting a genot.