001the other public meetings Act was provided by didn't notice On January 3rd 2009 teen - The Courier news the echo Sentinel The star-ledger tap into Warren and the clerks of the board watch on in the townships of greenbrook Long Hill we have roll call mr. sighs miss Barone mr. Fahey mr. haic here mr. huntzinger yeah Morrison here he's over here miss Potter here doctor ski I will entertain a motion in accordance with the provisions of the new jersey open public meetings actually you hereby resolved that the board move into executive session to discuss confidential personnel legal and student matters wh RTA's negotiations and grievances after which action may be taken will be taken it is expected that the matters discussed an executive session will be made public as soon as the need for confidentiality no
002longer exists thank you well good evening first I just wanted to talk a little bit about the election we had we had unopposed race & lanzhou so we welcome even the road and the township of Warren we had three candidates the two highest for mr. Morrison and the riche and the k-8 district and he'll be joining us in January so congratulations to all three of you thank you and the second thing is for the second thing I just want to let the rest of the written members know I've invited dr. chan to join us at the November 19th meeting we were meeting with Gwen port and to do their professional development he's accepted these that would be here with us number two and the operations committee when we we talk will kind of go through
003but the audit is almost complete the state's got their information to them so our auditors want to join us at the next board meeting and operations committee meeting to discuss the audit we did have that meaning just for clarity in the twenty second twenty twenty six or not right not the training one that's the port training wing and then the third thing and I have to do this and I apologize but we did have transportation safety drills once again we had them on October 24th here in front of the school at seven o'clock in the morning it encompassed all of our routes forty-two routes twenty-nine of our thirteen green Brooks it was run by Janet T our transportation quarter and all well I'm good okay the other thing I wanted to announce is the school
004boards delegate delegate assembly is taking place on the 23rd of November Rita who's gone and represented us in the past has volunteered to go again if anybody else feels the need and wants to persuade her not to she might be persuaded where's the word know or someone else can accompany her so yeah absolutely we get one vote that someone else gonna come to are you going in any event that's it committee reports we have an Education Committee yes sir the education committee met on November 4th and a couple of things that we went through some are on the agenda for discussions evening the first item was we had a furniture update where dr. Jewett provided an update on the replacement furniture that they're trying out in five of the classrooms and the selection she went
005over the selection process and how teachers were engaged in utilizing some of the the sample furniture and trying out different layouts in each of the classrooms there were three bids that were received and mr. skies discussed the bids with the committee in more detail and just want to let you know that they'll be on the agenda for a preview tonight and approval on the 26th and if you have any questions specifically about the bids themselves mr. Stiles can address those we also discussed the vaping and and kind of our approach to vaping here at the school vice principal Acker joined us and explained the key groups of meaning to discuss both our vaping policy and guidelines they discussed the key issue of prevention cessation consequences health and safety and a way to deter students from
006vaping more consequences such as suspending of parking privileges adding at nurse evaluations increased in-school suspensions mandatory parent meeting and mandatory counseling sessions with the sack were discussed for inclusion in the student parent handbook they recommended that there no we've really no changes to the policy at this time because when we wrote the policy a few years ago we were there there were electronic cigarettes we were at the time and we wrote the policy generate generalized enough to be all-encompassing so it includes all the vaping products so there's no need to change the policy but they are recommending some changes to the student parent handbook particularly as it relates to consequences we had a follow-up discussion following the October presentation on school performance we've discussed some of the areas of really we spent a lot of
007time talking about what other types of assessments that we can be looking at beyond the state assessments that were given considering that the state assessments keep changing and as a result of that they keep changes and they're not really comparable and so what are the metrics that we as a board would find useful in having reported beyond just what we're getting from from the state so we had a pretty robust discussion around that we didn't necessarily settle on anything but we we are looking at finding ways to provide a more holistic look at our student performance along with that we talked a little bit about math assessments in particular and how we can potentially improve the articulation with math in our sending districts particularly when we were looking at the 9th grade algebra performance we
008had a discussion on equity training dr. chu had updated the Committee on equity training that they've been working with the consultant a team of 13 members were somewhat in training on November 20th who will then turn key training for other teachers in their respective departments recognizing that diversity equity and inclusion will be a key component of our strategic plan in the next year mr. Snyder Minh then provided us an update on the PD days they got high ratings across the board the focus on departments and the second day was a preferred model allowing the teachers to spend time together focusing on department mental issues we review the music participation as a result of the increase in the or the addition of the new courses and it showed that we've seen an increase in student participation
009in music up from 20% to 22% of our student population but the actual number of seats students that are taking courses went from 413 seats in 2018 to 472 seats in the current school year which is you know certainly great to see that there is that much of an interest increase in the various course offerings we also then looked at TEDx TEDx is scheduled for January 23rd at 6:00 p.m. the title of the event will be why not and we encourage board members if you're able to attend and see what our students are up to in that TEDx type setting it would be great for you to be there so mark your calendar for January 23rd and that is all great my comment isn't to imply that I'm in favor of vaping as a health
010care professional but a question I have is part of the communication or if not all of the communication is about avoidance and consequences has there been any communication passed or intended in the future to explain where the high risk is assuming that some children young adults will do this regardless of what we say and may do it on their own outside of school property and do we have any obligation or health interest in communicating ways to be safe about it if you're going to make that choice that's interesting we did not discuss that specifically about you know kind of safe baby if that's what you're referring to where am i misunderstanding it I mean in a way yes so and your your date of meeting was November 4th so this obviously is newer information that's
011out as to what the really high risk is of pulmonary damage or lung damage and don't know that they're reading it don't know that they're getting that information but it's probably information if we're discussing it that people should get so that if they're gonna make the choice which i think is wrong at least they can do it in a way that is less risky and and that's the issue around the vitamin the acetate that spins that mixed in with you know some of the the THC based products that are out there so I don't know if any of I don't believe any of that has been communicated and certainly dr. druid can speak to that which are the riskiest in terms of the health effects are in health class right yeah so if you if
012that health curriculum needs to be brought in to say look these are the stuff this is why these are the substances I don't are you not saying like but if you're gonna do it do this you're just saying you're saying that all the health effects should be outlined for these kids so that they understand what the health effects are if we also need to it for the parents well and I and I also think that we shouldn't wait until they take it in health class I mean I think that this is serious enough and the information that's come out from the Center for Disease Control over the fact that they've been able to isolate the the fact that that the folks that are selling THC based vaping products are mixing in this vitamin D acetate
013and that is the thing that is making people's lungs explode so our students should be aware not that we are encouraging them to do it but if you're going to do that you need to know that that consuming that product may make your lungs explode [Music] like there's somebody out there right now like had a problem who wants a tour and tell about all the bad stuff that can happen to you if you leave I have like there's a beard straight kind of idea and that's what what they are looking into because we do want to bring in some some speakers up you know I've had experience but didn't speak to it but we need to make sure I think it definitely should be make sure the health curriculum is updated to include it as
014well we are we are getting I know I am getting updates constantly from our our County Department of Education Office is always sending us materials from the Department of Health and from the different folks at the state level involved and so I always share those with our sacks with our health teachers and they're constantly reviewing that so you know we are there is a constant flow of that information coming in because there is so much new information coming out on it so we do share that with them but I'll certainly follow up with them that's you know a really great point so thank you some of you may have seen on this evening news before it came here the report of the first double lung transplant in the United States and report on a 16
015year old boy now 17 celebrated his 17th birthday in the hospital his beam no Henry Ford Hospital all personnel do you have anything would so we had a we had a preview of the see items you know some of which we'll be thinking we'll take action on November 12 and November 26 we talked about the principle search there was a meeting at 6:00 with the parents after the personnel committee meaning so I don't know how that was no we received input from parents via email okay we did not we did hold a meeting but unfortunately we did not have any attendance at that meeting but I did have parents reach out to women okay okay all right so parents gave some feedback I guess take a look at that we talked about the feedback from
016the PD days so this was kind of I guess the first you know PD days that were kind of not focused on a sole thing in a way because wasn't it last year it was generally geared towards different models so this year and it was that second day was run through the departmental initiatives and in some cases the teachers were able to self select or the departments worked on what initiatives they were going to focus on that day and they set their own schedules for that day we still have full workday yeah but they determined yeah and then it was kind of like we have we had a greater variety because wasn't it wasn't last year kind of more in general with you towards still implementing the one-to-one with the Chromebook so we had a
017lot of help with our technology in previous years yeah okay so this was kind of the first time in a while that we didn't have kind of Liebig it was there's more variation to it but it looked like it went well I mean we had some good feedback and you have a favorable feedback from the faculty and we'll work with that in the future to see how you know to see how we can improve that listen I just want to add to two things one just a reminder we've got a meeting next week on the 19th from support professional development when Thornton is coming and is going to address for us not only some of the outstanding or the attributes of outstanding boards and what board members do but also talking about ways that we
018can work as a board to support the administration and work with the administration and things that are getting directly affect student achievement and performance so hoping we can gain from that next week and finally just to let you and the public know D 9 a resolution for action later tonight is going to be a resolution concerning ratification of the collective bargaining agreement I was trying to trick my okay Romans 7 future action items any discussion of the A's administration matters today this is our first opportunity to public comment unfortunately this public comment is limited to items on the agenda she will have a second one hopefully relatively short which is not if you want to address this on items on the agenda please step forward and identify what town you're from none I will now
019close the first opportunity for public comments thank you I need discussion on the future actions I guess just a favorable comment I remember years back some frustrations of getting sort of after the effect after the fact requests for things like under Section a and trips and so forth and we're not seeing it anymore and so I want to do it acknowledged thanks for taking care of it appreciate it you know I'll second that I think you know although there were skills occasionally things that pop up they're not always controllable and I think our whole administration has done a good job responding to pass frustrations we've expressed and I I appreciate all it though the amount of for notice that we're giving on things to vote well I think that's also reflective in the shortness of
020the actual action items received right okay no further that and we will move to women 8 action items for this evening mr. president I'd like to move items a1 through a - thank you [Music] is there any discussion of resolutions a1 and a2 during then we have a roll call vote mr. Stiles miss Barone yes mr. Feigin yes yes Hunsinger yes - Morrison yes she's over yes miss Potter yes yes yes Carrie mr. president I'd like to move items c1 through C 3 any discussion on resolution c1 c2 and c3 Ms Brown yes yes yes yes Martin yes this is over yes miss Potter yes dr. zubowski yes Mr Bond yes yes mr. president I'd like to move items d1 through d5 especially resolutions d1 through d5 yeah mr. president I would like to just
021make one oh we're making watch-chain actually - very very minor changes I bought an item d2 the original level 294,000 it's been reduced to 292 526 2.37 okay very minor change in item profit where it reads in the second line including we truly think balance salary guards are using changing that to including mutually agreed-upon salary gap and just make those two amendments all in favor that was read it and dr. Seville ski no further discussion on d1 355 could we miss borough yeah mr. Fahey yes Joe Haeg yes Hunsinger yes timorous --n yes this is over yes miss Potter yes dr. zubowski yes Mr Bond yeah and mr. Pamela yes no she's Karen mr. president I'd like to move item d6 any discussion a resolution b6 is bro yes mr. Fahey yes Hey yes I'm
022singer yes Morrison yes this is over yes dr. Chappelle ski yes Mr Bond yes and his family yes ocean is caring thank you so for once I told the truth that we're now at the second half inning on a public comment which is not limited to agenda items if you'd like to address the board please step forward and address the board for five years hi I'm Ryan Linn I'm from Long Hill township I'm a senior at watch on Hills Regional High School and I would like to thank superintendent Jewett and members of the board for hearing the public out and I don't imagine students usually come here that very often but I feel like today is a good time for a student to come here to represent a student body I just wanted to let
023the board know that the students are planning an event for November 20th in response to the blackface incident that occurred on an off school campus party it will be a response where the students will walk out onto the track we'll hold our flashlights and then we'll have some ADL speakers come speak to the public to let the community know that we're doing something to move forward but the students I spoke to a lot of them and a lot of them told me that this event is you know something great we have an Instagram account we're gonna promote it we're gonna get the stores out to put up our flyers and we're hoping that members of the board can attend on November 20th at 6 o'clock I believe we're hoping to see you there but the
024students were also telling me that you know this event although how great it is it is the bare minimum that we can be doing to address the issue that is currently in our schools like the students here are not very happy with this school to be honest I all in my four years I had never heard a student say oh I love watching Hills it has always been a place where students come they Drudge through the day and then they leave at 2:45 and students want a seat at the table to be able to represent themselves to have a voice in what goes on in school thank you so much thank you would you say was gonna come speak we finalized it today it's at I actually find out who he's affiliated with but the
025equity consultant that we have working with us from us to consulting she has somebody that has experience with this with actually reconciliation in communities and restorative justice and that's who's going we have his biography we just finalized it today so that's who actually is going to be he where went we're setting up a conference call with him with the students so that way they can plan for the event so I can get you that information John if you're interested and I like the mic and you guys hear me right now sure no problem thank you good evening my name is Aaron Allman Cooper I'm from watch on New Jersey I'm a community member and I am an educational advocate and consultant with seco organization also known as Special Education Committee of advocates I'm nervous to
026be here tonight for a variety of reasons I have lectured across a lot of schools I have been to convention halls I have spoken to hundreds of people and yet only I think a dozen or so I'm really nervous tonight because I'm afraid that I'll be rejected and I'll tell you why I feel of me I'm afraid I'll be rejected I was a student here two years ago I was a student freshman and sophomore year half of sophomore year and that I left I won't get into the details of the situation but what mr. Winn said is absolutely true students are really not happy and I I've always wanted to be a teacher I've wanted to be a special education teacher I wanted to be a lawyer I wanted to all those things and when
027I left Watchung Hills I didn't think that I could work in education anymore because the horrors and the pain that I felt at this school broke me down in more ways than one so instead of crying instead of sitting on my bed weighing 400 pounds doing whatever I got up and I formed an organization and since then I've worked with over 14 school districts across New Jersey we've represented countless of families with IEP implementation issues with school district educational advocacy a whole bunch of issues including now it's been branched off to more school climate issues and I'm here tonight because mr. Lyne reached out to me as well as other students because I've never seen really anything like this the fact that there seems to be a pattern I think that you guys are rushing
028through this right now and there's a really big pattern that really needs to be at rest with the teacher that ultimately was unfortunately that that situation happened with the hate intimidation this is only on the surface folks when I was here I'm an LGBT student when I was here I got bullied for being gay every single day and I reported it I won't get into the semantics but these are big things and now they're on the media and that's what attention has to be done these little things are happening and then we smooth it over and we kind of try to you know say it's okay because we want to have a really great school and I believe in this school I've heard stories of people that have been here and I hear really great
029things but we have lost our way when these things are happening it's such a sad thing so I think that what needs to happen is is is that I looked at the budget over here with a lot of money and I know this isn't a Q&A session but what I will say is is is that for if you look at d3 resolution d3 or d3 there is a 1.5 million dollar almost 1.6 million our cost for the girls locker room alterations project and the reason why I mentioned up of course it doesn't say the inner machinations of it but I just think that does that sound like a fiscally responsible thing to do to spend a million dollars over a million dollars on an adjustment maybe I'm wrong but that money could be going to
030hiring professionals and hiring people to work on school climate and we're going to mr. Lyne and I we're going to be working together we're going to be working to create a school Climate Survey we will present the results to you I in three weeks I'll be having a community tolerance event it's going to probably be held at either the watching elk center at a another community center I encourage all of the Board of Ed members to attend I emailed superintendent Jewett you did not get back to me maybe it was for a couple of reasons maybe you didn't see it maybe sometimes technology's really crazy or maybe you weren't interested in reaching out to me back but I really hope that we can work together because I have no interest I want to make one
031thing very clear I have no interest in belittling the school you guys are all public servants you guys are doing a really great thing I'm here to speak for parents and students who are really in pain and who are hurting and I think that we can really work together on this so I hope that you'll reach out to me I'm going to give my car you will do what you will with it as I say but you'll see more of me I'm usually at the K through 8 district I'm usually working with Jessica and Gracia president of Board of Ed I'm usually there but because the situation's have gotten so out of control I came here tonight in a place that caused me a lot of pain I did to help hopefully some students so
032I really hope that you will reach back out to me that's all I got Thanks any other business so I thought we could take the opportunity to kind of give an outline of where we are on a strategic plan what the next steps are with our strategic plan as we're hitting at the end just a sketch of timelines just so everybody understands that for the planning process yes we have the RFP out now it's perfect I think about six or seven people picked up this is the second round of it we made some minor revisions but I kind of cast a wider net the idea is that keep that date is November I know no it's December third we received them back and the idea is to have some meetings with about two or three
033of the proposers select one and then come to the board on December 10th and then have a vote on January 4th at that's to get the consultant on board the timing is a little bit better for us because right now we don't have a couple of key pieces we may not have a principle by that period of time but I do think we'll have the guidance person here that director will have our IT director which is helpful and probably should have the principal even if the principal hasn't started should likely be hired right so that gives us a little better but that that's the timeframe from and then from there and then you pull it from there in probably in January going forward to determine what would be the plan for input as to our
034strategic plan and what and actually from the the sessions we had with the the students and the staff for the principal input process as well as you know some of the meetings I've had with the students with the diversity Council and the the representative representatives from the teams and clubs we actually have gotten a lot of feedback that we can utilize in terms of the strengths of the school they Ares a focus that they feel you know are present the ones that we are currently working on that we need to continue working on and some new ones as well so we have some good information already but that would automatically go yes to things just a and is there any update on the shared services conversations with our sending districts unfortunately no no there is
035not because what I had tried to have scheduled it didn't wasn't able to come about because of a problem with my schedule I'm now hoping hoping to have a date in very early December so that we can okay then the second is just a reminder to the board members that the Somerset County meeting is a joint meeting with Mercer County on Thursday evening to have a presentation again on the later start times that'll be Thursday evening at Cherry Valley Country Club in Montgomery dinner at 6:00 presentation at 6:45 Peters certainly talks glowingly about that presentation so yeah this this Thursday and you can each of you can sign up on the school board's website yourself for that even as late as tomorrow that's not a problem registered you can even walk in and sign in
036at the door so if somebody just want to go let me let me know because I least be driving down there I'm registered so we would have gotten some sort of email in our usually comes to several of us I know the school board's the School Boards Association does maybe I know I did but I thought I got something that mentioned who from here was going oh well it always if you if anybody wants to go you can always watch over 18th I have one send it to you okay thanks I will entertain a motion in accordance with the provision of the new jersey up public readings at the trip i resolved that the board and even to executive session to discuss confidential legal and student matters after which action will not be taken it
037is expected that the matters discussed in executive session we made public as soon as we need for confidentiality no longer exists so moved [Music]