001[Music] Good evening everybody. Thanks for joining us tonight at this uh public board of education meeting. We called our meeting to order earlier at our closed executive session. So we're ready to begin. Um we're now in full swing of the school year, so I hope everybody's uh having a smooth transition back to school and the fall weather. Dr. Arrol, do you have any comments before we get going on the agenda? >> Good evening everyone. Uh, just want to welcome everyone back to the official start of the school year. Um, I want to thank our families for all the support we're getting with the the bridge closure and with uh assisting with putting students on the bus. Want to also just acknowledge that there's always some switches and transitions that have to happen um with routes
002should at the beginning of the year as we make slight adjustments to stops and sometimes we have to make slight adjustments um to routes and buses. So um should families have any um any challenges with buses, it really important that they report those to our transportation department. Um it's great to post things on social media, but we don't monitor that. Um, so you you may think you've reported something, but it's really critical that you notify our transportation department so we can assist. Um, also want to just uh note that we're right in the season of back to school nights. We've had several with a couple others scheduled to go. Um, and want to just say that, you know, we're really proud of our athletic programs and as as they've kicked off the school year, um,
003and having great success out there. So, congratulations to all of our athletes. All right. Uh thank you everyone. >> All right. Thank you Dr. Adterhold. And now uh it's time for our first opportunity for public comments. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 60 minutes. Do we have any We have our first public comment speaker. Hello. Welcome. >> Hi, welcome back everyone. Neil Lewis, Plains Bro Township uh public safety liaison. And since the comment was
004made about the traffic light, I think that uh it's worth it. I just put a word in that once we did realize that Mercer County was closing that bridge for as long as it was going to be closed. We were working closely with the counties to get something into that intersection, which is a complicated and a somewhat dangerous intersection. And we thought with all of the young people who might be driving as well as parents who are frequently rushing in the morning, we needed to put some kind of a safety factor in there. And we were uh happy that we were getting cooperation from Middle Sex and from Mercer both in putting a light in. They currently are being contacted about adjusting the timing. And I think that those of us who've gone that way
005all recognize that the non-equal time and probably the lack of sensors at the light makes it a little complicated at times. But the main factor is still the safety of our students and also of our our residents and the West Windsor residents and getting to the school complex. But they are looking at that to try to get that changed. And since we are on county roads that we're dealing with county government that has to make those final decisions, but we have started that the chief is working closely and we're hoping that that'll be working a little bit better. So, uh, and while I have a couple of seconds, I just want to say congratulations once again on having the schools rated as highly as they are in the recognitions that came out a few weeks
006ago. And I think that when I moved here in 1983 with a new baby and 3,000 children in the schools and the the rumor that we had a good school district that we could go to, I'm delighted to see how good a job the board has done all these years in maintaining the school. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. Do we have any other public comments for this? Go right ahead. Let's remember name and address. >> How we doing? Uh my name is Zach Wheel. I live at 144 Fiser Place. Um I do not have a horse in the race. I have two dogs, a cat, and a fiance. And that's more than enough. I don't I don't need to be here. I don't want to be here, right? But I
007don't know if the camera can pan around like there's nobody here. This is kind of crazy for the first meeting for the start of the school year. Um, so I'll make this quick. Um, I own a business um, directly adjacent to WSU, which if anybody's familiar, it's a 976 unit um, development, Avalon Bay, right near the Princeton Junction train station. I think at the moment less than a quarter of the units are finished or occupied. And when the the process to potential to start the construction uh when I was at the planning board meetings, one of the questions I had was, you know, how many students are going to be added to the district, right? So maybe somebody has a better estimate um now now that most of the stuff is complete. Um you have
008another 500 units there. You have uh two newly constructed um or under construction developments right adjacent to Trader Joe's. Um that's not including Princeton Country Club and however many hundreds of units are there. And I guess my question is, if every school is either under construction or recently completed, where do you intend on putting these kids, right? And it's really concerning or disconcerting that I'm here. Like I said, I don't have a freaking kid in the district and there's no parents here. Um, why? No offense to the folks who are here, right? Um, this is absolutely asinine. Um, I and and I apologize if if my frustration is misplaced and it should be directed towards somebody else by all means, but I've been trying to get answers. I've tried to post this, and this is
009where I'll I'll cut myself off. I've tried to post this to WWP peeps multiple times, multiple different posts. Um, for whatever reason, all of my posts are in perpetual limbo. They're all pending. The posts that are on WWP peeps, um, advertising, you know, labu babysitting and just asinine things, everything other than what should be a discussion about the township. So, um, yeah, I I had a a ton of notes. I was expecting to to I had to come here early to like fight parents to get in line. This is crazy. So, um yeah, I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Do we have anybody else from our small audience for a first public comment? >> All right, seeing none, um Dr. Adterhold, let me ask do you have any comments at
010this point? >> Sure. I'll I'll come back in with respect to the public comments. Um so with respect to the the public safety and Mr. Lewis's comment, um want to thank uh the township and our Planesboro and West Windsor police departments for all the work that they're doing in support of us. Um you know, several officers have been out uh at the light to to make sure that it's uh and to make sure that it's working. they were out there prior to the lights installation. Um, but it's I I think it's important for the township to know just to add on to Mr. Lewis's comment that the officers themselves cannot adjust the light. It's a county engineer has to not only observe it, but they're the ones that have to make the change. So, just
011in fairness to uh and to the gentleman that's about to walk out, >> sir, >> I was going to address your comment if you'd like to. So, no, so no, no problem. So I was I I'll give a quick update for you. Um but with respect to it's just the county engineer uh has to make those changes. So as you we might see officers out at the light, they're not able to actually make the physical change. They can note it, they can give feedback, but the engineers have to actually observe it. Uh to Mr. Wheel, the gentleman that made the comments regarding the residential growth in the community, uh this is something that the district's been monitoring for quite some time. Um, you know, we made first presentations here. Uh, my first presentation, I believe,
012was 2016, uh, with respect to the residential growth in the community. We brought forward a referendum to expand, um, five of the schools in 2018 and successfully were able to pass that with the idea that there was certain number of units that were going to be built, phased in starting around 2020. COVID hit, some of the delays in the residential construction occurred. Fortunately, our school construction um was able to proceed. That that construction is predated uh the referendum is predated by three expansions. Um the room we're sitting in, but also eight classrooms here, classrooms at the expansion at Hawk, the expansion at Town Center were also in addition to the referendum. So we've actually expanded in the last 10 years um 8 years eight of the 10 facilities with the idea that there would be
013uh residential growth coming due to the developments that the gentleman was referencing um over by the low center over by transit village and sporadically throughout the community. Um it's also important to know that this is the year of round two of two or three of affordable housing. So, there's yet another round of affordable housing that will come through this school year. Um, municipalities are engaged in conversations of submissions and challenging submissions based on calculations. So, we should anticipate additional developments that were not included back in the referendum time period to be coming online. There are um two developments in Plansboro that we're we're watching as they're going through a process. One's over by Plansboro Nursery. The other's over by the hospital. Plansboro Nursery was rumored about at the time of the referendum, but it was
014it was not coming to fruition. It wasn't in front of a planning board. It was just an idea back then. Um that is now coming forward with X amount I don't I want to say close to 500, but I don't want to misspeak units. Then over by the hospital, there's another whole wave of units that will be in another project coming and that was not included. So, some of our largest concerns from a community standpoint is we have a whole segment of the community where we have no school. Um, and it's over on the um west side of Route One near Market Fair. Um, and those students in that section um would have to be busted towards Town Center Wyoff. Um on the West Windsor side, the developments that have been uh or are being
015built, we have projections to go to um a lot of them, Moraurice Hawk Village, Grover South. However, there are uh one in particular over by uh the mosque that is slated to go Dutch Neck uh Village, Grover South. All that being said, when developers come forward, developers um are not required, but they can do a fiscal analysis. They can do a projection of potential number of students but the townships themselves cannot make a determination to approve or reject a project based on school age school age student impact. So these developments are there's lots of other pieces that they might have to be in compliance with but school age impact is not one of them. So again we we are going to yield some number of students. The problem is is we don't necessarily know what
016ages and what grades and that's very difficult to project. Um there are dem that what we can go on is demographic history. Um and demographic demographers especially out of Ruckers um have projections of what we could anticipate. So back when we did the demographic studies back when we did the capacity studies we projected yields of what we anticipated. until we get moveins, we can't necessarily compare moveins versus projections. Um, we do have some historical data about what we could anticipate by type of housing unit. Um, and that that's been published in our dem demographic study as well as all the reports that are still online with respect to the presentations we did around the referendum. >> What precedent do you have for a thousand units? Um, so it's not it's a public comment period, not
017a Q&A, but there is a second public comment period at the end. >> The only other thing that I want to point out is Edison spent $9 million fighting a 250 unit development. >> We have Please stay for the public comment. The second one, thank you. >> Did you want to finish? >> I I'll finish. Um so with respect to fighting residential growth, that's not something a school board would do. Um we encourage students to come. Um but the townships themselves um may choose to fight developers. Um, since the public may have heard on the video about Edison, I don't have any insight into that other than to know that Edison has expanded several thousand students in the last five school years. Um, and has had u major capacity um, challenges due to residential growth
018within their community. Um, but Edison School District is responsible for every single student that comes to their door, whether planned or unplanned. Um, so whether it's kindergarteners that come or whether it's third graders, um, or high schoolers, uh, we welcome all students that move into our community. Um, and we have some wonderings, and I'll say wonderings as a school community, as as administrators, as we're looking at the new as the age of kids start we're seeing in registration, the question is, is this a starter home community? Um and and when we just look at the simple price points in our community, um most of the age of students we're seeing are not necessarily coming in, we're seeing families move in with children, not necessarily moving in waiting five years and then having families. Um so
019families might come in with young children and have more. Um, but one of the ways I raised this because demographers project things based on birth data. And one of the ways demographers do that is they geocode birth data to residential address. So they can look at, you know, a child born at at Plainsboro Hospital and they can look at the um home address and they can then project five years later that that student that will have a kindergartener. Well, that may or may not be true. that family could move, but it's a way they could predict what kindergarten enrollment. And then based on kindergarten enrollment they can project up. Well, we've had some factors in WWP that don't play well into that one until three years ago, we had half day K. So K was
020not always the first landing spot in the community. First grade was a better predictor for long-term residential growth. And then the second factor is just the reality is that homes in our community um are are very expensive and it's a very difficult price point to enter as a as a starter home. Um so we are seeing families move in with older children right now and especially around transition grades middle six fifth to sixth 8th to 9th that makes sense when you start thinking about where you want your children to transition in school age. Um but that doesn't always work clean with families that have multiple children. Um, so it's something that we're very much watching. It's something that we very much work on. Um, there's some developments that are opening in real time and are
021phasing in in real time. And over the this school year and next school year, um, we should anticipate, um, starting to see our numbers rise with the number of enrollments that are coming in. And so, um, as an example, we did open up a class and happened to be kindergarten at Dutch Neck, um, within one week of the opening of school because we had such a surge in kindergarten enrollment. Um, that we made the decision right then and there, it was better to open and reallocate the schedules than it was to see class sizes for K crest 25. in 25 K is the one grade that in code there's a cap on with the exception of special education and preschool. Um but within K12 K has a cap at 25. So we we made the
022decision we didn't want to risk that and we opened a section and dropped the numbers down back to 18 knowing that we would continue to get enrollment. >> All right. Thank you for um that further explanation. >> Madam President, there's only one other thing that I just just wanted to address. I know the gentleman left but um the board does not control does not have any authority over the WW peeps community Facebook. So if the gentleman does watch back um we don't have any control over that. We are not the administrator. We don't have any say in terms of what is posted and what is not. So I just wanted to clarify that >> despite my reach in the community. >> Yes. >> Thank you for the addition. So now we can uh move on
023to the board of education committee reports and I'll ask Dana for our meeting minutes from administration and facilities. >> Okay. Good evening. Um the ANF committee met on September 10th. The committee reviewed um several policies and regulations and we recommend them for second reading and approval at tonight's meeting. They are um policy 0174 legal services, policy 0177, professional services, policy and regulation 1570, internal controls, policy 1620, administrative employment contracts, policy 2422, statutory curricular requirements, and policy and regulation 611, um, special education Medicaid initiative or semi program. And lastly, the policy 6220, which is budget preparation. There were no policies or regulations for first readings this time. Next, the committee reviewed the fall updates for athletics. Events such as the North South soccer game this coming Saturday, the 20th, and the Serve Up Hope North South
024volleyball games on October 3rd were highlighted. The committee also discussed uniform purchasing cycles and the process used when booster and student activities funds are spent. The committee reviewed updated crisis manuals for all district buildings to ensure consistency, accuracy, and comprehensive comprehensive preparedness with an emphasis on strengthening school safety protocols and safeguarding the well-being of students and staff. The committee reviewed the memorandum of agreement or the MOA with the West Windsor and Plainsboro Police Departments to ensure cooperation with local law enforcement. The committee will next meet on October 13th. >> Thanks, Dana. And does anyone have questions or comments for administration of facilities? >> Go ahead, Liz. >> I just wanted to just a quick note about the MOA with the law enforcement. That's an existing um agreement. It's not something new. It's something that's on
025an annual basis, right? Just to clarify. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Sorry. Yes. It's it's a form that is uh was uh originally developed by the uh uh attorney general's office and it's the uniform memorandum of agreement that each school district has to adopt annually. >> Thanks. Any other questions, comments? Okay. So, I'll ask Ly for a curriculum committee meeting meeting minutes. Uh thank you Greyland. The curriculum committee met on September 19th. Uh we began with Dr. Gould who provided the committee with an overview of the multilingual learner uh programming changes for K to2 and data regarding student progress. Uh next on agenda for voting for this evening from curriculum. Um, first off, the committee recommends uh submission of the uh WWP regional school district of education's district professional development plan and district mentoring
026plan statement of assurance for the 2526 school year to the uh New Jersey Department of Ed pursuant to NJAC 6A9C-4.2. Uh next, the curriculum committee recommends disposal of worn and or damaged material um instruction materials, in this case books from um several media centers which are listed on tonight's agenda. Uh next, the committee recommends approval for the uh new andor revised curricula um additional new and revised curriculum, excuse me. And then finally, field trips. We begin with High School South um recommending approval for uh model Congress to Washington DC from November 20th through 23rd. The cost of the trip is approximately $500 per student. Um moving on to high school north, the same field trip uh the model congress to Washington to uh Washington DC, excuse me, for the same dates and approximately the same
027cost of $500. And then for high school North Model Congress to Yale University uh from December 4th through the 7th of this year. Cost of the trips trip is approximately $460 per student. Um and our next curriculum committee meeting will be Thursday, October 16th. >> Thanks, Ly. Any questions or comments for curriculum? Okay. So, um I will ask Louisa next to provide us a report on finance. >> Thank you. The finance committee met on September 9th. Uh first the committee reviewed um the monthly financial reports. The administration certified that no line item is overextended expended and there are sufficient funds to complete the year. There are motions to approve the following on tonight's agenda. The disposal of obsolete equipment, an addendum to a bus contract for an aid to support the route as per the
028provisions in the original contract. to award additional quoted bus routes for displaced students and an additional additional two from school route to approve a correction to a contract's number due to a clerical error to approve travel and related expenses for employee professional development. Staff then reviewed the opening of school reporting that the start of the school year went very well getting students to and from the school went smoothly considering the situation. One route was overcrowded so an additional bus has been contracted. Next, the committee discussed the 2425 audit. The audit is progressing with completion of the on-site work. Work will continue with documents being shared electronically if needed. The auditor has commented that the audit is going very well. Next, staff updated the committee on the energy savings improvement program and the summer construction. Work
029is progressing nicely this summer. For Hawke, the air conditioning system, the new air conditioning system was running for the first day of school. In approximately eight weeks, the entire old HVAC system was removed and a new air conditioning system was installed. Work on the heater portion of the HVAC will continue into the fall after school hours. Over 30 rooms in the original section of the building receive new unit ventilators and built-in shelving. All of the HVAC units in the modular portion of the building were replaced and are cooling the building as well. For Village, work has begun on connecting the new boilers. for Grover. Replacement work is scheduled to start next week on the rooftop units and the units are current working currently. The parking lot carport solar array designs are being reviewed by Plansboro
030officials. They are scrutinizing the plans very very closely. In transportation, we discussed the few there were a few items on the agenda for approval that were already previously mentioned. For food service, the opening of the school year has gone smoothly. We have seen an increase of 7% in sales year-over-year. This is a good sign. Menus now offer more Asian and vegan options. The menu is considered halal friendly with most items being certified halal. Two-tiered pricing is back at the secondary schools. Last year, due to staffing shortages, this was not an option. SF, our food service vendor, was able to add six new employees and one returned from a leave of absence. Sedexo, our prior vendor, made the final payment owed to the district from the 2324 school year in the amount of $69,858 in July.
031The district plans to make the switch to smart vending machines with healthy smart snack food and drink choices. These machines are much easier to control than the older machines, which should allow for better product availability. The district plans to enter into a food donation agreement with Share My Meals, Inc. for excess food that has been prepared but not served. These meals will be placed in the vendor supplied reusable containers, barcoded and stored at the proper temperature for pickup by share my meals. They will distribute the food items to local support agencies within two days. There are protocols in place for food safety and tracking. Share my meals works with more than 60 plus meal donors and more than 25 plus nonprofit organizations across New Jersey. The installation of the new walk-in refrigerators and freezer at
032Milstone and Town Center elementary schools is complete. The staff also reported about lunch balances. The money owed to the district by parents for unpaid lunches served has skyrocketed in the last two years. The outstanding unpaid balance for the beginning of the school year is $105,000. In spite of tremendous efforts by staff to enroll students who qualify for free, reduced, and New Jersey income eligible meals into the free meals program. The data is being reviewed for demographic information to better create an outreach program to provide services and to notify parents of the outstanding balances. In other business, the district was notified that it has received the certificate of excellence for financial reporting from the Association of School Business Officials International. Yay. We know how much work that represents. The committee will next meet on Tuesday, October
03313th. Thanks, Louisa. Uh, any questions or comments from the board for finance? Okay. I just wanted to say I'm really excited about the share my meals program. So, kudos. Um, then that brings us to the voting portion of our meeting. So, can I get a motion for administration items numbers 1 through eight plus the purple addendum? Uh, Dana and Liz, any questions or comments? >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Krug. Yes, >> Miss Chenierra. >> Yes, >> Miss Ho. >> Yes, >> Miss Maliga. >> Yes, >> Mr. Excuse me. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan, >> yes. Can I get a motion for curriculum and instruction items numbers 1 through six? Ly and Puja. Questions or comments? Okay,
034we'll start with Miss Maliga. >> Yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Chenier, >> yes. >> Miss Ho, >> yes. >> Miss Krug, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan, >> yes. Can I get a motion for finance items numbers one through nine plus uh the blue addendum? Uh, Louisa and Paul, any questions or comments? >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Hoe. Yes, >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes, >> Miss Sha. >> Yes, >> Miss Chenera. >> Yes, >> Miss Krug. >> Yes, >> Miss Maliga. >> Yes, >> Miss Shetty. >> Yes, >> Miss Bonsel. >> Yes, >> Miss Mcuan. >> Yes. Can I get a motion for personal items numbers 1 through three plus the green addendum which has a verbal
035correction on page 205 uh for Anendita Muker um for the effective date change from 91 as it's listed to 91725 um uh Schwatha and uh Jantaa any questions or comments? >> Okay, we'll we'll start with Miss Shetty. Yes, >> Miss Sha. >> Yes, >> Miss Chenera. >> Yes, >> Miss Hoe. >> Yes, >> Miss Crude. >> Yes, >> Miss Maliga. >> Yes, >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes, >> Miss Bonsil. >> Yes, >> Miss McN. >> Yes. And before we move on, I would like to acknowledge a retirement that we just approved. Uh Eileen Chunko, our physical therapist for the district, is retiring after 26 and a half years of service. So, we want to wish her well, all the best in uh your future chapter. And um thank you so much for your uh dedication
036to the district. Um for um next a motion to approve uh the board of education minutes from uh the August 26th meeting. Um Liz and Ly. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any abstensions? >> I abstain. I abstain as well. >> Uh any board leaison reports? Dana. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um, as the board of education liaison to the New Jersey School Board Association and the president of the Mercer County School Boards Association, I want to remind my board colleagues that um, this Thursday, the day after tomorrow, at 6 p.m. the um, Mercer County School Boards Association will have its first meeting of the school year. The presentation is on artificial intelligence and how school districts are navigating its use. Um WWP's director of technology, Peter James, will be one of the
037panel presenters. Um we are hoping for a lively interactive discussion and so please consider joining me in person at Lawrence High or you can come virtually. So thank you. >> Thanks Dana. Any um other lantern reports? Okay. Any new business? Doesn't look like it. So this takes us to our second opportunity for public comments. The board invites comments from members of our community who are present. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167. All statements shall be ma directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes. Any public comments for this second opportunity? Seeing none, um I'll move to close this opportunity for public comments and move
038and ask for a motion to adjourn this evening's meeting. Uh Ajanta and Ly. Um all those in favor say I. >> I. Thank you so much and have a good night. [Music]