001Good evening all. Uh we are back from close session. Uh we are up to item number six which is our superintendent report. >> Thank you Mr. Singer. It's it's a brief report this evening. I uh for the board of ed we we just discussed in close session memorandum of agreement for both our supervisory group and the principal group uh and we add that to the approval of the memorandum of agreement for for the uh teachers at the last meeting. So I I really think that's great work by the by the committee, by the board of ed as a whole and from the supervisors association, the principal's association and the the teachers association to to make sure that here it is before October 1st and we're ready to approve contracts for all of our bargaining units.
002It's quite an accomplishment. I want to thank everyone involved with it. I know it's not it doesn't always happen this way, but but I do believe it it takes u flexibility on both sides to make sure that it comes together in a timely fashion. And I I'm really appreciative of of everyone who was involved in the process from the board of education, the teachers, the supervisors, bus drivers, instructional aids, all of them. Um so so again we're from a superintendent standpoint, I know a board of education standpoint, these are some of the major accomplishments and it's a major thing to get done by October 1st uh of the uh school year. We should know that that the um teachers, bus drivers, and instructional aids and admin assistants, they are they signed a five-year contract and
003principles, supervisors are on a three-year deal. So, so once more at at least um people have some some uh ability to know what their paychecks are and there's some stability in in our hiring and it certainly helps us down the road as we look to recruit people and retain people within our organization. So again, thank you to everyone involved. It's hard to believe, but we're already four weeks into the the uh new school year. Anyone who's been going around the district, we would know that a lot of the construction projects that were really uh in full force over the summer are uh are finishing up. Those were the HVAC projects on several elementary schools. The auditorium project is nearing completion and Basselone the Basselone complex is nearly complete. There's some work to be done on
004the baseball netting, but if you go by their there are baseball stands um and the like for us to really uh button this project up. So, so take a stroll around it. It really is an awesome awesome uh site to see. And hopefully, you know, again, knock on wood, our performing arts students will be able to use the auditorium. We're hoping next week at the latest the week after. Um, again, they they were doing some finishing touches as far as carpet. Uh, they were this week they're reinstalling the sound and lighting system, the controllers in the back. And then really once that's buttoned up and complete, then then kids can have full access to it. So, I I really think that auditorium project is going to be a showpiece for the district. And again, it's
005nice to have the facility that really matches the talents of our students and uh and can be a plus one, you know, for the program versus uh maybe a minus one that it was in the past. Um, so anyhow, that's fun. And, uh, just as far as what's going on behind the scenes and and what's going on in in, you know, with our administrators and with our our, uh, building and district leadership, we're working diligently on on preparation already for the 26 27 school year. As we know, in one year, we're going to be shifting grades and and the reason why we're shifting grades is for the addition of full day kindergarten, which will come to every every primary school throughout the district. And as we know with that shift, the the fourth grade is
006moving out of the primary schools and to the intermediate schools. And the sixth grade is shifting from the intermediate level to the middle school where we are we are building a new wing to accommodate those students. So there's quite a bit happening. There are a lot of moving pieces and we're talking about personnel, transportation, um all all of these things, curriculum, etc. And we're trying to go through and get all the those things buttoned up at at least by February. Um so then we can really go ahead and plan for the uh for the next school year. So again, a brief report on my end. I'll hand it over to Mr. Singer. >> Thank you, Mr. Beers. Uh, I do not have a report today, so I'll be even briefer than Mr. Beers. We are
007up to our committee reports. Up first is the academic committee with Mr. Jooshi. >> Our next meeting is on uh Monday, October 6th at 5:00 virtually. >> Thank you, Mr. Jooshi. Next is finance, facilities, and transportation with Mr. Walker. >> Yes, we met on September 16th uh at 5:30 at the Wade building and attendance was um Mr. Lee, Miss Lawren, Mr. Singer, myself, Mr. Lomsky, Mr. Beers, and Mr. Leo, the referendum project manager. Um the we the first item on the agenda was the referendum budget update. Refer project manager, Robert Leo, reviewed the current status of the awarded referendum projects compared to the budget amounts versus the actual overall. Overall, the district is under budget. However, it was known that there are several HVAC upgrade projects still to be awarded which are expected to be
008over budget due to the economic environment and the rising cost of the HVAC related projects. There is no recommendation at this time. Are there any questions? Item two on the agenda was the business agenda review discussion. The business administrator reviewed the draft business action items for September 30th meeting this evening. Recommendations consensus to appro approve the action items. Any questions? The third item was the policy updates discussion. The board administrator shared additional language proposed by Mr. Lee to be added to policy 0174 for second reading. The recommendation of the committee took a took a vote and to add the language to and the results were one yes and three nos. The policy will be on the September 30th board meeting agenda with no changes for second reading. Are there any questions? See none other matters.
009We the business administrator shared um the transportation cost information related to the transportation analysis. An average on average in a district driver cost approximately $100,000 versus a contracted three tier route costing approximately $130,000. Also we discussed the work that the work order work order process and how playground maintenance issues can be addressed and there was no recommendation this time. Any questions? See none. Our next meeting is October 7th at 5:30 at the Wade building and we adjourned at 6:30. >> Thank you, Mr. Walker. We're up to personnel committee with Miss Kalistri. [Music] >> Um, our next meeting is October 28th. >> And are there any leazison or delegate reports? >> Miss Lman, >> thank you. I uh I don't have the date in front of me. I apologize, but I attended the last town council
010meeting. Um, and the only thing that I wanted to note was uh that the friends of Bridgewwater uh was really excited to just announce a lot of events that they're having surrounding the history of Bridgewwater. I know this has come up at the board level. Um, and they are hosting an event called the history of Sunset Lake, which is actually a very very interesting historical area in our town. Um, and they're also looking for new members. if anybody is interested in participating with an organization that is truly committed to the history of our town. Uh the second thing I wanted to mention was uh I attended the September 11th uh memorial and it was to honor the nine lives that were lost from Bridgewwater. And I'm going to briefly and quickly mention their names. It
011was Evan Baron, null foster, Thomas Palmus, Ronald Tor Toro, Lance Tumultry, and Allison Wildman. And that is all I have to report. >> Thank you, Mr. Lman. Any other leazison on delegate reports? M. >> Yes. Uh, thank you. Two things from the Burough Ron. Uh, our liaison, uh, Councilman Umesh Agaral asked me to pass along thanks to Mr. Singer and the entire board for um endorsing and supporting the grant that we discussed at the last meeting to try to create a history trail uh throughout Ritan to highlight some of the uh many of the historic sites in that community and uh they'll report along as that comes through and hopefully they are are able to get what they're looking for and make that happen. Um also on about a week ago on Sunday, September 21st
012was the Baselon parade. Um, our district was well represented. Uh, the Bridgewater Ron marching band uh was there and they did a great job along with bands from other schools as well as uh some youngsters from the BR uh football and cheerleading program. There was a big contingent of them. They kind of brought up the rear of the parade and added some much needed energy there at the end. So, great job by all by all of them. And for the first uh time, I believe BRTV broadcast the entire event. So the stream is up on YouTube if anyone wants to uh go and see it and uh they did a great job. I know we have Mr. uh Ruffa who our district met who who we got to meet at the uh our dedication at
013the Baslon field. Uh Benjamin Jackson where our were the grand marshals to World War II veterans which is incredible. Uh we were addressed by the oldest living uh Medal of Honor recipient and um there just a lot of young people there involved in so many different ways helping our communities. People on a military track, people from scouting, a whole bunch of different groups were there. It was a great day and uh thank you to everyone in the district and the towns who made it happen. >> Thank you, Mr. Pepe. Are there any other layers on our delegate reports? Dr. away. >> I'd like to report on behalf of the as the delegate assembly for New Jersey School Board Association. So the New Jersey School Board Association delegate assembly meets twice a year for the schoolboard
014representatives from across New Jersey to meet and vote on resolutions that represent the NJSBA's positions and advocacy. I'm currently the delegate representing our board. um September 4th, I sent out email to our whole board uniting uh uh proposals and uh reminding us that the deadline is October the 3 uh which I also reported on our September 9th meeting. Uh today it's a board meeting for full board that we can approve some of those resolutions that came forth. So far I have received three resolutions from our fellow board members uh Mr. Jeremy uh Miss Rebecca and myself. Thank you for the entries and the contributions and uh I think this will be reviewed at our new business section to look at each and all of them. I hope that uh we can uh discuss this and
015advanc this to the delegate assembly. There is no limit on how many resolutions we can advance and NGSBA will work with us after we submit them to prepare them for the meeting itself. >> Thank you Dr. Lee. Anyone else? Seeing none, we're up to item number nine, our public comment section. Individuals in our groups are invited to present their concerns, comments, and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters. Uh, as we have many members of the public in attendance tonight, and we want to ensure that all of the opportunity to speak. As we've done in prior meetings, public comment will be limited to two minutes per person per policy 0167. Uh for those who haven't been to a board meeting before, this is the opportunity for the comm for the
016community to speak to the board. Um it's not a back and forth, although the administration will have an opportunity to answer after public comment is closed if they so uh wish to do so. Board members will not be responding to questions raised during public comment. Again, the purpose of this public comment period is for the public to share their views with the board. The comments and questions raised will be taken under advisement by the board. Naturally, members of the public are also welcome to share their concerns and insights with the board via email. And if you uh don't get to the chance to finish your thoughts uh during this period of public comment, we invite you to email the board and the board will review those emails as well. Uh we understand that people come
017to comment about issues that are important to them. We ask that we all act with civility and etiquette and that that we model for our children or are all free to disagree. who are all uh speakers all speakers should be treated with decorum and respect. Finally, uh the when you get to the podium to speak, please uh sign in and then provide your name and municipality of residents for the record and be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website. With that, public comment period is open. So, what I'm going to suggest is that you state your name and uh M probably for the record start your time and then when you're done the next person will will be able to do so as well. Okay. Right. You
018can each of you will have an opportunity to speak. >> Right. >> So, do I write my name down here? >> Yes, please. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Sierra Marcy and today I'll be discussing why I'm against the 8 to3 school schedule change. Delaying the school start time from 7:20 to 8 a.m. is being presented as a solution to student sleep deprivation, but in reality it does very little to address the core issue. A 40-minute delay might sound helpful, but overlooks the bigger picture and shifts the problem later into the day. With the later dismissal, academic clubs, extracurricular jobs, and homework gets pushed back. By the time students sit down to start their assignments, it's already late. We're still going to bed exhausted, just at a later hour. The promise of more sleep
019is quickly erased by a now compressed, more stressful evening schedule. Students may still be functioning on the same limited rest, just rearranged in a way that feels more convenient on paper, but fails in practice. If you are serious about supporting student well-being, the conversation must go deeper than time. We need to address the workload students carry and make space for true rest, not just a later start time. Moving the belt to 8 a.m. won't fix what's broken. To better understand how students actually feel, I conducted a survey alongside Gabby Cardennz. Due to limited time, our sample size is relatively small. We received around 40 responses, all of which were anonymous to ensure student privacy. While the data set is not as large as we would like, the insights it provides are still me worth mentioning
020and should not be overlooked. 80.6% of students said they do not want 8 a.m. start. 91.7% said at 3 p.m. dismissal would interfere with their schedules. And when asked if they believed they'd benefit from an extra 40 minutes of sleep, 69.4% said no. From the open-ended responses in our survey, it was evident that most students strongly favored maintaining the current 7:20 a.m. start time. Many voiced concerns that shifting to aid would in introduced new complications, longer evenings, increased academic stress, and conflicts with work or after school com commitments. A handful of respondents proposed a slight adjustment, such as 7:40 or 7:45, but full support for an 8 a.m. start was nearly non-existent. Despite the limited sample size, the consistency and feedback made the overall sentiment unmistakable. If the administration truly values students voices, as they
021so often claim, then let this be the moment you prove it by not just hearing what I've said, but acting on it. Okay. Um, hello. My name is Victoria Kamontes. I'm going to be assessing how this will affect the other schools in our district. According to the Bridgewater newsletter, it's been proposed that the middle school would adjust the times even earlier than those current, which is 6:30 a.m. to 12 2:10 p.m. I believe this to be extremely contradictory, and I suggest that when assessing later start times, we allow the middle school to take priority. According to the developmental psychology books of BYU, most puberty begins amongst girls at ages 10 to 11 and boys ages 11 to 12. During these important growing periods, sleep as well as nutrition are vital to the development of minds,
022deriving that middle schoolers are better fit for a later start time as opposed to high schoolers. Furthermore, I would like to make the argument that the high school start times allow students to prepare for more challenging work by getting them into a habit of waking up early and going to school to complete their daily obligations. An additional 40 minutes would have little to no effect on this process in a positive way. Regardless of a change in start times, students will always stay up later than ideally recommended. I propose that we start that we keep start times the way they are and we stay on the same schedule in order to avoid any unnecessary conflict. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Gabriela Cardennas and I'm also here to represent the student body when it comes to later
023start times. I believe that it's extremely important to consider how this will affect low-income students and families. By pushing the start times back, especially for elementary schools, um you're um forcing elementary school parents to finance before care. This is not only extremely unfair, but sort of an outlandish thing to ask for of a family. When students were asked about their sentiments towards this, they cited it being disgustingly inconsiderate and that parents shouldn't have to adjust their work schedules. Conversely, we can look at how this will affect high school students who work to support their families. Many students have jobs that are necessary to their well-beings or their families wellbeing. And while this is outside of the scope of the educational realm, these circumstances are extremely real to the students of Bridgewwater and adjusting the start
024times and adds additional stress to students that is in its entirety completely unnecessary. Furthermore, on the topic of out of school activities, it should be noted that 80% of students have activities throughout the week and that the change in start time would 100% interfere with an example of this is that students at our very own school like athletes, if they have to leave early for meets or games, um for example, if an athlete needs to leave early at around 1:30, depending on when their game starts, um if times were pushed back, they would be missing more school comparatively than if the start time stay the same because they'd be leaving earlier. Um, and yeah, thank you. >> Hi, I'm Leona Castro and above all, I believe it is important to assess the opinions of those
025who this directly affects the students. Um, 78% of the students stated that later later start times would have negative impact on them personally. 34 of the students don't believe the current start time is too early and 64% of the students parents commute for work less problematic to keep in it's the same. Please take this all into consideration when deciding to what to do next. Good evening, Superintendent Beers and members of the board of education. My name is Rachel Ruffner. I reached out last week via email regarding the proposed transportation options, but I felt it was important to also publicly share my perspective. I'm here tonight as a proud parent of two children currently enrolled in BRRSD, one at Hamilton and the other at Hillside. I'm also here as a teacher. I have been an employee
026of the school district of the Cadams at Chattam High School for the last 15 years. Several years ago, Michael Lasusa, then Chadam superintendent, took a progressive approach. After a thorough review of modern research, which shows the multitude of benefits a later start time has for older students, Dr. Lasusa proposed a shift to the Chattam High School schedule. Rather than 7:40 to 2:35, he suggested the day should run from 8:20 to 3:00. At the time, Cadam staff and parents shared similar concerns to those that BRRSD staff and parents now share. Now that I have worked within that new schedule for several years, I can confirm from firsthand experience that the concerns raised have not turned into problems and I can further attest to the fact that the schedule shift has been a benefit to students, families,
027and staff members. I would like to pinpoint three areas in particular. The first athletic dismissals. With the rotate and drop schedule, student athletes do not always miss the same class when they need to be dismissed because of games, etc. Students quickly adapt and are able to inform their teachers ahead of time if they will be leaving early or missing class entirely. The second, student alertness. I consistently had students who were either tardy because they overslept or who appeared half asleep when they entered my classroom at 7:40 a.m. Neither of these issues exists any longer. Students are much more prepared to begin the day and tardies are rarer. And finally, staff transition. My colleagues and I were all concerned that the later dismissal would be a difficult adjustment, especially for those of us with a longer
028commute. As a result, there were staff members who thought Hello. Good evening. I am Rachel's colleague and we were not anticipating the twominut uh limit. So, I'm just going to continue her message. Who thought they I'm sorry. My name is Megan Simone. I am a Bridgewater parent. I have a daughter at Hillside who was previously uh at Adamsville and I also work with Rachel at Chadam High School. I teach biology who thought they might have to find positions in other districts. However, we have not lost a single staff member because of the change. Staff members with longer commutes have grown to appreciate the time they have in the morning, which helps to compensate for arriving home later in the afternoon. I'd like to end by responding to a concern that I believe Dr. Lee raised
029at the last board meeting. Dr. ly acknowledge that with the later primary school start time proposed in option two, families are likely to incur additional before and after care costs. It is important to note that the length of the school day isn't changing. Perhaps a later start time requires a family to leverage before care for the first time. Currently, BR Cares is charging $300 a month for two Hamilton children to attend beforeare. However, these same families may no longer require afterare given the bus's later afternoon drop off time. So that positions families to potentially save money given the current monthly cost for two children to attend afterare is $550. I also want to highlight the financial impact many families have already incurred by investing in private full-day kindergarten kindergarten wraparound programs and/or half-day babysitting. My
030husband and I had no other option than to pay for a full day program for our children as the half-day program was not feasible given our work schedules. The financial impact of private kindergarten was and still is an order of magnitude more than the BR care fees as I just mentioned. Was that ideal? Absolutely not. But did we figure it out? Yes, we did. In a recent Bridgewwater patch article, President Singer noted that he believes it is important to make a decision that is best for students and voting for option two would be doing just that. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Marissa Bergman. I lived in Bridgewwater for over 10 years. I'm a lifelong Somerset County resident as well as a lifelong member of Temple Shalom right here
031in Bridgewwater. I'm also the mother of two boys, one in second grade at Van Holton and one in seventh grade at the middle school. I hold a master's in Jewish education and leadership and I've dedicated my life and career to the Jewish nonprofit and communal world. In January 2024, after the atrocities of October 7th, my husband and son stood before you to share their experiences, fears, and worries. They asked you to act. Yet, as this new school year begins, we continue to experience incredible disappointments in our school district. I have spent two years standing behind my husband as he spoke out loudly and proudly. But now I'm here because silence is no longer an option. My Judaism is not a just a part of me. It's the foundation of who I am, shaping my values
032as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend, and a member of this community. And my values demand that I speak up for an inclusion. So I am asking you, the leaders of this district, to live up to your own values, to put yourselves in our place, to ask yourselves, if your children's faith or identity were at stake, how would you want them to be treated? So here's my specific ask. I ask that you establish clear district-wide protocols and guidelines to ensure Jewish students are never forced to choose between their faith and their education. Provide every principal with a calendar of Jewish holidays, including those when schools remain open, along with clear expectations for how to support students during those times. Prohibit scheduling of tests, major events, or extra academic expectations specifically on the holidays
033of Rashashana, Yumkipur, and Passover. And finally, communicate these guidelines to all staff and all families so they are consistent across every school. This is not a vague request. It is a concrete, actionable step that will make our schools more inclusive. And you're not alone in this work. Rabbi Dan Sberg of Temple Shalom and the staff of the Jewish Federation right here in Somerset County are ready and willing to help. I stand here tonight to ask you to help us be solutionoriented. Thank you. I'm here tonight to talk about integrity because there's a lack of it from the leadership. I had a phone conversation with Superintendent Beers. I can play the recording for you, Robert. I've given it all to you if any of you listen to it. Okay. Yes. Uh Steve, go ahead. I can
034address who I'm going to address. Okay. So again, I had a phone conversation with Robert Beers and in that phone conversation, we agreed upon certain terms and conditions without notice, without any communication. He has changed them. I think there's a few of you in here are realtors. I know Stephen, you're an attorney. You make an agreement. Integrity. Someone's word is worth something. His is not. Okay, I have given Robert the opportunity to sign my addendum, which is already in effect because he keeps claiming that there's this document number two that he sent to me. I don't have it. Officer uh Akins Jr. doesn't have it. I'm sure Michael Vorhees doesn't even know what the terms and conditions are. So, as we've discussed in multiple emails, my addendum is in effect. Because Robert Beer's integrity is
035zero and he's untrustworthy. It's like buying a car from a used salary. I'm just going to remind you that anything that you say on public comment that might be slanderous. >> Well, it's not slanderous when it's factual, Stephen. Because not only No, no, no, no. Stephen, young man, not only is this all in a verbal conversation that I have had with him, it's also in writing. So there's no slander. Okay? If Mr. Mr. Beer's fierce slander. Go ahead. If if we need to take a recess, we can. Glenn, >> I'm going to talk. Don't worry. We're going on. >> So, Glenn, it's up to you what you want to do. We can take a recess or not. I'm up here because my daughter asked me to speak after the woman just spoke about Cadam. I
036have a friend that works in Ridge who has a different take on the late start time at Ridge. So, oh, sorry. My name is Sheila Marcy. I'm from Maritan. So, she works at Ridge. They start at 8:20. They end at 3. She said there is an issue with the children leaving for sports. She said they were told too that with the rotating block schedule it wouldn't affect them. She had in the fall season last year students missing three classes because their games ended up being during her block. So they missed over three hours of classes in one fall season of the same class. She said they continually the sports students continually meet lose an hour to 15 minutes when they have to leave for a game. She also said when they come, she said we
037don't always see them as tired because we have rotating block schedule, but block one they're tired. She said the tardiness um she said the children who were tardy tend to still be tardy. And for us in Bridgewater, I don't know if we'll see that. We can do data on that because with the new tardy um consequence you have that if you're tardy the fourth time you lose an absent at the middle school I mean at the high school that children will this year probably will have late t we won't have as many tardies because they're going to have a consequence and lose a day of school on the fourth one. So I'm not sure why Chadam has a different one than what I was told that's going on at Ridge. But my daughter want me
038to speak to let you know that what they are seeing is what they've what they're talking about is concerns that Ridge still has My name is Margarita Yosi Fakis. I'm a Bridgewater resident. Um, we've been res residents of Bridgewater for numerous years. We pay taxes, the Bridgewater and the Somerset County taxes. Unfortunately, we do not have kids, but this next year we wanted to host an international exchange student. Um, we think it's kind of in our right since we taxpayers and we were hoping that we could ho host a student in this district only to find out that this district does not allow foreign exchange students. It would be under the J1 visa and I don't believe that you allow that. Um, exchange program is very beneficial. It increases mutual understanding between Americans and people
039of other countries. Hosting is a great way for us to bring international perspectives into our classrooms and to prepare the students to be successful in an increasing globalized world. It also opens young minds to understand the differences between different cultures, different languages and the roles they will play in their future careers in college and in their jobs. So what if I moved from a different district and I had an international exchange student living with me? would they not be allowed to attend a school in the Bridgewater Ritan district? Um I think you know um I can't even think of an anything negative to have an international ex exchange unit. I'm already paying taxes so I contribute to the school. We we are not I um and the presence of international students in our classrooms benefits
040the American students. It benefits the schools by promoting this cultural cur curiosity, curiosity and also global mindset and understanding. So it also helps the students develop for future. Many jobs are global these days. You don't even have to go to another country. It's all over zoom but at least you know you understand a little bit of different cultures. So um I'm asking as a taxpayer I'm asking the board to please review um to host an international um exchange student for the next uh school year. Thank you. My name is Laura Crest. I'm the president of the Bridgewater RA uh educ whatever that No, the education association. And I actually was going to put a zipper on it tonight, but um what I want to say is that I've had a lot of people reach out
041to me over the weekend. Like a lot of people. Um, some of them a lot of them staff that live here and um I it's about the transportation time and I guess you know I encourage those people to reach out to the superintendent because I believe um their voices should be heard. I also have some emails I forwarded to him and as well what I want to say is that I'm not going to talk about how I feel about this right now because I do believe that this is going back under some sort of review that option two has not been voted on yet and that it's not a slam dunk. So, uh I definitely see points. Um, I understand that there's two sides to this and maybe three sides, but I don't think we
042should be a community divided over this and I get the feeling that's starting to brew. And so maybe there's some way to go back to the drawing board. And I think that that might be happening. And I think that would be a good thing because we have enough turmoil in the world right now and we don't need more turmoil here. Have a good night. Good evening. I want to express my disappointment that the district scheduled major events including back to school night, the book fair, map testing, and even through an last minute spirit day on the second day of Russashana, the holiest time of the year for Jewish families. While I appreciated that Mr. changed the date of back to school night once it was brought to his attention. It's difficult to understand how the
043original schedule was approved. Scheduling map testing on a religious holiday forced Jewish students and families to choose between honoring their faith and meeting academic responsibilities. That is not inclusion. It is inequity. After I spoke up, I was contacted by residents who shared their own experience experiences of anti-semitism in our schools. Some chose to sign a letter publicly, but many were afraid to sign. Afraid of repercussions for themselves or their children. The fact that families feel they must stay silent says more about our leadership than it does about those families. This isn't just about one scheduling mistake. It's about a pattern. Last year, Mr. Beers invited Jewish parents, including my husband, to join a forthcoming task force on equity and inclusion. The task force was never created. Our requests for updates went unanswered, and the silence
044sent an even louder message. Our voices are not valued. When I privately emailed the issues with map testing on Russia Shana, I shared that my own children were anxious about needing to make up the test during class time. Mr. Beers, you replied that map testing isn't high stakes. Yet, those very scores determine placement or removal from gifted and talented programs. Do you know how hard it is to focus on making up a test when you're a seven-year-old who loves to read and knows that the rest of your class is at their once weekly library visit? To wrap up, I am asking that no major assessments or events be scheduled on major Jewish holidays which include Russia Shana, Yumkapor, and the first night of Passover. If your task force is not moving forward, there must be
045another clear process for accountability so families don't face the same issues year after year. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Once twice. Thank you all for your comments. We really the board really does uh ingest them and consider them. Um does the administration have anything they would want to respond to? Uh, not at not at this point. No. >> Okay. I'm closing that portion of public comment. We're up to item number 10, the approval of minutes. >> So moved. >> Are there any changes to the minutes that need to be made? >> Seeing none, Mr. Lumsky, could you please call the RO? Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Assuna, >> yes. >> Mr. Joshi, >> yes. >> Miss Lockan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker,
046>> yes. >> Miss Kystri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. The motion passes. We're moving on to our action items, which start with personnel 2611 through personnel 2613. >> So moved. Second. >> Are there any questions? or comments. I just want to echo what's been said before uh thanking the uh negotiations committee for the time that they've taken uh to work on these uh memorandums of agreement as well as our administration uh and our attorney. So, thank you all. Mr. Lumsky, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Muna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Miss Kalistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Sanger, >> yes. The motion passes. Up next
047is curriculum 20 2618 through curriculum 2623. >> So moved. Any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Lumpsky, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. Mr. Asuna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> uh, I will abstain on curriculum 2620 and 21. Yes. On everything else. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Miss Khalistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. The motion passes. Up next is business 2633 through business 2640. >> Salute. >> Second. Are there any questions or comments? >> Dr. Lee, >> for public information, can we get clarification of 2638? What is that change order? >> Sure. The change order for Bradley Gardens edition is due to uh replacing some concrete wall with adding sheetrock as the condition
048of the concrete was in poor condition. And also in the excavation of where the cafeteria is going to go, there were underground pipes. So modifications needed to be made to the footings, the concrete footings to go around them. Um the HVAC upgrades at JFK Van Holt and Hamilton. This is for permit and plan review fees by the Burrow of Raren that were typically um waved. Uh HVAC upgrades at Bradley Gardens. Uh this was for additional work as they took down ceiling tiles and exposed a lot of unseen areas. There were a lot of openings that uh would not pass code. So they had to be all blocked up for fire stopping. So that was for additional work to close up all the gaps. For the middle school edition, this is for additional work that was
049not in the original drawings, such as sanitary line routing for the faculty restrooms. um on the drawings were a more straightforward direction, but once the ceilings were removed, then it was um discovered that it wasn't straightforward. There were a lot of changes to the piping. Um the high school baseball field, um this is to bring up code requirements for the underground power for the scoreboard. So there was trenching involved and conduit as the existing conditions would not have passed inspection and also the addition of a huddle camera for the baseball field and the electrical upgrades at the school. There was a main breaker that was failing and um tripping at one of the high school buildings. So this was for the contractor to perform testing to identify what the issue was. Thank you. >> Any
050other questions or comments? >> Going to thank uh the Van Halton PTO for the pumpkins and their mini grants to the staff. We appreciate the support. With that, Mr. Lumpsky, could you please call the RO? >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Muna? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi? >> Yes. Miss Locker, >> I will abstain from business 2633 and yes to everything else. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Miss Kistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. The motion passes. We're up to special services 2610. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Seeing none, Mr. Lumsky, please call the role. >> Mr. Lee. Yes, >> Mr. Assuna. >> Yes, >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes, >> Miss Lockan. >> Yes, >> Miss Lee. >> Yes,
051>> Dr. Lee. Sorry. >> Yes, >> Mr. Pepe. >> Yes, >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes, >> Miss Khalry. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sanger. >> Yeah. Motion passes. We're up to other for which I'll take. I'm >> 2604. >> Other. >> Is that not what we're on? >> Second. Okay. Any questions that need to be taken into close session for HIPP? Seeing none, Mr. Lumpky, could you please call the RO? >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Muna? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi? >> Abstain. >> Miss Lockan. >> I will recuse myself. >> Dr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> Yes. >> Miss Kyle Street? >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer? >> Yes. Motion passes. Finally, we're up to policy 266. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >>
052I do. >> Mr. Lee. >> Um, as you know, I made some proposals to our original original policy amendment focused on promoting the transparency that I think we can all do a little bit better as a board hopefully. Um and some of these proposals included making sure that as a board we get to see the invoices and we get to understand what we're using our legal services for. Um a portion of this as well was to improve accountability in across our district particularly as it relates to our district bills. Um and I think that as a result I would like to see these changes made but I understand that the committee did not approve those. But I think that because the current policy in place with the current revisions doesn't meet the standard of transparency
053that I think we should be pursuing as a district. I plan to vote against the policy and I hope my fellow board members will also join me in also voting against it. Thank you. Anyone else? I just want to say that the policy that we're voting on uh we've had this policy for many years and the only reason it's actually up right now is because stress has me had updates to it. So I understand that you uh have a different opinion on what could be accomplished with this. uh but we had a lengthy discussion at FFT about uh the propriety of legal service invoices uh being made available uh and the confidentiality issues that go along with that. Uh so that's why in my opinion uh the suggested revisions were not appropriate. >> May respond.
054>> Go ahead. Uh obviously we want to make sure that confidentiality is protected and part of releasing the invoices won't necessarily violate the confidentiality because we're simply discussing what the legal bills are and we're discussing what legal services were procured. Specific cases relating to any confidential case materials or any sort of confidential material related to students obviously would not be disclosed as a part of this. Rather, the purpose of my policy amendments are to make sure that the board, including the public, were aware of how we're procuring these legal services, how they play a role in our district. And I think that it improves governance. It improves the transparency. And, you know, by no means should we discuss confidential matters through the releasing of invoices, but we can redact things as well. And I think
055that's something that we can consider. And as we discussed at FFT, every single meeting there's a bills list that tells you how much was paid to the uh to to the attorneys. And every month there's a a financial report that goes into how much was paid to the attorneys. And every year we have a budget that suggests what the budget is for these attorneys. So I think that we're fully transparent in that uh to the extent that we can be because all legal matters are confidential. It's not a matter of what picking which legal matters are confidential. they're all confidential. Uh, so that's all I'll say about that. >> I'd also, sorry, I'd also like to add just for like the board's overall understanding that there's not one government institution that would operate any differently
056than we currently do. And I mean municipality, uh, at the county level, at the state level, we all operate primarily exactly the way our board of education does and our policy does. >> That's correct. That's correct. Mrs. Lachman. And um again, I I have said it over and over, but I reject the notion and and we're making blanket statements about this board not being transparent. I'm going to I'm going to call nonsense on that because there is a policy and again when when I had asked the questions, are there any other schools who have the same language that you proposed? I did not see any. Right. So, so there were none to speak of. So, to say that this board is not transparent is not a truthful statement and I I think we we continue
057to to to pretend that there's something there and and it's not. And as I had said in in our meeting, I I do think it's very important to really take a look on how operations run and how they could be run more effectively before we just start making uh random decisions on how to improve things without having a clear understanding on how the process works in the first place. >> May you respond? >> Uh thank you for those uh pieces of feedback. I guess maybe focusing on what Steve mentioned. Um, you know, you talked a lot about how we approve the bills list. We're approving the checks that are made out to our attorney. We're not actually looking at the legal services that we procure, understanding what sort of work the board attorney is doing
058for the board of education. And so, this goes a step further in asking for our approval and making sure that there's another level of oversight on that. Um to address Jen's point, um I think that there's an opportunity for us to be even better than whatever the standard is set by the state. We can always go a step further and we can be a model example of what real transparency looks like in a school district. Um and then to address your point, uh Mr. Beers, uh you know, I we had a email exchange about this. I shared with you a district 100 central which has this policy language in place. Not with your language. >> It's it it's >> not with your language. >> So, I'm just going to say that's I've got to continue
059to say this. That's not a truthful statement because it did not have your language. >> Are you talking about the two paragraph two paragraphs? Because >> I'm talking about the language you proposed is not found in any other district's policy. Yes, you forwarded me 100 essentials, but that did not align with what you're proposing. >> I'll have to double check then. Um, and then the point about me saying that we're not transparent. I never said that. I think we are to the extent that we are transparent. I want to emphasize that this is about making us even more transparent and about bringing us to that next level where we have real transparency that is uh a model hopefully for other districts to follow. I'm not saying we're not transparent at all and I I don't
060know why that was said but that's all. >> Thank you Jeremy. Anyone else? >> Dr. >> Wouldn't it make sense to look at that 100 central policy then because this is out of the scope of the you know the whole board to see >> that 100 central policy wasn't sent to the FFT committee to consider. >> Okay. >> So they could not have considered that. What was considered was the proposed language and the FFT committee did not recommend that proposed language. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Seeing none. Mr. Lumski. >> Mr. Lee. >> No. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Miss Lan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee. >> No. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> Yes. Yes. Miss Kalistri. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes.
061Motion passes. We're now up to old business. Is there any old business that needs to be discussed? >> I Sorry. Go ahead. >> Uh yeah, in terms of old business, uh I just had a couple of questions about and I know we discussed it briefly at our last meeting. I'm not sure if old business is exactly for that because it wasn't something based off of the agenda. Um but sorry, one minute. I guess I wanted to ask a couple questions about the school start times. I know we have a lot of people that came out here and I just want to say thank you to everyone who did make their voices heard. I think it's very important that we listen to the students, the parents. >> Point of order. We we conduct business amongst ourselves.
062We don't address the public. >> Wait one minute. Let me speak. >> Okay. Okay. Anyways, I just because a lot of people did mention that it's difficult for parents to have their kids be in before school programs with the later start time with the elementary school. Like have you guys considered putting the elementary school in a different slot there? Can you sort of shift between the different times where you know we have our different time slots but maybe different schools go here versus there. Is that possible with the current plan or is there is it not with option two or option one? >> What is it exactly that we're asking? >> Sorry, I don't know if I trying to get some clarification here. Could you like let's say swap the middle school with the elementary
063school or elementary with the high school and like with those different sort of brackets of schools in the current option two versus option one plan. We conducted a transportation analysis and when we looked at at all factors we and and one being cost is one of the me measures. Uh the other measure being uh regaining lost instructional time from three years ago. We boiled those down to two options. Those two options were shared with the board of education at the last meeting. So that's where we are. >> There's no flexibility between those two options. >> I I'm not prepared to comment on on that. You could give me a call anytime if you'd like to discuss. >> I I just want to note that when we talk about swapping uh the middle school and primary
064schools, the middle school has 34 buses. The primary school has 59 buses. So when the transportation expert is looking at the options, that's what they're looking at. Like we're go trying to change it the number of tiers that we have and it's not so easy as a like to like switch, right? Like so you know the high school has 49 and this doesn't include the special ed needs which at the primary school is even larger. If you add that the primary school actually has 80 buses that are needed and it's the you know it's in itself a you know something to be dealt with. Uh and that is what you know when we discussed uh previously these options that's why these are the remaining options available. >> All right. No that's helpful. Um my second
065question on this is you know obviously with option two there's going to there might be potentially big changes in terms of enrollment in before and afterare programs you know has BRA cares been thinking about how this might impact their operations increases and decreases in demand for different programs at our different schools like you know I guess the BR cares program have they been doing any preparation ahead of any sort of potential decision by the board >> so Just really briefly, and I don't mean to step on your toes, but like we've discussed this at FFT before where BR Cares is is uh scalable uh and you know, three years ago it wasn't at all of our schools. Now it's a unified uh program across the district that is scalable by the you know, they look
066at the uh the number of students enrolled and determine uh how many people that they need to hire based on that. uh we have someone that is directly in charge of BR CARES. Uh this is his job and so you know I think that you were there when he was at a meeting where he uh gave an update on BR CARES and how the program is run. Uh so I think that that would be a question for him. Uh but it is something that I mean with is within his perview to accomplish. >> Okay. Um my next question is obviously we didn't have a lot of time to do much or you know do our research before the board had to do our straw poll you know the presentation wasn't shared with us beforehand so
067we were pretty much making that decision >> you got it at FFT excuse me Jeremy you you received that presentation at FFT again that's that's not true >> and you struggle. >> So here we go again. >> It's not true. You were shared the options. Everyone was shared the options. We were looking at not that specific. So I'll say I I have no problem debating things, but we we've got to agree on a certain set of facts and there's only so much BS I can take sitting up here. I mean, you had that info. >> We we had it at each committee meeting. So >> including community relations, we had a special meeting just to review. I agree. The point of order is not a point of order. >> I order >> the point of
068order is for us to come back to the topic instead of debating non-important things. >> Well, here's the important thing. >> Yes. >> That we speak the truth. So, an accusation was made that that this was not shared and somehow it was done in a clandestine way. That cannot be farther from the truth. It went to every single committee within this board of education and people had the opportunity to do their research to discuss amongst themselves and then we saw a presentation that came before the entire board later. We we were extremely careful to make sure that every single person who sits up here had all of the information that they need. Now, we can disagree on the outcomes. That's fine. But please don't disrespect me and the administration to the point where now we
069are lying about the fact that you didn't have this information. By saying you didn't have the info is a lie. >> Actually, hold on a second. I just want to clarify that uh the FFT committee on which you sit uh had a meeting in which Mr. Archer came and presented to the FFT committee uh on August 19th. So, I'm not quite sure what you were getting at there. >> And the presentation is in the directory. So, you have access to it. Is that correct? >> I continue to raise >> No, no, wait. Let me finish. Is that correct? You have access to the FFT directory. >> I do. >> Okay. Just check. >> If we're talking about transportation, let's talk about transportation. >> May I ask a question about transportation? >> Yes. However, the question
070was asked why we didn't have time to review it and we are addressing that question. So, it's not as if we're talking about something that wasn't within the realm of the question or the scope. We're addressing that question. With that said, please >> I would like to follow up on the status of a request that I made. There was also shared uh concern from uh I think uh Mr. Pep and Mr. on the possibility of tightening up the operation window of the bus. I wonder if that action has been followed on. >> I think I made it clear at at the last meeting, but I have no problem clarifying it again. As we start in a certain project, you set parameters. All right. Now, will things be adjusted or change as you get closer? And
071do we take the feedback and say, "Yes, we want to get that start time closer to 9:00 if we go with option two." Yes. So, I mean, that is one of the things that we share with our consultant that we can work towards. Now, does that mean it's going to happen? No. But it means that it's something that we can present and yes, we're working towards. So to answer your question, yes, it's feedback that we receive from the board of education, the community at large, and and we say yes, we're going to we're going to try to tighten that. >> Would I expect when would would we hear about a updated plan of a tightened operation window with >> when we receive I I can answer that question. >> Okay. >> It's it's when we
072receive the the uh we have to do all of our district routing. I mean, we we went through this at at the last meeting. Now, we've got to go through, we've got to look at the parameters, find our routes, see where where we can develop efficiencies, and then we're looking to have all of that information. You're looking at December or January where we can truly present. Okay, these are the times we're looking at, and we're going to put these routes out to bid. So, that's what we're looking at, December, January. I think >> I let me finish what I was asking. So, are we looking forward to a school start time for the primary schools? That's not well beyond 9:00. That's what you're working on right now. I just want to make sure that's the
073case and we expect to hear that. You start in January. >> That's that's correct. January. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can I Oh, sorry. So from what I remember from uh the last meeting and I think several of us asked the gentleman this question and one being you know I think he mentioned it I think Mr. mentioned it as well that as of now we don't know how many kindergarteners we're going to have right just going over something from memory secondly we were gaining the the lost instructional time as well so that was on the table was the two-tier system of the busing which played a key role and so that was that and And then I asked him a question. So that means we can still tweak the times a little bit. And he
074said absolutely. He came back and he said absolutely because we don't know how many students we're going to end up having by next year. So these times that are here will be changed a little bit. That's what he had indicated. So this is not set in stone because we don't know some of these variables. What we do know, and correct me if I'm wrong, is the bus the buses the number of buses will be less in this these two options. It's a it's a cost savings. We do know that we have a large township with a large student population. So what he indicated is it is complicated. So I don't think a lot of these times are set yet. We don't know and he did indicate that we're going to take a look at it.
075So these are all of the things that I remember I forget the gentleman's name but Archer Mr. Archer saying that we are still looking at that and our task was to say which one we preferred. We voted we preferred option two. Hold on a second. And that's still not final yet. We don't know until the transport uh this the bus routes are >> scheduled and you're right. So what what happens is like last month I received feedback from the board of education. Now we're going we're working with the consultant. We're looking at what our our options are and the administration is going to roll out uh what the plan is heading heading into next year and that'll be in the December or January time frame. So, so with that being said, we should know that
076there's not going to be a formal board of ed resolution on this, right? Because th this is is an administrative function. This is operations. So, what we did is we elicited feedback from the board of ed and we continue to elicit feedback from the community and the board of education and we're going to utilize that in our decision-m. So, there are a lot of moving pieces here and and the best I can tell everyone is nothing's set in stone until it's set in stone. And and lastly, we've had in in the last several years, we've had a couple of major schedule refinements, if you will. One being the block schedule, and people are up in arms that the block scheduling wasn't going to work. This is going to be complicated. The second thing that occurred
077was the the lunch period which was chaotic in the beginning. People didn't like it. We had a lot of complaints. It's a transition period. I think the administration has heard all the comments from us as well as the parents, students. They will come up with a plan that works for everyone. I I have faith in them and that's all I have to say about that. Yeah, I I just want to say I think any suggestion that I'm saying that anyone is not transparent is just ridiculous. I don't know why why why people are saying that about me. Um but I just I have two questions. Uh was the presentation that was delivered by Mr. Archer at our public board meeting, was that shared with the entire board before the meeting or after the meeting? >>
078I can actually answer that. If you look in the gold notes that come on the Friday before, the link to the presentation is in there. >> But was it also available for the public? >> I don't know. I know it was available. >> No. No. Typically, and we've debated this, Jeremy, we we share it immediately after after it hits. But that presentation you saw at the board of ed meeting is maybe uh maybe there are a few edits that were made but nothing substantive versus the presentation that you saw at the FFT committee meeting. So let let's again for transparency sake let's be clear on what we're talking about. >> Yeah. I'd also like to add that I'm I'm I'm increasingly getting frustrated by the whether you want to call it accusation or implied comments
079that there wasn't enough time given or that there wasn't transparency because most of us show up on time and prepared to all of our meetings and you know we've had these discussions in every single committee meeting including community relations which typically doesn't even meet most of the time during the year. So, so we went that extra step. Um, I'd also like to add my my personal um feedback, which is that I I don't even buy into the science of the later start times. I never have. I argued incessantly with Jessica about it when it came up in the years that she had brought it up post pandemic. The reason why I was supportive of this change had to do with not only that it's that we're reducing the number of buses, but we're also reducing
080costs. So, those of us that have voted on the budget and and put forth the budget and approved it, we all know that the district has been facing budget issues and costs and rising costs. So when we're looking at decreasing enrollment and we're looking at making things more um what's the word cost effective this was an opportunity to look at our transportation situation which is one of the most expensive or one of the most every year overyear increasing cost I don't remember the exact percentage but it was significant over the last 5 years this was an opportunity for us to address it and so that's why I was supportive had nothing to do with later start times. So, I just wanted to make that clear that that was it. That's all I had to add
081to that. >> I I don't know how many times I have to clarify this. I didn't make any accusations. I didn't make any implied comments that we are not anything like untransparent. Uh I I see Mr. beers walked out of the room, but you know, I took the time to actually compare my proposed changes with the straws estimate policy manual. >> I'm sorry. We're talking about something different now. >> No, >> I thought we were talking about school start times. >> It's still old business >> because >> Okay, but so are we done with the school start time conversation? >> I'm I'm trying to address an accusation made against me that >> that's not really appropriate for old business. Okay. >> But like that's why I'm asking like Jen was talking about old uh school
082start time. Is this on school start time still? >> Yes. >> Okay. Dr. Lee, please. >> I think that uh I think that we should listen to the voices that that came to speak that speak to us from the community here today as well as look at the emails that that has been sent to us. I see there's significant concern about later school start time for the primary schools for the young kids. I think we should take into that uh consideration seriously while we make our decisions for transportation. Thank you. >> All right. This is a point about the school start times and the buses. Um I know some people are worried that we're going to face a lot of divisiveness and conflict and difference of opinion in our community. And that's fair because I
083think at the end of the day, no one agrees 100% on anything, right? And we know that school start times along with a lot of other issues that have been discussed here at this board are one of these areas where divisiveness is going to brew. It's pretty inevitable especially since it's a big challenge that we're facing as a board. Right? Deciding between two options both of which have their benefits and their negatives and which puts us in a difficult position to make a decision that will adversely affect other people and in return you know positively benefit others. And I think one of the things that's important and one of the things that I think is important to know is, you know, there's there's no such thing as a better world for everybody, right? Um, someone's
084got to foot the bill. But I think as a community and really as a board, you know, I I think rather than run away from conflict, difference of opinion, um, we should try and embrace our differences of opinion and try and agree to disagree as human beings. And I hope that, you know, as adults, we can at least set an example and try to learn to disagree with civility and and rather than completely avoid conflict. And this doesn't just apply to school start times and, you know, figuring out what sort of option we want, but it just applies to literally any topic or discussion we have as a board, rather than always focus on all the good stuff. We should be having these difficult conversations and embracing our difference of opinion. >> I I agree
085with you wholeheartedly, Jeremy, but it starts with being truthful. then we can have a a debate. Um, but I do have to say there was one thing you said that was incorrect. At this point, it's an administrative decision. I had said before, this isn't going to be a resolution by the board of ed. The administration is going to take a look at what the options we have and then we're going to share that, but there's not going to be a resolution like so you're not going to be voting for A or B. We're taking things in and then we're going to act accordingly. Just so I I just want to make sure we're clear on that because I this falls under operations and I don't know how certain you are of what the roles of
086the board are versus the roles of the admin. So this is a role of the admin. Thank you. >> I'm I'm well aware of my role. >> Uh Mr. Beers, you were you you had to excuse yourself for a moment. C can you remind the board um the approximate reduction of buses and the cost per bus or maybe um Kevin that's a view on you? >> We we were looking at four initially four routes. So those are triple tier routes and um I think we' said before you're you're looking at at contracted routes you're looking at an average cost between 100 and $130,000 for a contracted route. So those four buses, yes, it would be in the neighborhood of $4 to $500,000 in savings >> and and I'm not asking you to make a commitment,
087but we did also discuss the potential of late buses in the future. >> Absolutely. Because you're 100% uh correct, Mrs. Lockin where one of the things that we did take a look at and it's something we're examining that if we went with a certain structure could this provide additional services to the community such as late buses especially at that middle school level where it seems to be more problematic and I think we all agreed that would be the um that would be the point of emphasis if we were if we were to go down that road where to start it. >> Yeah. Yeah, I just want to go on the record and say that we did receive the survey. I sit on two committees, personnel and academic, and we did receive the uh the study,
088the transportation stud. Yeah, transportation um study. So, it was not when I came here, I was prepared. I had uh witnessed it twice. >> Thank you. I just wanted to comment for full transparency sake that Mr. Beers and I both had a conversation, I'm sure many of us did outside of the presentation just about the fact that I'm sure none of us want schools and especially our elementary children to start the day late. Like ideally all of our children would start before 9:00. Um, so we've put forth that and hopefully things can change. But I think it was a worst case scenario what we presented and hopefully it can tighten up. But we know that no one wants anyone to go to school so late. But we have to do what we have to do
089here. Um, and as a parent who had two children go through Eisenhower, I can say like it affected my work schedule. I I hired a morning nanny. like I did what I had to do because someone has to start late and I didn't enjoy it. But, you know, one of the schools had to start late and my children were walkers so there was no bus and it was even later. Unfortunately, a district this size has a school that's going to start late. >> No, th those are all great points and and again, I appreciate the conversation that we had. And look, another thing that we're exploring and you'd have to look no further than um Bernard's Township, you know, to see how we could accommodate students and parents in the way that that they do.
090And and it's simple in this way where they're uh primary schools or elementary schools to take home, they're they start the day at 9:00, but students can be dropped off at 8:30, right? and and and they have that buffer where let's face it if if school for them starts at nine o'clock and I I spoken about this it if it starts at 9:00 most likely kids are getting on the bus at 8:30 or sometime around then and then if parents have the ability to drop off that half hour before that can really help everyone involved. So, I mean, that's one of the things that is probably easy to get accomplished. Um, and and you know, for the sake of of uh helping parents out and certainly >> Can I just ask a follow up on
091that? Sure. >> Is that a like a BR like their equivalent of a BR cares or is that hey, our doors are open, we have staff here that we're paying, >> you can come in if you need to. Okay. Yeah. >> And I see that in a lot of schools. That would be a a tremendous option. >> Sure. And and it happens more. I I mean, we got Mr. V. here who knows what it's like at the high school beforehand. A lot of times what happens, okay, at the high school or or larger schools in the district, it's all right. Buses are dropping kids off at the high school, but it's 6:45 the first ones are rolling in. Um, and then there are certain areas where kids can go, right? They're supervised. Many times kids
092will go, let's say in the high school, they go to the uh to the cafeteria, they get themselves breakfast, what have you, sit down, and then get ready for their day. Uh and and those are the types of practices that I I think we can filter down to the lower levels. It'll take planning and and coordination of probably making people's hair stand on end when they they hear this. But um but I think something like that to your point is easy where you could pay a few people to say look if you're dropping off at 8:30 you go to the cafeteria there's supervision uh >> it's a shorter window at my school I think it's only 10 15 minutes but you get I think honestly I think I have kids who look forward to that
09315 minutes at the beginning at the beginning of the day just as much as >> absolutely >> everything that comes after there are clubs that can run during that time there are safety patrol helping out so I I I think that's a good point that worst case scenario 920 wouldn't necessarily mean like you walk in the door right at 9:20. Correct. At least I would hope not. >> Yeah, we we'll be able to make >> I think the other great currently the intermediate schools go to run until almost 3:30 3:40. >> So there are students who who you know who might need supervision who are in school really late and start really late. And I think there may be just as many even though it's not ideal for for primary students. You do gain a
094lot of opportunities in that fourth and fifth grade year if you know you're out at 2:30 for extracurriculars, for activities to >> get out and start. >> Yeah. Start and and it and it really the the calculus of this so to speak is right. Someone's going to go to school later around 9:00 with triple tier busing. someone someone's going to be in that time slot and it's really for us to figure out who who is it >> that's in that time slot what's most effective >> again my district we we officially start at 8:40 um but we have cart blanch we don't have any busing and we could start at 8 a.m. We could start at 8:30. We could start at 7:30. 8:40, 8:45 when a lot of kids roll in seems to work well.
095Again, that's not 9:20. I agree that that's a difference. But, you know, what grade do you teach? I don't think I teach fifth. It's a K through six school. Pre-K through six. >> Everyone comes in. No, it's uh >> I got plenty of kids who come in tired, too, at least in fifth grade. I'm not sure kindergarten, but >> maybe it's the subject. >> What are you talking about? >> I've been there, Mike. I know. All right. Thank you. Dr. >> I want to make a comment about you know the children's habit and how how they how they behave and how they act. I think for younger kids very often that they wake up awake and alert for a period of time. We want to use that as the most optimal instruction time then they
096become tired then they become hungry then they become distracted. I think that when we consider school start time for the younger kids, we need to consider that factor as well so that our instruction for younger kids are also efficient making the most out of their day. Thank you. >> I had one more question about the school start times. Um, you know, obviously with the high school starting a little bit later, like typically do you anticipate if you option two was our go forward in terms of a plan like what sort of sports might be impacted by that? Maybe they have uh I just out of curiosity where kids would have to get early dismissal. >> No, no, no. Uh at at the high school level because we're moving from 720 to 8. Are there any
097sort of >> I thought we discussed that already. >> Yeah. And and look, when you have an away game at a place that's far away, kids will have to miss some class time out of that last class. Um, for home games, there will be no delay because they start at either 4:00 or 4:15. And that's for the fall and for some of the spring sports. Uh, yeah. And and that's a good point. And and look, one of the things that it also can help us with is as follows. Right now, the school gets out at two o'clock. One of one of the challenges that we have with kids is all right. So, you get out at 2 o'clock and you have a game at 4. That's a lot of dead time for kids and supervision,
098etc. This could condense that somewhat. Um, but yeah, there's no getting around it there. There will be some times when there's an away game that that's somewhat far where kids may uh miss class time. Um but it should not be regular and and I know that was one of the problems with the you know proposals that were initially bantered about years ago with with a dismissal time of 3:30 then that would have affected everything. This does not. And I can say that uh Bernard's Township gets out at the same time they they get out at 258. There are other schools that are in the neighborhood. Probably the average time that that uh schools get out is between 2:40 and 3:00. That's probably the the sweet spot. And uh yeah, so that's how it is. But
099will there be insurmountable disruption to athletics? No. That's coming from someone who was a head coach for 13 years at various high schools. >> That's all my questions. Thank you. >> Wasn't there a talk few years ago at the state level to have schools start at 8:00 high schools? I think there was a push for that and then it just went by the wayside. I don't know what happened to that. >> Um just like kindergarten, right? >> Then um yeah, I I I remember being on one of those committees. Then two years ago >> the state recognized and the DOE recognized well if you mandate that you have to pay for it. >> So so um that made everyone back off. >> There was a big push for it though. I remember >> there was.
100>> Yeah was right. >> Is there any other old business? We're going to move on to new business. >> I have new business. Yes. >> Uh, I've sent you all an email, everybody on the board. Uh, and thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Bridgewater Renon Board of Education submit the following resolution to the NJSBA delegates assembly for consideration. This resolution addresses a growing statewide challenge that strikes at the core of how school boards function. Across New Jersey, local board elections are becoming increasingly politicized with outside groups, wedge issue campaigns, and high dollar fundraising targeting what has traditionally been nonpartisan community-based elections. That's leading to deeper polarization, more harassment, and real intimidation, not just toward board members, but sometimes towards staff as well. In some districts, this has even required greater coordination with law
101enforcement to keep meetings safe and ensure people feel secure serving. We have been fortunate here, but this part this is a part of a larger pattern that can't be ignored. This isn't just a Bridgewater RANT issue. It is happening across the state and the delegates assembly is exactly the right place for NJSBA to examine the trend and take a clear policy position. The goal is to protect the integrity of school governance and keep the focus where it belongs on students, families, and safe, functional board environments. So, I'm going to read the proposed resolution to the NJSBA delegates assembly. Whereas, boards of education are entrusted to provide safe, supportive, and nonpartisan schools where students can learn free from fear, intimidation, and the harmful effects of politicization. I'm sorry, that word always gets me. Whereas boards of
102education across New Jersey share a collective responsibility to preserve nonpartisan community-based governance as a cornerstone of public education. And whereas recent events including political violence, a continued rise in schools and mass shootings, and escalating partisan conflicts over educational policies have deepened instability and division in communities. And whereas politically motivated groups from outside communities are increasingly targeting local schoolboard elections using wedge issues, partisan influence, and high dollar fundraising to weaken nonpartisan grassroots governance and create an atmosphere that discourages community members from board service. And whereas increasing political polarization and outside partisan activity has also led to heightened hostility and intimidation directed at board members and school staff, discouraging community members from serving and undermining effective governance and school operations. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Bridgewater Rariton Board of Education urges the New Jersey School
103Boards Association Delegates Assembly to examine the growing impact of political interference and outside partisan influence in board of education elections. And be it further resolved that the Bridgewater Renon Board of Education proposes that the New Jersey School Boards Association adopt a policy position to advocate for policy reforms and legislative measures that will help school governance remain nonpartisan, communitydriven and focused on serving students and families. I have a motion on the table. >> Oh, did I not? I moved. I don't know if I did that right. So, and I appreciate that. Um, my qu I have questions about procedure for delegate assembly >> resolutions because I don't recall. We've haven't done it since I've been on the board and I don't recall if it's been done prior to that. Do you? I know you recall everything,
104but >> it hasn't been done since I've been here. >> Okay. So the question then becomes, do we need a motion on on >> if you're going to put a resolution forward? Yes. >> All right, then we have a motion. We have a second. >> Now we have discussion. >> Yeah. >> Just I've I've looked at I've been curious because there boards that put forward a lot of these. Sorry if if you don't mind, Mr. President. There there have been boards in the past that have put forward a lot of these every single assembly. So out of curiosity, I've gone back and look at their minutes and it seems like they treat it just like any other resolution. At least from what I could see, >> just like any other thing you would act on.
105One further procedure question before we move on to actual commentary. Um, if we submit a proposed resolution to NJSBA, they then work with us to tweak it for a final assembly vote if they accept it in the first place. Correct. >> I believe so. I'm not sure if it goes to the because there's a resolution subcommittee and and Miss Lee or Mr. uh Walker might know this better that will ultimately decide whether they recommend it or not. I'm not sure if the review with us process happens before or after that step. I know the deadline's October 3rd. I'm not sure if they can't do anything after October 3rd. >> So I'm not sure. >> So I would just ask that you take a look into that if you could. Go ahead. >> Can I chime
106in for answering this procedural question? My understanding is that we as a board pass a resolution to advance our board's recommendation to take it to the DA. Then DA has a committee that will sign a lawyer to work with us to perfect the language, do background search whether it has been done before. If it has been done, it won't go further. But if it hasn't been, then they will work with with us on language and the scope and the background. and it will appear at the program book at the DA before the the the meeting and then everyone will be sent a copy of that program for for them to consider and then they come to me. So yes, we need to push forward as if it's a resolution that is board all >> the
107reason I ask all this is because if there's language that we want to tweak, >> right? We need to I mean it needs to be done tonight, but I want to make sure that there's language that can be changed after after tonight for October 3rd. >> Yes. >> And that's what you seem to be saying. So yes, thank you. I appreciate that. >> And just one other point on that. I believe that ultimately what happens at the delegate assembly is they take the resolution and distill it down to something that they can enter into their manual of positions. So what is actually voted on? It's u the uh replacement language. there there's a slightly fancier term, but they'll distill it into something that can fit neatly into their policy book. >> So, this all fan
108falls under the policy and advocacy manual, which we found on the NJSP website. And so, yeah, you have the long resolution might just say, okay, we advocate that board of ed elections be nonpartisan. That may be the language that came up if it's accepted through the resolution. That's why all might be said, >> but they're not going to you understand support before it, but it's going to be very simplified. And this falls under, as far as I know, under two policy areas. I don't know if you're familiar with this. >> Well, I've also sent a policy. Not that I actually got to talk on my own resol. Yeah, you should talk about the resolution process. >> I I did submit I did submit a policy along with that. Um I I did not I do
109not foresee making a motion to adopt it for first reading today. I figured I would send it to academic committee because I believe that that it would fall under academic committee. >> It has to. Um, but also I don't think it would be summarized necessarily as just uh nonpartisan governance. I think it's in the title. >> Well, go on. I are we at the part where we're actually discussing the the policy because >> So then it will not be ready for the third. >> Well, >> no, no, no, no. I've sent a policy to you to I've sent a policy and I've sent the resolution for the delegates assembly in two separate documents. So thank you for all the procedure and process uh responses. I appreciate that. With that said, as you are putting the
110motion forward, you want the comment. Go ahead. >> Right. And um so really uh the reason why I proposed this was because I feel like we need we need to advocate for and also as a board uh take a stand at safeguarding um you know our uh hold on I'm pulling this up uh to to safeguard our nonpartisanship. So it isn't just about saying that board should be nonpartisan. I think that we need to consider advocating for safeguarding that which is why I put forth this policy. I did um share it with board leadership um and I wasn't fully prepared to share it with the board until like quite literally the last possible minute. And I also did follow up to make sure that it meant met the procedural guidelines of the delegates assembly. Um,
111so I feel like I I already took up the floor on both my introduction and the resolution itself. Um, so if anybody has any questions or comments, my audience, >> thank you for submitting this to us for review. I literally just now got a second to review it, so I haven't really thought about this in depth, but you talked a lot about, and we hear this a lot, nonpartisan, nonpartisan, nonpartisan. What do you mean by nonpartisan? >> Uh well, as board of ed members, we are elected in a nonpartisan election. We are our politics are not disclosed on the ballots. Uh and it's long been advocated to keep that way. Keep it that way. and that we do not let political interference affect the way that we govern uh or make personal promises. Barry can
112better articulate the um bylaws that we by all means Barry feel free to jump in and save me on that one. >> What if I jump in on here Jen you're looking at me like I know what I'm talking about. Um you you you had actually shared it with me the um code of ethics and there's a specific line in it that you had shared with me. >> So I reached out um Emily had asked me something about this. So I reached out to Jonathan Pushman who was our legislative and serves on the the committee and he came back with a couple areas and there falls into the code say that we don't surrender our partisan politicians but we make to him promises thereafter. That's in the code of ethics. You know they make promises
113there. you know that's what the code of ethics says and it would fall under that policy in the manual. So that's what I was sharing with everyone. So this is how the process worked. it was like where would that this resolution fall under the advoc advocacy in the policy manual >> and also um I think that there's been a lot of outside movement to um politically motivate and politically influence our boards of education and I think as board members which is really what it when you event when we eventually get to the policy this is really more about the board members um because we we have very little control over what non-board members do because they're not sworn into a code of ethics. So, I think that as board members, we hold a higher standard
114that we should be living up to when it comes to uh how we are influenced in our um campaigns and and during times of election and who is influencing us during that time. Thank you for recognizing me. Uh so I guess this nonpartisan governance is referencing in part a lot of things related to school ethics, the school ethics act and the the code of ethics. Uh but I think it's important to note that as a board we discuss policies. We discuss things that will lead to disagreement. We've had disagreements before. We've had policy discussions before and there's been a lot of disagreement and I think like saying that we have to be nonpartisan about this. My concern is that this forces us to find a way to just all speak in unison with each other
115and you know once the board has decided on something we all decide we all agree on that. Um my concern is that we're talking about policies uh that's inherently political. We all have our own different belief systems and I'm I I'm worried that, you know, saying that we have to be nonpartisan. You know, I I I don't I I agree that we should be limiting uh direct influence by people on the board. And I'll say that anyone that attempts to, you know, give me a big check or anything like that, if they want something from me out of return, they're not going to be getting it just because he sent me a big check. I I will state that. But my concern is that, you know, we talk about nonpartisan, you know, influence and political
116influence and intimidation and polarization. I I I think from our perspective, we should be allowed to disagree and agree on different policies and I think that's a political process and we need to respect that. >> Can I just respond before Okay, thank you. Um, first, I love disagreeing with you all the time. We can do it all day. Um, and I I'm happy to um this is really not so much about disagreeing on policy. It's it's about the influence of outside politics on board of ed elections far more than it is about policy, especially outside of our own communities. And you'll see that more when you look into the policy, which is why I'm not bringing the policy forward because I think this is definitely a deeper issue. But to to your point, we can
117agree disagree all day. I'm fine with it. A and and I don't mind that the public gets passionate about topics and and they bring it to us. But again, this is about outside political influence on board of education elections. >> Can I can I just jump with the Sorry. >> I'm sorry. I just >> pause. If I want to and u clarify a little bit about what we're discussing right now. So we are trying to represent a collective opinion that we want to advance to the delegate assembly. I personally think that this is a great idea that we should bring it to the delicate assembly. So my intention is to support it. I feel like the the further more broader discussion there uh would likely be a beneficial thing. So that's why I'm I'm I'm
118I'm planning on supporting it so that it will go out of our board to delegate assembly to be discussed. >> Sure. >> I just point out I emailed everyone a document from NJSBA called characteristics of effective NJSBA delegate assembly resolutions. That's not to say this doesn't meet it, but that's what I was looking at to when I was look what I was checking it against. So, everyone has that same thing if you're curious about it. It has stuff about the formatting and the purpose and just a little more background there. My one question is and maybe other um is the resolution as it's worded is charging the delegate assembly and the NJSBA to come up with stuff to make that policy happen or to make that um principle take deeper root. The only thing I'm
119not sure about is since we are asking the delegative assembly to add verbiage to their manual, do we need to be more specific? And that's the only question I have. I mean, I agree with what's generally there, but is it I I'm thinking that the sub that the subcommittee might come back and say this is a little too vague. Not sure about that. It's worth a try. >> But won't they add, >> but that's my >> Do they usually add their language and >> Yeah, I think there's a process they'll work through to make sure they will do what they can do and think it's proper to do. I'm not certain that we need to worry about that part. Yeah. The part that we need to worry about tonight would be as collective board do
120we want to bring this to delegate assembly. >> Got it. Thank you both. >> Uh so I guess you know we talked a lot about outside political influence not influencing board decisions. I'll reiterate that it should not when if support is given by pack or whatever outside political organization it should not affect our decision-m. Um it I know it does not affect mine. Um, but it also shouldn't affect anyone else's. But, you know, we follow ethics. Like, we we we don't we don't just see, oh, this person sent me texts. Whatever they want, I'm going to give it to them, right? Um, I don't think we do that. We all follow the ethics, right? And I, as far as I know, no one's ever had issues concerning ethics related to outside, you know, political influence
121influencing their decision-m. Um, and I think I think, you know, going through this as well, like we talked about point four about recruitment and retention of board members. Uh, my advice to anyone that's considering running board of eds in the future, and I know I've only been here for a little less than a year, but like we have to make difficult decisions. We're going to have to make difficult votes and it's not going to be easy. It'll be in a very charged environment, right? And I don't think anyone who is uncomfortable with making difficult decisions, who's uncomfortable with being put on the spot about making decisions that will piss people off should be on the board, honestly. Uh, and I think from a transparency and accountability perspective, uh, ELC is our best friend because we
122get to know how people are spending money and who they're fundraising from. And I know I've been transparent about this and I hope that every other candidate will be as well, especially with their upcoming deadline. So, I think from a transparency and accountability perspective, we do plenty of that from a campaign. >> Point of order because that's not really on topic with the resolution, but I understand what you're saying. Um, I I think that the reason why I'm putting this forward though is not because of just outside political influence on how you behave, but it it's the outside political influence like when it when it comes outside of our own community is making the stakes so much higher and so much more difficult for grassroots effort of like just your regular everyday mom to just
123run. When you have outside packs and outside influence like it raises the cost of elections. It it it it it makes it almost especially in a town as big as Bridgewwater, it makes it almost impossible to to compete. And honestly, this is like this that the whole origin of this isn't actually coming from a politically motivated thing related to school boards. It actually comes from the larger picture of machine politics. And I think that we need to protect school boards from machine politics, which is why I put this forward. >> Can we involve now? >> One more. >> I think we can. >> All right. >> Mr. Lee, do you have something you want to add? I just want to say if there's a regular person out there that's thinking I want to run but
124they don't >> I can make a point of order. >> Okay, never mind. >> Okay, >> call the question. >> Everyone's had their opportunity Mr. >> Yep. One last last thing. question. >> My mistake. Sorry. >> So, right now there's a motion to call the question. Is there a second of that motion? if you want to can discuss it that >> hearing none >> there there is that motion does not get a second Mr. So I I I appreciate this. This is good. I I wish this happened last year. Having said that, I've been on various boards of eds for several years. Um all done through grassroots movement. I've come here and taken an oath from the BA. Never had anyone else give me an oath. uh never had any contributions, never had any fundraisers,
125put up my own signs, created my own cards that I've distributed to people. So, I like this. And again, maybe a year too late. I have been harassed. So, I hope this goes further and I'm going to make sure it goes further. And I like it. And I like it that you sent it. It's very good that it came from you and I'm going to vote yes for it. >> One final word. >> Okay. >> For for anyone that's considering running, you know, it is very difficult to run a campaign. It's very difficult when you're getting attacked. I know this firsthand because it happened to me. When you're campaigning and you're thinking about running and being a part of a board of education, you have to expect people to attack you, you've got to expect
126that you're going to be making some tough decisions. And guess what? That's a part of being on the board of ed. If you're not ready to do that, maybe running for the board of ed is not the right thing for you. >> I don't think that's the point. I actually >> Thank you, Emma. >> I don't think that's the point. I think the point is is that what Mrs. Locker was stating is that the machine politics are what are coming into play. And the normal mom and dad who just wants to sit here and do what's best for every child in this school isn't going to win. They can't they can't beat the machine. None of us can beat the machine. That's the problem. I think it's what Mrs. Locker is putting this forth for
127that exact reason. That's why I support it. I I I just want to say I happen to think that I mean I'm from a smaller town so there's a little bit more opportunity fewer seats but more opportunity to get your voice out there. I don't have 20,000 doors or however many houses in Bridgewater there are to to to knock on. So it's a little bit different. But I do I I do understand both points. I don't want to block anyone who is political or affiliates with a party or a wing of a party or is independent but has strong feelings one way or another to because our parents our community has all kinds of different views. Your typical mom, your typical dad probably don't agree on most stuff except that they do want good schools
128for their community. Um they disagree about how to get there, but I think that that's a reason to um support this as an ideal. I don't think this is going to bind the board to anything. Um I'd love to see this issue discussed at the delegate assembly discussed. I mean their goal is to push it on to Trenton and just to have this discussed at the legislature at the end of the day they and you know the governor are going to be the ones who make these going to make these decisions. So I think it's a conversation that's definitely worth having. I at the same time agree with Mr. Lee. I agree with some other people who don't want to you know you don't have to be Mr. you're independent 100% of the time to
129have a seat at this table or a voice in the community or to run for any office. So, that's just what I wanted to say. I think it's a good idea. We're really interested to see where it where it goes and uh yeah, thank you. >> I'm just curious. Can we vote because I have a resolution I want to push forward. >> Yeah. We're good. We can vote. >> Mr. Lee, >> no. >> Mr. Sunna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Miss Kry, >> yes. >> Mr. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> I had a resolution that I sent out just before we started. Um, so I'll just read it and take
130your feedback. Um, promoting wellness, resilience, and belonging in New Jersey schools. Whereas the academic success of students is closely tied to their physical health, mental wellness, and sense of belonging within the school community. And whereas New Jersey's public schools serve increasingly diverse populations of students and families who face challenges ranging from mental health stress, food insecurity, and digital equity to the long-term impact of public health disruptions. And whereas boards of education have a responsibility to create environments where every student is safe, supported, and prepared for lifelong learning. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the New Jersey School Board Association, I'm not sure if that should be them or us. um urged the state board of education and legislature to one support funding and resources for comprehensive school-based wellness initiatives including nutrition education, healthy school meals,
131physical activity, and mental health programs. Two, encourage partnerships with community- based organizations to strengthen resilience programs for students and families. Three, promote policies that ensure all students feel a strong sense of belonging in their school regardless of race, culture, ability, or family circumstances. And four, provide boards of education with model policies and toolkits to implement whole child approaches that integrate academics, wellness, and family engagement. The end. Um, I suggested this because I looked through our policies and we do have um, like we have a policy that talks about school nutrition and meals, but we don't have a comprehensive whole child proposal or I'm sorry, a policy. So, >> I second. Thank you. Um, Mr. Sununa, do you want to further speak upon this or cool? Uh, any comments or questions? >> Look, I Sorry. >>
132Thank you. Uh, look, I certainly support everything that's here. I I do worry just having been to the delegate assembly a number of times that this one, even more so than the previous resolution we looked at, is a little bit all over the map. And I think that one of the things they say that the that the the guidance that they give school boards is to make sure the NJSB un make sure you understand what you are asking the NJSBA to do. And I think that this might be a little bit on on the broad side for the delegate assembly to consider because this this would be I I think these the the ideas you're suggesting would probably fall under different portions of the policy manual. They'd probably have to spread it out. Um, I
133I would suggest maybe honing in on one or two of these um or maybe doing separate resolutions for each one to be a little bit more specific. What law are we trying to change? What regulation are we trying to change? I mean, we it's I'm sure they would get 100% vote for things that they're trying if you said who supports this, it would probably be very affirmative, but when it comes down to like, okay, what changes do you want school boards to make? like individual school boards to make or be forced to make. I think people would have would give would stop and think a long time like okay wait this could mean a lot of different things I'm not comfortable supporting it. So that's my only concern with this. It sounds great but I'm
134not sure how actionable it would be at the delegate assembly. >> I agree Mr. Walker. Yeah, I think it crosses about six different policies from the manual because when you start talking nutrition, physical activity, um, health school meals, mental health programs, that's that's going to cover at least two each, you know, and I knew they do talk about that. So, a little more. Yeah, we need to What are you trying What do you want to accomplish with this? Okay. Well, then >> can would you be willing to um move this to committee say to community relations and we can maybe not on on this deadline but maybe on the next one we can work on it together on community relations because I think mental health is always a really good topic to >> and and
135I think right I think it touches it touches upon several policies I think we have so it might be uh refined it a little bit then I think it'll be good >> Dr. So I think that if I say something about the delicate assembly last meeting there was three resolutions. So I don't think that us bringing four is going to be too big a load for them. They have the they have the committee to work with us. So but at the same time I hear uh our fellow board members saying probably if there's no urgency we'll look at that within the committee and work it on it for the next delicate assembly which is in May of next year. But I think I support the wellness of the children. I think it's a great resolution.
136It's a great initiative. We just have to figure out the details of how to bring it to DA. >> And I'm not sure I've heard a nutrition resolution come up specifically in my time there. And it's such a big issue. >> Yeah, I agree. So >> encouraging something along those lines I think would be great in the future for at least discussion. >> Yeah. But it's well called out in the policy manual. The advocacy of nutrition. So if you look at the policy manual, the nutrition advocacy is well called out and food insecurity. So those areas are are pretty well addressed. you know, so I'm just going to say that would be I think you're redundant in some of those areas, >> which to your point explains why maybe it hasn't come up. So, thank
137you. >> So, can I suggest um >> if you would like to withdraw the motion rather than have us vote on it at this time >> or we can refer to the committee then? >> Well, the same but we have a motion on the table. >> Yeah, that motion can be >> we have a motion on the table, >> right? But we can second that mo secondary motion would be to move it to committee. It would be the same. So, um, I move to send it to committee. >> Okay. >> And I second that. >> All right. >> Uh, Kevin, is that a voice vote or is that a roll call? >> We should do roll call. >> Let's do a roll call on that. >> Please call the vote. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes.
138>> Mrs. Sunna? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi? >> Yes. >> Miss Lan? >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> Yes. >> Miss Kistri? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sanger? >> Yes. That will be moved to committee for the next agenda item on that. >> Uh that would be moved to community relations talked about it. >> What >> is this about her resolution? >> Yeah. >> Something else. >> It was about her resolution. >> Okay. So that's going to be moved to community relations to discuss. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Is there any other new business? >> Oh, >> I know. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. It's on. Um, I also had my own resolution and this one is about artificial intelligence. Uh, that AI, not our other
139AI program. Um, uh, I don't know if I'm let me read it out loud. Um, so the subject is responsible use and regulation of artificial intelligence in New Jersey school districts. Whereas artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming education, business, and society, presenting both opportunities and challenges for New Jersey public schools. And whereas AI offers powerful tools that can support student learning, enhance teaching, streamline school district operations, and improve efficiency for employees. And whereas responsible integration of AI into education requires careful safeguards to ensure that academic integrity, student privacy, confidentiality of sensitive information, and ethical considerations are fully protected. And whereas it is essential that students be prepared for a future in which AI will be critical component will be a critical component of the workforce and civic life through instruction that both explains the benefits and
140teaches the limitations of such technology. And whereas school districts must balance innovation with accountability by adopting policies that guide the responsible use of AI across both instructional and operational contexts. And whereas uniform enga and en encouragement from the New Jersey School Boards Association can help ensure that districts approach AI in a thoughtful, transparent, and consistent manner. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the New Jersey School Boards Association encourages all member districts to adopt a local policy regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their schools and operations with particular attention to academic integrity, privacy, confidentiality, and ethical safeguards. And be it further resolved that the New Jersey School Boards Association encourages districts to embrace AI as a tool future career and civic responsibility and fostering innovation in the classroom. Be it further resolved that the New
141Jersey Schoolboards Association encourages districts to explore and implement the use of AI in their operations, including administrative and business functions in order to realize efficiencies, support employees in carrying out their work more effectively and ensure that confidential matters remain secure and protected within internal systems. So I'd like to introduce that uh as a motion to introduce this delegate assembly resolution >> second. >> I I can talk about it briefly. Um thank you. Uh you know as a proposer of this resolution I'm obviously speaking in support of this resolution on the responsible use of AI in our schools. Obviously, AI is not just a topic for San Francisco, Silicon Valley tech companies, and tech bros, but it's rapidly changing how our students are learning and will learn. It's going to impact how our teachers will teach
142and how our district is going to operate. And with this resolution, we recognize both the promise and also the responsibility that will come from implementing this critical technology within our school district. Uh the purpose of the resolution is twofold. The first part of it is to ensure that academic integrity, student privacy, and confidentiality remain a priority for our districts that do use AI. But it's also to make sure that students are prepared for a future will where AI will be central to their lives. And by encouraging districts to adopt thorough and thoughtful policies, we strike the right balance between innovation and accountability. And this is about embracing AI as a tool while also putting the necessary safeguards in place. And so I hope that we can come together and support this resolution so that New
143Jersey schools can lead with both vision and responsibility on advanced AI technology. Thank you. >> So I just have two comments on this uh real quick. Um one uh the NJSBA already has a position in policy that addresses AI. um if you'd like me to read it to you. I don't know if you're familiar with it or not. >> I I'm not familiar with the NJSBA policy. >> It's uh 6142.10. Um and it's a larger technology uh position and policy. Um, but this one regarding educational technology says that the NJSBA believes that the use of artificial intelligence by students and staff along with the integration of AI into curriculum presents both unprecedented opportunities and profound challenges to New Jersey school districts and that the school districts need to implement policies to establish guidelines for the
144use of AI in public schools. In support of this belief, NJSBA supports the establishment of a statewide artificial intelligence task force, which will be which will provide guidance and policy recommendations to assist public schools in ensuring equitable access to AI technologies, promote responsible and ethical AI use, and foster innovation and digital literacy among students and educators. Uh it's my understanding that this came before the de delegate assembly in I'm guessing May of 2024. Um, as a result of that, the uh, Governor Murphy did establish an artificial intelligence task force back in well actually it was already done uh, October 20, 2023 and they this past November put out an 111 page report uh, addressing uh, a lot of what's already in here. Um, so I just wonder if you know Lucy said before that if
145it's already been done by the delegates assembly, it's not likely to move forward. Um, So, I don't know if we're uh plowing any new ground in this. Um just and and I mean I I have the executive summary of the AI task force report. Um but it looks like it is something that uh the NJ is already looking at and considering. Um so that's all I wanted to say on that. >> Mr. Di. >> Yeah. And I think we covered it at the um the Somerset County meeting that we had at the uh Votech. I believe it was last year and they did go over this. So I think it is already on the book. >> Yes. Isn't that our next uh with with Mr. Beers >> and it's coming up they're covering it I
146think next month too or this month. >> I know we talked about it and it's coming up. Dave had it >> AI summit on Thursday >> at the Votech >> 6:45. >> It's for if I can make a comment. I feel like this seems to be a consensus that this board supports and whether it's redundant, whether there's new stuff, whether there's new ground to plow up Mr. are saying I think the the delegate assembly committee can help us figure that out. Right? So if if that is the consensus that this board support then we as a board should allow this uh dress relation to move forward and then the DA will work with us to figure out the questions that you have. >> So I just So was there a specific resolution related to artificial
147intelligence that was passed last year or did they just create the sample policy? Thank you. It on these policies and positions, it cites the authority that it gets and it says authority DA and it's either November or May. In this one, it's the authority DA524-7. So, it's the seventh resolution from May of 2024. >> So, May 2024, they already passed a resolution that was basically similar to this. Or was it different? >> That's the impression that I have. But Dr. Lee, please go ahead. Well, that's why I think that some of the background research we can do to work with the NGSBA while this board has a consensus to support it. That's my impression at this point. >> I I >> I don't know what you're asking for here. You know, are you advocating that
148the legislature pass laws on AI? Is that what you're asking here, Jeremy? What is the goal of this resolution? >> What's the end goal? Like I asked I asked Rebecca, she wanted inclusivity. So, she's looking for some type of you know, resolution or statute that says inclusivity is something we're going to focus on. Here's how we're going to do it. What are you looking for that go? Because you're saying policy, policy, policy. So, I I sometimes get concerned, you know, what are you looking for from the policy from that standpoint? What are you basically this goes to the legislative leaison who go meet with the L representatives, the the the assemblymen, the congress, the assemblies, the delegates, I mean, sorry, the legislators and the governor. What's the goal? What are you trying to focus on
149here? What's the what's the endg game? What do you look for? >> I guess the angle is to make sure that we are providing some sort of standard direction in terms of, you know, how we are thinking about the usage of AI in our school districts. And this kind of outlines that fine line between too much, too little, irresponsible versus dangerous and uh responsible usage of AI. uh with a focus obviously on the learning aspect for students, right? But also the administrative side, how can we speed up different processes? Maybe there's an invoice process or something like that that can be sped up using AI. Um but also making sure that you know when we're using AI, we can use it to leverage our uh workflows without it also compromising things like confidentiality because as
150we know just using chat GBT that information goes into you know chat GBT sort of public domain. So that's basically the purpose of the resolution. >> So you're wanting more government push down mandates on the board of ed. >> Incorrect. >> You're asking for what? I'm just asking what you're asking for. You're looking for government to tell us how to run AI. >> Is that you know and I think those are actually very local >> type things. What? >> Only you you would only tell the administration how to do it, you know, but and if we put a policy in place. I'm just asking what what's the what is what do we what's our goal here? You're I understand what you're saying, but it's going to be come down to a a it's going to
151come down to some bill on the on the Senate and House floor to say tell a tell us how to use AI. >> So, I don't know if it's the House floor, but it might be uh >> legis assembly and then the state senate. >> Uh I'm not asking for a mandate to be passed down from the state to any school districts. >> But that's what that's what a resolution does. It's an advocacy by the legislative department of the NJSBA to advocate for this change. The NJSBA has an AI policy and model AI pies. Strauss Esme has AI model AI policies. You can ask AI to write an AI policy, which I've actually done. >> Bob Bob's Bob's did it right now. You know, you can ask a rate AI policy. So I I mean
152my biggest thing is what we're asking them. They asked him to to to to help with the task force. the task force came out with recommendations and from that point the legislator is moving forward with it, you know, and I kind of don't want them I don't want the government tell us I don't know if they're going to know every issue how the school district's going to use AI, you know, basically you say, okay, use AI, have this and that, too. We can do that locally in our own policy. You know, that's my personal opinion. This has this is not going to lead to I think the benefits that you expected. It's it's a governmental you're going to the bureaucracy. So I think I'm going through this right now. You know, there's information about privacy,
153confidentiality, ethical safeguards. I think we shouldn't be, you know, obviously taking confidential materials and putting into AI and asking chat GBT to summarize it using public, you know, accounts and all that. And so the purpose of this is also really really to highlight the fact that honestly there should be some regulation behind this. people shouldn't be allowed to take an HIV report or whatever and put it through public chatbt domains to get information or to have it be analyzed, right? And so I think from my perspective, I'd like to see an effort being made to sort of promote more responsible usage but also implement safeguards. So I think yeah, when it comes to something like, you know, how we deal with confidential materials um and putting that into an open AI, perhaps that's something that
154the legislature should actually address. So, I I don't want to call this a mandate, but I do want to call this something that I think we should be addressing across our school district uh in New Jersey. >> But isn't this something that if we as a board agreed on the issue that we could address through our own policy that it doesn't have to go to the dele because I'm also very anti-statemates on anything, which is why it would be very hard for me to come up with an issue that was that big for me to put forth. But, but we write our own policy. We if we felt so strongly about that, we could review our own policy on AI and have a discussion and either come to agreement or disagree. But is that what
155you're asking? Like we're responsible for our own school district's policy. >> Well, but sometimes sometimes and the SBA suggests policy stress may suggest policy and I think that you know suggestion of policy would be appropriate here. What I look at is Jeremy in the in the thing in in the document that you've provided the the be it resolves right and so in the first one you're talking about regulating the use of AI uh in schools for academic integrity privacy confidentiality and ethics safe ethical safeguards um having received this I took a look at our student handbook uh at the high school and it talks about can I use tools like AI to help me learn and what are the consequences for misusing AI and mainly we're dealing with uh with plagiarism issues. Uh but I
156think that that that kind of the protections that you're looking for are kind of uh in there. Um and then in the second one you talked about be it resolved that we use a AI as a tool for uh enhancing instruction and fostering innovation. I mean I I I assume and m Dr. Jones, you can correct me if I'm wrong, that especially at the high school level, our computer science classes are talking about this uh regularly, if nothing else. Um, >> it's honestly not just computer science. Social studies and in Nope. Yep. Social studies and English department has been working actually together on this since last year and they're continuing. It's part of their October 20th PD plan actually. So, so my my point in raising all of this is that um if we're doing
157it as a, you know, look how well we're integrating it and we think everyone else should do the same. Um okay. Um I just I I you know to to piggyback on what Mr. Walker said like what are we looking for and because really it's it's looking for NJSBA to do something right and if we need NJSBA to then advocate at the state level that they should do this and again sure we could be duplicative but there's already 111 page report I don't know if there are things that are in here that are not in there and as the state has already took a year for them to look at it um I feel like that's probably what they've done. >> Well, Pepe >> like about what's new. I'm not sure I I forget off
158hand if that resolution uh that was previously taken up by the DA and passed and was looked at by the task force uh that the governor established covered the third resolve clause about using it in operations, administration, business functions. That's something that I'm not sure I would be comfortable supporting today just because I don't know much about that period and how that would affect districts. But that is something I'd be interested in learning more about um maybe over the next months to see is that something that could work at a school? Is that something that could work in a public body? A business might be be able to do that. What are the laws around that and the ethics around that for the uh for for a governing body? I'd be interested in talking more
159about that and possibly addressing it in a resolution because it I suspect it might be somewhat new, but I'm not sure I could do that tonight just because I worry about forcing that on not forcing but recommending districts to do it where I'm not sure if it would be a good idea. It might be, but I'm not sure. But I think that would be the area maybe that could be new to focus on. Just my thoughts. >> Can I can I respond? >> Sure. >> Uh I'll say obviously that's a fair point, right? We don't know if uh this is something that can be seriously adopted, but I think in literally every aspect of life, we can find a way to make AI make work better. Um I'm sure that there's a lot of things
160Kevin, you wish AI could probably do that might be a little bit repetitive, right? Um there's a lot of repetitive tasks that I think Kevin and your team probably are involved in, right? You know, the closings of the books. Maybe there's a role for AI to play there and I think we should encourage that. Obviously, this is many years down the line, right? Um, but essentially, we're encouraging this to happen because this really can this can happen and it can happen at every level. Um, and that's why I I support it. um about about the point about what the purpose of this is. The purpose of this is hopefully to spur um more engagement with you know finding and trying to create some sort of guidelines for protecting stu student safety with regards to using
161AI in our different uh AI systems. And obviously there's a big risk of information leak and I think this is something that's worth regulating not just in our school district but also in other school districts. I will say that. So this is kind of what the purpose of this is is to help create these standard guidelines to ensure that every student not just here in Bridgewater but everywhere >> right >> gets to um enjoy safety and that we are able to build internal systems that can allow us to safely analyze and use AI for HIV you know investigations. Now, to my point about uh sorry, I'm losing my train of thought. Uh as as it relates to this resolution in general, I mean I think some people folks mentioned that there's a policy out there
162that we can implement. We have a straw estimate and NGSBA policy. >> I think stress is working on the policy right now. >> No, it's it's they have a recommended policy. >> Okay. So, what I'd also like to propose, and I know there's a motion on the floor and all, but perhaps we can also consider this being taken up and to consideration by the academic committee. Um, if that's something the academic committee would like to discuss. >> So, just very quickly though, um, I want to go through the executive summary, okay? >> Not word for words for nobody wants that. Uh, but there are four different uh, areas that they're looking at. One of them is security, safety, technology. >> Was this the executive summary of I'm sorry to interrupt >> the 111 page uh
163task force. >> Thank you. That's what I thought. >> Uh the second was and this is to really to your point Jeremy I think of the second paragraph that you have here, workforce training, jobs of the future and training public professionals. Um then there is AI equity and literacy and finally making New Jersey a hub for AI innovation which I've already seen the advertisements for. Um, so I I I think that we need to consider this and I mean are you talking about moving this now to academic committee uh as we did the wellness one or you talking about something else? >> I I guess the resolution in particular I think it's fair in its current form to vote on what I but I I know this is off topic but I I talked about
164the policy right the straws estimate versus the NGSBA policy. So I was suggesting that this is something that maybe the academic committee can take into consideration because I think it's important to have a policy like this in place. >> Can I just can I >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. So just so you know, we're headed towards this an academic committee. We're not there yet. And that that's part of the work that we've been doing over the last year because we don't want to go into a discussion and adopt a policy that we're not confident really um suits the needs of the district, which is why they've been working on it really in English and history. But even if you do a quick like search of our curriculum, you can see that it's written into computer
165science, it's written into the technology cycle, it's in ESL, it's actually in taught in the ceramics class. So um we have computer science and design thinking standards that we have to integrate K12. So AI is actually addressed in curriculum and so yes I agree that we should review a policy and stress estimate has recommended one but it's not but when they recommended it you know at that time we weren't confident that um we were ready to go with their policy. So, we wanted to give it a little bit and see what we think. So, we will do it, but it's not going to be at our October meeting, which is next Monday. So, maybe after that. >> So, my thoughts are that um when we try to do more internal discussion uh within our school
166district, I think that's definitely a worthwhile thing to do. there's needs arising in our classrooms. But at the same time, if you want to uh engage more broad resource and talents and get this talking amongst the school districts at a place like the delegate assembly, we will be able to spur the conversation that more people think about it. I think in this case we can collectively come up easier with a best case solution because people would have been able to see more scenarios more places to see maybe we can uh learn some best practices from other districts as this disc discussion is going on. So I think for that benefit to bring this topic as is to delegate assembly will afford that benefit to us to support us to advance further >> and I think
167like on on Rebecca um Mr. Sununa's um proposal. I I just think it's too broad of a of a topic and I think that it's just not it's that there's not a clear directive and and again I would suggest that we refer it to committee because they're obviously having future discussions on it. Um and that's just my thoughts on it >> and and I think uh like Karen said the guidance is coming something is coming. So, we can pick it up, but let's wait a little bit and see what uh what we have something to work with first and then we can compare and suit it to our needs and maybe wait a little bit and pick it up at a later date. I mean, we can't do it Monday, so maybe uh our meeting
168is Monday, maybe in November or December and by then we'll have more information, more guidance perhaps. Well, because just you want to include teachers in these conversations. So AJ, that's like part of it. So yes, we definitely should and can have the conversation in academic committee, but part of it is we don't want to do things in isolation always without including the educators who are the people who are implementing these policies in their classroom. So sometimes you're working almost it almost feels like a backwards design and we're seeing what works and what we think and then we will bring it to committee and you know get additional feedback at that point. But that's where we are at this point with the district policy. Could I could I just say uh you know obviously it's been
169a little more over it's been around two years or so I think a little more than that since chat GPT and all this technology came out and I think we should be trying to find a way to really find a way to implement some sort of policy sooner rather than later because yes it's great that we're seeing this influencing our curriculum but we also want to make sure that we are regulating the use of it amongst teachers amongst administrators supervisors um especially among students and so I think it's super duper important that you know we have a policy like this especially since this is the beginning of the school year it's another year where students are going to try and use chatgbt to write their essays um and so that that means that you know
170when it comes to academic integrity you know we want to be making sure that this is a priority and this is something that's very very important I think to making sure that we are uh you know having >> and that's in our system >> high school student handbook >> right and and I agree and I would love to focus on those policies. So, it would be actually great if I could focus on the policies that I think will move things forward in our district >> and I agree too. And >> yes, thank you. Um, so I think that I'm glad that there's a recognized urgency to move things in our district. I do not see why this cannot be also moving ahead with urgency at delegate assembly. I don't see a drawback of us not
171bring into the delegate assembly and by doing that we can engage the tailender resource and the uh our peer other school districts to join the conversation. I think this two can happen concurrently and then the feedback can actually feed off of each other as we refine either the scope or the format of it. Exactly. >> And >> with the delegate assembly committee >> and I agree with the overall sorry >> and I agree with the overall sentiment but I still think that this is an issue that like literally uh Mr. Jones was just saying that she looks forward to exploring and and honestly I think at this point we've exhausted the conversation unless would you like to say something? I I'd like to make a motion to refer it to committee. Wait, I was going
172to add some remarks. I had a question for Dr. Jones, but never mind. >> I don't know that we need to have commentary on that motion. There's a motion. There's a second. So, I'm going to ask Mr. W to call that call, please. >> This is on sending it to committee. >> Which committee? >> All right. Well, I'll say yes. >> Who's got a Mr. Lee, >> Mr. Lisa. Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sununa. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Miss Locker. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes. >> Miss Kishri. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes. Motion passes and this resolution will now be moved to the academic committee for discussion. It'll be put on their agenda. >> All right. But
173I have I have a small question. Uh I know you mentioned before that like there were some things that you were concerned about or not concerned about maybe I forgot your specific words but sort of your hesitation behind adopting the straws estate AI policy. Just if you could give me a brief rundown of like what those concerns were. >> I actually am completely unprepared to do that right now. But what I can tell you is that I remember looking at it and having a discussion with Mr. beers about that because what happens sometimes is when something's introduced and then there's this rush and it can happen in any area to produce a policy you look at it and you think I'm not sure that this is actually going to work and there are times where
174you let another district implement it first same with changing schedules or busing and you see what actually happens and whether something works or doesn't work in the meantime what we did was we actually because honestly the whole part about academic integrity and plagiarism. Certainly not new. The tool, yes, it is. But that is not I mean, I was an English teacher like 30 years ago. Not new. So whether plagiarism was having your parents write your papers for you or exchanging them with another student who saved them from the year before and submitted in submitted it. I mean, we've been doing this forever. And part of that is like when you're an English teacher, just so you know, and I would imagine this is true of history teachers, too, you can hear somebody's voice in their
175writing. So, especially when you've corrected things enough and you've gone through it, you know what somebody sounds like when they're writing. And so, guess what? You also know what somebody sounds like when they're plagiarizing. So, that's not new for us. And I would agree that some of these tools that people fight against, and sometimes that's my concern. I mean, that was with some technology, with phones, all different things, sometimes can be used in a way that actually is productive and helpful. Um, so we want to make sure that we're looking at that, too. So some of it is just, you know, getting more experience ourselves as educators with using the tool with students and then making decisions about what we think. But if you wanted me to go through the policy, I mean, I could
176do that. I just can't do that right now without being prepared >> to do that. >> Okay. So urgency to >> and I think that's a board request, not an individual request either, Karen. It would go through there' be a process through Yeah. you know, but I think it's a board request for >> move, >> Dr. Lee. >> All right. So, I'm glad that tonight we're having good resolutions to consider put forward to delegate assembly. I think we haven't done that in a while and it is good night to do that. With that, if I may be allowed to introduce a resolution uh to be considered for delegate assembly. Hopefully, that's the last one for tonight. And uh maybe there's one I didn't know about yet. Um so um so our district has a uh
177well so I've sent a resolution draft to you uh earlier um and uh uh if I would uh read a little introduction of it our district has a proud tradition of excellence overall and in STEM STEM stands for science technology engineering math I think we have a strong program and transition in a presence in robotics which is a showcase of STEM in the technology engineering part. However, it's not all. Um, it's great, but let us not forget about the basic science which is the foundation for our students to further pursue STEM and many other fields of studies and directions in their future life. And if we can further that that we can further strengthen the overall set of the curriculum right now in my opinion can uh and and hearing from some feedback from other
178educators and uh community members and parents. uh the introduction of rigorous teaching of basic science could be a little earlier and use a little more instruction time for ready and aspiring student bodies and that part of curriculum being strengthened to really further enhance them uh education. This is not just for Bridgewater Ritton but it's a shared consideration amongst many districts. That's why tonight I'm excited to share a resolution that taps into the incredible potential for students and families by boosting basic science education with the outlook of the upcoming updating of the New Jersey state student learning standard because we know that that review is coming up. So this can be an initiative that enhances science education in all of New Jersey that Bridgewater Ritton can lead. If I can read the uh resolution in in
179its form um resolution to enhance basic science education in university schools. Whereas a strong foundation in basic science education is essential for fostering critical thinking, problem solving and scientific literacy among students. And whereas early exposure to rigorous science concepts at lower grade levels can inspire curiosity and prepare students for advanced STEM studies. And whereas increasing instructional time for science education ensures student gain a deeper understanding of fundamental scientific principles. And whereas in light of upcoming review and update of New Jersey state student learning standard emphasize the importance of robust science education. Now therefore be the resolved that the NJSBA delegate assembly urges local school districts to enhance basic um science education by reviewing and updating curriculum to introduce rigorous and age appropriate basic science courses. starting considering starting at early grades and increasing uh instructional
180time dedicated to science education and providing professional development for teachers to effectively deliver uh engaging and rigorous science instruction aligned with updated curriculum and engaging partners partnerships with local STEM organizations to enrich science programs and provide real world applications resolved that this resolution ution advance STEM education by reviewing and updating state education standard and promote STEM and basic science education across all districts. So with that um let's keep our district lead the way by supporting this resolution to the delegate assembly. It's about giving our kids the tools to share to to shine. I seek your support and invite you to pass this to be discussed at the delegate assembly. Thank you. motion. >> I'll second it. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I was going to second it. >> Um, don't the state have this uh standard
181for STEM requirements, Dr. Jones? >> Yes. They have standards but they don't provide with the exception of HPE in the primary schools they don't provide like time parameters for instruction but they do have standards. Yes. And obviously like our curriculum is you know aligned with standards and update it to reflect that. I would also note even though this isn't directly related to you talking about this at school boards or on the delegate um assembly that in our case here we have we are rolling out new schedules as you know because we talked about this last December I think it was in academic committee and then we read those minutes aloud at the board meeting in December and so last December we did state that the change in the schedules in K3 and four or five
182that will be implemented this coming September nomber we will be actually increasing instructional time in science kindergarten through fifth grade um also in social studies but again this was something that we introduced last year last December and you know schedules will roll out soon and then by next September it'll be implemented but that's just our district of course >> yeah I'm glad our district doing it I think that what we're doing aligns well with the drive to enhance them in a meaningful by enhancing basic science teaching. So I feel like this is a good topic to bring to delegate assembly so that we can see at the curriculum standard point whether NJSBA can do some advocacy to enhance the STEM education not just in our district but also in many that bridgewater leading the way.
183>> I just did a quick Google search and almost It looks like many schools have this. Rutherford, Morristown, um, Caucus. I mean, there are a lot of Bergenfield. There's a lot of schools that do have this. So, I'm not sure if this would be duplicative or not. Um, >> can I'm sorry. Have have what specifically? >> STEM related programming and curriculum at various levels. I think it's so different school to school. Like the smaller districts don't have quite as much, you know, in resources and dedicated teachers. I think everyone has it to some level, but it it does vary a lot. I know even with just science instruction, which is what I noticed the most, Miss Jones point, it's great that we're increasing that. There are some schools where you might where a kid in
184elementary school might not do a science or learn science for three or four weeks because there are so a lot of times it switches with social studies. There are 150 social studies standards to learn from grades three to five and science does sometimes get sidelined especially when not that social studies isn't important on its own but there's more overlap with language arts that gets duplicative a little bit. So I I agree with with that. Um, I'm not sure if we would need to be more specific, but I agree with the uh spirit of it that increasing science, at least the the regularity of science instruction uh can't be anything but a good thing. So, thank you for that and for adding that. >> Okay. >> I also can say that um I was on academic
185when we presented those new schedules and we are increasing science and social studies which I was in full support of. I can also say as being a teacher, we used to infuse science into the other subjects. So even if like Mr. um Pepe was saying you didn't have science that day, it could have been infused into a language arts lesson because you read about sci related to science. So it's not like you're never learning. It's not like science wasn't was totally skipped is what I want to make sure is apparent. >> So I I have just two concerns about this. One is that within this it says that next year NJSLS is doing a review and updating their um their science standards. So I I'm not really like it seems that if New Jersey is
186already doing that. Not sure what we're suggesting here, but I'm also just concerned about um what what is time being taken away from in order to increase the educational time uh for science education, especially at the KE five level. Like are we taking it away from PE or arts or recess or like what you know? No, we're not just taking away from anything. So like that's fine. I just like you know there's a finite amount of time in the So, I'm kind of concerned about uh it's easy to say let's increase that um and easy to say let's increase other things that are not necessarily viewed as important as that. So, that's my only concerns. >> Um yeah, I'm actually just going to piggyback off of your comments. I always like to ask like if
187if we're asking the state to whether it's mandate or suggest or if it's coming from this higher level, I mean, who's paying for it? Um I I guess if if this and I support I support what the ask is in in theory, but like for what Mr. Pepe was saying like smaller districts may not be able to afford to do this like so where is that money coming from? Um, and that's where I grow a little concerned about asking for legislation on something that I consider like science is very important and I'm full support of science. Um, but but when when they make these asks of districts, then the district has to say, well, where where am I going to take the funding from? >> Sorry. Okay. I know a lot of times science and
188STEM, even though they're very closely related, I think they're part of the acronym, but they are sort of treated as separate, not separate, but two different like classes. You might have a science class and then go to a special that focuses on STEM or enrichment or some or something along those lines. Um, just to clarify that. So I think the point of this is that we're at a a time juncture where the NJ state learning standard is due for review soon. The point is that NJSBA as a relevant body would actually be able to voice opinion in the emphasis of certain certain education areas. I feel like this is area that would benefit the students at at a large scale and uh whether how is this implemented I I feel like there's a lot of
189other professional bodies that can chime in to solve that problem. But we here as a board if we you know vote today would be to to have this discussion at the delegate assembly so that more school districts can chime in like what we have and improve the education of basic science particularly in the STEM part of the research which is actually the the slightly easier part to implement but sometimes can be overlooked and as at at certain times I think even um you we might not have placed that course early enough in a student academic career which will set them up later to not being able to take certain courses because they don't have the representative. So like a review on the review on the sequence the curriculum and when to take that the prerequisite
190the courses that will go after that I think that's a a it's due time to do that and coming from school districts coming from the schoolboard association would provide that valuable input to the state learning standard process >> just I think if we're looking for school boards delegate assembly to provide sequencing for science courses. We're we're looking in the wrong spot. >> No, it it's not. So, I mean, that's a local decision and and it's actually it's an administrative function to figure out how to sequence courses. And I'm just going off what you said. So, it seems like we're way over our skis on this and I'm not sure what it is we're trying to do. But what what does concern me as the leader of this district is that I want to make sure
191there's not a connotation that goes out there saying that we're not providing adequate science instruction because that's not correct. >> I don't think anyone tonight said that. >> All right. But I'm I'm I've sat quietly for well over an hour with these and I'm just letting you know um the delegate assembly is not going to do anything related to this because there are a couple of things coming on and this is from someone who has been invited to some of these meetings and who has been part of curriculum revisions etc at the state level you have a gubanatorial election in a month all right whoever wins they're going to have their own people in the DOE and they're going to issue guidance on how things are going to be for the next four years at
192least. All right. So, we we can go down and make any resolution we want, but it's not going to have it it's not going to have any effect because whether it it's Jack Chidarelli or or or Mikey Cheryl, they're going to bring in their own DOE and they're going to do their thing. Um, but I've got to say I am concerned about the language because like I thought it was benign at first, but now we're talking about science core sequencing and things like that. So I I think there's there's something else here that I just want to make sure that it we're not going down saying at Bridgewater this instruction is lacking and we need people at the state level to assist us. Um, >> I'm just trying to advocate for good basic science education.
193>> Yes, Bob. And our board um actually did support us because they voted for a new STEM curriculum in kindergarten just this past August for our two title one schools where we have full day kindergarten. We created a STEM course that you all approved in August. So, >> yeah. Yeah. I I just think this is one of those and and and look, I know it's election season and everyone's looking for something to to rally behind. Excuse me. >> But I I don't I don't know what the point of this is. >> The point is >> I don't know what the point is. >> The point is we have a delegate assembly meeting coming up. >> We have an opportunity to advocate for good education at the state level that is at a juncture that the
194state learning standard can have a chance to listen. And this is doesn't affect our district operation because that's not the purpose of it. This is to this is to invite a conversation at the delegate assembly across the school districts so that people have some thought about basic science education and enhance that. That's it. >> Two questions. Um one and you can answer afterwards. the uh NJSLS effort to change curriculum, what is the process behind that? Like who who's the push to make those changes? And two, uh in talking about what we're doing with our new kindergarten program, would it a more appropriate resolution be to say this is what we are doing. We recommend everyone do this. like we we're starting a a STEM program in kindergarten and this is how it's going to run
195and we recommend everybody start a STEM program in kindergarten and that way it's a like a specific guess. >> Um I'm not certain delegate assembly actually has a power to specifically ask any district to do anything. It's more like a platform where people can have a good good conversation to decide whether they support idea then they can take and run with it. If you think that our kindergarten science is a good program, we can write another resolution. But it is is to invite all school districts at the delegate assembly to consider improving emphasizing their basic science education. Yeah. So that's the purpose of it. It's geared towards the curriculum development at the state level for the learning standard. So that's a specific ask to to your question. What's the process for the state learning standard?
196Right. So from what I understand uh talking to you know uh talking to professional societies and and and and people who makes decisions it sounds like to me my understanding right now is that the state learning standard will actually take input from different professional bodies and update it accordingly. NJSBA would be one of those bodies and this delegate assembly is a way that we as a school board and other school board who engage in this conversation at DA would be able to voice their opinions. I think it's a very important piece of feedback to contribute to that process. Right. Thank you. That's all. There are no other comments. Mr. Lumpsky, please call the RO. Mr. Lee. >> Um, is this on the resolution to introduce this resolution to the delegate assembly? >> Yes. >> Mr.
197Sunna >> abstain. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> I'll say yes. I don't know. I don't know where this is going, but sure. Yes. >> Miss Locker. Why not? Yes. >> Dr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> I'm going to abstain. >> Miss Kistri? >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer? >> No. Uh, looks like the motion passes. >> Correct. >> So, this will go forward. >> Is there any other Dr. Lee? >> I want to make a comment. Um, I think that concludes the delegate assembly resolutions. I want to thank everyone for your input and participation entry. I think this delegate assembly Bridgewater Raritton will be represented at that delegate assembly meeting. Thank you. >> To be clear, Bridgewater Ritan is always represented at the delegate assembly. >> We always send a
198lot of districts don't send anybody. So, it's great we do >> to to be clear. >> Any other new business? Mr. Suna, that's what I was looking at. Um, I sent this a little bit earlier um to board leadership, but I wanted to share it with everyone. Um, in appreciation of the diverse makeup of our community and fully recognizing that as a public school, we are subject to policy with a required number of days of instruction, I would like to suggest that the community relations committee debate the necessity of a quote community calendar that reflects important dates related to religion, community, etc. While these dates may not be reflected on our school calendar, we should attempt to avoid holding special events and large projects, testing, homework if possible. It is unfair to expect every person
199in our district to be aware of such a list of dates. Therefore, having one central community calendar that can be referenced would be beneficial to everyone planning an event, including outside um programs. This calendar would by no means assure any individual or group or organization that every date listed would be clear as that would be impossible, but it could avoid conflicts that are otherwise unnecessary. And since community relations doesn't meet often, I'm trying to get my own committee back in business. >> I mean, I'm happy to to to discuss it in our next meeting. It's definitely come up in in previous discussion. I don't see any harm in talking about it. Did you did you have a specific time frame in mind for it or I >> mean I feel like the calendar for this
200year is done but if we could look at the 26 27 calendar and just start compiling dates um with community input then we have something that everyone could reference next year when planning things. >> Uh yeah, I'm happy to talk about it. I know we do have a calendar available, but um yeah, let's definitely just bring that to committee and kind of work out and iron out what it is that um yeah, you want to cool. Uh I just want to say also support this effort. I think you know having our district aligned to under having sort of like one calendar where we can say all right you know maybe this these are the days when Rashashana or Yam Kapor is we can kind of look at that and say all right maybe we don't
201want to schedule testing during that sort of time period. So I think having that kind of unified schedule makes a lot of sense for not just the board but also for administrators for teachers and everyone else. So I I like the idea as well. We don't need a motion to take that to committee because as committee chair you're taking that on to the agenda. >> Yeah. I don't I don't see there's a sense of urgency. Correct. To do it. Oh, right. So, um we we're also going to discuss potentially the future delegates, >> right? The wellness one. >> Yeah, that one. >> Yes. >> So, perfect. >> Great. >> Is there any other new business? Mr. Pepe >> just on the NJSBA delegate assembly which we've discussed uh a lot. I would just suggest in
202the future that we try not to if we are going to have resolutions in the future that we try not to leave it to the meeting before the deadline. I think that'll help us get better resolutions check them against what the NJSBA delegate assembly has done in the past compare it to the their their checklist and their guidance for what makes an effective resolution and allows for uh fuller board discussion. I think it's also possible that if we have a lot of these next time, maybe we schedule a special meeting for people who want to do that. So we can we don't have to tag on an hour, hour and a half, two hours at the end of a regular meeting. I I think we would be able to do that. So I'm just tossing
203that out there. Uh I also suggest everyone go to or at least watch the de the delegate assembly uh especially if you're considering resolutions in the future uh because it might give you a better sense of what exactly they do. It's it's less of a making us a statement like we believe this, we believe this. It's at that body. It's a little bit more specific actionable things that they that you would like to see put into law into effect. So, I would suggest watching, tuning in, or showing up. U not showing up, that's being there. >> You can show up, you just can't vote. >> Yes, that's true. But, um, thank you. >> I agree with that statement. I think we have a good start or a good uh working for now, but we certainly
204can improve in the direction that you talked about. Thank you. >> All right. So, with that, I'm assuming there's no other new business. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Nope. We need to go into close session. >> Draw the motion. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Whereas discussion by the board is required on matters that are exceptions to the requirement that a public body hold its meetings in public. And whereas the topics for discussion are superintendent evaluation. Whereas it is expected that the details of the discussion may be made public as soon as the issues may be acted upon publicly. Be it resolved that the board enters into close session at this time. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? We're going to take a 10 five minute break. Um no action
205will be taken when we get back to open other than to adjourn the meeting. Thank you all.