Bridgewater BOE Meeting 06/17/2025

001Okay, we're back in open session and I apologize for the delay and I appreciate your patience. Uh, we're going to go switch things up a little bit or not switch them up really and go to the superintendent report. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Singer. So, uh, tonight on the agenda is, uh, the SSDs report, but but before that, I want to offer my congratulations to the graduating class of 2025. So, all board members should have received um their tickets. So, their digital ticket. So on Thursday at 10 o'clock, we're going to honor our Bridgewater Raritton uh school district graduates at Jersey Mike's Arena on the campus of Ruckers University. It's our second year at this venue and and we really look forward to another excellent ceremony. I think last year when we tried this out for

002the first time, um we recognized at that point that there's no way we could really ever go back to the the old way. But but honestly uh it was a a beautiful ceremony last year and we look forward to more of the same. Um and we look forward to seeing everyone there. Um you know I believe the whole board is coming. So we know that it's always a time when we look forward to new opportunities for our students and but also want to take a a moment to reflect on our personal journeys uh thus far and you know as as our graduates go on to whatever path they choose whether it be work, university, military service, etc. We really and I mean I want to start by wishing them the best of luck. I know

003they're going to get plenty of gradu uh congratulations in in two days, but we want to wish them the best in whatever path they choose. Um so next up, I'll be brief here with the SSDS report, which really paints a a fairly positive picture for the uh for the district. So I I sent an email today containing data from the last three years. Um it's a similar report. We should know that how this report is uh generated, right? It goes down to the the uh department of education and we we utilize powers school. So anytime an issue happens, it's entered into powers school. We draw from that review it and we we send it down to the state and what happens is it is obviously powers school is tied into this reporting mechanism as well.

004So, so, uh, today we're we're looking specifically at period one, the period one report, which which spans from July to December 31st. And I think all these reports demonstrate progress made by the district related to student conduct and and school safety. So, just for a quick comparison, uh, during report period 1, this year in 2024, we had 34 incidents. 2023 there were 65. 2022 there were 54 in the same time span. And that's a year-over-year decline of 47.7%. When we get to to HIV, 14 alleged in 2024, 20 alleged in 2023, again a year-over-year decline of 30%. Now, HIV confirmed and this is where we really saw uh quite a dramatic drop is we had nine reported incidents for the first half of 2024, 34 in 2023, and 26 in 2022. So, that's a year-over-year

005decline of 73.5% right in that general area. So, so with that and and I think I explained this with the HIV report in a prior month. I don't know it was last month or the or the month before. We really want to see, you know, we're hoping that this is a trend, but we really have to wait until next year to see if it's a lasting trend or if it was some type of aberration. But I I do want to take the time to to thank the district leaders, our faculty, staff and families for helping it really to invest in school climate. This has been a major undertaking for the last four years, right? We we knew coming back from COVID that we had some issues uh related to student conduct that we certainly had

006to to get a handle on. And that work hasn't stopped because when we look at these statistics, well, plenty of reasonable people will say, well, nine HIV incidents for half a year is too many. And and I'd agree with that. You know, 24 instances of of a serious uh disciplinary matter are too many. And and once more, I do agree. And and we want to continue to work and uh deliver programs and supports to kids, you know, both perpetrators and victims. um you know to to make to really improve school climate. So remember this is an area where two years ago we conducted a a school climate survey, acted on data, made the following program adjustments. We uh we implemented a character ed program in grades K through eight and it's been a major undertaking.

007Um, we we've got specific lessons that that we teach kids, we work with kids, and uh I I believe we have buyin across the district on this. We have an updated code of conduct and and although it seems somewhat benign, it's it's really important for kids that we're very consistent where if there's an action, there's a consequence and that we're consistent across the board because we know, right, it's it's one of those things like the worst thing we can do sometimes for kids is to start down that road of, oh, it's okay because of X, Y, or Z. No, it's not okay. and we've got to change that behavior and now X Y or Z may be going on behind the scenes and we've got to work on that. But we can never we can

008never accept inappropriate behavior. I guess that that's our key. And and I want to commend the the principles, assistant principles, guidance counselors, etc. at all of our buildings for really being consistent with that code of conduct. and and look there there was a major undertaking over the last couple of years both with the bright program which is our alternative program for struggling students and with structured learning labs all right and and just a brief history of those we didn't have any of these type of programs until two years ago so the bright program is is what I described it it's an alternative program for students who are at risk of not graduating right it's it's a reason why our graduation rate is higher, but it's also a reason why we have less or I should

009say fewer disaffected students in our midst. Likewise, structured learning labs, when we have a young person who's struggling in school, instead of going to a study hall, they go to a place where they can get tutoring, counseling support, etc. to really help them get on the right track and be as successful as possible academically with the main goal of keeping them on track for graduation. Because we all know and and it's pretty obvious, right, to anyone who has worked in schools or been around schools. I know many of us h have kids our of our own and um you kind of know know what happens. But when kids are struggling academically, many times poor behavior follows, right? So we have to get a grasp on that, right? deliver services, support kids, and really help them

010see um the positives that can come out of investment in their education um and and behaving a certain way. So, I'll get off my soap box, but I I do want to I do want to thank everybody um for their work on this and and it's ongoing. It's not stopping and um we're going to continue to uh to work in that manner. So, I'll open it up to the board of education if there are any questions on this and then certainly the public can chime in when it's uh public comment. Uh well first again I want to commend the district on addressing um the issues with at risk students because I think doing that from within only strengthens the community and also you know builds up their confidence and like you said can lead to

011resolving some of these disciplinary issues. Uh my question was regarding um the code of conduct. There was a what the what what changes were made in the code of conduct that sort of addressed some of the HIV issues. I believe there were like it was that we had made specific changes. Yeah. Um to address that. No, that's a great question. and and the one that we were pretty adamant about and and I forget if it was one year ago or two years ago, my my memory is getting a little hazy here, but when we had a a rash of issues with HIV specific to racially charged language, um you know, anti-Semitic comments, etc., right, anti-Muslim comments, etc. We made sure that o okay if you're directing this type of language at another student, right? Um

012there there is a specific consequence for that and and it's not a slap on the wrist, right? And it's one where you want to get the parents involved and and everyone involved and and we know those are difficult conversations to have with parents and kids, but um to that point, I I know that's one of the areas we honed in on. And also um really any any acts of physical aggression were things that that we made uh made sure we were stricter on because I I think we'd all agree we we can't ha have schools where where there's violence and uh once it spills over into that we we've really got to we have to intervene in a in a very direct way and it's not just a suspension in that in that regard. It's

013also counseling supports, other supports, figuring out what we can do uh to get at some of these anger issues that may may uh be affecting kids. You're welcome. Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you, Mr. Beers. Uh I'll do my president's report right now. I'm just going to reiterate some of the things that Mr. Beerus said. Um, I want to congratulate the class of 2025. I'm very much looking forward to graduation. Uh, one of the things that I attended a couple weeks ago now, I guess it is, is the senior awards. And I want to thank um the the awards ceremony went for um as long as we expect the uh graduation to go uh this week. Uh it was a lengthy award ceremony, but it's it's so nice um because the students are all

014surprised by the awards. They don't know what's coming. They just know that they're getting an award. um and a lot of the scholarships that are handed out that night which there might not be aware of um are explained and it's nice to see the the charitable works that our community engages in uh in support of our children. Uh so I just want to thank those uh scholarship entities and charities that that uh contributed to that. Uh lastly, I just want to uh wish our fourth, sixth, and eighth graders best of luck as they move up to a new school. And I hope that all of our children have great, hopefully relaxing summers. With that, we're going to move on to the committee reports. Up first is academic with Mr. Jooshi. Our next meeting is July

01514th. And now, finance, facilities, and transportation with Mr. Walker, please. Yes, we met tonight at 5:30 in the Wade building in the back conference room. In attendance, it was Mr. Pepe, Mr. Lee, Mr. Singer. Oh, Mr. Pepe was not there. Oops. Sorry, Kevin. We got to modify the minutes. Sorry about that. Yeah, he was there in spirit. Miss Laughing was there. Sorry about that. Miss Mr. Lamsky, Mr. Beers, um Kevin Stansky, he's our staty. He's our beer coordinators. In the first part of the meeting, we had the update in the 202425 BR CARES update. Uh the BR coord CA cares coordinator provided an overview on the district's before and afterare program during the 24-25 school year. Topics of discussion including enrollment program revenue and expenses, parent feedback. Um areas of improvement for the 2025 school

016year were discussed. Some of the items were the the snack quality and offering more activities for the kids. So they're continually improving and they're ready to adapt to changes coming in two years. They're looking forward to that. Uh and there were no recommendations at the time. Any questions? Seeing none, um we we the next item on the agenda was the BIS reviewed the business agenda. Um Kevin reviewed the draft business agenda with us for this evening for the meeting tonight. Um we paid special attention to the purchases section and also some discussions on the meal prices. Um it was consensus that was approved and it's on the agenda for this evening. Any questions? Yes. Am I on? Okay. Oops. Sorry. Wrong button to press. Um, so for the meal price, uh, excuse me. Um, for

017the meal price, um, do we have a potential alternative? I see that the price hike is kind of steep. Is there a way to help family if they find that difficult? Yes, we offer um part we participate in the National School Lunch Program. So, there will be meal applications um for subsidized meals on our website. They're currently on there now. They could be completed and uh the new ones will go up over the summer. So, looks like we've done what we can do and those are the price that we're start with from the vendor. uh when do once our vendor up again and we can shop for another vendor which I don't know if the price is going to be any more friendly. Is that a possibility? Yeah, we can um do that next year.

018Um we'd have to start you know sometime in the winter. Um we renew them for next year. So we can pursue that next year. So potentially end of this year we can see if there's an alternative price for the meals. Correct. Likely. Okay. So, for now, that's seems to be what we're stuck with, right? All right. Thank you. Any more questions? Seeing none, our next meeting is July 22nd at 5:30 p.m. and we adjourned at 6:20 p.m. Thank you, Mr. Walker. We're up to personnel committee with Mrs. Kalistri. Uh, yes. Our next meeting is August 12th. Thank you, Mr. Kistri. Are there any leazison or delegate reports? Just have uh one thing from the bureau of Riden. Uh effective June 2nd, the Raridan Library now is collaborating and accepting checkouts with the rest of the

019Somerset County system. So, anyone in Raridan um can go to with a Rarden library card can go to any library in the county and anyone with a library card from the county system is able to come to the Raritan Library. It's especially a great thing for Rarity because we're close to a lot of we're actually closer than the Bridgewater branch to a lot of families in Bridgewater, especially from Bradley Gardens and out that way. So, there's already been a steady uh uptick in traffic, particularly in the children's department. Um, so we look forward to that collaboration and that's great news for our community especially because we've had u kind of separate cards and separate systems for a while. So, it's great to see coming together in in that way. I see a fellow uh library

020trustee board member out in the audience. So, thank you to uh the libraries for getting that done. Thank you, Mr. Pepe. Mr. Joshy. Yeah. So, just another reminder, July 10th is the uh Ed Foundation of Bridgewater's golfing at Fox Hollow. If you have any questions, it's on our website as well. And for those in the audience, please speak with uh Mr. Moran. He'll give you more details. And starting September, there will be um ed foundation club at the high school. So that's going to give an opportunity for students to participate in leadership roles, volunteering, um and just getting the word out about what the Ed Foundation does and various scholarships that it offers to our teachers. So that will be starting in um September. Websites edfoundation.org. Yeah, it's on our website as well. It's on

021the website is edf foundation. No, brffoundation.org I believe. Yeah, brf foundation.org. I think any other delegate reports. So, um in my new role as VP of um I've had the opportunity for NJSB to attend a couple things have been interesting. Um the we have a legislative committee. So there's one member from each of the that represent districts in New Jersey participated in and this time we had um we had Senator Coughlin's um aid. Let me get Mr. Morris um it's Daniel Harris was there. So he got to talk to us about what the legislative process is going on and some of the things being addressed and how you know this session ends in June but potentially the lame deck session in November the more activity. So things that are going on some potential things that

022happened. I think the sunscreen passed so that's actually kind of interesting now. That's a a new area about sunscreen, the areas on it, and I know there's probably there's no policy on it yet, but that becoming something legislation just passed. So, that was interesting. Um, I also had the opportunity la this last week to go to the New Jersey New Jersey Special Education Advisory Council. Um, the New Jersey Schoolboard Association in conjunction with ASHA, HS, sorry, HSA, which is the American Society of Audio and Hearing I think is the acronym for it. There are we the we the school schoolboard station presents three awards for special special education innovation. One was done for the center for excellence. It's in Lakewood um and it's it's for the center for agriculture some special needs kids. They worked

023with both animals and different vegetables and growing and they actually have a food stand they take out and do it. So how they get to integrate those kids both in the interaction with themselves and other animals. They they worked with a budget. So they re used the funding to re reinvest into the program. So it was kind of a nice way to do it in C for special needs. There was also another one in Lebanon Township called be kind. It was um with their special department. They have a book machine like a vending machine the book. So kind of interesting and it was awarded where they have it both in the middle school and the elementary school in Lebanon Township. And the third one was a a y the southber and jointure. It was a

024yoga and mindfulness they use in their classes. So it helped kids regulate themselves and understand and involve. So those three were awarded that day. We also had the state awarded a couple of things for um dare to dream. It's a program that the state offers. I I know we can participate in. There were three students in different areas. One was a he was an advocate for Tourette's. Very nice well spoken young man and what he learned. Um a couple special needs kids who both went through the regular education program community college and then graduated from Rowan. That was the excelling thing they did. And it was just an excite nice time just this to be and see all the amazing things happening. So it's neat opportunity. So correction edfound.org edfound.org brf found edfoundbr.org just all

025right. So search for brf foundation. Got it. All right. Cool. Real quick if I go a second one more thing for me. The third graders from JFK traditionally make a trip to the municipal building and the library each year. Uh that didn't get to happen because of weather. So, uh the mayor and I think a member of the council went to them as did the librarian uh to talk about their services. Heard there were a lot of great questions about town government, some things, some suggestions for the schools. I can pass those along, but I heard there were a lot of great questions and feedback from the third grade students. So, thank you to everyone in Riden who made that trip happen despite the weather. Thank you. You're not on. Can I add something? Um

026although it's not an official delegate, uh as a member of the class of 1995, 30 years ago, we entered and graduated the Bridgewater Ronin School System and we're having our class reunion on July 19th at Green Grill, which is appropriate for a lot of reasons. Um but one of the things I wanted to mention was that 30 years ago was the beginning of uh uniting Bridgewater and Rariton and they moved us all into a school together and uh it's you know quite an honor to be here while also celebrating 30 years later. So thank you. Right. You have a delegate report. Are we doing any report or only delegate reports? We're only doing delegate reports. I will report. Any other delegate reports? Seeing none, we're going to move to item number nine, open to the

027public. Individuals in or groups are invited to present their concerns, comments, and request to the board of education at this time in any manners. uh in accordance with the board policy uh we're going to uh given the number of people in attendance tonight we're going to uh and I want to ensure that everyone has their opportunity to speak as we've done in the past few meetings public comment will be limited to two minutes per person pursuant to policy 0167 for those who haven't been to board meetings before this is an opportunity for the community to speak to the board this is not a back and forth or a question and answer period board members will not respond to questions raised during public comment the purpose of the public comment period is for the public to

028share their views with the board. The comments and questions raised by the public will be taken under advisement by the board. Uh naturally, as always, members of the public are welcome to share their concerns and thoughts with the board via email. And please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website. We ask that you state your name and your uh municipality of residents, please. Hi, good evening everyone. Um, my name is Susan Harwick. I am a teacher at Van Holton Primary School in the district. I live in Martinsville. My children went through the school district. Um, and I'm a very proud teacher. I wanted to just share what happened today at Van Holton School. We started our day with an assembly honoring two outstanding citizens from every

029classroom. Um it was an uplifting morning. Each student getting a round of applause as they walked up to receive their certificate and a pin. The entire student body was pleased to honor these recipients. Later during the day, our fourth grade students created a mathematics carnival in front of our school. Each grade level signed up for a time to go out to play carnival games that the fourth grade students created. But prior to being able to play a game, the younger students had to answer mathematical questions which were created by the fourth grade students. Our fourth grade students thought carefully about what a first grade, second grade, or third grade student might be able to answer. Um, as creative and thoughtful as the math questions were and as creative as the games were, that was only

030part of the event. Overwhelmingly, I'm going to get upset. What I observed were grade four students being wonderful citizens and mentors to the younger students in our building. It epitomized the efforts that our staff and administrators put into creating a caring and positive climate in our building. We all work hard to create and nurture good citizens. And today, we got to see the fruits of our labor. We don't just teach the academics, we teach the whole child. We teach the whole child because we care for the social and emotional well-being of all of our students. It was a great event. So, I'm very proud of our school. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Kate Manara. I am a resident of Bridgewwater. I am a teacher for 23 years at Hillside and my student, my

031own children go to school in the Bridgewater Ryarden School District. Um, I just wanted to also celebrate some things that are happening around the district. Um, today our Hillside sixth graders participated in their sendoff party at Forest Lodge. Despite the weather, the kids, administrators, teachers, parents, all had a wonderful time. It was so great to see them in such a relaxed atmosphere. We didn't have any behavior issues, which was wonderful. The kids had a great time. They were smiling the whole time. um and was just a great way to celebrate the year they had and send them off to the middle school um in such a nice way. Um observing the students interacting with adults and peers in a positive way is what we teachers strive to accomplish. As important as academics are, we also

032want to help create positive, caring and self- assured adolescence. This group is definitely ready for the middle school. Um, in the middle school, they had field day yesterday inside due to the weather. And tomorrow, the eighth graders will have their sendoff breakfast followed by a slideshow with all their pictures of the middle school and then they have their graduation. So, there's so many great things happening in the district. We just wanted to take time to highlight them and to say how proud we are of our students and our staff. So, thank you. Thank you. My name is Jennifer Kitchen and I am a 30-year resident of Bridgewater. This is my community. Debating the existence of trans people is not the purpose of this school board. Despite what some of our speakers from past meetings seem

033to believe, the New Jersey law against discrimination requires school districts to provide a supportive and non-discriminatory environment for all students. That's the law which has been in place for several years. So why the sudden interest in rescending the policy over the past few meetings in the current political environment where trans people have been made scapegoats? Maybe those against 5756 feel they'll have more success. Perhaps it's that they know they have political allies on the board and are hoping to check off another on their list of school districts they have disrupted with anti-trans rhetoric. This sudden interest in rescending 5756 is certainly not out of any concern for our students who have every one of them that has stood here spoken eloquently in favor of the policy. It's not out of support for our teachers whom

034some of those opposed to 5756 have insulted with wild accusations. I believe it is to further a partisan political agenda and that has no place in our schoolboard meetings. I encourage the board to make it clear that policy 5756 is here to stay and end this political posturing once and for all. Our students deserve better than to be father for a campaign mailer. And who knows, maybe all that previous will be not needed. Maybe we'll get lucky tonight and it won't come up for discussion except for me. Thank you. My name is Anthony Anthony Mara. I'm an Edison resident. Sign in. And I'm here to speak on policy 5756. The transgender lifestyle is a lie. We know it from two sources of information. We know it from the holy scriptures and we know it from

035science. Jesus Christ said, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." In other words, just two genders, not male, female, and a half a dozen others. The science we know is that says men have X Y chromosomes to ladies XX. That's it. No other letters. If I said to you that the Earth is flat and it should be taught here in Bridgewater, you'd laugh me out of the town maybe out of the world and rightly so because we all know the Earth is round. Truth is that Earth is round. The truth is that there are two genders. But unfortunately, that

036seems to be taking a hit these days. And then there's honoring mom and dad, which is also in the holy scriptures. Honor your father and your mother. I don't know how many here on the board are parents, but 5756 dishonors mom and dad. It says keep them in the dark. Don't tell them that a student is interested in changing his gender. That's that's just fundamentally wrong. That is wrong. I wonder if any of the parents here who have a child who wants to change his gender would like to be kept in the dark. Then you've got guys competing with girls in sports. Shame on anyone who does that. Shame. I'd like to think we all know that using performance-enhancing drugs is wrong. Well, that's what a guy competing with girls does. He has an unfair

037advantage. Just as performance and drugs give that athlete unfair advantage, the guys have an unfair advantage. Please abolish 5756. Thank you. Katherine Maxwell, Bridgewater resident and mental health professional. I believe that all of us, board members and parents alike, are people of compassion. The question is, what is the wisest way to show compassion to schoolaged youth with gender dysphoria? I offer you some psychological facts for your consideration. A basic foundational axiom in psychology is that feelings are not facts. One's feelings are data, not directives. When we let our feelings dictate our truth, then our life becomes perpetually confused and unstable. If I said to you, I identify as a 5-year-old black boy, you would immediately say, I can't do that. So, if you allow gender identity to have a subjective experience, why can't I do

038it for age or race? Take anorexia. A youth comes to you and says she feels overweight, but you see that she is dangerously underweight. Do you tell her to lose more weight and work out more more because your feelings tell you what you need to do? Take body integrity identity disorder whereby individuals that the individual wants um the healthy limb amputated or to become paralyzed. In your compassion, do you recommend amputation? So why is it that we operate differently with gender dysphoria as compared to anorexia and body dysphoria? Turn now to the robotic student um opinion survey on policy 5756 which is very problematic. Who on the board ensured approval and compliance with policy 9560? Where are the signed parent consents? This is a poor survey on for the following reasons. Unre unrepresentative sample s

039small sample size sampling bias non-response bias selection error lack of reporting of qualitative data. Selective reporting of data. These floors are deficiencies that lead to skewed, unsupported and misleading conclusions. Conclusions which were then distributed to the community. The survey has the appearance of social engineering. Diversity of thought is restricted. Confirmation bias is created to foster misleading conclusions and a false consensus is promoted to deter the expression of unacceptable opinions. Truth without compassion is cruel and compassion without truth is propagating a delusion. I ask you once again to repeal policy 5756. [Applause] I'm going to go in a bit of a different direction if that's all right with everybody. Um, my name is Zach Bray. I'm a teacher in the district, coach in the district, and I lived in Ryerson my whole life. I'd like to

040thank the board and the administrators for a great school year. Um, every year ends and there's a lot of turnover. Uh, great educators leave for other opportunities, whether it be um, a new job, a promotion for their families, or reached that magical end of their career um, looking forward to their retirement. I felt compelled to come here tonight to speak on behalf of one of these individuals. Although Sandy Baronowski is officially about to no longer be a colleague, I'm incredibly fortunate to call her my good friend. If you are lucky enough to know Sandy, her infectious positivity um has undoubtedly rubbed off rubbed off on you in some way. Perhaps most of you know her as a softball coach. And yes, that is true. She has guided the program for the last 28 years with

041grace, high energy, and an unwavering passion for the game and her players. But today, I'm here to talk about Sandy as the teacher. People do not realize how incredible of a physical education teacher she has been for the last three decades plus. Watching her teach is a revelation. She injects that same passion and positivity she has for life into her class every day. It is amazing how well she is able to get her students engaged in an activity. Often, if possible, over the last several years during an off period, I would find myself walking through the gym just to witness her in action. They say good teachers create magic and Sandy is the epitome of just that. She is an inspiration and a role model for what an incredible teacher should aim to be. The

042high school and district is losing a phenomenal educator, but she deserves this retirement very much. So, just a congratulations and thank you for her service. Thank you. [Applause] Paul Lun, teacher in Woodbridge and also resident of Woodbridge. Um, last time I was here, there was a a lot of charts showing how well you guys are doing with graduation rates, 97% better than the state average. But the nation's report card paints a different picture. If you're average, 35% of your graduates are proficient in reading. 28% are proficient in math. So even if you're better than average, something is a miss in public education. It's not a recent phenomenon. We're not blaming it on COVID lockdowns because actually the downturn in American education, public education started in 1967. Anyone who's interested in education might want to research

043what I'm saying because there's something significant that's been going on for for quite a few decades now. with that backdrop, the fact that we spend so much time talking about sex and gender uh and and really it all stems from something called queer theory that started back in the '9s. The problem is that public education is de facto mandatory for most parents. They can't afford to pay taxes to send people to public schools and pay tuition for private being de facto mandatory and compulsory. If you're going to insist on standing on genderqueer theory, on derivatives of critical race theory, those parents who don't believe in that those theories, those parents who are are faith-based believe that the the highest aspiration is to not be sexualized before marriage, but to wait till marriage. Now, that's an

044old-fashioned notion. Maybe you get a chuckle. How poss is that possible? I believe in being aspirational when it comes to things like that. having a nuclear family, waiting till marriage. The the uh success principle that keeps 97% of children out of poverty is wait till marriage until you have a child, graduate high school, get a full-time job. It's not rocket science, but I truly believe that we should have an alternative or a parallel system of education. School choice is the way to go since you folks are so adamant about standing on these policies which are harmful to children. Thank you. [Applause] I I know it's not a back and forth, but I I do have to state something for the record because I'm just not going to let someone get up and offend the educators

045in the room. Bridgewater Raritton Regional High School District is the 25th ranked public school in the state of New Jersey for SAT scores. I think that's a measure all of us can agree is a pretty decent indicator of college potential. As a matter of fact, the average SAT score in this district is 1225. That's average 50th percentile. So, all due respect, sir, our teachers are doing a great job. Our kids are doing a great job. So are our families. I reject the fact that you say we are a failing district. Thank you. Joan Depala Bridgewater God has brought us through another year by his mercy and grace and thank you all who have served here in Bridgewater Rariton. Congratulations to all the graduates, all the athletes, including the Special Olympics athletes. So, I wanted to

046just recap that last meeting a little bit. Uh, the board agreed to remove the M from 5756, showing that it was never mandatory. But Lucy, in seeking to gain clarity from the board attorney, who said parents have rights, but also underage students have rights as well, was completely bullied by this board and shut down and kept the public from hearing the attorney's answer. We never got to hear. Quite honestly, it was shocking to me to witness the behavior here. Those in the audience on the other side cheered and clapped when you all did this. The president of the board did not call the meeting to order. In fact, I have observed the board permitting unruly behavior from the time that the 50 to 100 activists, many of whom were paid, showed up at the first

047meeting when we discussed this. And nobody stopped their unruly behavior. Over 30 districts, maybe close to 40, have already repealed 5756, including Edison. I just want to make a note that Laura Crest, president of the teachers union, who speaks every time at the board meeting. She spoke the last time she said only two incidents have occur occurred in the last 25 years. Said one was a heterosexual relationship and one was a homosexual relationship. Um, I'd like to clarify that a relationship, um, having to do with emotions typically refers to romantic, family, friendship, but a sexual predator is someone who seeks out victims for sexual abuse. It concerns me that she didn't refer to this. It's time. Yeah, this is the unruly behavior talking about. [Applause] Hi, good evening. My name is Tom Butler, a resident

048of Martinsville for over 50 years. My children have gone through the school system and are successful in life and I credit the Martin the Bridgewater school system for that effect. They had an outstanding extending experience here. I really want to talk about two things tonight. First, I want to compliment the board. I think you've dealt with this issue for months, almost probably a year now at this point. I can't think of a board in this state that's probably more knowledgeable about this issue on both sides of of the of the issue. And yet you've given a fair hearing to everybody who's come before you, a fair hearing to people on the board who might have differences of opinion, and you've come to a decision. I support that decision. I compliment you on the way you've

049you've handled it and continue to handle it. And I wish people would just come to a point and say, "All right, the board has given us a fair opportunity and they've made a decision." Thank you. The second thing I really want to mention, I'm a veteran. Um, served in the army in in the 1950s. Your school, the Adamsville school, two people in particular, Cindy Nurse and intervention specialist and your principal, Dr. James Singleesi, have been running this program for a period of time. As a veteran, I can really tell you how much I appreciate it and I know the other veterans who are honored really do appreciate it. And so I thank you and I just want to put it on the record for you to understand that. Thank you. [Applause] Hi. Hi. Uh, my

050name is Asia Dwarkin. I'm a resident of Bridgewater for 19 years. Um, I have two children in the school district. One of them is LGBTQ. He has an amazing experience in school. He wants to be a teacher. I've loved he is still in school but all he was in Van Holton in Eisenhower in middle school now in high school all the teachers have been amazing extremely supportive even when he was a seven-year-old kid who wanted to wear pink all the time his teachers and I was so worried that the kids will make fun of him the teachers were amazing and I'm forever grateful for all the teachers who supported him no matter what I don't understand why people keep bringing up religion I don't believe in God. You don't want to be gay, don't be

051gay. You don't want to be trans, don't be trans. Like, why? Why people push their religious views on everybody else? Like, this is the beauty of America is freedom, right? So, why why freedom of religion and freedom of choice is not part of of the big picture? So, that's all I wanted to say. So, thank you very much to all the teachers. Hello, my name is Michael theer and I am a longtime resident of Bridgewater. My daughter attended Bridgewater Schools since first grade, graduated from Bridgewater Ritan High School. I'm proud that she went through schools. He received an excellent comprehensive education and teachers who understood how to relate to children, how to help children excel. I had a lot of other things that I was going to say. Previous two speakers have done more than

052I could ever say. I'd just like to say I feel For you board members who are tired this discussion posture, you have handled this very well. I can only echo what the previous speaker said and just thought you should know that. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'm going to close that portion of public comment. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to item number 10, the approval of minutes. So moved. Oh, second. Are there any corrections to the minutes that need to be made? Just one thing and I forgot to mention this before. It says old business and new business uh for the June 10th meeting. It it says none. Do we maybe just want to take that out because it's not that people didn't have any but we wouldn't it wouldn't really have

053been appropriate at a close session. Right. We we mostly close session session. So we didn't have any came out and adjourned. Yeah. Do do you need a motion for that or can we just remove that even though there was none? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pippy. With that revision, are there any other qu uh changes or questions? Seeing none. Mr. Lumsky, could you please call the RO? Mr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Sunna? Yes. Mr. Jooshi? Yes. Miss Lan? Yes. Dr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Pepe? Yes. Mr. Walker? Yes. Miss Kistri? Yes. Mr. Singer? Yes. The motion passes. We're up to the action items. Up first is personnel 2527 through personnel 2534. So moved. Second. Are there any questions or comments? Seeing none. Mr. Lumski, could you please Mr. Lee? Yes. Muna? Yes. Mr. Jooshi? Yes. Miss

054Lockchran? Yes. Dr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Pepe? Yes. Mr. Walker? Yes. Miss Kalistri? Yes. Mr. Singer. Yes. The motion passes. We're up to curriculum 2563. So moved. Any questions? See none. Mr. Limsky could please call the role. Mr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Sunna? Yes. Mr. Joshi? Yes. Miss Lan? Yes. Dr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Pepe? Yes. Mr. Walker? Yes. Miss Kalistri? Yes. Mr. Singer? Yes. The motion passes. We move on to business 2561 through business 25 176. So moved. Second. Any questions or comments? Credit to everyone for running through all these bus drills. It's a lot especially I'm sure the weather and the heat and it takes a village. It does. I'm sure. So thank you to everyone who did that. Um I have a question regarding business um 25167 there's uh transfer of fund uh I asked

055uh during email uh I would like to ask in public for record um can can our business minister comment on our uh fund situation and uh how much is being transferred how much surplus we have this year compared to the two previous years. We discussed this at FFT actually and this is a placeholder. Uh the actual number the amount of surplus won't be known until the end of the year when the audit is conducted. This allows him to move up to a certain amount once the audit is done. Correct. The year hasn't closed out so we don't have any final surplus numbers but this allows us to if there are any surplus we can set it aside into reserves and the only way to do that is by this board resolution authorizing it. Okay. I'm

056just trying to ask for public information. That's all. And we've answered your question there. You did. Okay. Any other questions or comments? I'd like to thank uh the donor who is uh who's donating cash to offset uh the Adventville school lunch as well as uh the Brad the Gardens PTO for their shade structure uh the Addis Foundation for some emergency response lockers which we talked about in the FFT uh and we can give you some information on that uh later on if you are curious uh after the meeting. Uh thank you to the BRMS PTO for the water filling stations, the center for family services for yearbooks for uh students who otherwise might not be able to get them. Crim school PTO for cabinetry and the hillside PT hillside PTO for seating solutions, monetary donations

057and chairs. Thank you for all that you do. We appreciate the PTO support. Mr. Lumsky, could you please call the role? But good stroke quick Hamilton school as well is on the next page. I read. Sorry, my eyesight is moving and it's Hillside and Hamilton. Oh, Hamilton. I'm sorry if you said that and No, that's fine. That's why the monetary donations were separate and I got confused. Got no apologies and thank you. Uh, Mr. Wy, could you please call the role? Mr. Lee, yes. Missa, yes. Mr. Jooshi, yes. Miss Lan, yes. Dr. Lee, yes. Mr. Pepe, yes. Mr. Walker, yes. Miss Khali, yes. Mr. Singer, yes. The motion passes. We move on to special services 2528 through special service size 2536. So moved. I'll second. It's not a race. Are there any questions? Seeing none,

058Mr. WSky, can I 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 Khalistri? Yes. Mr. Singer? Yes. The motion passes. We're now up to other 2535 through other 2537. So moved. Second. Are there any questions or comments on 2537? Anything on the HIV as we need to move into close session? Seeing Okay, Dr. Lee, I have a comment about 2537. So on the title it says approval of New Jersey department of education district and the school grade report and if you look at the attachment uh that is actually the HIB uh grade report it's not academic grade report just a clarification It's very important. District and school grade report school district. That's actually the title on the second page.

059Yeah, there you go. So I mean Yeah. So on the second page it actually says district school and grade report. So depends how it's referenced and it says that 2023. So when it says grade report that's referring to our grade report on matters surrounding HIV. Yeah. Not like so that's what it's referring to. Pull it up the top. I'm fine with the understand there's two types clarification right it is is the self assessment for self assessment sure if we add the clarification as long as we know what we're willing to accept Again, the the the language title as reflected right in the document is reflected in here. So, I'm fine with it as it is currently, but I don't have a dog. Right. Are there any other questions or comments? Do we have to make

060a motion to amend this being the HIV report? HIV grade report. It's the school assessment for grades under the anti-bully. Yes. I mean, if we put that in in that resolution, that's also fine. It's just like the way that this line is presented, it looks as if it's a school grade. But if you look at page four, at the top of page four, it says district and school and school grade report 23 to 24. It says on every single page because each school own report. Each school has its own report. So on top of every single page, it says district and school grade report and then it lists what school it is. Yes, I see that. So should we amend this resolution to be approval of the New Jersey Department of Education school self assessment

061for determining grades under the anti-bullying bill of rights report? We're honestly we're splitting hairs a little bit. Um this is just a Right. It's a report. You've received it. Um, it's what it's titled. We can change it, but it really doesn't matter. It's If it doesn't matter, that's for accuracy. Add that. Nobody will disagree with that. I I mean, I I'll push back. I I still think it's accurate, but if we want to change it, I have no objections to it if it makes everyone. Would it be if I could would it be possible just to put a note in the minutes that we discussed that this was related to the HIV? Absolutely. It's all for you know what it's about the anti-bullying bill of rights act. Absolutely. So that we wouldn't need to amend

062anything but we could just reference that it was discussed. I mean and clarified as always any board member is welcome to make whatever motion understood that they're want to make. So, I'm okay either way, but I feel like if we make a motion to amend and then vote as amended, it'll be just as easy. Motion to amend. I'll second it. Then let's vote as amended. Discussion. Uh, no, no, no. That's not how it works. We have to discuss the motion. Yes. Go ahead. And then vote on that motion. So, is there any discussion on that motion? What is the motion specific? Like are we're not amending it. So make make it clear we're not amending the document just to put that title. The document is as we're just we're just motion to amend the um

063the resolution 2537 to the language approval of New Jersey Department of Education District. Um got it school self assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying bill of rights. Got it. Thank you. Has it appeared like this in previous years? And am I I mean can we all assume that everything under other generally refers to HIV and we're making a note in the minutes so I don't I don't understand the exercise. Any other comments on the motion? Uh can I add something? Um, I I I don't have a strong opinion either, but I do think um uh labing labeling it after whatever is specifically in the report um as the title would make a little bit of sense because it could seem a little bit sort of generic in terms of what the title of the

064report is. And I don't doubt that it's um an act what what the report could be titled but I do think having a little bit more color there in the resolution would make sense. I agree it makes sense. So in the effort of consistency the report for the 2122 school year the 22 23 school year in the 23 24 school year is titled the same and on the agendas by the way. So we're using the same inclation for the past three years. So, I would prefer to leave it where it's at because from a search standpoint and operational standpoint, we have consistency. Is that all right? So, I'm not in favor of this motion. Anyone else? This is only on the motion to amend. Mr. Lumpsky, could you please call the RO? Mr. Lee? Yes.

065Muna? No. Mr. Jooshi? No. Miss Lan, no. Dr. Lee, yes. Mr. Pepe, yes. Mr. Walker, no. Miss Kistri, yes. Mr. Singer, no. And if I'm correct, the motion does not pass. Correct. Okay. Are there any other comments on this uh resolution? I will note that the resol that the document that we're all talking about with the title uh is in our uh attachments that are available to the public. So if anyone is confused by what document is being referred to uh that's there for everyone to see. Uh the motion now to approve other 2535 through other 2537 is up now. Correct. Correct. Okay. It's already but we already we already have motion, right? Yeah. Mr. Ly, could you can I make a comment? Go ahead. All right. Is there a way that we can reflect

066the title of this document in in a minute? Uh like in however we do it because I want to make sure that I'm voting on the right thing and it's reflected in the minutes. It would need the motion. If you're going to change the title or anything, if it was just I know sometimes there are just highlights of the discussion. Would it be possible just to put in Oh, yeah. as the record that we would have to vote on it correct next meeting. But if it was there like there was discussion about the title and confirming this was what it was and then if everyone the board supported it would be there forever. Yeah. The motion will be documented in the official minutes. Yeah. The motion will be correct. Okay. Anything else? Seeing none, Mr.

067Lumski. Mr. Lee? Yes. Mr. Sunna? Yes. Mr. Jooshi? Yes. Miss Lockin? Yes. To 2535 2537 and I need to recuse on 2536. Dr. Lee. Yes. Mr. Pepe. Yes, Mr. Walker. Yes, Miss Khalif Street. Yes, Mr. Singer. Yes. The motion passes. We're up to policy 2518. Second. Any questions or comments on the policy? I do, Mr. Lee. Uh, with the new language in place, um, I want to say thank you for adding some extra language that obviously protects access by the public to public records, which should stay public. Um, I know there's some language about board consent. Um, how would board consent be expressed? Would it be in the form of, let's say, a resolution? And how would that work? The board only speaks at meetings, so it would have to be through a board I

068mean if if the board objected to it then that's what it would be for like it it would be discussed at a meeting it would be dis so let's say it was would it have to come to a vote or there's no vote or is this a closed or is that a closed session discussion not be a close session discussion okay well my my other question is you know let's say that a public record is older than 5 years. Does the superintendent have the sole authority to decide whether or not to remove electronic records even without the uh feedback from the board, but there's a one month obviously notification. Yeah. It says that anything over five years can be removed subject to notification to the board. Okay. And let's say that a public record was

06910 years or something like that or it was 10 years old. Um, you know, what happens to those records? Typically, would they be removed, deleted, or I don't know that we have a typical in this situation? I don't know that there's been 10 years worth of the same digital format or not. All right. And um you know and you know you've got fiveyear timeline 10 years uh you know why why specifically that five year and that 10 year timeline? It's what was proposed at the at the committee level and that's why it's here now. What was the rationale behind why the committee decided on that? It was proposed at the committee level but like what was the the logic behind that by the committee? There there is guidance from the state on retention of records,

070right? There there's guidance that they put out as far as right there are certain things, let's say a student transcript, that's a 100-year record, right? You have to keep that in perpetuity, employee files, there are certain pieces of paper. Things like this fall in the fiveyear category. Um, so what happens at five years? Just like it says. I So, I believe that was the rationale. I don't want to speak to people, but look, I'm not touching it. Well, okay. Uh, listen, 510 and all these sort of arbitrary timelines. I don't think people I mean, honestly, I know what we do here is important. I don't know if 10 years down the road someone's going to say, you know what, let's go to that December, you know, 2013 meeting. I mean, there's a point where you've

071got to say, "All right, a record." When you look at what the purpose of the record is and and and and what it's for, you know, generally speaking, it's to check minutes or to see what the board is. Now, people want to take a walk down memory lane, that's that's a separate issue. Um, but going around the round, I don't want to get into it. Um, there's guidance from the state on how long to maintain things and what's acceptable and for records such as this it's five and it's guidance and I believe that's what the committee used but I don't want to speak for you know this this discussion about memory lane I people don't go through through memor memory lane we we hold people accountable for what they do as board members 10 years

072down the line 20 years down the line and I think it's important that we are keeping a record of what board members do and you know my my final question I guess is like why Can't we keep all electronic records public without these kind of arbitrary timelines that magically come from the state after whatever amount of deliberation, you know? Can I ask a followup on that? Um, so I'm is it safe to assume that these digital records would be kept somewhere? They wouldn't necessarily be disposed of. They just wouldn't be on the public domain. Sure. And we, as we know, technology changes at a rapid pace. Currently we have a YouTube channel, right? Things can either be made public view or not public view, right? But they don't really get deleted, right? They're still there.

073And if if a member of the public wanted to view something from past the date that something is deleted, they could Oprah and receive that. Correct. Correct. Thank you. Um, and you know, I I do want to bring up a point. you know, you talk about someone removing videos from 10 years ago. Um, but videos as recently as before 2025 were removed. So, I don't I think I don't think it's out of uh it it's beyond imagin our imagination to see how someone could willingly want to remove what this policy has changed is meant to address. So, we're addressing and the videos have been put back online. So, I don't see what the issue is. Like that's why it says five years subject to Jeremy I'm not touching this channel so it's up there. No.

074And I and and and I think it's really important for for me to say this. The reason for taking things out of public view, at least my reason, and you take it with a grain of salt, is that when we changed the website over, it looked like there was too much stuff on there and it was hard to find. So, we kept the last year up. Okay. People disagreed with it. We went in a different direction. That's it. I've got no skin in the game. So, if the board wants all the video recordings that have been up since we started this three years ago, then we'll keep them up. It's really no more than that. So then, so then why can't we keep all those records public? It's up to you. Well, I' I'd like

075to ask that. So what what number? You just want to do it forever. Just don't delete anything. Well, we kind of address you have to pick something, right? For the for purpose of this policy, you have to pick period of some amount of years. So, would you want to say in perpetuity just keep it forever? Like we have to keep something. Well, you know, anything in perpetuity as uh the president suggested might be dangerous. Um and that's why we have safeguard against that which is board consent which recommends whether or not to remove it if a situation arises where it should be removed and that's that that I think is important having that board consent. Um that's the most important thing here but I don't know if arbitrary timelines play any part beyond um the

076role of what we're supposed to do which is trying to make sure that we have as much transparency as we can. I I understand but it says retained by the district for a period of Samir. So I'm asking what would you recommend? I don't think we need these arbitrary timelines in the policy and uh as a result I' I'd like to make a motion to amend the policy by removing the language after the words except as set forth in this policy. Um, electronic recordings older than 5 years may be removed from public publicly available district sources subject to one month notice to the board to the extent such records are otherwise archived and retained by the district for a period of 10 years. I want to remove that. Yes. Can you read exactly what you

077are going to remove? Except as set forth by this policy, electronic recordings older than five years may be removed from publicly available district sources subject to one month notice to the board to the extent such records are otherwise archived and retained by the district for a period of 10 years and keep the original language about board consent and keeping public records public. So since this is the first reading, will, you know, send us uh what you just said? We'll take a look at it. This is the first reading. Yeah. Wouldn't this go to committee? Like if it hasn't gone to committee yet, we it it did. This request? No, not this request. This policy went to personnel. We spoke about it and this is what we came up with. I know there's a motion on

078the table, but my I guess my question is wouldn't that request go to personnel and then get discussed and then personnel report back its recommendation? Did you just say that? I'm sorry. Yeah, since it's a first reading, we can take it back. Send us the language and then we'll take a look at I told you what the language is. Well, if we take it back to committee, it'll be at our next meeting for the first. So, might as well do this as first reading like like what AJ was suggesting to consider a revision between now and the second reading. Can we do a amendment at the second reading? Miss was not done with her comment. Uh so, a point of order. We have a motion on the floor. Is there a second? So, we can't

079discuss the motion without a second. Just little Robert's Robert Roberts rules. Steve, if you want to. You're correct. I resent my motion. Okay. So, it's going back to committee with the recommend with the recommended language. However, the committee will discuss it. Sorry, I'm looking at your right. The committee will discuss it and it comes back to the uh to the board meeting as second reading which won't be No, it'll still come back a second meeting. So, we don't have a meeting in that time frame. Okay. That's what I'm saying. So, it's not going to come back. Oh, you don't have Our meeting is in August. So, it's not going to come back until September. All right. So, we can table it for the next meeting, right? Yeah. Did the the first read the last time

080that we had it on the agenda, the first reading didn't pass the vote, and so that's why it's still first reading. So if the first reading passed there can be changes made between first reading and second reading. Um so is that that's where we are right but we'll have to table it from the right it can be discussed in the person. Was it voted on? Okay. Not yet. All right. But if it is okay we'll be looking to pass this and you can make amendments for the Consider amendments. Consider amendments for the but the vote now is as it stands. The vote now is as it stands. Any other comments? Point of information. Do we have the motion on the table on this yet? Yes. Okay. No, he rescended his motion to amend. Right. So

081the original motion to pass the policy pass policy 2519 has been made. So we need to vote on motion then the motion to amend was rescended. The motion is to pass this for the first reading. Correct. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Lumpsky, please call the role. Mr. Lee, yes. Mr. Cassuna, yes. Mr. Yoshi. Yes. Miss Lockin, yes. Dr. Lee, yes. Mr. Pepe, yes. Mr. Walker, yes. Miss Khalif, yes. Mr. Singer, yes. The motion passes. We're up to old business. Is there any old business to discuss? I have some old business. You have old business. Um, I want to just briefly kind of reflect on last meeting's conduct. Uh you know I think last meeting really really represented the epiphany of untransparent board conduct. Uh this idea that we basically have these backdoor discussions

082I think is not something that we should be doing as much as we do as a board. Um rather than going on and on um I just want to reflect on my reality and what I see. Um, you know, we were told that the academic committee last meeting had a two-hour long meeting. And during that meeting, only half a page of meeting minutes were drafted. Board members asked questions to our board attorney about what those discussions were, what was discussed, and why decisions were made. Um, and those discussions were tabled. Um, people in enormous numbers for whatever reason sent emails to the board over rumors apparently of what was going on presumably during a committee meeting uh that other board members honestly were not aware of. Uh I think can I say no no no

083no the discussion of 5756 honestly was really done behind closed doors during these committee meetings during which board members don't really know what's going on. Uh but it's true Jeremy we're a board that conducts its its business through committees that make recommendations to the full board that the board then acts upon. That is how we work and you'll see that when we come to the board evaluation and it says how do you work you work as a board by the whole or as a board by committee to suggest that we're doing having backdoor discussions because you didn't like how it came out. I came late here to this meeting sat down and there was lengthy questioning of the board attorney and lengthy discussion. So, I'm not sure what you're talking about in terms of backdooring

084or suggesting that there's not transparency other than trying to pander to some people. I don't really understand what you're trying to say. I'd like to I'd like to finish my remarks. I think you're being defamatory towards the entire board. I agree. I don't think you should finish your remarks at all. No. What? And I'm kind of I'm I'm a bit offended, honestly, because we've had long public discussions about this topic. We did, but they were tabled. They weren't people had questions on this board. They weren't tabled. We sat here for two and a half to three hours to listen and politely and thoughtfully listened to public comment, which by the time we even got to the part where we could discuss this policy even further. We were completely exhausted. We discussed this policy. We I

085I heard your position and I heard you out and I gave consideration. And if if I remember correctly, I also really pushed to have a discussion in committee about the policy. There's a point where you have to let it go. Can I speak? First of all, I want to finish. Okay. Chairman, no. I just I just want to share what my observations were and of the fact that I don't think that we should be basically tableabling discussions. you know, let the discussion play out. And I I don't think that happened at the last meeting. Dr. Lee, thank you. I think that uh uh last meeting did have a attempt to table a discussion. There was an attempt to table a motion that wasn't on the table. There was uh uh a uh effort to try

086to shut down a conversation. I think at the time that that was made, we were in committee report. we have a um a a process during our committee report to ask questions. That's why after each committee report there's a question ask is there any questions? And I think that process was exactly in order for that reason. Uh I agree with Mr. believe that the um the the shutting down of that conversation then prevented information from being disclosed to the public uh about how the committee reached their conclusion. There's questions that need to be asked that probably should be asked would benefit from the committee from a transparency standpoint. I concur on that sentiment if I could. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. So, couple of things, Jeremy. These were not your observations just now. You made accusations

087about backdoor dealings and other things. You didn't say anything about back door dealings. Yes, back door. I said there was you did there was a backdoor discussion. There was Okay. These were accusations. So, there's a difference between observation and accusations. Okay. And for you, uh, Dr. You know, the reason we moved the way we did is you kept asking the same question over and over again. I think probably two or three times you ask the same question over and over again. That's actually not true. It's not the same question. Yes, it is. And then when I have a list I'm going through. Hold on. Our attorney kept giving you the same answer. Okay. Now to both of you. Okay. for you two-hour discussion. Dr. Lee wanted a blowby-blow of two-hour discussion, okay, of what happened,

088why we came to this conclusion, you know, what was the dealings, what was the conversation of that. So then I'm going to ask you, Dr. Lee, okay, we just went through three, four months of negotiations, hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours worth of negotiations. Okay. If someone here says, I want to know exactly what you discussed in February, in March, in April, blowby-blow, were you or will you be able to do that? You're going to give a concise conclusion of why we came to that decision. Okay? And we will all trust you for it. But if somebody asks you to go blowby-blow from month after month after month of negotiations and what went into it, you will not be able to do that because we'll be here for days on

089end. Similarly, for two hours of discussion, we were not going to go blowby-blow of what who said what and why we came to that. We came to a conclusion and you have to accept that. That's how this works, right? So that that's what happened. So last time it wasn't that we were shutting you down, these are my words or anything like that because you kept asking the same question maybe in a different manner, but the questions were the same and that's why that happened. Mr. Pepe, can I respond asking me? Okay, but Mr. Pepe was waiting to speak. Yeah, I was just going to make the same point. It looked like where that was said. Look, when there are committee reports, there are always dis there's always a little bit of discussion, maybe a question

090or two. What it looked like we were headed toward was a list of the questions that we had sent to us as a committee beforehand and said we'll answer all of those again which would have been the same discussion that we had that we all sat here for two hours and it was a good discussion. I enjoyed it. I think everyone who was a part of it and contributed I had some of my questions answered but it wasn't the time or place to go through okay point by point by point by point. If every board member did that with every question they had asked to Mr. Joy's point we would have been here for for a long time. And if someone was going to make I I know that the committee didn't have any recommendations

091except taking off the uh changing the designation. If someone had made a motion at some point, there could have been discussion on that motion, but there was nothing before us. So if they So that's why I don't think that was the right place for that. I hate to shut down discussion, but that wasn't the right spot in the meeting. And that's why I supported that particular motion to move on and save it for new business or old business if needed. I'd like to Dr. Lee was waiting to speak. Go ahead. Yeah, I want to address directly what AJ was saying, what I was going to do because none of those actually played out. Uh I I think it's a little uh interesting that you projected what I was going to do. I had a set

092of questions. They're not repeated questions. I I'm going down a list of questions I will like to ask. I think that's uh uh useful to ask those questions in public and the public will benefit from knowing an answer to those. Um, but from your projection, what I was going to do of repeating asking the same question, that didn't play out. But they're not the same questions. So now, you know, I'd like to say something. Um, you know, I get it. Everyone here is pissed off that I said that people were having backdoor discussions. And you know what? Everyone is free to have their own opinion, and so am I. You know, I I briefly searched up the definition of what a backdoor discussion is. It's a private secret conversation that's used to discuss sensitive or

093controversial topics, especially when direct or open discussion is avoided. There was a closed discussion. The academic committee discussed this together without members of the public present. That's a backdoor discussion and I don't think that's transparent. And I I can concede that we don't need to know that bit by bit what everyone said. every um but and but we need to be thinking about whether or not we can be doing things in a more transparent manner. And I think having a two-hour discussion without members of the public present and making a decision whether or not to handle a policy a certain way is not the right thing. No decision was made out of at the academic committee meeting. The academic committee made a recommendation. They were asked to look at something. They looked at something. Four

094members of the board came to a decision as to how to respond to that. Excuse me. Are you going to interrupt me or not? The decision can only be made by the board as to how to deal with the policy. The recommendation from the committee was that no action needed to be taken. Okay. Okay. Well, he said the word back deal. I never said back deal. Back deal. Let's talk about how can I interject as the person who runs academic committee with AJ. Just to clarify and anybody could watch this in the video from I think it's February, could be January. whatever video is when this first came up about 5756 you'll remember because I was looking right across at you and I asked why we were taking this to committee because I suggested we

095kept it as a full board decision a discussion and this is why because and I went over and I talked to individual board members after the meeting and I said listen I'm not against having any discussion we can discuss whatever in committee but I said the problem is exactly this You're going to have some people in a discussion. All of a sudden, everyone else is going to say, you know, it's a backdoor discussion. And by the way, there's connotation, denotation. And in this particular case, when someone says backdoor, it also sounds like negative, like it's sneaky. And it wasn't sneaky because if I had had my choice, the whole thing would have been litigated publicly with board members and wouldn't have been in committee. So, just to be clear, that's, you know, kind of what

096happened here. Yeah. I've been I've been waiting to speak. First of all, um Miss Jones, uh I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking it back to committee and giving it the consideration and the thought and the time and the dedication that you put into it. And AJ too, um I I I think we need to remind a few people here that it was brought up there was a motion to abolish. It didn't pass, right? And then I asked for consideration of an alternative policy. Committee came back and said that they did not recommend any changes. That is how government works. You don't get to just keep throwing it in there or saying that the system was unfair because it didn't go your way. We had the discussion. I'm not done. Hold on.

097Relax. We had the discussion and it's time to move on. But there is something I actually do want to say. Um, I fully 100% support the district when it comes to sex education for straight kids, for gay kids, for trans kids, for any of the kids in between. And I wanted to make that comment because I think, you know, we've been talking about at risk kids earlier today. And that's what the focus of of having these kinds of educational um I'm sorry I lost my train of thought but but these kind of kinds of educational program is to reach those kids while also reaching the broader kids. So, I wanted to say that and again, I wanted to share my gratitude for having a district that considers that to be a priority. And again, we

098just really need to move on that like we have to move on. And I support this board. I want to thank thank Jan for the comments and I actually concur with all of what you said. Uh Steve said that there wasn't a decision. I agree because the board made the the board hasn't reached the decision by taking an action. The committee academic committee reviewed which I'm also thankful for. I concur with Jan for your effort in reviewing it. All right. So all I wanted to do is to ask a few questions. I hope that would have played out. I hope in the future uh community report questions can be entertained. It might take longer at some point, but I hope that process can continue to be honored without being shut down at some point. And

099then I also want to uh follow up uh with Steve's point that since our board hasn't taken a decision after the committee review, the committee review made a recommendation, it is up to our board to actually make a decision collectively. So now I think our board has like gone through a process, right? the academic committee reviewed and I was looking forward to an open and honest discussion here and then for a board to take informed decision. I think by now everyone has read the policy. Everyone heard a lot of people who came to speak. I think now is right time for us to make informed decision. Let's put this issue to to a vote to address and then in the future we don't have to bring it up again. So, I'll make a motion to

100repeal the policy. If it's is it referring to 5756 5756? I'll second that. Is there any discussion on this motion? Didn't we have this motion before? We sure did. Back in February. Yes. Okay. Dr. Lee, I'm going to limit this uh discussion to 20 minutes because we have a lot of other things that are also on our agenda today for I I'll limit it to a half an hour. So go ahead. I know but like we need to have the discussion. So please uh go ahead. Sure. Um so I want to I want to first of all speak a language of gratitude. I really appreciate everyone who came out to speak again to share your opinion to share opinion with your with our board. I want to appreciate our fellow board members like what um

101some of our residents have said. I appreciate your patience and during this during this um last couple months uh I've learned a lot. I want to I want to acknowledge the information that I received from our um community. Uh I went to attend the um uh workshop that one of our community member recommended uh in Hudson County. I spoke with various um members of the LGBT community. I hear what your concerns are. I hear what your thoughts are. And I also heard people who were transgender before their families. I heard people who weren't transgender and they were affected in certain ways. I heard families who had the heartbroken story of broken family relationship. I heard um former transgender kid who were affected negatively, emotionally and physically. I think that this is a approach that is

102not likely to be taken lightly. I want to read a excerpt from the newly published uh department of health report if I can. Um, the society has a special responsibility to safeguard the well-being of children. Given that the challenges faced by these patients intersect with deeply contested issues of moral and social significance, including social identity, sex and reproduction, bodily integrity, and sexbased norms of expression and behavior. The medical practice that have recently emerged to address the needs have become a focus of si significant controversy. Now given the nature of controversy, it only makes sense for the parents to be part of this process to be the safeguard and advocate for the children's health and well-being. There has already been policies in place to protect our students, all our students including policy 5512 and uh um

103the uh comprehensive act plan protection is there. The only thing that is in 5756 that's uniquely in that policy is the a protocol to social transition and the protocol uh specifying parental communication out of conscience of protecting our children for their welfare of both transgender identifying kids questioning kids or kids that's not I believe this policy does more harm than good. for that reasons out of compassion and love for our children in our district. That's the reason I move to repeal this policy. Thank you, Mr. I just want to make a comment on behalf of our current students and many of the students that came up to speak because students that came up to speak and current students all support having this policy in place. In addition, for those of you who don't know, we

104have students in our district right now who are experiencing mental health issues because of this discussion specifically. We have a student who was hospitalized two weeks ago for suicidal ideiations specifically because of the actions of this board and of the people that are coming to speak specifically. So our conduct is having direct ramifications on the mental health of our students right now. So on behalf of our students, not on behalf of the public or the parents or anyone else, our students, I respectfully request that we leave this policy in place and end this discussion for good. Sure. And um at at the risk of being openly mocked by a board member, I'm going to say this once more. We have to remember the law when we make these decisions. It's it's a tricky little thing

105called the law. All right? So, New Jersey has a a law against discrimination. All right? You you can look this all up on the Google machine. I've provided it to all the board members, right? The law against discrimination prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression. The the office of the aternal attorney general civil rights put out a publication on this for school districts. I've shared this with everybody. That's one thing that we have to keep in mind. Second. Okay. Uh, introduced March 6, 2017. There was a bill requires the Commissioner of Education to develop guidelines for school districts regarding transgender students. Signed by Chris Christie, 2016. Okay. Governor Murphy takes office in 2017. the commissioner of education comes out with this document called transgender guidance for school districts. You can find it. It's it's

106all right on the web. And then policy 5756, and this is what's so important for everyone to understand. Policy 5756 is not creating all of these laws and practices, etc. It is creating a policy based on the law, based on guidance that's going to keep this district out of hot water. So, yes. Am I getting emotional now? Yes. Because guess what? I would prefer to not be the central focus for the New Jersey attorney general. and you change the policy with the verbiage that you suggest, we will get a letter tomorrow from the attorney general's office and then everyone just forget about what we're doing for the next few months. So, I've said it over and over. If you have a problem with this, you're fighting in the wrong place. We're not setting the laws.

107The right place would be Trenton. That's where that's where the fight is. They give us guidance and as as a fid right part of the board's responsibility is to to act as a fiduciary for this district. We cannot just do things that haphazardly place the district in legal hot water to prove a political point. because honestly I don't have the bandwidth and I don't think the taxpayers out there want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars because again we're not talking about nickels and dimes here when the attorney general is is sending you letters. So just so we know that's the gravity of the situation. Okay, rescend. Yes, some districts have rescended this, but to change the language and require things that are against the law, we'll get a letter by the attorney general tomorrow

108morning because I know when Hanover did this, they had that letter by 9:00 in the morning. That's exactly why we're repealing it right now. That's why the motion is to repeal it. You you had mentioned parental notification that's in the policy right now. Oh, the motion is to repeal it for the exact talking about the board needs to know and the community needs to know the legal liability that some board members sitting at this table and some people who have gotten up in the public have said we should do. That's my job as a superintendent. Uh basically, you know, when you shoot yourself in the left foot to just pause, feel the pain for a minute before you shoot yourself in the right foot. That's what I'm trying to trying to do. Just think about

109what you're doing. And all of these things are in in the courts. And guess what? We're going to get decisions from higher courts. Why not just wait? That would be a rational thing to do. And that's been my suggestion the whole way. And I hope I'm saying this and I hope I'm not mocked as an unelected what? bureaucrat. Yes, I am an unelected bureaucrat, but I'm also the person who runs this district. And I'm also the person who's got to deal with the mistakes if we decide to do what's suggested by two board members tonight. I'm done. The districts who have repealed the policy are fine. They have not been sued. The verdict is closed. Let me finish. The verdict is clear that districts are free to repeal their policies regarding this and the uh

110policy is not mandatory which we have through months of discussion become very clear on that notion. It is entirely on this board's decision to keep this policy or not. It's not abundant. So out of the 560 some odd districts how many have repealed this? 164 594 16 have repealed it. So let's do the math. I think more are repealing. I don't think that's 16. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Out of 594, 16 have repealed it. As a board member, I have a duty to look out for all the kids in this district. All the kids. All of them. You sure? All the kids. Yes. I just all the kids. I believe this policy does more harm than good. Out of protection of all the kids, there's a reason to repeal it. Mr. Lman's been

111waiting to speak. So, I came to this discussion in the beginning in good faith and I heard you out and I spent my time and and my my inner fortitude trucking through policy to do justice by our discussions. and and now I'm I'm I'm forced to be publicly put in a position where I have to say the superintendent is right. This has turned into a political show. Like what started as like an earnest conversation. Go on. Has turned into a political show because you know that you don't have the votes. you know that from the first discussion you never had the votes and yet you're putting it forth again because you want to make a display of it. It needs to stop. It's actually gotten to the point where it's kind of offensive to the

112board who has worked diligently to be transparent, to have thoughtful discussion because why should we ever consider having a thoughtful discussion about another topic that you bring forth again if it's just going to get dragged out to the ultimate degree? Why? We were here having the discussion. It's time to move on. I think we all wanted to move on. I think the way to conclude that will be go through the board process. We start a board process that but but then we move on in February when we had this for start process. What what was the vote in February? I think at that time nobody was ready to for a vote. I wasn't ready for a vote then. All I asked for can we vote? All I asked for was a committee review. The motion

113is already there. Yep. Call the question. Call the question. It's called call the question. That's a second. I We're now going to vote on the motion to repeal 5756. Mr. Lumpsky, could you please call the RO? Mr. Lee, yes. Mr. Assuna, no. Mr. Jooshi, no. Miss Lan, I stand by my original vote. No. Dr. Lee, yes. Mr. Pepe, no. Mr. Walker, no. Miss Kistri. Um, so last time we did this vote, I abstained. Um, and the thing is after I didn't get to speak, so after all of this discussion, it's a really hard vote because there are parts of the policy I don't agree with and there are parts of the policy that I do agree with, which is why when we put this forward, we tried to have a conversation about it. So, at

114this point, I'm keeping my vote the same because I can go either way. So, I'm going to abstain. Mr. Singer, no. Am I correct in that the motion does not pass? Correct. Is there any other old business? Seeing none, is there any new business? Mr. Beers, I've got a happy story to share. Okay. About one of our Bridgewater graduates. Right. We'll change the tone to something upbeat. Think I know what this Ritan's finest look is a former um track coach, etc., Marco Langan, who is a sophomore at Villanova, actually a junior. Marco, if you've ever met him, he is one of the most driven. I I mean, I love the kid, but beyond that, he he came in third at the NCAA championships over the weekend and and was the first American the first American

115finisher. He finished behind two Kenyon guys. And if you take a look and look at the video, I mean, this kid is amazing where he went for it and he was in the lead in the stretch. And if you watch it, if you have time to take a look at it, watch the race and listen to what he says afterwards. He's an amazing kid. I really think we're going to see a lot from him down the road. He He's going to make a team someday. And just if anyone's a runner, he ran his last mile in the 5,000 401. That's like that's crazy, right? So anyhow, uh kudos to Marco. Kudos to his family. They're they're wonderful people. Well, I I believe his sister is graduating eighth grade uh tomorrow. So, I just thought we'd

116have a little uplifting news about a graduate as we leave here. That's great. Thank you, Mr. Beers. Is there any other new business? Dr. Lee. All right. So, uh there's some exciting reports I have as well. Um this morning I attended the picture assembly at the Hamilton school which was uh this morning hour 8 o'clock uh 8:40 the students from KU4 performed songs that is of American or Americana theme is a wonderful way to celebrate flag day and uh the sacrifices people made to enable our peace and our country that we enjoy and chase today. Thank you to Hamilton teachers, staff and all the students and families who attended. Uh I also attended a ribbon cutting ceremony uh for Empower Somerset. Empower Somerset is uh focused on mental health and I learned about a lot

117of great resources there and I hope that our school and our families can take advantage of out of program. One of them is the teens speak. It is intended to facilitate the conversation between kids and their parents. And clearly that's a stressor for family dynamic and kids mental health. So I hope that there's a um opportunity to uh to further utilize that resource. I'll send the information to our board and to our demonstration separately. And uh uh lastly um on May 17th I attended the 25 25th anniversary of the Bridgewater Chinese School. Uh I wonder if we all know there is a language institute that uh happens every Sunday afternoon uh in our high school and it brings the rich culture, diversity and heritage to the community and congratulations to the long history of service.

118Thank you. Thank you Dr. Lee. Anything else? Yeah, I just want to address something Lucy mentioned. We actually passed the resolution in November to use empower sense. They're actually in our district. It was a grant we received. Correct, Bob. It was a grant that they received to work with that. So, we have been engaged with empower previously and again. So, guarantee we're actually go we have a two-year um partnership with them and they um are doing our suicide um it's prevention, postvention, intervention. So as of this point all the administrators in our district have been trained and then all the crisis teams across all our different schools have been trained and then um so we also then trained sachs nurses um counselors separately from that and then next year we will have our fizzed teachers

119trained because they'll be implementing some of the curriculum. So that will be the prevention and then the post vvention and intervention. We, you know, already started that training. So yep, it's ongoing. It's great. I'm glad I I uh I learned that they do have this uh suicide crisis prevention with our program with with program with our school. uh I learned about is a teen speak and the uh first aid first aid uh training which I felt that I don't know if we have started doing that with with them yet. I feel like those are resources that they have grant to cover that hopefully we can expand some of that to more of our families and students. I just wanted to acknowledge that it was really great to hear from some of the educators about some

120of the programs that were going on uh particularly at Van Holton and Eisenhower. I obvious obviously I have students in the district and I can definitely uh affirm that they are in fact putting together incredible programs also around um character development which was was which was mentioned earlier. So, I just wanted to commend the district and the faculty and educators for their hard work and wish them a great and wonderful summer. Just uh just to piggyback off that sentiment as we come to the end of the year. I know we approve gifts every meeting. Just thanks to all the the teachers especially who I know are bringing things into their classroom for events like that for things for their students on a day-to-day basis whether it's you know napkins or prizes for the prize box

121and families who contribute as well but those are gifts that don't show up on our agenda that I know are um made from the heart and u go a long way to making our schools a place where kids want to be. So I know that I know that happens and uh thank you to all the teachers who do that. Yes. And to our PTO's and CSA, thank you too. Indeed. Just to piggyback on Jen's comments as well, a lot of times we get um emails from New Jersey school board about best practices and nominations. Um, but considering I know a lot of the kids are kind of just getting through these last two days that Van Holton had an educational event that was also a year in celebration, I think would be a great uh

122process or event for us to nominate as one of those best practices next time it comes up. And also, it wasn't mentioned, but the PE prom was this past Friday. And I only know from um Facebook, but I know so many people in our community donated uh from the Amazon wish list to make that happen. Like probably a hundred people. Um so, thank you to all of those people as well. Mr. Walker, did you have something? Yeah, I want to say it's been a good year. lots of I mean we focus on a lot of conversations here and whatever the conversations are but our students are doing amazing from the graduates to the to the kindergarteners we have amazing students and it's thanks to the staff the community we got two more days left the

123180 days Thursday day and a half thank you have a great summer you know enjoy recharge get ready for next year come to the off outing on June 10th, you know, a little July 10th, sorry. You know, so it's missed that. So, but it's been a it's been a wonderful year and thank you for everything that's done. I mean, we're making accomplishments. If you look by the facilities and all the things going on, thank you to the community for voting for the referendum. Thank you for the students. We've been amazing. Thank you for the staff. Thank you to the board. We have some great conversations. Sometimes too long, you know, but great conversations. All right. Um, if there's nothing else, we're going to move on to our close session. Uh, whereas discussion by the board

124is 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 negotiations and superintendent evaluation, whereas it is expected that the deals of discussion may be made public as soon as the issues may be acted upon publicly. Be it resolved that the board enter into close session at this time. Second. All in favor? Anyone opposed? No. Uh there will be no action taken other than a motion to adjurnn and uh motion to move to public session together.