001I'd like to call the meeting to order. And if you could just take a moment of silence, please rise for the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald News, Spurban Trends, The Record, The Messenger, West Milford Town Hall, the County Superintendent's Office, the Board attorney, Cable Vision of Warwick, and West Milford TV77, and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco, >>
002Mrs. Romeo >> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mr. Conklin >> here. >> Mrs. Dwyer. Mr. Gino. Mrs. O'Brien >> here. >> Mrs. Lockwood >> here. >> Mr. Stillman. Mrs. Van Dyke here. >> Dr. animal. >> Yes. Good evening and welcome to our August meeting. Thank you all for coming. We have a treat for the board tonight and for the community and for anybody watching at home. It is most assuredly baseball season here in West Milford. We have a wonderful group of student athletes here tonight. We're going to honor them for having a wonderful season this past summer. Uh in fact, their season probably just ended a short while ago. the Little League World Series that you see on television every night on ESPN, ABC. We were this close to getting there on TV.
003So, um, congratulations to our boys. Uh, congratulations to their coaches, parents, uh, grandparents, friends, families, etc. I'm going to read a couple of our highlights this year. And then, uh, Mrs. Van Dyke and I will present them with a certificate. Mr. Novak will help me out with the names. So, these are our 12U students. So, mostly all 12-year-old, might be an 11-y old mixed in there. Uh, but this group was the number one seed going into bracket play for the North Division of District 2. They wound up being district 2 champions out of the top eight teams in our district. They were section one champions out of the top four teams from each district in section one, which is only the second time in West Milford history this has been this has been accomplished. We
004were also the only team in the state to win the sections without a loss. We're a top four team in the entire state out of 230 teams that participated in the 12U Allstars. We hit 11 home runs in 16 games and outscored our opponents 122 to 56. An absolutely remarkable number. So congratulations to everybody. Uh Mr. Novak, can you give me a minute and then uh we have our sippies for you all. [Applause] Parents, feel free to come up with a photo. We're going to bring the boys up one at a time. Truman Kane number two. [Applause] >> Congratulations. >> Where's your somebody taking that planning? Bodie Hurl. Number three, [Applause] Ryan Alvarado. Number seven. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] >> Congratulations. >> Michael Perry number 10. [Applause] Yeah, good. Alex Rano number 13. [Applause] >> Turn
005around and get a good picture. >> Steven Trebley number 14. Congratulations. [Applause] >> Congratulations. >> Blake Tyver Bersie number 21. [Applause] Oliver Worththing number 27. [Applause] >> Mason Leaniv number 32. [Applause] >> Congratulations. Oh, wow. And you're 12. Okay. I'm in trouble. Luke Caval number 33. [Applause] Daniel Burke number 50. >> Congratulations. >> Daniel Sanders, number 96. [Applause] Did they pull your birth certific Thank you. >> Manager Matt Leiv for his solo shot [Applause] and coaches Evan Worththing and Mike McKenno. [Applause] >> Thank you very much. We're looking forward to seeing you on the big diamond next year. 6090. big jump, a lot more fun. So, congratulations again and uh good luck the rest of this coming. >> Yes. So, next up we have our we invited Dr. Ross Haber from Ross Haber Associates to
006present. Last spring or this past spring, spring of 2022, the board contracted with Ross Haber Associates to uh come up with an enrollment projection and build immunization studies. He is here tonight to present that to the board to the Now, >> while we're waiting for this to warm up, first of all, good evening everybody. And uh some of you may remember it was about maybe eight or nine years ago. I had previously done a study for this district in and that was the very beginning of uh the enrollment decline in the district which was heavily brought about by the Highlands Act which kind of cut any future development. So at that particular point there was some talk about closing one of the schools but it was my feeling at that point it was way too
007early to make that kind of decision. the board has brought me back in light of the fact that enrollment has declined so significantly over the last few years. So I want to make a presentation of my findings and certainly then be open to questions uh from the board or or anyone else. So, we'll start off first of all with um with this. This is a 10-year this is a 10-year overview starting with the school year which was the base year of the study. At that particular time in the enrollment in the district was 3,363 children districtwide. Okay. the opening of school 2021. This this past year, which was the end year of the historical projection, the enrollment was 3,51, which was a reduction of 312 students, which is, you know, rather large percentage for for
008a small district. Going forward and and that was a 9.28 uh 9.28% decrease. Going forward to the out year of the projection, which is 202627, which is the 5-year projection, uh the enrollment is projected to drop to 2,796, which is which is another 255 students. So over a 10-year period, the enrollment's actually dropped by more than 500 kids. And that is a very significant number. The rest of this shows numbers that exist in each of the the elementary schools, middle schools, and high school. At this particular point, you can see AUA dropped about 69 kids and is projected to drop about 12 more. Um, Maple Road uh was 55 in that 5-year period and it's uh going to drop about seven more. Marshall Hill will drop 19 but will pick up a few students based
009upon historical projection. and Paradise Null was about 20, uh, upper Greenwood Lake about three, uh, Westbrook about four, the middle school about 170, and the high school 64. Now, the interesting thing is that while the enrollment the enrollment is leveling out, but it doesn't indicate any kind of comeback in enrollment for several different reasons. Um, not the least, and I'll go to the next slide to maybe kind of bring it bring it uh to bring it into context. Obviously, no new construction because the Highlands Act, no large developments, okay? Nothing on property that doesn't exist as a residential property now. But if you take a look at the what the census said about the community over the course of the last 5 years, there's only been a very small change in population. Only dropped about
010255 children, not children, 255 residents. And what's that telling me is that people are not leaving the community. So, we're not seeing housing turnover. We're not seeing younger families coming in to replace, you know, empty nesters or people moving out. It just does not appear to be happening. And that's further reinforced by the fact that over the last 5 years, the median age in the district, median being the middle point, 50% of the residents above, 50% of the residents below has gone up almost two years. It's gone up um 1.9 years, which is a significant um jump because it's not indicating large birth rates. It's the fertility rates in a district go in a community go down as the median age goes up. And that's what's happening here. The rest of it is just general
011demographic demographic overview about changes in income uh which has increased over the over the 5-year period. Um the increase in in mean uh racial breakdown through the community seeing what changes have occurred. Um the the largest loss on a percentage basis is is amongst the white community. Well, large school was numerically. It's not on a percentage basis and other other groups are are are are growing in the community or so now this is going to be a little bit more difficult to see but you should have that this is the actual this is the actual what we call the cohort the cohort projection and the first six the first six rows are historical those are actual numbers and uh the the way and the way So what happens is understand pointer. Yes. >> Okay. Good.
012All right. The way cohort projection works in two ways. Okay. Kindergarten kids become first graders. First graders become second graders. And what we do is we track the growth the growth or loss of kids as they move from grade to grade. And then we come up with an average of those of those of those five changes. And that gives us the multiplier that gives us our projections going forward. Here kindergarten is projected a little bit differently. The way kindergarten is projected is this column of births projects kindergartens 5 years later. So these 2016 kindergartens students were actually born in 2011. So we take we track a measurement between ratio of kids who were born and kids who actually enroll in kindergarten. And that's what we use. We average that out over six year period, six
013kindergarten, first grade and that becomes the multiplier for for um for projections for kindergarten. So for example, this 2022 23 projection is based upon kindergarten projection is based upon children born in 2017 and so forth and so on. And that's how we get that's how we get to the projections. So cohort survival is based upon the multipliers moving this way. Kindergarten is based upon births 5 years prior to children entering kindergarten. And what this what this again is showing is showing that what the first what the first table I presented um indicated and that was the significant drop in enrollment. And again um even though there's some indications of stability, there's no indication of a reversal in the trend. So there may be over a period of time we may be stabilizing but stabilizing stabilizing
014where we are right now. So now let's go to the next slide. So some impact. So what we're looking at here is we're looking at the the numbers the capacity of the schools versus the number of the number of children projected out 5 years. So I'm taking a look at what's going to happen 5 years from now and comparing the capacity. So what we're looking at is for example APU has a greater capacity of 367 has 188 children in it. Um, and the total number of classrooms in the building is 24. And I'm only based on the utilization I did, I'm only showing one unused unused run assigned classroom. But that's deceptive. And it's deceptive because one of the advantages of a declining enrollment and an opening up schools that you wind up having classrooms
015available many different kinds of programs and places where you might have squeezed in kids before or had larger small groups if that makes any sense um with can go into much larger classrooms. The problem is though that so so that's what's going on. So it doesn't mean that these buildings are being used fully to capacity. It means that your principles are using it to their greatest advantage and that's certainly a positive. And by the way, just if you probably don't remember, most of you weren't even born when I came last. But um but but um I am my background is education. I've been I've been a school teacher. I've been a high school principal in my past life. So when I look at these things, I I kind of I take a look at them
016from a point of view of an educator. It doesn't stop me from making sometimes painful, painful recommendations. But the fact is I do understand that I'm dealing with children. I'm dealing with educational programs which is why I look at this the educator side says wow I don't have to put kids you know I've got the all this open space to deal with but that may not be as efficient or as economical as as one might think. When I look at some of the um and again there's the the more detailed the more detailed study. I'm looking at class sizes of 15, 14, 11, 16, and they're wonderful, but they're not efficient. I'm also looking at some grade levels that only have one section on a grade. And as a school principal, that would make me
017crazy because it gives me no options. So, I think that the good side of of of this is the very small class sizes, having the additional space. The downside, it's not economical, it's not efficient, and it's not mostly educationally sound. sometimes really small classes they sound good but they don't offer the kids as many opportunities or classes around you know 20 21 22 those are kind of optimal class sizes but and throughout the district the class sizes here are are are really really low so um so what I tried to do is make this presentation as short as possible um so that we can get some questions but let me just go up here so can you can you all hear me >> okay so I just want to read the rec the conclusion Okay.
018>> Oh, great. Thank you. So, uh, >> okay. So, um, each of the elementary schools are currently below capacity. We took the capacity by the way for the district practices indicated in the long range facility plan. One of the do one of the one of the uh, data forms I used was something called the long range facility plan which district has to file every 5 years. And in that plan, it indicates the number of classrooms, square footage of the classrooms, building capacities, and there's a state capacity and district practices capacity. I use the district practices capacity, which is a higher number and a better number than what the state uses. Okay. The district has low low average class sizes which while it's educational beneficial it may not be the most efficient um efficient use of
019resources both from both a faculty a facility and a and a staffing point of view. Okay. The majority of the classes in the school district majority of the schools excuse me in the school district have two classes per grade level. There are some schools with three on a grade level and a few grade levels in between scattered among that show only one section on a grade level and again not the best option in the world for for a school principal. Okay. The enrollment in the district as I said is continued to climb because of the Highlands Act. It doesn't appear that there will be any significant new housing or housing developments built in West Milford in the foreseeable future. It also doesn't because of the population shifts and some of the things I looked online
020in terms of home for sales and what have sold over the years that existing it doesn't appear that existing housing sales have offset the decline. Okay, they may do it a little bit going forward. Maybe that's a little bit why the leveling off is happening, but it's not shown any significant um offset to the enrollment decline. And it's uh projected and you look at the study that at least three of the elementary schools will fall below 200 students by the school year. So from from a point of view and not being critical of the educational delivery in this district which seems really good. Okay. The these numbers tell a story and something that needs to change. So what do we need to do going what what am I seeing going forward? Okay. Okay. Given the
021given the ongoing enrollment decline, it would be prudent for the board to consider repurposing one of the elementary schools and having five K5 schools in um in September 2023, a year down the road. After reviewing the floor plans and the structure of each school building, it would be feasible to consider repurposing Westbrook Elementary School. This building could serve several purposes including but not limited to expansion expansion of special needs programs uh location of program directors and location of the child study team. Uh again the way this building this building is not was not built as a standard um elementary school. So it has more of an opportunity to be repurposed than any of the other schools. And also Westbrook and Maple Road are two schools that are central to the community. They're not peripheral. So
022they kind of the easiest to manage in any kind of change. Okay. Uh the uh okay in considering the in considering the reduction to five elementary schools, it's going to be necessary to examine the attendance zone and student locations to determine the least disruptive means of relocating students to a neighboring elementary school. So what we don't want to do is we want to torpedo kids out, cherrypick. We want to find clusters and way to move kids so they identify with the community. And based upon the propo based upon proposed amended attendance zones, an analysis of the impact on transportation can be assessed. Virtually every child in this district is transported. What we don't want to do is do something that creates increased costs for the school district. So we want to take a look at
023that whole bucket. One, choice of a school to be closed. to what the attendance zones might look like to balance out the schools to get the best, you know, bank rob each of the school buildings, the many sections per grade level, that kind of thing. And again, what's the logistical impact, the impact on transportation? So, that's an overview of what I've done and what I've done over the last couple of months. And I'm more than happy to answer questions from the board. That's fine. Okay. Um I guess first I we we'll go to the board members and then we're going to open it up to I think I'd like to open it up to the public. Uh Debbie >> um where did you get the information for population median age median income and >> US
024census 2020 census all the data in that in that demographic section comes from the US census the dennial four. Any other questions, Courtney? Um, we got a full report. We got a full report, Dr. paper and in one of um the things I read you said it is projected that at least three of the elementary schools will fall below 200 students by the 2026 2020 which three schools >> below every paradise null and upper bree UGL. >> However, you also said in your report that in Huitt there was approximately 224 children under the age of five. So wouldn't those be school age children? >> No. PreK separate categories. Not every prek child makes societ. We don't know really that's we don't know really what's going to happen. One of the one of the issues remember
025I told you I'm doing report kindergarten projection based on birth five years earlier. Well, we do a sixyear average six year average. We do that because we know not every kid born attributed to a community that's going to going to go to school. So those variances okay are are for kids who may be prek kids you know who may be one or two or 3 years old but who may move to go to a private school those kinds of >> but there is more population of school age children in Huitt than any other area of milk is that what your report was indicating no no just trying to understand Have you think that? >> I know. I was trying to figure out what I was reading. Thank you. Is um any other questions from the
026board me? >> No, you got >> No, I All right. So, what I'm getting here is we're going to potentially close, right? And then possibly bring the Highlander Academy here. Is that what's >> that's what the recommendation >> that's what recommended. So how many people are how many students are in the Highland Academy about two dozen. >> So all right so we're going to close this to bring two dozen here. Would you be able to expand the amount of kids that go? So in our special education restructuring committees, we've had two meetings and in both of those meetings, it has been discussed with the possibility to if whether it was Westbrook or any other building that we could move our program into the school. One of the suggestions that has come up over the two
027committee meetings is that possibly we expand that program to middle school as well. possibly having another suggestion was possibly moving some of the high school programs into the into a building as well. But I feel like that still needs to be further flushed out or further discussed with that committee looking at I like that's I feel like that's a pretty we're still at the very early stages of that because we were really waiting for this that committee that I've been working with. We were really waiting for this study to come through and then meet again and kind of discuss some of those at the next step. I believe too that the committees still have to meet after this because this is just presenting it to the public. It's going to be a decision by the
028board whether or not >> Sure. Um I just wanted to kind of dovetail on what Mr. Conklin's saying. Um Highlander Academy is currently in a leased area that's costing us about $100,000 a year. So, we're looking at economic efficiencies due to the losses in state aid and it doesn't um it it's creating a problem for us to continue to pay that money. So, that is another reason why we're looking to redistribute the student population. I I I just want to keep going back to where I I feel like we also need to understand that this is all being laid out and it's all part of the discussion. There is not going to be a vote tonight. Um we're going to continue to discuss it, but it's we feel that we need to be transparent with
029the public and understand what we're looking at. We are looking at financial constraints here because of loss of state aid and the fact that you know 15 in a class is not when you look when the state looks at you that's not feasible. It's like you know you can't say on one hand you need more money but you only have 15 kids in a class. So, we're we're realistically looking at it. I think some of the re some of the reasoning that this building's coming into play is because of the campus because we're on the campus of the high school and the middle school. So, the, you know, that's where it's coming in, I would say, right, Mr. Neighborhood, because of where we're located to. >> I'm sorry. >> Where this building is. >> Absolutely.
030It makes the most sense, >> you know, and the fact that it isn't it isn't like the rest of the other elementary buildings. Um, I'll go to Ray and then I'll come to you, Kate. >> So, I know a number of years ago they talked about the whole idea of possibly closing the school and that didn't happen. And now we look at it, things are different because we basically moved a whole elementary school into Makipin now, right? I mean your numbers kind of show that Macin I think went up to 700 and something from 550. So just doing the math it's it's about the number of an elementary school. So I get it but back to you know $100,000 the whole idea is we need to save money. So how much like what additional dollars
031are we going to save besides moving Highlander Academy? Is there a general sense? >> I think that's part of the work from this point forward. So I think step one would to have Dr. Haver present to the community. Uh we plan on posting his presentations tomorrow in our website where the uh district restructuring minutes and agendas are. So getting it out to the whole community. We wanted to do this tonight to give everybody a chance to sink their teeth into it. Of course, it's a recommendation. It's nonbinding. We still have work to do. The plan is to continue to do that work September, October, and hopefully have a final recommendation to the board prior to the end of the calendar year. Okay. November, December. So, it'd be hard to give a exact number, but there
032is work to be done. >> That's why I said general sense. We know $100,000. Obviously, the school will probably close sooner than most of the others were. They're open till later on tonight and so forth. So, there's some energy savings and you're probably not going to use the entire school. Maybe you can repurpose other areas of the school for other things. >> Well, it's been the the subcommittee meeting started off I think we announced it very broad discussions because we didn't know which direction we were going to go in and we discussed a lot of different options. There was really no a lot of brainstorming I guess to start and now we're kind of getting further in the process. the focus is becoming more on, you know, are repurposing Westbrook school. So, I think that
033gives us a a starting point for the next committee meetings to dig a little deeper into this recommendation. >> I I think that also there's a third component. Um, Mr. H, Dr. Haber has done the um enrollment projections and he's done the building utilization and now uh you need to look at transportation and that's um on the agenda for the board to consider approving him to do the transportation study and that goes along with what Mr. Gotly had said in our initial transportation meeting that um you know there's programs out there that can redistribute our population based upon where the the students are and that's basically the third component of u of decision-m process. >> I think one of the reasons for going with Mr. Haber on for going with Mr. labor on that. I
034think having lived through redistricting once, I think that having an outside third party takes away any like this is my neighborhood or this is my friend because that's what a lot of happened in redistricting last time something the lines were a little odd. So I I I myself feel that if that's the route we're going to go, we need to definitely have a third party handling that. Kate, go ahead. You had your handle. So, I have a few questions. That was one of them. Um, thank you, Barbara. I guess for covering that, I believe that's number four under operations and finance for $9,000 to do a redistricting study. So, in that study, Dr. Haber, you would be telling us in your professional opinion which neighborhood should go to which elementary school. >> Yeah, I'll be
035providing the data to make a good decision. I'll be providing maps and different you know different options and different you know and I think that I think that you know assuming that we go with this I'd like to get started on it almost immediately so that when you guys are ready to make a final decision you have all of the data including that nothing is hung out make decision on the school make decision on the attendance zones got input from the community which is incredibly important in this process uh have met a couple of times and going uh and going exact with um full knowledge approach and again I I as an outsider it's like I what is it like a horse in this rings I I run out of expressions this point it's not
036whatever it's okay >> no skin in the game there >> my next question is do you ever for districts uh look at the financial savings and tell them you know yeah if it was Westbrook you would save this much and here's why but if it was aua you would save this much and here's why or is that something >> well the areas by definition okay by definition if there's a cost factor in terms of transportation plus or minus I can say you're going to have to transfer x more x more students at this cost per student um the other areas that might uh that might come to my baywick in terms of estimates of staffing costs okay is there going to be a reduction in staff is there going to be increase in staff staff
037going to remain the same so it's and I I don't know because I haven't done it yet So it's on the broad sense in terms of aid when I present these numbers that that becomes Barbara's ape clip. Um in terms of um what what if any kind of um costs are going to be in repurposing a building. Okay, that's something that we talk if if that's necessary, we talk about with architects. talk about with those that have an inclination as to what the cost would be in terms of a dollar for-doll tax increase or tax decrease or whatever that would be beyond my >> and um I you know in your report it has Westbrook and to quote you a few minutes ago you just said it makes the most sense. Um, I've heard many
038community members say, um, that would make the most sense because it is closest to the highway. And so if we were going to put our alternative 6 through 12 school into a building and possibly bring in some revenue, having it closer to Kennalon and Morris uh, county and some other things, that would be a better option. whereas I think everyone's very stuck on it being here because it's on the campus. Um can you discuss maybe why in your report it says Westbrook and not Ashua or another building? >> Well, just addressing a couple of things you said. First the three obvious or the two obvious got in the high school and this located so it could open up the programs more more readily to those particular schools. Number two, uh number two, uh taking children
039from taking any group of children from this area to actual would increase transportation would be further distance. Okay. The third thing in terms of addressing the issue of being able to open up programs to neighboring school districts that could be very beneficial to you financially and it could be very beneficial educationally to those districts and arranging transportation is they're done. So that so so if if Kenan has to travel an extra 10 miles I I don't even know what it is but extra 10 miles that's their dime not yours. I don't that that's just reality. Uh and this and again going back to the other thing this just the structure of the school building um really lends itself or the structure of other schools road whatever lends itself more to a standard elementary school than
040this building does. So it's not you know and listen I can tell you this everybody loves this school and I know there are people who love this school and don't want that to happen. I I you know I feel for that. There's no fun. There's no pleasure in doing stuff like this. I mean I remember the the um uh some of the pain of some of the recommendations we talked about years ago but and we didn't have to deal with them but I think at this particular point >> well I mean personally I have a lot of horses in the game. I have a family member at every elementary school as you all know and you will always hear it from me. So this hurts someone in my own life and obviously our community. I
041just want to understand, I mean, why it's one and not another. Um, and I want to know why it was your professional opinion. And I want to be sure that it wasn't the opinion of someone else, that it's yours and why it's yours. That's what I'm just trying to get at. >> Listen, yeah. No, I I you know, it the recommendations come from me based on data and based on observation, based on experience. So, thank you. Any other questions, Courtney? I have something to say tonight. I have a heavy heart. Westbrook is a family, as all of our elementary schools are in West Mulber. I'm disappointed in our administrating administration for knowing the state funding would be less and less each year and not doing more for our community to prepare us. I'm sad for
042our children, specifically the rising second, third, and fourth graders. These students have experienced the trauma of a pandemic and everything that went with that. Yet tonight, we are listening to the recommendation to close one of our schools. This will give these children more trauma to experience in their young lives. You will tell me kids are resilient, they'll be okay, and maybe that's true. But you know who's not resilient anymore? Moms. Moms can't take much more. Moms who have lost loved ones over the past 2 and 1/2 years can't handle another loss. Moms who have lost their jobs can't handle another punch. Moms who had a baby on their hip and a toddler at their feet while working virtually can't handle one more thing. Moms who are managing their households, jobs, and helping their children navigate
043virtually don't want another change. Moms have relied on their child's elementary schools to be a safe place, a constant, a community, and you are all recommending to take that away from them. Tonight, I ask these moms to start making some noise, to stand up, to speak up, to tug at these board members heartstrings. This administration has known for six years that their state funding would be decreasing. They could have redistricted many years ago. They could have moved board offices into other school buildings. Now that the sixth grade is at Makapin, the elementary schools have room for the superintendent, business administrator, and secretaries. The director of education could have an office at the high school. The director of special education could be at Marshall Hill or Maple Road School, where many of her special classes run
044out of. The board office could have been turned into Highlander Academy for its 10 to 15 to two dozen students. The transportation supervisor, dispatcher, and secretaries could be working out of one of the school buildings. The drivers could have the main trailer. We don't need to spend more money on buildings. These are just my ideas, not those of the board or administration. Whenever a board member like myself has tried to make a suggestion, we are told we do not run the school district. We are merely here for policy, procedure, and evaluating the superintendent. My ideas are my own, but they are not that abstract. However, they make the administration uncomfortable because that would mean they would have to move. If after all that, it was still fiscally responsible to close a school, then no kindergartener,
045including my own, should be starting at a school that is on the chopping block. If we are doing this right, it would be done over a six-year period with no kindergarteners starting at the school, then no first graders, and so on. If the administration had forethought, some of this transition could have been done during CO, which probably would have softened the impact of a school closing. However, none of that has been discussed. What has been discussed in the restructuring committee is to redistrict and closing close an elementary school all at once. How do we do what is fiscally responsible without destroying a school community? That is the question that I am not sure how to answer, but it is time for this community to voice their concerns. Whether your neighborhood school was recommended by Dr.
046behavior or not, you need to be asking what will happen to your favorite teachers or principal. Where will your children go? How many children will be in your child's next classroom? How many are in there this year? What about your older children coming back to their elementary school? If a school is closed, there can no longer be a senior walkthrough in any elementary school. Is closing one elementary school even enough to save the 2022 2023 budget? If a school is not closed, then what should be cut? Tonight, I wanted to walk out and resign from this position. I am so upset with how this is being handled. I have lost sleep and worried non-stop. It's just all too much for somebody who's just a volunteer. And then I remembered why I wanted to join the
047board event in the first place. I wanted to be here for this community. I am here because you voted me in. And you voted me in because I said I would never vote to close an elementary school. I stand by my word. Even though it would be much more comfortable to sit in the audience with all of you, I am here on this side and I can guarantee that I will be your voice when it comes down to the voice to the vote. Now it is your turn to start making some noise. Anyone else have anything that says I would just like to clarify one piece. Um, Miss Stevenson, I respect what you're saying and I'm not going to debate or have a conversation about some of the points that you made, but I do
048feel that for the public, it's important to at least clarify that the 26 students that are at Highlander Academy have social and emotional disabilities. And we can't, the county would never approve those students being placed in a board office building. those students have value and the and the county special education department would never approve for them to be in an office building. They have to be placed in a school. The reason why Queen of Peace was approved with the county, which was prior to me getting here, but took a lot of going back and forth and modifications, is because it was a building that was utilized for a school prior, but you you would not be able to just put them in in another building >> at our county, I should say, the county. something.
049>> I think just to clarify, I took what Courtney was saying as you could have made saved money in other ways and she was giving ideas. So, of all the things, the first thing I want to say is thanks for not resigning. >> Um, and I I guess right now that's really it. But I I didn't take exactly what she said, >> how you did, Liz. I think she's just saying there's other options. There's other ways we're going to No, but I'm not I just want to say I'm not I didn't I didn't take it in a bad way. I just want to make sure that the public knows that we can't put those students in an office building. I don't want that to come up in any of the committees thinking that that's an
050option. >> This is that's not what this meeting is for. This meeting is to get some of these ideas out here. No decisions have been made. No one wants to do anything that's going to change the lives of these young people. And I understand that people maybe there were things that should have been looked at prior. However, I I think that the community and not that it was said verbally, but in in some people's mind once we moved the sixth graders, unfortunately, COVID hit and I think that would have been the next conversation. I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for myself as a board member. I thought that that was going to be the next place where we went. However, 3 years later, we're not there because of the world. I I totally understand
051being a mom and exactly what you said. And unfortunately here, we are we're we have to make hard decisions that none of us want to make. And you're right, we're not paid. We're volunteers. We're doing it because we care about the community that we're in. And I totally sympathize and I don't want to do it to anyone. But I also feel the financial push. And I I I actually, you know, this if I could not make this decision, if we could not make this decision, I would be the first one that would get on that train and say, "Let's do it." But please don't feel that any person that's sitting around this table is taking one student or child for granted or like saying they don't matter because they do and we all feel that
052way. I'm a grandma. I worry about my babies every day and wherever they are. So, I I I don't want you to feel you're alone, but also know that we feel I I think I I can't speak for each one, but I feel that unfortunately this is a a a decision that we have to make, not one that is one that we're pushing because we think this would be great. I don't think anybody sitting here thinks this is like the best option was perhaps because none of us want to impact the lives. Sure. I know you're speaking on behalf of the board on behalf of the administration. This is not we've lost the tilt. This is not what we want to do. This is not what our passion is. Uh my passion is curriculum if
053you will. I enjoy reading it. I used to enjoy writing it. You know, many jobs ago. Dr. McQuay's passion is special education. Mr. Novak obviously curriculum assessment. We all have our things that we enjoy doing. This is not what we enjoy doing. It's our duty to look at this and it's an important uh sense that you know that the concept of duty is what we have to do even if we don't want to do it and you're not the only person who's lost sleep over this. So we are here because we have to be here and we have to discuss this and eventually make a decision. So I'm parent two. I have four children and I empathize with you. I'm pleased with everybody. Um, this process is not yet complete. We still have work to
054do. Um, it's not where we want to be, but it's where we are. And, you know, we will get this job done. Uh, and it won't be to everybody's liking, but we will we will do our duty. There aren't any more comments from the board. I I I if the board is okay, I think I would like to open up the public comment only for this topic. >> I'm totally good with that. >> So, do I need a motion? >> I I I would keep it to five minutes because that's necessary. >> Excuse me. >> Sure. >> Okay. I like to make a motion to allow public comments on the topic of the school closing or reorganization. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Um, anyone wishing to speak on
055the topic of school come forward. Well, it's 1953 MacP. So, first and foremost, thank you, Mr. Haber. I've known over the years. You've done quite a job at preparing all the information that the board needed in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. So if you're sitting at this table right now, you are a part of the reason why things didn't move forward. If you're a parent, it's also part of everybody's responsibility to have known that we had state gate cuts that were detrimental that were going to affect future generations. Once a school is chosen to close down, that doesn't solve the problem and that doesn't end the woes. then you're going to end up losing talented teachers. That's the next step. So instead of thinking along the lines of are we going to create this newer
056program or renovate a program that's in existence to build it up to make up for the state aid loss? Probably not. Numerically that's not going to work either. the blaming of the pandemic, as unfortunate as everything was, that really to me doesn't make sense. I don't know if it does for anybody else because it seems like you could walk and chew gum at the same time. And it's really sad to see that everything has to move at a fast click to restructure the district. It really is sad. And that's not to blame to blame the administration. That's unfair. It's not just their fault. It's everybody's fault. I sat in that table. I'm at fault, too. You know, we're all accountable in this. And it's a matter of making the right decisions, approving things like operations
057and finance number four, and continuing that process. And to point fingers at this stage and to say we need to raise our voices and fight back. What are you fighting against? That time is coming fast. And I respect everybody's position here, but think forward, work together. You want to fight for something, fight for making the best change and contributing to making that best change. I hope that you can fight through the heartstrings of being tugged and the practical solution is the result. So with that, God bless you guys. Thank you for what you do. It's not easy. So, >> thank you. >> I'm fill this out over here. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? >> Mr. Godly Wayne Godly, 20 South Richfield Road. I'm going to join the short parade of former school board members
058coming up here to strongly urge you to vote for item number four under budget and finance. I would take issue with a couple of things that have been said though as regards our loss of school age population. I don't blame that on the highways act at all. When I was on the board, we had 4566 kids here. I think was a high water mark. I know that because I just got around a few months ago halting all of the board materials that I was holding in my house after 10 years. And I when you guys quit, there's a really good outfit in our symphony that will do that at a reasonable price. So it was 4566. Now that number, the Highlands Act was in effect then. And we had a third or half 50% more
059kids in this district than we do now. As someone who worked in commercial site location for retail and baking locations, what happened was that people of childbearing age just decided they didn't want to live in a place like West Milford. They didn't want to be exurban and they didn't want the black bears. You think we have it bad? Look at Sussex County. They were decimated for the same reason. And that behavior may change in the future. childbearing age parents may come back here. We may go back up to 4500, but what Dr. Haber is telling us is it's not going to be too soon when that flips. Um second thing is if you approach this as an analytical problem which it is and back when my hair was dark and there was more of it
060I actually studied the way you solve these problems and it's using something called linear or integer programming what that does Romeo because you were asking a good question is try to optimize the solution given the constraint that you have. So in our case, what we're dealing with is the cost of educating kids and then the cost of transporting kids and our our best solution just on a quantitative basis to them putting in human factors will have the lowest total cost of educating and transporting. So uh I worked as a professional analyst for many years. I'm not going to tell you the answer before I do the work. That's not what analysis is about. So the beauty of analysis though using the kind of tools that we have and Dr. behavior. I saw you saw me
061talking to him before and employ here is you can run various scenarios. You can simulate things. You say some people want to see actual you know used by people in Canada. Okay, you can say that'll be the one we close. Let's see what happens and then you're going to find out a total cost of educating and transporting kids if that building is closed. If you say let's repurpose this building and you know Maple Road is a mile at the end of my finger there so it's not a big deal. You run another scenario that tells you what the total cost of educating and transporting kids if this building is repurposed. So once you get those quantitative values you can then say okay let's now mix in the human impacts here. And I think if you
062do that, um, you're going to get to the the best solution you can you can get. I agree with President Van Dyke. We can't, you guys swore no to support the state constitution. That constitution says we're going to have a thorough and efficient system of free public schools in your state. So thorough and efficient. TE has got to be the way that it is. And this the commissioner of education is going to say, "Okay, you guys say you're trying, but you still have 15 kids in a class." As President Van Dyke said, "That ain't going to fly." Now, Brother Brown tells me before the meeting, and it's on your agenda, you're trying to get 2 million and change of what we might call emergency supplemental aid from the state. My my former counselor tells me
063you probably get that. you get that once and you go back to the well multiple times if you're not showing some movement in the right direction. There also has to be money available at that time. There's only money available now and you can't and I can't promise you that you'll get all of it or any of it if it's out there. >> So the bottom line here is you are where you are. Don't be blaming the administration for this. Dr. Hanimu did not drive child age caring parents out of this town. they left because of whatever reason they just didn't want to be here. They want to be closer to the action. U so you got to do what you got to do and >> thank you. >> My experience with two step kids is
064kids are very resilient. You know in the normal progression going to school you go from >> I got to kind of stop. Okay. But thank you. I wait for >> uh anyone else wishing to speak. >> Okay. Uh Monica Church uh Beach Haven Road in Huitt. Um at this point we're out of time. Like I don't really give a crap if whose fault it was. Why are we here even happened? Who cares? A change needs to happen. Um, I know it sucks thinking about closing a school and um, but letting emotional ties keep us from moving forward is not going to help our district. So, keeping a small subset of parents happy for their kindergartener, I get that emotional tie. My kids got screwed out of field day. My sixth grader, I felt like she
065grew up in 3 months due to the pandemic. But in terms that, keeping a small steps out of parents happy is going to screw over our high schoolers because limited funds means limited programs and those those older kids are just going to leave and go to other schools. ECTI, we all know um that's all over there. So, I'm just sick of the pointing and the blame calling and this should have happened here. Co screw up screwed up all of us. My own job. I don't even work in education. Everything got screwed up. So, we got to get over it. Move on. I don't think closing a school will be the only solution or repurposing. Other stuff will have to be done. And it sucks. It it totally sucks. But, um and I'll be honest, I
066personally have no no part in the game at this point. So maybe I feel differently, but at the same time am I look back are colleges looking at my kids elementary career or they're looking at they're looking at their high school. When my kids get older, are they going to look back at their years of of elementary? Yes, to a point, but they're really looking more about their high school experience, their middle school, and you think back of what made you grow. Obviously, it's everything. But going on and on about about, you know, my you know, kindergarters, we have to have a six-year transition period. That's ridiculous. But you we have to make a change. We're out of time. Warwick, Vernon, they've all closed school. My mother-in-law went to Hillrest. She's fine. Driving up. She's
067fine. But it happens. So, please just move forward. I'm on the restructuring. I'm on one of the committees. Join those committees if you can. When there is an option, I think not enough parents come out here and and but I've been part of those meetings and parents speak up. Teachers speak up, which is awesome. The teachers are there giving their opinion. They're really involved. All the board members are on these committees and I know every single board member here, even though I might not agree with them, I know they they care and that's why they're here. But we have no choice anymore. We're out of time. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I think one of the things that I want to say about the committees is one of the reasons that the administration and
068the board put the committees together is to give everybody a chance to give their input because you know it it is it's going to be something that's going to be make a major impact in our district and I think that everybody sitting around here and I clearly the people that are sitting in the audience know that this is a decision that has been thrust upon us, not something that we're just pulling out of the sky. It's been in the talks and everything else. And I do appreciate everybody's opinion and we appreciate the fact that people are coming out to the committees. Um, anyone else wishing to speak? If not, I need a motion to close. Make a motion to close. Would this be public comment or what would this be? This is this is the
069first public comment. >> Okay. The first public comments. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> We'll clear this out. The first public comment. >> Uh it's the How about special public comment? Thank you. >> Okay. Let's put special. >> Thank you. >> I like special. >> Moving on to the director of education, Mr. Novak. Thank you, Mr. Haber. I'm sorry. I should have said that. I apologize. Thank you, Dr. Se. >> I think we will see you again. Thank you. >> Notice I shifted my chair a little bit. We just think it's going to be >> Have a good night. >> I'm sorry. >> That's right. Thank you all. Um I should have requested to uh do this before the before the presentation. We little shifting gears now. Um so I I did
070not uh prepare a PowerPoint for a single slide that we would have rather than shift everyone around. Um but I am going to I did share a page with all of you for and it is available for the public um priority agendas. Um the high school's AP score results last year. Um this will this particular uh slide will also be included in our uh October testing presentation when we present on NJSLA and and some of our other uh data points. Uh but I did want to point out that our um percentage of total AP students with scores of uh three or above um went up um about 11%. Uh we saw a I guess a pandemic low with you know and conversation tonight is not to blame the pandemic but we did see a uh
071during the hybrid year our students um AP scores was was lower than they were traditionally. Uh it's nice to see that we've uh bounced back and that our uh percentage of students are are performing and passing the AP exam is um you know around our traditional numbers. So that that was a positive. Again, I'll have a more in-depth um part of this presentation when we do our testing and this will be part of the um the slides when we talk about NJSLA at our October meeting. >> Um >> before you go, I do have questions on that. >> Um how many AP classes are offered at the high school? you offer 23 and I don't have the um program or studies available in >> and in those 23 are you including you know capsu and
072research is that included in the 23 >> no I don't believe so we it exists on our in our program of studies >> in our program of studies but it's not a currently running program >> here we go we cannot even discuss anything about this district and how our numbers and I say this every year and this is so important. There are 37 possible AP courses. If we're offering 23, that's not a good number when we get in the US News and World Report. I'm sorry, but we need to offer as many as we possibly have. I know we have two teachers at the high school that went through the training for AP research and AP capstone and I know that that class isn't always a popular because it's a very high level student that
073takes that class. So sometimes and some schools run it with three or four students. But what that does then for their school number and when people are looking to buy a home and they see, oh my gosh, West Milford, look, they used to be this number and all of a sudden in New Jersey now they're such a better school. Why? Because they're offering more AP classes. It's part of the formula. Please, please, please offer as many as you possibly can every year. It matters down to the bottom dollar, down to how we're graded, when your kids are looking for college, when you're everything. It matters for every student in our whole district. Um, how many AP classes we offer and every school counselor and every teacher, you find me for this later, let every kid
074that wants to take them take them. Don't say, "Oh, you didn't get, you know, above a 90 or whatever." The more students that we have take them again, the better it is in our school formula, the higher number we'll have. When US News report and everybody else reports where schools are on the ranking, we will move up the leaderboard. Sorry, I'm going to say it every time I can get a plug in there. AP courses matter for everything in our district. Thank you. >> So, we Sorry. Uh, next item. I was just going to comment on our >> I'm sorry, Greg. Go ahead. I >> So, I know that this has been brought up before, but I think that maybe an opportunity we have is that that combination of AP and honors. Gosh, I think
075Will that brought that up even many years ago. >> Steve, go. >> Steve. Yeah. Uh, it does make sense because again, declining enrollment. I'm looking at the number of AP students we had. Maybe there's opportunity for if if AP honors, if that was basically the same class, it would give the student the opportunity to take the AP test or not take the AP test if they chose to, right? It also might increase the class size. It might not for capstone which is three students but if we have AP chemistry and honors chemistry just as an example and if there's five AP chemistry students and six honors chemistry students maybe that can can be a class that's together. I don't I guess chemistry is on my mind right because we'll see we'll talk about that later.
076>> Yes we will. >> So I just again just trying to find ways to kind of make it >> it's hard to run single digit classroom classes. It's it's mentally >> and again you think about teacher I I'm just thinking about those >> you're saying combined so the numbers a little higher >> and he doesn't have to take an AP test right >> we encourage them to do that >> right we you know I can at our next committee I can bring back um all of the research that we did because this question has come up many times about why we don't currently offer concurrent um honors and AP classes in the same And I think what you're doing to offer the college classes, right? Like you've started that. I think that'll probably continue to
077take off and grow as we get the teachers that are breaking certified to to teach those college level classes. How do we react >> for the dual enrollment? >> Well, yeah, dual enroll. I don't have my >> Yeah. So like right. So those are good things. >> They work handy glove. I think the AP is one for one student, maybe dual enrollments for a different student, >> right? >> Some students may do both. >> That's right. >> But if you can hit multiple groups, >> you know, and the open enrollment thing, I think Kevin, you mentioned you're saying let anyone in. It's just open enrollment program for AP. >> Yeah. I look, teachers don't love that, you know, it's difficult. You have to really be able to differentiate the instruction. you really have to know,
078you know, but these are highlevel teachers. These are highlevel students. Um, you know, but you open it up to some, you know, average students possibly or above average students rather than just the elite is AP in West Milford. You know, I've worked in a district that will not say where, but AP did not mean advanced placement. Our superintendent came in and said it means all people and every student will go into AP classes. And then the next year we were all over everywhere. We wore blue in school. We were this. We were that. Our numbers went crazy. You know, yeah, it doesn't make people 100% happy. But in the end, what it does for us as a whole community is amazing. And we have the opportunity to do those things. We always hold back, you
079know, and look, we're starting with a whole lot of new teachers. Looks like especially in our science department. So, you might as well bring them in starting right right off the bat. This is how we run out here. You know, our honors and our AP classes are going to be together. Why? Because it's going to be best for our entire community. It's going to be best for our end school, you know. So, but yeah, it does. It requires it's hard work, you know, but this is our job. This is why we're here, you know. All of us are doing hard work for no paycheck. Now, the nine of us on this board, you know, but these are not Kate's these are not Kate Romeo's ideas. I've seen this done. You look through the school formulas,
080the numbers of how they're calculating what are the best high schools, how to get awards and and glow, you know, and we need to glow. So, thank you. >> Thanks, Dan. No problem. I'll have extra committee. I'll I'll uh I'll talk about it. >> I didn't plan on doing that. I forgot he was doing it. So, thank you. >> All right. Uh just with the uh next one's announcement, our kindergarten summer experiences are almost wrapped up. I believe we still have um April Road is the last one that hasn't um that hasn't run yet. I know our principles and and teachers are are excited to have all of our students back in the schools and getting ready uh getting ready to open in September. Um and another uh I guess since our uh last meeting,
081we hadn't um we hadn't completed our our summer programs. So I know our uh ESY and summer reading programs were uh tremendously successful this year. Um summer reading culminated with a uh parent night which was very well attended for a night in August. We had uh had about 100 families represented from the uh from the program with with the two different sessions. So um so I want to take an opportunity to to say thank you to the families who um you know cared about um education enough to participate in our our summer programs. Uh thank you to the staff members who, you know, gave up their summer and and participated and and uh treated every day uh over the summer like it was the middle of September. Uh you know, you couldn't skip a beat
082when you walked into all these programs. It was it was business as usual and you know, uh school and academics alive and well. So, uh just want to say thank you and and you know, tip my hat to everyone involved in in uh executing those programs. >> Thank you. Uh special reports and correspondents, Mrs. Francisco. Um, >> uh, yes, we have the board minutes from the July 19th meeting, uh, regular meeting and executive session. >> I need a motion to accept that. >> I make a motion to approve the following board of education meeting minutes July 19th, 2022 workshop regular meeting July 19th, 2022 session. Any second? >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? President's report tonight. I'm not going to have a president's report. I think most of what I probably would
083have talked about has already come out here. So, I think we'll just move right to uh public comment. This portion of the meeting is open to members of the public for the purpose of addressing resolutions on this agenda only. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other public comment limited to 5 minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All members of the public are all members of the public speaking during the public comment period are asked to address the topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are
084asked to sign the register provided and give their full name spelled their last name group affiliation if appropriate and provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged. The board and the administration will not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of New Jersey. The board is not responsible and is not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in the
085light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comment. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their crime. Anyone wishing to speak? Uh will >> Okay, Steph. >> My name is Stephanie Markwar. I live at 486 Lakes Shore Drive in Huitt. I'm not here to speak about school closing. I'm here tonight to speak about the resignations on this evening's agenda. It is both sad and angering to see the resignations that are on this agenda and that we have seen on previous agendas in the past year. We are losing dedicated educators and staff members at an alarming rate. While we have heard about the impact that CO 19 and other factors have played in these resignations, I think the time has come to stop making excuses and
086look at the actual reasons behind the great resignation trend in West Milford. For those of you that do not know me, I worked at the West Milford High School as the principal secretary for 10 years. I resigned in February this year. I left my job where I loved the people I worked with. I adored the students that I interacted with and plan to spend the rest of my working days. Over the past 10 years, there was never a question that I would retire from West Milford. The only question was from what position. I was so inspired by the staff and students that I had the opportunity to work with that I went back to school to continue my education and advance myself in this district. Unfortunately, over the last 5 years, the district has become
087something and somewhere that at times was unbearable to be in. Under our current superintendent, the staff has been subjected to retaliatory and tyrannical behavior. I experienced this behavior firsthand, but fortunately for me, I was able to move on to another district where I'm respected and enjoy my job. This would be the end to that chapter of my life if it wasn't for the fact that I live in West Milford and my children go to school here. The decay of our district is frightening and infuriating. Before I left, I watched the staff members who used to walk into the building every day with smiles on their faces just try their best to make it through another day. There is little to no focus on academics coming from the superintendent's office. Almost every tweet that comes out
088from that office is in celebration of athletics. In all of our schools, events happen monthly that celebrate academia for our children and they are never talked about. A perfect example of this would be our summer literacy program that took place this year. I knew very little about this program prior to my son entering it and I was concerned given his specialed classification whether or not this was the right program for him. But boy was I surprised when I saw the difference from July to August in his ability to write in his journal. The work that the teachers did with him during summer literacy was absolutely amazing. And yet we heard nothing about it. Fortunately, we were able to be kept informed about the paving of the dirt parking lot over by Macken, the replacement of
089the Kilgallon infield and a new fence that was put up here at Westbrook. While it is great to hear about our athletics, we have a fantastic athletic director who does a wonderful job along with our coaches of keeping the public informed regarding athletics. We, the taxpayers of West Milford, deserve better, but the people who truly deserve better are our children. When a business has a bad CEO, it can make up for lost earnings in subsequent quarters. In education, when there is bad leadership, when the children lose, they never get it back. We have to do better. And in order to do better, we have to make sure that the district is being led in the right direction. To do that, we have to have a strong leader. Unfortunately, I do not believe that is what
090we have right now. The superintendent works at the pleasure of the taxpayers of West Milford, and we demand more. We demand better for our children. And in order for our children to receive the best educational experience they can, we demand that the staff in our schools are treated with respect. Failure in a school district starts at the top. People do not leave bad jobs. They leave bad leadership. And that is what we are seeing here. If you wish to remain the superintendent of West Milford, we demand that you do better. If you are unwilling or unable, then it's time for you to move on and allow a superintendent who will do the job right to come to West Milford because after 6 years, you just do not embody what it is to be a Highlander.
091Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Will Sanit move. [Laughter] So, uh, I'd like to make a comment about the board goals. I hope that the increased partnerships and engage in advocacy at the state level to restore district funding includes speaking to those county commissioners of ours often and discussing with them how they are handicapping school districts within the county by spend not only taking more of the district money to uh support the programs at BCPI but also taking the county dollars to do the same again. Uh and also again uh I am in favor of operations and finance number four for the haver study for redistricting. And other than that I hope everybody has a great day. >> Good night. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing none, I'd like to close public comments.
092So all those in favor? >> No need. >> I need I need a second. >> All those in favor? I vote. >> All right. Before we adopt the agenda, I have to make two changes. Page nine, personal student affairs resolution number 21 is going to be amended. The step is going to be changed to seven and the salary is going to be changed to 27818. That was an error and On page 17, like to pull operations and finance number one for further examination operations. And I need a motion uh to adopt the agenda spread before us. Motion to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Education. Um Debbie. Uh Claire, will you take that you're on education? I make a
093motion to approve the following agenda items. One through second. Any discussion? If not, I need a motion to Oh, you have something. I couldn't see you. You're on You're not here tonight. and my and my I'm having problems here. >> Yeah. What what's the discussion on here? >> I'm sorry. What? >> Oh, I I was asking about discussion. Did you have something? >> Oh, okay. Just Okay. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco. >> Oh, I think Mr. Greenoff. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood. Yes, >> Mrs. Romeo. Yes, >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes, >> Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes, >> Personnel Student Affairs. Mr. Green. Please like to make a motion to move items 1 through 54 under personnel and students. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Courtney,
094>> I just would like to um say how sorry I am to see Mr. Citro go. He was an absolute wonderful leader and I wish him all the best of luck in his endeavors. >> Yeah, wonderful. >> He still is a wonderful leader. >> Just somewhere else somewhere else. >> Somewhere else. >> Just leading somewhere else. >> Thank you. >> So I can get Did you have something Mr. Green? >> Yes. >> I I wanted to say the same thing. echo Courtney's echo Courtney's uh Bart, thanks for all your time here. You um embody what it is to be a Highlander through and through. Um that's a hard loss for all of us. extremely >> um but congratulations on your new gig and uh for being a consmate professional um throughout your entire teaching career
095here in West Milford. Um good luck. >> Anyone else? Debbie? Um, I'm going to piggyback on that, but I just want to uh tell a really brief story about our dear Mr. Citra. So, earlier this year, we got a tour of McAfee School and he was there to take us around and this man knew every single person in that school number one. >> Hi, hey Joe, how you doing? Hey, you know, and if there was a kid that was having a problem, oh, you know, he he stopped and he talked to the to to the to the student and I swear this man must have had eyes all over his his head because he just was like, you know, going deep and back and forth. There was garbage on the ground. He stopped where everybody
096else walked by, adults, myself. He stopped and he picked it off. He was concerned about everything in that building. He was the embodiment of Macken School. To say that I am sad is an understatement. Um, and a little confession here. I kind of like just kind of closed up shop for 3 days and stayed home because I was devastated. Mapin has always been not no disregard because I know we have a school principal in the audience. Look, you know, you can't get my peripheral, but I'm not recognize, >> but Macin Macken changed my kids' life. And my kids are 31 and 28. And and I am so glad I know we're going to talk about Mary in a minute, but I'm so glad Mary's back because she's the same. She is the male version of
097Mr. >> Female and she's taller, too. >> I'm going to stop talking, >> but I just want to say I would love to have Mapin back in in its prime once again. Sorry, Mrs. Miller. Okay. So, >> anyone else? I went in to see Mark and I broke down crying. I The thought of him not being in that building to me is so sad because I mean, I've known him since he was a teacher there. And it I it is such a great loyalty for our community and for our school district. I don't know how else to say it other than I I wish him well. But I'm so angry that he lets us because it it's a building that is so important because it it kind of gives our kids their path, you know,
098and it shows them what it's like to kind of have that responsibility but not have that responsibility because people there, you know, the staff cares. Not that they don't care in every building. They do, but it's a loss. It's a big loss for our district. I'm very happy that Mary is coming because she trained Mark. So, >> who better than to have pillow shoes and we welcome her because there's a task before her, but I know she can handle it and I'm so thankful for it. I'm sad. I have to I I hate to say this. Well, I don't hate to say it. I have to say it. I am sad looking at this agenda. I see too many people leaving us and it bothers me and I don't know what to do and I
099pray that they continue that we keep pools left because this district has always worked together and I'm it saddens me. It really does. I hope that this is a turning point for us and that things get better. Um, and I'm thankful for the people who are here, but I I will say we will miss more. And you know, I'm going to leave it at that. Right. >> So, I'll just I'll move on to number two now. I hope you do better than and I thought that she was truly enjoying her retirement. But again, I think um a Highlander through and through and somebody who cares about our school district and I appreciate her coming back as an interim principal. And I think I will put words in Mark's mouth and and then I know Mark
100will say, you know, he is who he is because of Frank Johnson and Danny King and Mary Reynold. And where were all those people, right? They were in that. So >> the country club, everybody wants to be there. >> Calls it Disney World. >> Disney World. Nothing to worry about. Never anything to worry about. >> Okay. Um, ditto to everything that everyone said so far, but I just want to say from a parent perspective, um, sharing with my child that Mark was leaving was very difficult, but being able to say the woman who trained him is going to come back had major relief. So, thank you um for whoever thought of this idea or whoever communicated it and whatever. Um, so I know Makipin um is a gem and it is a very important part
101of their time in a child's life, >> you know, and um I know that our teaching staff at Makipin um needs a lot of love. I love you guys, you know, and I'm glad that Mary's coming to like just bring it back, too. And everybody um rebuilds and and um not rebuild, we're still there, but just love one another and work together and and have that great thing. But, you know, um thank you for having Mary on the agenda. Um you know, I'm in a different boat cuz I still get to work with Mark, but that's totally different. So, um you know, I'm in a different, you know, way, but um No, I'm really really sad. It isn't my fault. I still I still to this day have not spoken to him for the reasons
102of I knew I was going to cry, too. So, I'll wait to see him at work and it'll be a different different part of everybody's life, you know, and things change and we pick up and move on and and you know, um but anyway, just wanted to say as a parent that conversation was very very hard. Um, but then to back it up two weeks later with, you know, the part about Mary coming really helped, you know, and and I hope a lot of other parents out there if they didn't know that Mary trademark, they can say that now to their kids, too, you know. So, thank you for all all that. >> I just look forward, Mary. We're we're very happy to have you back. And the sixth grade challenge is there for you.
103and it's their first uncco year. So, we're looking forward to seeing how everybody develops over there. And we we have, believe me, this everyone around this table has a lot of faith and trust. >> I have an interesting Mary story. It refers to sixth grade. So, I happen to be on the interview committee, which is weird because I always looked to her as a mentor. Um, I was on the interview committee when she was hired at Mackabin and one of the things she always wished she could see was sixth graders at the at the MPIN school. So, you know, settling. >> In a month from now, we're going to meet and see how happy that you um Mary was on the committee that I was on for moving the sixth grade. And I I remember
104this is not a quote, but I remember her saying something along the lines to me like, "Kate, this should have been done years ago. The school's ready for it. They've been ready for it." And um when my husband said to me, "Well, you know, Mrs. Reynolds wasn't there with sixth graders. Is she going to like that?" And I was like, "I'm pretty sure she's she's always that, you know, I said, I don't know for sure, but she said something in our committee, so that you know, I was glad that she was on my committee for that." >> Thank you. Ray, you have something yet? at the bathroom. Mrs. >> She's probably thinking she's gone. >> So, um, number 50 about the Mac school student activity. Uh, so I just went through that list. There's like
105seven things that I know both my boys would probably be interested in. So if my boys were joining those seven things, chess, flag, football, ball, field hockey, weightlifting, floor hockey, robotics, like does that mean that they I would pay $210 for them to join those? >> But if they're in the high school, I pay 75 last year. >> But if I'm in the high school, I pay 75. >> Wait, that if I'm >> And it's not one time. We we were talking about this committee the other night and you know the long-term goal is to look at this in greater detail to maybe marry the 68 activities with the high school 912 have that fee be similar in both buildings. >> But this year I'm going to pay $210 for money. >> We actually reduced
106the cost >> because it was recommended for a higher cost and we reduced it. >> Did all seven. Sure. So that's something we'll definitely look at policy for >> we're also in the future. >> Yeah, we're also tracking the number of students that attend each club and the money that comes in so that we can determine whether or not it actually covers the costs of the um club advisor. So we'll have that information as we move forward through the school year. So that money is supposed to cover the fee of the advisor. Yes. >> So can I ask >> can you get us um since you're going to track that? I think it'd be good to also track some of the high school clubs specifically also just to see how many rates. >> What's that?
107>> The enrollment number. >> Yeah. So like there's a chess club in the high school. How many are doing the chess club in the high school? >> Do you think like a parallel tracking? So yes. So, it'd be good to see the the difference and if maybe if there are is a chess club in Mackman and chess club in high school, maybe >> they can do them at the same time. >> I mean, again, we're talking about campus, right? It is a C like maybe that's an opportunity and that could potentially be a way to see. >> Any other discussion on the motion? If not local, Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien. >> Um, I'm sad for number one. I'm very glad for number two. No for 21. No for 52. Yes. For the
108rest. Mrs. Stevenson. Yes. Mrs. Lu. Yes, this is Romeo. >> Uh, yes. I have Do you seem 52? Yes. And everything else. >> Mr. Con? >> Yes. >> Mr. Van D. >> No, I'm 29 and yes on everything. Mr. Stman's not here. Can >> we uh I want to invite Mrs. >> Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Yes. >> Mr. Reinhold, congratulations. Welcome back. >> Thank you. >> If you would Thank you. Mind come up just a couple words. We all miss you. [Applause] Well, a lot of you have seen this before and we're back. So, Liz, you know the story. Um, I so appreciate your support, but Mark is a great loss. A great loss. And, um, you know, I hope I can fill his shoes now. Uh, and I but I love the
109McPin staff. Um, I look forward to embracing the sixth grade staff, which I know most of them actually anyway because I was in the district for so many years. Um, when I thought about that, I started in Makipin School in 1978. Um, many of you don't even remember that year. Um, and 44 years later, I never thought I'd be standing here saying, "Thank you for bringing me back." But um I had six great years when I was laying on the beach celebrating my 40th wedding anniversary in Maui. I didn't think I'd be here tonight. Um but I am and I'm looking forward to it and I appreciate your support and I look forward to working with our administration and uh and all of you and I just thank you very much. >> Welcome back. [Applause]
110Okay, Mike, I'm going to let you do operations and finance. You want to move items one through >> one? Okay. 2 through 12. >> Probably table 10 until after except session. >> Oh, >> yes. What? >> Yes. >> I'll make a motion table. Oh yes, we don't have the table. We could just not move it. >> Can you do that? >> 911. >> Second. >> Any discussion on items under operations? >> Oh my gosh. All right. You have something? Yeah. Yeah. So, number four, >> that's essentially Barbara, you' be hiring Rossber to >> just to tell us which kids would go to what school. Basically, what he would do, >> to give you the um to to do the GIS so that you could determine where the clusters are and how to disperse the students
111into the next step. So, I thought I heard that our transportation department really kind of already had that done. They they've done something. Yeah, that's what we have. Um, but I think that it would be beneficial for the community to have the expertise of the software. Our software didn't do it. They did it basically by where the housing clusters are and the students that they're currently transferring. So he puts it into a program. Here's a program. >> All right. So he left >> and then he So I think I heard him say he could show you scenarios >> how things would work. There might not just be one. I think we could could present a few different scenarios to see what would be most beneficial, what would be where we could potentially save the most
112dollars from transportation cost. >> Transportation costs are going to figure out the safety. >> And he's going to be able to give us those things to tell us the transportation savings. I can't tell you what exactly he's going to give us, but I think that whatever he does give us is going to be an objective look at what needs to be accomplished. >> I think it's good to have that outside source looking at it. No, you know, it really is. >> Hey, that's that's how I spent all along, but he didn't just tell us anything that our administration didn't tell me prior. So now I'm thinking, do I want to spend another $9,000 when I didn't you know where I pushed in the last two studies as you know and I I know that I
113was thorn I know I was a thorn. I pushed for those studies and I don't see anything in that study that you guys didn't already tell me. So now I'm like really now but I I think in this day in this community he wants to hear you have to follow the data, right? Isn't that that's Dan's buzz word, right? Follow the data. >> So we have to follow So we have to follow it >> and I think we owe it to the community to have a third party doing this so that because having been part of the last one there were a lot of there was a lot of rumors a lot of talk about how they cut the lines wrong and this one went here and this one went there. So I think this
114is you know in in my opinion everybody you know but if you're if if you were to ask me that's where I would be saying it's the right thing. So any other questions under operations and finance. All right Barbara Gro Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lleywood. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Green. >> Yes. Mrs. O'Brien. No one to guess on the >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. Yes. Mrs. Van Dyke. No on two. Yes. On the rest. Mike. Next one. 13. We just passed. >> We just passed. Ti don't have an issue with >> I didn't summer. >> I guess it's okay. >> All right. Um, >> what number was that? So it's either 13, right? >> You said 13. >> You just voted on >> I mean I guess I >>
115even the next one here. >> You're good, Mike. You're done. >> Okay, >> Courtney. Um policy >> 1 through 20. I'd like to make a motion to approve 1 through 26 underneath. Second. Any discussion? If not, roll call. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mr. Gino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. Committees. Okay. Um, parks and rec. Did they happen to have a meeting this month? Mike, do you know parks and recreation? >> Okay. Uh, safety. We had no meeting. Summer superintendent round table. No meetings. Do we know do we have any set up for >> I think you on a calendar already. >> Okay. I have to look >> September 22nd. >> Oh,
116okay. Um the state county school boards the meetings don't start until September. Um New Jersey school boards, we were we were fortunate enough to have Kathy Hel here with us to do our goal setting which the goals were on the agenda. I think the meeting went well and you know moving forward I'm I don't know I know that everything is starting to start to go back to in person with New Jersey school boards. If anybody here has not completed their requirements they should make sure that they do that before as soon as possible. I'm not going to say before the end of the year. Um legislative Mrs. O'Brien want for once in my life I have nothing much to say. So September should bring a lot of fun to the legislative committee. >> Thank you.
117>> You were there for technology. >> Um yes, I was. I'm sure the committee was glad to have me. Um the website is supposed to launch next week. Next week or this week? What's the date? I thought you said the 25th or something. So definitely be up by the 31st, >> Robert. >> Yeah, it's the 31st. >> It's not launching till the 31st, >> correct? >> Okay. Um, the new website is going to launch on the 31st. So hopefully in time for everybody to be back in school, the phone systems, everything's going well. Everybody's good. Um, I'm trying to think of what else is there. I think that's it. That was all that we have. when there's a phone system in >> everything there there was one school yet that had to have something done
118but everything should be >> according to the accounts over right now staffers getting emails from >> there's a lot >> Robert would you like to give the board the update maybe you banner out there as Dr. Random one is saying there's there's a lot of moving parts to the phone system. We have all of the equipment. All the phones are in. We have uh all of the networking that we required to have done to be prepared done. We've had network configuration all done. We've had the um we did some testing quality of voice over our network testing that passed in all cases. Um what we're doing right now is uh we are having created our dial plan. We've identified all the locations that are going to have the phones. Uh we're in the process of
119programming the back end right now. So every person that's going to every every person, every teacher is going to get an extension on the phone system whether or not they actually have a physical phone. And I'll give you an example. In an elementary school, um, a teacher is in a particular classroom typically for the year, but it's a middle school or high school, that room could be it have four or five teachers during the the course of the day. So in those situations the phone is the uh extension for the room and in those cases the itinerant or I should say it but teachers will have their own extension with the assumed phone account which means that their phone their cell phone can be used for calls on on the network so to speak. So
120if they call if they call a parent on their cell phone, it goes over our our network and the caller ID for the call going to the parent is caller ID of the school. Um it's also nice for the teacher that's teachers out in the field. They're they're extension calls then out there with >> um let's see what other things >> the Chromebook was the Chromebooks. Yes, >> that was the other. >> All of our Chromebooks are in. We were lucky enough to get our order in early before um before we got nailed with the all of the issues with the supply chain. So, um all of the Chromebooks are in. We're in and we're distributing them right now to all the buildings. I've just completed today the distribution sheet that the principal in all
121the buildings used to identify which child has gotten this particular Chromebook. Um, >> and there was was the Chromebook um was it sent to all the board members to write down? >> All the board members got a copy of the diagram of how the distribution works when they're collected in the lower grades and repurposed. >> Because new is new is five >> and nine. >> Five and nine >> and grade one. Those are who gets all the new Chromebooks. It should be it should be, you know, there's a diagram that shows you how how it works because the others carry their Chromebooks through with them. Kindergarten doesn't get new ones. They get the ones pushed, you know, the older ones. >> Kindergarten get the Chromebooks that come from grade eight. Yeah. >> Grade five goes
122to Actually, I think it's grade five goes to kindergarten, grade eight goes to first grade. And I don't know if you heard the website on the third >> um town town any does anybody anything else for technology? The township and the board we met on uh Friday the 19th. There was some discussion. We we were thankful for the SRO officers. Um we spoke with the mayor and we appreciate that and that that was that's a good thing for the schools. We're going to have an SRO officer for the district, but he will be housed in the high school. Correct. Or she >> he or she will be housed at the high school. We got found space for that person there. They will service all our schools um just with some content [Music] academy as well.
123>> Yeah. all eight tools plus there. We >> talked about the uh the next operations and finance committee meeting where >> right we were going to we were going to try to have invite the administrator and the mayor some discussions with the mayor and council through committee so that and all of us can kind of flow through there without having a you know regular meeting but with to answer some questions about different things that are going on in the community. All right. Um, Russ Milford, Municipal Alliance. Um, there was no there no meeting since in the summer. The next WMA meeting is on Monday, September 12th at 700 p.m. in the West Milford Library Conference room on the second floor. The meeting will be hybrid. Everyone is welcome. And if you wish to attend, you
124can send a request to wmma westmilford.org. On Saturday, September 24th from 10 to 2, there will be a wellness family festival at Makapin School. There will be kids activities, an obstacle course, meditation, yoga, reiki, edi ed education resources, a DJ, and so much more. This event has been organized by the Highlands Family Success Center, West Milford Health Advisory Board, and the WMA. Fun for everyone, and it's free. I think I'm going to sound dumb here. What is >> energy? I thought it was a game. I didn't know. I You know, it sounded like it would fit. You know, it's a little bit like a like No, I get it. Just let me believe what I believe. Okay. Old business. >> Oh, see, I missed you. I'm sorry. There is a virtual meeting this Thursday the
12525th at 700 p.m. and it's only virtual just for this month. Just for this month this Thursday you said >> yes and um I I guess I'll I cannot attend. So if any other board member would like to attend. What time? >> You can't you can't attend either. >> You have a negotiations on the negotiations meeting. >> So, I normally attend and I have a work meeting in person. So, I don't know that I'm going to make you there. So, it sounds you guys I'm going to try to get there late. >> Well, it's virtual. So, you're going to listen. >> I know. My work my work virtual meeting starts at 6:00. Yours starts at 7. >> Yeah, 7:00. So, I might make it at 7:30, but I might not make it at all. I
126don't know. >> I'm sure I'll try Courtney. That's >> virtual. I can do >> You can do virtual. >> I can be Ubering children around if you want to just perex. >> I'll do that. I'll >> Okay. >> Old business. >> Anybody have anything for old business? Seeing none, like to close old business. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I >> new business. Debbie. >> Okay. I just want to do a nice little shout out to our schools PTAs, PTO's, and PTSOs. I believe they're the unsung heroes of our district. They do a phenomenal job in all our schools with our students with activities supporting the teachers. Um I'm I'm amazed at all the things they do. I've met many of these wonderful volunteers over the years and I really would like
127the community to come out and support them in in any way that they can, whether it's through fundraising or activities, that kind of stuff. a special shout out and I can't say any favorites because I have two principles here in the audience. Um, two upper leg. [Laughter] >> Yeah, I'm drunk. No, I have to say this. I do have to say this. So now that I feel kind of reddish and embarrassed, Mary, I call me um to upper Greenwood like uh Upper Greenwood Lake PTA cuz whatever they did, and forgive me, I'm not techsavvy. So through either Twitter or Instagram or Facebook or one of those wonderful programs, they set up their PTA sign up online. So, I am now an official member of the Upper Greenwood Lake PTA and but I would like to
128try to be members of all of these PTAs, PTOs, PTSOs and also for the high school. Please support the athletics, the the the uh arts, the theater, the clubs in any way. Help help the you know just let's all kind of do a kumbaya and help each other out. And that's other than embarrassing the sticks uh the stuffings out of myself for the night. It it comes from the heart. >> Thank you, Deb. Does anybody else have anything for new business? >> I do. Um although it was reported already. I heard um of a technology report that everyone's getting extensions that could go to their cell phones. Okay. So, if it was people that had current extensions, do they get to keep those or now are we having to change all of our >> We
129have to ask Robert. He's the one that um he's working with Zoom and uh the other service to create everything. I'm not quite sure if these extensions are going to be the same or not. Is it possible to keep the same extensions? You know, >> um actually we did our best to try and keep the extensions the way they were, but there was a couple factors that were involved. Number one is we tried to to um have uniformity on the extension. So a classroom we'd like the room number be a part of the extension and make it natural. Then what we also wanted to do is have uniformity across the district. So all of the nurses whatever the first two digits the last two digits of it will end in 40. Principles end in 50
130and clients end in 45. So there's uniformity across across the board. departments have also similar groups of extensions. Uh and because of the fact that we added quite a few extensions, we added like a couple hundred additional lines couple excuse me extensions. It was very difficult to maintain the existing lines and the existing extensions. So there is going to be a little bit of a transition but it's going to be a short transition. I think you I think everybody will find that the new numbering sequences >> well it could also cost money. I mean if we're talking about new letterhead with new extensions and new business cards for people that hand like our school counselors hand out business cards our colleges have like I would really hope that that could be looked at that some
131of the very important offices could keep the extensions. >> We'll do our best. I don't know the test at a huge cost with their letter head and business card. >> It could be a cost but not probably not a large cost. I don't think you know I think most of them >> I'm not talking about teachers I I mean offices like you know you have the high school has letterhead they write letters of recommendation over hundreds of them every year that go out to colleges. >> We do that in house. You print the paper in house. >> Okay. >> That that we do. Yes, we do. >> Courtney, >> I I think I know the answer to this already, >> but is there um a two-factor authentication over the West Milford network >> for access
132to >> to the network? >> Two factor authentication to access. So teachers, if you're asking them to use their cell phones or anybody, they're then exposing anything that's on their cell phone. >> No, >> into the network unless there's a two-actor authentication. >> That's not the case. Uh they're running an app on their phone. So they're not actually they're not attaching to our network. They're just they're just connecting over the internet. Zoom phone is a cloud-based solution. So they they would connect to any it's basically they connect to any website. Uh it's the same exposure. So they're not exposing any of their personal information to >> Is there any talk about putting two factor authentication over the network to make it less of a cyber attack for our district? >> Well, we let me let
133me do some research into that. Thank you. >> I'll give you an app. >> Okay, >> Mr. Garina. >> Two things. One, how's the public going to find out the extension of their teacher? The second thing is, so if a teacher moves or somebody, right, a principal moves from one school to another, I mean, typically with these, like I know Brian, the line follows the person to make it easy. Does the line follow the person? >> It depends. If an extension is to a function, for example, the extension to to my office, it doesn't matter who's sitting in my seat, whoever is the super supervisor of technology, that extension doesn't change. If you're a teacher though, uh, and you are working in Macen and then next year you're going to move to the high school,
134your extension doesn't change. >> So, yes. So your extension stays the same no matter where you go. >> Correct. And the way that we designed it was just for that. >> Perfect. >> Because this way if with teachers moving from classroom to classroom if they have to change their extension every single year. >> And how will they know teachers extensions I'm guessing you see on the website? >> Yeah'll be there'll be information on the website. So the parents of the teacher there >> the one thing I do really like about this is that the teachers that are utilizing their cell phones are not sending their cell phone numbers to every >> Did you have something? >> I did but I decided to not say it. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other new business? >> Motion
135to close new business. Second. >> All those in favor? I public comment. Okay. This portion of the meeting is open to members of the public having a legitimate interest in the actions of the board for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to andor directly related to the operations of the West Milford Public School District. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting over time permitting other public comment limited to five minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All speakers are asked to sign the register provided and give the full name, spell their last name, group affiliation if appropriate,
136and provide their address. Issues raised by the members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and are responsibly forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and the board and the administration will not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of New Jersey and the board is not responsible and not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in the light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in those comments. Members of the public are reminded
137they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to speak under public comment? >> You okay? Wow. >> Just saw it all. Move that camera. Nate, I got it. >> I think I got it. Um, I take a moment. Uh, Bedford 7 road. You have New Jersey. Um, just wanted to talk about an event that I have coming up at the Long Pond Ironworks State Park. If I'm not doing the video work for the Township of West Milford, I am also the captain of a local Civil War reenactment group. Uh, we have an event coming up, the Civil War weekend at Long Pond Fireworks. That's at 13:34 Green Freeman Lake Turnpike in Buick, New Jersey on September 10th and 11th from 10:00 a.m. till 400 p.m. Uh tickets are $5 for adults, $1
138for children. Donations are accepted and you can get in for free if you want to join as members of the Friends of London Ironworks. I'm also a board member in the event coordinator for the Friends of London Ironworks. Uh, Saturday night, September 10th at 8:00 p.m. there is a candle lantern tour of the site um featuring the West Milford Players. They will be performing as villagers of the town of uh the what was known as Huitt back then. It was an old company town and fire uh iron works for during the revolutionary war and American civil war. Uh those are tickets are on sale. For reservations, call 9736571688. You can find more information at long pond ironworks.org. And again, the candle lantern tour is a big draw because it's the Wester players plus the 6
139New Hampshire contraband music performance at the barn. That's 8:00 p.m. Saturday 10th. adults $10, children $5. We ask that no children they're 10 years old just for safety and in fact that it can get pretty scary because we do fire our offer for guns. And speaking of which, I would not be remissed because one of the uh people that will be there is the six New York independent battery which bring an original cannon from the civil war. So kids get to learn how to fire off a cannon along with our military demonstrations by my 96th graduate in New Hampshire. >> I have to say I have some grandsons that really are going to want one. They just saw a musket thing that was like phenomenal. So they're going to want to see that cannon. >>
140Yeah. I can tell you last year on Sunday there was a lot of people that went to the cannon rather than stop by >> cuz they just wanted to see the bigger boom. >> Oh yeah. That's cool. >> Oh, this is great. Thank you. >> There's a lot of uh you know uh teachers and principles here and also I'll I'll forward you the information community back for all the history students and those who are interested in history and that's also why I do this to also keep the history alive. >> You are a man of many talents. [Applause] >> Anyone else wishing to speak? Motion I close by comments second. >> All those in favor. Any opposed? We need a motion to go into executive session but we will be returning because we are going
141to be 9:08. I'll need a motion to go into executive session >> for 30 minutes. That's good. >> Let's take 30 minutes just do I have to do I need no All those in favor. >> Okay. >> I'd like to call the meeting back to order. Go Boulevard, please. >> Mrs. Romeo >> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mrs. O'Brien >> here. >> Mr. Gino >> here. >> Mr. Mrs. Lockwood >> here. >> Mr. Complin >> here. >> Mrs. Van >> here. >> Okay. Um, Mr. Number >> item number 10 >> under operation finance. >> Operation finance. >> Number 10. >> We need a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? If not, roll call, please. >> Mr. Conklin? >> Yes. >> Mr. Greeno? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood? Yes, >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes,
142>> Mr. Romeo. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Motion to adjourn at 9:44. Second. >> All those in favor? I >> Good night. Have a good day. Fate. F.