Board of Education Meeting 3/29/22

001I'd like to call the meeting to order. Um, and if you could please uh take a moment of silence and please remember all the people and the things that are going on in our world today. Pray for some peace. Please rise for the flag. Salute. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald News, the suburban 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. 7 and posted in the administration's building. Copies

002of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco. >> Mrs. Romeo >> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mr. Conklin >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire >> here. >> Mr. Gino. >> Mr. Green is going to be absent. >> Mrs. O'Brien >> here. >> Mrs. Lockwood >> here. >> Mr. Stillman >> here. >> Mrs. Van Djk >> here. >> Dr. Anamone, your report. >> Good evening everybody and welcome to our February meeting. Uh we did a we are going to do a West >> March, excuse me, I'm reading this here. Uh we're going to do our winter sports recap. Uh we had five student athletes this year. Um had wonderful seasons in their respective sports. Uh so we invited them

003and their families to come to a board meeting today to get a small token of appreciation just a certificate from the board of ed and from the administration. Uh one of our students last minute had to cancel. Um but I'm going to read his accomplishments first because he's not here but we will get him his certificate. So Shane Yodice is one of our bowlers. He advanced to the state finals as an individual something only 100 bowlers in the entire state can do. Shane finished right in the middle of the 100, but was an incredible asset throughout the bowling season who finished as the boys independence division champions. Not only was he a strongly competitive bowler, he assisted younger bowlers new to the team. His calm personality set a standard for the sport and how all

004athletes should behave. He strived to do his best but understood the value of the entire team working together. He will go on to do great things. Once again, congratulations Shane Yodice. And now up for our wrestlers. Colin Maner, sophomore, West Milford High School, wrestler, I think 126 >> six lbs. 126 pounds, 33 wins, District 3 champion, county finalist, North Jersey record athlete of the week. He tied the single season tech record for West Milford wrestling with seven and is a state qualifier. Hold still, guys. Next up, also on the wrestling team, Ben Marettto. First West Milford wrestler to win 40 matches in a single season. First West Milford wrestler in the history of the school. Eighth place in the state at 106 pounds. Do tournament champ. P county champ. District three champ. and he broke

005the single season takedown record for West Milford High School. Ben Marquetto is also a sophomore. So, we're looking forward to two more great years from both Colin and Ben. Ben, come on up. buddy. Next up from our track team, senior Tanner Christie. Tanner had a truly record-breaking, unbelievable winter season. He set goals for himself and accomplished all of them and then some. His hard work, dedication, and perseverance brought an improvement of distances in the shot put throughout the season. Tanner was the P County champion, the North One state sectional champion, a state group and meet of champion shot putter, and to clinch his section title. to clinch his section title. He blew away the school record. His 53 feet 10 inches throw at sectionals earned him a spot in the record books and team MVP.

006A truly remarkable season for a truly remarkable young man, Tana Christie. That's why he throws things. And lastly, another senior, Delaney Brown. Delaney reached her 100th career win this season and ended her high school career with a record of 142 wins and only 29 losses. She qualified for the individual state tournament and made it to the second round. She ended up being ranked 13th in the entire in the entire state for a girl saber. She also helped her team place second in the state for a girl saber. The lady was undefeated in Pay County and in District 1. She was is a three-time captain and a three-time Pay County champion. Leadership comes naturally to Delaney. She was a leader of this program for the past three seasons. She wanted to win individually, but she always

007wanted her team to win and help in every way to make that happen. She is fencing at Dennis University next year and there is no doubt that she will do amazing things there. Delaney Brown Okay, before we move to the seal day recap, you guys don't have to stay. You're more than welcome to, but we won't be offended if you leave because we're going to do our audit shortly thereafter. So, we know you will. Congratulations. >> I can always empty your room. >> Congratulations. So, a few weeks ago, moving on to our next bullet point here, the SEAL day. That's social emotional learning. We did SEAL day a few weeks ago on Friday, March 11th, uh, districtwide, K through 12, students and staff. So, I asked Dr. McQuade if she can give us a a

008brief synopsis. That was one of our focus points this year, uh, social emotional learning, not just for students, but for staff as well. And I believe it's one of our strategic goals still where we're going to be continuing with it. But I think it's the perfect time to talk about it because as you can see from the sports and these you know wonderful athletes that social emotional interaction interactions coming out of the pandemic and just kind of getting back to normaly in some way is so wonderful for our students for our staff for for us obviously even sitting around the table. So coming out of the pandemic, we did participate in the global seal day which was on March 11th. Um that was a time really for advocating, supporting and showcasing social emotional learning. As

009a district, we took the chance to be able to really showcase a lot of our um programs and what we're doing and then start some new things on that day as well. So our school social workers at the elementary building and our psychologists at the elementary level were in the classrooms running lessons. our middle school and high school. Actually, I know Mr. Trenic Costa was here through the PE department, we made sure through project adventure and physical education that they were highlighting and making a focus that day on social emotional learning. We asked teachers to kind of carve some time out in their day to focus on it. I'm sure many of you are on Twitter, you'd be able to then see a lot of people were tweeting that day or retweeting information out. That

010didn't even cover all of it, but I'm just want to thank kind of our mental health providers as well as our teachers and everybody for participating because it was kind of a great day to launch um once again and keep the ball rolling. You guys know as a board we've been talking about that from the professional development day. So then to actually you know that that day was more focused on professional development for teachers. This gave us an opportunity to actually work with the students. So it was a successful day. >> All right, Dr. Thank you uh Dr. McQuade. And we also have another uh little seal bonus for for our staff coming later on in the agenda. As you can see, there's a motion to amend the calendar for this year. Uh the school

011calendar, usually the last three days of school are early dismissal days for students and the last day of school, the last one day of school is early dismissal day for staff. So, we're going to I'm making a recommendation that the last three days this year are going to be early dismissal for students and staff. So, they'll have that Thursday, Friday, of going into like mid or late June to get home a little bit early, finish up with their grading and do whatnot. So, um I think they have enough coffee mugs and enough pens that we give to them on staff appreciation day that uh they might appreciate this just a little bit more. So, um this is something we are continuing to focus on not just for our students but for our staff as well.

012Right. Also a handout for the board members. um a few I guess it was a few about two months 3 months ago now we finished our strategic planning at Mackman School with the community with the board with the administration teachers parents community members town council members showed up and we've been working on our action plans uh for the past couple weeks um these this is a living document so it will change between now and 2027 but these are some of the area goals that we're going to focus on the timelines are pretty broad so we'll tackle some of this in September, some the following September, some the following September after that. So, it's a 5-year strategic plan. These are some of our major activities. Um, we hope to accomplish them all, and I would imagine

013at some point we'll be adding to this or maybe editing this and revising this as we go forward. So, um, it's a living document. We'll get it up on our website, and if edits are made over time, we'll certainly, uh, put those up in the website as well. So, um, thank you again for the strategic planning process. It was a well worthwhile effort. Uh, we're looking forward to, uh, the future with that. Okay. >> And, uh, our student representative, Miss Weiss. >> Hi, everyone. So, as the end of the year is approaching, we have many exciting events. Our junior prom was held this Friday at Kasa Bianca. Um, our senior prom is going to be held at the Tides on June 2nd. Uh, seniors are beginning to commit to their future decisions. And our spring

014sports are, uh, starting up this week. I know lacrosse has their first game, girls and boys, tomorrow, so we're wishing them good luck. Um, on March 7th, the students council held their first big fundraiser of the year. Um, for the first time ever, we held a volleyball tournament uh to raise money for our town Special Olympics team. We had students sign up um their teams and they had to pay to participate. And we our goal was to raise $1,500 and with all the support we got from that night, we ended up well exceeding our goal and raising $2,200 for our Special Olympics team. So, that was a really successful night. And that's all I have for today. So, thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thanks for coming. It's good to see you. And that

015sounds like you had quite an event there. Thank you. Uh, director of education, Mr. Novak. >> We're doing a presentation. >> I think Thank you. I just have a brief brief presentation. I know we have the auditors. We've got a got a long night ahead. I just wanted to take a moment to give you a little glimpse of we've talked about um conquer math training quite a bit this year. The one of the um professional development processes that our uh staff is undertaking this year. It's uh although we are um using some of our co recovery funds to support this initiative going forward for the next year or two, it it is still something supported by our budget. So, I think it's also a good opportunity to share with you some of the things that

016we're that we're doing. So, we're in year one uh for for Conquer Math. Um Conquer Math is a location in um Pquanic. The trainer there is named Nancy Schultz. She's been a a well-renowned uh trainer in Northern New Jersey and the state of New Jersey for um for many years. Um I just pulled a brief a little uh clip from um National Council of Teachers of Mathematics support the journal of research and mathematics education. And just a little bit of um little bit of research to support what we're doing. I am going to read this. Bear with me. Uh research suggests significant effects on teachers of mathematics and the process for learning mathematics methods that use manipulative materials as the primary means of learning. basically manip manipulative materials, hands-on objects, 3D shapes, tiles, fraction shapes,

017um anything that a student can can touch and feel and visualize. Uh the effects investigated were changes in train trainee desire to use, ability to use and actual use of manipulative materials in teaching, changes in training desire or actual behavior with respect to teaching in a learner focused manner, changes in training understanding of elementary mathematics, differences between learning in a concrete physical way and learning in a symbolic abstract way, and changes in training attitudes and enjoyment of and feelings of competence in teaching mathematics. matics. It's a long winded way of saying that teachers who are trained in specific strategies for teaching best practice mathematics not only teach um in a better best practice way, but they also enjoy it and feel a bit more confident in in doing so. Um, very rarely have I seen

018a professional development initiative that has had so much widespread uh support from the staff members who were in in the process of the training and I think that is just a a testament to um the quality of the training and the process that they're that they're undergoing. Um this is from um a little little quote from Mind Research Institute is actually the uh parent company of SDM Math which is a process we put in place last year for our kindergarten through second grade students. Math is not a spectator sport. It's not a body of knowledge. It's not symbols on a page. It's something you do. It's something you play with and something you do. Uh so I'm just sharing a few photos with you of um our training in action with our our staff doing

019these things with our uh with our students. Uh so here's some um examples in third grade. So our our teachers who are in training right now are third grade, fourth grade, and uh algebra 1 in the middle school. uh some samples of of third grade students um using you know physical uh manipulatives to act out or um visualize the the concept that they're being taught. So on the left you see the you know the representations of of blocks to translate to some of the things that they're doing in in the textbook series. Um another one in the corner those students on the bottom right are playing beat the calculator. Uh, one student hands up the fact, one student has a clipboard to write it down, the other student has a calculator. So, the challenge for

020the student without the calculator is to beat the calculator. So, that progresses um, you know, it's a nice little fun activity and it it, you know, one one of the students do need to learn how to use the calculator. You know, that's a that's a skill in itself. So, it's, you know, they don't know they're learning right there. They're just having fun, you know, playing with their friends in class. uh in between the two slides, I just wanted to highlight uh what actually they're getting in the sessions that they're um doing this year. So, year one, we have third and fourth grade. Uh these um units, so to speak, are representative of the major standards, the major New Jersey student learning standards at those grade levels for uh for those grades. um numbers and operations

021in base 10, operations, algebraic thinking, measurement and data. You can see some um you can see some uh commonality between them. Geometry is in is in both. Uh measurement data is always something that's um you know very important for our students in these ages. Uh the next slide shows um the progression into fourth grade. similar uh you know in uh so many times you could go into a math classroom and you could see students just practicing the classic algorithm like um many of us grew up doing. We see a a stark change in our third and fourth grade classrooms and our Makipin algebra classes where the manipulatives are out frequently that students are now conceptualizing what they're learning rather than just being told you know this is how you do it now repeat now they're

022understanding why they're doing it. I know many of us, even myself as a parent, um in our goal math program over the years, there's been a lot of those questions that ask you to um show your work or explain your thinking. Um this process is better equipping um our students to do that because it's not always writing two sentences to explain your thinking. It's drawing a picture. It's drawing a visual representation of the math that you learned. Uh and we're seeing we are seeing the difference in in these classrooms already with the you know the dedication of our staff who are not only going to the training and being active participants but excited to go back into the classroom and try it out and we've been supporting them with materials and getting them uh everything

023that they they need to do it. Uh this is uh the next slide is just uh a breakdown of what our year one looks like for our algebra one uh like I said algebra 1 mm teachers um modeling with linear equations inequalities quadratic modeling modules ABC other nonlinear graphs uh so it's very challenging um you know very very challenging content uh and not something that you have typically seen used with the use of manipulatives in our classrooms in the past uh now now we're seeing this type of process taking place since the training. So this is a uh this is these are pictures from one scene. You may have seen this if you follow Mr. Citro on Twitter where they um you know showed that multiplying binomials using algebra tiles. A binomial is a uh

024expression with um two parts of the expression as you see like 5 + 4x. So multiplying 5 plus 4x * 3 + 2x is being represented by the student. So if you look to the right uh that's the student acting out the model for that expression on the document camera you see him standing at in the center picture and the students in the room are following along. Um, so the students are now not only internalizing it and doing it themselves, they're turnkeying some of this work and being able to, you know, teach and prove to their peers what they're um what they're learning and helping each other out. That's one of the things we know in um a lot of our you can see in our strategic plan um our goals in cooperative learning, students

025can learn as much from each other as they can from our staff when they're when they're put in the right situations. Uh so those are the things that we're uh we're we're working towards. uh what's next? So this is what our plan for next year looks like. Uh we're going to continue with year two for third, fourth and algebra 1 mipin. And year one we have the entry of first grade, second grade, fifth and sixth uh algebra 1 in our high school combined group of geometry for both u our few macup and geometry teachers and our geometry teachers at the high school. And then year one for special education and encore K5. Uh when I say special education and encore K5, it does not mean our 6 through 12 special education teachers are not uh

026are not um involved in that. They would be involved where it says geometry for Makipin and High School. Our special education inclass support teachers inclass resource teachers would also be participating in that. Um again we were able to um you know if you go back to this slide. I was only able to do this um these two these two classes along with the four algebra teachers this year because it was based primarily on our local t uh local our local budget property tax budget. Next year I'm able to elevate our plan because we can take advantage of the uh er funds that are specifically um dedicated for professional development coaching. So, we're able to, you know, leaprog our goals by a year and bring in more grade levels and we can get to year two

027for uh year two or completion for the the following school year, the 2023 2024 year, we'll be in uh we'll be in pretty good shape for completing this process. So, I just want to give you a little that's all I have. Um just want to give you a little glimpse of of the great work that our teachers are doing. >> Thank you. I also had um just one more of an announcement type of thing. We've talked about linkit. Uh I feel like every every time I'm I'm here, we talk about linkit in some regard. Um, link reports for kindergarten through fifth grade students will be coming home on Thursday afternoon and uh, Mr. Winston and I are in the process of preparing the um, there's a parent portal in Lincoln. So, we are in the

028process of um, getting all of our families a username and password so that parents can log in. You don't have to wait for once once the parent portal process is established, you won't have to wait for the reports to be printed, you'll have access to the reports. A parent or a student will have access to the reports as they are uh as they are made available. So, we're we're excited for that. This will probably be the last time we send home a paper report for our elementary students as everyone in the district will have access to the parent portal going forward um from this point once we have it established for for uh middle school and high school. So that's a that's a a good development for everyone having access. >> Uh thank you. Did

029anyone have any questions about the house? >> Okay. Um special uh reports and correspondence. Um this is Francisco. >> Hi. Uh thank you. Um tonight we're finally going to have our annual budget presentation. Uh it's been delayed. Normally we have it in December, but it was delayed significantly because the state >> right? >> Oh yeah. I guess my brain is still in budget mode. >> It it's all >> it's February. Sorry. I didn't know it's March. >> I caught that one. >> Yeah, I think we're tired. Um anyway, our audit from June 30th of 2021 is being presented tonight by Mr. Furry and uh Ryan Clearary. Um it was delayed because the state added some additional components um that they did not have available and so everything was pushed back until March. So at this

030time I'd like to have Mr. Furry and Mr. Clearary explain the annual audit. Everyone received their um books. We had to change the acronym. >> Yes. AC FR. ACF or something like that. >> I don't know. >> But thank you so much for having us tonight. Um so um as I mentioned every year, uh you receive two documents. One is the actual ACF ACRF I can't remember anymore. It's CAFRA. Um the CAPFA report, which is your financial information, which is the thicker book. The other one is the auditor's uh management report which is the thinner book. Um so the the um ACF always ACFR is a extremely complicated document. Um as Barbara mentioned uh the state has these governmental accounting standard board numbers which we have to put in here which account for acrruel of

031um of pension and other comp and other postretirement benefits and those numbers didn't come out until late so we got until March 15th to issue the report. Um it just makes the auditing job really fun because everything is due in March for municipalities too. So um it it's it's it's uh we're almost ready for the next audit um the you know as of June 30th but um the CAFRA has three different fund balances. One is on exhibit C1 which is the uh budgetary basis which is the way the budget was is presented by the board. It's the information that you use to uh prepare the budget. Um and it it's probably the only schedule I think I would like the board to concentrate on. It shows the budgeted revenues, how they came in on the

032expenditure side. It shows the budgeted expenditures and how those were expended and what was left over. It also on the bottom shows a recapitulation of your fund balance. Uh the other fund balances are skewed by um adjustments for for um acrruel basis um which is exhibit C1 which includes uh your bonds payable your fixed assets appreciation expense and again those numbers aren't even used to present the or prepare the budget. So a few years ago um and and that caffer by the way exhibit C1 is only one year of financial information and a few years ago I was actually here and a board member asked me what you know why can't we have it um comparatable and and we're given this reporting model by the state. So I said, you know, next year I'm going

033to prepare a document showing all the um information from prior years. So that's I don't know. Barbara, you gave everybody this schedule. So what I So we basically started this in 19 um on 2017. Um, and then I've bring I've been bringing this these numbers forward every year. And actually, I started being that you asked, I figured everybody else in my that I do for school boards would want the same information. So, I actually prepared this for each one of my districts, but you guys were the first ones to actually ask and I think it was great. Uh, actually, it was a good comment. Um, and it makes a lot of uh makes sense. So uh the top part is um your fund balance and um your fund balance is made up of multiple components.

034Um and what the top part does breaks them down into different components. Uh so if you look on the on the right hand side the second column from the right that's your June 30th fund balance in its different components. The first number is 2,ion38,000 which is your capital reserve account which are for capital expenditures which are um bigger than what you would put in your budget but smaller than a referendum. You have a maintenance reserve basically for maintenance. Um and then um this year being 21 I always talk about 21 uh this year being the year I audit which would be 2021. Um being with being that we you know with COVID and all the additional expenditures um and and issues uh the state allowed the boards to um go to 4% for their um

035unrestricted fund balance. That unrestricted fund balance is the maximum amount you could keep. Prior years it's been capped at 2% um and it's a formula um and it's actually in the AMR in the back but this year they allowed the school districts to go to 4% and I I kind of strongly recommended um that the districts use that 4% number gives you a lot more flexibility. So anything else over that 4% is considered excess surplus which basically goes into the 20 in this year 20 for 21 it's going to go into your 22 23 year budget as um taxpayer offset. It's going to reduce the amount of tax levy that goes um into your budget. So that number was uh $2,92,000. Uh we had excess surplus from the previous years um that are going into

036the actually the budget year that we're in right now, the 2122 year budget. And that number was 2,971. Um in this year there was a uh governmental accounting standard board um number 84 that said changed all the definitions of the student activity fund and the unemployment account. And they changed it saying that we believe the unemployment account belongs in the general fund not in a trust fund. and he also changed all the student activity funds and put those into the special revenue uh section of the audit. Um so you can see this year is the first year we had the unemployment account put in there. Uh that was $958,000. Um you had year-end incumbrances of $543,000. What that basically is is purchase orders as of June 30th that weren't paid out until either July or

037August. So that money's taken out and held aside because we know those bills are going to be paid. And then what you're left with is your 4% um un unassigned fund balance of 3,807. And if you look on the right hand side, you can see that that 4% number um it went up from 1 million755 to the 3,807. So that was an increase of uh 2,51,000. And again, that was the excess money, the extra 2% number. On the bottom shows you comparative information for your revenues, and I didn't break them out. Um I just broke them out between local, state, and federal sources. So you can see the 20 um 2020 versus 2021 and the excess or um excess or um increase or decrease on the right hand side. Same thing with capital expenditures um

038I'm saying sorry same thing with general expenditures um and capital expend and capital outlay expenditures and you had a charter school so you can see the increase or decrease there. So, you can see that we started the year with um $2,185,000. We had to make a prior period adjustment for I'm sorry, we started the year with um 9,938. We had to make a prior period adjustment for that unemployment account. And we ended the year with 13 million uh 12,188, which again refers back to the top of the sheet. So that is the general fund. On the next page, I gave you a quick um analysis of your debt service starting from the year 203 uh 17 to 2021. Um so um our bonds were 6,888. Um as of 17 we ended the year with 5,125.

039So you can see that we're paying down or you're paying down your debt. Um the rest of the audit is your um is your special revenue funds which are for all your grants. So you really can't do much with that. Um the other section is your um your food service fund which I'm not even going to talk about because uh with COVID all the numbers are skewed from the previous year. So it is what it is. Everybody pretty much got a free lunch. Uh we tried to give out all the lunches we could uh to anybody and everybody. So it's not a normal uh year. So you can't really compare just comparing apples and oranges with the previous year to this year. Um, so that's all I have unless anybody has any questions on the

040financial aspect. >> This is a great >> It's good. You like that? >> Yeah. >> Much easier. Yeah. Um, so Ryan um has been the senior auditor manager uh with with our firm and he specifically heads up uh West Morford. Uh so there were two comments or recommendations. So Ryan being that he heads up the audit team, he's I'm gonna let him do his part. Ryan. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so, uh, besides the financials, uh, we do come in and check in on >> Can you move closer to the mic? >> Sure. >> We do come in and check in on some things that may affect the financial statements like the internal controls of the board office, the compliance with federal state grants. Um, we do look closely at what's going on in the

041cafeteria from year to year. Um, so at the end of the day, we come up with this second report that Tom mentioned, the orders management report, and we had two items that we felt we needed to report on. Um, on a scale of 1 to 10, they're they're very minor, you know, maybe a two. Um but the first one is that there were differences in the DRTS report which it reports on all the students transportation status of as of October 15th of 2020 for 202021 school year. Um I think on some 2100 kids transported there were six exceptions. Uh and it might have had to do with the timing of when these children's IEPs were updated. The uh the other exception that we found were within the same report, the numbers of kids that were

042reported as receiving aid in lube um in instead of transportation uh were not in agreement with what the school registers were reporting. So, couple small differences. Um unfortunately, our hands are kind of tied. When we find these exceptions in our samples, we need to include them in the report and it triggers a comment and recommendation. But uh otherwise our job is made very easy by the board office and their staff. Um they're very professional and accommodating and uh so we don't really have anything else that we need to bring to your attention. >> Thank you. >> There any questions? >> So I just want to mention that um this is my last audit presentation. Um I am resigned from the auditing firm um after 39 and a half years with the firm. Um Charles Feroli

043who's been the auditor here for a million years hired me back in 1982. Uh smart man. Uh I've been with Chuck and and the firm for 39 and a half years. Um, so I'm hanging up my uh auditing coat and uh pursuing um a chief financial officer job in a municipality. So I only have to concentrate on one budget, one financial statement. And uh yeah, it's going to be a lot smoother. And um like Chuck and the rest of the partners trained me over all the years, I trained Ryan the same way I was trained and the rest of the staff. Um, so moving forward, uh, Ryan's going to be moving as manager. He'll be taking over the audit. Even though he's been, you know, here, uh, take taking charge and and in and training

044the staff like I trained him, he's training the new staff and the world moves on. >> But I'd like to thank the board uh, for all the years of their confidence with me and the firm. Um, so thank you so much. I appreciate it. Congrats. Thank you so much. >> I do remember when you were first started here. >> You were like Ryan. >> So >> yeah, Ed Vogle was my uh >> Wow. >> Oh wow. >> Secretary. >> Yeah. >> He trained me a little bit too. He was uh >> congratulations and best wishes. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Good luck in your new uh position. >> Thank you. or would we have uh >> something else under your report as far as minutes? >> We have minutes from the um February meeting, February

04522nd meeting, regular and executive session. >> Okay. I need a motion for the minute. >> I move to accept minutes um presented and agenda. >> Second. Second. >> Any discussion on the minutes? If not, uh, all those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. >> President's report. Uh, under my report tonight, I it's it I'm actually going to let Debbie um O'Brien handle uh part of it. Um Debbie and I went to a meeting last night um with the um the state county different county schools in regard to um the funding for PCTI. Um it came last minute through Dr. Anamone. It came on Monday for superintendent and board of ed members to go. So, we went last night and Debbie is doing the um Debbie's been doing legislative. So, I I think that

046Debbie can take that on when we get to le legislative, but we did go it was very interesting. There's going to be some conversations now and I think there we're kind of I guess we would say it's kind of like a committee that's been started and we're getting some information together um some that we sh some common goals that we share and um I I think it I think it was a good start as and for um some information for some factf finding other than that that's all I have for my report public comment. This portion of the meeting is open to members of the public for the purpose of addressing resolutions on the agenda only. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair

047first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes. Then time permitting other public comment limited to five minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All members of the public during speak All members of the public speaking during this public comment trans comment period are asked Wow I'm having a hard time with this tonight asked to sign the register provided and give their full name spell 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

048when 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. This is not the board is not responsible and is not liable for comments made by members of the public. Would anyone like to speak on their public comment? >> Seeing none like to close public comments. >> Need a motion to close public comment. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Okay. We just make a couple of edits to the agenda. On page four, education resolution number five, there's an overnight field trip. Do this is the annual pen relays. It's under number of school days missed. It says three. It should say two. Will be

049no more than two school days missed there. And then on page seven, personnel student affairs resolution number 15, we have a vehicle aid. We have a substitute vehicle aid. We can add name is Steven Mahan. It's a substitute vehicle aid. Last name is MAN Ahn. And then on page eight, personnel student affairs resolution number 17. This is a transfer of assignment. The head custodian stipend is the incorrect number. The salary is correct. The head custodian stipen should be 5429. $5,429. On page eight, resolution number 17, transfer of assignment. Okay. And then lastly, we'd like to pull one resolution under policy. That's page 14, policy number one. We're going to pull that and send it back to committee for April. And then that's it. >> Okay. So, I need a motion uh to adopt the agenda

050before you make a motion to adopt the agenda presented with the changes just mentioned by Dr. Second. >> I just have a question. Um Dr. Anamone, um I asked you to add student affairs to executive session. >> Okay, we could. Yes, >> we're going to do that when we read the resolution. I have that down already. >> Okay, thanks. >> Yeah, the amendment was uh the agenda was printed already by the time we had >> spoken. Thank you. >> I need a second for the >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Education, Mrs. Dwyer. >> Okay. Um I move to approve items one through eight. Oh, sorry. 1 through seven. >> Second. Discussion. Anyone have anything on items one through seven on education? >> Um yes. On number one um

051the school calendar. Can we um take the vote until after executive session? So you >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You want a table? >> Um, the motion's made by Terry, seconded by Kate. Is that a voice vote or is it >> Okay. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. So, now we're moving to through two through seven. Correct. >> Any other discussion on the motions? If not, vocal. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lawson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Van. >> Yes. >> Please remember to turn on your mic. >> It is on. >> No, I can hear Linda, but I can't hear anybody else. >> Do Do all

052of you have your mics on? >> Okay. Personnel, uh, student affairs. Uh Debbie, could you move that because Ray is not here tonight? >> Sure. I'd like to move items 1 through 30 under personnel student affairs. >> Second >> discussion. >> It's items 1 through 30. >> 30. Okay. >> Can I just say the fishing club looks >> The fishing club looks really fun. I think that's awesome. I think there's a lot of kids in West Milford or any town that are really going to enjoy that. >> Yay. >> Okay. Any any other discussion? >> I also wanted to comment on the fishing club. Um I've been I've worked in other high schools that have the fishing club and I've gotten numerous grants and lures would come in every day. Everyone wonder what the packages

053is of fishing poles donated to them. And I did share some of the the one specific program with Dan is called um >> hooked on fishing not on drugs in the state of New Jersey and they have a lot of resources and I think that that is can also be a club and a prevention activity. Um so teaching kids a lifestyle of finding other activities. >> It actually is a sport. Major League Fishing is a true sport. >> Yes it is. Any other very proud >> any other discussion? >> If not, uh, roll call bar. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >>

054yes. That concludes personnel student affairs. Thank you. Mr. Stillman, could you do operations and finance, please? >> I would like to move one through six. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Okay. >> Um number three. >> Yes, it was in the notes. Um, we are looking at a feasibility study to replace the trailer down at the transportation yard, the um, driver's trailer and the office trailer. Um, we have concerns that um, they're very old and in disrepair and so we'd like to know because of the wetlands involved what can be done and what we can put there. Any other discussion, questions? >> Yeah, I have a question on number four. Um, I >> Never mind. I remember now. Never mind. I'm done. >> I have one on number four. I have a question. >> Go ahead.

055>> Um, is there a date that this has to be signed by? Do we have to do it by June? Do we have to do it by July? >> We run the summer program there, don't we? Yeah. >> Um, okay. So, my thoughts are we have discussed publicly multiple board members have said that they were in agreement to talking about a utilization study. So, I I would like to I mean three and four I think would both be things discussed in a utilization study. So, if that was something that we were going to do this spring, I was wondering if we could hold off on those. >> Well, four is going to be for the academy. We don't really >> four. Yeah, four. >> Well, three and four I would hope would be discussed in

056a utilization study if that was >> utilization study is not a building that would be included with because students don't inhabit it. >> Yeah, it wouldn't cover the transportation lot. This is for our drivers and for our office staff there. and and there are too many other things that are involved with an engineering study because of permitting and wetlands and other restrictions that we may have. So, one does not go with the other. It's a this is a replacement. This is to be looking at a replacement of the the the driver's trailer which is their actually their private >> and the office trailer. >> Okay. or combining one end up. >> It's not it's not like taking >> it's it's falling apart. >> It's not going to affect any student space, any classroom or anything

057like that. >> It's not going to be part of the utilization >> and queen of peace. Uh the sooner we do that, the sooner we can plan for next year. >> I guess my question I mean I did read the notes, but I'm asking so the six the money for number three is just to look at plans for what they would do, right? It's not building >> study, >> right? >> Yes. because they're going to have to explore what can possibly go there, what kind of space we have to work with because that is an active area that can't be compromised by a building and you have wetlands back there. So, you have concerns about whether the NJ is going to have to be involved. So there's a lot of things that um need to

058be done by a professional >> because how the flow in the yard, you know, they have to make sure >> Oh, I I understand all that. I'm just I didn't realize that the utilization study would only look at buildings that inhabit students. >> Yes. >> It doesn't look at our buildings that inhabit our staff. Yeah, >> I also just thought um that so typically and prior boards have have asked me to look into certain things for Highlander Academy. Um but usually you need a little bit more time than just to start because it starts July. So okay, I think what you were saying and I think when the board was having some of those discussions about utilization, you're more planning right for 23 24. But right now, this lease is only the one year just

059to get us through summer to through next year. >> Just so that you understand it doesn't commit long. >> So from that's what I was looking for is dates. So from July to June >> to June, right? >> Thank you. >> And I think I would feel more comfortable with three. Well well definitely four if the utilization study was on the agenda. >> Well 23 and 20 number four is just for the next school year. 20 2022 to 2023 part of the resolution. >> Is there any other questions about items on under operations and finance? >> I I have one comment. I want to thank Staples for whatever the donation was >> u because we can use any donations that we could get. >> We do. They're typically backpacks filled with school supplies. So, you

060just give somebody the prepackaged backpack loaded up. So they've done it in the past. We've we've worked with them in the past and uh they reached out again uh a few weeks ago. So we'll do it again for next year. >> Well, that's wonderful and we greatly appreciate it. >> I had one last question if no one else on number two. >> Number two, it says previous recommendation was overlooked. Was it the exact same recommendation as is listed there now under recommendation one? I'm sorry. What was that? >> Which which one are you? >> Recommendation one. Number two under operations and finance. >> Right. >> It says that the recommendation was overlooked previously >> in the first paragraph. >> It says conditions that caused the >> right because we had the staff and change. Oh,

061>> okay. So it was in the prior year's audit, the June 20 20 audit. >> So it's a repeat recommendation. >> Um it was not picked up when we had a personnel change and due to co also any other questions under the operations and finance. >> If not roll call. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Move number seven. >> Second. Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Miss O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> abstain. >> Mrs.

062Van Djk, >> I abstain. I'd >> like to move 8 through 11. >> Second, discussion. If not, roll call. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Policy. Mrs. Stevenson. >> I'd like to make a motion to move items 2 through 15. >> Second. >> Uh discussion. If not, roll call. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Slockwood, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Committees Parks and Wreck. Mr. Conklin? >> Nothing. >> Are

063they Are they meeting or? >> Yeah, I think I wasn't able to go. >> Oh, okay. I was just curious. Um, safety. Um, we did have a meeting on uh last Tuesday morning. It it they were just going over a revision that they had for the drills because of some clarification that had to do with what certain drills they had to do within, you know, that they changed like the clarification of different drills that have to be done within the buildings. No meeting is scheduled for for right now. Superintendence Roundt, Mrs. Lockwood. >> Yes. So, these are the minutes from the February 24th uh meeting. Uh they were taken by Kelly Stenziano. Um there was um a question about the strategic planning island of Pride. Dr. Anamoon asked the group about any feedback they had

064in regards to the strategic planning meeting and if there was any thoughts from the community of what they would like to say. uh he updated the uh kindergarten registration. There was some things about COVID which obviously doesn't really matter right now. Mass on the bus protocols. Um so I won't say what was said on there. And then um link it was discussed. Um Mr. Novak updated on that tonight, so I won't go into that either. And then there was a discussion about um typing keyboard in and if they're going to be implementing um this into the media time for elementary schools. Uh Mr. Novak said he discussed the topic with media specialists on Tuesday during the PD day. They're currently looking at data to back up the plan and hope to have something implemented in

065September for grades K through two. >> Thank you. Oh, and there's a meeting this Thursday. >> The state county school boards, Mrs. Dwer, >> nothing this >> uh New Jersey school boards. >> Nothing this other than the workshop is returning in October. >> We're getting back to some >> live meetings, which is great. Um, legislative Mrs. O'Brien. >> Okay. Um, I have a lot, so forgive me. On March 10th, the Assembly uh education committee advanced the following measures. Um there were a lot of them. I just took the ones that I felt that were pertinent to uh West Milford School District. A301 requiring all school districts to submit its en uh its emergency communication policy and protocol to the New Jersey Department of Education for review. This is to ensure compliance with state laws as

066well as to make recommendations for improvement. Um, New Jersey School Board Association supports this. A271 permits one excused absence for students in grades 6 through 12 to attend a civic event each school year. Again, that's supported by the New Jersey School Board Association. A1822 requires every school district to establish a school meal fund to assist students with school meal bills that are in a rears. This fund would be established for the purpose of of accepting donations to assist students with the purchase of school breakfast or lunch as well as fund any. Um the association is is monitoring that um measure A3196 requiring the state school board of education to administer the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment as a field test for 11th grade students expected to graduate in 2023. This bill also requires the state

067board and commissioner to use the results to assist in the development of state assessments for future graduating classes. That's also been supported by the New Jersey Schoolboard Association. A 1181 starting with the 22 23 school year. The 11th graders that year, the state board of education will require that the lo local graduation requirements adopted by the board of education include the requirement that a parent, guardian, or student complete and submit a financial aid application in a form prescribed by the higher education student assistant authority. The student parent guardian may submit a waiver to uh a waiver form to be exempted. A New Jersey Schoolboard Association is concerned about the mandator mandatory nature of this and is recommending that this be an optional plan. On March 7th, several legislative committees met at the state house and

068advanced the following legislation. All are supported by the New Jersey School Board Association. S133 permits school bus drivers to use the EpiPen to a student in emergency situations. S528 requires additional school district personnel to complete a training program on suicide prevention. S715 establishes a commission on the effects of smartphone and social media usage on adolescence to study the extent of smartphone and social media usage in school. New Jersey School Board Board Association will have a representative on this commission. S713 requires school districts to include information on the events of September 11th, 2001 as part of the New Jersey student learning standards in social studies and requires public schools to commemorate the day. S896 prohibits the state board of education from requiring the completion of a commission of education approved performance-based assessment as a requirement for

069teacher certification and the school board New Jersey school board association has written a position on that as well. Um there was a webinar on March 2nd um that was by the New Jersey School Board Association and a lot of it had to do with the problem I think every school district is dealing with is getting hiring teachers and professionals in in in schools. And the a lot of the um a lot of the discussion and a lot of the uh uh laws that they want to pass is having to do with getting uh people who have retired back in to the school system on a temporary basis just to kind of do a a you like trying to help out with the transition between what was going on what's going on now with COVID and

070everybody. body getting back into school and and trying to fill in the fill in the positions that that are sorely needed. Um, also another thing that was a few years ago, they had um made it mandatory that you had to live in the state of New Jersey to be a teacher in the state of New Jersey. They want to pull that off the table as well. So, there's a um I mean there's a like another two pages I could read to you. I I think I think that's enough. Now, about the meeting last night, I'm going to read the email that I received if that is okay with you, Mrs. McDike. >> Okay. I Oops. Um, this is from Jeffrey Fischer, who is the >> He's New He's New Jersey >> Jersey School Board. He

071was a former president of the New Jersey School Board Association. Okay. >> And he's a board member in Manchester, right? >> Okay. Um, good afternoon. Thank you for joining us yesterday to discuss the budgetary impact of PA County PCTI on P County high schools. First of all, if you are available, the P County Commissioners will be meeting to vote on PCTI's budget on Wednesday, March 30th at 11:30 a.m. at 401 Grant Street, Patterson County Commissioners Board Office, uh boardroom, second floor. I will be attending the meeting and believe it would be impactful if more local school boards could join me. In addition, here are summary points to discuss with your mayors, councilmen, school community members, and local politicians. PCTI has the highest vocational tuition in the state while receiving the seventh most in state aid.

072In addition, the county has not increased their share of the budget in 10 years. The burden has been unfairly placed on the local school districts. PCTI currently has a large budgetary surplus as a result of excess tuition collected. This money should be used to decrease tuition tuition. School superintendents are looking to create programs that can be shared with neighboring districts to offer students options other than PCTI. It was a very eye-opening experience. We have numbers that were um brought in to us and we are number one or probably well for the wrong reason and to say county is that we pay cost per pupil local share local meaning school district individually $11,2162 per student and we're number one in the state. How much? >> $11,2162. Um I do have forms I can make copies for

073from the folks around the table and it's um >> very interesting. So who's going tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.? >> Well, unfortunately it's that they didn't get the date for the meeting until Monday. their their agenda for their budget, right, >> was not up online last night. I'm sorry. Their budget wasn't even online last night yet because I guess the county doesn't have to follow that 48 hour rule. So, he he understands that most people are going to have a difficult time when you tell them on well told us Monday that you have to be there Wednesday >> in our school at Mingo. I mean, we're allowed to go. I We have a lot of your calendar allowed. >> No, it's hard to It's hard to get out of the middle of the day just to

074disappear for a couple hours. I >> I know that there are a few people from the meeting last night. There were probably about two that definitely were going and he understood and I did speak with him about that. We're going to continue the meetings because unfortunately like what you know Debbie just said the county only fund count the county share of their budget that they fund has been $7,44,585 for the last 10 years. Has never changed. It's been the same dollar amount. >> Did they share their surplus? Um, I'm trying to that their state aid. Did they share their surplus? Debbie, I didn't I don't remember hearing that. He said it, but I don't think it's on there. >> Well, we received last night and we can make copies for >> We'll give everybody Debbie.

075>> Yeah, I have. So, on one page we have the um figures for each school district in in Pay County. um the proposed aid what you know uh how much did we get how much each did each town get how much is it an increase a decrease of course you know where we are sitting and that's a decrease on one slide is the PCTI budget revenue history um and uh what's interesting is in 2122 um the state aid I don't know what EQ was that mean um >> equalization okay was 30 there for them at in 2122 is 38,300575 no 38,575,483 and their enrollment was two $4,222 students and then for 2223 that number went from 38 million to 52 million 529 835 and the enrollment is up to $4,437 students. Their state aid this

076year was like 57 million >> because they're under adequacy, >> right? >> So, I'm sorry, Barbara, what does that mean under adequacy? It means that they're not getting enough state aid based upon the um the tax the taxes that they collect. >> Pretty much that's pretty because we're over adequacy which means that um the reason why we don't get we've been getting cut um has to do with enrollment. And it has to do with because um we're charging our tax levy is too high. So it's it's it's a formula that they use. And and I I just want to clarify because we're we're a live stream that this is no way in reference to PCTI itself as the school. And that that was the one thing that I think every person around the table last

077night when they talked this is not this is not to bash the school because we are very you know we are very lucky to have a a a school like that. It's very but it's it's how the funding is happening and what's happening to the districts that are you I mean we're losing 105 students. Manchester is losing 400 students. Um and and PV which is one you know once 100 they're losing 375. Um Ringwood Lakeland is losing 116 I think he said. So it it it's a bigger picture because everybody's feeling the impact. Not only even even those districts that receive state aid like the way he explained Manchester received like a million dollars extra in state aid, but in lo in losing those 400 students, the million dollars is walking out the door >>

078with 400 students. And again, how we have to fund, we have to pay tuition, they have to pay tuition for each one of those students, plus they're not counted on their enrollment records. So that that's really it's like a combination. It's how they're funded and the cost of the cost of the tuition and how we're not able to count them as districts. We lose them on our enrollment. So, I I think it it's like they're they're trying to look at both ends and they're asking tomorrow what Jeff is going there to ask is he's asking for them to cut the tuition. That's what they're looking for is they're looking for if you received they received an extra $14 million. So, why don't you kick some of that money back to your fellow districts who are

079footing the bill for the tuition? It, you know, it could help us. I don't know what will happen. He doesn't know, but he's thinking that it's worth the the time and effort. They've been doing this. Evidently, this is something that I I was not aware of until last night, but >> Jeff um Fischer and the other man there, and I can't remember his name either. No, >> they have been working on this for over 10 years. like this has been like on and off and it's kind of, you know, he this is probably the first time they seem to have gotten a good group of people out with him. So, and we're we're we're going to move forward and we'll see what we can do to help make it happen. I I would like to

080meet with Terry Duffy, our our commissioner, who you know is also a West Milford resident, and have a conversation with him and see maybe he could direct us in some way that we should >> That was one of my questions. Has anybody talked to Mr. D? >> Um my other >> Unfortunately, he's not on he's not on the board on that board, unfortunately. So that's why I didn't feel like it was pressing that I should call him today and I didn't really get that email till 3:30 today. So it was a little difficult to follow up on them. >> So tomorrow they're voting on their current budget. >> That is correct. >> So the way I see it, we only have two meetings left to go there because they have tomorrow's meeting and then they

081have a board meeting April 28th and then after that everything their next meeting is not until the end of May. to >> well their board meeting the board meeting tomorrow is my understanding >> my our understanding tomorrow they're voting the budget tomorrow >> and that's it there's no um >> and the like you said it came out >> on Monday >> and Mr. Fischer was hoping they would postpone you know >> that's one of the things he was going to try to see if they would postpone it but um I I have to concur with Mrs. Van Djk. It was a very interesting meeting and um what I feel and I I'm going to paraphrase what I said last night was it's like um um the David and Goliath >> um this has been going

082on for such a long time. If they were talking about this 10 years ago and look where we are now um obviously I personally feel that um it's it's not um user friendly. Um, yeah. >> Where they, you know, how they're how they run, how this is all orchestrated and and in the public is informed and it has been going on for so long. >> They, you know, they they think it's it's part of their their life and it's, you know, part of the part of the process and and they're okay with it. But I think it's affected enough school districts and and enough people have said, "We're done. We we need to do something about this. We got to take care. We got to take care of all schools, not just PCTI, all of

083our schools in P County. And this form, this sheet will be helpful to you because it breaks down what is what the um tuition is and how little you look. If you if you look at the one at the bottom, the share that that the county has to put in there, the individual towns in the county have to put in for Hudson is like $278 per student. So when you look at the breakdown, you can see how I un unfortunately for us, Pak is number one or number two and one or two on the list. So >> right because they and it has to do with also how many kids because they you know it's not it's not just a vote. That's the other side of this is that there's their their statistics are saying

084that they have a percentage of good percentage of kids that go on to four and two-year colleges that go into a vocational school from there. I thought they said >> 6% only go into the workforce >> when they graduate. >> I I think you're seeing more and more of schools around New Jersey like PCTI that are becoming more and more competitive to get in. And it, like you said, it has nothing to do with PCTI as a school, nothing to do with the children or the families that send their children there. I think we also need to >> get more competitive, too. There has to be a balance in in the funding because >> well that too but I mean like our >> but they also have the ability to deny >> you know they

085sure >> they can say no we're not going to take you >> sure that has >> but I think that doing more dual enrollment classes and all that is going to really help >> our school districts >> and we're fortunate that we're one of the few school districts that did not get rid of um start. >> We're still a comprehensive high school. >> Yeah. We're still a comprehensive high school. A lot of them have you know that those are gone and now they're like they you know now they want them back and it's it's you know once you lose it it's it's much harder to get it back. We are working hard. We are putting the hours in but we'll see. You know it takes more than three days to turn around something. It's like

086so we're we're working on it. Anything else? Don, I think you gave us a good report. Uh, technology. Do you know if there's any technology? >> Uh, we met last Friday >> to go over our new phone system purchasing. Uh, Mr. Winston gave us an update on the website process on the new website that's going to be ready to go this summer for a full opening in the fall. Uh, some other purchases, Chromebooks we discussed for a little bit. Um, we're looking at different options for Chromebooks in the future. What do we need each year for our cycle to keep our students and staff current with technology? So, we broke that up into a was a four-year cycle, which is typically the life of a Chromebook. That's about it. >> I do have a question.

087The phones will be up and we'll be able to have the system finished for the new school year. >> That's the plan. >> Wow. only been >> it'll be discussed at the April um operations and finance committee so that we can get it going >> and the website's going to be up for the for the beginning of the school year. >> Okay, that's good. Looking forward to it. Uh township uh board of education joint committee. >> Uh we we need to probably set a meeting, I think. So, yes, because there are some things here that now have come up. West Milford Municipal Alliance, uh, Mrs. Stevenson or Hey, whichever one. Okay. >> Um, there's a new coordinator. Welcome to Debbie O'Brien as the WMA coordinator. I will say so far the communication is amazing. We

088get weekly emails. we get um I I was looking for the agenda while I was sitting here and I was like, "Oh my gosh, Debbie, the coordinator of WMA has sent me quite a few emails in the last couple weeks." So, that is really really nice to have great communication. Um they are working on a vision statement, a mission statement, a list of resources for the community. Um voting on a logo for the WMA. Um, and I know that they're working on their budget and grants and filling out a lot of paperwork and um very busy looking to fund programs. Um, two things that I learned about in the last meeting, um, were or and through the good communication in the emails is that there is a medicine dropbox at the police station and that

089we have a hope van that comes to West Milford in different locations um, which is for um, anyone struggling with addiction to go and receive help. Um, and I know that they're looking to have it possibly at shop rate. It has been over by the Highlands Market, up by the Utopia Deli, um different areas. So, as the township moves and has different um other businesses opening up with, you know, marijuana sales that you could see when you drive around town, it's nice to see that there are hope buses too for addiction and treatment and other things working in the community. So, that made me very hopeful. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, old business. >> I have I have something. >> Okay. Um, Barbara, thank you so much for giving us this revised budget. Um,

090it was a lot of work and I appreciate it, but I do have some concerns and one is the um, elementary enrollment. And I think what this board needs to get from Dr. Annimone is a uh total number of actual choice students in our elementary schools, the number of students in each school and the current grade level that the school the student is in. Because if these school choice kids are all in that big big class, perhaps it's time for them to go back to their neighborhood schools. That's my first thing. The second thing is that when I went through and Kate, thank you for asking for the high school enrollment classes. >> Yeah. >> When I see classes of students, elective classes where there's only four students in a class, I say it's time

091to cut that class. I'm also concerned with the portfolio students. Some teachers have two, maybe one student in a portfolio class. What happens when those portfolios are done? What happens with that teacher? That teacher has a free period. Um, I would like to see maybe the supervisors handing the handling the portfolio kids. Um, I I think that um the the class sizes at the high school seriously need to be looked at. The other thing I'm concerned about is that we asked about uh cuts in administration. They have to be fair and uh I mean fair across the board in all cuts and we haven't gotten anything about possible cuts in administration. So those are my concerns. Thank you. >> Thank you >> Courtney. >> I I concur with um Mrs. Ryer. I'm very concerned about

092a second grade class having 24 students in it um going into next year. I think that is way too much. I know it's district policy. So perhaps that needs that policy needs to be amended um in policy committee because having that many students in a K12 classroom, especially a second grade that was in COVID in kindergarten just coming out of COVID in first grade, that class concerns me the most. um in having so many students in one class and I too ask for the administration to look at where the cuts are in their departments. >> Yeah. >> Anyone else? >> I agree. I mean, and just to you know, I did I read every class I I realize um the high school numbers they don't they look low. Um, back when I worked at West

093Milford High School, classes did not run if they had under 10 kids. Um, unless they were a special education class or an AP course. Um, so it is alarming to see that and then know that our elementary numbers are going up. Um, and you know this this I was glad also that I asked for it. Um, you know, our high school numbers look great. You know, they make me really happy. But if we're going to be cutting in other areas, I it's sad that our elementary classroom where the kids are in all day are higher than most of our academic classes at the high school, you know. Um, and by most, I mean it's definitely a majority is is under 20, you know. Um, so I I could not agree. I I cannot believe we're

094running so many classes with 10 kids of outside of AP courses. I think AP all AP classes should run and special ed is just different, you know. But thank you for noticing that and for looking at it. >> Anyone else? Need a motion to close all business. >> Motion to close all business. Second. >> All those in favor? I new business. >> I'm so excited for tomorrow night um at the high school and um it's the art f what is it called? >> Art and music district arts festival. I can't wait. So, I just wanted to mention it and um can't wait to see what our kids have for us. I'm excited to have things back in our building and to see it alive again. So, I'm I I am looking forward to it tomorrow

095night. Also, Courtney. And going along with that, Makipin put on an amazing musical, Frozen Jr. Um I know a lot of us were there to see it. And I just want to give a huge congratulations to the director, Miss Rizzo, to um Mrs. Catcher, Mrs. Zigg Zigglebomb. Um, they did an amazing job. The kids are so talented. I mean, how amazing that we have such talented children in West Milford who are highlighted in our district. Kudos to everyone. Thank you. Uh, anyone else need a motion to close new business? >> Motion to close new business. Need a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any oppose? Okay. Time for public comment. Just so everyone knows, we're updating this. >> Good idea. >> Mr. Brown and I are working on this. Um, this

096portion 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 operation 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 other public comment will be limited to five minutes per speaker until the time the 30 minute time period transpires. All speakers are asked to sign the register provided give their full name, spell their last name, group affiliation, and if appropriate if appropriate and provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not

097be 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 to responsible and is 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 their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to

098speak under public comment? Is it on? Yes. Is it Is it red? It's red. >> Yes. >> Okay. Hello. Um I'm Caitlyn Babcock. I'm the chairperson of our CPAC. Um BAB C O C live at Post Place in Newland. Um we recently had last Wednesday the 23rd We had our latest CPAC meeting. Um, I just want to thank a couple of our board members, Miss Lockwood, Miss O'Brien, who attended the meeting and then of course our administrators, uh, Dr. Mcuade and Dr. Anamone who also attended. Um, it was a long meeting. We, uh, got through a lot of really great information. Um, really, I'm speaking tonight because we're looking to really get the board more involved in our CPAC. So, I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of a summary of some

099of the things that we talked about last Wednesday. And again, it was a long meeting. We did have a lot of stuff to talk about, so it is a little bit long, but I talk pretty fast, so it won't take too long. This CPAC meeting discussed multiple agenda items brought forward by both administration and parents. Prior to this meeting, and since March of 2020, most discussions were COVID pandemic related. This meeting was the first in-person meeting with a virtual option for CPAC since that time. Dr. Anamone signed on to speak in regards to this and show his support for special services and serving students in the least restrictive environment. He mentioned that the teams will be reviewing placement to see where changes need to be made now that our attention is directed 100% to return

100the focus prior to the pandemic. Parents will be involved in any discussion that is a change. A staffing update was given in regards to programs that were affected this year. Specifically, the climb program and replacement teachers were discussed. As most districts in the state, West Milford is struggling to hire special education teachers. Consistency is the goal for the remainder of the school year for students. And then looking into the future, the district will continue to seek out applicants at job fairs and through advertisements. The hours for extended school year and other summer programs were discussed, compared, and explained. It is noted that special education special education students have the opportunity to attend programs in the sum in the summer other than ESY. A large discussion was had about the support during extracurricular activities for our

101students. A question regarding the difference between school sponsored events and PTA events was brought up and this discussion was going to be brought up and continue during the WMPA and SRT where more PTA representation was going to be present which I guess would be tomorrow. >> Thursday. Oh, Thursday. Yes. It is noted that if your student would like to attend an event and you feel they may need support, contact your case manager to begin that discussion for school related activities. Prior to COVID, there were conversations regarding impro improving our transition plans between schools for students who seem to struggle with changes in building staff routine etc. This is now going to be brought to the forefront and worked on. Once again, parents were curious about having conversations daily with aid staff. This conversation was informative

102for both administration and parents. Both parties were able to share their thoughts. The district is open to hear more ideas regarding this topic and those will be reviewed and shared at future meetings. The district practice as of now is that all formal communication with special class aid should go through the certified teacher or related service personnel. Other opportunities for our students were discussed through different grants. Parents shared ideas with administration and this discussion will continue at the May meeting. Finally, Dr. Mcuade explain the process of out of district placement to the parents. Our next meeting is on May 24th at 7 p.m. at the Westbrook School right here. >> Um there will there will be another virtual option that was great. We had I think it was like an even split, >> same amount of

103people in person that were virtual. So, it was great. Um, and we are also excited to note, it was a great idea Dr. McGuade had um that some light concessions are going to be provided by by our own Highlander Cove program. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. I think we can and think I need a motion to close public comment because >> motion to close public public comments. >> Need a second. >> I'll second it. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Terry, you want to do the executive session >> at 8:40? Um, I make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, resignations, current litigation matters, negotiations, HIVs, matters of attorney, client privilege, and student affairs. We will >> and the

104executive session minutes will not be released until such time as the privilege of confidentiality is no longer applicable and we will be returning for action. >> I need a second. >> I need somebody. >> All those in favor? >> Okay. We um I would 45 minutes. 45 minutes. We will return for action. >> I'd like to call the meeting back to order. Uh Barbara, could you do roll call, please? >> Mrs. Romeo, >> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> here. >> Mr. Stillman, >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> here. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> here. >> Mrs. Lockwood >> here. >> Mr. Conklin >> here. >> Mrs. Van Djk >> here. Uh, Mrs. Dwire, >> I'd like to move approval of the recommendation on a HIB uh by our superintendent incident 2022 M-10 as substantiated. >> Second.

105Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mrs. Swer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Okay. Then, um, also, um, I would like to move that we continue to table motion, uh, re resolution number one. Okay. We're going to we're going to revisit this in April at our April meeting after we get more information on the calendar. So, the calendar will be updated in in April at the April meeting. There's a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Any opposed? All right. Now, we need a motion to adjourn. >> Linda, I didn't have this information before, but tomorrow night's

106event is also being livereamed. It's on the YouTube channel. >> Okay. Um, >> I just found that out. I'm sorry. Oh, >> okay. So, uh, the all district art festival is being live streamed tomorrow through our go log on to our board channel, our board page, and you should be able to connect to the live. >> It'll be on the the West Milford TV Science YouTube channel. >> Oh, on the YouTube. Okay. On the YouTube. >> Yeah, TV Science. Thank you for saying that. >> So, myself and Joe Jordan will be >> Okay. Thank you. All right. We need a motion to adjourn. I move that we adjourn at 9:24. Need a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Good night. >> Good night. Good night.