001I'd like to call the meeting to order. Um, please remember the Aabella family and the Cali family in your thoughts and prayers tonight. 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, 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, 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, and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and
002all district schools. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco, >> Mrs. Romeo here, Mrs. Stevenson, Mr. Conklin, Mrs. Dwire here, Mr. Reno, Mrs. O'Brien here, Mr. Oinsky >> here, >> Mr. Stillman >> here, >> Mr. Van Dyke >> here, >> Dr. Good evening everybody. Welcome to our July meeting. Nice to see you again. Going to go a little bit out of work tonight and then we have one of our students here, Ryan Cooper. He successfully completed his Eagle Scout project for us. He renovated the Doug baseball dugouts at DO up behind that school. So, congratulations to him. We have a little certificate for him. Mr. Cooper, would you like to come up? get a picture, dad, mom, whatever. Oh, you got it. Congratulations, Ryan. >> Congratulations, Ryan. And I think I see our second uh finalist just walking
003through the door. Perfect timing. >> I went out of order just I knew you were running late. >> Kevin McCallley High School for the longest time. You guys are attending West High School. All of our cross country meets were away. We didn't have our own uh course here. So, we had to do all our meets away. Probably four or five years ago, they crafted a three mile loop around Mbin up behind McCormack Field, even into the woods over there a little bit. So, Kevin decided to create a new space for cross country student athletes up by McCorm Field and we thank him for that. So, Kevin, come on up for your Thank you. >> Congratulations, Kim. >> Okay, moving right along. Uh so this is obviously our midsummer update here as we plan for our
004safe return to school for 202122 schools year. Um many of the things you know we've met administrative teams our administrators have spoken to their their staff members as well. Many of the things that we've accomplished over the last year there's a lot of changes in the 2021 school year. Many of those changes will be altered back in September. some of those changes will be continued in the fall into the school year. Um, so I'm going to send out a a memo or a letter to the school community later this week which kind of details which changes we're going to keep next school year, which changes we're going to change back. So for example, um masks last year they required next year they will be optional. So change there. Um field trips and assemblies we did
005not have last year we will have them next year. Uh we're going to get rid of early dismissal Wednesdays. Those will be back to five full days of school. School night will be in person again. Last year it was virtual. Um but not everything is being changed. So we know we've been talking for a while internally with our IT department. Um our onetoone Chromebook initiative. We've been talking about it for a while. And the pandemic, although there was a lot of human tragedy involved with it, it did turbocharge our efforts for technology to bring more technology to our staff and to our students. So, and our onetoone Chromebook initiative will continue in the fall. All of our teachers are using Google Classroom. That will continue into the fall. Um, we'll be cleaning our classrooms and
006hallways and stairwells with the same rigor that we did last year. So, not everything is going to change. Um, so I'll be summarizing this later this week in a letter home to the community so people can look at it, evaluate it, and if they have any concerns or questions, >> they can definitely reach out to us. >> Next up, congratulations to our entire athletic department over at the high school. Um, we won for the second consecutive year the Big North and the NJSIAA sportsmanship award, which means that for the entire school year, we had zero players who were ejected and zero coaches who were ejected from games. Doesn't sound like much, but if one student, one coach blurts out one wrong word, they get ejected and you don't receive the award. That one two second
007incident can stand begging a difference. you know, the second consecutive year and we're one of a a small handful of districts that have won it in backto-back years. Um, so congratulations to our student athletes, their coaches, obviously their parents, uh, and our entire high school staff, our coaches for um, pushing educationbased athletics where it's more than just who wins and loses. It's, uh, developing many. So, congratulations again. And lastly, we did receive our HIV grades from our state. Um, so this is for the 201920 school year. So it's already a year old. So last year we submitted our self assessments in the fall for the previous year. We just got this back at the end of June. So um it's a year the state is a year behind with this. But the max score is
00878. Let's move to high school score with a 77. Abure elementary with a 75. Back middle school with a 71. >> You don't have to write this down. It's right on our website. So, Maple Road with a 77. Marshall Hill was a 75. Paradise Middle School was a 77. Upper G Lake was 75. And Westbrook Elementary School is a 75. All told, the district score was a 75. That's out of 78 possibilities. So, congratulations to our staff uh for another question. >> Yes. >> Um I'm impressed with the Big North sportsmanship award, but do you have any anything about awards for any of our academics, any of our kids that receive such awards? >> Scholarships. How much did we give in scholarships this year? >> I can get that for you. How much? How much
009we received in scholarships? >> How much the kids got in scholarship? I would like to see that. >> We did we did our scholarship night in probably early June maybe this year. Um and there is an old I'll get that for the board. >> Okay. I think that would be nice. I think he needs to recognize our academics as well as our sports. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. And Mr. Novak education. >> Thank you. Uh tonight tonight I have uh Mrs. Colleen Weiss magistic who is our supervisor of science uh industrial and creative technology arts and mathematics here to uh give us a little recap about the STEM camp that I've been talking about the last few meetings. Uh but it' be nice to show some pictures and and highlight some of our staff
010and some of the great developments that we had. So we have a little presentation if members up here want to readjust [Music] Hi everybody. Um, this year we did for the first time ever a 4 day um, summer explorer STEM camp. And I'll just start off by letting you know that we've decided that STEM stands for stream ecology and mammals. Yeah, mammals are because on the Well, I'll get to that. Okay, so um we started off with a really dynamic and energetic team. Um we we opened registration on the Google form and in 95 minutes we had 110 students signed up which was kind of funny to um Mr. Noak and I because we're like oh maybe we'll get 20 or 50 and we'll have little groups of five. So we actually had 10 teachers
011and we had groups of anywhere from 10 to 15. We started out with 10 but then some shifting causes grade two to be a little bit larger. So grade um kindergarten group one and two had Miss Palmerford who is a fourth grade teacher at UTL and Mrs. Caspersonson, one of our third grade teachers at Busbrook. Um kindergarten three and first grade, Mrs. Kimck, who is a biology teacher at the high school and Mr. White who's a special ed teacher at the high school. um our grade two team. Um Mrs. Eric, who is a middle school science teacher, Mrs. Rebec who's here in the audience, and may actually have a year at campus famous, but that's a secret for another time. Um and then we had Mrs. Novc is an instructional aid, Shane Duffy, and Faith
012Mural. And I'll talk a little bit about our high school volunteers later. Um our grade three team was Mrs. Pazino, who is um a high school science teacher. She does our AP environmental science and Mrs. Bethy who up until this year was an ELA teacher at Marshall Hill. She's now I'm sorry um an ELA and science teacher at Marshall Hill. She's now an ELA teacher at Macken and greeted for Mr. Leslie a fifth grade teacher at PUK and Mrs. Rembrandt um a special ed teacher at the high school and Highlander Academy and Brandon one of our high school volunteers. So you can see it a really great cross-section of teachers from different grades and different schools and a lot of really positive energy. So this is our gear. Um every student on their first day
013got one of these really cool little frog backpacks which I left at home and my son ran back to get me twice and it is a good kit. And in it um every student got a little journal. Um they got like some colored pencils or crayons. They got a magnifier and the allimp important a bug jar. This was like the biggest most favorite item in that bag. Um, every student had a name tag that they wore. We were at campus. Um, oops. So that was our home base. They gave us our own building, Franklin Lodge, but they had other camps going on at the same time. So we colorcoded and clearly identified our students. So you saw each of the teachers holding up a color that was the color for that group and all the
014students had name tags that matched that and all their bags had that staple on the front. So heaven forbid it didn't happen. But in the event that somebody got separated, they could easily be identified as one of our students. Okay, so our daily schedule, we would have all the buses unload onto the field and all students come into a big circle and somebody from campus would lead us in the five rules. The five rules went with five fingers. This meant have a good time. This meant show respect, no put downs, this is commitment, and this is safety. So they went through this every day, all five rules. And then we had whatever was appropriate safety for that day. So on day two, the first teacher who came in said to me, Colleen, when I was
015crossing off Mathan Road, a bear crossing in front of me, and the next teacher who came in said, "Colleen, when I was driving up the road, a bear crossing in front of me." And the last teacher who came in said to me, Colleen, did you know that there's a bear sitting right outside the literacy center? And so I went to Mr. Bell, who runs um all of Campus, and said, "Hey, maybe in circle time today, we can do a little bear safety." And so he did that with the students. Thankfully, we never saw a bear, but every one of our teachers was equipped with a whistle, explain to the kids everything that they should do should they encounter a bear. They were pretty noisy and it was going to be a problem. After we did
016that, we would have camp songs where they would like sing and dance and do things together. And then we were off exploring. At the end of the day, we would circle up in small groups, review the five rules again, hop on the buses, and go home very tired and very happy. So, here's examples of students exploring. And I just I um we shared out the album. I finally was able to finish compiling it and we shared it out. I think there's something like 350 pictures on it. So, I'll only show you 200 of those tonight. Not really. Um but this is my favorite story. That picture in the middle. Um, I took that picture when a little the kindergarten 3 and first grade team was out there and I heard the kids saying, "This looks
017really old. It looks like it was built in the 1980s." Wow. Um, stream studies were a big hit. There are a few different places where that was easily accessible to students. There's one up top and there's one down by what we call Propsies. Cropsies is um an area where back in the day that used to be Road and there used to be a general store down there and now it's just a really fabulous site. So, initially we thought that would really only be a third and fourth grade area, but all of our teachers were so excited and so energetic. They brought everybody down there and there were so many good finds. So again, I could show you endless pictures of all the things that they gathered, but you can see lots of good finds and
018that bug jar, right? Over and over and over again. There's so many good things found there. Um the the fun kind of piece of the journal was this was not painful school. This was fun. Like students wanted to draw what they saw. We gave them pure contact paper. They could stick leaves and plants in there. We didn't let them stick any animals. Um and then like some of our graphing was simple things like we would do there was an activity we did where there were all three um pasta on the ground and students had a certain amount of time to collect it. It was a camouflage lesson and then they took the different colors and they laid it out and counted it and that was kind of an impromptu graph so they could have a
019visual of those numbers. So it was kind of like sneaking math in without saying the word math and everybody loved it. There were no complaints about about anything. It was just a great deck. So, round about day two, Mr. Novak decided there should be cool treats. Um, we're a really good team. I'm all about what? How do you describe it? That stuff in the woods. And Mr. Novak is all about all of the organizational pieces. And so, um, ice pops for everybody, which I don't know if you remember that week, it was hot. It was very hot. So, this was wonderful. And then it was over. So this is our whole group of teachers all together and the buses all lined up for our last and I just want to make sure that I publicly
020thank first campus specifically Bell who runs the whole program. He is so generous and so open to anything we want to do there. Um, David Langenire is in charge of educational programs and twice I would call him and say, "David, I'm coming down." Because I really needed to know exactly where students were going to be at all times. I needed to figure out the activities they were doing. I needed to know where people could be that they were safe. He would meet me, he would hike with me. Other times I went by myself. The whole staff greeted me like as if I was um part of their group. It's a very friendly, welcoming environment. Um, our transportation department and bus drivers were amazing. We put this camp together probably inside of six weeks and managed
021to transport almost all the students there and back every day. Mrs. Nurell, our nurse, handled any and all things that came our way. Mrs. Bulby and Mrs. Lynch, managed all of the administrative stuff that needed to be done. And then our high school volunteers which I want to name specifically um Delaney Brown, Abigail Kasha, Shane Duffy, Sarah Kovitz, Brandon Nurell, Faith Nurell, and Julia Schneider. They were an extra pair or two or three of hands for our teachers. And really, we could not have been as successful in doing all the things we did without them there kind of keeping an eye on things and our food service. When the children got off the bus at the end of the day, they did with lunch. And so they could just go in and have a snack
022and then maybe take a little nap. So that's pretty much it. Did I miss anything? >> You just her job. Without Colleen being able to say yes, let's do it. we never would have been able to to uh get this event going. So, you know, we pitched the idea to STEM camp and great teammate to say, "Yep, let's let's figure it out and get it done." And all of you have been so supportive along the way. Barbara, I know we have some names in there, people who helped out, but every time I came calling to you, hello, we need this. We need the budgets a little bit more here or there, you were more than happy to help you back. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] So the um success of the STEM camp has already
023led us to the conversations of what about next year. Uh so we have been in those discussions. We are looking at some creative scheduling to try and squeeze two weeks into the program. Um, you know, Mrs. Schwe explained how many students we had. The cut off was, you know, we were looking to get a, you know, no more than 100. We had 110 within 30 minutes of the, uh, invitation being out. Uh, so if we, you know, the size and the amount of staff that we have is just right for the space that we used. Um, so we expanded to 2 weeks. Maybe we can accommodate 200 240 kids, which would be uh, which would be possible. Um and that uh that's it. Great summer. Uh we are also um so last last time um
024when we shared the invite uh I shared at the end of the school day and it was first come first serve sort of thing. So I know there were some parents who reached out to me who you know maybe didn't have an opportunity to get on there first and that sort of thing. So, when we do it next year, we're going to release a um you know, on a Monday, I'm going to release a time that we're going to open up that survey, and it'll be, you know, most likely in the evening. And so, I give people fair warning that this is coming. So, if they want to get there, they'll be able to to have maybe a better chance of of being on that first one, first serve sort of process. That's it. >>
025Thank you, Dan. I think everybody loved the program. I know heard different people talking about it across the camp. So, thanks so much for all the hard work that everybody put into it. Thank you, Tommy. I I ran into you and we talked about it while the camp was going on and I'm really I I think it's an exciting thing for our kids and anything that we can get them out outside and doing things is a great idea. >> Here, are you here? Yes. >> The next thing is >> Yeah. So they're trying to actually [Music] I got it. >> So, Barbara, up to you. >> Okay. >> Special reports. >> So, we have the minutes from the June 22nd meeting workshop and executive session for your consideration. >> Okay. I'll move that um the
026minutes of the June 22. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All righty. Uh I don't have a president's report at summertime and you know other than that I see that many things are happening around the district and um I'm thankful that we're able to be you know getting ready to open school and hopefully have a normal year ahead of us. So that's all I had tonight. Uh public comments. 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 5 minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other public
027comment limited to 5 minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All members of the public speaking during this public comment uh period are asked to address topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are asked to sign the register provided and to 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 uh 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 under 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
028them. 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 the public. Is there anybody signed up for? Anyone wishing to speak? >> Good evening. Justine, you guys all love. Um, so last time that you guys met, um, there was mention of funding from our district, um, that we were losing because kids were going to PCTI and other things like that. And we wanted to see how we can help, if there's any senators or anything that parents in the district can do to help raise those senators for you guys. So, if somebody can let us know privately or what we can do to help you, too. >> We don't want to be pulled from from
029our district either. That's first. Second, I just wanted to thank you again for um doing what's in the best interest of the kids for the reopening plan um without the masks. And um I know that the CDC had never never stopped saying the kids could stop wearing masks. So, I appreciate that the district's doing what Murphy said and taking it upon themselves to um you know, come up with their own plan that works for our district. So, I just wanted to say thank you and uh thank you for keeping the liability on families and making everybody happy. Thanks. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? >> Hi, my name is Henrietta Schaefer, 22 Broadway, and my last name is S H A F E R. Um, I know that I've gotten up here to speak a
030few times now, and I appreciate you listening. Um, but I do think that it's essential to keep pushing for a maskless 2021 2022 school year and I will continue to do that. Um, the past 24 hours have been pretty difficult on that front. Um, Governor Murphy has repeatedly said to different news sources that remasking our kids is on the table. Um, as of yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics did recommend that all children are masked in the fall in school. Um, and obviously the CDC has never let up on the mask front. So, it does feel pretty hopeless again. Um, but I still stand by the fact that our children must be maskless this school year. The really interesting thing about all of this is that the stats don't support the need for masks in
031kids. A recent letter to the New England Journal of Medicine actually stated that the mortality rate for kids was even lower than the CDC's number of 04%. That stat means that 0.04% of COVID deaths occur in children 17 and under. Um, we've been fed a narrative throughout the pandemic that only selfish people want their children unmasked, that if you want your child to breathe freely, you want to kill grandma, and that you probably will. Um, this simply is untrue. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of COVID COVID deaths have been in the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions. Children are not super spreaders of COVID, nor are they responsible in large numbers for these cases and deaths. I come here today as an advocate for our kids. They have been unfairly targeted. They have
032been unfairly scapegoed and they have been unfairly victimized by CO policy. These deaths are tragic. No one would deny that. But our children are not responsible for them. Maskearing has caused many issues for America's children, including dizziness, anxiety, learning difficulties, psychological damage. We say that our kids are resilient, but really they're survivors. The damage to them is vast, and they have been forced to shoulder a burden that was never theirs to bear. Many kids will have lasting damage from this ordeal. It seems to me that very few people, if anyone, is speaking up for America's children and what they have endured wearing masks. It does cause physical issues as well as mental ones. This is not 89 harmless practice. It has consequences and it is not necessary. It seems to me to be a misguided
033practice that does not target the true reasons that people are dying of co lifestyle related and pre-existing conditions. It is much easier to blame and target America's children than for adults to take personal responsibility for their own health and this needs to end now. I encourage the board to advoc advocate for our children in the best way possible going forward and I certainly do hope that masks can remain optional. Once again, I do thank all of you for updating that in your return to school plan. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Hello. >> Hi. Hi. >> Just to add to what the previous speaker 144 West over um or drove, sorry. Just to add to what the previous speaker was saying, uh with 004, if you include only healthy kids, that number
034essentially goes down to zero. Um this fall, the the uh teachers union is going to be putting a lot of pressure on you guys to do what they want. You have to do what's best for the kids. uh recent study uh I think it was uh Janna Pediatrics they uh put masks on a kid's me and they measured their CO2 in their blood after three minutes. It was six times higher than OSHA work standards. Six times higher. And you expect kids to go to school and learn and actually absorb absorb information. There's nobody. And the other thing is uh if you another study they looked at uh wearing a mask for 8 hours. They sent them to a laboratory pathogens all over them including menitis. We don't want that and I don't think you do
035either. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? >> I'm Alexander Swander, 112 Timberland Newland. Um, and to echo what the previous speaker said, um, as a concerned citizen of West Milford, I just am encouraging everyone to really think for themselves when the teachers union does come for the reimposition of restrictions in the fall. Um, as Henrietta Schaefer said, um, there have been some signs that this is going to, um, you know, be a a a focused effort of certain groups. And I just want to speak to really the the mental health um, of the kids from a uh, broad perspective. Um, I'm 47 years old and I'm a nursing student at one of the New Jersey State Colleges. It gave me an unusual opportunity this year um because nursing students have
036the opportunity to do clinical rotations in multiple hospitals. So I had the opportunity to do clinicals in seven different hospitals in Bergen Bay counties. Um which was pretty fabulous except for the time that I spent in the piece work where the kids go. And so what I'm about to do is something that I was also told about um by many other students when they did their rotations as they share information. And so at a perspective of of you know the shared experiences um there is a very unusual number of children in the piece words who were site patients this year. Um, and I'm not going to name hospital names because I can't. But, um, the problem was, um, there weren't enough sight beds in psychiatric facilities for the kids. So, they were backing up into
037the pain wards and this was happening really because of the lack of normaly in these children's lives. um masking or not being in school. You know, there's many reasons that you can, you know, think of all the ways that their lives and experiences were not normal this year. And it resulted in this backlog of cases and it wasn't just New Jersey, it was also New York. Um there were kids that were regularly waiting a month to get a psyched when they needed help. And I would see these kids because they would be in the PS4 um where they didn't belong for days or weeks on ends because they had no sight bed to go to. Um so I wanted to relay that to you because I just think it's really important. Sorry if I'm running
038on time, but um I'm just encouraging that everybody think about their role in returning these kids to normaly this year because they really need that. and masks uh or unmasking is a part of that. Um I really am hoping that the kids are able to communicate freely, see each other's faces and feel like things are just getting back to normal for them. So thank you for listening to my story. I and I hope that you know leaves you with something that you know you might not be aware of otherwise. So thank you again. >> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing none, like I close public comments. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? A few things with the agenda. >> A couple of uh correct things on the agenda before we
039approve it or adopt it rather. So the first one is going to be uh page six, personnel student affairs resolution number 14. School student affairs resolution number 14 where it says grade two teacher should say grade one teacher personnel student affairs resolution number 15. We're going to pull from the agenda entirely. Next personal resolution number 15 agenda. Personal student affairs number 22. That's the additional hours for the kindergarten summer experience. We're going to add a new kindergarten teacher on there. Her name is spelled on her resolution with Tina Pascino upper Greenwood Lake. That's P A S P U Y L for the 2our hand experience. The last edit we are going operations and finance resolution number three is going to be pulled and replaced with operations finance hand number two. organizing payroll under operation operations
040finance number 11 operation of finance resolution number 11 will be pulled as well to accept the agenda Second. >> All those in favor? >> I oppose. >> All right. Education. Mrs. White. Okay. I'd like to move the items 1 through 8. 1 through 8. Second. Discussion. Mr. Rose, >> Mrs. Brier, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mr. Oinsky, >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mrs. Vand, >> yes. >> Personnel, student affairs. Um, would you like to do that, Kate? >> Sure. Um, I would like to move items number one, 14, 32, 14. >> Well, 15 is missing. So, 15's full 1 through 14 and then 16 through 32. Second, we'll do that second. Discussion. Any questions on the items on this one? If not, roll over. Mine. Yes.
041Minsky. >> Yes. Mr. Romeo. That's number 27. Yes. Mrs. abstain on 31 and 32 and yes on everything else. Mr. Stillman yes on um I abstain on 14 and yes on everything else. You would like to take the hand carry the blue hand. Let's make motion number 33 [Music] discussion. I'd just like to note that uh congratulations to Gay Fish. We wish her well in her retirement. She will be here till the end of the third till the end of September, but she has been a longtime employee um for us in her transportation. Um other than that, that's all I have to say. Any other discussion? Ro, >> yes. >> Mr. So, yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wyer, >> yes. >> Mr. Stman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Rome.
042Shashinski, recommendations. I'd like to move item 139 with number three being replaced by the hand car. [Music] Any dis any discussion roll [Music] >> Mr. Oinsky? >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien? Yes. Mr. Stoneman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brier? Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van? Yes. I would like to move item number 10 discussion. >> If not rollinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. Mrs. Van, yes. Item number one has been over the table. I went to items 12 through 15 roll. I mean um any questions? If not, Mr. Oinsky, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. Mr. Sting, >> yes. >> Mr. Fer, yes. >> Mr. Romeo, >> yes. Mr. Yes. >> Okay. Item number 17 on a second. >> Okay.
043Thank somebody. >> Any discussion? >> If not, roll over. Mr. Shinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Okay. Um, policy [Music] number 320. Any discussion? >> Mrs. Romeo. Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. >> Mr. Sman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wer, yes. Mrs. Blight, yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, um, like to move on to number one of the negotiations. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Ryan, >> yes. Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Mr. Stone, >> yes. Mrs. Flyer. Yes. Mrs. Mand. >> Yes. >> Is there anything new for parks? >> Right. I talked to Dan today and he said he had to report and uh he's going to send me over all
044the notes from the last meeting. >> Is there going to be meeting during the summer? >> I think so. I >> safety there. There's no meetings during the summer. Uh no meetings for uh superintendent. Uh the state county school boards, that's also our office. September, New Jersey school boards. Same thing. Legislative, anything? >> Oh, yeah. Couple of things. Um this is very interesting that the Senator AO there's S 3617 which is looking to establish this grouping um advance uh a school funding formula formula evaluation task force with uh the um commissioner and six public members. This is a look at the way school funding is being done now which we all know and love here is Senator Ro from Sex County West very well aware of the issues that this is being hit with the
045current schools up in Ohio. So hopefully this this will go through and there's a reason to talk about it. Uh >> I think he joins with other that's down south because there's a small area down south that got hit >> that that got hit too but I think they combine them. >> Yeah. So that was good decision. The governor was has signed a couple of new regulations repetition. Uh this allows it's 5365 Senate 3872. parents required to ask that their child be allowed to repeat to repeat the grade for the uh 212 school year. Uh chapter 44 amendments which is something a lot with the new healthcare uh requirements basically is saying it affects the budget. They want the union and the school board to get together and try and work it out by them
046on the healthare requirements. Uh there's S 5886S3959 um project grants for school security. uh 58A 5887F uh grants for um construction construction repairation or replacement of water supply infrastructure want to do all that other issues. that become official. Um then student services 3801 permit school district administer anonymous voluntary survey regarding students use of alcohol tobacco one drugs parents among other behaviors like health parents and guardians will be notified at least two weeks prior to being survey uh couple of things that are on the governor's is best for his signature by the legislature. This one's a little interesting. A69 A698 S3964 redistricting appointment requires incarcerated people to be counted at residential address for municipal counting for the national redistricting purposes. I can't figure that out. >> Still journalist rights. Uh there's still free speech. Make sure
047there's free speech rights. The journalistic never anti-hazing policies. Expands the definition of this is 83149. Uh definition of hazing to include any conduct that causes or forces or forces another person to commit an act or violates the law to consume harmful substances. The subject person to abuse treatment, harassment, degragation, physical, emotional or sexual nature. So this probably expanding a little bit on the current hit stuff. Uh then there's S5818, S3849, uh bus driver blacklist. They're going to have a list of um people that shouldn't be driving companies that with bad records that shouldn't be uh used. I'm surprised they don't have that already. Uh then school bus safety uh hold the school board or contract responsible if they approve it sign an individual basically with a bad record and not checking them out. >> Yeah.
048Um regionalization S3488537 is staff build a grant program for conducting reorgan regionalization feasibility studies and voluntary re so you know that those are the examples for the county I don't think and then last thing this is actually in the paper recently um they're agreed the legislature governor agreed to raise state share extraordinary special education costs to 90% from 55%. I think that's good and I think this happens here. This is from Senator Sweeney by the Down syndrome. We were hearing people say a family was built for kids with challenges now reflected as really screw very articulate and yeah again and they also recognize that some of reputations for good programs draw families with them which is not not a bad thing but some pay for >> Thank you. technology race here. Is there is there
049anything coming up? >> Uh did you have a meeting? >> We have a meeting scheduled for tech committee coming up. So there's no report tonight. >> The township board of education and the town. We had a meeting but there really is nothing that was the mayor was not able to be there. We did talk about um you know cooperating to get the fields back in there. There was that discussion and there's also discussion about the fireworks and if anybody saw the fireworks they were spectacular. So it was great. And I had friends who came up and watched them and and then one of my friends left an umbrella there and the next day we went back and of course the umbrella was gone. But they all commented on how spotless the fields were after such
050a big event like that and that's it was very nice to have the fireworks back and it worked out very well behind the high school on the church. So it's good if we can keep doing it. >> But there was no cotton candy. Sorry about that. The West Milford Municipal Alliance. Um the meeting was held during the tornado that we had here in West Milberg. Um yours truly was in the basement dealing with a water issue, so I did not attend. Um Courtney did go. Um, the only thing I can say with 1,000% certainty is the night out um, event will be taking place on I think it's a Wednesday, but I know it's August the 3rd at Bowen Springs. Starts at 6:30. Um, it's great. It's for the community. A lot of great stuff
051happening. A lot of uh, we have the police department, fire department, sheriff's department. Um, center for uh, oh my name. Sorry. Island Theater Success Center will be there. Um and and uh it's just gonna be a great event. A lot of great stuff. >> Are they gonna bring the kines in? You know, the sheriff's will bring >> I think I'm not sure about kines, but please don't hold me to it. I know the one thing I think they're going to do scuba dive thing going on. Yeah, I think that's that they're working on. I think may or may not. I I don't know. Wow. Unfortunately, like I said, I was sucking water out of my basement during the meeting. Well, I think now the National Night Out is National Night Out. I'm so glad that
052we're doing it here in West Mil because so many other communities do it and I know that they get a good turnout. The turn is good. The support from the community and from the county has been unbelievable. I know they've been meeting a lot of data success center. So, I kind of catch, you know, bits and pieces of information. I'm not I'm not part of the committee, so I have my own things to do, but um it's it's going to be great and I hope everybody shows up. That's good to hear. Um, old business. Anyone have anything for old business? >> Um, this came up last meeting about CCTI and they're looking into contacting the legislature or or somebody about, you know, not having our count. start looking at some of the numbers there and
053um some of the numbers are not that up to date on the state website but PCI their cost per student is 28,000 car these guys roughly um total spending Um we're about 85 million and they are 104 million total spending. Uh state share we have 8.9 which went down 21%. Uh they're at 43 million and went up 36% this past year. Uh think about the whole thing. This is something I really could be uh first found out of the state county school board >> meeting because this affects probably all the uh districts in the county. Uh again, this is something against PCI system which kind of gets short change are state aid numbers not being able to count those students >> except we're the only one in the state county are losing money. >> Yeah.
054>> Us and what is it? Rainwood Green Rainwood maybe loses. >> Yeah. >> So that they're not feeling the impact of unfortunately next time. >> Well, Debbiey's doing Debbie and Terry are doing state count. So if you want to give them some of that information, they can gladly >> be out again. You know, it's nothing PCI at all. No, >> the uh the formula and the way they do it. I don't know what the legislation really is on I don't know how, you know, what kind of kick of everything again has very little anything property taxes. However, they got rolled into so maybe just another item funding wise that needs to be looked at on a statewide basis. So I'm sure that counties >> it must work the same for every county, right? That that
055No, it doesn't. It only works in a state county. [Music] >> So they not every county does it the same way as we do where we get count they don't get counted in our enrollment. >> Oh no, >> that's what I'm thinking for but the tuition. Um yeah that I I wonder if the formula is the issue >> nobody vocational schools are not that long that comes right >> any other old business to tag >> oh I just I just wanted to tag on I don't know if we'll be meeting in person in September I really hope so because then we'll be able to meet with the people directly you know, >> there was a survey put out. Did you get the survey from the state about meeting in in person? I got one in
056the mail. I got one. >> If I did, I I I really hoping so cuz the the Zoom is is just lovely. It doesn't help us because you can't really network and work people on on a on a Zoom meeting because there's 40 people on it and you know it it probably isn't pertinent to 39 of those people that are on there. So, you know, James, I know we talked about it in committee about the field usage and all that about baseball. I know that we had switched them back to to diagos. I just want to make sure that the public knows that we won't get and maintenance our fields during the morning time when the couch. Thank thank you for bringing that up and and >> I know that's a big thing right now
057and you know we the board does everything they can to maintain the fields and you know fix them but this is our off season so that's when we're supposed to fix them not >> and it's really important that the public know that our our maintenance guys went out of their way and they reopened Kill Gallen. Chris went Chris and his guys did a really good job to reopen Kilg for them. >> And I know that Dan was a big part of that. >> Yes, Dan, too. Yes. >> So, I mean, we we of course want to do anything we can to make it better for the kids here in West Milford to be able to play and everything, but in the end, the the we can't maintain fields when we're not using them. So, >>
058hey, I was going to say the same thing. Um I and Courtney asked that I mention in old business also about the fields and just thank you for meeting people. Um I did some time today and I looked at every single field um that we have and um talked to a lot of parents out there like what are you doing? I'm just looking at the fields just walking you know walking through and um I can tell that they are putting a lot of time in and um you know that that they're working on it and I wanted to thank the administration. I wanted to thank, you know, our maintenance crew and everybody that's working on it and just ask that we just continue to be updated. It's definitely been something we talk about all year
059long. Um, and it's, you know, something that we always work on and are always, you know, keeping updated on, but today was my first day that I visited every single field. You know, you go to fields, whatever. I just went around and the one baseball team right down there before our meeting uh the team only had seven players so we won by a you know so but I did question why their uniforms were blue um Highlanders of gold you know but anyway they're not Highlanders it's a travel team but to that point is that we're sharing and I I love to see the collaboration and working together with the rec department and I just wanted to also mention that. So thanks to everybody that has been part of that. We did talk in committee about
060trying to maintain our field all year long because it's not like it's hard and all that. So hope hopefully going forward we can you know even though we don't lose them during the summer but we still need to >> Yeah. I mean our field as as a turf you can go to the turf at any moment and there's someone on the turf with a camp or practice or you know there is they are in constant use right now and um you know that is probably part of the conversation >> even closer fields like bar will be able to get it better the next season so I mean it's >> yeah well I I want to thank I want to thank Barbara publicly because Barbara has been on top of this as far as budget items
061so that we have the money to do the things that we need to do on on the field and working she has worked with Chris to get her guys out there working hard and you know she tries everything she can to make sure that the kids have a good place to play and that our kids are playing on good field. We have to always remember that that's a balancing act too with what we're doing. So I thank you Barb because I know you really have done a lot for that especially over the years right there so many other needs in the district. So thank you. Any other old business? >> I like business. >> All those in favor? >> I I Any opposed? New business. Any new business? Okay. Need a motion by the motion.
062Second, >> Dave and Carrie. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Public comment. Public comment. 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 operations of the Westminster 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. Then time permitting other public comment li comment limited to 5 minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All speakers are asked to sign the register provided and give their full name, spell their last name, group affiliation if appropriate, and
063provide 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 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 light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded
064that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to speak? work that you guys were working this summer. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Gary Shepard, uh 829 Drive, Franklin Place. I rise to speak to you about some very old business, the Hill Press School. Uh when I say very old, this this project, this should have been a very simple transaction. Unfortunately, it hasn't. Allow me, I know I've got 5 minutes. I'm going to take about 2 minutes to go through some of the timeline. Initially, the initial bid was put out 2 years ago for this bill. On on July 31st in 19, I requested because it wasn't included in the package, a map delineating the field because the board requested that a field be taken out, which now
065we're speaking that the board does not take care of fields, but that's a separate subject. Um, I went to the board of ed office and Barbara Francisco gave me the map that she had drawn. I followed up with an email just memorializing our meeting. Uh, there was an email to uh on 8th, August 8th in 2019, I emailed Miss Francisco because your bid did not include a septic field that the building has. You can't operate without. So, it was just the building. No septic field was incomplete. So, at that point, uh, I believe Miss Francisco went back out and, uh, put forth a new bid on, uh, August 21st, 2019, the bid was delivered. The bids were due on 91319. on 1011 2019. Um, Miss Francisco emails me to tell me that the bid is
066to be discussed on the next board of ed meet agenda on October 29th, 2019. On October 29th of 2019, this board voted publicly to accept my bid, Mr. Adams. Then he introduced himself to my board attorney. I'm just trying to give you an idea that things started moving, but the bid as it was put forward, parts of it didn't make sense, and we kept trying to make it work. I respond with Mr. Mo, who is my attorney's information, and on January 14th, we received the first contract for the B for the sale of the project. That's January 14th of 2020. On January 15th, we respond to that contract and ask that the contract match the bid, which it did. emails back and forth until and even a phone call from your burrow administrator saying that
067he had been in contact with this board about the building while the bid was accepted and while there was a contract or we were trying to finalize a contract. Finally, in November, as went back and forth, your attorney, John Crew, requests that we complete the transaction. On the 24th, Mr. Recruit, Mr. Croo, requests a Zoom meeting to discuss how the the contract doesn't match the bid. 12:21 in 2020, we have a Zoom call and we discuss how it doesn't match, how there's contradictions in the contract, how it can't be signed, and we ask for the for our comments to be addressed. On on February 5th of 2021, Mr. Kroo requests a reply, we request from Mr. approve a reply to our comments of January 15th, 2020. That was and we resent our comments that excuse
068me, it was resent on November 10th, 200. I might these dates might be a little confusing, but the point is all we kept doing was saying, "Your contract doesn't match the date. It contradicts itself in six different places. We can't sign it. give us a contract that we can sign or at least have it reflect the bid. Uh on February 19th, uh Mr. Croo replies that you will they will only um abide by the the option that we bid on. In April, Mr. recruit notifies my attorney that and we have a April 15th deadline of moving this deal forward. At this point, we have no idea what's going on with this board. We have no idea what's going on with your attorney. All we've been doing is asking that the contract reflect the bid. So,
069I instructed my attorney to put forth a rider. >> I have to stop you there because I'm sorry. >> May I finish my last comment? I'm almost done. It'll be 20 seconds. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much. Our contract now reflects the bid. It simply took out the contradictions. We signed it. This board has been sitting with our money for 2 years. $20,000. We signed the contract. You're sitting with it. That was on April 12th. We still haven't gotten an answer. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else wishing to speak under their business? If not, second. >> All those in favor? I >> uh there is no need for executive session tonight. So I need a motion to uh at 8:10. I'll make a motion to all those in favor. >> Good evening.