Board of Education Meeting 8/25/20

001I'd like to call the meeting to order and for those members of the p public wishing to speak uh can you please sign the register that's on the podium uh that will happen during public comment but if you could sign ahead of time that would be wonderful. Uh for viewers at home uh that would like to that have a question during the meeting where during public comment uh Barbara Francisco has an email where you can email your question in tonight. Her email address is Barbara B A B A R A. Francisco F- R A N C I S O at wmtps.org. If you if you email your question in during public comment, we will read it. And at this time, I'd like to say over the over the the weekend, we lost a very special

002young man, Tristan Bathley, that uh this past week. Tristan touched many lives in our community and was a well-loved member of our West Milker family here. And I would hope that everybody could please remember him and his his family during this moment of silence. Please rise for the flag. I >> aliance 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 provision public 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 and cable vision of war and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board

003meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Roll call for Mrs. Francis. >> Mrs. Romeo here, Mrs. Stevenson >> here, >> Mr. Conklin >> here, >> Mrs. Dwer here, Mr. Go >> here, >> Mrs. Fritz here, >> Mr. Oshinsky here, >> Mr. Silman >> here, >> Mrs. Van Dijk >> here report >> should be Ellen could have it up. >> Good evening everybody. There it is. Um so just an update for the board and for the community for our 202021 return to school plan update. Uh we've had discussions all summer long and actually from the spring all through the summer long there's been discussions with the board and committee um and there seems to be an interest uh some interest in changing our temporarily changing our

004return to school plan from a September 3rd return to school for in-person instruction to October 1st. So that's four weeks. So, as of now, the plan that we have on the on the board members table in the back for the public and up for uh board approval tonight um is a four-week uh we'll call it a pause um for a return to school. So, all of our students K to 12 or preK to 12 will open the school year on September 3rd uh for distance learning or virtual learning and we'll begin in-class school on October 1st. So it's a period of four weeks. Okay. Uh next up, um health screening process. Uh we've we spent the better part of a few week few weeks or maybe even a few months uh working with our district

005nurses to update our health screening process for students as they return to buildings. Um we have a couple of handouts for the board from members of the public. And I believe Dr. Mcuade has a couple of PowerPoint slides she'd like to share with us. Yeah. So, I will just present from here. Um, since the slides are right behind me as we get it up and loaded. Um, the board does have this in front of them. We did not yet provide it to the public. We want to talk about it first tonight and then we will tomorrow send it out to our staff and our community. This way, it's out um for what we're going to be doing. So, I just want to first thank the nurses that worked this summer really hard on what you're

006about to see. So we had five nurses work with us with Nina and I to plan for what the screening process would look like. So the f as as that's loading up I'll still continue just in the interest of everyone's time. So, the resources and the guidance documents that we used to develop what you're going to see tonight included the New Jersey Department of Health COVID 19 public health recommendations for local health departments specific to K to2 schools. That came out August 13th, which the nurses and I were happy about because we were in the planning phases of what we were going to be doing. And it was helpful to then have an actual concrete document from the Department of Health that pretty much outlined some of the practices we should be doing this fall.

007We did use the road back restart and recovery plan for things such as wearing masks and other safety precautions. We used the John's Hopkins training courses which our ad building principles um and our nurses did complete that six-hour course. You'll see CDC on here, Academy of Pediatrics and our summer team that worked on this were the nurses, Mrs. Pearl and myself and the principles. So the designated points of contact which they ask us to have and and to look closely at the local health department is going to use the what's called a regional risk matrix when providing guidance to us. So we're considered in the northwest region um within the department of health guidance. You will see there is a link to then our region and it continues to monitor the amount of COVID cases

008that are in our area compared to other parts of the state. I will ultimately, and I know Dr. Anne has mentioned that before, I will be responsible for helping to coordinate the COVID responses with this and the local public health authorities, but at the building level, it will be the principal and your school nurse that will be handling, if you will, the day-to-day interactions and monitoring of symptoms. So, you might ask a board, why are we conducting these symptom screenings? And the reason why we're doing that is because the New Jersey Department of Health does recommend that we do have a daily symptom screening. According to the CDC, this this is going this screening at home can be helpful to help us determine and if someone currently is infected or the possibility of transmitting COVID

009to another individual. Home symptom screenings rely on the students and their parents and their guardians and caregivers. They are the first line of defense for us. So, they are the people that are going to see their children wake up. um and know whether or not the child should come to school. Practices are in place to minimize the risk to staff and students in line with the Department of Health guidelines. So, we pretty much created what you're about to see off of those pieces. So, I tried to kind of give you a little bit about what this is going to look like because we're not planning to take a lot of instructional time away from students to do this screening. This is a self-sreening that happens with either the staff member conducting the screening on themselves

010or a parent conducting it on their child. And I can tell you that I stand here before you not only as the director of special services, but I do have a kindergartener that's coming in for the first time this year. Um, and I am a West Milford resident. So, I take that into consideration when we're also planning some of the practices that we're doing. So, the morning the morning before school, the parent is going to utilize the screening tool that I'm going to show you that was adopted from the New Jersey Department of Health, assess their child. The parents has the responsibility to screen when the student arrives to school, which you'll see in the next bullet. They the students entering the school building or the staff member, we we are assuming and acknowledging that

011when they enter the building, they have already self-screened, right? So, they're going to show up without those COVID symptoms, which one of them is a fever. So, we're not taking temperature checks, but they will will acknowledge the fact that they do not have a fever. There will be a visual screening. Nurses will train the principles and teachers to conduct what this screening is going to look like. This is not a complex type of screening. We're not asking teachers and other staff building principles to start asking a bunch of questions to their to the students. That's not the plan. If you see in your packet, there's a like emoji sample with a bunch of emoji faces. So, obviously, that's the screener to remind and we're still working on it the teachers as to, hey, is anybody

012out of breath? Um, new anybody, you know, does anybody look sick? And you know that teachers and principles traditionally do this, right? The guidance counselors, we do this naturally, but now we're going to ask that it's a little bit more formal. Symptom monitoring will happen throughout the day. So, if students exhibit any form of a symptom, they're nauseous, they don't feel good, they they put their head down and they just say they're not feeling right, they'll go to the nurse and the nurse will continue to assess them. And the last step is if an individual does become ill when they are in the nurse's office, when they go down there, the nurse is going to separate that student or the staff member from others. We're going to isolate that student until somebody can come and

013pick them up. District staff are going to follow the same screening process that you will see and then they will not be like signing off on anything. It will be assumed that anyone when they come in the building, myself included, Miss Francisco from a you know custodian coming in counselors that if you're coming in the building you you are symptom free as much as you know obviously you know you may get symptoms during the day and then that would be addressed by sending you home. So the screening tool which Mr. Novak I don't know it's showing here is just a delay. The screening tool that will be coming up on your screen is this document. So if you look at in your packets, you have this screening. This is directly from the department of health

014which defines that the symptoms have to be two or more in column A and column A is fever, chills, shivers, muscle aches, headaches, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, congestion or runny nose. If you have two from column A are checked off or at least one from column B and column B is cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, new loss of smell or new loss of taste, please keep your child home and then at that point you notify the school and the school will discuss that with you. If you have a fever, you'll see on the form there's a special considerations. If you have a fever of 100.4 or higher, that's your only symptom. We're still asking that your child stay home for 24 hours that they become symptom uh feverf free without reducing

015fever medications such as Tylenol or Motrin. However, that's our traditional practice. So, the only thing that changes is if you have the COVID specific symptoms which again that's from the department of health. The section two which is another part that you will have to screen yourself is has three indicators. one, your child or you became in close contact with someone that was had a confirmed COVID ta uh case, which means you've been within six feet of an infected person for at least 10 minutes. That's how the that's how they define close contact. Someone in your household is diagnosed with CO 19 or you travel to an area of high community transmission, which is on the you know, from the governor with the travel advisory. If you do click off on one of those fields, you're

016also going to have to stay home whether you're a staff member or you're a student. So, I'm sure most of you are already familiar with this because this has been out in the media out on CDC. This is this has been out there. So, none of this should be too new for you, but at least now it's documented and you can see it pulled together from our nurses. So, what do we need from our parents? Well, we need parent help. So what we need is it's critical that our parents and our caregivers monitor the children for signs of illness every day and assess the ch and and assess your child. In the past, myself as a parent too, you might have overlooked some symptoms like a runny nose, but I've now sat in several ped

017pediatrician webinars and they say that in some cases they are just showing up with a fever and a runny nose. So it's it's hard. It could be just, you know, viral, bacterial, general kind of infection or it could be COVID. So we have to take those symptoms seriously. Students who are sick should not attend school in person on that day. And if your child does have a fever, we really are encouraging that um parents do keep their children home. So the second kind of fast forward to the second thing that there were a lot of questions from the board and the public about is contact tracing and what's the district's role with that. Contact tracing is a strategy that's used to determine the source of infection uh source of an infection and how it's spreading.

018This is not new. This has been around for a long time with various diseases that have spread. Close contact, and the reason why I'm defining that is because you're going to hear that word a lot, is defined as being within six feet of someone with COVID 19 for at least 10 consecutive minutes, which could be if we are spacing out like we are right now, we are not going to most likely be within six feet of someone for over 10 minutes of consecutive time. What's our district role? So, it's our job to work with Pail County Health Department, and this is all this is all coming directly from the Department of Health of of what we should be doing as a district. We are going to assist and identify those people that came in close

019contact with someone who tests positive for COVID 19. With guidance from our local health department, we'll be responsible for notifying the parents and the staff that came in close contact. that's going to come from our building principles via a letter um that will both notify the school to if there was a positive COVID case and then the people that came into close contact and we the local health department has the contacting tracing team. We are not the team of contact tracers that will come directly from the health department. So let's kind of just walk through a couple things. an individual with confirmed COVID 19. If an individual has CO 19 and it's been confirmed, and I say confirmed because that means you have a test that says you are positive, that individual is going to

020stay home until at least 10 days have passed since the symptoms onset and at least 24 hours have passed after the resolution of a fever without fever reducing medication. If you're asymptomatic, then you will be out for 14 days. The next step is going to be the district's going to notify the local health department and provide the contact information for the person who tested positive. We then don't take it from there. They will then follow up from there with that particular person. The part that we have to do is identify who those close contacts are and notify those close contacts and we will work with the local health department if they want us to take any more steps. In the department of health guidelines, it talks about what you do if you have more than

021one case, right? if you have two cases in a room or more than that. So, frequently asked questions. Parent contacts a school to inform them that their eighth grade student just tested positive on a viral test. What happens next? This kind of gives you a case example. We the local health department is contacted by my office. School nurse and principal are going to review the potential exposure list 10 minutes or more within six feet. Principal is going to send out a letter to the school letting the school know. principal is going to also send out and contact those individuals via letter. And and when I say letter, it may be email. Um they're going to also notify you if if your child came in contact with someone in close contact. Confidentiality has to be maintained,

022which I just want to put that out there because we can't be sharing any specific information. This same process applies if a teacher was confirmed um positive with COVID as well. Another question, elementary student goes to the nurse's office with a sore throat and congestion. Those are the two on the list. Nurse has to utilize the CO 19 DO guidelines. So, in the past, they may have, you know, maybe just called the parent or talked to the parent, but we can't anymore. We have to follow the CO guidelines. So, we will be then isolating the student, contacting the parent to pick up. the student will be sent home, referred to their health care provider, and they will need to that healthcare provider will determine if a COVID test is needed or not, and then they

023will just need a note to return back to school. Um, I'm going to give you a a kind of a summer example. We we have some testing going on in our buildings. Little guy, you know, happened to vomit at testing. We followed this process, referred to the healthcare provider. the healthcare provider gave us the note back and did test for COVID. Then the student was able to return. It took the student was out two days and then was able to return back. Um and as a reminder once the school year starts any specific questions the nurse has wanted you to know that you can absolutely reach out to them and they are happy to help walk through parents with certain situations or symptoms that are at home. So what are our next steps? So with

024the nurses, we plan, well, tomorrow we plan to communicate to the district families and staff the screening tool. The nurses, we're going to conduct buildingwide live virtual trainings on the first day back, which is September 1st in the morning. That's all going to happen districtwide. At the same time, we're going to teach and reinforce handashing. These are in the Department of Health guidelines. We want to emphasize the importance of the required face coverings and how important the masks are. Um, and social distancing. So, we are going to be putting things out there just to for families about, you know, maskearing and for their for their children. And um even as far as like trying to recommend that they do not wear one with the vented, there's some guidance out there as to what masks work

025stronger and better than others. We as a district also have masks for youth if any family needs them. We plan to do parent education on the importance of monitoring the symptoms and our building administration and nurses are going to work closely with the custodial staff regarding cleaning and disinfecting practices as they relate to these department of health guidelines. And then I think because of all the times right now trying to just get through everything I know we'll get through this um you know to with everybody kind of working together. So I'm open to any kind of questions from the board. I don't know if anyone has questions. That just summarizes our work. Go ahead Nicole. Thanks for this, Liz. I do have a couple of questions. >> Sure. >> I'm sorry if I missed it.

026So, the daily screening form, is that something that has to get turned in with the student coming to school every day? >> So, that is a good question. No. So, this form will not be turned in. This form, you know, when Dr. Anno and I were talking today, we said, you know, post it on your refrigerator, put it somewhere at home so that you are doing the self-screening. you know, staff. We're planning we will we will have this visually available to make sure everybody knows what they're screening for, but no, they will nobody will be turning anything in. >> Okay. >> No, no, no. And the other thing is you'll see this when to stay home. So, we made these flyers. You'll see with the board. We're going to we plan to get this out

027to parents, too. We also plan to put these emojis on the bus windows because the more we can get out what those symptoms are, just it's more of like to make sure parents understand. >> Okay. I have a follow-up question. >> Sure. What about the situation is it's probably more of a middle school, high school issue of children who don't have parents with them in the morning. Like I I I know one that comes to mind, you know, parent works a shift schedule, leaves early before the kids leaves, you know, is awake even. So what are you going to do about kids that might be in situation with parents that, you know, may leave for work before they're even awake or, you know, what? So, what I would ask for those parents to do is

028to screen their child then prior like the night before they go to bed because at some point they're going to it's going to have to be either the night before or in the morning that they self-screen. If a parent has a concern about that, what I would suggest is that the parent reach out to the school nurse. We could we we could screen at if we needed to with just the visual if the child's old enough. We could ask the symptoms if we needed to. But what we can't do is like we don't want to have a bus, you know, the bus driver then what does the bus driver do or if they have to turn away a child that says, "Yeah, I'm like I'm not feeling good." >> Just want to point it out

029that that could be. >> Yeah. >> Go ahead, Ray. >> Can you go back to the slide that says student or staff test positive for CO 19? >> Is it the one that has individual confirmed COVID? Senior staff test symptomatic or asymatic. >> Yes. Yep. >> So when turn back on >> I also have it in front of me. >> I know but I'm so the public can see. >> Oh, okay. >> They have the reminder. >> I'll go back to the flight on here. >> I really just wanted to get up and move again. Um >> once it loads it should be on. >> So the first thing talks about individuals with confirmed COVID. >> Yep. >> Ill individuals should stay home until at least 10 days have passed >> since their symptom onset

030because it >> So So is this someone that tested positive? >> Yes. Confirmed. confirmed test. >> Okay. So, we don't have to get a negative test. >> We do not have to get a negative test according to the Department of Health guidelines. >> Okay. So, there have been instances where people have gone for multiple tests and continue to stay positive, but they show no symptoms. making even an asymptomatic person, but people will continue to test positive, maybe even two or three times. >> Yes. >> What are we doing? >> So, with those people that continue to test positive, they're most likely under >> We won't know, >> but we won't know, but that individual will and the medical professional that they're seeing will. So, it's we're going to trust that the professionals that we have

031working for us and our staff are going to be if they're being watched because most of those people that you're talking about are being watched and we have a you know a couple cases that we've dealt with this summer. The doctor is ongoing watching them. They are continuing to be out. They're under medical care. If they be if they go beyond this period of time, we are going to ask that they come back with a medical clearance more to make sure that they're okay to return and they're safe to return back. But we can't delve into We can we can only take whatever the individual due to HIPPA is going to tell us. >> So, are you saying that they still have to go to the doctor to get a negative test? >> We aren't

032asking for a negative test upon return to work. However, if once they're going for the it's it's assumed that if you have a COVID 19 test, a viral test that you're being that came back positive that you're being monitored by your own medical professional because how would you have gotten the test, right? You you have to get the test from your medical doctor and your medical doctor would then continue to be monitoring you. But we are not going to continue to delve in. If somebody shares, in some cases we've had where they continue to update us, we will. But other than that, we're not going to like ask for a negative test to return. Not because of us, meaning like Dr. Mcuade, but because the Department of Health is not advising that they're they're telling

033us this is like exactly copied from here. >> Yeah. >> And if my student has a fever of 101, I know my I shouldn't be sending them to school. >> Mhm. >> But potentially I could. No, you can't because if your child has a fever of 101, then you're going to fall under special considerations and you have a fever of 100.4 or higher. So, you cannot send your child to school. >> So, why is that under the first? >> So, can we move that? Shouldn't that be under the second set where that's that's a symptom that you can't send a child to school? So the reason why we didn't do that, the nurses and I have talked about that in the debate is that this exact chart is the exact chart that the department of

034health and if you look at the visual >> sent out. So we didn't want to modify what's what's department of health because they didn't want to mix up what's considered COVID versus what's just the fever. So, we just kept it under a district special consideration based on our policies and our practices, but we didn't want to like mix up what CDC and and Department of Health have. I mean, it we did talk about it, but five nurses and you know, the the nurses felt strongly to keep like that it was fine to keep it where we have it. I think it's more about the like informing the public, right, that we don't want the children coming to school that are given Tylenol or Motion. And as much as we like to say nobody does that,

035but we know that that happens. But what's going to happen is hopefully through those other screening processes, we would be able to identify later because usually the kid with Tylenol, the Tylenol wears off at some point. Child goes to the nurse and the nurse assesses. Any other any other questions? >> Oh, Courtney. Sorry, I was looking for this. I'm just curious what happens when how many students I guess need to staff because it school has that been decided about that? So that is actually on one of the pages of the guidelines. So one confirmed case in the school school remains open. Students and staff in close contact are excluded for 14 days. Two or more cases in the same classroom is considered an outbreak limited to one cohort. School does remain open, but students and

036staff in close contact with positive cases are excluded for 14 days. A recommendation for whether the entire classroom would be considered exposed will be based on a public health investigation from your local health department. Then two or more cases within 14 days is when it kind of like ups the ante. So it depends on like within the 14-day period. And I could I could email the board this if you want the link of where we got everything from just so everybody has it. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. We have our HIV reporting for period two last year which is January 1st to June 30th by support and training hours January 1 to June 30th obviously we're building for that time so the numbers are with school. Uh, three investigations, three confirmed, total training hours

0377.5 road school. >> Please check your microphone. >> Okay. Uh, Maple Road School, two investigations, one affirmed by the board of edib. Total training hours 24. Marshall Hill, two HIV investigations, one HIV positive. Total training hours was 12. Paradise Null School, one HIV investigation, zero confirmed HIVs. Total training hours 24. Upper Greenwood Lake, zero. Total training hours were 12. Westbrook school number investigations were zero and total training hours were 7.5. McMan School, two investigations, one HIB. Total training hours were 19. West Milford High School, we had nine investigations and four incidents affirmed by the board of ed as HIV. Total training errors was zero, but I know they're we're working on that for the summer for next week. So, district total, we had 19 HIV investigations. 10 were affirmed by the board of ed, and

038our total school training hours were 106. And again, that's for January to June. >> Yes, Terry. >> I just have a a question about the inconsistency in the number of training hours. Could you explain that? >> Well, I believe some of it was scheduled for later in the spring. So, some schools got to it a little bit earlier in the time period and some were going to do it later and then we were out of here on March 13th. So, some schools never got to doing it. Okay. So, but we do have an HIB training scheduled for next week with uh Mr. Brown's firm. I think either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. >> Oh, I hope it's not Wednesday. >> And that's for staff. >> That is for anti-bullying uh specialist for uh principles

039as well. >> Oh, it's not for us. >> It's not for you. No, it's going to be uh during a school day. That's a professional development day, I believe. And lastly, we'll end on some good note, some good news. Um McCormack, >> before we move on, could we get that in like a document, an email, something? I >> see the numbers. I don't want to hear them again right now, but could you please tomorrow >> I can uh >> send us something? I would like to see it. Thank you. >> No problem. >> Uh and McCormack Field and track update. As you know, this has been part of a uh probably a two-year process. Year one, we did the bleachers. That would have been last summer. We also did the new fieldhouse adjacent to the

040field. And this summer, we did the football field, soccer field, field hockey field, lacrosse field, multi-purpose field, and the track. So, the track was lined today. Uh, that was a final piece of the puzzle. We've been done for probably two weeks and we were waiting for our company to come up and stripe the track for our lanes. So, the field is open. The track is open for members of the public. We will have our lights open at night uh until I think 10:00 we run them. So, if people want to come by and walk um they can walk in the evenings uh after it gets dark. So, it's a wonderful facility. Thank you to the board of ed and also thank you to Mayor Dale and the town council. As you know, this was a

041joint project between the board of ed and the town council. So, we got it done. Um, and it looks beautiful up there if you haven't had a chance to see it. At some point when school opens up, we're going to get our drone up there. We're going to get a nice bird's eye view of the whole facility. So, um, that's the good news. And, uh, that's all for my update tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Mr. Novak. Education report. >> Thank you. Um, tonight I would like to talk a little bit about our Sorry. over the last guess the better part of the last two months we've been looking at what our instructional models look like for return to school. Um and and in that we've been talking about a different um the different types of

042cohorts of students that we that we have. Um, in this in this discussion, we have had a, you know, we've had our completely distant 100% virtual learner through through parent request. We've had our A students and our B students now that we've landed on the um on the hybrid model. So, the high school and the middle school has been a little bit easier to um communicate to the community, you know, knowing we have a bell schedule that we're going to be working within. Um over the last month um I was able to share a letter with the community uh in regard to what parents who are in their K5 schools what they can expect from a hybrid model andor a uh virtual model. Um in that discussion there was um talk with our education committee

043who wanted to see a little bit more specifics in terms of what a sample schedule would look like. Um so I'm going to reveal or share uh some of those schedules tonight. Um, and that being said, as as we've witnessed tonight, things can change at any minute. Um, I am going to lead off with um what our hybrid uh schedule has looked like. And this is a sketch. Um, it's very different from from one grade grade level to the next, which what makes sharing a elementary schedule uh challenging. It's very different from a kindergarten to a to a fifth grade. Uh, these timings have been vetted with our staff. I spent a lot of time over the last uh two weeks working directly with our grade level teachers K through five with the support of

044our uh support of our principles. So I just want to say thank you to our uh teachers and principles for um you know spending all that time time with us. So I'm just going to go through so in our hybrid schedule as has been very um I guess you know um advertised very well over the last month or two uh we have our A students and our B students. uh um with a a sorry this is you know saying this stuff out loud it's kind of thing uh Monday and Tuesday would A students would be in person our B students would be at home and then on Wednesday depending on the week your A students would be in class or at home um with a with a uh advertised schedule Thursday Friday our B students

045would be in class and our A students would be at home so I wanted to just I kind of put it side by side so we have a visual for what it looks like for our K5 students. Our in-person students um can expect a um traditional early dismissal schedule. 8:35 start time, 1:20 dismissal, arrive on the bus, go home on the bus. Their schedule would look like it does in a traditional setting. They would be benefiting from that in-person instruction two or three times per week. on-site instruction with our teaching staff um focusing on the core on our core content ELA, math, social studies, and science. They would be receiving a lunch in the special area and they would also be receiving um some social emotional uh learning activities. So, that is for the in-person

046uh student on that day. Let's say this is the A day. Our first A day would have been Tuesday after um Labor Day. So, the A students would be in class. That's what they would receive. On the right, we would have our at home students and this is a snapshot of what that schedule um could look like. Sorry, I'm gonna take a breath. Um every So, we let me back up a little bit. We have engaged in a um widespread collaboration with our um grade level teachers to work together across the district to prepare learning activities that we would see as um um similar from building to building. So you would know that a student in the third grade at Upper Green Lake would be getting the same objectives as the third grade student at

047at Paradise Null. So we've we've worked hard to coordinate this And the teachers would be preparing a um series of at home activities and that would be shared in a um Google slideshow or linked to Google classroom and that will be provided to students daily at 8:20. Um, so between the time frame of 8:20 and 9:00 a.m. our at home students would be expected to receive that, log in, open the Google classroom, open the slides, and each of those slides is going to have a very simple um Google form just for those students to acknowledge that they have that they have entered for the day. Um if a student has not logged in or checked by 9:00 a.m. that is where our um school nurses or school principles would be checking on attendance to make

048sure that our students are are there for the day. The slides that would be on that um are going to be um understanding of the at home environment that our students will be in um a variety of settings whether they're with their you know home with their parents if they are um in a in a um daycare facility if they're being provided care from from a neighbor etc. Um, so the slides would be objective based. They would focus on major content, language arts, mathematics. There would probably be a social studies and/or science. They would get a slide from their special area teacher for that day. And they would get a um possibly a social emotional learning activity, which could be a um, you know, a video clip. I know some of the younger Blades, they

049have the um you know, the the Elmo belly breathing, you know, so you know, mindfulness, social emotional learning. Um, and they would complete that during the time frame of 9:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Um, I highlighted 1:30 because that would be the afternoon time, excuse me, in which our at home students would then check in with their teacher in a whole group setting who is in the classroom who had just dismissed the A students on on in person on the left. Um so our students would be um you know checking in in the morning. Families would have flexibility for when they work on these independent activities. We are working in grade levels to make sure that these activities are reasonable that they don't of um they don't require an awful lot of um

050adult interaction because we know that our students are going to come to our our staff members at 1:30 check in as a whole group. So, we just discussed a lot about what this um afternoon meeting would look like. If the student received a social emotional learning slide or a prompt in their morning in their uh morning work, you can expect that when the teacher welcomes their class, they're going to be looking to build community with those students who are at home. the remainder of that day of that afternoon from 1:45 to 3:05 would be um the opportunity for our staff to check in with their students for the work they completed that day independently. So, one of the some of the feedback we got from the spring that there was too much on the parent,

051the the parent had to support too much and they could go for a period of time without having any staff interaction and it was very different from one place to the other. This um makes it so that our students, our at home students will get a in-person check-in daily with their teacher. Uh that could be in a holes group or a small group setting. And that that has been something we've discussed um grade level by grade level. In the beginning, it could be a number of whole group check-ins until our students start to um you know build stamina for for being in Google Meets and and being on that on-screen environment. The basic focus of that afternoon check-in is for our students at home to share with their teacher. Did they understand, you know, did

052they understand the work they were going to complete at home? Do they have, you know, is there a math concept that they struggled with? And it's going to clue queue our teacher in to the idea that that this student struggled in in this area. And then the next time I have them in class with me, I'll be able to work out um I'll be able to work that out with them. Uh so we see it as a nice fluid process with students receiving in-person instruction and then receiving and then um being somewhat monitored in their um at home instruction. Um one of the things we talked about in the grade levels with our te with our staff is that um you know it it also helps the parent out with a parent who's struggling with

053a concept who you know doesn't really know how to teach it. You know we we learned math differently in the old days that sort of thing. Um, this will give the parent also the opportunity to um, you know, hear that hear that the teacher worked with the student, said it's okay that you didn't understand it. I'm going to see you on Wednesday. We'll we'll meet in a small group and and work it out. Then >> I just have one question. I'm confused about um the dismissal at 120. That means the teachers bring the kids out to the buses. They go on the buses. That only gives them 10 minutes to go back into their whole group afternoon meeting. >> Our classroom teachers wouldn't have been monitoring the dismissal. It would have been our special area

054students, our special area teachers who were um doing hallway duties and that sort of thing. So, our teachers would have time to take a breath, regroup, >> only 10 minutes, >> and then lobby in. Well, they're also going to have their special area and lunch during the day. >> Okay. >> So, they're not 8:35 to 1:20 with no with no break. >> Okay. >> And just to confirm that 145 to 305 that is a mandatory session expected that whole >> the whole group login would be a mandatory um a mandatory report for for a student that would be essentially. So we have this attendance process in the morning where they log in, open their slides, receive their work for the day, check off the Google classroom. Um what we found in the spring is that

055without the interaction of a staff member throughout the day that um you know and in the spring is a totally different world than it is now. You know, there were a lot of things going on in everyone's lives um that some students weren't doing their work, saving it for Friday, that that sort of thing. But it's a required check-in at in the morning that they have to log on. That's the other attendance. >> That's the official attendance. This is more of the functional attendance. You know, is that student here? Did they complete their work during the day? Did they struggle? Is there something I need to work more on with them when I have them in person? >> And my followup question just because I agree you want to make sure that that's mandatory because

056if you give them the option, a lot of them are going to be like, I'm fine. I repeat it. just what I think maybe the younger could be maybe third, second if they're still learning to be in this environment and I think a lot of them are very intimidated in it and you know are am I going to be the one that wants to say I didn't understand something in front of my whole class or do you think that that could be a challenge where you might lose kids and not being confident enough to so I mean great question um but we learned a lot I bragged a lot of times I know there's people here who haven't heard me talk out. We had a very successful summer reading program um where we had about

057you know 120 students um where a lot of these um little nuances of what it means to do virtual learning were were worked out over the summer. Those people are working with us on our grade levels. They're sharing these best practices. There's a so many tools now using Google Meet to, you know, have some breakout sessions, be able to shield, sorry, be able to shield, you know, students from being revealed to the group. A lot of like silent individual responses with using whiteboards at home and and that sort of thing. Sorry. But yes, so that's a re that's a required check-in. The length of time. Hey Dan, I can I comment >> can I comment on Nicole's um thing real quick? I've seen it done two different ways in the reading program that were amazing

058with, you know, younger kids um where the teachers said to them, "I want everybody to complete this and I'm going to check it before you're allowed to get off." So they could see their comprehension. And it was great. And another thing that was done in the spring was they filled out a Google form for their math stuff and if they didn't get it, they were put in small groups, you know, so they could check their comprehension rather than the kids say, "Excuse me, teacher, I don't understand." There's a lot of Yeah, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to tell you I've seen our West Milford teachers do that a bunch of different ways already since the spring. >> And that would be the evolution of these check-ins in the afternoon. Those aren't going to be

059so the requirement that the whole class the whole at home cohort is going to be at home on the screen from 145 to 305 isn't isn't um isn't reasonable. Um you know our teachers going to judge stamina. A kindergarter can stay on the screen for a different amount of time than a fourth grader etc. And it most likely will be small group as this evolves. >> So So what you're saying is they're going to be able to break out. The teacher may say, "Okay, everybody go back to doing what you're what you're doing and then maybe pick three or four kids and put them separately on a Google with our Sure." or him. >> Yeah. And you're going to address that. >> Google Meet has recently created um update features that allow for breakout small

060groups within a whole group meeting. >> So, our teachers can stay on with their whole class, break out, work with three, break back, work with three more. That's that sort of thing. >> Oh, okay. Um and what you referred to in summer reading, you know, depending on the grade, a parent and student could get a more detailed schedule within that 145 to 305 time period where, you know, these four students will report at 150. These, you know, while the other students have an activity they're working on that was assigned during the whole group afternoon, uh the the afternoon meeting or during their their work during the day. Um, so I mean the conversations we're having with staff members are incredible about the creativity and the um excitement that they can have in these in these

061afternoon settings when they have students. Uh, and that's the the tone we set with staff is that, you know, we all know our children can't sit from 135 to 3:05 on screen the whole time. So, it's going to be a variety and and that sort of thing. >> But there's also a range in a classroom. In other words, an academic, you know, there's going to be an academic span where you may have a number of students who can break off on their own, but the teacher might have three or four kids that really >> Right. And I and I think that's the benefit of a hybrid model is that you would have such a small group. You know, your in-person your in-person group is is small and then you have this small group in the

062afternoon. So to break that into, you know, really probably at most three groups would would be maybe be able to service the whole class. >> I have a lot of questions. You know, I would I'm wondering >> is this at home schedule going to be the schedule that we're doing September 1st to October 1st if that is? >> No. So I'll flip I have um the next couple slides are about virtual only. >> Okay. um in preparation for tonight. I was not aware of >> the developments. So this this is in a you know the the slides coming up were going to be just for those students who had selected a complete virtual uh virtual setting. >> So if there's any questions about this I can move I'll move on. >> I I have some

063Okay. um the 40 minutes per check-in from 8:20 to 9:00. Are the students completing activities within that time frame with the teacher just doing a 10-minute? >> No. So the 8 we wanted, you know, so that's a little bit morning flexibility. The 8:20 is where we are going to ask our staff to make sure no later than you've shared these slides with your with your students. So families at home will know it's 8:20. I want to go look in now. I have between 8:20 and 9:00 a.m. to do that. If I haven't checked in by 9:00 a.m., you might get an attendance phone call just to see how things are going. If you didn't get the slides, do you need support? That that type of thing. >> So, the children can perceiveably start at 8:20,

064get started at 8:30. >> Sure. So, so in the, you know, flexibility for family to complete daily activities. That's referring to the slides created on our grade levels. >> Um, so they'll have flexibility to do that throughout the day. We believe that our check-ins are going to help um you know keep students on track help families develop um a sense of schedule. You know I think that was a lot of feedback we got in our survey that you know sleeping habits changed in the home quite a bit and you know parents wanted it I tell you my own kids I couldn't get them up but if the teacher wanted them up they were up. Um so those are the things that we'll you know that's that's built into this is trying to get everyone back

065to a semblance of normaly and and structure. >> Okay. And then the Google Slides, I'm assuming that's like a Google Slides deck that has all different activities for the children to do in the subject areas with different links embedded within the Google Slides. >> Yes. So, I'll give you I'll give you an example. I'll give you a math. So, a math um an in-person student is going to get a give me a second grade math topic. You would be fraction. >> Okay. So, go right there. Right there. And September one. I'm still I'm still in. >> Okay. So, um inerson student hopefully in like February gets a fractions lesson. Um fractions is the you know let's start easy. Halves, right? Okay. So, it's um you know all all students can you know identify halves. um

066that would be in the in-class lesson, the in-person lesson, and the student at home would receive that same lesson on a slide. Now, in our in our um in our materials where we use Go Math, um we have um there's videos embedded. I'm sure a lot of parents who who saw these things at home, we use something called on the there's in go math there's things called on the spot videos that are a little tutorial the little teach point that can help you know fulfill that concept. Um there's also the option of a YouTube video. There's, you know, if the teacher in the other building recorded themselves teaching it, that's what's going to be on these slides is a objective, some sort of instructional prompt, whether it's our on the spot video, a YouTube clip,

067or a self-recorded video by our staff, and then a activity. And the activity could be a link directly to our um our digital workbook or it could be a um PDF created by the staff member because we just we did just purchase something for the whole district called Candy. I don't know if you're familiar with. >> Mhm. >> So that so we have a lot of options now for how we can you know send this work back and forth through the screen. Um so that's what a math slide would look like. >> All right. You done? Um, and then are the teachers who are doing this, are they going to be um provided with some professional development on how to create these look like? >> Yeah, we're doing that now. I mean, we're we're already

068um we're already in the in the process of planning out the um first two weeks of school. >> Okay. And >> in the Can I just elaborate on that? So, in that process, which is why we know um so what we we talked about in these grade level meetings, which is I mean you help through ed committee um recommend some of these things. Um, so I appreciate that. Um, that our grade level, so let's say we have our grade level team working with um, our grade grade level representative um, principal and I'm going blank. >> Yes, sorry. So, Mr. O'Donnell is working with second grade and he's helping them facilitate this district-wide collaboration. So the slide that second grade here, the slide second grade Marshall Hill will be the same slide and then some of

069the teachers will be recording and pitching in and sharing and sharing all this work. >> That sounds really great, Dan. And I'm glad to hear that there's definitely going to be some consistency within the elementary schools. I also had a question from that 9:00 a.m. to 1:20 time when the children are working on their own. Are they working on the computer? Are they given worksheets? Is it going to be busy work? Because I think that as a parent, I would want instruction to be happening and not just independent work for my first grader or second grader, you know, third elementary age student. I think it's difficult for them to complete activities on their own that isn't just busy work. >> Sure. Um, I wouldn't define it as busy work like the description I just said

070with the math prompt. Um, it might not necessarily be, you know, we're not going to we don't have the staff to provide in-person instruction >> and live at home instruction. So, that's the these slides are going to provide that. What I think is the value of this, which I haven't heard in a lot of other districts, is that we're going to provide this afternoon check-in and then so if I had if I struggled with the fractions lesson in the morning that I tried out with the prompts that were provided >> that I can share that with my teacher in the afternoon and they'll be able to um you know be able to keep that take that we talked about um teachers taking notes like when they sit with a guided reading group you know when

071they have these check-ins to just take notes so that when they have these students for inerson instruction, they can work um they can work through these these problems and help move move students forward. >> I I just want to piggy back off what Courtney said. Maybe you've heard this from other people. I've heard from some in the public and and maybe this is easier to do in older grades and not with smaller kids. But is there an opportunity to say that at 8:35, right, you you get ready the first they start social studies from 8 40 to 9:15. Could the the student at home again Yeah, we might have the technology for this. I don't know, Robert, but could the student at home be watching the teacher teach that class? >> So, that I mean,

072we we've been talking about that in our in our grade levels and I don't want to commit that answer to right now and say yes, everyone's going to be doing that. I believe, you know, right now we're um we're planning out the first two weeks for sustainability. >> Mhm. And in the discussions we're having with staff is that this process is going to evolve over time. It's going to become normal. You know, we're going to grow into this and that the things we can do are going to get bigger and better because our staff is more comfortable, you know, working working in this uh working this environment. Students get their habits and and that sort of thing. So, yeah, that might evolve. We did buy um we have webcams coming a better camera than what's

073on the Chromebook coming to um I think we have between 10 and 15 going to each building. We did have discussions and again I don't want to any the staff members I worked with I apologize if I say this out loud but we talked about the possibility we didn't commit to it because there's a lot of logistical issues >> um of you know in this world right now the hardest part about everything is being apart >> and we're trying to build community and if we have at home students and in in-person students can we have morning meeting at 8:35 with all of them with a webcam, you know, so they can be there for the calendar, they can be there for those discussions, they can be there for the singalong, right? The readaloud, you know,

074th those types of things. So, I think that's that's one of those things with an evolution of of how this uh of how this develops this mine. >> You sure? >> No, I don't think >> Sorry. It's not a symptom, Liz. >> That is not your >> mask. It's a sign to the mask. All right. All right. Any more questions with this one? >> All right. I'm going to show you the next three in advance and then I'm going to come back. So for the virtual learner, you're getting again this was originally intended for the 100% distance learner. This again was was vetted with our I mean I sat on the phone today for you know Mrs. court, very passionate about what she does and you know we we worked out what this you know

075we've been talking about it but this is um you know a a good idea of what's what we're going to be doing. Virtual learner kindergarten first grade AM cohort. I'll come back and explain that in a minute. Virtual learner K1 PM cohort and then a virtual learner grades 2 through 5 with some bullet points. And then um just some sample uh sample schedule. So I'm going to come back now what this all means. Um we believe that kindergarteners and first graders can only stay engaged for a certain amount of time on screen. um taking our cohort of right now our cohort of students who selected to just be um virtual learners that we were going to break them into an AM and a PM that our AM students and and you'll see that you know

076I underlined where report time would be I apologize sorry uh 8:35 to 8:50 would be where our AM cohort for kindergarten and first grade would report to their teacher throughout this um schedule. It takes a lot of um you know these are the things that you can expect phonics reading writer workshop read aloud understanding that kindergarters need to move and get the wiggles out we kind of talk about uh we believe that calendar is a good thing to present before math with getting the you know getting the the conversations going and and having some sort of crosscurricular connections and then again at the end of the day uh closure bringing them all back together again. Talk about your morning, talk about what you're going to be doing in the afternoon, and then talking about what

077we're going to be doing the next day. So, for the AM cohort, they're going to move through um you know, their ELA and math content, and there's a lot of areas where it says whole group, whole group, small group um and and that sort of thing. So this schedule will be um this is just uh framed out now just so you can have a visual after those students are you know those students were selected um the individual teacher would share their class schedule like we would in in a classic setting to know which day they have you know their fizzed or their art etc. coming. Let's go to so the 11:30 11:35 that closure with the whole group that is when the virtual um teacher would sort of sign off from the AM cohort and

078then talked about what they're going to be you know their Google classroom or their activities which are going to be you know age appropriate and understanding of what a kindergartner or first grader does and then the kindergarten teacher will switch over to her or his uh PM cohort. The PM student, let me back up and just make sure I explain. So, if you're if you have a kindergartener, if you have an incoming kindergartener or first grader, you're going to be assigned Well, I don't know if that's I don't know if that's still is the same with with what's going on with our discussion. um would have been given an AM or a PM uh AM or PM designation so that our students with um IEPs, reading room, etc. would have the afternoon free to meet

079with those to meet with those individuals. >> Dan, I gave you a cough drop. There's one over the computer. >> I'm afraid I'll choke on it, but >> your mouth dries out. >> All right. Um, so the PM cohort would report report to their teacher 12:05 afternoon meeting now and they would have the similar um or they would have the same content as the as the morning class and this would be for for kindergarten through first grade >> full and right these two slides are for full virtual >> this would be full there's no A and B in this in this particular slide because this is just the students who selected full full at home uh full at home learning But it is broken in half by A.M. and PM. So the group is the

080cohort's being broken in half. >> Right. You go back to the first again. >> Yes. Can you email this to us tonight? Like a hard share. >> Does this be made available to the public or no? >> We can post it on our website. >> Yeah, we can we can do whatever you want. >> So, sorry. Is this time for a lunch? And the teacher ate >> where the kids >> right there >> between 11:35 and 12 minutes 11:35. So So now, like I said, this is >> you have 15 minutes to chew a sandwich. Okay. >> Just asking them to sit next to >> when we're talking about um kindergarten and first grade. >> This is not going to be on screen the whole time. >> Oh, gotcha. So our teachers going to have

081the flexibility to schedule similar if you were familiar with our submarine program. Our teachers have the flexibility to work with kids, work with whole group, work with small group and build in breaks, >> you know, cuz most likely our our at home teacher or just could be at home and you know has to build in some has to build in some some breaks as well. So uh and like I said, I worked on this with the teacher directly the people involved in this and they they felt comfortable with the with the time. Actually, we went back to the old AMM kindergarten when we had half day kindergarten. This is this is kind of what we this is kind of where we drew it from. Okay, moving on. I'm just going to briefly talk about so

082I' I've glanced over two things on each slide, which is the family flexibility. That's similar to the at home student who gets to Google Slides. actually the these these teachers the district distance learning teacher is also part of the collaborative effort on the grade level. So our distance learning student should be in a relatively same place as our AB cohort student. So that if after 6 weeks if a student chose to come back into the classroom setting they can expect to be in the same age as their same place as their peers when they come back or vice versa or right so we don't we don't know what >> the exact same place right >> well the exact you know any any teacher knows you can't keep them in the exact same place all the

083time but we did you know when I said it earlier that we are planning for sustainability we've got grade level veterans who know this content and and if they're going to teach fractions on the first day of school like Courtney Yeah, >> she knows that she should build in >> two days >> instead of, you know, instead of one to to, you know, to account for that. So, um, one of the things I wanted to I I stressed with the teachers when we met is we did not want to certainly didn't want to lower our expectations, but we wanted to build for sustainability and build for what an actual human being can do in this in this format. It's going to be significantly better than the spring, but it's not going to be as good

084as if we had 5 days of inschool instruction pre pre- pandemic. So, I think that's the balance that we we have to strike. We expect to evolve and get better week after week. So, our virtual learner um virtual learner 2 through 5 can expect to follow a traditional early dismissal schedule. with set established times for classes and small group instruction, the integration of assessment. We still have to know how our readers what what grade what level reading our our readers are at, use of breakout rooms and the other advanced features on Google Meet which our teachers are are looking at right now. Um you know the the amount of teachers who are working throughout August is um is just unbelievable blowing us away and and we're very appreciative of that. >> Not working volunteering, right?

085>> Volunteer, right? >> Yeah. 100 working. I mean, you want to call what you want. >> Um, we have access to our our G SE for education platform, Google classroom, slides, etc. Plus, so there's a I don't want to extend this presentation longer to go into all the different tools that we are providing with district licenses and you know, the business model now is they gave everything for free in the spring and now they've now they're charging us. So we we've done a good job of trying to customize and and pick which things are are best for all. We have professional development and grade level collaboration that is ongoing. Uh we set up this structure that for the summer now we we set up a goal for a weekly meeting and we started last week

086and they've probably already met two to three times you know twice with me and the principal and then once on their own just to talk about me and the principal and the principal. So, um, which is, you know, fun. The last bullet point, like I said, collaborative grade level planning. So, the the the, um, to me, one of the best parts about this is that we're also able to include our special education teachers, our Encore teachers into the into the planning process. So, we've set up this, again, I'll use the word sustainable, sustainable planning process that keeps the district in the same place. Well, I have to say if anything good came out of the pandemic, that is one of the best things that came out of it is that we have grade level planning

087because if you live in West Milford and you're in a different and I'm sure parents can attest to this is that if my child goes to Ashawa and your child goes to UGL, we could be sitting at a a baseball game and talking about the same grade level and they're learning completely different things. So when we met in these groups, we we spoke about that, you know, in in depth about the traditional we'd all come together at a professional development training, talk about what we're all going to do together, then go back to our own classroom and do our thing. Now, I I agree. Um prior to this, no one was comfortable jumping on a Zoom or a meet and talking about, you know, something on the other side of town, 88 square miles away.

088Um >> well, I'm hopeful we can take it forward after this whole thing is over. the plan the plan is in place to continue that to continue that process. So, here's a um sample schedule. Again, I I don't want to lock any teacher into the specifics of this. So, this is just a ballpark of what the day would look like for uh for our students. uh the virtual learner will be expected to be involved from 8:35 um to 1:30 and then we have the afternoon for our um students with you know IEP encore and then small group support. So um a a second grade teacher who is now teaching an entire class virtually is going to follow this type of schedule. is going to cover, you know, we're going to get a um um I

089want to say excessive, that's not the right word, um a lot of language arts and math. And then we're going to um you know, appropriately use um or cover our social studies and science standards. Uh, one of the things we've been talking about to maximize on our time and get more language arts is that we're going to utilize social studies resources and um articles and and um non-fiction texts to cover social studies standards within our readers and writers workshop so that we were able to maximize on maximize on our time. Um, special area. So, our special area uh teachers, they're going to be um they're going to fulfill a lot of roles. they're going to be very busy um cuz they're one they're going to have to be um you know in the AB schedule

090they would have they would have students with them 5 days a week and then they would be providing the at home activities for the students who are on their at home day they would also be providing the at home activities for the virtual learner which is essentially in the grade level collaborative structure it's going to be the same activities um they would also be available um in the afternoon for the um you know for the occasional virtual interaction. And again, that's an evolution as we go throughout the year or as we go throughout the first few weeks to see if our you know rather than it being an assignment with the art teacher, you know, just saying do this, the art teacher could do a recording and and you know, do a little bit of

091um more direct instruction that way. All right, any questions? I've taken entirely too much time. Just clarify, but I think that's what Courtney said that this schedule opted in will not be the same. We move to this other model. >> This one will be very close. This one will be very close to what like I said we didn't have these conversations at all with our and all these grade level collaborations but um I want to say that we've always been aware of the possibility of of something where we all would have to go you know so that is what the that's where this I guess the planning the grade level collaborative effort starts with the idea that we're going to have to teach some students at home or a whole class at home or all

092students at home. So we have that structure ready to go if if necessary. This would be what that schedule looks like. This is the one that we would have to go back to the drawing board for because this in this model we had a grade level TE which is if I can apologize to K5 parents the reason for the portal delay yet again today was the potential for what is um I guess being discussed that we have already adjusted. Um, I'm sorry, Robert. Robert put in three, four days to adjust all of our schedules and our rosters to reflect the distance district learning cohort and the distance district learning students in a class list that is not connected to a building but is still able to reflect and and I'm describing it. It sounds complex.

093Try to do it. It's even more complex. Um, so now we we would potentially have to undo all that. So hopefully if we have to go back to the the first plan um without the distance learning cohorts in there that would be available. I said Friday Robert so okay good as everyone's waiting. Um so long story short yes this would be reflective of it for two through five. Um K and one I'm going to have to talk to talk to staff and and see how that goes. All right. Any questions? >> Okay. Thank you, >> I'm done. >> What about 6 through 12? >> 6 through 12. >> Well, I that was something those those plans have been I'll take questions. I don't have them prepared for for the show because those are things that

094that have been hard copy gone home with timing. It's the bell schedule. um you know so I'm I'm open for questions for for that but those I I felt those plans have been um a little bit better advertised than this just because of the nature of the difference between the um grade levels. >> Did we as a board see the uh the middle school and the high school plan? Did we see that? >> Yeah, Dr. Annone shared that um we had that um mid July. >> Yeah. So the high school and it's going to be schedule periods 1 to 8. They'll go through their schedule. The kids will go through their schedule. the teachers will go through their schedules per peers 1 to 8. Um, so when they have a class, the teacher logs in,

095the students log in. When it's a lunch period, that's obviously their lunchtime at home. So, every student has a lunch period built into their schedule. Every teacher has a lunch period built into their schedule. Uh, there when it's a duty, they would be, you know, that would be a little bit of free time for planning. Um, and they have a prep period as well. So, they would go right through their schedule. the current model that had been advertised to parents um the inperson student let's say a a day in person they would do their um they would go through periods 1 through 8 after the early dismissal they would be done for the day and our um at home students who would have um you know Google slides and Google classroom to go along with

096the um the bell schedule for the day would then have in-person check-ins with their teachers in the afternoon and it was a um was a complex schedule where let's say Monday A your Bday student is home doing Google classroom activities. >> I remember this Sam >> and then in the afternoon I'm sorry I don't have a visual um our B students would do periods 1 through 4 in person for check-ins to make sure that they're understanding the content during the day. very similar to what I shared with our K5 hybrid. >> And then on day two, >> it would be >> the A student would be in again, the B student would be home again, but in the afternoon, their check-ins would be periods 5 >> 5 through 8. And then it was a rotating

097schedule so that at the end of the week um the at home students would have gotten one afternoon check-in with their um period teacher plus the added benefit of their in in-class instruction two or three days a week depending on how the how the Wednesday felt. >> It came back. Thank you. What do you say to everyone? >> Just to piggy back off of what you were saying as a parent who has a middle school student, Mr. Sicho has been phenomenal about um keeping up informed, sending out a schedule. He must have done it at least 3 weeks ago. I was so so happy and he was great. I do have one more question for you, Dan. um with the kindergarten parents. I believe we had a speaker at our last meeting who um with

098concerns new kindergarten parents are concerned whether we're going in under normal circumstances, a pandemic, a word doubly scary. Um is there anything with that we can offer them with a virtual coffee talk something that we can >> So that was going to be my that was going to be my final announcement. >> Thank you. >> Um Dr. Schwarz and I So Dr. Schwarz, principal of Westbrook School, is also she is our um kindergarten administrator in this collaborative planning process. Dr. Schwarz and I are going to be doing a town hall meeting for incoming kindergarten parents following our in-person uh kindergarten experiences which I believe complete uh tomorrow. We had two last week and then the rest will be tomorrow which regardless of the outcome today I still think it's important for your kindergarten students to

099come in and meet the person that they may be in class with or across the screen from. Um and then following that we're going to send a Honeywell with a link to a Zoom and then we're going to um you know open it up for questions have a little presentation about you know expectations as maybe you know bring in some Dr. some acquaintance with contact tracing and all and all those types of things. >> I can't come as the kindergarten parent because that's what I was hoping to do. >> Oh, >> right. >> Perfect. She's there anyway. >> Take a personal day. >> Thank you so much. >> I I think I think the one thing you need to say in this added plan for this push this pause, they're going to have full day

100instruction. >> Correct. So, so we're on on an A if you had the AB week, you know, on a good AB week, you you got 12 hours of inclass, you know, contact and 3 hours of online on the Thursday and Friday. They're now going to be going like six hours every day, >> right? We would no longer we would no longer require the a the AB cohort >> and all the students would log in with their 6 through 12. they would follow their bell schedule and the the virtual learner that I showed for two through five would be very similar to to that project. >> They'll be able to expand a little bit. I mean, I know it's just the beginning, you know, but maybe that's a good set to get people, you know, to

101get them on track, but like a high school student or a middle school student is now instead of being in a period class for 20 minutes, they're going to have their regular like 40 minute period. Right. >> Right. and and those are the discussions, you know, really depends on the level of the course, whether it's a, >> you know, stay on screen for all 40 or, you know, 10-minute lesson, right, >> with an activity and check in that, you know, so those are the things that our staff are doing a great job with with >> and that might be a little for for the beginning of the year. That might be a good good thing, especially in the elementaryaries where those breakouts where they need to go into the small groups, they're they're going to

102have a little more time space, >> right? Now, I think that's the um that's the feedback we got from the community survey. >> Yes. >> Um and and from the board is that they um our students and our families and our staff want that in-person dedicated staff member to be on screen with them daily, period by period, >> um every day. And I know in the spring, you know, the spring was the spring and and the um the variety of situations people were in were were different. But I think that's what you can guarantee and expect from this iteration of distance learning or hybrid learning, whichever it is, is that our staff members are going to be live and on the screen with their classes daily um throughout this process. >> Okay. Well, >> Thank

103you. Did anybody have any other questions? Okay. All right. So, uh, special reports and correspondence, Mrs. uh, Francisco. >> Uh, you have the minutes from the July 21st meeting. >> Okay. I need a motion. >> July 21st. >> I need a second. Second. >> Uh, any discussion on the minutes? If not, um, all those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Carries. As far as my report, there'll be no report tonight because I think we're going to have public comment, which is going to take a little bit. So, we'll go right into the public comment section. This portion of the meeting is open to the members of the public for the purpose of addressing resolutions on this agenda only. Members of the public who have received requested to speak prior to the meeting will be

104recognized by the chair and have uh 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 limited to five minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All members of the public speaking during this public comment 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 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

105of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and the board and the administration will not respond to them. Just will not respond. I'm sorry. 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 light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Mrs. Francisco. >> Um, we have two people that signed up prior to the meeting. I have, uh, four people that responded by email that have questions that might want

106to be addressed. So, I don't know. How do you want to >> Well, let's start with the people who are here and then we'll take the comments from the the emails. How's that? >> Okay. >> Sure. Yeah. Um, Mr. Winston was able to put it up online so they actually do see it if they're live streaming. >> Okay, thank you. Uh the first person is that signed up >> um Sue Neger. Good evening. My name is Susan Neber. Neb. I live in Ringwood, New Jersey. I'm the president of the WMEA which represents all teachers, special class aids, secretaries, and custodial and maintenance staff. It is not my style to speak at these meetings. We come here each and every meeting to gather information, not to add or detract from the work that is normally accomplished.

107As members of the WMEA, we are not ready to open. This absolutely does not imply that we don't want to return to the classrooms and schools and resume the professional capacities of our jobs, sorry, that we all possessed and prior and promoted prior to March 13, 2020. To say that this situation that we find ourselves in at the moment is unfortunate and challenging would be a gross understatement. The West Milford Board of Education is by far and wide the largest employer in West Milford. 65% of the employees are West Milford residents. Empathy, sympathy, and support come naturally here. We just want to do the right thing. As teachers, we feel that the schools are not ready to open. We aren't looking to more spend more time teaching from home. It is not a desirable situation.

108Nothing can surpass in-person learning, in-person socialization, and in-personal emotional connections. We desire nothing more than to see those yellow school buses dropping off excited new learners, anticipating the fresh beginning of yet another school year. We too share that excitement. That is when the world was normal. This isn't a political issue. It isn't a union issue or an association issue. It's an issue that wrecks havoc with all of our lives. We have an extensive NJA checklist that we were given to make sure our staffs and students were safeguarded. We raised numerous concerns. The ventilation systems are nowhere near the standards of NJA. MV 17s are the recommendations. To our knowledge, given the hundreds of Univvent systems over our nine schools, we have four MV filters, but not filters of even that number. HEPA filters are also

109on the list. As reported, we have none. The simple fiberglass filters that are in these filtration systems can't begin to combat a virus that is transmitted in the air. We need to get this right. The devil is in the detail. This this district has been work working towards opening the schools. Working towards does not mean completed, nor does it mean acceptable. We have been privy to a few meetings and attempts to plan for the best possible educational outcomes. Our main concern is that all classes are given the maximum potential for epic success. And we firmly believe that our schools, all of them, whether they be elementary, middle, high school or Highlander Academy should be taught using the same platforms. With that in mind, it must be stressed that this is about safety and not about

110the location of instruction. This virus is not prejudiced. It attacks all. It spares no one. What is the harm of doing this right? What is the harm of delaying the start of school, putting every student in our community at the starting line with the same advantages, the ability to have a positive and prosperous outcome. As teachers, we are entrusted with your most precious possessions. We take that seriously. Give us the tools to do this correctly. Breaking up a district and having families engage in all types of learning is just not sound judgment. As parents, your herculean task of raising children's in a pandemic is hard enough. We need to do the right thing. Install virtual learning to all. Bring everyone back to a safe and structured environment. Let's give our students a September with as

111little disruption as possible. This is a global problem. Thank you. >> Thank you. Who else has signed up? >> Uh, we have Lesla Orsino. >> Hi, that's me. >> I'm Lesla Orsino. I'm a parent of three children within the district and I just want to talk to you a little bit about the in-person experience that I'm asking the school to please consider for this school year. While I appreciate the union's comments on trying to keep the schools safe, which is what we all want, I want to make sure that our children are going to have an environment that allows them to thrive mentally, physically, and academically. And so, I thank the board for giving me a few minutes to address that. >> Okay. So, I wanted to say thank you board members for allowing me

112to speak tonight. My name is Lesla Orsino. I am a parent of three children within the district. I have an incoming freshman. I have a junior that's starting up and I have a a sixth grader. And while I appreciate the union's comments that saying that we want to have safe schools, I'm here to advocate for our children in our community to become to have in-person instruction. Um, I'm not an expert in teaching in the school. I'm not an expert in mental health. I'm not an expert in, you know, epidemiology. I'm not an expert in technology or union or teachers. I am a mom. I'm an expert in my children. My three children have really flourished at West Milford. Uh my oldest is a junior this year. She's one of the top 15 in her class.

113She's a varsity athlete. She's an ambitious worker and she's also a fierce friend. For her junior year, it's full of college decisions, increasing independence, and time to achieve her goals. My middle daughter is an incoming freshman. She has a learning disability. She struggled for years to find an educational plan that could accommodate her style of learning. Through patience of teachers, hands-on learning, peer modeling, and perseverance, she thrived. She was just inducted into the Junior National Honor Society, and she maintained A's throughout her academic school year at Mackaben. She's a disciplined, thoughtful, slow learner. My son is entering sixth grade, and he also has a learning disability. He's come a long way but um with careful guidance of his teachers and I know that he should be given the chance to thrive as well. And that's

114my mom brag but um let me tell you about our visual our virtual learning experience last year and I know it's going to be different but I want to let you know what it was like for us. My junior did fine with virtual learning. It was adequate. She missed vital labs, chemistry, daily interactions with her teacher, and constructive peer um debates during class. She and her friends went on FaceTime in order to work through math and chemistry problems when their teachers were unavailable. She participated in almost all Zoom calls and she made the best of her situation. She did. My middle daughter did what was asked. She went to classes as given, participated in band pro programs, and did all of her work. She did okay. She missed the pure interactions too. But let me

115tell you, she suffered with nightmares, anxiety, trouble sleeping. Lack of structure for her added to her anxiety. Lack the lack of peer interaction was devastating. She's still anxious. She's still sleepless. My son was fine until he wasn't. Outbursts came due to frustration with learning materials. He was very distracted with the ver virtual format and it was hard for him to focus. He was assigned computer programs and given self-destructed self-directed assignments which were difficult for him with limited focus. Four or five Zoom calls a week for a child with an IEP was not enough. He regressed. We worry that he'll not be able to keep up with his normative educational peers. I'm an advocate for my children tonight. I'm also an advocate for others children. I've been contacted by many parents who felt they couldn't speak

116due to their circumstances. I'm speaking for the children who are soon to be looking for colleges and being judged against nationwide peers who were in the classrooms and in the labs. My junior is going to be compared to students from areas that were open private schools. Are we failing them by getting them back to class? I'm an advocate for kids with mental fragile mental states. Suicide hotlines and mental illness hotlines are seeing exponential increases in particular from our teens. Sometimes school and personal interaction is the best thing to keep these kids grounded. I was glad to see the social support program that's being offered through the schools, but is it enough? My children are have a loving, supportive home. Do others have the same advantages? I'm also an advocate for pe people with kids with

117special needs. My son experienced academic regression last year despite reading with him, doing extra work, and supporting him. I'm not his peer. I can't model proper classroom etiquette or help him with some of the innovative problem solving solutions that his teachers and peers can give him. Children with special needs are being left behind. And this is sad. I am afraid that kids like my son will never keep up with their peers. Now, can we assure families that our childrens with learning disabilities won't be left behind again? After speaking with my peers about the upcoming school year, one thing's clear. These kids need the choice of in-person education. This is essential for their academic, physical, and mental well-being. I believe that around 80% of our parents surveyed did say that they want their children back in

118school. Just in closing, can I ask you please do what you can for our children to remain in person. 3,000 children and their families are depending on us and the teachers of the district. Please stay low laser focused on our children and advocate for them when we cannot. Thank you. >> Is is there anyone else wishing to speak? Good evening. My name is Anthony Lammana. L A M A N A. I live on 15 Gladstone Road in Hwitt. I believe that the township has done everything to make it safe for our children to return to school. They have thought extensively about everything, followed the state guidelines, followed our federal CDC guidelines that have been put into place. And while not every plan is perfect, they did what was necessary for the state of New Jersey

119to say that our children are safe here. And as someone who does this for a living and has worked extensively making workplaces safe due to the COVID pandemic, I will be sending I wish to send my children, all four of them, to the township schools because I feel that it's safe and I hope that our boards do what's right that we the stakeholders have asked that we want our children in person learning. Thank you. Should we take one of those? >> We could anyone else? >> Good evening board. My name is Jessica Sprag. I have been a resident of West Milford since I moved here in 1985. I graduated from West Milford High School in 1999. I have two children in district. My address is 20 Glender Drive, West Milford, New Jersey. I have a

120child who will be starting Mackupin this year and a child who will be starting kindergarten. I am also a family law attorney. I can tell you from the statistics that there have been zero cases in West Milford for the past 10 days. A local daycare who has been open since June 15th has where children are not required to wear masks has seen a zero outbreak of this disease. And I have personal experience with this. Most likely my father passed from this. My father who used to sit in one of these seats. The AR knot is currently at 83 and continues to drop. The percent positivity has been consistently below 2% throughout the entire state and has consistently been less in northern New Jersey. American Pediatrics, the CDC, and even our governor recommend in-person learning. We

121are in what is considered a green zone. There is simply no reason for us not to open. We are approved by the state. Virtual learning simply does not work for most children. My son going into Makipin would wake up at 9:00 every morning and be finished by 10:30 every day. He happens to be very smart, but I can tell you he learned nothing from March to June. I have a kindergartenner. I have to work full-time. I have to be in court representing families with children. I can tell you from my experience since this has happened, there have been an increase in DCPMP cases, an increase in domestic violence, and these cases are being missed. These children deserve to be back in school. These cases will continue not to be caught because this district chooses not

122to open for a month. That will hurt children. I cannot teach a kindergartenner. Like I said, I have to be at work. Nor can my husband. He works in the food industry. Who is going to be there to ensure that my child logs on at appropriate times? A kindergartenner who cannot sit still and watch a screen for an entire day. If this board chooses to vote yes to a delay for a month, I will have no choice but to consider to remove my child from this district. I cannot do this. I need in-person education. And I can assure you that I am not the only parent that feels in this way. And that will be removing their child from the district. Not only will this hurt my child from being moved from his peers, but

123it will be hurt the district in losing funding. I would encourage every board member to vote no. Thank you. Anyone [Applause] else wishing to speak? Good evening all. Um, my name is Cla Lockwood. I live in West Milford, New Jersey. and I'm standing up here as the CPAC special education parent advisory committee representative to speak on behalf of our special education students. Okay. So, on a personal note, I do believe that we do need in-person um instruction. Um, I have a child with special needs and a child that is regular education and I'm going to tell you that they both need in-class instruction, but I'm going to really just focus on the special needs population. Um, I think we've had virtual CPAC meetings um throughout this whole pandemic monthly and I will say that um

124a lot of the parents that have been coming on have been struggling terribly. these students cannot learn virtually. Um it's just not a model that works for them. So although I'm pushing for you to vote no to delaying the start to October, what I'm also going to ask you to consider is that you consider allowing our self-contained students to have in-class instruction in September. Other districts have done this. um one very close to here. The school went on virtual and they are allowing their multiple disabilities, their behavioral disabilities, their ABA classes to all come in for in-class instruction. These children need this. These parents need this. And I'm just urging you all to consider that, please. Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else? Good evening everybody. Um, my name is Karen Fields. I live here in West

125Milford, uh, 15 Grandale in Oakidge. My son is in about to attend second grade and he is an IEP. Last year was brutal. absolutely brutal for him. He is impulsive. He's easily distracted. Learning for him took 8:00 a.m. to almost 5:00 p.m. at night. All during me going through chemotherapy. I'm stage three breast cancer. I had to teach him and my husband as well, trying to fight the side effects of the chemotherapy, fight with him to do his schoolwork, watch him decline to the point where he was crying and screaming and begging me to not have him do his schoolwork. By the end of the school year, he his teacher was unable to assess his reading level. I'm scared that he is going to completely disintegrate with his reading. And now after assuming we were

126going to be going to school in person for four to five days last week on August 19th, you sent out an email reaffirming that we were going to be going in person and now all of a sudden we're not. I'm about to start radiation 5 days a week for 5 weeks and I have to now figure out a way to do my radiation and also teach my child. My husband, who is a police officer in Jersey City, works the night shift. I beg you to please reconsider all virtual. It is not good for the children. It is not good for the elementary children. Please. And I just closing I want to know why all of a sudden after last week we were going and all of a sudden now we're not. What changed? Anybody? Because

127>> we don't respond during this part. >> Oh, that. So, so as a parent, I don't have the right to know why all of a sudden >> public comment we don't respond. >> Oh, okay. Well, please take what I say into consideration along with the other parents of West Milford who want our children to be in school. They are ready to be in school. I know that the ventilation systems are a problem and the filters are a problem, but why all of a sudden are they a problem? They haven't been a problem. We have never talked about them. Now they're an issue. If children are wearing masks in school and so are the teachers, then they can be in person. Thank you. Have a good day. [Applause] Is anyone else wishing to speak? Good evening

128board and parents. My name is Michelle Bunson. B is in boy. U N T Zen. I live at 54 Adelaide Terrace here in West Milford. I have two children which will both be attending Makipin, one in 7th and one in 8th grade this year. We have been living uh West Milford now for 14 years. Transplant from Burden County. My comment first is that I as well would like to have in-person learning and don't understand the quick decision to change to October 1st. I don't know what the difference of 3 weeks will actually bring and I'm interested to hear that. uh but secondly and more importantly to me is as these children are virtual learning and when they are then split into groups so let's say after October 1st why is it not possible unless I've

129heard incorrectly to have the children view the live classroom um if it's beneficial for the children to then get the information twice meaning that if group A received it Monday Tuesday and then group B is now getting it on Thursday and Friday what would be the harm in having a child that is learning virtually on the uh with the second group uh to just watch the teacher live and maybe get the instruction for a second time even if they can't let's say ask questions from home if there has something to do with the amount of students which I also quite frankly don't understand because these are teachers that regardless of whether or not we're in a pandemic know how to teach a certain amount of students my understanding is that the reason we are doing

130this is for safety and for space issues, not because teachers all of a sudden don't have a curriculum and they can't teach more than two days a week. So, I pose that question to you because as I talk on the baseball field and with friends, and by the way, many children are out in town running around and with their friends. Many parents are out with those children with masks, without shopping all throughout town and other areas. And whether getting sick or not, they're doing that knowing that if they practice safe measures, um the risk is very low. as my friend Jessica Sprag stated. So, while I won't go into the politics and the back and forth of that because I respect you all greatly, I would just really like an answer to know if children

131will be able to watch live, perhaps speak and gather information from the teacher or even just be present so that they are not home sleeping because the truth is just giving assignments or scheduling something on Google with sheets or reading is really not going to cut it and I think we all know that. Thank you very much. [Applause] >> Anyone else wishing to speak? Hi, good evening. Joe Marie Frederick's F re I cs 38 Westshore Road here in West Morford. I am the president of the West Moford bus drivers and the vehicle age association. Um there's a little concerning um we don't know much about the protection for the bus drivers on the bus with the children, how we're going to be protected. Okay. I've heard things that they were going to put a curtain

132around us, but basically that's kind of dangerous when you're driving because you don't have a view of a lot of things. And I don't think it's in the bus yet. And I have to find out cuz my supervisor hasn't said anything to me yet about it. Also about um the disinfecting on the bus. Uh the disinfecting on the bus isn't going to be after every route. It's going to only be at the end of the day. that the bus drivers are going to be doing. Okay. Um and also the bus drivers also had a little concern about the kids keeping the masks on on in the bus. You know, we're not going to know who has them on, who takes them off because you know how sometimes the little kids can be. And we Oh,

133I'm sorry. And uh especially the little ones, you know, we're loading at the back of the bus. Now, if we have a kindergartenner, that kindergartener is going to be all the way at the back of the bus and you really can't see because those seats are high. So, you don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if there's something else we can do with the kindergarten. You know, I just wanted to bring that up and uh maybe look on about the protection for us. You know, if one of our kids gets gets CO, what's going to happen to that bus if that kid's on the bus or you find out in the school, is that bus going to be quarantined or what? That's all I really have to say and thank you for listening.

134>> Anyone else wishing to speak? >> All right, do you want to >> Oh, Laura has some questions that were ask. >> Okay. Okay. Um, basically questions. I don't know if anybody's going to respond, but I'll read through them. Um Renee Campanir um I was wondering uh are teachers teaching the virtual students not just checking in? I would assume there is some sort of instructional teaching to virtual students. And then she followed up with we discussed how middle school and high school work for 100% virtual. Is there no teaching only check-in? Should at home students receive instruction? >> This is a part that we've never had before. >> Okay. >> The next one and Alex after we close. >> Okay. Um, Mrs. Cineo asked if cameras can be set up in all classrooms so at

135home students could log in anytime and watch the inschool class. >> I think that came up in within this question also. >> Yeah. Um Mrs. Goodman um other than staffing concerns what is which is what the public will blame for schools going virtual. What is the status of air ventilation and MR filters in each building? Will the district provide to the BOE and the public the last two years of status of the HVAC systems filters certification of meeting to CDC standards etc. I don't know if you want to take some time just to have Mr. Kelly speak about some of the things that we've done. Why don't we have him address at least the issues? >> Mr. Kelly, there's a question about a MV filter and just uh maybe brief the board and the community

136about the the meaning of a MV and >> what is the status of air ventilation and MV filters in each building? >> Yep. >> The MV rating is uh a rating given by the American Society of Heating and Ventilation Engineers. Basically, the higher the MV rating, the more or the smaller the particulate that it captures. Generally speaking, for schools, for office buildings, filtration in HVAC units is not designed to capture viruses. Uh, I'm not an engineer, but we've been lucky. I've had access to engineers who are working right now throughout our buildings basically refurbishing all of our HVAC systems. Every unit ventilator in every classroom has new motors, new fans, new actuators that open the fresh air dampers. And that's the key is bringing in as much fresh air as possible and exhausting the old

137air. room changes per hour. And it's not so much the filtration because you're bringing in the outside air. You don't want to filter the outside air. You want to bring in as much of that as possible. MV ratings are basically for hospital surgical centers, clean rooms, things of that nature. Our systems are not designed for higher MV filters. What it does, it reduces the air flow, causes our motors to burn out quicker. We're following manufacturers guidelines. We have MV 2, MV 4, and MV 8 filters at different locations throughout our facilities. But the highest we have is a MV 8. If we were to put MV 13 or MV 17 filters in, the systems wouldn't function. They wouldn't bring any air in. The motors would burn up. They're just not designed for that. So, >>

138I'm confused. Is there a difference between a HEPA filter and a Mr. filter? Is that the same thing? Or >> a HEPA filter is designed to catch 99.99% of a certain size particle. >> And we don't have those. No, we have one. We have an air scrubber at one of the elementaryaries that uses a hepailter, but it's >> We can't put them in anything that we have. >> No, no, it's just not designed for it. Anything else? >> Question. >> Yeah. [Music] the building up should be organ based on what you've seen so far. I know that you I know students with your professional >> I know >> I was going to say thanks for putting me on the spot with that. >> I think you're the expert in there from you whether you feel

139>> there's nothing that we can do building wise to eliminate the risk. All we can do is try and mitigate it. And I think we've done all that we can do. So, are the buildings safe? I want to say yes, but I can't guarantee that. >> Okay. >> Courtney, in a month, is there anything different that you're going to do with filters to make it any better? No, we're like I said, every UNIVAN in the in the district has been upgraded, retrofitted. It's in the best shape that it's been in for some of the buildings are 60 years old. We've confirmed that every actuator that opens and closes to let in fresh air is actually functioning now. Some of them had rust on them. They weren't opening all the way. So they're they're working as

140designed probably for the first time in a very long time. But that being said, we're not going to increase the MV rating on the filters because that's not what these units were designed for. If we did that, it would cause more harm than good. >> Thank you for appreciate. >> You're welcome. Anything else? >> Questions? >> Okay. You're welcome. >> Okay, next one. Uh, since school will be virtual for the first four weeks, how will reeval re-evaluations be handled during the fall and during this time frame? >> I think that would be a special question. >> That was from um an Anna Norman. >> I could answer I don't know. Are we can I answer that? >> Just briefly. Um, so our testing, we started retesting, re-evaluations and new initials this summer. So we have

141been successfully bringing students into the buildings and obviously on a you know on a staggered schedule. Um, and that I would plan whether we were the buildings were open or closed. I it would be my intention to hopefully still continue that testing. >> So So the buildings remain open for >> Okay. Uh, Nicolina Pascowski. Um, three questions. As a parent who is an essential worker, I have delayed my plans to my workplace for a long time. Can someone advise as to when we will have communication from teachers with when the teachers will send out their concrete plans for respective classes. This way, working parents who have to go to work can make their schedules as well. That was one question. Number two, our kindergarten teacher who we met during orientation is requesting leave. What does

142that mean for my incoming kindergartenner? Number three, our school nurse is requesting leave. As a parent with a student with allergies, when will we find out who her replacement will be? Is there a plan for a replacement? >> Are those three? And let's see. I think there's more. Let's see. Yes. Okay. Um >> sure. >> When will parents be >> as process now? >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Uh we're in the process now of making sure that all of our students have access to a Chromebook um because our first days were originally intended to be all distance learning. So we had to do that in advance of September 3rd. We are also anticipating as I mentioned earlier that our um our K5 students who don't know who their teacher assignments are will receive that by the

143end of the week. Now with the you know we we could do that today or or we could do that tomorrow if um plans stay the same. if they change, we would have to wait until Friday to get that information out. And then we are also anticipating that on um September 1st that our teachers will share the access to their um their Google classrooms and have the links to Google Meets and um everything that they need to know to get ready for the first day of school. That doesn't change regardless because September 3rd and 4th were already intended as distance learning. So, um, September 1st is the answer to that that question for when. >> And I could just answer um the nursing questions because we do have two leaves. We do have replacements lined

144up. Um, you don't necessarily see them on the agenda because they are going to be through an agency and a few of our subs that are also filling in. But we will have um nurses that will be ready to start. And I did have conversations with the agency nurses to ensure that they were comfortable with the plans that we reviewed tonight and some of our nursing plans and they were comfortable with our district. >> Liz, the replacement nurses that we're going to get through these um services or this service. Is it going to be one re one nurse or is there going to be a different nurse every day? >> So that's a good question. What what we have >> Yes. com. >> Oh, yes. We're still on public comment. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >>

145Well, this is still public comment technically because Is that the last question, Laur? >> No, >> we'll get back to you. The board can ask that. We can return to that question. >> Okay. >> Well, everybody else is asking. So, >> I'm sorry. That's okay. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Um, as a concerned and involved parent, I am becoming increasingly frustrated that at the mer attempt to watch a board meeting to stay informed and advocate for my son, the feed of the meeting cuts out for minutes at a time. While this does not seem to be a long time, it will be increasingly frustrating, incredibly frustrating for my son and every other student when their feed drops out during class. What asurances are there that this will not happen in the upcoming school year? This,

146among any other reasons, is why I'm in favor of inerson learning. My son misses his friends and the interaction with his peers. Okay, next. Um, okay. Wait, here we go. >> Um, >> what was her name, Barbara? Um, it's kind of diff. I believe it might be Beno is the last name, but it's just initials, so I'd have to look that one up. >> Um, um, Mr. Lewis Nuria, um, this might be too late, but if the board decides to go 100% virtual, how is the district going to help out those families where both parents have to work? You have teachers walking around holding signs claiming to be essential staff, but yet they want to sit home. I'm an essential worker and have been working every day since this pandemic hit and in one of

147the worst places to work during a pandemic. I currently work inside a state prison. The teachers need to get back to the classroom and stop the nonsense. My wife and I are not certified teachers. We pay a ridiculously high amount of taxes in this town and most of it goes towards our school district. Not to mention they just went up too. I understand the numbers around 40% of teachers of the teachers um have doctor's notes so they can stay home and not get paid. Watch how fast they come back. The schools need to open. Our te our children aren't learning anything sitting at home on a computer. He's a father of three students. Um Tina Janice to start. Thank you to the board and administration who I know have been working tirelessly to make difficult

148decisions in these ever changing times. I understand many districts in New Jersey have recently decided to start the year with full remote learning. So, we are not alone in this possible decision. However, it is my understanding that districts must submit a reason or rationale for not opening for in-person instruction. I have watched this meeting from the start and did not hear the reason why we are now converting to full virtual learning. I think the public may be more understanding if we knew the reason and able and also to understand what protocols need to be put in place in order for us to open as of October 1. What do we need to have in place to be sure we even stay on the October 1 timeline? Just a question I ask in order to remain

149t transparent in your decision making. Okay. Next. >> Yeah. >> Okay. There's three more. >> Okay. >> Uh for the parents of children who are essential workers. How are we supposed to make time to teach our children? I'm a nurse. I work long hours and my son is special needs. He learned nothing last year. He was looking forward to attending school in person and now will be devastated to learn he'll have to start virtual. He will learn nothing again for the first month of school. How are we helping our children? >> Uh Jasmine Vieiraa and um a a follow-up question from Tracy Goodman. Has the board signed an anestment letter to the state certifying the district meets CDC standards? >> That's it. Um, I guess we're going to need a motion to close public comment.

150>> All those in favor? >> I All right. And just have a one minor edit here before we um before we adopt a motion. Um, one minor edit on page 11. This is personnel student affairs number 47. So um we are going to list one anti-bullying specialist ABS for the Mackin and one for the high school. Makapin is going to be David Glstein. He'll be the anti-bullying specialist. Ken Ryerson and Nina Rosanka will be investigators. >> Ken Ry I'm sorry. Ken Ryerson for the high school. >> No m. And at the high school, it's going to be Dr. Patrice Capello as the anti-bullying specialist. Monica Ducker, Carly Hirschman, Dana Lambert, and Michael Shave will be investigators. >> Thank you. >> So, I need a I need a motion uh to uh accept the agenda as

151presented. >> I move to accept the I move to accept the agenda as amended. >> Romeo second. All those in favor? >> I education car. >> Okay. Move to um approve items 1 through 4. >> I know Courtney's five. We can't carry five. >> Right. Okay. All right. I move to uh approve item five as a hand carry. >> Yeah, because now we're going to have to do it separate. >> Okay, >> we already say we'll do one through four and then five separate. Okay, >> that's what I just did. >> But we have to we have >> All right. >> Any discussion on items one through four? If not, roll. >> Mrs. Dwer, >> yes. >> Mr. Greeno, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mr. Ochinsky,

152>> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Okay. I move to uh approve item number five on the hand carry >> Dave. >> Oh something >> not item five. Item five. >> How many teachers nurses? >> Uh well nurses we have eight and a half. Yeah, that I know off the top of my head. Um the number of teachers uh >> I I could just say I know that we ordered shields for five >> I was going to say 500. >> Certified staff. >> We have certified >> certified. It's not going to be that high. certified. So teachers will be lower than that. We're talking about special class aids, >> maybe 400 teachers, >> ballpark. >> Yeah, there is. >> I'm

153including uh >> you know the specials, art, music, um you know, librarians. I'm talking about every all the subjects, right? Certificated staff. I I'll say 400, but that's top of my head ballpark estimate. Okay. So I just looking through I know it's on the personnel side but not not the education side look like and think adding this look like there are roughly 15 or so that have child care issues. So many of the same issues some of our parents might have right 20 that have medical issues. So overall, you know, I I noticed there were some like particular departments where it it seemed like it would be difficult to open up a a school that >> Right. Yeah. They're not equally spaced out in departments. It's it just happened to be more in one department,

154less in another. >> Right. >> So we were also offering I thought I saw too that we were offering child care ASAP. >> Well, that was going to be if we were opening for >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So, if we're opening if we're open >> October 1st, >> then yes, October 1st. Yes. It wouldn't be offered while school was in distance learning. So, it would be >> voted the way that we would still offer that, right? >> Correct. So, that's a separate resolution tonight. >> Was child care available >> uh for de voted? Well, there's a a resolution on here um ahead of us. What? >> Well, it it's under operations and finance. >> Operations of finance would be number one. Okay. So, we're going to vote on that in a little bit. So,

155u we're going to approve it for four months tonight. Hopefully approve it. But if it's schools did not open on September 1st, then we would not run it >> Until October 1st. And this childare for infants up through >> No, no, this is school age. K to five students. We would we don't we wouldn't be doing uh day care. The thought was they would have parents would have to accommodate their newborn anyway regardless of a pandemic. So that would that was not part of the discussions. But if you're saying it came out to about 30 teachers, I guess that are on the the leave list. >> 35 >> and you're saying there's 400. >> I'll say 400 teachers, but you know, again, that's >> 300. So the 300 >> certified staff >> 350. So maybe

156350 is better. So 10% >> 10% 10%. >> The public was roughly 20% of the students. A little bit more than 20%. >> It was 20%. Yeah. >> Just a hair more than 20% do all virtual. And there's clearly less teachers that want to go all virtual than 20%, right? >> About 10%. >> Okay. >> Kate, did you have your hand up before? >> Um, no. Never mind. >> Got it. >> If you're ready, I'll let Nicole go and then if you're ready. >> Yep. I'm good. >> Bear with me because I not a little all over the place. Um, I really want to express my frustration. Um, I think it's important to note that the board only found out about this 100% virtual option at 4 p.m. today. Um, I think it's really important

157to recognize the last that we heard was there were some staffing concerns at the high school and we might have to keep that virtual, but not that the entire district um was at risk and that we were fairly positioned staff wise, you know, agree and [Music] um so I appreciate the question that someone had. Why now? Um, I also would like to understand who or where this change was driven from. Um, and why we still can't consider opening our K3. Uh, this is not a collective board thing that is being put out there. And I think it's really important that everyone understands that. um not something I board member support if staffing reason we should address that and we should not mon the entire district um if we have staff ready which we have many

158who are and are willing and prepared in all the work that Mr. Novak and his team have already put in place to make sure that happens. I really don't understand what a difference three weeks is going to make and it's going to wreak havoc on our families and our kids. Um, especially I find it very ironic that here we are having this conversation about going 100% virtual when just at the last meeting we had a healthy debate around whether or not the special educ they will have something. I'm not sure how we got here or really what's driving it but I'm very concerned about it. Um, someone raised a point, I'm not sure who it was, maybe Linda, um, as a positive that kindergarten, well, now it's, you know, in this in this environment is

159six school hours of learning. I can't think of one 5-year-old that could have online computer screen time learning for I don't think they watch for six hours. This is an incredibly big ass of our kids 5 days a week for eight hours 6 to 8 hours a day on top of other work that don't um as stated the risk as stated by one of our speakers the risk is so low at this point. I think the argument around the filter is moot and irrelevant and again as Chris stated he did not seem overly concerned and again we will not be in a different place a month from now. I'd really like to know um given the comment that this is a representative as the role of the teachers what the percentage of teachers is in

160our total number that don't want to come back because I've heard many many many of them do. I think this is a lot of harm. There was a comment that what's the harm in waiting three weeks. I think there's a lot of harm in constantly asking our parents and kids to keep pivoting and change. I just had Mr. Novak getting up there and walking through that plan when I know it's changed for him probably 15 times by now. These kids need consistency and they need to be socially connected and they really need inerson instruction. How are they going to learn art? How are they going to have the giggle hallways with their friends, conversations with their friends in the hallway, looking forward to taking a break and sitting with each other at lunch, playing with

161their friends at >> all the kids that do shop, bookshop, auto shop, re all of it. They're not getting any of that social emotional connection. They're tired. They're most of them, as another speaker said, have been together this summer doing sports and the things that they need for their mental health. I personally have seen a huge shift in my children being able to fight towards getting out of the house. That's just where I stand. I do not support that. I just >> Terry um some of us had the opportunity to visit some of the buildings and our concerns were um health healthwise they're not cleaned. Okay, Mr. Kelly, I'm sorry, but the cleaning is not up to where it should be for our children. We were concerned about the setup of Mccipin with the desks

162in the cafeteria. How are we going to have enough time to clean those desks in between children? Children will not be socializing during cafeteria because they will be separated. Um it it just if they had I think if the custodians had three more weeks to clean those buildings, we'd have a great Great opening. >> How about we get >> Ryan? >> So in Mid, right, they're going to switch classes period. So I I don't know. I hear what you're saying. I don't know that the desks are going to need to be cleaned in the cafeteria because they're also going to be switching every period. So there's going to be eight different kids in those desks in a math classroom and a science classroom every day. Is that right or is that wrong? >> Switching classes.

163>> And are those desks are not going to be cleaning the >> the classroom desks are not were not scheduled to be cleaned in between periods but the end of >> but if they're eating on them >> well in the classroom they're not going to eat on but you are going to have different kids go through. So my question is so at the elementary level we were talking about the specials coming into the classroom. Now those are like you know I think that like Cole maybe alluded to this at the elementary level that the risk for students is very minimal like right you see the statistics especially for K through five. Can specials leave the classroom and go to the special classroom? Because it seems like we're going to do that with Makipin. We're going

164to do that with the high school. >> Well, that's certainly something we can consider, you know. >> And then um you know, in walking the buildings with um Dr. Mo and and Kelly. You know, one thing that I thought to myself was, and I don't know if Chris was going to respond or you want to respond to this, do we have enough manpower to take care of the building effectively? I don't know how many people we have in the high school during the day, the elementary school during the day, but from what I hear, like maybe there's the opportunity to have some more bank out. I don't know. >> Yeah, I've never It's never come up in the past. I mean, we could certainly hire, you know, hire new custodians if that's what the board

165would prefer, but I'm not entirely certain it's um I'm not sure it'd be warranted considering the fiscal crunch we're under, but you know, more hands is always good. It's always helpful, but um I I think they could manage the task. I think there I think the buildings are appropriately staffed. Uh Miss Francisco, would >> I'm sorry. I think the buildings are appropriately staffed with custodials or >> Yeah, the the buildings are appropriately staffed and we can make accommodations once we have a plan, but they also need to be in the building at night in order to disinfect once you have inerson instruction. So there are activities that the custodians that are there during the day won't necessarily need to do with the changes. So they'll be have time in order to do other things >>

166like clean the bathrooms. >> Jason, >> I know I've seen in the elementary schools already that all the teachers have antibacterial wipes and they usually wipe things down and stuff like that. And I'm sure that we're all raising young adults that they might have been in high school, they can be going to wash down their desks or table them or even after lunch or something like that. I mean, >> where are you guys getting all these Clorox wipes and I've been looking for them. We talked about that. >> Well, as a district back to school, >> I'm just saying other people said in the last week that our children should bring them in their backpack and I said that'd be great. I'd love to buy them, but I've looked at five stores and I haven't

167found them yet. So, it wasn't to you at all, Jay. It was something Ray and I I said, "That'd be great. I'll send Clorox wipes with my child. Please let me know where you find them in the community cuz I haven't found them yet. >> They're not That's like not an easy solution to tell my kid. You wipe your desk down because I can't I I've made some. I could send that. >> Do we have supplies? >> Clorox. It doesn't have to be what you're >> saying. Wait, excuse me. Excuse me. >> Do we can't take the talking from the audience? Excuse me, >> Barbara. Do we have the supplies for them to clean the desks? If they does every class have enough wipes for every desk or what? >> Well, they don't use wipes.

168They use a bow spray that's going to, you know, sanitize and disinfect, you know. >> But they're not going to do it. They're not going to do it through the course of the day. I mean, right? I mean, I I'm not >> Well, each teacher is going to have the availability to take care of that if they if they want to. >> Whoa. >> Nicole, >> it doesn't sound like before today we had a concern about the classroom. I mean, I think we had a good plan in place of how we were going to approach that and whether we delayed it 3 weeks. that's not going to change the process day to day of how I think we've outlined this 10 times that there's a good process like it doesn't have but I don't know

169why like now all of a sudden that's a new problem again I guess I think new problems have been raised from what I heard like I didn't know before today Nicole that desks were not getting cleaned in between seven or eight different kids did you know that before today so new problems have been raised since Thursday when the walkthrough in the buildings And I'm sorry that you didn't know that and that that concerns me actually. >> I think I think there's a number of issues and I just want to correct I didn't say 6 hours for kindergarten. I'm just saying overall elementaryaries are going to have more more time online with the students and we're not doing a half a day program. That's what I said. I want to correct that. >> It is a

170long day for an elementary child. I totally agree with you. But I also think that that for grades probably two through five that contact time where they're going to have the time with a teacher I is going to be beneficial for them. I'm not saying that we should go all virtual forever. I think that we do have some issues and and re real re realistically we have to know we have some staffing issues and it even if we can staff if we can get people to take the positions at this point which we're not on like any other district because that's why the districts around us have all gone virtual too ringwood Kennelan >> Sparta all of them have the same issues that we're having and if there are subs out there for those positions.

171Some of them have probably already been taken. It would give this it would probably give Alex and Dan the ability to find people to fill those positions for those four weeks. That's the point in my mind. It would also maybe give us a piece of mind that they're looking at the safety issues. Right now, an issue was raised with the buses that I never heard before Joan stood up tonight. So, that is another issue because we're going to be putting a lot of kids on the buses. I did hear the special ed need and I was wondering if that's a possibility. You and I have had conversations before, Liz, if there is a way that we can bring our special needs in and address those issues for them because that is important. They did lose

172a lot and I feel that I feel very strongly if there's something we can do to address that, we should work hard for that. I don't think asking to put a pause. None of us want to see kids home learning virtually every day. But we also know that we have to do it right. And unfortunately in this particular setting, we're we're still on all uncharted unchartered area here because we have no idea what's going to happen. We don't know what's going to Yes, we've been very be very lucky in West Milford because we have had a consistent 10 days of no new cases. People are coming back from vacation. People are going to be coming back into in in into the buildings. And it's not just being concerned about, you know, in the elementary building.

173I do agree the the kids have a lower rate, but we're we have seen in our own community that 9 10 12 year olds, 14 year olds have come down with this virus. We don't know what's going to happen. I I feel very strongly that we have to have the right staffing and we have to be able to be comfortable as a as as a board and as a district that we can do everything we can to minimize the the the the risk for our kids in the schools. I feel going into October also puts back the risk of having to have kids sitting in a hot classroom all day because we can't have fans on. We can't have air conditioning going. So, if there's a 90 if the days are 90 degrees going into

174September, our kids are going to be sitting in a classroom and they're going to be hot and we can't put those fans on. So, those are some of my concerns. I I agree with every parent here. I would want to put my kids back in school. I know how important it is for kids to have that contact and I know that they're struggling, but I think we have to weigh this and we have to look at it in the right way. Jason, you had your hand up. >> Well, as far as the air conditioning, Chris just got done saying the best thing to do is introduce the outside air. So, I don't see why the air condition wouldn't be on. I >> I think it's part of the guidelines that you can't run air conditioners

175or fans. >> Okay. >> Well, then why are we worried about fixing all the dampeners and the filters? >> Because of heat. That that has to do with the heat and the air flow. >> Okay. That's number one. Number two, we've been trying to get these kids back to school since July. Dan and Dr. I don't know how long we they they've had this this these committees and all that to form to get kids back to school. If we haven't thought about buses and this and that to keep these kids and we actually let down our community in our case >> Well, Jason, we don't we don't we don't run the district. We just oversee it. >> I know. I'm just saying. >> So, whoever dropped the ball was not the board. >> They talked

176about the buses. They were going to spray them down with the machine that they have and all that and spray them to each bus driver. We're going to wipe them down when they're done. >> I don't know what the issue is. >> Can I address that? >> Sure. >> We were going we we have on order since June the curtains which have been approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Uh the it's been approved. Um you'll see them. New Jersey Transit uses them and we have not been able to get them yet. Um, but they're on order since June, the middle of June. As soon as we saw them, we ordered them. Um, the disinfectant and all of that that they're going to be using to wipe down their buses is in place. We have

177that in we have all that product. Um, and we have resolved the fact that they're going to get additional compensation for doing that. So, it's not that we're asking them to do something without compensating them for it. We're just waiting for the um screens to come in, the plastic screening. And once that's comes in, we'll be installing it. >> Dave. >> Yeah. Like to add some comments and perspective. Um, I wish I had the answers and I don't think anybody in this room has all the answers. Um, going back to about mid-March where I worked the veterans home premise I'm sure you've heard all about that. Uh, everything seemed fine. We're going by the CDC guidelines the health guidelines at least on paper. People don't always follow those. Department of Health has changed its guideline

178over a hundred times >> since March. So that's where that goes. Uh end of March we were first week of April we had over 30 people died. We need to know what happened between April and now over 130 dead. Now not all that's you know due to co so they say nobody really knows you know testing was scarce thankfully testing is better now um there's just so much unknown here and that's the unfortunate thing you talk about filters masks um again filters aren't designed for viruses even N95 masks unless you've been properly tested it's about it's about useful as this whole process that need to be done. So you can talk about that stuff. I do believe in person is best. Um but again totally on shorted you know seen it myself. I really think

179we have to go on the side of caution. [Music] >> Thank you Ray. >> So couple things. We have three schools now that don't have nurses. I think Terry was this going to get this question earlier. >> And I I think we're going to have an agency. Do we know if we'll have consistency with who the nurses will be? >> I can answer that. Yeah. And um and I just want to then also go back to you, Linda, just kind of comment about special ed side, but to answer your original question, Terry, which kind of goes along with you, right? We we did secure agencies to be able to fill those spots for the most part. We do have like one consistence of that we've always had on that our staff love. She's going to

180be there on Wednesday. For the most part in those two buildings, it's going to be someone like for the one building, it's going to be someone Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then a different person Tuesday, Thursday. But it will be consistent between two shared people, two shared nurses. The other building will be someone I think Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then this other person on a Wednesday. So those the two buildings will have two different people. and we're trying to do the same for the third um the one building we hope to have a candidate for the board to approve at the September meeting. So, we only really need coverage for a few for the first few weeks, but I'm confident that we can our nurses yesterday about it. I'm confident that we can open with

181with the having enough nursing >> by October. Speaking to the nursing staff >> by October 1st >> by technically I was ready to I I have it lined up September 8th and >> staffing our people before that. >> Okay. just to kind of comment on the special ed side because I know you said well can we bring in the special ed and I think both the public my CPAC group and the board have heard me be pretty quite vocal the past several meetings. So what I will say to that is that's really up to the board to have continue to have that discussion because we've had multiple discussions about this and the board has and we've changed our plan several times. So now if it's going to be changed again, I think that's something the

182board has to talk about. Um because that's where the changes keep coming from. >> Ray, >> just a comment. So I I noticed in the last two and a half hours, we've had multiple people talk, they're not talking as much as a teacher might talk during the course of 5 hours of teaching. >> Good job. And I've seen many people talk without the mask on, sometimes have to take the breath. And just imagine what it might be like for a sevenyear-old or an 8-year-old, right? Answering questions with the mask on. What it might be like for a teacher to teach a full lesson with the mask on. Yeah, Dan, I appreciate that. Struggling. I know where you're at. I think Dave uh um knows where you're at because it does take some time to get

183used to and I think Dave and I have gotten used to that a little bit. Um but it's a struggle and and you're right. I think it'll be a struggle for kids. I think it'll be a struggle for teachers. I mean, ideally, it'd be great to for them to go without masks, but that's not what the Department of Health says, right? They should all be wearing masks. And I think that just distanced as we are, I think we we're okay. But remember, you're going to have teachers and students that are going to be in close contact and and I think it becomes difficult for those five hours to talk with this mask. >> I don't know how Kate Kate is. >> Wait, wait, wait, wait. Kate Kate had her hand up next. I'll come to

184you, Mike. I'll come to Nicole. Go ahead, Kate. You had your hand up. >> Thank you, Linda. Um, Alex, I count that October 1st, we still would have, this is just a rough counting. I'm sure I missed some, but it looks like we would still have about 33, probably more just from this agenda, maybe 33 staff members that this leave that's on this agenda extends the October 1st deadline. So my question for you is do you think having the month of September that that would give you the time to replace all these people so that we could I mean that's a huge issue. I can't see we can't if we don't have teachers to teach our students. Will we be able to find replacements? Do we have resumes on hold? Do we have people to

185interview right now? >> Well, it depends on the position. Some positions are much easier to fill. Um we posted for an elementary teacher probably in June maybe I think we're at 400 résumés or 470 résumés or something like that. So we have a lot to choose from there. Obviously secondary uh Makipin High School they're certificated they're by subject so it's a little bit trickier. >> Yep. >> But obviously we'd be we're already looking. So we are you know staffing is a concern but >> So we would have more than we would have to start right now. Obviously we'll give you some time to fill some of these replacements. Correct. >> Um, and Barbara, I had a question. You said before that each teacher can spray down their classrooms when we were talking about the disinfectant

186and the wipes and the desks. Um, so I have a couple concerns about that. One, when I look at the possible schedules, I can't possibly imagine when a teacher would have five extra free minutes. They're going to need to eat their lunch, go to the bathroom, get their lessons, figure out what they're doing, get their stuff ready for their virtual. A teacher schedule is not as open as other professions. Their time is completely allotted to being with students. They don't get free time to just go to the bathroom when they want or do whatever they want. I can't imagine when a teacher would be able to spray down their classroom in between other classes. Um, I also never heard that as a possibility until tonight. So, that was a little um shocking cuz I didn't

187think teachers were getting their own sprayers. They're not right. >> They're they're going to have a bottle with with this solution in it. >> Got it. >> So that they can use it if they need to. But you're talking high school and >> you're talking about students who classes 6th to 12th grade. Yeah. Yeah. No, elementary school. We know those kids are going to be in their desk the whole day. K to five, right? And that's their desk. No one else is going to touch it. And then when they leave custodial step, we'll clean those desks at the end of the day. Go ahead, >> Mike. I something. It was kind of answered, but my interest thing was the real reason it seems to be there's not enough staff, right? So, what's what are we

188going to fix in 3 weeks? How are we going to change it? How are we going to >> just start October 1st? >> Well, he's had >> I think >> Well, that's what >> kind of answered. >> Good question, Mike. I mean maybe and it it could be that as the a as the month goes on and I I have I don't have a crystal ball. I wish I did. Uh we would know maybe some of the staffing daycare issues might be able to resolve. Maybe there'll be some issues where a staff member might come back. I I don't know. But if we don't have the people to to man we don't have people to teach. We have to find the best way to provide that education for the students. And and and right at

189this moment, I would it would be great if I said to you, well, we're the only district that has this problem. However, as I as I said, we're not the only district that has this problem. So, how many people are out there? And if you're a sub if you're a sub or you just want to take a long-term sub position, do you want to come into the school and teach in this environment? And do you as a parent I think these are questions that we have to ask. Do you do you want to subte your child or do you want to have your have a teacher who has been with your kid before has been with our students before and have them providing that education to them. This you know we all have health issues.

190You know if somebody if somebody is if if I'm if I'm a teacher okay I'll be honest. I'm 61 years old. I have I have risk factors, but I if I work and that's my job every day, shouldn't, you know, I I should be able to say, look, I don't want to put myself in that position because my doctor's telling me that I have a good chance. Yes, a kid could come into school and have COVID and he will be fine, but I could wind up getting it and I could wind up dying. And then what does it do to our comm you know like I'm thinking the bigger picture of what happens to our community and that what's happening here is we're all in the middle of a pandemic and it's terrible and we've

191had we've all been pushed to the to our limits and I think we nobody has the answer and we're starting to get at each other. We're starting to divide our community, to divide our board, to divide our parents because we're all scared and we don't know what the answer is. And everybody wants everything to go back to normal, but nobody could say it's going to be normal. It may never be normal for for months yet to go. Uh Nicole, you had your hand up. And then Terry, you're next. >> Couple things. Um you're right about I don't disagree. I hate it. everyone in. I also I'm not scared of this and I know I'm not the only person that feels that way and I think that was extreme. I think we are in the zoom

192zone. I think there's you're kind of in the middle of a settle down and I think that we can go back to school. We have essential workers everywhere work in the public. You go to the grocery store and you buy your food and you nurses and doctors and police officers and our children should be treated the same. They're no different here. >> They're precious. >> I think we have to consider I have a couple questions. Um are we considering furlows at all for like I mean bus drivers are going to nothing for a month. So are we going to pay them for a month? Are there other things that we need to look at putting off as a fur from a cost perspective? we we don't have the luxury of paying people to sit around

193for a month. So, is that something that we need to look at? Um, you know, again, I mentioned some of the specials, the arts, the hands-on learning, like what are we going to do to address those for so much? I mean, should everybody do health first because you can't really do gym virtually constantly, you know, going 100% virtual now, it raises more questions. the mile I have a handle learning about this at 4:00 today of what that schedule looks like for like 6 to 12 especially I mean I know Dan outlined in a room that's different to 5 but how are we going to do this now 100% virtual we had conversation on committee that we were concerned with those that were doing the ver 100% virtual option that we needed small groups because you

194couldn't have 50 kids on a zoom so can we take all of those inerson teachers and now they come virtual too and what is that schedule going to look like and how are we going to pull that whole entire team off in the next three weeks. I feel like this just raises even more questions that I I feel like now I don't even know how to >> t um I have a question. I don't know if Dan or Alice could answer that, but the teachers who have requested leaves, if we go all virtual, will they be teaching again virtually or are we getting are we still getting substitutes for them? Uh it depends on the we we're looking for substitutes now. So once we put them on once they're taking a medical leave, uh my

195understanding is they'd be on leave. I I could speak with our counselor offline, I'm sure, but um so we're going to if we go to virtual learning tonight and we have people taking leave, >> they're on leave. I mean, you don't know. They might still need to leave. >> Could you? >> So they could have their leaves rescended. They could ask, but I mean others would leave for sure. >> They would have to ask. >> So my guess is it' be a mixed bag. Some would, some would not. >> Courtney, >> um, as you know, I'm usually pretty vocal. I am absolutely sick. Um, I cry when I listen to student speech. I am a teacher. I get this. I cried when I listen to Karen speak. I get that. I cried when I listened

196to the family law and beat the DCMC cases. This is impossible and I do not want to see our community divided because of this. The governor of New Jersey has put all New Jersey schools, the superintendent and the board in possible situation >> and the communities. This is a matter of safety. This is not a matter of child care unfortunately. And trust me, I'm of a creep for child care myself. This is about safety. Our children will not be saved. Our teachers will not be safe. What are you going to say to your child when their teacher dies? Are you prepared for that? What are you going to say to your child when they have to go to virtual learning again? I get it all. This is impossible. And I ask you as the community,

197as the board, to not let this divide up. The social media needs to stop. You need to stop bickering because this is an impossible situation. [Music] >> Rey? Yes. Thank you, Ray. >> Yeah. First, I want to say that um I know that that was probably hard for Courtney to say because you've had family. I feel that my father died of CO. This is no joke, guys. This is no joke. This is not something to take lightly. This is not something to maybe wear a mask about or maybe not. This is a health pandemic. Yes, it's gotten better. Yes, the numbers have gone down. Yes, we started sports. Great. It is still a health [Laughter] to be able to sit here through this and not walk out. Yeah, [Music] >> for the record. [Music] >>

198So coming from too, but right we also have many people maybe some of us sitting here today that that have not our companies have not allowed us to go back to work. Our own company has not let us walk in the building that we were in in March. Yet we're saying we want to put our kids back in school. >> The governor has said that we can't make a decision to eat together. Cody and I can't make a decision to eat inside together, but we'll we want to put our kids inside. again, like those are tough decisions and and I I would not have expected Chris to say anything less than our schools are are ready, but I also know he said it today. I think I heard him say it no less than probably

19930 times on when we had our operations finance meeting, >> right? >> We can only mitigate the risk. We can't eliminate this, right? And that is that's true. And I I think from a physical plant perspective, some of us walked and were enlightened. I think Dr. Vanamone and and Mr. Kelly, they were enlightened that yeah, hey, maybe there's some tightening up that we could do and maybe Chris feels that by September 8th, a lot of that stuff could be done. But I I thought that from a physical plant perspective, there were some things that really could right use some TLC and and to Dave was probably in a building that is not, you know, 5 years old or 10 years old, probably had some of those old systems and he he saw what he saw.

200And then the next thing over the last week there have been a number of superintendants that have made the decision on their own to say here's what we have to do and it's because of staffing issues maybe it's because of issues where student potential students are right testing positive in the town right so this is being put on us as a board and and I want where how come this decision hasn't been made >> by the administration >> this for a for a long while you know so um I I we've discussed in committee I've discussed privately with you with the whole board so um you know I've been pretty clear you know for a while so >> so you And that's the thing. I think that Dr. Ann wanted us to be able to

201voice >> how we felt. >> Well, you know, you're elected officials. You you have to be heard. Your right to be heard. The community expects you to be heard and and you know, I welcome uh the discussion. So, um >> the discussions happen everywhere in every district. So, so >> other school districts that didn't some school districts didn't allow this dialogue to go back and forth, right? It just happened. >> It just happens, right? I think it's great that we are at least able to have the dialogue. >> Yeah, that's the whole point of these meetings. Yeah. I I believe too that we shouldn't let even though we we all are coming from different perspectives. I respect every person sitting around here and I understand that each one of you have your own have your

202own opinion and and your own feeling on it and that's the only thing you can go by is is what you believe is right to do at this time. But I think Dr. Annamone would have been remiss not to bring it to us because this is such an issue and and I I think we all just like what you've gone through Courtney I think we you know we're looking at you're looking at it from a perspective that none of us can see it from. So I and I I appreciate that you're willing to share that with us. Kate, you did have something. Um I wanted to comment about um a lot of the social and emotional things that have been stated, the DCPMP stuff, the counseling, the emotional. The state does have programs in place

203for counselors to come to your home. Um there are CMO, caring partners, and all of those things can be found online. So not all of those things are provided always by your school district. And I needed to say that because I think it's really important that our community know when we talk about mental health and suicide rates or suicidal feelings going up and all of these things, the fact that all of that falls on our school district always is sad, but there are other um agencies and other things put in place to help with that that are up and running and you can find those things on the internet. um that that those services don't just need to come from school. I needed to make that that clear. Um Courtney, thank you for for your

204heartfelt stuff. I wear a lot of different hats. Um the one hat that I just want to talk about is uh this summer uh getting trained as a trauma-informed um coordinator and counselor. Uh my mom hat I could go either way on this. My board of ed hat, I could go either way on this. my, you know, educator hat. I could go either way on this. When I did my training this summer, wearing that traumainformed therapist hat, I will be voting one certain way because it's the one way and the one thing that we would that we can't take back. And Courtney mentioned it. If we have a staff member that passes away, our second graders, our third graders, our fourth graders will never forget that. if they take a month, maybe two, or a

205few more out of school, they are not going to fall behind forever. And so therefore, until we know that our buildings are safe and that we have enough staff to cover this and that people can do their jobs appropriately, you know, and we have districts close by that have lost staff members, you know, and so those students and those districts are dealing with trauma-informed therapists working with their students. We're lucky that we haven't had that. Um, and so when you look at each section and each possible thing, that to me is what we need to try to prevent. >> Um, uh, I'd like to to call the question. >> Sorry. >> Um, would that be okay? >> I think it's okay. >> Kind of beat the Do we have to have a vote on calling

206the question? No. No. >> Okay. >> Uh, so let's go back and just reiterate the motion. It's motion number five. >> Motion number five. Vote to approve the following resolution. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Francisco, yes, please. >> Uh, Mrs. Dwer, >> yes. >> Mr. Gino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> no. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> no. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> no. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to personnel and students of student affairs. Uh, Mrs. Fritz. [Music] Uh, who second that? Was that Jason? >> Jason. Okay, discussion. Anyone have a discussion on the items under um >> I just I just wanted to congratulate Colleen Minnick and Judy Barry

207and thank them for their dedication and their loyalty to this district and they will be missed. I know Colleen and she's wonderful and Judy is just the kindest best person in the world. So I wish them all very very very blessed retirement. >> Yeah, they are retirements. Kate, >> I just second that. We're going to miss Miss Judy so much. That's okay. Wanted to say that. Thank you very much. >> Yes, I I can I totally agree with you. You both Any other discussion under personnel? >> I just have a question now. the lean on Dr. >> I I I think we have to because I don't know which specific teachers or staff members would want to stay or not. So I know it's uh going to be both. Some going to want to resend

208their leave and some do not want to. So um we just don't know who they are right now. >> And this is not the hand carry that's here. So the blue page is that's a separate that's separate. Any other discussion? If not, Mrs. Francisco, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> I'm going to say yes on everything. >> Mr. Garino, >> Mr. Ofinsky. Yes, >> Mrs. Romeo. >> No on 47. Yes. And everything else, >> Mr. Conklin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire? Yes. >> Mr. Stillman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke? >> I abstain on number 46 and yes on everything else. Okay. Um, Mrs. Fritz, the hand carry. Need a second? >> Jason. Any discussion on this motion on these motions? If not, Barbara, roll call, please. Mrs. Fritz, >> yes.

209>> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Go, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk. >> Yes. >> Okay. Operations and finance. Mr. Gorino. >> Move items one through nine for operations and finance. >> Any any discussion on these motions? Courtney, >> I would like to table. I think it's table number one. [Music] >> Okay. So, it's technically not today. We'll just we'll put it off. >> We'll just post postpone it until after executive session. How's that? >> All those in favor of postponing till after executive session. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. So now we're talking items two through nine. Correct? >> Yes. >> Any discussion? If not, Barbara, roll call, please.

210>> Mr. Greeno, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> Mr. Silman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> stay on. Yes. Everything else, >> which one did you stand on? >> Sorry. Number eight, >> uh, Mr. Conklin. Mrs. Van Djk. >> Yes. >> I'd like to move item number. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Greeno. Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shinsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwer. Yes, >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes, >> any discussion? Roll call. >> Did you want to move 11 or 12? Move 11. >> And we're 12. >> I'm sorry. [Laughter] Okay. Which one are we doing?

211Number 12 because you moved it. >> Okay. >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo? >> Yes. >> Mr. Conklin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke? >> Yes. I'd like to move uh item 11 under operations and finance >> discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Garina, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Silman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Djk, >> yes. I'd like to move item number 13 under operation. >> Second beat. >> Who was that? >> Any discussion? >> If not, roll call. Mr. Green. >> Yes.

212>> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Mrs. Dwer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> she's not >> um Mrs. Van Djk. >> I abstain. >> Second. >> Any discussion? If not, forever. >> Mr. Gino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Um, okay. policy. I'll I'll move >> you move policy. Okay. >> Yeah. Um move to approve items one through I thought it was 20 something. 1 through 19. >> Any discussion? >> Question 18. >> Sure. >> Have they ever helped one student in school in this district? >> I don't know. >>

213You'd have to ask Dr. anybody? >> Sure. We we we've had positive cases that have uh been uncovered probably uh maybe um 15 in a year, 12 to 15 in a year, give or take >> that are positive, but how about treatment? >> They all get treatment. Yeah. >> All 15 get treatment. >> Okay, Courtney. >> Yes. So, we're abolishing a policy that has helped children in this district. That's what we're saying. >> Mhm. >> Um, >> it's not effective. But >> why are we >> because of the effectiveness of it >> as far as >> we're I I think I think we were looking to expand the policy into something else. >> Go ahead, Dave. >> Yeah. discussion at that call this meeting is given a number of tests number positive the uh kind

214of pool of people selected you know a lot of the kids weren't typical you know kids that would have these issues with and the money spent on not their great we could probably do better uh looking at another program probably max rather than the RA Random testing without random testing. Not that we're giving up on the idea of substance abuse. [Music] >> You need somebody to second that. I'll second. >> So are we asking session. >> Do you want it to go back to committee? >> Okay. >> That's fair. Table it. >> Well, there is a way to table it. Just say you want to table it. >> Okay, you got it. >> Good girl. I'll sec I'll second that. >> Well, you can just September, >> you can table it >> until we can

215revisit it. I mean, if you want to put it on the September agenda, you can. >> We wouldn't be able to do it till October anyway. If >> Wait a second. We Ray, you seconded it, right? Do we need a voice on table? >> Okay. A voice or roll. >> Okay. Uh, Nicole has a question. >> Okay. >> I don't know if >> Okay, go ahead. Is it something that we discuss that needs in session and then decide to go on it after? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Andy, is that executive session? >> I'm not sure what the discussion topic is, so I can't resolution policy. >> I don't know what the question is about the drug. >> I'm looking at that. >> Why is it being abolished is not >> executive session? Oh, so

216we should table it. >> You should table if the board if the full board wants to have a discussion about it, I would table it for a date certain whether it's the September meeting or the October meeting. The board can make that decision. Nobody's going to be harmed one way or the other by leaving a policy in place. >> So that's a voice vote. All those in favor of tableabling >> any opposed. Okay. the rest of the items that are on here. 7 uh 1 through 17. Any questions? If not, roll call. >> Mrs. Romeo? >> Yes. >> Um Mrs. Fritz? >> So, we're tableing 18 and 19. >> Yes. Okay. >> Committee for September. >> I knew they were going to committee. I thought they were coming to >> Well, they can be redised

217in committee. So, if you have questions and you want to do them in committee, you can definitely come to committee and air your question. Well, we're in the middle of a vote, so I think we have to go. Go ahead. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Shinsky, >> Mr. Stillman 1 through 17. >> 1 through 17 in policy. Yes, >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes, >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Van Djk. >> Yes. >> Committees. >> Parks and Wreck. Mr. Gorino and Mr. Stillman. Did they have any kind of meetings at all? >> No. >> Okay. There were no safe. >> I went to a couple baseball practices just to watch kids play baseball. That was fun. >> Did they have masks on? >> So interesting you ask.

218So the coaches they have there's cones on the fences to show where they could put the bags six feet apart. New teams come to practice. They go to the separate dugout. The kids very good about you know >> not interacting with each other. That actually was was really good. Some actually had masks. Most I would say didn't, but some did. In baseball, you're mostly distanced even more than we are now. >> There was no safety meeting and there was no superintendence roundt. We resumed that in September, right? The last September of the last Thursday of the month. It's usually the last Thursday of the month. Yeah. >> Okay. >> The state county school boards um they were supposed to have a a virtual meeting but they didn't have it. >> Um and New Jersey school

219boards >> Barbara and I and Alex were talking about setting our our goal setting which is really important for the district and um Kathy Hela gave us some dates which would be in October. Um maybe as we're here we could just kind of the dates that she gave was October 7th, October 15th, October 26th. She gave the 27th but I believe that's our meeting day and October 28th. I mean the sooner the better I think with the goal setting. How would would October 7th, which I believe is a Monday. >> It's a Wednesday. It's a Wednesday. I'm sorry. Would would anybody have a problem with October 7th? >> Yes. >> Okay. How about October 15th? >> Could you give these an email? >> Yeah, I'd like to I'd like to get the answers as soon

220as you can. Okay. Because >> I don't want to Yeah. >> Okay. Barb, maybe we can email everybody and they can give you their dates. >> Okay. >> So, it would be the 15th, the 26th, or the 28th, right? >> Yeah. Not the 27th because the 27th is our regular meeting. >> Unless you want to switch and have it on the 27th and have the board meeting the week before since you're not having on the 20th. You mean October 20th? Yeah, we could do that, too. >> I won't be here on the 20th. >> Okay. >> All right. So, >> well, let's do it in the email, I guess. >> Okay. 15 26 or 28. Okay. I'll send an email. Legislative Dave announced this proposed budget for executive October through June. Uh from what I

221saw I got details looks like they're going to maintain a status qu >> what is I I saw I'm sorry. Can I see >> the the one on the coaches? Yeah. What was that? We're being uh New Jersey school board is telling us not to encourage voting for s something where something to do with coaches. Did you read about that? >> Yeah, it's it's it's S2843 and it has to do with the the it's a Senate bill. >> They Yeah, they're trying to mandate the length of time that a coach can get a contract. >> Okay. So, it's kind of it it would it would put the the districts like you would be liable to you're you'd have to keep your coaches for what it says here is it grants a three-year employment contract to

222the coaches >> and that uh >> it directs the officials to provide them with written notice of the basis of dismissal. >> It we all got the email today. Did anybody I you should have gotten it from New Jersey school boards and they're asking us to you know to write to contact our senators and say no vote no on that bill because it kind of is going to lock districts into three-year contracts that >> without any cause uh technology. Yeah. So, um, Dan alluded to this a little bit earlier about how they've worked. Robert, Dan, Alex have worked really hard to make sure that we have true one for one. Um, Chromebooks, which we've got them all set up where they, you know, certain grades are going to get the new Chromebooks have them for

223four years. I think right there K through three or the K through four, all the Chromebooks will still be housed in the school unless of course somebody needs one at home and we can get it to them. >> So in the current um in the current setup um we're going to those carts will be dismantled and we'll be looking to get those Chromebooks into our students hands. >> Yeah. Say again >> with the with the current setup. We are in the process now of inviting parents to come to the schools and pick up those Chromebooks. K at the elementary schools K5 and we have schedules in place in u middle school and high school as well. >> You said that that's going to happen the first week of September, right? >> No, we're uh we

224started that now. I think um a few schools have been handing them out already. Um our goal is to get everyone in place prior to September 1st. So when we send that uh September 1 first Google Meet to families, they're they have something all all ready to go. And then not overly part of the test for me, but I thought it was pretty exciting today somewhat technical at the field on tonight. They showed me some cool stuff. They put the LEDs up there today early. So Chris told us last Thursday that they would be on by Wednesday. They were on tonight. >> Oh. >> So it's cool to see the cameras and those lights on already there on the field. That's great. >> Great. Uh, township and the board of ed. I I did have

225a conversation with the mayor. The mayor has been reaching out. She did um also volunteer channel 777. Is it >> what she said? If we want to put anything on about the schedules or anything like that, she would be more than happy to help work accommodating us because we don't get the channel. We don't do the channel 77 anymore for us. >> Are they looking to schedule any kind of meeting anytime soon? >> I didn't ask her, but if you want me to reach out to her again, I will. >> No, I could send an email. >> Yeah, you could. I think starting in September, maybe she >> because I think when we met last in March, we talked about >> ne the first week in September. >> Yeah. So maybe do that. >> And

226uh West Milford Uliance. >> I got it. Courtney, anybody? >> There was a meeting on the 17th of August and they talked about um a program called Angelic Talk, which is mental health awareness and addiction dependence. They would like to speak to students 13 through 18 about what happens um and some personal experience things. They talked about stigma or they do talk about the stigma of mental health um and the details of drug dependence and addiction. Um Kathy Mcgher can email any questions. Um but they Kathy will be reaching out to the schools. So Dan, do you know about this program? Yeah, Angelica. Anyway, it's something that they can do over Zoom. So maybe that's something we want to look into for health classes and things in September. I don't know. Um they talked about

227the governor's council grant uh funding for new grant programming is $6,296.70. Um and then additional funding of $4,000 just for an anti- vaping grant education grant. And they talked about the programs that they currently have. Our Heroes and Cool Kids, which is $5,000 that's run through our high school. And the I the lead program um is 1,500. I think that's our fifth graders this year, right? Cuz it used to be sixth graders, now it got changed to fifth graders. They talked about stigmafree money being available for Upper Pay County. Um so if anyone has any ideas to submit a grant for funding for stigmafree um anything assigns or educational things um there's still funding available and grants would proposals are available. That's it. >> Was that like a zoom meeting or was it >> Yeah.

228>> Okay. >> They hold monthly zoom meetings. Yeah. Uh, old business. Anybody have any old business? >> If not, I need a motion to close old business. >> Dave second? >> I second it. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? New business. Well, we talked about it already. >> Yeah, we just talked about we just really We're going to get a meeting scheduled with school boards as Linda said. So >> we got to >> Sure. >> Um I just want to really commend and congratulate Dr. McQue and her team for setting up the social emotional groups. Um I think that they are phenomenal. My children are signed up for them. Um I can't highlight it enough. They make your children seem like they're okay. They might not be. Um, my son was

229on a meeting today and the things that were coming out of his mouth. I had no idea how he felt. Um, so I just want to really thank Governor McCain for organizing that. I want to thank Beck for all that she did with um membership today um through this special being offered and we do plan to continue it. So I was telling Dr. We had about 45 students this week, which is a decent amount for the first time running the groups. And I think that more will come forward once it's not the summer and you're back in school. So, it worked out well. >> Any other new business? Kate, do you have your hand up? >> I do. Thank you. Um, Liz, I know I had asked for the numbers in committee last week and

230it seemed like 16th. I don't want to mess it up. So, I don't know if it was one6 of our special ed population went full virtual um or maybe it was one six of our self-contained population, but there were a good amount. Um I'm bringing that up because I want to know before we leave tonight, should we have a new business discussion on our self-contained classes for September? Uh it came up but it wasn't fully discussed. Right. >> Right. The numbers we gave you last week with the student or the families who were selected the distance learning there was about 600 students 100 were classified so it was one6 of that total not necessarily the overall special needs population um >> okay thanks I was wondering how much of the special education population >> self-contained

231preschool to 21 >> okay I mean, is that something that the rest of the board wants to talk about or no? >> For the 100% virtual that was it's my understanding that the board voted to start with school for September. >> Okay. >> I >> that's what we did. Yeah, >> that's what but that was my question to you before >> was is is there any way of bringing the the atrisisk population in >> right so what I have I feel like advocating strongly and I'll say again that students with special needs I agree with the parents do benefit from in-person instruction because it does provide the academic social emotional mental health component that they need. So, I've always been an advocate for that. That's why I pushed for the 5 days or 4 days

232or whatever the board or two days, whatever the board was willing to provide to those students all along. I threw it back to the board because that I it's my understanding and Andy can further explain it, but it's my understanding that that would have would have had to be discussed at the time to amend. >> Okay. >> That motion that put forth the whole district closing like not not open. But I don't I'll throw it back to I guess the board and and >> well let can we let Andy just let us know where we're could be and we can make the motion fair. >> He would to he's totally confused. >> So if we're trying to undo a motion that we did before you can't there you could I believe you could do a

233motion for reconsideration. It's got to be made by one of the people who prevailed the first time who want to change their mind. Can we make an amendment to the motion to that? Like can we if we wanted to send >> Can we amend it >> or add another motion? Can we we do another motion? >> You just do another It looks like I want to say Ray's got the answer. >> Can I ask this of you, Andy? So, there are some school districts that have amended their plan. The superintendent has chosen to amend the plan. Would would Alex be able to say because it sounds like most would Alex be able to say I feel like it is listening to Dr. McQuade it's important to bring those children back. So somebody had mentioned earlier

234so at the point that Butler is doing bringing those >> students in could could Alex make that or no? There is no requirement in that rags are from the department of education that requires board approval of the reopening. Okay. So Dr. Anamone wants to do that. >> I think there >> okay that would be another way to do it. >> Okay. There you go. >> Can I just say something to the board? >> This is my and this is my concern from the board's perspective. I just heard the board talk and have a dialogue with one another about the plan and that you don't feel we're ready. Even though administration we're telling you we're ready and I don't think it's going to change. I think we're always going to only be reducing risk. I don't

235think we're ever going to be able to be 100% confident where Mr. Kelly, myself, Dr. Adamone, Miss Francisco, or Mr. Novak are going to stand before you and say we cannot 100% make sure our students and our staff are safe. I don't think we're going to get there. I wish we could, but I don't think we're going to be there. So, I just heard the board go back and forth on not on saying that you don't feel we're ready to open schools come September 1st for for anyone for our staff and back with our staffing issues. So, the only thing I'm going to then say is just that's why I'm throwing it back to the board because then we can we can absolutely open our our programs because we have we were ready to do

236that. But I just want to make sure that I'm then I'm understanding this clearly then because then the special ed are we then talking about preschool all the way up to 21 because if the buildings are empty and we're okay with bringing in students, I would advocate then to bring them all in. You told about resource room and >> I would then say if we're going to bring them in then let's like bring them in. So I >> in class in class resource resource room self-contained >> correct. Okay. >> In preschool >> Nicole >> and preschool. >> I was absolutely going to say what Liz just said. I mean you can't pick and choose there. I mean, yes, I 100% agree that the special ed kids should be in school. But if there is a

237risk for any of our students to be in school, we wouldn't take that population and put them in there if we feel there's a risk, which is why I do not support this in the first place. So, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that we would say it's okay for one small cohort. It is not okay for everybody at this point. >> Okay, Courtney. >> Is that what New Jersey is doing? Aren't we doing phases to fade in our population back into normaly? Wouldn't it be just phing in to school? If it were successful, then wouldn't you phase in other children to make it happen quicker than October 1st? Possibly. >> But we didn't talk anything about phasing anybody else. >> I'm just saying I'm just cut or dry. Yes or

238not? >> This is a Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We cannot shout at each other. We have to listen to what each other say and then we we can we can have the discussion, but you can't shout at each other. Each one has to finish. So, >> uhhuh. >> I'm not finished yet. >> When she's done, I will come to you, Jason. Let Courtney finish. She had started. >> I think that this is unprecedented at times. I think we need to think outside of the box and I don't think I think it's okay to have this open conversation and listen to everyone's opinion. I also think that legally it may not be possible because then you are discriminating against um a other population because like Liz said preschool to 21 pick and choose

239who is coming in out of that then you have the resource room kids you have the all the other IEPs I think it becomes a discrimination issue as well. Absolutely. >> I was saying both sides. >> Jason, go ahead. >> I just wanted to say we just it was cut and dry yes or no on the other one and now we're going to say it's okay to bring back one group. That's not right. >> I have a child with an IEP. You know, >> you're right. It's discrimination. >> Well, it was just leave it. >> That's just leave it. >> Okay. Any other anything else under new business? If not, >> I'll make a motion to close. >> I need a second. Second. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? [Applause] Public comment. Oh god.

240Public comment. This portion of the meeting is open to the members of the public having a legitimate interest in the actions of the board for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or 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 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 provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or

241may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and the board and the administration will not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of New Jersey. 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 light of the legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to speak?

242>> Seeing none, I'll make a motion to close public. Do you want me to there? We do have one comment that came in on the computer. >> Okay, we can we can listen to it. >> All right. Um the same indivi well I have one one young girl who commented while before you took the um the vote. >> Mhm. >> Um do you want me to read what she had to say? >> Sure. >> Um my name is Charlotte Storch. um going to my freshman year at West Milford High during March when we were going distance learning. It was just like inerson school. My peers and I have done great during that time achieving honor roll and even high honors. I know that does not go for everyone, but still I'm worried about both my

243parents being immune compromised if I go back to school. I know for a fact that a lot of my friends have not listened to state guidelines when social distancing. I think our school district should go virtual for the first month. This will give us time to see if the corona virus cases go down. If the man who spoke about MV filter says that he cannot guarantee the building is safe, why are we even considering opening schools? Thank you for your time. And then um we had another um member of the public uh ask two questions. Um why wasn't the staffing issues revol resolved sooner and the board members that voted all virtual are in the minority in regard to the public. Even those board members have divided the town more than ever. The board has

244let the public and the children down. This damage will not be repaired and disappointed in you all. >> Who was that? That >> this was um Jacob Master Me Master. >> Okay, >> forgive me for mispronouncing. >> Okay. So, um there's a motion by Dave to close uh public comment, seconded by Nicole. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? We need a motion for executive session. >> Okay. At 10:33 p.m., I make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, resignations, current litigation matters, special education matters, negotiation, and matters of attorney client privilege. The executive session minutes will not be released until much such time as the privilege of confidentiality is no longer applicable. Will we dismiss from there? >> One resolution that was postponed until after

245executive. >> Oh, so we have to come back. >> Action may be taken. >> I need a second. >> All those in favor? I any oppos [Music] please. >> Um, Mrs. Romeo, >> here I am. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> what' you say? >> Mr. Stillman, >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire here. Mrs. Fritz >> here. >> Mr. Go >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Ochinsky >> here. >> Mr. Cofflin >> here. >> Mrs. Van Dyk. >> Yeah, here. Sorry. >> Okay. So, this is we're doing operations >> operations and finance. Mr. Gino. >> Oh, yes. >> Back to number one. >> Under operations and finance. Number four. >> Second. >> Any discussion on this? >> If not, roll call, please. Mr. Conklin, yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. Mrs. Fritz, yes. >> Mr. Gino, yes. >> Mrs.

246Mr. Ochinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Djk, >> yes. Need a motion to adjourn. >> Move to adjurnn. >> All those in favor? >> I >> Good night everyone. See you in September.