Board of Education Meeting 7/21/20

001and take a moment of silence, please, and remember all those that are suffering at this time. Please rise for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald News, the Suburban Trends, The Record, The Messenger, West Milford Town Hall, the County Superintendence Office, the Board Attorney, and Cable Vision of Warwick, and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township library, and all district schools. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco, >> Mrs. Romeo

002>> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mr. Conklin >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire >> here. >> Mr. Gino >> here. >> Mrs. Fritz >> here. >> Mr. Oshinsky >> here. >> Mr. Stillman >> here. >> Mrs. Van Dyke >> here. We need a motion uh to go into executive session. >> Okay. I move that at 702 the board move into executive session for approximately 30 minutes for the purpose of conducting one HIV parent. I need and executive session minutes will not be released until such time as the confidentiality is no longer. >> I need a second Kate. All those in favor >> I. >> Any opposed? We will be out after probably till 7:30. You think? probably till about 7:30. >> Yeah. >> Got the bad table in the restaurant. >> Oh, wow. [Music]

003[Applause] [Music] Mr. Conklin >> here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mr. Silman >> here. Mrs. Dwire >> here. >> Mrs. Fritz >> here. >> Mr. Gino >> here. >> Mr. Oshinsky >> here. >> Mrs. Romeo >> here. >> Mrs. Van Djk >> here. >> Dr. [Applause] But you probably don't have to move unless you want to. You have the uh hand down. I don't want to block. All right. Good evening everybody. I hope you can hear me. We lower the fans and we shut them off actually so you could uh so we didn't have to shout over that. So today is our return to school plan. A few weeks ago as you know um Governor Murphy and educate then commissioner put together a the road back which was our plan to reopen school buildings

004in September. Uh, all school districts were required to have a plan that included some in-person instruction. It didn't say how often, how long, how you split your day up. They gave districts a lot of flexibility to come up with their own plans. That worked for the communities. Every community is just a little bit different. So, we did appreciate the flexibility. I think the one sizefits-all doesn't work. There are some districts that are one or two square miles and everybody walks to school. They have different issues than we have with 80 plus square miles. So we feel we have a plan here that works for West Milford. It may not work in another community, but we think it works here. Right. So just a brief review of the timeline. uh seems like forever ago. It was

005about 4 months ago when we closed our school buildings down. This Friday, March 13th was the last day of in-person education. On that Monday, we started our distance learning and our teachers, our administrators, our students, our parents uh did a great job transitioning very very quickly uh to something we had never done before. It's very easy to forget how innovative this was. This never happened before. We did it very well. It doesn't mean that every single aspect of distance learning and 3 months were perfect even though we had some hiccups. Um and we are working to correct those for September. So for the first approximate two months of the school's quarantine, we held that hope that we would be back in the spring for the end of last school year. We had spring sports, we

006had prom, we had graduation, we had a lot of end of year activities we were looking to get in. But in early May, uh, governor announced that those were going to remain closed for the rest of the 1920 school year. So the very next day in addition to planning on all our end of year activities. So the next day we shifted our focus for uh graduation and whatnot finally same we had to rethink that and simultaneously we put together a restart committee to look ahead for the 2021 school year. So approximately from May 5th through June 19th we were doing two things. We had one foot in the world of and we wanted to make sure we finished our school year well especially for our seniors and we were also simultaneously planning for 202021 and

007had an open school. So right after graduation we sent home a distance learning survey. We had over 1,200 responses uh parents mostly they we asked them essentially what worked what didn't work if we do this in the future what do we want to see what changes can we make and we had our own ideas anyway based on teacher administrative feedback we wanted to hear from our parents uh about two weeks later we sent out another mini survey even more responses 1500 u which asked parents questions about the 2021 school year. Uh specifically, do you plan on if we open schools, do you plan on sending your child on the bus? Things of that nature. So, we have these we have these responses here. We use this to formulate a plan for September. Uh we discussed

008with the education committee and the board of ed last Tuesday and here we are tonight. So, there is a resolution to approve a plan on the agenda for this evening. It also has to be approved by the county. Um, so if it's approved tonight, we have to notify parents obviously of what our plan is. We would have to send it down to the county and there's a possibility that there might be one or two edits that they ask us to make. So, we're going to be using August to continue to modify this return to school plan. And there could also be uh an executive order from Governor Murphy which says, "Oh, by the way, school buildings will not be open as September 1st. they will be open on October 1st or November 1st or January

0091st or whatever. So, we also have a plan for that. That is mostly not in this PowerPoint because we do think we are coming back to school. We we want to give our parents and our children and our teachers a chance to come back into our school buildings. Alex, they're saying on live stream it's hard for to hear you with your Maybe you could do it without your mask. I don't know if that tell if you're comfortable. >> All right. Maybe talk a little louder. I'll call them out. >> Okay. >> So, the purpose of our restart committees, we started with May and we split them up into two two groups. Committee A and subcommittee B. Subcommittee A discuss distance learning. So, if school districts do not open in September, school buildings do not open

010in September, what are we going to do differently? And there's some things in this presentation you'll notice, but the other half was how do we open our building safely? So, we had two groups working simultaneously side by side. So, we have a recommendation here. It's an 8day bday split schedule, which means that half of our students will be attending school on 8 days, which are Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday. The other half will be attending schools on Tuesday, Thursday and the alternating Fridays. Uh school will be dismissed on early dismissal schedule and there will be distance learning for attend with attendance requirements on days students are not physically in school. So on an A day for example the Aday students will be in school with their teachers half of them and the other half

011will be bday students. they will log in from home. We used our summer reading program to pilot this method and it see it seems to be working very well. The feedback from teachers, administrators, and parents is very positive. So, we're going to have a little that's a pretty big difference from last spring where the attendance requirement was not necessarily there for morning login and then we had to chase some students down which is very difficult when they're not coming to school. Um, so the good things we reduce our student population by half. So our classrooms that have 20 students in them, you might you'll only see 10 in the classroom. Obviously, we'll have a sibling priority, which means all siblings will be assigned the same day. They'll all be a days. They'll all be bdays.

012We are planning to be flexible with parents on this. So, if you have a neighbor or a friend or a work situation that requires you to be on Aday, we'll accommodate you. We're planning on splitting our students in half by alphabet. However, exceptions will be made for people who have carpool issues, daycare issues, work issues. We'll try to accommodate as many people as we can. So, parents will have the option of selecting a 100% distance learning experience for their child. This will involve no in school days, neither a day nor bday. Those students will be home all the time, both days. Um, which we believe will further reduce our student population even more. So maybe 10% of our student population takes that option, you already lost 10%. And then if you split that remaining 90%,

013you're already at like 45% each day. So it could be less than half. um our student grading rubrics. Last spring, uh New Jersey was in a traumatic place. Um our our coronairus numbers were spiking daily. Many people died. Thousands of people died. We lost friends, neighbors, co-workers, parents, grandparents, and we did have some relaxed grading norms in the spring. So we felt with people going through what they were going through to hassle them over the 59 to 60 might not have been in the best interest of anybody. However, in September, our grading movements will be switched back to normal as you might uh call them. Um masks and face coverings are mandatory in the schools and on bus. We will social distance in school and on the bus similar to this type of layout. I

014have some slides up ahead which will show show a socially distanced classroom and socially distanced cafeteria. And the good news about this plan is we retain the ability to switch to 100% distance learning with very very little notice. So if school buildings open on September 1st on September 30th, we get a notification from Trenton that says today is the last day of in-person school. Tomorrow will be 100% distance learning. We'll be ready for one day's notice. We won't need a week to prepare. We're going to know these two students need a Chromebook and a charging cable. We're going to know what we're doing at that point. So, there's an alternate alternate option um if the board so chooses. Uh an 8AP day split schedule, which is very similar to what we just had early dismissal.

015This involves essentially four days of inschool instruction instead of five. There's Aday students who would be Monday, Tuesday only, Bday students who would be Thursday, Friday only, and Wednesday would be 100% distance learning for everybody where the buildings would undergo a deep clean in between those two cohorts coming into school. Um very similar um bullet points here. Reduce our student population. Um sibling priority parents will have the option of doing 100% distance learning. So in a minute when we finish this we'll kind of ask the board which model they prefer Monday Wednesdays Tuesday Fridays or this model right here which is Monday Tuesday only Thursday Friday only Wednesday distance learning. Those are going to be the two options we select from tonight. Okay, return to normaly. This is inerson instruction. This is where we were

016before the pandemic hit. 100% in person and we shifted right here to 100% distance learning. The goal is to get back into this green. But I don't think we're ready. I know this district's talking about bringing 100% of the students back every day in September. I don't think we're ready for that. So, this is sort of an in between stopover, halfway point, splitting the difference, so to speak, to get us to here. So, what's different from your normal school year is personal protective equipment, PPE. Staff and students will wear masks and face coverings on the in schools and on the bus. Uh we will provide masks, however, they can be brought from home. I know some of the PTAs are looking at having fundraisers with the West Mford Gators with the the students like to

017wear. Um, our nurses will have access to additional PPE as will staff upon request. Um, students will be screened at home and upon entering the building. This does not mean a temperature check. It just means they will be screened by parents at home and throughout the day by their teachers. All right. Some of these are very obvious. No communal supplies. Um, our secondary students won't change for gym class because we don't want them packed into locker rooms. No assemblies, no large group instructions. We're going to stagger our arrival at dismissals. We could potentially stagger our our bell schedule so not every student is in the hallway at the same time. We do have outdoor marching band now and they're using socially distanced guidelines and parameters for their summer camp. that should be able to continue

018in the fall. However, I don't see anywhere that the course classes inside the building could continue as regular. >> There's still a problem with the volume, Alex. I don't know if there's something with the live feed maybe that is not happening. >> I know it's hard, but you got to really speak up, I guess. Um, so I just don't think there's any way we could have chorus classes inside this year. There could be a virtual component. Um, and that needs to be uh developed a little bit more. Uh, what's different? Our classrooms will look a little bit different. Some of the group seating is going to be gone. Uh, the collaborative uh cooperative seating groups. Uh, we have two stairwells just for example here at Westbrook. One will be down, one will be up. Um,

019we're postponing our field trips in the fall. doesn't mean we can't have them in the spring. It just means we're not going to have them in the fall. There'll be some pedigogy changes on a simple note basis. You have the kindergarten teachers probably won't be on the rug with the students in a small reading group that's going to have to be spread out. So, there are some teaching differences uh some pedigogy changes that we're going to have to see in September. Um back to school night will be a virtual evening. Uh we have limited after school programs and we've been recruiting substitute teachers, substitute nurses, substitute bus drivers and substitute custodians since probably early May. In the cafeterias, there will be not your not going to be your typical self-service station where the students walk

020in, get their food, and walk out. It's going to be grab and go meals. We're going to have fixed and limited limited seating arrangements. So, the students are no longer going to be able to push their desks together to have a group lunch. It's going to be spread out. Um, we purchased 600 new hand sanitizing stations. These are just the Purel things you see on the wall. They going in all summer. Signage around the schools reminding students to wash their hands, stay 6 feet apart. You might see some stickers on the floor that you see in the store. Line up here and six foot line up here, line up here. Along those lines, we will be doing contact tracing. Our nurses and our admins led by Dr. McUade will be trained in August on a

021John's Hopkins course. So what is the same? Some some of our special education programs will run 5 days a week. So if your child is in a particular special education program, he or she will attend schools on A and B days. Some of our primary grade students involved in reading programs will be eligible for in-person instruction 5 days a week. That's A and B days for some students. You'll be notified by your principal or by the director of education or the director of social services if your child qualifies. Um grading rubrics I mentioned before they will return to our traditional grading rubrics ABCDF at the secondary levels. Uh SAC will be offered at the elementary schools pending enrollment pending demand and schools will undergo a deep cleaning every day. Okay. So that's the nuts and

022bolts. The academic piece I want to just touch on very briefly here. What you see here is a typical school year. I had third grade here, a third grade student. He or she starts off as a 3.0. That's third grade. Start of the school year and they increase every month till June till they hit 4.0. And your average third grader by the end of June is a 4.0. And then there's always a little bit of backsliding until you get to the start of school. what's called the summer slide because the kids aren't in school every day this summer. They're on their bicycles, they're at the lake, they're at sports camps. Um what we think is going to happen now for next year is we're adding a co slide, what we're calling a co slide. Um

023so we think our students last year had the same learning curve, but we think from April, May, June, they learned more. They learned less rather than a typical year. They didn't learn nothing but they learned a little bit less. So we think that curve that learning curve flattened out a little bit. And then of course you add now the summer slide and students entering fourth grade next year might not be here. They might be here. So we need to make use of every day, every class period, every minute, every homework assignment, every assessment needs to be uh administered with purpose. We think we're going to have to catch our students up. How do we plan on doing that? How do we know if this is really happening or it happened? And the answer is we

024have a nationally normed benchmark assessment uh called Lincoln. And in a typical school year, you will have three Lincoln assessments. A, B, and C in that order. A is the fall, B is the winter, and C is the spring. And last year we did not take benchmark C. We stopped at B because students weren't in school and I don't know that would have been a valid administration for students to take a standardized test at home. So we did not administer benchmark C. So our tentative plans for September will be to complete benchmark C for last year's grade to see where our students are to see if they need to catch up or how much they need to catch up. Um, so if your child was in second grade last year, he will take the benchmark

025seat for last year's grade for second grade. And this year's third grade teacher will see these students are way behind where they are typically. Once we move, once we identify those gaps, those weaknesses, we can really develop a plan to help each student move forward. Okay. PPE. Uh all staff, students or visitors must wear a mask or face covering inside the buildings on the school buses. Uh we've ordered plexiglass barriers to be installed in critical areas where social distancing is difficult. Could be an office in the school where there's two secretaries that work in close proximity. There's a lot of areas the principles are communicating with Mr. Kelly and they're ordering it and they're hanging it from the ceilings. So, it's going to eventually look like a Dunkin Donuts with stickers on the floor and

026plexiglass between a parent and the secretary when you walk in the building perhaps. Okay. The importance of thick masks or face covering. This is a slide I got off a New York State presentation. So, in May, there was a story. I don't know if you read it, but I remember when it came out. It was pretty interesting. There were two hair stylists who on a sneak opened up their salon when they shouldn't have. There was a lockdown. They let 139 people in the back door for a haircut or a hair whatever. And it turns out they had co both hair stylists. So they then had to notify the 139 clients. You need to go into quarantine for 2 weeks. I have it. I cut your hair for a half hour. You most likely have it.

027And it turns out all zero of those 139 caught CO. And the reason they believe is because the hair stylist and the client both wore masks. They were in very close proximity to one another for more than 10 minutes, but none of them got CO. And that was the moment it started to turn in in in favor of face coverings. Okay. Transport transportation. So mask or face coverings mandatory. Um, we did our non-binding parent survey and about one-third of our parents said they will not students will not be on the bus this year. So, this is a reduction in addition to the 50% of students that would not be in school on any given day or more than 50%. So, we believe we're going to have enough room to have one child per se. Obviously,

028we can pair siblings together. We encourage our parents to drive their children to and from school. We're probably going to get a little bit more traffic, but that's something we can work around. And our buses will be cleaned and disinfected twice a day after the morning run and after the afternoon run. So, this is a classroom upstairs, Westbrook. This is what socially distancing a classroom looks like. I believe there's 10 students in this classroom. It's one of the smaller classrooms upstairs, but this is what it would look like. So, each guest would be 6 feet apart from one another. This is what a socially distanced cafeteria looks like. Each cone representing one student. We can fit three students at each typical elementary table. Nursing services. Our students and staff are screened every day at home

029and at school. If someone should present symptoms, we have the ability to quarantine them of 6 feet or more. For other students in the nurses office, we have our nurses teaching our students lessons this year on handashing, maskearing, other preventative measures. We are going to have to update some IHPs for some high-risisk students. And again, contact tracing is going to be a important part of this safety moving forward. Simply put, we're going to identify people who have a disease and let the people they know or they've been with that they need to get tested. Building grounds, we will shut off our water fountains for drinking, but we will have the bottle filling stations open so they're hands-free. Parents are going to be encouraged to send their child in with a reusable widemouth bottle. Um yeah

030much of the research involving large-scale COVID spread they connect to the three C's closed spaces crowded places and close contact settings which are something school you'll find a lot in a public school so that's what we're trying to eliminate by reducing our student load every day. Um we're increasing the ventilation in every classroom. We're requesting that windows remain open, weather permitting, to increase air flow. We're adding hand sanitizer stations to each to the schools. Uh we have plant-based cleaning and disinfectants use. These are disinfectants proven to kill COVID or corona virus. And we do have electrostatic sprayers like this to facilitate a deep cleaning. So, a custodian can clean one classroom in very little time compared to a spray bottle and array. So, the digital component um we have a one one Chromebook initiative for

031all students 6 to 12. We're actually discussing potentially moving that down to grade five as well, but for right now um we have the plan for grade 6 to 12. Um, we have Chromebooks at the elementary level for our pre-K to 5 students. In the event that we move to distance learning, the Chromebooks can be signed out by families to take home and leave at home. Um, you may have heard people talk about, I got a Zoom later. Zoom became a verb. Uh, this year we're going to tie everything in with our Google classroom. Uh, and we're going to use Google Meet. So, you won't be seeing any Zooms next year, but you will be seeing Google Meet, which we think is a better platform. Uh we use Google Classroom, all of our schools, all

032of our teachers. So the Google Meet connects better with that. We didn't have too many tech issues last spring, but the few tech issues we had were the Zoom didn't work as opposed to the Google Meet didn't work cuz we never heard that. It was typically the Zoom that was the issue. We have class link which solves the problem of all the different login and the signins. So students will just have one login and one password and that connects them to all the other apps, all the other software that we use. We have some hours on our board agenda tonight to approve our district ed tech committee in August. They will finalize some additional plans. Okay, this is off the governor off of Governor Murphy's PowerPoint from I think yesterday. So this is the estimated

033rate of virus reproduction. In March it was 5.31 which just means that every person was infecting about five and a half other people and those five and a half were infecting five and a half more and then we got down to 7. So anything under 1.0 and the virus is shrinking. So right now we're estimating it's at 0.9 which is just under 1.0. But the concern I have is it's barely under one and schools are not in session. So the question is what happens to this number when schools go back in session? I think if it goes higher than one, higher than 1.0, that means the virus is growing again. It's increasing in numbers and there's a chance that we could hear from the governor that we're back to stage zero or stage whatever they

034call that. So, it's possible that if this number stays low, we'll be okay to stay in school. If it spikes, I think we could be ripping up this plan and getting a new plan. So, it's something to look at. It's not that much lower than one now, and school is not in session. So, that that's a concern. All right. And ultimately, we're looking for this return to normaly. Um, Governor Murphy says data determine dates. So, in other words, school is supposed to start September 1. However, if the data looks bad, it will not open September 1. The data will tell us when to open. Um, it could be a last minute decision. I hope it's not. I hope they give us some time to make our adjustments, but we'll be ready regardless. And I'll leave

035us with a little quote here by CS Lewis. Experience is the most brutal of teachers, but you learn. My god, do you learn? >> Does anybody at the board have any questions? >> I do. >> I I think we need to go right. You're probably going to have to go around. Go ahead, Terry. Um what percentage of teachers do you expect to not come back? Do you have um an estimate of how many teachers will not be returning because of the virus? We think there's going to be some I don't have a number. >> We have raised the belief. >> Can you do me a favor? >> Yes. >> Can you just repeat our question? So, >> so the question was um we know how many teacher how many staff members >> Yeah. >> And

036not going to come back in September. We don't know that now. >> Okay. >> So, we think there'll be some. I don't know how many some is, but there will be some. >> Okay. And and I'm a bit confused. I'm confused. Um, you have a half day well an early dismissal um on some days you have a full teaching um distance learning on another day and then on those afternoons you have distance learning also like after the kids get out of school do they go home and get more lessons? >> No. Now, the students who leave school are done for the day, >> the other group of students who get instruction for the afternoon. >> Okay. Now, what happens? What are these t you know, I'm I'm concerned about because you're going to have kids

037that are home. Parents are not going to want to send their children back. So, they're going to be distant learning. What are they going to be do doing when teachers are actually teaching classes that teaching the I don't understand how a teacher is going to be handling this. It looks typical difficult. >> It's definitely difficult. It's not easy to be a teacher. I think you saw a lot of social media posts last year where people were saying, you know, teachers don't teachers are paid. They should make a million dollars a year. So essentially, you ought to have half the students in school on Monday and half of them home. Well, I know that. But the kids that are the parents who have chosen not to send their children back and they're be they're getting distance

038learning, how are they doing that if teachers are teaching part of the day, preparing the other part of the day, and then it just sounds like so much. >> It's a lot of teachers. That's absolutely. >> So, they're going to have to do when are they going to do this distance learning? the teachers >> in the afternoon after the group in school leaves they will have a session. So the teachers will work the full day the students will be dismissed early but the teachers will remain till the end of a normal day. So there'll be about 90 minutes in there where the teachers can work with the students who are home. >> Just sounds like so much. And what about um do you what do you have ordered as far as safety equipment for the

039teachers, the kids? >> We're giving everybody a mask. We're allowing them to wear their masks that they bring from home. Okay. We have we have plexiglass that we're installing now in all high-risk areas. Um signage all over schools, PRL dispensers, electrostatic sprayers. Um it's going to be the cleanest our schools have ever been. And with the reduced student load, we think the students will have a little bit more time during the day to dedicate to deep cleaning. For example, if the cafeteria is half empty, it can get done quicker and then they can go clean some other hight touch areas, doorork knobs, handrails, maybe light switches, things of that nature. The other thing I'm concerned about with this um you know early dismissal, you know, 20 years ago we could say a school's job is

040not to for child care, but so many of our parents have to work now. I mean to keep a roof over their head, food on the table. What happens to these kids when they go home during early dismissal and the parents have to work? I mean to me that's a concern and >> yeah it's a challenge for teachers it's also a challenge for parents um so that you know there could be an option of going full day with our students which gives parents a little bit more um little more time that the kids are having in school. So that's something we could consider instead of early dismissal schedule a full day of classes. >> But how would we address the the distance learning need? Well, that's the downside to that >> because you're still going

041to have half the kids in. So, you have to be able to give them something. We have to be able to service them every day also. >> That's the challenge. And you have to weigh the balances of the Aday students and the Bday students. And I don't know if there's an easy answer, but I think the reasonable compromise would be to have both students getting teacher contact every day. Some students would get it in person for 4 hours, some would get it at home for 90 minutes, but they'd alternate days. It's uh it's a re I think it's a reasonable compromise. You know, part of the issue last year was when students were home, some of them, not many, but some didn't do as much work as they should have. And now, if a student

042doesn't do work, you'll see him the next day. So, he's not going to disappear for 3 months. We'll see him the next day and it's why did you do this assignment? As opposed to constantly chasing the student down, which we had to do last year, call home every day to get in touch with somebody. It was hard. And now students are coming in every other day. They can run, but they can't hide. >> I just I have one more question. What percentage of children do you expect not to return in September? >> I'm I'm guessing 10%. I have colleagues who are guessing 20%. So maybe you split the difference and say 15%. So we're going to ask parents to notify us by August 15th. So we can account for if it's just a small handful

043of kids, it's going to be very easy to manage. If it's 20% and 25% you're talking about a few hundred students. So that becomes a little bit different of an issue. >> Yes. >> And I don't know. I'm just guessing 10%. Um, we'll see you on August 15th. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, Nicole, >> two things. >> Uh, two things that I have. Can you just clarify? I don't We hadn't seen the alternate option right in committee. That That's a new one or no? Correct. >> Okay. I happen to like that schedule and in looking at that I just want to make sure. So, is the Wednesday cons like everyone's home? Everyone's distance learning on their own or with teachers? >> With teachers. So teachers would work 5 days a week. There would be instruction

044on those days, but it would be not in school instruction. It would be distance learning. >> Okay. >> Where the custodians could get a deep clean in our building >> in between cohorts. >> Okay. And then you know the A day, Monday, Tuesday, kids are in school half a day. I just think I missed it and I just want to make sure I understand. At the end of that half day in person, the B kids do distance learning. >> Correct. >> With teachers. Okay. The teachers are going to be there the full day. >> They would just So once you leave school on on a day, if you're an Aday student, your day is finished, you know, other than homework or other stuff that you normally would be, but you would not have afternoon instruction

045on the computer. That would be the other half of the student body. >> Got it. Okay. And my other question um is thinking more at the high school level. How's it going to work? I know I saw I know we've talked a lot about sports and and band being still outside. How's that supposed to work for kids who are a day kids but have practices, games, etc. on B days in their home, may not have rides? What are we supposed to do about all those athletes and and band kids that can't get up there? >> That that's a huge concern as well. So, we know our coaches, our band instructors, they want their kids at practice every day. It's reasonable to assume that high school kids can't just miss two practices a week because so

046we need to find a way to either get them to school or they need to find a way to get to school to practice. Whether that's parents, neighbors, friends, carpools, we're not sure. It's going to be difficult to bust them, >> right? >> Because they can come from all over this community. You might have five soccer players home and one's UGL, one's PK, one's AWS. It could be a, you know, a two-hour ride every day >> to get five students to practice, which may not be the best use of our money. >> So, it's a it's an issue. It's a concern, that's for sure. >> Okay. I just also wanted to say thank you. I know a lot has gone into all these plans and I know there's no perfect solution. I think we'd all

047like to see the kids get in school and be normal and and be with their teachers and their friends and hopefully we'll get there. But thanks for the effort on this. >> We are going to get there. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be September 1, but we're going to get there together as a community. Our kids are going to have their lives come back to normal at some point. We don't know when, but it's going to happen and we just have to get through it until then. So, um, positive thoughts are are always better than >> Courtney, you're next. >> Thank you. Mhm. >> Um I read through a lot of the comments both of them on the survey and a lot of the comments were really very negative about our distance

048learning that we did. Um the majority of people want to go back to school in September. We all school and mainly for social emotional reasons. Um but we're going to have to do some distance learning. So can you make sure that there's going to be structure and consistency besides just having the grading rubric making sure that the expectations are set across elementary schools across the school that >> yes in fact we have our summer reading program now um I wish Mr. No was here. He could do a good job explaining it. But in the spring, probably like in April before, we got an option in late June to offer our summer programs in schools or at home. But we had already developed all of our plans already and we weren't really ready in early July

049to bring back our teachers and students. So we used the summer reading program as an example to as a dry run as a practice for our fall opening of schools. So the summer reading program, it's elementary age students. So these are the students who you would think would have the most difficulty on a computer as opposed to a you know 11th or 12th grader. So they have daily schedules, daily check-in. So you open your computer at this time from here to here is your reading class and then the next minute comes you go to this your writing class and then so it's a schedule that works. The teachers have a schedule. This is where I am at this time. The students have a schedule. So, there's going to be a check-in in the morning, but

050there'll also be check-ins throughout the day. So, from on a early on a distance learning in the afternoon, you might have math 1:30 to 1:50 or 2:00 or whatever it is. And the students log in. The teacher knows she's teaching math. The students know they're learning math at home. So, most likely some of the distance learning for elementary. On the off days, it's going to be focused on the core subjects, math, reading, writing, those subjects, because you only have 90 minutes in the afternoon. It's mostly going to be used for the core subjects, math, and English. So, yes, to answer your question, there will be a lot more structure in September. Um, we did a we did a good job in the spring, but we can do better in the fall. >> And then I

051just have one more um thought really that I don't think um we've talked about in committee or here, but city. Um, kids argue that teachers are going to get sick. Um, and I'm wondering, I'm totally stealing this from another school district. Can we do um teams within each school where you have um people who set up emergency things for what to do when the child is teacher scheduling one colleague picks up the other teacher classes counseling for all the students because that's not normal. So there's kids freaking out that they're going to a cafeteria like that. um just different shooting procedures and PPE and I'm just thinking it needed to be not put on Dr. Wade, not put on Mr. Novak, but just within each school a team of teachers and nurses and counselors that

052he's responsible for those different things. >> So, I didn't put in my PowerPoint. I probably should have in hindsight, but in the in the uh written plan near the back, there's a pandemic response team for each school led by the principal, but also includes social and emotional components. Um, and we know that's going to be something we have to focus on in the fall because the students didn't just lose academics, they lost a lot of there's some mental health concerns now. uh issues dealing with loneliness, uh abandonment, loss, trauma. We know that's going to happen. Uh a lot of the research in New Orleans after Katrina, I guess 15 years ago, um was that the students eventually academically caught up to where they were. They had a probably about this time of year, late summer,

053the city got flooded. The school year was just almost essentially a lost year. But eventually they found the students caught up academically. Their issue long-term social emotional issues that they had from seeing people die, houses get flooded, businesses destroyed, all that trauma. So we'll catch them up with math. However, there's some other things we have to focus on first. I'm talking about teaching a whole child. This is it essentially. That's what we're going to be doing this in. Kate, >> sure. Um, with that being said, I hope that um, you look at a care that you can talk possibly about having rental workers that are on school again. I know how fun this without workers, but I've said that in these cases many times and I will continue to say now more than ever, we're

054going to have more kids um, that are have trauma or ACD or need to see counselor. We're going to need more groups run. I'm very excited that you know, thank you, Liz, for the groups that are on for the agenda for August. I think that's wonderful. It just shows the need that we really still need to be talking about social workers full-time in our elementary schools. Um, couple random things. I can see juniors and seniors at the high school are um encouraged to drive. Have we discussed or anything like that? We dis we discussed it. We don't think we have come to a decision yet. Okay. >> And uh we do have room. Our senior lot used to be packed with seniors when we had 400 seniors and now that we have significantly less, we

055have empty spots. So our juniors, our older juniors who have cars, who have licenses, um we can have them drive. It thins out our buses as well. So it's something we need to decide. We don't have to decide it now, but there is a parking fee for students at the high school. Um I'm blanking on how much it is. Maybe >> $75. No, $5 a month. >> So $50 a year. Um we could discuss waving that, cutting it in half, doing whatever we wanted to do it, but uh we are trying to encourage our buses to get a little bit smaller. Um, also I was shocked to see tonight um, not that it's a good I I thought that the recommendation was going to be for elementary a bday full day and 6 to 12.

056I thought that's what the committee discussed. So that was the change from last week. >> We we discussed a lot last week. So >> yeah, >> there was a lot of discussion going on. Um, that's one part of it. We could do that elementary full day uh secondary dismissal. Um there's some benefits to that. There's some things that might not work. Uh the distance learning piece. I I'd like to give our teachers some time to plan coherent lessons for their afternoon kids. Um without that, the day that they're home, the distance learning becomes homework. It becomes worksheets. It becomes log in and do these 10 questions. it probably isn't as much instructional value as face- toface time with a teacher every single day. So that's what our kids are going to have this fall. >>

057And that's why two meetings ago I talked about having our elementary teachers looking to get training project based learning because then it's not worksheets and then you're not sending kids home with work. Then you're doing full lessons for a month at a time with project based learning that I haven't seen yet. um here in West Lumber as a parent um at the high school and middle school level. I think yes, that's definitely happening. I would love to see more training um for our teachers, elementary, but project based learning because then we're not just sending them home with homework. You know, we're doing long-term learning, real life things, and I think that's what we need to focus on. But um other questions I have is I I like the sprayer. I was wondering how many do

058you have? We have one for each school. We ordered them. >> We ordered them on March 16th or 17th. We got them last week. >> So, they're on back order. >> PPA is tough. >> Um, we could order more now. We probably get them according to our vendor for January. So, they're still on back order. Um, we do have for all our buildings, right? Do we have one for transportation? >> Yes. And they have um the solution they're using, they can use a pump spray. So similar to what you use in your garden, they put the solution in and then it's easier for them to carry around. Also, Dr. Can I just make a comment about um the question that you had regarding the social workers and psychologists in the elementary building. So it is

059in the more detailed plan part, not the presentation, but we do plan to schedule a social worker andor a school psychologist at the elementary buildings every day. So we'll be borrowing from child study team to do that and rearranging the way our schedules will be for the fall. And that's very happy that the need is recognized. Um and I will continue to ask that even after this and these changes are not going to go away cuz they're always going to remember that once their kid was their last day in school and they will have things that remind them will have difficulty and others will respond very quickly. So um thank you Liz. Kate, this is what it's in right here. It's You should have one at your your seat. >> Um, one of my last

060questions I think is is just I'm confused on I see your recommendations and then the alternate option. So, what are you asking us to vote on tonight? >> Which of those you would prefer? The board would prefer. So, >> I think that's so hard when you know what will assign staff as an intern. What are the staff required to do? Will they be required to will we still have teachers working from home if they have medical or will we be requiring them to do FMLA? >> If school buildings are open, staff will have to be in the building or they'll have to take a leave >> and we won't be having any teachers working from home assigned to uh distance learning. >> I don't believe so. They'll be the students will be working with their

061classroom teacher. The teacher will have some students of his or hers in the building every day and at home every day. So yes, >> that makes me think what about all the kids who are to do business? >> Well, that's something that's frustrating. >> It depends on >> depends on the numbers first of all. If it's excessively high where we have to create essentially an extra section, then we could do that that way. They all have to be it has to be enough in one grade though. And even if they were in different schools, it might be okay. However, if it's just one or two students per class, they would join that teacher's class on the distance learning day. teachers um could be doing multiple grade levels in per group of children working out. >>

062I I don't believe so. In the high school, you have some mixed graded classes, but other than that, you wouldn't have an at the elementary level, >> right? So, ju just wondering, we have students are going to be in class, students that we're going to teach at home full-time, and then students were going to teach at home as part of the AB schedule. So, how are are teachers going to have to make lesson plans for three different types of learning? >> Well, the second two groups will be the same instruction. Well, no, because if you're distance learning full-time, how is that that's definitely different than somebody that's only doing it two or Yeah. two full days a week, right? That's they're doing it five days a week, >> right? That'd be half the time they

063do with their Aday distance learning kids and half the time they do B days with the Bday kids. So without we have to think of that as a separate group. If you're a third if you're a second grade teacher at Paradise Null and you have two students who opt out, you know, they want to do distance learning, they will do their they will check in every morning at 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 and then at 1:30 they'll have their distance learning lessons every day from 1:30 to 3. So it's not a separate class. They're part of a existing class. >> I I I get that. But if I'm someone who chooses to keep my son or daughter home, right, because I'm nervous about what CO is and you're telling me that the kids in school, they're

064going to be there and really they're only missing 90 days of the time that they're in school and now my son's only going to get 90 minutes of class on Monday and then 90 minutes of class on Tuesday, >> right? and then maybe distance learning all day on Wednesday with that alternate plan and then 90 minutes on Thursday and Friday where every other day or Monday, Tuesday, those kids that are in school, they're going to be in school for 4 hours. >> Sure. >> Right. So, they're going to be learning for 4 hours. So, again, I just want us to be aware of that. The other thing is I know you keep saying 50. >> The minutes don't add up, >> right? >> And I know there's some students with some significant health concerns, but

065it's not that of the case. >> Okay. I I would advise our we want all our kids in in school because I think if you're home every day, you lose something. You don't get that teacher contact. You don't get the social skills with your friends. There's a lot going on in schools besides math and English and social studies. So, we're encouraging all of our families to come back to us in September. We know some won't, and the 90 minutes of instruction every afternoon might not be equal to the 4 hours in school. Um, but that's, you know, that's a choice you're going to have to make. So, and >> and I agree with what you're saying. You know, we want the kids in school. Um, and to that point, we're talking about that the primary

066grades that you were mentioning. So, you said that some students that have uh like uh reading like they're going to have you might end up having teachers that have, you know, 14 or 15 or 16 students in a class every day, right? Because they'll be in school every day. How do how will we manage that? So you said um primary grade students in specific reading programs may be eligible for 100% in-person program on both A and B days. So a teacher then potentially could have 15 or 16 students in their class if there's they have five students that have that are part of that reading program. No. Well, what what you do when you build your classes is you spread out your students. If there's two sections in a school, you wouldn't put five reading

067students in that class. You'd put three and two. You'd space it out so neither teacher is getting a large bump on any one day or rather spread out. >> Okay. >> Also, also just to kind of comment on that as well, um when you're talking about those populations that were planning to possibly be in five days a week, those students often go out of the room for certain times. So that so I know that the principles have already looked to make sure that we can maintain social distancing and still keep the numbers relatively low in those rooms. >> So So that's another piece, right? Students going out of rooms and going to different places. So if students are going to be with other students, then you run a greater risk, right? >> There's going to

068be some cohort mixing. I think it's inevitable. in particular Macin at the high school where as students switch classes you know they're not with their own kids their own class all day they do cohort mix every period at the secondary level and you may see that at the elementary level too some student is in a reading program somebody's not where two kids from two different classes go to meet with the reading teacher and then they go back to their classes so there will be some cohort mixing and they'll be on the bus as well so there's going to be cohort mixing on the class uh in the cafeteria. You know, I I think um the American Association of Pediatrics put out a big uh white paper maybe a month ago or so and they basically

069said it's our bias to get kids back into school and what our recommendations are. They don't eliminate risk, they just mitigate it. So, what we're trying to do is mitigate risk to the greatest extent possible and there are no guarantees. There's going to be cohort mixing. If you look outside the community, you see cohort mixing now and kids ride their bikes together, they go to the lake together, they play baseball together. So, there's always going to be some risk. Um, we're just trying to eliminate the large amounts of risk. You know, we're trying to cancel the assembly. We're trying to cancel back to school night or make it virtual just way you don't have a large number of people in a small confined space. So, >> so you mentioned the cafeteria, right? You and I

070can't go sit inside a restaurant and eat. So, in September, if we can't go sit inside a restaurant and eat, are we really going to allow our kids to do that? >> So, that that's been my concern. I don't want to go backwards, but if you looked at April, May, and June, we had 10 different plans for graduation. And then every time we got a new memo from the state, we had to rip up the old plan and >> come up with a new plan. It was somewhat frustrating, but it's just the time period we were in. So, um, that's my concern, too. This is indoor dining here, >> right? >> They canled indoor dining in New Jersey. They're supposed to open the end of June. They said, "We're going to postpone that." So, if

071you can't eat in a restaurant that has, I don't know, a dozen tables, how can you eat in a lunchroom that has, you know, has >> less than a dozen, >> right? So, >> the problem is no mask. They're not going to if they're eating lunch, they're not going to have masks. >> That's the exception to the rule about wearing masks. So, that's my concern about this plan. I have a hunch it's not going to be the plan we have in September. It could be an executive order from Trenton saying something entirely different. So, um, this could be the plan as of today. And I think those different days or the alternate plan or the other plan if we let parents know now, they could have a better chance of arranging for daycare. Whether it's

072Monday, Wednesday, every other Friday, or Monday, Tuesday, they could have work issues. They could have carpool issues. they could have daycare issues. Um, obviously we're talking about the elementary parents, you know, more than high school. But, so if we can leave here with an idea what we want to do, you know, it may change, you know, it could change August 1st, but the indoor dining thing is something we're all talking about because it's the one glaring. It's just not fitting right >> with uh with everything the governor is saying. So, I think there's a way to safely run sports, you know, soccer, cross country, etc. I think you can do that. I don't know how we can eat in the cafeteria. So, >> well, that's the other piece, right? We can't NJSIA said you can't

073have indoor sports, >> correct? >> I don't think we can cover kids in the cafeteria. So, thank you for that. >> Mhm. >> Kate, uh, yeah, Kate, Courtney, then then Terry. With the half day for everyone, we would be able to really have a lunch series instead of a bed or something like that. Cafe that allows us to not have to have lunch in the building, right? >> Can you do that? >> We do have some students who would would be receiving their meals in the building. It could be breakfast and lunch. We have students who do qualify for free meals every day. There's a there's also a breakfast component, too. I think people forget about that. Um I I should have brought the number, but we gave out thousands of meals from March 13th

074to June 19th um to our families in this community. Uh and I know it's appreciated. It was a grab and go lunch, grab and go breakfast. Um but it's not just lunch period. It's breakfast and lunch. So students come in, they grab their breakfast, where do they go to eat? >> Is it possible to do grab and go? >> Is it possible for the cafeterias to be set up to grab and go? In other words, that they get their lunch at the end of the day, take it home with them. >> The problem is the problem is whether there's anything in there that needs to be refrigerated. >> Oh, okay. And and that's the concern. So, shelf stable meals are at a are difficult to get. Mhm. >> So once we have a plan, then

075the food service will create their plan to go around what needs to be done on their end. >> Um Courtney, you did have something then Terry, you did. >> I did. I think um you know this is a point that I think we all know as a community as a parent and teacher myself. There is no good point, right? I mean, we are living in a time that is really unstable and unnerving and scary. And I think our our job, our job community is to support what the school is suggesting and being able to do our best to get through whatever that suggestion is. Um, this plan is due to commissioner in a week. We're going to I'm going to send it down to the county office. >> So, we have like things that we

076have to work through because of our governor and I just really very much encourage everyone to support the school district um as we right now I'm nervous and change in an instant. Terry, >> um, if a teacher is compromised and can't come back to school, you said that that teacher has to take a leave. Is that teacher going to lose days, sick days? Are we responsible for paying that? Does he still get paid? >> If they have sick days, they would be paid sick days. >> So, he loses his sick days. Uh the new Yeah. You would have to do a sick day for a family. >> Wow. Okay. [Music] >> With the policy where But with the new policy that we all voted tonight, they get 10, right? >> They get 10 sick days.

077Yeah. >> There's a policy on the It's only a first week. >> I don't know. >> That's the COVID policy you're talking about. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, this provides an extra 10 days for staff members. >> That was my question. plus the normal sick days they have. So first 10 come out of this >> family that's for self >> if you're taking care of somebody also allows for people if you're taking care of a a relative I believe if you have to quarantine for that if you're taking care of somebody >> but they are provided those 10 days >> 10 days plus >> sick days >> your normal 10 sick days plus whatever you have in the bank. [Music] Ray, c >> can I ask a question about those 10 days? So, right, obviously

078the state is doing a very good job with contact tracing. If a student is sick, right, and and gets CO and the teacher has to go out because right now the class probably has to go out because that student was in contact with all of them. The teacher has to use days for that because we're requiring them to go out. They're not going out because they're sick. They're going out because the state is saying, "You have to be out for 14 days." I I don't think that's what the contact tracing is doing. I think they're telling people that you may have come into contact with somebody who tested positive within six feet for I think 10 or more minutes is a cut off they're using. So, we're notifying uh the health department in West Milford.

079They and we would they would notify the contacts of those people. So, the people who would be quarantining would then be essentially if you got a call, you would either get yourself tested or check yourself for symptoms, but absent symptoms, you would still be going into school, >> right? tested positive for COVID, the Department of Health would then give us the they would then advise us as to what we have to then inform someone. But it's for people that test positive to CO. >> So, I work in a department where the Department of Health does exactly that. And I'm just saying, right, let's make sure we get it straight because that's what happens where I work. So, I just want to make sure before we go into this, we do get that straight because we

080also have to have a contingency plan because I'm sure there are probably sub that may not want to substitute either. >> We Yeah. No, we we know there's going to be subs who stay on our list that tell us don't call us for 6 months. So, I know that we've heard from some of them already. That's why we've been recruiting for the past, you know, eight, nine weeks. Um, do we have enough? I don't know. And there's also a local decision. So the decision, if you rewind to last mid-March, um the decision to close the schools was made by me, uh probably four or five days earlier than Governor Murphy made his call. though if it gets to a point in West Milford where it's no longer safe to have school or we don't have

081enough staff members to open our buildings or whatever um we could I could initialize school closing and we would shift to distance learning you know the next day or however long it is. Well, and we know cases between the age of 5 and 18 are much smaller than other age groups, but if if somebody there's a a student in class that that happens to test positive or that class going to be notified based on contact tracing um nurses to work this summer to continue with this planning, finish the training come up with guidelines and then we talked about bringing that to the committees in August >> so that the board will then be aware of what came out of that and I think some of the details that you're talking about do still need to

082be further addressed part of having those teacher focus groups that are on also the agenda from Mr. go back. That's the purpose of approving those teachers, the nurses, the mental health providers because there's, this is the, you know, um, structure of the plan, but there's still additional planning that has to go into place. Um, I do just want to mention one thing just so that the board is aware that in the plans if you go with the original option which is the AB ABA ABB students with disabilities do have access to their instruction 5 days a week which gives us two full weeks. I will say the alternate option and I feel like I wouldn't be the director of special services if I didn't advocate for students with disabilities. the alternate option they will lose

083in my mind they will not they will only have virtual instruction the one day a week which is about 20% of their month on distance and for the feedback from my extended school year as hard as those teachers are working and trying with students with disabilities I did walkthroughs today in every classroom again you know virtual walkthroughs to see how it was going I don't think anyone disagrees that students with disabilities have a very hard time on a distance platform so I do just want to But, you know, make sure that the board's aware of that as well because obviously my role is director. >> Thank you for saying, >> does anybody else have anything that they want to say? Kate, >> thank you. I think this is really extensive. Um, there's a lot to,

084you know, consider. I didn't know that we that we would be picking the plan. I thought we were going to be fully presented the plan. I'm a little uncomfortable with the recommendation and the alternate option. I'm I like them both. Um, however, I know we were elected to, you know, uh, represent the community, but the community didn't know these things until right now. So, it's hard to vote each one. Um, the only thing I think that this is missing really is a page of what distance learning will look like. And I would really like to see that. Um, I do know what the summer reading program looks like. I think that is extremely successful. It's been incredible. Um, and you know, I keep hearing about that and how that it's going to have some of

085those highlights. But I really think that the community needs to know that too because every parent right now has the option, you said by August 15th to let you know if their students are coming back or not. I know that distance learning is going to look different in September for many kids than it did in you know March, April and May and June. So I think we need to present that to the community and what the differences are going to be on paper. >> That's a good discussion. Thank you. >> Thank you. But thank you Al. Very thorough. Good job. I I just wanted to say that in looking at both plans for myself, I was I and I I understand your your point completely, Liz, but in looking at both plans, to me, the

086alternate plan is one that I I think gives the most gives the most kind of continuity. I like the idea of students going two days in a row and then having virtual because there's a way of it to flow for the teacher and same way for the kids that are coming on Thursday and Friday they can start that flow on the virtual day and be ready and I think they get two really constants plus I I I I'm not a I'm not a parent of a young child but at least you know you have two full days because if your child goes in in the morning, they're not doing the learning in the afternoon. So, if you need someone to take care of your child, it's not like you have to expect them to do

087the distance learning with them in the afternoon. So, as a I and look, I know everybody has to work every day. I also know that as a as a school board there's certain things we have to be concerned about and and I think our priority is health and safety of the students and the staff first, education, giving them what they need second and then taking into account daycare. Although we all need those things, but the health and safety and being able to get the kids to thrive a little in a some kind of cont, you know, some kind of continuity I think is important. I think what we did see in all the comments was the structure was lacking attendance and that kind of gives them that structure and the flow with their teacher each,

088you know, every week. I like both schedules. I'm leaning more towards the AABB. That's myself. I like the day of Wednesday where it's a thorough cleaning day and parents can feel comfortable that their kids were in there a for two days. Somebody came in and they did a very thorough cleaning and now you have a new set of students and they're starting fresh. Everybody's getting that fresh start that that and I I do not at all think that this is not going to change before we reach September. I think we're going to be looking at something else come September. And I agree with Rey about the cafeteria. I'm very concerned about kids having to sit in the cafeteria. I don't want to see any kids sit in the classroom to eat. I think there's just

089so many different things. But I I I ag I agree with that and I understand how parents might feel like the full day. I think a full day for kids is a long time to be sitting in a class with a mask on and the the re the restraints that we're I'm talking about elementary kids. I I'm not really talking so much about the middle school and the high school, but I'm talking about elementary kids to be sitting in their classroom with certain restraints all day long. So I think the half a day is is the answer for both the distance and that that you know that feeling of not being confined. I also was wondering is there any way that we can do anything outside to start like as far as the lunch stuff

090is there some way that I I don't know could we do lunch outside with them because that seems >> I put that in I put that in the plan that principal is going to look into outdoor lunch if practical it's a little easier at Makapin they have that breezeway where the kids they've always eaten out there um the high school has some tables out back uh you know there's always security issues when bring kids outside, but we know that fresh air is better than indoors when it comes to spread of Corona virus. >> I'm just thinking that we should utilize the outdoors if we can while we can because >> it's not going to be warm forever. >> No, it's not. So, Nicole, >> um, thanks. I had my hand raised at first and you

091kept going and I was like, "Oh, wait. I agree with her. I agree with her." So, I my point really is I am supportive of the same plan for the same reasons. I think having that same group of kids thoroughly cleaning, you know, keeps them safe makes a lot of sense doing it that way. I think it makes a lot more consistency versus is this my Friday, is that my Friday? Um, so I agree with that plan. Um, for all those same reasons. I also just wanted to comment on what Courtney said. I really agree with her, too. I I think there's a lot of things we still don't know. There's probably still more questions than answers. And I I would like to also have a better sense um of what that distance learning will

092look like. I think there was a lot of inconsistency and we've we've heard a lot of that and I I I I do look forward to seeing how we make changes there. But overall, um I think it's important for us to to support the plan knowing that there there's still some things to work through. Um the only other question I realized we didn't really talk much about um we were kind of going down that path is with um this is probably more at the secondary levels when you think about gym class. Well, even the younger kids with recess, what what is that going to look like? You know, I remember when my my daughter Hobie, a freshman, was going into seventh grade and I had to yell at her every day like, "No, you cannot

093wear those black leggings in gym and not change them." And, you know, say two pairs of black leggings and now we're saying you can't change. Um, that's kind of gross. I mean, you know, I mean, I think at that age, it's going to be tough for some of the some of those kids on the hotter days being outside not being able to change, you know. I mean, I certainly understand it, but are we thinking any alternate options for things like that or will they not be really running hard? >> It's going to be more of we have uh some light fizz activities planned. Uh walking around the track maybe could be the fizzed workout for the day. >> So, like in middle school, for sure. I know. And I'm sure in the high school, you

094know, they they learn they play sport like they So, how does the curriculum change if they're not learning the sport and being tested on it? I mean, you can't test them on walking around the track. Is it just book learning then on those sports? And >> I there'll be a semester of hell, a mark period of health which will be in the classrooms, >> right? >> Um the fizzed I don't anticipate any book tests other than >> No, but they get like don't don't they have some tests on certain rules of games and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. So, >> so there was an executive order which uh requires masks outside when social distancing is not possible. So the fizz activities will we don't want kids in in fizz class with masks on outside. It's

095it's just it would be unbearable. So there are some walk-in activities around the track where you could spread children out. They could take their masks off and walk around the track um without being violation of the executive order. Um not getting too sweaty considering you're not going to be changing. Uh it's going to look a little different. Visit will be different. And then also no after no activities then either right all the intram mural kind of mackan sports will all go away also >> as of now it looks like mine will not be offering after school activities here. >> Anyone else Kate? Um, going back I guess you know I heard Ray talk about the lesson planning of the teachers and think about it our staff three lessons a day for every minute and you

096know I'm concerned about stress and work of our staff too and we want their immune system and their morale to be good and know that we care about them and so therefore I want to know again PG for privacy based learning even if they were trained in this kind of thing where it's lesson planning for long amounts of time where they're all working on something and bringing in all the different curriculums so they don't feel overwhelmed, you know, and I think a lot of that did happen in the spring. some teachers were, you know, broke the occasion and overdid it, you know. Um, and then you have a few that didn't do or not, you know, and so I know that the new distance learning plan is going to equal that that field and be

097very structured. Um, but I would love for administration to talk about and I know that you did already send something I think to the staff early on when this first started about PD. I would love for you to ask us again, you know, because now we're in a different place than where we were in April, you know, and um I don't we didn't do all the summer committees that we normally have. And so maybe a teacher is now watching this going, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to do three lessons plans for every class that I have." The kids that are staying home all the time, the kids that I'm going to have to do in the afternoon, and the A kids that are in front of me. And you know that can be

098really overwhelming. So I want to the administrators to also just talk a lot about how to support our staff through this. Um and I think maybe it's not just practical too. Maybe there's something else new and better, you know, that the staff knows of. So I just wanted to mention that. >> I I agree. I think I I I wish Mr. Novak was here, but I I would I would really like to to work further into that professional development because we can't we're we're we're like throwing the staff into a pool of water that they're they've never been in really. I mean, yes, they rose to the occasion for th those few months, but now we're talking about something that is going to be a little more, you know, structured, a little more rigid, and

099and I think every every elementary school needs to be on the same, you know, like everybody should be teaching the same thing at the same time because we we're a school district. We're not separate schools. We're a school district. And it's important that if somebody is learning something that they're getting the same because we want to make sure of that. So I I would like to hear more about the distance learning and about that kind of common plan from Mr. Novak at some point. >> Okay. Any other questions? If not, uh well, we have no education report tonight. Correct. Uh special reports. Mrs. Francisco. >> Uh, the board minutes from June 23rd are available for your review and consideration. >> Okay. I need a motion. >> I'll move the uh minutes for the June 23rd

100workshop and executive session. >> I need a second. >> Uh, any discussion on this? If not, all those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Um, I'm not even gonna We've been You don't need a president's report tonight. Um, public comment. [Music] This portion of the meeting, I'm sorry, this portion of the meeting is open to members of the public for the purpose of addressing resolutions on the agenda only. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then the time permit the time permitting other public comment limited to 5 minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpires. All members of the public speaking

101during this public comment period are asked to address topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are asked to sign the register, provide, and to give their full name, spell their last name, group affiliation if appropriate, and provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be dis responded to by the board. All comments will be considered, and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that the 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

102not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in the light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Is there anybody signed up to speak? Okay. Uh this is anybody signed up? >> Okay. Yes. Go ahead and just sign in. Um Oh, it's so hard. Let's get this mask on. [Music] That was easier. [Music] >> Yeah. Gary Dam, 144 Ridge Road in New Jersey, West Milford. >> Um, before I start, I just wanted to mention that I think we have enough capacity, excess capacity in this town that we could spread the kids out and keep the uh full days and keep them in school.

103Uh, it's something we should look at. Um, my daughter did the distance learning last year. She was generally done with her work an hour and a half into the day. It was way too easy. She didn't uh she got a fraction of what her learning should have been this year. Quite frankly, it was terrible. And it's cruel to do this to the kids again. Um we should be looking at the science of this and not making emotional reactions. For example, only the very old and those with severe com coidity coorbidities are at risk. Uh the virus is actually attenuating right now. In New Jersey, there were zero total fatalities from age 15 to 17. Zero. This is from the New Jersey Department of Health. Um, more kids died this year from the seasonal flu than

104this virus. Uh, CDC says 22 kids nationwide 14 uh were had fatalities and all had coorbidities. In 2009 when I had a toddler, H1N1 swine flu was out, killed 10,000 kids. Schools stayed open. I was concerned because it it uh it affected mostly kids and there were 10,000 nationwide that died of this. Um the scientific studies that have come out recently, we've learned a lot recently. Kids are unlikely to catch it. If they do, they were most likely unaware they ever had it. Kids are unlikely to pass it on to other kids or adults. It's the adults that pass it on. Schools in society in Europe are open. They have been open and they're not having uh increased fatalities. The case numbers are being exaggerated a little bit. If you look at it from a

105statistical point of view, we're doing testing now. A lot more testing. Of course, we're going to get more. Back in March, we weren't doing testing. I'm sure there were way more cases than there are now. We just didn't know it, and we don't have proper data to make a decision on that. The um there in the end of June, New Jersey started reporting probable cases as positive. Of course, we're going to see uh because of that and more testing, of course, we're going to see more cases. But the most important metric is fatalities, which is way, way down, and that's what we should be focusing on. Teachers are now essential workers. Our kids are essential also, and school is essential. My wife worked at a uh she's an essential worker. She worked in a in

106a New Jersey hospital that was a hot spot. People went out and banged pots and pans supporting her. I'll gladly stand out on Ridge Road and bang pots and pans when the bus goes by and supported the teachers, but we need to open the schools. We need to do this for the kids. Um, I think that's about all I have here. Um, but we do need to focus on um what's really going on with the kids here. We were it was mentioned that they can't sit next to each other in in the cafeteria. They can because the the science out there says that it's not being transmitted between kids. So, I think it's uh we should really look at this carefully and really consider opening the schools uh full-time and teaching our kids and taking

107care of our kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? [Music] My name is Stephanie Markwart. My address is 486 Lakes Shore Drive in Huitt. Um, I'm not going to get up here and debate about science because I think one thing that we have learned is that the science has changed on almost a daily basis and I don't think we'll ever know the true science behind this for years to come. Um, I just want to say thank you to all the board members and administration because you're put in a position to make a decision where there is no right decision and no one's going to be happy. I do have some questions. The plan set forth seem to punish the kids whose parents have decided that they don't feel comfortable with

108their kid returning to school in September. 90 minutes of distance learning is not acceptable. So as a parent, I would certainly hope that we would be able to do better to respect the wishes of the parents who have concerns and are choosing not to send their kids back in September. The next thing that I want to ask is that since we have to make a decision by August 15th whether our children will be distance learning 100%. If by October the state opens completely, we have indoor dining, the cases are still down, everybody's healthy, what will be the process for having our students come back to school? Will they be allowed to or is there a certain time frame um where they'll be expected to be out? Is it like an all or nothing thing? So

109just just my my questions and again I really do thank you and do not envy any of you for the position that you're all in. >> Thank you. >> Thank thank you and uh just for the board me just for the board edification um we're look we're not looking at a all or nothing. We just don't want parents to alternate weeks of I'm staying home this week I'm coming in next week I'm staying home. So if the medicine changes, if the data changes, if you selected all virtual option by August 15th, we'll start the year on all distance learning option. If the data changes by October 15th or November 15th or January 1st, we can certainly revisit that. We just want to avoid the day-to-day decisions where people change their mind on Tuesday, then on

110Thursday, then on Friday. We that's just that would be hard to manage. So good. That's a good answer. Anyone else? >> Hi, my name is Nikki Miller. I live at 92 Continental Road in West Milford. And uh first of all, thank you so much for all of the effort that's been put into this plan. Um I have a couple of questions. Um, not sure if it makes sense for me to just ask them and if you have answers um or ask them all at once, but um I have a son who will be entering kindergarten this year, so I am obviously pretty concerned about what that's going to look like. Um I didn't have to go through the distance learning program in the spring. So I really have no idea what to expect. So, if

111parents have some way of accessing the material or a plan ahead of time before we have to make this decision, that would be really helpful. Um, especially for kindergarten, which I think is very heavily about socialization. And just wondering if there are some plans in place um or ideas that the teachers have to still be able to incorporate that really critical aspect of socialization for kindergarteners and for younger children who um really that I feel is the main I wouldn't say purpose but one of the main purposes of school at that age. Um the second thing I have is a concern about my child keeping a mask on. Um, again, I know it's not a perfect system, but you know, I'm not sure if there's any plans in place to really help encourage that and

112we've been practicing at home, but I guess there still is that concern, you know, what what happens when all the kindergarteners take their masks off. Um, I'm I've done a little bit of distance learning with my current preschool that he's at, and it was very very difficult to get him to sit in front of a screen to learn. And so I guess I just wonder what flexibility is going to be given to parents for kindergarteners who just don't have the attention span to sit in front of a screen and run off and there's distractions. Parents are trying to work from home at the same time. I understand that school is not a daycare, but at the same time, how do I, you know, obviously it's my job to figure out with my employment how to

113make this work, but at the same time, is there going to be some flexibility for kindergarten parents or younger parents to be able to multitask and be able to essentially be the teacher for their child while they make them sit in front of the screen. Um, again, this is me not knowing what distant learning looks like. Um the the other thing I was curious about is I understand that we don't want parents flip-flopping by saying okay you know my kid is going to be all distance or my kid is going to be in group A or B but if if we get sick or someone in the household gets sick it's probably better for them to stay home and is there a process in place where we can say well I don't want to send

114my kid for the next two weeks or the next 3 weeks just for the safety of the other parents I think and kids they would appreciate that. So what is the mechanism for parents and kids to be able to say I want to switch to distance learning for the next two weeks. I know it's inconvenient but I want to be able to keep everybody safe. Um and the last thing I want to just say is um you know obviously knowing the plan in advance would be very helpful to be able to plan for being able to coordinate with employment on how to work from home and how to arrange for daycare. In my personal opinion, I really support the alternate plan and only for the sake of again um I'm looking at a kindergartener and

115I find that consistency with them is very important and to be able to go to school two days in a row and then have a day you know the rest of the week home for example is just I find like his mind and maybe you know maybe other little children's mind having a routine versus having to keep alternating days. You have days at home and days at school they're a little bit more confused. And so I just find that the scheduling is a little bit more suitable for a younger child. Um but I do certainly want to accommodate for if you're special needs children. Um I do think that there is still a consistency aspect that would benefit them as well. Not not as an expert but as someone who does have a child who

116has some special needs. Consistency tends to help in my opinion. So um those were just some of the questions I had and just hoping that you could address some of them if you have the answers now. All right. Um, so we are in fact there's a agenda motion tonight to amend uh a resolution. We have something called the kindergarten summer experience where our kindergarten teachers and our families come in for uh information over the summer. Much of this information will go home on that day with our families. Uh you're right, kindergarten will look a little different this year. It's a cozy group of teachers and a cozy group of kids and they might not be able to be that cozy this year. Um so there will be some differences in the classroom. In terms of

117sick days, uh families will always call in when their child's sick. Um whether they're in school that day or on distance learning, um if your child is sick, you call in school, you say, "Record my child is absent." And they record him or her as absent. So um that's a little, you know, it's a different issue with staff than it is for a student. So parents can always call their child in sick uh regardless of the uh circumstance. If they're ill, they stay home, call us up to let us know so we know that every child is accounted for. Obviously, the secretaries will be in, the principles will be in, they'll be able to follow up with people. If we have 300 students in the school and 297 are accounted for, we have to call

118those three households to see where is your child today? And the parent says, "Oh, he's sick. He's at home." We, you know, enter him is sick. We just want to make sure that they're accounted for every day. [Music] >> The mask was there going to be flexibility with the masking for the kindergarteners is that I >> I I don't believe I think the masks are mandatory. I mean, it's for everybody's safety. It's u there there are ways to build mask uh durability perhaps over the summer months. You know, practice wearing masks. Um, it doesn't have to be a medical mask. It can be those gators that some of the kids like. The PTAs are going to be coming out with some fundraisers for some cooler gators, uh, camo, school colors, things like that. Um, so

119there's ways for children to wear a mask that isn't quite as uncomfortable as a an N95 perhaps. Okay. Um, anyone else wishing to speak? Hello, my name is Tara Rano. I live at 116 Green Terrace Way. Um, I just wanted to actually applaud our district for how they did handle distance learning. I had friends and family in other districts or throughout the state who were looking at what my kids were doing and were thoroughly impressed and quite frankly embarrassed of what their kids were doing. That said, um Terry, I think you um mentioned that there might be some teachers who are reluctant to come back and I was thinking while I was sitting there, what if these teachers became like distance learning teachers? you know, what if we had that group of kids working with

120that teacher who's imuno compromised or just nervous? You know, that might be a good idea. And then second of all, and probably the last thing we're all worried about, um we're wondering about the specials for elementary school kids. How will they get art, music, that kind of a thing? >> Thank you. how they doing the art and music. >> So, we're still looking to finalize our special schedules uh for the fall. Um if you do the specials rotate by the week, so if you're art on Monday and you're not in school on Monday, you would miss art every week. So, we have to have somewhat of a rotating schedule where you miss your specials the days you're not in school, of course, but you would have to rotate the other specials through so that you

121don't always get music on Mondays, but never art on Friday. So, it would have to be a rotating um there would also be a virtual component to those subjects as well. Um, a little bit more this year than last. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing none, I make a motion to close public comment. Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Um, time to move the agenda. >> Okay. Just uh one edit. Um, we have one addition on personnel student affairs resolution number 16. >> It is page seven. Personnel and student affairs number 16. Um, we have a, if you notice on the hand carry, we have a recommendation to transfer one teacher from special education to kindergarten, Melissa Berg. So along with that, I'd like to add her name to the

122list of teachers coming in for the kindergarten summer experience at Marshall Hill. So it's Melissa Berg, B E R G H, and it's again, it's the same person that's on hand carry number 18. Uh we have a uh a resignation on Marshall Hill kindergarten. So this is the recommended replacement. All right. [Music] >> I'll second that. >> Dave. Okay. All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Uh personnel, I think that first item on personnel, uh Nicole, you guys are they need an executive session for that or no? >> Um no, the this is a public hearing on the superintendent contract. Um the um the um contract u for the 2021 school uh to 2025 school year um is going to resin the fifth year of his Dr. Anamone's current contract and create a

123new 5-year contract beginning as of July retroactive to July 1, 2020 and continuing to June 30th um of 2025. And this is the opportunity that any members of the public have to comment specifically on this subject, which is the recision of the fifth year of Dr. animal's contract and um the um approval of a new contract for a 5-year period. >> So, we're opening it up to the public. So, if anyone wishes to comment on anyone wishes to comment, this is your opportunity. Okay. >> No one seeing >> Can I have um resolution to close public comment? >> I need a motion to close public comment. I'll second >> all those. Is that a voice vote or Yeah, >> it's gonna be a voice. [Music] >> I can't I can't hear. [Music] >> Oh. Sorry.

124>> Are you ready? >> Yeah. Dr. um um Mrs. Fritz can >> the voice or No, we to close public comment. >> We did. We >> Oh, we did. Okay. I missed it. Okay. >> I don't believe anybody opposes. >> Right. Okay. All right. Nicole, you're on the air. Okay. >> Can you hear me? >> I can now. Yes. >> Okay. Sorry about that. >> That's okay. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to move item number one under personnel and student affairs. >> Make a motion. >> I second that. Uh Jason. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Nicole. Um just really to reiterate um my appreciation for all the work that Dr. Anamone has done um for the board and the community. Uh, I definitely appreciate his commitment and diplomacy and tact and um professionalism

125and how he's before the pandemic handled the district. I think he's um really moved us um to the right direction. There's still lots of work to do and and lots of challenges ahead, but um I think as a parent of of two kids going into 7th and 9th, the the continuity has been a breath of fresh air and I think something that our district has really needed and it's really evident um the in the direction that we're moving. So, thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah, >> Dave. >> Yeah, I'm uh in favor of this, too. I think uh Dr. Anmong's done a great job. I think the continuity uh he would bring to the district, you know, having been in town for 34 years now and seeing all kinds of superintendent. Um he's he's

126about the best and seen them come and go, I think we can really use a continuity in the district of of this contract. >> Okay. Anyone? Okay. Um so, uh if not, then let's roll call. This is Fritz. Yes, >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes, >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Yes, >> Mr. Coughlin. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Mr. Gino, >> abain. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> abstain. Motion carries. >> Just want to I said it before, I'll say it again. Thank you to the board members for showing your support. Um, it's an honor and a privilege to work here. Uh, it's an honor and a privilege. It's something I don't take for granted and I look forward to leaving the district for the next 5

127years and working with you all. Thank you again. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Um, so I would now like to move items number two through 17 and and the hand carries uh 18 and 19. Okay. Any discussion? Does anyone have any questions on the agenda? >> Thank you to Miss Paplowski. >> Oh, yes. >> Congratulations on her retirement, >> but it's not till December. It's not till January, right? So, >> um Oh, I didn't I need a second. I'm sorry. >> Kate. It's very hard to hear. Uh, anyone else any discussion? Okay. If not, roll call. That's with the hand carry included. Barb >> Ray has a question. >> Ray, you have a question. >> Um 17 and then the hand carries. >> So 17 hand carry. I just want to say >> I

128got to say I think that [Music] >> I've heard people that have kids that graduate and people that have kids that are going to graduate say wish they would do that every year. M so congratulations school system earlier for all really worked out well. >> Congratulations to all those in high school. >> It was a great video. It really was. I hope I hope everybody got to see that. And honestly if it was too >> right. You're right. I I I if if I could if I could say I would have loved to have had a graduation that was that much fun. So >> I have a question. >> Yes. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> I just like to recognize Donna Paplowski who will be retiring at the end of the school year at the end

129of the uh calendar year December 31st. Uh, Donna has been the administrative assistant in the education office since I started 10 years ago. Um, she worked at AWA school prior to that and um, she uh, has been an asset, a real team player and she will be missed and I wish her a lot of luck in her retirement. We will have to remember before the end of the year to be able to speak about it again because it's not till January. Uh, Kate, did you have something? September 19 on Kerry. Um is there a new pending enrollment? Can you explain that? Yes. Um so basically the the plan for these mental health and wellness groups that are going to be presented to the public in the school district will have an option for parents to

130enroll a student into the group and or it being students that are at risk coming in. So if there are no students in a particular group, whether that's let's say a research or a um a group for anxiety coming back into the building, there happens to be no students in the group. The group will not but there will be offering out parents that will explain all the different groups and the levels and things like that can then choose to send. >> Any other discussion? Right. Yeah, that that Yeah, I have that. >> Okay. Roll call then. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ochinsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwyer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

131Van Dyk. >> Yes. >> Uh, education. like to move items 1 through 12 for approval. >> Second. >> What? >> And 13 will be after executive session. >> Right. Okay. Who second that? >> I do. I think [Music] >> so just for >> Wait a second. >> Yeah. So number one I think is a separate. >> That's the hip. No. Oh no. That's the hot. Oh, that's the that Yeah. It needs to be separate, Terry, because that's the plan. >> Yeah. So, the feed the feedback I'm getting from the board is they would prefer the alternate plan, which would be Monday, Tuesday, distance learning on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. >> Mhm. >> That's the feedback I'm I'm sensing from the board. Okay. >> So, are we So, are we voting on plan the first plan or

132we >> the alternate plan I could submit to the county tomorrow? We're discussing it right now. >> Okay. >> So, is there any discussion on plan B, the alternate plan? >> Go ahead, Courtney. >> So, the AA distance learning day plan would not be the best plan for special ed students. I'm wondering if is there a way those children can be in school 5 days a week? if they could is there a way to accommodate them on the Wednesday >> rather than doing it as a planning day at all? You're I'm trying to just do the numbers in my head, but you're probably talking about because the plan the original plan which was you know collectively kind of developed and created was had in mind that students preschool to grade five including resource group kids

133self-contained students in our preschools would attend 5 days a week early dismissal days distance learning and virtual students would receive a hybrid. Um, so the other option and you would also have all the self-contained, your autism programs, your multiple disabled, your learning in life, your disabilities programs, grades 6 through 12 and 21 would also be in 5 days a week. you're probably talking about 80 students in self-contained classrooms and roughly um probably another 100 or 150 additional students to that. So for them to still be in the schools and using all the facilities well you wouldn't be able to do the cleaning and then >> okay >> like in that in that and plus then the teacher would have to still be doing the virtual piece. So then I feel like you it wouldn't be

134considered equitable because the students that are on full like having the original full credit plan would have more access to that plan versus students with disabilities. So I couldn't I couldn't make it. >> So are you saying we can't do that plan? >> I can't do the ultimate plan and bring in students five days a week. >> So So it sounds like everybody would be all the students would be home on Wednesday. >> Okay. So, can I have just the first place? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. And it is a poor decision and that's why I'm putting it out there. The only reason why I feel like I have to represent is we did have CPAC meetings once a month and it did come in to keep students with disabilities in as often as we

135have. So, I know I have to slap with my chair there. So, I I need to make sure that I just express that to the board just so you can get informed, you know, with um so the alternate option your self-contained students and anotherund and something other students would come in four days a week not five correct but if you did the ab a correct and regardless of of the situation as I said before >> right parents are going to be struggling to get child care for their elementary children, whether they're doing AB or AAD, we have to think of the specialized population. They got a very, very bad hand for distance learning. They cannot do distance learning. It's really not an option. So, Alex, >> wait. Let Terry had a question, then I'll come

136to you. Right. >> Go ahead. >> Which of the two plans do you recommend? >> It's a tough one. They're both have their pluses and their minuses. It's very difficult to >> make a decision. >> Yeah, it's tough. Um, there's pluses to doing it either way and minuses. um we're going to, you know, we're going to have a good plan coming back regardless of whether it's four days, so to speak, or 5 days. Um some work for some families better. I've heard from families they want the everyday. I've heard from other families they want um you know, they want an alternating day, two days a week. So, it's really difficult. Um I I I'd probably recommend the first plan, which includes the Fridays. >> Okay. >> But, you know, again, um >> benefit our special

137ed too. Okay, thank you. >> Right. >> So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that when you give us a return document, that goes into the end of the year or a specific >> I mean, I I scheduled the days until the end of 2020 >> calendar. >> So, this could go on more, it could go on less. >> So, you're talking roughly four months, right? >> Four months to start. And there were six Fridays built into that plan where those particular Fridays were all distance learning. Right. >> Right. Right. >> So the special ed students wouldn't be in school on those Friday. >> Correct. It's not a whole heck of a lot of difference. You know, if you count the days, >> right? >> Um >> so we're talking about six. So

138really talking about 10 Fridays that they for 10 extra days they will be in school. >> It's about the big >> Yeah. The only thing I do, >> maybe not even because you have the teachers convention, you're closed, you have Thanksgiving weekend, like you lose a couple Fridays then anyway. >> They could still receive their telealth compensatory therapy services on those days. >> So they could be serviced on the Wednesdays. >> They couldn't re they couldn't. Compensatory means service is lost by time based on distance plans. So if um the New Jersey Department of Ed puts something out to special education educators and districts and parents, communities and parent right groups to let them know that they are every district has to assess every student for what was lost during the times of school closures

139andor distance learning. So they're eligible for what's called compensatory services. So we'll be assessing those students for what they've lost in the last year and giving maybe like if somebody gets two times a week of speech therapy they might get a third session. So we wouldn't want the primary sessions to be via telealth. >> We could offer compensatory additional services. Parent brings a child in let them have therapy things like that. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Courtney >> two things really quick. is um being a teacher who works with specialized children going back and forth being Monday, Tuesday home, going back Thursday, Friday um could be an issue, could be a whole getting them reaclimated, it could take a while. Um I I just want to throw that in there that the consistency would be better.

140And from what I remember as education committee, those six days for distance learning were for teachers to have professional development. Correct. >> Professor development, lesson planning time, >> right? >> So, are we are you recommending the original schedule, not the alternate? >> That's what I'd recommend, but you know, obviously the board should have its this is, you know, board should have its say. So, >> so when we when we when we vote on it or are we voting on what schedule we prefer like >> I think I would think so. Yeah. >> All right. Um we're not voting on the motion. I think this is a motion. This is like kind of like just a table like just to see where we're polling. We're not voting. >> We're voting right. We are voting. >> Well,

141because he has two he has he's saying two different things. I mean >> motion. >> Well then, >> so the motion is for the first schedule, >> correct? >> All right. So then I guess you you we can discuss it if somebody Nicole, you added something and then Kate >> the alternate schedule. I think there's a little more consistency when we consider everything. um to the point of kids being social and not in two either way those would be consistency for them because that would be in then they would be there >> but straight through >> okay um I was on that but I still I still think that that makes the most sense I think it's a little more cohesive for planning focuses for parents and kind of a little bit more >> right

142okay >> so so then you would vote no on this plan, then we could redo the motion, >> right? That's what that's what we have to do. >> So, there's no there's no worries with that. We'll get it done either way. >> And we're we're going to probably redo it again. >> Uh Kate, um two questions. The first is when is this due to the county? >> I think it's four weeks before the start of school, but it it would be way before our next board meeting. >> Yeah, it's Well, I'm going to have it down there by the end of the month. Probably this week. And I don't know if you know what other districts are submitting, but is it true that we can submit both? >> Um, that's a good question. >> It's

143my understanding that we can submit both um and possibly pull the community and even see what the county says about plans along with our third plan, which is our distance learning plan, our full distance learning plan. So, I'm not sure if I'm correct or not, but how I understood everything that I read was that districts were submitting more than one plan to see what was best. But maybe that's not the direction you've been given. >> That's not what I've heard in P County. It's could be different in other counties. Often times it is. >> Um, my guess is they'll they'll approve either plan. They're probably going to edit and revise some of the finer points, I think, but that might be like uh very some very minor details. they'd want some another paragraph about something,

144but I would think either plan would meet the county's approval. Um he they may just tell us to pick a plan. In fact, I think that's probably what they'll do. Um if they're both approved, we'd have to decide anyway. Well, I was just thinking if they both got approved and we were able to pull the parents in the community to see what worked with their schedules, I would feel more comfortable voting on a plan that was better for the entire for the majority of the community rather than me sitting here and thinking about what's working for me, my neighborhood, my family, and my friends. I I don't feel fair with that. >> Well, I think I I one what I would say is one of my concerns is is what Liz is saying about special

145ed. I I think that that has to be that has to be more of a driving factor than polling because, you know, I I agree, Linda, but but what we don't know right now, and I don't think Liz knows, is how many of those special education parents might choose to leave their kids home right now for distance learning because they are medically fragile or how many of them have h we don't know what everyone is planning for September. Most of us don't even know we're planning ourselves for September. So, it's really hard to, you know, we might find that 81, you know, there's 81 students, I just looked at the number, at least there was last year, 81 self-contained special education students. If we find that 40% of them or 50% of them are staying

146home and we're basing our decision on that, I mean, we might be basing our decision on the students. I can tell you that they're not. I've heard from our self-contained families and I I know of one student right now that has has informed me that they're not that they need a virtual option. So, we have kind of put that out, especially self-contained. I'm pretty confident that those students will be in. I think the the part that may be more um a variable that I I can't answer confidently is the resource students because some of those parents may choose to keep their students on distance learning. What the the general consensus from our CPAC meetings have been the self-contained students, the students with autism, the students with multiple disabilities, they need they they need the consistency

147because as you know, distance is just not working. They don't have the aid there to prompt and things like that, >> right? So then >> I understand we're talking about those 80 students that Kate mentioned earlier, >> but our school district has 3,200 students and I I know the importance of special education and helping kids with autism, but essentially we're talking about 3 to 5% of the students, right? And we have to think about 100% of the students. So that's the balance. So I kind of feel that the alternate plan makes more sense. I like the deep cleaning aspect midway through the week. Um they stay together. >> All right, Courtney. >> This is not just about ourselves in the students though. These are children who are in resource room. This is those teachers who

148are in the resource room. This is the inclusion students. This is a much larger percent than just yourself and your autistic children. I am passionate about special ed and I fully support a being a not only for the children but for those teachers who are trying to reach those children through the screen. It is impossible. Anybody else? All right. So when we we can we can do roll call and take it from that point on. We're putting forth the plan that you've put forth, not the alternate plan. >> Okay. Right. >> So, you're voting on the original plan, not the alternate. >> The original plan >> essentially, if it's easier to understand, it'll be the plan that's here. The uh written plan would be here. So, it's what we'll be voting on right here. And

149then if that doesn't pass, we can resubmit it. >> This is the recommended plan, the first one, not the option. Correct. >> If it doesn't pass, then we can we can run it through the other plan. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Executive. >> Okay. That I that Ray um >> I don't think it's executive. >> I don't know if it's about two plans. >> This is this doesn't fall into an exception because for executive session it's got to be done publicly. So >> So you're asking us for two plans? You're telling us to vote on the original plan? You threw another plan at us tonight. Okay. Um, >> can't executive session. >> No, it's not exactly >> right. And and uh and that's understandable. You know, we we we went through a lot of plans

150on Tuesday night. Um, so, you know, this was uh I wanted to present one plan here, but I wanted to give the board another option, another way to get this task accomplished. We knew there was going to be discussion about the plan itself or there could be motions to to amend the plan from what was there and that's what happened. >> No, you can't just throw the plan at us now. >> Wait, someone vote no on your original plan. >> That's fine. >> Then I don't want to vote no anyway. I can't guarantee school. >> I'm coming, too. >> Yeah. Well, we're going to we're going to have a plan tonight. It's going to be, you know, one or the other hopefully. So, >> Karen, >> okay. Um Andy, can we divide this into two

151motions to approve either, you know, to do one for a motion for option one and then a motion for option two and then the motion that passes those? >> That's essentially what you're doing. >> Yeah. Then you by default. Yeah. >> Okay. But we're only voting on option one. >> Yeah. But if that fails, then we >> Okay. Okay. >> Kate. >> Could I You already said this, but could I make a motion to submit both plans to the county and get feedback back from the county superintendent? >> Are you comfortable with that? >> I I I don't know. The feedback I'm going to get is going to be I think I just want to make sure our plan is compliant with whatever directives they've been giving. Um, ultimately we're going to have to pick

152a plan and we're going to have to get out the parents. The sooner we do it, the better. I think it's easier for them. >> I mean, doing that would give us more time to think about this, would give us the opportunity to survey the community, would see if the county does approve both plans. Does anyone else think that that is a good idea or no? No. No. Okay. Well, I I'm I'm I'm going to say something because the problem is the problem with that is that they we they have to have a plan in place by by August 15. What when do when do they >> uh I think it's four weeks before the start of school, which this year is September 1. So, I'm using July 31 as a deadline, which means I

153have to get the plan to the county before then to give them they might be out of work for a few days. So, I want to give them as much chance to approve it and then our principles can work on they really can work on their Aday and Bday lists and communicate that out to the parents. So, I'm hoping by August 1 we have something approved by the county and every family knows which days they're attending school from September 1 to December 23rd. >> And the problem being we don't have another meeting, >> right, >> before we would have to submit that because it's next week. So, I I think we have to come up. I I hate that it's becoming this because I have a feeling it's going to be for nothing anyway and

154that we're doing this. But >> this is the only board meeting between getting the uh memo from the state and due to this >> because it's not till August, >> right, >> Courtney? Then Nicole, >> um, I heard Terry ask, "Which plan do you suggest us to?" We did say the original ABS and go back to what I originally said. It is our job as a community to support Dr. Emma and the work that he has done already and to support their decision, what they feel is best for this. Nicole, I feel like it's putting us in a very uncomfortable position. I really do because to your point, Dr. Anamone clearly felt there this other plan had some merit. And to to Kate's point, I think the purp and I wasn't involved in them, but

155I think the purpose of the restart committees was to get the feedback. We did the surveys about distance learning. So, I think all of that went into the formulation. So I think going back to the community, not only not having time would be a redundancy at this point a little bit. And yes, the the the alternate plan may not work great for a one cohort, but and I'm not insensitive to that. I really am not. I understand that there's nothing great about this for any student, but for all 3,000 of our kids, they all lose something in either one of these plans. They see socially only half of their friends. they, you know, they don't get to participate in all the things that make school amazing. They don't get to, you know, fully, you know,

156be with their teachers, see their expressions. I mean, there's so many things that, you know, we could go down a rabbit hole and talk about. I think it's unfortunate because I feel like it puts us in a little bit of a divided situation, but we have to make a recommendation and and we're going to I think we all just have to go with our gut on this one and and see what feels right. But I don't feel that it's fair to say, well, that's the only one he's recommending. I think he did say that that's a preference, but both of them I think have merit, otherwise he probably wouldn't have put them forward. >> They're both very workable plans and we'll get it done. >> I guess my question to you, Liz, is do you

157think that we can provide services on that day? >> I think you're going to listen, my role is very my role here is serving as director of special services, right? So I mean that's do I have a kindergarten or kindergarten? Yeah. So, do I put my mommy hat on as well for but I can't I have to look at what's best for the students with special needs. That's all the students with special needs. And what I can tell you is there is a benefit to those students being in the extra day. Even if it's 16 extra days, it's still 16 extra facetoface days. And I as the advocate of multiple parents and the representative of them for the past years I've been here, I can tell you and I can assure you that the majority

158of parents that have significant students with significant disabilities or learning disabilities, they are they have been struggling. Right? >> If I didn't say that out loud to everybody, like they've been struggling. So I >> you know what my mommy had is on they think either plan is okay. But what my director of special services had is on for students with special needs. the first original plan which was thought out from the committees is the best option because I can only then serve the Wednesdays that are going to be virtual and we're going to be then serving compensatory on top of compensatory. So I'm going to deal with compensatory on the the virtual days which we planned for for what they lost in the spring and then I'm also going to have to consider compensatory for

159the Wednesdays because they're going to be on virtual. So there's, you know, there's I special services is obviously multifaceted. So it's not something I can just it's it's not a one-size fit all fits all. Now, do I think I will do my best and you guys know as a board that I will do my best to make the second plan work? Absolutely. We will strengthen our distance learning and we will we will do the best we can. But the reality is that students with special needs do better in school, not out of school. >> Okay. Anything else that Kate Um, was the WNBA um presented with either of these plans unfortunately? >> If so, the real question is did they weigh in on a network that work best for most of their people because yeah,

160we do we have 3,000 and you know almost 4,000 students, but we have a lot of employees too who need to worry about their own childare and like I said before we're looking at an entire community and I do agree Nicole's right. Should we be making a decision just based on the students or the entire community? So, I'm curious if the Wii is waiting on which plan they like. >> Well, we we didn't present it like that, but we did have discussions with uh various stakeholder groups including the WMEA as part of the restart committee and also some private meetings. >> We have to vote on a plan no matter what. So if if you have to vote how however you feel, but we have to vote because it has to be done tonight. >>

161So any other discussion? >> Well, I you know I I'm willing to vote on a plan, but um I would like to see as as Kate said, I would like to see uh the staff support for this >> or staff input. And I have a feeling there hasn't been much. So I, you know, I'll vote. You know, we can vote and then maybe it can be tweaked after Alex presents it to the staff. >> Is that a >> Can it be tweaked? >> Okay, then that's what we need to do. If not, roll call. >> No. Come on. Because we've talked it. local. >> Okay. Um, Mrs. Dwyer, >> yes. >> Mr. Gino, >> no. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> no. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> no. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes.

162>> Mr. Conklin, >> no. >> Mrs. Fritz? No, >> Mrs. Van Dyk. No. >> Motion fails. >> So now we have to vote on plan B. >> Correct. Correct. So we need a motion. >> So this will be the alternate plan which is going to be half the students Monday, Tuesday, half Thursday, Friday, Wednesday distance learning day. Make a motion to vote on the alternate plan as presented in second. >> Jason seconded Ray moved it. Discussion discuss anyone. >> Roll call on plan B. Mr. Conley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwer. >> No. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Yes. Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> No, >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. We'll move forward with that

163plan. I'll get something out to the school community uh tomorrow uh tomorrow. Mhm. And thank you all. I know it's not easy, but it's uh >> it wasn't easy. It >> it's uh it's a lot it's a lot to accomplish and I know we we we did accomplish it. We'll get this out to the community and uh next steps moving forward. We got a lot of work left to do. >> One thing I would like, Liz, is I would I would like you at the next education committee meeting that we have some something laid out in and how we're going to address this and the numbers so that we know that. >> So, I'll know the numbers. I I don't know exactly what our committee is, but by August 15th when everybody tells us what

164the plan is um parenting wise, but what I can say is that I do have to submit the plan for special needs also with this with this plan with whatever decided. So I'll then craft a plan that has to go out to the county business. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Terry rest of the motion >> 2 through 12 for approval. Second. >> I need a second. >> Ray. [Applause] Any questions on the items? No discussion. >> Okay. Mer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gino. education. >> Yes. [Music] >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conflin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. Mrs. Van Dyk. >> Yes. Okay. Number 13 will come back to operations and finance. Mr. Corina. >> I'll

165second that. >> Okay. So do you second that discussion? >> Yes, I second. I I just want to say um I see on on item 12 and 13 the donations of the the GoPro and the uh clear touch board from the uh PTA and Maple Road and the GoPro came from uh an equipment grant that through the state county film commission which Joe Jordan was responsible for. I want to say thank you for that. that's, you know, much appreciated. And then the donation also um on the um the banners and that from the uh Jet janitorial company. So any other discussion? If not, roll call. Mr. Greeno, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs.

166Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Like to make a motion and move item 16. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Gino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinski? >> Yes. Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> Like to make a motion. >> I'll second that. >> Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Gino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinski? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman? >> Yes. Mrs. Dwer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, yes. [Music] >> I'll

167second that. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Greeno, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> I abstain. >> Like to make a motion to item 19. >> I'll second that. Discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Greeno. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Conlin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> I'd like to make a motion to move item 20. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Gino,

168>> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. Thank you, >> Kate. >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Yes. We need a moder. [Music] >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Any discussion? I just want to make note that there it is the second reading for 1 through 13 and that 14 starts where the new policy is on the co and I you know uh want to let everybody know that and that also on on the motion for number 20 on number 25 on that regulation for the the opio opioid antidote. I want to just note that we were going to bring

169it down to Mccapin level. It was at the high school and we we updated that because I know that some people had questions about that one. So [Music] if not, anybody else discussion? If not, roll call. Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> yes. Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mr. Gino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> Committees, I don't know. Parks and Recck, are they able to They're not doing anything. Yeah. Safety, we we haven't had anything. Superintendent roundt. We did have that Zoom. Did we meet? >> We had a Zoom. >> It was not not No. No, we haven't. >> No, we didn't have that Zoom meeting. >> We had

170it in June. >> I thought that was after this meeting. I wasn't sure. >> Okay. The state county I I have not done the Zoom meeting on that. New Jersey school boards neither. Um legislative. Is there anything Dave? >> No, not tonight. >> Um technology oversight, Mr. Greeno. >> Yeah. So, uh last Friday, couple quick updates. Um they did complete uh the schedule of adding cameras to Macin. Um they uh also we also have a bunch of new Chromebooks. So I think you saw earlier it said in earlier it said I think the presentation Dr. Gate will have one to one for grades 6 through 12. And then all the uh grade school grades they uh they will have Chromebooks also in their classroom one to one. So we minimize those Chromebooks going back and

171forth and other student touching Chromebooks. Uh so because we have all these Chromebooks where we can have every student in the district have a Chromebook. And the idea is um originally the sixth grade was a brand new Chromebook. Um that's how it is now. And the 9th grade they're going to get new Chromebooks. So 9th grade they're going to carry that with them through high school. Uh, you know, I I talked to the tech committee and and I asked if it made sense that maybe the fifth grader um got a brand new Chromebook and they carried it from grade 5 to grade nine. >> Mhm. >> Um so I don't know if something has to be done to to make a motion to change that or if that can be done. >> We could just

172handle that internally. It's it would be 5 to 8. >> 5 to 8 >> and then 9 to 12. >> 9 to 12 to eight brand new to 12 Chromebook. So that they had two Chromebooks, one in fifth grade, use it for four years, one in ninth grade, use it for four years. >> Oh, and that's their life expectancy, correct? >> That's the outer limit of the life expectancy. >> Uh the other thing that I thought was good that we spoke about was um we know that some parents and students, teachers, they had tech issues. Uh I know I was talking about Zoom, right? That'll be fixed because we're just going to use Google Meet. But when there are tech issues with the distance learning um I've received many questions about you know can we

173get a tech problem I know that sometimes teachers were trying to help sometimes there were parents that were a little techsavvy that were trying to help other parents and every student is going to have these Chromebooks you know maybe we can be consistent in them using those Chromebooks uh even when they're doing distance learning and uh Robert talked about you know the idea there possibly being uh the thought of being able to use a tech hotline, maybe using some of the uh high school students, right? It becomes a little integrated into one of their classes. So, that's something to look for maybe in the future. >> That makes that makes sense, especially with what we just went through with the distance learning because I'm sure there were people who were you know, >> and now

174I just want to talk about the class. Yeah. So class link is our it's a single sign on. I mean I'm sure you deal with it in your own lives. How many what's my username? What's my password? And class link essentially is a single sign on for students. So once they sign in once they'll have access to their Google classroom which is obviously the Google meet any other software that we use that the teachers are using whether it be pair deck screencastify any other software they would sign in once and it would that would be the splash page and it would be would be logged into all of your accounts through class link. So that's going to be up and running for September. So, we think it's going to take some of the some of

175the logistical problems we had last spring and and and remove them for our students. So, it should be easy for teachers to not have to constantly tell children what their password is and it should be easier for parents and students as well. So, all kids will have access to that. >> That's a huge benefit and that's kind of where we ended. So, thanks. >> Thank you. Uh the township we we haven't had any meetings. I I think the mayor's been well they're not the mayor the office is not even open in the town hall but we haven't they haven't said anything right we haven't heard anything from anybody summertime we probably wouldn't normally meet anyway. Um the municipal alliance uh >> so many of their programs they had a meeting yesterday um many of their

176programs have been cancelled um certainly the WMA is under the governor council grant um all grant funding was on March 23rd 2020 um would be under a new grant as of July 1st um council decided to extend our grant just to pay the coordinator until September nomber 30th. So that means that the funding for next year has been greatly reduced due to the lack of arrests for drugs and alcohol in our community. Um we were originally funded for approximately 23,000 and now it looks like we'll be funded for approximately 5,600 um dollar worth for programs. Um there is a vaping grant for um education with vaping that's $4,000. um and they're waiting to plan on programming, waiting to hear uh the school plan. Um so now that they'll know how schools are going to be

177working, they'll look to see which programs um and how they can help to fund, you know, with the grant money that they do have work into the schedule throughout the years programs. Um the Highlands has also offered to help cover cost of materials for programs. So now the the next meeting they'll sit and look at the school schedule, figure out which programs they're going to run, and then how to finance it. >> Okay. Are you saying that they lost $18,000 in grant money? >> That's what this reads. I I got the report from the coordinator and exact word for word. That's what it says. Yeah. >> That's terrible. Um old business. Anyone have any old business? >> Make a motion to close old business. >> I'll second that. >> Dave and Ray. >> All those

178in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? New business. >> Make a motion to close new business. >> Second. >> Miss I just quickly mention Sure. business. I just wanted to mention that um I want to give a shout out to Joanna Rising, one of our school nurses. She gave me a tip um back in June that the Department of Health and Human Services would be offering free face coverings. We weren't sure if we'd be eligible as a school district, but you know, I told her I would fill out the application. So, I applied for it and I will say it did come through today. So, we did get 4,000 of these masks for free. >> Wow. >> Which is great. So, that was an extra bonus because we are ordering obviously additional PPE. It was

179it was a nice surprise to get a free delivery. So, I just want to thank Joanna publicly for um for giving us that tip because now if you go on the website, it is closed down and it says they're not taking any more >> requests. So, yeah, >> that's great. Any other new business? All right. Um Dave, you you made the motion and Ray seconded. All those in favor? >> I any opposed? Uh let's go to public comment. This portion of the meeting is open to members of the public having legitimate interest in the action of the board for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to andor directly related to the operations of the West Milford Public School District. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will

180be 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 may not be uh responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asked that the 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

181not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of New Jersey. The board is not responsible and is not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in the light of the the public in the light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. I have uh Ian Gridley on here. >> Yeah. All D'Angelo. >> Well, Ian's first. I think he was on the original agenda. Go ahead. >> Oh, Ian. Yes. >> Yes. I'm then Kelly. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Ian. My current address is 40 street eleg. I'm here to speak on the proposed

182anti-racist curriculum to respond to a few of the points brought up by board members and other speakers after Mr. G. Uh to anyone who knows me know that speaking out really hard to do. However, looking back on my childhood adolescence, there was one thing that I noticed spoken race. I cannot I came to believe that racism no longer existed. And that to me is the problem. Uh by not talking about race, we effectively ignore ongoing issues like the conditions that caused the murders of George Floyd and John Taylor and thereby create a breeding ground for ignorance. I understand that's undramatic. Um so to support that statement, I reached out to some former black students who I knew from high school and asked if they were comfortable to share their experiences with me uh from their

183from their time in the district. Uh, in the interest of their safety, I'm not going to use any names, but here are a few brief brief excerpts from those conversations. I spoke to a black student who remembered a boy trying to date her explicitly in order to divorce her. She told me that an ex-boyfriend of hers in high school actually broke up with her um because he was getting picked on for dating a black person. She went as far as to tell me she began to hate herself and felt undesirable as a black woman at this time. She tried acting more suburban and started straightening her hair a boy who would see her as more than just a metal. A former student used to play sports in high school recalled being told to take off

184his doag during practice because that's not how we do things in school. The same student said he was the subject of a lot of racist jokes from upper class. Uh he specified one joke in particular that hurt him the most. The joke reads, "It's almost Christmas time. I need something to hang from my tree, which is obviously direct." For my last example, I'm going to directly quote the student because I don't think like some of them will do that any justice. Um the quote is, "It happened after a football game performance from the March. The male side of the auditorium changing room was peaceful until one student started chanting white powder. Others started to follow. Before I knew it, the whole room of 40 to 50 students were making a change. Was the very first

185time I witnessed an instance of racism and ignorance. All of that being said, racism isn't just making derogatory choice. Contrary to those like last month's speaker Mike Hans would tell you, anti-racist does not mean it's white. the suggestion he made last month that if we educate white children on racism, they will eventually hate themselves. Don't prove I can show you that the curriculum we currently have in place is not about education as much as it is sanitizing the fuller story racer [Music] Dwire also responded to Mr. other statement by saying the school district already teaches slave narrative and that we are doing better than other white schools. These are both great examples of why we need to do more as a district. First, the statement about white schools is extremely confusing because it implies that

186Mr. values of all predominantly white populated school curriculums in our area has compared to the West Milfords and has found out in her own opinion that we come out here says that we're completely fine being here. Why be one of the first schools in North Jersey to begin with teaching about black history when the school or town over doesn't teach by black history especially in America isn't just about individual stories of people who were enslaved or successful books written by black people. While those are certainly part of it, it really only paints half the picture. It paints half the picture that white America is comfortable to see. There are so many systematic structures and historical events such as red lining, black wall street, Malcolm X, Jim Crow laws, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, etc.

187that we aren't taught about that have all negatively affected black community and still continue to affect black community to this day. My final point is one that hits home with me. Uh, one of the narratives about this issue is that all the people pushing for this anti-racist curriculum are out of time are out oftowners who are trying to push a political agenda out of children. This isn't about politics. It's about doing the right thing. I'm not asking for a social reform 101 class. I'm not asking you to abolish the police and I'm not asking you to go to cities. We're asking that if you're going to say that we teach history, that we teach all of history and that we teach how those events impacted all of society. So I stand here in the same

188school district that my mom has taught for almost 20 years, asking us to take the opportunity of us to create real change. In the words of the late congressman those, if not us, who? If not now, then what? Thank you. >> Thank you. Did you say someone else signed up? >> Um, Ali D'Angelo. >> I think she might have left. >> She was here. I think she left. >> Anyone else wishing to speak? >> Seeing none, I make a motion to close public comment. >> All those uh I need a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Okay, we need a motion for executive session. Um, >> we dismissed. Are we dismissed from executive? >> No, because we have to come back. >> You have two hips to vote on. >>

189Um, Terry, would you want to move that for me? At 10:30 p.m., um, I make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, resignations, current litigation matters, special education matters, negotiations, pips, and matters of attorney client privilege. The executive session minutes will not be released until such time as the privilege or confidentiality is no longer applicable and we will be returning to vote. Um, we need a second. >> Right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? We will be back. >> I think so. It's very hard for me to see everybody. I'd like to call the meeting back to order. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco, >> Mrs. Romeo >> here, >> Mrs. Stevenson here, >> Mr. Silman >> here, >> Mrs. Dwire >> here, >> Mrs. French, >>

190Mr. Reno >> here, >> Mr. >> Here, >> Mr. Conley >> here. >> Ma >> here, >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Okay, I move to um approve the recommendation of the superintendent to find the following HIVs as unsubstantiated. 2000 uh 2020 H14 unsubstantiated and 2020 H16 unsubstantiated. >> I'll second that. >> Did you second it, Dave? >> Yep. >> Okay. Any discussion? If not, roll call. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes. >> Mr. Reno, >> yes. >> Mr. Shinsky, >> yes. Mrs. Fritz, >> Mr. Con? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Okay. >> So, we're going Okay. >> All right. At 10:58, I move to go into executive session for the purpose of personnel and we will adjourn from there. Need a second. Ray Ray.

191>> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Good night. >> I'll talk to you tomorrow.