001I'd like to call the meeting to order. If we could have a moment of silence, please. All 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 trends, the record, the messenger, West Milford town hall, the county superintendent's office, the board attorney, and cable vision of Warwick, and posted on the district's website. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were all were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Mrs. Francisco, can you do the
002roll call, please? Mr. Bailey, Mr. Sidtowawitz, >> here. >> Mr. Drew, >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire, Mr. Gino, >> here. >> Mr. Yuber here. >> Mrs. O'Brien here. >> Mrs. Fritz here, >> Mrs. Van Dyke here. Um, Mrs. Dwire called to Shisel. We're going to need a a motion and a second for uh to go into exe resolution for executive session. Um, could you uh be it resolved that the board go into executive session at approximately 9:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as is possible for approximately 30 minutes for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, resignations, current litigation matters, special education matters, negotiations, hibs, and matters of attorney client privilege. The executive session minutes will not be released in till such time the privilege of or confidentiality is no longer applicable. >> Second. >> Okay.
003Roll call. Well, voice. Well, those in favor >> I >> opposed. Okay. >> Mr. Van Djk. >> Um the open public meetings act statement. >> I read it. >> It was read. >> Yeah. >> I'm here. Thank you. Okay, doc. Dr. >> Anam, >> good evening. Good evening everybody and welcome to our January meeting. We were snowed out last Tuesday. So, thank you all for attending this evening. We do have a student recognition tonight. And as you all know, as is our custom, we put that at the front of the agenda because it is a school night and we like to recognize our children and then allow them to go home and finish studying for their midterms and other other school other school work. So, uh, without further ado, we have our supervisor of social
004studies, Oliver Pionicle, here, as well as representatives from the VFW. They will present the Voice of Democracy essay contest winners. >> Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming. Uh, every year our high school students participate in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy essay and Oratory Contest. The top essays are chosen by the history department staff and submitted to our local VFW members for review. This year there were over 70 submissions, but there were only three students whose work stood out. To recognize them, I'd like to introduce Mr. Bill Johnson from the VFW. He and his fellow members will make the formal presentation. Uh first of all uh I'm the commander of the VFW local like to thank the board for giving us this time and also for their support over the years for
005all of the veterans projects that we have especially in the school system including our wonderful war and remembrance program uh which will be coming up in June. Uh tonight we're going to honor three students who participated in our national voice of democracy contest. Uh this contest the national picks the subject each year and the students hundreds of thousands of them apply and uh present uh essays to the committee and it goes up to the national and uh actually the national first prize is $30,000 scholarship. Uh so it's it's well worthwhile and some of the uh letters and programs that we get are just astonishing and it makes us proud to know that these uh these are our young people and they're coming uh up to take care of things for us. Uh first of all
006uh we have our third place winner Jillian Bennett. Please come up. [applause] Hi. >> Hi. >> Uh, it's my honor to present you with this uh plaque and it reads Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and it's auxiliary Voice of Democ democracy certificate of merit presented to you. Third place, in recognition of excellence in the Voice of Democracy's audio essay competition, you have been [clears throat] designated an outstanding spokesperson for freedom by the members of BFW Post 7198. It is hereby witnessed by Mr. Johnson, myself, and Mr. Money Paul. And that's your citation. And I also have for you this marvelous decoration here. match your outfit. Perfect. >> And I have his pen, which is also yours. >> And thank you very much. >> And from our quartermaster who handles all our money,
007a special gift. >> All right. [applause] We're not going to read the citation again. It's the same for everybody. Uh Sharon. >> Okay. Well, let me present you with this plaque. We won't read it, but the same thing rerun from the last time. Um let me present this to you. Congratulations to you. And you get a little pin as well. Thank you very much. Congratulations. [applause] >> Don't forget that. >> And uh last and certainly not least uh our first place winner, Kelsey Murphy. >> [applause] >> That's what I heard. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you, sir. >> Kelsey, don't go away. Congratulations. >> Last year while we were uh had our poppy distribution um Kelsey came by. Matter of fact, her father also came by and uh handed us a letter uh
008spontaneous not for any kind of contest or anything like that and it was just awe inspiring and inspired all of us. So, we have a special award for Kelsey Murphy as an expression of sincere appreciation and full praise for services rendered to the community signed by me, the commander of the post. >> Thank you so much. >> And [applause] this one I wrote the letter. >> Okay. >> This is the letter she wrote to us >> to every US soldier, future, present, and former. At a point in everyone's life, they begin to understand the sacrifices others make for them in order to just enjoy life and get them where for get them where they are today. For me, I guess I'm at that point. Most usually just think about their families and what they have
009given up to get them where they are. How fathers worked endless hours trying to make sure we got what we wanted. How mothers stayed by our sides and helped us get through everything when whether we were sick or out on the field playing a sport. How grandparents always found a way to help mom and dad out so they could focus on supporting us. how siblings protected us no matter the age gap that separated us. But one thing most people do not realize is the everyday massive sacrifices strangers make for us in order just to live life. Personally, coming from a military family, I have grown up all my life learning about how special the people in our military are and how extraordinary everything they do is. But obviously, as a kid, you only know so
010much. It was not until a few years back I really began to understand and learn fully what you soldiers do for us and how extreme the sacrifices you make are. I look up to every single one of you with the highest of respects and hope that one day I could do that same great honor. So if you have a moment I ask that you please read the following. I want to start by thanking you for being a United States soldier. Whether you are currently serving, have previously served, or are about to serve. Thank you. You and your brothers and sisters will forever be a part of American history. never forgotten, living in the heart of American for years to come. You were part of a very small and selfless group of citizens whose hearts are
011filled with compassion, generosity, and bravery. You took a step not many people are willing to take or even think about taking. You put your life on hold, left family, friends, and so much more behind, and signed up, not knowing if you would ever return to the life you had left. You signed a paper and took an oath that put your life on the line to not only protect the Constitution and what it withholds, but a country made of millions of people which you don't even know. It is people like you who give people like me the right to live, be happy, [snorts] be safe, and be free. And I want to thank you for that. Your actions do not go unnoticed. My respect goes out to you and the rest of the people who are
012serving or have served this country. Thank you for showing me that good people exist. Thank you for giving me someone to look up to. Thanks for the defending this country. Thank you for all you do. God bless you and God bless America. [applause] >> [applause] >> Uh lastly, I'll introduce Paul Wheelower from Sand Pock and Sharon Einer, who by the way graduated from all our school system here in West Milford. Uh thank you again board for your attention. And one final announcement. Uh, Grandpa Jack just signed on. [applause] Thank you again, boys and girls. If you wanted to leave, now would be your chance. We won't be offended. right now getting military crying. >> Okay. Uh moving right along. We have some good news tonight and more good news. Uh we are going to announce
013our winners of our teachers of the year as well as our education service professionals of the year from each school. Uh the teachers of the year from West Milford High School, Serena Laay, high school language arts, Susan Catcher, Makipin, music teacher. Samantha Pedini, Apua, Special Education. Courtney Maddie, Marshall Hill music. Beth Schaefer, Maple Road Preschool. Diane Buyers, Paradise Null, grade six. Karen Fusco, Upper Greenwood Lake School, kindergarten. Tanja Lane Westbrook, grade six. So, congratulations to our teachers of the year. [applause] And for our ed each school also selects one education service professional of the year from the high school guidance counselor Melissa Changato Ronro Makipin anti-bullying specialist Rachel Phelps Apua instructional aid Kathy Hester Marshall Hill instructional aid Cynthia Dantonio Maple Road speech specialist Joyce Tro Paradise Null instructional aid >> Jeannie Dawson Upper Greenwood
014instructional aid and Suzanne Osterly Westbrook Encore teacher. [applause] These uh selected staff members will move on towards the next round of the of the process which is to move on towards Pay County teacher of the year. Uh next up, transportation. And um there was a an an incident that happened maybe about two weeks ago and it's drawn a lot of a lot of uh consternation in this community. I received a lot of phone calls and I just wanted to inform the board and the entire community uh about what happened. Um there was a student not a West Milford student. It was a student who lives in West Milford who currently attends Pay County Tech and he was taking one of their late buses home and there was an issue with the bus route. The student
015lives in Hwitt up near upper Greenwood Lake School and the bus driver was trying to leave him off at the corner of Germantown and Mackabin. >> Oh, >> all the way down by Aptua School late at night. I shouldn't say late at night, maybe 5 or 6 at night, but after it had gotten dark. Um, so the student uh thankfully refused to get off the bus. He stayed on the bus. Uh, the bus driver then drove him to the Shopright parking lot where he made him get off the bus. Unfortunately, he had some battery power left in his cell phone to call his mom who then came to pick him up. Um, so there's a lot of confusion about the story and it was not a West Milford student. It was not a West Milford
016bus. It was not a West Milford bus driver. Those types of things don't happen here. Um, parents are working with the administration at PA County Tech to hopefully prevent this from happening again. And we're all just very fortunate a an actual tragedy didn't occur because as you know that corner by Makipin in Germantown when it's there's no sidewalk, there's no place to stand, it's pitch black, there's no street lights. It's a very it could have been an actual tragedy. So I just want to let everybody know that this was not a West Milford incident. It just happened in West Milford. So um hopefully that squares it away and uh we don't get any more confused phone calls. Uh next up this year we are have started up uh early last week. We started our 2018-19
017kindergarten registration for all children who turned five before October 1st. Uh this year we did something different. For the first time we put our registration process online. So parents can pre-register online. So the process is is going very swimmingly. We have uh we have over 100 registrants already about 115 uh parents who have taken advantage of this opportunity. So they've logged into real time and they've pre-registered their children for kindergarten for next year. Um so we feel this really expedited our process this year and we're happy about that. Um next up uh the monthly progress towards our district goals. Uh late last week, the 201620 2017 school performance reports were released. They're on the Department of Education website. This is the this is the document that replaced the old school report card from a few
018years back. Um and there's eight there's eight targets, one per school for language arts, one per school for math. And West Milford did wonderfully. We met seven of our eight targets in English language arts at our schools. and we met six of eight targets in math at our school. So, um clearly we won't be happy until it's eight of eight in both categories, but of the 16 possible categories, we made we hit our targets in 13 of those and that's based on our park testing and park scoring. So, uh we're very happy about that. We're proud of our teachers, proud of our administrators. Uh this everybody did wonderfully last year. All right. Uh later in our agenda, we have a resolution for school board recognition. As you all know, this is school board recognition month
019and there should be a uh a black folder on your in front of you uh which is a framed copy of that resolution. Uh but on behalf of the administrative team, on behalf of the parents, the teachers, the students of West Milford, uh I just wanted to thank all the board members for their time. Uh what the public see, it's like an iceberg. What the public sees is really not what goes into this job as you well know. So they see these meetings here once or twice a month, but they don't understand how much reading, how much preparation goes into the into these to being a school board member. So uh thank you on behalf of everybody for being on the West Milford school board. And lastly, we have our student report from Miss McIntyre.
020>> January has been a great start to 2018 for the Highlanders. guidance offered a practice SAT and ACT exam on January 13th. This was followed by the acceptance of 19 band students into New Jersey area band and 10 more earning all honors for region. On January 12th, the science olympiad team led by Mr. Petroy and Mrs. Pazino competed at NJIT with Timothy Magisik taking home first for his mousetrap vehicle. Our wood shop teacher, Mr. Bey is one of the 54 semi- finalists in the first annual Harbor Fright Tools for Schools, winning a $1,000 gift card for his students. Upcoming events include the eighth grade openhouse night, the Cinderella Project, the indoor percussion show, and more victories for all of our winter sports who have kicked off the season great as our bowling team makes new
021records. >> Thank you. Mr. Novak, [clears throat] >> are we in the way? >> How you doing? Nice to see you. So far so good. >> Good evening everyone. Um, tonight I'm just going to briefly review the results of our um, respect and responsibility survey that our uh, community filled out um, in November. What we were able to do in our um, presentation tonight is show the comparison between our 2016 results and our 2017 results. I was able to share the results of this with the education committee um, two weeks ago. Um, I am going to go through I'm not going to go slide by slide. It's 36 slides. It is currently posted on our district website. It's on the homepage. If you scroll to the bottom, you can see our results. This exact uh
022presentation is uh displayed there. Um just jump in. First slide. Is it working? Click it. All right, I'll take it. Thanks. Uh the first slide just represents the uh participation rate and we can see the the orange represents 2016 and the blue throughout the presentation will represent um our current year. and we had a uptick in um in participation in our students and uh we didn't have as many parents as the previous year. So, we're going to um you know continue working on that to continue with participation. Overall, we had um we had more participation when you look at the students and staff and that sort of thing. [clears throat] Uh this is school by school breakdown. I'm not going to focus there. Um before I go further just in terms of school by school
023breakdown the um presentation this evening is broken out with the entire district responses all all as one. Uh we have provided a PowerPoint very similar to this one to each building principal which is building specific. So the high school principal and actual principal etc has received feedback for their specific um population. They are sharing that at their faculty meetings and they are sharing that at their um their PTA meetings so that it could be you know shared shared widespread. There'll also be a link to the individual one on their uh school website. Uh I'm just going to pull a few slides. I'm going to highlight um across the board we seem to have had an uptick uptick in what I would call positivity uh indicators where you see um the areas that say strongly agree
024and somewhat agree. we have had a uh a rise um in most of those categories across the board and we've had a decline in the uh disagree categories across the board. So for here's just an example. Students treat each students treat other students with respect regardless of differences. We see a rise in in what I would call a positive uh response across the board. students treat teachers with respect. Again, a rise in a positive indicator and a decrease in a in a negative indicator. So, we're we're we're really um really happy with with the results that we've seen. [clears throat] every student in grades 2 through 12 uh participate in this uh in this survey as well as our staff and uh the parents that we're able to encourage to take it. A graph like
025this um with no previous year data this would represent a question that was new to the survey. Uh what uh something that Dr. Mon and I spoke about um last year into this year is that we wanted to use the uh identical survey to be able to see if there were um if there were growth uh at the ed committee. Uh some good questions came up about going forward if we would like to expand the survey and and um you know have a have a new series of of questions to to put into it. And I think that's a good idea going forward is we might get some data from this that makes us want to pull and and survey dis different aspects of our uh of our schools and our our academic community. [snorts]
026So although these um indicators show show success, uh to me the the um biggest value of the survey comes in the um comments that are filled out at the end. At the end of the survey, there is a um a blank for, you know, anything else that you would like us to know. uh two years ago for the 2016 survey, we received a lot of um a lot of feedback. We received a lot of specific feedback in in relation to um some areas of of concern that we were able to act on and initiate some trainings. Um I don't know if that message was was heard loud and clear. Uh however, it seems like it was because we got about uh twice the write in information this year as we as we did last year.
027So, we were able to um pretty much the week after this uh survey was completed at our December um administrative council meeting, we took the before we were able to put the data together, we were able to pull the the written comments specifically and distribute that to all of our administrators. um because there was a lot of a lot of shared information, students, you know, um revealing some um areas that they think administration or teachers should take a look at or um specific names and those types of things. So, uh we were able to to act on information that we received from the from the survey. So, so the survey seems to be filling another need um that we didn't anticipate, but we're we're happy to receive. Uh, one of the biggest areas that we
028saw of concern coming out of the fill-in comments was, um, playground. Uh, playground is always, you know, we could have pulled you and you would have guessed playground is the place where we're going to find the most, uh, most incidents, and that was the case in in our comments and our feedback. Uh so tonight you have a you have a motion where we are uh approving the uh training once again for all of our cafeteria aids and we're going to bring them in on February 20th to uh once again receive a full day of project adventure training and um you know in management structures with our uh PE staff and our our administrators to work with work with that um area of our staff that has not necessarily received um that level of training over
029the years. So that's a direct result of something from the survey that that we're able to to act on. Uh a bright mo uh a bright spot in last year's survey. We received a lot of feedback about um incidents that may have occurred on a bus and that seems to have dropped significantly in the feedback that we received this year. So that was not an area that was jumping out of the survey as as being um being significant. I know we were able to work with our drivers um last year in this regard. So, uh, it's good to see some, you know, our positive growth in that that direction [cough] [clears throat] help. >> All right. Thank you. Sorry, I've talked too long. So, again, this is this is just the the series of the
030questions that our our community was asked. Um and in in uh you know almost every category we saw a rise in in what I would call a a positive indicator. Uh again um this one I liked this was uh if you respected the school that went up and up quite a bit in the strongly agree category. So that was that was a good thing. Uh we are working hard with our work through um character.org. We are now in that um application process where we've submitted our proposals and our applications for schools of character. Um many of our schools did not have to submit an application this year because they've already uh achieved that achieved that rank. Um as you saw in one of our previous meetings, Mr. Kaine came and presented about some of the
031great things we're doing that in this regard. Uh so so we feel that the survey is showing exactly what we had hoped from our from our work with Character.org is that we we got a trend in uh a trend in in positivity. So I'm going to I'm going to click out of it. As I mentioned, it is in complete uh form on our website. It's on the homepage. You can scroll down to the bottom uh and the results are there as well as the individual schools will be on those school homepages. >> Thank you. [cough] Mrs. Francisco, >> special reports. >> Yeah, the uh board me board members have the minutes from the December 19th meeting in front of them for consideration. >> I need a a motion and a second. >> I move to
032approve the December 19th workshop regular meeting and December 19th executive session meeting minutes. >> Second. Mhm. Okay. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Um I abstain from the 19th. I wasn't there or I left earlier. >> I'm going to abstain too. I wasn't here either. How can I help you? >> I just said abstain. >> Okay. Legal report. >> Uh no report tonight. >> Okay. uh under the president's report. I just wanted to uh say that we had a a visit to all the schools. Um Mrs. Fritz and Mr. Guino and Dr. Anamone and I took a tour of the schools as new board members. We got to go into each building, got to meet the principles and take a tour of the building, get to know a little bit
033about the district and meet meet the new principles. Some of us knew some of them, some of us have it. And I was very impressed with the district. And we really I I I I think it was a very rewarding experience for us to get in there and and actually get to meet and talk to the staff and and get get a good feel of each building. So, I want to thank you, Dr. Anamone, for taking us. It was I I it was a good two days of walking the buildings. And uh I also want to let the board members know that we have April 18th as the goal setting meeting. Uh that was the date that it seemed was best for each of the board members. I if you could get back to me
034and let me know timewise if you would be available at 6 that day or at 7 what time you want to start. I the earlier we start probably the better. And I think we said we would be doing that >> in the administration building. in the administration building in the conference room. Um that's all that I have under my report. Um we'll move to petitions and requests. Petitioners who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other petitioner petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petitioner will be allowed until the 30 minute period transpires. Uh petitioners speaking during petitions and requests are asked to address topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are asked to
035give their full name, spell their last name, and provide their address. Speakers may not use the name of students during the petitions and request. I need a motion. >> No. Okay. >> No, that's close. >> To close. I'm sorry. >> We have nobody that signed up. So, >> would anybody like to speak? Yes. Come on up. Hello, my name is Christine Castanza, 8 Derma Oh, sorry. C O S T A N ZA 8 Dermmont Court Huitt, New Jersey. I just want to thank you for addressing the issue. My son was the one on the bus and he was abandoned in the shop by parking lot in the cold in the dark by himself. When I called the bus company to ask what was going to happen, they said nothing. They said, "We're um bus drivers
036are hard to come by, so we just take what we can get. I'm a West Milford bus driver, and I'm proud of my job, and I love my job, and I love these kids. And I would never and nobody I work with would ever ever do this to these children. We [snorts] have longevity. Most some of the drivers are here 30 years. We don't take what we can get. We are trained. We have safety meetings. We do what we can to make sure that these kids are protected. [snorts] Does nothing happen to this man? Nothing. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. >> When drivers are not held accountable for their [snorts] actions, they'll do it over and over again. and children's safety is at stake here. And [snorts] I'm sorry I'm so emotional, but this could
037have been so horrible. And if my son had special needs or or got in the car with the wrong person, the bus driver told him he was needed to get off the bus because he needed to have a drink. My son was afraid to get back on the bus when the man came back. [snorts] All I can say is I love my job. We're trained here. We're drug tested. We have background checks, fingerprints constantly. And outsourcing is just not going to work because there's nothing happens. Dr. Anna won't vote with me and their hands are tied because he's not a West Mulford employee. The school my son goes to said that he doesn't not going to drive for the late run anymore. I'm sorry. That's not acceptable. If one of us drivers, which West Mover
038would have never ever done to a child, did for some freak of nature, reprimanded, written up, fired. We would have had to answer to somebody. [snorts] And this man answered to nobody. And he's driving today. He's driving. He's driving. He's been driving since this happened. He didn't even get punished. Written off nothing because they're taking what they can get. You have bus drivers here that would do anything and are fighting to keep our jobs. Then it just kills me that this man could drive one of my kids again or one of yours and it might not end as well as mine did. Thank God nobody was hurt. I'm sorry. Thank you. >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak? If not, >> seeing none, move to close petitions and request. >> Second. All
039>> in favor? >> All those in favor? >> I. Any oppose? >> Okay. And uh Linda, I'd like to uh administratively amend the agenda. There's a couple typos we can clarify now. >> Okay. [cough] >> Page four, personnel and student affairs resolution number 10. There's a typo in there. It should read at a stipend of 9733 and a parenthesis step a >> uh yes page five top of page five. We're going to add two substitute teachers to our list. The first one is Jacqueline Orlando. J A C Q U E L I N E Orlando O R L E N D O That's a substitute teacher. And Colleen Chisuga, that's C O L L E N C Z E C Z U G A. That's a substitute teacher as [clears throat] well. >> Okay. >>
040Thank you. And for personnel student affairs number 13, we are also going to add Colleen Chichuga as a substitute special class aid. And lastly on page 12, education resolution number eight, PI number 2018/H9 is substantiated, not unsubstantiated. >> Okay. H9 >> and that's all. >> Can I go back to number 10? >> That's 9,733. >> Correct. >> Does anyone else have anything under the agenda that they we also had two hand carries, right? >> Correct. >> That are at your >> They're on color paper. If not, >> I move to adopt the agenda. >> Second >> as presented and amended along with the hand carries, please. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I four under personnel student affairs on page three. >> Um I don't know what that is, so I'd like to
041table that until after executive session, please. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Which one? >> Number four. >> Bottom of page three. >> So, you need a vote on the motion to table. >> You made a motion to table. >> Yeah. I didn't think we needed to do that >> because he had already made the motion to close. >> I'll make a motion. >> Okay. Need a second. >> Second. >> Oppo. Any Well, that's a voice vote, right? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay, we can move into the agenda [cough] now. >> Okay, Mrs. O'Brien, personnel. >> All right, so we pulled item four. >> Yes. >> Okay. Like to move items 1 through three and 535 and the personnel student affairs. >> Second. >> Your hand carries separately. Okay. Do we need
042to do 10 10 separately because of the change or nine? >> Okay. Okay. Mrs. Francisco, >> four is separate. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mob O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. Um, one second. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes, >> Mr. Drew. >> Miss Mr. Gino. >> Okay. So, yes on all but 19. I want to understand >> Mrs. Van Dijk. Okay, I'm going um yes on all except number 10. I'm abstaining on number 10. Now, can I just review what we just voted on, you know, the numbers and what the final vote was, please? >> Yeah. Uh we have >> did we vote on >> all of the motel? We voted on personnel. Everything passed. Uh number 19 had an abstension and number 10 had an abstension.
043>> Okay. >> Yes. Uh just pause the board meeting for just one moment. Uh, coach Maslanic said he would like to address the board just with a few words of gratitude and appreciation. >> Too late. >> Good evening. >> I would like to thank the superintendent, the board of education and administration for the opportunity of being the head football coach of Westport High School. Thank you for your confidence in my ability to lead this program and for allowing me to obtain my dream job. >> [snorts] >> I understand the challenges of leading a successful educationbased football program. I can promise you that no one will work harder achieving those goals. I commit I am committed to growing this football family from our youngest levels of our youth league through our high school football team and
044in growing players to have opportunities at the highest levels of education. This is a full community, full family effort. I look forward to working with everyone on our rebirth. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> Mr. Drew, would you like to do education, please? >> No, I got handcuffs. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. >> I totally forgot. >> Not yet. Kids, like to move items 36 and 37 under personnel student affairs. >> Second. I don't have them. >> I don't have them. >> That's the green copy. >> I don't have them. >> Okay. >> 36 and 37 on the green [clears throat] and 38 on the pink. >> I know. One at a time. >> Okay. So, you're you're moving 36 and 37. >> Correct. >> I need a second. >> We'll do. I
045will. >> I will. Okay. I'm sorry. [clears throat] Roll call. No questions. >> Discussion. Any questions on the motions? >> Mr. Bailey? >> Yes. >> Miss O'Brien? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidtowitz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gino? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke? >> Yes. >> Like to move item 38 into personnel student affairs. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Second coffee. >> Thank you. >> No, >> Mrs. Francisco. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mob O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk. >> Yes. >> That completes personnel student affairs. Sorry about that. >> Brian, no problem
046here. >> Mr. Drew, would you like to do education? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes. >> They can't hear you. new map program for next year that correct >> reviewing and I'm assuming that we'll have one of the key issues professional development implementation we're include I mean please please include that in the budget so we do a good job okay >> that's not under this is that right >> question number six is not not a something that's commonly on our agenda um was there something that happened that that >> number six you're referring to. >> We have to be careful about when we say that relates to matter. So it's probably more appropriate for uh education. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I was a little confused [clears throat] while you were saying >>
047it's on the next page. I just flipped the page. >> Did you have a question on six or No, >> no. I have a question on five though. Best Western Murray Hill. I'm sure there's some wonderful thing that they're going to, but I'm wondering what it is. um >> we added two field trip locations. >> It's the GT program. >> That's this is um our great >> that's a great experience for the for the kids. >> Any other questions? Mrs. Francisco, >> Mrs. Dwer, um, sorry about that. Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Guino, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> On the next page also, Mr. D.
048>> I don't consider. >> Oh, right. I'm sorry. Okay. Budget and finance. Mr. Bailing >> like to move items number 10 and 11 under budget and finance. Please >> second. Any discussion? That's on your green sheet. >> Mr. Drew, >> we know how much you're talking about. We budgeted $100,000 in the current year budget and after uh the architect uh reviewed everything um we had to split it up into phase one phase two. So the second phase will be because the project is going to be more than 100,000. So the project um I I believe it's going to come in around 200. So we're budgeting for the second phase in the 18/19 budget. So these are submissions >> the architectural work already is running [clears throat] >> no in well uh the architectural work was
049part of the original 100,000 and then the balance will be um used along with phase two in order to complete the project this summer. So this is for the submission to the department of education because they have to approve the project before we can commence with it. Now um I think we're I at least saw in the minutes that there's some discussion regarding stands also as a field >> which would be another capital project. Do we have an estimate on that yet? >> Uh no we um have to bring the architect in. What I do know though is um there is is quite a bit of lead time that would also have to go down to the department of education. So, uh, if it's in the 18/19 budget, uh, if it is concluded in that,
050um, it won't be ready for September because of the amount of time it takes to get approvals from the Department of Education, go out to bid, and then have um the stands erected. >> Still might be in the budget. >> It right. Um, the board would have to consider putting it into the 18/19 budget. We have not done anything about that currently. that would have to go into the 18/19 budget. >> All right. Now, I know there's been a discussion and I'm pretty sure nobody's ready to move forward on this, but about the possibility of moving the sixth grade in the back. It it occurs to me if they were going to do that, they might need to move some extension of that building, which would be capital cost. Also, and the reason I bring
051this all up is if [snorts] we've got some kind of substantial capital cost for 1819, we ought to look at the whole thing together instead of approving them individually to determine whether or not it would make more sense to bond for them as opposed to whacking the taxpayers for this piece and that piece and that piece. >> Wouldn't that come up through the budget when we go into our budget talks as committee as all? >> Well, I would think it might have come up in the budget meeting, but I'm just invited to attend those. So, I'm asking you, >> but that's not pertaining to this uh >> certainly pertaining to budget finance, >> but it's not pertaining to the the item that's on the floor right now. >> It is because I'm saying we shouldn't
052be considering this at this time until we know the totality of the capital budget that we're looking at. >> Well, then that um what what's in front of you, Mr. Drew? This is for what's already been budgeted for this year. So, we have to get in order to get the project off the ground, we have to get approvals from the Department of Education. Facilities have to approve it even though we're not getting any monies back from them. If we wanted to roll the stands and any possible expansion to Makipin school into a referendum, then that's something that the budget the board is going to have to speak about whether or not what they're they're interested in going out to the taxpayers for a referendum and uh approving a vote. So, that's something that [snorts] would
053have to be discussed. >> It's outside the scope of what we're doing right here right now. for this particular resolution because we're already this was already budgeted in 1718 the the initial repairs to the fieldhouse. >> Mr. Huber. >> All right. So, this just came out today, so I didn't get a chance to really go over it carefully because I was working, but um do am I to understand that this is solely to get county approval at this point and not move forward with anything else? >> State approval. >> State approval. And then um once we get that, then we would go out to bid for the the fieldhouse. >> All right. Because it seems to me that if we're going forward with the first phase, we're going to be forced to go forward with
054the second phase. So Mr. Drew then based on that would have a point in that we should look at it look at it as a whole. And I I'm I'm okay with sending it out to get approved by the state and such. There's also says in here, I believe, that we're approving the plans, which I don't think the board's seen. And I I don't >> Well, normally the board doesn't see the plans. >> Those are designed by the architect and they're signed off by the board president and the superintendent and then they go down to Trent. So, the board doesn't really have any input on the actual plan of the the design because it's an architectural design to go down to Try >> are there any other discussion on >> the bid specifications are something
055different? >> If not Mrs. Francisco the vote >> Miss O'Brien >> yes >> Mr. Sidowitz >> no to 10 abstain on 11 >> Mr. Drew please >> Mr. Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Mr. Gorino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Frris, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> well, I agree that we need to get the field house taken care of. I'm going to vote no at this time. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> thank you. Motion carries. >> Motion carries. >> Yes, >> Mr. Bailey. I would like to move items one through four [clears throat] under budget and finance. Please >> second discussion. >> If not, Mrs. Francisco, >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> excuse me. Yes, >> Mr. Drew. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes, >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes.
056Miss O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Gorino, >> yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> Like to move item number five under budget and finance, please. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Questions. >> Mrs. Francisco. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Miss O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Guino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew? >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes. To payroll and utilities abstain from the remainder. >> Payroll is not on there. >> Number six. >> Yeah, but payroll is separated. >> I'm just >> sorry. >> Thank you. Through the chair. Thank you, >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes, please. >> Move item number six under budget and finance. Please >> second discussion. >> This was the one where I wanted to ask a question.
057This is a little bit different than we've done it before. Is this split out from the list of bills? >> Yes, it is because just >> per my request. >> Okay. All right. In that case, it's >> because Mr. Gordino and I have to be careful on the >> Oh, yes. Okay. >> Any discussion? If not, Mrs. Francisco. >> Mr. Bailey? >> Yes. >> M O'Brien? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cidowitz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gorino? Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. I abstain. >> I'd like to move item number seven under budget and finance. Please >> second. >> Any discussion? >> Mrs. Francisco. Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Miss O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cidowitz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz? >> Yes. >>
058Mr. Gorino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Like to move items number eight and nine under budget and finance. Please. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Uh before we close out budget and finance because eight and nine will be the last two things we vote on tonight. I would just like to go back to 10 and 11 and say that it's about time. Those facilities up there are practically condemned. They've been in service for close to 50 years. That is an area that [clears throat] needs uh upgrade and uh it's the same always the same concern obviously about money. No kidding. And I get that. But I also feel like this is a wonderful opportunity once we get uh more
059uh BOE approval and uh plans in front of us and bid specifications and what have you that in typical West Milford fashion that's happened many times over. No matter what the situation may be, there's going to be a way to drastically cut costs as we rely on the uh volunteerism that always rises up in a situation like this. So, uh, if you think of an oldfashioned barn raising, if you will, I could muster together a work party that could probably build a fieldhouse in like the month of August if need be. So, that's what we have going for us. There there will be considerable savings when we actually put shovel to ground and whistle in the good people of West Milford under the proper supervision. >> Thank you, Mr. Bailey. You're >> welcome. >> This
060is Francisco. Miss O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. >> Mr. Guino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. Mr. Guino, can you do policy, please? >> discussion >> Mr. Uber. >> Okay. First, uh just a clarification on the conduct of board meetings. >> Mhm. >> Um it looks like you cleaned up the agenda items, but I noticed that liaison was left off the list of the um the special committees. >> Okay. >> Uh should that be on there? Uh it seems like you know that's part of our normal agenda the liaison positions. >> Now those are appointed by the president the the liaison. Should they be part of the agenda? >> Is
061it automatically in there or in terms of reports from that group or just >> well we're ch the bylaws we're we're adopting another set of bylaws for the uh meetings. >> Right. So that should be approved by the board. The full it is proper to be on here. I'll make an amendment to add less on back. >> Okay. Um, >> under committee reports. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Uh, yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. >> I used to read special committee. One second. >> So, Glenn, just so we all get the same language under >> it was changed to um committee reports from special committee reports and leaison. >> So, if we just want to put a slash leaison next to that. So, committee reports slash liaison. Okay. >> That's on page two of two. >> That's fine.
062>> No, that's fine. >> Is that >> That's it for number number two. So, we have to >> Well, we have to vote on the amendment. >> The amendment. >> Okay. Those in favor? >> I Does that have to be >> Any opposed? >> Okay. >> That doesn't have to be roll. >> Uh, no. >> Okay. It's for the amendment. It's not for the motion itself. Right. >> Yeah. For number two, >> that was number two. >> I'm sorry. Number one. >> Mhm. >> Uh I have a question and then some comments. First question is for legal counsel. >> Um >> on nepotism. >> The new version of the nepotism policy is posted on the site. Okay. But the old one, the current one is not posted under on the policy section of the site.
063So any member of the public could not see what the change was. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So are we okay on the notice for the first reading? Yes, absolutely. Some districts do it that way. Um there's nothing in the uh statute or regulations that says you have to post on your website pre and post edits. So you're fine. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, next next thing on that is that um >> you didn't call or ask any questions while you didn't have these before the meeting. That's why I'd asked about >> we get notice on Friday if >> you have a family and a job. >> Sometimes there's not time to do that. But that's why I I I we put Barbara and Alex and and Dan and Liz on notice that
064if they got a phone call from the board members be prior to the meeting that so that you would have answers to your question to reach out to legal counsel. >> You're not supposed to reach out to legal counsel. >> They couldn't answer the question, >> but they could reach out if they wanted, >> right? Yeah. But so it got done in meeting. That's what's going to happen. >> Okay. It would it would be helpful if we do it prior so that you have the answers and they have the ability to answer the question prior that you have. >> It's important for the public to hear the answer sometimes too. >> Okay. >> All right. So now on uh the other thing on nepotism is so everybody's aware of what's going on with that is
065that at the end of last year, not too long ago, uh an adjustment was passed to restrict employment of for relatives of employees of the district. Okay, that is now being reversed and put back the way it was. So there is no restriction or oversight whatsoever on that. So now I know what's going to happen with the new voting block on the board and that's going to pass. However, I do think it's important for the board to know when we're voting on somebody who's a relative, an employee in the district. So, I'm going to make an amendment to basic to say add to that policy a clause that basically says that we will be notified on the agenda when uh a potential employee is uh up for acceptance. Okay? And who the relative is. >>
066That way we can see it on the agenda. we're aware what we're voting on and it doesn't fly by without us being aware. >> So, so ju just so I'm clear on on what you're asking. So, are you asking that if a a um you want the administration to announce if the superintendent is recommending somebody who's related to an employee in the district? Because the constraint under the nepotism law is that you can't be related to the superintendent or board members. >> Right now, our current policy, you you don't want to hear Mr. But our current policy has a restriction, not much of one, but there's a restriction on uh employees. Um >> so if you have a a teacher in the district hiring her brother, for instance, something like that. And so you want
067the only people that presumably would know about that is the administration. So you want to amend the policy so that Dr. Anamone would announce that this person who I'm recommending tonight is related to custodian Mr. Smith. >> Right. >> Just so that motion formed >> that would have to be on the agenda. um he can make the motion to amend the policy. >> Okay. >> It's a first reading, I assume. >> I just figured that would be the easiest way and that way the public would also be informed automatically um by the fact that the agenda is posted. So those who are interested look at the agenda online then it would it would cover bases. That's why I thought of it that way. >> Okay. That you need we need a motion. You have the
068motion. >> Motion. I need a second. And is it a discussion? >> Uh just support of order. Can we have a could we request a roll call vote on an amendment or >> Yeah, you could. Sure. Yeah, sure. Certainly could. >> So, I'd like to make that request, please. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> And um >> actually, never mind. It's only the first meeting. I'll say this. That's my >> Okay. Any other discussion on the amendment? If not, we'll do the roll call on on the amendment. >> Yes. >> Uh Mr. Bailey, >> no. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> no. >> Mr. Gorino, >> no. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. Mrs. O'Brien, >> no. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> no. >> Amendment failed. >> Now your
069discussion. >> Mrs. Van Djk, I'd like to see this referred back to the policy committee as I believe that further discussion might might change the language and the interpretation of the policy. So I think it would >> you're looking to table the policy. >> Still referring to the nepotism policy, >> correct? You have to make a motion to table. >> I'd like to make a motion to table uh item number one. Please >> need a second. >> I'll second it for discussion. >> There really is no motion. I'm sorry. There really is no discussion on a motion to table. >> That's it. >> I'll second it. >> Do the roll call on that. Also, >> Mr. Bailey, >> no. >> Mr. Sid, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. Mrs. Fritz Point of order. Is
070this just to table >> to table the the nepotism? >> No. >> Mr. Gorino. >> No. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Sure. >> Miss O'Brien. >> No. >> Miss Van Djk? >> No. >> Motion fails. >> Any other items under uh policy discussion? Mr. Drew? uh with regard to item one and I'd like to point out we in fact voted under the current policy on an employee and personnel who was related on the board and it really didn't encounter any kind of undue burden at all that you're notified there would be one. I asked a few questions. Sure. Best person for the job. No question about it. So, we're asking for a slight amount of extra due diligence on the part of the board to look at these. I think everybody's probably aware that New Jersey
071has a rich tradition of bribery and corruption. There have been moves made about this. Our US senator is currently under 19 indictments for bribery, corruption, misappropriation. I think asking the board to take a slight extra effort to make sure we don't have that kind of thing going on is completely reasonable. And I just have to wonder what are we trying to hide? It's never an issue. What on earth are we trying to hide? I'm more than willing to look do take a little extra work, look at it. Is this the best person for the job? And and of course I'm going to look for the best person for the job. I have no idea why we're trying to make it easier to hide, corrupt, and bribe in West Milford Public Township schools. But >> but
072just to be clear, there's nothing illegal at all about hiring uh the relative of of an employee. It's illegal to hire the relative of a board member or an administrator. And there are certain exceptions of course if you advertised and couldn't find somebody, etc. But um ju just so it's clear, there's nothing uh improper, illegal, or unethical about hiring the relative of an employee of the school district unless they're connected somehow to the board or the administration. >> And I'm not trying to argue with that. I just want the public to understand what we're talking about. That's >> Well, M. Van Djk. I move that the policy, the nepotism policy passed in December be uh submitted to the ethics commission for review. >> You can't do that. >> You could write to the ethics commission
073for an advisory opinion request. >> All right. Then I amend that to be an advisory opinion. >> Does that a motion? >> Um any board member, you you really don't need to do that collectively. Let me speak into the mic here. You don't really need to do that collectively as a board of education. Anybody can submit an advisory opinion request to the school ethics commission. The only constraint is that if you're asking about the conduct of a a fellow board member, you have to copy that board member so that they're given an opportunity to respond. But if you have a particular question about whether something's ethical or not, you on your own could uh write a letter to the ethics commission. You could do it collectively as a board. I guess that's what you're saying.
074You're saying we as a board [cough] should write to the ethics commission. What is the what is the legal question that you want the ethics commission to consider? >> Well, there were several uh points made by other by other colleagues stating that they've never seen a policy like this and they don't know whether or not it would kind of pass the test of being ethical. So, I'd like to just just for my clarification, is this a Strauss policy? Uh just just to bring you up to speed, >> let's not all talk. Let's give Dr. the floor. >> It was a strauss policy that we've had. It was amended to include uh no relative of a board member or the superintendent or a staff member. >> Okay. Got it. >> So this this alteration removes that
075last phrase. >> Yeah. So if if this is the Strauss Esme policy and I haven't read it, I'll be honest with you that I'm thinking of. Um that policy does conform, the language that was just read does conform with the debitism statute and regulations. You're legally required to have uh such a nepotism policy in place. And the citation to the regulation there is at the end. It's 6A23A uh- 6.2 which anybody can Google and you'll see pretty much that this language pretty much mirrors the regulation. Mrs. Freritz and I I believe I'm not 100% but I do believe that we asked Mr. Rosselli whether or not there were any other districts in New Jersey that had language that included the additional piece of employees in the district and he had said no. So what we
076had proposed as a board was not consistent with the rest of the state. >> Mr. Yuber one I'm sorry but I don't believe that's correct. I don't think so only knows every single district in the state. Um, >> let's talk let's talk to me and let's not talk at Mr. >> I think the question at hand here is um why would the board want to be willfully ignorant in voting and why wouldn't they want the information so they could better consider their votes and I think that's the question here and I agree with Mr. that they maybe the policy committee would be blessed to discuss that and see I can't figure out why it's unreasonable. >> We had a vote that there was an amendment on the floor. You voted to table it. It came
077back. It went down. That doesn't go back to policy. It was the first reading. You can vote no. You voted no on on that. We took it back to the original policy that was put out that all I would say probably 99% of the districts have in the state of New Jersey. That's the policy we had. The committee felt that the language that was in here was restrictive and that's why they took it out. It wasn't to punish or admonish anybody. That was the feeling. That was the feeling of the feedback coming back through the district. I'm going to call the question now. I can do that. Right. Certainly. >> Thank you. >> I need a vote on the motion, >> Mrs. Francisco. >> That's on all of the policies. >> I >> Yes. >>
078As amended uh per the suggestion to add the uh liaison. >> Right. Right. Amended. Number two. >> That's the only one that was amended then. >> Yes, that's the only one that was amended. Number two. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mrs. uh Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> no to number one and two to the remainder. And I want to say I'm disappointed in the uh limitation of discussion by the by the president. >> Mr. Drew, >> uh not to one and uh not to 17 which [clears throat] happy to discuss. And yes on the balance. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Gorino. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> No to resolution one. Yes to the remainder. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Miss Van Djk.
079>> Yes. Special committees. Mr. Gorino, you are under parks and recreation. I don't know if there's been a meeting yet since we've started a meeting. >> Okay. Uh safety. There was no meeting which would be with me. Tomorrow is the round table meeting. Mrs. Dwire uh I mean Thursday is the round uh superintendent roundt meeting. Mrs. Dwire is the re attending and I'm going to also attend to just reach out and meet the PTAs. Uh county school boards I have a meeting on February 5th. New Jersey school boards. I haven't gotten anything. I haven't even gotten any emails or anything Barbara from them. >> They're on the the the roster has been updated. >> Yeah. Okay. So I haven't received anything. Mr. Uber your legislation. >> Uh I don't have anything on New Jersey right
080now, but I I monitor C-SPAN a bit and um Betsy Devost has panel discussions on occasion and something that we should be aware of is that um her agenda is to open up federal funding to every kind of education um online, charter schools, private schools, anything else in competition with public schools. So, I think that it behooves us to look at that and say, geez, well, we need to be especially with with uh significantly reducing enrollments over the years, we need to look at it and say, you know, we're now in a competitive environment and we have to look at ourselves and say, how can we be competitive and so that people want to choose us because we have we have some great teachers, we have some great facilities, we have a good curriculum and
081people are choosing elsewhere and we need to, you know, look at ourselves and see how how can we um make ourselves known so that we're competitive. That's it for the legislature. >> Thank you. Technology um tonight we just changed um [cough] Mrs. Fritz is going to step into the technology oversight and Mr. Sowitz is going to be taking over the liaison position with the township and the joint boards. So I don't think you have do you have you don't have any you haven't you don't have anything. >> We're trying to get a meeting scheduled for early February. >> Good. Okay. >> Uh Mrs. O'Brien, you said you would stay on as the West Milford Education [clears throat] Foundation. >> Yes, I do have something to report. Um the organization is organizing a meet and greet
082and it will be on Monday, February 26th. Um unfortunately at the moment I do not have location or time. If I was guessing and this is please this is a 100% guess. It would be 7:00 at the high school. But again I don't have specifics on that. But I do have the date for Monday, February 26 meet and greet. feel like to have people coming in from the public to see what they do and to join and to be part and parcel of this wonderful organization. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And will you'll you'll get all the information. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> You you'll attend I guess the council meetings or >> we would we would schedule our own uh separate meeting with whomever the liaison to the council is. >> Okay.
083Mr. Yuber Casa. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't see you there, Mr. Drew. >> I have a question. What's the [cough] next state county school board meeting about? Sometimes incredibly useful. >> Uh, it's it's on February 5th. If you want, I'll send you I'll send I'll forward you the email that I that I have. Okay. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Okay. There was a uh CASA comm uh meeting on January 8th. That's community against substance abuse. Um, at which Nick Padivani was uh voted in as the new committee chair. Uh Rebecca Stump is still the director um the paid director for that and but Nick is the volunteer committee chair. Um the uh committee is going to be working with the school. They're trying to promote a couple of programs. One's called we're not bullying
084uh bull buying it. What uh 2.0 and footprints for life. Um one uh targets children fifth to eighth grade and the other one uh second to third. Um the committee is going to be looking to uh uh do some uh data generation surveys so that they can better address issues within the township and they're looking to work possibly with the school uh partner with the school on that. Maybe that's some of your extra questions for the survey next year. Um and the Highland uh family success center. Um, they're also, I don't know if you guys have heard about this yet, but they're going to be looking to work uh with the Makipin uh middle school activity nights. Not in an any intrusive way, uh, possibly give out some, you know, maybe giveaways or something like
085that um that would have uh information on it. Okay. Um, there is an open seat for the media liaison. So, if anybody knows um somebody who's in the media uh in any way that would like to um volunteer in that capacity, uh they should contact Rebecca Stump. Uh and then I just have some dates to announce. Um uh March 13th, uh the organization town called Wake Up will be hosting a Narcan training program at the library from 6:30 to 8. Um, I don't know if you have to register or not, but I'm sure if you Google wake up uh in West Milford that you'll be able to find contact information. Uh, March 29th is the Kasa semi the annual Kasa semiformal. Um, April 4th, uh, this is a great one, so I recommend you spread
086the word. There's a hidden in plain sight uh program going to be held at Macken School. Uh and um May 12th is going to be the community awareness dinner which I I do recommend to all board members. They usually have a speaker that's very informative and uh it's sometimes it's very eye opening. >> Sorry. Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Glenn, what was that? >> Uh that was uh May 12th is community awareness day. >> Thank you. >> Excuse me. Can I ask Mr. Uber. Mr. Yuber, do they have some kind of a website where people can look at those upcoming events? >> Uh, there is a if you Google uh West Miler Casa, uh, you'll come to some place that has a link. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, old business. Mr. Sowitz, >>
087Miss Van Dyke, I would like to know if there is any word on the Hillrest RFP. >> I'll refer that to Mrs. Francisco. >> Mr. Roselli and I are still working on it. We're trying to uh formulate it. We anticipate uh being able to advertise it this week. Go >> ahead. Um I would like to suggest to my colleagues, Miss Van Djk, that we perhaps consider finding a commercial realtor in order to have a dedicated professional to the selling of the Hillrest building. and they would probably know a better route to finding clientele who would use the building to their better purposes. >> Is that something that we need to >> Are you le I'm a little ignorant of this one person. Are you selling a school or leasing a school? >> Okay. So currently
088we have a building that was taken offline probably in the '7s and uh it was leased by the township for a number of years and they have since u vacated so it's a vacant building. Um we looked at the possibility of rehabilitating it but the costs are pretty uh extensive. So, the board is anticipating that possibly a nonprofit might be interested in taking it over and utilizing the space and and bringing programs uh to the community, >> but we would still own it. >> Um, and that we would turn it over to that nonprofit. that's the first avenue that they want to explore is being able to to um see if there's any interest with a nonprofit and then uh finding a way to turn it over to a nonprofit. >> Just so I'm clear
089what you mean by turn it over to you mean literally transfer title? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> Got it. >> So, uh Mr. Roselli and I have been working on an RFP in order to put a public notice into the newspaper for that. Um, >> yeah, because the the statute says we uh we have to put it up for a bid to the highest bidder, except if you're going to transfer it to another municipality or another governmental agency. I don't think nonprofits >> qualify. So, you have to advertise it first. Uh, and if there's no takers, and you could set a minimum price. If there's no takers after two um bids, then you can um and I've had this experience before. You can hire a realtor. Uh I represent Mount Olive. They did
090just that and they put it up for a uh a sale to the highest bidder after that or that you can actually negotiate at that point in time. >> May I ask a question of the attorney, please? >> Sure. >> Um has any uh municipality or district that you've served skip that process of uh highest bidder and go straight to the commercial realtor? >> No. Thank you. The only thing is I'd have to check. I don't know if there's an exception if you're transferring it to a nonprofit. So, if that may be an exception to the general rule about putting it out to bid because like I said, I know for certain that if you were going to transfer if you're going to transfer title to the municipality, for instance, you don't have to go
091through all the steps that I just talked about. You just have to um get Department of Education approval to show that the property is no longer needed for school purposes. Once you got the Department of Education approval, then you could simply transfer it to the municipality without putting it out to a bid. Again, I don't know if nonprofits fit within that. I'd have to check and that's something Joe could certainly look at also. I don't know if you've discussed that with him at all. Yeah. >> Question. Um, if we were going to go to the route of the commercial realer, how would we be able to distinguish that? Would we have to um ask for some kind of proposal from them? >> Yes. >> So, I would do an RFP actually probably for commercial realtors
092who get the best return on the sale. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Anything else under old business? >> Seeing none, I'd like to close all business. >> Second. >> Those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. New business. There is a motion for the New Jersey School Boards Association. Nicole, would you want to do that? Sure. Give me a second. I would like to move to approve the following resolution under new business. Read the whole thing. >> Yeah, I think does it have to be read? >> Um, I don't believe so. It's on the agenda. Yeah. >> Okay. Fine. >> Need a second. >> Second. >> And that is a voice. Is that a voice, too? >> All those in favor? >> Yep. I mean, I Excuse me. >> I said
093yippy. I mean I. >> Any opposed? Okay. So, now we're we're moving into petitions and requests. >> Not done with new business yet. >> Oh, I'm sorry. New business. I It was kind of blended all in there. You have an item for new business? >> Yeah, I just have I have be this will be brief. Um I have a question to pose to the board and administrators. Um, this this is particularly about the high school, but a little bit about the district as well. We have excellent teachers. We have a a really good curriculum. We have um facilities and we offer programs that other towns in the area don't offer. All right, we have a lot to offer. The question is why do we still have pe people and families fleeing from the high school
094and try and looking for other alternatives? That's my question and hopefully maybe we could ponder it and discuss it at some later date. >> Okay. >> Can I come back to the question of the property because I was actually looking >> Sure. Go ahead. >> Can I just add a little tidbit? We did I apologize, Miss Vand. That's okay. Uh we did have half of the um students who applied for PCTI 2016. We cut that number in half this year. So we're very proud of that. So the fleeing I think we've reduced the the flight. >> I don't really like the word fleeing because people make choices >> and uh there was a large there was a uh >> actually it's probably a reverse fleeing. We had >> I >> an unf. I can't even
095uh I lose track how many students freshman class even a couple sophomores this year that left PAT Tech to come back to West Milford. >> It seems likeough >> it seems like almost every week we're getting another notification of a student who is coming back. So uh >> if anything they're not fleeing West Milford they're fleeing to West Milford. I >> think we have 12 >> coming to West Milford. >> We have 12 that have been >> 12 returning this year alone. Right. So, uh, >> it's hard to have a 5,000 student high school without being it overly impersonal and then you have the hiccups with transportation and other issues that they're going on with. But, um, we're very proud of our school and our district and, uh, you know, the high school is a
096flagship school here. It's, uh, where many of our board members attended and, uh, we're proud of it. >> Mr. >> I appreciate the the administration wants to minimize that, but there's also private schools. Um, there's K12, there's online programs, and I I do know of students that are are leaving. So, it's something that I think that we shouldn't just sweep under the rug. We should actually think about. >> Okay. >> Just getting back to the question about the property. I think you asked the question. So, I did check the statute here. It nonprofits actually are one of the exemptions. So, you can sell actually not even it's a sell for nominal consideration, i.e. a dollar uh board property that you don't need for school purposes to certain nonprofits that are listed in the statute. If
097you were going to sell it to a private company, that would require a bid and you could only go to sell it through a realtor after you've exhausted that [clears throat] process. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> Mr. S. >> Mrs. Van Djk has a point to my colleagues. I can't think of a time in West Milford where anything was transferred for a dollar in West Milford and has benefited our community. I'd just like to remind everybody of that. If you could think of something, please inform me. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else? New business. I have one thing under new business. Um I spoke with uh Mrs. Francisco today and we need to think about what we want to do as far as the budget meetings. Um I I believe we'll be meeting
098as budget committee as a whole to discuss the budget. Um, she did ask me if to get the the board's feel on whether they want to meet before we get the state aid numbers or in and wait until after because without those numbers we're kind of you know beating a you know a dead horse until we know what those numbers are. So my direction was after which would be sometime after March 13th and then we could build some special meetings into our calendar for just the budget talks. I'll take any qu Mr. Sitz. >> I can't shut up. Mrs. Van Dyke, I'm sorry. >> That's okay. You're lonely. >> Not true. Um I believe that it would benefit us to also have meetings prior to the March date. I believe that there are more items
099to discuss within the budget besides having our state aid numbers to reflect upon. That's my two cents. Thank you. >> Okay, Mrs. Fritz, >> I I actually don't necessarily disagree. I mean, I I don't think it makes sense to have too much conversation without those numbers, but I think given that we know this is going to be a difficult year and there's, you know, a lot of conversations to be had, at least maybe one or two meetings before might be beneficial. with schedules permitting m >> Mr. Drew >> I would prefer before and after if anybody feels like they don't want to attend one of them fine >> okay Mr. you. >> Uh, I would agree with that, but also I it would be helpful if we could be provided with um the budget with
100maybe last year's state numbers in it. That should be right around the ballpark where we're going to be anyway. >> I think because it's a new governor, they're kind of leerary on that. >> Well, [laughter] it can't hurt for us to have the information. Then we can it's easier for us to consider. >> Mrs. Francisco. Um, when did you expect that we'd be getting our budget books? >> Uh, is our intent to have them out by the end of next week? >> Okay. Would it would it be in line maybe with the rest of the board that we have we add an extra meeting into February for budget so that we we're adding one at least prior to the state aid numbers? >> Depends on when it is. >> Yeah, I'm okay with that. >>
101Yeah. If we did a did the t Tuesday, well, we could send it out. >> Yeah, we we'll we'll put something out in an email with maybe two dates and then we could get everybody could get back and see if it works. >> Is that okay with the rest of the board? >> Thank you, Miss Van. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Now, now we're going to uh Is there any other new business? I need a motion to close new business. Make a motion to close new business. >> All those in favor. >> Any opposed? Okay. Petitions and requests. Petition. I have to read this again. [cough] >> Um it's on the agenda, so you don't have to read it again. Just say >> does anybody want to speak? Uh under petitions and requests. >>
102Okay. If not, I need a motion to >> close petitions request. >> Second. Need a second? >> Second. >> Those all those in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? >> Okay. So, now we need >> a motion to go into executive session. >> I will move at 9:04 p.m. to go into exe executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel ahib and matters of attorney client paper. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? We will be taking action. >> We will be returning and taking action. So, we're going to have a session in the main office today. Okay. >> Okay. Good job. Uh, Barbara, would you do a roll call? [cough] >> Mr. Bailey, Mr. Sidowitz, >> I'm sorry, this is no attendance >> here. >> Um, Mr. Drew, >> present. >>
103Mrs. Fritz >> here. >> Mr. Gorino >> here. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien >> here. Mrs. Van Djk >> present. Okay. U Mrs. O'Brien, can you do motion uh item number four under personnel? >> Sure. I'd like to make a motion to um excuse me to approve item number four under personnel student affairs. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Uh roll call. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. Yes, >> Mr. Gorino. >> Yes, >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes, >> Miss O'Brien. >> Yes, >> Miss Van Dyk. >> Yes, >> that concludes personal certification. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Drew, would you like to do item number eight under education? I would like to move item eight adopt the recommendation with regard to the hips. Um 218
104E8 as substantiated 218 E9 as unsubstantiated 218 H9 as substantiated. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? If not, roll call. Mr. Drew. >> Yes. Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Borino, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. >> Miss O'Brien, >> yes. Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Motion to >> second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Good night, everyone. >> I thank you. >> Pleasure. Nice meeting you. >> Nice meeting you, too. >> My family by 10. That's right. >> Wow. Thank you.