Board of Education Meeting 8/22/17

001Yeah, >> we're all set. Okay. >> Uh, good evening everyone and welcome to the August 22nd uh workshop regular meeting of the West Milford Board of Education. I would ask that you turn off your cell phones and make a note of emergency exits. >> I would also like to have a moment of silence. Um I want to guess it >> um former principal at the high school passed away and Um, so staff who lost some loved ones in the past couple to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> In accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act that public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the

002Herald news, the trends, the record, the messenger, Westminster town hall, county superintendent's office, board attorney, cable vision forward have been 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, please. Mr. Francis, >> Mr. Bailey, >> here. >> Mr. Sidwood >> here. >> Mr. Drew >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire here. Mrs. Mr. Yuber >> here. >> Mr. O'Brien. Mr. Robins >> here. >> Mr. Would you do the honors of the executive session resolution approve the following resolution resolve that the board go into executive session at approximately 9 p.m. for approximately 30 minutes for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, current litigation matters, special education matters, negotiations, and matters of attorney privilege. The matters discussed in executive session

003shall be made to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality. >> Second >> um discussion I would like to add Thank you. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Dr. Superintendence report. I'm going to start with our monthly progress that first and then Thank you. >> Good evening, members of the board, members of the public. We have our uh monthly update now progress towards our district goals. And just to give everybody a brief review of what we've done and where we're going. Uh earlier this spring in May, the board met in committee to discuss our district goals and our board goals for the 1718 school year. We also talked about our our slogan, our mission statement, things of that nature. Uh these four goals were approved at the board meeting

004later that same month. The discussion that evening was led by a representative from New Jersey School Boards Association and we have a couple of PowerPoint slides here which are going to give you a a brief overview of what we are doing next to achieve those goals. This is not a absolutely comprehensive list nor is it a final list because things will be added in the weeks and months ahead. Now overall what we're trying to do is align all our efforts this year. So for example, our resources, whether it's human resources or fiscal resources, we're trying to gain economies of scale by doing everybody doing the same thing. Our vision is aligned, our goals are aligned, our professional development is aligned with our district, our school goals or department goals or our district goals. So they

005all start from the district goals and then they work their way down. So there's going to be a district goal for here are the four district goals. Number one is a replay from last year differentiated instruction. So each school each department is going to have a goal in that area. So how how does Maple Road plan on meeting differentiated instruction? How does the uh science department plan on doing that? So everybody's working in the same direction. The professional development that we have planned for next two weeks as well as later on through the year informs these discussions and these decisions as well. So we're not just going to do random professional development because we saw something need online. It's going to be PD professional development that helps us achieve these four goals. Uh second school

006uh second district goal is improving communication. That's also a repeat from last year. The third one is new this year. Uh this involves math and we talked about this at length. Uh we broke this down to basically a complete audit and review of our math program K to 12. So that means and also make recommendations for 1819 whatever those recommendations may be. And the fourth one is new this year but it's also very critical. It's exploring all opportunities and district-wide cost efficiencies in order to maximize funding for educational programs. So, in other words, how do we do more with less? Because we're getting less from the state every year. We're getting less from the federal government every year. Our tax levy hasn't gone up in a few years. So, in essence, we have less of

007that, so to speak, at least relative to our overall budget. And our costs are going up. So without cutting programs, how do we do more with less or in reality, how do we do the same with less and improve our efficiencies? Uh so our first district goal is differentiated instruction. Our K to6 schools this year are working uh in concert with one another. They're going to use something called targeted walkthroughs, which is when a principal or even two administrators take walkthroughs throughout the building and stop into each classroom or in the larger buildings, one whole window of the of the school and write down what they see for those four to six minutes in those classrooms on down the line. Meet with those teachers afterwards and tell us how we what we saw, what we

008liked, what we didn't like. Here's some ways to get better. Um readers and writers workshop is something we're going to continue to implement this year in all our six schools. This is working with Columbia University teachers college at McAfe and the high school for that matter. They're going to examine their master schedule this year and make some recommendations for 1819. There may be some changes, there may not be changes. It depends on what's in the best interest of our children and what's in the best interest of our district. Um, we're also going to do readers and writers workshop at McAfeinn and at the high school. This is going to be year one of our AP capstone implementation for our sophomores. Continue with district one differentiated instruction um read and writers workshop for language arts across

009the board multiple grades. social studies. They are going to do year one of AP capstone at the same time planned for year two which will be two courses next year and also have year two implementation of the preap program at macro in science. We're looking to start a five-year plan that outlines the steps necessary for CTE certification. That's career technical education. So what other career technical education programs can we bring to West Mil High School to get this proper certification so that when our kids leave the high school they don't just have a smattering of courses but they have a certificate that they can use postgraduate world language we are looking to increase the number of students enrolled in AP world language classes for the 1819 school year that's going to be our goal this

010year we know that highly uh we know that some of your better universities are going to want more than the state minimum for world language. So the state minimums two years. We're looking for students who are taking three or four years of world language. So we're looking to push students and encourage students to take that third and ultimately fourth year of AP Spanish, AP French, etc. So they can graduate with some college courses. We're also going to be setting up our Google sites training and our students in world language will be creating some elect your electronic portfolio. All right. Uh fizzed, I don't want to jump on Dan's presentation, but we are going to create a new health a K12 health curriculum. District goal two is improving communication. There's a lot of different ways we

011can do this. Our elementary schools are basically standardizing their use of social media applications this year. Um, we've had in previous years some schools using something and other schools not. I think this year we're going to see a more standardized application of social media to serve their community. Uh, I'll use one example of Remind. It's the app many schools are using for the up tothem minutee updates on what's going on at school. Just a quick reminder that bus rabbit is going to be 20 minutes late today. you send that out and everybody gets it and the people who are on that bus, they hold their kids 20 minutes so they're not waiting at the stop. So, so small little things where you look at a standardized use uh at the K6 level at the high

012school and in various departments they use a lot of newsletters. I think I've been bringing them to the board meetings in previous uh previous meetings. We're looking to increase the use of that. It's a really uh pleasant way of sharing all the good things that we do with our community. science. We are breaking a new curriculum with the New Jersey student learning standards for science, formerly known as the next generation science standards. We're looking to increase the comfort level our elementary teachers have in teaching science. Many of them are not scientists per se. They're elementary teachers. So, we're looking to increase the level of comfort they have with teaching these new standards. World language. We're bringing Google Classroom into our to our world language courses. Uh guidance, we know we're doing additional meetings this year

013that we're going to monitor our student attendance and communicate with parents. That is a new uh graded component of the ESSA regulations this year is chronically the number of chronically absent students. That's students who are absent from school more than 10% of the school year or 18 days. So that's something we're going to closely monitor this year because as part of New Jerseyy's ESSA plan which was just approved that is a component of it. District goal three is in a nutshell math we are going to break this down to two halves. So from July through the end of the calendar year, we're going to audit and review what we've been doing, curriculum, materials, course sequencing, everything, and then make some recommendations and implement those recommendations for 1819. That would be the second half of the

014year. So we're going to break that large goal down to some more achievable chunks. Right. at Makatha. This year we are going to aim for a successful implementation of the first year of doing this uh grade seven pre-alggebra honors class with the hope that the following year we see an increase enrollment in grade 8 algebra. So that's our two-year goal at MAC. Goal number four is cost efficiencies. We are still in the process of looking into our LGA. Uh our our energy audit to achieve some savings there. In our special education department, we are going to do an audit of all of our students placed in out of district schools. We know there's some efficiencies that might be able to be gained there. and our technology department. We're going to develop a list of all

015of our technology materials and tie that in with a purchasing cycle for technology as well. So again, this is not a comprehensive list of everything, but we broke it down into a manageable presentation here for you tonight. So our next step, our principles and supervisors will still have time to edit this. their teachers are technically off duty this summer. So, they'll be back within a few weeks. They can meet with the teacher if they want to make some adjustments. There's always time. It's really just a living document. Um, but we meet monthly with the admin council and then I meet monthly with the board and present those updates along the way. Any questions from members of the board? Goal two was really intended to um help promote uh teacher administrator partnering with parents. What are

016we doing to promote the one-on-one partnering between parents and teachers so that they can better uh produce better uh educational experience for the kid? This is this the what you've proposed so far is great, but it seems to be very like general communications kind of like you know keeping making things more efficient. We were really contemplating more one-on-one kind of like customer service and partnership relations between parents and teachers when we made that goal. So, we need to think in terms of how do we promote that? >> Nothing really nothing really will stop that from occurring anyway. If there's a teacher who's concerned about a student, you know, we always encourage our teachers to, you know, call home when two, you know, when there's two homework assignments back to back, call home. as opposed to

017you know Glenn miss eight homework assignments type we don't want to wait that long we want to get on that so there's always the expectation of professionalism from our staff from our administrators and that they address these issues sooner rather than later we still have our our real time portal so grades are updated you know literally in real time um so that's a two-way street we encourage our parents to get involved and we encourage our teachers and administrators to communicate with parents. And as great as the social media apps are and emails, there's still not no substitute for a phone call, >> right? They should never go through. >> But I think the goal recognizes that that wasn't happening quite as much as we would like. And so I think we're looking for some kind

018of initiative to help promote that within the staff and make the parents aware that the staff is open to that. question. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Right. >> Okay. For the next for the remainder of the superintendent report, we have a couple other items here. We have two items which are listed simultaneously. HIV ITP and EVBRS. These are statewide reporting requirements that we do every year, sometimes twice a year. So the HIV is harassment, intimidation, bullying. ITP is investigations, trainings and protocols. So over the last reporting period, we have had 38 investigations initiated. All met statutory timelines of 10 days. We have had 15 of those incidents affirmed by the board of ed as harassment as HIV. As far as our training, we have had 78 school hours and 459.5

019district, excuse me, school program hours of training in the previous period. And our district training was 4 and a half hours and our district program hours were 5 and a half. Now for EVVRS, that's the electronic violence and vandalism reporting system. We have over the previous reporting period which is January to June, we have had seven incidents of violence, zero vandalism, one weapon, two substance abuse, and 15 HIVs. And they're broken down by school and by category as well. And our year end HIV totals for the entire school year broken down by grade. We have had at the high school we had 14 total, eight hib, six non-hib. Makapin had six total, four HIB, two non-HIB. Westbrook had 12, that's five Hib, and seven non-HIB. UGL had three. That's two HIB, one non-hib. Paradise Null

020had two investigations, two non-HIB. Marshall Hill had six and six non-hibs. Maple Road had five and five non-hibs. And Abua had zero investigations. So obviously zero HIPS. So our next reporting period will be after December 31st. All right, moving along. We have some very good news to report. Our McCormick field update. We discussed this at a a few board meetings and we did have our crumb rubber tested at the at McCormick Fields and it did come back perfectly safe. Um I'll just read a sentence here. All the compounds analyzed were either not detected or were detected below the most stringent NJD criteria. So we are still using the field. >> I think it's is in the board members packets. It might be uploaded already. Yeah. >> So, that's good news. Great news, actually. And the

021last piece of great news, and this should segue neatly into Mr. Novak's report. Um, late last spring, we purchased some books for all our administrators. It's a Jim Collins book, Good to Great. Coincidentally enough, there was the DAJ conference in March of 2018, a Directors of Athletics Association of New Jersey. This is the statewide organization. They reached out to our athletic director, Mr. Treniccasta, and asked him to present on the good to great athletic department. And this calls in this is really uh an affirmation of all the work they did last year. We've been over the awards that they won. It was the only statewide award given out last year in New Jersey and now they're being recognized it for it again at the conference will where Mr. Trent will uh present to his colleagues.

022So, uh congratulations to them and look forward to another great year. Okay, Mr. Novak, education report, please. >> So, as uh Dr. Edomon alluded to in his um progress towards goals that we are in the process of revising and reviewing our health curriculum. We are not implementing a new curriculum. Um I just want to make sure we're clear on that. We um we were not at the point this summer for an actual um curriculum review. However, we decided to go ahead and do it anyway with some of the um conversations we had in this room last year and and within the education committee. Uh when I spoke with education committee last week, we discussed the idea that or the the fact that we were uh monitored by CUAC from P County in 201617 and we

023were given a glowing review for our curriculum including our including our health curriculum which was um compliant with the most current state standards. So, um, that being said, we, you know, organized in the spring to put a committee together this summer to take a look at our curriculum and review to see where we could enhance. And, um, one of the areas that we focused specifically on and the target of that was in the area of mental wellness and substance abuse. So, u, Mr. Trenic is going to come up in a moment just talk about some of the specifics that we, um, were able to do. We, he had, uh, some great conversations over the summer. They came up with a realignment and a revision of our of our current curriculum. And that's really going to

024set the tone for the work throughout the, you know, not only this school year, but over the the next few years to build a really um comprehensive plan for, you know, we believe is going to be big steps in the community for, you know, not only mental health, but um but substance abuses. We we see those uh working hand to hand in hand. So, if um Mr. Trenagos, if you just want to come give a few a few specifics. Sure. >> Sure. Thank you. Joe Trancasta. I'm the supervisor of health driver education, physical education, and athletic director. Thank you, Dr. Ammon, for mentioning the athletic department. I was really floored and honored to be asked to be able to present uh this coming March um you know, at the state convention. uh busy. We've been

025busy this summer and we formed a committee K to2 of um physical education health teachers and driver education teachers and staff to really analyze K to2 how we're addressing substance abuse um and how that's taught in the class. We brought in Casa Rebecca Stump came. She did a wonderful job talking about best practices um and how although curricula sometimes is very you know it's it's it's it's a list, it's a guide, it's something you follow. And although we were meeting the core content standards, um we felt that it was something we wanted to address holistically. How do we address it with our best practices in the classroom? So for half of our high school staff um one middle school teacher and one elementary school teacher were able to really brainstorm best practices um look at

026substance abuse rescaffold some of the areas in where we were addressing certain issues whether it be awareness simple infor um which is more what you get in the middle school where you start to talk a little bit more about uh coping strategies and things like that as you get further up into the the higher grades. So, we did restructure some of that. Um, that is up for approval. And, um, I think the bigger piece that, you know, Mr. Novak and I are excited about is the community piece, which I know Mr. Novak is prepared to talk about. Um, we with partnering with Rebecca Stumpf um, and some other organizations, we're discussing a fan a community substance abuse awareness night. And I know that um we're real excited because I think along with district two uh

027district goal number two um bring in the community and for you know forming more partnerships is really what's about best practices partnerships and certainly the curricula we look at it we revise it every so often but it's the uh it's the partnership that we want to strengthen. So any questions for for me is here talking about the necessity to get things started very gradually going on lower grades. Have you guys addressed that? Yes. Start anything in lower grades? >> So um Mr. Ben who's a PE health at Marshall Hill took a look at where we are addressing those issues with substance abuse um from fourth grade on fourth three through sixth. Um we did rescaffold some of that although that really isn't up for revision. Um it's more of the 7th through 12th that you

028know that curricula that we had to rescaffold. Um you know the the state mandates when you teach these certain areas and what Rebecca what she did which I thought was terrific was talking more about best practices and how you engage student learning. Not that's this didactic you know we're going to use scare tactics and we're going to stand in front of room and lecture. It's more about student involvement and the and the best practice in the classroom that was really addressed. question >> and also to refer to to your point about bringing it to a younger audience that leads into our uh discussion for communitywide event. Um early early last spring central office we we had um Mr. Trennicosta with us. We were talking about the you know the process for um you know really

029taking a look at this curriculum over the summer realigning etc. Uh we were at the same time focusing on how do we how do we bring in the community? So, we uh we plan on taking the um framework and I I explained this at ed committee so I'm sorry you're going to hear it again. Um the framework for our digital citizenship night where we um we bring in um students and families from grades 5 through eight and we we host the you know we host event. We the event we build it around the idea of the family dinner table. You know we we really um stress the importance of of those pieces. We talk about the statistics of how, you know, families that that spend that quality time together, students are are less likely to

030get involved in risky behaviors. When we present that at digital citizenship night, we're focusing on on that for that event. However, in the statistics that I um share at digital citizenship night, substance abuse is one of the categories labeled in that in that study and that research that you know the dinner table design that we try to stress um really really you know prevents a lot of those a lot of those areas. Um so we plan on using that same structure, a um family dinner table um discussion where there is a lead speaker organizing the event and forcing families into these difficult conversations in a safe safe structured environment where we're arming parents with um the ability to open up those discussions and you know have those discussions right then and there. We'll do you

031know it'll be a device-f free dinner again like we did like we did in the spring for for digital citizenship night. um you know force some discussions, model some discussions and leave families with takeaways for how do we foster these conversations at home. Um from that you know we have the dinner we have the dinner section we also then will have breakout sessions that'll be led by our um fizzed and PE staff as well as some of our um counselor substance abuse counselor and that sort of thing. Uh we're also been partnering this event is going to be um co-sponsored by CASA. So we were able to meet with Rebecca Stumpf and and talk about that process. So it'll be a truly collaborative event between the schools and CASA to bring in um as much

032as we can. Uh one of the you know really where the discussion started is that we see some of the turnout for for the the events and I think at at best she said she gets sometimes 60 70 parents. Our digital citizenship night um we brought in 800 parents over um over two years. um not sorry not 800 parents 800 total guests between parents and and uh and students. Um so the the collaboration we believe if we can you know if we can bring the people to the forum then um she'll be able to reach a wider wider audience with some of the speakers. So she's in the process of she you know we've had some few ideas for you know culminating event um you know the dinner section the breakout sessions where we empower

033kids to be proactive. It's not a scare tactic sort of event. It's more of a what can you do? You know, what are the things you can do to keep yourselves, you know, keep yourselves active and keep yourselves, you know, in the community and and and understanding, you know, the the um the pitfalls that are out there and how to be proactive and strong and arming kids with what to say in certain situations or what are the secret texts you can send mom to come pick you up if you're in a if you're in a spot that you feel nervous. So, we're going to we're going to take a close look at it and really, you know, try and empower kids to be strong um with our parents there to to have help foster those

034discussions. The night will end with a culminating event with a with a um um a speaker of some kind. Um so, that that's the process that we're in now. We have a few uh we have a few um names that we've been working through with CASA. Uh also, I'd like to do the raffle. So, that's my um that's part of the announcement tonight is I'm going to tell you the date. The date is going to be November 2nd. We've already got it uh planned and scheduled. It is most likely going to be the time frame of 5:30 through 8:30 to 9:00. We try to keep it right to right to 8:30. Um we've been speaking with um CASA also and um recck department and and the town to see if we can have a you

035know sort of a moratorum on on other things being scheduled so we can especially for those age groups so that we can really target fifth through eighth graders and and get the community behind it and get those and get those students in. Um, I'm going to be and and our our committee is going to be reaching out for um for donations so we can have that raffle event like we did at Digital Citizen Night where we raffled off a Chromebook. We raffled off 12 Chromebooks last year which was fantastic. Uh our thoughts are different for this event where we're going to be hoping for um you know local venues whether it's uh day camps or um you know uh karate place or you know just just a um organizations to donate whether it's a week

036of a camp or a few days or some free lessons at a at a um at a you know karate facility or they're reaching out maybe some guitar lessons you know that kind of thing. So, um, you know, so we're going to be we're going to be interacting with the community and try and get a a nice raffle to, you know, promote those positive experiences that, you know, what can kids do in West Milford? Um, other than these things. So, you know, that's our goal. That's our hope and and, uh, you know, I will remind everyone, we were congressionally recognized for our efforts in uh, ever tell you that before, Mr. >> You might have mentioned that. Yeah. um uh for our work in digital citizenship night. We we um you know, we're one of

037the only communities who who are doing that sort of thing and I have a feeling this event is going to stand out as well because I think it's going to be powerful. Um the power is not in that night alone and that's the same thing we learned with digital citizenship. It's not about a one night event that you know brings everyone in and talks about it. It's what we do from there on out. So similar to what we did that night, we highlighted our digital citizenship curriculum. At this night, Mr. Trancasta is going to highlight our changes and our updates to our uh health curriculum, paying specific attention to substance abuse and uh mental mental health. So um although we we were compliant with QAC and we were applying the state standards, I think going

038back to district goal number two, communication, uh families at homes may not have known what are the things that we're doing in school. So this event is going to highlight these are the things we're teaching in school. We're going to have a better process for advertising to parents. You know, this week coming up, your students are going to learn this about digital citizenship. They're going to learn this about substance abuse. These are some ways that you can have those conversations at home. So, we're use the word holistic. I think that's that's really the the approach to this is, you know, advertising the good things that we're doing, supplementing and adding better, and making sure that we're, you know, we use that term allin. you know, we all carry the the all-in chip from uh from

039um going blank. >> John Paul, thank you. Um so we this is again an all-in all-in event for for our town. So we're we're excited about it. November 2nd, uh we will put a Honeywell out once we have the actual name for it. That's like the biggest part of contention now is what do we name it? I've been calling it substance abuse awareness night. Apparently there's a stigma associated with that. Um, but we're we're we're in debate now of what to name it. That's that's what the biggest before the Honeywell for Save the Date comes out, we're gonna have to come up with a name for it. So, maybe we'll do a poll. >> Okay. >> All good. You have anything to add? You're good. All right. >> Thank you very much. >> That's it.

040So, um, like I said, November 2nd and Save the Date Honeywell will be coming out um during the first week of school is our is our deadline for that. >> I I would hope that um that we can do several honey wells over the course, you know, of the two months leading up to, but also if there's any way, Dan, that maybe we could push this to 6:00, which might allow I can I'll elaborate. So, the event won't begin until 6, but coming back to the other event, we had a bit of a um we had a half hour window for what we called the vendor fair and registration. Um, so the event won't start until 6, but we're going to have um our plan is, thank you for asking, I forgot this piece. Uh,

041we plan on having local organizations. We'd like to get someone from law enforcement there to talk about what we do in our our real program in sixth grade. Uh, we're going to have some of our counselors on hand to distribute literature for things that we do. We're going to try and get some of the local counseling facilities. Um, you know, in the in the Macup and entryway, we had a, like I said, just like a vendor fair. So, um, mental health professionals, we have a few, um, um, resources in the community for, uh, people who teach mental health first aid and and also, uh, for substance abuse. So, we've got a lot of got a lot of outlets for who we can have during that time period. So, the event will start at 6. Doors

042will open probably at 5:15 so we can get people uh, registered and and signed up to get their schedule for where they're going for the night. So, that that usually gives a lot of time for those those people late arriving. All right, you're you're finished, Mr. >> I'm done. >> Barbara, special reports and correspondence, please. >> July 18th and July 25th meeting are available for you. need a motion to >> I move to approve the following board of education m meeting minutes for July 18th's workshop regular meeting July 18th executive session July 25th special public budget hearing meeting. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. I would just like to commend everybody. >> Good job. Let's do more. You know, >> we'll have to rub that in. >> Oh, I know. >> We weren't there. Okay. Um,

043any other discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? report. >> There is no legal report at this time. I hope everybody enjoyed their summers. I mean back to school in two weeks. Um, but going along with goals and looking back at how we conducted ourselves this past year, um, I'm going to I'm going to ask the board for one little exercise that we could uh maybe get done by our next meeting. Um, there's been some contentious moments this past year. And what I would like to do, I'd like to ask every board member to write one write on a piece of paper one nice thing about every other board member. I'll go first just to get out of the awkwardness at our next meeting, but I think it might be a good exercise

044in getting a little bit of uh people's walls down and and a little bit more appreciative of the other members of the board. So, I would I would ask that everybody do that for our next meeting. Just and if you can think of two or three nice things to say, then then please do it. I see some smiles around the room. So, uh I I hope that we can we can do this. I think it'll just be a good exercise for all of us to create a little bit of goodwill towards our uh fellow board members. So, um I'll make a uh a note to to Debbie and uh unless of course she comes here, but I I think it's just a good way a little good will. Um with that, that's the end of

045what I my report. We'll move on to uh 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 petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petitioner will be allowed until a 30 minute period transpires. Petitioners speaking during petitions and requests are asked to address topics listed in the agenda while speakers are asked to give their full name, spell or last name provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. Barb, is anybody requested to speak at this petitions and request? Would anybody like to speak? Is it a topic on the agenda, sir? >> Yes, sir. >> Please come up to the podium and my name

046is Gatano Sister Nino Jr. 129 Fair View Drive, Branchburg, New Jersey. Um, some of the people on the board I went to school with, still friends with, some taught me, some coached me. Well, he left. Trent left. Um, for the past three years, I've been trying to get into the West Milford School District to talk about substance substance abuse, which you guys spoke about. Um, I live an hour and a half away. I've made multiple trips up to the school, sat down with Trent, called administrators, been denied. Reason being is because they tell me I'm not a recovering addict. I don't have drug abuse education. My main goal, what I'm doing, maybe some of you have seen it, maybe some of you haven't, is I'm trying to put, well, I'm not trying, I'm putting together

047an event this Saturday. The meeting spot is one of the parking lots at Westford High School. It is not a rally. It is not a protest. It is a community unity event to bring awareness to the drug and especially the heroin epidemic happening all over this world, especially in West Milford. I say especially in West Milford because I'm an alumni of West Milford. I played football. I was a well-rounded student. I graduated college with a history degree. I am one of the top ranked professional bodybuilders in the sport. I've spoke in Dallas, Texas to students. I've spoken to kinder uh third grade all the way through seventh eighth even high school. I've spoken in Norwalk, Connecticut, spoken in Patterson about the topic that I'm trying to justify. I've heard much conversation throughout the town since

048I've been putting out these little videos trying to explain what I'm trying to do is some people think this is some publicity stunt for me for to get my name out or whatever the case may be. this what I'm trying to do. It's not about me. It's not about the parents sitting in the room. It's not about any of the board members. My goal is not to talk to the students. My endgame is to get into the school district to speak to the kids. When I was in school, we always had somebody come in and we had a big assembly and we had speakers come in to speak to the children. When I was in school, those speakers were made a mockery of because they were recovering addicts. Nobody took them seriously. I'm not trying

049to come into the school district to talk to these kids as a recovering addict. I'm trying to come into the school district and talk to these kids about making the correct life decisions along the way. I'm not trying to perceive to be something that I'm not. I'm not a recovering addict. I've had friends pass away. That is what led me three years ago to try to come to the school district to figure out a way to get into the school district. I've been denied. I don't know why. I talked to administrators. I called somebody on the uh panel, I'm not going to mention names, numerous times, who's failed to call me back. Um, but it's disheartening to speak at other school districts all over the United States, but be denied to go to your alumni

050high school to speak to the students. I don't know why there's so much red tape. Um, I don't understand it. This isn't about me. If I can save one life doing this event, I know there's a couple hundred people that are showing up. Um, I paid money to get flyers made. I paid $2,000 to get shirts made. I'm not doing this for any other reason but to try to save some kids' lives to make the correct decisions from, you know, I got I got somebody who's driving for 6 and a half hours away because their sister overdosed in West Milford. And this isn't just a West Milford issue. It's worldwide. But I figure one thing that I have that a lot of people in West Milford don't have is a social media outlet. I have

051close to a million followers on all my social media outlets. That's why I got reached out from former students, even current students that follow me on social media asking me to try to do something. Do I have to do it? No. Do I want to do it? Yeah, because I care. This isn't I I don't, you know, to hear that people think it's a publicity stunt is downright disrespectful because I don't need to do this. I want to do it because I want to help these kids out. I want to these kids to know that there's more to life. They can say no. We were all in high school, you know. I went to West Milford. You I was at parties where people were drinking. Did I drink? No. There was parties where people were

052smoking pot. Did I smoke pot? No. Why? Because I made the right life choices. And that's what I'm trying to get through to these kids that you whether you're at a party, not at a party, you're presented with peer pressure. You don't have to um be afraid to say no. There's more to life than drugs. You know, I live an hour and a half away. All I hear about Route 23 is called Heroin Highway. That disgusts me because this is this is my town. This is my high school. This is where I went. I love this high school. I love being a Highlander. I love being alumni. You know, Mrs. Dwire was my teacher. Liz was my friend. Chuck McQuade was one of my best friends in high school. You Trent was one my football

053coach. There's more to life than what these kids perceive to be. And all I'm trying to do is be a light at the end of the tunnel and let them know that they don't have to subject themselves to the stuff that's happening in the town. And I know there's some people that are for what I'm doing and there's some people against it. The ones that are against it, I'm sorry, but I'm going to do what I feel is right to get my point across to try to do something to validate what I'm doing. And my endgame for this is to get into the school district. So on Saturday, I'm having a rally. I'm asking people to bring canned goods to give to the uh food drive. I'm doing um shirts with the Highlander logo on

054it with a acronym on the back about um you know how to to stop the drugs. I'm not going to say what it is because it's kind of a surprise for anybody for the shirts. All that money is going to go to one of the charities whether it's CASA, whether it's Cure, whoever the case may be. I'm going to write a check right on the spot for them. So, this is my way to give back to a town that was there for me when I was growing up and allowed me to become the person I am today. So, um maybe you guys will back me, maybe you won't. I have a permit to be at Bumbling Springs, but the meeting spot is at Wells Milford High School. Trenasa said he wasn't sure about it, but

055I did fill out that permit, called my insurance, have an insurance policy for it. So, I have everything in place, but I came I drove an hour and a half here today to present this to you guys because I'm really hoping that you guys at some point will back what I'm trying to do in this town. Um, and this is I was at actually an event that somebody asked me to go to two weeks ago in Pennsylvania for the same exact thing um for the heroin epidemic that was in their town uh which was Honesdale, Pennsylvania, which I drove two and a half hours to go to because I was asked to go to it. Um, so it was a very good turnout. Um, very positive. uh a lot of things were were done and

056um you know moving forward I think the gentleman that did it is going to speak in the school district I think at the end of September. So um my endgame here like I said numerous times is to just get into the school district and talk to the kids and um you know given my knowledge of what I have and the choices and how to make the right life choices because as much as I can applaud what Mr. Novak is doing and trying to have this community event. The only issue I have with it is that when I was in high school, once school got out, I didn't want to do anything that involved school. That that's my issue is that to drag these kids to an event that they might not want to go to

057if you bring somebody or bring a group and I'm not saying it has to be just me, but if you bring people >> We're way past the final. Okay. I gave you I gave you >> That's fine. That's fine. I think you're I think you're good. And and just so the board knows, he had tried to he had reached out to me. I've been my schedule has been >> No, that's why I I didn't put you on blast. That's why I didn't say your name. >> Excuse me. >> What time? >> On Saturday. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. I said, >> "Is there anybody else who would like to speak? >> Is there something listed on the agenda? >> My name is Tamara Jordan of West Milford. I'd like to thank Mr. Sister Nino for

058what he said and it is the truth. Children, handouts, all that, it goes on the garbage. They don't care. And I feel that everyone has tried all these other ways and it's not getting through. Everybody's afraid to scare the children. Well, how are you supposed to bring them up? Are you supposed to just let them do whatever they want because you don't want to scare them? Heroin is a scary scary thing. People are dying, okay? And you need to reach the children when they're young and you need to bring in people that are not drug addicts. You need to bring in people that the children can look up to and say, "Wow, okay. Yeah, I want to be like him or her. I want to be like that, but it's not working. Whatever is going

059on, it's not working. And to be afraid to to label what we are trying to do because we're afraid to offend people. No, this is serious. People are dying. Children, our future. I know people that have been on drugs. Maybe if they had somebody in school talking to them, early education to talk to them and make them understand once you start on heroin, you are not getting off. You do not have a future. I'm speaking very strongly. I spoke like this to my child. He did not do drugs. Would I do it again exactly how I did it? Most definitely. I'm proud of my son, not because of his occupation, but because of who he is, and he looked up to his mother and his father. We didn't allow any kind of nonsense going on.

060And we always made sure that we always supported the teachers and the administration. And I never had any trouble with my son because he knew I better not get into trouble. And so I think maybe we should try a different approach, don't you? >> There anybody else who'd like to speak? Seeing none. >> Seeing none, move to close petitions and request. >> Second. >> Don't all speak at once. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay, we need to adopt the agenda as presented. There are some hand carries uh under personnel and student affairs. A couple of quick amendments to the agenda before we approve it. >> Page page 14, personnel and student affairs resolution number 44 is going to be pulled from the agenda. And on the bottom of that same

061page, resolution number 46, we're going to scratch off four names. The names are Anne Campbell, Thomas Solano, Andrew Levich, and Leon Mosco Moscowitz. And the last change is going to be on page 18, budget and finance resolution number six, training and travel. That is going to be October 23rd through October 26th. Thank you. Move to adopt the agenda as presented with amendments including the hand carry. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor then I. >> Any opposed? I'd like to move items 1 to 10 for approval of >> second. >> You're welcome. >> Any discussion on items 1 through 10? Go ahead, Glenn. >> Dan, are these all new things? It says there are adoptions. >> They're not all new. There's uh they're mostly revisions. Um >> you're talking about

062item number two. >> Number two. >> Yes. One. >> Yes. >> The AP Capstone Seminar is a new course. >> Um principles of engineering design is a previously existing course retitled and um realigned but for the most part and English language arts those are you know the that's the that's like she's in year this is year four now for the um revision of our um traditional uh English lit courses to be genre based so those are existing courses but been revised to support genre based instruction. So a majority are um uh revisions. >> I I haven't life skills integrated mathematics. I just wasn't familiar with what >> Yeah, that's it. That's due to the fact that now we've been opening up our self-contained classrooms and we have like a life skills class and an LLD

063class and an MD class. So, what we're finding is the integrated math still meets the graduation requirements and the math it still has pre-alggebra, algebra, geometry in it, but they're more on an integrated curriculum level. >> So, for the public, could you give the abbreviations? >> Sure. Which part? >> Sorry. You know what? I'll re I'll restate it again. So for for our classes we have now a life skills option at the high school which really is still coded by the state as a resource center classroom. Then we have an MD or multiply disabled classroom that is considered a self contained class coded by the state as multiply like having multiple disabilities in that classroom. And we also have an LLD classroom which is learning and language based disability classroom that all were using the

064same if you will dated um some some of the dated curriculum. So they were all using the same curriculum. So instead what we've decided to do is kind of separate it out. So now we have the integrated mathematics one, two, and three, which will be in the resource center classes, but then the life skills classes are more of our self-contained classes can now have their own integrated mathematics 9, 10, 11, and 12. Basically, it's just a modified version of the curriculum standards. Does that make sense? >> Yep. Okay. >> Very much. >> You're welcome. >> Anything else? Any other discussion on items 1 through 10? Yes, >> I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I did. Understand with the family. Sorry, >> it's I it's really kind of late for after I've already called it. Um, >> can

065we direct that question afterwards to to Dan? >> Probably or Okay. >> All right. Could you please I'm sorry. >> I I apologize. Um, >> no, I didn't. >> Okay, >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foody. >> Yes. >> Um Nicole, since Debbie is not with us tonight, would you mind taking over for personal student affairs? Give me a minute. There's usually a lot on this one, right? That's a lot to say. Um, I'd like to make a motion to move items one through >> 57. >> No, one through >> 57. >> Hand carry and the strike of 44. and changes to 46. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah, I I do. Um I have concerns about number 11

066and 34, Mr. and I would like that after session. I think we need a discussion about that in light of one of your goals. >> And I I just I was looking at this and names didn't get me, but um you know Monica Stewart is leaving. Um Michelle Watson, who I forgot was one of our employees in the boardw coordinator. Um I originally think myself hiring the other person, but I was All right. Any other Drew? >> Um, I just have a question about one thing. Obviously, we're using I guess Monica Stewart Stewart. Items five, six, and 12 all say that we're going to spend that money and hire those people to replace Ste. Did it really take three people? >> Number 12 is a different Stewart. >> Okay. >> And the other numbers you

067said were >> five and six. Yes. As Mr. Foody said, Mr. Foody said, um, Melissa Shopper Tagna will handle the accounting associate position. Miss Stewart also did sack for extra hours after work. So that assignment will be transferred to another employee. So we're not necessarily hiring another employee because Mrs. Watson is already employed here. >> And the other Steuart, like I said, is a different >> Yeah. 21 to 23 is probably I don't know who this is for, but I'm just wondering if those uh the vehicle aids are for special ed or >> There's three of them. Yeah. Okay. >> So, are we after I brought it up in committee 9 and 10 through a transfer of Ed Mark Z from the resource center at the high school over to Highlander Academy and then we're

068hiring if I'm looking at that correctly number 10 Samantha to replace Mr. Alec at the high school. Why? Why the switch? Because I I look at what Ed's doing. I think he did model UN there. And I thought he did quite well. And why would we pull him from that and stick him over at >> Highlander Academy and then bring Samantha in? We needed somebody over Highlander. we hire somebody, we >> put them over in Highlander. >> That is definitely good thinking because that was the original intent was to replace Mr. Montgomery at Highlander Academy with an experienced teacher that we felt could manage that population. You know, behavior disabilities, it's a unique population there. We did not in our candidate pool we found great candidates that you see two of the candidates on here

069but their background and their experience we didn't feel would be a good fit for academy whereas all the things you highlight about Mr. Morzaleik is why both Mr. Personle and I um and Mr. Gorski and the whole committee Dr. Capello decided that it would be best to not hire one of the other candidates that we were in the process of hiring for the academy because of the specialized nature of that program. That's not to say Mr. Mzalik and I had the conversation with him is going to be at the academy you know every year after this but that for this year we felt that our new hires need to be at the high school with mentors and a department that's going to support them and Mr. Mzalik who has a large background in special ed

070has dealt in like auto mechanic business he's got a really great way with students we thought he would be best suited at the academy for this year so that was my decision >> okay par 36 it just seems like we have a lot of people moving all around. I'm wondering if that's professional development or what's the what's the reason for for moving all those >> class aids around? Yeah. >> So, as you open up new programs in the district, so as you know, we've been expanding our autism in our ABA program. >> What we did this year is I did not increase any new positions for AIDS and I used existing staff districtwide to fill those positions and move people around. So what that causes if you're going to only use existing resources and staff

071is some transfers and changes based on like student needs and who we thought would work best with the students. So that's the reason for the changes. I don't anticipate you seeing that many transfers in the future because hopefully now everyone's in in good places and we can kind of move forward from here. >> I I had a concern about it too um Dr. McQuade >> because you're you know you have kids with special needs. They're used to dealing with person and now we're switching that and I hate to see a child regress instead of moving forward. Um so I I hope too that it's >> that's the common um thought in sort of the um >> I've seen it happen first but what I can what I can tell you is that we formed a

072committee with our child study team par like um we got feedback from aid teachers principles and what we found is that and parents we found is that at the high school level and I know I have Miss Davis here who who got our students that were coming up in MD and LLD we found that students were and very used to and accustomed to maybe the same person and it was almost it it didn't help the child because they became too used to that person and dependent and then we were not really working on skills to make students independent for later. So we're trying to change the model as a group and collective care staff decided that it's probably best to to change that more frequently so that students don't get used to just one person

073but rather the support that's needed. So >> boundaries Right? Because I I want to I want to push kids and you guys know that we've been we've been challenging our special ed students and I think that I think they've really come up to the level Miss Davis has challenged even kind of like reducing some aids at the high school level to let students become more independent and I think it's been really positive and the feedback we've gotten from parents and and the students is they they like the independence. They want they want to become more independent. So that's the goal. >> Thank you for the no problem >> and good decision. Any other >> except 421. >> Yeah. 61. We included the hand carry. >> Go ahead. You good? >> All right. 50 and 51.

074It seems like we're recruiting just as much time for dance as we are for other academic more academic pursuits. And I just was wondering what the explanation for that. >> Well, different programs have different needs and different requirements. It's uh it's very difficult. All our a lot of our clubs are approved for different amounts of hours. It's really what we believe this program needs for this year and then we don't we look at that irrespective of all the other clubs. It's we're doing what we can do to hold our cost down to a absolute minimum and what's the bare minimum we need to have a strong program here and that's what we're looking to approve. Um and we don't want to add hours to other programs you know just to do it. We feel we

075can get by with the 30 hours in science Olympiad. We don't want to add to make it to 40 if we think we only need 30. This is listed as 60 plus. >> So because of the plus I have to ask is there >> no that's that's pending that plus is pending substitute certification. >> That's a uh yes it's not really a plus. Yeah. >> We probably should have used a double asterisk or something like that in hindsight >> instead of a plus. >> Quick question in West's They both sound great. I was wondering what they are. >> What number is that? >> It's on 51. >> We have the these are PTA funded clubs. I have the paperwork in my office. I don't have those um club I don't have the club uh back

076up with me. No, I >> I can speak to Wester Cares is um Miss Becker I think kind of runs that at the school and it's all kinds of giving back putting snack packs together. The kids kind of are after school doing all kinds of um you know volunteerism type activities. And then I think the other one might um have something to do with like the reading a reading club type of thing. >> I don't want to give you the wrong info. Anything else? Excuse me. The hand carries were not these are just very new. These weren't even these are newer since Friday. So nothing on the hand carry was in committee. Um it just the timeline didn't enable it. So we have four agenda items that are hand carry for personnel and this did

077not make the committee agenda because it was only taken care of uh yesterday and today. Nothing else. Okay. Roll call, please. Now, this is for items remember 42 has been uh taken out >> or 44, excuse me. And then 46 we had some names pulled and we're and 11 and 34 are for after session. So, including Yeah. >> Mrs. No on number 30. Yes. On >> Mr. Robins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yuber. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sid. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foody. >> Yes. Mr. Drew, budget financer. >> Second. um discussion >> I don't remember what have we already >> I believe the original contract was about $37,000 to do the design and the testing and the submissions to the

078and we the filtration tanks at the end of our system and um they originally thought that would be okay with just the tanks at the end and they came back at the beginning >> number two in the budget. >> Yes, it is. >> What is the size of that? And you were going to check >> 16 by 10. >> Oh, 16 ft by 10 ft. Okay. All right. Now, um I have one other This is for um installation of the projection system, including labor programming, and a one-year service contract. Is this one-year service contract that we sign we're going to have to do every year for a projection system, or is it just in case there's bugs in the system the first year? >> Mr. Ela, would you like to uh on that. >> Yeah,

079I believe that would probably for the initial installation servicing and such then we can determine from there if we need to go extend warranty or support I mean have a oneear service contract something that's a continuing thing it's not a licensing thing so we won't license fee or anything like that programing involved making sure that the system communicates with the existing sound system that we're connecting and that the programming for the uh controls works. You want to have something. >> Okay. Um, >> these help with uh they are simulated drunk driving. >> Oh, right. >> The program. >> That's great. I'd like to thank the Wester PVA for donating those. >> Yeah, >> that's fantastic. Any other discussion on items 1 through eight? >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robins. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

080Prince. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mr. Number five. Yes to the rest. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foody. >> Yes. >> Like to move item number 10. >> Like nine. Second. Any discussion? >> Okay, seeing none. Please report on item. >> Mrs. Fritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Robbins, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mr. Huber. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foody. >> I'm going to abstain because there was a few things that uh I need clarification. Move item number. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Item 10. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robbins. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yubert. >> Yes.

081Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Foody. >> Yes. >> Like to move item number 11 resolution for >> second. >> Any discussion? >> I went through that list and I'm a little puzzled. Why would we be transferring money out already out of other accounts to pay for diesel fuel when that should those that line item is there in the budget already? Why are we taking 20ome,000 from other items? It does doesn't make any sense to me the first month of the year. >> It would make sense to me in June that we do that but not in in July or over. >> In the past, what we've done is we've not put a purchase, we've only covered the amount for the um the first delivery, but um through recommendation program,

082we now have to encumber what we anticipate the entire year's um purchase going to be. So, um that change that we've done over the last two months. Um, some of our accounts are falling short because we're anticipating how much we're going to spend and that might not actually come to fruition, but that's the way we're purchas >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robinson. Yes, >> Mrs. W. Yes, Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes, >> Mr. Huber. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sid. >> Yes, >> Mr. Foody. >> No, >> I would like to 12 and 13. >> Second. Any discussion? >> When are we going to get our final year end? I thought we were going to get a preliminary >> I didn't see it on the website. >> I looked at as of

083this morning this morning. I didn't see them. I didn't see it. >> All right. Further discussion board on items 12 and 13. >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robbins. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. Yes. Mrs. Fritz. >> Mr. >> Yes. Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Huber. Policy please. Items 21. >> Second. >> I have I have a question. >> Um I was under the impression that we had visited revisited all our policies and we're done with them and I'm wondering why this is all coming up again. Um I think what I would like to see is a reason for the revisiting of the policies and then a side byside comparison of the old policy with the re with the changes in it. I mean I would just just

084that's just me. Dr. Would you like to take that or I can answer. I think >> we we got an update I would say around May or June from Strauss's estimate. So the law somehow changed in a minor way. So Strauss sent us updates for all these policies. >> Okay. >> So our new policies are consistent with the law now. >> Okay. Are we suggesting new policies? >> Um it'll say revised if they're existing. It'll say new. I believe they're all bed bugs. Wait, I think everything the old >> bed is new. >> Bed Bugs is new >> and the rest I believe are revised and some of the revisions are exceedingly minor. Um, in some cases the statute that they quote changed. So we had to update our policy for that minor revision. So

085these all came from uh stress ESM. >> Okay. Thank you. I mean, these are the all the second readings, too. >> Yeah, I know. But I just >> Oh, never. >> We just got a new update on maybe Thursday or last week, a new batch from Strauss. So, it's constantly ongoing. It'll never be done, per se. >> A couple times a year, really. >> It's maintenance. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Sorry. >> Okay. Uh, any other discussion? >> Roll, please. >> Mr. Hubert. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Drew. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bill. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Uh we'll move on to special committees and liaison reports and nothing new on uh my agenda for tonight except

086for uh September begins meetings again in the new library. >> Okay. Um superintendent roundt >> it will commence again in September. >> Okay. Brian's not here. Mr. Sidewitz, New Jersey School Boards Association. >> Everybody is receiving the information regarding the October workshop. So, looking forward to it. >> Okay, Mr. Drew. Um, you have both legislative and technology oversight. The legislators I went out there go look in all the normal places. I look at this and there changes and the places I normally look New Jersey spotlight, New Jersey school board, so on and so forth. It seems that the people who normally prepare this information are on vacation. So I know there were a ton of changes made. Nothing was out there in my normal. So I'm going to have to report on next month. You

087know, the big thing is that great New Jersey school board says, "Oh, we got more money." You know, the some districts are going to get more and the districts who aren't getting more at least the same. And of course, we're one of the few in the state who got less for some reason. Anyhow, I'll have a more thorough report. The U other thing, this is kind of interesting that you know I had brought up having some kind of link for a site on our public website uh where one can purchase spirit. Lots and lots of districts around the country have that kind of thing or sweatshirts or sweats or whatever. Of course, you go to games and you can find these things. But people who don't have kids in school didn't game or whatever. There

088isn't really a place to do that. And so I think it would be an opportunity to make some more money and frankly build community pride. People do that walking around West Milford Highlanders T-shirts, the better off it'll be. Now this is consistent with my experience. When it's when it's a technical thing that nobody knows how to do, they technical people will be able to do it very quickly. and cheaply and uh the answer is well no you know you have a merchant account things like that but uh it may be possible the vendors who produce this kind of material uh can put it together on a website you can link to so anyhow I think we'll continue to pursue that and submit that some know If you don't want to spend money on it, you

089don't have to. Uh it won't cost the board or the district anything. Make money and build community. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Drew. Um Mrs. O'Brien is not here for the education foundation um township board of ed joint committee. It looks like we have a tenative date of October 11th. When will we have that confirmation? >> Okay. October 11:00. Council Chambers. >> Council Chambers. >> Okay. And I guess you'll share that with >> I wanted to take a look at it first before I >> before you. Okay. All right. Thank you. And then Mr. You have >> Mr. No report it again. >> November 5:30 5:15 sorry doors open doors open. Okay, we're going to uh before we move on to old business, we'll extend uh executive session until 9:20. So, would you like to

090make a motion to to do so? I think that >> looking at the list here at 9:30, but >> not really. >> I'll make a motion to extend 9:30. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? I >> any opposed? >> Okay. Um under old business, we'll uh start with the joint meeting of the township. That's out of the way. Um McCormick Field, >> I think that's done. >> That's done. >> We're all set there. >> Um Makipin and High School roof. Uh we're in the process, I guess, of getting >> the punch list stuff done. So, um I think by this time next month, we should be in good shape. Frank, >> go ahead. >> Did the police ever find out who took the door knobs off the door? >> There's still an active investigation.

091Um, High School Hillrest. Um, I took a uh walk over there this afternoon. We've got some We got a door going into the old kitchen. We need to repair some windows that um I should share the photos with Alex that literally falling apart. The frames are falling apart. We need to open that up before winter sets in. Um, we have some windows that need to be repaired going down the um hillrest. Um, so I'd like to see uh I'll save that my next my next uh comment for executive session. I think it's more appropriate to be in there. Um, okay. Is there anything else under old business that anybody wants to see? >> What was the the status of the back? >> Uh, we're doing a punch list and hopefully in the end of all

092our next meeting in September, fingers crossed, we should be all done. The little the little things that need to be taken care of. pitching the gutters, some low spots, adding a few down spouts, things of that nature. >> Um, I'm going to make a motion to close all business. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. New business. Anything in business? >> What's that? >> I'll stay under five. >> Um, when we look at the school system, I think there are some things we're just doing extremely well. Our music program is number number one in the whole state. I think our special education area is Absolutely fantastic. Great job there. I'd like to see more students in the district. We're doing fantastic. One of the things that we should be especially proud of

093is graduation rates in West Mel. We're doing better than the state of New Jersey uh school overall and we're doing way better state of New Jersey for disabled students and economically disadvantaged society. That's fantastic. Um, but we're not necessarily doing well everywhere. And this point was driven home to me. I recently rented a home in another state. I listed it above market price and it was rented in four days. And that was because it's in a school district that has gone from mediocre to top tier. High school is one of the 300 best in the whole country. Middle schools rated 10 out of 10. org. People are just falling all over themselves into that district. This stuff matters and I think we can do better. The thing that is kind of upsetting to me is

094this is my third year on the board running for anything. But if I look back at the number of things that that we've actually spent money on to improve academic performance, I count them on one hand. On the other hand, we're spending money on roofs and you know that need to be done. But, you know, we we we uh spent some money to to improve the chemistry and physics labs, but mostly that money was spent on cupboards and and tables and and desks. We spent on more equipment or new textbooks. Um I believe we spent money on microscopes, although I haven't seen what we got yet for for our money. That's a huge area. New York is the Silicon. This area is the Silicon Valley of Biotech. This is where new drugs are being invented.

095Lives are being saved. And boy, I want West Milford kids who want to be in that area to have some opportunity to get some of those highpaying jobs. We've done the AP Capstone program. Thank you very much for doing that. But we're only going to benefit 10 to 14 kids. We need to expand AP well beyond you know a handful of kids uh to to you know we know it's one of the areas when you go look at you know if we just go look and say what what is richwood doing better than us well you know some degree it's the parents and the income and so on and so forth we can move all those people here we probably have higher school scores too what you got to look at are cases where other

096districts like ours maybe have gotten better and what do they do to get better? One of the things is introducing AB classes to the general community, not just a handful of kids at the top of your class. There's no question kids in this district and get outstanding education. We send same kids to Ivy League schools, servicemies. I mean, we do a really good job, but I don't know that that we're doing well enough for the overall student. And frankly, this is this is a challenge. Do you and you bring us more proposals to to improve academic performance. I I know there are things that we can do. You know, some of them may be more professional development. You teach train a teacher how to be better. then all of a sudden they they teach a

097hundred kids. Uh I I think I know we've got to replace. I don't know that other people believe that, but all I hear from parents is that's a piece of crap. You know, we needed, you know, there really you guys are the professionals, you know, and I know you're doing some things that don't even cost the same money, which is, you know, that's great. I want to spend money on kids and education, not windows and doors. >> Um, I can tell you that in business there's a common philosophy. You're either moving forward or you're falling behind. You cannot stay where you are. It doesn't happen. If you think you're staying where you are, you're falling behind. And I think if one goes and looks, for example, at greatchools.org or at the ratings of our schools.

098A few are getting better and many of them are getting worse. You know, we we just plain have to do more and and truly it's a challenge to you guys. Put things on the table that uh um you know that we can vote on we can all feel good about including the parents and the kids and the board. I do think that when you got, you know, a problem in an organization that is not moving forward, starts with management. To be perfectly honest, it starts right here with the board. But it's us. And by by settling for mediocrity instead of insisting on improvement, you know, we're getting exactly what we've got. So, you know, my attitude has changed starting today. You know, I want to see improvements in academics. That's number one. And I want

099management focused on that. I want teachers focused on >> that's said my piece. Great job on the graduation rates. That's just outstand. >> Thank you, Steve. I agree with everything you just said. >> I think I think one of the things that um we have to do is highlight the good things in our district. And I think in order to get people to come into the schools and to come into the desk district, I've said this before, we have to meet with real leaders. We have to find out what parents want, what will make them keep kids in our district and what we can do to provide what these kids need. So I agree, we do have to increase our academics, >> but we have to highlight what's good to Thank you. >> I just

100want to add that I I don't disagree. I'm sorry. I had um >> That's okay. She can go. >> I didn't realize you had your hand up. I'm sorry. I I agree with what you're saying. I think I also I think to Terry's point want to make sure that you know we are recognizing a lot of the things that we're hearing from the administration and you know in ed committee and all the things that we're putting in there. I don't think we are settling for mediocrity. I mean I we've heard a lot of things that Dan's putting into place in terms of looking at the curriculums and you know the capstone is a great start and I think there's a lot that we're doing and so I feel like if you know I don't want

101it to be perceived negatively that we're that we are settling. And I think you know we all obviously understand the budget constraints and really did not have a lot of room for growth and you know that's one of the key things we said is we need to figure out how can we you know build more programs and and build more of that and continue to look at the math program and and you know look at the health curriculum and and build all these things that are coming. So you know I want to I think we do owe a lot to the administration. They're doing a lot in these areas and and doing a lot of work there. So, I think we, you know, of course there's always room for improvement. And I think there's a

102road to go. And I think also to Terry's point, it's not a lot that all on the schools. I think there's a lot that, you know, the township is is struggling. It's struggling to get people to move here. It's struggling to keep kids in the schools. And, you know, people are are turning away. And so, I think that's, you know, unfortunately, a lot of that's out of our control. >> There's a lot of factors. A lot of it is in our control. >> The schools are the single most important. I don't people And that's what the the broker said. One second was >> All right. Um yeah, I I I think there are a lot of things that can be done that are not budget don't have a heavy budget impact. There's simple management things

103like accountability. There's leadership uh in improving environment uh particularly in high school. Uh there's things like that that really we have the people in place to do it. we just need the leadership and and the ideas and the direction to do it. Um uh so I I I don't think that it's necessarily something we have to throw money at. You know, we can do that. I mean, obviously, if there's a good program, we should we should invest in in our in the education, but there's other things that can be done implemented immediately that don't cost anything that don't have to have a line item in a budget next year. Um, so I'm just saying that these are things that, you know, if you guys can come up with things to do that, we'd appreciate it.

104>> We are the starts with us. However, >> strongly disagree with what Steve says because to compare northern New Jersey with suburban Atlanta, it's off base. Number one. Number two, many of us on this board and certainly our community members have had students, their children, now adults in my case, go to the school system. So for these examples that get cited about how off it is and how much we need to fix, it's good that it's coming up, but we're pointing the finger right at ourselves as board of education members. this. Hang on. I got the floor. What we do is we spend too much time here on other things instead of talking about and addressing the items that you guys all talk about. However, when it comes to moving forward with these types of

105initiatives coming out of committee, coming before us as a board of education for things to easily approve because nobody would be serving on this board if they weren't compelled to make things better here every hour of every day, every minute we spend at these board meetings. Certainly, that's not what h happens around here. So, that's a weakness of this board. So before we sit here and pontificate and preach about the woes of people moving in and out of West Milford, which is not something specific to West Milford, this is New Jersey, one of the highest tax places on the face of the earth. We're all working like a bunch of dogs morning, noon, and night to raise our children, have the things that we want in life. It's a tough place. West Milford is no

106different than any other place. There's highs, there's lows, there's middle ground. However, I do know one thing that for every success story that comes out of West Milford, and there are really some phenomenal ones. I'm not going to embarrass anybody in this room right now because I know them and you're all supposed to know them, too. Those are the things that really don't get talked about enough in my opinion. I don't care if I'm a cheerleader and I'm not running in this election, but I'm running in the next election. So, that's when I'm really good. But the fact of the matter is for us to sit here and talk about what's wrong. We also have the ability to change it and make it better. So I think it's time for action to speak louder in

107words instead of talking in this nebulous making comparison Steve to Gwynette County and Pay County. There's no comparison. And that's what I say. So, I caution everybody to sit here and point fingers at the administration, the staff, whoever, because it all starts and ends with us. And that's why we have elections every year, and that's why there's turnover on the board, whether you like it or not. We want the people here that do what's best for our students and our staff and the citizens of West Milford. I've always tried to do that, and I would hope all of my colleagues feel the same way. to Mr. to Drew's point about bringing more students into the honors programs would I was I would would like to suggest and hope that it would be entertained that maybe

108the administration could lower the honors threshold or if a student was interested in honors perhaps being offered the honors entrance exam to whatever program they'd like to go toward that way even if the challenge may be more than what they're bargaining for that it's still a challenge that they're up for and that still challenges them to the next level and uh just food for thought and throwing that out there. We do have Mr. Yeah. I I was under the impress now I've been out of the classroom for four years but I recall that if a student wanted to take honors and they had the parents support that student was allowed to take honors so it is encouraged. Yeah. I mean it's not maybe the guidance counselors could do a little better job but the kids

109can move they want. So I don't know Dr. Novak is still that is that >> we have a we have a selection and recommendation process for students getting into honors and AP. However, if a kid is deeply interested in pursuing that type of course and they may not have been recommended for it, we don't deny anyone the opportunity of taking the honors assessment or those >> it takes lobbying by parents. >> Yeah. Would would the administration be in favor of perhaps having a public relations to to state that to students? >> I believe they understand that already, but it's something we could look into. Now, if you just want to flash back about an hour and a half, we did a a brief little PowerPoint, a couple of quantitative goals we have for this year.

110And this didn't list all of them. Please don't think that this was a small 10page PowerPoint. A couple of the quantitative goals were increase number of students in AP world languages, Italian, Spanish, French, German for next year. We started a pre-alggebra honors class at seventh grade for the first time with the stated goal of increasing the algebra enrollment in eighth grade for the following year. There's a lot of studies that connect or correlate. Students who complete algebra in eighth grade go on to greater successes academically than students who take algebra 1 in nth grade. So these are some really concrete steps that we're already addressing and we we did address tonight and there's other examples of that as well. But your your points are all well taken. I would agree with you. I think we

111are taking some steps. We can always do more, but we are taking some very solid steps this year. And we are we're not going backwards or we're moving laterally. We're moving forward. Absolutely. >> I have one last comment. >> I'd like to agree with Mr. Bailey. Everything does start here with the board. Things don't improve, it's our fault. And actions do speak louder than words. So, I'm going to repeat something that I I brought up at the beginning of the year. And I want to remind the other board members that aren't on the policy committee, I obviously the board works through goals and policies. So if you want to go through the policy book, find policies that you think would make a difference and you want to propose adjustments, please pull out the old policy,

112mark it up, make it what you think it might be better, and present it to the policy committee. We'll discuss it. We'll, you know, fine-tune it. If everybody thinks it's a great idea, we'll move it onto the agenda. So, I mean, this is how the board is supposed to work. So, if you if you've got some things that you care about, the policy commies that we have is just overwhelming. There's no way the policy committee can go through it all and do that. But if you come up with something that been brought to your attention or that you're aware of that can be improved, please. Um, another thought that was running through my mind was if the opportunity ever availed itself, maybe reaching out to union organizations. Perhaps they have a uh an apprentice program

113that could be brought to high schools or something along those lines. And I think that's something that'd be interesting for those students that aren't fully academically inclined and more along the lines of a technical uh career path. >> Backtrack again. >> Go ahead. >> I don't think we need to be here all night addressing every comment, but just in general, one of our bullet points tonight for science, one of their goals this year was to have a a plan to develop CTE certification. what they need to do to become career technical education certified. So when our students graduate from the high school, if they want, we know which classes they can take and come up with a certification at the end of their stay here. So we're starting that process now. Micro credentials. Yes, we're

114starting that process now to make it a more coherent and systemic plan so that they can do those courses here and they can graduate from the high school and go on to colleges or they can go on to a more teched program. So, we're starting that process now, the planning process and see what we need and what we need to do. >> Hopefully, we can we can move on to petitions and request and executive session. Um, and I got on the board in 2010. We made district goals and board goals and we never talked about it again. This board is doing that. We're making plans. Alex has made plans. We started last year. We're heading in the right direction. That's the That's the key. Um, we've got nine board members, nine differences of opinions at

115times and and we all got to work at in the same direction. You know, what Steve says, Greg doesn't agree with, and what maybe sometimes it Greg will say, Steve won't agree with, but we got to be civil with one another. You know, um the the important part is we're here not for ourselves. We're we're not getting paid to to be here, but we're doing this. We all know what we're doing for the kids to make the district better. We've we've got to put aside all these petty differences between one another. Just focus on on what we're here to focus on, which is making the education system in West Milbridge better. I think we're we're heading in the right direction. Are we there yet? No. you know, some some people have, you know, oh, it's

116a great mess. No, we're heading to greatness. So, I I want to look at it like that. We're we're on the right path, I think. Are we done? Hell no. You know, and and our district goals are kind of going where where we want them to go. And, you know, Alex is jumped back an hour and a half. I'm going to jump back an hour and a half. You know, we we've got goals. We've we're we're tight on money, but you know, we're looking at things of now how can we refocus our our money to where we can improve educational programs. And I think come next year that you know, you know, there there's a thing about English ivy. The first year you plant, it sleeps, then it creeps, the third, the third year it

117leaps. It takes long. And I think that's what we're going to be doing come this time next year that this board of education will be on that precipice of leaping. I think we're it's going to be a slow process. I don't think it's going to happen overnight. I think we're all in it for the same reasons. So, I I just hope we can move forward and go in the right direction and and uh put aside differences and just focus on what's best for the kids. That's what we're here for. Um unless somebody has got something to say, I would uh >> motion to close new business. >> Like to make a motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Nicole. Uh all in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Um petitions

118and 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 petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petitioner will be allowed until the 30 minute period transpires. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell their last name, provide their address. speakers may not use the names of students during petitions or requests. Now, I knew I know that we do have two people that have signed up. So, you guys want to flip a coin? Um, Mr. Garcia or Mr. Nolan, or did you want to get up together or >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Chris Garcia, 200 Lakeshore Drive in Hwitt. Garcia is G A R CIA. Uh I'm actually I'm

119here uh uh to speak with you about Hillrest. Um and I'm here wearing two hats to have that discussion as well. Uh I am a member of the West Milford Football Association uh board. I'm the treasurer for the uh WMFA and uh we uh first I want to state that you know we appreciate all the support we have gotten from the administration from the from the district uh with Hillrest and with the discussions we're having with the turf field etc and the access there. So we greatly appreciate that and we're just requesting that we are not forgotten about as the discussions about the future of Hillrest proceed. uh we don't want our kids to be in a position where they're rendered homeless in terms of their football fields or practice facilities or uh storage of

120our equipment and gear that we we do store there. Uh so, you know, we do just uh you know, we wanted to be on the record that we want to be part of that discussion and uh aren't forgotten about for what those kids need. Uh the other hat I'm here wearing is uh along with Bob Nolan, uh he and I are running for township council. uh this fall and Hillrest is a a tremendous opportunity I think for this community and we uh we feel very strongly about that and and I know there is quite a history there between the board of ed and the council and I'm hoping we can forget about that history and we can move forward uh with a better history. uh and and and some of the um you know some

121of the points that have been made tonight I I think really do tie into what those opportunities are there uh that you know we have an opportunity to turn that facility into a what could be a a crown jewel of a community uh and and you know there there presently is no place for a swim team to go swim in in town uh there's no place for seniors to go to swim you know I've met some seniors they drive to Newton for a 20-minut swim at the YMCA up there and that's that's kind of painful for them to have to do that. Uh and and with the discussions with the council u uh that joint committee coming up um and I I I really hope that we can explore some out of the box and

122creative solutions to make that a facility that can be very beneficial to this community. Um as I'm taking notes here this evening, uh uh Mr. Novc said early on, you know, one of the things he asked is, "What can kids do in West Milford?" Uh, that was a question that you had asked and and you know, we've addressed the drug epidemic here in discussions tonight. Um, one of the more recent comments was we need to identify, uh, I can't read my writing. We need to identify how to print better. Um, we need to identify uh, you know, how how we can get people to move here. Uh, you know, and what do these kids need? And you know, I think all these points all point back to, you know, what we could potentially do with

123with the future of that that Hillrest facility. And I know it's a uh it could be viewed as a burden right now. Uh but I really do think that that, you know, some fantastic things could happen there. And I hope they do. uh and that really could encourage people to want to move here if we have a first-ass facility there that you know whether it be uh you know a public private partnership whether it be under the opaces of the council the board of education uh there's a right solution out there and I hope that solution is found and that everybody can work together to make that happen and uh you know if I'm lucky enough after uh the election this fall I'd love to be part of that discussion going into next year. Thank

124you, Chris. >> Okay, good evening. Robert Nolan, N O L, one winding way for the past 36 years. Um, so, um, as Chris mentioned, um, well actually I was on the council from 2005 to 2010 and that was the period in time when the original lease on Hillrest was coming up and the school board owned part of the Wallish property and the township owned part of the Wallish property and and there was a lot of there was strong personalities on both bodies and uh um but you know that's kind of I guess I'm asking the school board to kind of put that in the past. It's over. It's done with the building's empty. Uh starting to become vandalized. Uh it needs to be, as Mr. Foody mentioned, it needs repairs and it's just going that's

125just going to continue to um uh multiply. So, uh I guess I'm asking uh the uh the board and when you work with the council to think big as to what we can do with that uh with that building because uh there is an opportunity and and the fact that it's a schoolboard property uh you're not quite as restricted in terms of what you can build there or what can be put there as opposed to um the restrictions that that the council had for example when they when they tried to come up with the place for the library. So as far as um I'm concerned, the building should just be uh has has no the existing building has no more use. Uh but you do have a footprint there. So so the building can be

126demolished. Um and with that footprint, you know, with some you have to come up with a way some some f Chris mentioned maybe a public private partnership or uh grant funds or but something. But I guess I look at it as that footprint is big enough that you could put in a pool, an indoor pool, an aquatic center. Um, uh, you could also put a senior center in there. And you know, in terms of the, um, and then, uh, the seniors, the seniors could use the aquatic center during the day with low low impact exercises. uh the high school could have a swim team because I know when when my daughters went through West Milford High School, two of them actually two of them actually uh uh swam competitively. But um they I I spent

127I probably drove 50,000 miles between here and and the uh Lakeland Hills YMCA in Mountain Lakes because that's where they went to uh swim and one of them was um good enough swimmer to get a a college scholarship. So, uh, so I'm just, you know, asking you to, uh, kind of think outside the box and, uh, um, look at this as a unique opportunity to, uh, work with the council, uh, with other, uh, um, whoever, you know, u, and, and come up with something that would benefit the entire township, both young and old, and would make, uh, West Milford a place where people would, in addition to the school system, where people would want to own a house which would increase property values. So, thank you. >> Okay. Is there anybody else who would like

128to speak? >> Seeing none, I move to close petitions and requests. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I s resolution At 9:35 p.m. to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel appointments, resignations, current litigation matters, special education matters, negotiations, bill, and matters of attorney client privilege. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, and we will be taking action afterwards. We got those two items. education. Um, so we will be taking action afterwards. Our personnel, excuse me. >> Um, all in favor? >> I Okay, retreat back to session. Retreat back to the bat cave, aka a fifth grade class. Good to see you. >> Um, >> we have three items under personnel to vote on. Would you uh remember it was 11 and 34? >> 36. >> No, 34. 34.

12911 and 34. Yeah. >> And the other one was pulled. >> The other one was pulled. So, it's only two items. So, it's only those two items to to vote on. >> All right. So, you want to you want to make that motion? >> I would like to make a motion to move items 11 and 34 under. >> Okay. Thank you, GL. Any discussion? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Drew, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> no. >> Mr. Foody, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fris, >> yes. >> Mr. Yuber, >> yes. Motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> All right. Yeah. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? >> Okay. Meeting is officially adjourned. >> 34. >> And uh please make sure that Joe knows what talk. >> Oh, I

130I will. I will. >> Please don't get used to it. >> Oh, I'm going to rub it in. >> It's got to be whenever I'm here. Right here we end early in the