001Unbelievable. How are you? Marilyn, are you good to go? Diana [Music] Good evening everybody. I'd like to call the meeting to order. This is the West Milford Board of Education workshop special action meeting of April 21st, 2015. Um, just would like to say that the exits are back behind you and over here. Please silence or turn off your cell phones and note the locations of the emergency exits. Um, I would like to take a moment of silence for Mrs. Janette Demeris who passed away on April 8th. She served our West Milford School District for over 33 years. She was a special education teacher at Mathan School. And I'd also like to have a moment of silence for my brother-in-law, Christopher Schultz, who died suddenly on Sunday, April 12th. We can stand for the flag salute.
002To 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's meetings act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members all district schools, the Herald news, the trends, the record, AI West Milford, the messenger, West Milford town hall, the county superintendent's office, the board attorney and cable vision of Warwick and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Roll call, please. Mr. Babbett, here. Mr. Bailey. Mr. De here. Mr. Drew. Mr. Foody. Present. Mrs. Key here. Mrs. O'Brien here. Mr. Robins here. Mrs. Schultz here. Somebody like to read
003the executive session resolution. I'll do that. Um resolved that the court go into executive session at 900 p.m. for approximately 60 minutes for the purpose of discussing discussing negotiations, student matters, personnel, HIVs, agrievance, the superintendent search and matters of attorney client privilege. The executive session minutes will not be released until such such time as the privilege or confidentiality is no longer applicable. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Superintendence report. Mr. Rashida. Well, a lot of good things have happened since we met last. Uh first um going back on March 26th uh the bus drivers had that training um with other support people for homeland security uh for student safety on school buses which was very well attended. It was an excellent program and we thank everybody from the state for coming in and
004supporting us in that program. Um, on April 1st, there was an outstanding performance by the uh district arts festival where we had artwork from uh kindergarten right through 12th grade with a major mural over at the cafeteria of the high school. Every single performance group from uh chorus to jazz band or concert band and even color guard performed and did an excellent job. Just very very very proud to be here at West Milford and seeing all that great stuff happening. Uh last week on Tuesday, uh we had the kindergarten kickoff and uh that was very well attended. Um right here in this building and uh all the elementary principles were there explaining the uh the cute part about the daily routines of kindergarten as well as showing various videos and supporting the parents. So that
005was very very nice. And then this past uh this week we had the I should say last week there was a festival uh department festival over at Makipin School where all the departments English and history had uh posters and presentations available for parents to see. They also ran a fundraiser uh with volleyball for some students. And uh alongside uh Makipin over at the high school, uh we want to thank the Cassup uh organization for having a special presentation in plain sight uh which was a an opportunity for parents to have u a keen eye on what to look for in their children's bedrooms and what what types of things can be used to hide uh drugs and other paraphernalia. So, it was very very uh I don't want to say enlightening, but very very informative
006and really got everyone to think. So, thank you and and that was a very a very good presentation that made a lot of people aware of what's out there and what we have to deal with as adults and trying to run a community. And it's pretty much where we're at. Also, let me just give you an update here. Um we went through the performance-based assessments which have completed uh this week. We started the end ofear testing, believe it or not. Uh that's the second part of the park assessments. Just so you know, everybody who was not part of the first testing session is now participating in the second session. Uh but that's going well. We are using the uh Mac computers, um PCs, and the Chromebooks. So, uh everything's being used. The high school should
007be finished, I think, tomorrow. Um there is a separate exam going on for special education students, DLMs, um direct learning maps which is uh being utilized over the next two days. And then the rest of the schools in the district will begin the testing and uh that'll go on for a couple of more days. So that will be the second part of the park exam and we should be over with that uh by the end of next week. And I think that's pretty much where we're at. Thank you. When when does the middle school do their uh mark exams? I believe I believe that starts um Monday. Monday. Yeah. Nichollet, would you like to give your report now, please? Yes. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you all had a wonderful spring
008break. There are many accomplishments and events to note from Western High School during the month. Talking to the mic. Sorry. Uh beginning with music education. And I'm very proud to report our very own Highlander Inter Percussion Band placed first this past weekend at the United States Band's 2015 Zilgian Winter Percussion Championships in the Scholastic 1A marching band. A feat that has not been accomplished by our school in the past 20 years. Also this past weekend, 11 coral students performed in the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education's Region One Choir Concert at Netley High School under the direction of our very own Doug Haburn. Lastly, this Friday, the 24th, is the annual jazz festival at the high school featuring our award-winning jazz band. Please note that tickets will be discounted at $5 for students who bring
009their school IDs to the event. Games and meets for all all of our spring sports have just begun. Um, and while there's not anything conclusive to report yet, I'm happy to announce that girls lacrosse and boys lacrosse are all on fourame winning streaks. And in track and field, senior St. Jacob DNA has beaten school records in pretty much every running event. Uh teams such as boys volleyball, baseball, rugby, and girls softball have also enjoyed recent wins. Student council has been very active recently, and we're very happy that senior choice awards finally happened after six reschedulings during uh during the winter due to the weather. Um and we raised about $1,000 for future student council events such as Highlander Day in May. Before the break, we had a spring spirit week and now we're conducting a
010food drive in conjunction with the local elks club and local food pantries, pitting class against class to see who could raise the most in cans and non-p perishable food items. We've had other service and awareness events recently at the hospital as well. As Mr. Rashika mentioned, we had the hidden in plain sight exhibit for parents and educators which raised awareness for um the ways addictions and adolescence can manifest themselves to the unseen to the untrained eye. Our GSA conducted the annual day of silence this past Friday which called awareness of the silence put upon victims of anti-LGBTQ bullying. Lastly, our interact club is currently collecting donations for the Smile Train organization, a charity that provides corrective surgery to children with cle pallet and cle. Lastly, Relay for Life of the Highlands is coming up. I
011know some board members are participating in that in the baseball game. Um, and bank night is taking place at the high school on March Oh, sorry, May 14th. As for guidance news, there are now several community scholarships uploaded on Nviance for our seniors to apply to from many local associations such as the Elks Club, the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, and more. As for testing, we all know the park is reprising itself this week. But aside from that, the ACT was held at the high school on the 18th this past Saturday, and an SAT boot camp is coming up this weekend thanks to our PTA at the high school. As for upcoming events, on April 30th, the TV science class will present a brief build festival in school with two backto-back assemblies. This decision was
012a compromise based on uh the recsembly petitions that occurred in November. There will be an evening showing of this event in May after school as well. Lastly, the third marking period will end uh tomorrow, April 22nd, with all grades being finalized in weeks for Thank you. That's it for me. Just a little followup for Nichollet. Nichollet usually uh attends one meeting a month. uh the the regular board meeting this is a workshop se session and she requested to be here this evening I'm happy to share with everyone that Nichollet has been accepted to Princeton University and she will be uh yeah along don't be embarrassed along with many other prestigious uh wonderful colleges and universities so congratulations but she will be attending a special program there uh next Tuesday for the regular meeting so she
013wanted to be here this evening so thank Thank you, Nichollet. And again, congratulations. I just wanted to mention that there is a need for us to go into executive session for about 10 minutes to discuss personnel. So, I just need a motion. That's separate from the the resolution. In addition to the resolution, yes. like to make a motion that the board go into an executive session for 10 minutes starting at 72 p.m. Second for personnel for personal purposes. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? We're going to go into person uh executive session doing something presentation for you. Do you want us to wait? We will be back in about 10 minutes. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. No problem. I think that Yeah, I know. All right. I'd like to call the meeting back to
014order. Uh it's 7:52. Once again, I apologize, but that was an e situation that we needed to attend to right away. So, um, we will move on. Okay. We're out of executive session. Uh, I would like to invite Miss Brenda Lewig, our world language uh, supervisor, and uh, she will talk to us about world languages, and I believe we have a presentation by some students as well. So, that's good. So, uh, thank you for inviting me to speak about one of my favorite topics, West Milford's World Language Department. And tonight we have a special treat. We have five students, five sixth grade students from Westbrook School who are here with their teacher, Mr. Brett Shelby, to do a Spanish demo. Mr. Shelby teaches at Mcabin School, two periods a day, and then he does a
015period a day where he goes to every elementary school, a different one every day. So, the elementary schools, the sixth graders are on a six-day cycle. So once every six days the students receive a lesson from Mr. Shelby in Spanish and then it's followed up by the classroom teacher. So Mr. Shelby and Westbrook students come on up. Uh hi. How are you? So Mr. Shelby um I don't know if you guys saw earlier I had pictures up. Um so last week on the Thursday I believe we had a um fair at Macin Middle School and we actually opened up an international cafe and as you can tell the pictures decided to disappear. Um I've been having technical difficulties of course always happens because I've been practicing all day. Uh so you can't really see the
016pictures but we had a nice setup. We had two tables. Um we had a lot of food for the people. We had a lot of flags and a lot of people really seem to enjoy it. We had a lot of customers. Um, I apologize. The pictures are on my iPad and now they are not currently showing. So, I apologize for that. Show it to you guys later if you're interested. Uh, but I did ask some of the students from Westbrook to give a small presentation and they'd be happy to do so. Part of the reason they love um Scottish. So, ladies, if you [Music] Mr. [Music] Olaf C. Oh, the polka dot. The base is being Thank you, Westbrook students, for representing all 300 sixth graders around the district district. This evening, in addition to
017the international cafe at the Makaban Fair, we also had at the end of February our international dinner for senior citizens. It was attended by over 200 senior citizens this year. Good time was had by all. And also um I just want to talk about some of the new initiatives that we've had in world language in the past year. One is the American Sign Language for College Credit uh was this year and we had students pay $180 for an afterchool course. taught by an adjunct from P County Community College. The students received three college credits for the course and five high school credits for taking that American Sign Language course and we are again offering it this fall. I'd also like to right now thank the board for approving the advanced placement Italian course for next
018year. It's our 21st advanced placement course at West Milford High School and uh Mrs. Mr. Tossimo is going to go on her own time this summer to New York City to for a week to learn about how to best prepare the students for the advanced placement test. I've also applied for an Italian grant from the Italian consulate. We're waiting to hear. They should let us know next month if we received it again. We did receive it in 2010 for our new seventh grade Italian program. And I put in for this year for the new fullear eighth grade program that that you approved back in November. and that that will um we'll hear next next month if if we want it again. Um this year we have been looking at the world language program because we've
019been working on a five-year plan for 2015 to 2020 and that'll be finished. It's still in draft form right now. Um so but it will be finished next month. We've had a committee of teachers, administrators, and parents. We've done four different surveys of teachers, parents, and students. And also two of our four of our teachers went to two New Jersey model world language programs in Fair Haven and West Windsor um to see uh why they were a model program and we weren't. And basically what we realized is that next year we're prepared to apply to be a model program for the state of New Jersey. So we're going to be applying for that recognition next school year. While we were doing the five-year plan, one of the things we have to do is look at
020where we've been in the past five years and then go on for the next five years. And as we looked at the last five years, um, with the board support, we were able to make many technology purchases. And I just want to go down that list very quickly. Every 7 through 12 world language classroom has been equipped with a mounted in focus projector. Every 7th through 12 world language classroom has a document camera which is used also for things like 3D objects so that if a teacher has let's say coins from the foreign country to show the students instead of passing them around they can just put it underneath the document camera and it projects on the screen. So uh that's um in every classroom. We also have wireless speakers and an Apple TV in
021every classroom and each teacher has an iPad to use. We also have a class set of 20 iPads for student use that teachers sign out as on the BA basis. Class set of headsets with microphones. At the elementary level, we bought twin sister Spanish CDs for kindergarten and first grade. A Muzzy DV pro DVD program for second through fifth grade classroom teachers. We also have a subscription to linguaizone whereby teachers can put in the vocabulary and the students can build their vocabulary online by going either to the library, the media center or at from at home. Um, do you have any questions for me or no? Okay. All right. And anything you want know is on the salmon sheet to match the salmon outfit tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Shelby.
022And a special thank you to our Westbrook students who did an excellent performance. Thank you for being here this evening. Really appreciate it. Um, next we have Miss Deborah Gertina, our supervisor of math for the entire district. So, Miss Gratina will be going through a little bit of the work that we do in mathematics throughout the district. projecting this way. Yes, we're set up. Are you helping with that? Yep. Thank you. Um, we're we're not just going to show you uh some of the math tonight. We're going to actually do some of the math tonight together so we can get a feel for you. Don't get cringy. Um, we're going to do a little bit of the math together so that you can get an appreciation of what our students are learning and thinking about
023in this network. So, it's my pleasure to be here this evening. studying my assistant tonight. She's wonderful in mathematics but not studying mathematics because anyway she's been excellent in our mathe department and we're very happy for her. So many of us have been talking about park. Um last month we finished park and we're parking again now at the high school and backend next week. But I wanted to introduce the um thank you Nood. I wanted to introduce a little bit of a view of mathematics in West Milford by talking about a different kind of parking and the and the pan that I have given to most of you is displayed here as well. And we need to not overthink this one. I want you to think about how we are changing the way that students
024look at mathematics. And if you look at this, we're going to come back to this. I know it's a little crooked. You ever park next to someone who's a little crooked like that? We're going to straighten you out. Don't worry about it. And the dreaded math problem will be very easily solved by the time we get to the end. Let's talk about how we need to be uh thinking about the way we think about mathematics. And I want to start with a story that was shared by one of our our teachers um actually who is a mother in West Milford also. her son Cameron is six years old and he has a sister who is two years younger and when she passed the iPad to him she said you know do is it okay I'm
025assuming she is there enough power can I use the iPad and he looked at the device and saw that there was 58% showing on the screen and he says he says you know when she said is that good he says yeah yeah that's good you know you've got enough power you have more than half left now think about this this is a six-year-old telling us by looking at 58% that this is more than half so how does he really know that. And we're changing the thinking because Cameron has already learned that 58 is not the same as 100, but he's also learned that 50 is half of 100. And in math class, he's also learned that 58 is more than 50. So, he used math to answer his sister's question. And it was brilliant. I
026mean, I was shocked. I was so excited when I heard this story. And I was really, really happy to know that in kindergarten, we're changing the way that students are actually thinking about numbers, number sense, and mathematics. So, why why is this happening? Cameron is one of many students, all the students in our district who are learning mathematics now in a different way than you and I did. And I want to assure you 2 plus two still equals four. And that is important. Yes. Is it really important? Yes, absolutely it is. And yes, the common core supports that. So I don't want you to be afraid of what our new standards are bringing to us. The building blocks are really essential. And if we don't have those foundation bricks, we can't build the higher mat.
027So yes, we need the basic facts because the common core is more rigorous. It digs deeper and it's more focused to help us with that. Incorporated in the common core, we have the practices that help us to get through that. There are I can statements or what we call the practices. Take a look at them. They're not scary. They're really not scary. We want students to persevere in problem solving. We want them not to give up, not to give up on math, not to give up on themselves. And we want them to use numbers and words together in real life situations using the tools that are available to them to solve to look for patterns to look for logic and reasoning. And we also want them to take apart and pull to you know pull
028apart and take apart numbers and put them back together again. These are the practices that help us get there. But let's look at how we learn math. And I know some of you are probably already looking at this problem 54* 32. And maybe you're pulling out your cell phone with calculator. Maybe you're doing this in your head. Maybe have paper and pencil. But let's look at how we teach this now in elementary school. It's not scary if you break it apart. 54 is equal to 50 + 4 and 32 is equal to 30 + 2. Imagine this is a carpet and you're laying carpet in a room and we're going to find out how much carpet we need. So, let's look at the area model. I take 50 * 30 and I get 1500. Easy.
029We're good. 50 * 2 is Come on. We're 100. 4 * 30 120. Are you adding this in your head? And be assured 2 * 4 is still 8. Put them all together and what do we get? This is our answer. Do you see how we got there? We take the partial products just like we do with a regular algorithm. But why is it important that we learn this way? Because the elementary students need to learn at the very young age how to do math. Because it's the same way that we ask high school students to teach and to learn. Why? Because they have to learn algebra. Now, this is the scary part for most of us because if we remember algebra, we may not think that we want to remember algebra. It might have
030been a four that a word like math way back in high school. But now we have to apply what we learned in the elementary model to actually solve this high school. So x + 4 the x's replace the 50 and the x + 2 become the two factors that we multiplied together. And if we use the model we used before x * x = x 2 x^2. And then if we continue on to apply what we used two x's two apples to anything is 2x 4 * x is 4x. And now four plus four * 2 is still eight. We're comfortable there. But look how it looks when we pull all together. Now this is the algebra that you probably don't remember and don't want to remember. But here's our polomial expression. And we know
031now where that 6x came from. Because students in high school already learn this and now they know why. And that's the importance of trying to rethink the way we look at mathematics even at the very young ages. Have I lost you? Are we good? Okay. Brenda is saying yes. She's lost. We'll go slower in the classrooms. I just wanted to give an overview. So, how do we get our students where they really need to be? And with the grateful support of the board of education in the community, we have been able to establish a really great program in mathematics. And we have curriculum resources technology. We have professional collaboration within our faculty and opportunities for students to uh learn curriculum resources beginning with our very newest program in elementary. You may have heard already that
032we have K5 mathematics supported by the go math program. We're very excited about this. Teachers have worked very hard in this first year in the roll out to make sure that the parents and the students and everyone is really embracing as much as we can learning the math in a new way. Digital components allow us to have this access at home so that parents can have that support and we're using um this go math program in a good way to align our curriculum standards. Moving on, we had last year grade six and grade seven received new textbooks. Thank you very much. These are also aligned, have digital components, video tutorials, support. Moving on, this year we incorporated grade eight into the uh standards alignments. But what's exciting about this new program in grade 8 is
033that it also is consumable and students are kind of excited about being able to write in the book. You know, that's kind of naughty. I can't write the book. But now they're allowed to write in the book. And we really find that with that direct application, they're accumulating a whole journal of the math year so that they can go back and use that. Incorporated too in this program are graphic novels. And if you don't know what that is, it's like comic books that are kind of little, you know, gone crazy. Graphic novels are where the kids are reading and they're learning. They're actually learning through graphic novels. So this program has incorporated that as well. Moving on to high school, algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. All new textbooks last year aligned to common core.
034Again, digital We're finding the pre-calculus we are this year follows in the same sequence. So we have in the general track at high school from algebra 1 through geometry algebra 2 to pre-cal students have the same publisher so it gives them some kind of comfort as they move through from algebra to pre-calculus. Parents at home know how to access the digital. Students know how to access the digital and there's consistency. So we're very happy about this. curious students are saying, "I still want the book." And I don't understand why because they're on the maybe they're on the the iPads and their phones too much and they want the book in their hand, but the books are heavy still. They haven't changed in weight, but the students still like the books. They're kind of curious. Um,
035we have the dual digital and the hard book there for each student. Calculus, new book this year, also aligned in all the sequences. And then we move into the honors program. We have a new pre-calculus book. and the teacher who helped to um create this uh curriculum is very excited because she knows that's aligning to the advanced placement calculus that moves on to the year ahead. And speaking of that, we have a new book in calculus, too. This is a college textbook, but we actually had students come back on alumni day and look in the classroom and they said, "Oh, we have that book in college." So, we know this is a college text. This is absolutely where we're teaching them here in the high school as they prepare for the for the um advanced
036placement exam. Um did we do that here? I'm going back this argument. We also have a new textbook in advanced placement statistics and digital access at home as well. We love theos. AP computer science has this as a resource as well for the programming. And we're very excited too that we have three levels. This program has really grown over the years. We have an intro course to computer science. We also have intermediate course with Java and then the AP computer science where the test is in May as well. Now to support that in technology resources. We're very very happy that we have a new computer lab. Um it's not a new room but we redesigned it with furniture and workstations so that we have access for 32 students but 20 workstations. And so whenever we
037need the computer science we have this as a computer lab at the high school. And you see behind here some of the coding that the students are actually working on. Um so they're kind of excited. This is the um intro to college uh intro to computer science course which is part of our honors program but it's also open to anyone who chooses to take computer science Chromebooks not just for parking Chromebooks in our classrooms. We have 20 at the high school 10 at the Macin School and so we do use this students are kind of excited to get their hands onto the touchpad and being able to use to tell them they can't work on it like an iPad. They go to touch the screen they're not used to this. They're they're trying to make
038that interface happen in a good way. Moving back to elementary with the iPads that we have there. We have of course a lot of apps that have been discovered by teachers and collaboration. We're actually trying to increase the number sense fluency practice. One of our very favorite applications in the elementary is mass live. If you're in the audience, you have an elementary student. You got to look um book this up on your iPad. Digital curricula accompany each of the textbook resources too from kindergarten through high school. So there are components here that help support learning at home and in the classroom. digital access for resources, glosseries, assignments, and the ebooks. We're also going to be exploring more for next year, the Khan Academy, which is um this is a picture of Sal Khan. He's a
039genius. He is brilliant. He could probably solve that parking lot problem really fast. He has three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard. He designed a website that began with video tutorials on YouTube for his nieces and nephews who were struggling in math. That built and built and built and built. He's now funded by the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation, which means he will be free forever for everyone, which is a great piece in the math. We have a lot of sequences here we can use for exploration and support for student learning. Of course, teachers use the teaching channel, which is going to be great for their pedigogy to make sure that they're bringing best practices to the classroom. List of some of the courses, most of the courses that we have here, and
040you need to know that the teachers are working very hard on this. So, when we do have the curriculum work, we're working on something called a map. And this is what one page of one map looks like. This is one page, one chapter. And keep in mind that that one page now needs to be multiplied by every chapter, by every grade level, by every course that we have. Teachers have been working really hard to align the curriculum. Over 500 pages have been developed in the curriculum. Proud of that. We we do that through professional collaboration. We have vertical articulation meetings, horizontal articul articulation meetings in the elementary as well as math committees and teachers work together and help each other to bring best practices to their classroom. We have professional learning communities which are groups
041of of faculty that get together and that is actually a district goal that we're working on curriculum alignment informative assessment and and also designing common assessments for um analysis of data. And we do this on an ongoing basis that's involving both general education and special education teachers. We make no distinction between those two faculty. We work collaboratively together and share some of the best practices come when we use ourselves as our own best resource. For students, we wanted to make sure that everything rolled out smoothly. So, in the fall, we began back to school night um and parent forums. And I've been to each of the elementary schools to give an opportunity for parents to embrace the program, to ask questions, to make sure that they're on a good place. This is actually at Maple
042Road, one of these sessions here. And I think in the elementary too they have the most fun because in the family numeracy nights, family math nights, and parent orientations, students and parents and teachers all get together. I'm not sure who has more fun in different teachers um or the students or the parents, but this is a this is actually a West here um that we had a recent night. We don't do a lot of field trips in mathematics. Um, students are in the classroom, they stay in the classroom, they don't go out, they are in the classroom. But as a reward for the students in the advanced placement classes last year, we went to the museum of math in New York City. This is the only museum of math in the nation and we're very
043fortunate to have it here in such close proximity. So, AP Stats and Cal kids went there last year and they learned together. They had a great time. They were really having a lot of fun and we had a um wonderful field trip. We're we're hoping we can repeat that experience again. Um, so that's a great opportunity and everything that that relates to um the hard work they do is is rewarded by that that trip to MoMA not to be confused with mom. Um, new alphatheta, our national honor society, m a th new alphatheta, the phonms from the Greek lettering create the word math. And these are officers for this year. We have students who are already members that are peer tutoring in the NHS society so that they can help their peers with anyone who's
044struggling. I see our own Miss Nichollet there. She's looking like a flower child with 70s. Um, and this year we have 40 new inductees. So, we're really happy. This is a huge number. We had over 80 apply and and 40 of them were able to complete the application. So, we'll be inducting them in May, May 20th, by the way, if you want to come the auditorium high school. It's a nice little program. Um, I will ask you if you notice kind of a line of curve there. We're kind of trying to mimic the limit curve. I don't know if we were successful or not, but that was fun. And everything about what we do is awesome. Whether it's kindergarten or middle school or high school, these are two pre-calculus honors students who really persevereed to
045solve this problem. They were very precise. They worked it through, worked it through, worked it through, and by the time they were done, they were so proud of themselves. They were featured in our newsletter at the high school this past month. Everything we do in mathematics in West Milford is really great stuff. From the time we get from elementary kindergarteners who can recognize that 50% is more than half to middle school where we lay the foundations for the high school to high school where we bring them up through advanced courses and actually courses for everyone really. Um we we end up having graduates like Nicolet who go to Princeton. We have graduates who go for engineering programs at NGIT at Stevens Institute, University of Delaware. They go to Syracuse. They go to Cornell. Um, these
046are great places and prestigious places for us to be very proud of when our students graduate from high school. So, let's go back to our problem now. Have you been struggling with this? Does anyone have an answer? I'm going to park my car better next time. Here's the reveal. Here's the magic. Here's the magic of math. Now, if we think about how we're trying to think about the way we we change how we think in mathematics, this is going to be your armhole. So, here's the original problem. And now, are you ready? Here comes the aha moment. Ah, now how would you park a car? You would park a car going this way. Look at what I handed out. The problem is posed this way. But we need to change the way we think and
047we turn it upside down. Do you see that? And now you see the 87 where the car is parked. Okay. The reason we show you this is because we want to make sure that you realize that our students have to be open to a different way of thinking about math. We can't do the same old same old. We have to open up our minds and we have to get aligned with the way that we actually have to teach the math. And I'm really happy to be here tonight to thank the board and the community. Every every opportunity we have to increase the educational opportunities for students in mathematics has all been because of the support we have here from curriculum technology on and on and on. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
048Thanks, Miss Gratina. That was very enlightening. Um, certainly uh highlights the academic programs that we offer here along with world languages and many other subjects. But that was very good. Thank you for sharing that with us. The only problem is I can't move this car. Debbiey's beetle. I still can't. Okay. No, it's just some presentations for somebody. Yeah. So, Mr. Pentacosta will be coming another evening. Thank you, Mr. I guess we can move on to special reports and correspondence. Mrs. Francisco, uh there's a list of minutes uh that will will be available uh for next week's meeting. Uh reminder that next week is the public hearing of the budget. Um I've had a number of conversations with Mr. Drew, Mr. Deber, and um basically uh the budget we'll have another public hearing and another presentation.
049Uh it will be similar to what we had on March 17th. And uh if board members um have questions, that will be the time to ask their questions before the budget is finalized for the 1516 school year. And uh that's all I have to report right now. Mr. Barbara, are we still at 2% increase or around there? Right now, the budget that's appearing in the newspaper has the 2%. Because what you approved on March 17th is what the county office approved. If there's any adjustment to the tax levy, that will have to be done at next Tuesday's meeting. Okay. In public session, right? Thank you. The legal report will be done during executive session and I have nothing to report um for the president's report at this time. The petitions and requests petitioners who have
050requested 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. Petitioners speaking during petitions and requests are asked to address topics listed for special action in the agenda. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell their last name, and provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. I believe we have somebody that signed up. Uh Amory Paul gaze. I don't know what it was in reference to. Would anybody like to come up and speak? Ada Eric Rik Macken Road. Um, Councilwoman West Milford, but not here as a council woman. Um, I'm actually
051here for the first part as the chair of WM77V and we're filming. Uh, you'll notice that your mics are taped so you can't turn them off. If you need to say something to someone next to you, just turn your mic sideways. But we've had requests from the seniors that we can't hear you. So these are set for 6 in. We set these prior to the meeting. Um along with that, I can't say the name of but that person over there, please raise your hand. Um, we were during your executive session, we were speaking about interviewing her, but after listening to the math thing, I'm asking something of this school. Could your AP department interview these young people going off to college to show the rest of West Mford what we're producing? Because we don't get
052to see that part. And if you film it, we'll air it because the town should know and you could do these, you know, three, four minute interview with what I mean, oh my god, what she wants to be that, you know, she's going to be, she's already grown up, but but I mean th those those young math geniuses and stuff, they need to be out there because the town doesn't believe we're producing anything but bad kids cuz it's the only ones who get the thing. Now, as from another um committee that I'm on, I have one of my constituents who asked me to ask you and tomorrow night at council, I'll be asking the council this. This is from a 90some year old young man at Hillrest talking about his beloved Hillrest. And this this
053take it both ways cuz it's going to the council the same way. Who's responsible for the repairs? The north door at Hillrest is in very bad condition from the winter raising and lowering them. This is a very active doorway. I thought our rent of that building was paying for repairs. So I'll be putting that to the council tomorrow night. So just for your food of thought because he read the rent the the lease also. Thank you. Thank you. Would anybody else like to come up and speak for petitions and requests? Seeing none, move to close petitions and request. Second. All in favor? I. All right. Okay. Thank you very much. I need a motion to approve the agenda. Like to make a motion to approve the agenda and present. Second. All in favor? I any
054opposed? Budget and finance. Mr. Bailey, I'd like to move item one and two under budget and finance. Please second. Can we separate those? Separate request to separate the items. Request to separate items. They have to be moved separately. So, do I have a Do you want me to change it? Yeah. Withdraw your motion and then change it to number one. All right. I'm taking back what I just said one and two. Great. That was resolution. Sorry, Mrs. O'Brien. I would withdraw that motion. Withdraw. Thank you. Now you have to move number one on it. Winner. Not so fast. I'd like to move item number two, please. I second. Any discussion, Mr. Booty? This is um all part of next year's budget, correct? This is for next year's budget. Yes, for next year. So, but we
055haven't even Are we putting a the cart before the horse? Because we haven't even approved the budget yet. I think we had this discussion not too long ago that if you don't approve the agenda motion now, you're not going to have the science classrooms finished by September 1st. Can we wait a week? I don't know what a week is going to do. Is certainly the board's prerogative to wait a week, but there's many things that have to be done before they And it goes it also number one is also part of that because we're on number two. No, I know. Does anybody else have any questions or comments to make with regards to number two? Mr. Robbins? Yes. Um I think before we think about putting any moving any money towards the science lab, we
056should be making sure that the roofing is in stable condition before we, you know, go underway major construction of of the science lab. Mr. Uh, Mr. Robbins brings up a really valid point. um if if we're going to do $800,000 worth of work in the science labs and we've got leaking roofs and and we're we're contemplating a referendum question for that. Um, in this instance, we are putting a cart before the horse because if those that roof leaks, um, and we put new cabinets in and we have a leaky roof, are we going to be doing damage and and I would be tempted to say yes to um to our class, you know, to new science classrooms Because if I'm not mistaken, one I think one's on the second floor, Barbara, one's on the first
057floor. Correct. Right. And we're not having any leakage on that side of the building. Mrs. Kebby, um I'm a little disappointed in the board. I have I have to say, I mean, this is something to meet our curriculum standards. We need science labs. And this has been a discussion for quite a while. you know, we have issues with the referendum, which we all haven't fully discussed yet. Um, if a referendum fails, if it does, or if it passes, we would hope it does if we go in that direction. At this point, you guys are saying, "Let's pay for the roofs and not do labs." And I think that is just dangerous. I think that is not what we're here for. Thank you. My last comment about that is, you know, we if we're planning on
058doing that type of, you know, spending that type of money, maybe we can consider, you know, fixing the loose on that section of the I believe Mrs. Francisco just said that there were no leaks. That side of the building doesn't leak. It's the other side. That's where we're having the issues. Okay. But if we redo the roofs, I'm imagine that section of the roof is is as old as the rest of the high school. If we do what if we're successful with the referendum, the entire roof is going to be replaced. Absolutely. But at this point, the pro the problem is on the other side of the building, right? And we we did have the in the integrity of the roof checked because that question did come up in our walkthroughs. At this point, we're
059not having any problems over there. That's that's all I can say. Does anybody else have any questions, comments? Can you repeat that out loud? No, I will not. It was a private conversation. Okay. Um, right now we're on item number two under budget and finance. There's no other discussion. I think it calls for a vote. Okay. Uh, it's for number two. Mrs. Cappy, yes. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. Drew, no. Mr. Foody, no. Mr. Babbett, yes. Mrs. O'Brien, yes. Mr. Robbins, no. Mrs. Schulz, yes. Motion carries. Like to move item number one under budget and finance, please. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, vote, please. Mrs. Cappy, yes. Mr. Mr. De. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mr. Foody. No. Mr. Babbot? Yes. Miss O'Brien? Yes. Mr. Robbins? No. Mrs. Schulz? Yes.
060Motion carries. Education. I apologize. This is Kevin, but would you mind moving the agenda? Thank you. Under education, I'd like to move items number one and two. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Foody. On on item number one, um, which is the recommendation of the superintendent to approve Patterson Public Schools for the purpose of bedside con instruction at St. Joe's Hospital with the rate of 40 per hour not to exceed 10 hours per week retroactive from February 17th, 2015 through March 17, 2015. I question why this wasn't on the March 24th um agenda and why we're doing it now. I just doesn't make any sense. I hate approving things in a in a in a retroactive manner, but I mean, we've had a board meeting before the the actual billing for the for this particular student came
061in afterwards. So, uh, we can't address it until we're actually build for it and we are responsible for paying the bill. So, there's really not much we can do about it. Mr. We we knew I guess if from February 17th we knew that um this that this was happening um how come we didn't well in February actually would have been March early March because we had a couple of meetings that were cancelled because of snow but how come we didn't make a I have a recommendation at at that earliest meeting that we could have. I guess we had no idea we had no idea as how long this was going to request contract. We had a request contract contract to come back to us. So we didn't know the extent of the actual time that
062would be needed. So we could have come to you with a number that we'd be voting on tonight with a coming back with a different number to make a change on this. Uh so this is basically where we're at. Usually vote on the final the final bill. What I understand what I understand you're saying we're bound to provide the service. Absolutely. Yes. Any other questions, discussions regarding these two items. In in the future in in the future, can we be advised that this is going to be occurring instead of us being told after the fact? I mean, it just if we're more sense Yeah. only if we're aware of what the situation is. If a student is placed in a in an outside facility and they tell us that they're going to be there for
063a month or two months, we can have a projection of what's going to happen. Uh if a student's placed in a facility and it's basically on a weekly basis, we have no idea how long that's going to last. Thank you very much. What what what I'm what I'm saying is can we be told that hey, it might be a week, it might be a month, it might be two months. I mean, can we I just hate doing stuff, you know, retroactively. It just doesn't make sense. She could just red tape that's involved and why basically why it happens. You wait till the final bill comes in uh and we cover our expenses based on helping that student. You know, we could certainly look at if we ever have something that already has a prescribed date
064uh that the student's going to be there for 30 days, then actually that's something we could bring forward. But when it's open-ended, we can't. Mrs. O'Brien Um, I just want to ask real quick if is the rate of $40 per hour set through the school Patterson public school system or is that through us or how does that work out? The that is based through Patterson which is similar to where we would be as well. Okay. Okay. So there's that big discrepancy in in cost. Mr. One more. I just I think what the board is asking is if you can uh revise this ahead of time would be wonderful. If you can't then you have no control. There's nothing we can ask. Yeah. And and what Mr. De what I said was basically that if we
065know uh when a student is taken into a facility for whatever help they need and they're giving us a prescribed date then certainly we'll say again it's 30 days and this is what the cost would be. Yeah. No, not a problem. Isn't that also based on um the child's needs? Yeah. And that and that can change that can change at any time situation. Sure. So thank you. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Can we please have a vote on items one and two? Miss O'Brien? Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mrs. Key? Yes. Mr. Babbett? Yes. Mr. Bailey? Yes. Mrs. Schultz? Yes. Education item number three will be voted on after executive session. the HIV cases. There's a hand carry. The hand carry actually is the HIV cases, but
066it replaces the number three that's in your agenda. Oh, I apologize. So, the numbers are the same. So, we need to change change. I would make the hand carry number four is my suggestion but up to you. Is that okay? Yeah, that's fine. So, we're going to change the hand carry number four. Okay. Number three will be voted on after executive session. Okay. So, we'd like to make a motion. I'd like to move items number four under education. Second. Any discussion? Mr. We didn't go to the just take the end of the year two days. Good question. Uh unless you just wanted a warm No, I I really was trying to move graduation up at both schools. Um we are locked in with Project Graduation and I did reach out to the uh parent who
067is very involved in running that and she did take the time to call the uh the venue where we're having project graduation and they're already booked uh for the other nights during that week. So we really can't change anything. So that's what happens unfortunately. Yes. Thank you. I would have loved to. Anybody else? Seeing none. We have a roll call, please. Miss O'Brien. Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mrs. Key? Yes. Mr. Babbot? Yes. Mr. Bailey? Yes, Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Personnel, student affairs, Mrs. O'Brien. Okay. I like to uh present items 1 through eight of the special action for your voting leisure this evening. Second, any discussion? Mr. I would like to take this time for the record for public consumption on what channel 77 whatever that may
068be to wish Iris the best in your retirement. I remember when you came here now I remember when you're going and you've been a tremendous asset to the West Milford U school system I believe starting with your initial assignment down at the Absua school working your way up the ladder into a very very important position as our director of education going through transition between I think at last count maybe three superintendent It could be four, but in other words, the um the glue back there and the director of the education office, which is a very important position, has been Miss Iris. So, we talk about people wanting to hear about the exploits of our students, which is a phenomenal idea because I've always said what goes unsaid around here are the myriad of phenomenal success
069stories. people that come through the West Milford school system and go on to be doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs, if you will, paving technicians. So, never do we accentuate the positive here. It's a negative vibe that always comes out of this U-shaped forum month in and month out. So, I enjoy taking the opportunity to speak about this young lady off to Princeton. Good luck. God bless you. I hope everybody understands the significance of being accepted to Princeton. And I also salute you, Miss Iris. And I don't care if they know that you're my friend, cuz you are my friend. But you've done a a very good job here for West Milford. And I wish you nothing but the best. We're gonna miss you and we shall do so well to make sure that the person that
070occupies Iris's chair after May 31st does as good a job as Miss Iris has done for the students, the parents, the employees, anybody affiliated with the West Milford school system during her tenure here coming from Vernon or somewhere up in Sussex County, what have you. Uh, High Point. But um that that's my take and I wish there were more people that would beat the positive drum around here because there's way more positives and negatives. But for some reason until Mr. Bailey gets up on his soap box, it never comes out. And I don't get that. And as long as I'm here and as long as I have the opportunity to seize this now taped open microphone, I'm talking in my radio voice tonight because they can always hear me. Congratulations, best of luck, whatever you're
071going to do next. And I will miss you and everybody in the school system will miss you. Thank you, Iris. This is Kevin. I would just like to add to that and say, Iris, I'm really going to miss your sense of humor. Anybody else? Mr. I have three uh three questions on item um two, seven, and eight. I'll start with number two. Um this is a is this a new position or is this a replacement for somebody? Um new position. No, I I just I want to be perfectly, you know, clear. required. Normally we have a new position and we approve it before they they start here. They start it and then we're going to approve them. Um I I just don't see this has been an ongoing this person has worked for us ongoing
072in a diff number of different capacities um through at services. Um it's not a permanent position, but there is a need right now and um her assignment that she had been working in earlier this year had been completed. However, something else came up and um it was incumbent on on the superintendent and Iris to make a decision that we were going to need her to continue her services. We talked about it with the personnel committee, so they're aware of it. Um, and if you need more information, we'll have to give it to you in close session. And and the the just was an unbudgeted position and then we're just finding the money for it, right? Okay. Um, on item seven, um, are you aware that this person uh, Mr. Rashika her brother-in-law is the principal.
073Yes, we're aware of that. But the uh there's a need to have someone in that building and uh we have to look beyond that point. She's going there specifically to work with special needs students. Um and it's only for the next few weeks of the school year. So uh we don't think that there would be any kind of negative uh outcome from this. Uh this this is just for this school year because it's on a permanent basis. No, it's just it's just till June 30th. I I wouldn't think that that would be wise that and probably on a permanent basis, we would not do that, but given the fact that we need somebody in that location and she's available at this time, that's how it came about. So, it's just till June 30th. Okay. But
074then there's nobody else. Can I if you we there was also a decision made that Mrs. Primava at at uh Apure will be doing her summary evaluation, not Mr. Novak. So that there will be no conflict of interest that way. Very good point. Thank you. Thank you. Any other one one more on item number eight. Um we're approving the stipen um for replaces Connley, right? Um I mean again this is after the fact um because we've already had the district arts best what happened was Mrs. Connelly was uh came there was some kind of conflict that came up at the last minute so she needed to be replaced and that's how this came about. Any other questions? I'd like to make a comment. So Mr. Deborah, I'm going to hand this over to you and
075make my comment as a trustee of the board of education. But at this time, I would also like to wish Miss Welshing good luck in her retirement. I don't know if I can say it as well as Mr. Bailey, but um I know you've served over 11 years in our school district. And while I'm sad to see you go, I would just like to thank you for your dedication, your ongoing support, and your leadership that you've provided to the staff, the students, and the community. And you will be greatly missed. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. De. Okay. So, if there's no other comments or questions regarding those items, um, we please have a vote, please. Miss O'Brien? Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mr. Foody? Uh, no. On two. Yes. On
076one through one and three through eight. Mrs. Miss Key, yes. Mr. Babbot, yes. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. Mrs. Schulz, yes. Now we're on to workshop discussion. There are four items under education for discussion next week at our regular meeting. Does anybody have any questions at this time? Budget and finance. The budget and finance committee is working hard during this very busy budget season and we anticipate having a productive uh session next week at the meeting. your budget and finance committee working hard for you. Mr. You have a question. Yeah. Um if I'm not mistaken, you know, when we approve the um bus evacuation, you know, the the emergency evacuation reports. Um, aren't they supposed to be done at the the next board meeting, which would have been now? Shouldn't we be approving that now if
077I'm not mistaken? I see Joe shaking his head. I I think that's right. Excuse me. I think I think that's right. Um, but except for the fact that I don't think we actually have these ready tonight, do we? So, in the future, they're supposed to be, I think, done when when they do the reports, if I'm not mistaken, I I may remember bringing this up in the past that uh when the reports are done, they're supposed to be done at the next be voted on next meeting. Next meeting. Perhaps it's just because it's so long since the last meeting, but we'll make that. Thank you. And Mr. Foody, did you have another question? Yeah. Number five, um recommendation of the superintendent to approve approve service agreements with uh light path for increased internet and fiber
078network. Um are we increasing our bandwidth again? Um some of that will be part of it. maybe setting up a whole second uh redundancy so that we have more backup for the future. Um and uh that's the intent here. Okay. And it's at no there's no cost involved with this. This is basically uh that was my next question. There's u there was a cost reduction based on something that happened about two months ago um across the board. And so there's what the companies are doing instead of giving back money or cutting your bill, uh they're extending their services. So that's all. So we're paying the same amount of money for more service. Okay. Okay. Anybody else? Quick question. Mr. Drew, the amount in 8, 9, and 10 will be filled in by next week or
079do we already have those? Next week. No, they'll be on. Yeah, because the bills are run this week. We wait until the last minute to run the bills so that we have a most accurate total. Thank you. Okay. Um personnel, student affairs. I have 31 items presented to you this evening under workshop discussion that will be voted on next week. Anybody have any questions regarding personnel? Mr. Bavet policy. I have just one item that will be presented for approval. Any questions there? Do you have any old business? Mr. Um, where are we at in the discussions of um having our citizens of the month from McAfe school come before the board. I mean, I brought this up in January. Thought we were going to have it done in a one or two months and here
080we are four months later. The problem was, as you you noted before, there were a number of canceled meetings due to weather. Uh, and we're trying to catch up and I even uh removed one of our presenters this evening in order for us to have enough time to do what we need to do. So, I'm hoping that in the ver first meeting in May would be the time that we bring them uh front here because we want to get through the budget process. Uh, and I do have some other supervisors who are going to come and do presentations. So, have that student. We do other pieces too, but uh but okay, we do have one day in June. June student that's not something I'm familiar with, but yes, the first board meeting in June is
081only student recognition. Okay. Is that something you have another question, Mr. Is that something that we're going to be doing on a on a monthly basis now then with the kids from from they get recognized for being citizens of the month that we would recognize them monthly? I would like to discuss the possibility maybe not monthly but every two or three months quarterly just so that uh you know I I think you know by now that I like to have recognition for staff members and students and board members. Uh so that is something I'd like to bring forward so that we you know we're not doing it every week but uh you know every two months or so we we can bring the group forward. Bring something forward on that. Sure. Um I'd also like
082the board to be aware that all of our schools do recognition of students on a regular basis in the school. Some most of the elementary schools I think all of them have a a monthly event where they recognize students um directly in the school. And the beauty of that is they get to be recognized by their peers and they get to have a really great feeling about um being having done something important and being recognized for that. And I know that even at the high school and middle school when students are applauded um for their accomplishments, it's not always just about their character, but it's about how their character has led them to success in an accomplishment such as achieving um a status of being a Princeton um student. So, there are many ways in
083which students are currently recognized and um from what I've seen and heard, kids really enjoy it. I see a lot of teachers out there shaking their heads. Thank you. Thank you, Iris. Okay. Uh any other old business? Seeing none, move to close old business. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Moving on to new business. Does anybody have I'm sorry. Um yes, new business. Does anybody have any foundation. Oh, the Ed Foundation. We're going to talk about it next week, but I'll just I'll just say that we we did have a wonderful meeting last night and that it's back on and uh I I'll allow I don't want to take Debbie's thunder and but I will allow her to speak about it next week. But we we did have a great meeting and it is back
084in looking good. So um but there'll be more details. Miss O'Brien will share the details. Yes. Any other new business? No other new business. Seeing none of second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Moving on to petitions and requests. Petitioners who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other 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 and provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. Would anybody like to come up and speak? Is Eric a Eric E R I K Macken Road Councilwoman West Mford
085not as a council woman. Um once again I'm saying about WM77. I'd like your teachers all your class superlatives do the interviews. We'll put them up. We'll put them up. Let everyone see what we have. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else for petitions or requests? Seeing none, move to close. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? I believe we are going to go back into executive session. Would you like to read the executive session? Starting with at 8:55. That's what I was trying to find out. What time is it? 8:55. I'm looking here. At 8:55 p.m. I'm like to make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing discussing negotiation student matters personnel HS HIV agreement is the superintendent surge and matters of attorney. Second. The board does reserve the right to
086come back and take action. So all in favor? Any opposed? Okay, we are going to go into executive session. Are we going into the other room? Nette, thank you for being here tonight. Good luck next week. Hello. Welcome. Welcome. Very exciting. Very happy. Now we are on item number three under education. And Mrs. Keepy, if you wouldn't mind moving that, please. Yes, I'd like to move item number three under ed education. Um, in this I'd pass it. I'd like to include um 2015 H17 as well as unsubstantiated. Right. It was in a verdict about you want to move it as amended. Yes. Move it as amended. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. We do need to roll calls. So sorry, Miss O'Brien. Yes. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mr.
087Foody. This is for amending. No. Okay. Yes. Yes. Mrs. Kappy. Yes. Mr. Babbot. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Now, I just need a motion to adjurnn at 10:01. Let's make a motion to adjourn. Second at 10:01. All in favor? I. Okay. Meeting is officially adjourned at 10:01 p.m. Thank everybody for coming out here tonight. Thank you. Yeah. Oh