001hello and welcome to the monday august 22nd 2022 hillsborough township board of education meeting uh in accordance with the state sunshine law of new jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the hillsborough township board of education was provided on august 18th 2022 to the hillsborough beacon and the courier news mr record mr gillette here miss jackson here mr kidd here miss lanny beater here miss nurse here mr oliver mr roo here mr hill here and mr mourinho here we have a quorum i have a motion to move into executive session where is the open public meetings act chapter 231 of the laws of 1975 provide that a public body may exclude the public from that portion of a meeting of which the public body discusses certain matters for which confidentiality is required is permitted in
002section 7b of the act resolved by the board of education of the township of hillsborough the county of somerset in the state of new jersey as follows the matters to be discussed are an update on the superintendent search a personal matter a student matter and a legal matter uh the matters discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists can i get a motion in a second so moved second thank you all in favor aye all right we'll be back hello and welcome back to the monday august 22nd 2022 hillsborough township board of education meeting um we will start with the pledge of allegiance oh sorry for the take roll call roll call mr gillette here miss jackson here mr kidd here miss lanny beater here
003miss nurse here mr oliver mr roo here mr hill here and mr mourinho here we now have a quorum and can have a meeting all right let's stand for the pledge of allegiance congratulations all right i'd like to acknowledge i don't think we have any correspondence yeah okay yes i'd like to acknowledge the correspondence as listed i was looking at the simple agenda not the details all right and then we'll move on to committee reports let's start with mr gillette uh thank you paul uh the operations finance committee met on august 10th uh these are the topics that we discussed at the meeting uh we discussed the hurricane ida insurance claim which we have good news uh when it's all paid out and it will be paid out it would be um we're receiving 1.1
004million dollars for hurricane ida uh repairs which is good news um as far as transportation goes we've had some interim employees in transportation they're working diligently on getting out bids some of our bus contractors did not take the uh contractual increase which is very small this year still uh it'd be bigger you know maybe in the following year if inflation continues like this but this year would have been very small today uh they had a desire to go out they wanted to rebid so they're working on that and those as of august 10th those should go out soon and they're already out jerry right they're on tonight's agenda to be approved right now right okay so so those that's our part of it um the uh we talked about in previous meetings about amigos guide
005project at sunnymead the project's been discontinued the the young scout has chosen a different project which is uh going to complete um we had um our update on the december referendum is that the right year yeah uh and uh our update was as follows the vestibules are nearly complete in all the schools uh hvac is being worked on making progress um the only the biggest snag right now was uh some electrical capacity issues at woodford woodford and woods road which are being probably already taken care of by now no not quite all right us trying to be optimistic on that one but they need a new electrical panels or what have you two um for the increased load that some of our new units will be we'll uh we'll need to do with those schools
006that's why some our lead testing which results uh our regularly scheduled led testing results of that are on the website uh outlets that um did not pass have the hand wash only signs up at this uh where they need to be um we checked well we've had discussion about the um legal avenues that we're continuing to pursue regarding the esip project from several years ago now our special counsel is still looking in uh into that as you know there was a few bumps in the road with the ecip project and we're looking to get that wrapped up in the near future also and finally um there's some larger housing developments in the planning stages in hillsborough uh right now including uh the eminem at hillsborough westrac development which is a big one um and we
007reviewed a report from the developer about that uh mr eckert had some comments on that and he's going to follow up with i think the planning board is that true or touch the committee i actually met with uh mr ferrari last year township administrator meeting with the planning the town's representative for the planning board as well as business advocate tomorrow right because we had some comments and maybe uh some corrections on some of the assumptions made by the developer for that development and that was the operations committee thank you thank you mr gillette um we'll move on to education thank you the education committee met on august 10th our discussion issues the first one was frontline professional learning mental health solutions i might ask the superintendent i believe that it was in regard to the
008record-keeping system and linking everything up between all the separate schools the issue we had was everything was kept in a digital form of paper now every individual school will have access to a student's full history without having to go in uh for info and around about ways that'll make um mental health uh services more efficient throughout the entire district um and then our next discussion item was 2022 2023 professional development plan and statement of assurance and that's our discussion item was the 2022 2023 district mentoring plan uh and statement of assurance uh our last uh are well those are our discussion items uh our only action item on the agenda was to review both rise revised and new curriculum uh the only changes we ended up making was we changed the way resources were formatted
009and the uh what the way the resources were organized in the health and pe section of the curriculum and we added a disclaimer in terms of the way the resources were being used to make sure that there wasn't any um any confusion regarding that uh any uh the health np curriculum is being taught the same in the classroom as it has been since 2020 since the state standards changed we've merely organized and formatted the documentation according to district's five-year plan to do as such and the superintendent will be doing a presentation on the curriculum in september all right thank you mr kid um for the for the hr uh committee report mr mr oliver's not here so i will do my best to cover that um since i was in that meeting uh we did
010discuss unaffiliated staff and administrator salaries uh we had the discussion we did not finalize the discussion we're waiting for some additional information um and hopefully by the next um session we'll be able to complete that action item um we also had a couple of informational items that we discussed update on vacancies and anticipated vacancies for the upcoming school year um discussed on methods and standards for accolades for staff staff achievements and then we reviewed exit survey data as well for back to my information here for the governance we did have a very quick governance meeting um we covered three items obviously i'll mention this in my presence report but we have our board retreat which is coming up uh this week um we discussed that at a very high level um the current status of
011the superintendent search which i'll also mention in my president's report and then we also had an ongoing discussion about legal representation for the board which was deferred to a future meeting and that's it for the governance report all right now we'll move on to the board presidents report all right so uh welcome everybody and thank you for joining um i want to give a big big thank you to dr feltrie uh it is her last board meeting i'm sure she's going to thank me more than i'm thanking her but as the acting superintendent yes it's her final meeting as the acting superintendent so thank you [Applause] um yeah has not been the easiest but you know you've stuck through and learned a lot yes absolutely with that we're happy to be introducing uh dr fishbein
012uh today who will um assuming we get the votes which i think we will it'll be the interim um superintendent so just for those that are aware of the differences acting fulfills a role when uh it needs to be filled but there's not a vacancy and then once the vacancy was made uh available uh we allowed dr beltry to finish the school year and then search for an interim that will take us until we have a full-time superintendent again so uh welcome and we'll welcome you again once we uh finish the action item later all right um there have been some questions about the the ongoing investigation with the district i just want to give just the very simplest of updates the the somerset county prosecutor's office is still ongoing in their investigation i know
013some people have been emailing the board asking for updates um i'll provide that same response here but until they're done with their investigation we will not be providing any more additional details to the public until we're basically allowed to so that being said with the search that's ongoing um we've had a very very fruitful search so i'm happy to say that all those things aside we have a very large number of diverse candidates have applied the numbers somewhere in the neighborhood 50 to 60 qualified applicants which is a very large number um it will be whittling those down and be doing some interviews in the next coming months and uh hopefully as soon as we come to an agreement with the board we will be introducing a new superintendent uh hopefully close to the end
014of the year so we're very excited that it's moving forward and and then it's working as well as it has um oh yes and last but not least we do have our board retreat um this is not a spa day for those who are not aware this is a day where we meet off-site and we go through and uh and set board goals do some board training and that'll be this wednesday uh from six to nine at the montgomery municipal building so um and that concludes my president's report all right next we'll move on to the acting superintendent report thank you mr marini so we have some honored guests at our meeting tonight with some exciting news to share with the district senator andrew zwicker assemblyman roy fryman and assemblywoman sadaf jaffer from our 16th
015legislative district lobbied with the state for additional funding for hillsboro township public schools that was quite the welcome so as you are aware we took a significant hit with the s2 funding formula senators wicker assemblyman fryman and assemblywoman jaffer were able to secure an additional 1 million dollars earmarked specifically for our schools for infrastructure spending we are so grateful for their assistance in supporting our students it is an honor to introduce senator andrew zwicker assemblyman roy fryman and assemblywoman saddaf jaffer from our 16th legislative district [Applause] so we clearly uh to our acting superintendent dr feltry arranged for the thunderclap that was that was clear and also because it was your lat this is your last board meeting we also decided we would go out with a bang obviously i just want to say and
016i'll turn the microphone over to my colleagues here but uh just to put on to the record that it was dr feltry for president mourinho and the head of the hillsborough education association henry goodhue who came together on behalf of the students of this district to make sure that we all know that families moved to hillsborough for the quality of the education here we have a stay in hillsborough for the quality of education here and for the teachers support personnel and administration and most of all of course for the students we have somewhere here a presentation but before we get that i want to turn it over to uh solomon prime minister and jeffrey but i want to say thank you to the board and to everybody here this is truly a team member i
017i just want to just want to echo what senators workers said that we know that this is in every day you're fighting as long with all those that are working in the school system for the children and so this it's very easy for us to advocate with that wind behind our back that this is for and trying to protect the children trying to give them the highest level of education very proud to be a resident right here very proud to have my children come through hillsborough school district and so i we're very happy to be able to offer this additional support i think mostly everything's been said but whenever i come to these meetings i'm always so inspired and overwhelmed with the service of the board members the administrators the community members who show up
018at these meetings so thank you all for being here this evening and i'm glad we can have a little bit of good news for you [Applause] [Music] so yeah we could ask mr president and our acting superintendent come on up and we'll present you with a very large both figurative and literal check there's a picture he's trump this has been your trump career yes we should get in there [Applause] awesome now the second item in my acting super attendance report is not nearly as exciting but it's necessary so i apologize um in accordance with new hib legislation on june 13 2022 revisions to policy 5512 harass harassment intimidation and bullying were approved by the board of education there has been some significant changes to the new hib law and ms medley has been working with
019david nash esquire director of legal education and national outreach for the foundation of educational administration to update our process and our forms the october 10th board of education meeting will start at 10 30 p.m for a board training on the updated law and policy and that concludes my uh acting superintendent's report i'm not coming at 10 30. i'm two i'm too old thank you dr feldman all right i'm just saying it up front now okay all right we uh have two uh minutes to approve um uh 9.1 motion approved executive session minutes july 18 2022 9.2 motion to approve public meeting minutes july 18th 2022 can i get a motion a second so moved second all right so we'll move on to the first public comment session i'm sorry i have seen for that for
020the minute yes public input on the action agenda we very much welcome in from the public during board meetings there'll be two 30-minute periods of time that the meeting will be open for public comment where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if they're attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public may comment about items that are listed on tonight's agenda before the board votes during the second public comment period members of the public may comment on any school or school district issue remember the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per biola 0167 before you state your comment you'll be asked to provide your name and address there's a three minute limit on public comment please understand
021that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board instances where the board believes there's a misunderstanding or an accuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there are many times when a member of the public makes a comment or ask a question about personnel or hiring decisions kelly note that the open public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompass therein do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public session uh if you have any public comment please step up and and address which action item you will be discussing philip gans item number 11.6 earlier this summer i spoke before this board and asked how the comprehensive health and physical education standards were to
022be implemented into the hillsborough curriculum my immediate personal interest lies with the elementary level at the time this administration indicated this specific curriculum would be developed over the summer and would be available soon before the start of this new school year in order to allow parents to make an informed decision regarding their individual child according to the april 14th memo from our acting commissioner at the new jersey doa quote the njdoe does not approve or actively endorse instructional material such as lesson plans textbooks software videos or any content generally speaking the state does not mandate curriculum material adoption is a local decision based on the local curriculum development and review process all locally developed instructional materials should be aligned to the district curriculum and the new jersey student learning standards and the current medically accurate
023developmentally and age appropriate and selected through meaningful and ongoing consultations with the school community including parents to be clear any report indicating that the njdoe has approved a specific vendor or instructional material example lesson plan related to the implementation is not accurate unquote in that memo she also addressed three standards in particular that have been identified as causing the bulk of controversy and confusion the first two of which applied uh to grades k through five the first core idea one expectation said that by the eighth the end of age of grade two rather discuss the range of ways people express their gender and how gender role stereotypes may limit behavior core idea 2 expectations by the end of grade 5 explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones example romantic and sexual feelings
024masturbation mood swings timing of pubertal onset core idea number three expectations by the end of grade eight define vaginal moral and anal sex the acne commissioner's memo went on to state and again i quote it is important to note that the examples of the performance expectations are not required concepts that must be taught in classes they are merely examples and school curricula does not need to include those specific words or concepts to meet the core ideas or performance expectations of these standards unquote with the start of the new school year just a few weeks away i read the hillsborough board of education website curriculum map related to the comprehensive health and physical education standards it appears that the topic standards are also included not only in health classes but in several other hillsborough class subjects
025by my account going through that english and language arts 12 times social studies 13 times i'm almost done science five times math four times since some of these sensitive topics appeared not to be limited to health class specifically at the elementary level if a parent chooses to have their child opt out of these topics how will that be administered and where will those children go during those lessons secondly if one of the stated goals of these standards thank you ten seconds if one of these stated goals of these standards is to eliminate help eliminate bullying social isolate isolation and increased need for mental health supports how will students who have opted out be protected from those same issues due to opting out with interested parties listening tonight i hope everyone i hope someone here is
026willing and able to address these questions before the board votes thank you thank you for your time my name is jeannie bason i live on valley road i emailed the board event about the same exact topic on july 12th i got a quick response that the curriculum would be posted on the website on august 11th i followed up the website still listed the 2020 curriculum for health as an 8th grade parent i am concerned that my 12 and 13 year old son is going to be learning in school the correct way to perform oral sex receive oral sex and perform anal sex and i emailed the board on august 11th i have not heard back i checked on the website just before when i was sitting in my seat and the curriculum still lists the
0272020 curriculum and in fact if it is going to be the new 2022 general pornographic curriculum i would applaud the employ the board to let the parents know and to let the administrators and the teachers know so that if any teachers are uncomfortable with teaching that's those topics they should not be held in any bad sign for that if a parent chooses to remove their child from the health class just like the gentleman said then we're removing them from the sexual aspect but we're also removing them from the other aspects of health education that are very important like mental health and hygiene and so an opt-out program an opt-out option does not really benefit the school community and if i as a parent took this same material that you as the board approved to teach
028to our students if i took this material and if i went to an 8th grade playground and showed these students the pictures and the discriminate the descriptions that are in the curriculum i would be considered a pedophile and i would be on a watch list yet you are requesting and requiring the teachers to teach this subject matter whether or not it goes against their personal religious or moral beliefs and as parents if we opt our child out of it we lose the benefits of the other aspects of health education including mental health and all bullying all of the other aspects i am i i don't even have words for the fact that the board approved this curriculum have i don't know if you approached any parents for their inputs or if you just made a
029decision on your own but um perhaps this is another one of the reasons why hillsborough not only cannot retain teachers but teachers are leaving by the droves because of the administration the curriculum that's being approved the lack of transparency the corruption that continues year after year after year with no answers there's no accountability thank you for your comment any other questions or comments all right seeing none we'll move on to the empty oh sorry [Music] good evening stephanie lockwood's no stone river road so this is why i've been here since january right is this meeting and this vote and you guys all know that because i sent you what action agenda item are you saying that they spoke to okay thank you i sent you one two three four five six seven eight nine 10
03011 12. you get the count of media sources scientific sources that discuss exactly why the information that these folks are reacting to has been used as political father why my existence has been turned into a political football and you know that every single one of you unless you chose not to read my emails in which case that's a different discussion so i hope that when you vote tonight you're voting on the reality of the science the reality of the record and not on political shenanigans because that's what this has been since day one it was that way since day one with mr albanese and his little mask crusade which everyone likes to get so upset at me about and that's what it is now and one of the very first articles that i sent you
031was explicitly outlining how this was a political strategy to move from one outrage to the next to the next to me so as far as the concerns that are being raised here i'll let you know something that maybe i brought up before i knew i was a girl at six years old i tried to tell my dad that i was a girl and he thought i was asking about how to pee so when we're talking about the right way to teach things maybe we should actually talk about the scientific terminology and maybe we should understand that those links to these uh learning standards are actually just refer references to which standard they meet not which class they're taught in as a former educator i understand that i have a little bit more insight into that
032than the general public might but there's no teaching of pornographic materials in english class good grief and let me tell you something else as a former seventh and eighth grade middle school band director these kids know plenty about oral sex and masturbation plenty and it is for their benefit that we teach them how to do it safely how to engage with each other without disease etc and you have the right to do that as a parent but it is our responsibility to these children just like it was our responsibility to society to me that our society failed i spent five years in my grandma's basement after my grandma would go to bed with her stuffed bras and i was told that i was a pervert that i was a sinner i'm a woman who happened
033to be born with a penis and no one told me that until i figured it out for myself at 42 years old except i knew it at six i didn't know anything about pornography i didn't know anything about masturbation you know what i cared about at six years old my dad and i would play new jersey turnpike i expect just as much extra time as mr dan's had by the way we would play new jersey turnpike where i would set up blocks and we would line up my matchbox cars that's what i cared about at six and the fact that i was a girl and didn't know didn't know how to express it to anyone because no one taught me because i was raised catholic so my family wasn't going to teach me and guess
034what when i told my mom i was a woman at 42 years old my mom fainted she fainted because she was so confused because she never learned it four months later my mom made me the first dress she made me it's beautiful it's a coral renaissance dress and that could have happened for me as a little girl instead of as an adult woman that's what you're voting on today not pornography not masturbation techniques the chance for kids to be who they really are their whole lives and to avoid the mental health issues which i have been accused of having because i stand up for myself and for these thank you thank you [Applause] and just to comment to the audience when somebody's at the at the podium speaking do not speak over them please you
035have your chat you thank you all right uh is there anyone else i'd like to speak okay seeing none we'll move on to the acting superintendent's actions the action agenda thank you so the uh the acting superintendent recommends that the board of education approve the education agenda as follows 11.1 through 11.17 motion to approve professional travel related expenses motion to approve submission of the 2022-2023 statement of assurance for the district professional development plan and mentoring plan motion to approve grant application to special olympics of new jersey for unified soccer motion to approve submission of amendment for and accept transfer of funds within the sr-3 arp grant motion to approve new curriculum which is posted here on the agenda motion to approve revised curriculum which is also posted here on the agenda agenda does not get
036posted on the website until after the board adopts it 11.7 motion to approve affiliation agreement with weidner university 11.8 motion to approve additional hours for summer school program 11.9 motion to approve staff for summer school program 11.10 motion to approve staff to attend you me and the plc 11.11 motion to approve staff to complete nj psa legal one anti-bullying specialist certificate training 11.12 motion to approve media specialist to develop pacing and common assessments 1113 motion to approve staff for curriculum common assessment writing for professional development motion to approve curriculum writing motion to approve revised science curriculum and common assessment writing motion to approve staff member being paid by individuals with disabilities education idea fiscal year 23 funds and 11.17 motion to approve staff being paid by fiscal year 23 elementary and secondary education act esea
037title one funds all right can i get a motion in a second second uh any discussion by the board ms nurse i do have a question i guess from somebody on the education committee or dr feltry um i knew that the health curriculum was a bit of a controversy so i made sure [Music] and i don't see it so i'm not sure if this is something of loose interpretation that is confusing the public or i'm missing something but i just wanted to verify that i wasn't missing something within the curriculum i don't remember seeing that either um but i am i will be doing a presentation on the major changes happening in september so i will be going back over it but when i went through and um you know reviewed it and passed it
038on to the education committee and in any of the conversations that we had there was no direct teaching of those types of i mean it's as much about contracepting and being respectful in relationships i didn't see anything that some of the public issues are and if i may um i i'm not a proponent of a mandate like this but we didn't have a lot of conversation i did go through the maps oh sorry about that um and i raised questions the uh the k-8 teachers answered quickly um they were very forthcoming so my feed my impression my feedback is that if there's any question i would definitely reach out to the teachers i think they are more than happy to help clarify any questions give you any feedback and by all means every parent and
039guardian has the right to opt out and if you choose to opt out you are so within your rights and i think that's the best thing for you and your family and i really wouldn't think too much about missing anything but again reach out to the teachers and talk to them the other thing i would say is that i read through everything and when you see the maps i would go through the links that the students are exposed to and the way it was explained was that the links are there but not everything within the site is covered so it's just a matter of just as we monitor our children's tv and everything else i would pay attention to homework assignments and the use of those links outside of school assignments and homework assignments no
040no if you have a common question during the second question period you can raise the question thank you but just to clarify anybody who read the curriculum mapping and everything there was nothing in there i i not that you recall right i don't recall it no okay but again i mean the the quick response from the k through eight teachers i thought was impressive and again i think they're probably very open to clarifying anything for you even if it means you choose to opt out well you can't do questions then all right i'll ask another question is this curriculum posted on the in on the website will be what's on the agenda oh that's right so it is on the website in the sense that it's on the agenda it can't be on the website
041until you all approve it i asked that question before at committee i'm sorry that that's so just for everybody guys guys we need to sorry please i'm that no the public did not get to see this yes this is public access well right now but before that it's not posted to the website because we can't until it's approved correctly and everything that i've read and everything that elene says she's read we haven't seen anything this agenda that has been publicly posted since friday yes so so access to the agenda but not through the website yet correct yes and we have not seen anything that has direct teaching of any type of sexual things no and and i think the the bottom line is it's a mandate and so there's only so much flexibility anyone has
042so but i think in reading it i think it was sufficient okay and you know just as my thoughts as a parent of a 13 year old or going into eighth grade and a 15 year old soft going into sophomore year i was very comfortable with everything that i've seen okay any other comments or questions by the board [Music] all right with that we'll take roll gillette no to 11.6 yes and everything else miss jackson yes mr kidd yes miss lenny beater yes miss nurse yes mr roo yes miss trujillo yes and mr mourinho yes motion passes the acting superintendent recommends that the board of education approve the human resources agenda 12.1 through 1220 as follows motion to approve interim superintendent of schools motion to approve resolutions motion to approve retirements and resignations motion to
043approve revised resignation motion to approve revised leaves of absence motion to approve revised leave replacement teacher motion to approve revised employment contract 2022 2023 motion to rescind lead replacement contract motion to rescind student occupational therapist field placement motion to approved contract change motion to approve leaves of absence motion to approve hillsborough high school extended media center hours for 2022-2023 motion to affirm appointments for 2022 motion to approve student teachers for 2022 2023 motion to approve sixth and seventh period coverage for 2022-2023 motion to approve extra coverage for 2021 2022 motion to approve science lab coverage for 2022-2020 motion to approve revised summer athletic camp coach stipends motion to approve esy program and summer work for 2022 and motion to approve sidebar agreement with the hillsborough education association uh can i get a motion in a
044second so moved any discussion by the board was the item on science coverage added after the fact i don't see it on my agenda i believe it was added today okay what was that number it was between uh that is 12.17. okay thank you any other questions or comments from the board mr hill you're good okay uh we'll take roll mr gillette yes miss jackson yes mr kidd yes miss lambie beater yes mr nurse yes mr roo yes miss trujillo yes and mr mourinho yes motion passes uh the acting superintendent recommends that the board of education approve the operation to agenda 13.1 through 1321 as follows motion to approve monthly bills motion to approve monthly financials motion to approve line item transfers motion to approve financial status motion to close health reimbursement fund and investment
045accounts motion to approve professional services contracts motion to approve frontline subscription proposals motion to approve shi proposal motion to award contract for professional learning experiences motion to approve tuition contract with hcbt for the 2022-2023 school year motion to approve competitive contract process motion to award contract catholic charities for before and after school child care services motion to award transportation contracts for the 2022-2023 school year motion to approve change order with top line construction motion to approve change order number two with stylo paving and excavating motion to accept donations motion to approve disposal sal of obsolete items settlement agreement motion to approved out-of-district placements for the 2022-2023 school year motion to approve bus rental agreement with somerset county esc and motion to award transportation contract renewal can i get a motion in a second any discussion
046by the board all right seeing none we'll move the role mr gillette yes miss jackson yes mr kidd yes miss lonnie beater yes miss nurse yes mr roo yes mr hill yes and mr mourinho yes motion passes all right we'll move on to the second public comment period we very much welcome them from the public during the board meetings there will be two 30-minute periods of time that the meeting is open for public content where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if they're attending in person during the second public comment period members of the public may comment on any school or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district that's for bilo 0167 before you state
047your comment you'll be asked to provide your name and address there's a three minute limit on public comment please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board instances where the board believes there is a misunderstanding or accuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be times when a member of the public makes a commenter as a question about personnel or hiring decisions kindly note that the public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompassed therein do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public session any public comments hi heather larico 23 bloomingdale drive as community members parents teachers i think any time that parents take an active role in
048their child's education that's something that we all embrace as a parent and teacher myself obviously i want parents to be actively involved and reflecting on what their children are learning in the classroom however when it comes from a disingenuous place and when deliberate misinformation and disinformation is used in an attempt to impact what students are learning how students are accepted and respected in the classroom then that becomes a problem and in order to combat that misinformation and disinformation that i continue to see in the board meetings month after month i would strongly recommend that parents teachers community members check out newsliteracy.org and check ology.org they are it's an organization that is dedicated to helping community members parents teachers students wade through the missing misinformation and disinformation that they are continually bombarded by and enhance their
049media and digital literacy one of the main things that they promote is pause reflect be aware that certain things have been intended to create either a positive or negative emotion and then respond and it also shows community members parents teachers and students how to identify reliable sources and how to vet them so that they can then make their own decisions just my two cents thank you thank you coming [Applause] jeannine mason valley wrote again first i would like to thank the officer out there for his time i would also like to thank the board member who put the asterisk for the reading of the um the knife of never letting go i read that book myself and i thank you for putting the warning on it thank you for the two board members who helped
050clarify because as the previous person stated there is a lot of disinformation out there and when i went to the website and the 2020 curriculum was posted and i emailed asking whether the 2022 curriculum would be implemented or not i did not get a reply so therefore that's why i was here and i would also just like to state that my opinion on the teaching of sex education is not political as some people have insinuated but instead it is my own religious moral and family beliefs and i feel that i have the right to have my children grow up in those same beliefs and i also find it appalling that um old board members are still being brought up by name in a board meeting and nothing is done about it this has continued on
051for for months now by community members speaking out and naming particular board members by name thank you for your comment hi amy amy salinger um ata treasurer and sixth grade teacher at alton road um as i was listening to the discussions tonight i just went on the website myself because i was recalling as a teacher at all and wrote even though i don't teach health and phys ed i know every year they do the puberty lesson in fifth grade and i do know a letter goes home to parents prior to that lesson and i just found it on our website so it does go there it actually talks about um how they will approach the lesson during the classes so there's a general letter there's a letter about um details for what the girls puberty
052lesson will be the boys puberty lesson and it gives parents um suggestions of what they can say at home it also kind of i just skimmed it so don't quote me but basically like if students ask you know highly um uh not inappropriate but like you know detailed questions their response is going to be why don't you ask mom and dad about that at home so it's i i don't think big detailed discussions are happening in the classroom it's introductory i'm sure it follows all the curriculums and it does also offer parents you know if you have any questions or concerns to contact the school and this is all done prior to the lesson being taught which i think is good and i know it goes home i believe it goes home via instant messenger
053um well in advance and i do know in the past some parents have opted their students out of that lesson so some of the things that are being addressed as concerns are things that are already happening and those types of concerns are already being addressed and at least you know again i just did a quick search tonight but at our school i feel like they're already kind of ahead of the curve in that as far as providing information up front as much detail as they can with opt-ins and suggestions for parents to do their part at home so i just wanted to clarify that thank you thank you for your comment [Music] my name is tiffany neal i'm on cedar hill terrace i'm here tonight to advocate for healthy school hours for hillsboro students starting
054in the fall of 2023 as i have described before extensive research shows that starting both middle and high school at 8 30 a.m or later improves mental health physical health and academic achievement among teenagers due to shifts in the biological clock during puberty teens naturally fall asleep later and wake up later than both children and adults this sleep schedule is incompatible with early school start times by starting hillsborough high school before 8 30 we are preventing our teens from getting the 8 to 10 hours of sleep they need to be healthy and successful i would like to welcome dr fishbein as interim superintendent your former district of ridgewood is now actively discussing healthy school hours for their students i look forward to hearing your ideas for implementation as our school board explores options i was
055also glad to see senators wicker assemblyman fryman and dr jaffer here the best way to ensure healthy school hours for all students in new jersey is through statewide legislation two bills that are currently under discussion in the legislature would set a minimum high school start time of 8 30 a.m this legislation would not only improve student health and academics across the state but would also help schools make the change by doing it together i trust that our local leaders will be supporting these bills finally i think i've mentioned before that the new jersey american academy of pediatrics has an active task force on adolescent sleep and school start times chaired by our own district physician dr bert vandelbaum this task force that i sit on is a great resource for our local school board to
056learn more about the research behind the healthy school hours and best practices for implementation healthy school hours improve health and academics for middle and high school students thank you for your dedication to focusing on what's best for our students thank you for your comment hi uh danny lee scott drive uh good evening i'd like to comment on what we previously discussed with the national honor society how it correlates to the bigger issue of teacher retention as previously mentioned when the topic of national site was brought up the discussion quickly went towards the top issue of stipends however as mrs stass has previously brought up the underlying cause actually has little to do with money the matter versus scenarios involving cheating with the national honor society was handled poorly it was handled so poorly that as
057a result teachers no longer wanted to be responsible for the national side this is just one of the examples that allude to a culture where a teacher's word was either not taken seriously or simply disregarded this is this is the national honor society that we're talking about last i checked cheating and honored to not belong in the same sentence the national honor society situation just highlights the ongoing overarching issue we have with the environment and culture of teaching is approaching toxic levels there are hints of our culture based on fear rather than open communication why should a teacher continue to work in a district where there is a disconnect between the administration and the teachers i work in the private sector typically if you see a high turnover rate this is typically symptomatic of either
058poor management or poor culture people people initially join because they love the job but they stay on board because they love the culture or the management high turnover rate is usually not a result of poor pay but rather a statement on management or toxic culture it has been mentioned a few times already on various public comments at the board meetings that the teaching environment is approaching toxic levels and it's not conducive for teachers to stay as a parent i'm concerned about the reproduction repercussions of losing additional teachers and how that would affect my children in short take this job and shove it is not a viable solution moving forward we need to address this sooner rather than later to avoid uh additional resignations that could be avoided thank you thank you for your comment good
059evening again stephanie lockwood mustang river road i have to say that i'm very very pleasantly relieved that this was it i went to a meeting in 100 central uh a few months ago the first time i actually told the towel boob story in public and there were 300 people they had to go into the high school auditorium because they couldn't hold the meeting in normal location so i'm glad that we got ahead of it and it's over and it's done and we can just now move on with doing our job and teaching our kids and here's why this is some of the stuff that's been said by community members to me in public maybe you should move are you paying my relocation costs didn't think so i would if it meant getting you away from
060where i live sorry some of them are just i i i can't even read them because they contain profanity parents will be kept in the dark unlike his perverted disgusting nasty attraction to kids hey he just wants to show its penis to your kids through the windows so and so are you some kind of pedophobe forcing me to decide between lipstick or a beard stefania yes i was there so what did he do exactly besides dress like a woman and forget to shave i don't know what he did he wow calling you a guy is transphobic since i'm not one yeah i'm a woman not a man that's the problem with going what you read here the screening came from a guy screaming at a little girl we know what that one's about i wasn't
061screaming at a little girl i was screaming at the person who made that comment while she was disrupting a meeting that mr mourinho had already determined was out of order and while we're talking about that when someone runs for public office their campaign for their election two their service on and all actions related to that campaign service etc is a matter of public record and they are a public official they are subject to criticism during the time they are on that in that position and time in perpetuity afterwards as mr gillett has mentioned in the past so yes i will continue to criticize the former board member who i believe was not here for the right reasons when it's relevant because that's public record just like every email that i send to use public records
062so if people want to hope for that go for it my name's easy spell because it's in every single minute pretty much since january except for that one meeting that i missed weird um that's the problem with going by what you hear the screening came from a guy screaming at a little girl i think i've made the point here these are people in our community this is why this education that has been politicized i understand that people have different individual views but the use of teaching kids the reality of who they are has been politicized this is why it matters because this is how i get treated so imagine how 12 year olds are treating each other in this town thank you thank you thank you for your comment is there any other public comment
063seeing none i'll open it up to the board right so i have yet to familiarize myself with the proposed um health curriculum but i did want to offer some insight as a student well i understand some of the topics like involving sex education can be extremely uncomfortable i think from my own experience all of my teachers have handled handled it very well and have made sure to like that the environment is inclusive and that all students are ultimately best prepared to protect themselves and i think the way that's done um is through transparency so i know that it's sometimes hard to decipher what things mean or what the implications will be on the students but just from my own perspective i've only had um very informational experiences in regards to these subjects and they've only
064helped um inform my opinion so thank you mr [Applause] any other board members with comments not tonight my friend all right seeing none i will move to adjourn can i get uh motion in a second so i moved all right all in favor aye aye is adjourned