HVRSD Board of Education General Meeting June 15th, 2026

001Drew? How you doing? All right. We will see how the sound is. I'm not sure what it's like for you remote people. Drew? >> Hey Drew. Hello. I can I can hear pretty well. Are you Are you all in the Are you all in the video room or in the board >> board room. You can hear well cuz it's You can hear well cuz I'm sitting right in front of the phone. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I I I will say when the remote audio in the video room is like always incredibly difficult. I usually have to have like the stream up as well. So >> Okay. Okay. My I was trying to be like you. But I wore socks. I can't do that. Can't do no socks. We I know. I just

002can't do it. Um Alex? He's not coming. He's traveling. He told us. Yeah. And we are good. >> Calling this evening's meeting to order. We have a roll call. >> Ms. Carter. >> Present. >> Dr. Genovese. Mr. Kapadia. >> Here. >> Dr. Livingston. Mr. Peters. Mr. Slotman. >> Here. >> Dr. Siliano. >> Here. >> Ms. Williams-Galiano. >> Here. >> We have a quorum. >> Wonderful. Thank you. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time,

003and place thereof communicated to the Hopewell Valley News and The Times on January 7th, 2026. This meeting notice was also sent to Comcast Cable and Verizon Fios. The board meeting The board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the Board of Education. The meeting is being recorded for the purposes of board review, future reference, participation, preparation of the minutes, and viewing on YouTube Bulldog TV, and the school district website www.hbrsd.org. Members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask that you sign in prior to speaking at the dais, and this will assist us with our record keeping in the future. Please join me in a flag salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which

004it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Can I get a first and second to approve the minutes for May 18th regular meeting? >> First. >> Second. All in favor? Any opposed or abstaining? Seeing none, the minutes are passed and approved. Okay, we are going to go ahead and move on to our student recognition today. We have TMS restorative circle group here with us. I think they might be out in the hall, and I'll turn it over to Dr. Trista to just give a little intro. >> Yes, I want to thank and welcome our restorative circle group from the middle school. They're joining us here today. Mr. Emick, the vice principal who is in charge of of coordinating this this restorative circle is here today to introduce the students.

005You all are going to tell us a little bit more about your work. So, I'm not going to steal your thunder. I'm just going to invite you to the podium. They're being honored tonight for a wonderful recognition they had in a award they won, but also for the great work that they continue to do for the district. So, with out further ado, Mr. Emmick. >> Thank you, Dr. Treese. Ooh, that's louder than I thought. Um, so just to give you a little intro about what the restorative circle is and what we do. Uh, a few years back we started a partnership with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. And what they do is they bring two detectives in and with therapy dogs, and now we're up to two therapy dogs as well, and they train our

006student leaders in restorative practices and how to engage in questioning to repair damage that's done to relationships in the wake of not only just bias incidents, but also incidents writ large. Um, as middle schoolers are apt to do, things relationships fall apart. And their goal is to teach their peers through the student leaders that you can always repair those relationships or make determinations about how to move forward if you if you don't intend to. So, throughout the our time with the prosecutor's office, we've [clears throat] been doing that work and our our student leaders and our teachers, who I'd love to introduce, really lead that charge. So, we have Señor Mosery and Miss Fuchsia. Um, and they really do all of the work. So, I'm here speaking, but I don't I I don't take any

007credit. It's all the kids and all those teachers. So, this year, in addition to all that work that they do throughout the year, they came to us saying that they would like to enter a competition. So, New Jersey the Department of Civil Rights has a competition called No Place in the Garden State, where student groups are allowed to come up with really any project that they would like to fit that theme. And our students decided that, and I love this because it's kind of envisioning a positive thing as opposed to looking at some of the negative things in our world, to envision a world without hate. And so, they [clears throat] engage in that project a number of ways, including with a poster competition where any student in the building could design a poster that

008they thought kind of fit that theme. Um they helped in partnership with Mr. Turnbull, our principal, who's over there as well, uh to take over the morning announcements and come up with inspiring quotes that fit that theme as well, so that we could blanket the building in those ideas. They went into lunches to do outreach, um you know, spinning a wheel and then conversing with students, giving out token prizes, which the the lunch students just loved. And we were fortunate enough to win second place statewide amongst all middle schools. And I have to tell you, we we went to a it was a Zoom. Um and we got to see the other winners. And when you see the amazing work that's being done in the state, it's just incredible. But to know that our students

009were honored as the second best middle school participant is just unbelievable, and I couldn't be more proud. Um so I I want to applaud them. We do have some of our participants. I think it's I I would like one of our teachers to come up and introduce them if you could introduce the students or at least one of them, if that's all right, cuz they're the ones who really did the work, and I think they deserve to be acknowledged. >> Thank you so much for having us. Um so this evening we have Daniel Warino. >> [applause] >> Britney Serdas. >> [applause] >> Eleanor Colton. >> [applause] >> Ashra Manchanda. >> [applause] >> Benjamin Lai. >> [applause] >> Dylan Horvath. >> [applause] >> And unfortunately this evening, um Eve Irwin could not make it. Julia Goodrich,

010Ali Ananian, Zoe Means, and Maya Snyder. And that is our group of 12, and we are really thrilled, and we are really blessed to work with this group of kids. >> And so thank you so much. And now I'd love for We would be happy share your name with us as well as your >> My name is Elena Masary. I teach Spanish at Timberlane. >> And this is Lizzie Feuch. And she teaches special education at Timberlane. >> Thank you both so much for your work. >> If I can give a little bit more background on this group before um well, we're going to take a quick pause and go take pictures with them because I know Mr. Sedesky's going to want pictures, right? Um You want to be in the newspaper. Um so, I just

011want to say uh it's it's I think that the the group has been in place like 3 years now. Third year. Um I was approached by um a detective um Marlon Webb. Um who we had worked many years in the past. He had come in and done work with us um and and um with our CSOs about working with different populations of students as our demographics began to change. He had worked with the prosecutor's office for years doing racially sensitive policing work. And so, he did that work with our CSOs. He approached me, and this was a new program that the prosecutor's office started. As a district, all the districts in New Jersey, must report any incidents of bias uh possible bias crime that happens. So, anytime we have an harassment, intimidation, and bullying report

012that's specifically around um you know, violations of race that could be considered a possible hate crime. Most of the things that happen in our district do not rise to that level. 99.9% of them don't. But, we do have to report all of those to the prosecutor's office. Uh we do it through our local the police department who then passes that on to the prosecutor's office. And when they do have a case that they they deem um appropriate, they actually bring that student in and they start a file on that student. To stop from having to start all these files on young people and and getting them right in the disciplinary police stream uh of of discipline, they started these restorative circles where they formally train populations of a group of students that are identified by

013middle school and high schools. We were one of the first middle schools that they were working with. They started in Hamilton. And the first case and incident that happens, the students take on that that mediation. And they do a tremendous job. I've had the opportunity to sit in and watch them do this work. They really do ask questions and allow the students to come to the resolution on their own. And they do administer discipline at the end of that, right? And usually it's it's it's something that's very closely aligned to our student code of conduct. They don't force an apology, but having seen them do the work, um apology happens whether it formally does in that circle or not. You can see the kids are back being friends almost before they leave that circle. So,

014it's important work and they've extended it beyond those just biased comments. We have since extended that work with um Detective Webb sits in the circle with the students um and his canine partner, these are not therapy dogs, they're they're canine officers, um Sunny. And then they also now have a group that's going at our high school. Um so, it's it's it's amazing work that we're doing. Um and I just really am impressed that these students have really uh taken it on and they take it very seriously. And it's very impressive work. I haven't seen adults run circles as well as they have. So, I thank you all for the for the work that you're doing. So, does the board have any questions or >> Yeah. Can I I was thinking Yeah, please. I was just

015going to say um we are so deeply impressed. Um I think the entire community is. And I know here at the board we've been having a lot of conversations, right? I think we're all living in a world right now where there is a lot of hate. And particularly I think children are exposed more to this with social media than they ever have been. Um and we've been having conversations at the board level with administrators and you know, what are the things we can do and how do we support children in our schools? But there is nothing more powerful than creating this change at a school than when students lead it. And so, we are deeply grateful for each of you and your work. And I hope that this is um you continue to do this

016work for your lifetime cuz we need more people like you. So, thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Oh, sure. I just wanted to say that normally, um emotional intelligence building is not rewarded with a second place. So, what you guys are doing is really incredible. And you the fact that you did it within 3 years and as 11, 12, 13, 14-year-olds is profound. So, thank you. >> And we definitely are going to take that picture, because you'll want to look back on this moment. But, I I do want to underscore what Dr. Stalliano said, is that this skill makes a different a difference for your entire life. There are adults that are still learning these skills. And there are adults that are still learning the power of using language freely. Um in in standing

017in in the shade of free speech. And I know that that's complicated legal language, but in truth, sometimes we use things as a shield to protect the harm we have done. And so, the work that you all are doing now matters for this moment, but it will matter forever in your life. And I I just celebrate what was said already, but encourage you to hone this, continue to reflect back on it, um because it'll give you power and influence in how you build teams, how you build communities, how you work with people in your life. And it matters. So, thank you so much Um and keep going. Quick break for pictures. >> [laughter] >> The problem is I don't have a USB I know. >> [laughter] >> These These laptops No, you know what? We'll

018just I just won't be able to do anything while you do that. So, you can >> [laughter] >> So, something happens to this, I cannot I cannot be trusted to use a touch pad. See if it works. >> Because every night is a big night when we get to celebrate the kids. I do want to now pass the baton over to Carolyn McGrath, our fearless leader in the in a lot of clubs, but in this case, the Green [laughter] Climate Change. I have gum in my mouth. So sorry if I'm chewing gum cuz it's a little rude. Um Good evening, Board of Education and HVRSD. Thank you. Administration, um as you had said, I'm Carolyn McGrath. I am co-chair of the Climate Action Committee. And I'm also the advisor to the Youth Environmental Society at

019HVCHS. And I have several of the students here with me this evening. Um and we're going to be presenting an overview of the progress on implementing our district's climate action plan. And I am so super excited because we have two students here this evening or alumni or graduates uh from Hopewell who wrote the original proposal 4 years ago. So, they're here to join us this evening. Next, please. Oh, actually, I can do it. Yes. So, first I want to acknowledge my co-chair, um Dr. Bert Hill, who could not be here this evening, um but also the huge number of volunteers that are on this committee who have been tireless over the last 4 years. And um I also want to thank the administration for your support and the board for your support. So, the climate

020action plan has Oops. has four different areas. Education, transportation, food and waste resilience, and facilities. And we're going to be walking through each of those. So, education. So, some highlights from this year, we had Laura Shifter and Sorry, I have a tremor in it. Gets worse when I do public speaking, so sorry. >> [laughter] >> Laura Shifter and Shiva Rajbhandari from This Is Planet Ed. Um they're national nationally recognized speakers on school climate action, and they met with our committee and gave us really wonderful feedback on the work we're doing and how we can move things forward. Uh we were also really excited to partner partner with STEM Teachers NYC through a mini grant program. And this allowed us to bring it in professional development um, for teachers both in our district as well as

021we were able to open it up to neighboring teachers. And we had a speaker from the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance as well as the um, Native American Advancement Corporation. And also side note, I got to present some best practices at their conference uh, that we've been doing here at Hopewell. So, that was pretty exciting. So, the Seal of Climate Literacy uh, I've been on this committee for the last year. It's a statewide committee. And we're hoping to have this complete by the end of the summer so it could be adopted statewide. It would be a um, for students to have an endorsement on their high school diploma indicating that they have focused on areas of climate. So, this year we also partnered with the Eco PTO and uh, Hopewell Valley Native Plant Exchange. And

022we uh, had a native seed sewing extravaganza, which was a huge success. So, Green Week. Am I Am I doing Green Week? I'm I'm carrying on. Oh, yes. >> [laughter and gasps] >> I'm carrying on. Okay. Green Week Green Week is we're in our sixth year of Green Week and we have events from community cleanups, bike bus, student expo. We had a um nationally recognized speakers come to the district, speak with students, meet with students, and we also had a second year of tree planting. Also this year um one of our YES Club members worked with Fuvos and this was overseen by Alan Corvaline who's teacher at the middle school. And this is a micro forest that was planted at Timberline Middle School. So that was during Green Week as well. So you probably know

023this from last year the big hurrah was that we received a 30,000 plus grant from the Department of Education for climate literacy for community resilience. And one of the first things we did was last summer we hosted a community meeting. That's this photo right there. And we organized a cohort of teachers to write curriculum. Um that curriculum spanned um elementary, middle, and high school and it also was across four different subject areas. So that was a huge expansion of climate curriculum. We also partnered with Monmouth University for free professional development. Um they were our community partner through Sorry, our Sorry, C C C L C partner through this process providing professional development for our staff. And I'm going to turn things over to Sarah. >> All right, good afternoon. Um so, H V R C

024students, also we had the opportunity at this event, which happened this past spring at Monmouth University, to meet with other schools. And it was just like this big event where we all got to um learn from each other how each of us was uh using this grant differently. Um Is there like a quicker or something? Sorry, could you Okay. Then we also got an additional grant from the Hopewell Valley Education Foundation. And through this, we were able to um provide some experiential learning opportunities for H V students at the Watershed Institute. So, for example, um we had some of the younger kids, like the third graders, um at all four elementary schools, the Watershed actually came over and gave like this really cool lesson on like uh stuff to do with like water and whatever.

025And Um next slide. Okay. And then we also um got to have some students in T M S, the middle schools, um energy and the environment class, and the high schools engineering classes, they got to visit the Watershed and learn firsthand about green infrastructure. So, they got to take a fun little field trip. Um And yeah, this one's Miranda. >> Hi. The lessons that HVRSD teachers wrote last summer came alive when students in grades 3 through 12 STEM classes got to explore green infrastructure through hands-on lessons in their classrooms. Students in grades 7 through 12 investigated rain garden design and the benefits of native plants through project-based learning. Grade 11 English students created multimedia projects that highlighted the environmental justice impacts of storm water. Students in grades 3 through 12 crafted art about pollinators and

026native plants that will be displayed in the rain gardens. In total, hundreds of Hopewell students experienced meaningful solution-focused climate resilience lessons this year as part of our participation in the NJ DOE grant program. Turning over to Julia. >> [applause] >> The next focus area of our climate action is transportation. At the end of the 2025 school year, we shared a survey with the HVRSD community gathering information about personal vehicle transportation to and from school. We then analyzed the data gathered from these surveys. This past year, we also took uh drone footage of arrival times at TMS and CHS demonstrating a high volume of traffic on Timberlane Drive and Pennington-Titusville Road at arrival times. Guest students gathered on-the-ground data about the number of personal vehicles dropping off students off at school. When we analyzed that data,

027we found significant emissions contributions from personal vehicle use. Stony Brook Green Team students also gathered data on car drop-offs and analyzed the carbon footprint of those vehicle trips. From these analysis, we see how personal vehicle transportation is a significant contributor to our district's emissions footprint. Now, over to Bella. Okay, so the next focus area of our climate action plan is going to focus on food and waste. This year, we received the report from the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Food Waste Team that outlined their work with Hopewell Elementary and Stony Brook schools. And the Climate Corps member assigned to these schools performed food waste audits with students before and after waste reduction lessons. And this data is specifically from Stony Brook before and after these lessons, and as we can see, there's a significant decrease in food

028waste. And then, this next set of data is from Hopewell Elementary, where we can see a same trend. And then next, this chart depicts some major areas of food waste in our schools, which is a major greenhouse gas contributor. And then now, I'm going to turn it over to Slim. >> But uh the next focus area of our climate action plan is resilience. Our work in the area of resilience has focused on providing district families with climate-related resources when extreme weather events occur. YES! members have been at the forefront of promoting mental health in the face of climate change. At the high school, we hosted workshops and created educational displays. Last year, we used lessons from psychology psychologist Leslie Davenport's book to teach younger students strategies for emotional resilience in a changing climate. Uh, I

029don't know who this speaker is, Davenport. >> [applause] >> Our last focus area of our climate action plan is facilities. The climate action committee has been very grateful for our partnership with stormwater experts from the Watershed and the Mercer County Planning Cup. Who's provided free professional assessments for of the district's major stormwater risks. Using their reports as a starting point, we worked with partners at the Watershed Institute to identify sites at each campus that could be developed into rain gardens. Site preparation began in April and includes included dozens of student, parent, and community volunteers. Each site took more than a day to prepare for planting. During Green Week, the plants arrived and students planted thousands of native plants across the district. Hundreds of students participated through six days of planning across all the Hopewell schools.

030These are the completed gardens. Which we will be watering and watching grow through the summer and fall. Eventually, the rain gardens will provide nature-based stormwater protection and pollinator habitats at each school. Now turning it back to Ms. McGough. >> I'm so proud of these guys. They're so good. >> [laughter] >> So, I'm super excited that we have been approved for a second year of funding through the NJDOE grant. Um, which will allow us to continue to expand climate curricula as well as to support the physical gardens themselves. So, very excited about that news. So, I am just here for a moment and I'm going to turn the last part over to Julia. >> So, you might ask, "What's next for climate action at HVRSD?" It's been 4 years since the Youth Environmental Society created the

031climate action proposal and the Board of Education passed a resolution for climate action. The Climate Action Committee has made significant progress towards our district's climate action goals in the last 4 years, including securing over 90,000 in external funding, expanding professional development and curriculum, arranging numerous pro bono consultants, performing extensive data collection and analysis, deepening community resilience, and organizing an extensive number of community-based events. However, the high-level actions needed to move us towards less reliance on fossil fuels and greater facilities resilience have been stalled. We cannot achieve these goals without greater leadership from the administration and the Board of Education. Therefore, we are asking that the following priority actions be taken. Take immediate advantage of free technical assistance programs to plan for electric school buses. Apply in the next round of funding for electric buses like

032similar schools in Montgomery, West Windsor, and Princeton. Explore long-term cost-effective options for reestablishing district-wide composting or remove signs indicating that we compost. Establish a regular space in the weekly district bulletin where the Climate Action Committee can directly share climate-related resources within the community. Schedule meeting between the Climate action committee and the board finance and facilities committees to review recommendations in the climate action plan. And finally, schedule a meeting with community partners from the watershed and Mercer County planning with the facilities director, superintendent of business, and the superintendent to review stormwater risks. Now, passing it over to Ms. McGrath to end the presentation. >> [applause] >> So, thanks for listening to our summary of our progress as well as next steps and we look forward to continuing to partner with the board and the administration. Um

033Julia and other students are actually passing out a report that more fully um provides goes into more detail uh of our progress and provides a roadmap for moving forward. So, we have copies we have some extra copies and we hope that you'll take the time to read these so that we can move forward together. Yes. >> If you could pull back that slide with the check marks on it. >> Yeah. >> So, I have agreed to all these. Um >> [laughter] >> I know we have to figure out the bus situation. I know that's going to be something to do a little bit more research in. Um but I already have meetings set up with our directors of facilities to examine composting. I know that there was a something fell through with our vendor. Um

034we can start small. I've talked to the students and it doesn't have to be all the schools, but this is something we did do in this district and we need to bring it back. Um in terms of the other items that are up here, these are all items that are well achievable and um our students have worked really hard to make these things happen. Um so, we have agreed to these things including providing a corner of my superintendent newsletter to update folks so we don't have to wait till the end of the year to see all the amazing work that the staff and the students are doing. And this is completely student-led, you all. Um they they give me my marching papers and I march, right? So we've been volun-told to do all this stuff,

035and I think the least we can do is follow through and do those things. So that's my recommendation. >> Awesome. Yeah, I I can't say enough, and I'll let um open the floor to the rest of the board to speak if they'd like, but um there is a number of times in our experience as board members where there is just a clear mandate from the students, and this is one of them that has been clear and resounding and consistent, and I want to acknowledge you all for that. Um I I this is not the first time we've seen that list, which means um we've had ongoing discussions because some of them are going to take many years to actually implement. We've talked about bussing, the electric um bussing, and what it might take for us

036to actually convert any one or multiple buses. So I applaud you not just for continuing to do the research, um because all of this is research-based, and I very much appreciate that, but also for the consistency because it's not just giving up and walking away and saying, "Well, they didn't hear us." You've accepted that it takes time, and you're going to continue to to hone in on the message. So just huge huge acknowledgement. Um all of you spoke very clearly about um the work, and that means you're intimately involved, right? It's not a script that you're um just reading, but that you're really living this out. So, we appreciate it. I hear you, and I look forward to our continued work together to figure out how we get some of these big items figured out

037for our school district. Anyone else from the board? Okay. Seeing none. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Do we Do we want to do a picture? Mark the moment. Let's mark the moment. >> What's that? >> Do you feel like a better person? >> Put everybody back. It's the kids on the >> It was a whole presentation. They were good. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Well, we have one more um on the agenda before we go to public comment. Um so, this one is a little bit of a surprise to the agenda maker. Um but this would be one of you would one of Bob Calavita's last board meetings with us. >> Not one of. >> I'm I know. It's a I just let let me let me go with it

038might. Um just in case. >> [laughter] >> Um but the um board is really just humbled by our opportunity to work with such an amazing business administrator and representative of of work that most schools would die to have this level of competency um in running the office. And so, we have um created a resolution on behalf of uh Mr. Calavita. So, I'm going to have uh Vice President um Dr. Liljestrand read it out for us. >> All right. So, oh, sorry. Um so, this is the resolution honoring the retirement of Robert Calavita from the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Whereas Robert Calavita has devoted over 30 years of his career to public education. And whereas Robert Calavita has served the Hopewell Valley Regional School District with dedication, integrity, and excellent excellence for 24 years. And

039whereas Robert Calavita has demonstrated excellence in financial and operational management of the district. And whereas the business office of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District under the leadership of Robert Calavita has won multiple certificates of excellence in financial reporting from the Association of School Business Officials International. And there's one more whereas, whereas the board recognizes that Robert Colavita's service has positively impacted colleagues, students, and the broader Hopewell community. Resolved that the Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education hereby honors the retirement of Robert Colavita and expresses deep gratitude for Robert Colavita's service and dedication to the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Resolved that this resolution shall be recorded in the official minutes of the Board of Education and archived for future reference. So, thank you, Bob. So, we have this for you, and then

040we also have a card that has been signed by current and future board members. Uh current, not future. Current and prior board members. >> The elections are on the >> Well, well, the future wants to do it, too, IF THEY WANT TO. >> [laughter] [applause] >> IT'S REALLY FUN TO MAKE HIM TURN RED. >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> But also, he really, really does deserve the acknowledgement. So, we didn't really do it just for embarrassment. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Okay, with that, we are now preparing for public comment for the evening. Members of the public are invited to address the board on any matter for a maximum of 3 minutes during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and municipality. In response to your comments, the Board of Education may

041respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched by the district administration. Members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask that you sign in prior to speaking. This will assist us with our record keeping. >> One more thing, you have 3 minutes. At 2 and 1/2 minutes, I'm going to hold up the yellow sign, and then at 3 minutes I'll hold up the red sign. >> Okay, thank you. Uh my name is Cara Letooj I live at 23 East Welling Avenue in Pennington Borough. And I am speaking as a mother of two Hopewell graduates, one to be graduating in 4 days, 3 days, countdown is on the way. I'm also an

042educational researcher and I'm a psychologist here in Pennington Borough. I'm asking the board to reconsider the decision to cut the German language program. When my oldest child was choosing a world language 12 years ago, I will admit that I had preconceived notions about whether German was useful, practical, and whether it was needed with so many German speaking English. I think some of you may hold those same assumptions. So, I asked my colleagues who are experts in language acquisition and their advice was clear. The fastest way to ensure a child does not become bilingual is to take away their choice to learn the language they're interested in. They also told me that because so few districts have German, the German teachers are exceptional in Hopewell. If they don't lose half a job here, there's not many

043jobs. That advice proved true. My oldest chose German and all my others followed. The German program um became more than a class. Starting in sixth grade, they saw the same group of students every single year, every class together. Uh beginning at Timberlane into the high school. In many ways, it functioned like a multi-year academic home room. Uh stable, engaging community within a larger school. The program also opened doors that no other HBS HBRS language program offered because so few high schools offer German, so few medical middle schools offer German. My children achieved great competence in the language. My middle child received financial scholarships from local German society and was selected for a year-long program supported by both the German and United States government through the Department of State. Uh, and she was not the first

044Hopewell student to do that. Many Hopewell students have received these awards. Uh, German gave my children autonomy, competence, and relatedness, often referred to as the psychonut psychological nutrients of motivation and engagement. Even if enrollment is limited, and I learned when I arrived that it is not limited, this program has outside value, and I ask you to reconsider any limited cost savings since all students do need to take a foreign language, and I heard a rumor that a French teacher might be hired, so I don't even know if there is cost savings. Um, and in just in closing, I'll just ask you to please preserve German at Hopewell. >> Um, I'm Bonnie Lou, 12 Linden Lane, Pennington Borough. Um, good evening Board of Ed and administrators. I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of the gifted

045students in our district. As a former secondary educator and a parent of two children in the exceptionally able program, our gifted program, one who's currently finishing up fifth grade, and one who's currently finishing up seventh grade. I have for years raised my concerns with administrators over the way the district is fundamentally failing our gifted learners. However, this is my first time bringing it directly to the board. In January of 2020, Governor Murphy signed the Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act stating that gifted students in grades K through 12 require modification to their educational programs to achieve their capabilities. Our current EA program doesn't come close. Gifted learners are students with special needs. Yet we treat their education as an afterthought and as a result these students often become disengaged and frustrated by school. First I

046want to clarify that both Ms. Lester and Mr. Sidrone, the EA teachers that my kids have had, have been wonderful. The true program is with the resources allocated to the EA program by the district and the program structure. Let me begin by sharing some numbers and I'm happy to explain all my calculations in detail if anyone's interested. Um in grades K through two, students are not identified as gifted and differentiation differentiation is left up to teacher discretion. There's no EA program. In grades three through five, students in the EA program receive between one and one and a half hours of gifted pullout each week in the best case scenario. That means that over 95% of their academic week is spent without gifted modifications. For fifth graders, their weekly hour even forces them to miss core

047academic periods which they then have to make up the work for. We were promised the middle school would allocate more time to EA and yet we received an email just this past Friday from Mr. Umstead telling us that next year the time given to sixth graders in the EA program will be cut in half from what was offered this past year. Because the incoming sixth grade has more gifted learners, the district has penalized them by cutting the sixth grade programming in half, dropping it down to a mere 2% of their total academic time. Furthermore, while the seventh and eighth grade options look better on paper with regards to time and gifted programming, they force a heartbreaking choice. Students must give up electives to take EA. My own seventh grader dropped EA this past year because

048she She to give up either art or music, two of the things that are most stimulating her in order to receive gifted services. Students with IEPs receive accommodations during their academic classes or during the core block at TMS. Our gifted students should not have to sacrifice their elective time just to have their academic needs met. Compounding this, their abrupt removal of German, as spoken previously, felt like an insult to these incoming sixth graders, many of whom specifically had chosen German for its known academic rigor that they so desperately crave. Other districts prove a better way is possible. A dear friend in the Council Rock School District shared with me what her gifted gifted children receive. Elementary gifted education there replaces a a subject each day for 50 minutes. In middle school, it's 100 minutes a

049day across science and social studies. And at the high school level, 150 to 150 minutes are spent in classes geared solely to gifted learners. Hopewell doesn't even offer gifted modifications at the high school level. Council Rock's example of offering gifted programming during academic periods provides a model for what Hopewell should be doing. I understand that budgeting and scheduling create complicated logistical challenges. I was an educator myself. But logistics should not dictate compliance with state law. Our gifted students deserve a core curriculum that integrates differentiation and respects their needs. I urge the board to review our EA scheduling and resource allocation immediately. We need to do better for these kids. Thank you. Um good evening superintendent board. Um, my name is Mary Ann Labos. I live at 10 Model Avenue in Hopewell Borough. Um, I'm here

050tonight as a tax paying resident for the last 17 years as well as a proud parent of two elementary school students of which the youngest is in the corner on the floor as an entering kindergartner. So, I am at the very beginning of my HBRSD journey. I'm not going to lie, HBRSD was a significant influence on my decision to move to Hopewell. You know, it seemed to have near limitless opportunities for students and we have incredible teachers. Carolyn McGrath is just one of so many inspirational teachers we're lucky to have. In the last two years, the struggles that HBS HBRSD has been facing have become more serious. You know, the fiscal cliff is here and it's no longer in the future. You know, I've I've attended some of the meetings, I've watched the YouTube's. Man,

051um, I commend you for managing the situation as well as you are. Um, but I still can't help but feel sadness that what that I'm now that I'm finally here with my children. I'm just hearing about more and more cuts. Recently, I heard that German will no longer be offered at Timberlane and I'm assuming it's due to low enrollment, but now I'm hearing maybe it's not. Um, I know you're phasing out low enrollment classes. I'm concerned that without the feeder program into the middle school, perhaps even one day German at the high school is no longer available. This brings me to two questions. Will there be a comprehensive list of the difficult decisions made to operate HBRSD within its budget? When each cut happens in isolation, we don't see the big picture impacts and so

052it feels like we're having a death of a thousand little cuts. But, each one of those cuts impacts our students in ways and I know you know that, but as tax paying residents and as parents of students, when we only hear like a little bit here and a little little here, we don't see the monumental changes that are happening for those of us that have lived in the district for so long and moved for a very specific reason. Um and are there provisions for independent study of world languages for families looking for a deep commitment to a language such as German? As it would happen, aside from the German program being excellent here, and I didn't even know that when I first moved here, and that's amazing news, I also married a German, which means

053I have little German-American citizens. And they understand the language, but darn it if they speak it, cuz guess who doesn't speak it? Their dad does. And guess they don't read and write. You know, so having more time in a school system like us teaching that language would have been incredible. So, um those are those are my two questions. Thank you. >> Hi. Um my name is Sarah Collabee. I'm at 3 Park Avenue in Pennington Borough. Um I have three kids in the district, um including a rising fifth grader who is in EA uh the EA program and who hoped to was excited to study German. Um I want to second everything that Bonnie said about the EA program, um but I want to devote my time um tonight to uh the decision to eliminate German

054at the middle school. Um I don't take the budget pressures the district is under lightly. I I know that everyone has been working to minimize that impact over years. Um and I understand I don't love, but I understand, you know, the decision to shift some of the cost of those extras, courtesy bussing, after school enrichments, all of those things more onto parents. Um and I get it. But eliminating an academic program, especially one that I have been told is is pop- reasonably popular. I'm sure it's not as big as Spanish, but um it is reasonably well enrolled and beloved by the students who take it. I would hope that that would be an absolute last um last resort. Cuz once a program like this is gone, it it doesn't come back. It seems all but

055impossible to imagine. Um and so I would like to believe that a decision of that import would be made with great deliberation. Uh and that um that everything was done to save it. Um the timing and the way this change was rolled out haven't given me that confidence that I would like to have. Um if all the other options were being weighed and this was truly the only way to make the numbers work, I would have expected to hear about that decision before students were allowed to enroll to register for classes. But that's not the way this went down, you know. Um our kids were told that German was an option, they enrolled, and it wasn't until they were um in the case of Tollgate kids at least, having a tour of Timberlane that they

056were told that they would not be able to take German, which was turned an exciting happy day into a real a real bummer with some kids coming home in tears, which kids are going to be disappointed sometimes. That's what that's life, but this was a real um felt like an own goal. Um and the fact that it was so seemingly last minute implies that it was a reactive decision made hastily. That may not be the case, but that feels like the implication. Um I know hiring specialty teachers can be challenging, but did the district try and fail to reflect find a replacement or just seize the opportunity to make a cut? How much is really being saved if those students just have to take a different language instead? Um as Cara said, you know, kids

057so rarely get to choose a subject to study in depth, something that they are really excited about. Um and having that choice among languages was a really special thing. And offering more than the bare minimum is something that Hopewell has always done and I hope will continue to strive for. >> Uh good evening. My name is Sarah McFarland. I live at 107 Jameson Drive in Pennington Borough. Um I have a son in fifth grade and a daughter in first grade at Colgate. I'm here to echo what Bonnie said um and to represent the many parents who are disappointed in the Hopewell Valley EA program um in the recent changes to the middle school curriculum serving our gifted students. Uh gifted students are often viewed as the children who will succeed no matter what. Uh but

058that assumption overlooks their educational needs. Just as students who are struggling academically deserve instruction tailored to their abilities. Gifted students deserve a curriculum that challenges them at their level. When gifted learners spend years repeating material they have already mastered, they can become disengaged, underachieve, and lose their love of learning. My son began disengaging from school in third grade and remained uninterested until he started the EA program with Ms. Lester in fourth grade. She reignited his love for learning and he finally felt understood, excited, and challenged. I worry that Noah and many others like him will disengage again in middle school without an adequate EA program. Middle school is a particularly important time because students are developing their identities, study habits, and long-term attitudes towards education. Without appropriate challenges, many gifted students never learn how to

059handle difficulty, setbacks, or intellectual risk-taking. It's my understanding that there is already a supervisor in charge of Hopewell Valley's gifted education. I implore this board to call upon this resource to find solutions so that our gifted children receive the education that they too deserve. Limiting the curriculum to half a year is a disservice to their education and full potential. Thank you. Okay. Members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. My name is Anna Remonko Murphy. I'm a resident of Pennington Borough, 118 East Delaware Avenue. I'm the parent of two children at Toll Gate Grammar Elementary School and an active youth sports coach in our community. Professionally, I'm a licensed psychologist and public servant who has served the federal government, state of North Dakota, the state of New Jersey, and the

060Hopewell Valley community for over 15 years. I'm here tonight to join the collective voices of the parents advocating for our children. Sorry, I didn't think I'd get emotional. Um and for all the future students within this district. I fully support the concerns addressed by Bonnie Lou regarding the EA intervention and wish to have my support for her commentary noted for the record. Additionally, I want to express my deep concern regarding the district's track record in meeting the needs of advanced learners. I'll keep my comments broad and brief since I'm probably wasting time catching my breath. I'm happy to share specific details of my experience in a private setting if anyone is so interested. Our district uses taxpayer-funded standardized test assessments to identify the exceptionally able in our student body. However, I've seen firsthand when the

061evidence-based recommendations from these objective assessments are not followed. The reasons cited by administrators and teachers alike are things such as lack of resources or concerns regarding a child's social emotional needs. This raises a significant question for me. Why are we paying for these measures as taxpayers if we are not utilizing the resulting data and recommendations? Furthermore, I implore the board to examine the language used by administrators regarding person-centered interventions for advanced learners. Often, differentiation or acceleration is withheld due to, quote, "social emotional concerns." I've been hearing this for years among other reasons. Yet there seems to be little consideration for the social emotional risks of an under-challenged student such as underachievement, boredom, disengagement, and social isolation. We should be more concerned about the consequences of failing to challenge these students than the challenges themselves. A

062one-size-fits-all model is incompatible with a genuine commitment to social and emotional well-being, especially when no formal assessment of that well-being has been conducted to justify withholding services. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Good evening. My name is Nora Wasden. Um I live at 32 Eglantine Avenue in Pennington Borough, and I have three children in the school district, two at the high school and one who is just finishing Toll Gate this year. I would also like to express concern this evening over recent cuts to meaningful academic programs, specifically our German program, and I would also like to um add my voice to the things that have been said previously about the exceptionally able program. Um both of these cuts affect my rising sixth grader. I am, of course, disappointed for him, but more than

063that, I'm very wary of the district making choices to cut academic and enrichment opportunities that are meaningful to our students and their growth, rather than exploring cutting any other options, administrative costs, or trimming in other areas. Um I agree that cutting an academic or enriching opportunity should be a very last resort. The diversity of learning that we offer our students really matters. When we trim down our offerings and cut language options, arts options, or enrichment options, we provide less meaningful input and learning for our students. And our curriculum becomes watered down and less engaging for them. That diversity of options also serves various learning styles, types of intelligences, and interests. And it meaningfully affects our children's experience and engagement in their learning. I am leery that these cuts represent our district prioritizing in a way

064that does water down our curriculum and offerings and weakens us as a high-quality school district, one that I am so proud to be part of. I realize that German is still planned as an offering at the high school. However, the district has been very clear across the years that it encourages students to choose a language in sixth grade and stick with that language all the way through high school, ideally, as this leads to increased learning and mastery. This will no longer be an option. Every avenue should be pursued to preserve a rich diversity of meaningful offerings to our students. Cutting programs like language, exceptionally able programs, or other arts or enrichment programs should be avoided at all costs. These things are just as meaningful to our students' whole education as their core subject areas. So,

065I would like to ask the board to reconsider cutting German. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Jennifer Gasparine. I'm at 304 Birch Street in Pennington Borough. Um I also have two elementary age students, one entering Timberlane next year, and I'm here just to echo what Bonnie and Sarah said regarding the EA program and the cuts being made at the middle school level. Um I just want to make sure that my statements and concerns about it are um the same as theirs. Uh the cut regarding the sixth grade program specifically being half the year as opposed to the full year. Starting in the elementary school, the fact that they're just meeting once a week for maybe an hour. Um those are things I'm asking you to please look into and um take that into

066consideration that these students have special learning needs just like other students with special learning needs in our district. And um So um just ask you to take a look at that as well. Thank you. Anyone else? Hi everyone. My heart is pounding. I wasn't planning on speaking. But um my name is April McCoy. I live in Hopewell Township, and I'm here to talk about math. And, um, I'm a parent in the district, and I didn't get the memo about the gifted kids. I'm actually here for the average kid, the kid still developing the academic identity. Um, and I actually don't believe in the dichotomy of, um, gifted versus struggling. Um, I came here initially because of my son's math placement, but somewhere between like reading the policy, talking to educators, and obsessing over the policy,

067I realized it's not just about one kid, it's about the system overall. And like many parents, I spent the last few weeks trying to understand the math pathways available to kids and the consequences attached to placement decisions made in the sixth grade. And, um, to be honest, I needed like a flowchart and a spreadsheet to get all the placements. But, what I discovered, um, you know, surprised me a little bit. Um, a student who misses the a placement benchmark by just a few points can find themselves on a pathway that delays, um, their algebra until ninth grade. And for a 12-year-old, that's like a significant consequence. Um, and that's like by a few points. Um, and it raises a broader concern. Are we designing our math pathways around what students need today or assumptions about

068what may no longer no longer be true? And to me, the question should not be how do we keep students out of algebra until they're perfectly ready, but if we're waiting but if we're waiting for 12-year-olds to be perfectly ready, um, we're going to be waiting for a really long time. For me, the question should be how do we help more students become successful in algebra? And those are two two very different questions. One focuses on sorting, and the other focuses on growth. Um, one is a gatekeeping mechanism, and the other one focuses on opportunity. And, um, I do want to be careful careful here cuz I don't want to claim that I'm expert in everything. Um, I can't spell. I do not know the difference between a rhino and a hippo. Um, and if

069you ask me what I had for lunch yesterday, I would not be able to tell you that. But, teaching and learning just happens to be like one of the things that I do know about. Um I know about student motivation. I know how opportunity actually shapes outcomes and happens to be one of the few things that um supports and um kids in um learning. Um as an educator, um it's a part of my work. For years, I visited schools across the country and conducted hundreds of empathy interviews with students and educators. And I visit exceptional districts across the country. And one thing I've learned is that students when they students rise to a challenge. And research shows over and over and over again that instead of limiting access, increasing access put that down. I don't

070like it. >> [laughter] >> Limiting access actually does not help. And they rise to a challenge and access actually matters. Opportunity matters. The stories that kids tell themselves about who gets to take like the advanced courses and who doesn't, it matters. And research consistently shows that participation in advanced courses is one of the strongest predictors of academic um um future academic opportunity. And so, we should possibly align um and think about maintaining these high standards, but we should be asking ourselves the hard question about whether or not current placement policies are identifying potential Oh, it's okay. Mark, can you sign in and read the rest of this, please? >> There is There is a second There is a second public comment. Or someone else can tap in. Husband, please sign in and start from here.

071>> [laughter] >> We can't lose momentum. Start with We should absolutely maintain high standards and go on to but we should also be asking Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I know, but the the passion's going to be lacking. Uh all right, let me sign in here. Uh all right. Hello, my name is Mark Robinson. I'm April's husband. I live at 12 Harborton Ridge Drive in uh Hopewell Township. Uh okay, so uh where we left off was predictors of uh future academic opportunity. We should absolutely maintain high standards, but we should also be asking hard questions about whether our current placement policies are identifying potential as effectively as they could. Uh so, the questions are who's being excluded? Who is being accelerated? How many students narrowly miss that benchmark? What percentage of students with IEPs are

072in advanced pathways? What percentage of multilingual learners? How many students who were denied access would have succeeded if given the chance? If we don't know the answers to those questions, we should. And if we do know the answers, we should be discussing them publicly. I'm not asking the district to lower standards. I'm asking the district to examine whether the consequences attached to those standards are appropriate. It must be more supportive. The goal should not be to make algebra easier. The goal should be to make success in algebra possible for more students. Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Elise Murray. Um I am the parent of three former students here at the district. I also spent as many years sitting there with you guys as I've been out. So, I rolled out in

0732020 after 6 years. And um and I'm here mostly because of Bob. I wanted to come and say goodbye and good luck and to thank you for everything that you did to uh to make me pretty proficient in uh school board governance. Um also to say that I know the decisions you guys are making. I know what it's like to be there. Every time we wanted to make a cut on something Not that we wanted to make a cut on something, but we had to. You know, we were sitting there and listening to people that we agreed with. We really would like to do everything. I remember that very well. Um and as a parent who I took German, my boys took German. I also took French, my daughter took French. We kind of all

074wish we took Spanish cuz we're all trying to learn Spanish now. Um but you know, that's neither here nor there. Um I also had two uh exchange students that one from Bolivia, one from Madrid that both spent a year here. And um I can just tell you that every single one of those kids who came through this district, including the Spanish kids, um, are just doing marvelously in college. Um, my oldest is now uh a a an engineer, a master's degree engineer. He played Division 1 football at a military academy. Um, so I can just say that the sports that we struggled to keep and maybe people wanted to cut for academics, I'm so grateful cuz I think that really paved the way for my children. Um, their grit, their resilience, their teamwork. Um, so

075I really just wanted to say that everything that I learned through you guys and you guys helping me bring my children up to become as successful as they are, I just can't thank you all enough sitting around this table um, with the work that you do and sitting up here for hours at a time and sometimes people not agreeing with you. Um, I know what it's like and um, I really commend the work you're doing and Bob, you're just going to be tremendously missed. Um, and Rosetta, I can see you're carrying the torch very well and I'm proud of you guys and I'm glad I came back to say goodbye. >> Thank you. >> Any additional comments? Okay. Well, Bob, would you like to comment? >> I'd like to comment. I may have prepared something.

076Is that >> Yes. >> Yeah. Some of you have heard some of it, but um, so um, I I spent 30 plus years, 31 years in public education um, and you learn very quickly that you don't succeed alone. Um, any success that I achieved was um the result of all the the people in this room and and past administrations working together to accomplish something, at least said it a few minutes ago. Um, I did a little math. Over the course of my career, I served under six superintendents, nine board presidents, and 53 board members. Okay. Each brought their own unique vision, their own priorities, and expectations. And navigating that kind of change while keeping the work of the district moving forward was one of the great challenges um and privileges of this role. It's a

077challenge to try to get all of different people coming on every, you know, 6 months or it you know, sometimes we had people in the middle. Um, it it was a challenge to do that and and one of the parts of the role that I enjoyed the most. Um I enjoyed meeting each of our board members over the time and I tried to spend as much time um with you as I could. Some of you religiously avoided my committee. I didn't take a I didn't take offense that Jenny Long, if she's listening, avoided it like the plague. Um What's that? No, she never wanted it. Um, I won't look back on all the late night meetings that we had in in negotiations where we got silly at at 11:30 at night or later on occasion.

078Um I won't look back on our budget discussions, although they were they were wonderful at times. Um, but we got a lot done with those. I'll remember working with all of you. Um especially the administrators in our buildings and on our our key staff, cabinets. Um, they're the ones the ones in the buildings who did the heavy lifting. Um, the teachers and staff who showed up every day even when the job was exhausting and often unrecognized. Um the board members who gave their time because they believed in this district and this community. And I'll always remember the students um because every decision we made was ultimately about creating something better for them. Um I was fortunate to have uh many administrators pull me in to teach demo lessons or when I was just starting out

079here, working with the counseling office, working with various principals to get things done um for kids. Uh even Carolyn McGrath who was here earlier today working with her her kids on on those projects. Um I am trying to get buses, Carolyn. It's not that easy. Um to my cabinet members, the the steno pool over here. We joke. When I'm presenting, they tend to tune me out, but that's okay. Um but both of my all of my cabinet members, the superintendents I work for, um their willingness to try to understand what I did to make their jobs easier will never be forgotten. Um and I I've said to them before, we work together. Other districts do not. They fight in their cabinets. Um they lie to each other. They don't tell each other where they can

080cut. Mine came to me and said, "I don't want to cut this, but I know we need to." And they worked with me to do that. And I'm forever grateful for that because we were able to do a lot of things that we might not have been able to do. Um again, I mentioned that the principals and supervisors, those people the the jobs that they do every day um knowing that there were going to be probably budget cuts coming each year. Um I have the utmost respect for for the people who are running our schools and running the curriculum and programs that we are so known for. They They as a former teacher and elementary elementary school teacher, to watch what they did was was uh fascinating each day. I knew there was a reason

081why I didn't want to be a principal. Um I also over the years and one of my staff one of my team members is in the audience today. I had great staffs over the last 24 years to work with. I knew that when I gave them jobs to do they would get done. Um they would be accurate and they and I knew that this supported the work that we did as much as as I did. Um and it was a great gift to have such stability. I had very um little movement over the years. Uh and that that that helps really helps us do the job. I know that the awards on the door they come in my name but they were they were a benefit of that whole group of people and the whole

082building and district that helped get those plaques. They're district plaques. Um that shows that we worked hard together. Um and everybody else in in the buildings, all the different different folks that came along in all the different departments. I'd like to think that I I used to joke with folks when Paulette's people were out or Tannis was out, I would go to them and and joke around and say, "Hey, uh Tannis asked me to watch you, you know, make sure you're not leaving early or anything." And it a kind until they knew who I was, they took it seriously. Um and I just wanted to it was my way of getting to know them and and saying, "Say, we're all working together with this." And once they understood that, you get that relationship back and

083forth. >> [laughter] >> Did you Did you ask Bob if I if I was leaving early today? So anyway, it was just my way of trying to get to know all the different people in the in the buildings. Um something else I I wanted to say. I talked about this community. Both of my children, John and Carolyn, both walked across the Central High School graduation stage. Um I brought them here to this district because I knew what kind of people would be looking after them. And I'd like to think that I looked after the community's children the same way I looked after my own. I really um cared about what was going on in our classrooms, on our athletic fields, our plays. I attended a lot of them when I could over the years, but

084there's just something special that goes along in this district. Um there are two folks that I wanted to just mention. A lot of folks don't know who they are anymore, but my very first superintendent, Bob Sapko, and my first boss here when I was assistant business administrator, John Nemeth, both of them have passed on. Um but they gave me a chance 24 years ago. Um I had very little experience. I learned on the job as an ABA. Um and the board, after 5 years of doing the ABA work, decided to give me a chance to take this job, and I'm forever forever grateful for that. Um retirement's strange for me. I'm 58 years old. Not really completely retiring. I'm going to take on a a different task educating young business administrators to learn how to

085do this job, and hopefully do it well. Um I leave all of you in this community with gratitude. I've built a lot of friendships with folks. I've experienced a ton of things. Um we've we've done a lot as as board members um over the years. When I look back at all the different um things we we argued about, what we tried to get done, um and how we always tried to find a way to meet in the middle. Didn't always go smoothly, but we always found a way to meet in the middle to do what was best for kids. Um I it was a but just the honor to do the work um to serve this community. And um for me again, I I'm reiterating, it's just been an honor. And I thank you for

086giving me the chance, the community for giving me the chance. And um it's not good It's it's goodbye for now. I I will plan on keeping in touch with a lot of people in this district. My door will be open if there's questions about what goes on here. Um and it's it's it's very um What's that word that we always What? Bittersweet. Bittersweet. to leave. Um but I know I'm we're leaving it in good hands. You guys are a good board. It's a good community and and you will find somebody to replace me and and they'll do a great job. So, thank you again. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Bob. I'm not going to make you cry any more today cuz I already did that at your retirement party, but you know that you're going

087to be uh sorely missed. Um you always had our our children at heart. I will say this quick story. Folks used to email me when Bob wouldn't move their POs forward cuz he was really jealously guarding the money and making sure we weren't overspending because educators like to overspend. Um and he and they would ask me, yes, absolutely. They would ask me, could you have uh Mr. Calavita move my PO along? I said, he won't move mine along. What do you think? But let the babies need something. The babies needed drums or something and well, if they need it and theirs would go forward, but mine would not. So, it always was about the kids. If the kids needed it, he would he would he would ask, do the kids really need it? And then

088he would make sure that happened. So, we we thank you for that. You always kept what was most important because he was an educator first, which was our children and our family. So, we we you're going to be deeply missed and I know you're going to stay in touch. So, we have uh some some comments that we need to address here. Um Dr. Pletz is I'm going to let you do the math one because I know that we have been looking at the math progression very closely because we are interested in increasing the number of students in in them being able to access algebra more quickly and also making sure they have the foundational skills. But we have been messing with that progression a little bit and looking deeply at it and the supervisor that

089we have in charge of STEM um for the secondary level is a math person. We were we were very lucky to have a content area person and Dr. Resnick, if he was here tonight, uh would also let you know that that's one of his his goals. So, we are very interested in the disproportionality who's missing from these classes and that we're supporting and making sure the pathways are open so kids can reach that algebra if they if that's their desire by 8th grade so that they can have the options to take higher level math at the high school level. In terms of EA, we have not cut EA. So, what we're what is probably happening is the schedule issue. So, I promise you that I will look at that with the with the vice principal

090over there that does scheduling. I know first hand because I was a vice principal who was in charge of the master schedule as was Miss Smith. Um she can also share this. I actually replaced her years ago and then I became principal. The issue that we have with scheduling at the middle school and in the high school for that matter is the number of electives that we offer in the middle school are extensive and you're teamed. So, it makes it very difficult to schedule all of the things that kids want to do and and EA. Um I know that you referenced PA, Pennsylvania. I'm a resident of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania um uh exceptional learning and and gifted is is a IEP. And they have a very strict down schedule. They do not offer the number of

091electives that we offer in the middle school or the high school. So, it's very easy to put implement it it um all these minutes because there aren't many options for electives anyway and they're doing things like before school, after school. They provide bussing for that or they don't. Um which is something I don't want to do because that creates a problem for those students whose parents can't drive them. Um but what I will promise you here and now is that we need to do a program review of EA. Um it's been a while since we've done that um and there is uh some experts that we know that do live in Pennsylvania that know that piece over there and then also know gifted and talented. I also supervise that and we have had revamping of

092EA so many times over the years and it's been quite a length of time before since we've had um program review. You have a strong teacher that we that I handpicked in Miss Lester. Um, she's very passionate about this, but I really think it's time for an outside person to come in and review the program and to really look at it closely. And I promise you that we'll examine that schedule. Um, I can't promise you they're not going to have to give up something to schedule that. That's the only issue. Um, but I definitely look at the minutes and see if there's something that could be done with that schedule to make things fit a little a little more easily. In terms of German, um, I know that you know, that this was a hard

093cut to make. Uh, we had to make a lot of hard cuts and we tried to do our best to ensure that we were not eliminating programs for students completely and that we were walking into this with a very tight lens. We have two very strong and and luckily very young German teachers that have been over this program for years and I don't think they're going anywhere. They're not going anywhere on our behalf. And I know that the program for for German is very well attended. Um, I don't want our high school to not have options. A problem that we've had over the years and someone mentioned that you know, students were in sixth grade picking a language and then they were kind of forced to stay in that language through 12th grade. And the

094reason that was is because we did not offer level one courses in any of the world languages except for Latin for the longest time because it was only offered grade 9 through 12. So, if you didn't like your language in grade six, seven, and eight and we have some students here that probably remember that, that was too bad. You were stuck because there was not a level one in the high school. Eventually we added Spanish, so we have Spanish and Latin right now and then we were able to finally kind of we're we're working towards Chinese. Um, as we look to um, eliminate German in sixth grade, we will still be offering it in grade seven and eight. Um, and students will be able to access it in the high school. It will look like

095every other high school with their languages, which is level one, level two, level three, and then AP would be the fourth year. Because many middle schools, even some of the ones that that you know, are premier and and rank higher than us, don't offer as many languages as we do in the middle school. That is really a a luxury that we've had for a long time. We've held on for a long time. But it's very difficult one to find the staff, and we found we've had that hard time with the staff having like a part-time German teacher, if you can find one at all is almost impossible, and having one running between the two schools and trying to fill out a schedule is impossible. Um it it was so hard that over the years we

096bought somebody out of retirement several times to do it. So, that's hard enough. Um and then also, you know, we needed to make some cuts. So, some natural cuts came with one staffing that kind of half a position, and then really needing to make a cut. I don't want to cut German moving forward because I don't want students to not have multiple options beyond Spanish and French at the high school. My plan is to have Chinese, German, Latin, French at the high school moving forward. And then to continue offering as many the ones that we do have at the middle school. Seventh and eighth graders will still be able to access that language because they started it. We are not going to phase out any language until a student who has started it, especially where

097they're working on those requirements for graduation, can complete those even if we have to pay for that in some other other way. If we can't find the staff or we have to make that cut due to low enrollment. The board has made that commitment. We have a lot of very uh of dedicated parents. You're all brilliant. You're all very talented in your own right. And I value your opinion, and I'm so glad that every one of you came up and spoke tonight. Because as we continue to make these hard choices, I need to know that these are programs which which programs are very important to you. And as we fight to keep them, we know which ones that you really, really value. How you can help us is, you know, if we hold on to

098it at the middle school, we need your kids to sign up for these courses because the board, not just this board, boards before this one, and um President Burrick could have told you that when she was here, have have put a stake in the ground. If these courses are under enrolled, we cannot run them. So, secondary level students, grades 6 through 12, if the courses are under enrolled, and then just because they're in that that that book, that program of studies, just like college, if they're not full, we may not be able to run them. If we don't have the faculty to do it, we may not be able to run them. Um so, you all registering for these courses is very important. And it's also a shift in our culture in that we are

099no longer this district where kids come to us in preschool and stay through 12th grade. We cannot continue to operate where we don't have level one courses at the high school for things. If a kid comes in the middle of the of other program, or they come in their ninth grade year and say, "Oh, well, you can only take one language." So, that's something that um the good result of this, I do wish I can continue to offer it at the middle school, um and who knows what the future holds, but this struggle that we have with budget is not one that we're just suffering alone. I don't know what's going to get better, and I don't like the death of a thousand cuts, but I also don't want to come in and decimate programs

100because it is very hard to get them back once we lose them. Um so, all that being said, um we, you know, keep us accountable. Um we absolutely value your public comment, and it does help us make our choices, um as hard as they are. So, we do appreciate those. Um and with that being said, I'd like to pass um it to you um Dr. Pletses to talk about the math progression and some of the work that we've done in that regard. And then anything you might want to say about EA as well. >> Oh, sure. Um hi, everybody. Um we have really been extensively looking at the math progression, specifically at the middle school. Um my fellow Ed Committee members here can talk about um just how we were reviewing the data. We have

101a new supervisor of math who is is putting in benchmarks so we can accurately monitor our our students and we are consistently looking to do more. I don't want to speak individually about your one child, but we we can touch base and and and look through the data. I know that there was a recent benchmark that was being administered this week. In terms of the EA program, a lot of that like Dr. Treece said, we did put a designated EA teacher at the elementary a few years ago which was for consistency between all four buildings and I think that has had a very positive response. At the secondary level we have had more enrollment and you know, to be honest it's it's a lot has to do with staffing issues in terms of how are

102we going to staff all these classes, but you know, we will look to do a more thorough program review for next year. >> Can I Can I just request I know Dr. Resnick's not here, but as part of that program review can that go to the education committee? Okay, thank you. >> Can I just ask a question about the EA piece? Okay, so just so I our perspective right now is nothing has changed other than it being a scheduling issue. Is that a fair statement or am I just >> At the middle school it has historically been a scheduling issue because trying to schedule kids on team activities, off team activities, allowing them to have all the electives and a period for them to go to for EA has been a struggle. We've gone through

103multiple iterations. I was in charge of EA at one point not just as assistant sup, but I was the supervisor of it. The way that best practices are is that you don't identify until grade right before grade three. Students should have push in EA experiences, all of the kids should. And then you're keep you're taking a portfolio of the students, you're seeing who has those abilities because just because you're gifted doesn't mean you're a great great student. Usually a truly gifted student who represents the less than 2% of the population is not necessarily a great student. They're messy learner and they're very focused on, you know, sometimes that certain thing that they enjoy doing. So looking for those skills in students whether they have an IEP or not, whether they are top student or not

104is what a EA teacher who's trained properly, which Ms. Lester is, to do. And then they take the CogAT, which, you know, the CogAT has come a long way, um but it does have some biases. That's why you need the teacher input, you need that push-in experience. Then is scheduling those experiences with all the other things the kids want to do and not have them miss class. Even at the elementary school we have a lot of learning opportunities. It's tough. Um putting that with music, putting that with the other things. And the high school, they don't want to give up a period for EA, they want to take AP. They want to load up on their AP and honors classes. So looking at EA and doing a program review, which we haven't done in years,

105is is it's time. But we're still going to have a struggle with the choice. So some, you know, you do have to make a choice sometime, which I hate to say to students, but that's complicated. Um having acceleration, which was another comment that was made, saying a student skipping a grade, we workshop a lot of our classes, math and reading, so you can go beyond the grade level. But there are students who have been that are truly exceptional that have been accelerated. Like, for example, we have had students at the elementary school taking high school level math. You know, reading high school level books. Um that's how we got one of our EA teachers. He was hired specifically to work with a a handful of kids that were that that gifted in math. Mhm. To

106your question about the middle school, there there are were more students interested in taking the EA course in sixth grade. So it had to go from a full year to a semester to accommodate all of the students for scheduling. And then in seventh and eighth grade, it was combined into one course. It It really has is staffing. Mhm. >> Is there As you guys are looking at the what this looks like in revamping or how we're thinking about it, does it make sense to look at some of the districts that we have historically compared ourselves to and see how they're doing it? And see if it's truly an issue or if it's a scheduling >> issue. Right. So, it's it's something that having a program review is important. Uh to tell you the truth, when

107I've looked at it in the past, it's it's the the options we have. Um but I haven't It hasn't been a It's been a while. >> I know, but I I'd personally like to reach out to the the Association of Gifted Children and just have them come do an objective review. >> they might see something we're not seeing. Mhm. Yeah. >> mean, I think since I've been on the board, I've talked about this idea of equity building and we talk about it all the time. And I know the numbers that were shared by some of the audience about the amount of time that's being spent in that. I just hope that we can find some good examples as we're looking just to make it more equitable overall. >> And I know Mr. Turnbull's is talking

108about looking at that master schedule. Again, it might be something it's it's tough. The scheduling piece is tough. We might have enough staff and it's just maybe with the way we're scheduling. So, we we just need to look at all of that. But we're committing to doing that program review cuz it is time. >> And just I don't from a timeline's Look, what does a program review like this look like? I just don't know anything about this. So, I'm just >> We did just do one in literacy for elementary. Um and so, they usually will come in, they'll review they'll do a site visits, they'll look through um just our paperwork, if we have a hand like all of that stuff, and then they will um present their recommendations of what we can do better.

109Like what our strengths and weaknesses are. Yeah. Actually, I really we we learned a lot doing the literacy review, so I'm very excited actually to bring in an outside consultant. I mean it will cost more money, so. >> It I like how you look at me when you say that. Thank you, Vicki. But but I guess >> the end I guess Mark's question is do you think before the end of the year or for spring or Awesome. If they're available. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Politis. >> I just Yeah, I had one follow-up question because there was a a community member who spoke about how kids are screened into EA. And I was just wondering if you could directly address that because my recollection from last year on your committee, Dr. Politis, um is

110that we had um a staff member who came and spoke to how we have actually broadened the screening criteria and now look at CogAT and multiple different assessments and teacher recommendations. So could you just talk a little bit about that cuz I think there was some concern that there may be sort of bias in how children are um or how students are recommended to the program based on um what's happening behaviorally with them and and I remember that being an issue we discussed. So could you just share some more? >> Um so currently we um we have four multiple measures for identification. We have the CogAT um which is weighted at 60%. We have the um math diagnostic which is weighted at 20%. We have the reading comprehension which is at 10% and then the

111vocabulary which is at 10%. So it has prior to I guess it was last year, um we all had only used the CogAT for identification. >> So So with that change, are people are the students being reevaluated or uh in mass? And is it is it is it rolling in that some kids may still be in that transition? >> So, they could be cycle. Okay. >> Right, any other questions? Right, I just have a quick um maybe clarifying and then a question. So, for German, if it's it's not going to be offered in sixth grade next year it Let me see if this makes sense. In seventh grade, would it then be German one that's being offered or is it I'm trying to pick out the process. >> So, next year um students that are

112in grade six now rising to seventh grade will take German two cuz they took German one in sixth grade. The sixth seventh graders who took German two will be taking German three in eighth grade. And then by the time the sixth graders get to to um ninth grade, there'll be a German one class. Currently, there is no German one class at the high school. Um so, if they didn't take it in in middle school, you weren't taking it in the high school. So, that's how it worked in the past. That's how most of the languages worked for many years. Um so, now we're getting to that point where we do have a German one. Uh if the money if we found some money at some point and you wanted to add German and we can

113find a teacher cuz we would need a teacher, right? You could add it back at any point. Um and then we we've had the curriculum in both ways, so that wouldn't be a problem. Um but, you know, it does give us time to build German one. Um we do need more one classes at the high school because that is that has been an issue. Um yeah, starting kids at at at the high school. And we just did not have the staff for that. We've had the two strong teachers for years. And again, I I don't see them going anywhere. I think that they'll be here for with us for a while. Um so, I'm comfortable with our staffing in that regard. >> Um and then the the one other question, if we need to take

114this like offline, that's fine, too. But, I'm just going through the questions and I think there was also a question about if a student wants to do like an independent or something outside, how does that work at at middle school level? >> Um right now, we don't have an independent study offering at the middle school. The high school they do have it. They can do independent studies. They just have to find a teacher who is willing to do that with them, to help them mentor them through that. And it can be anything. It could be a world language. It could be, you know, Mr. Cabadio I think was trying to say something so I want to pass this off to him. He did an independent study also at the high school. So that's always an

115option at the high school. We've never offered that at the middle school. Mr. Cabadio, did you have a comment? >> No, no. I I don't know what that was. I'm I'm There was nothing on my end. >> You crackled. You crackled over here. We don't want to leave you out. >> All right, wonderful. Well, with with that, thank you all for a very active discussion. We'll close out public comment number one. Um, I'd like to get a first and second to approve the consent agenda items. >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? Any opposed or abstaining? Seeing none, all consent agenda items are passed. Okay. Um, moving on. Had to make sure I didn't miss anything in between. Any old business item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and move on to all of our committee

116updates. And we'll start off with finance and facilities. >> Okay, so this is the big meeting that we do all of our annual organizational stuff, I call it, but I'll just point out a couple items that I wanted to make the public aware of. Um internal appointments, you're going to see this on the agenda. These are going to be for the additional state or federally mandated responsibilities of staff members. This is something that's typically annually. Um we're going to talk a little bit about our school district organization, which is annually required by state code, and how the schools are going to be structured next year. There's no changes to this year. Um at this point we talk about routine employee appointments, uh which provide the superintendent the opportunity to offer positions to employees over the

117summer between board meetings, et cetera. Um in case others are resigning from districts to come on. Um we also talk a little bit about professional services. There's going to be a big comprehensive list there. Um any additional providers are placed on our monthly agenda. Uh and if there's any questions, you can always reach out to Bob for the next 3 hours. Um there's an uh item there related to tuition rates. Um you know, we're going to approve those tuition rates. Um these are the rates that are used for our staff and for any districts that pay to place a student here. Um so you guys can take a look at that. The public can also take a look at that. Two items that I do want to call out specifically. One is there's a bid

118award tonight for the Bear Tavern playground for the for the public and for our board. If you recall, this started from donations, private donations from the community. Um but given the fact that uh it was a complete moved project to the front of the building, um and the fact that we needed to do some extensive costs here related to environmental review, um that total project cost is now gone up to 550,000 uh over the original 250,000 estimate uh that was donated. So we're and with a grant as well, I'm sorry. Um so the bid that is on the agenda tonight is going to be to approve that for the construction as well as for the additional costs which we're going to pull out of capital reserves in order to fulfill that. The second item that

119I want to point out is the contract award for the construction manager. Um this has to do with um our first referendum uh or or sorry not our first referendum but our past referendum. Um the total cost of that of that uh particular position is well under the budget which is great news. Um it also does leave us room that if that position needs to go longer they're available to go longer um which is great. So that's a a net positive financially. Um the director of facilities and the architect have also reviewed that proposal and feel that it's within the good good current standards of today. Um and I know that uh Bob and others have also reached out to other um folks around to be able to confirm those costs and everybody feels good

120about that. So um if there's any questions on either one of those Bob can can answer them. Um additionally we had our >> Just one thing on that. Just want to It was asked before but this was done through a a competitive process. We had it we we um advertised for um solicitations got four or five bids uh from folks. We did interviews um and we found that these guys were um highly competitive in cost but also in reputation uh throughout the state so. >> Um so other than that two other quick items obviously uh we've got some uh conversations going on about the replacements of Bob which will come here in the near term and also we are continuing to work with uh the township to be able to get uh some some movement

121on finalizing that agreement that they've been so kind to use. Uh not too much detail on that yet but more to come hopefully in the near future um as well as uh with some of the additional pilot programs that are happening. I just spoke with a uh uh two committee members from Hopewell Borough who have reinforced their commitment to some sort of money coming our way as well, which is a net positive, which is good. Um, and that's it. That's all I have. So, if there's any questions, if not, I think I need to have We need to move something, right? >> No, no, they're all on >> Oh, we're good. It's all on consent. >> Um, the just for the record though, I do want to note for the public, um, item 12 under

122finance and facilities that was also on consent agenda item on the consent agenda, but it was missing its asterisk. So, just >> Great call out. >> There was a bunch that were that we printed a little too soon today before we >> Happy printing, huh? >> Everything on on finance was on consent. >> Noted. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Mark. Yeah, number 17 as well. So, anything under finance is all consent. All right, moving on. Personnel. Dr. Thank you. Um, it is a busy time of year, so I have a few different things I want to talk the board through. Um, first, we do have two additional retirements that I want to acknowledge. The first is Regina Brunetti, um, and the second is Carrie Crowley. Both of them currently kindergarten teachers at Stony Brook Elementary.

123Um, Regina Brunetti has been with the district since 2002, Carrie Crowley since 2004. So, both of these, um, teachers I want to send a deep thank you to your commitment, uh, to Hopewell Valley, um, and we wish you all the best in your retirement. Um, we have a list you'll see of new appointments for positions starting in the fall. We have a list of ESYs. Um, you'll see subs and interns for the fall. You will see approvals for ECA's for summer staff and fall athletics. So, all of those are included in the agenda. We also have as we do every year our cabinet contracts which we're putting to the board to vote. We did the same thing this year as we have done for many years where we take the average of all the negotiated

124rates for salary increases for next year and is that average that we used for our cabinet contracts. We also if you remember last year the administration created it and submitted the comprehensive equity plan which is a state requirement. This year we have to do um What do they call this? Statement of assurance. And so we have been following the plan and will continue for the next two years and so we are signing off on that as well. And finally I want to give um a little congratulations to Mr. Thaddeus Thompson who I'm a little blocked here but he is going to be on July 1st supporting us in the acting BA role and so we want to thank you and we're very excited to be working with you in that capacity. So, thank you for

125your support. If we don't have any personal questions then we can go to a vote. First and second. >> Anyone? >> A motion. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Okay. Dr. Genovese. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kapadia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lilliston. >> Yes. >> Mr. Peters. >> Yes. >> Mr. Slotman. >> Aye. >> Dr. Siliano. >> Yes. >> Ms. Carter. >> Yes. >> Um Ms. Williams-Galliano. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Marvelous. Well, welcome, Thaddeus. All right, moving on to education SEL. Okay. Um Dr. Resnick is not here, so I will take this. Um at the education committee uh this past month, we had um a first a brief discussion with the handover of PQMD to McCafferty's um on what will happen to some of our special needs students who work there. Um and

126Ms. DeNardo reported that um they have been in touch with PQMD and we're kind of waiting until the new owners get settled in and that we hope that we can have a fruitful relationship with them um just like we have in the past. Um so, that's a a work in progress. Um we also discussed um attendance corrective action. You might remember from the previous board meeting that we have been put under corrective action action um because of chronic absenteeism um at the high school. Um we've realized that we were doing some things with their attendance that was hurting us. So, um the first thing that we're putting in place is just uh sort of change in how we um mark some of our students who are out on medical leave, so that we are not

127getting dinged by them. Um and so they will be now marked as present but out on medical leave, so that will help us. Um so it's basically present home instruction. Um and so that will help us a little bit. We also discussed with Ms. Riley uh new consequences that are going to be put in place at the high school level in the upcoming academic uh year for students with excessive absenteeism. Um for those students who do not have a medical reason for being absent. So things like taking away senior option and some of the freedoms that they gain. Um and so hopefully by doing those two things that we can get ourselves out of that corrective action. Um we also discussed a proposed trip for the Model UN. Um and you might remember that we

128um are really looking at all of our school trips and all of our different clubs. Um so that we can have um equity across the board on how many trips the students are attending. While also making sure that they're not missing too many days and that they're not um having an excessive financial burden um on parents or the district. And so uh we just reviewed that and discussed um you know, the pros and cons of that and what we should do with that one. Um and then lastly we reviewed um the uh Timber Wolf Academy proposal. Um Oh, um so basically the revamping of the current core literacy for sixth grade. Uh basically just to uh better address the challenges of transitioning into the middle school. Um so they had some great literary um works

129that they're introducing to sixth grade. Um which was great and um we will have in July a review of the elementary literacy program at our meeting. Did I miss anything important? It's not the policy. Okay. That was education. Any questions from anyone? >> I have two questions. Thank you so much for that um report out, Dr. Genovese. That was great. Um one is actually about the the PQMA arrangement. I was worried I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that program because I do recall um some of the postings from PQMA and McCaffrey's saying that they are going to they intend to retain staff. And so I'm just wondering is this program seen as something different than sort of standard staffing? Or or why do we think that they might not

130sort of retain our students um in the program that they're in now? >> That's That's actually a great question. So it's a work-based learning program which students acquire credits for doing and learning job skills as part of their school day. It's volunteer. They don't get paid. Most don't get paid. Um so and they go with job coaches and they're supervised. And they learn important work skills. Um so when I spoke at our committee meeting um I actually work closely with McCaffrey's in West Windsor but that was about 20 years ago. And I had a great relationship with them and they were very supportive of my students from West Windsor who were completing these experiences. I had we we have calls in. We're giving They need time to transition. But we're we're hopeful. I mean, we

131can't say for 100% certain that they're going to do it, but we're hopeful that they're going to continue supporting our initiative and our program there. >> Thank you. >> If I can just add I'm a big McCaffrey's shopper in Newtown, but you know, my son worked there. They're very good to their employees. They're very good to children and they do provide these work to school based programs and they do go on to hire those students that are in those programs. I've noticed over the years. So I don't anticipate and in Princeton still does it. I don't anticipate they're going to do that. They're a family-owned business McCaffrey's and they're very supportive of of hiring all types of individuals. So I think that we're going to be in a good place with them. I think we

132just have to wait for the transition and for them to set things up. >> Okay. Um thank you for for sharing more about that. And then the second question I had was about the absenteeism and so I'm assuming this is going to come up in policy because we're talking about disciplinary consequences. So did Miss Riley share more about you know, what she's explored with those students around the root causes related to their chronic absenteeism and if there are things that we need to address that are sort of driving some of that things happening at home social anxiety. Um things that sort of imposing a disciplinary consequence like taking away senior option might not resolve. >> So I'm going to respond to that. It wasn't there wasn't a disciplinary action. The what we were talking about

133was we had we have students that are hospitalized. Usually for extended periods. We were marking the absence as we were >> doing absent instead of or no, we were doing medical instead of present home instruction. Cuz they they receive home instruction if they're hospitalized. And that's where that occurred. >> That was the first piece. But then I think what Dr. Genovese was saying was the second piece was that Ms. Riley had talked about maybe we ought to revise our student code of conduct and increase the disciplinary consequences for chronic absenteeism or or change them in some way. And so I just was wondering if you could share more about that piece. >> Yeah, and actually there probably should be three buckets cuz we also did talk about the students like the school avoidance students. So

134that's a completely different bucket of the ones that might lose senior option. So those are truly the students who are not struggling at all. Um and they've got all of their credits and they're just like, I don't need to be here anymore. I already got my I got my college acceptance in December. I am sliding through senior year. Yes. It's just those students. >> To that point, there's ways around like you know, when you have a student with school avoidance, there's ways to get honor their attendance through IEPs, through 504s, through INR plans and that is still available to us and we should be doing that. And you have to code it a certain way when you mark them present. Um so that was a small percentage that we can fix easily. Um we are

135aware those students are in a different bucket, but we're just talking about the the kids and this is not unusual for an affluent um high school that are kind of like, you know, taking a few days here and there and that sort of thing. >> I I also just want to reinforce that for our students who are school avoidant, I don't know like when I say that our staff gets in the car and drives to the homes, we all do that. Like two or three of us will get in the car. We will come over and say we really want to come over, we want to talk to you. You know, so-and-so, we want to meet with you. We want we want them to know how important it is for them to come with us

136to come to school. So, we don't take that lightly, we take it seriously, and we we look at the whole child, and we do look at what's going on, you know. And we set up plans and programs for them. >> And and I think it's also important to say even though we're talking about these three buckets, it is a fairly small number of students. Like, we're I mean, we're taking attendance incredibly seriously, as we should, and and the what flagged this for us was the re- recognition of not coding students properly, and we just took a look at some other things, and so it's really an opportunity to say, "Hey, where else could we you know, do better?" And so, yeah. So, it's not like a major issue, it's an opportunity that we're just taking

137taking seriously. Awesome. Anything Any other questions? Awesome. Thank you. Moving on then to Governance Community Relations. >> Sure, I guess I can get us started. We met on June 4th, and I would invite my fellow committee members to please jump in in case I missed anything in my notes here, but we did have a brief meeting on the 4th. Not to take away [clears throat] from the uh policy committee discussion, we did briefly talk over uh the civility pledge and the school board association. I think it's the civility starts with us program. I know we're going to get into that later, so I don't want to talk too much about that, but we definitely had a good discussion in support of that, obviously. Uh talked a little bit about the survey on the the voting

138survey that I continues to I guess we're waiting for it to close, and then process the data and go from there. So, uh more to come on that. Also talked a little bit about ways that the board can engage moving forward whether in the superintendent's update or you know other forms of communication that go out from the school district that include could include you know board specific updates from you know some of the things we talk about here. And I think that was mostly it. Subsequent obviously we we had some visitors overnight recently at Bear Tavern that I know we recently saw an article about but doing their own version of community relations I guess so. But I'd invite Mr. Kapadia or Dr. Stilliano please jump in if I missed anything. >> Yeah, I was

139just going to say that Mr. Solomon did captured most of what we we discussed. The only update I was going to add was that we have been working with Senator Turner's office as well as our other elected in the 15th legislative district on the budget request for a line item in the FY27 state budget to get $75,000 in state funding for continuing our partnership with Attitudes in Reverse for air therapy dogs as well as additional mental health services for our students. The exciting update is that Senator Turner did submit a resolution. It's budget resolution 533. I've updated the advocacy template. I know Dr. Stilliano has shared it on Facebook groups and to some parent organizations so if there are parents who are still looking to advocate and speak to our elected representatives the best thing

140that they could do right now is to send them emails asking them to co-sponsor resolution 533 as well as sending an email just thanking Senator Turner for her doing that for us. Senators have a limited number of requests that they can put in Um, so it's a big deal that she decided to, you know, once again after last year submitting $125,000 for the the Bear Tavern ADA accessible playground, now also doing it for us again for for this service. So, um, just expressing gratitude is always, you know, I mean, it's it's the least we could do. Um, by no means is a budget resolution number, uh, does that mean that we are going to get that dollars. Um, Governor Sherrill still needs to approve a budget. We will find out by the end of the

141month. So, only a few more weeks of waiting. Um, but what's really important in these last two weeks, three weeks, um, before the budget gets signed is reaching out to our assembly members to co-sponsor uh, the budget resolution. Um, if you have ties to other state legislative offices, you can have other assembly members from across the state, um, co-sponsor. It's actually, um, last year when we had submitted for the playground, there were actually assembly members from North Jersey and South Jersey that had also co-sponsored the resolution. Um, so, you know, there are folks that feel strongly about mental health services, about therapy dogs, about all of these these great things. Um, and so, you know, you don't know where support can come from and the more folks, the more names we have on that budget

142resolution, the the better chance it has of getting through. Um, so that's the update on the state funding. Um, I know um, Mr. Spatola had mentioned the survey regarding, um, you know, whether or not we should be moving forward with initiatives to lower the voting age in school board elections to 16. Um, I have yet to look through the data. The survey is closed. I greatly appreciate Dr. Treesh and Principal O'Reilly and the administration for helping administer the survey to our students. We're sitting at around 300 responses, so it's a fairly representative sample. Um, and I hope to compile some of those results and and have a presentation in the coming months at a board meeting. Um, and I think it's also just important as we look ahead, obviously this budget for this budget process

143is not complete. Um but I think it's important as a community uh to think about what are some other ways we can speak to our elected officials about funding. I think there's been a lot of conversations around cuts and I I very much appreciate the parents and community members who took the time out of their evening to come and speak to us. Um but this is, you know, this is a I understand that, you know, $75,000 or $125,000 is is really not even a drop in the bucket. Um but for some of these one-time capital expenses, it can go a long way. Um and you know, I I encourage all of you as community members to also, you know, meet with us and and send us your thoughts and ideas of what you think could

144be a high-impact project um that we could get our our elected officials on board with. So, thanks again uh for all of my fellow board members for supporting the initiative, but also for the community members who have advocated to our state legislative offices. >> I thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Padilla. Just really quickly, um I wanted to read this resolution uh for the civility um policy. Um the the New Jersey School Boards has asked the boards of education like Hopewell Valley Regional School District, but all across the state of New Jersey to make a pledge and practice in promoting civility and in board meetings um starting by the board members taking uh the pledge first. Um this uh in our political climate of late, we've had um board meetings across the state that have

145not just the state, the country, that have gotten a little sparky. Um we do have disagreements here in Hopewell, and we do have meetings that get that sometimes get that we fluff up a little bit with each other, but I can say that generally as a rule that we do this civilly and that the community comes to us. You may not always be happy with us, but you come um most times very professional and respectful in your presentations to us. Um you hold us accountable, you ask hard questions, but there's respect coming from the from you to us, and I I can also say that we have boards that are that work together well. Um Bob Shared uh Mr. Calavita shared that that's not the case for some boards. Some boards are at each other's

146throats. They're bringing each other up on ethics charges. They're slandering each other in social media. We don't have those issues. So, when we were all asked to make take this pledge as boards, it was an easy one for us because I believe we operate like this as a matter of course. We do have a district civility policy that all of us honor both the families and the and our our administrative staff our our our faculty. So, this is an easy one. So, I'm just going to read it. All the board members have signed it except for Dr. Resnick. I will chase him down. And then I will share this with the New Jersey School Board Association as our pledge. So, it says, "Whereas recent national polls indicate that Americans are dissatisfied with and frustrated with

147the lack of civility in public discourse today. Whereas the Board of Education of Hopewell Valley Regional School District recognizes freedom of speech and freedom of expression are sacrosanct, protected by both the state and federal laws and allow individuals to express their opinions and to communicate their ideas without fear of repercussion. And whereas the board um further recognizes that public exchange of diverse ideas and varied viewpoints allows for robust discussion and it's indispensable to decision-making processes. And whereas the elected representatives of the community and stewards of public trust, the members of the Board of Education recognize that their positions allows them to model open, free, and vigorous debate while also maintaining the highest standards of civility, mutual respect, and decorum. Whereas the members of the board recognize that they are models not only of the community

148but also for the students who they serve. And whereas in order to publicly declare its commitment to civil discourse and to express its concern for the common good and well-being of all students, staff, and parents uh parents and the community, the Board of Education has determined to adopt this resolution. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District pledges to practice and promote civility, to engage in civil discourse, to respect and tolerate the the viewpoints of others, and to work collaboratively. The Board also pledges to communicate openly, honestly, and transparently, also permitted by law, and the Board enacts this civility pledge to build a stronger and more prosperous school community, to achieve the district's goals, and to advance the education of all students. A copy of this

149resolution will be shared with the New Jersey School Boards, and we do have the signatures of our board members um represented there, and we will get that last one that we have missing. And Mr. Kapadia also needs to sign it. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Trace. Well, well, in your in policy, I think it's the first thing on your Okay. Um moving, we'll go right into policy, Dr. Lilyston, and if you >> Yeah. Mhm. >> Can I have a a motion and a second to accept the civility resolution, please? >> I motion. I move. >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, the Policy Committee met on June 12th. We were joined by Dr. Pletzous. Um so, we have two policies up for first reading tonight, and no policies up for second reading.

150Can I have a motion and a second to bring Policy 5460, High School Graduation, and Policy 5461, High School Diplomas, for first reading, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Great. So, these policies address changes that were made to the portion of the state code that addresses high school graduation requirements that are mandated by the New Jersey Department of Education. Um these include both mandated revisions to the high school graduation policy and a new policy titled high school diplomas. Um so we're just going to focus on policy 5460 high school graduation first. So this is a revision to the current policy. Um so as you look through this policy that's posted on BoardDocs, you'll see that there's numerous suggested revisions from Strauss Asmay that align this current policy with state code. Um so these revisions

151address things like making sure that educators have the appropriate certifications to teach and assess NJSLS content areas. Um they provide more flexibility and guidance to districts to implement individualized student learning opportunities as well as non-traditional learning experiences like service learning or internships. Um and there's also requirements around completion or exemption from completion of a college financial aid form. So the committee did review all these revisions together along with um Dr. Blitzus and for the most part we are recommending that we um accept these proposed revisions which are mandated in state code. Um but we do have we do have a few additional revisions um that are specific to our district. Um so in section A1H, we did adjust the language requirements from five credits to 10 in a world language because that aligns with our

152district's current requirements. In section A4, you'll see that we added the requirement around service learning or intercultural sensitivity and competence which was actually incorporated into our policy last year and is effective beginning with the class of 2030. Um and then last in section H3, we revised the language related to the state seal of biliteracy to indicate that students do need to pay the cost to complete the assessment for the seal of biliteracy. However, we have added a similar fee exemption into this provision that we have for sports and extracurriculars related to financial hardship. So, we do have that exemption in there as well. Um the next policy we have up is 5461, which is high school diplomas. This is a new policy. Uh so, this policy addresses the requirements that must be met for a

153Board of Education to award a state-endorsed high school diploma. Uh the provisions in this policy are already covered elsewhere in our policy. Um but because our district is in alignment with everything that's in this policy, we are recommending that we adopt it just to ensure that we've covered all of the the changes that have been made to the state code. Um so, let me just pause there and see if my policy committee colleagues have anything to add. Uh Mr. Kapadia, do you have anything that you'd like to add to that? >> Um no, I I was just going to say um I I really do want to again like commend Principal Riley and the board for uh moving forward with having there be a codified cultural competency and cultural competency and sensitivity a graduation requirement.

154Um and I know we're potentially looking at exploring in the in the coming years of how it's actually being rolled out. I believe next academic year is the first year where our freshman will be graduating with that requirement. Um so, excited to see how it works. Excited to see the enrollment and potentially some classes that have been historically under-enrolled um and seeing how we can continue to to build that out into our curriculum. >> Any questions from the board? Okay. All in favor, say aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed or abstaining? Okay. Thank you Dr. Dr. Wilson. Okay, I need a first and second to approve June and July calendars. >> I move to approve. >> Second. >> All right, we always start with town. All right, so we'll do we got personnel July 20th,

1556:00. Okay, and since we plan to have an announcement sooner than later on my successor we will let that individual work with the committee to set that time with them. Um Yeah. >> Look at the week of July 13th. I know you guys like the 8:00 a.m. slot. What what any any day but Friday maybe. Yeah, you're invited. Okay. Um I'm just going to 14th, the Tuesday. Okay. hour before Is that okay? Okay. Okay, so we'll do the 14th at 8:00. >> 14 All right, gov and community relations. >> Um I am it's up to whatever works for for the rest of the committee as long as it can be the 8:00 a.m. I'll wake up at 7:00. It's okay. I'll wake up and start my morning with government relations. So Just let me know

156when works. >> Oh. >> No, no. It it it honestly No, it's that we should do it. But whatever I'm down. I'm good with it. >> He's down. >> Um 7:00 Could we Could we do the 8th? >> [laughter] >> Okay. All right. Or the 9th? Mhm. Yeah. >> We'll let you sleep in till >> No, I would I I actually that's that's a that's a tough week for me. I could can we push it to the I actually think like could could we do um the 15th maybe? I know that's supposed to be the next board meeting but I think that's before. The next board meeting's on the 20th, right? 16th? The 16th works? Okay. Let's let's do 16 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time. >> Policy. >> It was it the 13th? Was it

157the >> Yeah, I can do it. Yeah. >> And that's it? >> Okay. All in favor. Any opposed or abstaining? Awesome. Okay. Any Are there any new business items? >> Just uh reiterating from last time. Probably should have been old business. Um that the deadline for filing nominating petitions to run for the open positions on the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education is 4:00 p.m. on July 27th. A reminder that the petitions must be hand delivered to the clerk's office on 209 South Broad Street in Trenton. The positions that are open at this time are three three-year Hopewell Township terms. Three three-year Hopewell Township terms. And we scared Mark last time that you were going to run again, but Petitions can be picked up in my office, but they cannot be returned to my office.

158And that's it. >> Hey, thank you. And we're going to go ahead and move into our second public comment section. Um members of the public are reminded that they are invited to address the board on any matter for a maximum of 3 minutes during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and municipality. In response to your comments, the Board of Education may respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched for the district by the district administration. Members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask that you sign in prior to speaking. This will assist us with our record keeping. Public comment is now open. >> Hello

159again. I again am Nora Watson, and I live in Pennington Borough, and I have two students at the high school and one at um who's just finishing Tollgate. And I would actually like to take a minute to speak about the need to eliminate the access to phones at the high school. Now, this is something that I'm so grateful that our legislators in New Jersey are now going to require that school districts prohibit student use of internet-enabled devices for next year. So, I'm aware that this is something that I'm sure you are discussing and um preparing to implement. Um technology, especially smartphones, but also access to the internet on Chromebooks has been, I believe, the number one most detrimental thing to our students overall. Um in my opinion, the use of the Yondr pouches at Timberlane

160has been incredibly positive and critically needed. This measure is research-based, it's concrete, and it's enforceable. It protects our students' learning, focus, and attention, and also allows them critical time during the school day for healthy social growth and development. Our high school students are in desperate need of this as well and deserve our action to protect their learning as well as their social growth in a healthy environment. Their brains at this age are not developed, especially in the early years of high school, to manage this on our on their own. So, I do not believe it is adequate for us to expect that they will manage this on their own. And I believe the new legislation, obviously, requires us to act decisively and create a system at the high school that is enforceable. Furthermore, I think

161it's not realistic for the system to rely on each teacher policing this. It's not fair to them and it drains the resources from the critical work that they are doing educating. So, I just would ask the board, as you are having these conversations, to consider if our system for keeping phones away and completely inaccessible for the school day is easily enforceable and if it's largely watertight. And if it's not, I think that's inadequate and continuing to harm our students in our school environment. Um I was so pleased this year when I went to back to school night at the high school that for the first time there was more action on this than there had previously been and many of the teachers, not all of them, but many of them had cubbies over the door

162that they were planning to use for students to check in their phones. Um so that was a positive change this year, although truthfully my understanding from my own children across the years that that has largely not kept up across the year. Um So to my my perspective is that the Yondr pouches have been largely successful and I see no reason why they should not be considered at the high school. I think that would be very positive. If something different is considered, I would again ask the board to ensure that the system um does remove the option of access to the phones for the entire school day. And the implementation and enforcement should rely not rely on teachers policing this and it should ensure that the students have a healthy social environment during their lunch and

163their free periods as well. Um I believe this is the single best thing that we can do for our students' growth and their health. Thank you so much. >> Um hi everyone. Uh I just wanted to uh make a couple of more remarks um addressing some of the stuff with EA. Um I know most of you know me already. >> us your name? I'm sorry. >> Lou, sorry. 12 Linden Lane, Pennington Borough. Um I know most of you know me already. I've been the PTO president at Toll Gate the past 2 years. Um I'm pretty involved in almost everything going on in the district. Um and I would have been talking to parents across the schools about this. Um unfortunately tonight is the moving up ceremony this promotion ceremony for both Stony Brook and Hopewell.

164So, there were numerous parents that wanted to be here from those schools and couldn't, but um I'm encouraging them to email you all, so you might hear. Um so, just know that this is universally across the elementary schools, this is not just a Toll Gate because we didn't have our promotion event situation. Um secondly, I know you all really highly value social and emotional learning, and I just want to I don't want to start crying, but I want to just personally like help you understand how this is not just an academic issue, this is a social and emotional issue um for my son. Having only 1 hour a week where he feels like he's getting something that challenges him has led to on and off, we've had great years at Toll Gate, and we've had

165some really hard years at Toll Gate, like refused to go to school, he spent hours and hours in Courtney Shafer's office. And like he loves to learn. When he's in there with Ms. Lester, like Tuesday was the only day he wanted to go to school almost of this past year. Um and so, it's just inadequate to have one day a week where that's the case. And so, when we got to the place where he was like, "I'm so excited about German, that's going to be super hard for me, and I'm so excited that I get to do EA every other day." And then to have the German, which he was super excited for, cut for him. And then to have EA, which was supposed to be every other day, now be only every other day

166half the year because there's lots of kids taking it. Like it just all of the excitement about middle school just deflated for him. And so, just from a personal perspective, that's socially and emotionally where I'm coming from. Um I also want to stress that the failures of the EA program appear to be more structural in nature, and I thank you for um you know, thinking about doing a review, but I would say like I've been talking about these things and talking to administrators about this for years. And my kids are almost exiting the program, and I've already been on this for three or four years, and they're not going to see the benefit of anything changing, and that just kills me. Um we have a supervisor where 1/3 of his job is to be on

167top of the EA program. And it feels like no creative solutions are being offered and it's an afterthought always when I bring things um to him. I also wanted to say that under New Jersey law, um districts are encouraged to have pathways for public feedback. I've tried numerous times to present this feedback. The thing that I kept coming to is that um the core period could be a great place to put EA and it wouldn't take them out at the middle school of things, but I don't know why that has not been something that's followed. Um I also wanted about every other day pack. That's where they are right now. It was supposed to be full year. Now it's being pushed to half year. And my last thing before you cut me off is just

168that I heard that um the EA teacher at the middle school is changing and now it could be a theater teacher. And I have no concept of what the new curriculum is or if there's oversight on training that new teacher and I'd like you to address that. Thank you. >> Any additional comments? >> Um hi everybody. That's Sedeski, 2015 Harvard and Road. Uh Mr. Peters can answer questions if you want us to, but I really feel like just going to go to Bob. Um it looks like our health insurance costs and and are here or and been have been approved. So I guess my questions are as the things come in line with what we had planned for in all of the budget conversations that we had been through and are they in line with

169where it is that we wanted to to see things. It looks like it's a 20% increase, right? So um I just want to check on that. And then a little and then in general all of these other financials that we've approved have things mean some things look like they've been held at caught that at the same cost but are we seeing things cost in line with what where we wanted to be with all of the very hard conversations that we had along the budget leading up to what we just have now just approved to pay for next year. Um and then with Bear Tavern, what is I mean it looks we're going to pay for that. And then when are they going to start construction? Like when is that starting to move forward cuz if

170we're going to move like I I just can't see the the actual thing that we're approving. Um that's in there. And then probably one um go around on the what a better I think a a just a a more complete explanation would be would be good on the what looks to be millions that are being put into reserves which I think are regarding the stuff that was around the that I mean you kind of mentioned with the referendum money or whatever else would just kind of a let's I think it'd be good to do a little look at that. I don't want to get I should get out of here. Off balls. Okay. Any Go ahead. Sure. I'd like to start with the first one with the access of of the cell phones. >> So

171it's good that you asked that question because we have passed a policy that goes into effect in the fall where it's a bell-to-bell schedule as a policy that's K to 12 students are not allowed to use their cell phones in any of our buildings during the school day, not in the hallway, not at lunchtime, um from the first bell to the last bell. We are looking at a mechanism for that um like the Yondr pouches. The The complexity with the Yondr pouches is um we funnel kids into two buildings uh two doors in our building in the in the middle school. They corral, they can staff are paid to kind of watch watch them anyway. They're locking their D'Onder pouches there and they're putting them in their lockers. The high school kids don't use their

172lockers number one consistently and we we don't they're coming in multiple doors and the numbers of them is just um prohibitive. So, we uh Miss Principal Riley is looking at a pouch that kids can lock and keep on their person, but it won't it it won't um it can't access the internet while it's in there, so it won't ring, it won't ring, it won't do any of those things. And then they can unlock it to leave for senior option, to go to the trade school, to go out uh for the various things if they if they can sign themselves out at a certain age. We don't have to monitor all of that, but it has to be in the pouch and there'll be consequences if they're they're not using it. So, we do have we

173are looking at that very closely and that is going to be um K-12 and we have already adopted that policy. So, I'm looking forward to that because we do need to rein in the cell phones. Absolutely. In addition to the Chromebooks and and that internet um access, we have also and our supervisors have already started working on this, being very intentional about when students are using the internet and why and for what purposes and far as assignments are due uh that they're working on and we are going to be phasing out blanket one-to-one in the primary grades, specifically kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. We are no longer going to be purchasing enough Chromebooks for every student to necessarily have one to take home. There will be carts and they will be available because students

174do need to learn keyboarding and know how to use these devices. All of us assess assessments that are coming up that are high stakes are given on these now. Um and they don't need to be living on them either. So, this all the time on the computer, we're phasing those out uh for the the younger grades and really making sure that we have text-rich environments and less using of the Chromebook. Um we are in a better place than you think at the elementary schools, but I still would like it to be less than what we do. So, we are and we are looking at the middle and high school to make sure we're doing it intentionally. Um Ms. Lou, again on the EA, we are definitely going to look at the high the middle school

175and see what how we can schedule. We have often had teachers from different disciplines teaching EA, which is okay because it's not honors math or language arts. We've had math teachers, we've had humanities teachers teaching EA. It's really about allowing students to do what your gifted child does, which is explore. And to to find their gifted their genius hour and spend that time. So, we do need to look at that. We need to have someone from the outside come with other ideas on how we can expand this for our students. I wrote down you some of your ideas about the core periods and the pack periods being an option. So, as we as I meet and I've already emailed my scheduler scheduling vice principal and the principal Mr. Turnbolt saying that we need to look

176at this. So, I promise you we're going to look at this this summer and and make a change. And I know change has been slow, but we have made changes. I handpicked Ms. Lester for you. She has was trained. Um this um our I'm sorry. I drew a blank. Why am I doing this? Are the teacher that will be doing EA helping with the EA? Ms. Shubin, thank you. Ms. Shubin will also be have to be sent out for training for EA. They do a lot of work at Rider University with that and we will make sure that we send that that teacher out to be trained. In addition to that, the do EA teachers do collaborate. So, Ms. Lester will be help helping her to make sure she gets her feet under her as

177she as she does this work. I'm very confident she will do a good job. Um but we do need to look at the scheduling and see what other things that we can do to to make more options available to our children. And then Mr. Calavita, I know that you can't wait to answer those questions for Mr. Sedesky. >> Sure. >> You got it? Okay. [clears throat] >> So, the health benefits um is a wild card. We are self-insured. We aren't paying premiums. Our best guess uh right now is about a 20% increase in total spending. Um which went to the 20% increase in um uh premium rates. Unfortunately, the folks that have Chapter 44 premium rates, their premiums are gauged by salary. So, their increases will only go up the amount by the amount of

178salary that they get. Um we had a bad year this year. Um we've been able to cover it through belt tightening and taking things from other areas. Um we had a lot of um high-level claims this year. We had a lot of claims that actually uh went into stop loss, which were covered for. Um so, the best guess I can say right now is I'm hopeful that those high-level claims that we experienced this year were an anomaly and that we'll get back to where we were in prior years and that or that the the money we budgeted to cover um costs uh will be effective. We do have our reserve account that we set aside um for health benefits that was will be untouched this year, so we'll have that reserve to help us if

179we're not, but um the kind of year we have had this year with the number of high-level claims um again, it's it's it's unanticipated. Um and we're talking some some really high-level um serious claims for folks um that we're that we're tracking. So, Really? That's weird. Um so, I mean, I'm hopeful that we are we are budgeted appropriately for next year. Very pleased with when we budget when we started the process, we budgeted somewhere in excess of 5. 1% for transportation. As you saw on the agenda today, we've gotten all of those transportation contractors to come in at zero. So, that's uh that's going to be very helpful uh in in maintaining our budget going forward, which give us some flexibility should additional students come back in. Um we we have by no means are

180spending that money right now. That's going to sit there um as we look towards uh the enrollment season over the summer. You know, we'll start to see folks moving in and getting ready for the school year. Um we did also see some uh favorable numbers come back in our um our uh property and casualty insurance, which should also provide a little buffer for us. We are uh under budget when it comes to property and casualty insurance. So, that's going to to help us out as well. Um but those are you know, that those volatile things um have kind of settled in. Um right now, knock on wood, I I hate to say this, but we haven't had um any major facility issues um over the last I got to be three or four months now.

181Um uh I just thought it's it's been a good, you know, we're we have our full staff now. We are fully staffed in the facilities department. Our guys are are taking care of things. We did have some air conditioning problems. You always have air conditioning only have air conditioning problems when it's 98° outside, which is what happened last week. Um the pack was was hot and from what I understand today, that was fixed. Um so, we are going to be starting our referendum projects this summer. Uh the roofs are are uh they're underway. We haven't actually gone onto the roofs yet, but for all the pre-meetings are held, permits are being pulled, and we hope hope to start Friday on all the roof projects. Uh same is true, obviously, we just awarded the bid for

182the Bear Tavern playground. Um those guys are ready to get going once tomorrow when I uh tell them that they have the notice to proceed. Um they are uh on a fast track to get that thing installed prior to um school in September. The equipment has been ordered. It was ordered a few months ago. Um there was a lead time on that, but once we get the approval to move ahead, the the the excavators will come out and they'll start to regrade that area for uh the playground. So, hopefully um we'll have a the the dedication of playground when we come back in September. I think that What's that? Oh, the additions. So, right now we are we are heavily involved in uh the design phase. We hope to go to bid for those sometime

183late fall prior to the uh winter break or just into the new year to be ready to go um for the summer of 2027. Um we went out real early for the roofs, and as the board uh was we reported, we did uh have very favorable bids for the roofs. So, we're ahead of the game right now. Again, knock knock on wood. Um by going out early, we tend you tend to get a more favorable uh result. So, more to come into the fall as we prepare bid packages to go out. I think that's it. Is that it? >> Anything else, John? >> Yeah, not on this. I just had a thought about the previous about the Chromebook discussion, if it's okay to mention here. We [clears throat] did have a uh just going back

184to it, obviously, we did have a presentation recently at a couple of I Com meetings ago. I wasn't able to join this past one, but there was a discussion about Chromebooks and the usage of Chromebooks and social media and YouTube and the different things that, you know, in some instances are necessarily on the Chromebooks, but I My understanding was from that meeting that there are options for parents to sort of control the Chromebooks. I I'm not sure many parents know that. So, the the in in terms of like screen time and things like that. If that's not true, then and I'm speaking out of turn, but I my understanding that it is true. So, it might be worthwhile to consider, you know, I I there might be an email that we could send out or

185something like that. Just say this is this is this is a lived experience for me, obviously, as a parent of two middle schoolers. So, I definitely appreciate the concern and I just the thought occurred to me that after that comment that might be something we want to consider moving forward. This is maybe a tutorial for parents on on you know, if if you're having a struggle with that that there might be some options for you to to address it. Just like you would your a cell phone. Thanks. >> Now, there was one other thing Seth that we forgot, the reserve accounts. They're placeholders. So, by statute, you're allowed as of June 30th to project what you think you might have. So, you always shoot high. Um we I set I did resolutions for both maintenance

186and capital for a reserve depending on what we would need. Um what we typically do here is once the audit once we go through our annual audit, we will meet with the finance facilities committee along with the auditors and they will make a rec- we will make a recommendation to them. They will either affirm it, they will ask questions. Um last year we did nothing. Um we felt that the money, given the current situation in the budget, was better going back into uh the general fund budget than it was to go into additional capital projects based upon the passing the referendum. So, this year, um depending on what happens over the summer, if something happens to go awry and we need money say in our maintenance reserve to cover something that's not in the referendum,

187we may decide to put money in there. Um but that will come that decision will be made sometime mid mid-fall, October, November. But this just gives us the flexibility to do something if the the uh and the the finance committee and the ultimately the the entire board uh decides. >> Okay. Okay. Seeing no other comments, we are going to close out our last um public comment section, and we are going to move into executive session. So, I need a first and second to do so. >> A motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? Any opposed or abstaining? Um I just want to note that we um will be reviewing her harassment um HRB issues, as well as two personnel matters. We may take action and need to come out of executive session, um and but

188go back in, because I think we we have kind of a um couple of issues to break from. >> Is that correct, Mr. O'Brien? >> Is the superintendent's evaluation Oh, which you think should be in the public >> In the public um sorry, the personnel matters. Yeah. Um the second executive session um will be the superintendent's evaluation. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, everybody uh in the audience still remaining.