001Go ahead and show. Good evening everyone. We'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome everyone. This meeting is being held in accordance with the schedule of meetings adopted at the organizational meeting held January 6, 2025. Adequate notice of this regular meeting of the Kennorth Board of Education has provided to the Home News Tribune Star Ledger, the local source on January 16, 2025. The copy has been filed with the Kennorth Burough Clerk, posted in the board office, the Kennorth Burough Hall, Brilliant Harding Schools as is provided by the open public meetings act. Thank you, Mr. Gala. Can we please rise for the sales of the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank
002you, Mr. All the please have roll call. Viner here. David here. Ferrara. Haber here. Lead here. Ponichi here. Zimmerman. Crankoli here. There we go. Okay, we have quorum. Thank you. At this time, we will now have report of committees, review of resolutions, and oh, I'm sorry, superintendent. I meant to say superintendent's report and presentations. Sorry, superintendent Davis. Hi, good evening everyone. Um, it's an exciting night as we have our high school graduation coming up at 7:30. Um, so, uh, officially the school year is over except for that one event. Um, I wanted to just read, um, an snippet of an email that I sent to our district this morning. Uh, the internal district. Um, I wrote how so many students have been impacted in positive ways at all grade levels this school year. So much
003growth, so much learning, so much magic we made happen in our 24-2 school year. And it took all of us, teachers and custodians, secretaries and aids, nurses and coaches, counselors and case managers, administrators and IT staff, coordinators, SRO's, CEOs, advisers, power professionals, school psychologists, all of us. Um, and in that email, I had um pictures of several of the events that had happened throughout the course of the last few weeks. our moving up ceremonies, our preschool graduation, our kindergarten graduation, our middle school graduation, our senior awards ceremony. So, I just wanted to put that in record um to thank the entire staff of David Brley and Harding and also to thank the board for all the support for the entire school year. I think it was a very successful school year. U proud of uh
004our year 2425 and I look forward to the future. Um so, yes, that's that. Um, also tonight, um, we are going to be launching into our strategic strategic planning next year. Um, and that's exciting. You know, after my first year as superintendent and having a full concept of, you know, our district and our needs, I'm looking forward to engaging with the community next year. Uh, we have um coordinated and contracted with the New Jersey School Boards Assoc Association. Uh Miss Jean Clearary is here tonight to present to us uh the strategic planning process and to review that with us. Um but know that in the fall uh we'll be launching this uh fully with the community looking for parental and community involvement, board member involvement, teacher involvement um to make sure that we can come
005up with a really strong strategic plan with concrete goals that are actionable. And Miss Clearary is here tonight to kind of walk us through that process. Thank you so much and it is a pleasure to be here. I didn't realize it was graduation night so I feel very honored and congratulate all of your graduating seniors. Um so I am Jean Clearary from New Jersey school boards and we have um an agreement that we will be moving forward with the strategic plan. So our process is called the 3D strategic planning process and it refers to determination, dream and destiny by design. basically that we can't reach goals that we don't set and that we need to do that together in service of our students. Oh, sorry. Okay. Apologies. It's going to two at a time. Okay.
006So, I am Jean Clearary. Um I am the field service representative that works with your board and the boards throughout Union, Essex, and Hudson County. Um, we're going to look at what a strategic plan is, the advantages of doing that, um, how to be part of the process most importantly because we really want to include all of the stakeholders in your community. Um, and at the end, if you have any questions for me, I'm happy to answer them. So, just for those who may not know, um people that may view this later on, uh just to make people aware that New Jersey School Boards Association is a federation of um boards of the of boards of education throughout the state of New Jersey and we provide training, advocacy, and support uh to boards to um
007ensure good governance and provote promote student achievement in public schools. That's what we're here to do. Um and we try to be as much of a resource to the boards um and board members so that you can fulfill your role of um policym planning and appraisal on behalf of your students. So the strategic planning process um really allows you to create an organizationwide mission and vision. You know that vision of where you want to see your students arrive in the next five years. And what we want to do with that is um bring in all the stakeholders so that we can share that and use that as what inspires us in all of the work that we do going forward over the next couple of years. So there are some strategic um planning advantages. So
008this is a proactive process. We're not being reactive to any information that comes in that needs to be addressed. We're proactively um going to do some visioning and setting plans in place to take what is already going very well in Kennallorth and bringing it even forward on behalf of um what will continue to serve students and improve that for them. It's creative and innovative. Um it's meant to um help align some of the goal setting that's done so that it can be efficient and people can share in the understanding of uh what decisions you're making going forward and why and how that serves students. It's a flexible planning process that's really designed to work along with um other goals that are being set. It does importantly provide a forum for the community to be involved.
009We want the board members as well as um parents and guardians, community members, staff, teaching staff, administration. We want everyone's input um because it's important and everyone uh needs to be working together on behalf of students to be most effective in serving them. It creates that ongoing cycle of planning, assessment, and decision-making so that when things come before the board that you will have this to refer to and this will help um set annual board and district goals as you move forward over the next couple of years. And importantly, it optimizes limited resources. Those being um financial resources, but also the time resources and the human resources so that we can work um strategically and efficiently in the work that we're doing. And it also helps to increase communication because we're including the community. we're
010we're bringing them into this process and then over time reporting out and updating so that people feel that sense that this district is representing um the character of what is valued here for all of the students in the district. Additionally, it helps to bring focus going forward to decision making because we actually at the end of this process, we provide each member of the board with a bound copy of all of the work that's going to happen, all the meeting notes, everything. um and a binder copy for both the superintendent and the board to always stay on the table so that you ensure you ensure that as you move forward over the next couple of years, you're staying in alignment with the plans um and the things that have been determined to be your focus
011with community input. It highlights um informed decision- making. So, you'll use data for decision- making to really ensure that you are seeing the progress. we want to move into an objective way of measuring things as opposed to subjectively feeling how things are going good or bad right um and again it helps to have that that vision that really unites everyone in the work that they do so the board has certain roles and responsibilities administration and the superintendent have different ones um the parent community supporting that homeschool connection right so we want to make sure that we're all on the same page moving forward for students So, a reason to plan, there are several reasons to plan, but we want to look at those things that you may need to be addressing, and these are just
012some samples. Um, but through this process, it'll help you determine what are those things that may impact your planning going forward. You know, is your school enrollment changing? Is the makeup of the school population changing? Are students arriving um with uh themselves having certain needs that you haven't really had to address before? or families moving in that have different needs than people that have been here a while. Um, are there more people in the community who perhaps don't have children? And how do we show that we're being inclusive, right, and that they can have a window into the good work that's happening already in Kennallorth, but the plans for the future? Um, because we recognize that schools are valuable to um the strength of the community as well. So we we welcome in community input,
013but we want them to see that good schools are actually serving them even when they don't have children in the district because it um stabilizes and improves the community. So why plan? It could be that there are changes in um family structure. Families might have different needs for their children. um if both parents are working perhaps or if you're having more single heads of household, people have um needs to best serve their students. Is the economic structure of your community changing? Is there expected to be an impact on um the tax base that you use as revenue to support the programs and plans that you make? Is there competi competition for your public schools? Are you losing students um because perhaps they're interested in programming that's not currently being offered and maybe we have to
014look at curriculum and offerings to retain our students. Um and what impact is limited funding having on you. So importantly, what we don't want to do is we don't want to overburden an already overburdened system, right? We want to really recognize that the strategic planning goals are meant to be multi-year goals that will be um put together with the input of all the stakeholders, but that they're meant to really be cascading. So they're multi-year goals of where we vision for our students to be in five years. Um, but that helps us then plot what next year's district and board annual goals will be, right? Because they should be a step in that process. They shouldn't be conflicting with those goals. they should be working and supporting all the way through the building level, administration goals,
015um, right down to teachers in the classroom working closely with students so that for each level of this, everyone is focused on their part that they play in meeting the goals that are going to be focused on student achievement. That's really the work that everyone does. So, the components of the 3D strategic plan are um, as follows. There's been a commitment by the board. We've engaged in this um process. Um tonight is the first night where I'm just sharing the information to familiarize the board especially with what will happen. But um as we move forward, we'll have three public meetings where um the stakeholders can participate, board members, staff members as well, anyone involved in the community. um will first address information and the superintendent will be providing basically a state of the schools to
016recognize all of the very good things that are happening in Kennallorth and then make us aware of perhaps some challenges um that he sees going forward and that first meeting will be about um working in small groups to see what the community feels are the strengths and challenges that we want to talk about and focus on. The next meeting will be a visioning meeting about, you know, what is it we're really envisioning that we want to see for our students five years from now. And that'll be again small group work. And we'll come back and we'll share those things after each of these meetings. By the way, I I report um an outcomes report that I share with the superintendent who will post it on the website. We want this to be a very transparent
017process as it's going through. Um the final meeting will be based on okay we have we we've talked about strengths and weaknesses. We've you know did the visioning. Now these are the overarching goal areas that we really want to focus this district on for our students. Um and writing goal statements and objectives. And at that last meeting we then turn it over to the superintendent to work with administration um to you know the board recognizes that you provide the what what do we want to see in this process? you're engaging and bringing your community in to help you speak to that. But once it gets turned over to the superintendent and administration, they focus on the how. Okay, now we know what these things are, but how are we going to get there? What are
018the action plans we need to put in place? And that becomes the roadmap of the work that's going to go on in the district for the next uh five years. So strategic planning is really best served when we remember that it's an inclusive process. We want the diversity of thought um to be part of this process so that we can um include that and ensure that we're also serving all students. The process itself um consists of a pre-planning meeting. I did meet with superintendent and a couple of administrators just to introduce this. Um we have some logistics to work out but basically it will be um setting dates and um we've had some discussions just about you know how to get the word out and encourage people to participate. So important to know the first
019meeting um generally is two hours long to account for you know the state of the schools and we do small group work for an hour and a half. They run on time, they start on time, they end on time. So we really encourage people to come out. I know it's really challenging after a long day or a long day of work, but we really want to be engaging and have people um participate. You don't have to participate in all three sessions, but of course um we would love if people did um after each one. There'll be about a month between the first, second, and third meeting. There's a month between um and the report will go up on the website, so even if someone hasn't been able to attend that night, they can catch up
020and come out the next time. Um and these are the categories that we'll focus over that night. So we've had those discussions earlier and and they'll continue over the summer. I know right now um having worked in district myself um that the summer is oftentimes where calendar setting is happening and you know seeing what's accessible making sure that the dates that are selected for this don't conflict with other important things that are on the calendar for the schools. Right? We want to encourage everyone to be able to participate. Um generally uh the superintendent and the board president if present can make a very brief just welcoming everyone there for each meeting. I will just do a very quick slide presentation to just say what it is we're going to work on in small groups that
021night. I facilitate it but I really want to be clear that the strategic plan belongs to you here in Kennallorth to serve your students. Um, we do ask that if board members participate or staff members participate that you just take off your official hat and um, just really try to work as just another member of the community and uh, share that way. We want to make it a place where people that aren't as um, perhaps uh, well-versed in the running of the district feel comfortable and safe to participate and share their thoughts. So, as I said, after the third meeting, pardon me, after the third meeting, um it'll be turned over for the development of the action plans. And those action plans will be um focused on meeting those goals. And what will happen is
022I will um at the end of that process take everything, put it together, including the action plans, deliver it at a board meeting when I am invited in to do that. um the board will review everything and then at the next time they are able to do it after reviewing everything approve the uh strategic plan. So this way it's the um formal recognition that we all have accepted the plan and the action plans but again reminding board members that it is the superintendent's purview of how he goes about meeting those plans with um his administration. So here we just have a sample strategic planning calendar. So tonight is June and we're meeting to just open this up. Um there'll be uh once the dates are set coming from the district directly there'll be um a
023lot of communication about h of this process and how to participate and inviting perhaps some community uh groups that may be uh tied to schools and would be interested in participating to get the word out. Somewhere in September, October, November will be the first meeting. A month later will be the second. A month after that the third. And then um we will like to give them uh probably about two months, a month, two months depending on how it falls on the calendar frankly um to have that time to do that thoughtful work about creating those action plans. And then I would come out as I said and deliver that and um just do a very quick you know thank you for the community and that can be decided what that looks like as we get
024closer to that. So really um the word we want to get out now is that we are working on this in the fall and that we uh want to get the word out, encourage people to attend. Um people can participate in one, two, or three of those meetings. Uh people in the community if they're not already familiar with the good work of the schools, just it says to be involved in the schools. It doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be in the buildings, but just maybe checking websites and reading the local paper about all of the good things that are happening in Kennallorth Schools so that they have a better sense and can participate more fully. Um and then look for the scheduled uh um board meeting dates and and the agendas for when
025updates for the next five years will happen where um progress updates will be provided on a schedule and people will get to hear the accomplishments as you're moving forward. So that's really the presentation for strategic plan and if anybody has any questions I'm happy to answer them. I have a couple. Um thank you for your presentation. You're welcome. Are all districts engaging in this process or is this something that the NJSBA just um wants to sort of start? No, we've we've had strategic planning as an offering for quite a while, a long time. Um we go in at different times. My own district, I I served as a board member and was away from board service and then was a district um staff member and I've participated in it both times in my comm that
026goes back years. So, it's recommended to do it in five for every five years just because a lot changes and we want to re-evaluate where we are as a district. We know education is changing rapidly. Um pressures on the educational system are changing. So, it's good to um invite the community back in and and gain that focus and that input. So right now all districts should have a mission and vision statement on their website. But sometimes it's this is an opportunity also to look and see, you know, what is the community really saying? Is that really the focus or do we want to consider other input that we're receiving now? I think this is our fourth fourth round of it. Okay. So fourth or fifth? Yeah. I was just asking because I feel like our
027district is really good at all these things. I feel like it's something that we do well even as a new board member and parent. I I think it's just um something that this particular district really holds transparency at a high level. So, um but I appreciate NJSBA introducing this to me anyway. It's clearly not new and and it is helpful just for board members going forward and administration to um when you're making your decisions and you're communicating about those decisions and the why behind it. It's helpful to have that behind you to say, well, this is in line with what the community has spoken about and this is why we're taking these actions. It'd be good to see other district reports like a big sort of statewide what are districts five-year plans, what do they
028look like, how have they achieved their goals, just so um you know, sometimes sharing accomplishments can help us in in a area. I will say that most most districts will post their strategic plans. So you can you can get that access, but we really want this to be representative for as a template, but we really want this to be representative of the members of the Kennall community. Got it. Thank you. Yeah, of course. Anything else? Just and I might have missed it because I was a little late. I apologize. Um what is the cost, if any, involved in in having New Jersey school boards involved in this strategic plan as opposed to doing it on our own? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. I apologize. Um, this was actually an agreement that
029was set quite a while back. Um, just got carried over because of your prior superintendent leaving and we would never ask a a newly seated superintendent to begin that in the first phases of him taking over. So, we've been in touch over the last couple of months and it was really in the go-ahad phase. It's already been assigned contract under the last superintendent. Did we approve this under Kyle? Yeah. Yeah. We are actually already paid the first half. The question was what was the $4,000? Yeah. We already paid the first half when Kyle was here because he was just starting that process. Gotcha. Okay. If there's nothing else, I'm going to wish you all a really wonderful um graduation ceremony and a wonderful summer. I hope it's restful for all of you. Um, any board
030member can reach out to me at any time regarding this or anything else that I can be helpful with. Any conversations with me are kept confidential. So, um, I just really am here to be a resource and to to help you along with what you may need. Um, but best of luck over the summer and get some rest. Thanks so much. Thank you, Jane. Uh, thank you, Miss Clearary, for that presentation. Uh, just a tentative date that, um, I have shared with the board is that we anticipate our first meeting might be on October 8th. Um it's a Wednesday and we avoided September because as a district we are starting later than many other districts because of our construction project and then we have a number of holidays in September uh as well as we
031wanted to avoid all of our back to school nights. Uh so we pushed it to the very beginning of October uh just to make sure that as many community members as possible could participate uh without feeling like oh I was just at the school last night for back to school night I don't want to go again for strategic planning. So we made it an isolated event during a specific week in October. U so that's a tentative date of October 8th. Uh but thank you Miss Clearary. And then just uh as to echo what she said, I just want to wish everyone a wonderful summer. Um yeah, and I'm excited for next school year as we um open up the new middle school. Uh there's a lot of work that needs to be done over the
032summer. Uh, and I'll be updating the community throughout the summer via email, uh, as well as the the internal teaching staff as to conditions of our rooms and how progress is happening. So, there'll be a lot of communication over the summer regarding our projects. And that concludes my superintendent report. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Davies. At this point in time, we'll move on to report of committees, review of resolution, and board discussion of first finance and facilities. Mr. done. We don't have much because um this is a midmon meeting, but um I just want to thank the maintenance staff for getting all these graduations, the field done, everything else and all the graduations and it's done really nice and they do a great job every year. Um you know, obviously Vince and Jeremy also um
033all the resolutions this on this for us tonight are items that are needed to start the school the 2526 school year. Um they're all necessary items that have to be approved. Um just a few of them um basically 11 12 and 13 for not have been on the board that's we act as the conduit for the state to give basically St. Teresa's funding on 11 12 and 13 15 which is I always questioned last year that McKini Vento um for the homeless children. I know it says Essex collaboration but it's only for Kennaworth kids. So, we're not grabbing um I know we had a few questions last year about um can you get like kids from other towns um throughout the state or acts as county, Union County into our district and we can't do
034that. It's just purely homeless um Kennorth kids if there are any. Um and that's basically all I have. Just take some questions on anything. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Woodatti. Next, personnel management, Mr. H. Yep. 13 resolutions similar they are for the 2526 school year. Uh resolutions 16 through 18 are 2526 new hires. Resolutions 19 through 22 are stipen positions and rates. Resolutions 23 through 25 are program staffing for summer 2025. And then resolution 26 is tuition reimbursement for Mr. Davies. Resolution 27 is the acceptance of Mr. Derulo's retire uh tuition reimbursement, not retirement. And resolution 28 is the approval of Mr. Ganella's contract and that's it. Questions for Mr. Her read this and then now we will have um curriculum and instruction. Mr. Her will read the policy for Mr. Yeah. Is it in
035there? I have it up. Oh, just just read. Okay. So, resolution 29 is k board of education adopts and second reading the following laws by bylaws, policies, and or regulations as needed based on changing statute, code or law. M indicates statemandated and this is P2428.1 standardsbased instructional priorities. That's it. Any questions about that? Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we will now have old business. Any old business? Like to uh please continue to remind the public to keep up with all the information on our social media and internet pages. uh Friday folders were sent home from the administrators talking about summer reading lists. Um all that information is available and we want to encourage parents, members of the public with any questions, issues to please reach out to administration. They're always available to you.
036I do have one thing. You know, every time I walk by the fields, I mean there's so many garbage on the field, water bottles all over the place sometimes when I walk by or drive by. I don't know what we can do about it. Something we may want to consider. I picked up on D. picked up on a I'm just not picking up him today. Yeah. No, I'm not saying that we're not picking him up and doing our job. I'm just saying, you know, at 7:00 at night, there's no one here and I walk by in the morning. I just find it ironic. It's almost disrespectful. I I Well, that's I that's exactly where I was and I don't know what we can do about it. The generation that's so involved in the uh earth
037movement and they're the ones who are so willing to throw down plastic. Just an editorial comment. Yep. No, it's it's a it's a it's an everyday there. Yeah, they are. There's garbage cans. Yep. Involves walking a few feet though. You saw them pick up like eight of them this morning. Yeah. And we're we're also constantly asking um we're constantly asking children to not drive their ebikes on the turf and not drive their ebikes on the track. I was out there today. Any bikes? Any bikes. Do we have signs of posting it? We do. So then maybe it's time, you know, I know we've gotten that way before in the past with having the police enforcing and if you've got the signs, they can enforce and kids start getting tickets that dad has to pay. Yeah.
038We're also going to be updating the um student handbook to include that in the student handbook that it could be disciplinary and you ride your bike out there and then it's easier than the police don't like writing tickets. No, they don't. I mean, I know I know we go down that road. It's easier that if the principal sees the kid out there, we have video evidence, give the kid a Saturday detention or whatever. Well, it's not going to do anything during the summer months. Sure. Well, they're getting Saturday detention in July when they come back. I don't know. I don't care. Sometimes just the, you know, management by walking around, right? You know, you just kind of walk around. You don't have to say anything. You just show your face, walk around. As soon as
039I step out there, all of a sudden, the bikes disappear. Yeah. You know what I mean? Sometimes maybe you just need a little bit more. I'm not here to by the police department or somebody the school, you know, something. Shadow dogs for the geese. Yeah, the rolls for the geese. Sound device for anybody that walks by, you say something. Get off my lawn. That's right. So, that's all I have. I'm sorry. I just thought I would bring it up because it it is it's a concern when I drive when I drive through my checks. Yeah. Constable. Yeah, you're the constable. Write some tickets. Not anymore. I used to Thank you. Anything else under old business? Okay. New business. We want to just congratulate all our graduates and wish everybody a a safe and happy summer.
040It'll be unfortunately September before you know it. Anyone want to share anything under new business? Okay. We'll now make a motion to open up the meeting to the public. Can I please have a motion? Second. Motion made by Mr. David, seconded by Dr. Koli. All those in favor of opening the meeting to the public, please say I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Motion, Mr. Canella. Yes. Uh public will uh comment will now be accepted. The board of education says a limit for public to speak at the board meeting to five minutes per person. This prior permission has been granted by the board for extended time pursuant to bylaw 0167. Please be reminded that while board members of the uh Please be reminded that while members of the public may speak on personnel matters during public
041comment, the matter the board of education is legally prohibited from discussing individual personnel issues in public session unless the employee at issue has requested a public discussion. The board's role is set to policy and ensure effective operation of our schools. While school personnel recommendations are exclusive responsibility to the superintendent of schools, the board reviews uh and acts on those recommendations in accordance with state law and district policy, but does not initiate or manage individual staffing decisions. Is there any public that would like to make any comments at this time? Okay. Motion to close. Second. Second. Motion made by Mr. David, seconded by Mr. Biner. All those in favor of closing the meeting to the public, please say I. I opposed. Eyes have it. Motion carries. Mr. Ganella, can we please have a roll call of
042resolutions? Yes. Thank you. This is resolutions one through 29 on the agenda. Do any of them need to be voted on separately? No. Okay. Biner, yes. Cranki, yes. David, yes. Haber, yes. Lead, yes. Zimmerman, yes. Penichi. Yes. Motions carry unanimously. Thank you very much. Do we have a need to go into close executive session? Yes, we do. Motion to go into close executive session. Second. Motion made by Mr. David, seconded by Mr. Haber. All those in favor of going into close executive session, please say I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Motion carries. Mr. Ganelli. Yes. Uh be resolved. The board of education the board of education meet in private session which public uh um which is from which public is excluded to discuss the topics of personnel specifically superintendent's annual evaluation uh which private discussions
043being held pursuant to section 7B and 8 of the open public meetings act the matters on discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as final decisions are made and voted upon. Okay, vote on that. Thanks, guys. See, uh, Biner, yes. Yes. David, yes. Paber, yes. Lady, yes. Zimmerman, yes. Pinichi, yes. We're in close session. Bruno, we out. Thank you.