001good evening 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 on january 6 2021 this meeting was re moved from uh july 19th to this evening and re-advertised on july 1st 2021 adequate notice of this special uh of this regular meeting of the uh board of education has been provided to the home news tribune the star ledger the local source a copy has been filed with the kennel workforce posted in the board office the borough hall and the burley and harding schools as is provided by the open public meetings act please rise and join us to solute the plan [Music] congratulations to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for
002which it stands one nation under god and indivisible with liberty and justice for all mr canel can you please have roll call viner braun david here drogon habithur jankowitz widatti panichi here zimmerman we have quorum receiving of the minutes can we please have a motion to accept the minutes from june 7th 14th and 23rd second okay motion made by mrs zimmer mrs zimmerman seconded by mr biner all those in favor of receiving the minutes please say aye aye very good uh reading and acceptance of my monthly correspondence mr gannello do we have any this evening yes we have several items we have a letter dated june 15th from mr arlington and dr panichi to governor murphy and the state legislators regarding repeal of executive order 175 which mandated mass wearing in the public schools we
003have a letter um to myself from mrs phillips and to members of the board of education regarding her retirement reception that the board held in june we have a letter from dated june 15th from new jersey school boards association to dr pinici regarding new jersey school boards association services and dues of a letter dated july 2nd from darryl primary to mr arlington regarding authorization of the superintendent's miracles and achievement of such goals that concludes public correspondence thank you mr ganela can we please have a motion to accept the monthly correspondence second okay motion made by mrs braun seconded by mr byner all those in favor of accepting the public correspondence please say hi hi superintendents report and presentations [Music] sure so good evening uh there's a great deal of energy and hustle and bustle in
004our buildings this summer as a result of some new and expanded summer programming and now that we're up and running i wanted to share an outline of those programs so using a combination of local funds and federal esser monies we've tried to create a wide scope of programs with an eye on scooping up as many students as possible to participate and also target instruction around assessment data and student-centered experiences a great example in play is that burley's middle school program we wanted to create a program that would allow students the opportunities to socialize with their peers work with teachers and a number of different hands-on projects and have fun it is summer after all the program runs for three and a half hours monday through thursday throughout the month of july and the program was
005open to all middle school students and strongly encouraged for those who failed a course on average this is pretty impressive about 65 students are participating daily while there are core academic experiences in ela and math there are also team building exercises and opportunities for social interaction uh really important there are some students entering eighth grade who have yet to be at burley because they may have been virtual last year so this kind of early jump start in learning the building probably will yield a next disposition for them come september make them more available for learning and so those sort of incidental benefits of the program shouldn't be put under erasure we kicked off the program with the fun-filled orientation students rotated to different classrooms where they participated in icebreakers and crafts and the day ended
006with the students breaking up into small groups for a scavenger hunt around the school building uh harding's esea program runs from the what started at the end of june runs till the end of july monday through thursday 9-11 there are classes for rising kindergarten through third grade plus one rising fourth grade class for select students the total number of gen ed students participating is 45 with 10 teachers the ryzen k3 classes include both students with them without ieps and are co-taught by a general ed and special ed teacher for a true integrated experience the main focus of the program is reading readiness for the next grade level some teachers are utilizing something called the 95 phonics booster bundle summer school and dish edition which is a comprehensive phonics and word study program and additional activities
007throughout the morning include math and theme based lessons a allah the beach and fourth of july this is hard to read but it's um spotlighting some of the data teachers are using to track and progress monitor um so you'll see students there many of whom fall below benchmark in early literacy skills and so teachers are tracking them in different reading areas syllable mapping comprehension etc the extended school year program at harding school is our special ed program runs parallel to harding's gen ed program our extended school year has 24 students this is really exciting seven of those students attend the gen ed program for the first two hours of the day right to integrate with their gen ed peers and then the second half of their day they work on maintaining skills outlined in their
008ieps just as a reminder i'm sure you know extended school year is for those students whose iep team determines that they need those summer experiences to prevent regression so we're not looking for students to master new skills per se in esy but rather to prevent the loss of any schools any skills or dispositions they may have mastered throughout the school year those students who don't participate in special ed program are in one of the three self-contained classrooms which are individualized and function similar to their year round programs all in all these programs provide students with ongoing year-round learning aimed at sharper skills in a low stakes playful environment i'm appreciative of the support of the leadership team members particularly the mr davies mr babnowski ms kukula for designing programs that are more creative and innovative
009than in years past particularly the middle school program i'm also thank you to the teachers that agree to take on this summer teaching even after a stressful year and the students and parents who have committed to attending regularly uh while there were parents who chose not to send their children even after invite i think we should still celebrate the efforts of those who seize the opportunity to attend when 65 middle school schoolers volunteer to come to school in july i think that says a lot about the students we have in the program and the program we've developed for them i hope this gave you sort of a clear high-level view of our summer programming and all the happenings occurring in the district i'm happy to answer dr pinichi any questions from the board any questions
010for mr arlington regarding summer programs okay thank you okay hi um as part of my report i'd like to take this opportunity to share with you the district's stance on critical race theory but first as a general reminder i'd like to suggest all parents or guardians who have specific curricular concerns or questions so please contact me via email or phone you can also contact one of the building principals or the directors in this way we can spend time addressing your specific concerns and ensuring your questions are answered and answered well board meetings provide an opportunity for public comment so that the board is in compliance with the requirements of the open public meetings act however it is difficult to answer each question posed thoroughly with the level of detail and nuance that public questions deserve
011too much of a public back and forth also takes away from the primary purpose of public meetings which is for the board of education to do the business of the school district therefore and again i encourage you to certainly share your thinking but also to connect with me or a member of my team for more thorough follow-up and information as our country is grappling with issues of race and racial justice the exercise has trickled down into our local and school community and certainly school communities and neighborhoods across america topics such as critical race theory the 1619 project and even the treatment of holidays and school calendars have all become lightning rods within community discourse understandably parents would like to know where the kennelworth public school district stands in relation to these topics in the spirit
012of transparency i wish to provide full answers to circulating questions on what is and what is not being taught in our schools and by what means diversity equity and inclusion are approached preliminarily what is taught to our students by way of content and skills is largely constrained and predetermined the state board of education establishes learning standards for all students the curricula within kenilworth is and must be aligned with these learning standards they are board approved and publicly available on the district's website curriculum guides are public documents i'm really proud of those documents they reflect great effort and thinking by our teachers and they can all be found on kennelworthschools.com in accordance with the state's learning standards as well as new state law how curricula does address diversity equity and inclusion topics here's an example of
013a law that mandates that in march of 2021 school districts began to be required to incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in an appropriate place in the curriculum of students in grades k-12 as part of the district's implementation of the new jersey student learning standards what new jersey's public schools are required to teach is online to those new jersey student learning standards those two can be found online while the state dictates what is taught to students by way of its standards districts may determine how learning on these topics takes place our schools do not teach critical race theory or the 16-19 project kennel worth also has not elected to alter its school calendar to neutralize reference to specific holidays nor does it have any plans to do so what kennelworth does and must do consistent
014with state standards and state law is address diversity and inclusion by introducing students to an array of ideas peoples texts and cultures i'm going to repeat that because i think it's important our schools don't teach critical race theory or the 16 19 project we introduce students to an array of ideas peoples texts and cultures this is done thoughtfully and occurs at all levels kenworth uses an educator think tank to review these policies practices and procedures by which the district operates within the classroom we use resource materials that are balanced vary in content and address major opposing views the discussion of controversial issues in the classroom must occur in an unprejudiced and dispassionate manner in this way we work towards building a school community that embraces diversity and inclusion and is equipped to think critically about
015related and controversial issues as educators we do not indoctrinate students towards any particular viewpoint we instead consistent with district policy that has been in effect for more than a decade encourage fair presentation open-mindedness and the free exchange of ideas and a spirit of scholarly inquiry those policies that i just referenced are policy 2-2-4-0 controversial issues from policy 2-3-5-0 resource materials that wisely the board has had in play for as i mentioned more than a decade i hope that you will lend your constructive efforts to supporting this scholarly endeavor to make our students strong critical thinkers and able to robustly participate in our democracy dr panichi i am happy to take questions from the board um about anything i just shared um related to inclusion law standards our curriculum okay i think anybody have questions for
016mr arlington based on his presentation okay thank you yes a couple more pro forma items in your pocket you have um the hiv report uh calendar across the year later in the meeting you'll be voting on the may hib report and if you recall there were two cases both of which were founded that i reviewed at our last meeting and there were no hiv reports hiv reported incidents in june also attached is the enrollment report and the suspension report as the board is dually aware there was one suspension towards the end of the year at burley high school and questions about that any questions regarding hick or mr arlington okay yeah finally um uh chairpers personnel chairperson hebether isn't here tonight so i'd like to just recognize a few members of our school community who
017are moving on to new endeavors in resolution uh 12 mr de blasio has accepted a position as an administrator um so i wish him all the best and thank him for his 12 years of service to our district zoe drivas has served as an uh power professional for the past 14 years in kenneworth um and i wish her well and her retirement and uh januz namayak is resolution 14. uh januz is leaving us to take on a supervisory custodial role in another district and i wish him well as well or shimwell as well and finally we need to strike resolution 15 from tonight's agenda which is the appointment of a maternity leave replacement who declined our offer so when you vote on personnel you won't be voting on resolution 15. questions thank you mr ellington
018for your presentation yeah yeah thank this time we'll do a report of committees review resolutions and board discussion first up is finance and facilities mr lagati thank you is um ventilation project expected to start once the equipment is on site the hardest part is almost complete breeches will not be in for september you're working through all the paperwork regarding the module classrooms and into anticipating the demolition of the existing buildings has been uh uh six is the security grant paid two thousand um uh most of these mrs emer zimmerman uh teachers are being compensated for actually now that i look at that i think there there's there's one where there's no compensation involved and the rest there are i believe the imsc comprehensive training correct okay thank you mr odati next up uh personnel and
019management i'm happy to review the personnel resolutions um uh at the podium i just review 12 13 and 14 15 we're striking from the from the agenda resolution 16 is a maternity leave replacement for a preschool teacher resolution 17 our lead teacher stipends for the 21 22 school year resolution 18 i wrote to you about in my friday update has to do with medical coverage uh for esy and some of our summer programming 19 20 and 21 are resolutions uh aimed at the paying out for unused sick days or vacation days in accordance with those individuals contracts resolution 22 reflects change in salary as a result of graduate course work 23 esy classroom aids the bulk of 24 you've already voted on but it's uh updated here in the agenda that mr ganella sent you
020saw some color coding that reflect that reflected vacancies as a result of some resignations for tonight and also a new appointment for a girls assistant soccer coach and then well and then that is it so that is the personnel resolutions any questions for mr arlington for personnel and management now um so they work in tandem with the middle school administration i think that was a new position the last maybe like two or three years ago that was entered into as part of a sidebar agreement um so even though you have you may have a middle school teacher as the lead teacher right it's kind of like mrs zimmerman like content focused lead teachers whereas middle school we thought needed some attention um just like middle school-wide to help with its give it its own identity
021and sort of vision um so the middle school lead teacher kind of works across content areas and if it's more of a yeah yeah and if it's more a content area they would go to their content area lead teacher sure yeah i'll defer to mr ganel about that here you can see the last column there says that it was previously approved when it was approved so you are just voting on the changes it's just a change that's why we have that last column there um each each district has its own administrative structure um like some schools have department chair people um that might differ in so far as department chair people at least in my experience have purview over like observing um these are as i understand the more logistical positions right they help to
022facilitate meetings um bring their grade level teams together um while we're a small district we don't have a big administrative team so as i understand the lead teacher positions they're sort of a liaison between like department or grade level teachers and the administration at this time i do we can get we have job descriptions for those positions we can send them to you so you can get a fur view of what's what they entail any other questions related to personnel management okay next up curriculum and instruction sure uh on behalf of mr jenkins i'm happy to review resolutions 25 and 26 uh 25 approves curriculum writers for the 21 22 school year these were all positions and curriculum writing opportunities for which we had budgeted and they also helped keep us aligned and in compliance
023with the state's five-year curriculum revision cycle and the hiv report i mentioned at the podium is an affirmation of the may hiv report um and the june is all zeros kind of for the record only those are the two resolutions for cni any questions for mr arlington regarding curriculum and instruction to be honest i don't know we'll check out tomorrow yeah i don't know i'd have to get back to you on that any other questions okay seeing nothing under policy review any old business yes yeah so i worked really hard yeah i worked really really hard to get that tab committee up in the spring and it didn't happen at the end of the day it just i think people were burnt out from meeting and conversing it doesn't mean that we couldn't try again
024but i had tried multiple times both getting names of interested people and then when i got them it was almost more challenging to find a date and time that worked for admin teachers and so in conversation with the kea we discussed starting trying again come the fall yeah so we didn't yeah we didn't let it fall by the wayside um it just became a like a scheduling challenge so um okay we we even got as far as reviewing there's there are board appointed it's a board appointed committee i think right so yeah okay i should do pretty good sorry okay okay any other comments under old business any new business okay at this point we will move to um opening the meeting to the public is there a motion to open the meeting to the
025public a second second okay motion made by mrs zimmerman seconded by mrs braun meeting is now open to the public please come up state your name and address and your comment good evening my name is laura koprowski 574 cumberland cumberland street in westfield i've been teaching sixth grade math and social studies here in kenilworth for 22 years you could say i'm a by the numbers kind of teacher as a sidebar it's not in my speech here but mr arlington summer school is going beautifully he has stopped by it's been really enjoyable i'm with the rising fourth graders in summer school so i'd like to share some important numbers with you here tonight 180 the number of days i supported and cared for my in-person students one hundred percent the amount of effort put forth by
026my students and me every day number three ninety percent the number of my math students including eight with ieps falling within one standard deviation of the mean achievement norms for fall map for fall for map testing let me break that down a little farther for you 12.6 the average growth mrs horling's homeroom achieved in math those were my students for math 8.6 the average growth for my homeroom this year on the math map test including 8 out of 16 students with ieps 8.1 the typical growth of a sixth grader from the fall to the spring well standardized test scores by no means capture all the successes that we made this year it is one way in which we can quantify the successes that the students have achieved 0.7 3.1 the percent the county average for
027salary increase and finally 1.25 percent the number that tells me i'm not worthy despite these incredible gains during a global pandemic with fewer teaching minutes thank you thank you get this down low enough here good evening um my name is gina fulgar i live at 67 claremont avenue in colonia and i am a fourth grade teacher in harding school for 13 years now i'm here tonight to talk about my school year as a fully virtual fourth grade teacher the official school year may have ended but the lasting impact of this year will not leave my heart or my mind ever i had the absolute pleasure of teaching the students that opted to be virtual over the course of the year with my students we became a tight-knit little family of floating heads as we like
028to call it my children showed up each day on zoom ready to work ready to learn they were continuing learners from day one all the way through day 180 they did amazing they learned and they grew each day we met on zoom using breakout rooms google classroom google docs slides forms jamboard think central epic books read work story works generation genius you get my drift none of the work this year came easy and none of it was anything that we as educators were taught when we received our teaching degrees what exactly did go into preparing and teaching virtually during a pandemic i'd be too happy to shed some light on that to you i along with my fellow virtual colleagues had some had to come up with some creative ways to teach our curriculum through
029a computer we had to reinvent the wheel we had to teach ourselves these platforms last summer during the pandemic and throughout the course of this year the virtual teachers leaned on each other throughout the year and like the students we were constantly learning new things to then teach a group of students over zoom i was in a group text message with several harding virtual teachers this group message was active in the early hours of 6 a.m all the way up through 10 pm seven days a week the entire school year we shared ideas we supported each other and learned from each other we celebrated classroom victories and offered educator advice to each other on a personal level i had to recreate ninety percent of what i've created over the last thirteen years of teaching while
030my own children were at their grandma's all day until five o'clock i was teaching during the school day supporting students via zoom and email after schools grading hundreds upon hundreds of assignments from reading writing math social studies and science preparing a virtually a fully virtual student council program that i created in august i taught title title classes via zoom several days a week and i continued to study and prepare for reading lessons because we launched a brand new reading program in fourth grade in october i also had to prepare my google classroom each week with assignments lessons links etc i worked every sunday in my dining room classroom for three to four hours to prepare for the upcoming week i did more learning preparation and working through this discomfort and unknown of the pandemic than
031ever before on top of all the school things that i'm sharing with you i'd like to just share one more tidbit of a fully virtual teacher the importance of the internet i called my own internet provider three times throughout the year to upgrade my service be sure that my connection was working at optimal speeds we didn't want any hiccups during the school day so i stand here this evening hoping that you could take in everything i just shared with you this past year was not easy it was not a cake walk because i was teaching in my own home this past year was the hardest and the most rewarding school year of my career so far you the board of education shared the successes of the staff and the students throughout this year you heard
032all of the successes of in-person learners as well you can see that this past school year was a successful one despite the uncertainty so my question is why can you share the successes that we the educators led this district to but you can't fairly compensate us for those successes we the educators of kenwood schools deserve a fair contract no questions asked thank you sure just come right up it's okay thank you hi my name is glenn robertson i live in 1870 winding brook way in scotch plains new jersey in addition to being a union county resident and a big fan of what you guys have done here at kenneworth schools i'm also the president of the new providence education association i wanted to offer my congratulations to you guys um on the year you had
033in the past year with getting the schools open as often as fully as you did and the successes you've enjoyed i understand that that's an effort on everyone's part educators and administrators alike i understand that in addition to the things that everyone saw with all the teachers working hard both from home and in the building and the extra hours administration was putting in um that there were things going on behind the scenes including a one-year contract that was made and i can tell you as union leadership we're often discouraged from making one-year contracts because no one wants to go through collective negotiations more often than they have to but in this instance i think that that demonstrated a victory because both the teachers and the administration we're able to put their differences aside during a
034trying year and focus on the children as someone who's just completed a successful negotiation in new providence and is an active member of the county education environment who watches what's going on in other towns i fail to understand what the issue is here in kenilworth that's making progress on any substantial negotiations moving forward possible in light of the fact that you've just demonstrated under the most trying conditions you are capable of working together and i hope hopefully that will change in the future lynn smith six claridge drive in middletown new jersey i've been teaching in kennel worth for 17 years now and for 10 years nearly 10 years now i've been the president of the association in those 10 years i've participated in now four negotiation sessions and this one currently heading into fact-finding is
035by far the worst i have experienced we have gone to mediation before we have even gone to fact-finding before but the parties were never as far apart as they are today and why i ask myself i look at what's going on in the school district and i see us emerging from this pandemic year successfully across the country the pandemic brought newfound respect for frontline workers in all walks of life new york city just this past wednesday hosted a ticker tape parade to honor their front-line workers and their educators were among the honorees you have 212 frontline workers at my last count who serve perhaps the most important sector of our population our children all of them as of this month are now working without a successor contract what a stark contrast to what's happening in
036negotiations and i look at what's going on in union county you know mr robertson just described for us his observation of what's going on in union county and some much better progress that was just made in new providence you know you get the same reports from the new jersey school boards association as i get from the njea so we all know what the county average settlements are what kind of settlements have been have been coming in as our negotiations are ongoing and again this data is in stark contrast to what's going on in kenilworth we are emerging from a crisis the likes of which none of us has ever seen in our lifetime none of us ever imagined we would be faced with a working environment like this past year your employees were asked to
037step up to the plate like never before and the district had a successful year you have settled a reasonable contract with your administrators who managed this past year but not with the rest of your employees not with the ones who did the actual work this past year you needed your employees to step up to the plate and they did now they need you to step up to the plate in negotiations at times during this past year i wondered what it would have been like if this happened to me when i was a student how would i have emerged from this with continuity in my education and in my growth as a human being it is immediately clear to me i would have needed to have dedicated and caring teachers and counselors and secretaries and custodians
038and nurses and librarians and aides and our students had that many of them expressed gratitude for it during the year and at their graduation ceremonies your teachers are proud of what they accomplished as a team in this district in this past year you have heard a number of them come up to this podium and tell you specifically what they are proud of doing i'm sure as time goes by and we reflect back on this this year everyone's going to reflect back with pride on what was accomplished it would be an understatement for me to tell you how discouraging it is to find ourselves in the situation we are in in negotiations at this point in time i think the better description to tell you is these teachers they feel depre betrayed at this point the
039staff deserves to be acknowledged for their dedication they deserve a fair contract please let us please work together to resolve our differences and negotiate a fair contract thank you for your time [Applause] sure do you want to make a comment something good evening uh joe bieler i was at last month's meeting and um superintendent arlington i give you somewhat of a thank you for answering my questions that i asked last month on the 1619 project and critical race theory but sitting at the last meeting in this meeting quite frankly 1.25 percent it's rather insulting i i spent a career in the utility industry and i negotiated contracts with the utility workers of america and service internet service employees international unions let me tell you something if we walk to the table offering somebody a 1.25
040raise particularly after the year that these folks have gone through i i'd be embarrassed you ever you should be embarrassed to be in this room with these people right now offering them 1.25 so i have a suggestion maybe you need to be a little bit more prudent on how you spend the money around here we got about seven layers of bureaucracy in a school system that has maybe 900 kids from k-12 my senior year in high school in alj there were sixteen hundred kids in the school we had one principal one vice principal the other thing you have a building out here half a million dollars really you got to be serious a half a million dollars again maybe a little more prudent with how you spend taxpayer money there might be a little bit
041more money in the pot that you give to these fine people thank you mr o'donnie did you want to make an appointment let's close the public portion of the meeting first anthony let me just close i mean anyone else will have a comment at this time please step up and make a motion to close the public portion of the meeting second okay motion made by mr david seconded by mr miner all those favor listening to public say aye thank you meeting is close to the public twice so it really wasn't the board in the district issue of not continuing these negotiations okay so just that that's what happened you know i know that misled or donna foreign it's based on the new health the new health chapter 44. but again we've never been back to
042the table salad has never discussed after that i don't want to negotiate in public but we can force back mine to reinforce arbitration okay at this point mr gallo can we have a roll call of resolutions please yes 26 resolutions on the agenda this evening um this is for uh number 15 as mr arlington mentioned earlier is being removed from consideration because the candidate withdrew um uh withdrew the position so therefore this is one through 26 on the agenda of minus number 15. do any other resolutions need to be voted on separately hearing none okay 1 through 26 on the agenda excluding number 15. mr biner braun yes ledotti yes pinicci yes zimmerman uh david yes got everyone yes emotions carry thank you um mr canal is there a need to go into closed executive
043session uh yeah so very briefly okay can i please have a motion to go into closed executive session make a motion okay okay motion made by mrs braun seconded by mr ledotti all those in favor of going into closed session please say hi thank you we're now going to move to closed executive session okay board is meeting everyone for your comments and for attending bruno stay rolling just for a minute okay the board of education will meet this evening in private session to discuss the topics of negotiations which public discussions being held pursuant to section 17 aid of open public meetings act the matters under discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as final decisions are made and voted upon the board will not be returning after closed session this evening to take
044any action so therefore this will end the live stream thank you very much