001Statement is hereby made that adequate notice of this meeting was given by the prominent posting was said notice in all district schools and other public places the mailing and or hand delivery of said notice to the designated newspapers the Asbury Park Press and the Manalepin patch finally with the clerk of Manalepin Township and the clerk of English Town borough just please call the roll this is Campo here here here here here here here here please rise for the flag salute pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible good evening everyone and thank you for being here tonight we are moving into our public comment portion of the meeting it's the opportunity anyone in the audience is welcome to come
002up to the microphone you have three minutes to bring up any topic discuss anything you would like so the floor is open if you come up please just announce your your name and the street that you live on all right does not appear we have any speakers tonight so going once going twice all right public comments is now closed all right next we're going into executive session Ronnie yes we're gonna go into executive session first off can I have a motion on a second please Christine and Jamie her for four items to review the HIV executive summaries for an HIV appeal involving student number 4 2 0 8 2 for HIV appeal involving student number 4 0 6 9 5 and lastly for an HIV appeal involving student number 3 7 7 9 6 all
003in favor of going into closed session at 7 46 I anyone opposed no noted we are enclosed thank you thank you if most of you are not here when we get back we will not be offended all right we are back in open item E changes and additions there were no other changes other than what was sent home today all right thank you items F for the board's information any questions from anyone guarding any items in item F I have one question this is definitely a new board member question so I apologize in advance but as we look at the trends looking at first grade through fifth grade and the student populations at each school is the thinking that those kind of maintain throughout the years so 78 people as an example at Wemarock book
004Brooke at first grade 126 in fifth grade this year obviously this will plus or minus throughout the years but when we get to fifth grade with those first grade first graders is that student population roughly the same no our population has dwindled significantly we used to be at about 550 to 600 a class MEMS class right now is I believe at 627 so there are last large class to go and then the classes became smaller really after what after the current fifth graders like you're saying and then after that we start to get into the fours but you see that there's some big classes and now we're seeing with all the new developments it's kind of hard to tell but we had seen a drop-off and that's why when we did the demographic study several
005years ago it's not correct because it had us continually going down and actually even two years later the demographic study is not showing the numbers that we're showing so the new developments have definitely shown an increase but one of those things that we did when we were planning and with the budget cuts was we knew this dip was coming so a lot of our staffing we've known that you know we were going to reduce slowly as students fell off so this is something that we had been anticipating and planning for did that make sense no but all the new developments add a wrinkle in we very hard to project and predict what what they'll bring yeah and what age groups the children are going to be that moving could be any age can I add
006one thing Nicole for that Nicole every year is constantly watching that enrollment particularly starting in December we start to have cabinet meeting that's our administrative team meetings where we have a chart for every school for every grade and it's watched monthly it's particularly for budgeting so we know what's coming and as you said it you know kids come in kids move out so that helps as well kindergarten first grade are always a little lower because people go to private school so really our second grade by second grade it should reflect what our current numbers will be and stay very consistent with over the years so recognize that because if you look at kindergarten first grade they're at like a little under 400 they should get up to about 450 ish by the time they get
007to second grade make sense thanks on people up for private school so anything else all right moving on to action items starting with G administration can I have a motion and a second on items g1 through g6 please miss her and mr. singer any questions anyone yes yes yes yes yes yes with respect to the extension Ronnie the first one yes the number with the four yes the first one is 4 2 0 wait hold on it's changed though that's what I'm saying this it's actually on the agenda it is going to be what you I'm number four four two zero eight two four two zero eight two yeah four two zero four two zero eight two that was the first that was the first appeal we heard number every number four that I'm abstaining
008from you're going to abstain on administration g4 wait hold on Ronnie one of those should have not have been unlocked because they didn't come we're not voting then correct no no g4 should be removed and Jesse is abstaining from g3 08 we're gonna get it right Jesse is abstaining from g4 yes g4 g5 is being removed yes well g6 now becomes g5 when when Ronnie's done just hit refresh agenda so we have items g1 grasp intimidation and bullying executive summaries to his travel three is the athletic schedules four is a resolution affirming the decision of the superintendent on student 4 2 0 8 2 which is the one I believe Jesse is staying on and five is the resolution affirming the decision of this yeah all right so I if I understand this correctly I'm
009abstaining on for g4 and I'm a yes to the all other items under section G no that's that I I can't vote on a session that I wasn't in so I'm abstaining there yeah yeah no I was gonna vote yes on all those I just wanted to make sure I documented the right one that I wasn't there for thanks motion passes all right great work team moving on all right business items H 1 through 13 can I have motion and a second please mr. Cain and mr. Tessetti any questions mr. Kebrick I'm gonna abstain from seven and eight and yes to all others mr. Ferber yes this is her yes mr. Cain yes mrs. Parisi yes mr. Singer yes and mr. Tessetti Oh mrs. Campo sorry yes motion passes thank you can we have a
010motion and a second on curriculum items I won through I for please mrs. Parisi and mr. Kebrick any questions mr. Ferber actually yeah I had a question regarding item 3 I believe it was yeah the summer reading list if either dr. Santora mrs. Pepchinski can just speak to us briefly about the process of you know vetting and how those so everything in the list this year is the same as last year which was approved except for the items and read the books that were added and read are then developed in collaboration with the school media specialists and the district supervisor of English language arts so it's vetted first through the media specialists who then make their recommendation to their supervisor who then passes on the recommendations to Kurt who then passes it on to me
011anything in red I have also vetted I do have notes if anybody was interested I also asked for a search on any potentially controversial topics which may appear and everything did come up clear so it's a multiple step we do have criteria for book selection as well and that has also taken into consideration at the initial stages and I just want to add that I did go through the list and I put in like search inquiries on certain topics and sexual and things like that and nothing came up flagged I'm not saying I give a hundred percent approval but from what I researched I didn't find anything from the list and the goal is the same as well and I didn't find anything either yeah and the goal is typically what's developmentally appropriate so that's
012always the focus part of the criteria which was as you're aware established at the beginning of the school year and maintains our ongoing focus is making sure that there are explicit things that are not included because they're not developmentally appropriate I believe I read it at one of the board meetings I don't want to go over that with you again but yeah similar when I'm vetting I also look for just I quite honestly type in controversy to see what comes up and let's put it right out there Jesse I just want to make sure that we follow the New Jersey Freedom to Read Act assembly bill 3446 and Senate bill 422421 that was signed into law December 2024 we did it we did all that right we're in complete compliance that's the criteria we discussed
013that was established that's part of the process and then if a parent were to have an issue with the potential book there's a process that they would have to complete with the form that's on the district website under each of the school media centers but these are optional remember these are just choices a child can technically read any book they want except for certain grade levels I believe once you get to six seven and eight there is a grade level book that's required but typically it's the purpose is to get children to maintain reading over the summer they have the ability to go off the list or to choose a book of their own as well there are options you're welcome mr. Ferber thank you for that I'm yes mrs. her yes mr. Kane yes
014mrs. Parisi yes mr. singer yes mr. Chesetti yes mrs. Campo yes and mr. Capric yeah yes motion passes thank you can I have a motion and a second on personnel items j1 through j11 please mr. singer and mrs. her any questions mrs. her yes mr. Kane abstain on 2a and yes on everything else mrs. Parisi I'm abstaining on 2a and yes on everything else mr. singer yes mr. Chesetti sure yes mrs. Campo yes mr. Capric yes and mr. Ferber yes motion passes thank you all right well got here a lot faster than I expected so we are moving on to no one old I'm going to start with you mrs. her I just wanted to thank the Italian Club for an amazing performance it's always great seeing them come to the board meeting I also
015want to thank the music department at Pinebrook for the performance at the last meeting I know we didn't have the same forum so I wanted to give them a shout out I did like the steel pan drums that were used and incorporated into the concert so that was nice to see and all the kids did an amazing job tonight and at Pinebrook I did want to add that the CPAC had a meeting I was not able to attend it was a virtual it was on siblings of students with disabilities I did speak to Jeanine and Lisa Marie and they said that although a lot of people did sign up for it when it was time to sign on there wasn't as not as not everyone that signed up did show up so I'm hoping that
016maybe next time they do that that that will get a bigger turnout because that is something that the parents directly requested and I think it's really valuable because siblings of children with disabilities really endure a lot so I think it's really important to have that support so hopefully next time it will be better attended as far as the spring forum it is on Wednesday May 6th at 7 p.m. at men's the new special ed director will be there so that will be everyone's opportunity to meet her and you know see what she has to say ask any questions so I would anticipate that that would probably have a larger turnout with the new director being in attendance there is also going to have the director from real regional high school special services Jessica Halland will
017be there to speak to the parents of older children you know preparing for high school they'll have information about Camp Skyward a reading and readiness sensory movement and find motor development summer program and also there's going to be some recent upgrades to our Mars transportation system with Christine Vistano so and there's much much more kids out and about social skills program and all of the special ed administrators will be there as well so I think this will be a good one for parents to attend if they want to meet our new special ed director so that's again Wednesday May 6th at 7 p.m. at memes and if I could just say I did sign up for that virtual meeting and I could not get on you couldn't get on it said to log on with
018the email you signed up with which I did I could not get access then I tried a gmail I tried several different emails I couldn't get on I did call in via telephone and listen okay but if I had that problem maybe maybe others did too and I'll let I'll let Janine and Lisa Marie know because I don't last time I think Janine had hosted it like she was the you know the person who had logged in I was sick that night so I wound up not being able to attend at all but I'll pass that on to her because an issue for other parents as well yes so that's good to know but I think that's all I have again thanks to the kids they did an amazing job and I'm glad this is
019a moving along so I'm gonna stop talking now thank you for those updates though appreciate that mrs. Campo I don't have anything specific just echoing the thanks to the Italian Club tonight and the band last week great job on all accounts great thank you mr. Tissetti I got nothing tonight surprise all right thank you mr. Singer I don't have anything tonight thank you I'm gonna pinch myself mr. Capric a couple of things I do want to echo the sentiments for the Italian Club and the choir from last week phenomenal work really enjoyed both performances the foundation for MERS this past weekend held their annual clothing community or community clothing drive I should say at Taylor Mills just wanted to recognize and thank the foundation for that event the community that came out to donate clothes
020to recycle and reuse the staff some here today dr. Siri who came and volunteered their time on a Saturday to help collect clothes and load them up onto the truck all-american Ford which was collecting clothes all throughout April to to drop off at Taylor Mills for again donations no numbers yet but looks like we did better than last year and again that's thanks to the foundation the administration for communicating it out and also the PTOs PTAs and the booster clubs also for getting their schools engaged so phenomenal work all the way around of course all those funds go back to our school by way of grants so it's you know great for the students and the staff and then lastly also just want to congratulate the support staff of the year great work by all
021of them sorry that you guys didn't get to it sorry so congratulations to the support staff of the year great accomplishment by them well-deserved recognition sure being acknowledged by your peers is a monumental occasion so again congratulations and thanks for your support to our staff and students and that's all I got thank you again I'd like to congratulate Signora Ciano and the Italian Club for taking third place I believe they were the smallest group that performed they were performing against other groups that had 10 and 15 children and they did a phenomenal job I too think Dr. Santoro they should have taken first place I believe Signora Ciano has taken home a trophy over the last 10 years I want to say or more phenomenal job every year is just phenomenal congratulations to the Pine
022Brook band and chorus they did a phenomenal job the concert was wonderful and I just want to let it remind everyone that the music the performance department whether it's band or chorus they don't meet very often to practice what is it once every six seven days cycle which is nearly not enough and to put together such a wonderful performance as they did it was a phenomenal job with such minimal rehearsal time so I just want to thank them for that and again congratulations to the support staff I know we will be awarding them I believe at the end of the year or are they part of that yes so yes and that's it just want to say that I saw the men's play last week it was really great it's a ton of talent actually
023there I mean fantastic singers so they did a great job want to congratulate the students and thank the staff for all of their work which I imagine must be tremendous to make that happen so it's really cool I actually do have something I forgot I apologize I want to take a moment to address a member of the community who reached out to us as a board about the quorum in board meetings and my actions at a previous meeting it was called that we air these in public it was discussed and no I was not told to make this statement that I'm gonna make Eric singer I apologize if anybody saw that I tried to demean or silence Eric anybody that knows me personally and has sat and watched me for five and a half years
024on this dais knows that I am not one to silence anyone I want every voice to be heard I am a representative of my constituents while my constituent number is very limited in contrast to those of the eight of you that sit as elected members from a now up in community I have the same voice I think that every one of us here should have an equal voice I did not at any time have a conversation with any of these new board members to tell them to sit here shut up and don't say nothing like was told to me five and a half years ago I value every voice in this community I value every voice on this board and I will also reiterate that the performance of Ronnie and Jody and Nicole have been
025what has kept our district functioning at the level that they function at the cost of political games at the state and federal level we are trying the best for our students for our staff for everybody in the community and to be accused of trying to go and silence another board member sits with me in not a good spot so with that said once again I apologize to you Eric I will double down on the support for Ronnie and Nicole because it has been phenomenal at what we have done and the results are evident at every meeting whether it be athletics with Luca de DeGeneres and our other district and sectional and tri-county champions in wrestling or our manalapan's and our Italian club that goes to Rutgers and wins awards for over a decade that stuff
026does not happen by having dialogue tough conversations tough decisions if you turn on the news or you read the news and you see how financial aspects have been cut and kids have had to pay to play and all that we had that one year and it went away we have been fiscally responsible we're not closing buildings we're not firing teachers we're not doing any of that and you know what people might not like how I try to do the math the simple thing is Ronnie was not prepared for that information because she has not provided that in the past going forward I think if we communicate the wants desires and needs of these board members to make these decisions on time and all that we need to communicate that this board has improved in communication
027over five and a half years that I've been a member of this board it has let people come and speak and be open and question and been transparent as we can possibly be I am telling the community on film here whatever if you want to have a conversation with me at any point in time I am open to those conversations both times I've said that I will not make you happy at the words that I say every time but you will not doubt where I stand and that if I can't make my wife happy with all the decisions I make I damn sure I'm not going to be able to please a community and fellow board members I is my hope that every single board member on this dais understands that they have a voice
028I expect them to use that voice as I use my voice and I think we've done a very good job excellent job and we have distanced ourselves from other boards that have internal strife and all the craziness that all you have to do is turn it on and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say that we have done this with a decrease in funding from the state and while we got the maximum six percent increase this year it still doesn't put away 55 million dollars plus that has been cut from us since 2018 with the broken funding system you've got a school district in Newark I know it's apples to oranges where they get almost 1.4 billion dollars in aid and over 60 percent of their children cannot read at grade level
029put that in perspective understand that I'm not going anywhere I'm going to be vocal I expect Eric to be vocal I expect Janae to be vocal and Jamie to be vocal and Dave and Dave and Christine and Kelly and Mercer I expect all of us to be vocal I expect all of us to be advocates for our children and our community and once again Eric I'm sorry if that was anybody's understanding or misconception that I was trying to silence you thank you Jesse I appreciate that Eric I'm just going to open the floor in case you wanted to say anything but no no need if all right great appreciate that just okay starting off I want to congratulate the support staff winners for you know being being recognized and and that doesn't come lightly what
030you know what you guys do in your various roles for our district is really you know something else and obviously to be recognized by your peers is tremendous and and I'm sure it you know it really resonates with you and and I just want you to know from myself as a community member as a parent of kids who came through this district how much and how important it is to us for the jobs that everybody does that helps provide a great environment for our kids so thank you again and congratulations I'm sorry to say that I did not have the opportunity to go see the drowsy chaperone at MEMS but I've talked to many people who did and I've just heard it was absolutely phenomenal so I want to congratulate everybody involved there on a
031job well done and we are currently exhibiting at MEMS revolutionary lives which is a traveling exhibit with commemorating the 250th anniversary of our country and so I'm really proud to say that we have that happening in our district right now I think I don't know if we're one of the first in the area or maybe the only one I'm not sure who else has it currently but I believe we were the first in at least Monmouth County and maybe even you know a wider area but it's really cool to have that here and give our students the opportunity to to see and learn and understand a little more about our history specifically local history you know that that they can relate to so I'm looking forward to going to see that myself for board members
032if anyone has the opportunity that wants to go check that out it's gonna be there till through the 24th so reach out just drop Nicole dr. Santora and or dr. Fiorallo no if you're looking to go over there and check it out yeah please I to that I just want to can not congratulate thank mrs. Marsala she really was the impetus behind getting that here she's done a lot of research and she has been going to a lot of professional development where she jumps upon opportunities presented to make sure that our district is at the forefront of these initiatives and I think it's important that we acknowledge her hard work so thank you mrs. Marsala if you see this great thank you Dave can can I add something to please I just to go with
033the support support staff of the year I do want to add that I do think that support staff are the unsung heroes of every school district and you know it's easy to thank teachers and you know as a teacher I think it's great thank you for everybody always appreciating us but your IT network guy when when the internet goes down as a teacher especially now like what are we gonna do right so to have different people paras secretaries whatever whatever the role is they're vital the schools cannot run without them and I do want to say and I know I've said this before but Chris McKinley as security he got his support of the year and you don't normally think of these individuals having an impact on the kids the way you think teachers do
034but when my girls left mems on their last day they cried not because they were leaving their teachers or their school because they were sad they were never gonna see you officer McKinley again and they were bawling on the bus so every single support staff impacts the children in different ways and so congratulations to all of them yeah thank you for saying that you know and even furthermore I'm just gonna go ahead and I personally call check give them all a shout out Kimberly Whitehill school security officer at Clark Mills at our ELC I'm gonna screw this up but Monica Zambriska she's custodian at Clark Lafayette Mills we have Jacqueline Roth who's a safety and lunch assistant at our middle school officer McKinley as Jamie was talking about thank you at Milford Brook Roseanne Calcano
035she's an instructional assistant at Pinebrook school we have officer Eric Nelson one of our security officers there thank you at Taylor Mills we have Santos Gonzalez he's a computer technician congratulations at Wemrock Brook mr. Billy Moore one of our computer technicians and from our district office we have Heidi Brown who works in benefits and pensions so thank you Oh transportation oh wait oh at our physical plant we got John Leotta who handles maintenance and then we also have at pupil and personnel services Antonio Bauer one of our registered behavior technicians and in our transportation department we have mr. Jimmy Weiss who's one of our main mechanics and I believe that completes everybody yes all right thank you thank you everyone I'm all done sure I have a few things just to say first of all
036thanks to the instructional not the instructions or support staff as well specifically I would like to really highlight miss Heidi Brown as you know we changed our health insurance for over 400 employees plus our retirees not an easy process I believe what was it I think December 29th our retirees got a letter that January 1st they weren't going to have insurance anymore based on a mistake on somebody else's end throw anybody under the bus with that statement and Heidi worked all through that and she made sure that they were covered she worked through the holidays she worked through the break to make sure that it was a smooth transition and she's still working now for each individual person to make sure that she advocates and that it's a smooth transition to them and it's not
037something that's on a nine-to-five job it's something where she's spending time on the weekends over breaks because when someone calls up and they say oh my god I have to go to this doctor and there's this issue with my insurance she doesn't say well you know it's not Monday morning so oh well to you she really does make it happen so this transition was so smooth thanks to her so I do want to give a special shout out to her I do want to also mention the MEMS play it was absolutely phenomenal every year it's it's almost more phenomenal than the last year and you're sitting there and you're like are these really middle school students you would have no idea if you couldn't see them that they're middle school students they it's like you're
038you're at a professional play absolutely amazing the topic was a little different than it had been in the past and they were really funny they put on a really nice show so kudos to miss King the rest of the staff that helped make this happen absolutely thought fabulous the last but not least something that was mentioned a few meetings ago at one of our budget conversations the district is forming a committee to look at our current structure right now as many of you know we have a number of students moving in off of 33 if you've traveled 33 it's not the 33 that it was three years ago it's not the 33 that it is three months ago developments are still popping up I mean the other day we didn't even know an exact development
039existed until we got a register from that development and we're now driving through and trying to figure out what the transportation routes gonna look like so we're also looking at some of our schools like Milford Brook which is not our largest facility but actually is now our most populated school we're looking at our ELC which houses three out of our five elementary schools and sometimes it overflows into the other school we're looking at requests to include more pre-k classes so we're going to look at the overall structure of the district that does not mean I want to be very clear about this this does not mean that anything is definitely going to change it's that we are doing our due diligence and we're doing our fiscal responsibility and our due diligence to our students to
040make sure that they're getting the best education possible to look at our current structure and deem whether it is the best structure for our district for our taxpayers and for our students so please do not take this that drastic changes are going to happen no changes may happen but we have to do what's right and at least look at it and make sure that we're doing this best for children so that committee will probably start up maybe around May June it's not going to do anything for September or at all it's going to run for the whole year as we look at many many different aspects of that we're going to look at our building sizes we're going to look at whether our classrooms can accommodate different grade levels we are going to look at
041transportation we're going to look at where our population is heading we're going to look at our specialized programs ESL special ed to make sure that we are truly doing what's right by all students so as that committee continues we will give periodic updates and that's what I got thank you you know just I want to reiterate just some of what dr. Santora just brought up as you know we've gone down this road before as it relates to looking at things like redistricting and and things like this you know come up and that's truly you know big part of what the board is here for is really trying to help oversee and balance the needs of the school district and ultimately make best decisions that are best for the district as a whole and unfortunately sometimes
042that doesn't mean it's best for every single person that lives in the community or you know or may not like or agree with it including ourselves but we have to put our personal feelings aside and again our job is to be here and make the best choice that we believe is for the district as a whole and sometimes that's really tough it really is and again we don't we don't enjoy sometimes having to make some of those choices but so I appreciate the board and and be you know having to sometimes suck it up and take it on the chin knowing that we're going to make some people unhappy but as dr. Santora pointed out there's nothing definitive nothing's written in stone this is really exploratory and and but it's doing our due diligence and
043doing right by the community to make sure we're making the best choices for the future of our school district so that being said we are wrapping up and we are going to go into a workshop discussing our board goals this is something that's been on the table for a little while and and you know it's probably oh it's overdue that we need to update our board goals bring it to more current and and you know refocus the board so we have some strategic plans to really you know set some goals for ourselves to strive for and keep us focused and and keep things moving forward so the floors I'm gonna open up the floor and we could certainly bounce back and forth as much as anyone would like to however if if there's still uncertainty
044or we feel like there's you know a lot more to be discussed then I'm gonna put out there the opportunity and to create an ad hoc committee to help maybe push this forward and get us a little further down the road and closer to final finalization of a few board goals that we can then bring back to the table but again the floor is open if everyone had the opportunity I hope to look at some of what um dr. Santora had put together and she kind of compiled suggestions made by myself mr. Capric and I believe some other board members and she tried to really organize that in a way that's meaningful that both you know gives us purpose gives us direction and as well accountability towards achieving those goals and some setting benchmarks for
045how we are going to assess if we're making any progress in getting towards those goals so if anyone else would like to chime in please now's your opportunity I'd like to I think it's a very good framework I think for goal number five community transparency community engagement I think what we really need to make sure is a focus under this goal is explaining to the community what we can control and what we cannot control I think there are a lot of things that happen within the district that our hands are tied with you know whether it be through state law or whatever compliance that we need to do and I think it's important for those things to be in the forefront so that the community can understand you know this is what we're working with
046and the avenues if you don't like it unfortunately there's nothing that we can do to change that you know then you have to make sure that you're paying attention to who you're voting for and things like that so I think that that should be one of the I don't know if we want to make it a marker or necessarily like a bullet but I think that that should definitely be a focus under that specific goal okay I'd also like to add I did send you in response to your one email and then dr. Santora shared this out just the first few goals I had some minor tweaks because I do think the way they were initially worded just needed to be tweaked because some of the things were really more under the control of district
047and district admin not us but supporting them in that I think was a better way to phrase some of them I would say I feel like six schools is a little lofty I don't know if there's any way to maybe combine some of them that maybe fall under the same purview like the referendum with like the fiscal or I don't know I feel like it's just a lot and I just don't want us to lose focus if we have too many goals maintaining all of them I think maybe for maybe four would be more appropriate so we can actually really hone in on them and make sure that we stick to them and and keep our eye on the prize so I do like the chart that dr. Santora did supply to us I think
048it really breaks it down really nicely so that's my two cents great thank you and we'll have anything like Ted yeah I mean I shared this over email with mr. Ferber mr. Kane and dr. Santora in terms of some of my feedback but I'll just stay to hear for everyone else's considerations and thoughts first I just want to say what an evolution in terms of where we are today in terms of board goals to what we're looking at now so again much thanks to mr. Ferber and dr. Santora for evolving this over the last couple of weeks I would say that the categories of goals are great I have no issues with them I think they hit on the right things that we need to be looking at as a board so in terms of
049where they stand today as category goals I think we're in a good place I think what dr. Santora did to apply ownership in the right areas whether it's border administration furthered this quite a bit which was great and I shared this feedback over email and I think there's still room for conversation around the success indicators are there ways that we can make it more measurable so that they're not just kind of event driven or narrative driven in terms of did we do it or not do it so when we say progress in something what does progress actually mean to us so how do we measure what progress actually is I know it's challenging to do in some of these circumstances but the more we can quantify it I think the better position we are in
050to make progress towards some of these goals the last thing I'll say and again I shared this with the folks I'd mentioned a little bit earlier I think in goal for governance excellence and board effectiveness there was a suggestion I made around establishing a strategic plan for the district one that is multi-year as far as from an aspirational or vision perspective where do we want to head as a district something that both the administration and board can share and that we could always align our goals to year-over-year and the committees that we end up establishing as well there are a number of items throughout these goals that would tie into you know some strategic planning whether it's collaborating with the community putting out you know additional communication to the to the community in terms of
051getting information from them multi-year view on finances also tie into strategic plan or as the suggestion has come from Mr. Singer in terms of a multi-year view on facility planning as well again all tie into something that is multi-year that you could look at in a strategic plan but that's my feedback but once again what an evolution in terms of where we are today and what we're looking at so again much thanks to mr. Ferver and dr. Santora for getting us here yeah thank you for that yeah I mean that's the goal right keep you know making progress and moving forward and and you know seeing how we can just improve at this point though you know I'd say we've we're proud you know we're overdue with updating these goals so there's no reason to
052just rush and just throw something together if it takes us a little longer to get it right then let's just let's get it right so you know I'm taking notes on what everyone you know everyone's comments here tonight so it could continue to fine-tune and and you know get this cleaned up a little bit more anybody else have anything else did like to add all right I'd like to echo Janae's about communication with the community I think that there's a common misconception that the board of Ed is a magical wielding power right I like to reiterate with that that we have one employee and that's dr. Santora Santora yeah I said it right I always get you confused with Mark but he's not here anymore and so I still get it confused because I oh
053a whatever and if we go too far past what our limits are then we're involved in running day-to-day operations and the Board of Education's job is not to run day-to-day board school operations that's for Nicole of course she talks to us about it and parents have the ability to come and speak to us and reach out and the standard answer that I know I give is you need to reach out to your principal or dr. Santora and I don't think that parents like that answer but us as board members as parents also get that same answer over and over again over and over again I want to reiterate that that there's been many a conversations where I've tried to talk to dr. Santora and she's like you need to talk to the principal or you
054need to talk to this or that parent needs to talk to me so I think that that needs to be a main focus because I think the misconception there really is a misconception that we can come in with a magic wand and say dr. Santora you're gonna do this dr. Siri you need to do this miss Caputo you need to do this like mr. Duffy you got to do this and we don't have that power to do and in fact if we try to do something like that we could get in legitimate trouble that Danielle is gonna have to get paid to get us out of so while she's very good I don't want any of us to have to put her to work extra especially at the rate she's got to make carpets topically
055these goals all make sense to me I think it's consistent with what all of us want I guess my question is how do we want to close this out then so are you gonna make some revisions and then we're gonna we'll talk about it again or how are we gonna move it forward from here yeah I mean my goal would be to just clean some of this up based on some of the feedback that came came through tonight do you want to set up a working group like I'm in no way volunteering for this just want to make that clear that I want the young no no no no no no no I think that it's a perfect opportunity for you newer members to have a voice and that we develop that and yes I'm
056looking at you Merced and Eric and Janae and I really think that is something that we make a working group and I wouldn't call it a committee but like a one-time sit down with like some people and have a fair mix make sure that we keep it so that we're not at a quorum and you know go from there I absolutely will give input but I don't want to be part of that committee got it all right so I think so you see all right you're suggesting that we put together like an ad hoc committee that does not include you if anyone else is willing to volunteer all right you know what yeah my let me go let's go let's let's leave here tonight with the feedback that was given including what you just suggested
057I mean I could be in the minority dude and you could take a straw poll and see if anybody thinks that I'm that crazy for suggesting that no it's crazy at all I suggested it before you spoke but but I do appreciate you reiterating my comments but anyway so I I do think that that's potentially what we may want to do but let's let me clean this up recirculate this let's see where we are at our next meeting if everyone feels like it's ready to be adopted then great if we're not there then we I think we move in that direction if everyone's good with that I was just gonna say it doesn't feel like we're that far away if you need any help in terms of helping draft more than happy to help but
058it doesn't seem like that we're that far away where we would need an ad hoc committee to do this I think you're right I don't think we're that far away so I think we're I think we're I think we're gonna get there but if we do need that committee Jesse we know who not to call all right all kidding aside thank you everyone I think we're good if anyone has anything else otherwise I will ask for a motion to adjourn mr. singer mr. Capric hi thank you very much have a good night