001I'd like to call to order the regular public board meeting for this evening, October 16th, 2025. Mr. Jones, please call the role. >> Miss Barbe >> here. >> Miss Bower >> here. >> Mr. Benedict, >> here. >> Mrs. Boroff. >> She's coming. She's coming. >> Okay. Uh, Dr. Kolkowski >> here. >> Miss Serriani >> here. >> Miss Williams, Mr. Murray >> here. Okay. Guarm is present. >> We did the pledge of allegiance in the teacher recognition, but we're going to do it again for everybody here in public. So, if everybody could please stand. The flag is to my left, your right. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance 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. >> So
002earlier uh this evening we met to recognize uh tenure teachers as well as celebration of uh principal month. Right? Got that right. Um, we just had executive session. We to discuss personnel, HIB, suspension and detention and the legal status report. Um, additions to the agenda. There is one and Dr. May superintendent report. So, so tonight we have um two reports on the instructional update. One of the reports we will be hearing from Dr. Christine Ayusi and in that though it's a compliance report it really highlights um much of the good work we're doing in in in mental health and supporting our students. So the programming that also goes behind that you'll be able to take a close look at tonight and it's something that um we've really been focused on for for the past few
003years and we could see a notable improvement under Dr. Ayarusi's leadership and also tonight in in the auditorium we did celebrate our tenure teachers. It takes four years to get tenure and it is a smaller pool to recruit teachers and we are very fortunate that this community really does attract the best. Um our parents um really send us with kids who are motivated to learn and um the the teachers really work well to to have them really meet their their you know to achieve their goals. I've been walking and visiting many classrooms, you know, in in since school has started, but particularly in October, we're we're we're in our groove now. And I just see in classroom after classroom students who are engaged in a really deep, meaningful instruction and it's really thanks to our
004teachers. So, I really want to just amplify that having our tenure teacher celebration tonight coupled with just visiting all of our classrooms and having the privilege to see the good work that we're doing, it's it's a real community asset. >> Thank you, Dr. Mass. Mr. Jones. >> Yep. So, a lot of agenda items tonight are for um to kick off some of the work over at Lrand. So, pretty excited about that. Next month is really the big month we'll uh we'll have the bid out for the renovation uh will be due. So that'll be for the next meeting. Um and then uh enrollment report we're up 88 from last year. So pretty good amount. Uh so looking forward to kicking off all the work for the referendum. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. Board President announcement.
005Uh the New Jersey open public meeting law is enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which the business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Scotsman's Fanwood Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the board of education offices located at 313 South Avenue in Fanwood, New Jersey. Such notice was also provided in written notice for forwarded to the star the the leader formerly uni county hawk the star ledger and the township clerk of scotch plains and burough clerk of fanwood and the annual notice of regular scheduled meetings as adopted April 24th 2025. I will now
006like to pass our baton over to our student board reps. As you will see we have a new face joining us um from our junior class. So I will allow Grace and Leah. Leah can introduce herself and uh your reports. >> Hi, I'm Leah. I'm really honored to be here tonight. Um it's been a really busy but exciting month at SPFHS, especially for the juniors who yesterday took the PSAT, which was a lot of fun. And we are officially halfway through October. So students are really starting to adjust to their new schedules and course loads. And the end of the marking period is coming November 15th, so the pressure is on. And as for school events and activities, the superintendent and principal advisory committee met for the first time this week to discuss upcoming school
007events, which is really cool. And a couple weeks ago, SPF participated in the next expo college fair at Arthur L. Johnson High School. And there was really great turnout and a lot of students went to get the chance to explore different potential schools. And this week and next week, I think juniors and seniors are touring eighth graders from middle schools to show them what the high school is like and what it has to offer. And there's also an upcoming Hispan Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, which is going to have a lot of food and fun activities to celebrate Hispanic culture. And also, the fall play is Metamorphoses, which students and staff have been working really hard on. I heard something about like a swimming pool. I don't really know what that means, but sounds really cool.
008And tickets are currently being sold for performances in November. So, I'm going to pass it over to Grace now. >> All right. So, Saturday night we have our marching band competition in East Brunswick. We also had our senior night for volleyball which was yesterday where Raiders went into an exciting tie break against Kent Place. Um, tennis girls are currently 10 and0 in the watching division. And we had boys soccer win against Westfield on October 7th 1-0. Girls soccer won against Elizabeth 4-3. and girls gymnastics winning their meet again summit as well. And also the Italian uh exchange students are here so feel free to say Benonuto before they're gone. They leave this Sunday. Um we also had our back to school night which happened last week um where all the parents got to meet you
009know the new teachers of their students and it was just an exciting opportunity since there were a lot of clubs there present as well. Um, as always, we always have our college reps coming in during the fall to hear uh to come to the high school to talk about um their college, the admissions process to um interested students. And we also have our not in our school club bringing United Against Hate Week to SPF where students and staff are encouraged to wear orange next Wednesday to represent unity and raider pride. So, thank you. >> Thank you both. Any questions? All right, we're going to move over to instructional updates. I think we're going to start with our SSDS and HIV reporting. Dr. Iusi, and I think we need everyone to turn around for the screen
010if you choose to. [Music] Good evening, Dr. Mass, Dr. McGarry, and the board of education. I will begin with sharing the school grades for each school's self- assessment for the 2024 2025 school year. Then I will share the harassment, intimidation, and bullying investigations, trainings, and programs for the reporting period of January through June of 2025. So there are eight core elements in the self- assessment and within each core element there are one to five indicators on which a school can receive points. Points are given on a scale from does not meet the requirements to exceed the requirements. The scores from each element are then added to make the school grade. And this slide shows you the elements assessed. So this mandatory annual evaluation results in a grade from 0 to 78. The grade is based
011on each school's comprehensive re review of its anti-bullying program and implementation of policies which helps the school identify areas for improvement and ensures accountability and transparency. Here are the grades for each of our schools. So you can see the district grade is not not there. That will be provided at a later time. Here are the school grades as well as the number of HIV investigations and confirmed cases over a three-year period. The number of investigations has been rather consistent, but we do see a reduction in the number of confirmed cases. For the reporting period of January to June 2025, there were a total of 45 investigations with nine of those meeting the definition of HIV according to the ABR law and resulting in confirmed cases. Here are the anti-bullying specialists who conducted a total of
01279 investigations for the 202425 school year. So regardless of the outcome of each HIV investigation, each case identifies remediations for the students involved, including the bystanders. So some of the remediations included for support plan check-ins with support staff, utilization of the referral process, restorative practices using a tiered system, fostering positive relationships with peers, trusted adults, and parent involvement. For skill development, we have conflict resolution, decision- making and social skills, friendship building, behavioral coaching, projects to enhance learning related to the incident, and emotional regulation strategies. And for prevention, we use check-in checkout charts to help with behavioral goals, neur neurode divergence education, use of deescalation strategies, help students establish positive social networks, and educated them on personal autonomy. social boundaries and self- advocacy. Here are a list of some of the trainings that took place between
013January and June. The top four took place in all of our schools. Some additional trainings to mention include the committed efforts to expand the dreams program at Kohl's and McInn by training all staff on the nurtured heart approach. This has shifted the attitude and mindset to addressing student behavior and positively impacting the school climate. Another is the New Jersey Child Assault Prevention Program, which provided workshops to parents, staff, and students in grades preK through fourth on bullying prevention, child abuse, and assault, as well as teaching personal safety and prevention strategies. And lastly, several staff were trained on restorative practices at the secondary level to find alternative non-punitive tools for building community and resol resolving conflict within their schools. And lastly, students and staff have participated in specific programming to foster a positive school climate. The
014members of each school community commit a tremendous amount of effort to this work. We'll begin with our elementary schools. I've listed several programs for you here, but I'll highlight one or two per school. At Evergreen, students engaged in several activities to spread kindness and autism awareness. There were displays throughout the school reinforcing the lessons and activities that took place in the classrooms. Brunner was in full gear with their new character education program named Brunner Vibes, which stands for values, integrity, belonging, and empathy. At McGin, social emotional learning continued in the classrooms and small groupoup settings for students. Students were invited to perform on Fridays during lunch while their peers cheered them on. Another example of the way McInn focus on focuses on inclusivity. Kohl's held their superme assembly where the students are the heroes using
015newfound superpowers to help guide a boy being bullied to learn effective ways to deal with his situation. And last but not least, school one held its bubble celebration celebrating diversity. And on SEAL day, they created the theme, skills for success, ready for the future, and invited our very own tomorrow's educators who shared about their own skills that have helped them. At the middle schools, student clubs were encouraged with the theme, choose your own adventure. The activity clubs were designed to tap into student interests while building a sense of belonging. Leadership groups such as student council, heroes, and pals continued their commitment to service learning projects. The leads police and school collaboration program worked with fifth graders on positive decision-making. Effective school solutions in NJ4S provided interventions for students with increased risk factors through individual and
016group support. Multiple assemblies and lessons were held to recognize Black History Month, the Holocaust, individuals with visual impairments through the Seeing Eye Dog program, and sensitivity training on neurode divergence. And at the at the high school they held sharing story days sharing stories day excuse me which was coordinated by the not in our school program in which students staff and parents work together to stand up for community and stand against bullying and stereotypes. Individuals from the school community were invited to share an anonymous story of a time they experienced or witnessed discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, or a time they experienced allyship and support for others. The committee visited classrooms to read the stories and facilitate a class discussion. And another event to note at the high school was chalk the walk to promote allyship to support
017our LGBTQIA plus community. Students and staff drew messages of support and welcoming on the sidewalks outside the school's front door. And this concludes my presentation. Thank you for inviting me to to present just some of the ways we support our SPF students. >> Thank you, Dr. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. >> Thank you. >> I don't have any questions. I just wanted to say that I'm always impressed with the ver myriad of things that are going on in our schools and the effort that's done in each school um to address student needs in this way. >> It's wonderful. Thank you. >> So for our next instructional update, the Unicode donation recognition. So, Lisa Howard and Carmemella Lambert. >> Good evening. Good evening. Bonera. Buoner. >> Bona. >> Bonera. >> Welcome. Um, I'm here
018tonight to introduce Mrs. Carmela Lambert. But before I do that, I would just like to take a moment to highlight a hallmark of our world language department, which is our exchange programs. Each year, our school district participates in exchange programs with a school in Barcelona, Spain. Um, Barcelona, Spain, a school in Western France, and in this year and last year, Tedjano, Italy. We are so um my department, our world language department is so deeply deeply grateful for the support that the district has for these programs. We're also so grateful to have students that are so curious about learning other languages and cultures and being brave enough to go live um abroad for a week. I'd also like to thank our parents who open their homes to our exchange students. Mr. Ariani, you did it last
019year. Um and they they essentially adopt a child from another country for a week and there are nothing but tears at the end of at the end of their stay. Um this week as Grace mentioned we have 15 students from Licheo Pomponio Leto in Tano, Italy which is in the region of Compana. Students uh were welcomed by our faculty and staff and um on our and our own SPF students last Friday morning and have been spending the week taking local trips and immersing themselves in the SPF community. Tomorrow they will be in school shadowing our students, participating in elective classes, and sampling the American delicacies provided by our cafeteria services. Um, it's really the highlight of their week. Um, and now Mrs. Lambert is here to speak further about our exchange program and the community
020connection she has h she has been able to make with the local chapter of Unico. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Mass, Dr. McGarry, and members of the board. During the month of October, my Italian language colleagues and I have been celebrating Italian-American Heritage Month across our classrooms. It's a special opportunity for us to honor the richness and ital of Italian culture, language, and contributions while connecting our students more deeply to what they study each day. This year, we are especially grateful to the Scotch Plains Unico chapter for their generous $2,000 donation to support our Italian exchange program. This year's program will take place in Tajano, Italy with a local high school. 15 of our students will be participating in this exchange this winter and will have the unique opportunity to live with local families and
021immerse themselves in the language and culture. Thanks to the contribution provided by Unico, we will be able to add a two-day excursion to Sarrento, Italy at the beginning of our trip to Tano. While in Sarrento, students will visit the island of Capri with a local guide. Since the start of our exchange program in 2015, more than 120 students have had the life-changing opportunity to travel abroad, immerse themselves in the Italian language, and form lasting friendships with their new Amichi. We are proud of how our district continues to promote world languages and global citizenship. And we look forward to building on our partnership with UNICO through community service initiatives led by our Italian honor society and continued support for our language programs. Thank you for your time and continued support of our students cultural and educational
022growth. Thank you very much. H I know these u opportunities are not everybody gets them but I they they definitely seem meaningful. So thank you. [Laughter] >> Anyone else have comments or anything they want to say? No, I I just um it stood out to me towards the end when you said that about um the community service initiatives and that combined with something um Leia had said about the eighth graders meeting with our 11th and 12th graders and anyone that's on the board knows that that's just full circle something that I love to see is the different age groups interacting with each other and mentoring each other and being part of our community. So, thank you for sharing those initiatives. Great. All right. Uh we're going to move to our first public comment section. So
023in accordance with Scotch Plains FA public school bylaw 0164 and 0165, the meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comments. Maximum three minutes per speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, business functions, other board business will be heard first. If time remains, speakers may address other matters. Speakers, please state your name and the town in which you reside. Boards may use the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to cis and concern, but not to debate issues or enter into question and answer session or cross-examination between the public and individual members. Be aware, not all issues brought before the board will be resolved that evening. Boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate. So, if you have
024a public comment, please come to the mic, state your name and the town in which you reside. Good evening board. Thank you. Um Eric Felen, uh Scotch Plains, Gallagher Avenue. Um two things. Uh one minor thing. I do want to make a correction to something that was stated earlier this evening. Um it was stated that the marching band competition had occurred this past Saturday. Actually, it had not. It's this upcoming Saturday. Yes. >> Um, so I just want to make that clear. I'm a proud band parent and would love for everybody to go out there and support. >> The other item I wanted to bring up is um I would like to propose to the board um if you will to consider the possibility in the future in the near future with all the the
025unfortunate incidents that's been happening on two wheels in our neighborhood in and around whether it's motorized or not. I feel bicycle safety is utmost importance and I would love to see a program in the elementary school starting with first grade where students can have rider safety courses. We provide driver safety courses for sophomores and juniors. I think it would be a blessing for our young children, first grade through second, third, fourth grade to have um scheduled time, you know, in the spring or whatever it may be where we can have um you know, people come. We have the gentleman from the bike stand used to help us with the scouts do these. Um I think it would be very beneficial to the community. Safety gear, how to ride a bike, wear and proper etiquette. Thank
026you. >> Thank you, Mr. Felen. Gary Morris Fanwood. Um the usual um if you could I I think it's coming up about the enrollment the precise enrollment figures that are going to be submitted. I I assume were they already submitted to the state October 15th? So could we have that exact number that was submitted uh to the state later in the enrollment report? That would be great. Um secondly, I wanted to talk about um uh the paraprofessional training situation that occurred. First of all, I have to give hats off to the person that recognized there was an issue and came forward and uh apologized to all the paraprofessionals about that. uh training going off course and I'm wondering if in the future maybe we could for something like that first of all power professionals are
027phenomenally under underpaid okay so they're they're they're dealing with having to make ends meet and everything like that some of the finest people I know happen to be par profofessionals and if there's some way um that they could do an online course on whether it be bias training or something like that. I think that would be a much more effective thing because keep in mind some of these par profofessionals may have children and now they're having to go to school to take training. So who's watching their kids? Um and so again just to be sensitive to the work life home balance kind of situation for these people. Um you know they're on the front lines and um like I said they don't get paid enough. I honestly think you could take some of the money
028that for these, you know, experts that come in and give it to the paraprofessionals instead. Um, and is there some way to get a recording of actually what that meeting was? Do we record those meetings or for copyright reasons they don't record them? Because I think I I think from a taxpayer standpoint, we have a right to know what is being taught to our teachers. And when it when when a program like that goes off the rails, we all look bad. And um it it shouldn't happen. And it's and it's not fair. Um you know, we we have the whole, you know, uh bullying thing. That's a form of bullying as far as I'm concerned. And we paid somebody to bully us and that should not happen. It should not happen um under the guise
029of bias training. It's not right. And we we really got to uh look at that. And like I said, the the beauty of you doing an online training is it's something you could review in advance. It's not going to deviate. I mean, I I take training every year, various trainings, ethics, bias training, all these various trainings. They're they're online trainings and everybody gets credit for it. Uh a power professional can do it from home and get credit for it. uh they could do it in the evening, they could do it in the in the morning, they could they could get their their learning credits that way. I just I just think it makes a whole lot of sense uh to control um uh that situation better. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Morris. >> Anyone
030else for public comment? >> Okay, seeing no one, I will close this portion. Uh letters to the board. We received 10 and they've been forwarded to the appropriate administrators. Committee reports. Who would like to go first on committee reports? Miss Brody. >> I have two. If I could do them, one sure the other. >> I have the finance committee report. Um we discussed um upcoming budget issues and the enrollment impact impact um that will um affect the budget. We had lengthy discussion regarding staffing driven by enrollment and new positions to cover enrollment increases offset of any closed positions to date. Excuse me. Is it not close enough? I'm sorry. Uh we also discussed adding a BCBA position to meet IEP needs. We discussed the middle school overcrowding and solutions such as temporary classrooms at Nettingham
031to address this overcrowding. This could cost up us cost us up to $3 million. We looked at the possibility of having one middle school grades five and six and the other grades seven and eight. But this would not at this point work because of the additional busing costs. Um we have number of agenda items for approval. Um the bond issuer, the bond attorney, the Lrand inside demo work. Um we have a construction um we're there's a facilities committee interviewing a construction management um like supervisor to to oversee all this all the construction for the grand and um the annual report of the money spent on maintenance is on the agenda and then in November meeting bids will start to uh in November meeting excuse me bids will start coming in for the grand renovation That's
032finance community relations. Um the ministerium is holding their crop walk on 119 at the high school track. This is in place of walking on the streets. Dr. Hines will be encouraging our high school clubs to participate and help market the event such as students concerned for the needy club. This will be a great multigenerational community event for both the ministerium and the high school students. Mark Fabiano joined us regarding the planning of the 25th anniversary of our smack club. Our first chapter was founded at Scotch Plains Fanwood High School in New Jersey in 2001 when Rob Matter, a high school junior, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Rob's friends rallied around him by shaving their heads, raising funds, and ultimately launching a solely studentrun organization called Student Movement Against Cancer. thus smack. Our goal was to
033make sure that no one would ever have to fight cancer again. He will be planning extremely special events to celebrate this milestone. More details to follow. Mr. Fabiano is also working hard with the administration to create a strong sense of school spirit within our schools. On 10:29 will be breast cancer awareness day, challenging all students to wear pink and white that day. The class with the most students wearing pink and white will win a bagel breakfast. Um, fan wolf day takes place on 10:26 and Spiffy Spiffy will have his own table there with our own Robin Broadband. And please take a look at our new referendum update page on our website. You get it by go to our website, select our district, then the refer referendum update page, and you'll have all new information regarding
034the progress on the referendum. And that is it. >> Any question? >> Thank you, Miss Brody. >> Questions for Miss Brody? >> Miss Siri? >> Thank you. >> Yes. My report. Okay. >> Yes. Uh, the curriculum committee met and um Okay. So, the first agenda item was discussing um an expansion of business course offerings, which is very exciting. Um it's justformational, but then we have two additional textbooks for board review, board approval tonight on the agenda. As far as the expansion of courses, we had three teachers from our business education program come and discuss um a proposal to expand and there will be different kind of pathways within the business education department. Um what I mean by that is there will be like a marketing pathway, an accounting pathway, and a business pathway. And um
035we're moving toward an academy model in the business department. Um think Raider Business Academy. Um and even further uh these courses will be offered as dual enrollment with Fairley Dickinson University. Um and so now I think we have we currently have entrepreneurship that is dual enrollment with University of Delaware. We also have other courses that are dual enrollment with KAE. So that'll be additional. Now we'll have dual enrollment courses with uh three different um colleges, universities. Um so our current marketing course will become AP business. It's now principles of marketing. Entrepreneurship as I said will be oh entrepreneurship we already have dual enrollment with the University of Delaware that's currently being offered. Um and as I said there will be additional courses toward a marketing, finance and management pathway. um including one new course in
036marketing strategies and um to make that happen uh we are asking for approval for two new textbooks um I'm sorry one new textbook um for business finance course we only need three copies of the textbook total for reference um and then also on the agenda for approval tonight is the new course proposal for business finance finance which will be the dual enrollment course with uh Fairley Dickinson and aligns with their course introduction to business finance and I just want to um I just wanted to mention to everybody what goes into if it's okay um the approval of a textbook um it's really a very extensive look it's it's eight pages of um research that goes into looking at the textbook in terms of everything from um does it show any type of bias? Is it
037meant for every type of learner? Is it sustainable in terms of what we want to teach students over the next, you know, five years in terms of evolution of the material? Um so it really goes over verbal and visual fluency, um versatility. Um so I just wanted to put that out there because I don't think everyone really understands what textbook approval, um what really goes into it. Okay, so that is the exciting expansion of our business department. Um, and then we heard about two research proposals in district and everyone has heard me um report out before on various research opportunities that current staff members or others come and um do within our district which gives us exciting information about our district. So one such research proposal was um from um one of our preschool teachers
038Diana Espanol um preschool teacher at Brunner who discussed her master's research proposal in which she will engage a group of teachers and families on the topic the role of daily family routines in supporting self-regulation and academic learning in young children. Um so she will be um conducting that research via survey at Brunner. um and will get back to us on what her her research shows. And then the other research project is an external proposal in which um Dr. Jereia who's an assistant professor at um at KAE will partner with McInn to conduct research focusing on third grade and the topics of topic of how students learn about dynamic angles and addressing a gap that she sees between second and fourth grade learning about angles. Um so um Sasha Sloum and um Dr. Dr. Errol were
039there discussing how she will partner with two teachers and collect qualitative and quantitative data um working with um these third grade third grade teachers on how they teach angles um and will continue to keep us updated on that project and our next meeting is November 11th. >> Thank you, Miss Ariana. Any questions? Okay, seeing none. Any other committee reports? Okay, we'll move on. Uh enrollment report. >> Yes. So, quick a couple quick points on enrollment. On October 15th every year, we it's a snapshot of our enrollment at that time and we are uh required to submit it to the state. Um there's also a second count um that's in December and that's called the ASSA or the application for state school aid. So basically between now and that date the state reconciles um all the
040numbers between uh the different schools to make sure there's no double counting. Uh and then we have to submit again and typically the number we submit in the 15th does differ by the number we submit in December. Um, and a lot of that has to do with um, our students that are either shared with votech or at private special education schools and things of that nature, things that are non-standard. Um, in addition, that ASSA count uh, is what is used is the a number that we use to um, get state aid allocated to us on a yearly basis. and that the way they count for that is differ different than what is posted on the state website. But with that um on a state website basis on octo October 8th was the last time I
041pulled these numbers for this for the board meeting they were 57 5741 which is 88 higher than what's was on the state website uh what's on the state website for 2024 and that number was 5654. So, and just some context of that, we didn't all of a sudden go up 88. We actually gained um throughout the year after October 15th last year, we gained around uh 40 to 45 students. And then over the summer and starting this year, we gained another 40 or so. That's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. Superintendent items, Dr. M. >> Okay. So, first is the out of district placements. Second is the HIPS except there were none at the last meeting. So three, we have um three new field trips to approve. Four, the new course proposals that Mrs. Serani
042spoke to. And five, the textbook adoption that she also mentioned. Six, the personnel report that we discussed in exec. [Music] >> Do we have a motion? >> So move. >> Dr. Kcowski, do we have a second? >> Second. >> Miss Broaddy, any comments, questions? Dr. Mast. >> Mr. Jones, please call the role. >> Miss Barb, >> yes. >> Miss Bower, >> yes. >> Mr. Benedict, >> yes. >> Mrs. Boroff, >> yes. >> Miss Brody, >> yes. >> Dr. Kolicowski, >> yes. Miss Serriani. >> Yes. >> Mr. Murray. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. We're going to move on to uh business functions. >> Mr. Jones. Okay. All right. So, number one, staff training. Number two, uh related service special education students. Number three is the annual maintenance report we must provide to the state. that uh
043Miss Brody mentioned four and five is our bond issuance. We expect to issue bonds in November. This is kicking off that process. We're meeting with S&P next week. Uh number six and the next so six through 10 here are for uh the grant. Um uh number six is a something that needs we are replacing the we proved the last uh meeting the fire alarm, but there's something that's not working now. Um, so we're replacing um a certain piece of equipment now. That's number six. Number seven is wireless access points. So, as a reminder for we're uh we're mostly likely going to renovate the first floor of Lrand and potentially some of the second floor depending on price. Uh, but we are putting uh internet service and wireless access points throughout the building. So, that's number
044seven. Number eight, same thing. PA the PA system for the whole school. Number nine, security systems. Uh number 10, selective demolition. And so what that is is um in order to speed up because we have a really tight timeline to open for the fall. The way AR architects have uh put this together is we're doing a bid, this first bid is to do the first floor demolition. It's called selective demolition because it's not all of it, but it's probably 80%. Um and then it'll allow um the contractor who wins in November, they'll still do have to do some demolition. Uh but it'll be easier for them to get started and also to assess the job. uh want to go inside because the walls will be opened up. Um 11 and these will all be uh
045capital reserve. Uh and then uh 11 and 12 are referendum items. These are continuation of the fire alarm. So it's the Kohl's fire alarm and the evergreen fire alarm approvals and these will be through the bond. 13 nonpublic spending plans. 14 is the high school high school courtyard egress proposal. So, in order to um have more students in the high school courtyard, we need to uh basically make a wider exit space. And so that is what this is so we can hold uh additional academic programs in the courtyard. 15 is a pretty big one. That is what uh Miss Brody talked about. This is a construction management. So, this is a a firm that will uh assist us in the construction uh of the building. So, we have our architects of course and then we'll
046have them to oversee the uh they'll be on site. It'll be a full-time person on site uh at Lrand also overseeing the fire alarms at night as well. So, just somebody that'll be full-time there focused on making sure the construction get done the spec. So, it's just to remind everybody that we have to when we put these things out the bid, we are required to go to the lowest bidder. And so with that um you really you know of course some contractors are better than the others but we don't have a choice in who we get. We have to take the lowest bidder. So having construction manager on place uh helps us u make sure the project gets done correctly and we're not uh you know we don't things aren't done incorrectly and then later
047we're caught with in litigation and things of that nature >> and on time. >> Yes. And on time of course. Um and then library book disposal 17 outstanding lunch balances. So once uh balances are over $500, they move to collections. Uh fire drills, 19 financial reports, dispersement listings, payment of bills, and then 22 we added we able to get in this is uh just as bestus testing that's required by law uh when you go and do uh construction. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. Do we have any comments or questions? >> I have a question. >> Sure. >> Just Christopher about the outstanding lunch balances. Is that just for for this year so far? >> School year. >> No. >>
048Okay. No, it's carry over. >> It's it's carryover. Um it's a multitude of things. Um I I guess I give you So before we do this, we there is a um first off for pass through lunch balances, there's a bi-weekly emails going to send out to the um to the families. After that, um once it gets to a certain dollar amount, we call my office calls the families. Um, and then once gets to a larger dollar amount, I call the families to see if we can set up some sort of payment plan and offer all like lots of options and they're aware that of the policy and uh an email goes out regarding the policy. Um, but once it gets up to a certain point, we move it over to collections. And then we uh
049at that point eliminates our balance. And this was a we moved to this because our uh I don't if you remember, this was an audit finding for us two years ago uh because we weren't taking care of those balances. And so we have to we're required to um to make sure we don't have the the past two balances don't get too high. We either have to um we have to pay for them basically. >> Um >> and I think people think like, oh, lunch is a few dollars. Right. >> It's not, but that adds up. It was tens of thousands, right, >> of dollars for our district. Yes. >> So, >> yes. And that's that was part of a new law that was passed a few years ago that's uh that um we have to
050serve lunch uh no matter what. So, to students, >> I have a question, Christopher. >> So, so these these are just the ones that have gone to collections. This is not necessarily all that's outstanding. >> That's right. Do you have a idea like what the total outstanding is? >> Yeah, we're over $25,000 and passed due to lunch balances. Um, since that law was passed, before that law was passed, we stood we were typically around 3 to 5,000 and pass the lunch balances. So, a major jump once the law was passed. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. We will move on to the second final reading and abolishment of policies. Who's doing the policy? >> Um I would just like to like I said
051in the at the last board meeting um I hope everyone got a chance to read all of the changes. Um but I would move that the board approves the second reading of and the abolishment of the following policies. Um, the bylaw 041 board member number and term. P 0173 duties of public school accountant. P 0174 legal services. P 0177 professional services. P1570 internal controls. P1620 administrative employment contracts. P611 special education medicaid initiative semi program. P6220 budget preparation. P 0141.3 board member number and term regional school district. Um P0143 board member election and appointment. P1636.01 notification of promotion new job and transfer opportunities. P2422 statutory curricular requirements and um to abolish P0141 board member number and term because we don't want to be redundant. So I move that be approved. >> Do we have the motion?
052Do we have a second? >> So move. >> Siri, do we have any comments or questions? >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. New board business. Anyone, liazison reports? >> I have one. >> Okay. This was my first meeting as our liaison to Union County school boards. Um, I really enjoyed the meeting. Um, so I'll just give some highlights. Uh, I just want, um, our community to know that the meeting, this is all of Union County um, school board members. Um, and the meeting started with a moment of silence for the tragic loss of of three students last month in Union County, including one of our middle school students. So, I just want to acknowledge that the Union County School Board did um start with a moment of silence to to recognize those
053students and fam their families. Um and then some of the other uh pieces of the meeting were just so our board members know um they talked about some of the opportunities for board members including um one-to-one or group executive coaching um that New Jersey school boards offers um as part of our membership. so we can contact them if we're interested and also talked about a leadership summit that's going to occur in the spring for board presidents and vice presidents. Um they also mentioned in case any of our board is interested that New Jersey School Board Association is looking for committee members um for New Jersey School Board Association and to check out the website to find out what those opportunities are. our interim county superintendent Daryl Pomeieri spoke um he talked a little bit about
054the CQAC uh process. We are not part of this year's cohort um to be evaluated. He also spoke of um a recent trip to the 911 museum and his his um learning that the 911 museum offers free field trips um for school districts. So that's something maybe we can explore for our for our district. and also talked about another free service in which the county office of emergency preparedness will come into our school buildings um to assess our emergency and disaster procedures and offer consultation. Not sure if that's something we've taken advantage of. I know we do have a disaster preparedness plan and emergency plan. We have to um so he just wanted to reiterate that that was something that the office of emergency preparedness is um willing to do. Um, and then the main
055part of the meeting was a panel of students that talked about their experiences with AI and gave board members perspective. And it was actually very interesting. There were four students from Union County. Um, they represented high schools uh, Planefield, Rawe, Clark, and one of the magnet schools. and um the students really discussed how they use AI currently and that they don't really use it in place of um you know of their studies and of instruction but really use it just to enhance what they've already used to um get further explanation of topics they might not have understood to generate additional ideas and to really rephrase their writing and talked about like various um AI um platforms that they trust like Grammarly um chat GPT magic school, which I had never heard of. You guys have?
056Okay. Um, and they talked about that like really having an understanding of when to use AI, when it's appropriate, when it's cheating. Um, discussed how they were aware that it should not do all the work for you, but again, it could really be used as an enhancement. And they also spoke about how really it's considered at this point they felt like it was considered taboo so that there wasn't a lot of AI instruction that they had in their classrooms and they really wanted to caution school boards and instructors to really not be afraid of AI that we need to be open to it um and just be cautious and not over reliant on it. Um and it it was a really enlightening panel and one of the schoolboard um people at the meeting was also
057an educator and stood up and said she felt very hopeful after hearing this panel of four students because she felt like they were very appropriate in their use of AI um and you know that we should try to incorporate it moving forward. So I know that's something that we talk about Dr. McGarry has as assistant superintendent has been surveying looking into and it's ongoing but um it it was really a great panel and one of the districts talked about having an AI task force involving students and all levels um you know of of instruction and administration um to really talk about how to incorporate AI. So it was a great it was a great discussion. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, on October 6th, CPAG met at Terrell. Um, and we had two wonderful community
058members. I apologize because I don't have their last names offhand. Um, both Brian and Allison. Uh, two community members that came in to share their um, professional knowledge. Uh, one Brian shared about cyber security. Um, which is something that I think a lot of us really appreciated. We were talking about sharing with your children, familiarizing familiarizing them with what a fishing email is. And we're talking about a very vulnerable group that can online especially um be taken advantage of. So really just recognizing um how to talk to our children, how to talk about passwords, stranger danger, meeting people online, and what the internet looks like. Um, and it was it was a refreshing conversation to have that outside perspective because it could also it does does not have to be applicable to just special education
059obviously. Um, and then Allison came in and shared a ton of experiences and brought in a ton of paperwork on transitions. And I probably you've heard me say that we talk about transitions probably at CPAG once to twice per year we have an information session on it and it depends. Sometimes it's on the transition from middle school to high school. This happened to have been from high school on. Um, one of the interesting points that I think came up is the preparation for turning 21 and then that that really starts facilitating um, working with Department of Disabilities and SSI as young as 14. And so I I'm sharing this because the the information that came out at CPAG and that comes out at CPAG are um not just a resource for parents to lean on
060each other, but also stuff that general parents probably aren't aware of. Um really good information to take away that I know I went home, I laid out tons of these brochures and finally figured out what my next step was. So, um, CPAG, the next meeting is going to be November 10th and, um, it's also virtual. >> Thank you, M. Mor. >> We're a tag team down here. Um uh Garden State Coalition of Schools met yesterday and we had a panel uh that focused on transportation which is a key part of every school district budget. The panel included um the Morris Union jointure which has a very large transportation operation and 80 vehicles and a staff of 85. um uh West Windsor Plainsboro uh which is has um 37 square miles to within their district and
061um then a smaller district in Union County, Springfield. Um and so there were multiple kinds of perspectives related to uh transportation. One of the topics was the cost of buses and how they have the cost has doubled both for regular buses and um electric buses. Um and uh the wait time is also approximately a year and getting longer. Um there was a lot of discussion of course about staffing and um uh if you run your own uh have your own buses it's not just bus drivers and dealing with the uh requirements the CDL requirements which uh uh many of you know require bus drivers to be like many mechanics. Um but um uh also you have uh you really do need mechanics and and um transportation secretaries and people to manage all of the transportation.
062Um other topics that were uh discussed were also um uh sto where buses uh go uh because um a lot of community members don't want to look at buses from the discussion. Um and also uh even challenges like the fact that a lot of road construction happens in the fall. Routes have to change. They get longer um and that costs more money. Um uh various possible solutions were discussed from many vans which are also d have doubled in cost um partnering with neighboring districts um and and really just the fact that um transportation is a very um expensive area with insurance costs rising um and um we have a 2% cap So that's the struggle. U Miss Brody, do you have anything you want to add or Dr. Mass? >> Another thing they had mentioned
063was um to have uh the the busing costs included in the extraordinary aid calculation. Of course, all this has to do with the state now. So you have to lobby the state, which you know it's not really in our control. But that was a very good um thought or Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I I I I think it it was a meeting where um for me it it would fall under the banner misery loves company. Ju just the fact that busing has gone up 100%. Also to find a bus driver um Lisa Howard will appreciate this. It's like finding a Spanish teacher. There just isn't a market out there. So, what what districts are doing is they're recruiting other people's bus drivers, which then requires paying them more, which is then contractual. So, it's uh
064we had a bus driver who who who left for for understandable reasons, and we've been posting and advertising and there just aren't any applicants. So, if you're down a bus and you have sporting events that are competing, then you need to you need to um go go to an outside source for busing. And it's just a very difficult um line item to control, though we try our best. And you know what we what we heard amplified at that meeting is it's not just us. The other piece that I'll say is parents really want to have aids on buses because students don't necessarily behave their best on buses, but that goes to the same category as the Spanish teachers and the bus drivers. People don't really want a lowpaying job to ride on the bus with
065with students. So even if there was a category of employee that you you you could have for that they're they're very difficult to find. It would be an additional expense. Um we certainly have moved towards having you know um technology on the buses of um of video cameras and GPS systems but when you put that in your bid for the outside sources your your costs go up considerably. We could control that with our local buses. So, um it's it it was a good meeting because everyone was b brainstorming or having a wish list of what could address the problem. Um we didn't walk away with any anything concrete, but we thought all of the voices in the room were able to um to to to rally to to to bring it to our legislators. >>
066Exactly. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if you know guys know this offh hand. Maybe Christopher, what what's the expiration when you own a bus? How many years you can >> 10? >> I think they they increased to 15 >> because of shortages. >> Yeah, they increased. Yeah, but that that's because of shortages. Um >> that's a public school requirement, not a bus company requirement. Correct. Correct. >> That's right. Yeah. >> So that means end of road. So 15 years, whether it works or doesn't work, you cannot use it any longer in a school district. public bus companies, they don't have that same rule. So, it doesn't apply. So, we have to buy new buses regardless of condition once we hit the 15. Well, we should be doing that before we hit the 15-ear mark.
067Um, we ran into a situation where I think we purchased all of our buses at one point at the same time. So, we had to do this kind of alternating thing, but the the rules are are very different for public schools than they are versus public private companies. Just out of curiosity, what do we do with the buses when they become end of life? What? Not really end of life, but end of life for us. >> Auction, right? >> Auction. Y. >> And usually it's a church or something like that that buys them. But they don't sell for much >> because there's nobody because schools can't use them, so the pool is pretty small. >> Yeah. >> Anything else for reports? >> Okay. Moving on. Workshops, school boards next week. I don't think we need
068to do approvals for that though. No board motions. Minutes. Do we have a motion to approve the September 17th minutes? >> So moved. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> We will now move to the second and final public comment section. In accordance with Scott's family public school bylaw 01640165. The meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment. Maximum three minutes per speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, board functions or business functions and other board business will be heard first and time remains. Speakers may address other matters. Speakers, please come to the mic. State your full name in the town in which you reside. Please note boards use a public comment period as an opportunity to listen to
069public citizen concerns but not debate the issues or enter into a question and answer session or cross-examination between the public and the individual members. Be aware that not all issues brought before the board will be resolved that evening. Wards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate. So I will now open this up for 15 minutes. Brad Herman, Scotch Plains. So, there's been plenty of discussion about district performance, and I understand how important band is to all of us, as my daughter is a drummer in the eighth grade band, and she has her eyes set on jazz and marching band. Having said that, taking kids out of major subjects for individual band lessons in the middle school may not
070be ideal for a district trying to improve math, science, and reading scores. This practice not only disrupts active instruction, but if a child has an exam in that major subject and cannot attend individual band lessons, that student receives an E. We're not allowed to put Fs on there, so it's an E. Uh, until that student makes it up. In my opinion, putting the onus on a middle school child for doing the right thing, that is choosing to take an exam or be present for an important lesson, uh, is inappropriate. When I had band, I had a joint band class four times a week. Our teacher would simply migrate from section to section, and if a section needed a little more help, would tell everybody else to just read a book. And if a child needed
071more help beyond when they could practice, there was lunch, there was after school, and before school. So, it's just another uh point I wanted to bring up in terms of performance as another area to look at. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Gary Morris Fanwood. Um, every year I just want to put out a reminder to uh to parents uh who are thinking about what schools their kids are going to go to to uh consider community college. All four of my kids did it and uh it worked out really well. So, it's a very costconcious way to to get a very good education and uh there's also a scholarship available if you finish in the top 15% of your class. uh community college is free and you also will get um if you then
072go on to a state school, you'll get a scholarship to reduce your cost at a state school as well. Again, we have a lot of issues with mental health and everything like that. Some kids may not be mature enough to be going halfway across the country to uh to a school yet and community college is a great option. it. The other thing that's important to consider is especially if your child is not a 100% sure what they want to do and I think there's a lot of kids in that boat because of just things like AI changing the the workforce and uh how things are going to be looking in the future. So, um, again, it it the the lower investment means you are more flexible in possibly making a change and it's a less
073stressful thing for the entire family. So, I highly recommend it. Uh, one other thing, just like we have student representatives here, and this is just because of my experience, unfortunately lately being at very a lot of town council meetings, there's almost nobody who shows up at these town council meetings. I was thinking it might be a good thing for student government possibly to do almost like a liaison thing of going to town council meetings, learning about how government works real time, seeing how they're negotiating to prevent flooding, seeing how a development is is being put in, see how planning boards work. Start start them young learning about these things so I'm not the only one at these meetings in the future. It's it's kind of uh it's kind of disappointing when nobody shows up. So,
074uh again, I think it's I think it's a really useful thing because there's a lot of things everybody's got uh you know is stressed for time and not everybody can make it to every meeting and everything like that, but if you had a student representative who could report back, hey, you know, they're putting in 800 apartments over here that might affect the schools and this might have an impact on our school community. I think it would be a really useful thing and it would uh you know it's kind of a civic civic duty kind of thing. I think it's I think it's there's something to be said about that and and it gives a kid who maybe lost a student election some other thing to do and he can make it into something they make
075it into a school newspaper thing or a journalism thing. Anyway, thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Morris. >> Anyone else for public comment? Okay, seeing no one, we'll move on to upcoming schedule meetings. We have Ask a Superintendent at the Fanwood Memorial Library on Wednesday, the 29th of October at 10:00 a.m. where our next upcoming board meetings, November 20th and December 18th here. And we will move now to the good of the order. Who would like Does anyone have anything for the good of the order? Yes, Mr. Benedict. I will just say that I noticed it's getting dark kind of early, which means we need to be more careful driving, especially with Halloween coming up, kids running around the street. So, everybody be careful out there. Please drive slow, pay attention. It's my only feedback. It's
076been a rough couple of weeks. So, brings it to my attention. >> Um, I just wanted to say tomorrow starts the valley for our South Asian community. So um the next five to six days depending on where in India you're from. Um so just happy the valley. It's so nice that our kids get to to be home you know for anyone who's celebrating to be home that morning to spend that day with their families. So happy the valley drop off. >> Oh and also yeah please be careful out there. Drop off. It's crazy out there. >> Sir honey. >> I just want to say congratulations to the group of teachers that received tenure tonight before this meeting. Um, and I really enjoyed uh, Grace and Leah's comments to the teachers that they had had, and
077it was really meaningful to understand what an impact the teachers have made um, in your success. And I want to welcome Leah. Thank you to for your two-year commitment to our board. Um, we know students are very busy, so to have you here is is um, very much appreciated. And um, that's it. >> Thank you, Miss Ariana. Anyone else for the good of the order? >> Okay. >> Yeah. I just wanted to say like I really like what you brought up, Mr. Ariani, about the AI like task force like initiative. I feel like that would be very well suited to have like in our school just something like that where we can integrate AI in a very, you know, >> just like effective way. So our students learn more about how implements it in a
078responsible way. Um, and also I really liked your idea, Mr. Felon, about the um the road safety and the bike safety for elementary schoolers. I feel like that would be a great way to get the rest of our community involved and even incorporate high school students um as a way to, you know, contribute to the younger grades and act as mentors um just through bike safety and ensuring that these younger kids are responsible with methods of transportation in our community. So >> yeah, thanks. >> Thank you for that. I think if you turn to your right, the AI conversation is right next to you. Well, I I was also going to say that I think with workshop coming up next week, one of the each year workshop is for school boards uh members to go
079down and learn all sorts of topics for everything from, you know, law to uh trends going on in education, but AI was like there's at least two a day on AI. And when I tell you that there was probably two alto together last year and as board members we we've been, you know, waiting for sort of more as much information as we can get. Um, and so I know that I personally am very excited to be hear what some of the experts have to say next week and then hand it over to Mr. Dr. McGary. >> I agree with Grace though. I think engaging students in anything we do is crucial. Just so you know, last spring we piloted um an a platform called Trumark um which came to us through Mayor Maher, I believe,
080a connection and um True Trumark's like an AI enhanced writing platform that is is contained. So it's not going out to the internet. It's helping kids with their writing. Um and this year we're we're actually implementing it in all seventh grade language arts classes. So kids will learn to how to use AI appropriately before they >> get to >> Yeah. And that was part of the discussion is that there are some sites that are more vetted and more helpful and you know some that are not. So >> and also there is a lesson in third grade health about bike safety. Um it was actually scheduled to be taught very recently but we pulled it for a later date due to um sensitivity around current um issues. So, um, third graders do get, um, a unit
081on bike safety in their health and physical education classes. >> Anyone else for the good of the order? >> Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Anybody who doesn't want to adjurnn or comments or questions? All those in favor? I >> opposed. We're adjourned. Thank you everybody. [Music]