001I used to sleep with you and I remember Christopher. [Music] What have you done with RPA? [Music] He lost the keys. Can't do anything with that. The boss. [Music] Let me know what you're saying. Thank you. And then we watch a movie in my second class. I'd like to call to order uh the June 18th, 2025 regular public board meeting. Mr. Jones, please call the role. Miss Barb here, Miss Bower, Mr. Benedict here. Mrs. Borov here. Miss Brody here. Dr. Kolkowski here. Miss Seriani here. Miss Williams here. Mr. Murray here. Quir is present. Uh, if I could ask if everybody could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. The flag is on that wall over there. Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for
002which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] So we have um instructional updates. So SSDs and hib reporting. Hi, good evening. Hey, good evening Dr. Mass, Dr. McGarry, board of education. Tonight I will present the harassment, intimidation, and bullying report. Here is an overview of what I will cover. I'll start with some specifics of HIV and then I will provide information for investigations, trainings, and programs for the September through December 2024 reporting period. The statute defines harassment, intimidation, or bullying as any gesture, written, verbal, or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident, or a series of incidents that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender
003identity, and expression, or a mental, physical, or sensory disability. or by any other distinguishing characteristic. The incident is required to take place on school property, at any school sponsored function, on a school bus, or off school grounds that substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students, and that a reasonable person should know under the circumstances that the act will cause one of the following three. One has the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging the student's property or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property. Two, has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or group of students or three creates a hostile educational environment for the student by interfering with the students education
004or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the student. It is our anti-bullying specialists who conduct these investigations. Here is a list of them. They also serve in a leadership role on their school safety and climate team and implement trainings for students, staff, and parents. They receive mandated training and work closely with me as the anti-bullying coordinator. There's information on our school district's website regarding our HIV policy, a parent guide from the New Jersey Department of Education and our state HIV grades. You can also access a link if you need to report an HIV incident. Here is a table listing investigations conducted at each school from September through December. There were a total of 34 investigations in which eight were confir confirmed HIV. So for trainings, uh, each school conducted trainings to
005support a positive school climate. The elementary school staff prepared activities from the Sandy Hook Promise Start with Hello program to make sure that every student felt that they are welcome and a part of what goes on in school. The activities focused on how important it is to be accepting of everyone despite individual differences. The social emotional learning curriculum, SecondStep, was introduced during morning meeting time. The Margaret and Peter Chang Foundation provided the funding for us to partner with Imagine, a center coping with loss designed to educate the stakeholders in our students lives on grief education so they know best how to support the students through any type of loss. All the schools began the year with information about our HIV policy. Kohl's and McInn were selected for the dreams program which stands for developing resiliency
006with engaging approaches to maximize success. The grant provided these two schools with training in the nurtured heart approach and a trauma foundational series by working closely with community mentors. Each of them had a staff member become a certified trainer in December and formed a champion team made up of several staff members who have worked closely with the community mentors. Several staff members at the high school were trained by the New Jersey Bar Foundation in Restorative Justice to explore an approach that considers the needs and obligations of all stakeholders in a community. It is a way to help contribute to a positive school climate with strong relationships and opportunities to learn and grow from mistakes. Inspired by the book The Anxious Generation, a family presentation was held for parents and students to review concerns related to
007screen time and mental health. There were breakout sessions so parents could learn how to set realistic goals at home and the students tracked and reflected on their screen time. Families were then brought back together to to create family contracts. And lastly listed are the district-wide trainings that took place during those months which included school-based threat assessment team training, substance use and child abuse prevention training, and school safety climate team meetings. So we could see that a total of 33 trainings in those four months. Uh this brings us to the final portion um which looks at specific pro programming to prevent or reduce HIV incidents. Here's a list of all of the programs categorized by by ones that provided either universal support to all students, targeted support, or individualized support. And to highlight a few, the
008high school instituted the not in our schools program that seeks to empower students to forge inclusive environments that stand up to bullying, bigotry, and all forms of intolerance. The campaign strives to craft a school culture and climate in which students feel safe, respected, and understood. It involves all stakeholders and encourages students to be upstanders. The superintendent principal advisory committee consists of students from all four grade levels and meets monthly with administration to discuss issues related to community safety, wellness, and support. And student engagement has been increased during the unit lunch period offering common physical activities, library use, board games, art, music, and homework help. The middle schools kick kicked off the year focused on different ways to promote and celebrate character education. This was done through lesson design and monthly character ACE awards to recognize
009positive behavior. The school newsletter has been another way to communicate all of the wonderful school events including Hispanic Heritage and Spirit Week. The school climate and health and wellness committees met as well. And the school climate committee implemented the school climate survey to identify their goals for the school year. And at the elementary schools, there were anti-bullying and school climate assemblies such as core values kickoff assembly, expectations assembly, and a superme assembly, which I think we could all use on occasion. Uh new student groups to help ease the transition for transfer students who are new to our school district. There were events to signify certain themed weeks such as week of respect, so also world kindness day to teach and remind students the positive difference they can make for those around them. There have been
010opportunities for students to gather, greet, share news, and address challenges at the start of each school day during the morning meetings. Some of those meetings uh were held schoolwide to really foster a caring and respectful learning environment throughout the school. And the schools creatively celebrated spirit week. And lastly, activities for heritage month took place to embrace diversity in our community. There were 74 programs over four months indicating the efforts made by our principles, teachers, parents, and students to ensure a safe and welcoming school environment. Thank you. Any questions? Any questions from N? No. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, HB investigations, Dr. Mast. So, this is the SSDS public report. The SSDS combines two state testing reporting systems. The electronic violence and vandalism report summary and the harassment intimidation bullying investigation training
011and program system. The data presented is based on five identified categories by the state department of education and is entered by annually into the reporting system. This data is reported publicly to the board two times a year. The following data is for the reporting period of September to December of 2024. Um, in the category of violence, there were 10 incidents. In the category of vandalism, there were zero incidents. In the category of weapons, there were zero incidents. And in the category of substance, there were three. And in the category of hibs, there were eight confirmed cases. That's my report. Any questions for Dr. Mask? Okay. So, we will now move to executive session report. So, in exec, we discuss personnel, hib suspension, and detention, and we got a legal status report from our board attorney.
012Uh, board president announcement. So the New Jersey open public meeting laws enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which the any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act. The Scotch Plains 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, Fanwood, New Jersey. Such notices are also provided in written notice form to the Union County Hawk, the Star Ledger, and the Township Clerk of Scotch Plains, the Burke Hook of Fanwood in the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings as adopted April 25th, 2024 and revised August 27th, 2024.
013Before we move to the next section, um there is a individual sitting up here that is sitting in their first meeting. So, um as you're aware, Amy Winkler had resigned from the board effective June 1st. She has um apparently missed us already and is back here at the meeting. Um maybe for public comment. We'll soon see. Um so we had four residents of Fenwood apply for the open vacancy. We held the interview session last night and I'm pleased to say that Jason Benedict um is our newly appointed board member representing Fanwood with Miss Boroff um for the remainder of this year um where the remainder of the term gets um will be voted on in the November election with petitions due by the end of July. I think it's the 26thish um range. um right
01428th July 28th um for the for the remainder of that term. So Jason, welcome. Thank you. Um we have uh some additions to the agenda. H24, H25, H26, 27, and 28. This is a rather long agenda. It's the last meeting of the school year, which is typically the longest. Uh superintendent's report. Dr. Mast. Thank you, Mr. Murray. So, you know, at the end of the year, we have a number of events that are dependent on the weather and unfortunately next week is really predicted to be a very concerning heat wave. So, we had to make some adjustments to our our events and a letter went out today with the schedule changes for next week based on that predicted heat wave. That's one thing. And then just um you know tonight it being the last board
015meeting it certainly sing signals the end of the school year. Looking back on the school year there there's so much to celebrate. Um one is you know the passing of the second referendum. Really thank you to everyone who worked on that. Thank you to the community for supporting that and thank you for um supporting the work that will begin soon because Mr. Jones has an exciting announcement. Um the onboarding of our new high school principal was intense work that we did this year. Following in Dr. Heisy Heisy shoes. Someone who's been here for so long and beloved. Having a new person is just um you know a a change a positive change but one that um really required the system to adapt. Um we had our own Emily Litz who is a fifth grade teacher
016over at Nettingham receive the the Milkin Educator Award which is very much a big deal. and we are just so pleased that she's brought all of that positive attention to the district. Um, and right now we are in the throws of celebrating the class of 2025. We're um we are not missing them yet. We are still celebrating them and um much is to come there. There's so many things that we are um so so very grateful for. Um, I need everyone to rest and have a delightful summer break because we need to recharge for the new school year. We will begin the work on the Lrand School and we will be creating and designing a new process for our strategic planning. While we know SPF is a great place to raise and educate our kids,
017we're committed to its continued improvement. So, thank you to our educators, family, and community for all the ways that you support the district. And I would just like to highlight when we get to um the the personnel report, we will be announcing um the the with with the board approval um the the new assistant principal at the high school. So, that's that's um stay on the edge of your chairs for for that exciting announcement. Thank you, Dr. M. Thank you, Jones. So, I have a lot to go over tonight, but just for now, I just want to announce. So, last week we closed on 330 South Avenue, so we're official owners of the the property. So, congratulations all. Um there's a couple items on the agenda tonight that'll kick off that process. I'll go through
018those in a second. Uh and then you'll see we are really um deep into the planning process uh and submitting um final plans to the state actually uh today. Um and uh and the August meeting will be significant amount of approvals to really kick that off um in earnest and we will uh we are targeting the uh fall of 2026 for an opening. So thank you Mr. Jones. Uh so in in a long list of lasts for the school year, we will have one of our two last well Mac's last board update. Clearly not Grace's, but Mac is going to be giving his last student board rep update tonight. So Mac or Grace, whoever started. Okay. Um so I'll start. Basically, it is the end of the year and during the end of May, we
019had our junior prom at the Westwood and theme's black and gold and everyone had a great time on the dance floor. And besides that, finals started today and so everybody's kind of in their final stretch and the stress of ending junior year and college preparations um for next year are in the air, but everybody is just kind of wrapping up the year and spring sports have also ended their season. So yeah, I kind of have a lot of um senior events to share about just because that's kind of been my life recently. But we finished our senior projects last week at the high school and there's been the final presentations this week and I think Dr. Hines came in and kind of made a lot of changes to the senior project and what it looks
020like and I think all those changes were definitely for the better. It was really structured and ran really well this year and I know myself and all the other students that participated really enjoyed it. Um, we had our senior picnic last Friday at the high school, which was a nice opportunity to start saying not goodbyes, but celebrating each other and getting to sign yearbooks and celebrate the end of the year. Senior prom is this Friday at the Imperia. We had scholarship night on May 29th, which was a great night to celebrate um students and all of their achievements. And then for last was the senior clapout last Friday which was new to the district this year and was ended up being so great. I know I worked with Dr. Mast and all the elementary school
021principles to make it happen and I'm so happy with how it ended up. It was a really great event and I heard so many great things from parents, students, elementary students and I'm excited to see where it goes in the future and that I get to leave a little mark on our district. So yeah, Thank you, Grace. Thank you, Mac, very much. We're going to miss you. Good luck next year. Good luck with the rest of the school year. All right, we're going to move on to our first public comment session. So, in accordance with Scotsman's Fanwood public bylaws 01640165. The meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment, maximum three minutes for speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, business functions or other board business will be heard first. If time remains, speakers may
022address the other matters. Speakers, please state your full name and the town in which you reside. board use a public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns but not to debate 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. 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. With that being said, if you have a public comment, please come to the microphones. Please state your name in the town in which you reside. Thank you. Okay. Mike Washington, Mike Oman Washington, senior uh Scotch Plains. Um, all to hear belong. Thank you for the
023cup. Uh, Dr. Mass couple years ago at one of the, uh, workshops. Um, raises some questions. All to here belong. Does here belong to all? Uh, I think I had asked that before. Um, I'm gonna read this because I'll forget. If I don't, I'll try to go on memory. Um, what's even better than an exciting martial arts assembly at school? An actual week of two cla of two classes each for every student in grades 6 through 8 on site on June 2nd through 5th at Nettingham Middle School. Family and Community Engagement Corp or FACE Corp provided very motivating and inspiring sessions filled with nuggets of wisdom, history, lessons, and advice for the classes of as many as almost 70 participants. It was epic. It was a great time. Um I am Face Corp um executive
024director uh and I'm also the chief instructor of the Goan Academy on East Second Street in Scotch Plains. um the international sports week event that was organiz it was organized by Ms. Katherina at uh Nettingham Middle School aided by other physical education teachers and I was recommended by principal um Dumerz to provide the sessions. The students overwhelmingly raved about the experience and received an invitation to take free classes at Goswan for two weeks and join our academic martial arts league. Academic martial arts league. A few of our members who also who are also Nettingham students helped out including my own two children right over there and I want to recognize them along with all the other um nettingham because this is about the children. I spoke on the necessity to embrace and honor our diversity
025and common roots. Uh I taught that martial arts systems actually began in ancient Africa many centuries ago which many people do not know. Uh they were treated to great soulful music. Uh very apppropo considering it was at Nettingham a school recently named after an his an heroic black trailblazer. Uh we talked about reasons for training in martial arts and all the potential benefits for everyone including self-confidence, self-disipline, mental health, fitness, leadership skills, and more. It improves and even saves lives training in martial arts. Facecore um has also provided after school martial arts classes in Planefield schools for the Planefield Community Outreach PCO organization um and is including the participants in our academic martial arts league. League activities include self-defense and fitness training, sports competition, providing demonstrations and assembly programs, community service projects, and strong measures
026to ensure scholastic success. This is vital work. We're expanding our league, which is open to students ages 6 through 17. We offer free classes for youth and anyone else uh to try Gauana Academy on East Second Street in Scottish Plains. because I'm both a martial arts master and have five desk decades of experience uh as a certified school teacher retired now um in helping those with u special needs and um disabilities. I feel uniquely qualified um the week sorry I'm going to just jump in there. So your time for this public comment has expired. Just a couple of things there there is another public comment period later in the in the meeting and also if you have a written prepared statement you could also send that to the board so they could reflect it in
027the minutes as well. Well, that is your time for this session. Okay. If you're near the end, I'll let you finish. But if you have a while to go, I I'd suggest No, I don't have a while. I just come. Um, we want to combine efforts with the various school districts, Scots Plains and and Planefield to serve even more uh youth. Um, I pre previously discussed this with uh Dr. Mass and other uh leaders. Um, this falls under your strategic uh plan. Um, I'm not just a person that runs this nonprofit, but you know, uh, as I said, I have children in the district. I have a vested interest, not just because of them, but all children in the in the district. Um, so the street strategic plan, I I I asked that the um
028Scottish Plains Fan with Board of Ed um allow me to sit down with you and discuss um or propose um something that actually can do a lot um for students uh in in this district. Something unheard of but is long overdue. I thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Washington. Does anyone else have any uh public comment for this session? There's also another public comment at the end. Okay, seeing no one, I will close this portion. Um move on to additional reports. Letters to the board. We received 11 and they were forwarded on to the appropriate administrator. We'll now move on to committee reports. I think we have a few. Miss Brody, I have a finance committee report. Um, we basically just discussed some agenda items. Um, one is the McIn playground donation and
029that's for the installation of existing equipment from the PTA. Um, the stage curtain repairs need to be done. It's $60,000 total, but most of the most of the schools just need to have them professionally cleaned. Terrell Middle needs to have them replaced with flame proof curtains and repair the curtain rack which is uh a half of that which is $30,000 and this will be paid from extraordinary aid um at 330 South Avenue. The the oil tank removal needs to be done at $100,000 and this will come out of capital reserve and this amount was credited from the seller. uh the IT sale of older iPads and it's an approval by bid request. The 2425 transportation addendum um we have an additional aid on a bus uh 2526 transportation it only increased by the CPI of
0303.5%. Um we have transferred to capital reserve an estimated of $4 million. the lease purchase approval of and that was done by Apple. The YMCA pool use um went from 45,000 a slight increase from 40,000. The school lunch prices are estimated profitable lunch account of 10 to 15,000 for the year. Our standard lunch prices will remain flat. There'll be slight increases in unhealthy food such as cookies and the district insurance was over budget this year. And that's it. Thank you, Mr. Bro. Any questions? Other committee reports. Thank you. I have curriculum. Sure. Okay. I'll try to be quick because the curriculum committee had many agenda items for its last meeting of the school year. The first was um sometimes some of our staff um in furthering their own educations conduct very important and interesting research
031in the classroom. So the first item was um kindergarten teacher Miss Jarrett discussing her dissertation research project that she's conducting in her kindergarten classroom where she's using critical literacy practices to consider how color and racial identity are explored in children's books. Uh the second agenda item um we had two SPFHS students um and Mr. Moscow the um the the um audiovisisual uh teacher and their their adviser in in a capacity. They came to screen their student movie project. Um it was an award-winning submission in the um NJHS filmfest. So we got to watch their their short film and they were able to discuss it with us. Um I think they had like five days to create it and they were given a couple of parameters and so they really had to be creative and it
032was really fun to watch it and hear that they developed their passion for movie making in the creative summer workshop program over the course of of um their education. The third agenda item was um discussing the nest um which um special education teacher Mrs. Overim came to discuss that the nest had its fifth year anniversary. Um, so this is a program for our self-contained students at Nettingham where they travel to the high school on Thursday afternoons and they use the life skills room to supply a cafe that they then operate back at Nettingham offering seasonal refreshments to customers. So they collaborate with a speech teacher who helps them develop recipes. They then make a list of needed ingredients. They watch videos on how to make the items. They then actually create the items and baked
033goods and fulfill the orders and they develop their social skills as they deliver the items and speak with their their customers who are school staff. Um so there is a lot of great um learning happening as part of that nest initiative and we were able to watch a video that took us through the students process and and some interviews with them. So that was really nice to see. Um the committee also heard about summer assignments um which we hear every year at this time for grades six and up mandatory summer work. Um Miss Kelly Dunston and Dr. McKenna came to discuss summer reading, non-fiction and fiction options as usual that were very um thoughtfully selected to foster reading for continued literacy and also to jumpst start the curriculum for um the next academic year for
034the students. So I know I received a letter this week, so people should have received a letter about the summer reading hub that is on our district's website and tips for parents on how to engage kids in reading over the summer. Um, and also just for people that are interested, the public libraries are rolling out summer reading events that also incentivize kids to read. Okay. Um, two things that the board votes on every year at this time are the curriculum matrix and the summer curriculum development projects. So, both of those are on the agenda tonight for approval and the board should have received um complete listings for those two things. Um the committee also talked about um the focus competitive grant proposal. Um this was a grant proposal. Actually the district was was granted this
035if the board um again that's on the agenda for approval tonight. The grant would supply 17 approximately $17,000 which is um based on our our enrollment um and a per per pupil aotment uh for um the adoption and implementation of universal screening for foundational literacy skills. So the grant would allow the selection, purchasing and implementation of a literacy screening tool. And again that is on the agenda tonight um for board approval. A couple more things. Um the New Jersey GPA um summer support institute which is the New Jersey the graduation um proficiency assessment. Um this year our district will be offering over the summer um support for students who need additional support to pass that assessment. In the past, students were able to use additional measures like the PSAT um to to place out of
036that assessment, but that is no longer the case um per per state law. So, students who don't do not achieve a passing score have to enroll in a course um to to help support them to pass that assessment. So, um, parents who of those students would would be getting letters and the students would receive extra support over the summer to help them take retake that test in the fall. And the committee also received a few updates on some past um agenda items that we've talked about over the last the course of this past year. Uh, the lab room, which was um a student-led Shark Tank type project. um it it had lower enrollment than was hoped for, but there were three students, middle school students that did participate and so um we were able to
037hear that they did create projects and that they were honored for their participation along with their parents for their projects. Um additionally, two other research studies happening in the district. One is uh Rucker's research into STEM and middle school girls attitudes toward it and that is an ongoing project data has been collected and is currently being analyzed and another study um on the dynamic between supervisors and teachers of social studies and civics and that was something previously discussed and data has also been collected for that project and is currently being analyzed and uh we will meet again with another full agenda at the end of August. That's it. Thank you, Miss Arion. Any questions? Um, Morov, thank you. Um, student activities and athletics, student athletics and activities, sorry. Um, we met on June 16th. Um,
038sort of a special meeting just to, um, finish up the year and some clarifications. um due to the merging of FBA and DECA um we had the stipened there um from one of the organizations that um it was recommended that we approve the following stipens. Um so this is both very exciting. There's two new honor societies, business honor society and math honor society. Um additionally there will be a stipen that will go towards not in our schools to continue fostering an environment against hatred. And finally, the environmental club in support of Mr. Rittner's programming that has brought in special guests and um really some some exciting programs for the students. So, we're really glad that we were able to um allow or expand some stipens. Additionally, um just for everyone's knowledge that um Dr. Hines
039is looking at all of the existing clubs and how we continue to support them in the future and intentions for stipens and sort of doing a red light, yellow, green lights schematic for us. Um I did want to mention as did I think it was Grace about our sports teams in this um final season. Um, I want to thank we had some great seasons by the um, boys volleyball, the baseball team, boys tennis, golf, flag football, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, softball, and girls track. But I did want to point out that for softball we went 20 and seven as county champions. That was very exciting. Um, boys tennis, we had um, I'm going to not pronounce this correctly and I apologize. Um, a student, Sand Brood, I believe is his last name. So bud. Yes.
040Thank you. There. There you go. Um well, congratulate your nephew for getting the county's singles champion. Um and then our boys volleyball team went 27 and five, won the Wong division, Wong division, sorry, Union County North group three. Um our golf team was 10 and three. Girls lacrosse went 12-9. I mean, we had some really great um some really great records this year. And I don't want to leave off that even though um the the record we're working on it. Congrats to Flag Football. It was the first year I believe that we had a team going and so I'm glad to see that it's on there and um thanks for all the spirit for all the teams this year. Yeah, second year. Thank you, M. Porov. Any questions for Miss Poroff? Okay. Uh moving on.
041Uh we had our enrollment report. we were provided with. Moving on to the two superintendent sections, both superintendent curriculum and um superintendent um personnel. Okay. One is the out of district placements. Two um are the hip reports though there weren't any for for that period. Three is the by annual gift reporting. Four is the SSDs and the the HIP report that we heard earlier and five is the matrix of forms. Um moving to the the personnel and the curriculum. It's the out of district placements. Um it's the administrator for the creative summer workshop. It's approving our our supervisory tools for the Marshall rubric and the Danielson rubric and the curricula matrix that Mrs. Seridani referenced earlier. Five is approving the grant application submission and six, thank you Dr. McGary for the equity plan is approving
042that comprehensive equity plan that we discussed. And seven is the emergency virtual instruction program that we are obliged to do every year. And eight is providing the superintendent authorization um for for the summer before we meet again. And Nine is the board officials and 10 is the personnel report. Thanks Dr. Mass. So we blocked obviously all of your items into one. So this will be a roll call once we have a motion and a second. Do we have a motion? So move. Miss Brody. Do we have a second? Second. Miss Barv. Sorry. Um, do we have any comments or questions on any of the items that Dr. Mass has gone through? Seeing none, Mr. Jones, can you please call the role? Miss Barbie? Yes. Mr. Benedict? Yes. Mrs. Borough? Yes. Miss Brody? Yes. Dr. Kolicowski?
043Yes. Miss Serriani? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. Mr. Murray? Yes. Those items all pass. Maybe I could just make one one quick um Sure. highlight in the in the personnel report. What's included in that is the approval of the new additional assistant principal at the heist high school who is a person who is currently a teacher I I believe also a graduate of Scotch Plain Fed High School. Um Amy Rowski. So if you u see her congratulate her. Thank you Dr. M. We will now move over to Mr. Jones who has quite a long list of items, many sections. So, I don't know how you want to tackle it. Um, do you want to block it all or you want to do section by section? We'll block it all. Yeah. You want somebody just stop me
044as I'm going if you have questions. Uh, okay. Start here. So, the first section is the 2425 to end the year. Um, some staff training. uh couple related services for special education students. Um two settlement uh special education settlement agreements we uh discussed in exec uh the McIn playground donation discussed by Miss Brody. Uh yeah, Miss Brody. Uh stage curtain replacement was discussed. Uh this is the and then number seven is the oil tank. So again, just want to emphasize that we got a credit for this in our negotiations for the close of the building uh to remove this. Uh number eight is the lease purchase bid award. Um I think this one is in talk a little bit about this. So uh this is the first year. So this is fairly expensive. These are
045all our iPads for all our students. Um, and this is the uh first year that um Apple actually bid on the financing for it and uh they were significantly lower than the other bids. The second lowest bid was 3.9% interest rate and Apple was 1.8%. So this is great. So uh hopefully they'll continue to do this going forward and actually helps with a lot of our execution as well. Let's go next. Uh textbook disposals. Um some IT equipment we will uh put out to bid. Um library book disposals we do every year. Equipment disposal. Of course, these will be sold on uh Gov deals. Uh if we can uh sell them, we will. If there's bids. Uh transportation, we added an A to one of our uh transportation routes this year. It has to be
046board approved. Um these are uh just costs uh for the to issue our bonds um for legal and we actually came in under budget for our fees uh for bond issuance. Uh 15 is to uh forgive uh free and reduced lunches. So as students come on um they go to lunch on their first day or second day and then they fill out the application free and reduced lunch. So in that first week or two they incur some balances. So once they get approved for free and reduced lunch that we then have to forgive those through a board motion. Uh equipment purchases uh these are um as part of our uh we have a I think it's about a 8-year plan to replace our vehicles and this is just part of that process. Um uh 17
047as well. Same same thing. 18 is the generator at Ningham. This generator was from is from the 1950s. Um so is due um to be replaced. Um 19 is just our annual uh resolution to transfer funds um to our capital reserves was highlighted by Miss Brody. Uh these are standard monthly reports, fire drills, financial reports, dispersement, listing, payment of bills, and then the additions to the agenda. Um special ed education agreements. Uh and then the uh 330 South again. So the first one of the first things we need to do after after the oil tank is to run our fiber lines. we have internet so it a lot of that's out of our control county approvals and things whatnot so we want to get that done as as soon as possible so we got it
048on this agenda and then our DOE the DOE uh you have to make a payment from then to process uh the project and then another special education agreement any questions on that section before I move on I have a question Y what do you do with the library books that are most of them are um damaged okay yeah they're disposed Okay, moving on. YMCA swim contract food service award. Again, just want to highlight that we're keeping our uh our lunches flat for this year for for the 2526 school year. Um three is the prices. Four is the transportation rules discussed. Five is our related services for the year for special education students. Six is our our student services um for gened students. Seven is beginning Vento agreement with the ESC to help us with our
049uh compliance. Um eight is our uh annual professional services we do every year proof in the budget. Nine is before afterare services renewal. I just want to say um uh last year we had over $70,000 um returned to us uh through our afterare program. So it's going being uh fairly successful. district insurance uh over budget because um the reinsurance market right now is difficult and it's due to uh significant payouts on uh claims uh and so the uh cost for our umbrella coverage has gotten uh more expensive. 11 is our annual facilities applications for our um cottages and some um bathrooms uh that are so if the bathroom is not in a prek it might be like right outside the classroom but it's not in the classroom we need county approval so that's there we
050do this every year uh athletic uh association 13 is just our technology telecom renewals uh votech for our vote cost for our vote students Union County ESC contracts we do these every year um for students we tuition ESY tuition any professional services we use and we use them we are responsible for um assisting non-public schools uh for some of their funding uh and for this we uh we hire the ESC to help us with that 16 is our uh parent contracts for special education uh we do encourage this for our our parents if possible uh uh it does actually save the district money if we can get our parents to uh to transport the students if they can and it's good for them as well. So we've increased that we shouldn't have any now we
051have four which is great. Um 17 every 5 years we have to renew uh our master agreement. So the ESCJ is services provided where they go out to bid for vendors that we use to get us the lowest prices uh and we have to do an agreement with them every 5 years. 18 stress estimate for our policy um that they uh provide policy recommendations for the board based on new state laws. Uh 19 is our broker for our insurance that I just discussed. Uh 20 is our broker for um our health benefits. 21 is this is an estimate. We still haven't received our uh federal funding for next year. So that's an open item but we are putting in an estimate so we have approval so when we can um when it does come through
052we can uh start spending it at data services for 2526. So at data is again another resource we use for all of our uh supplies that the teachers purchase. We put it through a competitive bid process to get the lowest prices. Subscription busing. Um this will be our last uh increase. So over the past few years to reiterate I've done it multiple times but our cost of busing has more than doubled uh over the past three years and it has uh stabilized now thankfully again as you can see as we had the uh transportation renewals at the CPI which is still you know 3.57 where in the past it was always you know 1.6. So I don't know you know we're happy that they did renew at CPI but it's still higher than we we
053typically had uh more before the pandemic. So, we're moving up to 1,500 um per student and our cost of busing is 2,000 per. So, we'll stop here uh in terms of the price increases unless we have some major increases next year, but I don't anticipate that. Uh the next few uh resolutions are for uh our vendors. So, the again we the state as well as these educational services commissions go out to bid to get us the lowest prices and we can use them. Uh but when we over uh 44,000 with these vendors, we they need board approval. So, Home Depot 24, 25 is our officials fees for next year. 26 is our custodial supplies. 27 is our tree service. 28 is our uh fire fire alarm, burglar alarm, intercom repairs, phone repair, camera repair. Uh
05420 uh 29 FW Web is for our um HVAC supplies, plumbing supplies, more the specialized what you can't get at Home Depot really. um dine uh we use them for a variety of software services that were are listed on the resolution. 31 is for our asset inventory. Uh we are required by the state to uh do an inventory of all our assets. Um that's what this is. And then 32 is um approval for to buy bus parts. Our buses are past their halfway life now. So the repairs have started to pick up. So that's why I started I just a reminder I added this last year to the agenda as the the costs have gone up. Okay, those are my I don't know we call that a lot of stuff u before I get to
055procedural. Um that was 60 of the 73 items so far. Yeah, keep going. Almost there. Yeah, 13 more. Okay, any questions on those sections? Excellent. Okay, procedural. This is sort of how we um some of the procedures for how we run things. business administrator admin authorization so I can pay bills between board meetings so if there's a due date um before um of course be approved at the next board meeting purchasing agent allows me to purchase up to the bid threshold of 44,000 uh Robert's rules number three number four um reapproving our policies uh our newspapers number five number six is using is the uniform chart of accounts seven um is the maintenance and uh collection of maintenance student records. Um the cot with the decode, our depositories, which is just our bank accounts. We
056do have a new one this year. Uh the new one is the bond referendum checking account. So we're required to open new check account, a new checking account just for tracking the bond referendum funding. Budget transfers. It authorizes me to do budget transfers. 10 petty cash. 11 to 12 is our uh investment uh providers for teachers and for all employees. Oh, 13 is a board uh the readoption of all of our policy manuals. There we go. Thank you, Mr. Jones. So, 73 items, Mr. Jones's report. Does anybody have any questions on any of those items? Only like 16 questions from our pre-ereading. Seeing none, do we have a motion to approve? Miss Brody, do we have a second? Second, Mr. Benedict, any comments or questions? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. We will
057move to board policies. We have none. New board business. No liaison reports. I have a real brief one. Sure. um uh CPAC had our final meeting. I believe it was June 3rd and we reviewed um just overall year and some of the um they sent out a survey to get some feedback. Um but really what we discussed was some of the topics that were important for us for next year. And um so for anyone that is interested in CPAC to get an idea of the types of of conversations we have, one of the things that we really dived into dove into was executive functioning but also sort of like a parent workshop. So I just wanted to share that little highlight in case you are interested in becoming a member of CPAG. There's a lot
058to look forward to next year. That's it. Thank you. Any other lesson on reports? I have one. Sure. I met with the field light advisory board. Oh, so we met um and everything's going well. Happy with everything. So that's it. Just want to mention that we did it and uh it's part of our agreement and yeah so that's it. Okay. Any other leazison reports? Okay. See none. Workshop reports resolutions are none. Approval of minutes. Do we have a motion to approve the April 24th and May 6th minutes? So moved. Miss Boroff, do we have a second? Second. Miss Barf. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? I opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. Public comment. Second and final of the school year. In accordance with Scots Main FA public school by law 0164 and 0165. The
059meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment. Maximum three minutes per speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, business functions, and other board business will be heard first. If time remains, speakers may address other matters. Speakers, please state your name in the town which you reside. Please note boards use a public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concern, but not to debate issues or enter into a question and answer session or cross-examination between the public and individual members. Be aware that 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, I will now open up for 15 minutes for public comment. Please state your
060name in the town in which you reside or any former board positions you held within the district. Uh, hi, I'm Amy Winkler and I live in Fanwood and I was not planning on making public comments this evening, but um I do want to congratulate Mr. Benedict. Um I I want to um just state that if anyone is around and available on Saturday and has some time uh we're having our I think it's the eighth annual maybe uh Junth event at Shady Rest. Uh it starts at noon. It's going till 7. We've got live music and dance performances and um lots of different vendors selling different products. We've got several food vendors. Um it should be a whole day of fun. There will be mini golf and other activities for children. Um there will be tours
061of the Shady Rest facility itself which is uh historical and really fascinating uh site in town and I just encourage everyone to come on out because it'll be a fun day. And that's it. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Any other public comment? All right, seeing none, I will close the second and final upcoming meeting schedule. So, we have our next public meeting is going to be August uh 26th and then September 17th is the September meeting. Go to the order. I've got one. Go for it. Um well, one, um back to Amy Winkler. Um I love seeing your face here tonight because it, you know, we have to ease off of this getting used to you not being on this side. Um, but in all seriousness again, thank you so much for all of your
062service and to Jason, congratulations. Um Stephanie had mentioned in her report and I just really want to highlight how exciting it is that the uh the life skills room at the high school um I'm not sure just in case anybody missed that that it weekly that there are students that go from the middle school um and have their coffee cart and they serve um they learn all sorts of life skills um through that service and it's just beautiful and I've had received so much feedback on it and I just really want to commend um the staff and admin for for letting that happen. So that's it. Thank you, Miss Borov. Other good of the order, Mac. I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you for allowing me to have this
063incredible experience. This has truly been a highlight of my high school experience and I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of this. I am inspired by all of you and just getting to learn from you these past two years has been something so special to me and I know I'm going to take a lot of this with me into college and my future in general. To Dr. Mast, I have gotten to know you pretty well over these past two years and just everything you do is so incredible and you're a real inspiration to me and I thank you for everything you've done. Just I've loved growing up in this district. It's been like the best school experience ever and I know that's thanks to all of you and all the work that
064the board does and all of our teachers. So, thank you for that. Um, to Grace, I am so lucky to have gotten to do this past year with you. I met you on the first day of AP Spanish and I had no idea who you were and now we've gotten so close and I just couldn't think of anyone better to continue this next year and I can't wait to see all you do. So, thank you. Um, I don't know if she's in the room, but to Robin, if she's here, I just want to say thank you for always being so kind and helpful and welcoming and responding to all my emails and questions and everything. So, thank you. And again, thank you to all of you. This has been such a great experience for me.
065Thank you. I would have expected you to do that in Spanish since you do AP Spanish. I thought you would have did the whole thing in Spanish. Go to her for them in Spanish. But we're going to miss you, Mac. Yeah. Also, you have graduation obviously, too. But gas bright and early. There's four more drop offs, but be careful drop off. Crazy up. Yep. It it definitely is. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to say congratulations to all to Mac primarily and all the graduating seniors and their families. Uh what an achievement. And uh Mac, I just you talked about your legacy which was the the clapout when I hadn't even known that you were involved but when I saw pictures of it on the Facebook page I immediately got in touch with Dr. Mass and
066I said what a great um I just felt so touched and I thought what a great like full circle experience for the seniors and I thought it was amazing and she said that was Mac's idea. So what an amazing legacy to leave. Um, so, um, thank you for for bringing that to the district. We're going to miss you. Good luck in everything that you do in in Boston and beyond. Um, and yeah, that's it. And I also want to thank like all the the staff and teachers and and everyone in the buildings for all their hard work over the course of the year. And I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Yes. Uh I just wanted to share that I was able to participate and celebrate with the staff and students back in May on
067the 20th uh along with some other board members and it was wonderful to see those landmark years of service and those who were retiring for the last time being with us at the ceremony. And then also I was attending the seal of biiteracy program on May 22nd to see all the students. There was over 80 students that received seals of biiteracy in various languages in including Ukrainian and who knew it was a fabulous ceremony. They had some fan dancers and they played uh various music while we entered and waited for the ceremony to begin. But it was wonderful to see all the students being multilingual. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Kokowski. Just to follow up on Mrs. Huriani and the senior clapout. I'd like to um have Mac officially pass the torch to Grace to
068make sure that it goes on next year and it's even better. And I just want to say thank you to the board for uh choosing me and appointing me to this board. It has been a longtime dream of mine to serve in this capacity. Uh I'm excited and I wanted everybody to know I will do what I can my hardest to not let you down. So, thank you. Thank you. Heather, for the good of the order, I have a couple. I just wanted to say, Mac, that day like at pickup, all the little kids out of Kohl's were running out being like, "Oh my god, the big kids were here." So, it was they they loved it just as much as you loved it. So, it was really special. So, I have two. One is
069uh a special thanks to Matt Tibbles. So, Matt Tibbles is passing on the torch as president of the booster club after 13 years. Um, I think the impact and contributions from the Boosters Club has been immeasurable. I think they've done a unbelievable job. So, um, thanks to Matt for everything he's done. All the hours in the the food check. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then also thanking every single employee of the district, whether it's a teacher, grounds and maintenance, support staff, everybody and every every for everything that they do every day. But this another another successful year for the district and we couldn't have done it without all of you. So thank you for everything you do on a day in and dayout basis as well as our audiovisisual crew. Thank you guys so much for
070everything you do obviously making these meetings happen. So congratulations to everybody. Congratulations to the class of 2025 and uh everybody enjoy their summer. So with that, we need to move make a motion to reconvene into executive session to discuss subjects around the superintendent evaluation. Once that concludes, we will come back into public. So nobody needs to stay unless they really want to um to close out the meeting. So do we have a motion to go into exec? So moved. Miss Dr. Kcowski, do we have a second? Second, Miss Williams, thank you. All in favor? I opposed. Okay, thank you. We were going to exact to talk about the superintendent evaluation and pretty much the meeting is concluded after that. Thank you everybody. Amy