001Yes. How's I know. The mics are on, by the way, so just be careful. The mics are hot. [Music] Microphone. Fabulous. Can't complain about the window. I'd like to call to order the May 6th regular public meeting. Mr. Jones, please call the role. Miss Barveet here. Miss Bower here. Mrs. Borov, Miss Brody, Dr. Kolicowski here. Missiani here. Miss Winkler here. Miss Williams, Mr. Sorry here. Quirm is present. Uh I ask everybody to please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Flag is behind everybody. Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we just had our executive session. We went through personnel HIP suspension of detention and legal status report.
002I'll now go to the board president announcement. New Jersey open public meeting laws enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of having to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests and discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, the Scots fan board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having this date, time, and place thereof posted at the board of education offices located at 313 South Avenue on Fanwood. Such notices are also provided in written notice form in the Union County hawk star ledger the township clerics cop plains in the borrow clerk of fanwood and the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings as adopted April 25th 2024 and revised August 27th 2024 we have
003um one addition to the agenda memorandum of agreement and I'll move to the superintendent's report thank you Mr. Murray. So, so some exciting items on the agenda tonight is recognizing the PTA, the EF grants and u teachers who have received the achievement of Orton Gillingham um training and certification. Um, additionally, tonight right before the meeting, there was an amazing volleyball game where um the Raiders beat the number one game, the number one team. We were rated number three and we were able to take it away in three sets. On a different topic, recently our district met supervisor resigned. He uh had quite a long commute, an hour and 20 minutes. Um and he did find a position closer to home. We will be restructuring the math department where we will be um you know having
004uh internal people with mathematics expertise working with each of those departments. So we have, you know, a person at elementary who who has already been supporting the the mathematics and we have at the middle school level um one of the assistant principles has her expertise in mathematics and I am fortunate enough to get to return to work with the high school mathematics teachers for um for there's quite a few teachers who are still there. One Mr. Kaggel who was was there previously when I was the Met supervisor. So it's it's certainly an opportunity for us to um really protect our um our our capital moving forward. And the these um the these configurations will be um you I I'll be sending out a notice to the parents. I wanted um Matt, the math supervisor, to
005be able to talk to the teachers, the the mathematics teachers do know, but a letter is forthcoming to the community. Thank you, Dr. M. Mr. Jones. Y uh so I just want to cl provide some uh clarity on our uh pass to lunch balance policy. So I'm just going to give a little timeline of what's changed in New Jersey. Um in September of 2022, there was a new law passed. It's called the hunger-free students bill, right? Uh started. And so what that means is we cannot deny any student uh lunch uh for any reason at all. So um we have to give lunch no matter what. In the past, we're able to serve an alternate lunch uh something uh like a sandwich or something. Uh we no longer can do that unfortunately. Um so we
006have to provide lunch no matter what. So upon that being uh passed, our pass due to lunch balances went from 4,000 up to $30,000 for the district. Um and we started, you know, targeting the emails and and outreach. Um because of this increase, we had a corrective action plan uh by our auditing firm in order to rectify. We cannot have this type of a balance. You're not allowed statutoily. Um so we had to we approved this the correction action plan in February of 24. At that point, my uh staff in the business office did a massive outreach to all parents who had passed due balances. We made over 1,000 phone calls uh to every parent that had a past due balance, even if it was just a dollar just to surge uh communication out to
007everyone as well as you know sent letters. In addition, we send uh every two weeks we send out communication to parents and letting them aware of their pass through balance is known. Unfortunately, um we the collections did not uh we some collections but not enough to really move the needle. So at that point we needed to um adopt a new port board policy which we did in August to this past August. Um we hired an outside agency to work with us to send official collection letters um to the families. We sent five of those um over a uh three-month period at which at that point then uh we then we're which are on the agenda tonight is we are moving those uh balances to a collection agency for for students. So we have 15,000 uh
008dollars. We're moving the collection um this board meeting, but we have to um remove those balances from those families and that represents um uh 15 families, $15,000. So um we have this is part of the uh the new law and uh um this is how we're moving forward with it. Uh and part of the also the corrective action plan by the auditors uh we have to rectify these balances. Uh so that is my update. Thank you Mr. Jones. Uh student rep report. We have a bit of a shorter report this week just since our last meeting wasn't too long ago. But right now with the high school, AP testing begun this week, this past Monday, and it's going on this week and next week. So students are a little stressed right now, but it'll be
009over soon. Tomorrow night at the high school is the spring coral concert at 7 p.m. So make sure to come out for that. And many seniors are gearing up for their last full week of Inerson classes next week. Um because senior project starts May 19th. So last day of classes for seniors with senior project is May 16th, next Friday. And two senior events coming up is on Thursday, May 22nd is senior movie night at Shady Rest Golf Course. And on Thursday, May 29th is scholarship night hosted here at the high school. As for teacher appreciation, it's currently um teacher appreciation week. So make sure to thank all of our teachers in the district for everything that they do. And as for juniors at the high school, juniors are juggling AP tests as well as as
010Max said earlier and beginning to write their college essays in their English classes. As well as for sports, as Dr. Mass mentioned earlier, our boys volleyball team is having a great season and ranked number three. So, a great season so far. That's it. Thank you both. Okay, recognition and instructional updates, but it's all recognition related, I believe. Uh PTA recognition. So, we're going to first start with um you know, the PTA recognition. So, as we do every year, we're thankful to have the opportunity to recognize our amazing PTA. Uh their partnership between the district and the PTA is invaluable. They put in countless hours throughout the school year to create fun, memorable events for our students, families, and our teachers. So, we would like to recognize and thank our PTA for their dedication to our
011students and school community. And as a token of our appreciation, we would like to give PTA presence and council a thank you gift. So, Miss Winkler has some some names she's going to be reading. Do we want them to come up as I read these names? Is that the plan? Okay. So, please come up when I announce your name. Uh, the Brunner PTA president, who I think maybe is not here this evening, is Jennifer. It says it on it. Yeah, and I'm sorry because I'm sure I pronounced that wrong. Uh, is finishing her first year as the Brunner PTA president and will continue as the PTA president for Brunner again next year. Cole's PTA president, Heidi Bogat, who I think is also not here, is finishing her second year um as the PTA president there.
012And the incoming PTA president, has yet to be announced. Evergreen's PTA president, Audrey Cap Kaflowitz, is finishing her third [Applause] year and will continue as the Evergreen PTA president next year. uh the McInn PTA president Jeff Petrella who I think is here is he okay is finishing his first year as the PTA uh president at McInn and will continue next year. The school one PTA president uh is Angela Yas who I think is not here um is finishing her second year as PTA president and will as the school one PTA president again next year. Nettingham's uh PTA president is Denise Salamaka and she is finishing her second year as the PTA president and the incoming PTA president for Nettingham has yet to be announced. Uh the Terrell Middle School co-presidents uh for the PTA are
013Dana Clearary and Jessica Bacon. They are finishing their first year as co-presidents and will continue as co-presidents next year. Are they not here? Oh, come on up. [Applause] The Scotch Plains Fanwood High School PTA president is Ratna Wright and she is finishing her third year as the high school PTA president and will continue as the PTA president for the high school next year. uh for PTA council president. Suzanne Bjorkland is finishing her fourth year as council president. [Applause] We also have PTA Council Treasurer Karen Denin who is finishing her first year and will continue as the PTA Council Treasurer next year. PTA Council Member Sonia Penuro who is finishing her second year and will continue as PTA council member next year. and PTA Council member Sharon Dowling, who is finishing her first year and will
014continue as a PTA council member next year. [Applause] I think we can Can we have the principles come up too? And now principles come. Everyone say fundraiser. [Applause] Congratulations and thank you to our PTA. Our next is um the father of a former school board student representative who is now going to come up for representing the Educational Enrichment Foundation with the presentation of grants. Thank you so much. Thank you. I don't know if I can present as well as my daughter. I hope I can uh live to those expectations. But uh good evening, Dr. Mast, Board of Education, district families, and educators. It's my honor to present to you the 2025 2026 educator grant recipients on behalf of the board of trustees of the Education Enrichment Foundation. This year is not just a milestone. It's
015a testament to the continued commitment of a community that believes in the power of education. I'm proud to share that this year that the board of trustees received a record number of applications from teachers, record participation among 60 educators in the district in the district. We are awarding $17,230 in funding across 14 grants, influencing the realization of classroom innovation among 25 educators, by far the largest single-year total in our history. At the high school, several innovative projects are being brought to life thanks to EF support. Zach Rittner received funding for Monarch Meadow, a project that fosters environmental learning through the development of a native pollinator habitat. Richard Dory and Christine Erosi were awarded a grant for partners in mental health focused on promoting wellness and mental health awareness. Edric uh Quacenbush, Matthew Ducker Duffy, Shima
016Alabdullah and Sua Gandhi earned funding for elusive electronics made mechanical spintronics an exciting hands-on initiative combining circuitry and mechanical design to enhance physics instruction. At Terrell Middle School, students will benefit from two cutting edge creativitydriven projects. Matthew Gunther and Raul Forugera secured funding for a digital game design interactive controller, which brings gaming and coding together in a highly engaging format. Trey Shore received one of the largest grants this cycle for Rocking On with Modern Band, a music initiative that introduces students to contemporary instruments and band formats. At Nettingham, Jessica Cavalieri will bring exploring fiber arts through the felting, painting with wool into the classroom, a tactile and artistic experience designed to expand students creativity and expression through textile arts. A team of evergreen educators, Paige Kovac, Allison Santry, Jacqueline Pillinger, and Caitlyn Kubie, received a
017grant for sensory safe outdoor play, a project focused on creating inclusive outdoor environments that support all learners, particularly those with sensory needs. Two exciting projects were funded at school one. Ellen Young and Jennifer Glacken received support for Voices of the Future mobile podcast studio, giving students a chance to develop their storytelling and communication skills through podcasting. Katherine Zubelic was awarded a grant for Bright Paths to discovery, innovating play with light and motion, encouraging STEM exploration through interactive play and discovery. And at McInn, John Lan and Sasha Sloum are leading two student centered projects. One is an interactive trip around the world introducing students to global cultures through immersive experiences and the other is make what's on your mind bringing 3D printing into the classroom enabling studentled design projects that connect directly to their curriculum. Carrie
018Wine Glass will implement versatile learning, a project designed to provide flexible learning tools and resources that support differentiated instruction and student engagement. And finally, the school that's near to my family at Brunner. Two collective uh collaborative projects were funded for a team of dedicated teachers, Charlene Hall, Gabriella Marino, Gina Pepe, and Heather Tarantino. Chomp Chomp Chomp, Let's Take a Bite Out of STEM, delivers hands-on STEM experiences in a fun and digestible format for young learners. And their second project, What's the Reason? emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving, helping students build foundational reasoning skills. So, for those less familiar with the EF, we're founded over 30 years ago with a clear mission to enrich and expand learning opportunities for students across the Scotch Plains Fanwood School District. And since our inception, we've grown from a grassroots
019initiative into a vital community institution. In the last 10 years alone, we've distributed well over $100,000 in grant funding to educators who bring creativity, innovation, and enrichment into our classrooms. But our work extends far beyond grant funding. The EF is a pillar of the community, engagement, and educational opportunity. This past year, we hosted the Harlem Wizards for two soldout nights of high energy fun, school spirit, and community bonding. We organized Hack SPF, our annual student-led coding hackathon, offering workshops in Python, Java, Scratch, robotics, and web design for students from grade 4 through 12, empowering youth with future ready skills. And we're looking forward to celebrating our 10th annual music fest at the Crossroads in Garwood on May 31st, where students across the district take the stage on one of the most joyful unifying events of
020the school year. So, these events are more than fundraisers. They're are platforms for student leadership. They're powered by volunteers and made possible by the generosity of our sponsors, our families, and our donors. We'd like to especially thank the many families and businesses who have stepped up to support our mission year after year. Those contributions make a direct and lasting impact. And I also want to take a moment and also recognize the student volunteers and leaders who have helped grow these programs into what they are today. Whether they're leading workshops, helping at community events, or performing at Musicfest, the student involvement is a powerful reminder of why we do this work. This year's grand recipients that rep represent one of the best of what's possible when we invest in our educators creativity. From podcast studios to
021sensory safe playgrounds, fiber arts, biodiversity, mental health programs, and studentled 3D design, these projects span every level of our school system and every dimension of student growth. Finally, although we're celebrating a record-breaking year, our board of trustees shares an ambitious vision for the future, we're planning for growth, both in size of the grants we offer and in the reach of our programming. Our educators and community are filled with big ideas and the Education Enrichment Foundation is here to help bring them to life. Together, we're building something truly special for our youth, our education, and the future of Scotch Plains family. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I know the educators um you know really rely on you know the partnership with the EF and they're thankful for for all the contributions that you
022support the student learning and growth in our district. So thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to um Lauren Sher the Wharton Gillingham certification recognition. [Applause] Good evening everyone. Um, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lauren Sher. I'm a literacy teacher here in the district at school one in Evergreen, but I'm also a teacher trainer at Fairley Dickinson University. And tonight, I'm here to recognize a group of educators who have shown incredible dedication, resilience, and passion for their craft. It has been an honor. I want to speak to them. So, I I want you to stand because I really want to speak to you. I know you got to stand with me. If I have to stand, you have to stand. It's been an honor to work with them
023over the last two years to help them refine their skills and broaden their knowledge of reading to become experts in teaching those who struggle to do so. I honor them all tonight for successfully completing their Orton Gillingham teacher certification through Fairley Dickinson University. Christine Coochie, Kim Loi, Briana Norcross, Christine Dantono, and Liz Y. No, I'm kidding. Guess and uh we have a little special guest, Valentina. Come stand with the teachers. Valentina participated in our training program for two years, working with two of our our teachers, and was just an amazing participant and always put forth her best effort and made so much progress during that time. So, I thank her and Mrs. Mrs. Renhifo for being here tonight to support the teachers in their accomplishment. I'm sure they would all agree when I say completing
024this program was no small feat, requiring four semesters of intense coursework and 100 hours of supervised practicum, writing individual lesson plans to work with struggling readers in our community across the school district, both at the elementary and middle school levels. Their commitment to the program and drive to improve never wavered, embracing new ideas and applying their knowledge in every session as well as in their classrooms. I loved hearing what they did the next day with such passion and oh, I did this with my kids and it was amazing. They all knew what schwah was and they're like seven. uh you know and I just loved like that that passion to me is why I do it and um I'm just so grateful for their commitment. Their expertise will have a lasting impact on the children
025they serve for years to come. So I thank you. We thank you. The parents thank you. And uh with permission to share I have just a few of some of the parents um comments and responses to the program. So this is Amy and Kevin Condan. We feel extremely lucky that our daughter was able to participate in the OG after school tutoring program. In fact, we feel like we won the lottery. She enjoyed developing relationships with her tutors and always looked forward to the fun they had while working together. And we have seen the results from improvements in fluency and words per minute to her ability to decode longer words and more challenging texts. And as important, her confidence has grown and she feels better about herself as a reader and as a learner. Uh, Mr.
026and Mrs. Rehifo, grateful parents, they signed to give a child the confidence and strength to read is the most powerful gift any educator can give to a student. I am thrilled that we have had this OG program. It has been a lifesaver for both my daughters. My daughter is finally reading chapter books with fluency and confidence. Go Valentina. and one more. I could be here all day because there were two dozen families. Cesaly now loves to read after being part of the OG program. It was always a struggle to get her to engage in reading and choose to read independently and that has completely changed as a result of the program. She loves reading on her own and chooses challenging books. I'm amazed at the progress she has made as a direct result of her
027participation in the program. Brian Clark. So, congratulations on this incredible achievement. I'm so sure that you are going to be like doing something fun on Wednesday nights and Sundays. So, thank you. Yes. Yes. Come up. Come. Everybody come up. I didn't know where the Okay. [Music] [Applause] being lazy while you're up. [Applause] One more. Thank you. [Music] And then we have one last recognition that's not on here. We want to um for those of you that don't know, Mac is our senior board rep um representing the student population. And uh this is his second year on the board. And typically we don't have good success with attendance at the June meeting from our senior board reps since they want to just go. Um so we have just a small little token for you Mac for
028your work. It's a bamboo plant and it's lucky lucky bamboo for lucky. Congratulations and thank you. Thank you. And that concludes our instructional updates. We'll now move to business items and superintendent contract. So, in accordance with the requirements of NJSAI 18A1-11, a public hearing will be held at this time for the purpose of receiving public comment solely on the proposed new employment contract for the superintendent of schools in accordance with Scotch Plains family public school bylaws 0164 and 0165. The public hearing will be open for 15 minutes for public comments. Maximum three minutes per speaker. Speakers, please come to the mic and state your full name in the town in which you reside. Comments should be limited to the terms and conditions of the proposed proposed superintendent's contract. Please note that in accordance with the
029open public meeting act, the board may not be able to respond to comments regarding personnel. So, if you have a comment or you'd like to talk about the superintendent contract, please step forward. I'll now open for 15 minutes. Okay. Well, seeing no one, but I do feel as though people are interested. So, I'm going to just throw out some facts just because I think it's important for the community to understand that this is not just um you know, a decision we made um lightly. So, for those of you who don't know, um the superintendent contracts were frozen at one point um by the state of New Jersey under Governor Christie. Um it was at that point once they became unfrozen, a lot of districts then went and raised their superintendent salary um and made up
030for that freeze where we have not. So, um it's public knowledge Dr. Mass contract is currently at $220,000. The average for um schools with similar enrollment and budget size is $256,700 $575. So that's quite a large difference. It's approximately 15% higher. Um, and then we have districts below that, Cranford, Summit, Chadam that are average 30% lower enrollment, 30% smaller budget, and those salaries are 255,000, 250,000, 258,000. So, Dr. Mast, you know, has done a tremendous job for our district. She has over 40 years of experience in public education. She served as a classroom teacher and administrator and we felt that this was the time for her contract to be renewed um at the set rate. Um you know the the annual increase over the five years of this contract is in line with what we
031have done consistently with other district staff at the same comparable competitive rates. So it's nothing that's outside of what we've done on a on an annual increase basis. So, I just felt it was important to to really share that information with the community. Um, you know, we have really um, you know, Dr. Mass has really stepped in at a time during before the pandemic and really, you know, pushed this district through. Um, we have tremendous um, staff and personnel across the district and our leadership is fantastic. And if you have to go out and find another Dr. Mast, it's going to cost us a lot more than what we would be paying Dr. Mass. Unfortunately, that's the facts. So there is no other there is no other Dr. Mast. Um so that is why we
032decided that that this is this is this is what we wanted to do and and we have um the full support of the board. Um you know and I want to make sure that the community is fully aware of kind of where those numbers were generated from. They weren't just pulled out of the sky. They were based on comparables within the you know like size enrollment and budget um districts. So, seeing no comments, I'll close that portion. Sure. It's okay. Uh, Shyam Mr. just had a few questions about that. What town? Uh, Fanwood, New Jersey. Um, so in in light of the recent cost cutting measures that you've done where you've pulled back on some of the administrative support within the school district, is this a period, you know, I know that there's a cost
033pause, right? There was a freeze on salaries and the freeze was listed lifted some time ago, although I couldn't exactly hear when. Is this something we need to watch out for? Where was it a singular salary that was frozen? Is it multiple salaries that were frozen? What I'm concerned about is, you know, I don't have a problem with increasing salary per se, right? But I'm concerned about putting additional tasks on a single individual, right? By pulling back all of those other supported programs and then putting tasks, you know, I don't know how they're going to be redistributed or at least that's not clear to me. Um, so I do, you know, just in light of the recent cuts, redistributing, it seems to me, redistributing funds to support that salary, um, just gives me pause and
034I'm concerned about future the future, right, of the school. Do I have to worry about this with other administrators? Is this something that's going to sort of snowball? Are we going to continue to cut services? Um, so those are some of the things that are going through my head that I just wanted to gain a little bit of clarity on. Sure. Thank you for Thank you. So, should I go sit down? Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to close the superintendent that's specifically about the contract. I think you asked some questions that were outside of her specific contract terms, but I'll I'll answer a couple of that at this point. So, um we we moved to um longerterm contracts five years ago. We went from shorter term to longer term. So, I think most of our
035contracts, if not all, are at five-year contracts um across the board. And it's budgeting for salaries for each specific group. Whether it's the teamster group, which represents our grounds and maintenance and custodial staff, whether it's the administrators and supervisors, whether it's the teachers or the superintendent, those are all part of the budget forecasting process with our business business administrator. So like when when I think all of those contracts are coming due this year or next year, this year and next year. Three of them. Three of them. Three of them. So those have already been factored into budgeting because they have to be right. You have to you can't just plan six months out. This is you know Mr. Jones is the BA is is clearly planning you know the future. So that is all separate
036and aside from everything else. So this it's not like a and and the freeze thing was every super it was a statemandate superintendent freezes on salaries that was under Governor Christie I believe. Um so that was not a one one year. No one was permitted to raise any superintendent salaries. They were capped at 175,000. 175,000. It was scaled down from that based on the size of the district. And that was just to answer your question, that was specifically superintendent of schools, not anyone else in the district. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Yep. Okay. So, we will now move to we have do we have a motion to um resend the existing five-year contract um that expires in June of 2026 and now approve the renew new contract effective July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2030. So
037move Dr. Kowski. Second. Missclair, any comments, questions? Mr. Jones, please call the role. Miss Barb, yes. Miss Bower, yes. Dr. Kowski, yes. Mission, yes. Miss Winkler, yes. Mr. Murray, yes. Motion carries. All right. Now, we will move to uh the first public comment section. So, in accordance with Scotch Plains, Fwood public school bylaw 0164 and 0165, the meeting 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 come to the mic. State your full name in the town in which you reside. Please note, Ford use a public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter into a question
038and answer session or a 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. So, I will now open the first public comment section uh for 15 minutes. So, if you have a public comment, please come to the mic, state your name and the town in which you reside. Michelle Gonzalez, Scotch Plains. Good evening. As is customary in many of our young learners classrooms, as a part of their social emotional learning, students share what is known as a rose and a thorn. I tonight would similarly like to share my rose and thorn. For my rose, I would
039like to express my unwavering support and gratitude for the Orton Gillingham tutoring program that was offered to our students. My daughter was one of those able to take part in those tutoring sessions, and we could not be more grateful. Thank you to Miss Norcross for all of her hard work and dedication in helping our unique learners gain confidence, knowledge, and a sense of a community. Congratulations to all the teachers tonight who have committed their time and completed their training to help aid our children in becoming confident readers. A gift that has immeasurable value. A special thank you to Miss Sher for her outreach and comm and commitment to our students receiving tutoring as well as their families. I can only hope the district will continue with this program at is truly making a difference. After
040my thorn, I could not stand before you without voicing my concern about the impending organizational and staff changes that are being made in the district. With the elimination of the position of social studies supervisor, I am deeply concerned. Noel Baxter plays a crucial role in our children's education. I do not believe it is enough for our teachers and administrators who already have a full plate to now take on the responsibility of ensuring mandated curriculum standards and proficiencies by the state of New Jersey. Furthermore, the SBF district's current strategic plan goals call for inclusive, diverse, and equitable education. With the elimination of the district social studies supervisor, there is no one to ensure both adherence and continuity throughout each grade level and all classrooms. Now, more than ever, in a time where true history is being
041erased, I urge the board to find another way to cut costs. At your last meeting, you witnessed all of your social studies teachers stand and speak in solidarity. Please do not risk being on the wrong side of history. Another change that will surely greatly impact our students is that Dr. Brooke Espazito, the current assistant principal and the assistant principal of innovative studies, is now being moved to Terrell Middle School. Not only are we losing a refreshing female voice for our students amongst other principles and assistant principles at our high school, we are also losing a highly qualified, nurturing, and encouraging leader to our high school students. Someone who I truly believe our students need. Not only that, but Dr. Espazito is the supervisor of the teaching academy at the high school, an innovative program born
042to help produce our next generation of educators. Dr. Espazito has been instrumental in growing this program and helping to guide our students on their journeys toward success. She is hands-on in making sure each student's needs are met, always opening to hearing from her students and collaboration. This year, the second cohort of students have come to love her the same. It would be a great disservice to our students to suddenly have Dr. Espazito taken away. What would this mean to our school? And more importantly, what does this mean for our future educators under her guidance? The students are confused and upset, some of them who are here tonight. It is my hope, as well as many other parents, students, and community members, that the board goes back to the table and finds another way. There is
043still time before this decision is set in stone that will that will impact everyone, and I urge you to take that time to make this right. Thank you. Thank you, [Applause] Mr. Other public comment. Gary Morris, Fanwood. In August 2024, Dr. Mast was interviewed by Mayor Maher about the referendum vote that was to take place the following month. Dr. Mast stated that the schools were a thousand students over capacity and the majority of that increase happened in recent years. That information was not true. In the past 14 years, our district has had an increase of 184 students. That amounts to 13.1 additional students per year. We have ha we have also had 18 classrooms added during that time frame. During the 12 years prior to that, from the 98.99 school year to 2011, there was
044a student enrollment increase of 1,200 students. That amounts to a 100 additional students per year. Do the ends justify the means? One of the most important lessons a child can learn is honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, what went on with the first bond referendum was not honest. It is a violation of ethics to not provide accurate information or to withhold new information about enrollment figures that might not fit the narrative. At what point did you realize enrollment was almost flat for the 2024 school year? I know there was a lot of pressure, but we taxpayers paid good money to a PR firm and we obviously have lawyers working for the district. How could such a breach of ethics happen? Thank you, Mr. Morris. Jasine of Scotchben High School. Good evening. I stand before you as a
045future educator. I'm a part of the force cohort of students to be enrolled in the teaching academy of so teaching academy at Scotch Plains Fairwood High School. Our academy under the guidance of Mrs. Espazito has been a wonderful experience and a great addition to our school. I along with the other members of the academy were met with shock, confusion and hurt to hear the new changes being made to the district. Those proposed changes directly impacting the new change at the new changes of the district. Those proposed changes sorry said things would uproot Miss ZTO from our school as an assistant principal and move her to tail. As if losing her as the only female principal to our school isn't bad enough, it would also uproot her from a role as assistant principal of innovative studies.
046meaning we your future educators will lose her as a supervisor integral piece of our teaching academy. Dr. Espazito is the reason many of us chose to be part of this program. It is her hand in work and dedication that helps this program run dayto-day. If we ever have a problem, we can go to Miss Espazito and she will exalt all avenues to make sure we have a solution. But we don't just go to her with our problems. We go with her with our questions where she opens up in dialogue with her students and will certainly with an answer. Most of us, we've grown to love Miss Espazito. She has a love for her students and her job is that is irreplaceable. These changes leaves us with feeling of uncertainty. What is the path forward? Where
047do we go from here? And what will come of our academy? This is two successful cohorts in that successful impact on part to our her work, but equally so to Dr. Espazito's dedication to her students. We are scared to see this hard work lost. Dr. Espazito cannot be replaced. I beg of you, please find another way forward. We'll never know who is part of the decision-making of this matter, but I can assure they did not think of the implications it would have to our high school on a large scale, but even closer to my heart. The impact will have on our academy. I don't just speak for myself when I say that our hope to the board does the right thing and reverses impending change. It would be a big mistake. [Applause] Good evening everybody.
048Uh I am Ara Arasa Gupta U president of Fanwood. I have a boy who goes to the Park Middle School. I'm sorry the uh the Malcolm Nettingham Middle School in sixth grade. Um today I'm here I'm representing uh a Hindu education foundation. And it's a it's a nonprofit organization and this uh essentially uh what it does is uh it tries to kind of like you know bridge uh the gap and and fosters a kind of like you know connection between the generally the Hindu community raising awareness of the Hindu community in general and also uh supports educational initiatives and particularly supports the the teachers. Now we know this is the uh the teacher appreciation week. Uh so uh the first first week of uh the May that's uh that's the teacher appreciation week. So to
049honor the teacher uh and the uh the teaching of the community and the the service they have been doing uh what uh we do in HF is we uh we have a annual program where we we basically we just uh we call guru vandana which is basically in Sanskrit which means uh salutation salutation to the teachers because uh teachers in our Indian culture they they occupy a very special role uh They are not only our mentors, they are our guides, they are spiritual traditionally like they their spiritual leaders. So in that way teachers play such a vital role that we feel like you know we have something to kind of give them back. So we have been doing this every year and also this year also we'll be we'll be doing this. Um so I
050I invited like you know I asked my son to invite some of the teachers like you know he likes to to come for that that event. Uh other than this also we um we also uh we also uh try to do uh kind of more uh cultural events um to to showcase uh the the the richness and the and the um the the great uh continuity of uh the Hindu culture in in this country. uh especially this I I'm here just to kind of like you know to to give my celebration to the to the teachers and that's primarily my my my role here. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. All right. I'm going to close the first public comment section. There's another one um at the end of the meeting and move
051over to committee reports. Before we do that, if I can just say that the social justice academy, which is um you know designed to grow future teachers, um is is something that has been a very strong district initiative. Mrs. Espazito certainly has done a great deal to to start that program and um you she is still in the district so she will be able to support and advise um the next person who will take the lead in that role. Um but it's really very good to hear those positive accolades about that program. Yeah. Okay. Okay. The curriculum committee did meet last week. We had a number of agenda items. The first was an update on um our partnership with the tri-state consultancy or tri-state consortium of schools. Not sure what people know about the tri-state
052consortium, but it's um a group of high achieving schools in the tri-state area that um work together collaboratively to provide feedback to one another. Um, I like how Dr. McGary described the group as a critical friend. That was good. Um, so they help us consider current practices, identifying future focus areas, and um do periodic visits to the district to offer feedback. In 2023, we re requested the consortium to come assess our literacy instruction supports within our K through2 special education English language arts program. Um, their comprehensive evaluation included consultations with staff, students, parent focus groups, ex and they examined three key areas on the topic. curriculum and instruction, professional development, supervision and evaluation, that was one, and oh, and equitable support for student needs. Um, the consortium returns to the district. Um, okay. So that
053we can share how um we are applying the recommendations. Sorry about that. And over just to fill everybody in, over the last two years since the visit, um we have worked to realign instructional time for each grade level, increased consistency in co-eing at all levels, um evaluated staffing to ensure balance through the district at all levels. Um the district also reconsidered what defines professional development, enhancing professional development for AIDS and varying literacy professional development in terms of instruction, multi-ensory reading and supporting our multilingual learners. Um, more of the consortium's feedback focused on data analysis, examined expectations for district assessments, the communication of expectations of the use of the data for instructors, and next steps will be communicating to stakeholders including teachers, the board, parents about the tri-state feedback from that visit, empowering teachers to use
054data, transparency related to professional development, connecting the offering ings uh with our strategic plan analyzing fiscal constraints, reducing multi-grade um pullout resource classes, increasing planning time and analysis of instructional materials. So the visit was a couple years ago, but we're still working on the feedback. The second agenda item was an update from Dr. Hines on the senior project, which has been revamped this year. U Dr. Hines and the supervisor and administrative team were able to get together and revamp the senior project um in order to enhance it in terms of of learning, service to the community and accountability. So this year the senior project will take place four weeks from mid June mid May I'm sorry to June with each student having to dedicate at least 25 hours per week for the duration of those
055four weeks and during the last week students complete a final presentation. Students have to submit applications um and in order to participate they they have to meet certain uh criteria of of grades behavior and attendance. Um something also new is participating students are divided into cohorts of six students with a faculty leader and they must prevent present a formal proposal with a signature from a parent and a project mentor and then throughout the duration of senior project they will meet ongoing for discussions within their cohorts. So the enhanced senior project structure provides graduating students with authentic learning experiences beyond the classroom which connects with our strategic plan. It also helps students develop critical workplace skills, fosters community connections, and creates a meaningful transition from high school to whatever students next steps are. For our districts,
056it strengthens partnerships with local organizations while showcasing our students capabilities and accomplishments to the wider community. Dr. Hines also provided the committee an update on restorative practices. Um, Dr. Dr. Hines has instituted restorative practices at the high school and informed us that more than 20 staff members have undergone the training offered by the New Jersey State Bar Association. In order to have large scale s large-scale success, a full school awareness is important. So, um all the staff are being trained at monthly staff meetings um in addition to those trained um who got the intensive training from the state bar association. Um Dr. Dr. Hines is working on implementation of the program's three tiers which involve relationship building, response to conflict, and supportive re-entry. And we've already seen a real change in um in discipline practices
057throughout the district. That's really exciting. The next agenda item was about Holocaust education and there are a number of initiatives um that are happening within our district. Um the first is survivor stories and this integrates with a grade six English language arts unit and involved assemblies with family members of Holocaust survivors and linking it to current day events tying in themes such as being an upstander not a bystander and the complexity of uh power and ethics. Um, another initiative which I talked about I believe in my last curriculum report because it's it's still underway is the second and third generation Holocaust survivors program. Um, this is a program offered to fourth graders in our elementary schools. Um, which aligns with a historical fiction unit. And the speakers um it's again um speakers who represent families
058of Holocaust survivors who will explain um their famil family's experiences in a developmentally appropriate way to the fourth graders. And again um I think there's one more elementary school left. Okay. And the third initiative is called is hate ends now cattle car which is coming to Scotch Plains Fanwood on uh May 12th coming to the high school and grade nine students will be able to visit the cattle car. Um the cattle car is an interactive exhibit which is an actual cattle car that replicates what was used to transport Jews to concentration camps. Um so um students will have an opportunity to to visit that cattle car which will be on the campus and the exhibit will also feature historical artifacts from from the Holocaust that they'll be able to see. And the last agenda item
059was about Apple classroom implementation, which is um a teacher tool that is now being used to allow teachers to actually see the screens of all of their students iPads on their screen. So teachers have control to either help students open apps or maybe close apps that the students should not have open thereby limiting distraction um and keeping students on task during class. So we had a very um busy meeting and um that's it. Thank you. Any questions? Any other committee reports? Okay. Letters to the board. There was none in the past two weeks. Uh, see, superintendent. So, I move the move that the Scotch Plains Board of Education approves the out of district BSY for 25 and the school year for 2526 placements as as listed. And two, I move that the board of education
060approves the 14 HIP cases discussed in the April 24th um executive session. Three of those 14 were found to be HIP and the memorandum of agreement um between [Music] Y. Yeah, this is a me memorandum of agreement between Scotch Princewood and Kain University. Um Kain University has graciously offered to uh provide our teachers at no cost um two graduate level courses next year teaching the Holocaust and prejudice reduction courses right here at our own school. Do you want to do personel and moving on to personnel? I move that the board approves the personnel report that was discussed in exec. Do we have a motion? So move. Dr. Kowski, do we have a second? Second. Miss Barv, any comments or questions? Mr. Jones, can you please call the role? Miss Barbie? Yes. Miss Bower? Yes. Dr.
061Kolcowski? Yes. Miss Yriani? Yes. Miss Winkler? Yes. Mr. Murray? Yes. Motion carries. move over to business functions. That's me. That's you. That is me. Okay. Uh number number one, staff training. Number two, related services. Uh number three is the EF grants that were uh talked about tonight. Number four is athletic bids. So these are uh athletic equipment. We put all of that out to public bid to get us the lowest cost possible. Five is negotiating services. As we uh we mentioned, we're doing three contracts this year, this uh coming this month, next two months, and that's going to be teamsters, our principles, and our supervisors. So, very busy. Uh number six is a renewal of our dental insurance. Seven is strategic plan. Eight is our annual safety grant. Nine is the lunch balance reduction I
062mentioned in my opening. 10 is purchase of iPads that we purchase on a cycle. U and number 11 is fire drills. Any comments or questions? Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? Mr. McLar. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Um no minutes for this meeting. New poor business. Leaison reports. No leaison reports. Workshops. No workshops. Okay. All right. Second public comment section. In accordance with Scotchbian's Fanwood public school bylaw 0164 and 0165. This meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment. 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. Speak. Speakers, please come to the mic, state your full name in the town in which you reside. Excuse me.
063Please note, boards use public comment as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns. Do not 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 meeting 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 the second and final public comment section for 15 minutes. If you have a public comment, please come forward and to your to the mic and state your name in the town in which you reside. Gary Morris Fanwood. Um, as some of you know may know, uh, my daughter is a currently a a middle school math teacher.
064um and she almost missed that calling if you will. She landed up going started with nursing and during the pandemic things happened and she shifted to to teaching. Um one of the things I I really think we should consider is the the social justice teacher academy just making it Scotch Plains Fanwood teacher academy. um not every student is interested in social justice as a teacher and I think if you wanted that as a subgroup of the teacher academy that's fine but putting it in the name there's just some kids that may not be interested in that uh based on it being social justice because social justice is very subjective everybody has a different opinion of what social justice is and I'm afraid that something like that whoever is leading it will tend to guide the
065kids towards what they believe social justice ICE is so again I think it would be great if uh to you know make it a bigger umbrella a bigger table so that all kids feel welcome to become teachers like I said my daughter almost missed it and man if you see this kid teach you'll know she was born to teach and and it this close to missing it so I I don't want that to happen for another kid I I I think we should make it as welcoming as possible and having a name in front of it just make it scotch Plains Fanwood Teacher Academy. I think that would be this would be a perfect time to make that change. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Mor. Other public comments. Okay, seeing none, I will
066close that portion. Upcoming meetings. So we have May 20th is staff and student recognitions and staff is at 3:30, students at 7 and Wednesday, June 18th is the final public board meeting of the school year. All right, I'm going to move to the good of the order and I will start with um it's with great sadness that I need to um publicly announce that Amy Winkler has decided that she needs to resign from the the board unfortunately and very sad for all of us. Amy's been with the board for 15 years. Um she's contributed in pretty much every way, shape or form. She's um the heartbeat of the board and I've learned a tremendous amount from her in my tenure. Um we're definitely going to miss her. Her commitment is second to none for this
067community and for for the students and staff of this district. So, I just want to personally thank you, Amy, and we're going to miss you. I know everybody else will uh as well. Um and unfortunately, um you know, by you leaving leaves a little bit of a hole, but you know, I know your your heart is just, you know, still with us. So, thank you. Um, and just for public record, we have a board policy around this which we will be communicating out that we will be reaching out to the public to replace Amy's term, remainder of this year and then um filling the remainder of her term, right? Because this you have she's up this year. Oh, you're done this year. Okay. So, she's up. So, so it'll be to fill from now until
068the end of the year. um a Fanwood resident. So, more more to come to be communicated once we have, you know, uh more time to put that out there, but we're trying to convince Amy to stay, but So, thank you. Anybody else's go? Um, so I was figuring back 15 years. I think that's like 2009. And um there have been uh one of the challenges of being on the board is there there are good times and bad times, hard decisions. And um I I want to thank Amy on behalf of all the parents who don't know the kinds of things that she did behind the scenes. And uh I also want to thank her for uh her collegiality. And um I I just happened it just happened to fall out of my notebook today. We
069were at a women's leadership conference uh in April. She is she goes above and beyond. I think she's earned every award the schoolboard association gives over these years and um is and participates in every kind of extra opportunity uh to learn and to do the best on behalf of the students in Scotch Plains Vanwood and I'm going to miss her. Thank you for your service to the community Amy. It's absolutely incredible and you have an encyclopedic knowledge of school boardsmanship. If if I ask you a question, you will go back like 10 years with a president of you know, you are a policy guru and I appreciate everything that you've you've taught me as well. So, I've known Amy like when my nephew and her son were together in school. And I realized yesterday that
070I started teaching in the district when you became a board member. Now I'm a board member and you're leaving us. But but thank you for everything, Amy. Always. I have another just good of the order. The Moowers won the state finals on Sunday. I was Sunday. Saturday. Saturday. I think I was able to be there and they were just amazing. So, you know, thank you, Mr. Thomas. Thank you. The kids were working so hard all of last week leading up and it it really paid off. So, thank you. Oh, and Oh, yeah. Sorry. Please be careful of drop off. It is treacherous out there. So, you know, hold your kids hands, please. Just just back to Amy for a moment. Um, a Amy has um really been just uh the type of board member that
071will always challenge you, will always ask you the difficult questions. U she reads absolutely everything and not only will that generate the questions that she asks, but she will also edit it. Um she she is like expert in punctuation and she doesn't miss anything. Um but her her love of the district um you know it it started with through through the lens of her own student her own children. Um but from that lens she just has cared about all of our kids here in Scotch Plains family and they will be very big shoes to fill. I'd like to say something. I wrote it down because I'm not good off the cuff. It would not be good if I did this off the cuff. Um, it's been my honor and privilege to serve the SPF community
072for over 15 years in my position as a board member. It wasn't an easy decision for me to step down um as I take my board responsibilities really seriously and I don't want to betray the trust the community has given me for so many years. Uh to my fellow board members and to uh those who served with me previously, it's not only been an honor to serve with you all but also a pleasure to get to know you as individuals. You're obviously driven not just by the education, but especially the well-being of all of our students. It's a tough job making decisions that are not always popular. Uh but you always keep the focus on what's best for our students. Uh the hours of work you put in and the dedication you have is really
073just incredible. Um, I've attended trainings and workshops and conferences all across the state and and I've been so incredibly grateful that our board members take this as seriously as we do. Um, and we don't bring our personal politics to the table when making decisions for the district, which is uncommon around the state. Uh, our community is so very lucky to have a board like this one. Uh we stand out as one of the more functional boards in the state and it's because of your deep commitment to our students first and foremost. Uh thank you for your professionalism and thank you for your friendship. Uh to Dr. Mass, Dr. McGarry, Mr. Jones, and the rest of the administrators I've worked with both past and present. Uh thank you for your guidance, your advice, your openness to
074suggestions and ideas, your creativity, uh your avid collaboration with the board and and also your friendship. Uh your leadership has kept us focused and moving forward in both smooth sailing and turbulent waters. And thank you for your genuine commitment to our students. Um to to all of you, I I've learned from each of you and grown in so many ways through this work. Um, it's difficult work and it's often thankless, but it's also really, really gratifying. Um, I'll miss it quite a bit, but I know I can always swing by a board meeting on Thursday night when, you know, I have nothing to do and keep tabs on what's going on and say hello. And you can always reach out to me um if you need a sounding board or advice or just an ear.
075And thank you all for everything. Anyone else for the good of the order? I do. I I just want to acknowledge teacher appreciation week and say thank you for to all the teachers and the Orton Gillingham uh presentation was just an example of how all of our instructors go above and beyond in different ways. and my daughter is one of the students suffering through AP tests over the next week. And um I'm just just all the teachers go so above and beyond with extra study sessions and giving up their lunches, you know, to help the students prepare. And I know that's not um unusual in our district that all of the teachers, excuse me, um do such things. So just thank you to the to the teachers for everything that you do and the PTA.
076Oh yeah, I was just going to say and the PTA. And the PTA, of course. for all for all they do, but also just teacher appreciation week seems to be quite crazy around the district. So, oh, and Dr. Moss, I've been meaning to say the um the the letters people have been able to send to their like their teachers, past, present, it's been so wonderful to read them online. Um I don't know if everyone knows, but there's a link that you can fill in, you know, letters to individual teachers, and I've just I've been stalking the things to see all of them. And just to to let you know, we will be also sending a hard copy of those letters. So so teachers, if they've missed it on social media, they they will recognize tagging
077the ones that I I'm friends with. Make sure you see this. I I was going to say something like Stephanie about teacher appreciation and PTA. I think tonight we're ending on a focus of uh going above and beyond. Um and certainly Amy has done that. I think our teachers, as Stephanie mentioned, do that as well. And certainly PTA and nobody's busier than parents. Uh so we thank all the PTA and you can pass it on to those who weren't here uh for all that you do. I just want to um give a shout out. There's a few boosters in the back of the of the room. You know who you are. Um this is the last week of the second year of our grant-f funded SPF boost program. And so we've had a really wonderful
078cadri of teachers working um diligently with um fifth and sixth grade students over the last nine weeks. And I just want to thank those who are here in the back row and and those who are watching. Oh, and one final thing. We're gonna miss you, Mac, but we'll see you at graduation. Unless you come June 18th. June. Thank you so much for the gift, but I'll be in June. Goodbye. [Laughter] All right. Great. Well, thank you very much. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? Second, Miss Dr. Kokowski. All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you, everybody. like a picture of me.