001Please. >> 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. >> Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the South River Board of Education regular meeting of Monday, December 15th, 20125. In compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act, chapter 231, laws of 1975 of the state of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting of the South River Board of Education was provided in the following manner. On January 15, 2025, the notice was delivered to the office of the South River Burough Clerk and posted at the Board of Education Administration building. On January 15th, 2025, the notice was fast mailed to the following newspapers. The Home News Tribune, the Star Ledger. On January 15,
002the notice was posted at the South River Federal Clerk's Office. >> Mr. Parton, would you please pull the role? >> Yes. Mr. Basak >> here. >> Mr. Buzz >> here. >> Miss Bush >> here. >> Miss L >> here. >> Mr. N >> here. >> Mr. Moto >> here. >> Miss Sidowski >> here. >> Miss Young >> here. >> And Mrs. >> here. She >> here. >> You have report. >> Thank you board members. Our first item of business um is the minutes of the preceding meeting. Mr. Parton, would you like to uh go over those for us? >> Yes, you have the premereing minutes of November 13, 2025 and a regular meeting minutes of November 17th, 2025. >> Okay. These will be approved under consent resolution. But right now, do any board members have
003any questions, comments, or edits to these minutes? Okay, moving on. We have a use of facilities report, Mr. Parton. >> Yes, you have several use of facilities this month. You have numbers 858, 861, 937, 938, 966, 967, 975, 976, 979, 983, 990, 9991, and 993. >> Okay. Thank you. Board members, do you have any questions or comments on these use of facilities? >> I need to abstain from number 858, please. >> 858 as wellain when we come to the All right. Anyone else comments? Thank you. Our next item of business are the financial report. Miss Low, >> thank you. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby certifies that it is in receipt of the financial report which indicates that no major account has been overextended and that sufficient funds are available to meet
004the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. The finance committee recommends that the reports of the secretary the board secretary of the chart of school monies for October 2025 be approved this evening. Thank you. >> And we'll be under consent. Yes, that will. Okay, perfect. >> Thank you. Are there any questions on the um financial report at this time as well? >> Thank you. At this time, we're going to turn the meeting over to our superintendent, Dr. Zer. Would you please? >> Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Orani. >> All right. Um, this month is really dedicated to some reminders for our community members and parents. Um, please be mindful of the district calendar as we have some breaks um, coming up as well as early release days. And please also be mindful of
005winter weather updates. Um, we ask families to please make sure that we have their latest and most accurate contact information so that you can be aware of all those updates. We send updates and changes about the weather through our text messaging, phone, and email system. We also post it on our district website on the front page and we also post on our social media pages. That is the most accurate information. We ask parents to rely on those resources and those only. If we don't send out a message, that means school is in session. So, please um there's no need to reach out to ask us what the plans are. If we have not contacted you through one of those measures, then uh school is in session in regular session as expected and as per our
006calendar. I also want to remind parents we have some parent resources and materials um for any new families posted on our district website and I've included some information about that which will be posted in my monthly report and I encourage everyone to please stay connected. One update that's not in this superintendent report that just came to my attention this morning. We did receive notice that lawmakers have moved forward a bill. Um it is not a finalized or approved bill yet, but they have moved forward a bill to um eliminate and require boards of education to come up with policy on eliminating devices, personal devices and cell phones in schools. Um we expect that that legislature will pass and we expect that we will have to have some policies and some changes in place for the
007upcoming school year. So, that's something that the board um and the administration will have to work on for the remainder of this school year. Again, that's that's pretty um pretty short to pass in the next month or so. Um so, I will keep you updated as well as our families and students on that. And then also, please look at our social media pages. They are full of different activities that our students have been participating in um this month just with the spirit of giving, the spirit of the holidays. We just had our um breakfast with Santa this past weekend which was a huge success like it always is and we were lucky that the weather didn't get in our way um for that event. Um but there are many events in all of our schools.
008do post them on social media and I encourage our families to please take a look and see the great things that our kids are doing. And for the rest of my report, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Crouch who's our director of student services and he is going to cover with you the period two of our student safety data system report. Thank you, Mr. Crouch. Thank you. As Dr. Zerser had just said, um I'm going to be going over the period 2 reporting for the SSDS uh student sic data system. So this is if we're looking at the window of January 25th, 2025 through June 2025. So basically in the last school year. So there are going to be sections A through D versus the districtwide training programs followed by our our primary
009school data, elementary school data, middle school data and high school data. And also we have the addition of the PLC as well. So in total in the last window we had 37 HIP trainings and we had 60 HIP programs related programs programs that were going to help reduce bullying practices and try and educate the students as well as trainings for our staff and our members of our community. Um okay sorry the ELC numbers look a little bit little bit skewed but um it ends up that LC in period 2 uh ended up having eight hit programmings and one hip training and good to know that we have no incidents of hip or any other removals in that grade level. At the primary school we had one incident that was move that with was of of
010a hip in the first quarter but in the second quarter we had none. And then you can see that we've had in the last quarter uh one hit training and we had eight hit programs in the ES. We went we stayed the same with nine uh hips other instances six which stayed the same. We did have one extra lay in for the ES in the second period but we had eight trainings as well as 10 programs. For the middle school, we ended up having the same number, eight and eight, which was in the first and the second half. And then as far as trainings go, we had no trainings, but we had five programs that ran from the middle school in the second half of the year. At the high school, uh the numbers are
011a bit more drastic. uh we went from three incidents uh to 21 at the end of the school year in regard in in reporting period two. We also had um 11 to 25 for other incidences that were be leading to removal aka suspension or removal from school or in school suspension. any of those fall underneath that category. We had three hip trainings and we had eight hip programs in the in that in the I'm sorry in the in the high school. How are we trying to address all this? Well, every one of the buildings is having monthly supports. So, in every one of every one of our buildings in the district right now, there are programs running each month for all the students to participate in and try and learn how not to bully, harass,
012give each other a hard time. Um, we're trying to bring in more community sources to work with that and get families to work with us as well to try and reduce numbers. We have um support services from our sack, our student assistance counselor who has been working diligently with students needs. We continue to use the services of effective school solutions and Robert's Behavioral Health Center. Um we have two full-time clinicians that are working with us in the middle and the high school number two and tier two and tier 2 three. um tier two or tier three modes of of helping the students out. And then we also are running, as you guys are well aware, the Aspire program, which seems to be going quite well. We continue to offer Care Solace, which you guys are
013well aware of, and we're actually getting quite a bit of use out of that. At this time, uh we have a large number of students and families who are being resourced to that and are finding the assistance that they need instead of just having to go through the local community services that we also offer to them. Uh we have restorative community service and restorative community service is still growing. I find it to be an incredibly successful program for the district where students instead of receiving punitive punishment find time to work with the community and work together to try and build that connection. You get that connection then you're less likely to be aggressive or unpleasant with people around you. Um although it's not reported in this restored community service has recently extended itself and they're
014now running a program called ramply which is really awesome. It's a way for people who are suffering from food insecurity right now to be able to have that especially in the holiday season and the reaction of the students who were in trouble for something but that did help out with it was amazing. They found so much joy and they really did make that connection. So there is something to be said for what we're doing with that for sure. Um we also have the therapy dog program which comes through. We are continuing to work with hipster so that we can track things and we're using that and put up data to try and figure out how we can better serve our students through the changes and the initiatives that we have here. And then we um
015and then we also that's that's really the biggest things that we're doing and if you guys have any kinds of questions I will happily try to answer them as rationally as I can. Otherwise that's all she wrote. Any questions from any of the board members or comments? >> No. Thank you, Mr. Crouch. >> I just wanted to say to everyone, I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Thank you very much for having >> Same to you, sir. >> Thank you. You too. >> That Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zer. There any other comments or questions on the superintendence report that will also be under our consent resolution? At this time, um, we are now going to open up the meeting for the reception of visitors. And this is so the public may address agenda
016items only. There will be an opportunity later on in the meeting for the public to address other items that may be of concern for the board. This is for agenda items only. And if you do come up, please state your name and address. And please keep your comments limited to 10 minutes. So this is for first call, for second call, and for third call. Seeing none, we're going to move on with our board meeting. And our next report is buildings and grounds. Vice President Nielsen. >> Thank you, Madam President. There is one, if I can get my finger under the paper. Buildings and Grounds Committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendations for content recommends approval of the item 6.1 with no additional items in the agenda as listed including
017routine items. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Our athletics and extracurricular Mr. Gooden agenda. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh finance miss. >> Thank you so much. Um so the agenda includes approval to apply for and accept grant funding including coach literacy grant for this year. Multiple contracts and agenda were authorized to support professional development, special education services, bilingual evaluations, staffing, assemblies, and student activities such as uh music licensing and prom transportation. Uh facilities and security improvements are also being approved, including classroom flooring, HVAC system upgrades, door and window replacements, um and engineering services for the main parking area. So, additional items include tuition contracts with neighboring districts, non-public security grant purchase, and our usual tax requisition and line item transfers. So the finance committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation
018of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 8.1 through 8.22 with additional item 8.23 on the agenda as listed including routine items and that is all I have for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you Misswell. anything from the board members from our finance committee? >> Our instruction committee, Miss Bush. >> Sure. So, before I talk about this evening's agenda, just an update from Dr. Travisana. Um, we've been very busy in the world of instruction. Um, it's that time of the year, so we are planning for course offerings for next school year. The program of study, trying to be very mindful with the New Jersey Department of Education and their updates that they are rolling out for us for graduation requirements and the science for NJSLS science requirements. Um, we are also looking at professional
019development for the month of December and the AI district team is preparing for PD for January. Um and we have the planning for the grade 5 overnight camp um mason trip for late April is also in the works. So that is all that has been happening behind the scenes. But for this month, we have the instruction and we did meet earlier this afternoon just to say that the instruction committee met just before this meeting. But the instruction committee after the review of all items on this month's agenda and upon review of the upon the recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of items 9.1 through 9.4 with no additional items on the agenda as listed in routine including routine items. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Miss Bush. report members anything for the instruction committee.
020>> Thank you. There are no items under negotiation. We are now going to ask Mr. Auday about policy and legislation. The policy and legislation committee after review for all items in this month's agenda upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the item 11 to1 with no additional items on the agendas listed including the two items. That is all. >> Thank you. Anything on policy and legislation from the board members? >> Thank you. Human resources, Mr. Ba. >> Thank you, Mr. Mack. The human resources committee have to review all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 12.1 through 12.8 with additional item 12.9 on the agenda as listed including routine items. >> Are there any questions regarding human resources? >> Seeing none, Miss Sidowski, would you
021please report on safety and risk management? Thank you. The safety and risk management committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation, the superintendent recommends approval of items 13.1 through 13.3 with no additional items on the agenda as listed, including routine items. >> Thank you. Anything from the board members for our safety and risk management items? Miss Yao, our residency committee. >> Thank you. The residency committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon the recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the item 14.1 with no additional item on the agenda as including routine items. Okay. Are there any comments from the board members or our residency committee? Okay. Seeing none at this time we are going to go to our consent resolution. Mr. >> Yes. The southern
022board of education by means of the consent resolution adopt various resolutions of routine and non-controversial nature at one time whereas the below listed resolutions are hereby adopted by said board in whole as if the same were individually acted upon. We will have under secretary of the board 2.1 through 2.3 noting Miss Le's abstension on facilities number 858 under superintendent of schools 3.1 and 3.2 Buildings and Grounds 6.1 finance 81 through 823 including the addition instruction 91 through 94 policy and legislation 111 human resources 121 through 129 including the addition safety and risk management 131 through 133 and residency number 14.1. >> Thank you. Is there a motion? >> Neielson. >> Motion by Vice President Neielson. Second. >> Is there a second by Sowski? >> Any questions on any of the items? Last chance. >> Okay.
023All in favor? >> I >> Thank you. Consent resolution passes. Our school board burough council lia is on committee. Vice President Nielsen. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh Mr. Dantis did reach out to me today and ask if there's anything to report. Um, I told him about our January 5th 5:15 at night reorganization meeting and he will make that known to the public on his end. Other than that, we have nothing else to report. >> Thank you. Our PTA liaison, Mudowski, >> thank you. Um, primary school PTA is hosting a family name the end of January. Um, elementary school PTA just had their holiday um u gift shop. holiday shop last week and as always they are planning for an end of school year activities ready days and moving up ceremonies and that's all I
024have. >> Thank you. Our South River Public Library liaison, Mr. Buden, the library decorated for Christmas and I asked everyone to go up there and take a look at it this uh on the December 18th sign up for us will be visiting the library at 6:30. That's all. >> Thank you. That is exciting. Our student board representative, Mr. Sun. >> Thank you. Um I'd like to say that especially what Mr. Crouch was doing um how he gave the whole presentation on how we're dealing with mental health and bullying problems. There was um one thing that he talked about how there's like a whole um new organization that you guys made where if there is somebody who did commit something that they weren't supposed to in the first place rather than kind of giving them a
025sense of punishment, you gave them an opportunity to connect with the community so they can actually find themselves, better themselves and with that they're able to reflect on it. So I thought that that was really awesome and I love what our school especially the high school has been doing regarding mental health. Like for example um I'm a part of the mental health club like break change to mind and through that we've been working on different initiatives to bring more awareness to mental health and for that one of the activities we did was we brought service dogs into the school and that was so cool. Everybody absolutely adored it and I think that all these all these activities that we were coming up together to bring the mental comfort to bullying it's been making a difference
026on students I see as a student myself and regarding like all the fun events that different clubs have been working like the national honor society breakfast event I am also part of that and I thought it was a great time you know for everybody to get together come up with donations from different businesses and really just get together and do a bunch of good while still having fun and we were still able to benefit so many families here. So just once again I'm really happy with what we're doing as a community at South. Thank you. >> Thank you for those good words. >> We don't hear all that often. >> It's a great great report. Thank you. That does Vice President Nielson said it means a lot to us up in. Thank you very much.
027Is there any old or new business to come before the board at this time? And do we have an attorney's report, Mr. Pardon? >> Yes. Just briefly, the the cell phone legislation does look like it's coming. It will be effective for the 26 27th school year. Uh it's not here yet, but it will be. The consolidation of school districts push is coming again. Also, uh whether or not that becomes legislation, whether this goes to the DOE or what, we will see. You're a comprehensive K12 school district. You're probably safe. people like Miltown and Spotswood not so much but there's going to be another round of that coming to us depending on whether the governor prioritizes so many tractions and we'll talk session about >> Thank you Mr. department. >> The payment of bills. Miss L.
028>> Thank you. >> The finance committee recommends that all bills presented having been certified by the school business administrator board secretary be paid as listed. And I so move. >> We have a motion by Ms. Well, second by Vice President Neielson. Anyone need to abstain on any of the payment of bills or any questions? >> All in favor? I. Okay. So now at this time we are once again going to open up the meeting to the public and this is the time that the public may address any concern or comment that they have for the board. Uh we ask that you please come to the podium, speak into the mic, state your name and address and please keep your comments to a 10minute time limit. And that is on first call. Yes. >> I am
029Isaiah Williams. I'm a junior at South Ever High School. I live at 126 Avenue and I come to this meeting to pose a petition to amend the student drugs code. This all stemmed from an incident that occurred on November 17th, 2025. I had just gotten a cornrows and I was wearing a do-rag for restricting my hair. At the time, I was unaware of the rules against do-aggs. And when I was confronted and denied to take it off, it resulted in me being sent home on that Monday and having ISS in school suspension for the rest of that week, November 18th, November 21st. Not only was I losing valuable school time, but I was taken out of class for something I needed for my hair. This started me on my path of education about the dress
030code, finding out that it hasn't been changed since 2017 and that there were plans to change it in 2023, but nothing was ever put into effect. Alongside with my experience, I want to emphasize that this petition is is about improving the dress code for all students, not just one situation. The current dress code has not been changed or updated since 2017. And in that time, rules have began to reflect less and less on modern student life, current fashion trends, and the needs of our diverse school community. South River is known for prioritizing our community. And I feel like our rule should reflect such. The goal of these proposed amendments is to create a dress code that's clear, fair, culturally aware, and focused on student success. I feel that several areas of the policy would benefit
031from revision, and the students signing this petition do. One of my first points is clearer definitions of what is allowed and what isn't allowed at the beginning of the year. Having some sort of assembly or meeting to inform students upon the dress code and the code of conduct in general. My second point is modernizing standards allow acknowledging current fashion trends and the reality of how students dress today. A lot of the complaints that I had while po like putting this petition out and getting signatures was how strictly the rules are on girls dress code with spaghetti straps and everything like that because that has become a societal norm. And number three is guidelines that respect cultural practices as in my situation with the do-rag um while keeping the school still keeping the school a safe
032environment. Number four is a more supportive enforcement approach when it comes to the dress code specifically prioritizing communication and correction over removing students from class or issuing harsh consequences. Number five, which is more of a restatement, but a more structured system of student input like a student dress code advisory committee or quarterly forms that allow students to directly uh directly convey how they feel about the rules that are affecting them. And um these changes will help to create a dress code that supports learning, respects individuality, and avoids unnecessary disruptions to students education. Establishing an ongoing student voice in the policy would allow South to stay upto-date and connected the students it serves and allow rules it puts in place to affect students in a way that the students want as well. >> That's all I
033have to say. >> Thank you. petition. >> Um, it's all in the notebook right here if you'd like for me to leave it somewhere. >> Um, or you can give your >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. And is there anyone else from the public wishing to address the board at this time? >> On first call, on second call, and on third call. this public portion is now closed. I'm sorry, Dr. Zer, did you want to reply to any of that? >> No, I'll take a look at the petition and and then um schedule the meeting or we'll go from there. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. My apologies. Um at this time, the board is going into executive session. So be it resolved that pursuant to sections seven and eight of
034the open public meetings act the following subjects be discussed at a session of the board of education close to the public and that is personnel. It is presently anticipated that the items to be discussed in close session can be disclosed to the public when resolved. Is there a motion? >> Neielen. >> Motion by Vice President Neielen. >> Second. Second by Miss Saddowski. All in favor? >> Thank you. Going into