001I 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. Okay. Good evening and welcome to the South River Board of Education regular meeting of Thursday, September 25th, 2025. In accordance 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 faxed, mailed to the following newspapers: Home News Tribune, The Star Ledger. And on January 15, 2025,
002the notice was posted at the South River Burough Clerk's office. Mr. Rosa, would you please call the role? >> Mr. Basak. >> Mr. Bzac has been excused. >> Mr. Budson >> here. >> Mrs. Bush >> here. >> Mrs. Laauo >> here. >> Mr. Nielsen >> here. >> Mr. Anmudaway >> here. >> Mrs. Saddowski >> here. >> Mrs. Yong Yao >> here. >> Mrs. Urbanic >> here. Miss Shiza Hussein >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Hey, our first item on tonight's agenda are the minutes of the meeting. Mr. Rosa, >> no additions from our premeating. >> Okay. So, board members, what is your pleasure on the August 18, 2025 regular meeting minutes? >> Move the reading of the minutes. Is there a second on that motion? >> Second. >> We have a
003motion by Vice President Nielsen and a second by Miss Saddowski. Are there any questions on it? All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is the use of facilities. Mr. Rosa. >> So, we have some additions. It's uh number 9007, number 912, number 921, number 922, and number 924. >> Okay, thank you board members. Any questions on those additions? >> Yes, I would like to abstain from facility use number 856 and number 901, please. >> Noted. >> So noted. Any other questions? Is there a motion? Neielson move the use of facilities in accordance with board policies. >> There is a motion by Vice President Nielsen. Is there a second? >> Second by Mrs. Lel. All in favor? >> So carried. Financial report. Miss Low. >> Thank you. Be it
004resolved that the board of education hereby certifies that it is in receipt of the financial report which indicates that no major account has been overexpended and that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. The finance committee recommends that the revised reports of the board secretary and treasurer of school monies for June 2025 be approved and I so move. >> We have a motion by Miss Low. Second. >> And we have a second by Vice President Nielsen. Are there any questions on the financial report? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. At this time, we're going to turn the meeting over to the superintendent of schools for her report, Dr. Zer. >> Yes. Thank you. Um today we had an unexpected uh
005incident when we had to um evacuate our middle and uh elementary schools due to a fire alarm uh going off and uh it was raining. We took our elementary school to the high school and we took our middle school to the ELC. And I really just have to commend our students and our staff. They did a tremendous job. um just really following instructions, following directions, getting there quickly, waiting to hear for direction, and then returning um as quickly as we could once the building was clear and just really resuming their activities for the day. They did a wonderful job and we moved, you know, over 1,200 students in a short amount of time and um and they were excellent. And thank you also to the ELC and the high school uh because they had to
006readjust a bit in order to give us that space and um they did a tremendous job as well supporting the other two schools. So thank you for that. So we have had um some some unexpected occurrences this year uh to the start of our school year but really a lot of positive energy um a real clear sense of purpose for both staff and students. we've been noticing um had a wonderful homecoming. We have a homecoming dance coming up that's uh hosted by our our parent group. Um really a well attended event and um just a lot of great things going on throughout the district. Our newest addition, our educational annex is almost ready to open and um really we're we're welcoming 45 additional prek students uh that will be attending that school. So, we're really
007uh excited to open that up. Our back to school nights um most of them have taken place. We have two more coming up. Um but we invite and encourage our parents to really attend these events. We have some literacy nights coming up, a lot of other parent um events that will be exciting. So, please be on the lookout in our eams for that. Uh our website has received some upgrades. We have a new um AI page which is now live and available. This dedicated page outlines our guiding principles and beliefs about the use of AI. Uh we know that it is very much in our lives and using it safely and responsibly is is a priority for the district. So there are parent resources uh on this page as well. So we encourage our parents
008to please visit the page and um and learn more about how we are using AI in school. And we also have a new contact us feature. Um we have uh really enhanced this contact us feature to where parents can select which school or department they need to communicate with and the message that they send will automatically be routed to that specific department and school. Therefore making that communication that much easier and accessible for our parents. There's also a a translate feature on our website and parents can certainly translate their message and send it to us in their preferred language as well. And we uh anticipate being able to return uh those messages and provide a response within 24 hours. So, we really encourage parents to um to be able to use that uh that feature.
009Um I will let Mrs. Bush talk about Dr. Visano's uh report and our other departments have also included their report as attached to my uh superintendent update. And just as a reminder to the community, each month the superintendent report, including all of the reports from the department, are posted on the superintendent's page. Uh so if you missed every anything, missed a meeting, you can certainly access it there. And so concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Zer. Do any board members have any questions or comments on the superintendence report? The report will be approved under the consent resolution. At this time, the board is going to open the meeting to the public where you may address agenda items only. There will be a public portion toward the end of the meeting where you may
010address items that are of interest to the board. If you'd like to address agenda items at this time, >> please come to the podium, >> state your name and address and keep your comments to a 10-minute time limit. >> My name is Norman Shinberg. I live at 24 New Street. Um, I just saw the new building, the uh education annex. I guess things are going on that I'm unaware of. It's a pretty big and nice building. Uh, could you tell me what it's being used for? >> It is being used for prek. because I just came in, I didn't hear everything. >> Um, you also have that other big um pre-fabricated structures I think that are being used for prek as well. Correct. >> Uh, that's our uh early learning center. Yes, >> that's prek
011as well. >> It is. >> So, this is just more space for prek. >> Correct. >> There's nothing fundamentally different. >> No. >> Okay. The only question. >> Thank you. Are there any other members of the public wishing to address agenda items at this time? on first call, on second call and on third call. This public portion is now closed. Uh we will move on to other items in our agenda. Uh the first item under president of the board is a statement that I would like to read and it reads as follows. Uh the board has thoroughly reviewed a recent personnel issue with the superintendent and our legal counsel. At this time the majority decision of the board is to not take action. Rather, we have directed the central and building level administrative teams to
012implement all necessary and appropriate educational supports to ensure success for our students and maximize performance and success for all involved staff. The superintendent and board will be closely monitoring this matter moving forward. Thank you. At this time, we're going to move on to our committee reports. Mr. Budsen, >> there's nothing on the agenda, but I was like the superintendent said homecoming was this weekend, and I congratulate all the people that came out to watch the parade and the people that worked on the floats. They were very well done. So far, our soccer girls soccer team is undefeated. And that's that's a plus. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Uh the next committee, buildings and grounds. Vice President Nielsen. >> Uh nothing to report, Madam President, but again like Dr. Zer said, Mr. Johnson's report
013is uh inside the uh superintendent report. So if you'd like to review it, you can see that the uh individuals who keep our campus up and running, are doing a lot, and um we thank them for uh everything they do. That's all I have. Madam President, >> thank you under finance. Miss Low, >> thank you so much. I will um provide a brief summary. So, the agenda approves multiple grants, a dual certification pathway grant along with state aid for adult basic skills and non-public programs. Contracts span dual enrollment with Kane University, AP computer science software, professional development providers, nursing services, and psychological evaluations. Additional agreements cover transportation, graduation events, yearbook publishing, field trips, security, and cooperative purchasing. So, the finance committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the
014superintendent recommends approval of the items 8.1 through 8.24 with additional items 8.26 through 8.31 on the agenda as listed, including routine items. And that is all I have for this evening. >> Thank you. Our next committee is our instruction committee. Miss Bush. >> Sure. Before I get to our resolution, just an update. Um Dr. Travisano and our staff have been very busy over the summer preparing for the start of the school year. Um so the summer included over 90 um curricula that was revised so that it would be ready for the start of the year. Um new teacher orientation, preparing for a new literacy roll out with staff training there as well. Uh and we have an update on state testing that is being revamped. So there'll be an October pilot um assessment that is
015required throughout the district. All the schools in New Jersey have to take part in that. Um still grades three through nine will be NJSLA testing and the NJ GPA for the high school graduation requirement. Um so that is an update on his report Dr. Trexanos. Um and again the full report is in our superintendent report if you wanted to review it. The instruction committee though after review of the items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends the approval of items 9.1 through 9.8 with no additional items on the agenda as listed including routine items. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bush. >> You're welcome. >> There are no items under negotiation. Uh Mr. Anmudaway, would you please report on policy and legislation? >> Sure. The polic Legislation Committee after
016review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the item 11.1 with no additional items on the agendas listed including within items. >> Thank you. And our human resources committee vice president Nielson. >> Thank you madam president. The human resources committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of superintendent recommends approval of the items 12.1 through 1216 with additional items 12.17 through 12.20 on the agenda as listed including routine items. And that's all I have for tonight. Madam President, >> thank you. Our safety and risk management committee, Mrs. Saddowski. >> Thank you. The safety and risk management committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of items 13.1 through 13.4 with no
017additional items on the agenda as listed including routine items. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our residency committee, Miss Yong Yao. >> Thank you. The residency committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the item 14.1 with no additional items on the agenda as listed including routine items. >> Thank you. Uh at this time we are going to go back to the consent resolution and I would ask if there are any abstensions, any resolutions that want to be read separate or any questions. Seeing none, Mr. Rosa, would you please read the consent resolution? the South River Board of Education by means of a consent resolution adopt various resolution of a routine and non-controversial nature at one time and whereas the below listed resolutions are
018hereby adopted by the said board of education and whole as if the same were individually acted upon and those are the president of the board 5.1 under finance 8.1 through 8.31 under instruction 9.1 through 9.8 8 under policy and legislation 11.1 under human resources 12.1 through 12.20 under safety and risk management 13.1 through 13.4 under residency 14.1. >> Thank you. Is there a motion on the consent resolution? >> Neielson move the consent resolution. >> We have a motion by Vice President Nielsen. Is there a second? Second. Second by Miss Yong Yao. >> Would you please call the role? Mr. Budson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bush, >> yes. >> Mrs. Laauo, >> yes. >> Mr. Nielsen, >> yes. >> Mr. Anoway, >> yes. >> Mrs. Saddowski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Youngo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Urbanic,
019>> yes. >> Motion pass. >> Thank you. We have a few more committee reports uh before we open it up again to the public. Our next one is the school board burrow council liaison committee. Vice President Nielsen. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, we were finally able to get all parties involved with the South of Were and the Burough Council um for a meeting that we spoke about in uh executive session I believe was month last month. Um, we will be meeting on October 2nd at 10 a.m. in the board conference room. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. Our PTA liaison, Mrs. Saddowski. >> Thank you. Um, all the PTAs are busy planning events for the school year. Um the elementary and primary PTAs are hosting book fairs. Um having fall frolics. I
020do believe there's a Halloween dance coming up for elementary school. And Hispanic Heritage Night is upcoming as well. Um all information on how to sign up for PTAs is available on the Facebook page uh for each of the PTAs as well as in the RAM. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our South River Public Library lia is on Mr. Budsen. On Monday, September 29th, the library is having an open house. They're inviting everyone to show uh come out. They will have refreshments and a wrap. October 2nd, you're having a Halloween decoration giveaway. October 9th is the meditation class. October 14th is the paint and sip. And the adult craft is October 21st. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. At this time, we're going to ask our student board representative
021for any words that she would like to report on, Miss Hussein. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Uh, I would just like to say thank you so much for having me on this team. I feel really grateful and I'm really pleased to meet every single one of you. Um, right now because I'm new, I'm kind of just like listening more. Um, but I think so far, uh, the school year has started off really great. I'm loving all my classes and I can speak on behalf of my peers as well. They're also loving their classes, especially being a senior in high school now. I'm looking forward to all the upcoming events and I'm just really excited to be a part of this team. So, thank you so much. >> Welcome. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you.
022And you answered the only question I had. Uh you are a senior. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> All right. There is there any old or new business to come before the board at this time? >> Miss Low, >> I would just like to bring up that for um homecoming, it was nice to see and hear um people in the community commenting as to how well the field looked and the grounds all around and um Mr. Casey was there early making sure that uh he was able to, you know, get his um grounds crew ready and set for the events. So, it was nice to see the community out and about speaking such positively. And they also mentioned um the area with um tables and now how all of the the rock area it is
023and uh that came up in conversation too. That's all I have. >> Yeah, they really enjoyed it. Yes, Dr. Zoe. >> I have a new business um item as well. Um, I just wanted to inform the board that Miss La and I will be presenting at the state school board's convention this season and we will be doing a presentation um for other superintendent and uh board members uh that's centered on our outdoor spaces and how we use them for learning. >> Outstanding. >> We submitted um >> and we're a proposal and we're accepted. >> Oh, that's great. >> That's great. Congratulations to both of you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Very nice. Okay. Any other old or new business for the board. >> At this time, we're going to ask our attorney if he has
024any report for us. >> No report. >> Thank you, sir. Um, now, Mrs. L, payment of the bills. Uh, I would like to abstain from bill list ID number 3846. >> Noted. >> And then 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. >> Thank you. We have a motion by Mrs. Low. Is there a second? >> Neielen. >> Second by Vice President Nielsen. Are there any other questions or abstensions with regard to the bill list? All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. The bills will be paid. Okay. So, at this time, we are now going to open up the meeting for the public to address any concern or comment that they have for the board. We
025ask that you come to the mic, you state your name and address, and that you please keep your comments limited to a 10-minute time limit. This is on first call. >> Uh my name is Norman Shinberg and I live at 24 New Street. I like your screen. Makes it easier to see the people that are up there. In the past, I couldn't see most of the people because of the tight angle. You know, if you had like about a 30° angle, then we could actually see who's talking. Keep that in mind. Be seen. Well, of course, I've been I've been talking to you for well over a year, I guess, now about school shootings and school safety. The previous school year has ended. A new school year has began. The school year is usually given
026from July to July. So, I want to report some more about school shootings. I give you loads of statistics on and information about just the last year because I didn't report on that. So, let me just start what I'm saying here. I'm going to present an update on school shootings for the 2425 school year. the school years from July to July. There was one school shooting in New Jersey during last year while the school was in session. It happened because a security guard accidentally fired his gun in the bathroom. No one was injured. Just one school shooting in the entire state and it was due to the security guard. The shooting occurred on 516 2025 in Midland Elementary School in Pramis. There was another incident this year in Saras, California, where an SRO's gun was
027again accidentally fired. Fortunately, no one was injured. Another incident this year involving a police officer's firearm in a school occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, when a police officer shot himself in the foot while clearing hallways after a hoax. No one was injured. It's probably a lot more, you know, where guns didn't actually go off, but I've read about them where they've just left guns in the bathroom being found by other people. when school boards and politicians put tens of thousands of guns in school. And by the way, it's heading towards a h 100red thousand because we're starting to get one in every school. There's 130,000 schools, including private schools. Well, anyway, when school boards and politicians put tens of thousands of guns in school that otherwise would not be there, what do you expect will happen?
028I just told you what would happen. In fact, I told you this last year that police officers make mistakes. These guns will go off. Students will grab them. Things will happen. Police officers will fall. They'll forget them. 100,000 guns potentially being put in schools. Well, last year was typical regarding school shootings for the country as a whole. There were 14 students killed on school grounds and about 75 wounded for the entire country. That's not New Jersey, entire country while the school was in session. To put that in perspective, in a typical year, about 1,500 to 2,000 children and teens are murdered each year off school grounds. And usually there's about four to one killed who wounded. So there's probably about 8,000 wounded. So about 8,000 children are wounded, shot and wounded off campus. By the
029way, off campus, I'm including about those that are shot, those that are just walking in or leaving school. I mean off campus, you know, completely off campus. 75 wounded in schools, 2,000 almost killed outside of schools, another 1,000 that are uh committed suicide. I mean, anybody who wants to try to solve a school about shooting problem of children and puts all their massive amounts of effort into try to solving something that's about onetenth of 1% of the problem is is just just doesn't make any sense. I mean, schools are incredibly safe. They're the absolute safest place in the country for kids. There's no place safer now. Okay. Of the 56 stu of the 56 shootings last year, this is again the whole country. Of the 56 shootings last year that resulted in the student a
030school age victim, there have been more shootings, but very often there are no victims. So of the 56 shootings last year that resulted in a student age victim, the situation was characterized in the K through2 school shooting database as 19 were escalation of violence. Escalation of violence means that two students get into an argument and the most typical place for that to happen is in the parking lot. And one student goes to his car, pulls out a gun. Remember, these things occur most often in the South, the Midwest, and rural areas, not in New Jersey. And the kid pulls out a gun and shoots the other kid. It's over in seconds. And boom, he runs off or or or rides off. So 19 were escalation of violence. Eight were driveby shootings. They're over in seconds.
031Also, nothing you could do about these things. Absolutely nothing based upon any security that you're implementing, which is basically prison kind of security. I can get to that later. Five were accidental where guns just went off accidentally. Four were indiscriminate and involved active shooters, the kind you worry about most, that is somebody just comes in to kill anybody. There were four of those. There were a few more of unknown situations uh as well. Of the 56 school shootings nationwide that resulted in the victim, eight occurred inside the building. The rest, 48 occurred outside the building. As I mentioned previously, most school shootings do not occur in the building. and they occur in the parking lot, the schoolyard, in front of the building, the side of the building, not where your security is. All but two
032of the 56 shootings lasted less than a minute. The school shooting database simply says less than a minute. In reality, they lasted seconds. Of the two that lasted more than one minute, one lasted somewhere between one and two minutes. Those would be the active shooters. One and two minutes, it's over. And the other one that was the Appalache shooting, that was the big one last year. It's lasted for two minutes. It actually took about 10 minutes for the police to put the person in handcuffs, but according to the sheriff, the Appalachia sheriff said he stopped shooting in two minutes. What happened is some police officers were about 250 ft away. They couldn't get any closer. The guy had a a assault rifle. They had pistols. They were 250 ft away and simply asked him to
033stop shooting, but he had already stopped shooting, so he put down his gun. He didn't want to die that day. Your security is inside the building, but most shootings that occur on school grounds count outside the school and they're over in seconds. That's why the data I gave you that showed that schools that have security guards and schools that don't have the same number of shootings. It doesn't help. And for some strange reason, I don't know why, schools that had security guards actually had three times as many casualties. That was the data from the school shooting databases. If you think that the presence of an armed security guard will deter an active school shooter, that's the kind we worry about most. Studies show otherwise. A school shooter that shoots someone in the building is committing
034murder in front of a large number of witnesses who know him. Getting caught or even killed is just not a deterrent. The real power of police officers is not stopping crime. Somebody doesn't rob a bodega when a police officer is there. The real power of police officers is arresting the criminals, investigating the crime, and arresting them. That's in terms of crime. I mean, police officers spend most of their time doing other things. But if you have no fear of being killed, if you have no fear of being arrested, the police have no power over you. They're not going to be there when the crime is committed. The your your security guard will be on the second floor and your shooter will be in a classroom somewhere. That's what happens. Remember, your shooter knows exactly what
035your security is. In fact, what shooters have done is is they've shot into closets because they know the students will be hiding in closets. That's happened. any tiny loophole in your security like put in a metal detector. Well, when they go between classes, they'll go out the back door and take the gun that they hit in the bushes and come back in. Even the metal detectors don't keep them out because you know exactly what you're going to do. So, all these prison kind of uh of security measures that you're taking won't work because schools simply aren't run by prisons as prisons. Imagine. I mean, everything you're doing is is is the same as prisons. I mean, you have um cameras, you have automatic locks in schools now. You have lockdown drills, you have metal detectors,
036you have armed guards. There's only one other place besides schools that has that kind of security that's trying to protect itself from internal and external assault. Not not forts. People often say they're turning into forts, but forts only protect themselves from external attack. Those that protect themselves from internal attack are prisons. So, this whole school security thing is being modeled after prisons. But how effective would prison security be if every evening if every afternoon the prisoners came home and every day the prisoners went back in carrying whatever they wanted and every 40 minutes a bell rang and all the doors open to the prisons and the prisoners can just wander around wherever they wanted and you had only one prison guard for a thousand students. Whereas in a real prison they'll have about one security
037guard for every 10 inmates. So prison security is ineffective. >> What's that? You have two minutes. >> Okay, I'll go on. Okay. So, >> do so school security guards don't do anything, but their guns can do only one thing, and that's kill people. That's all. Their gun is just worthless. Unless you want them to shoot themselves or somebody else. Currently, more and more schools are modeling the security what works in prisons. I just mentioned that. All the data in school shootings lead only to one conclusion. Schools are incredibly safe and doing what you're doing make them safer will not make them any safer. So why is the nation so obsessed with school shootings such that billions of dollars are now being spent each year in a vain a vain effort to save the lives of
038several students a year? There's a billion dollar industry, multiple billions. Perhaps the answer lies in a saying attributed to Stalin. The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. 1,500 students killed outside of school is treated with a shrug. But when several students are killed in a school shooting, it is treated as a national tragedy. By the way, it's up to you people to set this thing right, to end this kind of moral panic. I can define a moral panic, but I don't have time. There's a moral panic with the school shootings to end it. The way these things end is is the people in authority tell the people out there what you believe is true is not true. That the danger you believe in is not there. That
039the schools are incredibly safe. By putting in security guards, by putting in clear backpacks, you're only reinforcing the fact that the schools aren't safe and something must be done. That's the way all the moral panics end in the end. higher authorities come in and just put an end to it. And that's really your job is to stand up to the people out there and say what you're asking us to do is sheer nonsense and we're not going to do it. You're not politicians. It doesn't matter whether you're elected or not elected. Politicians, that's their job. If they're not elected, they're out of office. Who knows what they'll do. Few people aren't elected. Well, you just do what you normally do. You have jobs. You have lives out of that. And that's what I see you're
040doing wrong. That you're not telling the people out there that uh this is not real. that these schools are not being shed up, nothing's happening. Remember, 50 years, no one killed. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Shinberg. Is there anyone else from the public wishing to address the board of education on any matters of concern for the board of education? On first call, on second call, on third call. This public session is closed. Uh we do not have an executive session tonight and we have taken care of all the business on our agenda. Is there a motion for adjournment? >> Neielson. >> We have a motion by Vice President Nielsen. Is there a second? >> Second by Mrs. Lel. All in favor? I I >> Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.