001we had tonight chicken soup I call to order a regular meeting of the Wang burough School District Board of Education on December 19 2023 at 7 p.m. please stand for the pledge allegiance 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 welcome to a meeting of the Board of Education of the B of Wang please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the opens public meetings act and that the advanced notice required therein has been provided this is a regular meeting of the Board of Education of the bur of Wang at which formal action may be taken this meeting is being live streamed on
002the district's website where a recording of the Mee meeting will also be posted the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points in the meeting provided for the public to address the board recording or photographing other than for private personal use requires a consent of parents Guardians whose children may be included in the image may I please have a roll call Mr buckerell here Mr fras absent Mr Gonzalez absent Mrs Harvey here Mr Ang Gracia here Mrs jet here Mr Morales here Mrs Morad here Mrs odonnell here thank you uh Dr Glazer do you want to I that Mrs pner is here there you are sorry see I just was looking for you everywhere I'm gonna let her actually introduce Miss Riley Miss Pine the whole group I
003just am thrilled that you guys thank you parents for organizing to bring them I got to here at the um holiday concert it was amazing so we wanted the whole Community to be able to hear so thank you for organizing to bring them miss vickner you want to introduce formally introduce here we have oury and us to [Music] fre [Music] now [Music] Che a [Music] a [Music] [Applause] the [Music] sh [Music] sh [Music] by Jo [Music] la [Music] Dr [Music] the [Music] la [Music] la thank you all very much it was beautiful as always miss Riley Miss Pine parents if you're not going to stay after for the the meeting after executive session on your way out Legacy construction management has sent some individually wrapped cookies they're on that table please help yourself on have
004a great night there's also a signin sheet there that showed up late so if you um want to sign in to all right moving on can I please have a motion to go into executive session so move is there a second I second any discussion all in favor say I I any oppose M Rogers can you please read the reason for going into executive session where is the open public meetings Act njsa 10 col 4-11 permits the Board of Education to meet in closed session to discuss certain matters now therefore be it pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiation Andor matters of attorney client privilege further resolve the minutes of this closed session may be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists thank you e moving on to superintendent remarks yes we
005have we did that EXA sorry Hi um first of all as you're coming in please make sure you're signing in the signin sheet and um during the comments portion of the meeting please make sure you're stating your name and address for the record um I know we all think we're we know each other and we're friends and neighbors but that's not the case for the people who are doing the minutes and they're they're struggling with that um for all of us to do that um at this time I'd like to introduce uh Denise vickner Miss vickner principal at Bayberry school she's going to do the principal report tonight okay thank you good evening everyone this is the uh principal report for both schools on November 17th students and staff celebrated friends giving with Philly Pretzels
006and pizza donated by Wang Ed Foundation thank you to we for their generosity it was a great time on November 29th first grade held its annual Harvest Festival I'm sorry Festival by performing songs for their families and participating in traditional crafts and games once again this year Bayberry students and staff were treated to a preview of The Nutcracker by Washington Rock dance studio on November 29th so that was a busy day uh the cognitive abilities test otherwise known as coat was administered to all students in grade 5 on November 29th the results of the assessment will be be made available in the Genesis Parent Portal in the near future the student profile generated by Kat will provide insight into each child's unique strengths and areas of academic Focus the primary purpose of the Kat assessment
007is to ensure the instructional programs offered at Valley View meet the individual needs of the students additionally we will be using the Kat data as one of the multiple data points necessary to comply with the strengthening gifted and talented Act of 2020 ensuring that all of our students receive the academic program that meets their academic and social emotional development needs student ambassadors and the staff from Summers County vocational and Technical uh School visited our 8ighth grade students on November 30th to discuss program opportunities for high school students at Bayberry trimester 1 ended on December 2nd and report cards were made available to parents on December 8th students celebrated the hour of code during the week of December 4th students explored computer science through activities including coding and AI wung students and staff participated in Adopt
008a Family a community service project that provided several families with donations for a joyous holiday thank you to the watchong school community Comm for their generosity and support fourth grade chorus glee club and band performed their Winter concert on December 7th the students Amaze the crowd with the skills they have developed in such a short time congratulations to the fourth graders Mrs Riley Miss Pine and Mrs Morrison also thank you for a great performance tonight that was great to see them here again on December 11th mountainer Monday groups focused on responsible decisionmaking students explored scenarios that involved making decisions and their consequences positive and negative author Wendy Mass visited Valley View on Tuesday December 12th thank you to our PTO and Mrs Keane for arranging this assembly finally congratulations to our teachers of the Year
009miss Bianca first grade and Mrs Morrison District Band and our educ support Professionals of the Year Mrs Cuomo our district occupational therapist and Dan Rango our Valley View Prof par professional best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy holiday season thank you thanks Miss pner you're welcome thanks for being here yet another night we appreciate it truly should I leave this on Aaron or turn it off the district report is next it you'll have because I'm still I have so much more talking to do I'm so sorry everybody so much more talking um yeah it is what it is um so good evening welcome again to the last Board of Education meeting for 2023 as I have been repeating to all of you there is a lot to celebrate a lot to be
010proud of you heard the beautiful voices of our Bayberry students tonight um and many of you went to their concerts our Valley View concerts as M Miss vickner said will be in January we'll look forward to seeing you all there um and you got to hear about a lot of wonderful activities happening in the schools um tonight I also want to celebrate that Nicole dotto our director of special services earned her tenure in the district on October 13th um um you should know that in addition to her administrative role Nicole serves as a learning disabilities teacher consultant she is our district anti-bullying coordinator she is our district 504 coordinator she is our educational stability child welfare liaa and she's the coordinator of our before and after CARE program that is a lot of hats so
011congratulations on tenure but thank you Nicole for everything that you do here in the district we wish you continued success in your career here in mang burrow um we hope that you'll be retiring with us um in addition as Miss vickner reported we did announce our teacher and educational support people of the year um last week these people are nominated either by community members or their peers for this honor every year um there's some pictures I don't know actually it looks like they're buffering so maybe not hopefully we'll get to them um but um I was able to go to Bayberry with flowers for um Miss Melissa biano first grade teacher and Laura CUO our occupational therapist here at Valley View we surprised Nora Morrison she is the band director grades four to eight um
012we came into her classroom with flowers and the News her students were so excited and proud of her um we've invited them to perform at the January Board of Education meeting I hope we can coordinate it as you saw tonight it's a lot for the parents to bring the kids another night especially with all their instruments but just in case they can't I took video of them serenading her um and we'll show it it was wonderful just wonderful um and the educational support person here at Valley View as Miss vickner said is Dan Rango um you've heard us talk about him a lot this year um he is still out of the district but Mrs kid were able to share the news with him over the phone he um expressed his gratitude directly to his
013colleagues but wanted everybody to know he's continuing his treatment and um all of this love is making him strong in the spring there is a celebration of the teachers of the year throughout the county um and we will honor them again we will also have them here at a board meeting they get a certificate from the state um and Dan is hopeful that he'll be able to join us by that time so I think we're all hopeful for that um Mrs kid Mr Mel Mrs marad and myself were able to attend the closing ceremonies of the fintech teches it's one of the steam programs um that our students grades 5 through and some neighboring communities Berkeley Heights and others participate in um our teachers also teach in that program I have to say it was
014very impressive to see the work these kids are doing yeah they were creating apps and robots again if we can't get the pictures to work I will promise to put them up on the website or up under mine you would not believe the kinds of things these kids are developing um really high tech and more than that bless you preparing them for I see authentic opportunities for work there were applications to develop a drone to deliver now I'm gonna see to deliver uh medical equipment we had students developing apps um similar to um what you would have as Roku but on your phone and for free and customizable it was amazing I have to say so impressive so we'll look forward um to sharing more of that um and I'm thrilled that Mrs AJ is
015here tonight I I didn't know she was going to be here and I hope I'm not embarrassing you um and if the pictures don't come up I will promise to to share them with you too I love being in the schools and I kind of wander around and I pop into classrooms every now and then um and I walked into the first grade classroom it wasn't um during General instruction it was during Spanish class and um if you see the pictures you would love it as much as I did um the Spanish class was speaking in Spanish of course but they were doing yoga um they um had movement incorporated into to the instruction it was a breathing break they were using all of their vocabulary which made me laugh I don't know how you
016got some of those words to to fit with the yoga the tree the breath I got those but the colors you were amazing um but mostly what I got out of that if you've never taught first grade you have no idea it's like wrangling cats and these kids knew the routine again we'll get the picture for everybody to see they knew the movements they knew the vocabulary they were having a wonderful time and not only were they having a wonderful time I loved being part of it so thank you because that is an extra effort right that's an extra strategy and extra methodology um and it does make a difference for students and for their learning so thank you um we also had some professional development this month where we're continuing with personalizing instruction with
017our IDE consultants and ongoing coaching um for our staff I'm looking forward to talking more about that in the coming months so really exciting things um happening as we close out the year we have a few more things but I want to make sure that we get to um Patty's report and I will tag the rest of my stuff on with um P's report thank you Dr Glazer um Aaron is going to put up some slides there for those of you that see it it's just the results of the transportation survey again the intent of This was um to give the um parents and Guardians a chance to vote on whether or not they wanted to make any changes to the stops the current stops because the again the buses have been consistent so it's
018a matter of of whether or not we wanted to consolidate stops or eliminate culde saacs so um Bayberry the results of the3 people that took the time to respond to the survey uh which were both sent out on two different occasions November 17th and again on November 28th um of the 103 responses basically 78% chose to make no change at this time and you can go on to the next slide and you this is just the results by uh routee again the percentage of based on the 103 responses okay uh and then Valley View similar um pie chart 92% had um responded not to make any change at this time and then the next slide just shows the actual U results by bus so um but not needless to say this is something that'll be
019evaluated during the course of the summer um and working with the transportation department in the High School uh potentially purchasing new software something that we're going to consider in the budget if it's possible and um look to certainly avoid any of the maps that we had uh and ideally um we'll get Durham back because we won't have the same learning curve happening again so and I and I do want to say we are committed to it not being like this year we've already begun conversations with high school with Tim sty as Patty said we're already looking at um how to change timing not just pick up and drop off timing but what that would mean um for our instructional staff as far as contracted time and we've even developed almost a little study group of
020um superintendents in our neighboring districts because we're all having the same problem we'll bring them the conversation back to the public in the new year um as part of our strategic planning and planning for the future that's all I'd like to just say that it's been a pleasure um working here watching the school district well I'm gonna just say I'm not going to read the proclamation and embarrass you if you are not going to speak but I'm going to say tonight is uh Mrs Rogers last Watchung Board of Education meeting and everybody here tonight everybody watching Everybody in the community I hope you recognize the huge impact that she has had in her short time here as business administrator she's been an integral part of our time here she's done a Yan's job of detailing
021the finances the health insurance pension not to mention Transportation so again not to to embarrass you but I'm gonna just say you have been amazing to work with and we all wish you success in your next Endeavors I'll miss you I know everybody will so I'm not letting that go thank you thank you and then just to to continue under this um business topic and along the the lines of referendum Safety and Security it has been very very busy um since the last board meeting we have um completed the safety film project um we have received the quotes for the speaker systems and cameras you'll hear more about that from the operations committee we've been able to do a walkth through with a company who is doing the digital mapping of the schools this is
022part of the legislation to make sure that um our First Responders are prepared God forbid they need to come in um that is being completed today the First Responders did um what's called a tabletop exercise meaning a discussion of what um would happen in the community in the incidents of um a crisis such as an active shooter the um police have been wonderful just wonderful participating with us in our walkthroughs we did um go through our entire Safety and Security plan we were able to certify that to the county and the state since the last board meeting and coming forward um during the month of January we will be reviewing our memorandum of agreement um with the police um and that will be submitted you'll hear on the February board agenda for approval after it
023is is um signed by the county executive superintendent and the County prosecutor so a lot a lot going on with that as well um I'm gonna keep pushing ahead enrollment has not changed and I am hopeful that um as a board will discuss how we're reporting this and for purposes not sure it serves the same purpose as it used to but we continue to have it um the next item is um the election results uh the Board of Education election was held on November 7th 2022 and certified to us on November 27th the election results um are published in the agenda um and we are happy to welcome um Fatima Santos I want to make sure I'm saying all your names um Jen Aguilera and Danielle Amadeo to the board we are sad to be
024seeing tonight be the last board meeting for Gail odonnell for um Peter Morales and for Amber Mirad um as is tradition here in the wung burough proclamations have been made for everybody um I promised I readers I heard you say oh no um and I did um provide them to Diane Dar carvo who does the minutes she will be doing the December minutes for the meetings so they will be included with the December minutes um I'm not going to read the full proclamations as you can see they are full pages but I do want to just highlight um a couple of things um in honor of Peter Morales Peter um um gave one year of service here to the Board of Education just this year from January until now December he served as our board
025policy committee chair and brought invaluable experience um looking at not just board issues through that policy lens but his educational background inquisitive nature um and support of the district goals have really made a tremendous difference in my short time and to your colleagues this year um and of course we um you know can't say enough what it means to have volunteers at this level until you sit on this side of the table I don't think anybody really knows the reality they'll tell you five hours a month some days it's five hours a day so Peter thank you um for all of the ways that you've impacted the board and the district and of course we wish you only only health happiness and success in your future endeavors um you will get a copy of this
026proclamation in addition um I did something a little extra because of some of the conversations we've had um in the short time that I've been here around the referendum around the learning comments around what is special about this community I know Phyllis you you like and the cherry trees stood out for you so in addition to the proclamations this evening each of our three um I call you retiring retiring board members um will receive this certificate 15 trees will be planted by the Arbor Day Foundation of forest in a forest of great need in honor of you 15 one for each of you the gift is in celebration of your service to the wat Chung bough Board of Education made possible by okay it was me but with gratitude from the Watchung learning community and
027the quote I really think summed it up beautifully when we plant trees we plant seeds of peace and the seeds of Hope the trees that are planted for you and you and you are an act of optimism and kindness a labor of love and a commitment to your stewardship and to what you you've been able to add to the board of education so again each of you will get that Peter thank you thank you thank you I want to read just briefly about Gail so Gail has been also with us for one year of service from January to December I don't know if you know also that she is generously also given 12 years of service between 1988 and 2000 and again again in 2019 she was lured back to um fill the vacated board
028seat gaale has served on I think probably every committee right um this year um on the Personnel human resources in curriculum committees but like I said her previous service um has made an impact on everything that we're doing with facilities operations finance and even technology Gail um you have really embraced what has come to be called social emotional learning your advocacy for school counselors in both schools is not unnoticed um and again we don't have words really to thank you for selflessly serving for so many years not just this year on the board for volunteering in the community all of those countless hours for your commitment um you you've really touched many many people in the community and I hope that that volunteerism if not with the board of education at least in wung burrow
029is not done so no thank you and sorry and finally these new microphones are awesome but I actually have to speak into it and finally um a few words about Amber Amber had has given three years of service to the Board of Education from October 2020 to December 2023 this year serving as the Board of Education president during her term she's also been on the operations policy personnel and curriculum committees um she has led efforts with the school resource officer as well as advancing Safety and Security of all of the district's children through all of the ways that we've been talking about tonight and in other meetings additionally um Amber represented the board of education is the Somerset County school board's delegate she received her New Jersey School Board Association board certification during that time
030and she's also the alternate to the Somerset County Educational Services Commission so just remember the rest of you lots of things to sign up for um Amber has also embraced a culture of diversity equity and inclusion as all of us have but um her advocacy for the many and various holidays to be celebrated throughout the school year and for the homework free assessment free nights um has again not gone unnoticed so thank you for that your um guidance and Leadership is valuable to me your support these last few months have been amazing and um the work you've done you know and are still doing over the next few weeks to Mentor our new board members to make sure that they get their um binders and packets in advance of um our reorganization meeting January 2nd
031is more than appreciated again thank you for your efforts for your service for um your volunteerism for everything um that you've been able to contribute and again I hope like with Peter and Gail that your volunteerism and your involvement engagement is not done yet so thank you I I have some just concluding holiday comments but I think you all had your own comments yes yeah I'll let you go first you want um I would just like to say a few words and I want to thank first of all the community parents teachers Administration and the board for giving me the opportunity to serve our schools as a board School Board member for 2023 with almost 15 years sitting on the school board over the years I have seen changes to education that have enhanced learning
032but also have made many challenges for teachers Administration and the board a parent once stood right there at the podium and said that she spends a lot of time raising her children and her being taking care of her family and she's right the amount of time the work everything that parents do is immense and um I remember when I was raising my three children it was the same way I will leave the seat tonight knowing that our schools are in good hands with our new superintendent Dr Julie Glazer Dr Glazer has the professional qualifications many accolades the energy to move our schools forward and provide educational expertise to our teachers staff and board the board must be committed to their superintendent and her position so that she can advance maintain and develop our educational institution
033to be recognized as a high performing School District thank you Dr Glazer for saying yes uh to our offer to work in our school district our budget will be one of our biggest challenges in the next few years I want that to be noted um that just because um past years uh we haven't kept up um to have that balanced uh budget and um today I have to say that we have um a balanced budget for the first time uh with the guidance of our ba and superintendent and some sacrifices that we have to take it is essential that we continue to be responsible board members and have a balanced budget every year having a well-informed community on the school budget provides an understanding on what needs to be done being a Watchung Community member
034for 44 years I know how valuable our school system is to our children our town and our homes our referendum work is moving ahead according to the timeline this board was committed to the work to be done the safety and upgrades necessary for our schools has either been completed others begun and bidding completed this completion of work will invigorate excite and help move our educational District to higher levels of commitment and learning I see how my children now grown-ups have become fine professionals with loving families caring people and good friends with whom they met back in their school days in Wong my children received an exceptional education with dedicated teachers a wonderful community that supported and helped each other other and a committed school board that was prepared for the 21st century and that is
035what your children deserve today a thank you is not enough to Mrs Patty Rogers RBA for her painstaking persistent long hours and dedication to working miracles to balance the 2324 school budget this year this short time being together with Mrs Rogers will be noted for what she did for for the Watchung school system finances thank you Mrs Rogers for all your efforts and professionalism Mrs kid Miss vector and Mrs doota are our educational leaders keeping our schools working at a high level of Education with their ongoing ideas of new and creative means of Education they will bring our schools to the level of Excellence that so many want to see thank you to Mr Ricky Boyd for his diligent work keeping our schools in the most functional and safe environment for all who walk through
036those Halls at school with that thank you for the honor and privilege to work with this professional hardworking School Board I can't wait to see our students in school system Excel educationally with accolades of the students exceptional Works in math language arts science stem the Arts instrumental Coral learning after school classes and so much more I want to thank you very [Applause] much well I didn't prepare anything but if even if I did it wouldn't be as good as what Gail just said I I could repeat everything she said it's been an honor to work with each and every one of you I see how much you all care for the board uh for the school district the prior boards I could see how much they cared for the school the school is in great
037hand hands with Dr Glazer uh Mrs Rogers thank you for all your hard work it goes uh I can't even say how much appreciation we have for all you have to you did you've done for our school and uh I wish the new board very good luck in the future and um you're G to be good hands with Dr Glazer thanks thank you I guess it's my turn three years ago I stood before you virtually to be sworn in as the member of the Board of Education filled with hope and determination with the completion of my term and presidency I am pleased to report that we haven't only achieved our initial goals but have left the board with a Clear Vision and Direction so that the new board can take over with a clean slate
038and boy do they have a lot of work to do first and foremost I want to express my deepest gratitude to the individuals who played a pivotal role in making this year a resounding success my family my husband rahan my children ryas and Isa who uh project this meeting every meeting on the big screen and watch me and laugh but your support has been an anchor through this journey I'd like to acknowledge our our incredible team our superintendents through this year Mr Alexis Dr Roar Dr Glazer as well as our principles principal kid principal ficner Mrs toota Mr Boyd who will forever in my eyes be the CEO of buildings and grounds for watching school district and he works tirelessly um to ensure that the essential projects were completed over the summer Aaron a friend
039a colleague thank you for your dedication on keeping our technology up to date and actually getting these microphones to work today um and who's always ready for making sure that all the technology is ready for our students and a special mention goes to someone who has been the backbone of our daily operations Miss Patty Rogers Patty your dedication to our district your diligence um in handling every respons responsibility entrusted to you and your ability to go above and beyond have not gone unnoticed if there's a way to keep you with us I assure you we would Wang will always consider you family and your service will always be honored in our community trust me I know it was service it's not even work it it was a lot of work um the hours and effort
040that you've put in thank you without the hard work grit and tireless efforts of those mentioned we wouldn't be here today Wang owes a great debt of gratitude to your commitment and dedication so thank you once again to my fellow board members thank you for challenging me and yourself for the unity we found in selecting our superintendent Dr Glazer your commitment to finding the best fit for our district speaks volumes about our shared vision for the Excellence in education I appreciate your persistence Dr Glazer um thank you for embracing our district as your family and burning the midnight oil to keep it running kugi is a Japanese art of repairing a broken pottery with gold making it more beautiful having worked with you I can say with confidence that you were the gold that our
041community district and town needed to rebuild I look forward to your your successes in our district and know that our community is behind you as I leave I leave a simple yet profound message for the incoming board Success is Not accidental if we want to provide first class education in Wang that the Wang families deserve we must make strategic and Forward Thinking choices our past year has marked been marked by good decisions that consider long-term implications and it is crucial that this trajectory continues we are a community that comes together when needed like siblings who may not always get along but Stand United in times of needs I implore you to ignore the distractions of the national and Statewide news and focus on our mission the educational and fiscal security of our students and the
042district in the upcoming year the board's choices will set the tone of years come please come together United to ensure the successes of sorry the success of our schools utilize the resources available such as the revamped njsba website I promise you I am not a speaker for them and I do not get paid but they have done a tremendous job um in updates and upgrading and resources available to all of us they hats off to them and keep in mind that there's a bigger picture the 30 foot, thousand view of your responsibilities to the district thank you for all your support and may the next chapter of Wong's educational journey be even more remarkable than the last year with a hint of positive note together we can build a future where excellence and education is
043not just a goal but a reality thank you that's beautiful I am not going forward with the rest of my comments hopefully you got a letter about the um parent event January 10th um and the flyer I hope you will join us that night with uh Sergeant rich and I will end with this as we head into the holiday break I wish a Merry Christmas of course and a happy Quanza to everybody who celebrates um best wishes for the new year to our whole learning community I am hopeful it'll be relaxing rejuvenating that everybody will have time with friends and family and um I'll look forward to seeing you all in the New Year leaving all right I guess it's time to move to committee reports um Mr Gonzalez are you ready to give the
044human resource committee report thank you okay uh the Personnel committee met at uh December 13th at 410 uh Muhammad and Gail and Dr Glazer were present there was a general discussion regarding the WBA contract and salary scale as well as the discussion regarding the professional support and resour resource staff there will be an ongoing discussion during the budget development and strategic planning Dr Glazer shared the hourly contract of Karen Bishop Johnson to serve as an interim business administrator for January 1st through 15 of 2024 Ernie attorney will serve as a board secretary during that time and will preside as a board re reorganization meeting January 2nd 2024 the contract has been sent to ECS for approval Dr Glazer also reviewed the appointment of Heather Berg to replace Patricia Keen as Valley View librarian additional resignation
045of special education teacher who will be on the agenda was to be discussed Miss kid and Miss dtoa have interviewed as possible replacement for Dr Glazer will be interviewing the candidate on December 15th if the candidate will be recommended Dr Glazer will reach out to the committee Dr Glazer reported on the meeting including Miss Rogers that was held by the county of njaa Field Services representative there are questions regarding payment pension and benefits for part-time staff salaries being supplemented with the payment through grants V via time sheets essentially making them more than full-time this was a decision made in December 2022 and approved by the board when there was no uh General budget fully fund these positions no provision was made in this year's budget for fully funded positions the grant expiring this year this
046will also have to be considered When developing for the budget of 24 and 25 Dr Glazer reviewed the academic calendars for 2024 25 and 25 and 26 as well as the proposed Board of Education meeting calendar for 24 and 25 in this calendar board of education meetings will be returned to Thursdays Dr Glazer also reviewed the results of Transportation survey it was sent two times based on responses no changes to the routes or stops will be made at this time however work was already begun on looking at busing for next year congratulations to Nicole DOA director of special services who earned a tenure on October 13 2023 this meeting adjourned at 4:55 thank you and moving on to operations report let me just P it up the operations committee met on Tuesday December 12th at
047510 p.m. and in attendance were Mr Gonzalez Mr F Mrs Harvey and myself uh By Phone the administration and guests were Dr Glazer Miss Rogers Mr Boyd M Mr Turner um drg Architects uh Legacy construction management representative uh Mr O'Brien Aaron Lovich and Karen Bishop Johnson Frank and Connor from Legacy Frank from drg Connor from Legacy construction management left at 6 pm and Dr Glazer had to leave at 6:30 uh Aaron provided the technology referendum Updates this was regarding the PA system for Bayberry and Valley View the discussion was on um when this work would be completed and it looks like it would be um some of it would be completed over the winter break and then some in the spring Mr uh Lovich also received quotes from the security camera installation and uh so
048that was looked into I don't want to go into too many details because some of this is not needed um well not not needed but cannot be reported at this time um and Mr Connor from Legacy wanted to make sure that the coordination of the camera installation was with all the other referendum work that needs to be scheduled whether it's after school or second shift um in addition to PA and camera systems as a part of the enhanced security and safety protocols we will now be completed uh as Dr gazer mentioned the second digital mapping walkthrough with Aaron Mr Mr Lovich Mr Boyd Dr Glazer and officer clist using Consultants from crg drg and see uh they have also um the we've identified uh $3,529 in additional State funding originally offered as a part of
049alysa's law and they're looking into possible ways to expend these expenditures um the attack resistant film is now completed and theg is finalizing a few items but the report that this is ready to be uh completed and closed out the casework is installed and that has been completed as well uh it looks fantastic the teachers were very complimentary of it pictures of these projects are on the district's referendum page um Lexi uh reported that the HVAC kickoff meeting was held with the contractor HS ands on Tuesday December 5th Dr Glazer Mr Boyd Mr Turner in fact BBY from drg were in attendance with Patty and Karen on the phone um the contractors will be coming over the break to do some surveying and preliminary review of the spaces Patty reported that the psng installation resulted
050in approximate a saving of $82,000 in incentives and a $9,000 um in Energy savings she is working with FSG on the installation timeline Patty and Ricky were acknowledged that the hard work in researching and making this happen um so thank you to Mr Rogers and Mr Boyd once again for looking into it and taking the extra step um and in your commitment to our district the committee discussed that although there were contract Milestones to keep HVAC uh projects on track uh the completion date would most likely be later in August um and so don't be surprised if they're still here the first day but the school will be ready uh to be open and they will not be in the way um we have multiple completed projects in both schools this summer so the schedule
051uh for the timeline and the Connor is confident that he can manage this and that the realistic expectation of the completion of all aspects of this work should be completed um the other bids were opened on December 12th Bayberry pack one including seven toilet rooms and casework the toilet in the library uh Media Center um two faculty bathrooms and secured Vesti office ref configuration alternates uh there were three biders the lowest uh two biders are known uh uh to the district and drg and Legacy consultants and are reported as excellent to work with both bids came under budget following uh committee discussion the recommendation is to spend the two to go with the lowest biders and um the attorney would review it and they did um and they are on the agenda today for approval
052the other bid that was reported on uh opened on uh December 12th was for Valley View package two including interior Media Center art room a secure entrance main office reconfiguration and alternates um including shelving and Music Room Acoustics these bids came in higher than expected but um this is again attributed to our tight timeline over the summer and making sure that uh we're not using the contingency funds at this time so that is also on the agenda tonight for approval and then there is an update on package three as well which is is bbery and Valley View roofs drg is still working and on the drawing to make the required work clear and they're hoping to have the drawings and specifications ready for January to advertise with a bid of February Dr Glazer reviewed the
053request by uh for literally modifications to the grant field baselines to maximize field usage the middle school will still have scheduling and using usage priority and there is no cost or work that needs that needs to be done by the Board of Ed Dr Glazer reviewed the request on the with the Middle School teachers and Coach uh Matt and um Miss Rogers who was also a softball player and they both endorsed the request so it is on the agenda for approval additionally Dr Glazer reviewed the request to donate the medal signs for Grant field Scotty field osfield and Barrett field all at Phils field facility she shared the example of the sign that will be going on the fencing after discussion of this donation will be on the agenda it is on the agenda today
054for approval uh Dr Glazer and I discussed the um possibility of the grant with the um with the township and it is still uh you know now we're in a phase of where we're going to continue to speak with the town and see where that goes um waiting on some responses from them Dr Glazer and uh Miss Rogers reviewed the results of the District transportation survey and you saw that today um so I will not go on because I can tell you these minutes are pretty lengthy and uh in detailed um but the public uh will be included we're the the board will hopefully begin a strategic planning in the new year uh as you know this year we did uh go ahead and contract King University so that is still in um in the
055works uh they are waiting for our goahead and I think the best solution was just getting our district stabilized which it is currently with a new superintendent now that Dr Glazer has had time to acclimate herself we're in a good position um to start that come January uh the audit review is completed um and the full board was received the review uh on November 29th in January it will be presented we reviewed the bit payment of bills transfers and financial reports um which are on the agenda for approval and all uh donations uh proposed through government or other sites or or if there was no interest disposal of items that we currently have are on the agenda as well we also discussed uh miss Karen Bishop Johnson's hourly contract as uh to serve as the
056district's intern business administration administrator for uh from January 1st to January 15th because she begins on the 16th as our full-time ba and um that is on the agenda today and then we also discussed um the proposed uh Board of Education meeting calendar for 2024 and 2025 which was shared with everyone along with the uh the school calendars academic calendars and that is on the agenda for today as well and believe it or not we adjourn the meeting at 6:50 p.m. and all of these conversations took place in that consistency to um all right so we're going to now move on to the next report which is the curriculum committee report I will stop talking Miss jet your turn I'll try not to make it too long but we did meet on December 15 Friday
057at 4 o'clock and ended just about five o'clock committee members is myself Dory Harvey Gil to Faro attended virtually Amber Murat our board president attended virtually and otic laser was there Karen kid Vice Valley View principal and Denise vickner Bayberry uh principal the academic calendars for 224 and 225 225 to 226 were thoroughly reviewed by Dr Glazer and our principls based on the timing of the days it was decided that if there were any snow days they would come off the end of the year in 2025 and off of spring break in 2025 2026 a transportation survey was sent home I don't want to be too redundant on this that out of the 100 responses given at Bayberry 78% said no changes at this time and value view out of 60 responds is 92% wanting
058no changes at this time Dr Glazer I know is committed to working on transportation and timing for the 224 225 school year and has already begun meetings with Wang uh Regional High School ba Tim sty and neighboring superintendents busing and sub and transportation will also continue to be a public discussion in the New Year the Somerset County Youth Services Commission provides a grant that sponsors the pursuit of Excellence programs at Bayberry and Valley Vio these after school and summer programs are to accelerate learning for our most vulnerable students in addition Ys also supports trips the program at Valley View that great I think we're trying to plan that now so we will do that fabulous thank you so much thank you Holidays happy holidays to you as well uh is there anybody from cpeg thank
059you um all right moving on to board member comments are there any board member comments I have some so uh this is the last meeting of the year and I think it's really great to celebrate our accomplishments but one thing we didn't do this year because it was quite chaotic was have a board retreat and you know that's not good because uh that's a chance for us to do a self evaluation in front of the public and I acknowledge what we're not doing well as well as just everything you know our accomplishments uh and I think we tend to sugarcoat this a little bit and not and not be critical of of some of the things that have happened on this board and I think that that doesn't do any good because it never gets
060better if you don't do that um all this is all [Music] Dr Glazer pre Patty who have been you know you know to the rescue okay uh in in in a situation that did not start out well um and so I want to give my view on on the board's performance last year uh from the beginning and it'll only take a few minutes but it started at the reorganization meeting instead of the usual proor approvals it turned out to be a bad combination of politics and settling of personal grievances that proved extremely detrimental to the welfare of the students and the district as a whole at this reorganization meeting the board demonstrated a complete lack of support and respect for our then superintendent by vot voting against his recommendations on the referend ROM architect board
061counsel and the health curriculum all this was a distraction and a delay the refere the referendum had just been passed by the public barely two weeks before that the chairman of the operations committee was vehemently opposed to the referendum for a long time and decided that he didn't like the Architects this set us back months and months and months before we could start work we ended up using the same architect but we have crit delays on critical projects and the cost went up during the time when inflation was starting to ramp up like crazy so it was a really bad decision sorry Rich were you at that meeting sorry I'm trying to think I'm giving my board Cil you missed seven meetings this this year that's why I'm asking I'm giving my board comments you
062can do yours later if you missed more meetings we've been we have on the 11th January Anthony please let him speak all right just I know you weren there seven meetings also the two most experienced school board members were intentionally uh PR prevented from being appointed to any standing committees there was no explanation for this the very next month certain members of the board secretly improperly and I believe illegally engineered the aser of our superintendent by a series of phone call discussions outside of any duly convened board meeting without either me or Mrs Harvey even finding out until after the fact after the way the last superintendent was treated we were unbelievably fortunate to get a hugely qualified high quality replacement but you got to ask yourself if this is the track record of how
063we treat super superintendence here will this last will be be able to keep and retain high quality people finally the only experienced member of the operations committee demonstrated egregious Financial mismanagement by overseeing a budget process that turned out to have resulted in a $1 million deficit this fiscal mismanagement has not only resulted in us having to cut budgeted services and purchases but has led us to do financially irresponsible things like using interest on the referendum Bond proceeds to pay for ordinary operating expenses and resorting to sale leaseback arrangements with interest to fund ordinary course purchases this is unsustainable and only mortgages the future of the district as noted in this year's audit report let me be clear I do not blame the new board members for these things they were sold a false bill of
064goods because the two most experienced board members were purposely left off of any committees and left out of major decision making so their voices in Council would not be heard hopefully these first year board members have learned lessons from the chaos mismanagement and dysfunction that ensued after that now all of this was either instigated by Champion by overseen by one particular board member we have to make sure this doesn't happen again and that we don't let this destruct development influence the board next year we need to get back to good solid intelligent honest decisionmaking for the benefit of the children the district and our town we have to support our Administration our teachers and our children without regard to politics or personal animosity let let get back to goodness I have some comments so during
065the holiday season as we approach a new year I often reflect on the past year which I'm sure most of us do um I'd like to thank all the board members for their service who are not continuing on the board and I hope that all the res residents of wung and the Watchung school district have a happy holiday season um as we come to the reorganization meeting again I hope board members current and new reflect on this past year see that decisions have consequences and consider very carefully what they want their legacy on this board and the direction of this District to be in 2023 the district's most significant task was imp implementing the successfully passed barebones referendum that our school district desperately needed the majority of our board decided that it was in our
066best interest to make the only board member who fought against the referendum for over two years become the vice president of this board and the operations committee chair our community witnessed firsthand how things can go downhill rather quickly with poor leadership this vice president wasted this board time pulling the already approved health education curriculum at the reorganization meeting then after a couple of months of wasting our small administrative staff's time everyone on this board voted to approve it anyway he purposefully worked against putting experienced board members on the Committees to disenfranchise them under his leadership he fostered a board of division not collaboration as the operations chair he continued to stall the referendum in January because he wanted to eliminate The Architects whom the former superintendent recommended he gave no reason to our community or
067board members as to why this decision was made which resulted in the delay of a referendum the Watchung taxpayers gave the go-ahead on why he decided his sole voice mattered more than the voters still confuses me to this day that same board member was a big reason why our last business administrator left in 2022 the first permanent business administrator of this District was able to secure for many years of inconsistency in our business office we hired another new permanent business administrator just a couple months ago who resigned after saving our district over $300,000 in this year's budget debacle I wonder why I hope this doesn't continue to happen with our next permanent business administrator because our District needs to return a stability in that position everyone who has worked with the vice president who doesn't
068always agree with him winds up leaving this District it's not a coincidence anymore it's a pattern then we have a million plus deficit in our budget under his watch as the chair of that committee which has never happened before the committee chair was the only consistent person on the committee since it was purposely filled with all new board members a revolving door of business administrators and a new superintendent simply put the budget wasn't balanced we had four staff members who weren't budgeted for a sufficient amount of money wasn't set aside to pay for the teachers health benefits and that contract was settled sometime last year there was no money put in the budget for technology for the entire district there wasn't money set aside to pay for the extended school year program even though our
069director of special services promptly provided all of the necessary information that program happens every year but it wasn't budgeted because it was confused with our pursuit of Excellence program the pursuit of Excellence is a completely different program which has also taken place for years the esy program wasn't factored into the budget these are just some of the issues with that budget they never happens before because we've always been able to balance our budget they happened in 2023 under his supervision of the Ops and finance committee as the chair the icing on the cake is that we are using the referendum money to help bail us out of his poor financial budgeting the same referendum that the vice president campaigned against for over two years isn't that something by the way that money is supposed to
070go towards Capital Improvements not operations he has micromanaged our Administration to the point where he has potentially violated contracts for a referendum involving the biding process our attorney kindly told him to stop what he was doing because he was putting our district in legal Jeopardy because he was involving himself in matters in which the board designated the business administrator and superintendent not him as the contact to ensure there were no acts of impropriety did he stop no he continued so the president of the board removed him from the operations committee since our board attorney disagreed with him the board attorney he picked to replace the last one who didn't always agree with him I'm waiting for him to try and get rid of this one I haven't always agreed with the president of the board
071but she finally did the right thing and removed him from the Ops and finance committee she stood up against him I hope this board the new board members coming on in this town have finally seen him for who he is through his continued divisiveness and poor decisions that have taken place this past year while under his leadership as vice president of this board this board member has created a toxic environment on this board all for what his Personal Agenda he needs to stop micromanaging our Administration and start treating them and the staff as the professionals they are otherwise we will continue to have a Revol evolving door and inconsistency of Staff that's how it was when I started 5 years ago and we worked to create stability in this District not the revolving door we
072have returned to because this board member expects to put their reputations and professional careers on the line for his questionable tactics it's unfortunate but I'm sure the vice president of this board will disagree with everything I've said even though most mostly all of it was played out and public for all toy instead of disagreeing with me he should reflect on his performance on this board over the last year and work towards being a better board member for all the children in the district that he is here to serve I've learned that the njsba uses the issues and how we have handled them in 2023 as examples for other districts on how not to run a board Excellence on the hill is gone and mismanagement man agement on the mountain is here unless our new board
073changes the trajectory of this board I hope that the new and current board members all work together and continue with progress for this District not continuing stall tactics that is the only way we can constantly help our school district improve and succeed for our students the previous boards already laid the framework this new board must continue with collaboration and constant progress we must support our new superintendent and the rest of the administration and staff initiatives for our students not constantly fight against them when individual board members don't get their way we must respect that the decision rests with the majority of the board not individual board members I hope for all of this for our school district and Board of Education in the coming year thank you well thank you Dory for uh ending the
074year kind of the way you started it with these uh long and uh untrue Twisted statements but I'm not going to respond to it Point by Point nor will I respond to Rich's comments at least Dory showed up and participated and uh has been on committees uh Rich really was an absentee board member I think it's unprecedented actually to see uh that he missed 70 or more percent of the meetings seven out of 10 or 12 meetings you weren't even here and refused to be on any committee so I I won't address your comments because you just weren't involved this year at all but uh Dory um I guess you know we should understand that in our oversight role or is in our role as board members there may be times where we disagree um
075and we voice our opinions but when it came to the referendum um when it passed I don't think there was anyone that uh worked as much as I did or as consistently as I did to get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible this the timeline never changed the work was always scheduled for the summer of 2024 and that's when this work is being completed uh some of the work was uh completed ahead of schedule thank you you know thank you to Ricky Boyd and the uh Administration that uh supported him in completing work over this last summer so I just think uh you can say it it played out uh in public um but I think that's the facts and um you know so I I just think that we should go
076into the new year um not treating it like a campaign uh season all year um and trying to be involved otherwise you know there's just no point I I've never seen actually a board member be less involved in the history of this board that I've been following than Rich bucarelli has been didn't put me on a committee well you refused committee assignments and you didn't show up to meetings put me on a committee you were absent for seven out of the 10 meetings you didn't put me on a committee I don't make the committee assignments but I just want to say uh I do um look forward to seeing the referendum work get completed I once again just want to say I hope people can understand that if you have some concerns about a certain
077uh part of the referendum uh I don't think anyone was against a referendum it was just uh at different times uh voicing concerns and maybe opposition to the particular makeup of that referendum but um I I continue to support the uh completion of the work and um I think that was true before um I was no longer on the operations committee and uh I'll continue to do whatever I can to help um using my expertise and my professional experience to uh try to get the work completed as quickly and efficiently as possible so um thank you to the um to the board members that have also undertaken that over the last year and uh hope we can get past some of this uh rhetoric in the new year thank you very much as I mentioned
078earlier the upcoming year we have as a community a lot of work to do I think this year yes there were ups and downs but quite frankly here we are today there's a reason that and I've said this plenty of times I think during the course of the year is that the rear view mirror is smaller than the windshield because we can't look back we had our district by a Sho string for many years and Mr bucki I think you've said it many times on occasion of since I've been on the board that school finances are completely different it takes a while to really understand it and when you are ingratiated in it as a board member you have the opportunity to look at it from a different lens there's a a a beautiful story
079and it's about blueberries and I shared it with you Dr Glazer that everyone comes in saying and I know I did that I have the business acument I have um the understanding of finances like all of that great stuff but the truth is we're not this is not a production right it's not a conveyor belt where you're pushing in a student and on the other side the child comes out with a grades and and is in an IB leak school no all children are different and that's the difference between um a company and a school district when you're looking at the finances you're not looking at just one aspect of whether this is changing or not you're trying to figure out how you're going to make sure that every child gets the resource that they
080need to be successful you need to look at it from a lens of the the staff that you have how are you creating an environment that's safe for them but then also what do we say nowadays we say that you know you want to have a I was talking to Gil this morning actually and it was how do you create a work life balance for them as well how do you do that it's it's not easy because I know that our teachers aren't doing that right now and how do we get to there we need to refrain from ourselves to get stepping off that fiscal cliff that we're currently on as a district it's not that it was created this year it's not that it was created in the last two or three years we
081were saved by covid money and this year um yeah we had to use um interest in helping us because we had thought that we had covid money left over and looking at finances when M Rogers looked in we had nothing um it was used last year um where do we go from here and that's the task and that is the big question that the next board has and as you create the budget next year please look at every line I you have like I said you're on a clean slate right now you have that opportunity to work together to really put this District in a better Financial light and stability and trajectory so these are decisions that the next board and we as a community will need to make going forward to provide the support
082for every single student and child that they need and uh on that note I also want to say thank you Dr ER for hosting the board and the teacher and the staff um the Administration staff last week we had a great holiday party we got together with family and um it was nice just being amongst peers and colleagues and and just letting your guard down and really getting to know each other and that's what being a community means and and I I'll say it again Dr Glazer you are the gold are there any other comments thank you many all right um yes yes sorry um board retreat we did not host it uh this year because a lot was going on since May um typically we'll have it in June but because we were um
083in the process of finding a new superintendent we did not have one originally scheduled it for September October but then um because there was New Jersey school boards Association conference which some of the board members attended just the timing did not work out and our representative also suggested that it's best that because now we're so late in the year that the new board do it together that this way the new board members will have an opportunity to discuss where where the board is and their Vision so that will be taking place in January and I had seconded that as well in January January 11th to be exact so keep your ears open and eyes open you'll get to hear a lot of comments and critiques um any other comments all right moving on to action
084items um Mr Morales can you move administrative items please ski coms oh I'm sorry I think we've gone for so long actually I stepping back a little comments from the public at this time on agenda items only we welcome input from the public there are two times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak the first opportunity to comment on agenda items only is now the second opportunity for public comment is towards the end of the meeting total time allotted for public comment is 30 minutes before you make your comment please state your name Municipality of residents in the event it appears that the public comment portion of the meeting May exceed 30 minutes the presiding officer May limit each statement made by the participating participant to three minutes duration our public forums
085are not structured as a question and answer session but rather are offered as opportunities to share input with the board in instances where the board feels a response is needed the ciding officer or superintendent will address the comment New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss Personnel or hiring in public session names of students should not be used members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal action and sorry legal rights of those affected identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments that they make to the board the board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public are there any public comments thank you hi SM SAR at 110 nights Bridge watch what exactly happens
086in a board retreat I'm sorry I don't know I guess that's me so we have a facilitated meeting where we um work through a process of setting goals District goals board goals um there's actually training that happens scenarios around um board member responsibilities I especially for new board members I think that there's sometimes a question of what is our responsibility as a board member versus maybe as a parent or as a community member um the facilitator reviews those scenarios talks through those rights and responsibilities of again board members talks about um the structure right how are how are we going to have our district and board goals um when those goals are set that becomes my responsibility to uh make sure that we can accomplish those goals and to report on the action items along
087that the board's responsibility to evaluate my ability to do that um and at a retreat they also beyond the the goals also set how they're going to evaluate um every year that has to be done before July 1 as part of um just the general legislation um there is the board self assessment it's a tool that's been developed by the school boards Association to allow boards to look at and reflect um on every aspect right of governance not not just what happens here at this meeting there's a lot when you sit on this side of the table as a board member that people never see right a tremendous amount of time in committee and discussion asking questions reviewing just if you noticed on the agenda tonight or 15 maybe more attachments all of that is
088the the purview of the board to look at ask questions about make sure that they understand the appropriate way right to um address the questions and to get um District business based on the goals moving forward how long does it go on those um it depends right I've been in um I have to been in Retreats where um a board can come together around their board goals relatively quickly the recommendations for district goals are usually pretty clear right it's not probably something that we haven't already looked at or thought about already um there are a number of tools that already exist to evaluate superintendence whether that's a narrative or using one of the school boards or other um tools to do that I think that the length depends on the conversation and the questions like
089I said there are scenarios that we go through um and sometimes that leads to discussion but again it is a public meeting it is a notist public meeting people can listen um to those discussions of how we go about setting the goals thank you sure I I originally thought when someone said Retreat I was like oh we're going on vacation yeah we were going on vacation to a conference room anybody else good evening Dennis BOS Drive watchong um first of all thank you Mrs Rogers for all the hard work that you've done really appreciate it and also to the out board members uh thank you for your service um couple things on the agenda actually one item mentioned earlier about the transportation survey um first half of this year there were a lot of discussions
090about conducting surveys and about a variety of different topics and um I know that you guys will but I think that it's probably useful uh to kind of have this as a baseline on some of those surveys because a lot of those discussions the first half of this year we're talking about participation rates and that kind of thing and uh the responses so that might be useful in the future uh to to think about some of those survey responses and participation the other one is on B7 which talks about um it's I'm not going to specifically talk about the actual item or the person themselves but it triggered my memory about the resignation of which there were many again earlier this year about um the discussion of or the possibility of exit interviews and okay
091great uh we were talking about that many years ago and wasn't sure um C15 that talks a little bit about health insurance and I just thought I'd let you know for those who who don't pay attention to high school what's happening there um at their recent meeting they were talking about a 10% increase in health insurance cost over at the high school I think with their negotiations for their um new contract with the uh Union teachers union there um and then the last thing is you've kind of already addressed it on C20 with the Philips field uh topic um although I'm not sure exactly what those modifications are it might be useful for the public to know what role responsibilities obligations of the board um are for the Phillips field because I went to go
092look for I couldn't find a contract on on the website so maybe it's hidden very well but it's uh easy to forget what our responsibilities and obligations are on the philps field topic that's all I have so I can just tell you for this one the Little League merged with Warren so they have some younger kids and they want to move the baselines they want to be able to have um closer baselines for the younger kids other ones they are Baseline bases with ribbons so nothing dangerous as kids slide into bases and the board has no responsibility the um little league actually pays for that and gets the basis if that helps thank you good evening uh h j at Elenor Drive in watching New Jersey um I sat here sort of in shock and
093amazement that we would hear what we've heard um the personal attacks and the misinformation and disinformation I don't really want to term it what it really is having been on the ad hoc committee that was looking at the referendum after it was defeated the first time uh the leaders of that committee are here tonight and so I've had some personal experience with that committee I felt I needed to have to resign from that committee because of the disinformation and the lack of information that that committee wanted to share I found that very very regrettable um the thisinformation I is I found very extreme when posing the question what is the referendum going to cost the people of Wang the residents we were told we were going to save 30% and it would cost 10 million
094when in fact it's going to cost The Debt Service is costing watch on residents 16 million I don't know how to term that misinformation disinformation maybe ignorance I I actually think the people who spoke initially didn't understand Debt Service and I think that's one of the problems that this board has I think still have to dig out from five years four years of misin mismanagement by this group of people um I find it very comical actually you know having been really deeply involved in the referendum and I I think we probably needed a referendum but this one was so poorly planned it's you know it's really a shame uh just think we're going to have golden bathrooms for first graders tune of nearly a million dollars and we can't get enough money to pay our
095teachers that's the board those are the people who are talking about other people I'm just speaking for the record so that people analyze go back look at what happened look what's in the referendum where we've been we're crying poverty yet we can find $15 million that being spent on projects that will not bring up m and the reading levels in watch on and I I ex I implore this board to look at the the finances carefully to work hard and to work toward bringing watcham to a level of high achievement as we've experienced since we've been here for 50 years and I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas I I feel very sad that dirty linen would have to be AED in public like this for personal attacks you see no place for something like
096that in watcham and I think the people who do those kind of things should examine their conduct thanks a lot any other [Music] comments seeing that there are none finally we're going to move on to action items because all of you lovely people are here still with us at 9:30 um Mr Mar Al can you please move administrative items I'd like to move administrative action items A1 approve minutes of previous meeting A2 approve appointments A3 superintendent design A4 approve appointment A5 approve appointment A6 approve the six-month update to the district plan for safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of service pursuant to the federal American Rescue plan is there a second second any [Music] comments um may I have a roll call please Mr [Music] buckerell uh yes except uh if abstain from A1
097Mr fras absent Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr engracia yes Mrs jet yes Mr Morales yes Mrs Morad yes Mrs odonnell yes motion passes Mr Gonzalez can you please move Personnel items yes move uh item B1 appoint interim business administrator B2 approve appoint business administrator board secretary B3 approve mentors revised B4 approve Bayberry co-curricular position B5 approve substitute substitutes B6 approve student teacher participation in amer corpse program seven accept resignation eight approve leavea Vin nine approve appointment librarian is there a second a second any discussion yes okay um I'm just not sure um if I'm looking at the November minutes we have the item B5 which was to approve a mentor uh it was a fee of $550 paid by the district and the name of the new hire is there in the uh
098November minutes but then um when I see B3 here there's um it's revisiting the hiring of mentors but this time it's um $1,000 and it's two mentors under the same new hire name so it's it's basically four times as much in Mentor it looks I'm just trying to see if I'm reading correctly because then it's also same position that we're accepting the resignation for for the same employ I had this question earlier and I did um respond to it but I will um do it also publicly so depending on your certificate whether you have a Certificate of Eligibility or a Certificate of Eligibility with Advanced standing the mentor fee is different for one it's 550 for one it's a thousand unfortunately we found in our contract that um um everybody has just been treated the
099same with the same certificate um we cannot do that it is legislation the mentoring is legislation So based on the certificate the mentoring fee is $1,000 this person's assigned Mentor um was not able to um fully do it independently so while that person was not available a separate Mentor was assigned because that's what needs to happen everybody has to have a mentor so these people aren't both being paid they will be paid by time sheets and I don't see it um it does say prated at the top in the um revision if you see um it is to be paid by the district prated due to the length of the assignment and the mentoring so this is true for everybody whether they resign or what have you there's a mentoring log of hours that's kept
100so if a person leaves the district before they receive their standard certificate that uh hours they've already put in the mentoring fees they've already paid they get credit for and when they go to their new District they pick up for the remaining hours for the remaining fees until they satisfy the requirements to get their certificate if that helps thank you sure any other comments may have a roll call please Mr bucarelli yes Mr fras absent Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr engracia yes Mrs jet yes Mr Morales yes Mrs Morad yes Mrs odonnell yes motion passes thank you uh Mrs Harvey can you please move operation and finance items sure I move C1 approv payment of bills October 2023 C2 approve payment of bills November 2023 C3 approved transfer of funds 2023 to 2024
101C4 accept Financial reports uh C5 authorize submission of Esa carryover Amendment C6 approve e rate Consulting Services agreement C7 authorized salale SL disposal of audio equipment for parts nonworking C8 accept donation C9 approve payment application C10 approv PSENG energy saor program installation and repayment agreement C11 award contract C12 award contract C C13 appoint temporary District purchasing agent c14 approve professional developmentschool travel and related expenses uh C15 appoint school health insurance fund uh shiff funds commissioner uh c16 approved joint Transportation agreement c17 approve HR workplace Services Incorporated assistance agreement c18 approve medical inspector school physician agreement c19 approve uh addendum to extend agreements with ESS Northeastern LLC uh C20 approve Philips Fields modifications and c21 approved technology contract and purchase is Sarah second second any discussion yes um I'm going to abstain from from item C4
102uh accept Financial reports just because um the the board packet was released last night and there was October and November uh reports in there that I didn't have a chance to look at but the question that I have and that's where um didn't have an opportunity to ask a question or two in advance is um item c16 is the approved joint transportation agreements and uh there's a table on the following page that's still part of c16 uh that is the um shows the route there's a b and c routes and then the destination and the fee and the dates that it's effective and so I'm just concerned that um when then I look at attachment 12 in the in the board packet it seems like the table um in the agenda isn't matching the roots
103and dollar amounts that are on attachment 12 so it's only a two-page attachment but if you look um I'm seeing um route 945 looks to be correct at 18,000 and change per year and then um but it looks like 910 which is shown on the agenda is only 1,891 $1 is actually uh on this agreement the uh 76,120,000 945 SS 76125 so that may just be something where the the agenda uh table is not matching up to the two pages of the joint agreement but it does um so when you're looking at the agenda table it looks like we have one route that's to the same school relatively the same dates but one is 18,000 per year and the other is 76,000 per year plus 129 uh per DM rate so I would I would
104just say if you look at uh attachment 12 in the board packet which I didn't see even when it did come through last night until today but the um it just looks like there's a switch there and it it just also does um can I ask the question is how do you have a one fee of 18,000 per year and another of 76,000 per year so maybe it's just as simple as correcting the roots but it could be also um that there is a question of just how does one how does one route um because really then it's to the it's it's not even to an outside destination it's to the Bayberry uh route that's the 76,000 that's actually more plus uh per DM rate so um they're just mislabeled looking at the numbers right
105the the agenda doesn't match up with the what the attachment 12 is from uh The Joint maer so maybe that's just a correction that can be made after the fact and maybe it's a discussion for another time I'll uh you know as far as how there could be such a higher cost for one route regular and the other one's for extended school year yeah if you look at the dates one is just for June to August like I said you can it's yeah I mean there's a few months difference there but from 18,000 to 76,000 is quite a difference but they're not to the same school that's what I'm saying these are showing them both to the destination of this certain grammar school um one of the three is to Bayberry but it's actually switched
106and I'm not positive but I think the 18,000 for the new Mark is just for y that wasn't approved um and then the 76 is for the regular school year inclusive of an aid well the is also listed as a per correction as necessary yeah there's a per DM uh attached to that 76,000 which I think if you multiplied by the number of school days would be another you know 20 something thousand maybe so um you know that's uh that's okay quite a cost for one route and but I just don't uh see it lining up it I don't think what's the destinations are correct or the roots that's what I'm trying to say Rogers said she would check on that so if we could just I guess we'll vote on it but with the
107caveat that it's um corrected matching the attachment yeah if the information is correct it'll be revised on the next agenda that's y all right any other disc questions may have a roll call please Mr buckell yes Mr fr absent Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr engracia I'm going to just go through and um yes on C1 C2 and C3 abstain on C4 yes on C5 through C15 obstain on c16 uh and yes on c17 through c21 Mrs jet yes I know there's the caveat saying that U you going to check on the nework schools correct and then it would be if it's incorrect it'll be fixed for the yes Mr Morales yes as to all Mrs Morad yes Mrs odonnell yes motion passes thank you moving on to curriculum items uh Mrs jet can
108you please move curric items okay uh you approve District academic calendars any is there a second second any discussion yes um I went back and just took a look at last earlier this year because we've already just um approved the calendar um at our January 24th meeting so I was a little surprised um I had seen the calendars at first I thought they were sent as two uh separate options of that we were looking at but it was actually for two years um the coming two years so um um you know our January 24th 2023 was one of the most contentious votes that we had all year if anyone uh wants to follow take a look back at that meeting but it the discussion was almost an hour long triggering several different motions and votes
109uh first there was a lengthy debate about the committee work leading up to the calendar decision and discomfort expressed with the due diligence or lack thereof by the committee there was a motion made to add three additional holidays to the the calendar thereby extending the school year for an additional week uh the Lunar New Year uh Greek Orthodox Good Friday and juneth and there was reasons um that were expressed um given for diversity Equity inclusion aligning with the high school so that parents aren't inconvenienced having one child go to school and the other child stay at home for school um and there was also a discussion of a lack of due diligence and uh data- driven decision making so then we also had a motion made to table the calendar with only Ed and D
110um send it back to the curriculum committee and recommend to the board their findings on adding those holidays with a more diligent approach to the data uh data driven decision making was a phrase used several times and that vote uh received a good amount of support but ultimately failed so at different times um I had voted for the calendar that ended up being uh approved but there was a a long discussion almost an hour and uh some people voted to just include the additional holidays like Lunar New Year things that um right on the spot those three that I mentioned um so in the end the calendar was approved but it was really a last resort um most board members agreed to be more diligent in future calendar approval including the option to modify the
111recently approved calendar which never happened and uh certain board members made public statements to that effect promising to be more diligent and inclusive going forward so I think it's very unwise to propose a calendar with a a lame duck board also uh that and that failed to follow through on the due diligence of decision making that was promised and look I'm lame duck board is not I'm not using that as a derogatory negative assessment it's just that there's three board members that are voting today uh for the last time before their term ends and will not represent the district in the years the calendar covers and that's why the calendar approval is typically done in the new year with the new board and I see no reason to rush this I know we didn't do
112it until January 24th this earlier this year and the question came up to the superintendent at the time if there was a deadline and um there was not a firmed deadline except uh he recommended at the time that it does happen in the first quarter of of the year um so I just think um that right now we should follow through on our promise we saw a nice result with the transportation survey maybe that's part of it but either way it should be whether it's a special committee or just the curriculum committee uh just having the new board members on board I I think at this time it's premature and uh was a bit of a surprise and for it to be two years uh that it were being asked to approve all at once
113which was unusual for us also so uh that's that's my reason for abstaining uh on this vote thank you I I just want to make sure that you're aware um it was not on our radar to do it now but the wung Regional High School District um who we are committed to aligning with has already um developed both years of calendar I was not planning to do that either um but they have already developed the 2425 calendar the 2526 calendar they have board approved it and distributed it to the community so for us um as the district as administrators we immediately upon receiving that started developing a cend we worked with the Teachers Association the principls we um sent it out to all of us the um faculties were able to look at it at
114their faculty meetings and and I will tell you that the questions that were raised were not um what you raised I wasn't here so it am at a disadvantage for that but I will say that um I I was told that there was a survey done in 2122 I took some time to track it down but I found it um and the response to that calendar discussion in 2022 and the survey was there wasn't a way to add all of those days that you mentioned into a calendar there's not or we would be here until 4th of July which is not realistic so two years ago um in response to that they developed What's called the homework free or assessment free nights so on those days like Lunar New Year that we can't take off
115for orthodox Easter that we can't add to the calendar those are on those homework free assessment free days um we did not make any changes to the existing holidays um Russ sh yamur Eid um Dali as other districts not to Halloween not to any of that we left everything intact um and we followed the high school calendar I was not going to start before Labor Day I wanted to use those two days for bus runs to give students opportunities at the lower grades to practice buckling and unbuckling there wasn't a way for us to coordinate to do that so we are starting the same days that they are we have have the same number of days for students with the snow days built in as the high school in this calendar year um again I
116didn't Veer from that they also came up with a second year so we felt obligated to do the same because whether we came up with it this year or not that's probably where we're going to end up based on the high school schedule our shared services busing and that um very clear request that the students at the high school and Elementary School have a similar you know spring break winter break you know similar days off and we have added holidays that the high school doesn't have that is correct and they did a pretty extensive committee that yes I don't understand where you're getting at I'm saying are you are youying I just wanted Anthony to be aware that we did have these conversations and yes I'm aware that the high school surveyed Amber the at
117the high school the survey to add the days would have required if you looked at the survey that the staff come in a week earlier in August the staff did not want to do that I don't blame them for not wanting to do that um so they were not able to add the days with the 183 required days for us we don't have the same high school graduation we're able to go I think this year our last day because we have the half days right um our last day comes up the same and next year um depending on the snow days I think we come a day later all right so this is all good discussion uh wasn't had before the meeting uh that I was involved in anyway but um I I do think
118that it's only fair um that we don't rush it we're we're a month we're more than a month ahead of when we approved it last year or earlier this year the same year we have three new board members coming on and like I said we made a commitment that we were going we made a commitment at that meeting after an hour of uh contentious discussion and multiple motions uh and votes that we were going to take this back to committee and discuss it and I haven't seen any of that so I just think to to vote on this today is uh premature sure and I quite frankly don't understand why because um you know it's we have time so we we do have time but again given that the high schools is already uh approved
119and distributed not to I mean we have time to do what I don't know that our calendar would change and we did discuss it in all four committees it at length at length including the principles and incl including the association well maybe there's other board members that have questions but I to me that's what sticks out to me is something that is uh you know not advisable to uh have I have a question all right thank you do you uh uh do you support this I am recommending the calendar based on the conversations okay so you everyone feels comfortable that we've looked into the Lunar New Year adequately and we're just prepared not to do not one of the days on our calendar it's one of the homework free assessment free days we've only included
120the same holidays that existed we didn't make any change it's but that's what we committed to doing last year was that we were going to look at this and see if those should be we had board members here I think four of them that voted to include it on the calendar it it failed by one vote not to add Lunar New Year oh okay that didn't come up in any conversation would it make a difference whether we vote on it today or with the new board in January does it make a big difference my recommendation's going to be the same because if you look at the dates um and where the calendar dates fall out I don't have the calendar pulled up of course but um will if we add Lunar New Year and Orthodox
121Easter that's 185 days for students 90 or 91 I'd have to look um for staff that does not follow the contract number one um but it also carries us Beyond um June 19th and we both of us the high school and the elementary school districts are finished before June 19th and you'll see it on the calendar as observed even though we aren't here well I have no objection to the dates that are selected for this particular calendar but at this particular calendar would this particular C be would it be okay to vote on it today or the new board in January don't think that it difference makes a difference I saying it's going to that my recommendation at this point is the same but I would also say and again I haven't heard from the
122new board members so I don't know but it has been you know it is public and it's been um I haven't had any public comment sorry I didn't know if it was working I think the difference is is that the last time board members made motions for um the calendar and this time it's coming from our superintendent which we should support because this is an administrative task thank you and we should be following the high school too because we work with them very closely right but we're not currently following their same calendar we're we're trying to align with we don't have the same days anyway because we have the elementary conferences we're closed for election day because we it's a polling place and we've just invested in Safety and Security we can't just open the
123door with the staff and student there so no we don't have those days the same but our calendars are substantially the same right and that's where we may have room for those additional holidays that's the where I think there okay so I don't I don't want to end the year the way we started the year not taking superintendent recommendations so maybe we could have a vote if people feel strongly I I will say this at any time vote no if you feel strongly about it I I am only responding to say that it was reviewed in every committee we did bet it with the principles with the association and it is well can I ask Dr Glazer then how do you feel about the uh three board members that are here today voting for the
124next two years calendar versus the three new board members coming in you don't think that they would want to have take a look at it and hear your recommendations and be able to make decision but what I'm saying is it's public and we've spoke I've spoken to the new board members we we are having our new B board member orientations this week and next week they well we're voting tonight we are my point is when you say don't they have an opportunity to speak they like every member of the public on this topic they have again I don't it doesn't matter to me we they weren't in the Committees for the discussion put a lot of time into it and my recommendation is is the recommendation whether we vote tonight or in January does any
125other board member have any other comments the only thing I'm thinking of new people coming on usually they're the ones who no I I agree with you and is there any other comments that are related to this calendar not discussing what's going on in January I'm sorry Amber but this is under the have something to has spoken a lot on this subject I just want to say that I don't want to negate board members votes who are sworn in who have served their time here I appreciate their vote I think they should have the opportunity to vote and I'm listening to the superintendent saying that this isn't going to change so I don't see why there isn't any reason why we should do a roll call and if we keep circling around the same conversation
126that's not a use of any of our time wisely so um if Madam president if there's no other new comments I would request I'm sure with a majority of board members to just go to a roll call I concur can I please have a roll call Mr buckell yes Mr fras absent Mr Gonzales yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr engracia abstain Mrs jet I'm going to abstain Mr Morales yes Mrs Morad yes Mrs odonnell yes motion passes thank you is there any board business seeing that there are none any comments from the public seeing that there are [Music] none can I have a motion to adjourn so moved is a second thank you a motion has been made and seconded to adjourn the meeting all in favor say I any oppose this meeting has been adjourned
127see you in the new year it's off he already turned us off happy New Year happy New Year merry chras