001Uh this is the board of education meeting for which adequate notice under the open public meetings act was provided by written notice on January 6, 2026 that the courier news, the echo sentinel, the star ledger tap into Warren and the clerks of the burrow of watch and the townships of Greenbrook, Longill and Warren. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Decker >> here, >> Miss Fazer Rosemurski >> here, >> Miss Lee >> here. >> Miss Potter >> here. >> Miss Proa >> here. >> Miss Rexford >> here. >> Miss Trump >> here. >> Mr. Bernberg >> here. Pledge allegiance. Please stand. >> I 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. >> In accordance
002with the provisions of the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, be it hereby resolved that the board move into executive session to discuss confidential personnel and legal matters and the CSA evaluation after which action may be taken. It is expected that the matters discussed in executive session will be made public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists. We have a motion to go into executive session. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor. >> I I >> Great. We're now in executive session. Uh if all goes well, we'll be back by 7:30. See everyone then. Thank you. Okay, we wouldn't start without you. >> You're welcome. >> I may start doing that. Do we have any board correspondents this evening? >> I don't think so. >> Okay, then
003we will move right on to uh reports and presentations. Uh you have any comments you'd like to make? What? Let me pull out. I have uh the HIB grade report we give once a year. We actually do the assessment back in the uh fall and then we get the official certification of it each year in the spring. And I'm pleased to report we scored 78 out of 78. Um the the first year that we did this we which was a number of years ago now, but we actually um did not because you you do a self assessment, we were about 75 out of 78 for one of the professional development pieces of it. But Mr. Sabino, our director of counseling, who oversees our anti-bullying uh procedures and processes here, has um made some adjustments to
004that. And so we have uh continuously scored 78 out of 78 and I'm required to report that publicly and it is posted on our district website. Um with regard to the rest of my comments, I'm going to reserve those for the strategic plan discussion. I did invite um those folks who worked on our implementation or our core team to the meeting tonight. A number of members of our leadership team are here as well as some staff members and uh parents. So, I'm excited to talk about that in a little bit. I too am excited to hear about the uh the presentation and certainly thank everybody who participated in it uh and helped generate the report and those people who uh took some time out of their busy schedule and came this evening. So, I want
005to thank you. Uh, our last full month of the school year, at least this student school year. Um, I know we're busy with the AP exams. I guess most of them are over. Maybe there's still a few left. Uh, good luck to all those students. And, um, just wish everyone a happy holiday with Memorial Day uh, coming up. And I'll reserve all my other comments for whenever I decide I want to give a comment as others will too. Uh, so Billy, do you have any? >> Uh, no. I think everyone's heard enough for me the last couple of meetings. So, so we're all good. >> Okay. Uh, student representative. Now, is this the last time we're hearing from you or do we >> June 2nd? >> Oh, June 2nd, >> Yep. >> Okay, great. So,
006Sophie and Juliano, we have your pen >> the penultimate. Is that correct? Is that the right word? Penultimate. Okay. >> Look at you with the fancy language. You're not so illiterate after all, Mr. Burn. >> All right, so our student achievements are as followed. Congratulations to Nicola Jetsovich and Nathan Chu who competed in the history bowl in Arlington, Virginia. They won second place in the second division of the International Academic Competition's National History Bowl. Congratulations to Tyler Slepakura, Yeva Sarodina, Claire Pang, and Ryan Louu, who were selected to participate in the 2026 Warren Township summer internship program. These students were selected through a competitive application and review process and will participate in a paid internship designed to provide hands-on exposure to local government operations, public service, and professional workplace experience. We are happy to announce
007that sophomore Pernabi Shivaumar has been selected for the prestigious New Jersey All-State Choir. This outstanding achievement recognizes her exceptional talent, dedication, and musicianship, placing her among the top high school vocalists in the entire state. Pernavi is an active and valued member of our performing arts community, contributing her talents to both the Hillsarmonics and the Wong Hills Jazz Ensemble. Moving on to her school events, Mr. Oftall, Mr. Murray took the Holocaust and genocide honors classes to New York on April 24th. Mr. Oftall read led the tour of the 9/11 memorial where they saw the three people who passed away on that day who were graduates of Wong Hills. They then took a guided tour of the Holocaust exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Continuing with this month's school events, Miss Lot Jones's classes are participating
008in the My America Project, a nationwide art and civic engagement initiative honoring our past, reflecting on our present, and inspiring our future. The classes were mailed 6x6 pieces of fabric that the students will be writing messages on, then mailing them back to make a huge American flag mosaic. The goal is to make a colossal 150 by 80 foot flag mosaic half the size of a football field composed of individual reflections. From April 28th to April 30th, the Wong Hills Regional High School celebrated the remarkable artistic achievements and community contributions of our students during the spring arts 2026 festival. On Tuesday, April 28th, the Wong Hills chapter of the National Art Honor Society officially inducted 32 new members. These dedicated students were required to earn a minimum of 10 volunteer hours and complete a passion project
009in collaboration with a staff member. Projects ranged from physics themed ceiling tiles to nature inspired murals in the world language wing. The festival's opening night on April 28th also featured a vibrant visual arts opening reception, culinary arts showcase, and music production showcase in the atrium, followed by theater production and scripting and cue showcases in the south auditorium. The celebration concluded on Thursday, April 30th with the Jazz Cafe, an evening of moods, foods, and music featuring the Wong Hills Jazz Ensemble and the Hills Harmonics AC Capella Group. This multi-day event alongside the completion of the National Art Honor Society's massive seasonal landscape mural truly showcased the profound talent and dedication of our students artists. Continuing with our athletic update, this past week, 16 student athletes were recognized at spring college signing day. The impressive turnout of
010family and friends was indicative of the caliber of excellence these students have achieved both on the field and in the classroom. It was a very successful event. And that is it for this month's report. >> Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Okay. Dr. J, the strategic plan. Would you like to introduce that and talk about it or >> Yes, I would like to very much. >> Can I I just want to share. So before I go to the presentation, am I able to share something for my screen on here or is it set up already for >> I Yes, I can. George, do you want to just share it with you? >> Yeah, share with the >> share it with the Which one is that? >> Packet W. So, one of the things that
011I I realized I want to put up here before I um go through the the brief presentation is the list of participants because it also lists everyone's role in the school and it just really exemplifies the collaboration um the widespread collaboration on the development of the strategic plan. Go So as I had um already indicated we have a number of our team members here tonight. So thank you so much for giving another evening uh to join us and we have a couple of our students with us. Sonia Nquille is in the the back there and both Juliana and Sophie were also participants on the core team uh and we had some students on the implementation teams as well. And I one thing this really exemplified to all of us is we want to find more
012opportunities for students to be participants in especially in what are generally adultled activities because it just gave such a nice perspective to it. And what I'll do after I speak as long as the board president's okay with it, I was going to let anyone else who wanted to perhaps um comment on their experience if they had anything that they wanted to add. Um and I can even go back to that document. Nope, not a problem at all. We can even just go forward with the presentation. Um there was on the list it's about 50 uh it is 50 people um between the core team and the implementation teams and it was uh representatives from between parents, students, we had five board members. We started out with four board members and then one of the parents
013who was on the committee ended up becoming a board member uh on the core team and we had representatives from all four towns. We had just about I we had every department in the in the school. Um we had a representative Mike Pazani from our buildings and grounds crew was on there. Pam Sasso, one of our front office secretaries, Rich Sybert, one of our coaches. Um and that's a little bit different than what we've done in the past where we didn't just pull instructional staff to contribute to the strategic plan, but really people who have have are part of, you know, every single part of this school. We had school counselors, child study team members, administrators. We made sure we had um representation from every academic department. So there was a really a lot of
014input into uh the development of the plan and a lot of people who gave their nights um to look through district data both qualitative and quantitative and have some really great discussions. And I have to say Sophie being one of the people who was very sad when we had our last meeting um pe people really enjoyed the conversation. I know I did. I left those meetings feeling so inspired from the work that we were doing. Um, and it was nice, too. I got to know some some different things I didn't know about the people uh at the table I was with. Um, connections from high school and and sports teams long ago from, you know, common family connections. So, it was just it it was really a nice experience. And I think the plan that
015came out of it, I know the plan that came out of it, um, really exemplifies what we want our students to embody and and the values of our district. And so without further ado, so this is just a little kind of overview of who we are developing this plan for. Um, we have about 1,650 students. Yes, Mr. B. >> Sorry, >> I apologize for interrupting. I know you flow. Can you just explain why we even did this? What the purpose was? >> That's a great starting point. Thank you. And please feel free to interject as as I'm going through this. So, I know you always do. >> Um, so this is actually our third strategic plan. Uh, our first one was 2015 to 2020, 2020 to 25. Since it took us this year to do
016this one, we're this is our 2026 to 2031 strategic plan. And the the purpose of this is to is to pri really identify our priorities as a school community. There are a lot of important things for us to do, but we have limited resources. We have limited time, limited personnel, limited financial resources. And so we can't prioritize everything. It's just not possible. And so this allows us to develop a roadmap for the next five years. Now, it will adjust throughout those 5 years, but the overarching goals stay consistent. And what it does is it allows us to stay the course regardless of changes within the system. So, if you get a new superintendent, hopefully that won't happen, but if the board changes, as administration changes, as staff changes, you don't want a new goal every
017other month, you know, because the personnel is ch is shifting. It takes three to five years to really make progress on any overarching district goal and so you need to make a commitment to it and you need to follow through on it. And plus people get initiative fatigue if every year there's you know some some new thing that we're trying people then figure they'll just wait it out because you know by next year there'll be something else. Um, and I think one thing that the staff has really bought into, which is why I had an overabundance of volunteers for these strategic plan teams is because they've seen that the plans really have driven our work for the past 10 years. Um, and now we'll continue to do so. I'm certainly a believer in it because,
018you know, as a board, you have a very, very difficult job of people coming and asking you for different things all the time. And this allows us to say, we're not saying that that's not important. it's just not what we've identified as most important right now. Um and that's why we continually look at this to see if needs have changed um you know where we need to to adjust it. So hopefully that uh provides some some clarity on that. This is just a little kind of overview of the you know our school um for somebody looking at this who wants a snapshot of the things we already provide. 26 AP courses, 33 intercolastic sports, over 60 clubs and activities um and then some of our post-secondary outcomes and this is you know some of the
019data that we looked at in developing the plan. So the mission that came from um looking our initial discussions of the plan and this was this was a very interesting exercise in terms of coming down to a consensus mission that everyone agreed upon. The mission of the Wong Hills Regional High School District is to inspire every student to discover their voice, define their path and develop their passion. So then where did we go from here? There were five areas of focus that we looked at and the core team was divided into these five areas of focus um where we looked at data uh to determine ultimately the goals. So the first thing we did was define what our values were for each of these areas. And so for safety and wellness, prioritizing physical safety, emotional
020well-being and uh mental health supports for teaching and learning, delivering student centered, purposeful I it's really hard for me to read this from here. Purposeful and equitable access to rigorous problem solving, leadership and governance, uh ensuring transparent, accountable, and student focused decision-making free from unnecessary political influence. Oh, thank you, Dylan. Always comes through in the clutch. um fostering for community and culture, fostering a welcoming, respectful environment driven by kindness and school pride. And then finance and facilities, allocating resources transparently to put student well-being and modern safe learning spaces first. So these were the this is just a summary of the value statements we came up with. So now what is if these are our values, what does that look like? So for safety, embedded mental health education, empathy driven network, secure physical environment. So that's
021our safety and security piece. for learning. What does it look like in terms of instruction? Um, beyond classroom experiences, internships that we've talked about, our unified sports, diverse post-secondary support, leadership, embedded student voices, which I spoke about earlier, and that's really becoming a part of, you'll see that as a an um embedded part of the strategic plan, regular two-way communication, um, strategic budgeting, culture. Um this has to is surrounded by uh uh supported through school spirit, schoolwide respect initiatives, um structured upper class mentoring and then for finance um really strategic investments, advanced security infrastructure, updated multi-purpose collaborative spaces. So we first went through identifying what the values and the vision were and from there that's where we started our gap analysis. So let's look at where we currently are and that is where each group
022looked at data and what this time around we did not have to give a specific survey for the strategic plan because we had five years of NJ Sky data that's our culture and climate survey we had all of our student assessment data we have our our budget data our long-range facilities plan so we looked at all of this to really look at where we are now and where the gap is for the vision that we're looking to get do. And so these are just some of the things in terms of well-being and climate. These these are data points pulled from the um school climate survey. So some things from here, 84% of students report a strong sense of belonging to the school. Um however, when you look on on the bottom corner, you'll see greater
023than 50% of students report cyber bullying either online or through text. So that's something we want to take a closer look at. And so to summarize this, you'll see at the bottom, while our core relationships are strong, the external pressures of anxiety and digital conflict require immediate systemic intervention. Uh in terms of looking at operations and academics, this again looks at some of that data. Um so 50% of students do not see how current schoolwork helps their future. So that's a a little bit of an alarming statistic or something we want to look further at. um lack of involvement in community service, uh engagement, that piece in the middle. Uh this this was discussed a lot with the students, how there's a lack of uh participation and attendance at events, at meetings. And so we
024started trying to get at the roots of is that because of our our the way our schedule is structured and too many things are scheduled during that that common lunch period? Um is it because students are splintered into too many different activities? Uh so that's something we want to take more of a look at. And then for facilities and finance, uh we've been talking about that for the past few months now and the the challenges that will come with that. So that led to our four overarching goals. And in the the um bullets that I shared with the board over the weekend, there are similarities certainly to our current strategic plan um because those are still uh areas of focus and and important and priorities. However, some of these take a more laser-like focus into
025some specific aspects of those. Um, and for the first time, we have a goal that is specifically devoted to finance and facilities. Our first goal, foster a student- centered approach to enhance the overhaul overall WHRHS academic experience. Number two, strengthen engagement and meaningful connections al across the learning community. Three, provide faculty and students the resources, materials, and facilities to succeed in an evolving world. Four, build inclusive relationship-driven environments promoting kindness, belonging, safety, and seal. So you, as you can see, these encompass what we identified in the values and the vision. Um, but they are broad enough that then we can figure out exactly what we want our objectives to be under each of these goals. And I'm not going to read each of these to you. You will get all of this after the board
026meeting. We will actually be working um the later this year and over the summer to have all of this in a reader and user friendly format on our website. Um but we want to spend some time doing that uh so that this is communicated in the the uh most user-friendly way to our community. For the first goal uh this has to do uh uh uh is all about our student- centered academic experience. In the past, we've looked at, okay, you know, what are new courses we should be offering? Um, what, you know, what is missing from our program of study? What we want to do is a coordinated comprehensive audit of our entire program of study, looking at everything from our courses to our leveling to our grading practices to see what we need to
027really update in a coordinated way moving forward. Um, and then what professional development is needed to go along with that and what new support structures. Um, so that's going to be a big area of focus uh in terms of the the student engagement piece. And again, this one I'm I'm really proud of the students who participated at the meeting because they they um really clearly articulated this um which you know it's it's not always so easy to do, but this is something that has come up in the past strategic plans when we've either had focus groups or we've done surveys that the students just want more school spirit and more participation. And I always talk about, you know, we're a large school. We want to make a large school feel smaller. um we want to
028provide the opportunities and the the um courses and the experiences that a large comprehensive high school is able to, but we want to make that school feel smaller for the students so that they have those connections. And so um this is something that uh Moren Kelly, our ASC adviser, has already started working on with the students in terms of redesigning the structure of ASC and GLC to take more of an active role in this respect. So that's going to continue evolve to evolve throughout the strategic plan and this is going to be heavily um student driven. Goal three, this is all about our referendum, our alternative financing um sources that we're looking to do. And um Billy and company on his team did a really really nice job of identifying very specific objectives and action
029items um for this particular goal with timelines um in terms of planning for the referendum, identifying alternative revenue sources. Um, so I I really appreciate the work they they did on this and this has in the past always been embedded into our other goals, but I think from the current climate and all the conversations we've had surrounding the budget and those challenges that it's very timely that it now is its own um separate goal. And then goal four, building inclusive safe environments. We have been administering the NJ Sky survey for about for five years now. We have five years of data. So our next step with that is taking action based on that data and we are actually currently part of a cohort with Ruckers um in terms of how to use that data for
030strategic planning and so we want to expand on that um and really look at that and develop action items from what we're gleaning from that data. So that is what that goal is all about. So, this is uh that that is really the strategic a very um you know bite-sized version of the strategic plan, but hopefully gives you a nice overview of what it's about. Each year we will be developing the action plans. Um we only developed them for the first year to two years of the strategic plan because we know that time things change and evolve and so you know we may even be talking about some different um priorities within these goals in a year or two. So that's why we only um started with them for a year or two out. Our
031facilitators did an outstanding job. This is the I think the fifth strategic plan I've been involved in, fifth or sixth in um third in this district, but I was involved in them in prior districts. And this process I think was the best process um in terms of the the data that we were able to look at the utilization of AI to help us organize some of the data and the team that was put together that really um was representative of our community at large. So I'm really proud of the work of the team in this process. And now I will close and open it up for any questions or comments. anything from the board? >> Yes, I have to say it was very good having the students there. I mean, because they bring a different
032perspective that as adults we're not thinking about or seeing and I and I just think that and and the best part was they felt safe enough to vocalize what they think thought we needed here and and I think that was that was really great. Anyone else? >> I just want to say I it was very enjoyable experience. It was nice to collaborate with you know different people that you you know I've never met and the students of course because this is all about them. Um but it was just a very rewarding experience. So it was it's nice to see the end product. I'd also add that um in addition to the students um it was really to see the staff and the teachers and the the passion that they have for the school and the
033students and for what they can do to help the students become the best versions of themselves. Um it really was a a great process and the facilitators I don't know how they took everything from our discussions and our notes and our p like and magically made it into that and we looked at it we're like yeah that's kind of what we were all saying and um it really was a great great team >> and just to reiterate our goal is to be the best that we can be. Um, we're constantly learning. We're constantly trying to improve. Uh, certainly I think I speak on behalf of the board. We work very collaboratively collaboratively with uh the superintendent, business administration personnel, Nicole. Uh, so we're, you know, it's a very fluid situation to some extent. We're always
034trying to see what else we can do. Trying to maximize again the opportunities for the students, give the teachers um the best uh learning devices or learning opportunities. Um so I mean that is what our overriding goal is. These are really sub goals but we just want to be as good as we can be and give the opportunities for the students because at the end of the day it's really about the students. students first and you know doing what they can do. You know we have them for four years. Hopefully you know we get them as ninth grader hopefully 12th grader when they graduate they're much more improved version and they're ready to go out to the world and then we really don't see them too often after that. Uh and then there's a new
035crop and it just keeps rotating but we're just trying to keep improving. anyone from the uh the uh whatchamacalludience. >> A the audience, but the people who were on the committees want to comment about uh you know how they enjoyed the process or what they got out of it and what they felt was important to them, please. >> And I'm going to go sit down, but before I do, I I did this at the our last meeting, but I do just want to again publicly express my gratitude for the time and thought that you put into this. It wasn't just a meeting that they came to and sat there and listened. people worked hard. Um, so I really tremendously appreciate the passion and the enthusiasm that you came with and the time that you gave
036to planning the future for our students. It's it's really exciting and meaningful work. Um, and I'm I'm really excited for what the future will bring. And I know the two of you are really bummed that you're leaving and not going to get to be here for a part of this. >> But you can come back on school vacations and you're done in May. You're more than welcome. >> Yeah. So just please come up make your comment just tell us who you are. >> Hi uh I am just Paul Singh. I am a parent of a freshman here and I was part of this particular you know committee whatever this was a wonderful experience as rightly characterized already right this was very well orchestrated it was very well executed um and and the good thing to
037know is you know that we do it every 5 years and it's uh a plan it's a vision that we put together it's a mission that we put together and we started started off with you know tactical thoughts right what is happening in the world around us especially you know we started off with generative AI you know things are changing you know so fast so dramatically but those are all tactical things you know today it's you know it was generative AI now it is agentic AI you know things are actually evolving so fast but eventually what we came up with was foundational right it was fundamental to how we want to make the kids grow how how we want to make them ready for what's next in their lives and how we want it to
038be equitable you know so it was just very wonderful overall experience and uh it was great job by everyone who participated >> thank you I appreciate those comments anyone else >> oh I know you don't know if that's good or bad um liber principal um I was just going to say that I My first arrival here was on the heels of us establishing the first strategic plan in 2020. And this process um was just another opportunity for me to really become, you know, integrated in into our learning community. But I really think it's the NJ Sky that I'd like to bring attention to because that was data acred over four to five years that really built what we were talking about when I felt like we were doing it in 2020. We were soliciting feedback
039at that moment. this is a snapshot of what's been going on for four or five years which really added stability to really what are the things that we should be reaching into and then the dialogue from everybody involved just to echo everybody's uh points earlier was really instrumental in getting to where we were but I think the data not just at the moment really allowed us to delve into what was important for our community and I think that was a great overarching topic and source for where we ended up. So I just like to credit Mr. Sabino for uh helping us out with the NJ Sky over the years because I think that was instrumental for the development of this strategic plan. So >> thank you. Anybody else? >> Good evening everyone. Jason Sabino, director
040of school counseling. Um so I mean this experience was great. Um to echo what everybody else was saying, it really um I came to the district right before builded in uh 2019 and my first district that I've been to. Uh this is my fourth, not cuz I'm getting chased out of districts, just cuz I have a great opportunity to come to watch Hills, but um the this is my f third district in this capacity where I've worked and we did have a strategic plan. Liz obviously had experience in her prior districts. I did not have that. And I can say, you know, nothing against other places I've been or other places out there. Having this to really unify what we're looking to do both educationally and support for our students, knowing we're a high achieving
041district that does great things really does allow opportunities. And I saw and I became a believer firsthand because I saw every decision we made as an administrative team with consultation with the teachers with the students we really made with deliber deli based on the goals that we had established. So, um, to Liz's point earlier, we definitely take have taken some of that and built upon it. And fortunately, we do have that data for the last five years to know what everybody knows here already because you your community members here that we have a positive school climate that we do have a great school environment and stu students do a great job learning here and getting a lot out of their time at Wong Hills. But this data does support that from a diverse group of
042our stakeholders, from our students as well as our our teaching staff. So this has been really a great exercise to continue that work and now you know because I am always somebody who wants to you know self-criticize and say how can we get better and where can we improve this does give us that roadmap to say these are the areas we need to continue to grow and we can really zero in on that. So I've become so much a believer that we actually presented on this as we mentioned we're part of this cohort with NJ Sky where we're part of uh talking with other districts but I even recently presented on how we have specifically as this district as a model throughout the state used that data to then develop our strategic plans. So this
043has been a great process. We've certainly made gains over the last 5 years specifically on working to support and educate students. And uh I'm excited to see where we go from next from here. And uh I was just speaking about this at the municipal alliance meeting last week where we watched the movie Angst and we were talking about students who you know both educational support and mental health support that they need. And we were really able to I was able to proudly speak about this next strategic plan where we're continuing to do this work and really continuing to it's infused throughout the whole the whole plan really what we're looking to do to both support and educate our students. So, uh happy to proud of the work we did here as a group and looking
044forward to the next five years. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Well, great. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, Trish. So, um, I just want to give a a shout out to Liz and and thank you for just the efforts to make the entire process inclusive of all of the different types of stakeholders in the community. And as as the person who started as a parent and ended as board member, walking in, I was enthusiastic about helping, but not really sure how that was going to happen because there's a whole lot of data out there and as parents, we don't necessarily know where that is. And I just want to thank um Jim and Bill and particularly Jason who was like the ringer at our table. Um because the people who really know where the data is
045were so helpful and so supportive of those of us who were like oh you know what would be a great thing if only we knew X Y or Z and two clicks later and they would have that data at their fingert fingertips and they really just were so helpful to make everybody's contribution meaningful. So, uh, huge thanks to you all. >> Thank you. Okay, let's, uh, move on to the committee reports. Uh, Janine, education. >> Yes. Um, we met on May 6 at 4 p.m. In attendance was myself, Mr. Burberg, Miss Rexford, Miss Trump, Dr. Jwitt, Dr. Carol, and Dr. Labbera. Uh we talked about um a professional development recap and future planning for professional development. Dr. Carol provided a recap of the PD provided this year. By contract, the district provided four days of
046PD three days prior to the start of the school year and one in October. In addition to the four full days of PD, PD was also provided throughout the school year to teachers and administrators through through department meetings uh PLC's that's professional learning communities and district leadership team meetings. This year's goals were supporting uh were supporting the wellness of students strengthening the skills and knowledge of teachers and utilizing technology. Dr. Carol gave a quick overview of the goals and topics discussed during the PLC's. also reviewed the strategic plan and how it was incorporated into PD for teachers and administrators. We've adjusted our PD days for next uh next year. We'll only have two PD days before school begins followed by one in October and one in March. Topics for future PD have been discussed and
047include AI initiatives, assessments, the science of reading on a secondary level level and comprehensive strategies and updating evaluation framework. Um up we talked about upcoming board meetings. Dr. Juwel will provide an overview of the 2031 strategic plan at this meeting. The core and implementation teams have been invited to the meeting and have been here. Um the June 2nd board meeting will be a celebration honoring our student representatives, retirees, educators of the year, and various other staff recognition. The committee discussed starting this meeting at 6:30 p.m. with the recognitions and a break for refreshments and the formal meeting beginning at 7 p.m. The committee also had a discussion on um the K through8 articulation and how to approach it in the future. Meeting adjourned at 507. Any questions, comments? You >> did a great job considering
048the background noise you had going on while you were talking. >> I think those were part of the files that were released by the government with the aliens from a few weeks ago. Okay. Thank you. Uh Lori, any personnel that we can talk about in public? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we had a personnel committee meeting on May 7th at 8 a.m. Present at the meeting were Dr. JW, Dr. Carol, Mr. Schultz, Miss Dinsen, board members Mr. Burnberg, Mr. Decker, Miss Redenti, and myself. Um we discussed three different things. Dr. Carol reviewed the annual renewals for the May 12th board of education meeting. This includes most of the Wong Hills Regional Education Association, WHREA, affiliated faculty and staff, including certified staff, support staff, instructional aids, security aids, and substitute bus drivers. WHREA affiliate affiliated buildings
049and ground staff are scheduled for renewal at the June Board of Education meeting. Next, Dr. Dr. Carol reviewed the renewals for faculty within the Wong Hills Regional Administrators Association, WHAA. She explained that this association was formally named the Wong Hills Principles and Supervisors Association, WHPSA, and that the name was changed during the most recent negotiated contract. The WHAA includes faculty, including vice principles, supervisors, and some directors. Dr. Carol explained that some administrators are not part of the WHAA and are instead non-affiliated. These administrators include the director of human resources, the director of operations, the director of IT, the director of safety and security, the principal, and the business administrator. These renewals will be done in June with all of the non-affiliated faculties and staff. And lastly, Dr. Carol reviewed and discussed the personnel agenda items
050with the committee for the board meeting on for tonight. Those are the preview of the C items and the meeting adjourned at 8:40 a.m. >> Any comments? Great. Thank you, Lori. Appreciate it. Carol operations. The operations committee met on May 5th at 9:05 a.m. In attendance were Michael Bernberg, Lorie Fowler, Marano, Rosmerki, Christine Rodente, Heather Trumpour, Elizabeth Jwitt, Mark Snowden, William Schultz, and myself. Mark updated the committee on the progression of the construction pro projects. The baseball scoff softball scorers table is complete and inspected. HVAC repairs are scheduled for the suite and ceramics lab and the installation of window shades and door hardware is scheduled for the design lab. Billy talked about the changes in the rules affecting the co-op purchasing system. Previously, we could obtain bids through the co-ops for construction projects. As of
051March 2026, this procedure will no longer be allowed. Hence the original quotes received for the milling and paving of regional and regional drive from the co-op are now unusable and we need to go out for new bids. He also noted that districts are awaiting guidance about allowable procedure regarding upcoming bid process. Billy and Mark will keep us updated on these procedures. He um he also noted that policy 7510 regarding use of facilities has not been updated since 2012. The committee agreed to review policy 7510 to asssure that rents received cover the cost of service. He noted that rents for summer camps which use our facilities will be grandfathered this summer. Um he shared a spreadsheet that was created by Mr. Kaz Kha'Zix I think is how it's pronounced by Speedel Architect listing projects being considered
052for long range planning long range facility planning such as the HVAC system for the south building which is over 20 years old. Um Elizabeth discussed uh proposed academic projects. The administration is reviewing and prioritizing these projects. Michael questioned the timeline of upcoming referendums from the sending districts and uh the meeting adjourned at 9:28 a.m. That was not like PM. >> Anyone have any Okay, great. Um all right, final committee. Uh Katherine, finance. >> The finance committee met on May 5th in attendance where Mr. Bernberg, Mr. Decker, myself, Miss Rexford, Dr. Carol, Dr. Duet, and Dr. Mr. Schultz. The 2026 2027 budget recap. Mr. Schultz thanked the committee members for their support during the budget process. He said he would be notifying the staff of the 2526 spending freeze within the next few days and would
053be opening the 2627 budget in the next few weeks. referendum planning. Mr. Schultz shared a spreadsheet that was created by Mr. Justin Kak from Speasel Architect listing all projects based on the long range facilities plan. He said the administration is reviewing the projects to identify and prioritize them. Dr. Dwet discussed the proposed uh projects and spoke about the academic projects that were included in the previous referendum. Dr. uette explained what is meant when referring to tax neutral and said it involves projects that are eligible for debt service aid reimbursement. She said once the projects are identified she will bring them to the board along with options for discussion and approval. Committee discussion followed transportation optouts. Mr. Schultz shared that for the 2526 school year we have 82 transportation opouts which are all seniors. He also
054commented that WHung Burrow has 60 68 student opt outs. Mr. Schultz said for the 26 27th school year all students will have the option of opting out and it will be offered through Genesis and they must provide either a yes or no response. Mr. Mr. Decker asks what the benefit of the opt out is. Dr. Jet and Mr. Schultz responded that the district may be able to consolidate transportation routes depending upon the number of students who opt out. Use of school facilities policy 7510. Um Mr. Schultz reviewed the policy and stated hasn't been updated since 2012. He discussed some of the items where the districts weren't even covering the costs of the services provided. Mr. Schultz asked the committee if they were in agreement to review and update and update the policy prior to the
055beginning of the next school year. He said the summer camps would be grandfathered in this year, but we're told there may be changes for next summer. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m. >> Great. Thank you. Anybody have any comments? Okay, great. Uh before we move on to the first opportunity for public comment, uh I was advised today that we are lacking in a delegate with regard to uh one of the state things. Billy, can you just explain what it is and then if anyone is interested in being that just let me know and most likely you'll be appointed to that. Sure. There's um they have a hearing a statewide that they like a representative from each board of ed to be there or it might be virtual as well. You may have access to it.
056So you can go on, you could vote on items that the state NJ school board is voting on. Um, we currently don't have a delegate uh designated. So I asked uh Mr. Burnberg about that and if there's anyone that would be interested in being the delegate for the board of education and they also asked for an alternate, there's two people inclined to sign up. If anyone has interest right now, first come, first serve or you can reserve and >> let me know. >> When do they have their meetings and stuff? >> Um, it's one meeting. I can check. Let me check it right now for you. I think it's one meeting. It may be it's one Saturday that's coming up, I believe. Let me pull it up and see. They have it. >> Yep. >>
057It is >> Saturday, May 16th. >> Saturday. >> Yeah. Saturday, May 16th. They sent the email out uh yesterday. Yesterday afternoon. >> Sorry for late notice. Yeah, they literally just sent >> Yeah, it's a Saturday. Is it a virtual meeting? >> Well, if anyone's has any interest, reach out to >> Billy or Liz and >> they don't give other than there's a meeting this Saturday. >> But I'll watch it later. Yeah, it looks like it is in West WSOR Township at the conference center at Mercer. >> Yeah, 9 9:00 a.m. this Saturday. They gave a lot of notice. >> All right, that's an hour away. >> Says that other subcommittees are conducted virtually. >> Sub subcommittee meetings are conducted virtually. Delegate assembly will meet and conducted in person in accordance with their bylaws. I think
058it's once a year they meet for this meeting. >> Yes, >> they literally just email us. All right, that's my bet. I'll take the hit on that one. Okay, first opportunity for public comment. The first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only. The second public comment period will be open to any topic. All comments are limited to 5 minutes. Do we have any public comments? Okay, seeing no public comments, I'm going to close the first opportunity for public comment and move on. Do we have any items for board discussion this evening? >> C20. >> Okay. Action items. >> C20 first. >> Okay. We're going to pull that first now. >> Yeah. >> Okay. We're pulling C20 first. All right. Somebody want to move that then. >> Wait, we have
059to move it. Where >> was it? >> C21. >> C20. >> A motion to move C-21. >> No, 20. >> 20. >> C20. Sorry. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Uh, roll call. >> We can, it's written down, but we certainly can highlight what it's about. >> I had asked uh the the board president if No, I know I'm doing things a little out of order, but um I had asked the board president if we could pull C20 to vote on that separately since it is for appointing a new administrator uh in the high school. So, we are um filling our open vice principal position and that uh candidate is actually here tonight, Jim Huff, who uh has been a teacher in our district. He left to go somewhere else temporarily, but everyone always wants to come
060back to watch Hills. So, he is coming back to join us. And that is what item C20 is. He will be um taking on the role of vice principal effective July 1st or actually July 13th since he has to give his notice. >> And sorry, I'm still new to this. I apologize. Um, any other discussion before we take a roll call on this? Okay. Well, >> stand up. >> Aren't you so glad I invited you to the meeting, Jim? >> Okay, roll call. Now, are we at that point? Listen, I'm sorry. >> You run the meetings, not me. I just I just obviously I just screw up the order for you to confuse you. >> Mr. Decker, >> yes. >> Miss Ferrron Rosski, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Potter, >> yes.
061>> Miss Praa, >> yes. >> Miss Rexford, >> yes. >> Miss Redente, >> yes. >> Miss Trump, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernberg, >> yes. >> All right. Does somebody want to move A7? >> Okay. Sorry. Let's continue. If if anyone doesn't want to stay for the rest of the agenda, you are welcome to. It should move pretty quickly, but um I'm just letting you know that we won't be offended if you choose to >> go home. >> Yes, please take a brownie and coffee. Yes. >> Okay, let's keep moving along. >> Uh motion to move uh items A1 through A7. I'm sorry, A8. >> Second. Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mr. Decker, >> yes. >> Miss Ferrron Rosmer, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Potter, >> yes. >> Miss Prosa, >> yes.
062>> Miss Rexford, >> yes. >> Mr. Rodente, >> yes. >> Miss Trump, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernberg, >> yes. >> Motion to move A9. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Decker, >> yes. >> Miss Ferrron Rosmer, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Prosa, >> yes. Miss Rexford, >> yes. >> Mr. Odente, >> yes. >> Mr. Trump, >> yes. >> Mr. Burnberg, >> yes. >> Uh, motion to move items C1 through C22. I'm sorry, minus C20. >> Great. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mr. Decker. >> Yes. >> Miss Fazer Roseki? >> Yes. >> Miss Lee? >> Yes. >> Miss Potter? >> Yes. >> Miss Proa? >> Yes. >> Miss Rexford? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Vente, >> yes. >> Mr. Porter, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernberg,
063>> yes. >> Motion to move items D1 through D12. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay, roll call, please. >> Mr. Decker, >> yes. >> Miss Ferrer Rosmer, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Potter, >> yes. >> Miss Prosa, >> yes. >> Miss Rexford, >> yes. >> Miss Rodente, >> yes. >> Miss Trump, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernberg, >> yes. Okay, we are now at the point for the second opportunity for public comment. These comments are not limited to agenda items, but they should certainly be about school business. Um, do we have any comments for this period? Okay, seeing none, we're going to move right along. Closing board comments. Oh, public comments. I apologize. >> Do we have any other business? >> Yes, >> we do. Oh. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah.
064So, uh, in April, the Warren K through8, um, they've been working on a committee that's a planning for growth, and they've been slowly adding members on. They've been working on it for several years. Um, and they recently just asked to have a Warren representative from the high school board on that. So, I attended that first meeting in April. Um, and like everything that the Warren K3 does, very organized, well prepared. Um, they're really looking at everything that they need to do for um, the next round of of housing that's coming through and how that's going to affect their school system, what changes they need to make. Um, and it was a good experience. We have another meeting uh next week and then they're going to make their final presentation to their board and their recommendations
065on how they feel the schools should be uh reszoned or reworked or what needs to happen with that at their June meeting. Um, one thing that came out to I think is that it is going to provide a really good opportunity for the K through8s and the high schools specifically to sit down and kind of maybe work on some other things that we're both really interested in doing since they're going to have to do a major um appeal. It's a perfect opportunities for us to have some other discussions on how to coordinate um opportunities. So, I appreciate them including the high school for that as well. Heather, I want to thank you for taking on that role that um working with uh Warren. And again, I want to thank Warren for reaching out to us
066because uh certainly important that we could be as collaborative with each other cuz it it it'll help their students and it will help our students. And um I'm going to make a concerted effort to try to meet with the presidents of all the uh uh I we've I've talked about it and I haven't done it but I think it's important that all the supers and the presidents the was that 10 of us I guess >> that we all sit down and try to work through what we can. Again, we've had that um uh we had the committee with regard to uh shared services and whatnot and uh again, we gleaned some information there. Um and there's certainly ways for all of us to benefit. There's certainly ways again with regard to collaboration and I know
067we've talked about the instructional piece the articulation we've talked about that and I I really believe that you know we've done a lot of talking and at some point we got to take some action and uh I'm going to make that one of my initiatives for my last few months and start that process. So that's my goal. So Liz, if you can kind of see about putting something together over the summer and if I can do that, I'll uh wave the retreat requirement on the board. >> Uh is there any other business? Janine, >> just >> Oh, okay. Um right. So there's a sample resolution with regard to uh I'm not sure >> tell them where it came from. >> Yeah. Where did it come from? >> School board came from SBA. So, right in
068everyone's packet, the school board uh provided us with a uh um I don't know resolution opportunity uh because they're concerned about the rising healthc care cost and that they decided to put together a resolution with regard to uh stating to Governor Cheryl and her people and their representatives that they really should I don't even want to they make it a priority because they don't say that, but they should commit to it. We certainly can discuss whether or not we want to add our name to it. Um, I for one certainly think it's a priority, but there's a lot of priorities. You know, I would I would love to see uh uh our state representatives focus a little bit more on districts like ours instead of ignoring us to some extent. And uh you know certainly
069healthc care is a big expense but other expenses are also important and one would think that you wouldn't necessarily need a resolution that we have hopefully are best and brightest running our state and they realize the issues that our school district as well as the other 600 plus school districts face as well as uh municipalities with regard to uh healthcare. and other issues. Um I am sure they're working very hard and very diligently on all sorts of issues down in Trenton. Uh I'm not sure what their priorities are, but um with that said, I certainly open it up to see if people want to sign on with this uh resolution or if they have comments or questions about it. >> I think >> it affects every single school district in New Jersey. So of course
070it does >> I would say yeah let's couldn't hurt for everybody to say yeah this is affecting all of us and let's do something about it >> but what are we going to do so bases to to her office what is going to be done though I mean it just we've all been complaining about it it's been going on for a number of years this isn't new not new with the new governor either I mean >> it's making your voice heard >> but it's You said that about everything. Nothing would ever nobody would ever, you know, say anything about anything. >> I hear what Janine's saying and I hear what Catherine saying. My view is we would write our own resolution and we would stipulate what we felt was truly important for Trenton to look
071at and observe. And again, this is two pages that only talks about healthcare, but there's probably five or six other items. Again, we've talked at infinitum about special education where they don't look at that. I'd love to put a resolution in front of them. So, my view is that maybe I'm all for resolutions and you know, like Katherine says, what does it really do? But maybe we create instead of saying it, they're not listening to us, you know, but if we create a resolution that encompasses what we think are priorities that the state should be looking at and focusing on and then present it and then see maybe we can get other districts. Not that it will do anything, but just have a one item. I don't know about that, but that's just my view.
072Again, I'll go along with whatever the board >> looking at a timeline. >> I mean, do we can we talk about I we're seeing this for the first time. So, can we make a decision at least think we'll think about it a little bit and talk about it again at the next meeting? >> Yeah. I don't think we have to do anything today. >> Tonight. Okay. I mean, we're just seeing it for the first time. >> Yeah. No, of course. >> I just want to know what it was about, you know. >> Yes, there are. So you know >> those resolutions they love their wherees >> I know but there's nothing they're asking like what is it that they want >> it's just to if you look at the be it resolved it just >>
073do something but that's it >> right there's nothing specific >> well that's why my view is to lower the cost of do something you know in some way to help this situation out whatever that is right That would be to subsidize it somehow. >> Subsidize it. Make make them make the insurance company subsidize it something. >> Right. So personally again I would be in favor of our own resolution that highlights >> microphone. Put your microphone >> microphone. >> Special education transportation. You're you're right. There are other big issues that all add to our budget. It's not just health care. Healthcare is a big portion, but so is you know busing special needs. Like there's a lot that we need help with. >> But but signing this on behalf of the NJSBA does us from doing
074what you're suggesting as well. They're not mutually exclusive. So this is going to have more power than our document from one school. this if they can collect 80% of every school in the state then it's going to get looked at hopefully. >> You think so? >> Don't know. But it doesn't it doesn't hurt to try. >> I love the optimism. >> I don't want to I don't want to shoot it down, but I love the optimism. >> But what's the what's the downside, right? We're >> I mean to Michael's point may not get money next year. The more signs that sign it, the more of a voice. >> Yeah, they could be >> it gets heard or or nothing happens. >> Are we supposed to be discussing this as if we agree that this gets
075sent >> as? >> Well, we'd have to approve it as a formal board resolution. So, we can put it on for board discussion for the next meeting and then >> Okay. >> I mean, what the state >> is there a time frame that they want it done by? >> No, they didn't say. >> Okay. What the state does do, and correct me if I'm wrong, Billy, is our debt service aid that there's a formula and they really typically adhere to that or am I wrong on that? >> Well, it says up to 40% and then it's we it's been 34%. They usually fund 80% of the 40%. >> Right. That's for the construction projects and referendums, but they also have a formula for the actual state aid that we receive, but they've been talking about
076tweaking that for a number of years, and just seem like they made they fully fund it now, but it's the formula is what it is, and they haven't really tweaked that too much. >> But that formula applies statewide, right? They're not doing that school by school. So, there couldn't be they couldn't look at us and say, "Oh, well, they sent a letter, so zero." Right? That's I mean that's not a reasonable >> No, they made adjustments. It's probably about seven or eight years ago now. It was the S2 in my previous district. We were hit by that and we lost a lot of data. They looked at enrollment and they made some adjustments to the formula and how districts were funded. But uh no, there shouldn't be any like retribution for for doing something along
077the lines. >> Key word shouldn't >> should. Okay. Anything further? >> Then I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. All >> those in favor. >> We are journ. Thank you everybody.