001all right and we're back uh into our public session uh before we move into anything first I want to thank um Mr bernberg for uh filling in in my absence last week um but also uh my first opportunity for me to Welcome to our board table uh Miss trumpour uh we're really excited to have you with us um and not only filling in for uh the remaining term for Mr Fallon uh but actually looking forward to uh you being sworn in as a to a full term in January so welcome happy to have you and with that we'll move into our committee reports uh we're going to switch up the sequence of reports and we're going to start with the calendar committee report and for that I will turn it over to Miss Potter okay
002we met on September 20th 3:30 uh I was there along with Mr bimberg Miss Lee Mr Mayor Miss prasa Dr JT and Mr Lera um we had a very lengthy discussion about the difficulty of incorporating additional holidays into the school calendar um there were uh a few uh calendars created of the next school year and the year after after that um showing the different considerations um and days adjusting the calendar for the days the holiday the various holidays um the discussion included um required contractual days off Staffing concerns Transportation lengthening of the school year and snow emergencies ultimately the Comm committee determined the only feasible option in adjusting the calendar would be to start school earlier in August ending the year later is not educationally sound as instructional time should be front-loaded given preparation needed
003to State Testing uh AP testing college applications as well as conflicts that arise at the end of June the committee's recommendation is to conduct another survey to get the preference of both staff members and student families to either remain status quo or start school year early to incorp incorporate additional holidays additionally the committee recommended this to be discussed as an agenda item for upcoming um operations personnel and education committee meetings um which was all done last week um so the the various committees met with um the various members of the calendar committee discussed uh these with the various members of the operations Personnel education committees um and a possible third option was brought up to be included in the survey which would be a condensed calendar calendar that only includes njaa convention winter breaks spring
004break and holidays required by the whrea and the wpsa contracts um we're going to discuss these options tonight [Music] um let the discussion begin any uh questions or comments for uh the calendar committee uh pardon me uh microphone please I know this from watching the last meeting so on the third one that now is brought up which holidays would they include that are already you know you said the spring winter um so the um as for the colletive bargaining agreement the holidays that are contractual so no 12 mon staff um would be the ones that fall during the school year are the two days for Thanksgiving two days for Christmas New Year's Day Good Friday and Memorial Day we said we'd keep that in there teachers it's not contractual but that's kind of an because
005teachers are allowed to go to that if they wanted to so um you know that's and this again was what the what came up as a suggestion so that would be the final one just keeping having these and nothing else yes and then what we would uh the idea would be what we put in the survey would say Okay option a uh status quo which includes you know all the holidays we've always included um and start date for and we'd lay it out for probably two years going so 2425 this would be the start date and this would be the end date of the school year 2526 this would be the start date this would be the end date option two we will include the holidays um um thank you I'm sorry we will then
006option two will include the holidays um that have come up and that we've talked about um to be inclusive which they may or may not all fall on weekdays um but these are the ones that we'd be making sure we'd incorporate which would be uh dwali Lunar New Year Greek Orthodox Good Friday um or Orthodox Christian Good Friday I know it's called some different things um eat all fitter and eat all a uh and so then we'd give the approximate start and end date for incorporating those into the calendar for the next two years and then option three would be okay we're only going to include nja convention spring break winter break um and the contractually required holidays and what would the start and end date look like for those and then just put those
007out to the staff and to families to get their um preferences so rash or yamur will not be on it that in that option it would not be and I I think the the point being that you know one status quo two adding the five holidays that have been discussed with an earlier start time and then the third one being really no holidays other other than what are those that are you know either required or contractually obligated um you know and see cond yeah in a condensed in a condensed calendar y other discussion questions microphone please do these holidays include like spring break so what we had for that third option we were looking at condensing we we did have in the I mean the board has discussed this stuff probably for the past two
008years in terms of what is feasible and we did say Okay technically we could just eliminate Spring Break um however I don't think that I I think the board really canceled out that option just realizing there are a lot of mental health benefits to having a break in that time of year I just want to know so that's that however it does wouldn't necessarily be tied to Easter weekend we're just saying spring break would still be included and the same thing with the winter break holiday everything shuts down I don't know that we'd be able to get food service here in the the week between Christmas and New Year you know I mean really the transportation those types of things it's an exercise in complete honesty to say you know these are also included that's
009no that's why we said it would be nja convention discussed yeah winter break spring break and the contractual holidays and then the other one same thing uh any any um idea or any has there been any thought as to the timing of when the survey might go out or I mean really essentially ideally as soon as as soon as possible because this is when I usually start working on a draft calendar for next year and because then also we like to share it with the k8s um so that they can take a look at it so I guess the qu so the I think the first question was and this is what came up at the calendar committee is do we want to do a survey which is I think that the consensus of the
010board is yes to get more feedback on these options um and then the second piece is do we want option one and two or do we want option one two and three any preference I do one two and three I mean I think that way we're kind of giving them a broad yeah you know and that' be the teachers and the parent you know and I think that would and then I think the other uh part of this that once we got the responses is let's say we got an overwhelming response to start a week earlier and add those holidays um we'd probably look to project out what that would look like 5 years out just so we have an idea in case there's any unforeseen um implications that we're not thinking of um so
011that would be you know the next step yes M I just was going to ask you uh can you maybe go over again how so if you went with that condensed calendar I'm assuming that means then there's it's someone takes off for a Yan kapor or rashash Shana how will that work within the calendar and with for the schools and for the classrooms I think in that in that situation those would become we would treat those the same way we are currently treating some of the the other holidays like Lunar New Year and uh Eid and dwali where uh those would be notated as homework free days testree days we would work to ensure that we're not scheduling significant events that are within our control on those days um like we wouldn't be doing concerts
012or performances or plays uh the things that we have control over um and that's exactly the same uh policy that we put in place to address some of the other holidays that we weren't giving off uh but we knew that students wanted to celebrate and we didn't want there to be um any anxiety or fear of missing out you know because they weren't in school that would keep them from actually staying home and celebrating the holidays with their families including the day after days that you would be fasting things like that because obviously if you're fasting and you're doing things you're not going to have your homework doing and that's why the staff feedback uh piece is especially important because it's very hard to run the school if the staff isn't here so if we
013do have a majority of the staff that are celebrating those holidays that would be taken out uh in that condensed version then that probably wouldn't be very practical there surveys Anonymous no they would be because we need to ensure that everyone's only that every family's only providing one response so would be through Genesis it would be for the families would be through our student information system and then um for the staff we'd probably do it through Google when you do the survey you'll make sure once they have filled it out that they can't and submitted it it can't be back yeah we'll that's why we'll that's why we'll use our student information system to do that I know our it team is able to do that thumbs up just for those see I think we
014would also have to figure out what we would deem as significant in order to make it change in the status quo uh because if you're doing three options you can literally have it third a third and a third and then where are we just back well I think the and I think the other consideration with that is considering we have four other districts that we even though you know some of them have made some changes that aren't coordinated with our calendar recently I think the beginning of the year has shown us transportation is a real huge Challenge and something we need to think about in addition to the fact that we share families so just in terms of a response to that I would think that if there wasn't this overwhelming response to change it
015a fact then a considering Factor would be are we really going to do that and be so different from the 4K if our families and staff aren't you know in favor of it that's just a just kind of my initial thought on that so is it a pick one two or three option or can they rank them or are we going to have it you can pick one and two rank Choice voting right but yeah but like to go through because someone may say yeah I would love to do either status quo or EXT like they have no preference but they don't want to go to the other but they're fine with doing e either one we could actually give them a for each of the the questions we could say yes no maybe kind
016of for you know like just so that way we for each of them so instead of ranking them it's like if they you know absolutely not like I don't want this one at all or either of these yes yes like I'd be fine with option one or two absolutely no with option three maybe something like that I didn't say that in the most science survey scientific way but two of them you could because then we'd know oh 50% of our community is fine with either of these options they don't you know or they but they you know 75% said absolutely no to the condensed version or whatever it might be I don't know I'm putting that out there is I'm I have to think about that too a little bit further in terms of what
017will give us the the best information but I think that might be because essentially you know there are so many different versions of a calendar too that you can create so it's more getting an idea from everyone of what you know if they're vehemently opposed to something or okay with something or support yeah would um so we have the religious exemption for students but if I'm a teacher and I want to take taking off to celebrate yam kapore do I get that as well or am I using my sick days so I don't want to misquote the law because it's personal days but also um there's also there's additional information in that law about religious exemption and you know if you were to you can use a personal day but I think you know I'm
018not sure you'd run out of personal days for religious holidays but that you know we that would not be an issue any other questions uh just tangentially part of this discussion is um the start of the school day is too early calendar just thought I'd bring it up well then and look we've had certainly had this conversation and um I don't think that you'll get any disagreement from many of the many of the board members sitting here the biggest challenge that we have is transportation got coordination with sending districts I just watched my daughter get up at 5:15 every morning in order to make a a half a mile walk to the bus Which just very early that's very now so if if we had total control over it we would have made that change
019we should but we can't because we don't have total total control over it where there's a will there's a way tell that to the bus company so um anything else great uh not to um but that would be something if we were to get the grant for the regionalization study that certainly would be something we'd ask them to put in there is start times I I absolutely Transportation start times I mean we want to do the demographic study but I feel like that would be a part of it is because if you're going to regionalize you have to look at that you have to look at all you know all of the the pieces of making that work so all right moving on to the education committee report uh Miss Potter okay I'm doing this
020report for Miss OBU who is not here tonight uh we met on September 26 345 in attendance were Miss obber Miss prasa Miss Lee myself Dr J Miss Caro miss failen Mr laera and Mr Sabino um first topic we discussed was back to school night um Mr laber um informed us about um that the back to school night was for October 5th at 7 pm which has not happened yet right that's right you're not connect right this staff is looking forward to the evening and meeting with parents in person uh plc's the first PLC meeting for the for the school year where um is October 4th tomorrow right today's the third okay where the Learning Community will engage in professional learning collaboratively exploring problems of practice and presenting their findings at the PLC fair at
021the end of the school year um the first PD well not the first but uh the next PD day is October 9th Miss Caro advised the committee that the next PD day is October 9th and um the first two items for PD day um is uh mandatory for the teachers the first is training for the new digital PSATs and the second is mandated Behavior threat assessment training the afternoon sessions are Choice sessions where the teachers are free to select topics they would like to attend uh many of the selected topics came from teacher surveys including AI technology and student engagement um PSAT day is scheduled for October 11th and will be digital Mr gallesio is in the process of informing everyone of the change in the format Club Fair the club fair is offered every
022year in fall to our students and this year it was held today and tomorrow it is a way for the students and enir to Pro to promote their clubs to get new members the committee discussed Club review process which clubs are offered is based on two primary factors factors student interest and securing a faculty advisor in addition to the clubs whose advisers receive stiens we have clubs that have inconsistently run based on variations in student interest year-to year these clubs may run with a volunteer adviser who must be a whrhs staff member after several years of running a club May apply to um for an advisor stifen if they meet the criteria in regards to activities attendance and other uh items criteria um and we talked about the calendar which I just reviewed um and
023we adjourned at 440 any questions for uh the education committee great seeing none we will move on to we did Personnel en close so we'll move on to operations uh Mr Burber thank you uh we met last Thursday morning um had a bunch of items to discuss uh we also spoke about the calendar uh talked about the similar issues that have already been presented by Miss Potter and discussed previously amongst us board members uh then we talked about facility namings this is something we've been talking about for perhaps a year now with regard to with respect to honoring Dr uh Dey um whether naming one of the gyms or naming the front vestibule when we walk into the School uh I was provided an update earlier that we are going to meet with uh the
024family members or some of the representatives well that's the plan uh in two weeks before the board meeting to get their input as to what they uh felt would be um in effect the best location to honor Dr the gansy and as soon as we speak to them and get their input we will certainly put in motion the naming uh with regard to policy discussion uh the big issue that we were dealing with was the uh uh the effect of Ray eligibility um for some reason we didn't have a uh a report from Mr sty tonight did we intentionally eliminate all the report we don't not on these we don't have at our work session meetings oh I apologize all right well I'll steal some of his Thunder and maybe he'll comment a little bit
025later on but we get significant reimbursement uh with regard to eay and I believe this year was a couple $100,000 and the policy and the language within the policy is a requirement to get that reimbursement if we don't have those policies then we do not get that money and again as I mentioned it was a couple hundred this year and I think over the last five years or so uh Tim can clarify but I think it was 800,000 in that it was yeah over the last actually 12 it was $700,000 the last couple years um it there was a period of time they were just doing the eate for the um the phone service but now they've kind of amped up the um uh some of the uh technology items that we purchased so we've
026been getting more and more of that every year and that that piece in that policy is a requirement I have to certify that we have that that childhood internet protection act um yeah I mean I knew there was a federal funding that was definitely tied to that e right is that one and we do a lot of that right and that's policy 2361 correct and again as Tim had mentioned that is uh the language within the policy comes directly from the federal statute uh we again uh spoke about the traffic study we are hopefully getting closer to resolving this issue I know it's a fan favor to Mr Gall and a concern of everybody it's only been 14 months it's GNA rain on Friday my mic is on it's gonna rain on Friday and we're
027gonna have a horrible situation front the school again yeah has to be fixed has to has to has to be fixed just for the for the benefit of the committee and the board we've been constantly we've been talking to the police as well every time when we get solutions that are provided to us there's always seems to be an issue basically the way that the parking lot structured every solution we've had we've had multiple ones there's always another problem that it creates so for example the one thing that we were had in that particular drawing it had teachers and students who park in that spot it would actually have to go against the flow of where the buses are coming which the engineer may not see we but we see it my Transportation supervisor said
028it right away said oh okay the buses are used to going that way someone's going to hit a bus head on so that that was a problem and I don't know how to solve that other than driving through the parking lot the park or if everybody comes here early which you know some of the kids may get here early but not all of them but um so that that was a challenge we tried to we talked about Regional drive but you know if we come up mountain and go out the problem you're going to have is you're putting you're letting the kid off on the opposite side of the road and if that could a car could swing around which is that you know that could be dangerous so every time we keep coming up
029with a lot of different solutions and we're keep working with the engineers and and the police um it's it's challenging it's all I can tell you and there it's about 700 cars that go into the lot every morning uh the best case scenario is one there's 40 about 40 and when 700 cars 40 bus 40 and then if when the bus is the buses are out of here by 7:15 it's a lot better you know if they get a lot of them if they that's the key time when they get in here if they're like 713 7:14 then you have a lot of problems but if the buses are out of here by like 710 it's much smoother so it's just that's why we're trying to what we're trying to do is separate the buses
030and the the parent flow that's the key if you can get that it's just Harden our lot the way it's structured is there a way where we can have a work session to facilitate and upon Solutions so that we can implement it because I feel like I understand you're dealing with a lot of voices but can we get all the voices in a room and kind of meet out something because the way it stands now is not okay yeah I I I experience this every time I Dro my daughter so somehow we got to create a procedure or a solution maybe oh yeah W that's a first uh I'm just just saying that there should be a a way to have a meeting to create procedure or a solution with all the voices um to
031create consensus create the consensus create the solution move forward I just don't see that group of voices meeting together so no we we have we we've had meetings with our security guys our VP all at once well the key ones yeah and and the police and our SRO Joe curo and the engineers no I did not have the engineers in that meeting um but I do need to get them in but at the same time which is difficult by the way that's been tricky but I'm working on that one okay okay thank you Stadium lights up and running we we we had a game uh Saturday night was was that Junior Warrior night something like that well attended um so it's exciting to be back in business with the lights and I'm sure um we
032have the practices and everything else uh full steam ahead and uh and that's great news um final item is adding some more uh sensors to bathrooms and that was uh it with regard to operations any questions excellent next uh next topic committee report is the Strategic plan and for that we'll turn it over to Dr JT thank you I'm giving this on behalf of Miss obber who is our chair of our strategic planning committee uh so this committee we don't convene that often um but we convene periodically just to review um some of the updates with regard to the Strategic plan so we do have a new strategic plan dashboard on our website we did have one that we rolled out that was part of the package that um the consultant who uh helped us
033facilitate the development of the Strategic plan had uh provided but for those of you that were on the committee and part of the the early uh process of the Strategic plan might remember it just it was not userfriendly and it was rather cumbersome um and it actually they had only initially rolled it out with us they they really had no experience um using it with districts I gave them a lot of feedback about how uh hard it was to use um none of which they Incorporated uh so they um and then they decided they were going to charge just uh quite a a bit of change to keep it up this year so we asked our Web Master and network manager Andy B to develop our own uh dashboard using our website so that's what
034he did um and from the feedback from the board about the components of the dashboard that that the board liked we kept those um so some of it were just some of the indicators like the percentage completion for the different objectives um we also added um updates so in addition to just having the original strategic plan and action items we actually added our uh kind of a summary of completed action items next to the objectives and we'll continue to update that um so that is up there now we also with this strategic plan had developed a portrait of a graduate and we had asked some of our art students to develop a graphic representation of the portrait of a graduate um so that is in the Strategic plan folder um and we I actually received
035some good feedback from the Strategic plan committee so it started out as a um as a a hand uh created piece of art and then we asked one of the graphic art students to take that and turn it into something that would be a little bit more easily reproducible because the idea is to be able to put it up around the school and use it on different Publications for the school um and then that went through two more revisions by the students so I shared that with the committee and Carol had a great suggestion because one of the components of it um was a tree that the student had put in there for growth and the tree was had a brown trunk with green leaves and Carol had suggested and I'm going to meet with
036the student to um ask them to make this adjustment that we make the green leaves gold because Carol was actually part of the group of students that came up with our school colors and the reason for the um brown and gold was it was basically the colors of our community and I guess the colors of nature that and the the Watchung Hills essentially can is there anything you want to say that more eloquently than me Carol our thought was 1956 and 57 that would be reminder of nature every year when the kids children came back to watch Young Hills that look at the brown trees with the gold leaves and the a friend reminded me we thought of it being strong as an oak and one with nature it was the concept of our school
037colors so it just seemed as though it might fit with the Strategic plan design so I'm sure the students will be uh very appreciative of that historical knowledge and feedback so I'm going to going to meet with the art students to ask them if they can make that adjustment and we also want to incorporate um the students names who created the the graphic into the design as well as add the written description of the portrait over graduate with it so we're working on those things so it may or may not be ready for the next board meeting when we have a brief strategic Plan update um but we'll share that at the next board meeting uh when it's ready and I can actually share the draft with the rest of the board it's in the
038folder but I'll send everyone a link just so that you have it to take a look at um so October 17th we will have an update by the co-chairs on what the areas of focus are for this year as well as the department supervisors will be here to talk about their Department goals for the year but since we already reviewed last year's progress we're not going to include that in this presentation so just to to streamline it a little bit um what I also included in your board folders there are a lot of board members um now that were not on the board when the Strategic plan was initially developed and even for those of us that were here it was you know nearing four years ago now um and since we will be approaching
039the time when we're going to start looking at our next strategic plan it's not a bad time to get a little refresher on some of the foundational documents that were used to develop this so uh I included hard copies the uh digital copies are in the shared uh board drive but these are hard copies of some of the reports and presentations uh that were provided uh by the consultant when we were determining what the goals are so take a look at those you can take them with you um from your board board folder um and those of you that were here it might refresh your memory and those of you that were not here it'll give you just some of the the background of how we came to the goals uh and strategies that are
040in the Strategic plan and the mission um and the other uh components of it any questions for Dr JWT thanks so I want to thank Miss pra for sharing that history I don't know about everyone else but that's I had no idea that that was the history behind the colors I would suspect that a majority of our faculty and staff have no idea let alone our students so I think that's in incredibly valuable to know and I think it's something that we should share and maybe somehow make it visible so people understand that there's a rationale between behind brown and gold it wasn't just somebody thinking hey I'd like to do brown and gold right I think it's I think it's really meaningful and it came from the students and it came from the students
041who originally were the first class and founding class of Wong Hills I think that's really really important history thank you all right uh moving on regionalization just real quick the next regionalization committee meeting will be Monday October the 16th um we will have much more to report on that in our meeting on uh October the 17th um any questions regarding that all right that will move us to our 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 anyone making a comment please uh uh provide your first name last name and town of residents this is the first opportunity for public comment seeing no Stampede to the
042podium uh we will close the first opportunity for public comment and move on to our discussion of future action items so any board member have any uh of the items and future action items for October 17th meeting uh that they would like to uh raise questions or discuss I'll give you all a moment to review Mr President if I could just make one comment yes Mr just so folks know that the um item five on under the dsection um that is the rebid for the referendum project that's part two um I think we had about I don't know a dozen people pick up in the summer remember we rejected the first bid and the rebid I think about 30 picked up this is an FYI so that's a good sign that means you get more
043competitive numbers so anyway that'll become in the next board meeting and hopefully we can award that excellent any other items that board members have questions on on the previe items yes Miss dagio hi sorry just one microphone please um so the attendance policy 4212 it's support staff can is there an itemized list of titles under that umbrella of support staff so it power professionals security coaches custodians yes no do I I just want to make sure everyone's covered under support staff because the two policies one is for one is teaching staff members and then one says support staff like is it it too I don't know that was just my question so maybe um well no I think but maybe in advance of the next meeting we can make sure that we have a appropriate
044list of what what what that uh phrase defines what what's the listing of support staff sure anything else under preview items all right seeing none then we will move to our action items I'd like to move uh items A1 through A5 items A1 through A5 second second uh discussion yes Mr maio uh I'd like to pull A3 for a separate vote A3 for separate vote Yes anything else all right so um we have why don't we why don't we go ahead and do the discussion for A3 Lisa um discussion on A3 please yes absolutely okay so A3 um I have I'm G to take the I'm going to talk about 2419 first only because it's also a reg the only only issue I and I um appreciate Dr JT she went back and so now
045there's there was a large paragraph that was um added um for students with an IEP Etc the one contention I have now is language and it's one word so it's in the regulation and it was also in the memo from the state department of New Jersey Department of Education after August 1st 2022 Governor Murphy signed into legislation yada y yada it says in the regulation and in the memo um that having to do with this paragraph about the IEP um I'm on page three of the reg and page two of the policy it says must in the regulation and must in the memo from the state but our policy in that same paragraph only says shall and I don't know I feel like that's like well if I must same thing the policy Shon must
046mean the same thing because it doesn't say should okay it says shall yeah or may shall and must are the same they're the same okay I was only going by what the doe sent the memo and then the regulation reads must as well so that's why I was just concerned only because we're dealing with an IEP and that's a legal document and children have rights all children but especially having this I just noticed that difference and I was nervous I was concerned hence the pulling and discussion and does that uh satisfy your question as long as yes if we're I'm just trying to also cover us as long as absolutely it's a synonym because it's all about must consult with the appropriate staff on behalf of this child with the iup and our policy says
047shall but our reg says must yeah and and in legislative language and policy language must and shall are equivalent synonyms yes understood don't use those big words around me please no all right any other discussion A1 or a e3 I'm sorry I do on no you go on uh 2361 it says obscene activities shall be defined as a violation of generally accepted social standards for use of publicly owned and operated communic vehicles and this is also under so who under um under where it says program teachers and support staff who is determining that like what person is in charge of that for the just like any of our curriculum would be the administration would be I mean the administration on the board because a teacher can't include something in their classroom if it's not aligned
048to the standards and appropriate for instruction so if there was something questionable just like I mean anything a teacher teaches in their classroom needs to be aligned to the standards and part of our curriculum of our board approved curricul curriculum but it's at their discretion right that that you have a leeway of what they can and and no I mean the it's any again anything that goes on in a teacher's classroom needs to be it's you know that's why we review curriculum and lesson plans because it not just for a teacher to sit there and say oh I think this is okay it would it falls under the offices that's why we have Department supervisors and a director of curriculum and a superintendent um and a board that's reviewing curriculum so it's it's not you
049know up to a teacher to individually decide um it would need to be directly linked to the standards and the curriculum does that address your question which piece in particular is this in the first paragraph so sorry I'll just pick it up if you don't mind so it's the so it's all three policies the three different policies are it's the same title acceptable use of computer network networks computers and Resources by teaching staff members support staff and then it's under program so it's uh under a because one is for students and and then the others are for staff program is is applicable to student use of it and then the the other two are for staff right and so it's under a it's a second paragraph um and the the part that's not locked down
050for me is that a VI the generally accepted social standards which one I'm sorry I'm just not exactly all them the exact same language on all of them actually so page two of four on um it's the exact same state oh accepted social standards right so that whole generally accepted social standards and so that I mean that's going to vary from teacher to teacher that's going to vary let me just make a comment if I may uh if I'm not mistaken there was a very famous Supreme Court case years ago I don't know if it was Justice power who which Justice was says I can't Define pornography but I know when I'll see it so it's impo I hear what you're getting at Lisa it is impossible to Define it you know we have Administration
051you know ultimately the board perhaps we'll know when someone is pushing the envelope going over the line or doing something wrong I mean there is oversight and if you want to have a policy that it's defined that's going to create a problem just so you know because any definition of a policy will be as limiting as possible possible and it will it'll go so contrary to education and you know you know just like the St you know the the David one of the most famous statutes of all time well that's porn you know maybe you call that pornography it's a naked guy it's just that simple so if you want to have a policy that's so limiting and I get it and you want to Define It's just sometimes you just can't define something well
052it's I think it also you know one of the things to remember so if you know we're teaching human anatomy and you're looking at a a picture you know of a naked person and talking about body parts that's completely appropriate if you're in the middle of math class and the teacher has a poster of a naked person in the classroom when they're talking about derivatives probably not tied to the curriculum so it really you know that's why those things depend a lot on the context and what the curriculum and the standards call for I mean I I I think the teacher would be hard pressed to show me where that aligns to the standards um and by the way that's not happening in our school just using an example but that's you know I think
053what what Michael's speaking to is why you know as Educators that's part of what makes the board's job and the administration's J job so difficult because education is not black and white and it you know if you go back to a couple years ago when and not to bring up a a topic that but critical race theory was was big in the news and then they you know started we started getting these things and and it was you know Banning critical race theory in schools well then it became okay so what does that mean we don't teach it but if a student in social studies class says I'm seeing all the stuff about critical race theory on the news are we supposed to say sorry we're not allowed to talk about it it's a banned
054topic no that's a teachable moment for the teacher to say here's what it is and no it's not part of our curriculum but you know this is a debate that's going on in the news so and I remember you know getting asked out of like you're not allowed to talk about it in school like well we're a high school and if it's a class that's talking about about you know current events we can't ignore that that's a Hot Topic right now so that's where you know look that's that's why we have a very rigorous hiring process for our staff because we're entrusting them for the most part in a classroom alone with our students we don't have cameras in classrooms to to monitor what they're doing um so there is a certain level of trust
055and look if that trust gets eroded and something happens we have policies and practices in place to address that so that you know I'm confident that we are able to address anything comes up but I'm also confident that our staff is you know versed enough and professional enough and educated enough to to know the difference and I'm I I'm also confident that our supervisors have had these conversations with them knowing that this has come up that if there's something if there's a resource if there's something they want to use in class that they're concerned is you know that they really think has strong educational value but they're concerned if it's appropriate they know they should be talking to their supervisor about that um so you know that's something we've talked about as well other go
056ahead um Mr Gall yeah uh just to set the record straight it was Justice Stewart um a guess and but but more importantly it was the it was the um differentiation between softcore and hardcore so he was saying I know hardcore when I see it to your point it leaves off the questionable stuff and great stuff so the quote really doesn't help so in terms of that just little historical reference there um in terms of this I would say that there's a differ opinion on where that gray is I think there's literature that's being used right now in this this class that's only for 18 up students that I would Define as incredibly questionable um and we we get a chance to talk about comic books later on um so I don't know that it's
057so black and white and I understand the concern that Lisa brings up um you know in terms of who's but I think really what it comes down to is um who's the gatekeeper who's the actual person who's G to say you know this is beyond because as much as I like to say I know when I see it there's that one little area right there that doesn't it doesn't apply and I know for a fact right now there's teaching uh curriculum and resources that in my mind go over that but in the ad Administration mind does not so I mean we just need to be really very clear and up front with the concern that Lisa brings up and it's and it's real you know I don't want to diminish it no thank you um
058and I would never think or accuse any of our staff or administration of allowing these things to happen or that a teacher would um do anything but I'm also you know taking this from you know it's not like our teachers wrote wrote these These are you know these are policies you know we use stra ese as do 500 other public schools in New Jersey and you know they are Under Fire now too so I I have two jobs hire a superintendent and read policy and discuss it and either vote Yes or no um and so I obviously went through it with the fine tooth comb especially after all of the scrutiny Strauss Esme and lying to the public um so now yes I'm looking at their words more carefully um and you know yeah and
059I have a personal stake in it I have a 15-year-old daughter walking around in the building who who will be you know in a senior English class one day soon and you know he just want I just it's a very uh just open-ended generally accepted social standard standards you know so if I may yes [Music] um you know this this has been a a topic that um I have found myself having to spend an extraordinary amount of time on um and and talking to you know our attorneys and talking to other experts talking to other school boards uh in consultation with the school board's Association uh and having you know some really hard conversations particularly with the school boards Association and their head of uh legislative activities um because of some of the uh some
060of the legislation that has been brought forward uh challenging the authority of school boards to make decisions uh some of the uh language that has been uh inartfully used by our state board of education which has created even more controversy some of the language that has been used by our Department of Education without any consideration or consultation with Boards of Education uh and certainly the challenges that have been brought forth by uh the Attorney General uh unrelenting challenges by the Attorney General on some of our colleagues based on challenging their authority to make decisions that are in the best interest of their District in the best interest of their students and looking out for the rights of our parents um I I say all that because I really pressed the school boards Association on who
061has the authority in law to make these decisions who is the ultimate Arbiter at the school level to make these decisions and they have a a they have a policy in place which I wasn't familiar with uh regarding contentious issues um and they make it very clear in their policies and I think you're going to hear more about this at the New Jersey school boards Association as well as in the press in the coming weeks uh that the ultimate authority to be the Arbiter of these decisions is this board it is the Board of Education that has been elected by the citizens of this community and has been empowered uh by the laws of the state of New Jersey to make these decisions on behalf of the educational environment in our schools so if you
062want to if you're looking for ultimately who is has the responsibility we have the responsibility until the state takes it away from us and to that point exactly and so what did I go do then I looked up our current policy on controversial issues 2240 Board of Education responsibility and I just keep going in circles um however under no C circumstances can this policy or administrative regulations nullify the board of education's responsibility under New Jersey Educational statutes for its ultimate responsibility to decide on the educational materials to be used and I have in my notes the list of policies so just to give so just so everyone knows I don't just flip a coin and vote I do my due diligence that's impressive obviously well well done well done but I I but I think
063it is important to understand that you know when we have these contentious issues that ultimately you know certainly the administration and working with our our faculty and staff it works its way up but you know at at the end of the day the ultimate decision resides with the the the board the the only thing I would ask to for consideration in voting on these acceptable use policies the the language that we're talking about now is not anything that's up that having been edited that's been in there since since 2012 the piece that we're trying to revise is to make our Network more secure so if we can you know if everyone's in favor of that language because voting no doesn't change any of the language we're talking about right now it just keeps the language
064from getting in there that makes our Network more secure we can revisit the other pieces of this that uh folks may want to talk about so I'm just throwing that out there as a possibility but I think we've reached a conclusion Maybe I'm Wrong Lisa but correct me if I'm wrong um that I think the point was who's the authority on the curriculum and on the resources and it turns out we are so it's up to us to actually make sure that it's being followed which you have seem to done very well so um I would trust you trust Bob so and the other thing just to address it since you brought it up um we are not happy with Strauss Esme we are I am f ious with Strauss Esme and for those who
065Wonder are wondering at home who is Strauss Esme Strauss Esme is the authority that provides to us all of our policies they are the ones that comeb through all the legislation all the regulations uh and put forward the policies that are mandated and then policies that are recommended in order for us to make sure that we are meeting the statutory obligations that we have as a board of education um I'm not going to go into the detail of the issues that we have with Strauss Esme other than it it became clear that they are they have forwarded policies under the guys of being mandated that are not mandated and some of those policies have gotten some districts into very hot water um and so the question that I have that I will be proposing to
066Strauss Esme is what other policies have you forced to us under the guise of being mandated that are actually not mandated but actually uh recommended um first and foremost and the second thing one of the things that we will be doing is looking for what are our options on other vendors for policies um and and by the way that 500 number is going down quickly because of number of districts across the state um are finding themselves in the same boat and and the fact that they have subjected some of our colleagues and some of our other districts to the type of legal action that's going on right now is completely unacceptable in my opinion and so what really uh hammered the nail into the perial coffin for me was that policy 2 2361 has an
067M for mandatory from sh's estimate so maybe it is just guidance and I'm doing all of this for nothing but right now it's has an M right so maybe maybe it is just guidance and they lied again but I can't trust them so I don't know understood any other discussion on items A1 through A5 and thank you for that very thoughtful discussion uh seeing none raw call please Mr SC Mr magia can you repeat I'm sorry items we're voting on items A1 through A5 are we pulling A3 yeah can I pull A3 okay A a apologize A1 through A4 I'm sorry I'm actually um yeah do do we need to pull it or do we you just want to is is there something different that you want to do I don't know that we need
068to pull it well I would prefer a separate vote yeah if it's I think she wanted that originally okay so sorry I apologize I wasn't clear at the beginning items items A1 A2 A4 and A5 roll call Mr di okay Mr Maia yes Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr mayek yes Mr Potter yes rasa yes trur yes Mr bernberg yes and Mr marrison yes motions Carri all right we already have a motion on A3 and a second roll call on A3 okay Mr maio no Mr gallik no Lee no Mr mayek no uh Miss Potter yes Miss pra no Miss shampur yes Mr bernberg and Mr marrison yes okay looks like that motion is defeated okay can we can we ask um is there a modification that works at this point well can we
069bring it back to I don't think we can do that right now question not at this moment was there an issue with the school threat assessment team's policy no but that is in A3 but we already voted yes for but you can vote separately yeah yeah we could just because that one is really required for qac and required for because I like A4 yeah because we already approved A4 the regulation of yes A3 it's A3 yeah but we app it's the one is the policies one's the regulation and we approve the regulations wait a minute I'm confused well because so we approve they approved the regulation but the policy was in here so is this is the just for clarification is the issue on 2361 and 20 and 3321 and 4321 it's all and just
070so everyone realizes voting no the issue is still like the Pol the piece that the language that everyone had a problem with is still in there and I'm just I just want to make this clear that we really are making our Network vulnerable by not updating this policy with that language the you know the language that everyone is in question with here is not going to change it's still in the policy it's been in there since 2012 so that's why I was saying if we pass it to get the new language in there and then revisit it because right now that language still stands which is would be the same result if you voted yes I'm not sure because because the exist because if we don't pass this policy it will revert to the existing
071policy so in essence the policy Still Remains in effect you haven't changed anything other than we haven't updated the language updated the language for the network security for the network security the language that was talked about right that that that language was on page one the one that Liz is talking that's the only change and that's what you didn't approve the everything else in the policy is still in existence by voting it down right can I make a suggestion please if for those who are voting no on that would it be okay if you just a suggestion you could vote Yes but then voice your objection to the existing language regarding the part that you object to since that language will stay in it whether you vote Yes or no we just will not have
072this extra added very very essential security the marked up version was all is for the the um first read so that cleans up the the version so the bolded language had to do with use of personal devices to access the network third paragraph that was in yes it's in the third paragraph yeah what what the our technicians were trying to do is to eliminate um folks using their personal computers here uh so that was that was really the that was the change that they were making um because when they bring in their personal device they can bring in harmful um viruses viruses and kind of other things so they don't want we don't and that's the language that was want them to do that we want students to use Chromebooks we want staff to use
073their devices that we pay for so that way they don't introduce something that's harmful okay let's be clear the majority of the board has no problem with allowing these risks to our security and they voted so we live with that that's what clarifi but that's what the ma the majority has spoken and that's what they want thank you for being The Peacemaker I'm not so sure everybody understands that that's why I think Liz was that's why she was mentioning that so I was kind of make sure everybody understands that piece that the idea was to make the network safer these other things page two three four all that that still remains that doesn't go anywhere whether you guys vote Yes or no it doesn't matter still there it'll be there until we change those pieces
074but page one I I I mean as a board I think again I'm not a technology expert but I have Anthony I have Andy who are and they're the ones who are telling us we shouldn't have personal devices on our Network I kind of agree with them on that one I think they're right but Mr President yes ma'am um just for clarification is it not possible to accept this vote and simply send it back to committee to see if we could tighten it a little bit bring it back ABS absolutely we can do that um but I guess the uh I think the thing is I think we really need Clarity regarding what is the objectionable points in here that because obviously the point that we were trying to address is not the point that
075people are objecting to so I think that's the what I don't want to do is end up where we're in in this cycle of of you know not being able to really get at what exactly the objection is this this is the language that was added and this is I picked the student policy so and let me make this hold on I can make this bigger so the additional language is students are prohibited from using their own personal computers to access District Cloud tenant resources personal mobile devices may have limited access to Cloud tenant resources and are protected under data loss prevention policies that is the changed language is that mean like my daughter can't borrow my laptop to get do her homework because that's ridiculous she has a Chromebook though I mean that's the
076idea she has she has chomebook we can monitor the Chromebook we cannot doesn't makes perfect sense I disagree I'm I'm pretty good with technology all right we're getting far foul we have had about that no we are we have had this policy in place to make sure that students have Chromebooks for the very reason that we don't want personal devices on our Network because the ability of these devices to inject um malware and and other items that could be disruptive to the network that's been the PO the the The Stance from the IT department the language that's being put in here is just to make sure that that is clarified now recognizing that there are other issues with the policy that people have then I think that we send it back to committee to take
077a look at but I really want to make sure we have Clarity on what it is that you're objecting to and to find out what Authority we have to make modifications to that can can I ask something why can't we just take that one particular them paragraph totally out of this and put it into our own policy uh for watcham Hills and then passed under some on just that that that line I understand where you're going we need advice you know when we're making these kind of changes we also reference this a lot in our student handbook and information to parents like the acceptable use policy if we have things now in multiple places that that's going to get very confusing for them and they're not going to if they you know it's going to
078be weird to say well check our acceptable use policy and then also check this separate policy that talks about the same thing and we also do have the behavior threat assessment policy hanging out there that again we're going through qac monitoring and that needs to be part of it when they check our policies and that's going to be a problem for us if it's not well we already approved our 2419 so I think if we pulled out 2419 from A3 and just voted on that separately then you can make that motion the board yeah the board you guys can make a motion and yeah I would need someone to make that motion I'll make that motion I move that we pass A3 I guess d419 for lack of a better description yep A3 2419 motion
079second Bill thank you discussion roll call Mr maio yes this is on policy 2419 2419 under A3 okay uh Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Miss May yes Miss Potter yes Miss pra yes trur yes Mr bernberg yes and Mr marrison yes okay motion carries all right we need to move uh I need a motion on items A6 through A8 I can't do it right second A6 through A8 discussion roll call Mr magio yes yes Mr Gall yes M Lee Yes mayor Che yes Miss pra yes M trur yes verberg yes and Mr Marson yes motion is carried need a motion on item B1 you may he said move item B1 second yes discussion on item B1 seeing none roll call Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Lee yes Mr mayek yes Potter yes proa
080yes trur yes bernberg yes Mr Morrison yes motions Carri motion carries I'd like to move items C1 through C8 I believe uh we also have a walk-in you can oh yes I'm sorry C9 forget about those and C9 C1 through C9 second thank you discussion roll call Mr masio yes Gall yes Lee Yes mayor Che yes Potter Yesa yes trur yes Mr bernberg yes Mr Mars yes motions carry I'd like to move items D1 through D4 D1 through D4 second second discussion B call Mr tajio yes M Gall yes Lee Yes Mar yes Potter yes CA yes M chur yes brenberg yes and Mr Marson yes carry excellent this is the second opportunity for public comments same stipulations apply uh Mr Riley could you just move the microphone just a little not yeah up toward
081your or even right in front of you there there you go yeah I think is that are you getting audio on that I'm not hearing him overhead yeah sorry Greg sorry can you hear me now there we go thank you so I'm here to talk about the fact that uh the faculty and staff have been without a contract for 460 days to say that the faculty and staff of w Chung Hills is frustrated and Disturbed at this point in the negotiations process is an understatement the wh is committed to representing our members as transparently and democratically as possible which is why our negotiations team is open to any and all wh members who wish to attend negotiations meetings when the Board of Education originally made their perspective on not wanting more wh members in the
082negotiations room clear we compromised and we met with the board without our full negotiations team in good faith uh to work out a solution to this disagreement while we did not solve our dispute in that one meeting rather than continue those discussions and find a practical solution the board took the Extreme Action of filing an unfair Labor practice against the wh that action sent a message to the educator and educational support staff at Watchung Hills for the rest of 2022 the board did not reach out or demonstrate any interest in trying to find a pathway and how to move negotiations forward throughout 2023 the wh has been waiting for the board's unfair Labor practice against us to be adjudicated by perk and Trenton while we waited we've consistently reached out to set up meetings and
083to figure out a short-term solution so that we can get moving on negotiating a new contract members of the wh have been frustrated by the length of time taken to make any sort of progress however we believe perhaps that some progress might be uh made when the board and negotiations committee agreed to meet with us on September 13th we appreciated the meeting with their Committee in which uh the members of the wh provided valuable input and constructive feedback on specific negotiation items the board negotiations committee remained silent throughout the meeting did not respond to the questions our members asked or the concerns that they were hoping to hear feedback from the board of education on WE extended an invitation to the board uh NE negotiations committee to meet again to continue this discussion and we
084were hopeful that we could arrange a date for a new meeting considering that all the members of the board negotiations committee said that the meeting went well all the members said that it was a productive meeting however three weeks later the wh was informed that the board negotiations committee has no intention of meeting with the wh before perk makes its decision actions speak louder than words and the inaction of the board for the past 460 days is telling to the faculty and staff 460 days without a new contract sends a very clear message to the faculty and staff of wung Hills about the priorities of the board it is clear that the board is not interested in negotiating a new contract if they were they would have worked in good faith with the wh to
085find a tangible solution and compromise instead of immediately filing a ulp against us in Trenton it is clear that the board does not value the faculty and staff of w Chung Hills if they did they would meet with us again to actually engage in a discussion about each other negotiations proposals and find a solution the board's refusal to meet again until perk has made a uh has made a decision uh demonstrates that the September 13th meeting was not meaningful to the board and was a waste of everybody's time refusing to answer the questions and concerns brought up by the faculty and staff at the September 13th meeting sends a clear message that the board does not respect them it is time that the board negotiations committee take action and begin negotiating with the wh we
086we've always been transparent about our willingness to compromise and find common ground with the board however it is beyond time that the board demonstrate a similar commitment with action I implore the negotiations committee to work with the wh and to continue to meet with us it is clear over the past month that the parents and students of this community want this issue resolved or some movement made on it it is in the best interest of all stakeholders in our community to meet and get negotiations started while we wait for a decision from perk any more in action is wasting time and hurting our community thank you thank you other [Music] comments going once going twice we will close the second opportunity for public comment um I will uh certainly take this opportunity to uh respond
087to a couple misstatements that were made at the last meeting and also at this meeting by the leadership of the whrea uh the Board of Education indeed offered to host a listening session for the faculty and staff which the Watchung Hills Regional Education Association agreed to contrary to what has been stated this was not a negotiating session this was a listening session it was a listening session so that the board could hear directly from the faculty and staff about their concerns this was intentionally misrepresented based on the purpose of this meeting at the last board meeting because it had nothing to do with negotiations it was not a give and take it was never positioned as being a give and take it was positioned as being a listening session and a listening session that from
088what I have heard from reports from that meeting uh was very productive with a lot of great information uh that was shared by the faculty and staff uh with the board members that were in attendance now regarding negotiations I have been saying for a long time that our Rolling Hills uh and our well-maintained buildings and our facilities are not what makes watchong Hills special it's our faculty staff and administration nothing would make me or my fellow board members happier than to see our faculty members with a new contract nothing we value cherish and respect all of our faculty and staff we know how hard they work and the sacrifices that they have had to make uh and have made here at wung Hills unfortunately the wha the representative the njaa representative Union since the one
089and only negotiations meeting that was held nearly two years ago has demanded that we proceed with negotiations using a process where the majority of the entire faculty are participants in the negotiations that would be more than 100 teachers there is absolutely no precedent for this in the past and in the vast majority of districts across the state negotiations have occurred with small negotiating teams five or six per side appointed by each party from the beginning the board negotiating team led by Led previously by Mr Fallon and now by Mr Burber made it explicitly clear that we would not agree to such an outrageous request the union has insisted on this strategy they do so even in the face of these facts no peer District or districts in our surrounding communities have ever negotiating a contract
090using such a prospect process and B the New Jersey school boards Association reports that that of the more than 150 District agreements that have been negotiated in New Jersey over the past year or those currently under negotiations they have not found one single instance where the strategy that the wha is proposing has been used not one the sad part about all of this is the whri is not focusing on the needs of the faculty if they were we have would we would have a contract by now we're not even talking about salaries or benefits or Health Care the union wants to set precedent by demanding more than 100 teachers be involved in negotiations and for the life of me I do not how see how insisting on this precedent setting maneuver is of any benefit
091to our faculty and staff what's the point if negotiating this way is so important why aren't there dozens of districts following the same process it appears that setting a precedent for a Trenton Union Trenton based Union is more important than meeting the needs of our faculty and staff right here at Watchung Hills this has moved from ridiculous to obsurd yet sadly the union is the one responsible for inflicting the harm on their own members and our students by insisting on this indefensible stance not this board let me repeat the union is responsible for inflicting harm on their own members and our students by insisting on this indivisible staff stance not this board if we were to engage in negotiations as we have in the past for several successful contracts this would be over by now
092our teachers would have salary increases they would have retroactive pay our students would be able to participate in their volunteer clubs the Union's insistence on this position is why we filed an unfair labor practices lawsuit against them nearly 2 years ago and we are currently awaiting the decision from the administrative judge I personally feel terribly for our faculty members who have not seen an increase since the contract expired but that's not due to this board that's due to the Union's insistance on negotiating in this novel and unprecedented way we will be happy to start negotiations when the union drops this ridiculous demand or the administrative judge rule has ruled on the unfair labor charges no sooner no later I will open it up for any new business thank you um I was part of the
093listing um exercise with the staff and um Greg I I personally like you I mean I think you're a nice guy um but what you said just wasn't true and it I mean I sat there and I listened to the teachers give their input and it informed the way that personally I'm going to take it into negotiations and work with your union and staff like absolutely informed me it was really actually a really good hour and a half two hours whatever it was it was a long time you know and there was a lot of input and I can't say I remember all of it verbatim but there was some things that we've already been discussing um so that when we're ready to negotiate those topics will be talked about I don't want to talk
094about too much out um but I just I I just think that um it's important to note that we did listen and that listening session was important to us and that in parted at least from my viewpoint a lot of good points so with that said I completely agree with Mr morrs in everything he said like so that that's not to take the the blush off the rose there uh the other thing in terms of new business I brought this up last time I'm going to bring it up again there is an exential threat to our ladies in sports we have to talk about this we have to take this on this is a real issue and the issue is not going away and so I don't think it's right for this or I it's
095certainly not for don't think it's right for me to be quiet about this we have to protect our ladies in their Sports um again I made the suggestion which seems again interesting it to change everything to xx and XY if you are predominantly made of a particular XX chromosome you go into one and predominantly XY you go to the other um you can't deny that there's real differences between the chromosomes but they really are shown in our Sports um I I you know as Lisa mentioned um we have children of this age that it really affects them and I know how important it is and how good it is uh for our daughters and our girls to be out there playing in a fair way with their peers and we're up against something that's just
096unfair and that will take the wind out of the city of so many people it's just wrong so anyway I'm going to just push this board to have this conversation and to like kind of do something about it I uh I hear exactly what you're saying Mr Gall and I certainly do not disagree I think what we need to do is probably falls under the education committee is start talking or start doing some research see what the policies are with other District speak to school boards see what the policies are out there and then when we get a sense of what the policy so I I think we know where we want to go with it I certainly I know where I want to go with it uh how we get there we may differ
097slightly with language but let's see what the other districts are doing what the school boards recommends and see what language we can come up with so that we could have a policy that hopefully all of us can agree on and get to where we need to be but certainly um on where you want to be other uh word comments new business seeing none I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so mov Oh and before we go um I do want to wish Miss obber uh get well soon sorry she couldn't be with us tonight she's under the weather so get well soon I know you're watching and listening and otherwise I need a second and we will adjourn second all right we adjourned