001all right ladies and gentlemen we are back into public session uh the first item on the agenda is the public hearing on the uh superintendent contract um just as a just to provide some context um in early May a district in a county not far from here uh are approached our superintendent with a job offer um which uh we were able to discuss with the superintendent when she came forward and said that she had this particular offer fortunately for us she was gracious enough to allow us the opportunity to provide a counter offer uh and the counter offer certainly met the needs of the superintendent uh and so tonight what we are doing is uh reviewing the the contracts we will have public comment on the contract and then we will vote on the contract
002one of the most important things the most important role of a board member is the hiring of the superintendent that is the most important job that board members have in this role the fact that that our superintendent is finishing her 10th year with the district and the fact that we're able to enter into a new five-year contract to extend that period um speaks to both the support that the superintendent has from this board and also I think I won't speak for the superintendent but also the fact that the superintendent actually enjoys being here if that wasn't the case I don't think anything we would have been able to say would have been able to keep her here so I think that um I know that I speak on behalf of the board that we're all
003uh we're very pleased uh that we were able to come to an agreement uh to allow the superintendent to continue for the next several years here uh and to provide continuity for the district uh continuity of leadership in public education is probably one of the most important aspects of ensuring that you have a district that is well run so that you're not having to constantly go through churn and Leadership and churn and Personnel we've been very fortunate to have stability in our leadership both not only with the superintendent but with our business administrator and also with our director of HR who unfortunately will be leaving us at the uh at the end of this month but we're also excited about the uh the very competent replacement that will be taking her place so um with
004that I'll open that up for any board comments before we open it up for public comment any comments on the superintendent contract seeing none I will open the floor for any public comment regarding the superintendent contract only seeing none I will close public comments and I will entertain a motion to approve item C1 motion approved wait a second discussion roll call Mr size Mr burnberg yes Mr Maggio yes Miss Lee yes Mr Mayor Check Yes yes sober yes Rossa yes and Mr Morrison yes um Dr Jewett do you have any comments I just wanted to say that I'm I'm truly humbled by the board support and I love it here I I feel so privileged to have been able to lead this district for the past 10 years um and it was really overwhelming uh
005the the show of support from the board when we were discussing my future and we are in the midst of a lot of great things uh and so I really look forward to getting to continue those it's you know I a lot of superintendents are only in districts for for a couple of years and you get to start something but you don't necessarily get to see it through um and actually just talking to a parent whose last child graduated about six years ago and you know hearing about where her children are now and and you know what else we can do here to make sure that that our students succeed and actually getting to see the fruits of that and we have some really exciting things going on as well I'm really excited for the
006steam lab that we're going to be finishing and some of the other projects so I'm just I'm I'm actually a little bit overwhelmed right now and I normally am not at a loss for words um but it's it's really exciting because I truly uh have enjoyed my time here and really look forward to to the Future here and I'm in a very unique position in this District where I get to be in the building um and so I actually get to know the students because I think that was that's one of the hardest things going from the classroom to becoming an administrator is you're you're worried about losing that connection with the students and I'm very lucky here that I still get to be among all of the teachers and all the students and and
007get to see them and and know a lot of them um quite well so thank you so much and and I am you know I'm truly privileged to work with a board who always keeps students first and with an absolutely world-class staff in this building and obviously the tremendous students that we have here so thank you thank you and congratulations Dr Jewett we are excited to have you remain with us so [Applause] all right with that we do have a packed agenda this evening so we're going to move on and we will start with our oh I'm sorry board correspondence uh we did receive uh one letter regarding uh what we've received one letter from somebody outside of the district uh uh regarding the uh summer reading uh but given the fact that we have
008already made the decision on that summer reading there's no action that needs to be taken on that with that I'll move into reports and presentations and we will start with our student representative comments for the last time this year thank you Ms prossa master all I guess Madison Landau a junior and Dania Arabi a sophomore along with history teachers Mary sock and Jamie Lott Jones were selected and will be participating in beta testing AI for the Jewish Federation of the righteous you may have seen a CBS 60 Minutes piece but Leslie Stahl where she's interacting with a hologram of a holocaust Survivor who has passed away the group will be vetting the Hologram responses of two New Jersey Holocaust Survivors and collecting the data on how the AI responds to their questions history teacher Jim
009Carden brought in many Civil War relics for his US-1 CP classes the items included cartridge boxes canteens cannonballs a Confederate saber and Confederate money original photos including an Ampro type photo of Lincoln from its his 1860 campaign that Abraham Lincoln gave out as a gift to his influential supporters a tin type of African-American soldier in Union uniform and various other relics some students were visibly excited to touch a photo that Lincoln had once touched as well the students were allowed to handle and examine the artifacts and then use them as prompts to be incorporated into a creative writing project about the common soldier's appearance experienced during the Civil War on May 31st Dr Wei Dai from Rutgers University met with our students in the Neuroscience Club to discuss her Research into neuro neurodegenerative diseases for
010athletics we are very proud of our Warrior teams and their determination on the on the field of this a play of this season our boys tennis team is the 2023 Skyline conference Raritan division champions our softball team is the 2023 Somerset County Champions Maggie O'Reilly is the north to group 4 sectional Champion for pole vault so congratulations to all of them and a special shout out to the BNG staff for the maintenance of our fields and gyms keeping them in excellent condition for our contest with each changing season thank you thank you and I just want to say thank you um to all the board and especially Miss Stewart um we know we're going to miss you a lot and we just thank you for all your support and for being here it's been great
011working with all of you yeah student participation is so important the school it's been great that we've been able to work great thank you [Applause] well and you're not done yet so we we do want to recognize you actually I do have a question for you before um I I so we've changed the format in recent years where you now actually serve as a board rep for multiple years where we try and have so that there's a little bit of a transition and I'm just curious if you've you know found that you like that and like having the experience so that it's you know it used to be just students would serve for a year and sometimes I think by the time they get the the hang of it their you know their reign would
012be up um so what have you thought about getting to serve for multiple years yeah um I've enjoyed I definitely enjoyed it and I definitely like learned a lot I feel like one year is probably maybe too short just because like we don't go like all the time so it's like good to like get a hang of it and I think we should definitely do like like an older person younger person type of situation too like that was good like when Jed was here and we were like both like worked together I feel like he gave me got like a lot of good advice and then I like helped Ryan like you you know come into it so I feel like it's like good to be on for like multiple and I get to know
013like all of you better so do you want to eat share with us too and after Ryan after you answer what your plans are for next year Carly all right I mean I pretty much agree with Carly um I still feel like I just really hit my stride and it's a shame that we're leaving but still I do think having more than a year really helps me understand the politics more of the school and be able to share that with my peers so it's been really great having this experience for an extended period of time I'll be going to American University to study psychology in the fall and I'll be going to University of Maryland to study information science [Applause] we really want to thank you for your service and participation um and you know
014I think it it always is humbling to all of us to have students sitting with us on the board so we really appreciate that and and on behalf of the board and administration we have a little token of appreciation for you and just so you know you're always welcome to come back to a board meeting if you start to miss us or this there's always the opportunity so you are more than welcome if you don't want to say anything but thank you so much no just thank you for your service and the time on the board to certainly enjoyed working with both of you um and particularly um Ryan over the past two years that you've been here so we really appreciate that um so congratulations to you both Dr Jewett has a little gift
015for you and since we are in recognition mode at this point in time we will move to the recognition of our retiring staff members and I will turn it over to Dr Jewett thank you this is a fun night I get to do all sorts of great recognition and it's nice to see our retirees brought their entourages with them uh so this is It's they're they're fan clubs um it's actually it's nice we've had a series of celebrations of our retirees over the past few weeks and I'm really glad that I get to recognize uh Patty grunther tonight as Patty day was on Friday and when I had gotten there I missed you I had to go to my County meeting so I'm really glad that you're able to be here tonight and we can
016enjoy some cake together so that being said you know what I am going to go up to the lectern and if each retiree could come up there Patty if you wouldn't mind joining me up there this Proclamation regarding Patty grunther shall be read at the public meeting of the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education on June 13 2023 whereas Patty grunther was first employed by whrhs in 2007 as a teacher of Italian and whereas she coordinated chaperone and hosted for very successful academic and cultural exchanges to Florence Italy and whereas she created an award-winning intensive summer Italian program for high school students at Montclair State University in 2017 which received recognition as a best practice model by the Italian Embassy and whereas she brought her knowledge and enthusiasm of teaching English Italian and
017Linguistics to Montclair State University Bloomfield College and Kane University and whereas she received the distinguished career service award from the association of American teachers of Italian in 2019 the association in which she has served as a regional representative and as National co-chair of the advocacy committee and whereas she inspired her students to learn about and develop a love for Italian culture including ancient Rome Renaissance art culinary Traditions immigration history contemporary life and social justice issues such as the black Italy movement and whereas after a career as an outstanding educator spanning 37 years in Italy and New Jersey she has decided to retire now therefore be it resolved that the Watchung Hills Regional Board of Education extends its heartfelt gratitude for Patty grunther's 16 years of service and Devotion to our school and wishes her a
018healthy and happy retirement to pursue her passions travel and whatever Adventures lie ahead [Applause] thank you it's bittersweet as always these kinds of situations I just very quickly want to thank first of all anyone from the community um the families for entrusting your children to my care because that is without a doubt the best thing that happened for me here was the relationship that I have with my students I'm so happy to see Ryan here you may not know it but I recently gave her the outstanding student and Italian award as senior Awards so it's lovely to have her here and I want to thank my colleagues who I have worked with the most amazing faculty and staff I have felt supported and appreciated in a way that made my job even more meaningful than
019it already was I'd like to thank two administrators who I felt were incredibly supportive of me my supervisor Brad Comerford and Ms Mary Ellen Phelan the um what is their title exactly here wait head of curriculum and instruction um and um I literally feel like crying but I won't and I thank you all and and maybe I'll see you in Italy sometime thanks [Applause] and Patty if you're going to be there in about two weeks I'll see you in Italy well I've been practicing and I've been thinking of you as I've been practicing my Italian so this Proclamation regarding Jane Gianelli shall be read at the public meeting of the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education on June 13 2023. whereas Jane Gianelli has been a member of the special services department at
020Watchung Hills Regional High School for 22 years serving students with disabilities here and in previous school districts for a total of 33 years and whereas she started her career as an administrative executive assistant at the New Jersey Institute of Technology followed by a brief career change to a legal secretary at a law firm that represented school districts and whereas her career objective was to work with students in a school environment where the staff and students could benefit from her education professional and Community experience and whereas her passion for working in education initially led her to the Verona School District and eventually to Watchung Hills Regional High School District where her talent and commitment enabled her to support families with students facing academic challenges and whereas she has served not only as an outstanding role model
021for all of our students but also as an active member of the Watchung Hills Community now therefore be it resolved that the Watchung Hills Regional Board of Education extends its heartfelt gratitude for Jane Gianelli's 22 years of service and Devotion to our school and wishes her a happy and healthy retirement to pursue her passions travel and whatever Adventures lie ahead thank you everyone I really appreciate I really enjoyed my years here and I will always remember them and I will remember everybody that I worked with and the students and the faculty and staff thank you [Applause] I feel like I keep having to say goodbye to Beth and it just keeps reminding me that she's not going to be in our office pretty soon so I don't I don't like this I enjoy celebrating her
022because she deserves it but the reminder that she's leaving is getting more and more difficult this Proclamation regarding Beth scheiderman shall be read at the public meeting of the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education on June 13 2023. whereas Beth scheiderman was first employed by Watchung Hills Regional High School in April 2003 and whereas she has been noted for her ability to coordinate a vast array of responsibilities from providing School Psychology Services to directing all aspects of the special services department and the human resources and professional development department doing so with Innovation and skill whereas her expertise as an educator and administrator have made her invaluable to our school and whereas she is a highly respected educator who has served the district as a school psychologist director of special services Acting Superintendent Director
023of Human Resources and professional development Color Guard advisor Asian Culture Club and K-pop advisor instituted and implemented the special education parents Advisory Group Employee wellness program and served in leadership positions in the Somerset County Association of directors of special services njdoe achievement coaches New Jersey diverse and learner ready teachers initiative New Jersey diverse educator coaching program and CJ Pride Nicole I hope you're taking notes and whereas after an outstanding career as a school psychologist advisor and administrator who put people first and dedicated her life to helping others she has decided to retire now therefore be it resolved that the Watchung Hills Regional Board of Education extends its heartfelt gratitude for Beth scheiderman's 20 years of service and Devotion to our school and wishes her a healthy and happy retirement to pursue her passions travel and
024whatever Adventures lie ahead thank you [Applause] thank you very much very Out of Body Experience again thank you thank you I'd like to thank first my husband Ward who's over there filming me [Applause] in addition to the many activities I've enjoyed at Watchung Hills ward has been alongside of me as a band parent taking me back and forth to board meetings on Snowy evenings and um he's just been there for everything um so thank you very deeply to to my husband um on a personal note I'd like to thank the board I'm going to cry at this point I'm going to talk about how supportive you have been of me but um thank you for the education and the care that you provided to my children I don't know if you realize my son graduated
025from Watchung Hills in 2013. my daughter in 2015 and if I listed all of their activities that they enjoyed here at Watchung Hills it would sound like this um from again marching band to sports to um school plays and choir and the teachers who took them aside and talked to them and supported them at those times that you need when you're a teenager and that all happens because the board is overseeing the schools and making sure that they are well run and they are I grew up this is more my professional and my thank you to you I grew up down the hill in North Plainfield I spent my time growing up looking up the hill and thinking about Watchung Hills and thinking about all those kids must all go to Princeton and Harvard and
026Yale and how neat it must be to go to watching Hills so in 2003 I became aware that there was an opportunity to be in my mind one of only two School psychologists who get to work at Watchung Hills um and lucky enough to have gotten that job and I still feel that same level of pride in Watchung Hills as I did back in 2003 thinking wow I could be one of just two people who get to work there as a psychologist um and of course um it's been a beautiful fit for me because I've just had so many opportunities to do so many things here with so many people um I also want to thank Dr Patrick O'Halloran and Nicole Kelly who tolerated my many visits to their doors those first few days and
027answering all of my questions I would have left if they weren't there to support me um all along the board has been completely supportive of me especially during my time as Acting Superintendent um Mr Morrison taking all of my text messages um Mr stye is keeping me on the right path of did you think of this did you take care of that and how can I help you and of course the the opportunity that Dr Jewett afforded me in doing that um [Laughter] so thank you all um you're just doing amazing amazing work here I've benefited from that I hope that I've contributed to that and um and just thank you to to everyone thank you [Applause] I believe there's a motion to rescind your resignation all right again congratulations to all of our faculty
028and staff uh that are retiring and again congratulations to our uh students and looking forward to seeing you move the tassel on Thursday so uh we will now move on to uh our committee reports oh I'm sorry oh I'm sorry uh we will take a five minute break because we have cake so cake break and then we will resume the meeting at 8 15. all right so before we move on to um our committee reports before we move on to our committee reports I would like to provide board members the opportunity for any comments they want to share regarding our retiring members uh Beth again thank you when I first got elected to the board and I had my introductory meeting uh it was a zoom meeting at the time and uh Liz got got
029on it she's Hi how are you welcome aboard and you won't see me for another six months or so I'm like oh okay great was it something I said so I was quickly introduced to Beth and uh Beth I thought you did a great job leading the district at that point uh edu got thrown into the role as acting uh a superintendent and of course it was during a tenuous time with the covet and all that situation so you had a couple things working against you or for you maybe um I thought you did a yeoman's job certainly appreciate all of the work you've done and hearing everything you've done in the last 20 years I only wish you the best and again as a member of the community thank you for everything you've done
030for the community for the students for the faculty and for everyone and you certainly will be missed and again just thank you any other board member Janine Mrs Potter uh I just want to say it's been a pleasure to work with you you're you're extremely professional and confident I hate the word competent because it's it's it's accurate but it it doesn't sound like enough but um not everyone's competent but you are highly confident um and I Echo Michael sentiment you did a fabulous job as assistant superintendent and um we're gonna miss you other comments and I will just uh close by adding my congratulations and thanks obviously um you know over the time watching you and your role with uh not only is related to HR but also um leading the district during covid um
031you did a exceptional job during a very an extraordinarily difficult challenging and unscripted time in our history in education and you know we'll always be grateful for the leadership you showed then and grateful for the care that you and and professionalism that you brought to the district and only wish you and Ward and your family all the best and um much joy and happiness and success in your future endeavors so congratulations and thank you foreign [Applause] [Music] this will seem so dry and boring and dull after all of that um the education committee met on June 6th at 3 45 we talked about career day career day was held on May 19th for 10th and 11th grade students after and it was the first one after a long break from holding career day due to
032covid Mr Libera and Miss Phalen discussed the structure of the day the panelists and the areas of Interest selected by the students which included arts and communication law and Public Safety technology business and health and science panelists were primarily alumni and included a forensic scientist a DNA analyst who may have been the same thing and not sure a writer a software a software analyst um uh Quant trading Market maker a culinary specialist and a judge uh Juniors were able to attend two sessions in sophomores could attend one the day went extremely well and the students were engaged and enthusiastic the administrators said they hope to have more panelists representing vocational fields in the future it invited several who would have had to miss work to attend one Committee Member mentioned that some unions have people
033available to participate in career fairs so that is something that will be explored for next year programs like this support our strategic plan goals to Pathways to educational success for all and three imagination creativity Innovation and critical thinking we also discussed transition to semesters which is now been communicated to parents students parents and students so communication has begun to incoming to everybody including incoming ninth graders regarding transitioning from marking periods to semesters an email blast went out on May 31st the first of many Communications to come to come starting in September 2023 we'll be moving from a four marking period system to a two semester model this will allow for better instruction during the course of the school year less stress for the students in relationship to artificial grading deadlines and allow for increased ongoing
034student assessment this transition supports our strategic plan goal one social and emotional growth and Wellness uh summer we also had a follow-up conversation regarding summer reading the whole summer reading vote from last the last meeting we continue the discussion regarding the selection of books for summer reading and we'll further continue it in the fall the administration is looking into modifying the process to select summer reading options to allow for increased student input rather than summarize the discussion I thought I'd ask the committee members and ultimately the board members if they had any further comments I do I did not comment at the last meeting because I was surprised into kind of taken everything in but um I did do a little bit of research and I don't want to be the dead horse on this
035but um are our sending districts have graphic novels on their summer reading lists it's it's an acceptable form of of a novel it's it's widely accepted as a a genre of Novel um I also just think that we have to be careful as a board to keep our of subjective opinions about anything you know related to any kind of art entertainment that's all very subjective so what one person likes what one person doesn't like has to stay out of the equation and if we're gonna vote no on something I think we need to at least put forth as much evidence and research as we as the people that are making these lists or making these decisions are doing as well that's it did anybody else from the committee have anything did anybody else from the
036board have anything um all right my comment was just that you know I also was focusing on the fact that we did pass a list because I desperately wanted a list passed but I do feel like we kind of missed the mark on the book that we removed this is my opinion um I do think we need more education about graphic novels and their merits of graphic novels um I know it was only two that mentioned that as their reason for voting no but I feel like you know taking a book off off the list um of um an almost American Girl was really a missed opportunity I I did go out and and borrow it from the library and read it um it's a novel about a girl who from Korea who who came
037with her mother to really Escape all of the stigma associated with being a single mother in Korea to come to the United States but then they came here and the girl was entering High School uh she didn't speak English they went to a high school they didn't offer any ESL no support for her it talked about all of the struggles that she had with being bullied and being ostracized and uh she got she had no family support I mean it touched on so many aspects of our diversity Equity inclusions social emotional Wellness strategic plan goals um reading this book just made me think was anybody thinking about our strategic plan when they cast their vote um we we it's drummed into us that's what we do we came up with this we went through a
038whole process of putting together the Strategic plan um you know Tim's always talking about when he has to write checks and approve funds you know that it's done with it's it's done with a strategic plan in mind uh the administration makes decision with a strategic plan in mind and here we are the Board of Education ignoring our strategic plan when we're casting votes and um I just I I do think we really need to rethink what our role is what our goals are what our mission is and um and at the same time I'm hoping we can you know heal from this and work together as a team because we are a team and that's you know this didn't look good and I think you know I've always been so proud to be part of
039this board and I I do hope we can um work together thank you moving on we'll go to the Personnel committee actually we took care of that in a closed session um operations Mr burnberg thank you Mr President operations met June 1st this year a couple weeks ago everybody seems to love their Performing Arts Center so we are in the process of and Outsiders have noticed how great it is so as everyone knows we we rent it out and we're in the process of redoing the contract with tightening some of the language the procedures How It Center it gets used in discussing pay excuse me an increase in cost because we have not changed those in about 10 years there's a bunch of policies that have come down yet again from the state most of
040them are mandatory we don't have to review or go over mandatory policies versus US wanting to have to have the policies um so we discuss those era financials again kudos to Mr steis with regard to his financial stewardship of the district he let us know that we're about a million or so uh and the positive with regard to excess funds and most of that money will be moved and effect into the capital to help pay for the track project which again had been discussed a couple months ago in the budget and how significant of an expense that was but with the excess funds that we have we're in good shape with respect to that um we again during the budget time we talked about some of the instead of purchasing some of the equipment outright
041was to have a four-year lease program he got a bid from TD equipment Finance for about 4.21 percent over the four years and uh he's working on that to get that finalized the final item we talked about was the naming rights which we've spoken about before with regard to doctor the gansey again we've gone over a couple different options of how to properly honor him and we are going to meet with Dr Yancey's family uh figure out the appropriate location whether it would be near the sports venue or near the West Wing which is where he hung out a lot um and that was the operations committee any questions seeing none you can move on to negotiations okay thank you uh negotiations as everyone is aware we've kind of been at a standstill with regard
042to negotiating the teacher's contract we are almost at one year since not having I guess a new contract um we took it upon ourself as together with the teachers where the four of us who are on the negotiating committee we met a week or two I guess a week or two ago with the negotiating Committee of the teachers and the staff and it was without Administration it was out without counsel it was without NJEA Representatives so they had about nine or ten members here we had four we sat down we discussed various issues of concern in various ways that perhaps we can move this forward while other issues were playing out and uh we're at point now where we're just seeing if we can finalize some sort of I guess compromised at this point with
043regard to meeting hopefully moving forward and hopefully at the next meeting we'll have some finalization of how we will move forward any questions great thank you Mr burnberg um next is regionalization I'm pleased to report that our application regionalization feasibility study application that went to the state is now under final review and we expect it to be approved before the end of the month we've been advised to go ahead and begin the process of establishing our formal regionalization committee which we will be doing over the next couple weeks in coordination with the Watchung Borough schools who are our partner in the regionalization study we will be looking at the structure of that committee and then convening the committee while the state is working through its paperwork items so we can begin the process of identifying
044potential vendors who will be responsible for actually conducting the feasibility study the goal would be for us to identify a vendor and then have this study begin in Earnest at the beginning of the school year or quickly thereafter so after two and a half years of talking about it we're going to stop talking about it and start doing so we're excited to get final approval but most importantly very excited that we've gotten the green light to go ahead and put together a formal committee to start looking at this so that's the update I have on regionalization any questions Rach representative reports we have one Mr Mayor check okay so on May 13th I met with the New Jersey School Board Association delegating assembly meeting it was presided over by President Irene lefeb and there's a
045report from executive director Timothy Pernell which is promising they are adding a new ba in Residence they are adding a new field service rep they're adding an attorney and adding another County coordinator getting some support there and we went through nominations and voted on a new slate of officers voted in a new slate of offices I should say so that the new president is now Karen cordolino from Montville Township Board of Education the VP of County activities is now Barry Fitzgerald from Lenape Regional Board of Education the vice president for finance is Tom Connors from the Piscataway Township Board of Education and the office VP legislature and resolutions is Shantae Jackson from the Neptune Township Board of Education and then there were several resolutions that were voted on the first one was from the Huntington
046Central Regional High School they proposed a new policy language limiting New Jersey mandated student assessments to one assessment one assessment series that measures student Proficiency in New Jersey student learning standards that all other assessments would be left to the discretion of local districts assessment had passed second resolution was actually withdrawn so the third resolution was from the Plainfield Board of Education they propose an additional policy language that would enhance and support student health services by including training for teaching staff and administrators in the provision of emergency support services including CPR first aid aeds the emergency administration of epinephrine insulin lucygen and Asthma treatments and it also included expanding our own Janet's law to after school programs and Provisions at the njsba encourages all new school New Jersey schools to provide regular refresher courses on ongoing
047training opportunities to ensure that's a staff and administrators maintain their Proficiency in these critical health related skills and that resolution did pass um um there was a fourth resolution voted requested by Toms River Regional Board of Education they proposed new policy language seeking the ability for Boards of Education that hold their elections in November to put a second question on the general election ballot that would apply for the next fiscal year rather than the current year as required by law and net resolution also passed there was one final resolution that they were putting through um by the Union County vocational technical Board of Education they propose a revision to the bylaw clarifying the nominating committee's authority to consider vocational schools to be on the part to participate in the nominating committee and that one did
048not pass it failed uh lastly they did a reaffirmation of a sunset for section 9 of the manual of organizations of local boards and that passed and that's the gist of it great thank you any questions for Mr Mayor check right we will then move on before we move into our first opportunity for public comment um I want to provide a reminder the community members are not only welcome but are encouraged to attend the board's public meetings and to speak on issues that are of importance to them however the board and the administration is deeply concerned with the members of the Muslim Hindu and Jewish Coalition of Watchung Hills action during and toward the end of our May 23 2023 meeting as many people know following the second opportunity for a public comment a portion
049of the meeting while board members were attempting to speak and conduct business individuals repeatedly yelled from the audience they heckled board members and used inappropriate language despite my repeated and respectful requests for them to stop as a result the board was required to abruptly and prematurely adjourn the meeting this is very unfortunate let me be clear it is against the law in the state of New Jersey to interfere with the conducting of a public meeting such conduct by any community members will not be tolerated at Future meetings we have a board policy regarding public participation at meetings and I'd like to review that now the policy permits the presiding officer which would be the president or the vice president sitting in the president's absence to request any individual to leave the meeting when that person
050does not observe reasonable decorum as well as to request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the disorderly progress of the meeting moreover it is against the law for any individual to obstruct or physically interfere with a board meeting with the purpose to prevent or disrupt the meeting the board will request the assistance of law enforcement to respond to any individual who seek to disrupt any future meetings those individuals will be removed without further warning likewise the board will fully cooperate with law enforcement in any potential prosecution efforts to assist in these efforts we will have security present present at our meetings moving forward including uniformed officers any group that thinks disrupting a public meeting will somehow miraculously Advance the cause they are attempting
051to promote think again individuals and organizations that lower themselves to such tactics lose all credibility with the entity that they are trying to influence the actions of the Coalition on May 23rd are a perfect example of this a letter outlining our concerns and highlighting our policies has been sent to the coalition a letter has been sent to the person who stole the gavel informing them that they are banned from our campus and a letter is being sent to the parent who was leading the disruption of the meeting again I reiterate that the board welcomes all members of the community the Coalition and others to attend board meetings and to speak on matters of importance to them healthy and respectful discourse often leads to better decision making however unnecessary and inappropriate disruptions will not be tolerated
052with that before we move into public comment I would welcome any comments from our board members Mr ALK I just want to um just want to verbalize my support of that statement and say that we need Civility and decorum to work through these issues and that's required so I look forward to a peaceful existence going forward thank you other board comments Mr verberg we live in a society that has certain rules again certain the Quorum it's important to have some rules you have some guidance you know how we live our lives how we conduct ourselves some societies don't have those rules some societies you know it's Anarchy you know you know mob rule might is right I'm not necessarily saying those societies are wrong but that's not our society I believe our society is the
053right one the Society of Rights a society that allows bullying I don't buy into that we have certain policies with regard to our students that don't allow bullying I would expect similar with regard to the public so it's just important that we have certain processes in place in certain ways to conduct ourselves in certain ways to achieve the goals we live by those rules certainly amongst a board and I would expect others certainly in society whether it's election of officers public other rules and um it's what's expected here and hopefully going forward we have the same respect thank you any other comments good great seeing none this is the 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
054be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes first opportunity for public comment seeing none we will close the first opportunity for public comment and move to board discussion on future action items are there any comments on any of the future action items right seeing none um we can move on to our agenda items and while we are working on our agenda items I certainly invite the two of you you're welcome to uh to depart I know that you probably have more interesting things to do at this point in time so feel free to leave if you wish but you're welcome to stay so I'm not picking you out yes I'm giving you the opportunity did you choose to take it you need to rest up for graduation practice tomorrow congratulations [Applause]
055Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A5 A1 through a five second discussion roll call Mr Stice Mr burn Berg Mr Maggio yes Mr gallic yes Miss Lee americhek Yes sober otter yes rasa yes and Mr Morris yes motions Carrie you really shouldn't um motion on A6 second discussion roll call Mr bernberg yes Mr Maggio yes Mr gallic Miss Lee Yes mayor chick yes it's Uber yes and Mr Morrison yes commission carries Mr President I'd like to move items C2 through c27 uh c28 oh sorry uh C2 through c28 second discussion roll call Mr burnberg yes Mr Maggio yes gallic yes yes it's Lee Yes mayor Check Yes over otter yes Mr prossa yes and Mr Morris yes Gary Mr President I'd like to move D1 through D4 D1 through D4 second discussion
056roll call Mr burnberg Mr Maggio yes Mr gallic yes Miss Lee Yes mayor Check Yes sober otter yes rasa yes and Mr Mars yes uh the five second thank you uh discussion roll call Mr Brandenburg Mr Maggio yes Mr Gallard Lee Yes mayor Check Yes yes it's over yes and Mr Morrison yes and before we move on I just do want to highlight item D3 um the board accepts uh with gratitude of donation in the amount of five thousand dollars from Eli Manning to be used for non-personal expenses associated with the Watchung Hills Regional High School football program so thank you uh to uh Mr Manning and obviously go Giants thank you and obviously our football coach who might have had a little something to do with that so coach so appreciate that as well
057so we are now going to move into our second opportunity for public comment the second opportunity is for any uh any item whatsoever please come to the podium state your name your full name uh and the town of residence hello good evening good evening Mary livonian mayor Livonia Long Hill Township I also wanted to follow up on the last Board of Education meeting I wish we all lived in the society where everyone had the same rights and where everyone could celebrate holidays that are important to them for instance I wish we had a Chinese New Year celebration a holiday that is important of many of my children's friends and to our family because my two boys speak and write Chinese who love the culture and we celebrate the Lunar New Year for the last nine
058years since my both boys are Murray Hill Chinese School students in the traditional class it's an amazing school by the way we have another important holiday in our family that is not on the school's calendar and I would love it to be there someday but I think right now it's better to it's I would like to focus on the thing that concern every child parent and educator in this school at the last Board of Education meeting we were at the very alarming point of discussing the books list book list and taking a book of that list even after Mr Aquarius explained the importance of all those books and how carefully our English Department made at least and that the teachers believe those books would be beneficial for to our for our children even after all
059that some members of the board were questioning it because apparently those books are not the ones that their generation would read it's unbelievable what's next Banning more books interfering with the social status and science curriculums actually this is beyond alarming I put that graphic book almost American Girl which was excluded from the list my boys already read it and they both loved it it's great book also last year my children read fan home which was banned a couple of years ago in our school we will continue to buy more of those books as gifts as gifts yeah and of course there is this year's number one priority in our school which I've already addressed a few times the fact that our teachers still don't have a contract just think about it for the entire year
060our teachers didn't have a new contract for the whole school year and they still don't have it I hope it will change soon so right now I wish we could focus on these issues and postpone all other demands because it's overshadowing the most important problems in our school right now and at the end I would like to say one more time that it's the well-known fact that the way America treats its teachers is very different from the rest of the progressive world I wish we all would get frustrated and rally because such important people in our lives our children's teachers have to go through this most stressful situation teachers are people who are as important in our teacher children's lives as their families some of our children spend even more time with their teachers than
061they do with their parents teachers are the people that we entrusted our kids to in our school there are people who are children love and have tremendous respect for so it's frustrating to know that our teachers work without a new contract it's frustrating to know that the board can interfere and ban books according to their political views and religious beliefs this is unacceptable we send our teachers our children to school to school to learn and we are extremely lucky that in this particular school they learn from the best and by the best I meet not only professional but also in terms of human qualities that serve as an example for our children they are truly fortunate so I wish we all appreciate our teachers as much as they deserve which I don't think we do
062now thank you thank you any other public comment seeing none I will close this second opportunity for public comment and before we move on I want to correct a couple misstatements that were made from the podium first and foremost this district has never ever banned a book we have never banned a book we do not ban books in this community and just because something is removed from a reading list does not mean that the book itself was banned the book fun home was not banned we created an alternative process that allowed students to be able to choose which of the books that they wanted to study which included the book fun home who just made sure that it wasn't required reading for everyone but students had the opportunity to choose from a series of books
063which included fun home and that the faculty made sure that the groups that were studying those books were balanced so this idea that somehow the the fun home book was banned is completely not true the idea that the book The Graphic novel that was removed from a reading list was banned from the district is not true we don't ban books so wherever this idea is coming from and whoever is talking about it it's not true so I think it's really important in this day and age that we're thoughtful and careful with the type of language that we choose because when you start talking about banning books it creates all sorts of other rhetoric and all sorts of other consternation out in the community this district has not banned a book now to be clear as
064a board of education we have the complete authority to determine what is or is not included in the school that is our responsibility that is what we are elected to do so if something ends up not being a part of the curriculum doesn't necessarily mean that it's banned it's just it has been determined that it is not appropriate you know for whatever the prop the whatever type of educational program it was being provided so I want to be really really clear that that is not something that we engage in in this District do we have robust discussions about what we teach and how it's taught and other types of things both in public and in committee meetings absolutely do we have disagreements among board members when we're having these discussions absolutely but we're able to
065be we're able to have these conversations and we are able to work as a unit to come to the right kind of decision that is in the best interest of the students of this community so I would just urge caution when we're starting to use inflammatory language when you come up for public comment in the future with that we will move on unless there are any other board members that wish to comment otherwise we will move on to other business do we have any other business from board members I just want to one of the god the Project Graduation committee who's doing a spectacular job I know my son personally is having a great time and there's more to come so thank you everyone who is in charge and involved in Patrick graduation thank you
066great so we will now move into our interviews for a board vacancy and I so so you're going to need to get organized here a little bit besides in your folders there's a friend that told me the green paper clip look for the green paperclip that's where all the and so we have three board members here uh three board members interview candidates I'm sorry the order doesn't I think we'll go alphabetically yeah so that would be Mr Riley Mr Riley you will be first yeah if you can go to the podium yeah go to the podium and thanks for coming good evening members of the board thank you Mr Riley welcome welcome you uh and we're certainly grateful for your interest to serve uh on the board uh to fill the vacancy uh that we
067have from Warren Township um so if you have any opening comments um give them to you and then we have uh board members that will have questions uh for you to answer um and it'll be the same format that we use for the other members as well so please well uh I saw the notice on the website of checking on the website I saw the noticed I was available um I thought I'd volunteer I come with no specific agenda I think it's important for a person to serve as Community I serve as a member of the Board of Health in Warren I'm president of the Middlebrook Regional Health commission I've served on the uh Warren youth basketball association I've been a youth coach Etc give you a little 60-second uh bio born and raised in
068Elizabeth New Jersey father of City fireman mother a homemaker three siblings my oldest brother Richard was killed in Vietnam in 1968 attended St Peter's prep in Jersey City then went to set Hall University graduated in 1971. uh taught mathematics at Thomas Jefferson High School in Elizabeth for a year then went on to Rutgers Law School finished up at Rutgers Law School in 1975 was admitted to the bar after taking the exam clerked for its Superior Court judge in Elizabeth for one year then I went and was employed did defense litigation work for about four years four and a half years then I opened my own firm in 1980 practice 42 years with my own firm sole proprietor and recently retired um I'm married a beautiful wife Nancy three children all of whom are graduates of
069Watchung Hills and Nancy I don't know whether any of you recognize the name but Nancy taught in Long Hill for over 20 years at Central Middle School so I think I have something to add here even though it's just a short stint from now to the end of the year but I thought I would volunteer you were looking for somebody any questions I'm happy to answer them thank you Mr Riley again you told us that you seek an appointment for the vacancy can you tell us is there a particular issue that's motivating you to serve on the board no I I have no I I come with no particular issue that I want to sort out or or make a stand on like a politician you got a straight answer right are there any issues
070that you think that the district needs to address um in regards to its academic programs or offerings that this time or changes no I haven't studied that I mean all I can tell you is that my wife and I were pleased with the education that our three children received here um notwithstanding the fact that I attended Catholic schools I'm a firm believer in public schools I don't know how you feel about it but uh I oppose Charter Schools I think that you know Boards of Education or represent the community and they should be in control of the school systems I don't I don't believe in setting up these private schools and diverting public money to Charter Schools please also thank you for being here Mr Riley um how does this as a board member how
071do you think a school board balances the need to provide quality education with the need and burden to the local taxpayer well that's a big a big question uh I I think the answer to do it to do it as best as possible I would say right I mean they have to take that into account the the the tax burden that's imposed by the schools is the biggest tax burden of all on the taxpayers right it it it's what about 80 percent of the entire tax burden so I think you have to be conscientious in deciding how to um how to decide that but at the same time you have to balance uh costs against quality I mean I'm sitting here I hear that you're trying to finalize the contract with teachers it's it's going
072to be difficult we've had inflationary spiral now and I'm sure I'm sure the teachers are looking for substantial increases and uh the board's going to have tough decisions to make I don't know whether I've answered your question I don't know whether there is an easy answer thank you Mr Riley uh just one final question do you plan on running in full term I doubt it I mean if you really fell in love with me and you begged me it really and you said Gee we've got to have you on the board maybe but I I can't see myself running for election thank you okay thank you did you have any closing comments would you like to make no I appreciate the opportunity to reply I think I I have something to add and uh I
073think uh from what I can see you have a talented group here and it would would be a privilege serving with you uh for the balance of the Year thank you great thank you Mrs Trump or welcome and again thank you for uh putting in your your name into consideration for this this position um and I'm meant to mention this earlier but you know certainly um it takes a certain type of individual to volunteer to make this type of commitment uh to volunteer and service to the community so for all of our candidates someone expressed our gratitude and thanks for coming forward so um go ahead uh opening statement I'm a 30-year class resident of Warren I've had three children go through the Watchung Hills and the Warren school systems I came from a smaller
074school system that was well regarded and in many aspects I actually think watching Hills is better than the school system I came from because of the opportunities and the ability all the different aspects from the Arts to the music to the science of my children have greatly benefited from the school um as you can probably tell with my resume I have always been a someone that has been volunteering whether it is from Girl Scouts Boy Scouts sports teams whenever there's been a need there's always been I've kind of always just slowly stepped up and helped and you'll notice though one of the big things is I tend not to leave um I stay because I enjoy it so I currently still work with Boy Scouts even though my son has been out of Watchung Hills
075he's on almost 30 now but I still continue to work with them and work with the young men that come through watching Hills as an eagle advisor to get an idea what's going on because it is very rewarding the girls I still am working with the local level to help where they need it more importantly at the council level also seeing these young women come through as they're applying for gold Awards and their proposals and getting their final reports and getting the opportunity to interview them and see their growth and to help guide them and it's an interesting Insight too of what various schools have and where these girls see huge needs and where they can make a difference I just continue to to work on that so even in high school I was active
076here with this Youth Sports continued on I continued on even after they left for about a year afterwards so I feel like a different that's just more of my personality and doing that and balancing I've always been someone that when there's an opportunity even if it is something that's not a benefit to my children if it's a benefit to the community as a whole to the program as a whole having to step back and do that from that big lens I think is very important and it's one of the key things I think I can bring to the board great thank you and now our board members have some questions for the purpose of consistency and Mr Vetter you'll benefit from this as well uh again uh explain why you're seeking the appointment this vacancy
077are there any particular issues that's motivating any issues that you see us dealing with that you may be able to contribute so I have part of my weekly routine at work is I will listen to the K-8 the Watchung Hills High School Board I'll watch the township committee board meeting videos just to kind of it's it's my little podcast to listen what's going on so I feel like I kind of been following it um overall I feel like the board's been really since I've been in Watchung Hills and Warren they've always been a board on really good footing and good track had their head focused um I think that the the guidelines of your communication the mental health or all things I see echoed so just feeling that more that yes I can contribute to
078that and continue is there anything in particular no uh as a Boy Scout Mom myself I thank you for your continued service um uh do you think that are there any particular issues that you think we need to address in regards to our academic program or offerings so nothing that isn't already known that that you're working on I think that one of the big strategic goals has been communication it's I think it's a hard goal um and we see see steps forwards and then we see you know steps back in terms of different areas communication um that I think is one of the big big issues that's probably it's a long-term issue it's always going to be academically yeah overall there's always been forward and doing well um listening to the the teachers when they
079come and they talk and they it was very interesting to hear how the the summer reading had grown from when my children were in school what the with the mode invading factors to come up with that list to really how it's evolved now to make it more enjoyable for the students I guess the overwhelming question how would you like to comment on balancing the responsibility here to the responsibility to taxpayers it's really hard one thing I've been impressed with and this goes way back I want to say back to about when the pack was first built since that point going forward there's been a concerted effort to always have a good Capital funds so when emergencies come up when you things happen we're not all of a sudden having that last minute rush and feeling
080we have to raise taxes so having that that forward thinking that long-range plan I think is the biggest thing that that a board can do and keeping those taxes in check thank you again Mrs Trump Moore um the same question I asked before do you plan on running again for the full term in the fall my honest answer um yeah this was kind of a gut I knew I could commit to six months I would think I could but I think my gut has to right now and I know there's only like a month or two that you have for that decision but I I don't take on volunteer roles lightly so I know I can say yes I can do six months I haven't decided if I would want to continue to do and
081take that on or not for three years thank you great and just as a point of clarity the petitions are due by the end of July so so so no pressure no pressure no nothing but okay great well thank you Heather thank you Mr Vetter good evening welcome I hope this isn't a roast I hope this is an interview [Laughter] okay uh George better I live in town grew up in Mount side New Jersey I volunteer for a fire department when I was a Youngster went to college when I called about volunteering for his position Tim asked me if I had a resume I said I don't I really uh written a resume before so thankfully I have twin girls that just attended this University four years ago University's campus um one of my daughters
082just graduated college and she helped me with a resume which I was grateful for that um I do believe in giving back being civil and volunteering I have volunteered on a sewer board for the town the open space committee for the town and the last time I lived in I volunteered for a fire department so I do believe in giving back guess if you guys want to ask questions sure again is there any particular issue that's motivating you to serve on the board I would say no one at I'm having a better question um any issues you think we need to address with our academic programming or any changes I'd have to get up to speed and uh kind of study what you guys are thinking but um I can say this my dad's died
083died when he was 16. and he was without guidance for a while in his life he ended up being drafted in the US Army and then he ended up going to college on the GI Bill and he became a school teacher and he had 32 credits beyond the Masters and one time I said to him dad why don't you want to be a principal or something you know when he said son I want to be in the classroom I like teaching the kids he did not want to become a principal and move up the ladder and that was his philosophy my sister is a school teacher in Colorado so I've been exposed to the school teaching side um you know I've heard the stories at the kitchen table and how hard it is to teach
084and so I appreciate from the teachers aspect I myself have worked without a contract in a public employment so I've I've felt that my advice to the teachers keep doing your job and things will work out um as far as like budgets I know you're going to ask me that I would treat you go ahead Carol who wants to ask that one you know okay uh I realized that school taxes are about 65 percent of you know the municipal thing and 65 of our taxes are going through the school districts um I would look at politics or budgets it's kind of like a rubber band somebody told me this one time you can only stretch the rubber band in One Direction too much you know public safety education road department so the rubber bands can
085only go so far in One Direction and I get pulled back again um so you gotta you know and I agree with Miss Riley's statement about you know it's a bounce you know it's we had to keep our taxes in check to be able to afford to live in these towns and have younger couples coming to our towns but we also have to provide the facilities the quality of staff to maintain things so it is a bouncing Act which you have to get educate and automate those decisions you know but I have seen this building improve since I don't live too far away I'm about a mile away probably drive past this building every day and I have seen you know the billing improve I have seen the grounds improve the staff's fantastic you know
086as a taxpay I'm very proud of uh everything you guys have done thank you and just uh the one final question do you plan on running again in the fall for the full term political guy uh if there's a job to do you know my tenants record when I do volunteer for something I do make sure I have good attendance and I make sure I read these packets and stuff you know and try to make informed decisions I would consider it yes thank you okay great thank you very much all right thank you all right so what we're what's going to happen now um the board is going to move into executive session uh you all can stay here we have a room off to the side where we can go in uh we'll deliberate
087and then we'll come back out um and have a vote at that particular point in time so I'll need a motion to go into executive session second all right we will be back shortly you know all right we are back in session um the way that this works is that we will take nomination or I will take a uh emotion from one of the board members um and we will then vote uh and we will take motions and vote until we have a successful candidate so with that I will entertain a board motion I move that we replace a vacancy with George Vetter second oh go ahead we have a motion we have a second any discussion roll call Mr size okay Mr burnberg yes Mr Maggio yes Mr gallic yes it's Lee yes Mr
088Mayor Check Yes it's over Miss Potter no it's prasa yes and Mr Morrison yes okay successful right so uh Mr Vetter congratulations um we will whereas this process said our sympathies um the the appointment is subject to um uh background check and fingerprinting correct um so before you're actually able to take the seat uh we will need to you know get that process started um and just so you know particularly fingerprinting can take a little bit it seems to be it's been taken a little longer these days so anything that we can do to help accelerate it we will it's a different one I have top secret plus clearance you still need one Mr Mr Steins will give you the information that you need and so you can take care of that may I say
089something you may I just want to thank the candidates for putting their name forward it's never easy and I really appreciate that I I'm not speaking for the board but I think they would agree with me with that thank you very much Greg and Heather okay with that um we are going to move back into executive session um yeah I told you packed agenda tonight kids so we'll be moving into we're going to stay here for executive session everyone else will be leaving uh so we appreciate it thank you all to the candidates oh yeah when we come back out of executive session there will be no further business and there will be no actions taken so we will be going into executive session then we will come out to adjourn only thank you I
090need a motion to go in second yes foreign