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Board of Education Meeting - January 25, 2021

Added Jan 26, 2021 •

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hello how are you good call August 8th I need until called upon. so just as you know Bob we are recording as we speak a green ribbon I don't know how are your glasses glare free I need to do that I don't know I don't really get the Jazzy like UV protection you know what my glasses are transitional are yours hello good evening guys how are you they run around hello I'm thinking whether I should turn on my video or not why is your hair all day and you know I'm not had time to bad hair day what's the tallest looking Sharp always has Old River hey Colleen hello nrf52 joints will be late so I need someone to stand in pull up BP I can do that in everyone good evening Mark how are you I'm fine how are you doing Happy New Year I think this is the first time I'm speaking to you New Year hi everyone edging hello well maybe we can get started at 6:01 we're waiting for Birch Run and okay why don't we at least get the meaning of him if you're a cab read everyone Welcome to the regular board meeting January 25th 2021 written advance notice of this meeting was provided at least 48 hours ago such notice provided the time date location of this meeting included the I hope you accept it was not at the time this meeting has been given in accordance with log minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made available probably 2in members of public request a secretary at 2580 Leslie Lane New Jersey minutes will be provided at cost and in accordance with board policy are there any board members present to believe this meeting to be in violation of the open public meeting at they're being done with a proceed I don't think we need to Ernesto's the fire code tonight but I will note that this meeting is being recorded and during a meeting will have a discussion about recording future meetings and see if that's something that the board wants to continue doing for accessibility and transparency to the public so I'll leave that there for now until we get into the board for him I also want I think after the Pledge of Allegiance take another break in the I'll have a special announcement at that time the Pledge of Allegiance allegiance to the flag of America and to the Republic how Michael is Paul did you get I'm getting messages from Mike weeks wrapping invitations babies having trouble getting into District email I haven't heard from him yet but I will reach other it is a Scott and India okay I also want to take the moment now Mark Wahlberg missing it a little bit later but we lost a very close friend of the East Windsor District Community last week and I just want to take a moment of silence at the time to recognize the passenger Meadow athletic director for the district last week so if you would with a stylus for a minute thank you with that will agenda item C is the approval of the agenda having read the matter iMovie a discussion old workplace one second I was just emailing mr. weeks Miss Larissa ramachandran you're a meat from yes Miss Drake slant is not here yet Miss Murphy yes yes yes mr. weeks are you here yet yes but I'll mute sorry yes thank you sorry about that sir play item one. resolution for executive session District sessions at its meeting is closed sessions concern now I'm EWR SSA negotiations minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exist second okay call the board please yes the streak Miss Murphy yes mr. weeks yes celebrity okay the first item is the review the presentation of the audit report from last year or fiscal year runs through June 30th and the lottery before which we a preview in the finance committee last week or the week before is ready for presentation to the board so all mark thank you for the introduction NJ lottery tonight we have Scott Cleland use the partner in charge of our audit from West he'll be presenting the audit tonight to the board he already presented to the finance committee on January 12th which I believe Colleen Wolfe they do further and in our meeting you know what I usually say before Scott gives his presentation is most people think that this audit is just a finance audit of the business department which is mostly true but also it's an indoor compliance audit really of the entire district and just to give you some kind of concept of the breadth of which Scott and his team delve into there really isn't a department here that they do not turn over the stones and kick the tires on sale I ate could be the freaking department when they're looking at bilingual test scores student services they're making sure that Services claim denied in Ras to stay here and clean student IPS Transportation rack I even getting into Personnel records as part of our payroll testing that if an employee was hired in 1976. The appropriate paperwork from back in the days in their file so this is a very comprehensive audit touching all the Departments do you listen to what Scott says this really reflects on the entire District I really want the board to understand that that you know that you need the entire District was really hard to get the kind of results that what you're calling is going to share with you so with that Scott thank you mr. Todd and I appreciate the board having me tonight to present the results of the audit as mr. Todd mentioned about a week and a half ago I did meet at length with the finance committee we went over quite a few pages up draft report that point time and I think subsequently you have received the synopsis and the two reports as part of your your package online so I'm not going to spend as much time as it did in finance I'm going to keep this one brief and just kind of go over some of the high-level highlights of of the Water Report before I do that I want to thank the superintendent and Paul and rosemary for all the time and effort they put in during this year's awarded it was clearly 30 different water than has been performed the past as a significant portion of that was performed remotely and we expected to be a great Challenge and it was however with all the cooperation and sharing information back and forth and using an electronic means that we now have a we were able to get the audit done and in essence did really skip a beat the what is little bit later than it normally has been one is because of Kobe 18 + 2 is because the yes state did not provide a certain information that we needed to complete the order until mid-December the order deadline was extended to February best so obviously will your report is issued in his in dance of due date are the most important component of the audit report is the opinion it will be an unmodified or a plan opinion even under the co visit uation everything we asked for everything you need to look at with provided to us the overall results are very very positive very very good results in fact when I was on the phone last week with the district as we speaking to the rating agencies they were also please with the financial condition of the district your fund balance increase from the prior-year you're fun bounce in excess of 2% is right in line with where you've been for the last 3 years so you have a little over $100,000 to use towards your 2122 budget that you're working on now and the district has been very prudent in putting aside reserves for Capital items and maintenance items for fun might be needed going forward if active June 30th 2020 your cap Reserve is made up of about 6.7 million of which 1.5 million is early being utilized in a year worth that were operating Within and your maintenance Reserve is 2.36 million with some of that also being utilized in the current year so over all your records were very very good shape your controls remained very very strong are the only finding we had this year related to something with the outside school in the timeliness of deposit I'm blown that we had no material weaknesses are significant deficiencies and a very very good order especially under the circumstances so with that I'd like to open it up to any questions you may have or any comments and thank you very much the comments or questions when you're bored I've seen I just have a question on many of the post it says na like not available why are some of the amounts not available are you loyal DJ section yes it's because it's either not available because there were a year behind so he looking at like the Labor Statistics and stuff like that the state provides us that and they're usually a year or two behind on some of that information or when requested from other entities they just didn't provide it and it's not it's a statistical section not wanted it so we we captive eventually get to a point we have to issue the order and sometimes they just don't follow provide the information but most of it is due to the a year to lag okay thank you you're welcome I had a question so how many audit in terms of number of audits are you done not to bother your I know you said you do you know you're right you're gone down and looked at accounts are there any specific transactions that you looked at and how many of them do you typically, I'm sure you can look at all of them so in-depth audits of how many such transactions happened in your  part of your process come up with so what we do is we look at your internal controls and we test new transactions from July 1st through June 30th so the whole years covered and our guidance tells us to test 40 those transactions to see if the controls are operational smoke testing in numbers just looking 4840 transactions for payroll 40 transactions for disbursements or purchasing 40 transactions for receipts and revenue and what's that designed to do is say are your controls effectively by looking at those items throughout the year and then we get to our procedures were looking at a count bounces in range is all over the place we do testing of liability secedes items were paid in July and August and all the way through the date of the all report to see if there were any things were paid subsequent the year and it was charged the wrong year so there's really no set numbers on that one time I had I couldn't tell you what the poem number where I want to learn accordance with our professional guidance and could you confirm that you have that other number of departments within the within the District so could you confirm all of them or some of them or what percentage of them we would probably touch any of them they would have a a grand sociated with them or some kind of compliance for some financial side of of the of the house so purchasing accounts payable all your different special education grants extraordinary Aid Transportation related items it's all over the maintenance type item so yes I was already of the Departments are spoken to one way or another some directly some indirectly end end in based on all the conversations you had was there anywhere that you are on an average I guess ghetto how do you say are you confirming that every everything that you looked at looked okay and there was no problem at all cracked okay thank you very much you're welcome yeah I just want to take a moment to highlight as remarkable as that last statement seems we are kind of spoiled year in the school district to have Hazmat such strong controls Financial controls and an excellent business department so want to thank Paul and rosemary and the rest of the department in the business office for helping make this a great accomplishment this year and one important Note 2 is the controls didn't stop or change during the covid-19 they were still maintained which is a good tribute to the fact nothing slip the start of all through the cracks just because we are out on you leave or partial attendance or just a change in the whole structure how we work good to hear thanks. but I just like the echo your sentiments regarding the business office business department you know none audit each year it's something that definitely want to get feedback that things are running accordingly I don't take that for granted in the sky district with a hundred billion dollar budget that's no small undertaking so I do want to thank Paul Rosemary in the team that's also a reflection of the school district reaffirming to receive this feedback so thank you I was going to second night because I've been part of the finance committee and the previous 10 years and this presentation was particularly clear I asked a lot of questions I think it's such a great job in NC every single question that I asked so congratulations on the job extremely well. Thank you thank you everyone just to let you know further on in the agenda they're old a item in the in the agenda to accept the audit and the submitted to the Department of Ed in the corrective action plan . Okay how are you going to pause recording or just let it ride while we're going into executive session I need to pause the recording and then I'll start it again when we come back okay thank you everyone stay safe daycare Oki sorry about that I don't know how he did that all right are we all back everyone is here okay Mark do we have a student representative both of our representative family obligations in the light of kind of just the tragic news of last week we we decided to to give them a pass this week and I'll revisit with us on February 8th and I've been item 5 is your report thank you so good evening everyone just a few things to update you with this evening I'll go begin just by echoing I'm about 20 minutes beginning a meeting as you all know at this point we we did experience a significant loss on at the end of last week they just want to make sure I take a moment to acknowledge and I just briefly remember a chimp jojen Peter was our athletic director and he was also the supervisor repeat and health also served as a teacher with a non school district and he dedicated over 15 years to these Windsor Regional School District we know he had a we had a sudden sudden passing law fix that shocked everyone and no Not only was an employee of the school district but he was also arrested in Windsor and then served as a parent and has children thoughts and prayers are with his wife and his children at this time Jim was beloved and in the community have many connections that Randy I will say that my interaction with Jim during the past two years if I had to find a word to describe a night to it would be commitment and it would be passion Jim was always available anytime I needed anything a question phone call and regardless of the day of the week he was very very much committed to serving this community so everyone that you know I had a conversation with our Administration last week that they look you know this is a reminder of we need to keep in the Forefront of our mind regarding what's most important I emphasize with our North our team to engage in self-care specially because Jim was someone who took care of everyone and also just to make we take this opportunity to really take stock in terms of those individuals at the care for us and we care for and making sure that that we don't take that for granted so we have heavy hearts this week but I've I would believe that you know in in in honor of Jim I will continue to persevere will continue to do things and in the spirit that he would model for us as we move forward as a school district events and I use the word events but we'll have some ways in which we have knowledge Jim both informally and formally as we move forward in the weeks and months ahead but I definitely want to make sure that we do commemorate his is time with us here and I think that at time was was if it can be memorable and we want to make sure that we we we acknowledged that and memorialize that within our district so the last thing to develop I thinking maybe something want to let the high school is reason that this week will make sure that information to share with the community the address is obviously reopening you know last week season week 1 of hybrid in person learning know that was something that we had anticipated you getting in November we we delayed it for obvious reasons and then we we transition last week so I want to just be gay by just thanking the community and say it takes significant Village to to to engage in this process they were many hands that were involved in in that process taking place it was our custodial teams getting our building for you maintaining our buildings weather is communication that was required VR secretarial teams but it was just the logistics that our ministration together I will see the Georgian planning and his teachers have been kind of juggling this year we know having to kind of become skilled and comfortable and in this remote learning experience than having to transition at back to having students directly in front of them Ashley want to acknowledge and thank everyone for all the efforts I'm going to think our parent Community for being flexible to being understanding during these past few months has been challenging and as I said before knowing we won it give those students an opportunity to be in person I will see what the protocols in place in order for that to occur keeping in mind that we still aren't even though we still have not left the remote learning platform right that is something that's going to be with us and he'll be with us for the duration of the school year so not right now we're just adding to that almost to a reversal of stores to say okay we're managing the remote teaching platform but we still have students before us in person to meet there at their instruction on me so I don't think it's easy and I think our teachers have really embraced the challenge this year we want to continue to support them through this process but I do ask for everyone's patience as we transition because this is another transition and sometimes during the transition is going to be some things that you know we haven't done before and I think we've had tremendous learning this year and I will say that the learning will continue if you have any questions or be nothing. Don't feel right I always ask parents to reach out to their child's teacher and to their child to ministration if they believe there's something there that needs to be addressed one thing I will say couple things I say actually on that friend two things of surface that I need parents to support us with one is the completion of the excess station for each day and that's a health screening form that's accessible via the portal we're we're assessing right now we have a reminder to email that goes out to families on the day that the child scheduled to be in person we need that brief very brief three question survey to be completed that's part of our screening process in addition to taking temperatures and putting a visual lens on the students of the into the building but we really need to make sure that we visited with parents getting their completed we are actually looking to remove any batteries any obstacles that we see if there's an issue to the portal of the folks are not familiar this is the opportunity for us to kind of hold some hands and make sure the people at least can access we tried to make it very easy we have a how to document that we sent home our office staff is more than willing to support families through it but we need to make sure that we're Vigilant regarding the completion of that screaming full that is not as bad as a non-negotiable I say that we have to transition right now to hybrid schedule so I know that there's been some no we had established all remote schedule like I'm getting used to but I think we developed a particular Rhythm now we've transitioned to a hybrid schedule and I know in particular a Great Skate through to that is surfaced as an area for us to take a closer look at if I rewind the clock and this is going to this is going to tricky tricky grade level spelling for us because we recognize are some unique developmental a dynamic stouard kindergarten first and second grade as well so the clock in the in the fall we were in a predicament but we needed to try to create a live more of an individualized approach to some point in time during the day recognized and we didn't want to have our our youngest Learners engaged in a significant amount of screen time from am to PM fully modified things and I think we found it we found the right the right back Benelli transition to the hybrid schedule and I know that I've heard from some families enough to talk with rmrk to leadership team today and last week and When developing the hybrid schedule for K2 we would try to be change it to say okay are we going to have our K-2 students simulcasting in the same way that are 312 students are doing and I think we went back and forth on that we thought the development will be more meaningful to Pepper Springs create opportunities for students to not be locked in to the video the video of classroom as it were for the entire time so so I'll be quite Frank I think we've discovered that in Striking that balance I think we may have swung the pendulum a little towards I'll call it independent work and in the process I think that we need to relook at that and in just a just that to create more of a balance as it relates to a hybrid schedule to ensure that students are still receiving the same level of teacher contact with are there in person or whether they're virtually connected to the classroom so I would just like to say that they'll be some adjustments made you know you know we're looking at like I said not creating such a noticeable I guess window of independent assignment for students and k2so you should anticipate state of changes in the next few days let's talk a little bit about Tobin right which would be the elephant in the room which I think we spend most of our time and we had a meeting this morning the weekly meeting with my central 15 min and we introduced to beating by saying no we tend to be coded River in terms of all of our decision-making which is which is understandable so I will remind the community because we may we make some modifications of play now we were soon back to in person I trust him to some of our students yeah we'll continue with our covid-19 boy which is updated each week you know we will putting cases on that dashboard just so you're clear like weed you know when students are even remote and we were in all remote we were still we were still recording information we received on the dashboard will continue to do that if there is a case that develops within a school where we does an in-person component that we are going to report that case with a communication to that school Community I will say today we had a case that all to see black that Community received a communication regarding that obviously we don't get into specifics but we are someone is tested positive and we engage in the contact freezing process and so forth we also reported today was a king set at the parade through school as well. I've received a request League bring the dashboard and in and I've received the parent asking if I could be more frequent that with the dash but we might we made we may update the dashboard more frequently we transitioned it with a weekly update on that is something that we may transition in Indiana play more frequently as we move forward and in terms of the health climate we still refer to the weekly Callie report this distributed by the New Jersey Department of Health in recent weeks the the number from a positivity rate have been trending downward actually despite what we're hearing you know case cases are on certain days are being reported high for the overall week-to-week reported we knew that the it was going to be the surge right based on the winter holiday and we are hopeful that the the trend continues to move towards in a reduced transmission rate as well as a reduced activity rate I want to just share a brief update regarding Athletics we are scheduled to have opening day tomorrow we only have one sport a hearing these the school district are we competing in currently in that will be our basketball program he has a first games against Lawrence as you know there's no spectators at any of our winter athletic events right now however we have streaming service and not streaming service historic we we we would we would charge a small fee for that but in light of where things are currently we we are not charging and any member of the community can access on a streaming service I would ask you to go on the district website and if you go to the high school page you will see the information there that you need to want one you'll see the schedule to you'll see the steps needed to just register for the the streaming service will work in the first time you sign up for the live stream link and you plug in your info subsequent to that you will get emails kind of thing hate is an event is an event coming up this event to go no now that is something that you can view I had You released into the season tomorrow the high school they have the PS he said they were ministering to sophomores and juniors So based on that it will be an asynchronous learning day at the high school as you know we've been having some difficulty with the school closure in the related and then we can turn to just doing some things that we were traditional do when in bed I was in the school day PSAT will be one of those things you know PSAT provides us with a benchmark in terms of our students are as it relates to their progress with the standards but it also enables student to be eligible for scholarship opportunities so we are looking to facilitate that tomorrow January 29th you have a virtual performance eating Rhode Island high school performance I believe. Performing Arts supervisor miss the ham is sending out an email to school communities I believe either the day before or the day of performance that would encourage try to cash it if you can belief one other thing I was just saying I received a few questions regarding kind of your where we are right so I'll give you the data as a Friday January 22nd these are be in person numbers just in case. Curious as it relates to know what those cohorts will looking like within school that I be quite frankly I would much rather prefer the numbers lower right now so we can establish our protocols appropriately and almost no crawl before we walk walk before we run so as of Friday the in-person percentage at night was 39% in person I want to see black with 50% at G&R 47% pld 38% mhk 39% and high schools 34% tracking those numbers quite closely and obviously you know booty in a week like I said before as we established during these first few weeks just in school and in his classroom protocols I think it enables us to have ability to maneuver with the numbers as they are so with that concludes my report and I thank you all marker quick question I was going to write you on this I was kind of curious if you had any I know it be speculative but the difference between the wall to see black CC B&G in our communities versus the true and McKnight just a 10% difference and in-person attendance any ideas what that might be about you know I will say this and I think that there's a is a status to subtleties to the to the Democrat distribution in a Hightstown schools vs. Tremor was not significant but if we want to talk about free reduced lunch eligibility and so forth are immigrant populations and so forth I think there may be some slight some subtle differences especially under that umbrella talking about you know to Hightstown schools versus to Twin Rivers schools is some slight is some similarities but there's some differences within those communities and I think you know if I were to Target that I'd have to say that we probably have noticeable Hispanic population in the Heights Town School do some further than this conversation before this conversation fighting some other areas of need and we were talkin do bilingual supports and so forth and be found that there was a little bit more noticeable concentration connected to G&R water supply in addition to Title One eligibility I think that will be my initial response by but I'll delve deeper and just come back a little bit more tangible evidence substantiate that Mark I'm sorry just jumped out of me is anomaly and I was just checking. If we had any ideas back to November you know those numbers were were more closely aligned I would say across the district known so it wasn't different some point with MK and Drew and obviously those schools are linked by siblings and families right but but but those numbers were closer 50% in the fall nickel mint mark I was just curious based on I guess when the the survey had gone the last survey did you see numbers go down for real remote vs. hybrid I have to say I was a little surprised by that number you had given for the high school I guess a lot of the feedback that I was interpreting was that be more people in person so I was just curious did you see that maybe do it the people that stayed remote went down some from that initial survey or was it about where you thought it would be do the numbers went down we did our most recent taking of the temperature as it were we did notice a slight decline but then it's interesting some buildings and I'll just use the NRA and what sassy black kind of held steady as it relates to the numbers everyone took a slight reduction but I'm saying you know what to see black and you know I want to see black in particular kind of held firm we could even our our numbers of the Middle School Witcher comprable to the high school right now took a reduction in pay is I'm actually I'm not saying that I'm lip reading that but I I prefer when I speak to to my colleagues in other districts it opened up beforehand they provided similar feedback to me then when it was all said and done ain't they had a slightly smaller cohort beginning that transition phone number for reasons but I think that obviously we wanted use the numbers we have now and we want to use some of the experiences that we engage in right now to the built excessive confidence I think that people are cautious understand we stopped and no I'm not I'm not concerned about these numbers I actually think that are reflective of where where we are and people weighing options regarding being the benefits to be as of coming back in person versus not so it was a decline in and I think part of it was the seasonal Dynamic with the dinos time of the year so that's where we are but we'll see how that plays out as great thank you administrative Lee Mark so old we were about 50-50 now we're about to turn 2/3 remote 1/3 so did did the Delta actually come back for each building principal and touching there selectionism uopeople hear people reach out to this right now I'm just a weekly. We have two schools that are about 50% just to be just to be transparent we know we only have about 40% and then 50% so it's no it's not really a 1/3 dynamic I'll reach out to their child's Administration to indicate their preference tonight and I've indicated that you know I want us to be understanding of that right naked people that flexibility especially when we talkin about people transitioning from in person to remote As easier for us to accommodate and I in a people of feeling a sense of discomfort for a host of reasons I don't want us to overly analyze that I think we have to be understanding of the nature of where we are within the states in the nation all right well since we're all talking we can move right along 2 items 6A which is the first opportunity for board member comments I wanted to thank Mark for his Birds earlier if you do I think we are all lucky enough to few weeks ago to see one of his presentation about going back to we all agreed that it was one of the best presentations must put together cohesive and I think that's just a testament to how passionate he was about what he did and you know that the accident and when a student future future another athletic director another District you know ended his time with him my brother was his baseball player over 10 years ago and just a few weeks ago they were texting which if you do and giving him parenting advice so it's really special person that the district you know lost and I look forward to seeing as you said we have them do things in the storage to pay tribute to him and honor him and I look forward to seeing you which color no no I just wanted I Echo everything calling said while I didn't know him very well and I never heard anything bad and every time I had ever interacted with him. and my best to his family I also just wanted to say thank you to Mark and Sue on all the teachers and administrators in in the school I know glass it was not easy for anyone it was through and I just appreciate all the the work and time and everybody was successful if you had questions or or anything. I just want to thank everyone for that and the teachers are putting in just unbelievable amount of time and work this year and I just wanted to let them know that they are appreciated 18 is also wanted to check out both of the comments you know a gym definitely through his cuz I didn't know him are there other than the board meeting but his passion and just drive in excited everyone in the starting excited me and made me be proud to be on the board for this district and I also want to commend all of the teachers in the principles and and all of the staff because the hybrid I know it's you know the transition last check was not easy and my son the way his school is handling it with the walkie-talkie he's and everyone is just on track and it's just so well-organized so it said it's very impressive so I definitely want to commend I'm all the staff for that as well I just wanted everyone starts on Jim and you know I wish his family can home. God is with them I also want I think the teachers that ministration everyone for last week and the Xavier bar gotten back on track so to say at least you know what is 50% each building is back in school it's very heartening to see that the children are getting to meet each other and hopefully you know the pandemic is done soon and all of us are back in school that's that's the way we should all the love I hope and pray for but in a great job by Mark and the steam and in all the building principals a special thanks to all of them and if there's anything that the board members need to do to support you do you know Acme Auto Parts now I want to go with that as well. We decided then Emily prefer to stay home. To be stale 9 but the transition to the hybrid model very smooth so I was actually as a parent I was a little concerned that things would be a little different but honestly admit she still has excited and engage so it's it's really a good job by everybody to really make that happen I also want to join everyone and acknowledging a loss of Jen Peter with a huge loss to the community and the district and to everyone who knew knew him in and cared about him and also today everyone for all their hard work it was it was great so you know to see my son go to school and to see everybody getting back and us moving you know slowly back to getting everybody and also thanks everyone for all your hard work okay let's go on to the first opportunity for public comment we have 20 minute. For I meant we have two of them this is the first each individual can speak up 3 minutes please announce your name home address and group affiliation and I can call you have do you have any written comments that we want to start off with we did it we have a 3 written comments that were submitted on just to remind everyone last board meeting which we continue forward we have a new protocol for written comments we have a deadline for those Mission because we now actually go through and ask individuals who provide a written comments also provide a phone number contact information that we can actually talk to you to confirm that you are who how do you say you are so we need to verify your identity and then once it's cleared we go ahead and I will read those comments and we have done that with the three that Elise will read tonight so that I will turn over to lease hi everyone I have 3 comments as Paul said I apologize if I mispronounce anyone's name out of the first comment is Jenny Winer I need to voice my concerns about the change in the remote schedule I have twin girls in kindergarten at emk and this week has been utter chaos and not the kind that I think will lighten up as we got used to it my daughter's teacher is being forced to teach two classes simultaneously as are fully remote class has been split have to mirror a hybrid class this means that she spends twice as much time explaining twice as many different directions to confuse children who don't understand why their class was split their children he still did not know how to skip from at 2 and I have seen on multiple occasions children Missing full blocks of assignments while their teacher just tries to get their tablet working correctly on Independence Day is the 5 and 6 year olds are tasked with diamond project management being abandoned for an hour and a half with assignments in multiple app not to mention having to responsibility monitor their own bathroom snack and mental health breaks I can't imagine a scenario where unsupervised children as many with two working parents work we are will be able to succeed in this setup I've even witness a child not knowing that is school day had ended a half hour before the teacher noticed he was still logged into the zoom meeting when it comes to the pandemic we need to keep in mind what problems we are and I feel that the wrong problem has been solved the district was so quick to solve get bodies in the building that they lost sight of educating the students in the most effective way it's even been confirmed that with the new plan the kids will only learn half of the expected John this year remote was working last week and now it absolutely isn't the next comment is Marlo Marlana rokosz is there any way to covid dashboard can be updated daily or more will X through the week or when there is a case suspected case of student or staff member the day occurs I know it is in school Transmissions only so we can assume the number is higher anyway other districts such as Hamilton Hopewell East Brunswick Monroe other local districts posted on the center of their District web page and or sunglass to parents regularly throughout the week if students want to return in future or the community is just curious I think it should be updated more often updated on Friday evening after the week is over in a place on the website and a small box then we was quickly due to events at it should be improved I think it would make the district more transparent not cause alarm some of the local districts even post how many staff and students are in I'm sure these districts are following legal protocols for example we received a blast in an update in November about how many staff had to quarantine year-to-date but never heard anything since then thank you in the last comment Sherry molinelli I'm expressing my concern for girls across the girls have been without a coach since last year with losing last year's spring season is important for these girls to have someone to boost their morale to guide them so they give up it would be very upsetting to my daughter and the other girls you want to continue on and play in college if they don't have enough girls to feel the team thank you that was it okay thank you very well now move to the in-person piece of public comment so if you wish to make a comment please raise your hand and I will call you in order that you raise your hand right now I see one person so Freedman please unmute your mic hello Marion freedom can everyone in attendance my name is Miriam Friedman and up until summer of 2020 my family and I headed in East Windsor I've been an English teacher at HHS for 12 years I am an Adjunct professor for Mercer County College I am a former Governor's teacher of the year and I'm a first responder for East Windsor West Windsor Plainsboro Princeton and Lawrence my husband is a retired East Windsor police officer and an HHS alarm but you may know him better as Mark from security at HHS we are committed to the well-being and growth of East Windsor in March of 2020 we established nonprofit Pace education.org with the mission of providing free 121 academic coaching to students to meet federal poverty guidelines pace is a 501 c 3 that uses grant funding and donations to offer free and reduced hearing and Healthcare Services to low and moderate-income families we focus on three primary areas academics mental health and social emotional learning armentors are highly qualified and certified we are fully insured and we have grant funding specifically for East Windsor we support Learners of all ages but we mostly cater to middle school high school college and adult Learners our mission is to bridge the opportunity Gap by providing One to One support services for students who could not otherwise afford them please feel free to contact please fire our website Pace education.org that Stewie's or email Marion Friedman at PACE education.org thank you so much for your time this evening is there anyone else I'm heading to the comment in this. That that is it right now all right we'll move on then there's another opportunity short time after a couple of agenda items so the item 7 is the first business and first report out of our finance committee meeting of January 12th and Helene re going to it was a report so I covered three main things 34 main things in our last meeting but we all just went over the second thing that we went over was the fueling system facility addendum so East Windsor wants to review. For that for Capital Improvements that are over $5,000 and they want for week notice for that most of the Improvement that we you don't reach that anyways cuz I wouldn't really need to review most things and I think we agreed that that was fine to have that review. requested the third item that went over it was the tennis courts presentation that fall time did presented at the meeting at Finance meeting the presentation is just so that the township and Borough could see that the tennis court plans get their master plan and we do have their blessing to continue with. So the task force will be near where calcium and where the tennis courts are now will be more parking by the last thing that went over budget update pretty good standing right now we have a deficit of 2 million but with we have 1.5 million though still in play cuz we're looking for lease purchase to lower that that buy by the 1.5 million you know we're headed the game right now in terms of planning for it and it looks like we're in pretty good shape anything else from any of the other members that I missed you can jump I'll just go ahead refinancing phone you're right now thinking about all the things you know that we really will will save money in it just like calling just say that you know I know the situation in January is is you know could be a but we really not because after the entire team was able to demonstrate that you know we really have things new coming up and so that makes us at the end of the day like being pretty much balanced right now again just remember sizing that get whatever I'll just add to the the issue of you know where we stand with next year's budget and does the shortfall of funds as it looks right now I mean this is all on paper this is all guesswork based on what we think State bunnies will be for next year you should not been announced and won't be until the end of February so we're working the father's doing what needs to be done to figure out where where are Japan's lie about expansion of programs that we talked about last year before Covington and a lot of programs expansion for put on are we having fax Mark reported grown our staff somewhat in the past year for mainly filling positions baroness 34 lines in areas of bilingual in Special Ed I believe she said Mark so we have I really would not a lot this is this is Ray right now I think we're just trying to stay afloat hopefully State numbers keep us where we are today this year and you know we're going to obviously be holding off my date major plans for new programs following year you're not bothering me and is there any expectation of funding from the cats act yeah there's some additional money that's coming up as matter fact Mark and I had our budget mid-year budget review session today with the county which we talked about that is really the emphasis on this next round of funny which is going to be based on Title 1 funding and I think the last time I came around we got about three to four hundred thousand dollars they want us to direct that towards HVAC and new technology so we have plenty of need as far as those two areas go so I really don't foresee any issues spending that money that comes our way specially in regards to h v a c yeah the boys we're pretty much ones are one across the district devices the students so their comes with that some obviously some cost of Maintenance to replace technology element whether they be iPads are Chromebooks so that's a constant hopefully level amount of funding we have to anticipate each year to keep a constant resupply refresher that Hardware so that's that's a big concern at least if it doesn't hit us all at once we're in good position to you could have relatively consistent eye replacement cycle Titus sorry it's chain I just wanted to say I actually had an opportunity to attend the planning board meeting and the presentation that provided was it was top-notch he answered the questions very clearly and yeah all credit to him for helping us with that and I just wanted to know it with when we consider changing the tennis court Dubai the old tennis courts into a parking lot if we can also consider at Walter C black in the front it looks like it's a small parking lot I'm not sure if it's for staph it's facing Stockton but if we can also consider maybe adding additional parking or make you know somehow making it like a drop off for kids just a thought if we could think about that in the future thank you that's a great Point Gina I haven't really had a chance with all her other projects going on to discuss you know with Marc parking over there but really parking is at a premium bat both Rogers and black if you take a look if you take an aerial look at black Playground Road comes in off the side like if you just where to take that whole little bootleg right there unfortunately would call for the removal of a very large and old tree which is always very sad to do I think there is some potential in there to squeeze some additional parking spots and we've talked about other spots around the school some making more sense than others but yeah wherever there's some open ground beef put a parking lot over by black already yeah I agree we need we need some more parking in that in that area is a very tight residential Zone as it is so I think that's a good suggestion as we move forward thank you okay the second part of old business was discussion of the committee meeting dates yeah I just shared some maybe meeting Daisy's righteously on the calendar but I want to revisit them because they were not cemented so I shared finance committee that obviously we just discussed which was a January 12th meeting have on the calendar March 8th and these are all proceeding are proceeding a board meetings at least typically will be a 5 p.m. start the March 8th I have the wellness committee meeting schedule April 12th policy committee May 10th curriculum so I'm putting it out there for those committee members just to look at your calendar if you think that that those dates are okay with thinking 5 p.m. if you believe that there is some conflicts if you'll note that I don't have anything tag for February so we need to maneuver something February is it is it open month as it were regarding a committee meeting date but I would ask you just to touch base with call if you believe that you have conflicts regarding these day and that will enable us to determine what we need to adjust okay thank you okay the next item is policy and okay so I donate vitamate require it sits here on the agenda I can open it for discussion there's no action the actual policies are an item nine and it will be voting on those electric balls a day is the background and we always provide the from the policy company the background they give a nice little summary you know progress summary on each policy which is kind of the cliff notes to it if you will so we would provide the Bobby wait before you go these policies this Beast came through Scott Strauss Esmay has a policy alert so I do you know the policy committee is actually engaged in a review of these policy so are typically we can just kind of go boilerplate for there are few things that we do need to just tagged ourselves and I wanted to get some feedback from the committee regarding and you think that we need just just question determine what does that look like for a so they're so do you have eyes on these policies already and will continue as we move forward to the next meeting in addition to the to the board as a whole okay so item 9 bandhan is a list of those policies for first reading and that is an action item for tonight right so policy committee is looking at them but we're going to vote on the four first meeting tonight still just want to clarify that it's cracked the first of two readings call and you want to give us a rundown of item 9 9 minute policy for first reading any policy 1620 administrative employment contracts be policy 2431 athletic competition C policy 2464 is it in Townsend students dl663 30.05 Seize Your Action Plan East policy 6440 Cooperative purchasing best policy 6470.01 Sonic Boom transfer and Raymond certification G policy 7440 School District security h7450 property inventory i policy 7510 use of school facilities J policy 8420 emergency and crisis situation and K policy 8561 procurement procedures for school nutrition programs do we have a motion do we have a second second any questions I do have a couple questions if it's okay could you please read it and I was reading the gifted and talented student policy it seems that you know it's changing a little bit or maybe not I mean say about it now or I'm we can make some comments about it or is it the just me thinking that there's a lot of changes Abbott and I think Tina was had reviewed that and she had some comments and questions issues not here I actually did already in my review of it I did ask in a future board meeting some type of overview of what the gifted and talented program is like Daniel said already said that he would do something about that it's in the docking Space Coast we just want to ensure that districts have defined intentional a processes and play as a release to gifted and talented program so you know what L say is we've got some gifted and talented programs that service kind of a filtering system right will you have to have a certain potential eligibility to be included do you also have experiences that are embedded within coursework whether it's you know within the science course work work is connected to a particular level that you are within a music program you know and then we want to be inclusive I'll be honest with you we're looking as a school district to create inclusive gifted and talented opportunities to be have it carved out no more Define Manor at the elementary level when we get to 612 we have abroad and Palette as a relates to that but I think we'll definitely I was talking to Sandy today that will definitely provide an update to the boy just regarding our overall framework and talk a little bit about some some areas that we want to modify strengthen as we move forward but in terms of the policies really it's really making sure that there is some some cornerstones of your of your processing your program regarding gifted and talented I've always felt like nope the challenges of gifted and talented programs is that yes you want to make sure you're creating enrichment opportunities for students and your differentiating your program in a way will you go are you higher level learn is it need that challenge but I also want to make sure for me he know when you lie to you label someone gifted and talented for one year it's hard the next year to not label them gifted and talented that could be a real Heartbreaker so we definitely want to make sure we revisit that we want to make sure that I'm really a believer in creating opportunities that are you do not always traditional beginning students some very ways in which they can showcase their talent and end in the merciless and Richmond activities on our stem program to be completely honest Elementary standpoint and also the Middle School standpoint has remnants of that in terms of some of the work that we're doing so will definitely in the near future I provided I got to work a request from Colleen and Tina regarding an overview gifted and talented program in the school district so deftly make sure that I have an opportunity to receive that you know questions oscillator equation sorry the policy of property use of school facilities I was a little confused when you look at me I don't know if it's in this section of the previous section who's signing on what is a love like approved by and I was kind of you know I didn't see all the time that he was the superintendent so it was a little confused about that so you know what the superintendent is is the designee would be Paul Todd where the designee would be Jose Santos are goes in ground I'm good I'm good thank you very very much okay Cola board please yes mr. ramachandran yes District Miss Murphy Mission Point yes yes yes mr. weeks I didn't end today this is the second give me for board member comments anyone on the board having any other more comments tonight so I have a question 111 111c it mentions Cafe monitor is that the same as lunchroom monitor yes it just sounds better sounds fancy instant that I wanted to know the Food Distribution on Tuesdays is there a way to now that were doing the the hybrid I guess have we seen a d freeze in the meals provided and if so is there a way to have additional like mornings for the parents so I can prepare as a single parent and they have to work on that day that their child is at school and is there a way that launch distribution for the day that their child is not in school that is in school I'm sorry I'm confusing myself but I think what I'm saying right we had some conversation with with Cindy from chart obviously they doing the 7-Day distribution right now and then we you know we can talk a little bit about how we got there we have had some dialogue regarding adding a day and just creating some more access we are going to change the time the fact that you just actually brought that up on Jean we're going to move the pickup time to begin at 9 so it doesn't clash with the arrival of school on GNR in the MK we have had conversation regarding adding adding days obviously Distributing less days worth of food with the notion that there's an element of freshness that could kind of sustained over a three-day four-day versus a 7 so well that is something we're exploring okay thank you Lemoore era Commons khnb is sucking up to you for all the comment anyone from the public speak right be your second chance for public comment and anyone wishing to make a public comment please raise your hand I don't see any I do not either so okay so we'll proceed Colleen 11 board approved the routine agenda items asked hey Stephanie January 25th 2021 be job descriptions revised New Jersey minimum wage increase 2021 HIV report from January 4th 921 e travel / virtual and related expenses f g n r Surplus library books and WCB Surplus books for flash duration Henrico duration Jay 2020-2021 gateway to success GTS program Taste of Celebi project approval El revised budget 2021-2022 budget calendar M acceptance of June 30th 2020 audit and corrective action plan and Jen are basketball change order number one the number to Angie's of allowance om HK window replacement Phase 1 change order number one approval of the party purchase few minutes of December 14th 2020 are play January 4th 2021 s Bill January 25th 2021 reported the board secretary and financial report November 2020 and you transferred school money is report for November twenty thanks any questions BRB no questions guess it's ramachandran you must be on mute rhyme did you hear me yes thank you Miss Drake Miss Murphy yes mr. Jolie yes mr. weeks yes item 12 we don't need a second executive session searching movie German second doesn't work good night everyone nightmare run

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Board of Education Meeting - January 25, 2021

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