The Superintendent Report will include the NJSLA results (from Spring), a Special Education Presentation, and HIB/SSDS (Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying)/(I have no clue what the second acronym means).

The Board will start the meeting by approving the meeting minutes from August 15 to the present, followed by the first reading of several revised policies.

EDUCATION

F. Shout out to the current 18-21 Special Education program students.  Based on a student vote, the superintendent is recommending that the group change its name to the Highlander ELITE (Employment, Life Skills, Independence, Transition, Education) Program.

PERSONNEL

B. Carlos Hendricks, our newly appointed Director of Athletics and Supervisor of 6-12 Health will begin his position effective November 11, 2024.

H. The District will bid farewell to Ashley Shanley, Instructional Technology Coach, effective November 15, 2024.

N. The District is amending the hiring of certified staff as we welcome back Ms. Vanessa Lim, a music teacher at MKM and WW, effective November 19, 2024. Ms. Lim was hired as a short-term replacement over a year ago.  Several parents, educators, and Administrators spoke out in favor of the District keeping her after the expiration of her short term contract.  I am happy to have her back in our District to share her love of Music and zest for life with our youngest learners.

Y. Approve the establishment of an 8th-grade student advisor extracurricular club. I’m unclear about the goals of this club, but I look forward to learning more about it on Thursday.   The advisor role – establishing two dedicated staff members to coordinate and support the activities and transition to GL.  My first thought is that this is great, this District has struggled with supporting the transitions for students into new schools so any way to HELP students I wholly support. The advisor role is cut off in the attachments, and the next page is an agreement with the YMCA for after-school programs.  Honestly, the attachments are not in order, not all labeled, and are very difficult to navigate, all 125 pages therein. Since my unorganized Attachment tangent is over, I can report that there is nothing in the attachments pertaining to the extracurricular club portion of this resolution.

AB. Effective September 16, 2024, a BHPS staff member has been put on Administrative leave. Due to the personal nature of this item, no further information is available.

BUSINESS

D. Resolution for payment of legal services to, you guessed it, Clearly Giaccobe Alferi Jacobs for $722.  I would say it’s fair to presume this is part of #BillGate2024 and one of the unpaid bills that keeps coming up in discussion.  If I recall correctly from the last few regular meetings, most Board members agreed that we could pay this IF we received a certified and legitimate bill for services.

F. The Board will vote to accept non-public transportation funds in the amount of $77,805 for the 2023-24 school year.

G. The Board will also vote to accept extraordinary aid funds from the state of NJ in the amount of $595,560.  Hey, can we get our schools repaved? I wonder if ANY of this will be put towards infrastructure (spoiler alert – keep reading!). Many schools have a severe pavement problem that needs to be addressed before someone gets hurt.

N. The Board will accept the NJSDA Grant for $60,249. 

O. Resolution to approve transfer from maintenance reserve for several projects (which can be seen in the attachments) for $70,453. Good luck figuring out what this is because, after Attachment E, the attachment letters aren’t listed.  There is an unmarked page listing 19 jobs around our schools, including removal of trees (which was done andready and done poorly (see dangerous stumps at Hughes and MP -but hopefully this is going to be addressed), painting gyms at GL (which I believe has happened), Hughes pavement at teacher lot (hoorah for Hughes!), pipe repairs, a door replacement and a repavement of a path at MKM. However, these 19 projects listed (most of which have been completed) total $369,640.  The additional 5 projects listed (painting the red gym at GL, installing volleyball sleeves, something called “expansion joints at GL, and the Difference red gym floor at GL totaling $70,453.  I guess tune into the meeting to learn more?  I got tired of reading this portion of the the agenda, but it goes on to approve multiple vendors for multiple projects.  Read at your leisure or if you need something light to fall asleep to.

Y and Z. Are two separate resolutions to approve security services for Ice Hockey Games at $77.22 per hour for the entire season. There are two separate contracts with Visual Computer Solutions, Inc. and Jobs-In-Blue/The Township of Union County to provide security with the Union County Police Department at Warinaco Ice Rink for $45.00 per hour with a $4.50 admin fee and a 4-hour minimum.  I have heard of safety concerns at Ice Hockey games, but this seems like a lot. I’m not saying it’s not needed, it’s just that there is no background or context provided here or at any time (to the public).   My question would be whether we do this for all our sports teams or just Ice Hockey, and if so – why?

AC. The SDA Grant agreement for the Woodruff school roof project totals $1,130,500, of which BHPS is responsible for $678,300.

AD. The SDA Grant agreement for CMS for their roofing project totaled $309,750, with BHPS for $185,850. 

NEW BUSINESS

Discussion on policy 155.01 – Board Member Participation at Board Meetings using Electronic Devlices.

The Board is also going to discuss Policy 6421; again no such policy is part of the BHPS Policy Manual on the district website or part of this agenda or attachments.

As per usual, this meeting has a 33-page agenda and nearly four times that in attachments, and that’s not even touching upon the policy revisions. Caffiene up, it’s going to be a long and late Thursday night!

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