##VIDEO ID:qqUk4vXdGNY## e e 75 announcement I wish to announce that public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision visions of this act the school district of the cadams board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the board administrative offices sent to the clerks of chattam burough and chattam Township the library of the cadams The chadam Courier The Daily Record and Star Ledger and tap Mr Dilla sure M Ross here M Allen here Mr delandro M Kenny here Mr Ryan here Mr Smith M Weber Dr Zang here and M Chelli here six president and accounted for perfect please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance if you're able and the flag is on yes my right pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty Justice okay I don't have any initial comments so I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent's report thank you Miss Chelli uh the only item under my section of the agenda is the annual testing report which is a requirement in the state of New Jersey and Dr donu is going to give that presentation if we all can proceed to the seats come good evening everyone this is a required presentation by the New Jersey Department of Education to share the results of the district State standardized assessments tonight I will be reporting out on four standardized assessments the 2024 New Jersey student learning assessment in English language arts mathematics and science the access which is the assessing comprehension in English state to state for English language Learners the gppa which the is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment and the dlm or dynamic learning Maps the structure of the njsla is such that English language arts is is administered in grades 3 to 9 mathematics is administered in grades 3 to 8 and also in the areas of Algebra 1 Algebra 2 and geometry and as you will recall from previous years science is only administered in grades 5 8 and 11 we report out on assessments to see how our instruction and programming is aligned to meeting the expectations of the New Jersey student learning standards we gather data across Ela Math and Science to gauge how our students are doing meeting the goals and objectives in each content area we engage in this process to identify areas of strength as well as areas in which could be improved upon it is important to note that we do not rely solely on njsla as we know it represents a snapshot of our students learning and we rely on formative assessments summative assessments performance tasks and anecdotal records gathered from daily classroom observations interactions and discussions in analyzing the results we recognize that njsla is a single snapshot of a student performance in a controlled environment and it is one data point in the broader summary of learning all of these assessments are evaluated comprehensively to see that our programs are meeting the needs of our students while also meeting state standards and just as a raise Remer for ELA and for math there are five performance levels level one did not yet meet expectations two is partially met level three is approached level four has met the expectations and five has exceeded them as we dig into the presentation you will see that Chatham's performance exceeds that of the state in all three content areas Ela Math and Science with this in mind there is a broad range of skills assessed with the ELA test students are asked to look at literary text informational text text that incorporates other content areas such as social studies and Science and related vocabulary the writing strands assess um they include written expression sorry as well as knowledge of language and conventions in writing it's always worth noting that the process is vastly different from how we teach our students to write when we write in the classroom we teach students that writing is a process we Enga encourage them to engage in brainstorm activities strategically craft a story gather evidence to support a point evaluate what they have written dig back in for editing elicit feedback from a teacher or a writing partner to gauge the effed of the piece however in this controlled setting students are told what to write about with time constraints so is really not authentic or reflective of the work we do each day so as you look at this data on the slide you will see that we are meeting or exceeding at a noticeable rate as compared to the state from each column Chatham's performance is yellow and the state performance is Red If We Begin over on the left hand side we begin with level one which is not meeting um expectations so we want for ourselves to see low numbers in that column um which is what we do indeed see our numbers remain low in level two which is partially meeting expect expectations and is much lower than those numbers of the state as we gradually move across the slide you'll see as we get to level four and five that is where we want to see our numbers increase which indeed does happen so you can see our level of outperformance um um for levels four and five which is meeting and exceeding um expectations if you do a side by-side comparison for um for grades three to nine you will see that we do our performance compared to the state is highlighted on this slide with side by-side comparisons for each grade level and the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations as you can see our outperformance stretches up to 36% when comparing cadams performance to that of the state in English language arts across grades 3 to n and when you take the average of all the tested grades in ela we outperform the state by roughly 25% as per the state we're required to share the assessment data broken down by sub subgroups for confidentiality purposes if there are less than two 10 students in any particular particular subgroup we do not report out on those results moving on to math in math the strands assessed include major content supporting content and students are asked to demonstrate the ability to reason mathematically and model re um real world problem solving scenarios comparable to the slide showing our Ela performance at each level you will see a similar Trend with chatam showing low percentages of students in the level one and level two range as compared to the state and then we see a reverse on the opposite side of the slide with higher percentages for level four and level five our performance compared to the state is slightly easier to see on this slide where we identify that we outperform by 41% in grade 3 33 33% in grade 4 40% in grade 5 26% % in grade 6 and 31% in grade 7 each year we do point out that in grade 8 the majority of our students are enrolled in geometry and not grade math grade 8 math and therefore the math 8 results are skewed and not representative of the whole group on this slide we hone in on our performance and our higher level math courses our geometry our Algebra 1 and our Algebra 2 on this slide this is an aggregate helping us understand that the way these courses are broken out and you will see that among um CMS students 22% were enrolled in math 8 moving into geometry 70% were in geometry and 9% um of um I'm sorry um and 9% were in Algebra 1 the majority of Algebra 1 students are at CHS and all Algebra 2 students are at CHS CHS and clearly we have strong results in both Al Algebra 1 and in Algebra 2 and this slide depicts our overall performance as compared to the state once again here is our subgroup overview any Naas indicate that there were less than 10 students and therefore results are not shared as we shift into ma science you will notice that there rather than five person performance levels like we had for ELA and math we only have four performance levels for this content area level one is below proficient level two is near proficiency three is proficient and level four is Advanced Proficiency in science the students are trying to me register their level of pro proficiency with the knowledge specified by the New Jersey student learning standards for science students are required to demonstrate their ability to utilize the science and engineering practices to explains scientific phenomena appropriately and the science component covers content in life physical and earth science as we saw with Ela and math this slide indicates each performance level and how our students performed as compared to the state here once again we are looking to see low numbers and percentages for levels one and two and then we do want to see higher percentages for levels three and four which are are advanced aned proficient and proficient you can see that the trend continues on this for Science and here is where we see the side-by-side comparisons looking back at last year's data the state start stayed largely the same or dipped slightly while we improved our fifth grade scores by roughly 3% eighth grade remained the same and 11th grade improved by approximately 8% and here is our subgroup data for science so once again the access stands for assessing comprehension and communication in English State to- state for English level Learners the access is comprised of a series of language proficiency Summit summative assessments given to all students who receive English as a second language Services there are four tests given they are listening speaking reading and writing and the proficiency levels range from a level one which is entering going up to a level six which is reaching and it is recommended that all students remain in an ESL program until they achieve a overall score of a 4.5 or higher and in the past um this past spring of 2024 there were 41 students who were administered this test and when you look at the performance levels you will see that level one which is entering had 7.3 of our students emerging had 177% developing level three is 34% expanding level four 26.8 bridging was five was 7.3 and reaching um was 2.4 so the majority of our students are hovering in that developing and expanding range here we see the results of the gppa which is admin mined to all 11th grade students to meet the State graduation requirement as you can see in chatam 98% of our students redeemed graduation ready in ela and nearly 91% in math for any students who do not meet the cut score there are Pathways that can be pursued to meet the requirement and here is the gppa with our subgroup overview the DM or dynamic learning Maps is an alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities to show their performance level on essential elements of content standards there are four achievement levels which include emerging approaching the target at Target and advanced this past spring we had 14 students who participated in the administration of the math test there were also 14 who participated in the administration of the ELA test and there were eight students who participated in the science um for this particular assessment students are not compared to other students but they're evaluated for their own progress and this is how our students who participated in the dlm um finished with their results 79% were either emerging or approaching the target for ELA 71 for math 88 for Science and for at Target or Advanced there were 21% for English language arts 29% for mathematics and and 12% for science so at this juncture with the data in hand we will continue to engage in a collaborative process to analyze data from the standardized assessments again we use that as one snapshot we make sure that differentiation is occurring in our classroom and that we're looking for any specific Trends we certainly at this juncture in the year are continuing to work with our administrative and strategic planning teams to prepare for any instructional adjustments that need to be made as a result of the upcoming reconfiguration and we do provide professional development opportunities that reflect the identified needs of our students and incorporate student uh teacher choice so far this year we tomorrow we are engaging in our second day of our work with noomi Rodriguez who is providing providing five days of professional learning on the topic of multilanguage Learners tomorrow we also have Dr Ryan Baker who is from he's the director of The Pen Center for Learning analytics he'll be working with our high school teachers on the topic of AI um we have our kindergarten teachers who are working with a coach from Bank Street Graduate School of Education on the topic of incorporating play Lauren Spooner has brought a um clinician from the juliard school um to teach all of our music and performance teachers the Alexander technique which is based on mindset breathing posture to promote better performance and across all content areas is we've had um members of our faculty and staff who to this point in the year have already been out participating in conferences and we as a group will continue to use um benchmarking formative assessments and teacher observations to make sure that all instructional decisions are supporting the growth of our students our Sport Systems that we have in place we have Ela strategy groups where we have small group instruction um this is occurring in the general education classroom with our interventionists it is either a one or 2 minute 30 minute cycle for um session for a six we cycle we have basic skills instruction for ELA and math our certified staff we have two behaviorists on staff three mental health clinicians three interventionists and for specialized training for teaching reading we have 13 Wilson set certified teachers and as we mentioned last year we are hosting a cohort here for Orton Gillingham we have three um school district teachers who are participating and that has allowed us to have 20 of our own students who have participated in the practicum this year we were able to extend our brain camp to include Rising third graders and multilanguage Learners this past summer in kindergarten we are layering in another level of support for pH development of pheic awareness with the implementation of hagr we've expanded Delta mouth to include our middle school students we have utilize Lexia English to support our multilanguage learners the new courses that we have running this year are based on instructional Trends as well as student interest we have two courses at the high school applied health and horiculture and agricultural Sciences which are being well very well received by our students and the faculty we have Explorations and Technology at the high school as well as Explorations in art this current year we have a third grade cohort who is at lafette to help prepare for the reconfiguration the cohort to date has gotten very positive feedback and we' it as a positive vehicle to support third grade teachers as they prepare to join the Lafayette staff next year and we've expanded The Residency with New Jersey Symphony to include our students at CMS last year it was a successful Endeavor with our students at Lafayette in the high school and due to the um generosity of CF we've expanded it to include our middle school students and thank you [Applause] was hi how you doing okay moving on to to our business administrator's report Mr Dilla I'm sorry oh yeah anybody have any questions about question okay can you hear me so in the science science test um in for fifth grader we seem to be lagging behind the state and level four um is there any reason for that as we discussed discussed last year with the science my opinion is that the state is still trying to prect that um assessment that I don't believe they have an accurate depiction of what fifth grade students should be doing at that point I also believe that in regards to science the shift from the next gen um the way we previously taught science now to the Next Generation Um science standards I still believe that there's a learning curve for our teachers as we step away from more rot um performances in science that's very much what NJ ASK was which was the predecessor for this assessment looking ahead um yinglu as we move into the fifth grade it will Avail more time for science for our fifth grade students for fifth grade and 8th grade which we're hoping might make a dent in in achieving greater results thank you I noticed um especially in math but also in science and Ela 8th grade didn't have the same trajectory as most of the other grades um and then there were why was there a zero for level five in math for grade eight so that means for grade eight that um there were no students who achieved a level five as they indicated um there's a it's a very small proportion of our eighth grade students who actually are enrolled in grade eight as compared to other grade eight math in the state so percentage wise it's quite low um and I will say Sally we are looking closely at the e8th grade ELA because something is not sitting right with me there we have gone back and looked at our scope our sequence our staffing was all in order and um following the only thing we get from the state it's like a scat and for any particular question that we did not perform well on it just drills down to the to the standard so it doesn't give us much information and the standards where we did not score well are standards that were covered um so in advance of this preparation I was trying to do more research and I haven't gotten the answers that I want but I am looking at that rather closely okay and one followup question thank you for that um also in grade 8th then so um is the most commonly we have a lot of students taking algebra one in e8th grade or geometry geometry geometry okay geometry sorry uh I had the same I guess a followup question is in Geometry over 70% of the CMS students are taking geometry but overall we are lagging behind the stay level what's the reason there so we as you know we have a non-traditional sequence in teaching geometry to our students and our students do not have a full year of algebra before taking geometry but the test in Geometry still incorporates many of the algebraic thinking um many of the algebraic components and so the way that we have our sequence structured there is content on the njsla that pertains to algebra that our students have not had at that point so we are looking um closely at this data and Consulting with Mr Yamamoto to look at our sequence and seeing back when this we made the change if we're getting the gains out of it that we were hoping thank you um I just had a a followup in terms of um introducing the Integrity um curriculum is that addition to foundations or in um so it is in addition it's um a separate phonemic awareness program and the way that it works it fits nicely into our Ela block because they're 10-minute drills so that with foundations layered in in our opinion represents a very nice um solid program and it's only for kindergarten or is it going only for kindergarten so foundations you'll remember we have in kindergarten first and second grade this specific program is only in kindergarten okay can I ask one more question sure sorry is there anything Mary that stood out to you um as an action item that we didn't ask a question about that you're particularly proud of or concerned of the the i in full honesty the 8th grade ELA results are um they don't make sense to me knowing that we didn't change anything instructionally on our end so that is one area where now I'm just very curious about it um but I think our results year-to year represent the work of our teachers and understanding what their students need but we really do have the mindset that this the work we do every day and what our teachers were just able to share with parents at conferences like that tells the story of a students's growth and performance we know some students have test anxiety we know some kids are able to rush through assessments so while our results are wonderful we really do um take great belief in the fact that the work we do on a daily basis um from be when we started on August 26th to where we will finish in June represents the work of our teachers but also the progress of our students thanks Mary for that presentation very thorough appreciate all of your answers too um okay moving on to the business administrator's report Mr sure on the construction update and following up on the security vestibule projects the contractor John O'Hara uh scheduled to install the interior doors at both uh Milton Avenue School in the nurses office and nurses area and in the middle school at the end of the uh stairs of the second floor and and the two fire doors sets of fire doors uh the end of this week the security uh doors are still being fabricated they are scheduled should be ready in uh a couple of weeks they will be installed in the evenings in December or during the uh hot during the winter break so hopefully everything should be completed by the uh end of the calendar year perfect and that's all I have on that okay anybody have any question questions for Mr Dua okay moving on to student leaz report Ohana okay um so a couple recent things um CHS had a fun Halloween themed spirit week last week so there were lots of funny costumes from teachers and students alike and just a great way to show school spirit um the honors Music recital was last Friday during the school day and then a couple upcoming things so fall Sports will be ending their season soon if they haven't already for specific Sports um it was it's been a great season for our fall athletes and then the fall play Peter and the star catcher is coming up so that's from Thursday the 21st to Saturday the 23rd and then the last thing I I have is student feedback so um as you can probably guess some students have been unhappy with the intention to discontinue the overnight Performing Arts trip to Disney and the eth grade DC trip so um as far as far as the Performing Arts trip goes I'll say that I think and this is kind of a common consensus that canceling the trip could maybe have a negative like unintended impact on um student interest and continued involvement in the performing arts program at the high school so um maybe that could be reconsidered or students could maybe help in exploring alternative options for those trips um but yeah that is all for me okay thank you so much um okay moving on to committee reports for personnel Miss Weber we have not met we are going to meet again next Wednesday on the 13th of November thank you curriculum Miss Ross same for curriculum uh meeting also will be next Wednesday the 13th perfect uh finance and Facilities uh we met so we talked uh we had a uh listen to a presentation from Brown Brown and Brown um providing the a district health benefit update and then uh um we also had the brief that the emergency Reserve balance was 165,000 now it we've all used up and it's zero right now and then we had a construction update that Peter just gave that's it okay thank you and policy and planning Mr Ryan y policy met on October 30th uh we discussed uh policy 5118 which you'll see on the agenda tonight as a first reading adding some language to that surrounding um collection of tuition and potential temporary uh resident uh opportun not opportunities but temporary resident situation where um a student may be a resident whose family moves for reconstruction purposes Etc so we needed to address those issues in the policy we did talk about the overnight field trips uh Dr Lusa could comment on that if anyone has questions about that um we did have some student uh a student tuition um at of at a District student tuition inquiry uh which we believe we denied that one for now um we talked about the calendar you'll see on on the agenda tonight that December 20th is a uh half day which would be a change we had a request from the art program uh for permission to paint a mural outside one of our buildings at the high school one of our wings at the high school which we granted uh we also discussed that there is a Harding Recreation meeting this Wednesday uh the 6th at 700 PM in the media center in the high school I believe some members of the Harding board or perhaps the superintendent might be attending that meeting with the joint Recreation committee is that correct Dr Lusa yes that's a a closed meeting just to discuss some of the questions that have come up in yes party whoops it's okay just an information it's an informational meeting for all parties involved that's a closed meeting sorry about that also we did discuss um a request from the from the rec basketball Club to consider some reconsider some fees uh that they are assessed for using the gyms on the weekends and we think we have an equitable solution for that that we discussed so that's it perfect um okay moving on to Liaison reports anybody have anything to report no okay perfect um okay I'd like to um motion that we pass the minutes from the last meeting only miss Kenny has to obstain okay somebody want a second second thank you late um meeting minutes from October 14th regular and executive session M Russ yes M Allen yes M Kenny abstain Mr Ryan Yes M Weber yes Dr Zang yes and M jelli yes agenda item pass 601 perfect okay this is our first um opportunity for public commentary all right I'd like to start this evening's public commentary I I know you're anxious you got to wait hopefully it shouldn't be very long um on the agenda tonight items b11 and b12 are resolutions to approve the bond refunding for the district what that means in layman's term is the financial advisor has advised the district that it appears the interest rates may be favorable that our outstanding bonds can be refinanced as the technical term refunded to lower the interest payments and cost uh that the taxpayers will endure to pay the to pay the debt that they approved on when they approved the referendums uh in the past um due to procedures we need to have a public commentary session and a hearing uh my announcing this is the hearing on it and we're now open to receive any comments from the public regarding the refunding I take that as everyone thinks it's a good idea so thank you the public hearing on the bond audience is now closed okay moving on to the public commentary hearing of the citizens during the public commentary section of the agenda is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are or are not topics scheduled for the current meeting to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers will be asked to limit their comments to a reasonable length of time and when you do get up if you could just sign in and state your name that would be great MH uh good evening my name is Madison fan and I'm a freshman in the CHS choir alongside other Performing Arts students and parents of kids involved in the Arts here tonight I'm speaking about the cancellation of our Disney trip a decision that is deeply upsetting for all of us our choir program has already faced numerous challenges especially my grade from the setbacks of covid-19 to the sudden departure of our teacher just before our con it's been a struggle to keep our program strong now with the loss of this Disney Tri trip we're facing yet another hit we understand that overnight trips are challenging to organize but this trip is essential not just for our program but for every student who participates it's also frustrating to see the Disney trip treated on the same level as the Washington DC trip the DC trip happens every year and involves an entire grade while the Disney trip is once every four year and four years and directly impacts the future of our performing arts program program for students like me who are deeply involved in the Arts trips like this matter when we're auditioning for prestigious programs like the Papermill Conservatory or even for college they look for experiences like performing at Disney this trip helps students stand out and in some cases can be crucial for their success in the PS in pursuing a performing arts career our Performing Arts programs are small and the few opportunities we do have are vital these experiences aren't just about performing they provide essential training and exposure helping students gain the skills and confidence they need to pursue their dreams whether that be on Broadway somewhere in the Arts or wherever their passions take them I'd also like to point out that Disney provides valuable training to each of the Arts programs at CHS I was fortunate enough last year to experience the training through dance that Disney offers there is nothing it can be compared to not training in New York City or anything else it is a specialized experience for each Arts programs that you go with and I'm curious how do we plan to replace this critical training opportunity we aren't here to work against you we want to work with you to ensure that our Performing Arts programs remain strong and impactful this Disney trip is more than just a fun experience it's a Lifeline for our program and the students within it please help us keep these opportunities alive for current and future students thank you hello my name is jenie Canal I'm a freshman at chadam high school I'm also an active choir member and currently serve as the vice president of the concert choir and on on our choir council at the last Board of Education meeting it was announced that starting next year there will be no more overnight field trips in this District including the Performing Arts Disney trip which takes place every four years to address the first reason given for this this decision while Nur while nursing staff can be costly and hard to find this community has shown a strong willingness to fundraise and explore other methods of putting on the trip these efforts will not only help cover the cost of nursing staff but also the cost of substitutes for teachers who are way shap running secondly it was suggested that the Disney trip is too disruptive however teachers have discussed Alternatives like multiple consecutive day trips I believe that getting on and off buses for full day trips returning home each night and repeating the process disrupts both students and teachers far more another factor that disrupts the learning environment is when students frequently leave class for sports packing up loudly and drawing attention it's also challenging when end when I end up doing group products alone because my partner has left class yet this issue remains unaddressed thank you for your time and I hope you'll consider bringing back the Disney trip a true Beacon of joy for us performing art students [Applause] hello um my name is Nina narova and I am a freshman in the ch ch asquire I'm here to speak about the recent cancellation of our Disney trip a decision that has left us all feeling extremely disappointed and discouraged for us in the choir this trip was more than just a performance opportunity after everything our grade has been through especially due to covid-19 building a strong Community is something we desperately need for years we were separated and isolated missing out on the typical School experiences that helped create lasting bonds and friendships this trip to Disney represented a chance to build those connections and that that we missed out on a chance to come together as a choir as a team and as a family this the sense of community is so essential in the Arts working together performing together and supporting one another are what make our program strong and continue to grow this Disney trip would have given us the chance to grow closer learn to trust each other on and off the stage and create shared memories without it we're missing a vital opportunity to form the friendships and connections that help our choir Thrive an example of the bonds that are formed during overnight trips is the friendships my father has developed through the shared through shared experiences when I ask questions or start to discuss school trips that he has been on in the past he often mentions that the friend that the friends he spends time with on these trips have created lifelong connections for him even now he maintains contact with these close companions despite being halfway around the world these overnight trips to new to new locations are essential for creating lifelong bonds I urge you to consider the import the importance of this trip not only for our choir's artistic growth but for the growth of our community as well this experience would have helped us to make up for lost time to build a supportive family within the Arts and to establish a foundation of teamwork and trust that will carry our program forward logistical and Staffing problem should not take away the experiences of high school students as as these thank you for your time and consideration we're hopeful that together we can find a way to keep opportunities like this Disney trip alive with students who depend on them not only for per performance experience but to create a strong supportive Community thank you good evening my name is Kate shell and I'm a freshman in the CHS band and marching band I want to talk about the impact of cancelling our Disney trip we understand that organizing a large trip with flights can be complicated but the real issue here is about losing the overnight experience altogether which is critical to our band and arts Community personally I have been looking forward to this trip since a very young age my parents went on this very same trip as high schoolers and have photo albums flooded with memories laughing smiling performing and building an amazing Community with their High School band I and a lot of my great have looked up on this trip all of our Lives hearing stories from family members watching my neighbors return home after their trips and hearing our teachers tell us that once we were in high school we would have a chance at that too an overnight experience was something we stried for more than just riding the roller coasters or playing our instruments something where we could connect with our peers and form memories just like we had been told about all our lives furthermore the overnight trip allows for a well-rounded education as us students can learn to be more independent and adapt to real life situations allowing for the transition to high school to college to the real world smoother this prepares us for real world scenarios we can build a greater connection with peers and teachers and allow for lifelong memories to take shape and form additionally our great specifically has already taken many losses such as the Philadelphia trip L asyland trip Bronx Zoo trip and many others especially due to co9 these opportunities have been following us our whole lives and continue to harm our growth Independence sense of community and experiences losing the opportunities isn't just a disappointment it's a setback in building the community we're all striving for overnight trips gives us the chance to grow together to trust each other and to build those relationships that make our performances so much stronger please consider how we might still be able to preserve this overnight tradition many of us have been waiting for the trip would not only support our growth as performance but but would also allow us to build a foundation of community that strengthens our band and gives us the memories and motivation we need to keep going in the arts program thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen of the chadam Board of Education my name is Cameron francini and I am a senior and current member of the chadam high school chamber choir I would like to implore you guys to reconsider or maybe seek alternatives to the cancellation of overnight trips especially the Disney trip so my grade was the grade that did not get a DC trip because of Co so we were thrilled when we got to high school and we were able to go to Disney and we had this it was an amazing experience that I still reflect upon fondly um it was a great opportunity for us to um connect with our peers and it was just an amazing experience overall as I get ready to go to college I have been think thinking about how that trip is was a great experience for me learning how or not necessarily learning but practicing being away in a different state from my family and cohabitate sharing a room with other people right and so I I think it definitely has its value that would be lost should the overnight trips be canceled additionally as was mentioned before this is something that like from as early as middle school but even maybe before that like we were told oh yeah you you get to go to Disney if you stay in the music program and that's a big thing that a lot of people look forward to um coming from the younger grades and that's a big motivating factor for people to stay in music besides music itself obviously um so if overnight trips were to be canceled then you lose that factor and it is at the detriment of the music program thank you good evening my name is Lucy Kuda and I'm a freshman in the CHS choir I'm here to speak about the impact of the Disney trip cancellation and what this decision means for our performing arts program I want to share why this trip is about more than just travel it's a unique learning experience that can be replicated that cannot be replicated in a classroom for us in the Arts trips like Disney Experience are educational in ways that extend far beyond what we can gain through rehearsals alone performing in professional environment learning from industry experts and experiencing the behind thes scenes work of a place like Disney gives us insight into the field we're passionate about we can read about these things and study them but nothing compares to seeing and experiencing it firsthand it's like a student a science student visiting a research lab or a history class traveling to historic sites these experiences Inspire Inspire us educate us and deepen our commitment to our craft I also want to emphasize that trips like this create a spark in students it's not easy to stay committed to a performing arts program especially as we Face academic pressures and other extracurriculars but the immersive experiences like this can be a powerful reminder of why we love the Arts they can be the difference between students staying involved in choir throughout high school or leaving because they don't see a future in it it's an investment not just in our education but in our motivation and dedication this Disney trip was a promise that our hard work and commitment would lead to something extraordinary we don't take that for granted we practice we prepare and we dedicate ourselves to being the best we can be because we believe in the power of these experiences taking this trip away from us doesn't just cancel a performance it takes away the accumulation of months even years of effort and dedication we Inspire younger students we strengthen our program and we Elevate the Arts at CHS for everyone when when we're given opportunities to grow and learn it enriches not just our own lives but the lives of everyone who seen sees and supports our performances please consider the impact of this decision on students who are dedicated to making the Arts a significant part of their High School experience we're asking you to help us keep that dream alive thank you hi my name is Kelly francini and I'm here tonight as parent of a senior and a freshman I have been watching both of them as they've gone through covid-19 and how it has affected them socially and how it has affected their educational opportunities I have watched my daughter go from the child who the third grade teacher told me was okay being okay to struggling through covid and now getting to high school and being part of the high school marching band where she played four drums and did a had never played the drums before these programs are really important to kids like M as a mental health professional I know how important the opportunity for these kids to be independent and away from their families absolutely change their own self-confidence in their abilities and I also would like to say that my parents met on their DC trip in 8th grade and over 50 years later are still married so you know lots of great things come from the trips I could say a lot more but they've said most of it so just I second a lot of the things that they say about the importance of these things and I wanted to come tonight to support my daughter and my son in that [Applause] all right I'll make this quick because everybody has said most of it already um sorry I'm a bit nervous but anyway um so I am going to talk about something that hasn't really been talked about too much which is the um what I think would be the destruction of the performing arts program um when the DC not the DC the um Disney trip was canceled or talk of it was being uh circulated about it being canceled um I Heard a majority of the Wind Ensemble wanting to quit and our band is as small as it is right and from fourth grade fourth grade has like 100 plus people and that's what I started with 100 plus people but now it's gotten down to maybe 20 maybe a little bit more than 20 it's gone down a lot people are quitting even with the incentive of the Disney trip now without that incentive of the Disney trip people will quit and people will not want to continue playing their instrument it serves as an incentive it serves as a um goal to have to strive to and without that you know kids aren't mature enough to see uh how important playing an instrument is and they really need that incentive to go and uh something like the Disney trip to have fun with their friends to make memories uh without that that the music problem I don't think it will survive um and that's really sad to see thank you good evening board my name is Frank Davis I'm a Harding Township resident and I uh come here today to speak for the majority of Harding Township residents parents and students about the uh current send receive uh topic that we have going on between the two towns frankly Madison as well so three towns uh to be easily said the Harding residents parents and students don't want to come to chadam now chadam is a fantastic School District I have nothing bad to say about chadam I grew up in Madison my entire life and so is many generations of my family but with that tradition and what we have to lose with that tradition um we want to stick with Madison hundreds of signatures on a petition a Facebook group that has been started a sign campaign speeches that have been at done at every board including this one now with myself um Etc uh have been said about how Harding Township residents students and parents want to stick with Madison High School now the board like yourself uh makes decisions uh based upon us voting you in as as residents and uh you know I implore you on all these actions that you guys have to do and I understand where you're coming from and how you deliver your message based on being a business decision I get it I'm a businessman myself and when I make business dealings against my competitors and I try to get people on my side I say certain things to win my cause but here I am today not as a businessman I'm talking to you as a parent and I believe that most of you are parents as well maybe you have some students that are in chatam maybe you have some students that are go to private school currently maybe some students that will go to private school in high school regardless of that in the business dealings that we do in our in our our you know business life uh kids are not held as pawns and in this dealing if you move forward with this you're using the Harding students as pawns our board is not listening to us so I'm coming here today with open arms saying parent to parent the parents of Harding do not want to send their kids to chadam high school there's so many other reasons for this that I don't have time for in the allotted time and I don't want to take away from what these these children said CU frankly after what they just said about stuff that's happening with them and their school I didn't want to steal their time but I I came here tonight to tell you that you need to kill this deal on your end you need to kill this deal because our Harding board that is supposed to represent us is not listening to us we're telling him again from all the stuff that we've been doing we don't want to go to chadam high school and it appears that they're moving forward with it so if you want to come see for yourself our next Harding board meeting is on Tuesday uh 11 uh November 12th at 700 p.m. at uh our school in Harding um you'll hear all of us speak since August we've been speaking and the board is giving us a chance to speak uh but frankly we're still in the dark for what their motive is and you know being the majority of Harding not wanting this move and in a logical sense it just doesn't make sense to us why they would even be considering it so join the Facebook group it's open to the public if you want to see what we we're talking about the majority of Harding residents parents and students come to the meetings drive around Harding see the LA sign campaigns go to any Harding Madison recreational event and you'll see the reason why we want to stay in Madison thank you hey um Dan Lynn uh my son Noah Nathan one's a um sophomore the other one's a freshman uh I I grew up in Livingston I was part of the music program there um it was a really strong music program and so it was a little little disappointing when I attend my uh my son's March one of the marching band comp competitions and we pull up with our our bus 16 kids come out Livingston pulls up four buses three of them were performers one bus was just equipment so you know my my son mentioned that um that the Disney program taking away the Disney program potentially may take away attendance and it may be true and I certainly agree that signing up for Performing Arts or um or playing a an instrument is not not any reason to uh to to to do that for a Disney program or you know an overnight trip you know but I think I think taking the program away may give kids a reason not to do the Performing Arts um you know we have great assessment scores we have fantastic lacrosse team uh the the baseball team is awesome um champions in fencing uh Dr lucua was very supportive of the sailing team and now we have a sailing team so we have great private School sports but we lack we lack music I mean how how many of you play music during a meals or weekend mornings right in in in your homes you know we have kids walking around with earpods listening to music albeit sometimes during class right but it's it's it's a part of our soul um so so if the Disney program goes away and um and attendance Falls then I challenged the board to think of a creative way to increase participation in uh in the Performing Arts um I think it's an embarrassment that um that a school district with Stellar assessment scores and fantastic athletic teams has 16 or 18 children come off a bus for their marching band thanks [Applause] good evening my name is Jessica Laken I am also the parent of two children who are are involved with the Performing Arts specifically band and marching band symphonic band Wind Ensemble I'm here with my child this evening and I wasn't planning to actually speak and for those of you on the stage who know me you know I am also an education administrator and making hard decisions stinks and I understand that everybody has to make those decisions for finan Cal reasons for liability reasons but honestly as I'm sitting here listening to these students and I don't know which one of you guys it was but I thought one of the points really stuck out and I just wanted to come up here to emphasize that which is I love everything about this District but the thing that you cannot argue against in this distri district is the focus on Athletics and to tell me that we can't find a nurse or that we don't have um enough ability to handle liability for our Performing Arts students who care very deeply about this trip and have spoken to the strengths and the meaning that it has for them when you have students playing football and Lacrosse and soccer and at risk for concussions and all of those kinds of things the busing the expense the management that the district is spending on those students and to say that you can't simultaneously step up for something that is super important to the Performing Arts students and the students have spoken so eloquently and so professionally and we should all be proud of them coming here tonight to do that it actually sends a really important message and just like my colleague speaking about those 16ish kids who were coming off of the marching band it's true and for those of you who haven't been to a performance and those of you who haven't seen how hard those kids work in those moments when they have dealt with the travails of the pandemic and teacher switches and everything else would benefit really greatly from seeing that and seeing their dedication in the same way that the Athletics appreciation is in the district so I would also encourage you to please reconsider thank [Applause] you okay I'm going to close this portion of the um public commentary section I do want to say just really quickly to all the students that spoke you guys I give you major props for coming out here I know it's not easy to talk in public and you all were very well spoken and I I really do appreciate you coming and commend you for that um as far as any comments I'm going to turn it over to Dr Lusa thank you Miss chiarelli and I'll I'll begin by echoing what you just said students did a fabulous job uh I knew Mr Bryson was a superstar Coral teacher I didn't know he taught public speaking all day long as well um and Mr Bryson is just one of many magnificent teachers we have in the performing arts department and we've been very proud to recruit some of those folks bring them on and grow our program which is exactly what we've been doing uh beginning at Lafayette in particular with uh a performance that didn't used to exist uh in the theater arts and um we're planning on expanding again next year at the middle school when we make the reconfiguration um so I'll start just by trying to provide some context um and say I agree with the students about how valuable the Disney trip has been and what a rewarding experience it is to be on the trip I've been on the trip uh I was there in 2005 as the high school administrator in charge or one of the high school administrators in charge we had about 400 kids with us if I remember correctly uh and was a a terrific experience a memorable one for me uh I thought we ran the trip one more time in 2009 but in speaking with M dond over the past couple of weeks we don't think that that was the case we discontinued the trip uh we believe right after 2005 I thought it was after 2009 and we didn't run the trip uh for quite a while until 2017 when we revived it the reason we we cancelled originally and of course I wasn't the superintendent at the time I was high school principal was that the logistics of bringing 3 or 400 students on six or eight airplanes down to Florida were formidable and hard to execute fully and of course we had extenuating circumstances with students um and it was just a difficult giant undertaking so at the time anyway the trip was was discontinued and then we explored other uh special experiences for students we did a Virginia beach trip uh I think more than once we went to Hershey Gettysburg we've done New York City trips uh so we've tried to find experiences that are valuable and worthwhile to students in 2017 we revived the trip we had different Personnel uh you know in in the school district by that point I was the superintendent I remembered all the challenges back when I was on the trip and why we made the determination to discontinue it but as superintendent I supported bringing back the trip covid hit us and that was a problem but I met with Mr Bryson and Mr Keller and other teachers and supported doing the trip as soon as we could once we were emerging from covid because I'm a supporter of the Arts and I want our students to have the best possible experience but the truth is that the Logistics are extremely daunting for the staff that we have and I'm the person that gets the call when the flights are canceled at 2:00 in the morning and there are going to be 50 kids with an administrator stuck in an airport I'm the person who gets the call when we've got a student who has to go to the emergency room for a medical issue I'm the person who gets the call multiple times when a student is having an anxiety episode and their parent has to either drive to Washington or get on a plane to Florida to retrieve them and I'm the one who deals with the very real issues we have with providing sufficient nursing coverage for the students who are on the trip and with both of these trips DC and Disney we run somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% of students who require medication on a daily basis we have and those medications range from allergy and ADHD and anti-depressants and anxiety meds to other um conditions that require much more uh s much more serious um medication so the decision isn't made lightly about taking taking a hard look at what we're doing we've been talking about this for a number of years internally almost every time we run the DC trip for example I have to have a conversation with our administrative team because we're having such a difficult time believing we can even go even in the Days running up up to the trip because of a variety of issues and with DC the reality is we've only run that trip twice in the last 15 or 20 years um the idea of the incentive uh and the falling numbers we have bent over backwards to try to prop up the marching band just as an example since that's come up student interest has waned even as we've brought the trip back the uh numbers for marching band have continued to decline even with the the pains we've taken to run the the DC the Disney trip rather uh twice in the past uh six or seven years uh so that's something that is unfortunate and we are doing everything we can to try to figure out how to increase the numbers we even have eth grade students involved in the marching band this year um but student interest is student interest and we can't always force or drum up student interest just on our own um or with incentives like a trip once every four years um we need to build programs from the beginning and have the support and hopefully have the numbers that thrive uh through the high school uh so uh I can say with without blinking that I've been as big a supporter of the Arts as has this board of education as Athletics uh we invest in the Arts we're sitting in an auditorium because we made the Arts the first priority of a referendum that first failed and then passed back in 2015 and 2016 and and I am absolutely committed to exploring with student and parent input and with our staff experiences that are exciting and that prove to be wonderful for our students and make them want to be part of a program and continue in the Arts uh for as long as they can even Beyond of course uh chadam High School um so my commitment to that though doesn't take away the fact that we have really significant challenges with large scale overnight trips and I haven't spoken that much about Washington DC but um the the cost of these trips and the needs of our students that evolve over time and the level of support that we have to feel comfortable providing um all make it really really challenging to run these trips and that's the reason why I'm not going to recommend another one uh when as after this year once once we move forward I will recommend exploration of as many rewarding and Rich experiences and opportunities as ahana uh requested at the beginning of this meeting uh so that students can feel good about what they're doing and be involved and be connected and uh hopefully learn and grow from whatever learning opportunities they have beyond the confines of chatam uh and I'm confident that our staff because they are absolute Superstars um will help lead that charge and figure out how we can do things that are really both wonderful but also from a practical point of view ones that are sustainable for us okay thank you anybody have any further comments or questions or just simply that we I mean as a board I've been doing this for 14 years and Performing Arts has always been at the top of our list to continue to support grow and we've expanded in many many ways so it's not that we don't think you guys do a phenomenal job we absolutely do I mean you guys crush it every time I mean really crush it it's just unfortunate that there's just too many obstacles it's just insurmountable and not sustainable but you did hear Dr lusu just say he's eager to look for alternative so hopefully we can you know encourage people to come it might be a better trip he went to Gettysburg University so don't let him push gettyburg tooo hard because you know but uh you know so I just don't want you to think that the board doesn't care we absolutely care we and we struggled with this this has been we've been talking about this for years years and years and years and we've just gotten to the point where we just can't continue um but I mean at least for the last 10 years we've been talking about these obstacles just growing growing growing and we just hit a breaking point but I do appreciate you guys all coming out and and speaking that you guys again rock it thank you I I do want to just add something about the Washington DC trip to provide a little context to that one too um the Washington DC trip is not a long-standing tradition in The District in fact the veteran board members here didn't have children go to Washington DC because we didn't have that trip uh what we did have when I became superintendent was a trip a seventh grade trip to Frost Valley and then we had in eighth grade a trip to not a a field trip and experience to Broadway uh with the dance and we felt that the Frost Valley trip had other logistical issues including parents that were sh aaroning and in the same cabins as students and we had issues with with adult supervision on on that trip um but it also had outgrown uh its alignment with our curriculum and the state standards and we just thought it was out of place it was time to discontinue the Frost Valley trip and we had people who spoke up and were frustrated and annoyed with us for doing that so we swapped out Frost Valley we put in the e8th grade DC trip because 8th grade uh the social studies curric ulum had a lot of civics in it uh we in we had we were in the process of creating the Holocaust and genocide awareness course at the middle school so we thought we could try to get into the Holocaust Museum DC and we made that change and within probably three four five years we probably made that change my second year as superintendent I'm guessing um we were also running into the same problems uh particularly around nursing and it's not really a money thing it's actually finding human beings who are willing to serve as a nurse on those trips we had created a special stipend um to try to get our own people to go along which we were s sometimes successful with sometimes not you have to understand that in addition to administering medication to a quarter of the kids on the trip uh we have nighttime issues frequently and so the nurses end up being up all night and that's not even to say anything of the other you know unusual circumstances we might have with a student who's sick and vomiting or has to go to the emergency room or whatever so it's it the issue is the availability of nursing overall we've been using agencies the last couple of years um but similar to DC uh uh Disney rather every year we do the DC trip I end up debriefing with the with the Middle School administration whether it was the prior one or the current one about the P the UPS the Downs the challenges we've had and every year we kind of say this might be the last time we can do this um and that's not because we don't believe it's a it's a fun experience and a good experience for kids it's because of all of the other uh logistical challenges that we have to run it and so just like with Disney with DC we would be looking for Alternatives uh probably day experiences from chadam and yes that can be disruptive as well but not as disruptive as having so many staff and students out and we'd want it to be much more affordable for families than the the current DC trip is because it has become just too unwieldy We Believe okay thank you Dr Lusa for that um okay now moving on to our regular agenda um Personnel Miss Weber yes thank you an um I'd like to move action items A1 through a16 on the regular agenda and that's it I'll second [Applause] it thanks you guys agenda items A1 through a16 Ms Ross Yes Ms Allen yes M Kenny yes Mr Ryan Yes M Weber M Weber yes Dr Zang yes and M chiarelli yes agenda item is pass 8 um 70 okay perfect for finance and Facilities I I would like to move item B1 through B12 second agenda items B1 through b through B12 M Ross Yes M Allen yes M Kenny yes Mr Ryan Yes M Weber yes Dr Zang yes and Mr gelli yes agenda item is pass 70 okay perfect for uh curriculum Miss Ross yep I'd like to move action items C1 to C3 second agenda items C1 and C C12 C3 M Russ yes M Allen yes M Kenny yes Mr Ryan okay perfect and for policy Mr Ryan yes I'd like to move agenda items D1 and D2 second agenda items D1 and D2 M Ross Yes M Allen yes M Kenny yes Mr Ryan Yes M Weber yes Dr Zang yes and M Chelli yes agenda items pass 70 okay perfect thank you so much um anybody have any other board business they wanted to discuss yeah I have one item it has to do with the calendar thanks an sure um Mike I'm sure there's like 4,000 parents watching our meeting but just in case there's a couple that missed it how do we communicate the calendar change because that's kind of a big deal it's um you know the half day on in December that where if folks need to get away a little bit early this uh affords them some opportunities I sent it out to all parents today actually as with a reminder that before we voted on it I did I broke a cardal I broke a cardinal a cardinal rule because I wanted to send a reminder about election day schools being closed so I just put a reminder in a note that we were going to convert the with a little footnote that said pending board approval I I might have forgotten that it didn't fit in the text I only had so many characters oh very good thank you perfect I just want to make sure everybody's aware of it good call okay perfect uh we now have our second opportunity for public commentary if there is anybody who has anything else they'd like to share B is that Mr nothing Mr heat something on JC's Christmas tree sales there we go that's sorry did we wake you up there we go good evening Bill Heap uh no comment on board business I don't want to get in the middle of the Disney trip uh but I will put on my JC hat and remind everybody that our tree sale is gearing up and the uh poets in our literary Department have come up with a slogan uh that neatly captures the spirit of the Season try this one on for size uh for Holiday Glee come out and buy your JC Christmas tree I know it's not exactly Yates or Tennyson but it gets the job done uh this is a uh very much a community Affair we have Boy Scouts Girl Scouts Key Club members adults uh and uh every uh or all the net proceeds go back into chadam we are very proud of our low expense ratio uh so the money gets to where it needs to go including uh High School scholarships uh lots of youth programs we support uh so we would appreciate it uh if you come out and buy your tree and uh you know we can count on very uh generous catamites to do that so thanks okay perfect that being said I'm going to close the second session of the public commentary we do not have an executive session correct we do not okay great so I will adjourn this meeting then thank you so much to everyone everyone get home safe thank you for coming