Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Would the secretary please call the role? Anna Brawn here. Timothy Cummings here. Jamie Falco here. Lewis Figureroa here. Lorie Herrick. Lee Wuhong here. Wilbur Pan here. Maryanne Tangos here.
Heather Guas here. We have a quorum. Please rise to salute the flag. I aliance to the flag of of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Good evening in this very chilly room on this very hot day. All right. The New Jersey Open 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. and acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the East Brunswick Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted at the Board of Education offices. Written notice was also provided to the Sentinel, the New York Star Ledger, the Home News and Tribune, the Alternative Press of East
Brunswick, and the Municipal Clerk of East Brunswick. Okay, so we are here and now we are leaving. We have a need for a closed session. Whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting. And whereas these subjects are
within the exceptions to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session pursuant to NJSA 104-12B. And whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as listed in tonight's agenda.
Whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken. Can I have a motion please? Wilbur second and second Maryanne. Thank you. Discussion. All in favor?
Opposed? Abstension. Motion carries. We will see you in one hour. All right. Hello and welcome back. It is nice when we first start there isn't anyone here. So, it's nice to see people here. And we are going to begin with the superintendent report. Thank you, President Guas, and good evening,
everyone. Over the past few weeks, our early learning academy preschool and kindergarten readiness summer programs been filled with curio curiosity, creativity, and unforgettable adventures. Our little scientist in kindergarten readiness kick things off
with a dynamite exploration, learning about dinosaurs. And thanks to Mad Science, friends dug for dinosaur bones and even made their very own fossils of a T-Rex tooth. From prehistoric times, we traveled straight
to Italy where magical pasta pot just wouldn't stop. After reading Straga Noah, uh, our little our littles discovered the magic of storytelling, friendship, and of course, a whole lot of noodles. Our weekly international day with our
very own German teacher, Mr. collaborate added even more cultural fun to the mix. Next, our young explorers set off on a safari day adventure, creating vibrant sand art and crafts while learning all about safari animals. And to wrap up the
excitement, our summer ELA and kindergarten readiness students had the incredible opportunity to meet Detective Grant Corton, a real life hero who keeps our community safe. The children were absolutely thrilled by his visit and inspired by his dedication.
At the high school, the student council met earlier this month and has planned a full calendar of activities, including some new events for students to enjoy. Fall sports are underway with tennis and football already in action with our other teams starting this Monday.
Marching band camp begins Wednesday, August 20th, and the Bear Den will be ready to cheer on the first home game on Thursday, August 28th. Hard to believe that's coming so fast. The robotics teams proudly represented the school at the Middle Sex County Fair this summer,
and the class of 2026 will start their senior year with the annual senior sunrise on the first day of school, complete with a PTSA sponsored breakfast. The high school counseling department is excited to present the annual common
application boot camp this Monday, August 25th, at 11:00 a.m. at EBHS. The class of 2026 has been invited to come to the school and receive assistance from the counseling team with filling out their common application for
colleges that they plan to apply to. The common application is a tool that students use to apply to multiple colleges in one single application. Even if students are not quite sure of where they'll be applying just yet, the session is beneficial to help them get
kickarted on the college application process. And students must register on the Google form that was sent to their email earlier to attend. Due to due the community's incredible support of our past school supply
drives, our district is well stocked with backpacks and school supplies for students in need. And this year, the student services department is shifting its focus to a hygiene supply drive. And to learn more or to arrange a drop off,
please contact the student services department at 732-613-6797. The annual student information forms are now available on parent access. All forms must be completed and submitted by Thursday, August 21st. These forms are critical as they give us
important information that protects your child. Student schedules and teacher assignments will be available on parent access on Friday, August 22nd at 300 p.m. You will not be able to view your child's schedule or your teacher assignment until the annual student
information forms are submitted. Thursday, September 4th and Friday, September 5th are single session days for the high school only. and I'm wishing everyone a safe and successful remainder of the summer and start of the
school year. I just want to piggyback with that for any not about the senior sunrise for the seniors. The seniors have the best time at the senior sunrise. My comment is for the parents of the seniors. I remember senior sunrise was the first moment of
total anxiety and heartbreak for me in the beginning of both of my older children's senior year. So my heart goes out to the senior parents because senior sunrise is the beginning of the lasts. Um also that comment I'm sorry just when you finish I just need to make I made a mistake.
Go ahead because I forgot to mention that um in regard to the student forms. Uh if you have uh do not have internet access or need help filling out the forms, we will have assistance right here in the administration building and that will
occur on Monday, August 18th from 9 to 12 and Monday, August 25th from 9 to 12. Awesome. We're going to put that up on social media. So we will put that up on social media on Facebook and we have put out notifications I believe to the community with reminders.
That's awesome. Um, also that common app boot camp, if you have a student who's dreading doing their college application, which I don't know any students who are not, that is a wonderful opportunity to kind of get your feet in and lose some of the fear. And I already did my student information
forms because I had somebody who was very upset that she might not be able to find out who her teacher was if I was not on time. So, ours are done. All right, that takes us up to our superintendent search update. Um, I want to thank the board if I don't know. I
feel like with our life, it's all we think about. So, I feel like everybody knows what's going on with superintendent searches throughout the county, but I suspect other people are having a better summer and aren't 100% invested in student or superintendent searches throughout all of Middle Sex
County. But we are not the only ones. And in fact, there is a rather high number of districts currently searching for superintendent. So, our schedule has been fairly aggressive, which puts us out ahead of other districts, which I
think will offer East Brunswick a huge advantage. Um, we work to craft a schedule. I am so grateful to the board for agreeing to this schedule and giving up quite a bit of summertime to make this happen so that East Brunswick can hopefully have the first pick of the best of the best. Um, and I want to
thank the board. We were here last night rather late for a meeting for the superintendent search. We are all going to be giving up Saturdays for this process during the summer and I am just incredibly grateful and I want to share with the public where we are in the search that we had a very high number of
completed applications. Um the search firm was very happy. We as a board were very happy with the number of completed applications. the applicant pool was extraordinary and that so far I think I can speak for the board when I say that we are happy with our progression and
happy in what we have in front of us. So I think that's where we are right now and we are going to Dr. Bolley with a presentation. Thank you. Okay, great. Okay, good evening everyone. Uh, tonight I'll be presenting
the results of our assessment um from last school year. Three assessments, the WEDA access for LS, the dynamic learning maps, and the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment. The access is administered by WEDA the
publisher and that's the worldclass instructional design and assessment. The DLM is the dynamic learning maps and the NJGPA is the um uh New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment administered by Pearson. And just to let you know that
we received the um assessment results for these three assessments in June and the state requires us to present the results within 60 days of receipt. So that's why I'm presenting these tonight. We will not have the final NJSLA results until the uh end August. So I'll be
presenting those results in September. Okay. So, when we look at these little faces here on the screen, um to get started, I want to thank Dr. Veleski and the board for all of your support throughout the years in um uh supporting our students. I also would like to thank
our amazing administrative team and all of our school staff who go above and beyond every single day for every single child. Um, we know that our students come to us with different needs, academic, social, cultural, emotional,
and economic. And the department of academics works very closely with the special education department, the counseling department, and other student services to develop strategies and interventions to that remove barriers to ensure that every child reaches his or
her potential and is successful. Okay, so first up we have access for L's. This is a statemandated assessment for our multilingual learners in grades K through 12. Um these students are
those who qualify for ESL services. The access stands for assessing comprehension and communication in English state-to-state. The students are evaluated across six performance indicators as you see on the
screen. Entering, emerging, developing, expanding, bridging, and reaching. And this assessment is one of several measures to decide if a student is ready to exit the ESL program. And a minimum score of 4.5 is required for exit
eligibility. So, our student body in East Brunswick is quite multilingual. We have over 28 students in our general enrollment population who speak 71 different languages at home in addition to
English. That's 36% of our students. When we're looking at our ESL students, the top five languages spoken by our ESL students are Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, and Erdo.
The ESL screening process begins upon registration. Any student whose home language is not English is tested for ESL eligibility. Last school year, our ESL enrollment rose to 410 students, and those students
speak 31 different languages. And currently, our multilingual learners make up 5% of our district-wide enrollment. And to note, our new enrollments, new students registering in the district, 26% of them are eligible
for ESL services. Over to the right of the slide, you can see that time in program, 65% of our students remain in the ESL program for 2 years. 26% remain for three or four years and a small
percentage continue beyond the four years. So here we see a heat map overview. This displays the number of students in each access for L's scoring category. We're looking at proficiency by grade here. The darker green areas indicate higher
concentrations of students within that category. In regards to the score distribution, about 66% of our students are concentrated in the developing and expanding categories. That's the three and four, the orange and yellow.
just below the 4.5 score required to exit the program. When we look at the upper level scores, a few students fall into the bridging and reaching the five and six, the the green and blue there. Uh typically students are exiting when they earn that
4.5 uh which is between the expanding and bridging. So less students will be earning those higher scores because they've exited the program. Another notable cluster appears in the kindergarten entering category. Kindergarteners whose home language is
not English are tested for ESL eligibility and many require substantial English language support upon starting school with us. And then the panel over to the right is looking at trend data. The right-h hand panel is showing the number of testers in 2025 compared with
the past three years along with the number meeting the exit criteria. So despite the um increased growth in our multilingual student population, the percentage of students exiting um each year remains around 20%.
Moving into the DM, alternative assessment. Uh, every student succeeds act allows for the use of alternative assessments uh based on alternate achievement standards and these are for our students with most significant cognitive
disabilities. the um in regards to eligibility, the students who qualify have not been exposed to the New Jersey Student Learning Standard Curriculum, which is assessed by the New Jersey Student Learning Standard Assessment and may
instead uh be able to demonstrate their academic achievement through the DM assessment in a flexible one-on-one testing format. the IEP team uh carefully evaluates whether this assessment is appropriate
for for the student and with the purpose of really um removing physical, intellectual, emotional, and technological barriers so that students have a fair and equitable assessment opportunity to assess their learning. And currently here in East Brunswick, uh
students with disabilities represent 19% of our student population. Uh the New Jersey Department of Education has determined that students classified under specific learning disability, emotional regulation impairment, auditorially impaired,
orthopedic impairment impairment or speech language impairment are no longer eligible for the DM alternative assessment. As a result of this, we have 122 students. 40% of the students who
had previously taken the DM, 40% of those students are now participating in the NJSLA. So to the right there when you where you see the red 70 um if these 122 students who took the assessment the prior year were
participating that would be um added on. So that that would be up to 192 students. And looking at proficiency by subject, the DLM measures students ability to understand and apply knowledge and skills using what's called essential
elements, which are specific statements aligned with grade level expectations in the um NJSLS. The dynamic learning maps essential elements serves as a bridge from the student learning standards content to academic expectations for students with
the most significant cognitive disabilities. Students who are scoring at the in the darker colors in the at target or advanced levels have met or exceeded expectations for their grade level and subject based on these essential elements.
So for ELA we see 43%, math 34% and science 21%. Some students, if you notice um a difference in the participation numbers between ELA and math, some students may take the SLA for one subject and the DLM for a different subject. So that
explains the discrepancy there. And um you know just as a reminder since in 2025 fewer students participated in the DM who were higher functioning they're participating in the SLA last year. Therefore, the year-to-year
proficiency comparison is really not applicable because there's such a different amount of students participating. Uh, in regards to the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment, this is based on algebra 1 geometry and 10th
grade ELA standards. And the scale score of this assessment determines if a student is graduation ready or not yet graduation ready. This is the primary pathway to meet the graduation assessment requirements.
Participation is mandatory for all 11th graders except those taking the DM. So just some uh numbers for you in regards to our graduating class last June. um 639 students or 90% of the students
um met their graduation requirement through this pathway through success on the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment. um 51 students or 7% uh chose pathway 2 and they demonstrated proficiency on either the ACUPPLACE or
PSAT or a A uh SAT sorry and uh some students had IEP exemptions and that was 31 students or 4% and we had no students with a graduation appeal and we had no portfolio options last year and other
statistics on our graduating class uh we had 720 21 seniors. Last year we graduated 705, 98% graduation rate, four-year graduation rate. The difference is the other 2% students
receiving special education services who meet certain criteria are eligible to remain with us until the age of 21. and we have 15 students um are following that pathway and we have one student
pending a summer graduation. Okay, looking at the GPA for language arts, the gray bars show the last two years of proficiency. The red bar on the right shows the New Jersey average, which is 81% passing for English language arts.
In blue, we see the 92% of all of our students are passing the 11th grade graduation uh proficiency assessment. And looking at the general enrollment, these are students not receiving special education st services, not receiving ESL
services, and not considered economically disadvantaged. That number rises to 99% passing rate. And then on the right you see subgroup performance. The Department of Education uses demographic subgroup data from
assessments to identify potential opportunity gaps. Another note when we think about economically disadvantaged, our current district-wide um population is at 21%
economically disadvantaged. and our new enrollments, our new students who are enrolling here in the district, 40% are economically disadvantaged or or living in poverty. Mathematics um again all multilingual learners are
required to participate in this um assessment their first year in a US school. Um, we see again the uh 2023 2024 all the way to the right we see in red the New Jersey average of 58% and
then our average of all of our students in blue the 80% and then the general enrollment uh is up to 90%. So, we sustain our efforts to identify and meet the academic needs of all students, offering the necessary
supports to help every child reach their full potential. I think that it's um important to note that over the past 10 years, the number of economically disadvantaged students or children living in poverty
in this district has increased by 53%. Over the past 10 years, the number of ESL students has risen by 79%. The number of students receiving special education services has risen by 35%.
So with these changes, we're seeing an increase in students who require additional services and this may require us to um assign additional resources. questions. All right. Do we want to just go around
or I'm just gonna start from this way and work around and then I'll come back if you don't have. So, Wilbur, do you have anything at this point? Um, yeah. Yeah. Thank thanks for the presentation. That's very uh helpful. Um, I just had one question in terms of the scoring system for the access to
ELLs. It's a sixpoint scale, right? Yes. um if the if if proficiency is at four and a half and the students are um then uh exiting the program at that point because they've hit proficiency, why do we have a sixpoint scale? Is this like a
standard measurement? Yes, it's a standard. Yes, it's it's it's a national. And is that 4.5 also a standard in terms of how we're defining. All right. Thanks. And just so you know, when students exit, we still monitor them for two
years after. All right, Anna, at this time. All right, Lori. Um, thank you for your presentation. Uh, my first question is, so this year we saw about 20% of ESL students met the 4.5 proficiency criteria. So, what
targeted strategies are plans to increase the percentage of students meeting that ex the exit benchmark and how do our exit rates compare to those of uh the state average? Um the state doesn't release exit criteria um in
regards to, you know, um because it's so varied. It varies on the student when they enter the district. Um it varies on their proficiency level when they entered the district. It varies on their their age. If they're in kindergarten, they're more likely to reach proficiency
quicker than say an 11th grader who's coming to the US for the first time. So, there's a lot of variables in regards to um um that rate. Um in regards to supports, our students are receiving um students who need the support are
receiving the high intensity or the second period of support. Um all of our teachers have been um trained in sheltered instruction and that will continue. All of our ESL teachers have been Orton trained and um you know in many cases there's hand scheduling so
the students are receiving special placement. Another thing to note is um about 5% of students who are deemed eligible for ESL services there are parent refusals about 5%. So the students are eligible but
they're not receiving services. Right. Thank you. Um my next question, so um is about the DM and the dynamic learning maps. So since the recent um New Jersey Department of Education guidance excludes certain disability categories
from the DM, um what are the most uh like how is the district ensuring that these students are succeeding on the NJSLA or the NJ GPA? And I know we don't have all that yet um but with the required uh accommodations. And what are the most um common accommodations or
accessibility features um that we we utilize here? Um well based on the students um child study team evaluation, individualized goals and objectives are in place for each child so that they will address their learning needs. Um uh supports are
in place for each child so that they can help access the general curriculum and meet grade level expectations. Um, in regards to testing accommodations, I would say extra time, small group, frequent breaks, and text to speech are
probably the most common. Okay, thank you, Jim. Thank you for the presentation. Um, lots lots of information. I almost feel like I need a cup of tea to sit down and and go through it all again. Um, it seems as if though, and
correct me if I'm wrong, that you you you feel pretty positive about the trends that you're seeing in in our progression over time, particularly as it relates to the last two to three years. With that said, there's always, you know, we're human and the district is human and there's always opportunities to to make improvements. And I'm curious
from your opinion, where do you think are our best opportunities to improve in terms of continuing to move this in the right direction and support our kids? Um, that's a great question. I think that looking at the support we're providing for our teachers to meet the
needs of the diverse student population um is going to be paramount. So, I know that you know our instructional coaches were uh, you know, on the chopping block with the budget a few years back, but perhaps finding some kind of creative way to convert uh, you know, some kind
of position into into that to support that tier one instruction in the classroom uh, would be very important. Anything else? No. Okay. Um I have Thank you for the presentation and it is a lot of information to digest. Uh the part Well,
I did have just a really factual question. Do we have students who achieve the 4.5 for ESL and opt to stay in? Do they have that opportunity or do they have to move out? They're exited. Okay. because I know parents refuse services but I wondered if parents ever
asked to remain. Um my other question is just about our changing trends because I know you know we saw with the the hygiene drive and the number of people that I mean we have people are very very generous to provide for our students who need but we have such a changing
demographic and we have a very our influx of students right now it's just staggering the difference in our students. So I wanted to ask I mean our new student enrollment that's 41% economically disadvantaged they're coming in across the grade levels this is not
so we have that and then we have this percentage raise 53% economically disadvantaged 79% ESL this rise 35% rise in special education the district is going to see changes in our test scores I'm sure like as I was
listening to these numbers I'm waiting for Mr. Hong to gasp because this isn't going to be like a ripple in a pond. This is going to be like throwing a major boulder as and we need to meet the needs of every child and we're very committed to that. But how do you project we meet the needs when these
numbers are so rapidly rising? It's a different population. I think the state will move more towards a growth model. So not every child may pass that test, but they better be showing adequate yearly growth in learning. All right. I think that's a more equitable way to measure.
And our tier three intervention, does that stay steady at just 5%. Um it's pretty been pretty consistent um uh you know after that tier three is still not um meeting the needs of the students and they're not responding to
that tier three intervention is after uh when they would perhaps go to a child study team referral. So it is a it's a fluid process. Many of the students are coming back down because those interventions are working but sometimes they're not effective. All right. Thank you very much Mr. Hong.
Yes. Okay. Let's talk about the data. Please go to page number four. So uh there is data showing the continuum ESF student length of time in program. Yes.
If we combine first year and second year will be 65%. Last year we have 75%. Which means this year we have more we have more student need more time in
third year, fourth year and five year. So that means more student need more help because they as a matter of fact they stay longer time in this program.
So that is very alarming sign. Okay, let's go to the next. May I comment on that, Mr. Hung? Yes, please. Um, it it is hard to compare last year's numbers with this year's numbers because they're completely different children. And um as I said there there are many
factors that could um influence a student's ability to acquire the English language such as their proficiency level when they arrive here in our district, uh the language they're coming with, their age. So um I I understand your
concern that there are many students who need a lot of support in acquiring English language but last year's numbers you know some many of those students may have moved up levels or exited out and this is this year's group. So I understand your your your your
explanation but last year we have 347 students in this category. This year we have 410 by statistic. This this should be bigger enough pool to show the significance of the percentage.
Okay, let's go move to next. So we have the uh uh the actic rate for the comparison. So my understanding that when student achieve or reach certain level they will
exit this program. So 2022 the exit rate is 25%. 23 is 21%. 24 is 19%. And this year 20%.
In last four years there about 5% decrease which means we our student performance is gradually drafting to the direction which I don't like. This
is second alarming sign. Mr. Hong, can I ask a question? Sure. So you're talking about percentages of students who are active program. Yes. But shouldn't we be comparing the total pool of students who are in the program when we look at that percentage?
I think that that that number that you're talking about is somewhat skewed because you've got to look at the entire population of students who are in the in the program. I understand your point. We're talking about the English as language learner. We're
talking about specific group subgroup. Okay, let's move the D. Okay, so they come for comparison. Oh yeah, sure. Sorry. Sorry. No problem. Thank you.
Previous one, please. Next. Previous one. The dynamic learning maps. So next page next page. Okay, that's one. Okay. So for comparison, so if we this
combined is the advanced and it target I assume for those two categories which means those student reached our educational target. So for the EA last year we have 58% this year we only
have 43%. For the math last year we have 59% this year we have only 34%. For science last year we have 25% this year we have
21%. So this is I this this is more than alarming sign this you covered every subject. I'm sorry you know I I think sorry Mr. to what Mr. Hong is
saying because I did the math it's a 28% decrease a 40% decrease and a 25% decrease. So that's those are again there were 122 less high
functioning students taking this test and this test is for our most significant cognitively impaired students. So you know we are now dealing with 10 20 student and uh when we deal large
number of student the trend the statistic number means a lot we're not talking about student we're talking hundreds of students okay so let's get AAP DPF mathematics
move to next page or let's go to the second to the Last page. Yes, this is the last one. First is okay. So 2024 New Jersey average is 55%.
And this year is 58% which is 3% and more. But this year we last year and this year we keep constant 20%. This is maybe not an alarming sign but it's very good sign for us to look at
our teaching. So that's all my question and maybe I'm wrong but I I I look at the data. All right Jamie. Yeah. Thank you Dr. Bully. Um if we stay on this slide I just have some remarks.
Um I I was personally perturbed by this. Um children with IEPs are no less intelligent than any other child. they just learn differently and to see that there is a um considerable inequity in the graduation readiness I think speaks
to how we educate these students. My background is in visual processing and learning and what I see across the state which is not a failure of us but at the state level in my opinion is that that is not a facet of education and learning that is addressed or measured in any
sort of way. So I wonder um what opportunities we have to innovate in this space to find better ways to address the learning inequity that exists for these students in math. Um well, we certainly are working very closely with the child study teams in
the school buildings as well as the special ed department, the supervisors and the director um to support them and to support uh the child study teams in crafting programs that meet the individualized needs of the children. Um
in regards to uh supports um in the in the area of mathematics um we use diagnostic data to um identify areas of unfinished learning for students and build foundational gaps. Um our teachers differentiate in the classroom to meet
their students needs every day. We offer basic skills support and support classes so students are receiving that math instruction every single day for identified students. Um, we're also offering uh tutoring after school from our old teachers in the in all of our
schools. Thank you, Dr. Bully. Thank you for your presentation this evening. Most of my questions have been answered tonight, but there was something you said I just want to follow up on for the public. You said that uh students who are eligible for services, there's about 5% that
their parents say they don't want services. Correct. What can we do or what are we doing for that 5%? So those students are still getting a chance to be successful throughout the school year. Um our supervisor is calling every parent to make sure they fully understand what services um entail.
Sometimes there's mis misunderstanding or miscommunication. Um our again our staff have been uh receiving the sheltered instruction um professional learning so that they have the strategies to meet the needs of the students when they're in the classrooms
and the the children are being assessed by law. So the results are here and um you know it's a matter of the between the building principal and the supervisor building relationships with the family so that they can help the children get the support they need.
Okay. Thank you Dr. Bull. I appreciate that. Very. Um, thank you, Dr. Bully. Um, you just to confirm you in in response to Miss Herrick's question about the state standards for the the 4 and a half% 4.5
exit. Uh, you said there the state doesn't report a standard. Um I think her question was does our 20% umish annual exiting rate align with the state average of students exiting ESL services
in every district throughout the state. Right. And does it that information is not reported? So okay. And then and then uh in response to Mr. Hong's question about um you know it it's hard to compare you said it's hard to compare last year's
students to this year's students. So uh because the the students are obviously different. So I love data but my concern is what is the value of data if we have nothing to benchmark it against with the ESL exiting with everything because those are two
different topics. Um the students exiting we see the the trends over the last few years of how many student what percentage of students are exiting the program. Um sorry but you said that the the we can't compare last year's students to this
year's students. So then what what are we using as a comparator? Well the program is exiting the children all all of the children. it's the program is meeting the needs and successful in ensuring that the children are acquiring English language enough that they can exit the program. I think
what Mr. Hong was referring to is the number of students who are a level one this year versus the number who were a level one last year. Uh Mr. Hong's question was on the DM. So you said you know in if you go back a few slides.
Yep. Yeah. Right there. So um when we asked about that again respectively 2840 and 25% decrease um you said it's hard to we can't use this because it's hard to compare last year's students to this year's students. So what is the
benchmark? How do we what I was trying to explain is that 122 or 40% of the children who have previously taken the DM did not take it. 40% of the higher functioning students
did not take this exam last year. So the students who did take the exam were deemed eligible and required an alternative assessment due to their significant cognitive disability. That's what I was saying. I wasn't saying you can't compare. I mean there's a totally
different amount of students taking the test, right? And so my point is when we look at data, it should be um thorough. This was the first year that we excluded uh this the the students with the um all
of these disabilities listed here. This was the first year that they were not eligible to take the DM. So next year we'll be able to compare students who are eligible to take the DM one-year growth over time. Okay. And then um regarding the students
who are e economically disadvantaged, how is that determined? Uh you know free and reduced lunch applications and the census data. So that that makes them I please explain to me why that there's a poverty level established by
the government I guess. Okay. And if they fall belong below that poverty line they're considered economically disadvantaged. Okay. That's all. Thank you. I have Oh, okay. Go ahead, Anna. Okay.
I'm looking at this page with the tier one. Um, so I'm a little I just want some clarification. Um, there's we're going to be doing that new pilot. Yes.
In the in the um elementaryaries, right, for ILA, correct? Okay. So, how in those pilot groups, right, because I believe we're we're going out we're looking at two different curriculums. Yes, that's correct. Right. And then you have your control,
which I guess would be the the regular the current curriculum. Yes. Okay. So, how is this pilot going to impact our ELLL students? um are are they being included in the in
the new curriculums that are being tested if they're in those general classrooms, but they're pulled out for their ESL instruction and perhaps their high intensity period. Okay. All right. Because um based on their proficiency level, if they don't speak any English, then they're pulled out twice a day. If
they're coming along in their proficiency, then they may only have that one period. Okay. All right. And then I guess the same question with um students with with special needs. Are they going to be included in the groups with the new curriculum if they're in those home rooms?
So the they're like the way that the the schedules would were set up. They're they the classes were set up in the way that they normally would be. Is that how it is? From my experience, the principal and the teachers create class lists at the building level.
Okay. Right. We identified two teachers at every grade level in all of the buildings to pilot these programs and where the students are placed is a building decision. Okay. So that happened at the building level like it always does
which K right. Okay. So I just wanted to make sure that that um that because we're doing new curriculum that we don't have some of our kids falling through the cracks, you know. Absolutely. Well, the universal screener data will be very helpful in that regard.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Anybody else over here? Again, I do have a question about data that's just difficult. But do we in any way collect information about if students are literate like able to read and write in their home language?
They do. They do. Okay. Because and that would determine where their proficiency level is. Yes. Yeah. I was think when you were asking your questions I was thinking about um I know many of us who are in education we've had the experience of you get students that are coming in um to the
country at you know different levels in their education but if they're coming in in an economically uh if they're economically experiencing challenges but if they're coming from a rural area I've had the issue of you have the additional challenge that they
hadn't learned to read not a cognitive issue but they hadn't learned to read in their home language So there was the additional level of now I have a nth grader who didn't learn to read before. So we're and if you look in the red the tier three at the top uh you'll see SCY
newcomers basic beginners. Some students are coming to us with um um very limited um formal education. So they may be in 10th grade and haven't been to school since fourth grade. So we're creating individualized plans.
Do we have numbers on that or are we just seeing a trend? Uh, I could get numbers for you. Thank you. Anyone else down here again? Yes. So, Dr. B, I I forgot to thank you for the a lot of information. So when I I'm not
trying to embarrass you. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm trying to do my data analysis try to find the trend because we as a board me I as a board member I try to make sure you know we provide adequate education to every student. So if we
look at the number you know every year we got the first significant amount of students speak different language at home. So you know last year we have 36%. So this year we have 41%. This is a very
large student body. We have to do our job to help those students. And you told me that we have 40% of student is economically disadvantaged. This is very large number of student. We need put our
effort there. we need to do good job to help those student to is we have to prepare them well for their future. So I think that that's all. Thank you again for the nice presentation. Anybody else down here?
Just one more thing back here. Sorry. Did you have them? Oh, cool. We're all over. I'm confused. So, I'm just kind of trying to look at this again from like a really high level and I'm just curious if these statements are fair. the town is growing and the challenges that are coming into our
district challenges right are are increasing in a way. How do we educate people who are coming in with it's a more diverse population potentially which is a good thing but also it's bringing different challenges to the community in terms of our ability to to meet the many the needs are increasing.
Um so I just want to make sure that's sort of a fair yes that's very fair. Okay. And and that's and that's where I'm like, oh boy. Right, because we are, you know, continuing to see and and we're going to be talking about this in six months or eight months, you know, more money potentially being cut from
our community that we need to meet those needs. And and I think the trends of those needs have continued at the same rate, right? Like this, you know, 10 years ago, we weren't having these conversations or if we were, they all of these numbers were reduced. So these numbers are growing and the talent and
the expertise that we need within the community to accommodate those needs and allow those needs to excel. It is a great challenge. It sounds like this is a great challenge for for your you and your team. It is a challenge. Last year the district uh unprecedented had 70
homeless families here in East Brunswick's public schools. So, of course, those children come with a a another unique challenge um that they're that they're struggling with and trying to meet the social and emotional and academic needs of all of the children coming from war torn countries and and
all of all of the things is is is a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. We're trying our best every single day. Mr. Hong, I know that you are up here doing your due diligence and I want to rest assured that my team and I and the principles in the building care about every single child as much as
we all do here in this room and we're working every single day to meet the needs of everyone. I never doubt your effort. I you have my full support. You have my 100% respect. I know you guys are doing very very good
job but the situation is dynamic. We have different student body and apparently state is not giving us enough money and and then to give you the challenge give you the challenge how to do your job well
with limit financial resource but more challenged student body. I if I could I want to touch on what Mr. coming said about the change in the the community. And one of the things that we
have we have undertaken here locally in East Brunswick is we we have typically done fundraisers for cancer research and a variety of other very very worthy charitable causes. Uh but a year and a half or maybe two years ago, we started
collecting money for gift cards uh that are used by families for essentials like an Uber or a lift to get to an essential appointment. Um that's what we've seen change differently and we're we're talking tonight about the performance of
students but there's a family structure behind every student and that that has changed tremendously over the last five six seven years uh not only because of international conflict and uh
immigration to the United States but um you know that people are are they're seeking quality education in East Brunswick and they're they're coming here at at at every expense that they have to get here. Uh but then they are
struggling to maintain you know they're having to work multiple jobs. Uh they are you know it they're maintaining and and that's what we're seeing different uh in the last five or six years. I just wanted to ask with the with our
changing financial situation for many of our families and the challenges they're having and with our changing economy, this seems to be evolving more rapidly than it has in previous years. Are we moving towards any of our schools like are we moving towards title one? All of our schools are title one except
for frost and warner but we're not moving towards frost and warner. I don't know their numbers off the top of my head on but the high school was title one last year. Yeah, they were for the first time. I was going to say that just happened, right? Sorry. When did all those things happen for
last year? The high school was was No, all the schools. When did except for Warren Stafer and Frost? They had been title one schools previously. All except the high school. High school became a title one school last year. Um so, Dr. If I can just add, I think
what um what would be really helpful to see is that the data is great, but um it it doesn't mean anything without this is our data and here's our plan to rectify some of this. I think that's the the transparency that we'd like to see of
because otherwise when we look at this like Mr. Hong said, it's disturbing. So for some of it, it's like okay, but what is going to be done about it? So I think um it would be helpful. Yeah. And I know you're saying you're meeting with your teams and discussing if we could see what that looks like, what the plan is
to to address these issues. Okay. For moving forward. Thank you. Yeah. I just wanted to piggyback on that. When we have student services, the committee meet, we have these fantastic presentations that happen um about what
the teams are doing to meet these needs. And especially I I wish more members of the public could see it. Um especially because we talk a lot about the changing needs of our students. You know, if you're looking at Maslo's hierarchy of needs, it is very hard for a student to be available for learning if they are
not feeling safe, if they don't have shelter, if you know they're feeling insecure in just their physical safety. So, I really would like to discuss as as a board and with the administration if maybe we could move some of the student services presentation into the open
public meeting so more people could see that information because there are amazing things happening in the district, your teams through special services. And it's great to have the committee meeting, but not enough people get to see what we offer, what's out there, what we're doing, and what our
changing needs are. because I feel like in the time that I've been on the board, the changes have just picked up the speed so dramatically. Um, and our students needs aren't like increasing in one area and decreasing. They're just increasing all over the place. So, I would like to discuss if we could bring
some of those student services presentations into the meeting and see if it makes it feel longer because I think that information will be valuable for everyone and we can't have all of us at the committee meeting because then it becomes a different kind of meeting. So, if we could discuss bringing some of them here. Let's do it.
Yeah. Just to add on on to that, um I went to my first student services meeting what back in the back in late spring and just to lay out what that uh experience was like. There were tables making a gigantic square that filled up
that entire area of the room packed with people, packed with teams that were doing incredible things for the for our for our students. Um but it and and it was wonderful but we were just kind of talking to each other and I
agree it'd be great if the public could see more directly what I agree that's been the frustration of the committee is we have some parent representation but I think especially with the mental health things that we offer with the things that we offer for our students that are economically disadvantaged for the things that we
offer the ELLs it would be better if more people were aware good idea because people are doing great work but it's just very quietly. All right. Thank you. Anybody else with anything else? All right. Thank you so much.
Okay. See, I I last night they changed the format on my reading for the good of the cause for the public and he messed me up. I'm still mad. I got to like I read this all the time and I'm like what happened? So I'm ready. Like it's like at mass
when you know whoever's read doing the readings like starts on the part that's outside the brackets and then they're committed to the long that's what happened to me last night. I was like we just went off the off the script. I got very I was a little niffed but we're good for
tonight. All right. For the good of the cause for the public. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff. Concerns regarding individual students
and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff. In order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment, the board shall provide a period of public comment at every board meeting. Um, if you step up to the mic, you have three minutes.
The board secretary will keep the time when you step up if you could state your name and address unless you are a student and then it's your name and your school. We would appreciate it. Uh is there anyone here that's wishing to address the board? Hi Dom.
Is this just for the presentation or is this for like the whole meeting? This is the whole whole Okay. Uh supposed to do questions from the public. Okay. Okay. Just checking. Uh Don Scfani, six fair uh six fairfield road. One number one. Can we please pave
the parking lot? There's like gigantic craters of potholes there. Um so that's one. I'm with you on that. Thank you. Thank you. Um two, in regards to the presentation,
um what is what is currently being done clearly isn't working. The numbers are going down. If they were going up, we would we'd have no problem. But they're going down. Uh saying you can't compare last year students is a copout
because it's still it's it's not like they're their own their own thing. They're still in the same in the same age group. Um my question is this. How do we provide more support? And please do not answer
in generalities. Please give Please give an answer. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Uh, Antonet Evola, 45 Merrell Avenue. I came here I want I was going to say something else, but after seeing
this presentation, I've never been so insulted in my entire life. I cannot believe that you have given a separate line item for children who don't have money. I was free and reduced lunch when I was in school and I was very smart. That is a that is the most biggest excuse I've ever saw in my life. And and
I understand you're giving us this data and you're saying you took a hundred kids away from last year. Just because the state said these 100 kids can't take the tests anymore doesn't mean that those kids wouldn't have done poorly. Also, it just means they weren't eligible anymore. So, let's not try and sell it for something else. Number two,
not a single one of you mentioned that the black and brown children are only at a 50% advantage for graduating. Why are those children not a focus for everybody? What what makes them unable to get to the 70% that I saw for the poor children? Because that's really
what they are. We're going to we could use fancy words, but let's call them what they really are, right? So, because I was poor when I was younger, I was expected to fail and make your numbers look bad. Now, let's talk about the other thing I wanted to talk about on this chart. You have 504 children
getting 83%. IEP 28%. I took I put a survey out today to get the public's opinion about what what their the the public's climate about everything and I cannot tell you how many special education parents commented
anonymously that their their children are in classrooms with teachers who are not qualified to teach them. They are not certified to teach them. They don't know how to teach them. Even with a 504 and I'm a 504 parent and I'm sure everybody's heard me talk about Adrien before and he's probably gonna get pissed that I just dropped his name, but
it's fine. He just learns differently exactly exactly how Miss Falco said. He just needs to be told a couple more times. He just needs to sit in the front of the classroom. Do you know how many people in this district have children with their kids just need a little bit extra?
And there's teachers who can't even do that. I have to constantly Adrian's going into nth grade. I have to constantly reach out to the teachers. And you know what I don't like? I don't like the fact that I have to find out by his other guidance counselor who his student service counselor is. Why is that not listed in his in his Genesis
portal? I'm sure there's a lot of parents in here or watching eventually that have children with IEPs and 504s who do not even know who their student service counselor is. We cannot put these numbers there and then try and sell me a dream that these are like this
because we have children coming into the district who can't speak English. My husband grew up in Palmo. He came here when he was 14. He didn't speak English. He's in ESL and he makes a lot of money. Ju just because you have a second language, just because you're poor does not mean that you get to put us put them
on a chart and make it look like it's their fault that the numbers are down. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Rachel Botnik, 262 Bramley. Two words, differentiated instruction. It's lacking in this district. With all
due respect, I have emailed every single one of you sitting at this day and I have said this for years. Your tests are across the board. There's no differentiation in your assessments and you are using your assessments to
analyze data and drive instructional decisions that are skewed. And that is why your test scores are going down. Your special ed students, the students that you said are no longer eligible for the DM are now thrown into the NJSLA.
Have you given them supports before they took the NJSLA to make sure they know what test they're taking now? Because the DM is very different. And I don't think any of you know what that is. It's it's night and day different between an
NJSLA and a DM. So these kids who were in DM for years are now thrown into a different environment. That's why your test scores are going down. They don't have special ed student uh uh teachers that are appropriately placed in classrooms. Supervisors are blaming the
special education teachers that are put in there and they are told to stick to pacing guides that are not accurately effective for the students they are teaching. You have made no concessions in any of your pacing guides and now you're finally realizing it. I sat there
with you for almost an hour and a half at the beginning of the summer. I couldn't believe how many notes you were taking on things that are not done in this district that I in a title one district am required every single week that I show my lesson plans to have
displayed in my lesson plans and in my classroom for special education students, 504 students, gifted and talented students, it doesn't matter. They all need accommodations. And if your test scores don't show that, then we have bigger problems than just test
scores. I'm done. Thank you, Rachel. I wasn't gonna talk tonight, but France Snow Eyes Schindler court, but I feel like I want to give you some solutions because I'm good at that, right? I think that one of the things that we've talked
about a lot is accountability. So, I would like to just maybe piggyback a little bit on what was just said. I don't know that we necessarily need to be putting more money into maybe some of the numbers and the data that we're seeing. What we need to be doing is
holding the teachers accountable, which means our principles have to have a tight notch on what's happening in the classrooms, what's happening everywhere they're going. I'm hearing we're piloting two new programs. I'm hearing
we're down three supervisors. That's also making me think as an educator, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, they're going to be teachers who are going to be paralyzed and they're already not feeling so
great. So I think that using the vice principles, using the principles, those are your people on deck, using people who are more seasoned teachers that are around that have the time and the ability, the want, the need, the desire
to support the teachers that might need that. But a a little example of this is a few years ago, you guys did a kind of a workshop model for mathematics if I'm not mistaken. And every mathematic classroom had um whole group instruction
and it was a block schedule and then you guys went to small group, individual group and paired group where it would be like more intimate with the teacher but with two or three kids. My own children I've seen in a math classroom have that
be implemented implemented well and really be successful. I've seen other math classrooms in the district where it was not right. That difference right there, same curriculum, right? Same expectation. That was a teacher thing, I
think. Right. So, that could be something that you doubled down on in your teachers. This is what's expected during math time. I don't know what happened to that workshop model with math. It might have dissipated a little bit. So, in some rooms, it's not. So
like that's what I'm talking about, right? So it's like that accountability piece kind of piggybacking on what was just said earlier, you know, that's really the principles, responsibilities and and and then use your resources within. There are a lot of resources
within, right? So my piece Thank you, Fran. Anyone else? All right, then I'm going to close the public portion, which takes us to our agenda for this evening. All right. Uh,
our first item on our agenda is bylaws and policies. It's a first reading. I wanted to ask Mr. Gio if he could just explain. I've talked to people in the public and they said sometimes it's just very unclear what it is that we're doing. So, when we're passing bylaws and
policies, it's a multi-step process. So, I thought Mr. Jacobe could explain how this happens. So, uh, bylaws are part of the policy. So, bylaws and policies, um, what I like to do is I like to kind
of equate it to when a municipality like the township of East Brunswick passes ordinances, whether it's zoning ordinances or no parking overnight or setbacks on yards if you're going to build something. Those are the laws of
East Brunswick. Policies and the bylaws are the laws of the board of education. And policies and the bylaws, they all emanate from New Jersey statutes. So, um, schools are governed under what's known as title 18A and that governs
that's all the laws that the state legislature has enacted that deals with schools and they cover it goes from K to 12 school districts, Ruters, community colleges. um it's all covered in 18A. So policies are passed and there are a number of
policies that are known as mandatory policies. So for example um there has to have policies about HIV. That's a mandatory law. You have to have a mandatory policy. And so when people see uh a mandatory policy, it has an M on
it. That's mandatory. Now, what districts do and if you look at the East Brunswick's policies, their laws that govern the operation of the schools, rules for uh students, rules for staff members, rules for certificate staff
members. And if you go to another district, Woodbridge, South Brunswick, their policies are all very similar. Why? Because there are two different policy companies in New Jersey. There's Strauss Esme, there's New Jersey school boards. And they put out policies. And
so all the districts subscribe to this these programs um to get policies. The policies come in, the board has a policy committee, which I believe you're the chair of and the policy committee goes through the policies. There are many policies and I'll just give you an
example that aren't mandatory, but boards could have it. So for example, there are I represent a board where they've decided to implement a a dress uniform policy. not mandatory, but a board can do that. That's something that you can do. Policies change all the
time. And why how do they change? They change because either the legislation changes or there's court cases, uh either New Jersey Supreme Court, US Supreme Court cases that change and and alter the policies. So the policy these policy companies, they
monitor all that and they send out the the updated policies to you. Um, and it's the job the job of the board is to pass policies. You're basically setting the rules of or the laws for all the students, all the staff, visitors,
people who want to use your facilities. That's all contained in policies. You also have what are known in some policies you'll see has regulations. And it's just like laws in in in our government. There are laws and then there are regulations. And what the regulations do is they amplify the
policy. They might give more detail. So for example, um you have a policy that deals with u students tuition rates. And when I say tuition rates, we charge people if you don't live in the district, we charge them tuition. And
there's different ways of of doing it. What qualifies as tuition? What doesn't? That would be in a regulation that the board does. So what happens is the board has a first reading which is tonight. Uh it basically is publishing these are the policies so people can look at them and
then there's a second reading and that's when they're adopted. Regulations are not don't require the first and second reading that they can be done by one reading. Um, but what we do, and you'll see this happen often, is policies are on board meetings because there's been a
change in the law or you're just updating your policies. And I think you guys are going through and you're going through and updating all your policies to making sure that they're compliant and you're working with Strauss to make sure that you have the latest policies that match the laws of New Jersey. So, I
hope that helps. That does. Thank you. All right. Uh, can I have a motion for board of education items? I'm going to go through the agenda one section at a time tonight because there's just quite a bit. Um,
but can I have a motion for board of education items one through three? Motion. Right, Jamie? Second. Second, Maryanne. All right. Discussion Lou. So uh for the board of education item
number three is a job description for the supervisor of alternate program for grade K to2. So for the for the number 16 it says hold a valid driver's license with no serious violation. I believe we
need f further definition of what is no serious violation to be more clear. So that's all comments I have. Thank you. Anyone else? I have a comment on um in the policy
number three uh for alert 234. We're we're um in particular policy number 5516, the use of electronic communication devices. So um I think it's moving in a very positive direction. Personally, that's my own personal opinion. Uh the the one thing
that I do think should be addressed and could be improved is the uh allocation that's within that policy to allow students to use cell phones during lunch in grades 7 through 12. Again, personally that I don't adhere or
believe that that's the right move for us as a community. So, I just wanted to bring that to the attention of of everybody and share my opinion. We had um I'm going to comment to that, too. We had a very robust conversation at the policy meeting the other night
and again it it has been a week of a lot of really interesting meetings. But um while I am also in favor of significant restrictions on cell phones in schools, as somebody who lives in a high school for a very very long time, um so many of
our students work and so many of our students are responsible for younger siblings after school. And with changing in sports, um, I understand parents needs for wanting to be able to communicate with their child at at least some point midday, most significantly
with the working and with supervision of younger siblings. Um, I don't know if we should move to absolutely no cell phone use during the day, but I understand the family's desires to be able to reach their student. Just uh, one point of clarification on
that. um that specificity is within the regulation uh not the policy. So just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware. Thank you. So the regulation will be at the next meeting. But yes, that is an important point.
And just to add on to that, um, since we were talking about, um, families that are, uh, facing financial challenges in our district, it's highly much more likely that it's actually those families that need to contact their older kids to help out with stuff that that comes up
because uh, both parents may not be available. Anyone else discussion? No. What kind of accessibility do those 7 to 12 students have to their families throughout the day? Because what if there's a situation where a student
feels like they just need to contact their parent? Is is that permissible that they're allowed to go and use their cell phone? And so again, right now we're talking about the policies. That's the regulation. So that's not on the table right now. That's on the next
meeting. Okay. Um but just for clarification, yeah, in the binders that uh the board received on this, um that detail is reflected within the regulation, right? I was trying to let the public conversation exactly
transparency that that particular item is not on the table right now. Okay. So, we'll come back to that. Yeah. Because I want to talk about Yes. me, too. It's good. It's good for the public to know how their children can contact them if they need to contact them. You're not wrong. Anyone else discussion
on these? Yeah, two questions hopefully quick. Um on the academic integrity um uh policy. Um I'm glad to see that AI is addressed um here. Um do we actually have an AI
plan? U because that's okay. Great. Um and then the second thing u for um uh item number uh three on the agenda the uh um what I the job description uh for supervisor of alternative uh
programs. Uh there are two edits I just wanted um clarification on. Uh one is that in the copy that I saw um restorative justice was struck out of the job description. Um so forgive my ignorance but what is restorative
justice and why was that deleted? Um restorative uh Dr. and restorative justice was an opportunity for students to uh still be integrated in the school community uh but to have like an intervention to meet with somebody uh to
talk about why they were behaving or what you know what their actions were uh it's it's it's less punitive for the that'll be absorbed at the at the building level by the building principal. Okay. Um so that may answer my other question on that item. Um there was also
um description of home instruction coordinator as part of this job that was also deleted. So it um so is that shifted over to that'll be reassigned to another supervisor. Oh which one? The supervisor of physical education and health. Okay. Thanks.
I'm a huge fan of restorative justice. It has a lot of student reflection on the impact of their behavior on others which I like. Hannah. Yeah. I was just curious um with the proposed cell phone ban especially for K
to six um what what drove this? Was there a survey put out to get a an idea of what the parents concerns are? Um were was there a survey put out to the staff um to discuss, you know, the the
issues that they're seeing? I was just curious um how you came up with this. So, Dr. Bra, we the the the principles did put out surveys and collected information from from the staff. Uh, but one of the things that we
utilized was the the the real life experiment at Hammershold this year, which was a ban on cell phones. And what we heard from students was there was a greater satisfaction in social interaction. Um, parents didn't complain
about it. Uh, and the and the staff uh also reported that the students were more focused and engaged uh throughout the day. Uh so that that really became our benchmark uh for part of this policy. Okay, good.
I've also um had parents reach out to me asking about implementing a cell phone uh ban and there is data to show that um restricting access to devices um results in better educational outcomes. Oh, absolutely. And as a retired teacher, that was always a nightmare.
Um, you know, collecting cell phones when kids would be sneaking them out and everything. So, um, okay. I just wanted to see where you got that from. And then I did have another question. Uh, wait, this is a regulation though. Should I wait to ask? Yeah, the regulation should meet your
next meeting when you we when you guys are going to be putting it on the uh the regulation will be on the agenda next meeting. Oh, okay. Because I had a question about class size. So, but I can I guess I'll just wait until next time. Is that what you want me to do?
This is the policy. Depends on which well 2312. It is 312 class size. There's um unfortunately the regulation and the policy have the same number. Oh.
So um so the policy is a two-page document. Um uh if you are in your binder, it's in tab number four. Yeah.
And the first document in that tab is the policy. Okay. Oh, okay. Um, right. Because I I guess I was on the looking at the next page because I was wondering about secondary schools when it says that a class in
which fewer than 15 students are enrolled may be cancelled. Um, which I guess is like the minimum number that you need to run a class because I know when we were doing our our budget things that was a question that I had asked and I I don't remember getting an answer to
it. Um the my only concern then is it says that uh you can have less than 15 students unless the elimination of the class will impair the school curriculum or deprive students of an
essential unit in a sequential instructional program necessary for graduation, college application, employment or other post-graduate use which you know is pretty broad. So the What? How few kids will you still run a
class? If you have three kids signed up for an AP class, is that class still going to run? It's Dr. Brian, it's going to be really hard in this budgetary environment to do that. And that's really where this conversation uh really got refined and it was about,
you know, at what point do we make decisions? Do you as a board make decisions about where that break point is? And so that that's really why that 15 number exists right now. And it it requires the principles when they're making schedules take a hard look at
that class and and and and is it sustainable for the public? Um can we afford to do it? And it it's really coming down to the economics, right, of of running uh the education and and and especially in an elective elective environment.
Right. Right. And I mean, because I understand, you know, you have a little wiggle room there, but honestly, the way that it's written, you could almost justify any class. Continuing on, I'm thinking, you know, like I'm just going to throw out AP Music
because that's a class that I took when I was a kid. There were never that many kids in that class. Um, and obviously it's my my own children took AP music, so it was definitely something I was grateful that they could do. because it made a difference for
their college, you know, applications. I just am a little worried because of we know we're going to have more budget issues. And I think there right now too, there's there other layers that we put in place
over the last two years to analyze what those class sizes are. So, it's not a it's not housed just within the school environment. is being analyzed at at our central office level and in some cases we're having conversations with the board and committees about those those
kinds of things too. So I think there's there's multiple strata that that get looked at here uh for the future. So just for clarification again that particular area is in the regulation itself. So regulation is not part of the conversation really right now. Um but
also I wanted to point out that that particular language was not being changed. It's not new. It's what the existing language had been. Right. Right. But I it caught my eye. So despite the fact that the regulation and
policy thing you should see the size of the policy binder that we all read for Monday and for this meeting. It's a lot to absorb and then keep straight which is regulation and policy. Any other discussion on board of education one?
Yeah, I just have a couple remarks um about policy um just because I think the audience can't see our binders. Um you know with Strauss asked May the language is very specific um and they try to
adhere to the recommendations based on New Jersey student learning standards. So for policy uh 2200 I think it's worth noting that the modifications were based on the legal suggestions
um and I think the majority of this is however the cell phone policy I appreciate that the board has been really thoughtful in having dialogue about this and addressing the mental health components and the acade uh academic environment for our children. Um, can I bring up about what we
discussed in that policy meeting about the addition of that one line? Is that permitted or no? Sure. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So, um, based on constituent feedback, um, we added to the, uh, personal device policy, uh, just a
remark that only approved, um, devices within the district, the Chromebooks and issued devices would be permitted in classroom learning. The idea was to make sure that these cell phones were fully um in backpacks and the language explicitly states in the policy that it
is recommended cell phones and devices are left at home which I think is um you know really good warning. I think that that's worth noting to people. Thank you. Anything else? So sorry I was just because Dr. Wleski
you said uh sorry you said that when um Dr. Pan asked about the uh restorative. Um I was under the impression that that was making the punishment a teachable moment. Is that it is it is but it's less punitive. I
mean in terms of instead of putting a student uh in a uh a suspension or some kind of greater punitive. Yeah. It's more reflective. It's it engages the student. Okay. Can you give us an example of what that looks like?
somebody involved in um uh I'm trying to think of an example right now without like they graffiti a locker I'm sorry like a graffitiing a locker graffiti on a locker if you graffiti a lock the problem with that one is if you graffiti a locker and it ends up being a bias situation it
becomes a criminal act okay uh and reportable to the prosecutor's office um Dr. the restorative justice. The one the one thing I think a a good example to use is um when they when the the state
legislature implemented this, this is probably about eight years ago, seven or eight years ago. Um used to be that, you know, they would have detentions for kids in kindergarten, first, second grade. That's not permitted anymore, right? um because they don't want they want
young kids to learn from their mistakes as opposed to being punished and singled out and you have lunch detention, you can't be on the playground with your friends. So, restorative justice looks also at the age level of what's occurring and they're realizing, you
know, if you're a elementary school kid and you make a mistake, is there a punitive aspect to it? If you're in high school and you're graffitiing a locker, there's going to be a punitive aspect to it. Um, and and so it it really is to try to
meet the goal always is with restorative justice is to correct behavior. And what they have found is with restorative justice uh counseling children and having them meet with counselors etc. and the
teachers that has a better more positive impact, a lasting impact than sending a kid to uh you know inschool suspension or lunch detention or after school suspension. So that's um really kind of the best example I think is a lot of
it's age based when they're doing it. Thank you. One so I I do want to mention that part of restorative justice uh and the impact we've seen in East Brunswick uh and Dr. Figuro can attest to this. Our SSO teams uh that work directly with students who
develop relationships with students um has been has had a significant impact uh on the lives of some students because they now have a role model uh and somebody that they they can personalize, they can talk to uh in a very safe space
and our SSOs have really been very good about that and I I give them a lot of credit. And I' I've had the opportunity to use restorative justice with tiny people. And as a parent now, I see like why I would want that for my child because
I've had a child who tore another child's work off the wall in the hall. Just careless. Like little kid just rip it. And the child whose work it was was distraught. Under the old system, the one who did the tearing wouldn't have gone outside at lunch, which just makes that kid angry. Yeah.
And doesn't do anything. But under the restorative justice, there was a meeting with a list of questions to have the child who did the tearing consider what the impact was to other people and how they felt and what his actions caused and eventually brought in the other child to also he wanted to apologize on
his own and talk about just a different ending than just you sit on the bench at recess. Yeah, I I think it's just important for parents to know that so that you know they know what the approach is. Thank you. I just wanted to point out one thing when we was giving you the
overview of the policies. Um you the question was talked about um there was a question on the um academic integrity and the cell phone the the the use of the electronic devices. So let's
talk about use of electronic devices. That's not a mandatory policy. So there's not a law that mandates cell phones not being used. there's discussion in the legislature to implement that and if the legislature implemented it then that would become a mandatory policy but right now the board
this board here has the right to um implement this policy to regulate the use of cell phones or electronic devices in schools and that gives you an example of the difference between mandatory versus one that is optional which which
you're passing I just had one more comment that as a parent who did not want my children to have cell phones when they were younger when the other kids were getting them, I would have loved the change in policy because there was so much peer pressure by the other kids having their because
the other kids made fun of anybody who didn't have one out at lunch and I felt that I wasn't being allowed to parent like I was being pushed in a direction. So, I am grateful for parents who want to make these own decisions for themselves as to what age their child gets a phone that
we're giving a little more space for that. All right. I'm sorry. That was a lot of discussion. Anyone else? But good. All right. Because there's a lot of positive change coming. This is a roll call vote. Anna Braun? Yes.
Timothy Cummings? Yes. Jamie Falco? Yes. Lewis Figureroa? Yes. Lorie Herrick, yes. Lee Wuhong, yes. Wolver Pan, yes. Marian Tangos, yes. Heather Gloss, yes. Motion passes. We are on to
curriculum items one through four. Can I have a motion? Still moved. Lori second. Second. Wilbur. Any discussion? I have a question on um item for the uh
comprehensive lit literacy uh screener. Um I just wanted to double check on how comprehensive this tool is. So um so first of all, are there any standard literacy screening things that this tool
does not do? So, we went through a comprehensive RFP process as outlined in the description there and we put out the RFP and we had five vendors submit um proposals and as a committee we reviewed the proposals
and um came up with the product we think will best meet our needs here in East Brunswick. And um also the working group on student literacy in their recommendation report which was put out in February um also ranked uh screening
tools and this product was along with another product. The only two that were recommended by the state. All the other products were recommended with support meaning we would need to add on uh the other company. the two that were
recommended by the state, the other company did not respond to this proposal. Okay. So, if I can just go back to my question. So, are there any standard literacy screening test that this tool does not cover? No. Okay. Thanks. Um and
one one last question on this. Um does this cover the dyslexia screening? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thanks, Laura. Um same under number four for the literacy screener. Um just looking at the group totals or the assessment um that you used it seems that um the
amplify one had the least well not the least but one of the least in cost effectiveness. I know it rated high in other categories but what were what was used to determine like cost effectiveness? I mean it was basically the per people price but again the other products we would have to supplement
with additional pieces and this one is comprehensive. Okay. So it is a little more expensive but we're getting what we're paying for. Anyone else for the same item uh the the the literary screening?
So will this be imp uh imp uh start in this September? Yes. Okay. So uh we already approved the last year uh the 2526 budget. What kind of
budgetary impact to our current budget? So first of all the universal screener in K to3 is mandated now in the state of New Jersey. Um there the state put out a grant and we applied and were and received funding through through a focus
grant to support this project. Um so we will be implementing K to6 this fall but the state only provide K23 we are trying to do K26. Yes. So which which means additional resource is needed for your effort.
So to to cover the K to4 buildings we are using funding that's already in our budget to supplement the grant. And then for the Hammershold students we're going to be looking at using title one funds for that building. Okay. Thank you. So I just let uh I want
to public know that this board and previous board always try our best take extra miles to help our student for this for this example state only required K23 screening it
twice a year but this board decided to do K26 three times a year. So this you know we are doing everything to help our student but as the sided effect that means a lot more extra resource needed.
Maybe in future if we don't have any resource we make scale back to the state mandatory required level. So this just a warning. So we we are trying whatever available to help our students. We are
willing to do extra more than the state required. Historically the board is doing and we will do kept doing this job. Just to clarify, Mr. Hong, um I went back and I did check in the budget and this was specifically budgeted.
Okay. Thank you. Yes. And also just to clarify, it's a p student purchase. So how many times you screen the student, the price doesn't change. Okay, just I just I just have a quick question about the same item number four. Um,
increasing the amount of time students are doing screeners or tests may have a effect on mental health specifically with the increases in anxiety and comorbid um neurode divergences. Are we going to be looking at the implications of additional screenings and how
students respond to this as well? Yeah, that's a good point. So part of the rubric was the length and this is under 10 minutes per student. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, this is this is a
voice. This is a voice vote. Sorry, I was looking at the next section. I'm sorry. It's the voice vote. So all in favor? Opposed? Abstensions. Right. Motion carries. We are on to business and support operations.
Items one through on the new budget it's how many? 20 something uh through 202. Items 1 through 22. Remember if you are traveling this is the one where there will be abstensions. You just have to abstain on the one the
item that specifically named here. Thank you. Can I have a motion please for building and support operations? Motion move. All right, Jamie and then Wilbur the race discussion. Thank you um for Lawrence Brook PTA for
um donating uh $1,930 to be used towards the purchase of an outdoor sensory path is going to be fantastic. So, thank you to them. I was going to have the same comment because while that's
wonderful for the entire community and for all the children, it is so inclusive for our children that are neurode divergent as well. Anyone else discussion? Lori, um I just wanted to make a comment on the community programs and again what a
wonderful job they do uh planning the schools out programs on days that the schools are closed. Um again, it looks like they're doing so many great things this year. Um I wish I could be a student and go to some of them, but um I thank them for their effort. They're
just an amazing um asset that we have, you know, community programs and helping parents that that have to work when school is closed. So I'm especially grateful for that. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah. I I have um a few items here. So, also I
would like to thank the Lawrence Brook PTA for their generous donation for the sensory uh path. Um uh with everything else, just getting the kids outside is a great thing. Um so, if I could just work through my list, sorry. Um for item number two, the asbestous abatement
contract. Um uh just for my knowledge, uh which schools still have asbestous in them? I'm going to guess all of them, but I just want to make sure I understand. some degree. Um, all except for memorial because that's our newest construction. Right. Okay. Thanks.
But I just want to be clear that, you know, this is not, you know, fryable asbestous hanging from the ceilings, you know, that is exposed. They're all in encapsulated situations. Yep. Thanks. Um, number seven with the laptop uh contract, I noted that these
new laptops are Acers versus Lumovos uh that I'm kind of used to uh students um uh walking around with. Um are there any uh support issues that are anticipated? Theoretically, it's all, you know, Windows or whatever um either
Chromebooks or Windows, so it should be the same thing, but that doesn't always happen. You know, I'm going to ask our CIO, Mr. Electronica to answer that question. So for the past couple of years we've uh been going back and forth between Acers and Lenovos. So we've used Acers both
for student devices and teacher devices. And both companies are pretty comparable as far as support. The technicians that we have are um certified to support the devices. So we can do warranty repairs um when we have the parts in house. So, it really hasn't
been an issue. Okay, great. Thanks. We get the best deal that we can between the two vendors. We can put them against each other. It's always good, too. Um, thank you, Dick. Yeah, thanks. Okay. Yeah. Um uh for items eight and nine um
uh item eight uh the fun flex it's noted that that's for um K through five but under uh nine for the Sterling Hill Mining Museum um it that's for K through six but it seems to be all for the same
uh purpose the schools out program on that date. Is that a uh inconsistency or is that meant to be that way? Um, Dr. Pana, we'll have to check. I There you have it. You do. So, it's based off of uh age
appropriateness. Okay. So, you know, we sixth graders might not, you know, be appropriate to go to the funplex that's geared towards the younger population. So, we're always looking at what's appropriate. We don't want to send kids that shouldn't be on,
you know, kindergarten playground stuff inside. So, great. Thanks. Uh last last thing um this tangential to item 11 uh the contract with the homeland uh uh security but given that school's starting um and and apologize that this
isn't a very pleasant topic but um uh given the state of affairs in our country today um I was wondering if we could just review what happens if ICE shows up at the schools this I well I can just talk you generally um
f first of what happens and what we've done. We've spoke uh dealt with the administration on this before. No one comes into a school. They're locked facilities. So the only thing that you do is if
somebody has a valid subpoena or court order, it's really a court order. Uh they would come in and then administration has been notified to immediately contact legal counsel so that we could look at it. Want to make sure that it's a valid court order. If somebody comes in and says, "I want to talk to somebody." The answer is no.
You're not permitted in our schools. Um, and you know, law enforcement comes in, we have to comply with law enforcement. If somebody has a court order, if law enforcement comes with the court order, uh, we can. I can tell you that when this first came up, uh, there's a lot of
fear. It it hasn't occurred in schools in New Jersey. Um, and so I think that the appropriate thing in place is you are locked down facilities. So people don't just come in, but you do have, for example, if East Brunswick Township Police need to come in, they have to
indicate why they're coming in. Is there a court order? Is there some type of directive for them to come in? And we always comply. And what you do is you make it always into the front office. and you have if somebody has to come down, if a student's in trouble and they have to come down, they come they're
escorted to the front office. We don't let police officers or law enforcement go down to the schools unless, god forbid, you've got a a some type of threat. Um, but what we've advised administration and Dr. Vleski is that if something like comes, call legal counsel
immediately and let us look to see because we have the right to look. There's nothing that's urgent. The kids in in the facility, we want to look and see what it is. And we can also then double check with the court. We can call the court and say, is this a valid order? And if it is, judge ordered it, then we have to comply with it.
Okay. Yeah. No. Um thanks. Uh that that helps a lot. Um and I'm glad that we have um a a plan to address that situation because um again, given the makeup of our uh town, um you know, we
probably have uh higher odds of ice showing up. I know it hasn't happened yet, but you know, again, given our community, uh, and the fact still is is that there are families in town that actually have to think about this every morning, mine being one of them. So, thanks. And Dr. Pan, I want to assure you that
the the information that Mr. J. Kobe just gave you, that was communicated to building principles. So, if they if something were to happen, that the appropriate communication happened so we can check to make sure we have valid court order, valid subpoena. and we
communicated that back in like January or February the school year and trained everyone on it. Yeah. I just want to say I was very appreciative because I called Dr. about that when it very first hit the news and the principles in the central administration were already meeting on
it to make sure that everybody understood our policy for our children's safety. Anything else? Leu. So uh again um I want to say thank you to Lawrence Brook PTA. So all PTAs along
with the uh EBS you guys helped us a lot at this very difficult financial uh challenging time. You guys support any tiny gift anyone many grand of our student open the door
to them to them which the board couldn't support. Thank you very much. And go back to the item number two is Dr. P already asked. I want to ask further more about asbastos treatment.
This contract come to the agenda almost every year. So can we have a summary or survey showing which building has how much asbestous
tile or anything related. So we can maybe we should develop a systematic approach to treat replace those possible hazard. So this is my question or comment.
So um every building is required by law to have an asbestous report and that's available in every school main office. Um that's a survey that uh reflects the uh extent of asbestous that may exist in the in a building. Um what we've been
doing so you see you know with this award of a contract but what we've been doing is as we are replacing flooring or removing carpet we are doing a bait uh to gradually pull out the existing um
asbestous floor tiles. Um this will be years because the the extent of um uh as best as containing floor tiles throughout this district is very extensive considering you know when the age of our
buildings and you know when um when the flooring was put in. But we are addressing it a bit at a time. And just to make note in terms of the extent of uh flooring that's being um replaced this year within the shared services
agreement was approximately $1 million worth of work and that's affecting most of the schools. Uh it's not addressing everything but it's a prioritization. Part of that prioritization is also removing carpeting because the carpeting
tends to hold uh germs and is not really a healthy situation. So we're working on addressing that in a gradual way. So can you please provide a summary of the status of this job and the building
and uh so report to the board so we know what's going on and what's current status of our building. Additionally, I assume this job only can be done during the school break. No student present while the job is handled.
So, uh some of the work um could be done in the evenings and in those cases um the rooms are um kept empty and we'll move classrooms out but the work would be done in the evening or on breaks or on weekends. Right now it's being done
during uh the day uh but it would also happen on other times. Yes, because those bus can impact our students. They're also very closely monitored. We have our environmental consultant on site monitoring the conditions. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.
I just Yeah, I had a question on uh item 14, surplus equipment for disposition. Um you know, surplus implies extra. I know that uh it says that this is in disrepair. So, I just want to confirm
Just give me a moment while I look at the list. And also, is this uh Barney, while you look, um, is this from uh like a woodworking class or was this from our maintenance? Where where did this actually and is it being replaced?
So these are um I believe these are all coming out of maintenance and they're antiquated. Okay. And are they being replaced? No. Okay. So it's not a surplus. It's a Okay. But but all equipment for disposition or sale is it's called surplus.
Okay. since I do uh woodworking for a hobby when I saw those items. Um it wouldn't surprise me if they were bought on day one when the uh school district opened up. So we definitely got our money's worth out of it. I recognize the models. Well, we wonder where they went house.
Maybe I'll dispose it back. Anyone else? All right, this is a roll call vote and a reminder to abstain on your individual travel items. If you're not sure the number, he has it written. I already have it written and I can remind you. Okay. Anna Braun,
abstain on number 15. Yes. On everything else. Thank you. Timothy Cummings. Yes. Jamie Falco. Yes. With an abstension on uh item 16. Thank you. Lewis Figureroa. Yes. With an abstension on item 17.
Thank you. Lorie Herrick, yes. Uh absention on 19. Thank you. Lee Wuhong. Yes. uh with ex abstension of item number 20. Thank you, Wilbur. Pan. Yes, except uh abstaining on whatever has my name on it. It's number 21.
Thanks. Uh Marian Tangers. Uh abstain. Oh, sorry. Yes, except abstain on 22. Thank you. And Heather Gass. Yes. Abstension item 18. Thank you very much. All right. Motion passes. We are on to
human resources. Items one and two. Were there addendums there or no? Uh just what was uh provided to the board previously? All right. Can I have a motion, please? No. All right. Wilbur,
second Lori. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, uh this is a roll call vote. Anna Braraw, yes. Timothy Cummings, yes. Jamie Falco, yes. Lewis Figureroa, yes. Lorie Herrick, yes. Lee Wuhong, yes. Pan. Yes.
Marian Tangos. Yes. Another Goss. Yes. Motion carries. Moving on to special ed special education and student services items 1 through five. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Hannah Jamie. Thank you. Moving right
along. I appreciate that discussion. Okay. Uh this is a roll call vote. Just trying to help. I know. It's a roll call. Okay. Oh, you're ready. We're ready. There was no discussion. It's your turn. Anna Baron,
yes. Timothy Cummings, yes. Jamie Falco, yes. Liz Figareroa, yes. Lorie Herrick, yes. Lee Wuhong, yes. Wer Pan, yes. Marian Tang, and Heather Gu. Yes. Motion carries. Moving on to committee reports, information items for
the good of the cause for the board. We are there finally. Um it has been a busy busy week. We have been here a lot. I had something Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It's been a super busy week for me. I did want to say um as a
lot happens behind the scenes. So I was very thankful you people ask how we collaborate with the township um and what we do to provide services to the students in collaboration with the township. We had a meeting on Monday. I'm I'm losing track. No, Tuesday.
Tuesday, Tuesday, we had a meeting with representatives from the recreation and parks advisory board and representation from the township um just talking about space use and trying to work out some protocols to make operations smoother. I
wanted to thank the township and Dr. Gilleski for his time. I thought the meeting was just really profitable as far as being able to share information and also it was to talk about how to get more information out to parents about what the township offers to our children as far as recreation. There's a lot out
there and we want to help the township and wreck spread the word. Um if I can mention too at back to school nights uh the recck department will be there uh talking to parents about opportunities for students in the
township. Um, and we are planning once again to have our coaches, our East Brunswick, uh, public schools coaches collaborate with the township coaches, uh, because of the feeder program system and and give our student athletes the
best opportunities and chances to explore sports they may have never considered before. Yeah. And I know uh the recreation and parks advisory board president is going to be talking to the PTA president's council about more communication just to offer more to our students which I think
made this meeting a fantastic use of time. Anyone else committee reports? Tim, you had a long meeting but we talked about every last policy. I can't imagine what's left to report on policy. Jim had a really long meeting. It was good. It was good. Anyone else?
I had a comment. Um, so, um, this may look like a little thing, but I think it's actually really, uh, terrific. I saw on the school district Facebook, um, page that, uh, some of our counselors were out there taking college tours, um,
all in an effort to be better resources for our students. And that, um, honestly is a level of commitment that I had not seen before. Maybe it's happening all the time here and I was just un unaware of it. It does happen. But it was it was
so gratifying to hear that because I know my boys never told me about uh what their counselors were doing because they don't tell me anything. Uh but uh yeah, I think that's just a great example of um you know what we you know what we do for our students. So really appreciated that.
We're getting your boys in so much trouble because they come back and they report they visit different colleges every year, right? Which is interest because then they come back with fresh information about each school. Um, and I know they came back last year with information about additional things kids could put on their college applications
as far as activities. I had no idea that children could put child care for siblings as an activity. Um, which is fantastic. Anyone else? Adam? Oh, sure. Could could we just address emails because I know you know the
community sends a lot of emails and um I don't always see them being replied to. I don't think they necessarily, you know, all need to be replied to, but um I just want to make sure that somebody is replying. Like I recently sent an
email um I because I had, you know, questions about the ILA pilot and I didn't get a reply. So, um, and I also had sent an email, I guess a couple of weeks ago from a commu, you know, forwarded from a community member and I
just want to make sure that we people are getting replies and I would appreciate a reply too. Even if it's just, "No, Anna, that's a dumb question. Don't ask me that." I would just appreciate some kind of reply. I don't think you'll get that reply. Oh, well, I I hope.
I'm just saying. So, I apologize, Dr. Bronn. We we'll find you know what happened with your email. But we do the the emails go to a general box board of education. They go to all of you see them u or you should
see them and um then we look at some of them are just they're commentary. Um they're not asking for an answer. Uh but the ones that do ask for an answer we we attempt to gather information and give them a thoughtful response.
Okay. And you copy us on those, right? Okay. Cuz otherwise I get sometimes sometimes lately though I may not have copied the entire board on a response. Okay. Okay. So because otherwise I get paranoid and I think that my email is not working. So I've actually emailed myself.
No, I'll try. So I'll I'll try to do that to to make sure that you know that I have responded. Awesome. Thank you. I I do appreciate that. And sorry just to piggy back off that, Anna. Um I know the question has come up
about if board members can individually respond. So I don't know if um President Guas or Mr. Jacobe whoever we had some discussion on that and we have that to be discussed later. Okay. But I do have answers for you but I want to get the consensus of the board. Yeah. And just as um sorry Dr. esci just
as a you know I think it's helpful um even if it's just a commentary from someone to just say you know response uh email received um thank you for your feedback um I think it's more helpful than a teleprompted
answer that they're getting from the email so maybe perhaps we can discuss that as well yeah we're always open to whatever this whatever this board I want to reflect your personality in because that was decided by a former board composition
that there would be at least a a crafted response to every email that the email was received and and so um whatever this board decides that you want to do, we'll we'll craft it that way. Okay. And when we did that, I spent a lot of
time emailing myself to see what would happen. I I did it, too. I still do. Do you once in a while to see what happen? I look to see if I send it to the board if the auto response like comes up on top and I'm like, "Okay, that's what it says." But I do I do have and then we bother Mr. Electronic about
it. Go ahead. Sorry, Nick. So, um, a few months ago, New Jersey school boards had asked for proposals um for the upcoming conference in October. And um I submitted a proposal entitled,
don't laugh, innovative solutions, navigating funding cuts with creative strategies. And my suggestion was that it would provide the opportunity for districts to share creative solutions and strategies that they have come up with to navigate funding cuts. Well,
unfortunately, it was not accepted, but I was informed that there would be similar opportunities this year at um you know, the New Jersey school board's meeting in Atlantic City and I would also be added to the list in case of cancellations or schedule changes. Um to
add to that since I am the delegate for New Jersey school board from this board to New Jersey school boards um some of you know that uh in May I attend or attended the Middle Sex County meeting and suggested some ideas about better
communication um or how to increase communication and work more closely with other boards in our county and possibly throughout the state. Um, so they have continued to follow up with me on my ideas and um, if all of you probably have looked at the New Jersey school
board's connections page. So they are revamping it a little to provide more opportunities for conversations and questions. So um, you probably see some of my questions coming soon because after the revamp I said, "Oh, I have definitely have some questions." I've responded to both.
I saw yours about the Opma Oprah. Yes, I saw it. Yes. Um and then last week at the New Jersey State Board of Education meeting, um Kayn D. Rose, who is our who is from East Brunswick and is the student representative, um she gave a fantastic
report um about a leadership event that she attended and it was really great to see her like sitting up there with um members of the state board, right? like it's pretty amazing to have somebody from East Brunswick up there and I'm hoping that at some point we can invite her to one of our board meetings to kind
of give an update about her experience or how things um are going and then I guess like since this is really like our last board meeting publicly right before school that it's you know I just want to say like good luck to our students and staff
and um as we begin the new school year I think it's really important that we support our students and staff by attending school and community events and whether it's athletic events, student groups, club events, PTAs dying to donate, it's just really important to show up and be there for our students
and our our school community. I also wanted to add um in in going to the school board's convention, our particular school board has a very high attendance by our board members compared to some other districts. And I think it's representative of the commitment of
the board to learning and professional growth and collaborating with other districts. It's really nice to see. I've talked to people I talk to people on other boards in Middle Sex County a lot and there some of them have never been and I push a lot for it's a really good learning experience for all of us and
it's a good place to gather new ideas and talk. Um I also wanted to mention I forgot I wanted to thank Dr. Vleski and uh Randy Gagnon. Um, who? McMinnon was there. Oh, yeah. For the I'm sorry, for the uh
the production of our back to school video. And John McMinnon for McMinnonman. I can't ever say it. For the production of the back to school video. And I really want to thank you for being open to doing it a little differently this year. Um, we are trying to make the video that
goes with the back to school night more condensed to give parents more of an opportunity to spend those times in that classroom with those teachers and really being there to get that excitement and feeling that their child is, you know, in an exciting and safe learning
environment where they are valued. So, we know parents when I know when I go, um, I enjoy the videos, but I want the time with the teachers and the time in the room. So, I really appreciate your flexibility on that, your creativity. It was fun. Oh, it was fun. All right. A little
stressful. It was fun. Yeah. With um I want to thank you for the multiple takes I had to make. Uh and and Karen Madler, too, who was production assistant in the back of the room. Uh pointing going, "No, that wasn't No, that wasn't good enough. No, no, do it over again."
So, hopefully hopefully it's going to turn out all right. I have no idea. like to say that the president of the East Brunswick Education Foundation only had to do his part one. Yeah, I he was he was on He was on point. We appreciated it.
Um but thank you. Anything else? All right. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Move. Oh, wait. Close. Sorry. I'm so sorry. Do I have to do the close session? Are we going back? We need We need a motion for close session. Okay. Do I have to read the
whole thing again or can I just take a motion for closing? I just do the beginning. Just do the Sorry. Keep it. No, keeping it short. Here we go. Uh whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the
exceptions to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session pursuant to NJSA 104-12B. And whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as follows as listed on tonight's agenda. Length of the close session
an hour will be approximately one hour after which may be taken. The board will reconvene and action will be taken. Can I have a motion to go closed? Wilbur second and Maryanne. Thank you. All in favor?
Opposed? Abstensions. Thank you everyone. And we are back enclosed.