Good evening everyone and welcome to the regularly scheduled uh East Windsor Regional School District Board of Ed meeting. Written advance notice of this meeting was provided at least 48 hours ago. Such notice was provided such notice provided the date the time date and location of this meeting and
included the agenda to the extent it was known at the time. Notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with law. Minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made available promptly to any member of the public requesting them from the board secretary at 25A Leen
Lane, Heightstown, New Jersey. Minutes of the minutes will be provided at cost in accordance with board policy. Are there any board members present who believe this meeting to be in violation of the open public meeting act? There are being none, we may proceed. In
compliance with the fire code of the state of New Jersey, I call your attention to the emergency exits for this room, which are located behind in the audience and to our left and right. Please stand for the pledge pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item C. >> Having read the materials received, I move the agenda be approved as
submitted. Pull the board. [Music] second. >> Pull the board, please. >> Miss Bougley, >> yes. >> Miss Conpsion, >> yes. >> Miss Drake, >> yes.
>> Mr. Ly, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Weeks. >> Yes. >> Miss Lans. >> Yes. Item D. >> Be it resolved that the East Windsor Regional School District may hold two
closed sessions at this meeting. These closed sessions concern personnel HIV report of October 27th, 2025. Minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Second.
>> Please pull the board. >> Miss Bougley, >> yes. >> Miss Conpsion, >> yes. >> Miss Drake, >> yes. >> Mr. Labyt, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes.
We will now move on to our student representative report. >> Good evening, board members. We are excited to be back for this evening's board meeting. Starting off our report on a positive note, the Heightstown marching band team won the state championship this past Saturday and had
an incredible undefeated season. This is an incredible accomplishment and a first in Heightstown marching band history. Recently, the Hightown football team also won the Mayor's Cup and the Pedo Cup, which are great achievements that demonstrate just how much effort they
put in. Last week, the high school experienced a power outage. Although it was unexpected, all the staff and students handled it extremely extremely well and moved fast. Even though students weren't able to move out of their first period classes due to many of the hallways
being dark, teachers and staff held fun activities to pass the time. Surprisingly, many good things came out of this experience. Teachers and staff were able to test the emergency lights and generators. Although it was not an ideal way to start the day, we are proud with how everyone handled it and being
and it being a good learning opportunity for staff and students. >> At the last board meeting, some concerns were raised about our district's state testing report, and I'm glad to say that we're working with Mr. Vincent to find ways that incentivize students to give
their full effort on the next exams. The recently announced they recently announced the September athletes of the month. Arlene Tour, a current junior, represented the Heightstown girls volleyball team as the September girls athlete of the month. Recently set a
team high record with 141 assists along with 41 kills, 37 digs, and 17 aces. Our September boys athlete of the month, Matteo de Abad Dag Galado.
He first placed ninth out of 296 runners in the junior race at the Cherokee Challenge. He followed that up with followed that up by winning the junior race at the Thompson 2 mileer the week after in a race consisting of 86 junior
runners. He ran the second fastest time of the 400 fifth overall runners to race that day. Congratulations to both of you and we wish you luck on the rest of your season. Um, an important way for the students to communicate with the student council is
definitely the suggestion box with the QR codes are now being placed around the school so that students can easily scan them and uh and leave their suggestions, ideas or concerns. Afterwards, the student council can bring these suggestions to administration.
>> The fall play is in full swing with the cast of this year's production of Clue rehearsing every every day. We are we are all excited to see our classmates take on the stage in new roles. >> In terms of winter sports, basketball, wrestling, and swim are all starting
soon with interest meetings being held in the coming weeks. On top of that, the school musical will be announced soon, and we're excited to see the previews later this year. >> Our senior team pep and peer group connection classes have officially started with PGC having their first
outreach with the freshman last week and team teen pep having their first outreach tomorrow. We are all excited to further work and teach this year's freshman class. This Thursday is Haunted Hallways, which is a fundraiser where clubs and sports
teams from Heightstown decorate the school and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's a great community outreach event for organizations like robotics, DECA, Coders Union, Class Council, and many more. And speaking of robotics, on November 1st, it's the FTC team's first
um competition of the season, which is going to be at Homedale High School, uh where students have have to score as many points as they can with this year's robot design. With the early college application cycle ending this weekend, the senior class is relieved to have a break from essay
writing. All students are greatly anticipated greatly anticipating for the upcoming fall break. Students are excited to sleep in throughout the week. This concludes our report. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much.
Okay, we will now proceed to our student safety data update. Okay, just do a quick introduction. So, I'm be asking uh Miss O'Brien, our supervisor of counseling, just to provide an update. This is reporting period 2 uh from the 2425 school year.
As I talked about at the meeting on October 13th, school districts are required uh each year to report twice uh during the year uh regarding uh incidents that need to be recorded in the student safety data system. Uh, so this is actually kind of a rewind to
January 25 through June 25. Uh, just as a quick reminder, probably stealing a little bit Laurens's thunder here, but the incidents that are required um to be reported are incidents of violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation, bullying, weapons offenses, substance
offenses, restraint, seclusion, and any other incident leading to student removal from school, and hip training and programs. So with that said, I'll turn things over to Mr. O'Brien. >> Thanks. Good evening, everyone. Um, I also want to mention uh the report
period too. So I do give this presentation twice per year. Um, report period 2 is actually the longer of the two report periods. So this is a six-month period where report period one is a fourmonth period. Um, so as Mr.
Daniel said, this is required by DOE. We report twice a year. Here are our categories. Um, this is an overview of all of the categories and all of the buildings are on the left hand side. So, you can take a quick look at that. And
I'm going to go through each uh category. Uh, we have a comparison for 2425 report period 2 versus 23 24. So, we'll start with violence. And usually I just like to provide a quick
snapshot of incidents that fall into this category and what we are required to report under the violence category. Generally speaking, we do see the majority of these incidents in the 612
um you know bigger students. So it's uh more common that we might see something like a fight at the 612 level. The next category is vandalism. And you can take a look and just see uh what some of the incidents that we report on
this category. I think most commonly might be damage to property. And um our numbers again only at the 612 level for the vandalism category. Okay. Now we get to substances and this
is an important thing to look at what we actually report under the substance category. Um primarily the fact that tobacco is not reportable. Um so students that have uh that are found to
be in possession of tobacco in the buildings. This is not a report that comes under substance. Um, if you take a look between report period 2 for the 23 24 school year and report period uh two for last school year,
you'll see a decrease in substance. I really want to point out at creps, we saw uh a pretty large decrease from 16 to six. One of the things that you might recall that we talked about last year is
um our vape sensors in the restrooms. And it definitely appears as though the vape sensors is at this point uh maybe a deterrent for students uh using vapes and substances in our restrooms.
Okay. for weapons. On the right hand side, you'll see what constitutes an incident or a report of a weapon. Um, we had one incident at CREPs. And next, we get into our harassment, intimidation, and bullying cases that
are confirmed. So, if you take a look, I think the the stat that actually stands out there is also at creps. So we went from 9 in 23 24 to 20 cases in 2425.
I did do a little digging to try to figure out what you know maybe was going on towards the end of last year and I did find that there were a few cases that actually involved some of the same students. So there was uh some conflicts going on with some student groups um
that that uh resulted in one or two cases you know with the same group of students happening. So that was towards the end of last year at Creps. What we find in terms of those cases at CRP specifically
um you know it's it's the developmental level of the students. Unfortunately, it's a lot of verbal comments that students are making. You know, we might say it's something like name calling or teasing, but unfortunately, some of the things that they're saying as they get
to us, they are um incidents that we do need to report as HIV. [Music] So, now we get into talking about what do we what do we do about these um incidents that happen in our buildings? One thing that we've been talking about
for the last few years actually in terms of discipline is really working to be consistent with our consequences. So that will be in um in the buildings. You know when you look at 612 and there's an assistant principal by grade level.
We're looking for consistency in the buildings across the grade levels of consequences based on different types of incidents, but also having conversations K12 amongst the different buildings to make sure that we have some level of
understanding and that uh we have some consistency there. Um we do have um some restorative practices. We are working on implementing in restorative practices K12. So this September we had a large group
um trained in restorative practices of all of the building administration. Um some supervisors were involved. We had some teachers, some counselors, just a variety of people trained in restorative practices so we can hopefully implement
that in our buildings. Um, also we use inschool suspension as a consequence and part of that is uh there's a counseling component to that. So there's a reflective piece for students to kind of process what
happened, how to make a better decision moving forward and also academic support can be provided during that time as well. Um, so here's just a few more uh proactive and remedial measures. some things that are related to uh climate
and culture as well. Um we do have some student mediation happening, conflict resolution. Usually that will happen with some students, a counselor and an assistant principal to work through uh and mediate an issue.
We also had vaping presentations last year, middle school and high school. We also offered a parent session of that. Uh last year we also participated in the New Jersey Department of Health tobacco survey to try to get some insights about
our students and uh their tobacco usage at the high school. Okay. So now moving on to the uh ABS school self assessment. So this is something that we engage in every year. um schools are required to go through a
um selfassessment and actually score themselves on uh various different categories related to the anti-bullying bill of rights. So I'll go through some of these. Um for core element one, we are
grading ourselves on our programs um any initiatives that we're running. Uh core element two is training on HI policy and I'll I'll give some examples of this later on. Um we are also looking to make sure that other staff in our buildings
are being trained curriculum and instruction and um observing things like the week of respect. We want to make sure that we have ABS anti-bullying specialists in every building, which we do. Uh core element
six is focused on reporting procedure. How easy is it? How accessible is it for students and staff to report incidents of HIV? Um uh core element seven is the accountability piece on our investigation procedure. Are we
notifying everyone that's involved? Um core element 8 is HIV reporting. So that just gives you a brief overview. Um these are our grades for this year for 2425. Just to give you an idea of how we
arrive at all of these, there's a there's a rubric and there's different subcategories in each core element. The idea is that the building principal, maybe an assistant principal, the ABS, um, all sit down and talk about what we
did really well last year and maybe where we might have a little bit of room for improvement. And then we, um, arrive at a score for each core element, add up the score, and then these are the yearly scores that we are submitting for
approval. These are our district anti-bullying specialists that are assigned to each building. And then our proactive and remedial measures look a little bit different for um for our ABS programming. You'll see
that most of these are really focused on climate and culture. So every building has a school climate and safety team and the purpose of that team is to review uh discipline data to review our HIV data to look for trends. Is there anywhere
where we need to provide more programming or more support that we're not currently doing? Uh we run week of respect activities, red ribbon week, seal lessons. We do still have the stop it app which is an anonymous reporting
app that anyone can use. um and to to report something. We also participated last year in the Rucker school climate survey. Um and we started as a team to dig through that data in the summer to take a look at uh different buildings
and areas where we might need to improve. Um always counseling is going to be a component following up to discipline and certainly for any HIVs confirmed. We want to make sure that we're supporting all the students involved.
Just a few more. I just wanted to highlight for each uh building some climate and culture initiatives that are currently happening. K2 is participating in the second year of leader and me. Um GNR is rolling out a new uh peer mediation program which is really
exciting. we took last year to train the students and this year it's they're actually going to be doing the mediation. Um, PLLD has a wonderful community night, seal night. Um, I was really excited to be able to see that last
year. So many people involved, so many people from the community. Everyone was having a great time. Um, MHK has a principal council, so an opportunity for student representatives to meet with the principal. Um, also starting with
restorative circles, NHS. Um just one thing to highlight is the student wellness day. So this is just a quick list of the training that's available. Um all staff are required to do the GCN training. Um
trainings are held during faculty meetings. We do uh do some training at new teacher orientation. Administrators are trained every summer. Um and ABS the anti-bullying specialists do meet periodically throughout the year to
discuss how things are going in their buildings, if they need any support, if they're seeing any trends or if there's any programming that um you know we feel based on the data we need to work through. Okay. And that's my last slide. [Music]
Thank you, Lauren. Does anyone have any questions? >> I have two. The uh the Stop it anonymous reporting app is Could you describe how that's used? Obviously, it can't be used for HIV reports because you need an actual individual to submit a report, but how
is the Stop it app used or do you get data from it? >> So, often we will get um and we don't get a lot of them. So, it's I shouldn't use the word often. We do get we do get a handful of them and it's a variety of different things. Sometimes it's a student who's just reaching out to say, "Hey, I think my friend needs some
support or um I had this conflict with a student." We have had a couple of cases where um it is something that needs to be investigated as an HIV. We students don't have to be anonymous.
So, you know, there have been cases where students will provide their information and how to reach out to them so we know exactly who they are. Um, we have had a couple that were were anonymous that we were able to based on
the situation described and based on the counselors and the AP's knowledge of their students, we've been able to kind of piece together and figure out who those students are. >> Yes. 612. >> Thank you. Uh, my second question is
could you describe the restorative Restorative circles, how that works. What it's what it is. >> Sure. We're we're just getting started on on that. I don't >> I was there. You think so? Okay. Yeah.
So, so it is it's a a district-wide initiative. part of the training um I think was just like the the initial piece of the training was to kind of try to understand where all students are are coming from and to try to understand
that the way that you address students um or you know making assumptions about students might kind of create a barrier between uh supporting between talking things out um and working with them. So,
we actually uh roleplayed some circles and um it's a very basic concept, but I think that it doesn't always come naturally for everyone who's working in these roles or working with students, but it's giving everyone an opportunity
to talk having um a goal in mind of what we as a team or as a circle would like to um accomplish. So I think one of the things that came out of the training was we all talked about
how do we want to implement this in our buildings and I think it's going to look different K through 12. Um I also think getting some getting staff on board with seeing the value of what can come out of these circles I think is
very important. So we kind of left the training with okay now we need to figure out how are we going to implement in the different buildings with our students and our staff. >> Thank you. >> Um Lauren, um regarding also the stop it
app, you already answered part of my question which was I was curious how often it's being used. Um so it doesn't sound like we're getting a lot of um inquiries or comments. How are we making sure that our students
know about this? Like is it being mentioned at their incoming orientations as the counselor is mentioning it at the beginning of the year? Do they have reminders throughout the year? Anything like that? >> There are things around the building. So, uh, stop it actually provides like a
promotional kit. So we have posters, we have brochures, we do send something out to students and I believe that in assemblies they talk about it, how to access it, how to find it, what to use it for. Um I know counselors also have
used stop it as if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about this right now, here's a potential option, you know, to provide information. So, it is it is out there, but um I like to say that I think students for
the most part feel pretty comfortable going to their counselor or their child study team member or teacher or even their assistant principal because we certainly get a lot of reports of a variety of different things. Um
so, yeah. So, and and it also I think it's on our website. I mean, I think that we probably One of the things that I think that we need to do, you know, is just be a little more assertive instead of being passive with, you know, how we're we're
getting it out there. But I would say we've had it for I want to say four years and it's been kind of consistent that it's a a slow trickle. >> Okay, that's great. But it's also good to hear that our students are comfortable going to our counselors and our teachers and our administration. So
that's a positive thing as well. So, any other questions? >> One more. Sorry. Oh, >> sorry. I just So, some of the things I've I've noticed some of the things um that you listed are happening in individual schools. Um so, they're doing
different things um even the right so even the like K2 is doing something different um than you know PLLD is doing something different than you know um Ethan Mcnite. And so if something goes well at one of the schools, I know that
has to do with who the folks are and what their ideas are, but if something goes well at one of the schools, is it something that we do to sort of try to replicate it at the same grade level um at at another school or the other school?
I think it is individual, you know, it's individual from uh between each school because we want buildings to kind of have that buy in that this is something we created and this is what we want to do for our building. Um something like the seal night I feel
like has happened at other places in uh maybe under some different branding. Um there was an event a couple of weeks ago actually through the EWE was it and it was very similar to the PLLD uh SDL
night. So there are Yeah. Yes. I think that we you know teams will put something together and then we'll all share it out and in some cases there is some borrowing of some of that programming. I just the the student wellness day at
the high school is very successful. That's kind of a long-standing event and um I did have a conversation with some counselors at Creps and they thought, "Oh, this is great and I think our students could benefit from it." >> Thank you. >> Sure.
>> One more. The self assessment grades, um what we're assessing is not the atmosphere or the frequency of the reports. It's assessing the way in which the reports are developed, the way
incidents are reported. Uh is that could you explain a little bit? >> There's actually two that relate to reporting. Let me just get there. >> So there's core element six, which is reporting procedure.
So, the school implemented the district's procedure for reporting new information on a prior report. So, that's kind of like a unique sort of scenario that we don't often have. Um, but we do have a
procedure for that. And then in core element 8 is um the procedure for staff member reports. Okay, that's for violence and vandalism. Sorry, I think I might be missing one.
Okay. No, I think that covers it. So, you are in the the um I'm happy to share out the the rubric rubric and what that looks like. Under each core element, there will be a few different examples of what we have to score ourselves on.
Um and the scores are zero to three. So based on and it gives you a very specific like you did this all the time, you did this sometime um you did not do this at all like how you would how we would score ourselves, >> right? >> It's more it's more so procedural in in
terms of how the school is implementing and honoring the anti-bullying buller rights. So there's some aspects that we should be addressing both from a preparation standpoint but also reactively but it's also really just assessing >> um you know do you have a school safety team in place? Are you reviewing the
cases? Have you identified areas that you need to address based on the feedback of the hip cases? So, it's it's kind of just processoriented. Uh do you have anti-bullying specialists in place? Some things that were required to do, >> right? But if there's an less than maximum score, there's a road map
clearly then for where to make some changes to improve that score for the next reporting period. I guess that's right. >> And I'd say that some of the because it's a self-reporting tool, I think that folks are trying to be um you know, we
could we could easily put up 100s across the board, but I think there's always room for improvement, right? So, I think that um I think that's kind of depending on the nature of the school and the teams who are there. I think folks are trying to be um as uh precise and honest as possible in terms of that self-reflection rubric in terms of what
they're addressing. So, Are there any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Lauren. >> We will now move on to our superintendence report. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um just a
few updates today. Some of which the student representatives as usual stole my thunder here, but they you know actually did it so eloquently. So, I thank them for that. But a couple of quick updates I do want to give. Uh I'll start with the the advanced choir
tonight. The high school advanced choir. Uh last week, uh several board members and several of the administrative team were down at New Jersey School Boards Association workshop in Atlantic City. Uh each year school districts kind of uh
there's a there's a portion where districts can submit the opportunity to have uh either their bands, their choirs um perform at certain pieces of of uh the the segments throughout the day. So,
um, last year, um, our our visual performing arts, Miss Gopod, had talked to her about potentially, you know, express an interest in having an opportunity to highlight and showcase some of our talent. Um, so she did submit an application and our choir, our advanced choir, members of our advanced
choir, led by Mr. Allen had the opportunity to um perform and they served as kind of the introduction to the commissioner of education uh before he engaged in the keynote and uh I will say that they were outstanding. Uh we
did include some snippets and some video footage uh in the weekly update, this past Friday's weekly update, but I definitely want to commend our our students for representing Heightsale High School in the East Windsor Regional School District very well. I felt like a
proud uh old grandfather watching them perform. Uh but but very proud moment to to see them. Connected to that as our uh student representatives uh shared the uh high school marching band uh obviously they won a state
championship and I was told through some sources that this might be the first time in the school's history that um we went kind of undefeated uh in in the the tournaments that they participated in. So huge accomplishment. Um for those of
you who are familiar with marching band, they put in a lot of work. Uh I feel like um during the summer, you you'll see the marching band consistently out there performing and prepping and and this is a huge reward uh for the work that they put in. So I just want to
congratulate Mr. Howlet, Miss Od uh for their outstanding commitment and obviously our students who are deeply committed uh to being members of the marching band. I definitely think this is another opportunity to um highlight the performing arts program in our school district that I think is stellar
and something that I appreciate the board support with uh especially during my time here as superintendent. So definitely want to congratulate uh our families, the boosters, obviously the leadership of Miss Gop Paul, our visual performing arts supervisor and um want to continue that great work under the
arts umbrella. Just a quick highlight regarding an update to location. We had talked about uh 268 Academy Street becoming the new home of uh our buildings and grounds department and the student registration services uh department which includes
our kickare registration as well. So they made that transition I believe last week. So, just make sure that uh if you're looking to register or you're looking for some uh information regarding facility use and so forth, uh
it'll be 268 Academy Street, the new home for our buildings and grounds team, as well as student registration services. the board meeting on October 13th, I mentioned and I'll just reiterate that uh school districts in New Jersey were
in the process of engaging in a field test for the New Jersey student learning assessment as well as the New Jersey uh graduation proficiency assessment. So during the months of October and November, we're trying on a a new testing format, an adaptive format. Um,
and then we'll actually engage in the real testing, I guess I'll call it, in the spring as we typically do. This will enable the Department of Education to get a sense of how they can uh make some adjustments themselves to the test format. So, uh, that will occur uh,
beginning this week. So, for students in grades 3 through 5, uh, field test will occur on October 29th and 30th. students at the middle school level uh will be November 12th and 13th. High school will be this week um the 29th and the 30th.
So, I said this at the last meeting. I'll say it again. I mean, we obviously, you know, the the I'm not a huge proponent of a lot of standardized testing for students, but it's a necessary component of where we are. This goround is more so I don't want students think that they don't need to
put their best foot forward to complete this field test. Uh however the the main purpose for this is really formatting of the assessment to ensure that when students actually take it in the spring we believe that it's uh appropriately designed for them to to do their their
best work. So that will occur beginning this week at least for two two levels within the school district the week for Halloween. So Friday we have our Halloween parades happening in our elementary schools. As a reminder,
we have um a 9:45 start time for u Grace and Rogers and Perry Drew. And uh in the afternoon, 1:45 p.m. Ethel Mcnite and Walter C. Black. So, uh make
sure you come out there and support our students, okay? And that'll be on Friday. Also, as a reminder, as we've uh engaged in in recent years, um just giving folks a heads up and we'll communicate this uh in the near future, but we'll continue this year with our
homework free holidays. Um if you recall, we've we've uh tried to engage in some level of consistency um in terms of assignments uh and also expectations regarding test preparation and quizzes for when students are on breaks. and also just to make sure that
we're creating some level of um value as it relates to students spending time with family. Some of our our students during our holidays may have religious commitments. So, uh we've designated three homework free holiday opportunities. And during that time, students will not receive homework
assignments, uh long-term projects that are due when they return to school after the break. And uh also on that first day that they return from the break uh they will not be uh assigned a test or quiz on that day. And uh those three holidays are uh are Thanksgiving break obviously
which is coming up at the end of November. Our winter break and spring break. So more to come on that. Obviously next week we have our fall break. Uh that will not be a homework free holiday. Just don't just to clarify that's not part of the homework free holiday window. So we do have fall break
November 3rd through the 7th. students return to school on Monday, November 10th, and they may or may not have a test or quiz when they return on November 10th. So, uh, we do have fall break next week, and I hope everyone has a safe fall break. And, uh, that
concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. Does anyone have any questions? >> Just one. And uh, the the new facility on Academy Street, so it's fully occupied. We've moved out of the White House and
>> fully occupied. They made that transition last week. They they're awaiting a few odds and ends, but the folks are they're there. So, if you need to make contact with Bones and Grounds Department or registration services, 26 268 Academy Street, excuse me, is the
location. >> Okay. And it may be premature given the you just announcing its opening, but the plans for the White House >> Yeah. You know, it's a good question. We we um have had some discussion with that. We realize that there's a
transition uh that needs to occur and we have not um made any immediate decision because we realize there's still some there's still some pieces there that we need to have be retrieved and have access to at the White House. But I I do
want to engage the board in in the near future regarding some plans for the facility, the space, not the not the biggest space in the world, but um you know, we've made the decision. It does not appear to be cost-effective to engage in any significant upgrades. So the the plan was to see how we could one
hold on to it for a moment for some storage purposes and then make a determination regarding what it would look like if we were to remove it and create some additional parking. That was kind of the the next step uh that that we thought was relevant. But more to come on that in the near future.
>> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, we will now move on to our first opportunity for board member comments. Any board members have a comment? Okay, we will now move on to our first
opportunity for public comment. Any members of the public wish to speak? make a comment. Okay, thank you. Please uh come to the podium, state your name and address, and if you could please also write it on the clipboard to the left of the podium. And
to get the speaker to work, the little button on the bottom right will turn the red light on. And there you go. >> Ah, thank you. Ronald Shakar and to Exit Court, East Windsor, New Jersey 0852.
Uh we have two children uh who are now grown up. They're adults. They're in their 30s. They went to the school district here and they turned out pretty good. So uh we're grateful for that. And every time we think of the school
district, we're uh I'm pleased. Are you pleased? I put her on the spot. She's she's somewhat pleased. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> I could talk. >> We've lost your
>> We've lost your mic. >> The red light. >> There we go. >> Uh my daughter was very involved here. Both of our children were uh she was in the choir. She was played field hockey and and all the plays. She really enjoyed that and we enjoyed watching
her, seeing her in those those events. Um but she was subject to some quite severe bullying uh which has had a lasting effect. There's not things that you can get over easy or just you know
let it wish by um and uh I asked her if she wanted to come tonight. We had no idea that this presentation was going There we go. Um, so that's that. Um, I'll go on to another the real reason
why we're here. Um, I had heard from a neighbor, uh, who is somehow hooked in with the, uh, education community in Merc here spent, I think, 800,000 or over 800,000 on an illuminated scoreboard for
the athletic field. Is that correct? Am I coming here with uh bad information? It's true. All right. Um so we're concerned about that and I think um there is room for improvement in uh math
and reading scores again and anybody nod yes no. Okay. Um, and then we wonder, well, why uh was this money spent on something? Questionably, whether I feel or somebody else feels it was necessary
or a nice amenity. Um, but, uh, we I'm we're not happy about it. I'm not happy about it. A couple other people, of course, they're not here, uh, are happy about it. Um, and I don't know much about the the why, the how. Was the
money donated? Was it set aside by this group of people as a capital expenditure in your budget? How does that work? Um, so I would love to hear from any of you uh about that. Um,
anything else? All right, that's the show for today. Thank you for your attention. Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. All right, m Mr. Shear. >> Yes. >> What I'm going to suggest we do is uh
either I can reach out to you or our business administrator Paul Todd can reach out to you to regarding the pricing for scoreboards for athletic fields. So you get a sense of so I don't want people to think that the scoreboard was on the shelf for $800,000. There's there's a process connected to labor uh
related to that. So I think it will be helpful. We had a scoreboard that was not functional. Uh, and if people don't really value that, that's fine. But when you're in a game, we have multiple students participating in athletics at the high school. And when the scoreboard doesn't work, that's a problem. Um, it
may not be at the top of the list for people, but it's something that we needed to rectify. So, you know, the district made it made a decision to invest in a new school board. I think that school board that we had before, I I don't even know how old that was, but it just and it doesn't really matter how old it was. it just wasn't functional
and we attempted to repair it on a number of occasions. So, I think it will be helpful for you um just to get a sense of the pricing of what that entails and it it was not a gift. It was something that was part of our our our capital reserve budget, but it was something that uh in order for us to be
a group for uh high school that's competing against schools across other districts, we need to have a functional scoreboard. So, um we have your contact information. I'm going to follow up to this meeting. So, so you have a sense of the pricing and just in in the name of transparency, you have a sense of what
what that reflects. All right. >> Okay. Okay. Not long. >> Definitely definitely we'll do that >> and you don't have to worry about instruments. We we the board is very supportive ensuring that our students have functional up-to-date instruments.
So as you heard tonight marching band first place students are performing you know so we are investing in what we think is uh part of a comprehensive educational experience but we'll definitely follow up. All right thank you was Bob here.
>> Never mind. No, I'm I'm glad that you look, we we have a very supportive board. I'll leave it at that. And and the arts is one area that Bob is very a strong advocate for that we've continued to grow, especially since co to be quite honest with you.
So, we have huge participation and um and our students are performing at a high level, right? Thank you. Okay. Um let me move on and um see are there any other members of the public who wish to speak?
>> Okay. Um there um being none, uh we will now move on to old business um we have listed on here. >> Nope. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. This is what happens when I don't put my computer glasses back on. You're right. We are um we'll be moving
into an exact session and we'll be about >> 20 minutes >> 20 minutes tops. Thank you. Okay, everybody. We're going to pick up where we left off on old business. So right here we have our 2025 committee meetings that are left for the remainder
of this year and we still have a followup on student achievement. Did anyone have any questions about student achievement from or from the NJSLA from last any follow-up questions? >> Hi. So um last week we got an
opportunity to attend Oh. Oh, wrong wrong question. So, we're on um old business and we were talking about um any follow-up questions on the NJSLA report. Okay, Paul, if we can still leave that on there because I didn't
have as much time to review it and I've started writing down some questions, I'll just bring them up again next time or >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Okay. So, next is our first opportunity for board member comments. Um before we start though, I
would like to take a moment and ask um some of uh the new some of our our school board members and our administrations attended the New Jersey School Board Association's workshop uh last week and I wanted to have some of the members the board members that
attended to maybe provide one or two highlights of what they took away or anything they learned that was exciting or concerning coming down the pike. Very quickly, very succinctly, let's maybe highlight some of our experiences.
>> All right. So, first I'd like to say thank you to the business office and administration for working everything out and allowing us to be able to go. Um the workshops were very educational and we had quite a few of meet and greets um with vendors and the nights were topped
off with team building experiences which I think we all enjoyed. Um but one of the highlights for me which the superintendent mentioned was our um high school Heightstown High School advanced choir. They sang three songs and before
they sang I actually had an opportunity to speak to the executive director of the NJSBA and he talked about how our choir um beat out I don't want to say beat out. our choir was chosen out of hundreds of auditions and tapes and just
to know that, you know, they were there and they sang their hearts out and they were beautiful and some people were just in tears, some people stood up and was clapping and it was it was such a breathtaking moment. Um truly appreciated that. And then afterwards he just turned around and looked at me and
he was like I see why they were chosen. So that was a definitely a proud moment. Um the uh the next thing was um I got a chance to attend David Rubin's diversity, equity, and inclusion. Where are we? Where are we? How we got there?
And what's next? That was really interesting to see um the evolution of it all. And to know that uh Mr. Rubin and our um you know, our the people behind us really know what they're talking about and really know what they're doing. So that was pretty
interesting. And then um I did get a chance to also attend uh AI generated rated mathematics study guide and harnessing AI and cutting edge tech for informative uh learning that was also informational.
So overall was just great workshops so many sessions of learning there was even session with um uh talking about students and free speech and there was just so much stuff. There was a lot of interactive things and um it was just a
great experience. Glad I went. >> Thank you. Agada or Bob or >> I will happy um to say that I really enjoy uh the workshops and there but the
fascinating part is to see how our leaders um engage with everything and they got to know us a little better and we interact with each other and all for the best of the community the kids and the community that we serve. So, um, I
had a couple of workshop. My favorite was the woman leadership workshop, how we had to embrace and engage and lift each other up to be able to serve our kids and our community. Uh, but I really
thankful that I got to enjoy that. >> Thank you. Any thoughts, Bob? I also attended the um discussion uh by David Rubin on the um DEI and the
background. I'm a law geek anyway and um really liked his review of the evolution back from u Supreme Court cases and legislation going back uh decades to where we are today with executive orders
and the uncertainty that those executive orders um bring to us in our decision- making as a district um uh because it's not basin law. So that was very informative. the um other sessions I attended also.
Uh my geek self attended and was very u impressed with the secretary um commissioner of education um who spoke during the during the um sessions and the legislative panel where they had uh
two senators and two assembly people um speak on different sides of uh different educational issues. Um and the Department of Education panel, I managed to catch the back end of the um
uh panel of uh people from the uh Department of Education. There was one other one too that had a an element having to do with um I'm sorry, it escapes me now, but there were two people speaking to the
um not AI. I'm sorry, it escapes me. Uh were you in that No, no. The other one with a couple of people speaking about some new standards that were going to be um coming out in the next um
couple of weeks actually, but uh if I remembered, I'll jump back in. Thanks. >> Great. Thank you. Yeah, there were a lot of great sessions this year and unfortunately there were a lot of conflicting. I had to keep pouring down what I was attending. Um but some of my obviously, yes, absolutely our Heights
High School advanced choir. I was one of those folks that were brought to tears. But what I was always proud um always proud of all of our students and what they're they accomplished. Um but what was so wonderful to hear New Jersey school boards um employees were sitting
in front of us in the row directly in front of us and the ooing and aing that came out of like that just contributed more to the tears in my eyes because I was so proud of them and they were up there. They've performed beautifully and they're so professional and they are
they I I can't say any more about it because it's just absolutely amazing. Um I also I attended all of the keynotes. Um one was the was Mary Ben Ahri and for all of our students who may be listening to this I if our I should have mentioned
sooner for our students reps to bring it back. Um she was one of the keynotes. She's a Grammy award winner performer in the hip hop category. Um she performs violin though so that those two don't typically go together but she has taken
her gift and she brings programming um education programming into schools all over the world actually but mostly in in our country but she brings she comes in and she inspires and engages students to become you know strive more academically
and all of that. So if anyone can check her out online she's really great. Um, I attended a district uh onboarding session which also inspired me and gave me some additional ideas to add to our board discussion retreat tomorrow. Um,
uh, I attended a workshop was an architect workshop. This is kind of I usually attend sessions about student achievement and equity and all of that, but I kind of went outside my comfort zone this year and attended a regulatory workshop. Um, so I learned more about
the process that's involved behind the scenes for our capital project. So it was a great sneak peek into Paul's work and of one facet that he manages for our district. Um, I missed out on some other sessions, but I did manage to catch the
end of one of the close sessions because they have filled up. I snuck in at the end. Um but it was about um addressing early literacy and you'll hear more about that later when I report about curriculum focusing on um that K through
not K through three but even catching them as soon as we possibly can. So there were a lot of great sessions about that this year. So, um, I hope this report was helpful because I thought it would be great to hear more about what we take part in when we go away to
workshop every year and we learn so much and we bring it back here um to share with other board members and put it into the work that we do um for the district. So, okay. >> Can I jump back in? >> Yes, absolutely. >> And amend my report. Yes. the other uh
session that I thought was really important and there were two presenters from the department of education, the state DOE and they were talking about new standards coming which we will all be hearing about shortly I think having
to do with umformational literacy. So they were talking about what these standards would mean across the entire curriculum from um language arts, English language arts, the math, the science, social studies,
visual and performing arts, world languages across the whole curriculum. This these new standards will emphasize um a culture of students questioning sources, questioning um um
basically the approach to gathering and reporting information and um sourcing that information appropriately. So there's a lot to come in that arena and it's I think K12 impact. So it's going to have a very
broad impact but I think it's uh very necessary given where we are today with um uh the the state of the internet and social media and different places where people are getting u misinformation but
uh preparing our students beyond what they're seeing today preparing them for the deluge of information that will be um coming long after they've left our schools. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Yes, that was actually one of
the ones. I can't believe that I forgot it. I was in that session and there's a lot of information there. Um that I am grateful that you remember that one because that was definitely one of my highlights. >> I will try downloading uh there were
lots and lots of materials from some of these sessions. So, I'll try I'll do my best to download. >> Yeah, I will as well. We could share the board. Yeah. >> Okay. Any other board member comments beyond that? Okay. There being none, we'll have our second opportunity for public comment.
Any members of the public wish to speak? No. Okay. At this time, then we'll move on to number Wait, actually, I'm sorry. I needed to report out on This is where I'm going to use that space to report out. Curriculum
committee. Yes. Okay. So, um we had curriculum committee this evening. Um and I took some notes. Um so we talked about universal the universal screening mandate for New Jersey and also um the types of schools
that our graduates attend after they leave us. Um so in New Jersey we have a tiered system of supports and that screening typic is mandated to happen twice a year um for K through three and actually in district we have decided to
do it three times a year because it will provide us beneficial information that we could actually actionable information that we could use throughout the year to make adjustments to how we're teaching students um overall and individually because it will provide valuable
information. Um, one of the statistics that Sandy had mentioned, uh, no, I'm sorry, it wasn't Sandy. I can't remember who mentioned it. Um, 50, I think it was Christine. Yes, Christine said, um, 50% of kindergarteners who are behind can
actually catch up. But once those students hit third grade, their ability to catch up drops five%. And I'm sorry, this has not happened. I just got a little emotional. I'm sorry. my apologies. Um that's a big deal. So the
fact that we are looking at this data and we are going to do our best to rectify this early on is speaks volumes. Um so the test involves the the the screening involves phmic awareness, phonics and decoding, oral reading deficiencies and comprehension. And the
way we're going to do that is with our existing STAR test that we have done in the past um which have been early literacy and reading but we're actually adding on a phonics component to that and also the dibbles test. Um so basically we're scoring below level at
level above and um again we're going to add a December midyear testing so that we can use that actionable data to make some changes um where where students specifically need what they're missing in detail. Um so there was a more
detailed information but that's pretty much the brunt of it the the summary. Um, as far as where um, there's been questions about where our students are attending after they leave us. Um, so in 2025, students have applied to 189
colleges and universities. Um, and in 36 different states. Um, and at this point, um, we have 40% attending a four-year college, 45% attending a two-year college. Um, mostly being Mercer, but some are also attending Middle Sex or
Brookdale. Um and out of that 189 colleges and universities, um we'll they'll be attending 73 of those different schools. Um we talked a little bit about behind the scenes what our counselors are doing. Um basically
the recommendation for the most part is for students to apply to five to eight schools with a mix of different types of schools based on their academic profile, their financial concerns, their backstories, and their extracurriculars. Um there was some mentioned also that um
the schools they would be attending are varying if they are changing back for the SAT test optional um or if they're requiring test results or not. Many of them are returning back to the test is mandated to have those scores sent over. But there's still some schools out there
where it's they are not asking for it. Um, at the moment we have 60 visits planned for the fall where colleges will come and visit us in district and they'll talk about their trends and can speak to the individual students. And from what I'm understanding, and please
correct me if I'm wrong, students can speak to the admission folks um individually in the counselor's office. Their interviews can take place often um on site here in district and sometimes even a decision will be made that day.
Um so that's really exciting to hear. Um especially when you know being in school and participating in their academic um rigor that leaving school to go look at schools for the future can sometimes you know be you know not productive for them
because they're missing class time. Um we also have college flare college college fairs. Um we have district bus trips going to other college fairs. Um and pretty much Yeah, that's pretty much it for now. If I missed anything, well,
Sandy's giving me the nod that we looked good. Okay, I have one other update. Just give me just a moment here to pull it pull it up. Um, okay. So, this is a late committee report. On September 8th, we
had a wellness committee meeting and our uh local HUPAG came in to speak. Gloria Pennor and Inz Sanchez came in to speak about Hussy Pag and give some updates. Um so for folks who don't know um each public school district in New Jersey is
required by law to have a CPAG which is a special education parent advisory group and this is where in which family members and caregivers of special education students in district can participate by providing feedback. Um so the local CPAG is parentled and it
advocates for special education families within the the district. Um our student services department oversees the special education programs and services. Our school administration makes decision on policies, resources and programs and us as the board of ed approves the policy
and budget. But the CPAG is an opportunity for parents to get involved, support each other, learn from each other, um advocate for each other, and provide information. So um HUCPAG is what we call our local so it's Heightstown East Windsor special
education provide uh pro parent advisory group provides direct input to the district ensures parents have the necessary tools to effectively advocate for their children and they advise on matters that pertain to the education health and safety of
children within the district. Um they collect data from their parentonly meetings um conversations they have at PTO meetings, afterchool activities and they also um sub uh send out a parent survey every year. Um all the
information that they receive is kept confidential and anonymous. Um they do share information but it's not provided in a way that could ever trace back to anyone in particular um to you know ensure that anonymity. um they've provided the results of the
survey and and how they used it to create an action plan going forward. Um there was a lot of detail there. So you can find all of that information um on on their website and their Facebook and Insta pages. They also spoke about what a a FAPE is or a free and appropriate
public education which is very critical in the special education world. Um, they spoke up about upcoming events they're having and they also spoke about very proudly how they helped implement the new Jersey the new New
Jersey IEP legislation S3982 and they provided some details about that. Um, it's basically rules that each district has to follow um, regarding IEP or individual education programs for special education students. Um, and they
also very proudly mentioned how last spring they received the Friends of Education Award from the Mercer County Education Association after being nominated by our own East Windsor Educated Association. So again, you can find more information about them on Facebook and Instagram under Heightstown
East Windsor Special Education Parent Advisory Group and online at site.google.comviewhag. google.com viewh ag. Okay, that now concludes my report and we will move on to number nine.
>> Tina, I have a question. >> Oh, sure. Sorry. You went over the curriculum um thing and you're doing this uh screening, additional screening. Is that the one that's mandated by the state or that's that volunteer thing? I didn't >> Huh? >> It's the state. It's the mandated by the state.
>> So now instead of doing two screening now we're doing three. >> We're doing three we're going above what the state mandate is. >> Okay. So now this information that you >> three times that I got that. Uh so once we get this actual data which you already have um what is your time frame
you're looking into make some changes to the process or how does it work? Because you know we've been going through this testing and screening and we have the data. I just like to know what is the next step for us because this extra screen is not we already have the actual
data now. So how do we improve on that? >> Well, we have we'll have new data because we've added the star phonics um which is we've never done before. Um and from what we from what I understand
we're going to use that new data to help zone in on those critical areas. Um the presentation is up on the board doc so take a look at it. There is um a diagram on there or a visual visual aid for the reading rope and it kind of it's a very
interesting visual because it talks about all the little facets of literacy that have to come together to actually make someone a good reader fluent and all of that. Um, so if even one of those little pieces are out of sync,
then they can have trouble learning to read and being able to decode and and all of that, becoming fluent. So what we expect to find from this test to help us zone in on those little areas. So I'm thinking more to come. Let's see what happens. Sandy, do we have a date and
when we'll have an update from the Are we testing in December again? >> December through February is the second test. This is the baseline. >> Okay. So like early to late spring we'll have some data. So >> let me just clarify. So so what is
different though chrudy is this is an early literacy initiative. So um and it's really just talking about the the building blocks of how students read from a phemic awareness standpoint in particular. So in our district we do have foundations which is kind of an
explicit intentional way to teach reading. this kind of um it's in line with that to some degree. It takes it it's a little bit more granular. So from an early literacy standpoint, it will provide information and hopefully ear early signs for us. So therefore, we can
kind of um remediate that or just establish a strong foundation for students from a reading standpoint so they're they're ready to read to learn as they're transitioning to third grade. So I think in terms of what will that mean for us, we hope that it will influence our instruction. So in terms
of um you know really making sure that one students aren't falling through the cracks but ultimately um really emphasizing kind of the science of reading which has become kind of a a trend to some degree in terms of where we are from an educational standpoint.
This really just serves as a universal sense of ensuring you know where students are as it relates to those building blocks of of reading. So to some degree it may be more of the same in terms of doubling down, but in to some degree though it may actually
enlighten some areas that we um or some students that we believe that we need to tap into under the general education umbrella because they just haven't been taught to read before it comes across as being like, oh, what's going on here when the students in third grade and they're struggling? Some of that may just be because they haven't been taught
how to engage in that process. So, we hope it it will be uh just more information for us to leverage instructionally within the classroom. That's really what we want teachers to be able to have that information and then turn that around somewhat in a more an efficient manner um to support
students and it's really in line with our our goals for students to be able to read, you know, when they transition from K2 to to 35. So, um so more to come. It's kind of new for us to some degree, but some of it is in line with what we've already been doing. All
right. >> Thank you. >> I actually thought of a question now. So, being we're testing fall, mid like mid winter time, and in the spring at each step of the way, I expect I suspect that we will be looking at
that data and making adjustments as we move throughout the year. >> Yes, >> I'm correct. Okay. Just wanted to cl because that helped that I think that's what I gathered from in there, but I didn't portray that during my >> consistent with the start. Yeah, >> but we already making adjustments
because we saw the results from last test assessment >> and we are already going to be using aggressive approach to teach our kids so we can meet the minimum requirement that's just an additional tool that we'll be utilizing. Is that my
understanding? Because they should be already thinking of a new way to teach our kids. We saw the results from last assessment based results. Just so we're clear though, Drew, this the the assessment results that were just presented at the last meeting are really 312, grade 312. This is more of a K2
initiative. So, in fairness, you didn't get the data connected to this. Now, this serves as a foundation and a springboard for where we believe students are going in their trajectory, but um I just want to make sure that we're kind of talking about the same thing. So if you're referring to the uh
NJ SLA data, is it related to it? Sure. We believe that this will serve as a building block, but this is specifically geared towards K2 transition. Okay, >> thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, I'll move.
Okay, we'll move on to item nine. Motion to approve routine items by exception. Having read the materials received, I move that the board approve the routine agenda items as submitted. Item A, staffing for 102725. Item B, HIV report from October 13, 2025.
Item C, approve parent donation to uh Hightown High School. Item D, technology recycling badge number 64. Item E, approve travel and related expenses. Item F, approve new field trip sites for upcoming trips. Item G, out of district placement. Item H,
transportation joiner. Item I, board meeting minutes approval for October 13, 2025. And item J, bill list of October 27th, 2025. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Just a comment on item C. the um
donation to the robotics club uh to Heights High School looks they look like items that are going to be used. This obviously a a parent with interest in robotics in the robotics uh
team. So that'll be much appreciated. I'm sure >> I wanted to piggy back off of that. Um, I got a chance to see the robotics team at the science day last year and you know they're they're really good. So, it's nice to see that um that the
community sees that and that they're donating. Um, but I I did also have a question though on 12F. Um, the trip, the field trip is to Chick-fil-A. >> I'm sorry, nine 9F. Sorry, I don't mean
to add stuff to the agenda. Um, they're going to Chick-fil-A. Is that for lunch? Like, what is that? I don't I don't quite understand. >> Yeah. So, this is the community based instruction program related to our students who are in our uh self-contained special education setting
here. So, so part of their curricular experience is to get out into the community. Um, I believe this will be part of one of their outings. I would imagine that this is probably where they're going to eat, but also engage in some skills, whether it's change, how much is the order, that's kind of the
life skill component associated with that. All right. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Pull the board, please. >> Miss Bougley, >> yes. >> Miss Conpsion, >> yes.
>> Miss Drake, >> yes. >> Mr. Ly, >> yes. Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes. That concludes our meeting for this evening. Thank you everybody.