We have new microphones. So, this will um this is the trial run for this. So, um we will just see how it goes. I Winnie has promised to kick me if I don't use the microphone properly. All right. Um, starting with public
correspondence, we uh had the public correspondence that we mentioned at the last meeting from uh Rachel O'Brien about kindergarten class size and um Mrs. Murphy has responded. Uh we had other public correspondents
uh the president's report. I wanted to give a brief update on the superintendent search. Um if any of you have been on the website uh the superintendent search timeline is up. We are receiving resumes uh from uh our ad.
Uh the closing date for that is November 10th. So we have resumes inhouse right now. Um we expect we will have more uh by the closing date. Um and that's the uh personnel committee which is also serving as the preliminary search
committee uh will be meeting uh to discuss our next steps. Uh we are uh looking at the election on Tuesday. The board never says how anyone should vote but we do encourage everyone who has not voted already uh by mail in ballot or
early ballot to get out the vote. Uh and also uh I've been asked by several constituents about whether there is any sort of ripple effect from the federal shutdown that might affect us here in Glenidge and the answer right now is that there is little impact on us right
now. However, in terms of the Glenrich community and families in the Glenidge community, uh, you know, I think that the fact that federal employees are facing not being paid, SNAP benefits may expire, um, money run out, uh, that
serves as a vital safety net for families. So, there will be perhaps an impact on some Glen Ridge families. Um, thanks to an inquiry from Kristen and also discussion with the executive council, the home and school executive
council, we've talked about the various food drives that the home and school uh are having coming right up. Um, we also reached out to the bureau to talk about possibly uh creating a resources list uh
of of um suppliers of food and other necessities that would be accessible to Glenrich families. So, um you know, more to come on that, but the uh the spirit is certainly that we will give help where we can. The bureau has put out uh
an announcement also that there will be some property tax forgiveness for people who are unemployed as the result of the federal shutdown and that is super uh the president's report superintendent's report. Greetings Glenidge.
Welcome to fall. The leaves are turning colors. Look at the autumal board of ed members festive. And what else happens in October? The district testing report. And I know that's why everyone is here tonight to hear this riveting testing report. We're
in good shape. And here to present the testing report is principal John Lawler and principal of Rididgewood Avenue School, Dr. Kesha Harris. And they will take you through the testing report. Um, these results are reflective of last
school year. Would you guys like the clicker? Okay, thank you. Um, good evening everyone. Good evening members of our board of education and our student holler at you. All right. Um
the purpose here is just to walk you through our testing report from the previous year. Shall we go ahead and click away? All right. Let's start with language arts on grades 3, four, five, and six, which is my portion overall. Um, and
looking at the data, Ridgewood Avenue School continues to perform above the state average. Grades three and four have some strong gains and students are showing study improvement and reading comprehension as
well as written response. Grade five, we have stable results, strengths in main idea, vocabulary and text evidence. grade six slight dip particularly in extended writing and citing evidence across text. And so our instructional
focus moving forward is to increase their writing stamina and analytical depth using the schoolwide reading program which is grounded in authentic literature. >> Thank you Dr. Harris. And good evening members of the board and the public,
parents, colleagues. Um looking at um the NJSLA, this is a test that is administered at the middle high school for grades seven and nine. We administer this in uh the month of May. You can see we see consistent um performance of our
students u going into seventh and eighth grade. When we see a number like we see with our nth grade class where it dips a little bit for the meeting or exceeding, that's an area that we dig a little bit deeper. we look at the data uh particularly as we get them ready for um they don't test in 10th grade but they
will take um the NJ GPA graduation proficiency assessment in 11th grade which basically covers similar standards for ELA and math. So we want to make sure that we address those as they get to uh 11th grade when they'll test again. >> Okay, this is an eye chart. uh and we're
not going to act like we can see it either. Um so my commentary in terms of the slight dip that we did see in grade six is also uh reflected here as well. So I'm just going to leave that chart
alone. Um it still goes with my commentary from earlier I think yours as well. And I think, you know, something we can point out, you know, stepping back and looking at the results is, you know, from grades three through nine, um, our students are, you know, clearly outperforming peers in the state, which
is wonderful to see. I mean, we see it every day, but, you know, these numbers are are kind of demonstrative of that as well. >> All right, here we go. Math. All right, so you can see that our math proficiency remains solid. Um and there's a
variation as you can see within the grade levels. Grade three has a really strong sense um we'll say number sense and they have basic operation fluency at that age. Um so they're pretty well prepared. Um moving on to math um math
you know multiplication division those types of problems grades four and five when looking at the data I've noticed some moderate gains there for us um but there's still some ongoing challenges. I've noted with fractions and multi-step word problems. So, that's an area where
I believe we need to dig into a little bit more. Grade six performing slightly lower than ELA. Um, but ratios, algebraic equations, and expressions and problem solving are going to be key
focus areas for us moving forward. And again just to add um you know as we we use this data to identify you know grade bands or individual students that we need to provide additional intervention. So we would see from this uh report um you know looking at our
algebra 1 while those are excellent results um being that it is such a a foundational course for mathematics um we want to definitely dig in deeper in that with our math department and look at individual students and see where we can provide additional support and here we are again. Uh, I'm not going
to attempt to read that because I can't. However, um, if you take a look at the, uh, the bars on the far right of each column, you'll see where we fall. So, you'll see that um, you know, third grade, fourth, fifth, and sixth, you'll
notice some slight dips. Um, but remember, 10th grade, different students. Um, and so, we have work to do. You know, we are in, you know, quite frankly, we're doing extremely well. But I do see areas of improvement and gains that can be made. So we're going to
target those with the curriculum. >> So the last piece of the NJSLA for state testing is um is science which is tested in grades 5, 8, and 11. Um you know again one of the numbers we consistently see as a concern is is in eighth grade.
while our students are outperforming the state, we do see, you know, a number like 29% um as uh being proficient, it's it's concerning in that when you see the results at the upper levels with our our students in their high school classes
and advanced placement, which we'll get to shortly, it is a number that is concerning. A few years ago when we did our curriculum rewrite, we uh really dug into the test itself. Um so now moving forward we're going to utilizing our link tools uh for analysis for doing
some benchmark testing just to give you know put more of these tests in the kids' hands just to it really that doesn't I believe reflect um clearly not our students capabilities because those same students are doing extremely well on the the reading sections and there's a lot of reading involved with with the science part of these tests. So it is a
concern something that we are um we have a good game plan to address that. >> Anything you want to add? um just a little. Um I think that also in looking at the scores, one of the things that we may need to emphasize, especially um for grade five to kind of help bolster because I see the the drop by the time
um they're in eighth grade, is that we may need to look a little bit more at the scientific inquiry. I think that we need to do a little bit more in terms of experimental things, hands-on things, um, that they can kind of take with them because we're losing something when we
move from grade five to grade eight. And so that'll be something that we need to address and focus on. >> I'm not I'm just >> Well, this one's definitely a little bit better than the other one, Dr. Harrison. >> It is. It is. It is indeed. Um, looking
at grade five, I mean, we, as you can see, the the gain there has been moderate, if any. So, it's, you know, we're stable, but the goal here is to actually break past that number. And that that's what we would like. We'd like to be past that. I think it's like
64. Did I get that right? Break around 64. We'd like that number to be up into like 80s, 90s. Try to reach for that goal. Right now, we'll take 70, you know, if we can get break through that ceiling. That's the goal.
All >> right. So, the next uh assessment is uh the statewide um NJGPA graduation proficiency assessment. This is administered to all 11th graders during the month of March. And uh this is the state's graduation assessment requirement. um students that um do not
pass. And as you could see um going back to what we were talking about earlier um with the ELA scores in um seventh, eighth, and nth grade by um the time they're taking a very similar test in 11th grade. Um you know, almost 100% of our students are demonstrating um what
they're considered graduation ready. So that's fantastic and we want to build on that. We do have students that do not pass the GPA. It's a very small amount of students, but we do work with our team to ensure that all these students meet this graduation requirement. First, they um would retake the NJ GPA in the
fall and that unlocks their ability to utilize the PSAT or SAT as a graduation requirement. And then for students that still have not passed that and sometimes we have like a handful of students per mathematics that are struggling, then we do what's called a portfolio assessment. that usually happens after the new year
and they work very closely with one of our math teachers and they identify the standards that the students are really struggling in. They do go through the portfolio gets submitted and Mr. Phoenix is here. He does a great job working with the teachers to um administer that and then uh at least for the last five years we've been 100% hit our mark with
with getting the kids ready for graduation. So, uh, with both the, um, NJSLA and NJGPA, um, while these numbers we're seeing are are are great trends, um, we're we're administering a new test actually starting tomorrow. It's called
the NJ SLA and GPA adaptive. It's a different vendor. We're going from, uh, Pearson to Cameian. Um, it's an adaptive test, which, you know, apparently, you know, it's going to adjust the questions as the students are taking. So, um, it's going to be a a task, I think, for our
our district team to kind of sit back and compare these results to previous. Now, tomorrow we start our field tests here at the high school tomorrow and Thursday, and then next week we continue on with our upper grades um to get us ready to um administer these new tests in the spring, which we're being told
that we're going to count in the spring, but for now, it's just a field test. But it's, you know, it's it was a late drop, right? Right. This is something that came down from the state as we were starting the new school year, but you know, we kind of dropped everything and we have a great team here. We have, you know, tech people and Janelle and Maine and our administrators, our school
counselor, everyone is kind of, you know, all hands on deck and if you're walking out, peek your head into the cafeteria. You can see everything's set up. It's looking good and uh you know, we'll see how it goes tomorrow. But, you know, we're going to learn from it and um we're going to adapt. Yes.
>> Okay. Board members, do you have uh questions for our administrators? Yes, Heather. >> Yeah, a couple years ago, I know one of the schools I taught at, we looked at the uh science angel and we were shocked how reading comprehensionbased it was and how little science it correlated to
what we'd actually done in class. Um, and I'm just curious about since there's such a big difference between the fifth grade and eighth grade um, test scores that if your science people had looked at the tests, are they like different in feel or it's just weird to me that there's a big dip down and it's not like
kind of constant? Um, did you guys look at do you even have access to like test versions? >> So, they did take the actual test themselves. They sat down and went through the province to really get an inside look. And um you know when you look at while you know a big part of it is reading and you look deeper into the
um the results for the NGS SLA reading you see you know that type of reading is a little bit there's a slight drop compared to you know literary reading right so informationational text is something that we can definitely emphasize a little bit more um but you know I think you know we um we'll talk a
little bit more about link it right Winnie at some point um we just started using it or get an introduction to it at our our PD a few weeks ago so our Next step is to kind of you know work with different departments on what's appropriate for you know like with science we'll look at some of the sample tests with other departments look at math they want to see you know how they
can use the data more so um yeah it's it's it's puzzling right I mean it's it's something that you know we see across I mean you can see by the state results but you know I believe we can do better so >> question on those eye charts where it
says um same grade different student what does that mean I mean what do you mean by Different students. Same grade, different students. >> So, are we going back to one of these? >> Yeah. Yeah. Any of those. What does that mean? >> Oh, you mean the years? The years. Got
it. I thought it was, you know, different between ELA and math. Okay. Got it. So, I'm actually glad you're on this slide, though, because I with geography and and algebra is at two, we hit 100%.
>> And so, I I think what we're looking at is um you can see it's the geometry of the middle school students who took geometry versus the high school students who took geometry. So, a student the probably there's a very extremely small sample of middle school students who
were taking geometry at that point. obviously scored, you know, almost like a perfect on the grade. Whereas in the um the high school is the bulk of your students in either usually ninth or tth grade taking geometry, much larger sample of students. Um so I think what
happened is that the test on this graph is being split by uh different populations taking the same assessment. >> Those eye charts are actually from link. Um we've uploaded all of our data and they could make us these cool eye charts. I put them in there. Not
positive response here. But what I like about the eye charts is um it shows you the drop after the pandemic and then the rebuild. And that's really the picture I want you to get from that is you could see that because at the bottom it's the
years. So if you look at you know language arts or math you you see that definitely when we were coming out of the pandemic all the scores across the board dropped and then we've been doing the slow rebuild as we catch students up and we're pretty much at preandemic
levels now. So that that was important to say that we have done that work. So that's really what the purpose of those eye charts were and to check your vision. So, a little bonus >> and I think um statewide that's been the big concern among educators is how how
are students um coming back from the pandemic. So, that's reassuring and thank you for explaining you know the um the rationale behind thinking about how the numbers what what it means for students because we all know a test is
only as good as what it tells us about students. Um, in your training for the NJSLA and GPA adaptive, did they talk at all about uh comparability of results between when uh the adaptive test and
the non-adaptive test? >> They may have, but I didn't catch it. So, so we are right now um in full mode of you know how to you know build it out from creating the rosters to assigning tests to creating sessions to the
logistics of administering a test. I think after that we'll sit down and reflect on that how it went. We're doing it a little differently than Rididgewood Avenue which is good. We're kind of seeing two different ways to do it. And then um you know I think we'll see like what these results mean, what kind of you know cut scores they're going to
set, how the scales they're going to use. Like I really >> Yeah, it's it's it's this is field testing. They have nothing. This is >> I know um because people at the state level have been asking first of all they ask if will the field test results be available and the answer is no.
So you will be kind of uh for all of the effort that administrators and faculty have been put in, you'll be flying blind a little bit on this. >> Yeah. Just to put our perspective on I hope nobody from the state DOE is watching this, right? We're we're okay, right? Um so when we were building it
out a couple weeks ago, I think it was and um you know, we created our rosters and then we're like, okay, let's see how we assign a test. And that whole section of the delivery platform was grayed out still. So, it's they're dropping it >> right >> in real time. And then on top of that,
>> um, God, I don't want to turn this into a gripe session, but so, um, so they gave us like a 3-week window to administer this, uh, assessment starting Monday. Nobody does it on Monday, right? You do it on Monday, you're crazy. All the problems. >> Um,
within that within that 15 days, we lose um, you can't administer on election day, so it gets shut down. The teachers convention election day. No, I'm sorry. Uh, Veterans Day. I said election day. That's four. And then Halloween. Like,
who's going to administer a test on a Halloween, right? Be crazy. >> Be totally crazy. >> So, of the 15 days, it's really 10 workable days to do this. And then again, you take away that first day and we have a story of, you know, a colleague who tried doing it on I don't
know why, but there were some issues that came up. We always let everyone else figure those those mistakes out and then we come in behind that scene. >> Board members, other questions? >> I was curious um for English language arts 8th to 9th grade you see like a 13
to 15 percentage point drop. I'm curious that's unique to our district or that you see that across similar districts in the state. I think it was like the first slide. >> So ELA. >> Yeah. So between 8th and 9th grade. Yes. And that was the group I was speaking about earlier is you know you know if we
see trends in the 80s of me and then we see a dip like that that's a group that we're going to take a lot closer look to it. >> Yeah. I was curious have you been able to decipher if that's unique to our district or could it be to the test? You know I don't need an answer. >> We'll get back. I'm curious. Okay.
>> Any other questions? >> Thank you. Um Dr. Harris and Mr. Lawler. We appreciate that in this testing window you are building the plane while flying the plane, right? >> So, Betsy, I I'm I have a lot left. I
Yeah. Okay. I I don't know if that was like the close out, but you know, we're we got um what's next? >> Seal of biiteracy. All right. So, moving on. So, that that kind of takes care of the state testing. >> Not over. Um so the seal of bi literacy
is uh we're in our third year of um administering what's called a stamp test. It's one of the state approved test to demonstrate for students to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in a in a world language. Right. And we administer it for uh French, Spanish, and Chinese in the high school. Um this is administered during
junior year for our students that are enrolled in the level four honors classes. Um here you can see our numbers for uh class of 2025 and then in parenthesis would be the previous year class of uh 24 and you see the numbers are very comparable and that's um nice
too because the class of 2025 was very small. It was uh kind of like an outlier group of almost like a full section less of students about 120 where our normal class is about 135 140. Um, and what's nice about is when the students uh achieve what's called the state seal of
biiteracy, it's a note notation on their transcript um that shows really a commitment, right? A commitment to learning a second language. They've been proficient in a a world language as well as English through their um NJGPA. And again, big credit from our world language department for preparing the
students and um again taking the time to administer these assessments. And they hit on all the core areas with world languages. It's listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Uh, next up are the SATs and you can see starting from 2025 and counting
backwards to 2019. Now, the SAT and what follows next are the ACTs. These are assessments that are not administered at Glenrich High School. The students will sign up for the test on their own and take at a different location. A lot of our students take it during junior year, but then also well into senior year as
well. Um, as we speak to our school counselors, um, you can kind of see some trends from, uh, coming out of COVID where a lot of schools, uh, moved away from using SAT and ACT for admissions and went into like test optional. But the conversation now that they're hearing
from admissions reps and we're seeing with the data is that more schools are going back to utilizing um, these standardized assessments just for the sheer volume of applicants that they are receiving. It's just a way for them to uh you know to compare and contrast different populations throughout the country. U but again with the class of
2025 it's a small group. You can see 121 101 elected to take the SAT in at some point. Um results are very good. Um this slide shows the percentage of uh students who scored greater than a thousand all the way on the left to
greater than400 on the right hand column. And then down there, the counselors pulled some ranges from different universities that our students have applied to. So you can kind of look at some uh areas of uh you know, comparable where those scores would fit into. And then this slide points out um Glenn
Ridg's results, our students results uh to area schools. Um so you can kind of see where the uh where they did um reading and writing and mathematics and the total scores uh to different schools that we would kind of consider, you know, comparable districts as far as
performance and population. And these are the ACT results. We clearly see that more of our students elect to take the SAT in recent years. uh the the number of students taking ACT has is has uh dropped off uh not
significantly but um you know noticeably and here you see again similar um graph to the SAT. How many students scored above equal or above 20 on the ACT or greater than 29? Then the last portion of my presentation
tonight is advanced placement. Our students uh do continue to challenge themselves with the number of AP courses and exams they are taking. Um AP exams are administered by our school during the month of May. students in grades 9
through 12 with primarily, you know, grades 11 and 12 enrolled in AP classes, although we do see a growing number of students in 9th and 10th grade. Um the number is a slight down tick from uh the previous year again because we did have a smaller senior class, but uh this current year we have um we're going to
set a new record 336 students taking 956 exams in May of 2026. Um and again I think a credit that is to just our overall philosophy towards advanced placement. It's being very inclusive types of course offerings we
do provide. Um broadens that accessibility to students in the arts um as well as in STEM courses. And STEM I'll get to in a minute is an area where we're really shining which is really great to see with our students. And here you can see just a graph form
from going back to 2013 to 2000 and this past May 25 just the the um steady growth of students enrolled as well as in in the exams that they are taking. But these are just numbers all this is just numbers. There's obviously a lot of
stories behind it. All right. Um again I'll give a shout out to our you know our STEM programs. Um chemistry with Miss Kra physics Mr. Mr. Panienko, computer science, uh Mr. George, our calculus, we had Miss uh Chamberlain
went on maternity leave last year. Her replacement, Miss Paladino, stepped in and we didn't skip a beat. Our calc ABBC BC scores were right there. Oftentimes a whole point higher than peers in the state. Again, that's on a fivepoint scale. We're doing phenomenal stuff. Um
but again, this goes to all the tests, right? NJ, SLA, GPA all the way through the AP. Um just the amount of effort and care that goes into making sure that the students are set up for success here. Um that's our testing coordinators. Obviously, uh that's our school
counselors, um our tech team, and you know, all these tests are now administered on digital devices. So, there's a ton of stuff going on in the background to make sure that the devices are ready, that we have enough devices, that they're prepared, that our students have loaners, everything. um the building administrators, right? Our
custodians. Uh in a moment after this meeting's over, this place will be transformed into a testing center for tomorrow, right? We're going to stay after and get it all set up so it's ready to go tomorrow. Um the teachers proctoring um the flexibility when you know their
class is displaced or half their class is testing, the other half isn't and maybe their classroom is had to be moved because we're using it for testing. just that flexibility um as well as obviously preparing the students for the success that you're seeing. And then lastly, our students, right? Students who put all
the hard work in like, you know, six AP classes this year. It's like crazy, right? Um and their families, right? The support, the expectations, and just the um we don't get a lot of push back for testing where you see in other
communities. I think um while we say sometimes we test a lot um there's value in just the experience in doing it. Um all our kids are going to be continuing their education in some form. Um there's entrance exams, there's licensing exams
when they're professionals. When you get to that point, you know, I love sports, right? A lot of reps, a lot of practice. When you get into that situation, um you're a lot more comfortable with it. So um looking back a lot of this is is great practice for our students as they able to continue on to their their
education and their profession. So very proud of everybody involved in all this and um see if there's any other questions >> questions for members. >> I had a question about the AP exams. You had a breakout for virtual. So I think for the last year this slide before this
um it's it was like 34 and then six virtual. this are the six part of the 34 or are those additional? So, >> so those are um those are courses that we don't offer um that students are able to take a class and then take the exam
in uh through virtual high school. So, that's one avenue. Then we often have times that students may elect to do um well that's subject. So sometimes students take exams if they say are a um native speaker in a in a world language and that we don't offer the class
they'll take the exam as well. But um so for example some of those virtual that we see that are very common are like u AP government and politics we have students that usually that's a more popular one um AP environmental science is a popular one. So now there's even
new ones there's um cyber security. So if we can't offer it here then um they have that option to do it through virtual high school. And actually that's um the virtual high school is kind of like a testing ground for it. So if we do see a lot of students taking a course like years ago when they were doing an econ
>> like there's a lot of interest here. Let's at some point offer it here in the building. We send people out to get trained and then we do it here because while virtual is a great opportunity I don't think it substitutes what what they're getting here in the buildings. Other
questions, board members? >> Yeah, we're sure we have no more tests, right? >> No, the last thing is just uh the recognition. Sorry. Um the recognition of what our students are doing. You can see the different ways that uh College Board recognizes achievement.
um some of the awards that the school has received um outside of just performance, but you can see enrollment in our computer science programs with uh our female population, which is something they want to celebrate and recognize, which is great. Um we had 13 capstone
um certificates awarded. Um the capstone program is is another great program we added about 10 years ago now, Winnie. >> Right. really teaching kids um you know college level types of skills, right? How to collaborate, how to you know develop a research question, how to
collect data, analyze it. It's a really great program. And then these are just some um other recognitions for the district. again that you know 99% graduation rate and the the sheer number of students who
are continuing their education is a credit to the community as well. And then next steps, Winnie, do you want me to is this something you wanted to jump in on or next steps? This year we um increase the use of link. We're even training the
high school staff and um prek to um 12 can now use this and look at the data. All the data that you saw presented this evening has been uploaded to link it so that you can look at a student and see every different type of assessment they've taken and teachers are learning
to use those tools. We're not experts yet. We're crawling but we're going to walk and then we're going to run. Um so we also this year started the initial implementation of online dibbles testing. They used to do paper pencil.
It's um aimed at um reading levels, reading fluencies and that was obtained through a grant. And then we have full implementation of MTSS. Now that's multi-tered support. And as John alluded
to, tomorrow is the big day for the high school. NJSLA adapted field testing tomorrow so that we'll become experts so that when we give the test in the spring, our students are ready, our staff is ready, and it will be fine.
And I'd like to thank the principles because you could really tell through the passion of their presentation that they own their own data. They're proud of it. And 950 AP exams. I don't know any school with our enrollment that does something like that. And that really
does speak to the inclusivity of our AP program and giving students lots of opportunities. >> Thank you guys. >> Okay, we have another presentation. Janelle. Um, Jack Dwood is going to give us the
students safety data presentation. More numbers. Oh, there we go. All right. Good evening. Um here tonight to present about uh a few things. So
we have to twice a year we print present out on our student safety data report and we also have our self assessment which is our hip grade report which is happens at each of the buildings. So we're going to talk about both of those tonight. Twice a year we have reporting periods.
This is reporting period two that was sent into the state in August and this is uh reporting from January of this school year or last school year through June 30th. It's the student safety data system which is an electronic system. We upload
all of the data to that from our other system which is Hipster where we do all of our investigations through. We also have to upload twice a year um the number of physical restraints, mechanical restraints, seclusion, and timeouts that happen for special
education students. That's required um back in 2022. That was something that the uh governor had added in and it was a mandatory collection period that started at that point. We had actually started that several years prior to that. Um, we have a PCT, a personal
control technique committee that started about eight years ago and we have members from across the schools, administrators, um, teachers, some other people that are on that. Um, and we actually do our training within house, um, Ms. Salon, who's our behaviorist,
Mr. Hogwin, who's one of our school psychologists, they actually do the two-day training, and every year they do an updated training to refresh people on that. Currently, we have 39 people that are across the district that are trained. Um, if they need to call in the
building administrators, the school uh administrative assistants are the ones that would call down and they would um implement anything that's needed. They always start with verbal deescalation first if it's an issue that's arising. Sometimes it does escalate um but that's
very few times which you'll see by the following slides. Um last year in reporting period 2, which was January through June, we only had two incidents where we had to implement physical restraint. Um both of those incidents happened at Lynen Avenue
School. And they were both very short periods of time. Um the only time that they implement a physical restraint is if a child is going to hurt themselves, they're going to hurt someone else, or if they're going to cause some type of property damage, which is going to do either of those things. Um, so there was
two incidents that happened with our special ed students during that time. If we look at the total number of incidents that occurred across last year, there was only four incidents. So there was a total of three at Lynen and one at Ridgewood. Again, this is our
special ed students. Um, and when this does happen, the school nurse becomes involved, the parents are notified, uh, the building administrator has to file a report. So we keep data on that. And again, we've been doing that well before 2022 when it was required.
Uh you'll notice that there is no seclusion. We do not have any seclusion. There is no mechanical restraints um and no combination of restraints and seclusion that we do in district. The next part of what we have to uh
report out is our incidents that happen any investigations that occur. So you'll see by the following slide number of violence vandalism substance weapons I have confirmed that occur. Um the definition for violence vandalism is up there. I won't go into that but I will
mention there's also other incidents leading to removal. Um that's an incident that occurs. It is something that's found not to be an HIV but it does involve a student being suspended from school. um in school out of school suspension that happens um and we have
to report that also. So this is reporting period one that we had this was already um uploaded and submitted. We're reporting out now on reporting period 2. Um last year there was this is for again from January through June there was one total
incident that occurred. It was an HIV that was confirmed uh at Glenrich High School. There was five incidents that were leading to removal that did cause um a suspension of some type. And there was also four HIV investigations. Those
were things that were alleged, but it didn't meet the criteria of an HIV. And at Ridgewood Avenue, there was six alleged HIVs. None of those were found out to meet the criteria. So, we had a total of 10 alleged um HIV
investigations that occurred. Didn't meet that criteria. They could have been code of conduct. Uh most likely they are. When we see them, it's something that happens. There are consequences. And over the last few years, we've been putting a lot of restorative action, restorative practices in place for those
situations. So on the next slide, I've just combined across the school year just to kind of take a snapshot of it. There was a total of 19 alleged HIVs. In addition to that, there was two confirmed HIVs that occurred. There's actually a third one.
Um, sometimes they get a little wonky. Something happens at the end of the school year. It one did occur at the end of June that will be reported out um on our period 1 for this year. So for the 25 26 school year, that will be reported on there.
The one HIV incident that did occur in the spring, which was January through June, um it was a type of bullying was verbal. it was found to be intentional and the nature of the bullying included um race, color, ancestry, and or origin.
Uh appropriate actions were taken. We never list those up there because that could identify the the student, especially because it's such a low number of students that um are found to have incidents across last year. There was the two that were confirmed. Both of them were
verbal. Both of them were intentional. Um I've listed the nature of the bullying. It's those same things I just mentioned. And additionally, mental, physical, or sensory disability was what came up. Again, appropriate actions were taken on both of those. We also do uh have to report out the
number of trainings and programs that we do across the district and we'll talk about that a little more on a following slide. But in reporting period 2, there was a total of 34 trainings that occurred across the district and 29 different programs.
For the school year, there was 67 trainings that occurred across the five buildings and 70 programs that happened across the buildings. Here's a few examples of the trainings that have occurred. Um, I leave capturing kids arts up on there for
Central Forest and Lynden. That's something that last year was year one of that. We've entered in year two. The staff at the buildings had a refresher on our PD day about two weeks ago. Um, and I know Ridgewood Avenue had their training. Dr. Harris led that. We also
had on our PD day, um, staff members were selected to be process champions, people that would be able to lead capturing kids hearts, some of the initiatives that go on in the buildings. So, there was about a dozen people I think that actually uh, got added on to
our process champions across the buildings. Mr. Lawler is just going to talk a little bit about some of the things that are happening up here as far as an example of trainings and programs. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dit. Um, just to highlight a few of the programs that
we've implemented at the middle high school the last couple years. Um, we uh meet at least two or three times a year with our safety team which is led by our HIV specialist uh Caitlyn Riley. which does a nice job of like kind of presenting the data that gives us areas that we can target are what we consider
like HIV hotspots. Um two areas that we've kind of identified are obviously with our middle school population. Um and a lot of the um alleged HIVs come out of that uh cohort just in the nature of um of conflict as uh we see often
times with that age group that their friendships are changing. They're very focused on identity and um so what we implemented was a pure mediator program um that is a group of juniors who apply and um they're trained in different
areas of mediation to provide another outlet another intervention kind of more of a restorative practice when we have uh conflicts with our middle school students. Um the flip side of that too is um the high school students are getting great opportunities uh for leadership roles um to be mentors and
then oftentimes they do push into the um SEAL cycle class with our seventh graders. Um and every seventh grader goes through a six week cycle class with our middle school counselor where they talk about uh different areas. Um so the peer majors often take uh come in and teach lessons with those students which
is great. Another area that we identified as a hot spot at the high school level is through um oftentimes in our athletic programs um when we see at practices or games or oftentimes between different um uh teams. So uh with that uh additional training for our coaches
um these are you know HI and reporting procedures are at the preseason meetings with the coaches. Um and then Mr. Hill, our athletic director, often pulls our our team captains and they go to various uh leadership and training workshops uh so they can set good examples for uh their peers. Um in the broader sense
when we look at programming um you know something that we really um believe a lot in is uh just cultural awareness and appreciation. um we see with the uh talked a little bit about the world language department and you know the seal of bi literacy but they do so much more in terms of um you know field trips
and bringing in guest speakers um there's special events I don't know if anyone got to this past Friday the Diwali celebration that the AAPI club with the G sponsored it was great you know great food and dancing uh they had an instructor there teaching Indian
dance um so there's a lot of things that we're doing um to really expose students to different cultures and I think that just creates and improves the overall climate. And I'll hear tomorrow if I don't plug the Lunar New Year celebration in February. So make sure when that comes out that everyone gets there. That's Miss Sang. She does a
wonderful job. Uh so much fun. Um and it's a great experience. So if you have a chance, usually it's like the second week of February, right? So if you have a chance to come out to the high school, the whole community is um welcome to to be a part of that. So >> can I ask a question before you go, Mr.
um peer mediators versus peer leadership. Peer leadership is for seniors who um peer who who facilitate over 9th, 10th, 11th grade and then peer mediators are for
juniors who facilitate the seventh and eighth grade. So, um, the peer mediators are selected from our current junior class and they primarily work with middle school students, but as far as like the instruction they're pushing into the seventh grade cycle classes.
The peer leaders are seniors who um it's a class that meets every day. They have to to apply to get in and then um they're doing various lessons once a week with our eighth graders. So our seniors are working primarily with the eighth graders, the 11th graders with the seventh graders. And peer mediate uh
peer leadership are more about lessons and discussions whereas in the peer mediators is like if we've identified a conflict and the parties would like to seek an alternative way to try to resolve that, the peer mediators would then be facilitating those discussions to try to resolve those conflicts. So,
it's two separate groups um really kind of targeting different populations, but really it's mostly upper high school working with our middle school population. >> And how do they get how do they get pulled into helping these conflict
situations? Like when a conflict arises, the guidance counselor would bring them in to talk to the students. >> Yeah. So that that's a good question because it would be something that would be brought in at very end right after a conflict has been fully investigated.
We've talked to the parents. It's we pro put put it out there as another alternative intervention versus um you know instead of just going with the disciplinary we say hey let's we see that this is a conflict between uh two students or multiple students um this is a way that we could try to facilitate to
come to some sort of resolution but it would it would be very much it's not the first go-to and it's often done after a lot of other things have been put in place by by the adults and it's supervised by a middle school counselor And what's the success rate? Is it
better when you know two kids who are in conflict um talk to a upper classman here? Is it is the is the resolution better? Are we seeing any success with that type of um resolutions?
>> I wish I had an answer. I don't I think it's hard to say it's overall works better. It's case by case depending on the students involved. What's nice about it is that oftentimes the high school students have lived through that not very long ago as where it's like oh god was that 30 40 years ago. Oh my god, you know it's been so long that you know
they they've lived it. We try to match the students in similar kind of situations. So if it's a conflict that's happening in rec sports, we try to pair them with a peer mediator that is in athletics, you know, so you try to find that similar interest. And um often times the middle school students are
more receptive when they hear it from from a you know closer peer than another adult telling them. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> I I'm just curious because um at my school they recently had a hip training for the students
>> um and it might be new because I don't remember it before and it might have been grade specific actually but I'm just wondering if we've thought about that or done something like that. I always you know just intrigued. I'm curious if you could forward that at, you know, specifically what it is. I mean, it's a topic that we
>> um whenever we have our class meetings, we're reiterating what HIV is and the reporting process and what's acceptable as far as particularly with language we see, you know, like what's appropriate language. Um, >> but as far as like a specific training, I'd be curious to hear what what it is. >> Yeah. And I think from what I recall
from what we had our faculty hip trading, I think they were going to share the results of like where their hips seem to be concentrated with the students to kind of point out where the area was. Um, which makes me think it might have been a grade specific thing. >> And we we've done that. We've pulled specific grades at times when we've seen
an uptick in certain types of incidents and we're like, hey, this is what we're seeing. And then we followed up with, you know, parent notifications. But >> any other questions, board members? I have a question about the district training if but not
but I don't know if you're if you're done I don't want to you had mentioned there was one district-wide training program and I should probably know this but off the top of my head I don't can you remind me what the districtwide training program is >> back
um we've had districtwide training with um our lawyers who will come in they'll do an update on what HIV is we've gone through scenarios to see how would you work with this scenario? What are some of the things that you might do? Um what
are different practices? Would you find this to be a HIB? Would you not find this to be a HIB? Um and we've done that with the administrators and you'll see a couple slides down. Um all of the HIV investigators across the buildings. So it's a a district-wide meaning that the other programs and trainings are really
building specific. But that one is with the I'm going to say there's about 20 of us total. >> You're welcome. >> Other questions? >> Have a few more slides. Um so we also had um we have to create a self
assessment. This is something that we do every year. Um each of the buildings do a self assessment. They're looking at eight core areas and they have to um look at how they're doing as far as the anti-bullying rights are where what the requirements are and if they're meeting
standards. Um they grade themselves and it's a great feedback tool because they can look for areas of weakness of areas that they have strengths and where they can um plan on those trainings and programs for future years. So um the data is submitted. It has to
be submitted like again once a year. It's uh actually ready to be submitted and certified by the end of this week. It will go in and then we will actually get grades back from the state. In the past that was January, February um hopefully will be there and once they are that'll also be submitted at a
future board meeting. I won't go through every core area, but you'll see the core areas are up there and this will be posted up u on the website tomorrow. There's the eight core areas. If we go to page two, it has the possible scores. They can achieve a self
assessment score of 78 as a total. The buildings of Central Forest, Lynen, and Glenrich High School have self- assessed at 77, Ridgewood Avenue at 66 uh 76. We also have to report out if we're we
allow for pre preliminary determination. So when a HIV when something comes across the principal's desk, they look at it. Um they can decide if they think it needs to go down the route of an investigation or if it's something they think clearly does not fit any of the
criteria. We do have that in our policy. Um you'll see that was only implemented twice last year, both times at Ridgewood Avenue School. Those are the anti-bullying specialists um at each of the buildings who do go for regular training. Also the administrators who may be involved in
the investigations. Um they're also once the data is taken the investigation is complete. We're using a system called hipster. That information goes to the building administrator then goes to uh Miss Keit. So that's all for that. I have wanted to
end on a positive because I always feel like I'm like giving this data that's a lot. So um before we get to that I will just talk a little bit about student services. Um we have some new staff on student services this year due to some of our new programs. They have acclimated very well to the district. Uh
Mr. Murphy and Dr. Caravella have some new staff trainings they do once a month. Um the the staff has been doing very well. We're only two months in but it's been great so far. our two new programs for student services this year. Uh we replaced ESS. We had effective
school solutions up here at the high school. Um the challenge was could we create that within the school district. So last year I went to five or six different schools to look at the programs that they had and have created what's called our balance program which is building awareness and learning about
navigating challenging emotions. Uh it's a highintense counseling program. The difference or one of the key differences between this and ESS or programs like it, we have a school social worker on staff who actually um if the students are classified is writing their IEPs.
So, they're involved more in the academic and educational component where ESS is separated out. They would just work on the emotional part of it. Um maybe the social stuff and then they would hand it off to that second person. So, this was a little more fluid where they can actually go into the classrooms meeting with the teachers, things like
that. The second program we have is the um our autism program. I think we are in year eight. Uh program was created. The first program was at Lynen Avenue. The students graduated. They moved through. They were doing very well. They went up
to Rididgewood Avenue. Couple of those students have now moved up. So they're up here at the high school. So that is behavior education support and therapy. The best program because I wanted to say our best program was up at the high school. So um that is the program. It's up here. They have started out. They're
starting to do some daily living skills. They're doing some community- based instruction, things like that. The program is running really well. There's a about a dozen evening presentations that are occurring also across the year. Um, out of the special ed audit uh three or four years ago,
that was one of the things that came up. So, we've started those. I worked with our CPAC who had come up with a handful of topics that they wanted to see that they thought would be relevant. they had pulled or pulled their um constituents to find out. So, some of those topics
are covered. We also have SPAN is doing a couple presentations for us um and a couple of the other organizations. Uh we have five or six that are actually done in-house with our people, which is great because it's the people that are working with the students during the day and then can relay that information of what
they're seeing. So, it's a little more organic. And finally, Central School. Um it's been a great first two months there. Um having a lot of fun around the kids. It's been wonderful. Um we had our fire safety visit this what was that last
week. Uh fire truck came. It was really nice. In the past it's just been for kindergarten prek. We were able to extend it. Fire department was fantastic. Um so we had our first and second graders. They were able to come out, see the firetruck, climb on fire truck, things like that. Um the HSA has
been uh extremely supportive. I know Dr. Harris had said that in the past. Um but we've had some great additions so far. We have a monitor that was put in. Mr. Gomes and Mr. uh Ahmed had installed it uh about a month ago. Um so the teachers
are doing what's called the monthly five. So they're taking pictures of the students during the school day, things that they're, you know, engaged in and we're putting them up on the monitor so they could see them when they're walking through. Finally, Halloween is this week. We had our police visit yesterday.
They came in to do a safety talk about Halloween, masks, wearing, trick-or-treating, things like that. Uh this morning we had Caroling for Bridgewood Avenue School. Mrs. Terabachia had come down. She had brought students with her. They did a really nice presentation for the
students out on the playground. Um we have our pumpkin walk on Thursday night, which will be nice to see. Um and finally, Halloween is on Friday. We have parties. We have a parade. Um, the teachers voted to do a group costume.
They decided that they were going to be lifeguards. Um, I agreed to be part of it as long as I didn't have to be David Hasselhoff. Um, I will be dressing up. I will tell you if you see it, it is worth the price of admission of what I'm going to have on. That's all I'm going to say. There will be pictures. So, that's all I
have. Any questions? Thank you. >> Thank you. Miss Keit, any other uh additions to the superintendent report? >> That's all. Thank you. >> Thanks to our administrators for coming.
Uh we'll go on now with the uh meeting. We are at the public comment period for uh comments on agenda items only. Uh we have a small audience but um and I see him shaking his head. Uh you have
two minutes if you would like to make a comment. No. Okay. And our audience we lost you know 50% of our audience during the discussion. So perhaps the other half will return. Uh seeing that there are no
public comments. It is not the first uh meeting of the month, but um we would welcome the report from our student representative. [Music] >> Hi. Okay. Um so the high school had a successful PSAT administration last week
for sophomores and juniors and we also had the college fair last week that went really well. It had a lot of reputable reputable schools and we've continued to have daily visits from college representatives including South Carolina which visited earlier today. Um, as Mr. Lawler said earlier, we had the Dewali
Festival in the GR cafeteria, which had a wonderful turnout. And looking ahead, the student council will be decorating the hallways this Friday for our annual hallway wars, which is like a Halloween competition between the grades. And then the first marking period will officially end on November 12th. And as for
athletics, the boys soccer team won the Super Essex Conference Liberty Division title with a 6-2 victory over Columbia. And the marching band will compete this weekend in the NJ state championships at both Robinsville and TSNJ and again next weekend in the US Bands National
Championship in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And all the other sports teams are preparing for the upcoming state tournaments with brackets being released later this week. The football team is going to face Cedar Grove on Halloween for their first round at 7 p.m. >> Okay. Board members, any questions for
our student rep? Okay. Does anyone else have uh an announcement from their committee or liaison assignment that is timesensitive? >> Just going to say a reminder that the um holiday market is earlier this year.
It's in November November 12th 14. I have to look at my notes, but um it's usually in December here at the high school. So, get your get your holiday shopping early at the holiday market uh in November.
>> Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh going on with our um agenda, you had in your packets minutes from the meeting of October 7th, executive session and regular session. Uh any changes to those minutes? >> I have one change.
>> Yes. on the uh liaison report for Ga, excuse me. Um just wanted to clarify that the softball batting cage was going is going to be
paid for by GRAA, but the um uh infrastructure for the uh water mitigation and the power is um going to be um handled by the school system and
if necessary Ga will contribute to that. >> Okay. So I just wanted to clarify that. >> So we'll note that clarification. >> And if you need me to give you dates, Barbara, in more detail, we can do that afterwards. >> Okay. >> Any other changes to either set of
minutes. >> All right. Jocelyn, would you move the minutes as amended? >> Sure. I move item M1 as amended. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from Anthony. Uh,
since we've had no changes, Barbara, would you call the role? >> Miss Akin Wandi. >> Hi. >> Mr. Bonnet, >> I. >> Mr. Dinard. >> Mr. Dorenzi. >> Yes. >> Miss Gotautle. >> Yes. >> Miss Graham. >> Yes.
>> Miss O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Dr. Yarus Ramos. >> Hi. >> Miss Ginsburg. >> Yes. >> Okay. Kristen, would you move the administration u um administration items, please? >> Yes, I move A1 through A7.
>> Okay. Uh may I have a second? >> Second from Ray. Uh any discussion on the uh item the administration items? >> All right, Barbara, would you call the role?
>> Miss Akin Wandi. Hi, >> Mr. Bonnet. >> Hi, >> Mr. Dinard. >> Yes, >> Mr. Dorenzi. >> Yes, >> Miss Gotautle. >> Yes, >> Miss Graham. >> Yes, >> Miss O'Neal. >> Yes, >> Dr. Yaris Ramos. >> I. >> Miss Ginsburg, >> I.
>> Motion carries. >> Anthony, would you move the personnel items, including those on the addendum? I would like to move items P1 through P13, including the updates on the addendum to item P items P2 and P12.
>> Okay. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from Joselyn. Any personnel items uh are discussed in exec session. So uh therefore, Barbara, would you call the role? >> Miss Akini, >> I. >> Mr. Bonnet, >> I.
>> Mr. Dan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dorenzi. >> Yes. >> Miss Gotautle. >> Yes. >> Miss Graham. >> Yes. >> Miss O'Neal. >> Yes. >> Dr. Yarus Ramos. >> I. >> Miss Ginsburg. >> I. Motion carries. >> Heather, would you move the curriculum
items? >> Sure. We need to um reletter uh the one on the addendum. It says A and it should be F. >> Okay. I'm sorry. It should be what? The The one on the addendum also says A. So, it should probably say F instead.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I'll move C1 A through F, including the addendum. >> Okay. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from >> Patricia. >> Yep. Uh, any discussion on those items?
>> Right. Barbara, would you call the role? >> Miss Akiwandi. >> Hi. >> Mr. Bonnet. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dinard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dorenzi? Yes, >> Miss Gotautle. >> Yes, >> Miss Graham. >> Yes, >> Miss O'Neal. >> Yes, >> Dr. Yaris Ramos.
>> I, >> Miss Ginsburg, >> I. Motion carries. >> Okay. Before we move the business items, I draw your attention to the donation listed on your agenda under B3 from the Central School Home and School Association, books for SEAL and
Capturing Kids Hearts, uh, with a value of about $48,000. Thank you to uh the central school home and school Ray. I know that you'll convey that to them. >> Yeah. Uh Betsy, one correction. It's 4 $48, not $48,000. That would be quite
the HSA treasur. >> $48. Yes. I'm sorry. It's uh the HSA does do very well. Um I'm sorry. $48. All right. Um any other uh clarifications on the business items?
Okay. Uh, Heather, would you move the business item? >> Sure. I'd like to move B1 through B8, including B2, uh, B on the addendum. >> Okay. May I have a second? >> I'll second Dol.
>> Okay. Uh, since there I don't believe there's further discussion, Barbara, would you call the role? >> Miss Zakimwandi. >> I. >> Mr. Bonnet? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dad? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dr. D. Lorenzi, >> yes. >> Miss Gotautle, >> yes.
>> Miss Graham, >> yes. >> Miss O'Neal, >> yes. >> Dr. Yaros Ramos, >> I. >> Miss Ginsburg, >> I abstain on B5. I on all the rest of the items. Motion carries. Okay, we have now come
to the second public comment period on agenda items or other items pertaining to the running of the schools. Any public comments? No, he's shaking his head. No. Okay. Uh, with that, um, we didn't we're not able
to conclude our exec session business in the executive session. So, we will be going back into exe session, but we have concluded the, uh, business for tonight. Uh, there will be no further action by resolution of the board. So, may I have
a motion to go back into exact session? >> Motion. >> Moved by Heather. May I have a second? Second from Juval.