Meeting call to order. Time now is 7:01. Public public portion of the meeting begins. New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted
upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, Liz administrator, board secretary has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the municipal building communicated to the Herald news the record and file with the clerk of the burrow forth. Roll
call. Joseph Carr here. Alexo here. Michael Doyle here. Jennifer Artra here. Abigail Goff here. Erica Multi Colden here. Anthony Too here.
Jazelle Vega here. Marco Tataro here. To the flag of the United States of America to the Republic and justice for all. Thank you.
Meeting regulations. During each regular meeting, two opportunities are provided for citizens to ask questions and to make comments. During the first opportunity, early on the agenda, the meeting is open to the public for the purpose of addressing items listed on for approval on this agenda only. The
second opportunity occurs just prior to adjournment when citizens may address any subject matter that is pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the school district. Persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise, state their name, address, and subject matter. Comments and questions
shall be addressed to the board president or the presiding officer and shall be limited to five minutes per person. The board may or may not respond to issues raised by members of the public at the time they are raised, but will provide a response if and when
appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of the of other individuals when speaking. Please note that the board will not respond to comments regarding member excuse me students or board employees in light of the privacy rights held by those
individuals. Moreover, the board discourages comments about such individuals and will not be responsible for such comments. Members of the public who choose to speak during this public session should carefully consider their comments since they could be held personally liable for any statements
they make. Finally, please note that in accordance with the district policy, the board will not officially comment or respond to any matter mentioned unless it can confirm that the matter has first been brought to the attention of the appropriate school personnel in an attempt to resolve the issue. Public be
heard. Agenda items only. Seeing none, may I have approval of the minutes for September 23rd, 2025 work session, regular meeting published. Second. Motion by Bill Car. Second by
Co. discussion. Roll call, please. Miss Artra, yes. Mrs. G, yes. Miss Monkey Coulson, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Carr,
yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Mr. Yes. correspondence. Correspondence. All right, moving on to reports. Student council representative report, Jonathan
Barboski. Good evening everybody. Since we last met, HHS has followed up with various spirit raising activities to keep the positive momentum for the beginning of the year going farther into the first market period. things such as our class class competitive spirit week last week
between grades and our annual fall fest this year being a block party for all grades to enjoy. Also, as we progress into the fall season, club, sports, and the media center have all started to make their impact on the environment as well as well as the lives of students
and staff here at Bor High School. So far, fall sports have had their ups and downs, but with the season slowly approaching their end, the Bears remain optimistic for the rest of their games and or matches. To start, all sports all
sports have succeeded in their own ways, rather record-wise or improvement wise, showing growth as the season progresses. Moreover, on September 26th, football, cheerleading, marching band, and tennis had their senior nights, and volleyball had theirs on October 7th in homage to
their senior student athletes of the class of 2026. As well as senior as well as senior night, that football game was a gold out for pediatric cancer where the weeks beforehand, junior Ella Alberta organized the selling of gold shirts and ribbons for people people to
wear the day of to show the support for the golf. Furthermore, on October 10th, our homecoming football took place with not only students and parents present but also was one of the stops for the graduating class of 1970 for the 55th
to start as they clubs and extracurriculars to start as they as they were in September. The student student and class councils have been busy at work with our block party and homecoming week getting a multitude of students involved for our Vertober
festivities. Starting with the block party October 1st, students got to indulge in food and ice cream trucks, take part in various backdoor games with their friends, pying a teacher and/or senior Charlie Mankey in the face, and our 2025 2026 school year homecoming
court was announced. Then the next week was the week of homecoming where grades were put in a competition against one another for our outfit themed days throughout the week as well as our annual hallway decorating contest that Thursday night. On a different note, the other clubs also started to take part in
in various events. For example, the share club has kicked off the year with their candy for a cause fundraiser with all the profits going to help a teacher within the Hawthorne public school district. With all this happening, a plethora of clubs including performing arts club, Spanish club, and many more have attended both Hawthorne Day as well
as the Hispanic Heritage Festival performing and or running a stand to branch arts further than the school walls in the media center. Recently, numerous national events such as domestic violence, domestic violence awareness month, national Hispanic
Heritage Month, National Italian American Month, and more, as well as numerous holidays such as Yamapor and Diwali have been put into the spotlight throughout the weeks in our media center to broaden the views and knowledge of our students day by day. Along with
this, Mrs. Djono is putting together her freshman library orientation, teaching them that is teaching them all that is possible and available to them in the media center. Since our last meeting, HHS has been
busy at work in all areas around the school to to make the 2025 2026 school year a memor memorable one for all. And as always, I thank you for your time and attention and await our next meeting to share what HHS has been up to throughout
the year. And I wish everyone a happy fall and Halloween. Thank you. Thanks, Jonathan. All right, now to our superintendent report. Thank you, Jonathan. As Jonathan mentioned, October brings a number of exciting events to our district. Our schools recently completed the week of respect and school spirit week,
culminating with homecoming. It was my first year experiencing the annual hallway decorating competition, and I was truly impressed by the incredible creativity and effort our students put into their their displays. Their work reflects their deep pride they take in their schools. It was also wonderful to
see our boys football team pull off a thrilling homecoming night victory in front of a spirited crowd. This month, our district would also participate in the new Cambria field test which is being administered in grades five and eight for 5 through eight for English language arts and mathematics as well as
grade 11 for mathematics. The result of this field test will help the state refine future NJSLA assessments. This test does not affect student grades. The results are not reported for individual students, schools, or districts. It's not used for accountability purposes. Uh
the NJ DOE uses the data to ensure the questions are fair, reliable, and aligned with state standards before they appear on future state assessments. Uh yesterday we held our full full staff professional prof uh professional development day and I want to take a moment to recognize the outstanding work
of our administrative team. The sessions they led demonstrated their deep expertise, commitment and desire to ensure our teachers are equipped with the best instructional practices. Their leadership directly supports our mission to provide the highest quality education for all students and I'm incredibly
proud of their efforts. I also want to highlight and celebrate the inspiring work of Ella Alberta, a junior at Hawthorne High School. Ella continues to make an incredible impact in raising awareness and funds in support of pediatric cancer research through the
Tackle Kids Cancer organization. This year, Ella and her team designed and sold gold Hawthorne Bears gold for pediatric cancer t-shirts, which were worn proudly by staff, students, and parents throughout our community. Last year, Ella raised $3,111,
and this year, she more than doubled that, raising $6,892. She's already set her sights on a goal of $10,000 for next year, and I have no doubt she will achieve it. Ella's compassion and leadership are truly remarkable and a reflection of the
values we aim to instill in our students. I'm also required to share our school HIV grades report as outlined in the anti-bullying bill of rights act. These grades reflect school self assessments of its implementation of the state's
anti-bullying policies and programs. So during the month of September, the administrators and school safety team in each building completed the required comprehensive self- assessment of the building's programs, initiatives, and procedures for investigating and reporting. The self- assessment process
include the gathering of documentation to evidence the ratings provided. The self- assessment consists of eight core elements each of each with two to five indicators to be reviewed. schools could receive a score of zero which does not meet the requirements, one partially
meets the requirements, two meets the requirements, or three exceeds all requirements. Um, so all four buildings scored above the 50 points required to meet all state requirements in this area. The maximum score a building can achieve is a 78, which would mean that the district exceeded all requirements
in all indicators of every core element. Um, the chart I have in front of me shows that Hawthorne High School scored 76, Lincoln Middle School 72, Roosevelt 74, Washington Elementary is 70, and Jefferson is 69. All this just shows our
commitment as a district to be preventative and to be supportive of our student population. So, this year, um, we're looking to enhance our existing programs. So ongoing training will be provided to students and staff on the BOE approved HIV policy, reporting
procedures and preventative strategies exceeding the required two hours. This will include large and small group presentations on preventing HIV and using the updated reporting form via Hipster, which is what we use as a district. Staff will also receive training uh via Safe Schools and from
the anti-bullying specialist. We also do SEAL lessons. Um, we have our week of respect, violence prevention week, and Red Ribbon Week. We're also going to increase communication, training, and support and guidance for our school anti-bullying specialists. And we're going to continue to participate in
programs like Heroes and Cool Kids and No Place for Hate. And most excitingly, one of the events that brings us together tonight, and I'm proud to see that we have member, many members of our staff here. I'd like to take a moment to recognize an employee who has reached a remarkable milestone.
25 years of service and education, which I like to refer to as a quarter century service and education. Really? That's a long time to work in education. So, we are deeply proud of her dedication and the positive impact she continues to have on our school community. So, I'm Sher, I'm gonna ask
you stand up as I read this to you. [Applause] [Music] being a representative of your school. You can probably guess who. Uh Sherry is an integral and deeply valued member of our preschool program. Known for her kindness, thoughtfulness, and
determination. She's a true friend and caring colleague who always goes above and beyond to support students, families, and staff. Sherry excels at communicating with parents, especially during IEP meetings, and takes time to ensure their questions are answered and they feel at ease. She frequently
organizes events, plans meaningful trips and find special ways to make others feel appreciated, even celebrating birthdays. A passionate advocate for her students and their families, Cher's dedication, warmth, and expertise make our preschool a better place for
everyone. So, if we can all join in And we're going to ask anybody that's here for Sherry to come on up because we're going to take a picture with the board and staff members that are here. Congratulations. Thank you. Nice to meet you, too.
How's it going? Thanks for coming. Appreciate it. How are you? Nice to see you. We're I think we're all going to go on stage and take a picture together. Everybody's comfortable with that. How are you? Good. Team, are you good to take a picture? How are you? You too.
I'm so glad we're going. Oh. [Music] This is where you want to right in the center. [Music] You're the honore behind
[Music] this right now. Can you get everybody? Yeah. Say he one more. One, two, three. Awesome. Thank you. [Applause] [Music]
You all came to the meeting. It does. Oh, good. Good. Thank you. So, you're more than welcome to stay for our district testing report. If you don't want to stay, completely welcome.
Thank you so much. Thank you all very much. All right. So, finally, I'm pleased to introduce Dr. Pabona, who will be will now present our annual district testing report. We have some very encouraging results to share this evening.
feel. Uh, good evening everybody. Um, thank you again for letting me share some great news as I shared with you in July. I've been looking forward to this night. Um, it's it's really nice to finally
culminating and see some of the stuff that has been like chipping away at everything for the past couple of years. Um, a little of the basics is here's our required assessments. We've already reported on the bottom two in July, which was our high school assessment GPA
and our access for LL's English language learners. Um, tonight I'm going to share some information, dive deeper into our NJSLA for English language arts and science mainly uh and math mainly focusing on English language arts and
math grades three through nine. um in our algebra one course. We're also going to show some great trends that we had in have in our dynamic learning maps which is um for our most severely special ed population. As you know, the purpose of this is to answer three questions. We're constantly
looking at where we are, where we're going, and what the trend has been. Um looking at data in isolation paints a picture, but it doesn't paint a very pretty picture sometimes. So, what you're going to see now is kind of how everything has been falling into place and that snowball is going down is going
down the mountain and it's getting bigger and bigger and our gains are getting bigger as well. We're also going to compare ourselves to the state. Um, that is something we're required to do and it's I'm proud to do tonight. You know, we've always teetered around the state. We're going to be exceeding that
in most areas tonight. And we one of the big focuses post QAC for us and being on our district improvement plan was targeting our subgroup populations and we're going to see some great gains in that. Um just quick review uh ELA's
students three grades three through nine. Math is 3 through eight and then those enrolled in algebra 1 or geometry in grade nine because they're testing up through grade nine. Um NJL science is 5, eight, and 11. Um, and then DLM, they
take 3 through 8 and then in grade 11 and they take that in both ELA, math, and science. So, our district overview is pretty nice. As you can see, um, the it's all shades of purple, but the two that are circled looking ELA on the left and math
on the right is our proficiency rates of fours and fives. So, we are over 50% in ELA. Um, well over 50% in ELA. we're at um 61% right now of students achieving a four or a five which is considered
passing and in math we are looking at a 41%. What's really nice is to look at our trends. And that's what I wanted to say. In the past three years, um, our overall district has gone from a 55% to a 61% in ELA. And if you look all the way to the right, we've taken our
students who've exceeded the standard. Those are those that have gotten a five. We went from 140 students in district to 187 in district. Just looking at the five. That's not counting everybody else who may have moved um a level. Looking at math, we're still making gains as
well. We went from a 34% in 2023 up to a 41% and we went from 39 students exceeding the standard to 54 students exceeding the standard. So for overall as a district, our trends are trending in the right direction. When we dig deeper, this is our comparison to the
state. Obviously, Hawthorne's blue, state is purple. Um, we are exceeding the state in every grade level except for nth grade, which I will explain in a minute why that's kind of a little bit of a skewed data point. Um, even in fourth grade, you're going to see the
fourth grade test this year. Um, is it we're in line with the state is our only area that we dipped a little bit, but it seems that that could have been a test irregularity. It could have been not an irregularity, but kind of like a testing moment in question base. It could have been the cohort of students because
we're still in line with the state even though that you're going to see a slight dip in our scores going over to the ninth grade. 9th grade, it's hard for us to do a true comparison of where we are because of the number of students that we lose from 8th grade to 9th grade. So, when we're looking at all of these other
percentages, we're basically comparing 190 students um approximately per grade level, we're dropping to about 130 to 135. So obviously our percentage is is dramatically decreasing in nth grade. So it puts us at a little deficit. Um but
we're going to show our own internal growth in nth grade where we can. Again, it's hard to compare apples to oranges when the apples go someplace else and we only have oranges left. The apples and oranges will come back in a little bit. Okay. So now we're going to dig deeper into our grade levels. As you can see,
um we're comparing 2024 on the right on the left to 2025. Um we're we're at 50 to 75% in grades 3 through 7. Um 8th grade we're at a 66.7%. We're steadily
increasing. 9th grade we have that drop. So two things I'm going to note here. Every grade level besides four and nine we increased our number of students who are meeting or exceeding the standard for the fourth grade. That's really a non-negotiable number when you're looking at data. And the reason it is
that is if you dig in deeper in 2024 we had 158 students taking the fourth grade test and I believe let me just check my notes so I quote myself correctly. Um we had 86 of those students achieving a four or a five. When we jumped to 2025
that fourth grade class turned into 171 students. We had 92 exceeding the standard. So, we increased our number exceeding, but our base population is lower, which gives us that slight dip. Statistically speaking, from a math standpoint, that's a non-negotiable.
That's basically a flat rate, and we should be looking at our total number of students hitting a four or five where we've increased from 86 to 92. Again, for that 9th grade number, it's hard to compare because you're you're you're changing your population. You're
changing your kids that you're looking at. And um we're still within a 42 to 38%. We're we're averaging around the same base, but we don't know what subset of students we're losing in 9th grade. So we can't really accurately compare year to year to year because our
population is changing. Um this one is really nice. So this last column is our cohort growth. So when we were looking at the fourth grade test, just to say we were looking at students in fourth grade in 2024 and then a different set of students in fourth grade in 2025 and
we're kind of comparing how they did on that test. What we did in this last column was we are starting to track students from year to year. So as you can see, we can't do anything in third grade because that's the first year they're taking that test. But in fourth grade, our third graders from taking
their third grade test in 2024 to taking their fourth grade test in 2025 increased by 11.68%. So that cohort of students had a huge jump. If you follow that down, you're showing the same trend. Our fourth to fifth graders went 11.1%.
Our fifth to sixth graders, which was a targeted area we spoke about last year, if you remember, we were worried about the number of minutes in math. We were worried about how we were going to do that. I know this is ELA, but we really that was a subgroup that we targeted, we increased by 18.9%.
So that subset of students from when they took it in fifth grade to when they took it in sixth grade, we knew what to look for. Um, and you could see it and as you get older, as the kids get more used to it, you're going to see a little bit less growth. um and that it's not
accurate for me to put a number up for the nth grade from the 8th to 9th grade because again I'm not looking at the same subset of students. One of the requirements because we are in a QAC look back here is we have to compare schools. So the only schools we really need to compare are our three elementaryaries as that's the same
subset population. So looking at third grade ELA, if we're continuing to look at the two darker shades of purple, we are pretty much across the board accurate with this. Um there is a slight non-negotiable smaller amount in Washington, but again
that is something that we've always seen. If we dig deeper into our subgroups and um the populations, our ML populations in ELA, that's going to be a factor. And we'll talk about that in a second. Um because you'll see that trend doesn't stay the same for math. For
fourth grade, again, slightly lower in Washington, but overall our trends are the same. Um, you can see we have a huge population in Roosevelt of obtaining the fours with a lesser of the fives where Jefferson had a smaller amount in the fours but a greater amount in the fives. It's
balancing itself out to a slight percentage difference. Fifth grade, same thing. So again, we're we're making that mark. We're making those trends because when like I said eight years ago, those purples were tiny tiny in the I used to use red, yellow, and green, but they were tiny tiny in
the in the slot. um demographic data. So these are our subgroups that is really important for us to look at and I think we're always and listen they give us data on so many subgroups. The ones that I think it's important for us to highlight our are
our white compared to our Hispanic which are our two largest populations. We want to look at our economically disadvantaged our student with disabilities and our ML students. So going across the grade levels that was our percents this year. If you notice, our Hispanic students are doing right on
par with where we were as a district, which is a gain from last year. So, we normally saw that that was a targeted subgroup that sometimes we could not meet the needs of or that we knew that we had to target more to meet those needs. Um, and again, our students with disabilities, except for two outliers in
third and nth grade, we have had an increase in that. So, what I'm going to do now, and I started talking about apples and oranges, is I want to look at our subsets by grade level, meaning looking at how they did on the how different students did on a grade level test. And what this allows us to do is
look at our curricular um implementation of it. What are we doing in the classroom? When are we teaching things? How are kids learning? It has nothing to do with the actual students taking the test. So, when we compare this, we're looking at the same grade level, different students. Every place there is a blue is where we've increased from
last year. The number in blue is where we were last year. The new number being in black. So if you look at our Hispanic population or our Hispanic subgroup in all but fifth and seventh grade, we've increased by a significant amount. If you look at our economically
disadvantaged in all but fifth grade, we've increased by a significant amount. students with disabilities. We really targeted that fifth grade, sixth grade level because of those transition services. There was a big emphasis looking at what were we going to do with kids? How were we going to target them?
How are we going to prepare them for middle school? Um, and you can see our gains there. We did not have any gains in our ML population. The reason that is not broken down by grade level and it's giving you a 9% overall is because of our numbers. most of the subgroups are
less than 10 and it's identifiable if I start identifying numbers per subgroup. Um it's also important for us to do look oranges to oranges. Let's look at how our particular subgroup of students went yeartoear. So what I'm doing now is in
the next chart, same idea, orange to orange. I'm comparing my students, same set of students, allows us to look at students growth. Anywhere there is blue, our student subgroups increase from last year, which is everything but students with disabilities in fifth and eighth
grade. So every targeted population where we used our data days to dig down deeper and look particularly at our students in ELA and really refine our instruction based on student needs and data we increased by a significant amount.
The same thing's going to come through. So I'll go through this pretty quickly. You can see the numbers in front of you. It's going to be the same trend for math. When we're looking Okay, there we go. When we're looking overall, we are below 50%. So, our numbers are a little bit lower. Um, if you're looking, we
still exceed the state in everything but math 8. Now, you have to remember math 8 is another diff um math 8, algebra 1, and geometry. So, that's where our students start to shift. That's where we start to lose our students and that's where we have some of our students in eighth grade taking this and some of our students in high school. The eighth
grade math test is a very um unique test because not all kids in eighth grade are taking the eighth grade math test. As you know, our accelerated students are enrolled in algebra 1 and eighth grade. So, they're eighth grade students who are put into our data for
ELA, but in math, they're put into the algebra 1 data. They're not put into the eighth grade. So, you're talking about our lowest subset sometimes of students. So, that is an area that needs um some focus. When we look at this again, you could see for the most part a steady increase.
We do see that dip in fourth grade. that dip. Again, it's a little larger than we saw in um in the ELA, but still when we're talking about our numbers, we were we're comparing 172 students to 158
students. So, we stayed about the same in the number of students who reached proficiency. We went from 80 to 82. So, even though we had more students testing, we didn't drop the number of students that actually achieved um a four or a five on it. So, it's it's
It's a blip in the data. If you look at algebra 1 in the middle school versus algebra 1 in the high school, again, you're looking at a different subset of students. Your algebra 1 eighth graders, you're talking about 30 students that take it. They're the highest level students. That's why they're averaging a
90.5% pass rate on it. Whereas your algebra 1 students in the high school now, you're taking a lot of these students out. You're moving a smaller number to the high school and then you're testing them on this. we do know that is an area we need to focus on. Um, but we jump right back up when we get to
our geometry kids. So, we're okay there. Um, so as you notice, like the algebra 1 is really not where I'm looking. But if you look at our ninth grade algebra, when we look at cohort growth, we increased
5.7%. So even though we only had a 14% pass rate, when those kids took eighth grade math to when they took the algebra 1 and 9th grade, they increased by 5.7%. So we did target them even though sometimes the data doesn't show that without explanation. Um you'll also see
that for the most part we had um an increase. We did have that little bit of a dip in math 5 to six. Um, but that's again, we're still working through the scheduling piece and trying to figure out where the minutes and could come to
play. Here's where I say you're going to see Washington catch right back up and be on par because a lot of times our ML students are not impacted as much in the math course as they are in an ELA course, and you're putting um Washington right back on the bar to equal or beating out other schools within their
fours and fives. for third grade. Um, fourth grade, that's our blip year. We know this there there's something going on in the fourth grade. We're targeting in that this year with the fifth grade because that's where those kids are to make sure we're digging deep so that we don't see this trend again. Um, and then
in the fifth grade, this was our hugest increase in math, which was pretty impressive for Washington School. Washington School last year by itself was at a 22% pass rate, and now they had 40% in just their fours. um if I'm reading that correctly. It's a little
blurry from here. Um but that that the the teachers at Washington really um took it to heart and and dug into the data and endured and worked with the students. Um for math with our subgroups, again, we're pretty on par.
You'll see we're in the 40 to 50% range. We have some outliers again that that grade three students with disabilities. Um, one of the pieces with that I truly believe is the first time of exposure to the test where a student with a disability in an LLD or resource class.
Um, it's a little overwhelming. What we're doing now is we're putting more stuff into place into the K12 LLD and resource to model that for them so that when that third grader first has that test for the first time, it's not that bad of a baseline. Um, but that dip is
there when we are comparing. Now again, same grade level, different students, apples to oranges. We have a ton of blue again. So when you dig deeper into our data, you're seeing that we're continually making strides. Go back to that fourth grade group that had a blip. Our economically disadvantaged students
went from 38.9% to 50% pass rate on that. When you look at that subset of students, you look at the Hispanic students, it was a slight increase. It was a 10% increase. Um, you can't ask for more than a 10% increase in a one-year gain. um on a course level when
we look at the same subset of students also we are all blue except for two areas of students with disability. So again, even though our data might not be where we want it to be, we were still below the 50% in that, we're getting there. And some of our subgroups are
well exceeding that 50% average when you put us all together collectively. And I stand out to say sixth grade math had a drop when we looked at it overall, but the subset of students who took it from fifth grade to sixth grade, if you were Hispanic, you increased yourself. If you
were white, you increased yourself. If you were economically disadvantaged, you increased yourself. So, we are targeting them and it's working. Um the interventions overall, so you know that this year we implemented we got rid of Renaissance star 360. We
brought in Irene universal screener with their accompanying my path planning intervention system that is for K through 12. So there's diagnostics put in there. There's grade level appropriate tasks that students work on and there's individualized tasks. So want um part of the training yesterday
was the next deep into that of how the math and language arts teachers need to implement that and the research shows that 40 minutes a week per subject on this platform increases student achievement. So even our kindergarten students are doing about 15 20 minutes a
day. They come in from research um recess, they get their iPads, they're going on my path and they're playing educational games that are targeting their specific skills. The nice part is the teacher can also assign a task that's what they're working on. Let's say it's counting zero to five. So maybe
Monday they're working on their own skills and Tuesday they're working on zero to five skills. You do that four days a week. You just exposed without even bringing this home 40 minutes a week per subject and that's the recommended dose. So we're hoping that this is going to continue to increase our scores. As you know, we constantly
do tweaks to our standardsbased grading system and task analysis updated pacing guides. as much as the resistance was last year, our data is supporting this. So, yes, it's hard for parents not to get the 80, the 90, but when they're getting more students being um
proficient or exceeding proficiency on state exams, we know that we're meeting those standards. Our district data day program um is thriving because of this. And I I truly put a lot of emphasis of the work that the teachers did in these data days in digging in, looking at
data, and refining their instruction. They were coached by the admin team, but it was their internal drive and the excitement they saw when we shared this with them on the first day. Um, it kind of they felt rejuvenated. They felt like their work paid off. And I will even say yesterday uh Mrs. Pacero called me and
said, you know, one of the teachers came back to Washington during the lunch break and was so happy. She was still looking in at her data because she wants to do this again. She found a standard she wants to work on. So that's changing the mindset, changing the shift, changing the culture um in the middle school. So, we've had our lab courses.
I'm kind of flip-flopping around. We've had our lab courses in ELA math for 6 through 12. Some of them are through the study halls in the high school. Some of them are through the elective periods in the middle school. Um, what Mrs. De and Mr. Bird did this year was they realized that if you were two years in a
particular intervention course or lab course, doubling up on this, still struggling, not making the gains, our scheduling and our title funds allowed us to make a small core class, meaning let's put 12 students that are having the same difficulties in a class. It is
their regular math course. We are not going to torture them with a second one because that that intervention really wasn't working for them. But what it allows is small groupoup instruction on a mainstream math course and they're now can dig in deeper and differentiate to what it is. So it's an intervention that
if budget had it, you would love all your classes to be 12 with a core core teacher. Um but we are piloting this in eighth grade. If this works, we're going to have to figure out a way to mirror that down. Um and finally, we continue with some of our reading programs which
are Learning Ally and Excite Reading. All of the data is showing that a student will be able to comprehend if they can read along and listen. And that is a big thing. So, Learning Ally, which we continue to receive through a state grant, has been an asset. It makes students summer reading go quick. It
makes students in uh 6 through 12, just their regular reading. You know, we're reading McBth and I can't read that because I can't understand it. It makes no sense. You're listening to it while you read along or even you're just listening to it. Now you're able to engage into the content of critically analyzing it in that discussion and you
take that barrier of reading away from it. Not that reading isn't important, but if we're measuring other skills, we don't want the reading piece to be a barrier to it. Um, science, as a science teacher, it hurts me to do this, but um,
I'm going to preface this with we made huge gains in fifth grade in science. Um, fifth grade, I don't know why I did this backwards, is all the way to the right. So if you see um blue, light blue is 2024, that purpley blue is 25, and the yellowy green is the state. So our
fifth graders who don't know that the science test does not count for anything are actually starting to do well on it. But as soon as they get to 8th and 11th grade and they know that there's nothing in their graduation requirement pathway, there is nothing in their course pathway, there is nothing in their placement pathway, we are having trouble
getting students to actually sit down and take that test seriously. It is done at the end of the testing window. They've already done the GPA tests. They've already done NJSLA. And a lot of them have already done AP tests. And I mean, we're below the state, but
unfortunately I we have to figure out ways to invest more in that. Um it's a hard pill to swallow because there's no stakes tied to it. And sometimes like when there's no stakes tied to it, getting into a 16-year-old's
head, a 15y old's head, a 10-year-old's head, it it doesn't work. Um my own children will be taking it this year and I will cry if as a science teacher they don't do well. Um as you know, our dynamic learning maps again I cannot do this data um
individualized by grade level because of the identifying nature of this, but basically this is our steps in arch program. So as you know in Washington school this year alone we have five steps classes. We have two sections of arch at the middle school and one section of arch at the high school. With
that I give you the total number of students testing. We increased in both ELA math and science. If you see our art students like science a lot of times because that's hands-on and more concrete for them. They increased by 40%. We had um zero passing the prior
year. We had 40% passing this year which is awesome. Um what this is showing us is uh Mr. Sarah and I are digging into this data because as you know there's a uh 1% gap uh 1% cap on the number of students who can be who can qualify for the DM.
So we are in a state audit because we are over that 1% cap. Uh we house a higher special ed population than our neighboring towns. We're about 23 to 25% where your average in the state is 16 to 18%. So what we're doing is we have a larger population of students that are
severely disabled. We're not going to not give them this test just because we don't hit our 1%. So we go over it. We are being audited for it. We have our data to show it. But what we are showing is that our programming is working. So what we are showing is that when this test directly aligns to our ABLEs, to
our um goals and objectives, uh we can we can then satisfy the state's requirement of why we're there. That's it. It's a little chilly. I tried to go quick. Questions? Yes. Can you repeat what you said about the
state with the DM versus US? You said only 1%. So the DM um the state basically feels that 1% of your population of your special ed population should be your most severely and should qualify for the DLM because there's a
whole kind of like rubric checklist like um it's kind of like a matrix like if yes you move to this column, if yes, you move here. So they have to have certain disabilities to qualify them for that. One% for a whole state. No, no, no. for our district. 1% of our
district. Yes. Yes. No matter how many special ed students you have. Correct. It's supposed to be one matter. Well, it's 1% of your special ed population. So, we're at a 23%. Let's say we have 500. That's that's for
that's a state law. Yes. They have 1% of their population. Yes. And they get audited if you go over that. So it it's just that we're not going to make a child take the wrong test to stay within the 1%. So we're willing to put
the child in the right test, defend our answer, defend our programming, and show them the IEP, the diagnosis, the aables, the goals and objectives when they come into audit. It's not something like QAC would like score us on or we It is. It's in Mr. Sarah. It is a It is
in Mr. monitoring which it goes hand in hand with um QAC monitoring. So if you have that data and documents and IEPs and goals and all these things to show we have a Yes. So we've had to we keep doing stuff. Mr. Sharon and I have a
meeting on December 16th. We had to pull all the data for these students. We pull the IEP. We pull their records. They come in to audit. They are going to approve it because we are doing everything by the book. But it's just that extra step we have to go through. Thank you. So, I don't know if I'm saying this correctly, but thank you for
everything. First and foremost, I I really appreciate as a parent that's kind of in a lot of these groups. It's it's nice to see and I appreciate all the hard work and and then we are making strides in all the areas. Um, one thing that you you touched upon towards the end is the with the small learning
groups. I know that's been huge for with my own children as well. as we move to I Ready and with like adaptive learning will will that be real time information accessible to then share within those subgroups as well for to to hone in with
those smaller groups. Okay. So let's I'm going to take that Yeah, I'm going to take that in two parts. So when we look at our I Ready Yes. Our I Ready data is constantly active. We can log in at any point. We can see the number of minutes. We can see when the students on. We can see what questions they got right, what questions they got wrong. The teachers
are trained in looking at that and analyzing that. um my principal, the principles and I are trained in overseeing and making sure the teachers are fidel with fidelity having them do that extra time per minute because again we have to balance screen time versus not. But this
is like a huge piece of differentiation that when your child takes that test, they get their my path which says like on two-digit multiplication they're not proficient in fifth grade. So it's going to take them all the way back to like a third grade lesson. teach them that,
bring them to the comp like the complimentary fourth grade standard and catch them up to fifth grade. So that's why it's so important for them to be on that for that time. These games are quick, these lessons are quick, they're engaging, that's why the platform is like that. So yes, on the part with
that, when you said adaptive, are you speaking of the new state assessment that's coming out? Yes. Okay. So we don't know what the data is going to be like with the adaptive nature on it right now. So the training that I went to just says that it's going to be adaptive. One of the questions I asked at the state level at my county
meeting last week was will the children or the students in the field test see the adaptive nature? The answer is no. Since the field test is only to measure question quality control and um ensure that questions are aligned to the
correct grade levels and contents that every student's going to get the same test like the same questions like always. So, I'm not sure honestly how the adaptive nature is going to play out in grade and performance reporting moving forward. Thank you.
No problem. Two things. Well, three things. First of all, thank you. Always a pleasure. This year was increasingly upbeat. I'm happy to see so much great information. We're so appreciative for you and your team um and and the the deep dives that you do
and also the remediation strategies that you offer. Clearly something's working. I'm very thankful. Something I'd like to point out is piggybacking off of something that you said. Um the ninth graders that you speak about in this data is my daughter. So she's a
sophomore now. That's her class. So I can speak to the cohort of students that we lost. And for anybody that doesn't know, everybody anywhere you would go outside of Hawthorne requires an application require there's a process. So they're certainly not going to take
people who are not appealing. I'll leave it at that. So we are losing a decently capable group of people at the very least not only to PCTI but also to the brok they're all application processes
every single one of them. Um, something else I'd like to point out and I've pointed out every single year since 2020, uh, though they had us do those rigorous start whatever those tests were at the beginning of those years, they did not use that data to change these
assessments in any way to reflect the learning loss of COVID. And as someone who writes IEP, someone who studies educational data and evaluations all day long, it is a shame because honestly, we've not caught up. No one has caught up. that's global. It's just it's not
possible. They've not adapted the tests at all. They've not adapted the standards at all. Um, and I really think that needs to be continually pointed out. Until this cohort of kindergarteners, who the kindergarters this year were born in 2020, until they're all the way in college, I don't
think we're really going to see a true measure of of learning because there's so many outside factors that play into the data. So, like from a data perspective, like you look at good data and bad data. So the data that I have is not good data, but it's the data that I have to present being that how many kids
were out, how many kids were hybrid for certain years, and what grade levels was it a core foundational for fluency that you didn't get, that's now going to not impact you. Fluency in in multiplication isn't going to pick you up again until algebra run when you're starting to do logistics and linear formulas. So you're
right, something that could be a deficit in third grade, you might not pick up on again until 7th, 8th, pre-alggebra world. Yeah, it's very frustrating that the state does not take accountability on that side. And it's not just New Jersey. I don't know of a state that that used data from from those early
assessments to actually pivot and change standards or change change the assessment. But in any in any event, thank you very much for all that you guys do. I actually just have two questions. I guess piggy backing off of um Aby's comment. So, we're talking about
specifically the fourth grade blip. Um I and that there has been, you know, tests being done trying to catch them up and we still haven't been able to catch our fourth or now fifth graders up to the standard, right? What are we doing or are we using
that data to target that particular class or that particular cohort cohort? So there's two different things here. When we see the fourth grade blip, that's looking at comparing not the apples to that's comparing the apples to oranges. So that's comparing fourth grade test to fourth grade test
different students. When we look at our cohort data for a second, and I'm just going to go back real quick for a minute to ELA first. Um if we look at our cohort comparison that fourth graders went up 10% what 53 to 61. So the actual
subset of students themselves as a cohort are increasing and we're targeting them. But when you looked at the comparison of the kids that took the fourth grade test last year to the kids that took the fourth grade test this year, there was a deficit. And that's what even in the state and that's why
we're saying was there something wrong? Not I don't like the word wrong and it keeps coming out but was there something off with the test like what were the metrics on the tests because that's where quality control should be coming in and saying like look across an evidence statement 77 of our kids got this question wrong but in Patterson 177
got it wrong. That question should not be on moving forward. So that's what we're starting to do because in our evidence statement we can look at questions and stuff like that. But for the subset of kids who are currently fifth graders, they are making individual gains. So it's that blip in
our comparison to the state which is more when we're comparing the grade level test and looking at curricular stuff rather than the subset of students that are in fifth grade because as you can see here in the ELA and I'm just going to jump to the math too. Um,
orange is to oranges. Uh, fourth grade 30 again 39.5 to 49%. Okay. So, they're making some gains there. Okay. Perfect. Thank you for being confused by and that's that's what happens is like
you have to you're looking at it from two lenses, but we're saying 24 to 25, fourth grade to fourth. It it doesn't make sense. So, I'm trying to break it down as easy. Um but yes, we are we are looking and what we're looking now, one of the things that we just picked up on yesterday and it was fourth grade was
there was something had to do with um structure of like plays and sonnetss and poetry and we're like but we teach this and we teach this in April. This should be right beforehand. Then we pull up the the evidence statement and the actual type of questions. We teach it in isolation. So we teach like a subset of
what a poetry thing is and what a play thing is and the question is combining them. Well, of course, we're not going to get that question right because we've never showed them anything that combines them. We're teaching it. We're meeting the standard, but when you go to the question, that was something we literally learned at 10 o'clock in the morning yesterday.
So, we are constantly looking at things like that. And then my second question, so I ready, I know my daughter loves it. She loves it. Um, and she enjoys doing it. It's not a chore. It's not It's not like Yes. Yeah. It's not school. It's actually
fun. My question is as a parent, are we getting or are we supposed to be getting any reports or updates with those because I want to make sure I So the way that we've done it as a district to roll it out this year is that upon parent request, we will be happy to send the reports home. Um I
wish I had one to pull up right now. The problem is the reports look alarming sometimes because what they're showing you is projected growth. So when you get a report and it's saying your child is an emerging fifth grader in this skill, but their projected growth is up here, you're you're seeing this huge gap
that's not an actual gap. So we were very hesitant to send these forms home with information that would have been alarming. So we're working to try to figure out the best way. So I know at conferences they are going to be sharing like I read data in terms of emerging
and stuff like that um for the elementary levels. Um and again as a district we consulted with some of our neighbors and we said like right now we're going to stick with that parent request which any parent the principles know that any parent that requests it we will send it home. We have a detailed
letter but sometimes it needs a sit down like onetoone to really understand it but you can always just reach out to your child's teacher. There is a four families report just realize there's a gap even though that gap doesn't mean that there's a learning loss. Okay, perfect. That's good to know. Thank you. No problem.
The presentation is very encouraging. You know, when you join the school board, you're looking for growth in, you know, different areas and you're taught to learn the long game. Yeah. And in this specific facet, you definitely, you know, it's it's it's the one that takes the longest. So,
it's very rewarding to see that, you know, the work that you've done that this team has done, you know, the work that's been done by previous teams that got that it gets built on and there's re that there's positive results. We're finally tipping the scale. It's
like you can't see it and then all of a sudden you start going over the mountain and we're we're gaining that momentum. So, thank you. No, thank you. I like that better. Going over the mountain instead of going down the mountain you said before. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm thinking of the snowball picking up lots of speed. Snowball down the mountain. I have a question.
Yeah, I'm just going back to that. Good. I like the visuals. I appreciate them. Thank you for that. No problem. the lab courses you mentioned as part of our interventions. Um like if we're doing it it's not you said if we're doing this intervention it's not working for this group of
students and now we can order some offer something else with title one funding. Those are students without IEPs that need some extra help. Yeah. So that is on in our NJTSS. So you have to remember when you have an identified student their their main intervention is their course placement which has modifications and
differentiation within it. So our LLD and resource students do not get offered right um on a first level in that sometimes on a a one-off basis. There are reasons or ne necessities for that, but this is more of our tier three students. So these are kids going through the INRS process who are not
classified, who may have been tested and not qualified for special ed services, but they're they're missing the mark in something. So, we have to put basically we're at the point of like what else in the kitchen sink can we put in there because we've tried everything. So, we're we're tweaking and trying.
I just want to say I appreciate that because a lot of students do struggle and are on that line and fall through that crack that group specifically. It's like they don't need an IEP necessarily. they don't have a disability or other health impair whatever but they're also
behind which you know then and we also realize acquires more for the public but affects their confidence social emotional all these other things that then go along with it so I'm very happy to see all these interventions we're doing to help our kiddos so they don't fall through the crack and one of the big things at the middle
school is taking a child out of an elective is hard enough for a marking period we let them choose which elective so like I don't like art I'm going to pick art like I don't want to go to art but at the same time. If you do that for year one and then year two and you're still not making those gains, why are we going to put them in their eighth grade
year and do that again? We have to try something else. Socially, they're not good at math and we're giving them two maths. Like, that's not logical. So, we're we're trying different things as much as we can. Yeah. And I and I appreciate that that you just said that, too, because then
here's a kid who may be struggling in math and we're pulling them out of an elective where it is fun and they are being social to go do math. So, I appreciate you saying we let them choose and you know because then they're behind in math and now or in art and now what? So, um thank you. And then this is
probably is it illegal to offer incentives to our test takers for science because they it is so true. Like I can't tell a 16-year-old anything, let alone to take a test seriously. And I know like I'm not saying like oh reports came out now let's reward them. We can't do that. But
is there something that we can do that's not necess I'm not gonna say the word bribe but like something like a spirit day. No science spirit day. You would love that. Doctors I I wrote it down but I wasn't going to say it. You know I will.
You know during some of our interviews you you learn little bits and pieces from what other districts are doing. Yeah. Um, and motivational piece would have been like a like a pizza party for anybody who could who can demonstrate that they made an effort or maybe a little bit of extra credit on a on, you
know, one test or um a dunk tank for your principal, right? I'm for it because it's only three grade levels. We can figure something. We definitely can look into being creative in that as we move forward. And I think if we like um incentivize our eighth grade and 11th grade science teachers
also, they can be playing that up and stuff. And that's definitely something we can bring back to the admin team. The only the only concern I I have is is your data available, right? Quick enough to reward. No, but maybe you could. Well, they're all in they're basically all in the school the next year. So,
it's a we have that by the start of the year. So, we incentivize them that when they go into nth grade, their eighth grade teachers can come up and they can dunk them. as seniors they can x y and z because it's 11th grade to senior so it'd be a great start pump to the year and something like that like it's not like I know for younger
kids right it needs to be immediate like I did well give me my rewards but I think for the older kids those cohorts like it only take a year for them to see what we're doing and get excited and be like all right I'm going to do really well in this science test and try my best because I know we'll put spirit week points to it if
you can put spirit week points between the freshman and the seniors right where you can get stuff. I don't know. It's a discussion we can have. I'm always about I appreciate the ideas and Christensen and I can go back and talk about a little bit. That's great.
Um, if I could just say one last thing. I'm just I was just writing down some of the variables that contribute to how well these kids test. And when you talk about learning loss, social emotional well-being, uh engaging students in the classroom, the wide variety of students that you're going to have in a classroom
because we have students that struggle and we have students that perform at a very high level. To be an educator nowadays is extremely difficult. And you know that I'm fairly new to the district. And what I'll say is that between the work that I've seen Kristen do, which she's like in the trenches
with teachers all the time, making it work, and seeing the work that was done yesterday on our professional development day, all of our administrators contribute, and they're working with teachers, and they're buying in. So, we talk about the progress that's been made thus far. I'm
really excited not only to be seeing that progress, but to be working with professionals like this that are like above and beyond dedicated. So, I can't say enough about what they've done and um especially Dr. Trabona. She's gone above and beyond. So, thank you.
Thank you. Good. Thank you very much. Thank you again. Thank you. Moving on to committee on the ASA reports. We'll start off with legislative. Mr. Carr. Thank you, Mr. President. On October 1st, 2025, Governor Murphy signed the
following bill into law. TPATH reenrollment ch uh changes A1675 2078. This extends the length of time a member of the teachers pension system, which is known as the teachers pension annuity fund, can discontinue their service and still maintain their membership in the system. Under existing law, membership
in the TPA ceases if an individual discontinued service for more than two years. This law extends that period of discontinuation to 10 years. The law also extends the length of time a member who left service for certain qualifying reasons, for example, due to reduction workforce may return to service and
includes among the qualifying reasons those who voluntarily left service with 10 or more years of service credit. Under existing law, membership in the TPA continues if such a member returned to service within a period of 10 years from the date of discontinuation from service. This new law extends the period
of discontinuation to 15 years. Members who return to service under the terms of this law, including those who have already returned to service prior to the law's effective date, would be placed in the members in the members pension tier at the time of the original termination of service service. The legislation will
have no direct impact on school district finances as the state pays the employer share of TPAP costs on behalf of boards of education. The law explicitly states that there will be no additional contributions imposed on the reenrolled members or the member's employer. That concludes my report.
Thank you. Finance administration, Mr. Rio. Thank you, Mr. President. The finance committee minutes. Last week, there were sever uh several items on the agenda including uh motion items on this agenda which we reviewed. Uh you'll notice that
the agenda the motion items uh this agenda F1 and F2 are for age financial reports. These are the secretary treasures report. Uh Sandy and her office are getting caught up on reconciling these um these these reports
in the past. These reports were being signed off by our VA and our superintendent. Going forward, they're going to be signed by the VA Sandy and our treasurer. Uh this provides an extra set of eyes and In the case of the knowledgeable treasure, an additional
resource for the BA's office. Our treasur is uh the city of Pik's chief financial officer, Omar Garcia. Also on the agenda was uh advocate as you remember uh we uh hired advocate
prior to Sandy and Mr. joining the uh the board. Uh they're evaluating uh the value ad that they provide to the district. advocate thus far has secured a guaranteed revenue from Comptonian in the amount of $20,000
something that which we haven't had in the past. Uh also the uh food service is going to be audited. It gets audited every three years and um again the VA's office is going to evaluate how much of
any u assistance advocate provides. Uh the 2425 audit uh our yearly audit is soon to take place. Uh we also discussed the financial impact of the buildings and ground restructuring those positions that you're going to see in the buildings and
grounds agenda. Um basically it's uh once you factor in overtime um it's pretty much a wash from a financial perspective. Also on the agenda was Bearcave. Um Bearcave is a unique program to the
state county as far as we know is the only program in in the county. Uh so something that uh Sandy and Mr. McNell are doing. they're evaluating the program uh just to get a a better idea as to like the uh you know how many uh
something that we want to find out is how many out of district students we would need to break even if we're able to find ourselves in a year without any internal students. Something that's positive about the barricade besides the fact that it keeps our students home is that it provides an income uh an income
generating uh program for the district. There's not too many that the district has. This one is one of those few ones. And that's it. That concludes my report. Thank you, Mr. Doyle. Buildings, grounds, and policy, please. Thank you, Mr. President. So, buildings
and grounds did meet on October 7th. Uh we had couple items on the agenda. First being that we had uh solutions, our architect come to the meeting and we spent the bulk of the meeting going over basically a uh punch list from the referendum. We have approximately, you
know, 14 items that we're still looking to uh get completed. Some some are minor, some are a little bit more entailed. Solutions was there to uh go over everything with us in detail, explain it, and reassure us that those items are going to be taken care of in a
timely manner. Um, additionally, we also had our first rendering of um the facilities uh our athletic complex upgrade. So, we had a 3D color uh diagram drawn up of some potential items
that we this board may look to uh enhance in the future. So, it was nice to see that and start seeing it on paper and what it could possibly look like. Um that took up the bulk of the meeting. We there was a security item on the agenda as well we really didn't get to talk about but I did follow up with Mr.
Mindell the next day um and he uh explained to me how they had did a uh security walkthrough through the district uh interacting with our security officers and and just you know doing a general walkthrough. They identified uh some areas where potentially could be beneficial to add
some cameras. Uh and he also told us that the uh specifically at the high school the swiping in and swiping out process that the students are using and an extra area additional area that's been added uh seems to be working out very good. We're going to continue that security conversation at the next
meeting and uh that pretty much wrapped up buildings and grounds and nothing to report for policy as we did not meet. That concludes my reports. Thank you Miss Eron. Council on personnel. Thank you Mr. president. Um, since we
last met, there have been a few really great community events. We had author day, we had Hispanic Heritage um, celebration in town. Um, and a few highlights from the mayor and the council. Currently, it's the Hawthorne
Chamber of Commerce's restaurant week um, from last Saturday through this Saturday. So, encouraging the community to check out our local restaurants, delies, bakeries, and support the businesses in town. Um, also on
Saturday, October 25th, the Burrow's hosting a safety vest giveaway for adults and for pets at the municipal building. There's a reminder that on Thursday, October 30th, the mayor's Halloween parade will take place at
Roosevelt. And lastly, at the October 1st council meeting, uh the county commissioners were there and received a pretty big sum, I think over $125,000
to update the fields at Wag. So, that's exciting for the community. And our next council meeting will be Wednesday, November 5th at 7 p.m. And regarding personel, we did not meet and I will
save my comments for that part of the agenda. Thank you, Mrs. Scott. CNI. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, the curriculum instruction committee met last Tuesday um at 6:15 in the high school uh media center. The first thing
that we discussed was the immense undertaking Dr. and her team did um to satisfy the mandate that the state put on us about the early literacy um testing that needed to be done. So the New Jersey Department of Education
mandates that this is new for this year. Every K through three student be administered a universal screener twice annually. Um so Dr. Traona and her team, her basic skills teachers and Miss Irene Yeder and herself all conducted those
assessments in a two-day period. Um it was a total of 650 students which is an amazingly herculean task um to pull off in any event. I mean it's unbelievable and we are greatly appreciative for that. The data is now being analyzed for below
level indicators which will prompt a dyslexia screener for those students. Uh the teams will continue to use those data points to target skills and interventions within the BSI and multiensory programs that are are offered. Parents will receive ports with these reports within the mandated 30
30-day period of time as per the state. The second thing that we talked about was something Mr. Munelli shared already which was the NJSLA adapted field test. Um, this will be dis this will be occurring on the 27th through the 30th. All students in grades 4 through 11 will
take the ELA test. All students in grade 4 through 12 will take the math test. Uh, the reading and math sections will be 60 minutes each. And the full 120 minute writing section will be administered this fall as well. Again, the district will not receive that data. So, so it's not something that would be sent home or shared. The district won't
receive the data either. It's purely for the purposes of data mining for the state. Um we also got a brief um prelude to this wonderful presentation. There were some of the uh presentation materials that were shared with us briefly.
Um we also got an 1A timeline update. So 1A is that uh advanced um track of courses that will be offered for LMS in all four core subjects over the course of the next several years. Um they will there will be a parent night held in the
winter. Um it was brought up about the academic study coordinator position which at the high school we had hoped would start on October 1st but we were unable to find um a candidate to fulfill that position. So they are still on the hunt for that candidate. Um and we are
hopeful to find somebody soon. And we also discussed potentially doing a STEM night for for elementary students to to to attract them to this building um to get them into these doors. Um, additionally, it was brought up by myself just something as a point of
reference. We reviewed the agenda during that time as well. Um, and I just share with Mr. Minionelli that in the past there were dates on the field trip approval, but we understand why they've been taken away. Dr. Sprito had suggested we take them away because for the safety of our students and our staff, we don't want people knowing
where our staff, where our students are going on these field trips on what specific day. Um, thank you, Mr. Minelli. And and Miss Vitali, I did see in the folder, it does share with the board a separate list of the field trips with the actual date. This is just for purposes of us knowing are we
post-dating, are we p-dating because and and again I will speak for myself, but I would rather the students go on the trip and we if we need to be proactive or reactive. Um but just so we know this already happened, how far in advance, etc. Um I want to thank you though
because I did find it in the folder. So thank you for listening to that feedback. And that is all. Thank you. All right. Morgan Fson, NJSBA and PC CSBA. Um, so for NJSBA,
the workshop is finally on Monday, so you don't have to hear me talk about it ever again for a whole year. Um, so it's Monday to Thursday this month. Um, so we will be going to represent Thor Public School Districts. I'm very excited for Pay County School Board Association. We
met on September 30th at Marios in Clifton. Um the meeting was great. They did a Q&A. Um they zoomed in uh ledge Hold on. I don't want to Sorry. Yep. Assemblywoman Rosie Begolie. Um and it was really nice. The the meeting was
hybrid, so you didn't have to go. You could do it online, but we did a Q&A with her. She had questions in advance, some that people emailed and then she answered them on the spot. Was very informative. She listened to all of our feedback and um I I really enjoyed it.
And the next meeting obviously because of 10 uh 20 at NJSBA's workshops, but then after that it will be hybrid on December 8th. So, oh yes, hybrid on December 8th. So, mark
your calendars. So, you can either go to Manchester um high school in Hilden or you can log in online. And then I just wanted to do save the date because our unsung heroes date has been announced which is always a great event. Jen and I
and Dr. Spo went last year to support our student Mark. Um but that'll be March 25, 2026. Uh they have not announced the location yet. That's to be decided, but at least we have a date. So, you know, because we always get busy that time of year. Um,
but that's it. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Mr. PL, have CPAC PTO's. Thank you, Mr. President. Washington school has their PTO meeting tonight. Uh, and their next two meetings will be November 11th and December 9th.
They're also um working on a trunk or treat, which I think all the schools are working on right now. But um they are looking for anyone willing to donate bags of candy. So if we know anybody u you know please um think about getting
them to Washington school to help out. Uh moving on to Lincoln Middle School. Uh they set a goal this year for a $30,000 uh fundraiser. There's various events coming up in in October. Uh I think the main one we will discuss is Laps for Lincoln. Um they've done it in
the past, but this year it's going to have a theme for Ninja Warrior. Um they're asking that each student try to raise at least $25 to participate. Um so if you know anybody in in the in the uh in Lincoln school, please consider
donating some money towards their 25 or more donations so we can hit this goal. the m the money that is being raised um they're looking to put a LED sign in in front of Lincoln school and the cost will be for construction and the
electric um installation and the cost to run the sign as well as a BMX assembly um that is being planned as well and and and class trips. So again, this donation if they can hit their goal of 30,000 will go a long way for Lincoln Middle
School. Moving on to Roosevelt. Uh Roosevelt School this Saturday from 11 to 2 PM is having um an extravaganza. It's not just for Roosevelt schools. Kids, all kids that are, you know,
throughout the district are woke up to go and uh entry is free. Uh there's going to have snacks, games, inflatable obstacle course, face painting, and and a lot more. Um, if you go on to their Facebook page, there is a uh form you can complete, but it's due tomorrow. So,
you may not be eligible for the bundle. But all these items that I'm going to mention um are alart. So, if you go to the event again, 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday at on the blacktop. Um, you can buy each one of these items separately if you want. But if you can
fill out the form, it's a $20 bundle and it will cover a pumpkin, decorating supplies, apple cider um or or a water, an apple cider donut, a goodie bag, and face paint. Again, that sounds like a,
you know, really good event. And also, there's a uh a raffle going on. 10 tickets for $5. Winner need not be present. And I do have permission to uh say uh Andrew uh Verma is um is collecting the raffle ticket money. So
if you want to, you can text her. Again, you can reach out on Facebook, but text 6102236751. Text or call her if you're interested in 10 tickets for $5. And moving on to one of my favorite things to always
report way in advance, but the uh Hawthorne CPAC 8th annual 5K color run walk. Again, it's going to be May 3rd. Um there's going to be early registrations. I just will continue to
to, you know, report that again May 3rd, 2026. it seems like it's so long, you know, so far away, but put it on your calendar. And they are also looking for um any type of sponsors. So, if you have a business or something that you um
would like to help out, they're looking for um sponsors. And then we will flip back over if I can figure out my notes here um to the high school PTO. The high school PTO.
Thank you. Drum roll, please. Uh, the high school PTO um this Thursday has their their u their meeting. If you um are interested in buying um a H magnet for your your car or um H
car fresheners, you know, please reach out either attend the meeting this Thursday um or reach out to someone and um you know, purchase some of these items. And I think uh lastly I will wrap up with um the Ed Foundation.
He is going to continue to sell raffle tickets and again if you recall from last year and I mentioned it last last week the the raffle tickets are are $10 a piece. Um the drawing will be December 10th and it's for a big basket filled
with a bouquet of $1,500 worth of various different um gift cards. So again, it's a it's a good holiday gift for for $10. Um I usually hit they're they're right here. So if anybody's interested in
buying them, um I also will post a few times on my own Facebook page and give you the opportunity to, you know, Venmo me and then I will send you back a copy of your raffle ticket. So we do have a lot of events that are coming up. Um and I believe that concludes my report.
Thank you. Thank you. Uh on to action items. Curriculum and instruction. Scott. Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the committee on curriculum instruction recommend the following resolutions. CI1 on page three carried
over onto page four, CI2 through CI8 on page four. Uh on behalf of the committee, I still move second by Mr. Eron. discussion comment. Uh glad to see that uh we're
doing that uh field trip to the New York Jets Atlantic Health just training center for the business students. This is the second time we're doing it. So glad to see that that's there again. I'll reserve my comments on the Jets. I'll second that.
It wasn't an athletic performance. It was a business field. Erica. Um, I just want to mention our HUS history classes at Universal Technical Institute. My son recently graduated
from UTI and it's a great school. It's pretty much brand new and they offer courses that you can't get in any other technical school in the state because we looked into it. For example, diesel technician, diesel mechanic. Um, so I just want to
mention that and also I have a question about CI8. Is that like an additional week we added because the um student needed an extra week that didn't we approve that now we're studying week? That's what I'm trying to ask. So that student is awaiting residential.
Okay. So that's why the extra week you just had to add extra week. Okay. Thank you so much. Seeing no other discussions. Roll call, please. Mrs. G. Yes. Miss Mulson, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes.
Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Carr, yes. Mr. Piggo, yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Mr. Artra, yes. Mr. Daro, yes. First, Miss Art. Thank you, Mr. President. The following
resolutions are pursuant to the recommendation of the superintendent of school P1 through P6 on page five. P7 through P17 on page six, P8 through P23 on page seven,
and P24 through P27 on page 8. On behalf of the committee, I salute second second by Dr. V. Discussion. I'm P20 just
we've been fortunate to have a good security officers over the years including my Jeff. So just want to wish him well. Mr. President, yes. Um I just want to comment again on P24. I I am so unbelievably thrilled with
this robust list of student field experience members. I I don't again last month we had a really amazing list I believe from PCC um this list looks like it's coming from is that Montlair State University um and
also to a couple other ones like I don't remember seeing this this long in a very long time so I hope that this is optimistic about the profession um and and it seems like we're building good relationships with these universities and that's always amazing to see but
it's just really really refreshing to did to Miss comments. I was going to comment on that as well. Also, there are some new hires. So, always, as always, like to welcome them to the district and always like to see I think P16 and P17 volunteers. So, our volunteer wrestling
coaches, thank you so much for stepping up and volunteering to be part of our athletic program. Thank you, Jen. And I stole my comments. I'm also very thankful for our volunteers. I also wanted to say I love
this um P14 P15 social media club advisors um at the middle school. I wish I could join Mr. Tenate is always fabulous. I know there I think they're splitting the gear which is great. Um and I'm thankful for that. And then um
again just to comment on what Abby said about all of these student future educators coming to observe our teachers a lot of them and special shout out to inclusion class. Someone's going to come observe our Roosevelt school inclusion
class which I think Hawthorne does phenomenally and we don't see that ever. So I you know yay special ed and inclusion. Um I've ever seen on agenda since I've been stalking the board of ed
meetings. So, I'm very excited about that. That's all. All right. Roll call poll, please. Miss Multi Coulson, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Carr, yes. Mr.
Yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Miss Art, yes. Mrs. Goff, yes. Mr. Taro, yes. All right. Finance administration. Mr. Brio. Thank you, Mr. President. On page nine,
action items. Pursuant to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the committee on finance and administration recommends the following resolutions F1 and F2. Behalf of the committee, I so move seconded by Mr. Carr. Discussion.
Roll call, please. Mr. Paloo. Yes. Dr. Vega. Yes, Mr. Carr. Yes, Mr. Clubo. Yes, Mr. Doyle. Yes, Miss Art. Yes, Mrs. G. Yes, Miss Multicol. Yes, Mr. Taro.
Yes. All right, back to you, Miss Aron. Claims. Thank you, Mr. President. It is my month to review the bills in accordance with NJC 6A 23-2
11B, C3, and C4. I have reviewed the October 2025 bill list and it is recommended that the board approve the bills for this month. Second by Mr. Cleo.
Discussion. Roll call, please. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Carr, yes. Mr. Clehjo, yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Miss Arntrap, yes. Mrs. G, yes. Multiolson. Yes. Mr. Poo. Yes. Mr. Tataro.
Yes. All right. Moving on to buildings and grounds. Mr. Doyle. Thank you, Mr. President. Soon to the recommendation, the superintendent of schools, the committee on buildings and grounds recommends the following resolutions. Bottom of page nine, new PG1.
Carrying over to page 10, uh, BG2 and BG3. On behalf of the committee, I move second. Second by Dr. Vega. Discussion. Yes. I would like to thank Mr. Mandelli and
Mrs. Mali for listening to me on this one as well and adding the fees section to the permit use. So now we can see very clearly for whomever is applying. Is it something that is fee based or not? So thank you again and also thank you for annotating that
we do not want cars down on the property. It is very difficult to navigate down there when practices are going on. A lot of people down there. We were down there doing the tour and we were ourselves having to jump from side to side of that driveway to navigate
cars who were down there. So, thank you for for that as well. And to piggy back on that, it's also ruining our our laptop. Cars shouldn't be driven down that at all. Period. And
um Yeah, I agree. For BG2, it says a field trip, but then the date is a school year 54 passengers. So, I guess I don't know what that's for.
It's a contract um for busing for field trips. So, it's for the school year. Any field any field trip throughout the school year. So, when we write 54 passengers, I'm assuming that's what it can hold. Yes. Okay, that makes us like, "Wow, it's really specific for
the entire school year." Okay, I understand. So, we're just using that company to help us out with field trips throughout the year. Correct. So, then I would Okay. So, per route. Got it. That's um 2 and from that 2000. Okay.
Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Roll call, please. Mr. Carr, yes. Mr. Corbo, yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Mr. Artra, yes. Mrs. Goff, yes.
Miss Multicolton, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Tataro, yes. All right. Back to you, Mr. Doyle. Policy. Pursuant with the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, the Committee on Policy recommends the following
resolutions. Bottom of page 10, we have PO1 and it carries over to the top of page 11. On behalf of the committee, I so move second. Seconded by Mr. Artra. Discussion.
Roll call, please. Mr. Cleo, yes. Mr. Doyle, yes. Miss Art, yes. Mrs. G, yes. Miss Multicolson, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Yes, Mr. Tataro.
Yes. All right. Uh, public be heard. At this time, members of the public may ask questions or make comments on educational issues or school matters. No. All right.
Seeing none, we move on to our general comments. New business or old business. As always, please state which one it is. And since Mr. does not like starting first. This time I'll go to Miss Mulen.
Okay. So, um to start, I would just like to say congratulations again to Miss Sherry. She was my son's speech therapist at the preschool when inclusion class when it was up in the church in Whiteoff and I just absolutely
loved her. I I always talk I know sorry I always talk about it but he went in not seeing and he came out never He never stopped speaking and I just owe it to her. Her her, Miss Sherry, Miss Carrie. Um, we were just amazing and had so much patience and I just remember
bringing him in. They're only babies at three years old. Um, and he was nonverbal and he came out and again, it's just so nice. And then they did a graduation ceremony and she's been with us 25 years and I'm so grateful to have her here still. She's an amazing speech
therapist and like um Mr. McNell said, she does so much more. She goes above and beyond for her students. Um so thank you. And then thank you to Dr. Dravona in the presentation. Um and also that uh
testing those universal screeners when he g the amount of tests you gave in 48 hours. I almost fell off my chair. I can't I can't even imagine what that was like for you. So, I apologize, but also thank you. Um, and then just thank you
again to the volunteer coaches that are on tonight's agenda. Um, and happy Halloween everyone. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, Erica said everything I was going to say. So, Dr. Trabon, thank you for your
informative presentation. uh it shows that we're moving the district in the right direction and thank you for you and all the work that you and your team did. Thank you. Um general comments, same comments. Thank you to Dr. Traona. Um, I
being able to stand up here and not only take the brunt of all of our stats, um, but being able to answer each and every one of our questions so informed and eloquently, um, shows your your your passion for not only what you do, but
for a district. So, thank you. Couple general comments. Uh nice to see that the district's continuing to move forward with our educational achievements as was very nicely displayed tonight. So, thank you for all your work, Mr. Dr. Traona. Um would like to send uh extend congratulations on a
buildings and grounds level to our uh Manny Bioso is his promotion to director of facilities and to our Jim Batlo on his promotion to the assistant facility supervisor. Uh, and then I'd also like to extend a personal thank you to Jim
Berthollo. He goes out of his way every year and didn't disappoint again this year to uh stencil the breast cancer pink ribbons out on the football field. Uh, so not just for football, but all of our fall sports, football, soccer, and
uh, uh, lacrosse. It's just nice to see it out there. This is breast cancer awareness month. Uh, I know it will always have a special place in my heart, and I know it does for Jim as well. as it does to many of our community members. So, thank you to him and and uh thanks for the support.
Thank you. Couple general comments. Kudos to Ella Alberta for the enthusiastic work that she's doing. Also, just want to remind the public that it's election year. And while there's only three candidates for three seats, uh nevertheless, it's
important to keep the board of education top of mind. not only because it takes the line share of the property taxes. Uh you need just to say it uh it's it's in charge of the education in the district but also the there's a direct correlation between the quality of your
schools and the equity that you have in your real estate. So just keep that top of mind. Uh and last but not least want to thank uh Mr. Cali and her office for all the cash work that she's doing. It's uh not fun to take somebody else's checkbook over. Nevertheless, the
district's uh budget and old systems, new systems, catchup work. Um so there's a lot behind the scenes that her office is doing that u we're appreciative of. Mrs. Um these are general comments. Um I just
want to start by saying I saw Dr. Spuro working the snacksand at the game last Friday. He looks 10 years younger. Um but he does send his love to everyone. He was working there on behalf of the booster club which he's a part of. He will be at NJSBA the conference. So I
want to thank those who are able to go on our behalf. The nature of my job if I were to take that time off. Nobody does my work for me when I'm gone. So ultimately it's difficult for me to take off any sort of time like that. Um so thank you to those who are going and I look forward to hearing about the exciting things you can learn when
you're there. I'd also like to invite everybody to the last football home game which will be this Friday. um six o'clock at the Hawthornne school field where we hawk and it's a pink out so come wear your pink and support the Hawthorne Bears. Um and I'd like to to make a statement. I
don't have this on 100% authority that it's true but I did hear that some students returned or are returning from PCTI some freshman students today possibly this week and I would like to just remind the general public that you are always welcome back um at any point
in time if it does not work out where you are. We like the Statue of Liberty. We will take you we welcome you back. We want you to have a place here in Hawthorne. Um we wish you well where you are. Uh but it is our doors are always open. So that's that's encouraging to
hear that once a bear always there. Absolutely. That that people do do come back home. And that is it. Thanks. Two quick general comments. One um to
correct what I how this fits in. But the next council meeting is actually tomorrow. I think I said it was until November. That's the following one. So, correcting my my remarks. And then two, um, for the buildings and grounds for the facility
use form, I know it's there. It's easy to find. Our new website is updated. We all know where it is. Uh, people in the community have reached out. Is it something that maybe we can share with um the PTO's or when
groups get to schools and groups get together that it exists, that it's there, that it's an option. I know we've talked about it to potentially gain some income, but also just so people are more aware that we use it. I just an idea,
suggestion, comment that I just thought of when Mr. Doyle was um you know, reading on the agenda. So, just an idea, just throwing it out there to be discussed in the future. Last but not least,
just to reiterate what everybody said, Dr. Fabona, thank you for what you do. Uh it's you do a tremendous job presenting. Um and I feel like, you know, we learn a lot every time you get up and speak. So, thank you for everything you've done. Can I say one more thing?
Nope. That's it. I mean, music is playing in the background. Um to to Miss Aaron Trout's point um and and this has evolved over the years, but if you are a wreck team, you have to be submitting your applications for field use through
Wreck. You you so it's not it's not um something that you do like team by team. It is all through Wreck and Wreck submits them to us on your behalf. Just to clarify. Yes. And I'll just elaborate. Yes, you could still do it if you're not a part
of rec organization that would go through the board of education, but good point on both counts. So, appreciate you mentioning that. Um, and actually, uh, someone else that I saw, a familiar face in town, uh, who says hello to
everybody, Mr. Risher, happened to see him the other day and he, uh, send his hello to everybody. So, um, more on general comments again, Dr. Javona, as everybody shared every year, I genuinely appreciate it. I've been
that parent year over year um hoping to see the progress and and and waiting alongside you to see that, you know, come to fruition and um being that I started seven years ago and to see what's happened over seven years. I greatly appreciate all the strides that
we've made and all the effort that you put into this and along with your administrative team. So, uh it doesn't go unnoticed and greatly appreciate it. And then last but not least, I just want to share because I think Mr. Cleio mentioned it. Uh you know, the Alberta family, especially Ella, year over year,
they always uh just do an incredible job on raising uh funds uh for the cause. But uh if you don't know, on October 25th, uh Ella's Army will be walking uh in I believe it's in Morristown,
uh which occurs every year. It's October 25th at 5:00 p.m. I'm sure if you need any further information about it, you can feel free to reach out to me and I will share it with you. So, it's always great to see. Other than that,
it m over there. All right. Uh that being said, we have private session tonight. be resolved that the Horam Board of Education convenes an executive session to discuss
exempt matters pertaining to a matter rendered confidential by federal or state law. Be further resolved that if it is anticipated that executive session will be for 45 minutes in duration and that public action may or may not be taken. Be it further resolved that the minutes
of the executive session will be made available upon a determination by the board that the disclosure of the minutes will not detrimentally affect any right of interest of the board and the need for confidentially no longer exists. Motion motion
I got a little co up there because we don't have the box separated for private meeting tonight. So I apologize that again. There's not on the board meeting. It's not a separate only for so I apologize if I miss. Okay. Roll call, please.
Mr. Doyle, yes. Miss Art, yes. Mrs. Goff, yes. Miss Multi Goldson, yes. Mr. Paloo, yes. Dr. Vega, yes. Mr. Carr, yes. Mr. Mr. Yes.