Good. Okay. Um, I call to order the Highland Park Board of Education hybrid workshop voting meeting today, Tuesday, May 27th, 2025. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of
the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon. In compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act, the Highland Park Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting setting forth the time, date, location, and location to be submitted for publication to the Home
News Tribune and Courier News and posted on the board's website at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting. Members of the public who wish to address the board will be given the opportunity to do so before the board adjourns for the evening. May I have roll call, please? Dr.
Batty, Miss Cassell Dan, here. Dr. Dr. Coleman, Dr. Pixley, Miss Puce here, Dr. Stoman, Miss Daniel here, Miss Bargain here, Miss Borke here. We will now recess to executive session. Be it
resolved pursuant to the Sunshine Act, NJSA 104-12 and 13. The Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session to discuss personnel HIV and the superintendent's finalization of contract. These exemptions are permitted to be discussed in close session in
accordance with NJSA 10 col4-13. Information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists. I move that we recess to
executive session. Second. All in favor? [Music] Right. We're now going to reconvene to regular session. Do I have to move that? I move that we reconvene to regular session. May I have
uh Dr. Batty here? Miss Cassald here. Dr. Coleman, Dr. Pixley here. Miss Pruce here, Dr. Miss Stanium here. Miss Bardman here. Miss Bory here. Let's stand for
the pledge. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. We had two communications since our
last meeting. Um, one regarding the afterchool program to keep it in house and one regarding procedures for leaving early for sports. The next night item on the agenda is the approval of minutes for the hybrid workshop voting meeting,
budget adoption and executive session for May 5th, 2025. I move that we approve those minutes. Second. Dr. Batty, yes. Seldon, yes. Dr. Pixley,
yes. Miss Pruce, yes. Dr. Miss Stanium, Miss Bman, yes. Miss Vorhees, yes. We have our student representative supports, but our students are getting awards tonight. So, I'm going to turn it
over to Dr. Susa to present their reports. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of our students and then Anna, who are attaining awards tonight getting awards. Um, they have some updates. I have nothing from Irving at Bartle. Bartle is wrapping up the school year with a flurry of fun.
Seventh grade recently explored Liberty Science Center. Fourth grade is heading to Liberty Hall and fifth grade just return from Camp Mason and with a cool off at the Woodbridge YMCA splash pad. Field day was a hit for second and third graders and fourth and fifth will get
their turn on May 28th after a rain delay. We're also looking forward to welcoming our youth McDuffins for Irving with first school visit and celebrating our fifth graders at the moving up ceremony on June 13th at the middle school. Middle school teacher appreciation week. The middle
school would like to give a huge thank you to the VTSO for making their this year's teacher appreciation week extra special. The staff had a blast searching for henchman and Carmen Kil Brady on an adventurous hunt through the school and across Europe. The PTSO was a big help
on the days Carmen was causing chaos in China and stirring things up in France. It was a huge success and we're so grateful for your support. So any any where in the world is Carmen see fans out there? It was really fun to watch. The second ABCs. As the school year
winds down, the middle school is turning up the fun with an exciting ABC countdown to celebrate the last 26 days of school. Each day is seen with a letter of the alphabet, bringing smiles to school spirit and community to our halls. We've already teared out cheered
on athlete day A. Sharpened our strategy during X and O day E and tic-tac-toe games and showed off our apartment pride H in full spirit wear. And there's plenty more to look forward to. Students will enjoy a sweet surprise on Lollipop
Day L. Brighten someone's day on make someone smile day M. Get wacky for preposterous hair cafe day to eat and share appreciation on thank you day teach by recognizing the amazing teachers and staff who make the middle school special. The ABC countdown is a
creative and fun and a joyful way for our school community to end the year together one letter at a time. The sixth grade barbecue will happen uh that's provided by the PTSO on May 27th. The sixth grade teachers then run a field day after lunch filled with games and
team building activities. Seventh grade field day at barbecue is on May 28th. Uh for the same diversity day is May 30th. We love diversity day. The goal of diversity day is to enhance the understanding of each other's differences as well to as well as to
explore larger issues in the world. Students will have an opportunity to choose from over 30 workshops throughout the day. Workshops in which students will participate include Bollywood dance, Wheels for Peace, American Sign Language, the multicultural experience during World War II, Modeling UN,
Mindfulness and Mental Health, and Messaga. Thank you to the PTSO for their participation and donations. DHY Park on June 10th, the eighth grade trip is around the corner, so they're very excited and looking forward to a day of fun. Eighth grade field day is on June
11th. The eighth grade barbecue and dance is June 13th and eighth grade awards ceremony and moving up ceremony is on June 16th. At the high school, the Highland Park High School Deco went to Orlando, Florida for the international career and
development conference about two weeks ago. It was a huge success as they engaged in team spawning activities, competed network and so much more. Our Miss Sho, Miss Pollock are so proud of everything DECA has accomplished this year and cannot wait to see what's in store for all of our students next year.
Our music programs are celebrating our incredible students with the choir concert last week on Thursday, the orchestra concert on Wednesday the 28th, and the band concert on the 29th. Our junior prom and an enchanted evening was truly enchanting. We hosted it here in
our cafeteria on May 17th. On June 4th, we'll celebrate our senior prom. We recently had our fame showcase where we celebrated the STEM work of our students in their partnership with Ruckers University. As the spring sports season draws to a close, our teams have put forth strong performances across the
board. The baseball team recent recently celebrated senior night with a win. Oh, Seth isn't here. Seth, our softball team compiles an impressive 10 and six records secure third place in the TMC's. Boys tennis also earned a third place finish. And finally, track and field
will be well represented at our upcoming group one state championships. Please don't ask any questions because I don't have any answers, but I was already um well, Dr. Skullman will be here shortly. He's running a little late, but he did want to just comment on um what a
fabulous experience that was had at Camp Mason with um the BAL students and Bartle fifth graders and staff. Um, but I'm sure he'll add some um to uh new business. Thank you. That concludes the super student report, whatever our name
is. Okay. All right. I'll move on to my room. Well, good evening everyone. Um, we have lots to talk about tonight. I'm really excited for. So, uh, two formal presentations and then two introductions. So, the first I would like, um, we have a postponent of the
global citizen, uh, presentation. Dr. is at the high school thing in their senior year's um getting awards. So, he's not with us tonight. So, we'll postpone his presentation. But first, I'd like to call up Dr. Duncan from Ruckers University. I think is Mr. Carter joining
you. Okay, students. Okay, we got a class. I'm very excited. Dr. Dunie from the Ruckers graduate school of education pass. Um, do you want the wireless? Are you pres presenting from the So you have to use the microphone so the
people at home get all right this is not too loud right? Um, okay. Thank you so much first of all for inviting us. Um, we're really excited to be here. Uh, I wanted to tell you just for a few minutes about a project that collaborative project that
we have with Ruckers Graduate School of Ed that includes myself, Dr. Chin, uh, Jamie Lynn and Ava Luben, uh, who are graduate students and we did this in collaboration with Mr. Garner and thank you for allowing us into your uh
classroom. It was really a tremendous experience. So this is what we did. Um we looked at a locally relevant uh issue in Highland Park which is the deer. And if you look in here and find
your house you can see how many deer might be in here. This has been always from 2019 but this is the sort of data that students were working with. So we picked a locally relevant phenomenon for them to study science related ecology. Um what is causing the deer over
population and how is the over population of deer affecting the environment. Those were the two questions that they were exploring. They used scientific evidence very kinds of evidence different kinds of representations a lot of mans uh to try
and figure out the answer to those questions. And they use a tool which we call me which is a modeling uh environment where they can create models and then they have evidence here that they can open and they can link to the
models that they create. So this is authentic scientific practice. These are some examples of their sophisticated models that they created and they also engaged in peer review. So they have to take each
other's models, write comments and then respond to each and every comment and write a letter back to the editor explaining how they address these comments and revise their model which is something that scientists know very well
you have to do. Uh but another point is that we wanted to make science consequential. So linking science to what is actually happening in the real world and what is happening in our own world. So this was actually an issue that came up in 2020. There's a lot of
discussion of what to do about the deer in Highland Park. So they listen to excites from this meeting and then we started to think about okay what can be some mitigation strategies that we can do in islands.
They researched some of them, uh, developed arguments about them. And I'm not going to say much because the the main event is this incredible video that they created, public service announcement that helps that we're hoping can help our uh,
borrow folk uh, figure out what to do with the deer can now to uh, manage the the deer content that we have. So without further ado, I'm going to hit play
and we will hear from them. [Music] [Music] What are the effects of [Music] population forests? This affects the habits
of many. What can we do to prevent our ecosystem? This helps us all regard healthy and safe. contribute to physics
because the final way to combat the for [Music] good. Um friendly plant database shows um many native plants that are resistant. Um for
[Music] example, flex There are two pages of if you want to find this area only and press yes to this is what it should look like when
it's done. Thank you for listening to our presentation. Thank everyone again uh in particular Mr. Carter and our wonderful seventh graders. It has been an absolute joy. And now I want to turn it over to our
incredible youth if they would like to say something and uh if they want to answer any questions. Um I don't have much to add on to the presentation, but does anyone have like any current questions? I have a question. Uh yeah. Um, so what
do you feel like was the most engaging thing about this work that you guys did together? Um, the most engaging part I'd say is probably the um problem solving and group work that we had to do. So me, Guadalupe, Guadalupe and Sean, we
were working closely together and we were finding like these resources and like we were fighting uh resources and data to like kind of like is what I'm trying to say is it was
very fun to like explore like what options we have to deal uh to deal with deer and I feel like it was definitely engaging group work. Thank you. I have a question. Um, and you might
have said this early on, but I'm curious if the deer density here is different than in other towns. Is that something you looked at? Um, because we were basically trying to get a general idea. We didn't really look at
like different areas, but yes, there's definitely like because of clim uh because of certain climates or certain like certain animals in certain areas, there can be different deer densities. That's Yeah, it just really depends on
the area. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh, anybody else want to say anything before I give up the mic? Thank you so much. And thank you again, Mr. Carter, for letting us into the classroom. Thank you, Dr. Duck. Thank
you, Mr. Carter. And thank you to our wonderful uh students that represented for the seventh grade. It sounds like an amazing uh project and every day I look outside my office door and there's plenty of deer uh around and it's I'm very happy to see that this is still of
a big concern on trying to help um help the population but also help the community um you know handle it. So thank you so much for your commitment to the scientific community and you're all more than welcome to stay for the remainder of the uh meeting. I'm going to call up Miss
Rodriguez next to present on our district performance report, but you're free to go if you have other things to do. No problem. Thank you. All right. So, now I'd like to um What happened? No, you can. Do you want the wire? It's
up to you. You can have the wireless. Oh, okay. Do you want the wireless or if you want to go to the podium? Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes I have a difficulty when I have multiple things
in my hands to get through everything. I know. All right. Well, thank you. Uh, Miss Michelle Rodriguez, our director of curriculum and instruction, will now present on the district performance report. Thank you, Miss Rodriguez. Good evening, everybody. Can you hear? Is it good? Yeah. Thank you for having
me. So this evening I'm going to talk a little bit about the 2023 2024 school performance reports. The reports are compiled by the New Jersey Department of Education each year. They usually come out in April. Uh and they provide the
public with a variety of information about each of the school districts in New Jersey as well as information about each of the individual schools. Tonight I'm going to talk about some of those uh data points. I just
want to remind everyone that this is last year's data, not this year's data. Okay. I think everyone has access to anyone who wants to has access to the slides. Correct. So on this slide you have the link that shows where you can
find any performance report in any school in the state of New Jersey. We have downloaded the PDF files for our district report as well as for each individual school in both English and Spanish and they live on our website so you can easily find them
there. So the report has a lot of information. There are hundreds of data points. Tonight, I'm going to talk about a few of them. So, here are some that are included. You have demographics, student growth, student
achievement, graduation rates, uh, school accountability information. Tonight, I'm going to start on our enrollment. So, our enrollment last year was Oh my goodness. sorry,
1,593 students overall. There is a decline in student enrollment. If we're looking at the um the data for the last three years with the exception of last year, the high school saw an increase and there was
also an increase with a few students at Irving. If I'm not mistaken, it's five. What we have seen is across all four schools is an increase in student groups when it comes to students that are
economically disadvantaged. We see an increase in that student population as well as students with disabilities. So here for Irving uh we see an increase in the past three years of 8 and a half%
for economically disadvantaged 4.6% for students with disabilities. Last year we saw a 3% decrease in the amount of multilingual learners and a 1% decrease in students
experiencing homelessness. For Bartle, we see a decrease of 38 students across the last three years, an increase of 10% for economically disadvantaged, an increase of 6.5% students with disabilities. At
Bartle, we do see an increase of 3 and a half% for multilingual learners, and a decrease of 1% of students experiencing homelessness in the last year. Middle school also has an increase of 26 students over the last three years, an
increase of 11% for economically disadvantaged, 6 and a.5% of students with disabilities, an increase of 3.6% of student of multilingual learners, and the middle school has a
2.3% of students experiencing homelessness. While it is a small percentage, it is the largest in the four schools. And then the high school, we see an increase in the last three years of 21 students. There is an increase of
5.3% for economically disadvantaged, a decrease of 2% for students with disabilities, and a decrease of 1% for students experiencing homelessness. So that's our enrollment and demographics for the New Jersey student
learning standards which many of our students just finished taking in the last month. The state um provides us with data for both achievement as well as student growth. They provide us with the student
growth percentile. This percentile is based on the growth that students have shown relative to their academic peers who scored relatively in the same area
or range as the year prior. Okay. So the next few slides you're going to see data for Bartle and middle school because the student growth percentile is for grades four to four to eight in ELA and four to
seven for math. So for Bartle the charts that you see at the top show how we did um what our median uh student percentile growth is. And if you can see, we got two stars
for ELA because last year we exceeded the standard for ELA and uh with an increase of 11% and math also met the standard um last year. The two graphs at
the bottom show what the growth was uh for each of the individual grades for fourth and fifth. Then as you can see we show we showed an increase in both. This is the cohort achievement data. So this is not growth. This is shows the percentage of students who met
or exceeded expectations on NJSLA. So this is tracking the cohort. Now I know it's not perfect because we don't necessarily account for students coming in and out but for the most part. So you can see that the graph on the left is
our current fifth graders. So that chart shows how they did in third grade and fourth grade. For ELA, there was an increase in 21 by 21% of students meeting or exceeding. And for math, there was an increase in 9%.
For our current sixth graders, which is the chart on the right, their growth from third, fourth, and then fifth grade for ELA, we saw an increase of 30%. And for math, it stayed relatively the
same. Middle school met the standard for both ELA and math last year. the year prior we did not meet the target for ELA so but we did this year and so um that was we showed a 12%
increase so that was great to see the charts at the bottom we see how uh the growth percentiles for the grade individual grade levels in ELA we see consistent growth in math we see growth for sixth grade and there was a slight
um decrease increase in seventh, but it's in seventh grade. We also have to take into account that some of those students are in algebra, so they don't take the math 7th NJSLA test. This is the cohort data. Um, so the chart on the left shows our current
seventh graders. Um, so that's how they did in fourth, fifth, and sixth. So, we see some increases and some decreases. Um, the charts on the right
only show for ELA since in math um the performance reports don't track past the sixth grade. Um, in terms of the growth and so we do see the current eighth graders, we see a
little bit of a decrease, but we saw a little bit of an increase last year. and the current ninth graders are uh have increased about 15% in the last 3 years. So for the um Every Student Succeeds Act, uh New
Jersey has to um have a proficiency rate for our federal accountability. So that's what you see in this chart. You also see at the in the bottom graph you see the participation in taking the
test for the last three years. Our proficiency rate as this as well as the state rate. The numbers here are a little different than the numbers prior because this one takes in account the DM the dynamic learning map assessment which is
the alternate assessment. So students would not take both. They would either take one or the other. You will notice for Bartle the participation rate decreased a little bit last year for both ELA and math. We
did meet the target for both. We had not met the target the two years prior to the last. So that's wonderful. We're in the right we're going in the right direction. Even though the graph I know it the line doesn't look like it's
moving much but we are the same thing for the middle school. In the middle school case we same thing. We didn't meet it the two years prior to last year but we did meet the target for last year for both ELA
and math. And at the middle school the participation rate in the assessment has gone up. and the high school, same thing. We met the target um last year. We did not meet the target the previous two years. And if you
notice for ELA, there was a big jump. We actually are above the state proficiency for um high school. Continuing on with high school data, we have our gra our graduation rates. Uh students who complete all of their
requirements by August 31st 1st of their senior year are considered a graduate and are included in the graduation rate. The class of 2024 had to were required to meet the assessment
uh component of graduation as well. So they had to sit and show proficiency on the NJGPA in during their during 11th grade. If they did not meet proficiency, then they had the opportunity to uh take another assessment or um do the
portfolio portfolio appeals process. Here the the the graphs show what our four-year graduation rate looks like and what our five-year graduation rate looks like. we see a slight decrease in our fourth four-year graduation
rate by about three and a half%. I will say that of the 11ish% that are not included there about 5.7% of the students did continue on. So they continued as an enrolled student
into their fifth year. This is our federal graduation rate. So, they calculated a little differently. They do not include students with disabilities who did not meet um all of the graduation requirements because of a
modification or an exemption made through their IEP. So, if you notice in that rate, uh we are in line with the state average. This is more high school data. This is our PSAT and SAT performance. It does
show that we are above the state average. Our PSAT um was taken by our 10th and 11th graders and we had 100% participation for students um taking it. Our SATs we
had 53%. which was higher than I thought, but I know lower than some may have anticipated. And that included uh that was just 12th graders. Still should be celebrated. AP exams. Um this is for any
student in 11th and 12th grade. We had a total of 333 exams taken. 304 of them earned at least a three or above, which is 92% of the assessments taken.
So that's awesome. And we are above average in the number of students enrolled in AP classes as well as the number of students taking at least one of the exams since it's not required. Um, and students uh taking at least one
and scoring at least a three or above. attendance. We all know how important it is to come to school and that research has shown that it's uh being in school is a huge impact when it comes to
student learning. This is our rate of chronic absenteeism. We are way above the state average. We actually showed an increase two years ago and we had an uptick last year. So the state considers
a student to be chronically absent if they are not in school 10% or more days from the time they are enrolled in a given school year. So an a school year is 180 days. So if they're absent more
than 18 days, they are considered chronically absent. That includes excused absences. Any excused absence. This rate shows that out of 1,593 students in K12, 339 of them are
chronically absent. It's a lot. We did not meet the target in any student group for attendance. And this is what it looks like by grade level. The only two grades that we are not
above the state average is in 11th and 10th grade, which I'm assuming that at that point lots of conversations are happening about the importance of attendance and graduation requirements.
We are above 20% of the grade level in all grades except third, fourth, and 10th grade and then 11 and 12 where we're below. In all other grades, more than 20% of the grade
level is chronically absent. That's a lot. Um I just encourage as much as possible that all students come to school and then maybe we could see more growth on um our achievement data. So, as part of New Jersey's Every
Student Succeeds Act accountability system, there is a formula that determines a summitive score for each of the schools that is based on different factors and you can see them listed there. So, it has to do with the ELA and
math um state assessment, how much growth we've had, our graduation rate, our progress toward English language proficiency for our multilingual learners, um as well as our attendance. And based
on that summitive score, there are schools that are identified as being comprehensive or targeted for support and improvement. If you remember last year, our middle school was identified as being a comprehensive uh
support and improvement school, a CSI, which is identified as a title one school who um has not shown improvement for a specific uh group of students for more for three
or more consecutive years. So, the middle school, I know it shows it there, but they were actually identified last year for black or African-American students based on being a comprehensive support school. They're not allowed to
exit that status for three years. So, no matter what type of growth we make this year or we made last year, they're not eligible for exit until 2027. So,
um I just wanted to highlight this. This is areas where the different student groups where the middle school did meet the target for ELA proficiency as well as meet the standard for ELA growth. Um for
math, all all groups met the target for math proficiency at the middle school. So I just wanted to highlight that there is a lot of good happening and a lot of growth um though they you know have been identified what happens next uh the
school and the um all stakeholders we look at um we assess the needs we look at the data we identify what strategies we're going to use to help support the students identify resources An annual school plan is
created with specific timelines and next steps and then we follow through with that plan. These are some initial ideas for next steps. some of which have been um
started already this year and we plan to continue once we look at more of the data from the end of the year and the um state assessment data that should be coming in at the beginning sometime in the summer. So things such as PLC's and
datadriven instruction, looking at the team meetings um and structuring them around identifying needs and targeting intervention and then coming back and looking at the progress that was made and adjusting from that. Um continuing
with uh I think we mentioned last year like the NJSLA practice items intervention some of the programs there at the bottom that you see wise connection program brothers mentoring various schoolwide events just
thinking about climate and culture within the building and then the climate and culture specialists those are ideas to potentially continue. We're just waiting for grant funding and crossing our fingers that we can afford these
different things. Um these are just some websites and surveys um that anyone is welcome to partake in or look for more information about the different performance reports. Like I said, there's a lot of more information on there. These were just a few of the
highlights. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Rodriguez. I'll open uh the floor to the board for questions or comments. Additionally, to the community, the performance reports can be found on the district website um this current performance report and years
past questions or comments. You have questions. So, so I just want to clarify for latenesses, three of those still do also count as absences, correct? Because I didn't I didn't see it on there. And then so for the chronic absenteeism, do we have a breakdown of demographic of
who is chronically late? No. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. We do have it. Okay. Yeah. And and for that specifically, what we've done in the past too is we've broken that down because we've noticed a significant in intake increase in our, for example,
McKenna Vento displaced students. So what we do is we actually take that data and unpack it very granularly because those students often become chronically absent to no fault of of anybody's just because transportation. So if they move from location to location, transportation takes a couple of days to
catch up to them. So automatically those are a couple of absences. So we and we were up to 37 or 39 students that were displaced. So that was a significant number impacting us. So we take that into account. Then we look at our students that might be chronically absent because of health related
concerns um or school anxiety if they are classified special ed looking at Dr. Risa in the audience and he's nodding his head. So we look at that kind of data and look at the the supports for them. Um and then from there we're kind of left with that pocket of students um
that we can kind of look at and and gauge based on some demographic information. So that's how we regularly look at that data. Thank you. Um I have a follow-up question about the chronic absenteeism.
Um, do we know uh um have we compare my understanding is that walking districts often have a higher rate of chronic absenteeism than bus districts. Correct. And I'm wondering have we compared our absenteeism to other walking districts?
And similarly, do we know is there actually a difference between the students in our district who are bust and uh who walk? Have we looked and looked at that? So, I tried to look at some of the empirical research that is out there and so far the only empirical research that I have access to that I
can find um is really actually for younger students in primary grades. They do a lot of research in primary grade and the research does suggest that students um that uh attend districts that are predominantly walking that don't have transportation suffer higher levels of chronic absenteeism and attendance rates than districts where
they are transported. So the empirical um evidence out there does suggest that because that was a of concern. Um I have reached out to local districts that um do not provide courtesy transportation and they are seeing the same um if not more significant numbers uh recently um
there were some districts even so much as Perthboy that um stopped um providing courtesy transportation to their students and they're seeing a huge increase in chronic um absenteeism now as a result. So, uh, locally in Middle Sex, those that, um, do walk show higher
rates of chronic absenteeism. Um, what we can do, what I don't have right now is that specific, uh, data on our bus students versus our walking students, um, for transportation, but we can certainly, um, get that information. Sorry,
um I was just going to say thank you so much for this presentation and one of the things that you know for those listening there's been a lot of changes I think in just how we're tracking this and the conversations that we're having and even that one bullet about the PLC's and incorporating the data. I think it'd be good for folks to know I mean as as
we're you know we're really um using different methodologies to to track this diagnose and and and give that intelligence back to the teachers and and have those kind of conversations. I think maybe it'd be good to kind of share some of that. Um, even that bullet on what you were saying with datadriven PLC's. I think some folks don't even
know what a PLC is, but so important in the kind of culture that we're building. Um, so I think that might be useful if you want to speak to that or not. I think you're doing really great work and so it' be nice to share that. So I'll I'll speak for Miss Rodriguez since she doesn't have the microphone so the people at home can hear. Um, so a
PLC is a professional learning community and it's a datadriven um work that the teachers do. So in keeping with Dufour's work on PLC's, the idea is to take some piece of of data. So it's whether it's attendance, achievement,
um behavioral data, discipline data, and the teachers hone in through very specific um models that are done um where we can drive it through questions that we're asking. So we can use very targeted ways
of looking at the data through protocols where it's uh very granular looking at the data for whatever their target is their goal is looking at that data and tracking that data. So again, whether it's discipline with a group of students, whether it's chronic absenteeism or ELA uh language, I'll use
some examples that Miss Rodriguez has shared with me where they look at the ELA data um from local benchmark assessments and we're and the state data and looking at it to say, okay, where are key areas where our students are mostly struggling? Um and let's unpack that data. Where are we seeing that in our curriculum? Where are we seeing in
our assessments? And something so simple as like you know students are getting something a particular um standard where they're falling short on and you know we're only spending a small amount a fraction of time versus something we're spending a longer amount of time studying in classes and how do we adjust
that? So that's how granular we can get with that um that PLC work and really focusing it. So we don't take that time for faculty meetings or things like that. Instead we're really using it for targeted um datadriven conversations. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome.
Um, one thing I just wanted to make sure I was clear on it because I know we have that uh comprehensive improvement around black and African-American students in the middle school. Um, but I also believe on some of the testing that we don't actually have
enough African-American students in terms of are they need are they like passing proficient. So there they were. I just want to say this because when you look at whether or not different subgroups have actually met the target, they're not in there because
we don't actually have enough to meet that. At the same time, we've been noted for not serving them. So, uh yeah, they're not necessarily in there because they haven't met the target. Correct. Um but it's something we still monitoring. Absolutely. And if you look at the full
report, Miss uh Rodriguez presented a comprehensive overview of the report, but it's very extensive, you know, lots lots of pages, lots of pages. So, um please feel free to look at if you want to look at that data more specifically. It'll note denote in each of of there where we don't have enough students um
black or African-American to meet to actually signify any data. They make a a small group of population for us. Yeah. And I was just going to say one other comment on that is just when you look nationwide in ELA and math, we're it's kind of a a problem across all states and to see us hit the mark and when you
look at the segmentation, we're not seeing kind of the danger zone in the way other districts are experiencing. So, you know, I think that is something very notable and reflective of the investments we've been making over the past year or two. Um, and I just would echo what Sarah and
everyone else has said about how hard I know everyone on the administration is working um to make improvements. We can see those improvements happening. Um, my question is I and I should have asked this committee, but how are the targets determined, right? Because we I don't think we missed a state target in any
ELA or school category was there was all those stars and in one one case we exceeded it. But I was also struck that if you looked at the compared the the the the percentage meeting some standard in Bartle or the high school to the to the state we also fell below the state
median. Um so I'm wondering how those how those targets were set and yeah that's what I wonder. Do you wanna? So in terms of growth um it's 50%. That's the standard. But if you
score within 40 to 59.5 you are considered within the standard. Okay. When it comes to the federal accountability one, which were the later slides, the New Jersey Department of Education determines the
targets. And last year, they actually changed some of the targets. They actually had to lower the targets. And there's um a document on their website that actually tells for each individual school what their target is for each um
student group. Yeah, I saw one on here where we met this year, but we had a lower percentage. So, that explains that. Yes. And it's the state has a little asterric because their new targets it from what I read have not been approved
yet, but they're moving forward with them. So, thank you. I had a quick question just about the SAT scores. I know that a lot of the community has been talking about that because we were in the news for doing so well and just wondering about the percentage of kids who took them. Um,
but I think the majority most kids are taking them in 11th grade, the regular SATs, not 12th grade. So that that low percentage could be the kids that are just taking it either late or a second, third, fourth time. Wondering if we have the stats on the 11th graders that took SATs. I don't have them with me. the
performance report, which I'm assuming that's where the article got their data from because it came out right after, only accounts for 12th graders taking the SATs. Okay. Yeah, thank you. I double check that.
Um, I had a question about the demographics. Um because so when we were talking about there being an increase in the uh percentages of um special education or economically disadvantaged
or at risk uh children. I was I was wondering if that was actually a increase in hard numbers um or whether the percentage has grown as the um enrollment has gone down. If it's the same number of kids it's the percentage.
Okay. So, it's the same. The number of children has not grown. It's the pie has shrunk. That I would have to double check. I'm just wondering are we are we serving more at risk or special
education children like hard numbers or is it a greater percentage of our school population as the enrollment has declined? I see. We'll have to check. Yeah. But I mean if you look across the schools in terms of enrollment, we're talking about like three to five
students, right? So we're not talking about a big change in different schools. You might have a 25 student change, but that's like the high school's gone up and urban's gone up, right? So overall, you not actually see a huge change in
enrollment across the district. So then I think it begs that kind of question if this is shifting kind of economics for students in our schools or if there's something else going on in terms of students kind of coming into the district or or what not. Yeah, I'm just
kind of trying to that's exactly it. Trying to get a feel of what's actually happening. I'll I'll look into that and get back to I just want to say thank you. Um, and there's I know that a lot of um the chronic absentee uh data is scary. Um,
and that's definitely something that we want to improve. Um, but there is so much evidence of growth here. And I just want to say thank you to um to you and your team and you know everybody that's you know done this without becoming a
drill and kill uh district. uh where we can have like that amazing complex task work that we just witnessed earlier with our science teachers but all and then have that produce growth um through these state assessments. So um really
appreciative and I think everybody here is as well. Thank you. Sorry. And on that note, um, one of the things when you're looking at the PSAT and SAT data, I mean, to have our SAT, our PSAT scores were high with 100% participation,
that's really wonderful. Um, and so I was just extraordinarily happy to see that. And just to follow up, do we have any idea because going from like 90% participation to 82% participation is kind is really kind of
shocking. Um, do we have any sense of what's going on there? Nope, we do not. Nope. And these are all active opouts like yes, write a letter to opt out of the exam. Correct.
Did we provide the letter this year? Nope. I don't think so. Nope. I do not provide the letter anymore. And I'm okay with saying that publicly. We do not provide the letter. I think it's I think it's significant that the enrollment the big drop happened after co there was people just
sort of panicking and opting because the public schools were closed you know homeschooling charter schools private schools and since then there it's been basically flat there's been a little bit of noise but I think we're just trying to dig out from a loss of faith in public education that the whole nation
is struggling with and we're struggling with that too. We're on a good trajectory. Yes, you are the students and the teachers have been working really really hard and it shows which is awesome show. Thank you. Thank you. Good
morning. You're of course free to stay for the duration, but feel free to leave whenever whenever you need to. So, I'm excited to wrap up my superintendent report by introducing two incredible uh administrators that I hope after tonight will be joining the school district. So, first I would like to introduce and
bring up Dr. Mark Morero uh who comes to us uh with a really robust experience. I know that everybody's had a chance to review his resume. So, I'd like to invite Dr. M up to the podium to introduce himself. Well, good evening everyone and thank
you Dr. Susa. Um, I'm truly honored to uh stand before you tonight as the new athletic programs and sports medicine administrator. Uh, first and foremost, again, I want to sincerely thank Dr. Susa, Dr. Donovan, the entire board of
education uh, for placing their trust in me uh, with this opportunity. I'm incredibly excited to serve this community and uh build upon the strong foundation and rich history that Highland Park uh has had for many years.
Um to the Highland Park families, student athletes, coaches, and staff, I'm here to listen, collaborate, and lead with integrity and purpose. My vision is to help grow a program that not only competes with pride but
develops leaders both on and off the field. Uh and of course to my wife uh who's here with us tonight. Your unwavering love and support and belief in me have been my constant motivation uh and makes everything I do possible. Thank you again for this warm welcome.
the spirit and passion you have for your schools are palpable and I'm thrilled to become a part of it and look forward uh to all that we will accomplish together and uh go out. Thank you. And next I would like to
introduce Dr. Derek Russa uh to serve as our interim executive director of personnel and student services. Uh thank you Dr. Cesca and board of education. It is a true honor and privilege to be standing before you. I come uh just with such excitement and
enthusiasm to get started in what I believe is a can be exciting chapter in Highland Park School District. Uh I've been in special education uh for over 20 years and it has been just an absolute joy and pleasure to uh to serve families and communities and uh really help
support our most vulnerable learners. Um having been in special special education and starting as a par profofessional through my schooling and then coming all the way through uh with a recent doctorate from Ryder University uh it's focusing on social emotional learning. I cannot underscore how important it is. I
think it was said this evening how important especially postcoid that we have to keep in mind the whole child uh the making sure that our students are supported not only academically but socially emotionally um and I think mental health is also an incredible part of that uh but I just wanted to uh to
again extend my thanks my appreciation um they couldn't be with me tonight they're out and about doing sports and other activities but my wife my two uh two children my son is a sophomore and my daughter is a seventh grader out and about doing baseball and softball on this nice spring evening. Um, and it was
just so amazing to walk up today and I had just to pause and really take in uh the Highlander community, that beautiful sports field uh and all the activities going on. It's just a seems and has been such a warm community. I want to thank the interview committee, Dr. Cesca and the team, the board of education for
just a warm welcome through the holy interview process and I am just so thrilled to be here uh to get started and I just look forward to working with everyone to uh to to bring our community forward and again thank you so much and I want to wish a a wonderful end to the school year. So thank you
and that concludes my report. All right, so we're going to move on to our first public comment of the evening. The Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments. Board policy number 0167 establishes and regulates the right of the public to
participate in public meetings. Is there anybody in person for public comment? Okay, Angelo, how many people do we have online? Okay, is there anybody online for public comment? you can raise your hand and then Angelo will unmute you.
And with no hands raised, we're going to close public comment. We're going to move on to board committee reports and recommendations. And we'll start with curriculum and instruction. All right. um curriculum instruction met met on May 15th. Um a major topic was
the performance report that I just uh uh saw presented. Um I'll note a couple additional things. Uh I think it pretty clear at Bartle that ELA achievement uh growth was um pretty impressive. Um math
growth was more kind of steady. Um and then at the middle school um uh particularly there seems to be a dip in sixth grade ELA. Um one of the things we talked about was that there was a pretty big shift in terms of
sophistication of standards going from fifth to sixth and that could be potentially the reason. Um and then also in seventh grade um there wasn't as much growth but we also had a lot of turnover with the seventh grade math um teachers.
And so, um, that would those were a couple of of spots we kind of noted, um, in addition to what, um, uh, everything else that was already said. So, I won't say any more on that because we have one presentation on it. Um, I mentioned this at the last
meeting, but, um, we received a $500 grant, um, bookshelf grant to inform families about literacy practices, and the goal is to work in preschool and kindergarten specifically. Um we support scheduling and structuring. Um but uh
the grant actually um um they actually provide training. Um um we also talked about two other literacy grants that were available at the state. Um we don't qualify for the bridge grant because we don't have 80%
of students um that are not proficient. Um we will be applying to the focus grant um with the department of education which will cover costs for universal screener and literacy. Um so that's something um to look for moving forward. Um we're asking for board
approval to provide paid stipens um for staff to run the Spanish club. Um that wouldn't take into effect until the 2627 school year um because the budget has already been approved for um this next school year. We also talked about uh the
job description for event monitor. Uh this is not for sporting events. This is actually for events such as music school or choir performances. Um this would be hourly work for internal candidates uh who already know the schools. Um and really to create a pool of candidates
who can um monitor some of those events um as as needed. Um really there it's about deescalating situations if they arise. Um and the administration has talked about different um uh training that can be provided to to individuals
interested in that. Um and lastly uh we talked about the cell phone uh survey and uh policies in the district. Um policy revisions are in development um and will be shared um at our next
meeting. Um, but a couple things to note. Uh, there will be a full ban in Bartle and Middle School. Um, at the high school there will be an instructional ban. Uh, that will allow students um for the open campus to bring their cell phones with them. Um, we're
still exploring how exactly to store them at the different schools. Uh it's looks like possibly pouches at Bartle. U could be lockers or um the locked kind of lock pouches. Um
sorry. Uh pouches or lockers at middle school and high school, but the shoe racks will likely be um used at Bartle. Um the policy is going to be somewhat uh general to allow for the schools to kind of do what is kind of developmentally appropriate and needed at the different
schools, but that is something that is um coming our way. Um I talked about uh field trips the last one there's no field trips um talked about the reading lab and so I'm going to move on to items.
Um so we have uh approval of field trips. We have one HIV report. Uh approval of some summer teaching and reinforcement. That's the star um program for the summer. Um
uh the approval of theou was span parent advocacy network is the bookshelf grant I mentioned. U approval of summer high school summer uh college boot camp. Uh approval of middle school welcome academy approval submission for the 2025
teacher climate and culture innovation grant um which is in the amount of $53,000 um approval of the job description the event monitor that I discussed approval of one uh university graduate for
teaching internships and approval of home instruction for two students. Any questions, discussion? Equity and excellence. So, equity and excellence met on May
15th and uh in attendance was myself, Monique and Allison and um Dr. Susa and we discussed the comprehensive equity plan which is up for final approval for the board. Um the equity plan will
include links when sent to the board and state but not when posted to our web page. Um and we the committee reviewed each section and we are in compliance and we need to work on communication regarding this plan with staff and families. Um, it's important to note that while we
can demonstrate evidence of equity related policies in all areas covered by the C, we still have disproportionately and discipline and under representation of racialized student groups in advanced classes. Uh, let's see, table
six. Wait a minute. Yes, there was one while we're in compliance. There was one section of the comprehensive equity plan that we did want to look for additional evidence of because there's a question of um is it addressing or preventing um
disparities. Okay. So, while we are in compliance for addressing disparities, we are looking to see if we have um policy that addresses prevention of racial disparities. Thank you. And then we also discussed that there's a proposed new schedule via a high
school Spanish club. Um and then we uh went over the event monitor job description which would be this posted for staff to apply and training would also be inquired required. Um I discussed the law enforcement policy
9320. Um we discussed a lot of concerns brought to us by community members regarding police and school staff interrogation of students and parent notification uh regarding police interrogations at schools. These concerns arose from suggested updates to
our law enforcement policy and regula regulation in alignment with the MOA with local law enforcement. Um, and after meeting with Elizabeth Will Greenberg, Professor Laura Cohen, and and Hugh Burton, we
asked Bush Law Firm to address some questions and make recommendations regarding our concerns. And we will revisit this next month. And I think that is all we have for that. And then on the
agenda, we have Yeah, the only thing we have on the agenda is approval of the 2025 2028 comprehensive equity plan. Any questions for equity and excellence? Okay, we'll move on to finance and
facilities. Hi, their finance and facilities met on May 13th. It was uh myself and Ann and Jen and Dr. Tesca, Mr. Rosa, and John Flanagan uh joined us. Um under finance, we
reviewed some of the action items that we're going to be talking about when I go over the agenda. Um professional services, we had some non-public uh pass through items on the agenda. We'll go over that. Um the authorization to use competitive
contracting for the before and afterare um RFP that we are that is on the agenda this evening as well. um competitive contracting for that means that we will not be awarding to the lowest bidder, but it'll be awarded based on ratings received in the categories that are
listed in the RFP for the RFP before and after school program and it'll be done by an evaluation committee. Um so we are voting tonight on the authorization to use the process and that's and that's what's on our agenda. Um tuition rates
on our agenda that's set by the state. um the renewal of the Ponttonian contract that also under agenda and some of those are some of the things that we discussed at our meeting. Um we uh continue to review the before and afterare program update. We reviewed
the financials through the end of April. Um and concerns that we discussed last month continue to exist. Um stat uh we looked at the status of the subsidy applications. That process is still moving very slowly.
um Dr. Suska had met with the county to try to uh learn more about the process and um if there was a way to move it forward more quickly and there's many challenges to that. As of um May 13th, we just had eight Bartle students approved for
subsidies and 10 at Irving considering how many students we have in our school program and how many of them are on um lowinccome or free and reduced lunch. It's that's a very small number. You know, maybe it's gone up since then. Um we also looked at our financials in
terms of on the on the agenda for finance um uh health insurance uh dental uh marketing. So there was a meeting that um Brown and Brown are insurance marketers the group that that helps us get our insurance that that put us out
on the market. Um they were they um they share different dental insurance options for our both our uh HPA and HPAA. Um and that is on the agenda I believe this evening as well for
approval. Um uh ultimately the our um our our associations will look it over and see what what makes the most sense for for their units. We talked a little bit about um uh we just reviewed the modular classrooms at
Irving. Um and even though this is on the agenda a couple months ago um in our conversation, we just reviewed the fact that we have an additional two-year lease. And uh John Flanigan shared that that Box Modular is responsive and they do the maintenance and so that seems to be
um moving along uh smoothly and we continue at least another two years on that. Um, and yes, we just reviewed that. We looked at facilities, projects, lot a lot going on. All moving along pretty well.
Um, moving about baseball fields. Let's see. Oh, we talked about the baseball fields. We talked about the moving of the bleachers as John has done and think a couple others are going to be moved as well to get better better visibility for our um for our uh parents and families
watching the game. We did have a discussion on the issues involved in the frequent community use of our fields. Um while the baseball field is owned by the district, our football track and field are owned by the community and there's a lot of use which is on one hand
wonderful and on the other hand um can be concerning in regards to security and in maintenance of the property. Um so some of this will come back to safety committee for a conversation from a security perspective and also um administration discussions with the mayor to see what if we could get some
support for better control of access to the facilities sort of predominately during the school day was the uh conversation. Um other conversation was about um asbestos that is um there were some small repairs that need to be made um
and uh John was suggesting we were looking into more extensive aspos testing to see which areas if any need to be monitored more closely otherwise all our projects are moving along well um rekeying exterior doors the bartal
structural walkway the repair is now kind of is moving forward forward. Um, bleachers of Bartle, we're happy to report, but even tonight somebody said that the the foundation of Irving that was repaired to stop the water damage seems to be holding well. So, that's
awesome. Um, uh, I think that's I think that's all on agenda minutes. We go over some very long agenda, a lot of a lot of agenda items here under finance. Try to try to summarize a bit. Um we have approval of contractor for professional
development. Um two of them just to note are passroughs for non-public um ENF those passroughs. Um we had to approve a nurse uh who went
to Camp Mason um to uh support our students. There's approval of the bill list and I need to change the number on that. I'm looking at number three. Um the bills from April 28th through May 27th actually total
3,990,44863. So we're right on 63 cents but a little bit off on the earlier numbers. Um I don't know how you do this. Uh we have our typical approval of our treasures reports for this is through the end of March and through the end of April. um and the board
secretaries reports for that same time period um as well as the uh certifications um that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the year. Your budget transfers for March and
April, some voiding of outstanding checks, travel and reimbursement. um what I talked about for the um use of competitive contracting for the solicitation of the before and after school program proposals that's uh for a vote. Um we have two additional out of
district placements that are listed here and one additional for bedside instruction. Um then the uh tuition for um or for some students who are going to attend Highland Park from from other
districts are listed in here on number 16. U then there's a whole lot of coordinated transportation um for all the the surround many of the surrounding districts to try to coordinate transportation through the different ed services commission to hopefully I guess
bring down our some of our transportation costs. Uh there's number 26 is a resolution for the schedule of payments as transfer of taxes to come to the board of education. So that's uh approval for uh next school
year. There's a bid here that we're um voting on for cafeteria equipment repairs for um AEL Mechanical Incorporated. is a budget transfer for our preschool aid your preschool aid grant um and then
approval of some contract renewals and that's for um our bond agents software information system right to know um ESS is our uh that provide substitute services for us our phone monitoring contract our tier three mental health
services that are coming from um Rucker Behavioral Health the preschool contract contracted social worker and um then almost at the end here the uh the big one here is on the renewal of our food service management contract with Pmptonian for
2526 and this is the tuition rates um number 37 those tuition rates are for students who would come into the district and these rates are set by the state and the last one is the um approval of medical prescription and dental plans for the 256 school years
for all of our um district employees. That's the agenda. Questions? Any questions for finance facilities? I have I have some questions about um for the authorization to use competitive contracting for the
after school program. Is that something that we are like are there other options or or if we do that are we dead set on like privatizing because I have a lot of concerns when it comes to financial and our undocumented students. Um because I
know with the lensure it put a lot of hardship on us. Um a lot of people were not like they didn't qualify for it like we thought they would. Um if it was in house, would we be able to
even subsidize like we were before? So really great question. So the um request for the proposals is just that. So we can request for the proposals. We might not get any and then you know we can figure out the next plan. Um but if we get some we will have a committee with multiple stakeholders
to review them. Um at that point again you don't have to award one. Um I would strongly encourage you to. Uh Denise and I did have a conversation with the auditors just today to talk about options because I know there have been communication on what we can and cannot support financially and again to
reiterate on a month-by-month basis the district cannot subsidize through the operating budget an enterprise fund which is the afterare program. It has to be self- sustaining as a parent paid model. Um in the past we've had a little
bit of leftover money um revenue that we've been able to offset in the years that we were in the negative. This year we do not. So we are going to end this year with a significant negative balance as a result
of uh some of our decisions to um uh to go for the lensure and not for a myriad of reasons. the undocumented students is just a small that was I think about a couple of students. Um there's a myriad of reasons why our our families are not qualifying for that subsidy. So in
talking to the auditor he said that his recommendation is to try to privatize it and outsource it is the best recommendation that he could give the board of education because the ramifications or um consequences for doing so are actually unknown because it
depends on how much you're in the negative. So, we do have some revenue that we can use to offset the cost, but it's still going to result in an audit recommendation. To the extent of the recommendation and corrective action plan that we would have to do is
unknown. That can include significantly raising rates because what we're finding is that our free and reduced rates are quite low. Our full paying parents have to subsidize the costs. Our free and reduced families are going up. So right
now about 60% of the families that take advantage of afterare are free and reduced lunch. That means that we are putting a ton of weight in the 40% that have to bear the financial cost. What the auditor is saying is that
we don't know because if your numbers continue to change and your free and reduce go up, that puts more financial burden. So we don't actually even know how much we even have to raise rates. and then what the audit recommendation will give us in corrective action plan could be pretty significant to the
district that could then in turn potentially hinder our um for lack of a better way to explain it is is like a credit approval rating. So Phoenix Advisors is our financial advising company. They give us a credit rating based on those corrective action plans
that we get those audit recommendations. When we're in great financial status, we can borrow money. When we are not good financial status, we cannot borrow money. So if it puts us in a hole where we can't get out of financially, that's going to lower, again, for lack of
better way to describe it, our credit rate. And I'm again projecting to 2030 when our bonds are paid off and we may want to consider a referendum to offset the cost of some significant financial repairs of the maintenance repairs that that we're seeing acrew in our
facilities that's still on our radar. We want to be mindful of that, but also the unknown can be very scary. And since we've we've gone through many years of trying this, it's been problematic. I will say this, if you read the RFP in detail, and I encourage everybody, it's as a board attachment, please read it.
We were very, very mindful and learned a lot from the last time we did this to include making sure that they provide a nurse. So, their proposal has to include those things. It has to include options to give our families reduced tuition rates. It has to include great enrichment activities, snacks, things
like that. So if you read it, in fact, it also includes that our staff have first rate of refusal for those jobs. In fact, I remember last time doing this, every company that gave us a proposal said, "We want to hire your people. They know your community. In fact, a lot of
them gave proposals on how they would recruit our own community members to work the program." So, please read the RFP very carefully. We crafted it intentionally to make sure that we cross every tea, dotted every eye this time around. I strongly encourage that that
we vote in favor of this tonight, that we really take a good look at the proposals that we get and make a decision that is going to support uh a program that will help our families in need of child care before and after school. That does not put the district
in a future financial hole more than it will be after this year. Thank you. Any other questions for finance and facilities? Yeah, I just wanted to say a couple more things and uh if I'm wrong
on any of this, please clarify, but um I think the issue with licensing the program is it actually required more staffing. At the same time that would those additional costs were not met by the subsidies in part because those who
qualify for free reduced lunch more broadly uh aren't qualifying for those subsidies or are qualifying at such a small percentage. The other piece is that they don't back pay. So if they take two months to approve someone you
have two months of unpaid um after school care. So they don't backay it's requiring more cost. So, I think at at the very least licensing isn't going to work for us because we can't get the subsidies um paying quickly enough back
pain and it's requiring additional cost. So, that just financially doesn't work. Um and then so we have the RFP out. Another option is to do it inhouse, not do licensing, but I think what the superintendent's really recommending is
look at the RFP seriously. Hopefully we get some really high quality um um vendors I guess um organizations that that are interested and then um kind of go from there. Yeah. And in addition, so my recommendation would be after that if
if we cannot find a great company to to do this and we're not in favor um that we don't continue with the lensure, we forgo the um the the lensure to get the subsidy. We still have to be a licensed childare facility. So, uh, let me just remind the community at large. When, uh,
I started in the position, what I uncovered was that we were running a child care program that wasn't actually, um, accredited, for lack of a better term, uh, wasn't licensed. Um, so regardless of whether you go for the subsidy or not, if you are running a
child care program, you have to have a license for it. And there are chapter 52 requirements for that lensure. The subsidy component requires more strict requirements and that got us into a financial hole because we staffed for that. But the windfall of that money
didn't come like Dr. Batty said for a myriad of reasons including but not limited to that our families you have to be working in order to qualify. Some of our families do not. You have to work during the time of the program. Some of our families were not. Some of our
families do receive free and reduced um free and reduced lunch through a direct certification from Medicaid. I'm getting it right. Medicaid um because their child is significantly or children are significantly disabled but they make a significant amount of
money like 110 $150,000 a year. So they don't qualify for the subsidy but they qualify as free and reduced lunch. So, they were getting our reduced rates, our free. So, if you look at the proposal, you'll see our our rates are very nominal for our free and reduced lunch families, but they weren't qualifying.
Um, if they're um uh undocumented, they don't we don't send them through. And then also um our McKenna Vento students um automatically are free. Um uh our displaced students are automatically free. So, it was a bunch of reasons. In addition, when I spoke to them, one of
the most alarming things about um child care solutions is that they are needle always changes. So, every month they could actually change their requirements and we just don't know. So, when I was asking a lot of questions, they're like, "Well, we just don't know that could change." Yes, for now, but we just don't know. Yes, for now, but we just don't
know. So, it I after an hour, my head was hurting really bad because it was the most ridiculous conversation I've ever had. um that I can now understand why our families um and and uh Mr. Macintosh was running in circles with this. Um so it it was a lot. So my
recommendation is the RFP. If we can find a great company that meets all of our requirements, um that is my recommendation. If we do not find a company that can meet um our our qualifications, then we will still have to be a licensed childcare facility, but
not as strict because I would say let's forego the license the um subsidy part of it. We still might have to raise rates given that we were in the hole. Um, and we'd have to work with the auditors pretty carefully because what I don't know because I'm not in the business of a child care institute. I'm
in business of of prek through 12 education is trying to figure out predicting that needle of how many families that are free and reduced are going to qualify to then charging our full paying parents more to offset that. So, that's what we're going to have to
figure out how to do very carefully to not put the district in a significant financial hole. I think if I can just just add um that over the last few years and we've we've kind of battled with this back and forth and not tried this for two years. I think the bottom line is that it's
it's a tremendous drain on our administration. We tried this, you know, tried in the last few years by bringing on a director and so and and so forth to try to get off the plate because we our administration needs to focus on all of our other goals, right? Technically, after school is not a mandated program.
Not technically, it's not a mandated program. We don't get a performance report on it. We don't, you know, so and it's not in our strategic plan and all that. So, I think that anything that we can do to um continue to run the program, I'm not question parents have,
but not to have it be a drain financially for sure, but also time and resources from our district. So, I mean, I really hope that we get some good proposals and we can move this on to a professional group that does this for a living and we can do what we do for, you know, what our administration is supposed to be doing for the living. So,
that's just my comment on it. Yeah, just a to follow on that. I mean, I was in the audience, the room was split, but I was in the audience last time when uh the proposals were considered to to uh find the vendor and it was a long meeting, one of those long
meetings, and the board uh you recessed a second time to talk about it more after hearing what the community felt. They wanted it kept in house. Um and then they came back and the board administration said, "Okay, we'll give that a try. We'll really try." And um
and they did. And I' and it's it has I I really feel like we've given it our best shot. Uh and it it just is very hard to make work um for all the reasons we've heard about today. So it's not for seriously anyone out there watching, it's not for one of trying or wanting to
really make it work and but I think it's just we're just running up against the limits of what this district might be able to do on its own. I think asking for help is a good idea and we'll hopefully that'll that'll work out. I have a very boring thing to bring up.
There's a tiny typo in one of these on uh number 26. The last date um has the wrong year. Again, it's very little. I just wanted to bring it up in case something has to be changed before we can vote on it. I don't know. Very tiny. 612.
It's read 1126. June 1126. Yeah. Any other questions for finance and facilities? All right, I'm going to go through personnel. Um, we have the approval of our school business
administrator board secretary for our district, Mr. Rosa. Um, we have the ratification of the contract with Highland Park Administrations associate administrators association which will run from July 1st, 2025 to June 30th,
2028. We have the approval of the representative assembly for educational commission service commission of New Jersey that is Dr. Susa. Um, she represents Highland Park and serves on that board. So, thank you very much. Um, approval for non-renewal and reduction
of force for the afterchool program for one employee. Approval of three leaves of absences. Uh, approval of resignations. Uh, Arlington Burell from the site assistant after school program. Uh, Bartle only. Um, Susan Odado also
after school. Um, Thomas Golian for tech. uh just a revised date for um Miss Dieter who will be staying on until the 30th of June, Miss Kaval uh from Irving Primary and Tashan Huschens as a parah.
Um approval of appointments as listed, there are many of them. We have um some help for senior academic credit restoration. We have some help for SEAL family night at the middle school. Um yay, you get a shout out again. um
social work interns for the teen center. Um Mark Mortoello, our athletics programs and sports medicine administrator. Um Derek Resa, our interim executive director of personnel
and student services. Um and Christine Kent Chararma who will be joining us for um supervisor of accounting. So bringing payroll back in district. Thank you. Um approval of transfers. There are transfers as listed. I'm not going to go through each one, but you can see the staff member and where they are moving
to. And these are all for September. They're not transfers for right now. Number nine is the approval for staff that are teaching our STAR program. That's the extended school year program. So, you can see those staff members listed um for quite some time here in
this agenda. And then we have number 10 is um a toileting stipen for power professionals working star. Uh we have approval for summer staff and ESL screening, approval for nursing staff for the summer. We have approval for the
child study team uh testing and IEP meetings for the summer. And that is all for personnel. Any questions? Okay. Um and then we have policy. Um there's policies for second
reading public and executive sessions remote participation and that's that for policy and like we said the policy um well not too much of the policy for um cell phones is going to change. It's more the regulations. So we'll be
looking at that in committees this month and those will be on the June agenda for first read. Um okay now second public comment. The Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments. Board policy number 0167 establishes and
regulates the right of the public to participate in public meetings. Is there anybody in person for public comment? Yeah. Podium. So podium name. Sorry, Dr. Hi, my name is Reed Duncan uh and I live
on uh Lawrence A Highland Park. I'm curious about the cell phone policy with the pouches. Are these the yonder bag things that lock? Yeah, that's one thing that's being considered. The other option are these lockers that are much cheaper. So, you
can actually slide them in um and then pull them out either at the end of instruction. Yeah, I would love you for that. Thank you for your comment. Um, anybody else in
person? Okay, Angelo, how many people do we have online? Okay, anybody online for public comment? Please raise your hand and Angela will assist. Okay. And with no hands raised, we're going to pl close close public comment.
All right. We'll move to action items. So, um Oh, wait. Action items and then we go to the Okay. 15. Right. You do 15. Oh, I do 15 first. Okay. Before we go to board action items, um we do have some resolutions to move. Um these are standard pretty much
every year in terms of assigning roles and responsibilities. Um so uh number 15 is all those resolutions for Denise D. Rosa to be our purchasing agent. Um following organizations to provide services for staff. Um the approval for the use of
the state bids and contracts for goods and services. The approval for participation in purchasing cooperatives and bidding programs. um as listed the authorization for the district to purchase certain goods from the Federal General Services Administration
um awarding insurance broker proposals. And then oh boy, this one is uh to that we have completed and submitted a business entity disclosure certification that certifies that no reportable contributions to a political or candidate candidate committee in
Highland Park Board of Education in the previous year. that no one gave us money. [Music] Um, okay. And then we have professional services um legal services from Bush Law, auditing services from BKC, CPA,
SPC, bond council um from Wens Goldman and Spitzer and then um architectural services from DMR and Spitzel. Um so that's 15. So I move 15. Second. Dr. Batty. Yes. Miss Cassell Dunn. Yes.
Dr. Pigsley. Yes. Miss Puce. Yes. Dr. Schoolman. Yes. Miss Stano. Yes. Yes. Miss Vorhees. Yes. All right. Now we have more board appointments. Number 16.
Um D. Roza as secretary for the board. Uh school funds investor. Brian Powowski as treasurer of school monies. Um Dr. Richardson and Mr. Rosa as affirmative action and public agency compliance officers for business operations. Um to
be determined for athletic programs uh and sports medicine administrator and 504 compliance coordinator. Miss Asamoa for supervisor of counseling um health and wellness. She'll be the district's 504 compliance officer as well. Amy Capola um district's homeless liaison um
and educational sustainability liaison and um English as a second language program officer um to be determined for the district ADA officer. Um and the same thing for title nine. Um John Flanigan, a lot of
responsibilities. Um Denise uh for OSHA um more TBD gender equity officers and ESL officers, Miss Baldazone and Miss Young um to be district to school safety specialists and then district
anti-bullying coordinator, Miss Maiden and Miss Ferdat at Bartle to be the anti-bullying specialists. Um whoever comes into the guidance counselor position at middle school will likely be appointed as the anti-bullying specialist for middle school to be determined. Um Dana O Sullivan and
Melissa Hayes for anti-bullying specialists at the high school. Robert Maruka for anti-bullying specialists at Irving Primary. Um the Ruckers State University, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
will be the school physicians. Uh Mr. Rosa for the open public records act officer and custodian of school records. And then Vanessa Enen Brusslin um to be the AHA designated person of record.
Second. I I move 16. Second. Okay. Dr. Batty. Yes. Sen. Yes. Dr. Pixley. Yes. Miss Puce. Yes. Dr. Schoolman. Yes. Miss Daniel. Yes. Miss Bardman. Yes. Miss Bates. Yes. Thank
you. Okay. Okay. Board action items. Um, for curriculum instruction, I move items 1 through 10. Second. Dr. Batty. Yes. Miss Cassald Dunn. Yes. Dr. Pixley. Yes. Miss Puce. Yes. Dr.
Schoolman. Yes. Miss Stanium. Yes. Miss Bartman. Yes. Miss Borg. Yes. Okay. Uh, equity and excellence. Uh for opinion and accents I move that uh board approve for the approval of the 2025 to
2028 comprehensive equity plan. Second Dr. Batty yes miss Dunn. Yes. Dr. Pixley. Yes. Miss Pruce. Yes. Dr.man. Yes. Stanio. Yes. Sparman. Yes. Miss Vorhees. Yes.
Finance and facilities. I move items 1 through 38, but there two writings. One is on number three. The amount of the bill list is what I said before. 3,990,44863. And what Jen caught, which
was number 38 or something. Number 26. Oh, 26. Yes. The date on the last one of number 26. 6126. Second. Dr. Batty, yes. Miss Cassell Dunn, yes.
Dr. Pitley, yes. Miss P, yes. Dr. Schoolman, yes. Miss Stano, yes. Miss Banan, yes. Miss Vorhees, yes. And for personnel, I move numbers 1 through 13. Second.
Dr. Batty, yes. Miss Cassald Dunn, yes. Dr. Pixley, yes. Miss Cruz, yes. Dr. schoolman. Yes. Miss Stanium. Yes. Miss Bartman. Yes. Miss Borne. Yes. I would just like to stop and congratulate Dr.
Moralero and Dr. Resa. And if you just don't mind, I have some small gift that you would like to be holding. I'll hold my one policy for you. family. Yeah, I love that. What's in
there? Yeah. Oh, we got those bugs. And you're both more than welcome to stay for the duration of the meeting, but I know you probably had long days, so feel free to leave if if you would like. Thank you. Um, and for policy, I move number one.
Second. Dr. Batty, yes. Melan, yes. Dr. Pigley, yes. Miss Pruz, yes. Dr. Schoolman, yes. Miss Danio, yes. Bman, yes. Miss, yes. Okay, we'll move on to board liaison
reports. Any reports? I I want I was going to do for CPAC. Um, so they have their fundraiser on June 13th, uh, starting at 5:30. It's at Penos and it's awesome, awesome event
and, um, you know, it's very, you know, familyfriendly. They've got the video games and it's a great they live music and so there'll be some more uh, flyers about that, but I definitely encourage you all to go. It's a really, really wonderful time. That's why I
And then for human relations commission, I just want to remind everybody that there are three flag raising events scheduled for June. Um Wednesday, June 4th, the Human Relations Commission is hosting the annual Caribbean American Heritage Month flag raising event at
6:00 p.m. at the Community Center. Uh Wednesday, June 11th, Highland Park will celebrate Pride Month. The celebration will kick off at 5:00 pm at the Highland Park Community Center and the human relations commission's annual pride flag raising ceremony will be at 6 pm. Um
there will be a lineup of speakers such as um Mayor Elsie Foster, Sunny from the PCJ, Melena Swick Corini, I am so sorry for butchering her name, from the Highland Park Public Library, and Yunisha Tucker from the Rucker Center
for Social Justice, Education, LGBT, LGBT communities. And June 19th is the Junth flag raising event at 5:00 pm at the community center. and everyone is welcome to come show your support and enjoy the festivities.
Thank you. Anybody else? Uh yeah, I just um I just wanted to flag that uh the HP Boosters uh designer bag trivia night is going to be on Sunday. It has been bingo in the past, but it is trivia uh at
Penos at 5 o'clock. Uh so buy a table and come do trivia and support our sports teams. Okay. Um, for our president's report tonight, um, Mr. Rosa sent out this, what do we call this? Uh, notice, public
notice. Um, so I'm going to, uh, a few, what is it, last week? The week before? Um, last week. Um, so as I'm just going to read the important parts. Um whereas section 5 of the act
amended for NJSA 18 cola a I'm sorry 18a col 11 requires boards of education to provide public notice 30 days prior to re renegotiation extension amendment or alteration of an employment contract with the superintendent of
schools. Um and whereas the Highland Park Board of Education intends to take action to amend and or alter the contract terms and conditions of the superintendent schools. Now therefore, notice is hereby given that in accordance with the act, the US, HP BOE,
will hold a public hearing on the employment contract of the superintendent of schools on June 23rd, 2025 at 6 p.m. during its regularly scheduled board of education meeting to be held here at the middle school, 3:30 Wayne Street. It is the intent of the
board of education to take formal action on said employment contract. At this meeting, members of the public are invited to submit public comments regarding the proposed amendment and/or alteration of the superintendent's employment contract. The board, pursuant to NJSA
10:4-12B, the Open Public Meetings Act, shall not publicly discuss personnel matters and shall not respond to comments made by members of the public. Please be aware that the subject of the hearing retains the rights of privacy and shall retain all rights regarding defamation and slander according to the laws of New Jersey. The board shall not
be held liable by comments made by the members of the public. Okay. Um so at the June 23rd meeting, there will be the um hearing on the superintendent's contract. The contract will be released publicly in the agenda attachments. So you may review the contract prior to the
meeting. Um, I just want to make also a side note that we know that a local school district um made a decision regarding their LGBTQ plus policy um and I'm sorry, their transgender student policy and we just wanted to re reiterate that our transgender student
policy remains in effect and this board has no intention of changing that. We'll do everything within our legal policy to um within our legal power to make sure that our policies uphold our values.
Okay. Any old business? Any new business? Want to say something? I'm sorry I came I'm sorry I came a bit late so I might have missed a student representative. So, I had the great privilege, somewhat exhausting privilege, but a great one. Um, to be a
chaperon to the uh Bartle fifth graders field trip to Camp Mason. They had three days and two nights and uh they were fabulous. It was so cool to see. I mean, you see your own kids and their friends,
but um every day, every week, but I it's just amazing to see the whole grade. um just crushing it on all the ropes courses and and uh you know the hikes and just supporting each other uh urging
each other on encouraging each other um at the camp meals, you know, just it was sort of rockous in an appropriate way. just fun, a lot of chatting, sitting and, you know, talking with your friends
and um they were just they did such great credit to the Highland Park School District. I really really mean that. And um I talked a bit with the uh with the with the director of activities and he said, you know, all the staff that the other schools there at the time said,
you know, all the staff they that wasn't assigned to Bartle, they're like, geez, we really wish we were with Bartle. They are I'm serious. I'm he they are the best. And when when we getting on the buses and pulling away, he says, "You just have a blessed fifth grade." And I say, "I agree. It was amazing." Um, so
and uh and that's the students. I mean, I was amazing. All the teachers that showed up and uh stayed overnight, two nights, the you know, the staff and the and the paras and administrators who just made it a great experience for all the kids. So, uh we can all be really
proud of the just the the image and work put forward. Thanks. Yeah. Um, just to follow up on that because the I think this trip is so important and I know an extraordinary amount of work goes into it from um the logistics
and the planning and the school nurse and the teachers and chaperones and just all of it is a huge undertaking. Um, and I'm just so extraordinarily grateful, um, you know, that that we do this for the kids, um, because it is such an
extraordinary, um, experience. You know, we had re reviews in our house. Um, another thing just to point out is that this trip was endangered this year because we did lose a large uh, funding source um, that we'd previously had. Um
it's part of why we went to Camp Mason instead of Camp Bernie this year is because um in an attempt to reduce the cost. Um but so this was also it was funded almost entirely by the PTO and their extraordinary fundraising and the
extraordinary work that they did this year to allow it to happen. And this is just a reminder that you know we really I think it's a very important um tradition and opportunity for kids and we should uh we need to keep it going
and that means um you know identifying funding sources and helping the PTO and volunteering and giving um so that all kids get to experience this in the future. Okay. Any other new
business? All right, I move we adjourn. Second. All in favor? It is