Uh, good evening. I'd like to call to order uh this Highland Park Board of Education hybrid workshop voting meeting uh today, Tuesday, January 27th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
Uh the public is invited to participate in public comment either in person or virtually. Uh, 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 or acted upon. In compliance with the open public meetings act, the Highland Park Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting, setting forth the time, date, and location to be submitted for publication to the Home News Tribune and Corer 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. >> Roll call. Dr. Mr. Batty, Miss Cassaldon
>> here, >> Dr. Coleman, >> Mr. Maldonado >> here, >> Dr. Pixley, Miss Pruce, Dr. Swman, Miss Daniel >> here, >> Miss Vman >> here.
Uh be it resolved pursuant to the Sunshine Act, the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session to discuss the matters relating to HIV and a personnel matter. These exemptions are permitted to be discussed in close session in accordance with the NJSA 10 4
through13. Information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be discuss disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists. I I move that we uh go to executive session.
>> Second. >> All in favor? Okay. >> Uh so I move that we reconvene to regular session. All in favor? >> I ready to go.
>> Y >> I think I had it. Yeah, there we go. Awesome. New mics. >> Dr. Batty. >> Miss Cass >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Maldonado >> here.
>> Dr. Pixley. >> Miss Bruce. >> Oh, >> here. >> Oh, hi Miss Bruce. >> Sarah. >> I did not hear Sarah. Sarah. >> Oh, everyone's here. Dr. Stolman >> here.
>> Miss Daniel >> here. >> Miss Vman >> here. >> Okay. So now it's time for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Um, okay. We had a number of uh communications to the district um around a complaint um follow-up questions regarding math
curriculum, a congratulations from Keith Prey from the HPA uh to our new board. Um and a question around uh background and medical test requirements for chaperones
and um questions and suggestions regarding the advanced learning program at Bartle. Um we have approval of minutes. I move >> second.
>> And this is all in favor. >> Dr. >> Yes. Miss Cassald, >> yes. >> Uh, Mr. Maldonado, >> yes. >> Dr. Pigsley, >> yes. >> Miss Pruz, >> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman,
>> yes. >> Miss Staniel, >> yes. >> Miss Garman, >> yes. >> Uh, and now we have the student representative report. >> Hello. Um, unfortunately, Lami couldn't make this meeting, so I'll cover the updates for both of us. Starting off with Irving. January was a busy one here
at Irving. We welcome the new year with our first graders enjoying a program from bricks for kids. They practice working together towards a goal of problem solving and their awesome creations are in their front lobby. The high school cheerleaders also kick off well a booster thawn fundraiser. The
students and staff love their energy cheer for this week. If we meet our fundraising goal of 7 $7,500 PJs on Thursday and if 65% of the students are registered, it's pi Miss McNal day. We are thankful for any participation as this is our largest PTO
fundraiser of the year that provides programming and wonderful enrichment opportunities for our students. We will end the month with a visit from the high school robotics club. This week our kindergarten students will be heading to the state theater on February 4th and we will celebrate global play day on February 5th due to the trip. More
information will be coming home with our students. And for Bartle school, a big thank you to the Bartle PTO for organizing our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Bartle Dance Fit. Al Bardo community, please keep those donations coming in. All funds raised will go to our funding field trips. Our goal is
$18,000. Our dance fit event will be Friday, January 30th. And if 65% of the students register on mybooster.com, we will have a hallway dance party. If we raise $6,000, we will have a game day. And if we raise 12,000, Miss Baldone and Missnap will perform a Tik Tok dance. If
we raise $18,000, there's a mystery surprise. If we get donations from 35 states, Miss Balazone and Miss Knap will get duct taped to the wall during a whole school morning meeting. And they will be celebrating the global day of play on Wednesday, February 4th.
And for the middle school, uh even with the cold weather, January has been a warm, energetic month. Calling all musicians, students and parents are invited to perform solos, duets, or part of a band at Penos on March 1st. All proceeds will benefit Project Graduation. And please email Scott
Shannon if interested. We are happy to announce that we will be taking our sixth grade students to the Liberty Science Center on March 12th, our seventh grade students to Medieval Times on April 16th, and our eighth grade students to Dorne Park on June 9th. Please refer to Miss Owl's weekly email,
her Owl Outline, for all information. This year, we will be recognizing middle school pride, the core values we believe help our schooling students grow. And for the month of January, they will be focusing on discipline. This week's winners were Adia Garcia, Daisy Lucero
Metta, and Mrs. Buyer's entire class. Congratulations. In addition, we are focusing on the discipline of showing up. If you look at the wall, you'll see our new attendance mountain, and their schoolwide goal is to ensure that no more than 20% of their students are marked as chronically absent, and they've turned it into a
race. Uh, every day you show up on time, you help your grade level skier move closer to the finish line on their attendance mountain. The grade level that shows the most discipline and reaches the bottom will win a grade level prize. And currently, the eighth and sixth graders are tied for best attendance,
and they want everyone to keep up the great work. And lastly, for the high school, January has been an exciting month for them. We were thrilled to welcome a real life owl to campus through the Raptor Trust as we honored our golden owls, students recognized for demonstrating openness, wisdom, leadership, and or service. A special
thank you to Mr. McCrae for organizing this unforgettable experience. And in addition, Dr. Moriaro hosted Kelly Zinn, Rucker University athletic director for an engaging evening centered on leadership, collegiate athletics, and the student athlete experience. We had an elective fair on the 23rd where
students learned all about the incredible elective classes honored at the high school, I mean offered at the high school. On the 27th, we will observe Holocaust Remembrance Day with a guest speaker and reflective processing activities led by our Jewish Jewish student union. Maldi Yuan is preparing
their trip to Philadelphia to compete at a debate conference, visit the third circuit court of appeals, discuss democracy with other students in a Philadelphia high school in tour sites representing American democracy. Uh 25 global citizenship students are also in the research phase of their products,
their projects, meeting regularly with future social studies teachers from the Ruckers GSSE and preparing to pitch their projects at Ruckers in the spring. And for their final update regarding DECA, Highland Park competed at the district competition on Friday, January 9th. They had numerous state qualifiers
and top three award winners. Overall, they're taking 70 students to compete at states in Atlantic City this March. Athletics also continue to shine with four top 10 finishes at the group 1 state championships in winter track. Winter sports have showcased a high level of competitiveness from our
student athletes with teams consistently performing at a strong standard against conference opponents. Their commitment, energy, and competitive mindset have been evident throughout the season and continue to elevate the overall athletic profile of our district. And that's all for the January updates.
Thank you so much. Okay, that's any questions. Okay. Well, thank you. And now it's the superintendence report. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for braving the elements, the tundra as I'm calling
it to to come out tonight. To first um I'm excited to celebrate two welldeserving high school students. So, I'd like to pass over the podium and the mic to Dr. Christina Donovan, high school principal. Welcome. Excellent. Okay, we're here to recognize two of our outstanding students. I'm
going to start with our senior Jeremiah Musa. Jeremiah is an exceptional student whose leadership, achievement, and service are evident through his involvement in both the band program and tech crew. Having taught him since he began clarinet in fourth grade and throughout high school, Mr. Prey
witnessed his remarkable growth as a musician and leader. He is now a multi-instrumentalist who performs in concert band, jazz band, pep band, and pit orchestra and serves as band president, leading with preparation, reliability, and a genuine commitment to
the success of others. As a head of tech, he has developed advanced skills in sound and lighting and supports concerts and theatrical productions while mentoring younger students. He helped me out today with our Holocaust Remembrance Day. He is also the lead
builder on the robotics team. Dependable, talented, and deeply committed, Jeremiah elevates every program he is part of and is highly deserving of this recognition. Congratulations, Jeremiah. And we have another exceptional student here with us this evening, Jules Sasso.
Jules consistently demonstrates outstanding responsibility and engagement in her learning. She is diligent about completing her work, advocates for herself when she needs support, and asks thoughtful questions to deepen understanding. An active participant in class discussions, she
collaborates well with her peers and brings care and insight to her writing, regularly using strong textual evidence and ensuring that all requirements are met before submitting any assignments. Beyond the classroom, you're involved in both the school plays and robotics,
reflecting your wide-ranging interests and commitment to our school community, especially as a freshman. Your teacher shared that Jules is truly a pleasure to have in class and an excellent representative of a high school student. Congratulations. Hey, thank you Dr. Donovan. And please
join me again in another round of applause for our two uh amazing high school students. Congratulations to olden. >> Thank you. It's uh great great things are happening at the high school and it's awesome to hear of of all the the robotics and theater and music and and
and diversity that's there. So, this is fantastic. I invite you to stay for the rest of the board meeting. However, if I understand you probably have other things to do um brave the cold to get to another location, so feel free to leave. No, no requirement to stay, but you're more than welcome to. No problem. Thank
you. You Thank you. The second part of my report tonight, I am pleased to introduce members of Champions, our um child care provider that provides before and after care tonight. We have Thea Pace and Jess Sat.
Um I have me on the um the board agenda, but we have Jess instead. So, we're very excited. Um, so I welcome them up to uh provide some updates to the board um about a survey and just uh the goings on. So um are you do you want to be at
the podium or do you want a wireless to move around? >> Yep. So I'll grab you the mic and >> Yeah. Um oh Angela, you're so good. I like it. >> I feel like I might not need it but >> Okay. Well, so we have the people at
home sometimes. So, we have people in the virtual world. So, it's important to speak into the mic so that they can hear as well. But what I might do, I'm walking as if I'm >> Yeah, it's okay. >> Thanks for having us tonight. Okay.
This good. Can you see? >> Yeah. >> Hi guys. Thank you so much for having us tonight. Sorry N couldn't be with us. She's actually very sick right now, but I'm happy to step in and be here with Thea and provide some updates about Champions, answer some questions for you guys. So, this is just our a quick
midyear update for you. I am our area manager, Jess Hannah. I have been with us for about 2 years. I oversee 15 locations. So I oversee South Brunswick, Highland Park in Kingsburg. It's been so great being just involved in your community and getting to know you guys, the kids, and especially, you
know, everybody that's been part of this. We have about 20 members on our team right now. This is just some photos of our staff trainings along the way. N Dang does support, so she is boots on the ground for us. She oversees all three locations, supporting with the site director, supporting with the
teachers, all the trainings, and the families directly as well. This is a glimpse of our weekly enrollment. So, right now for middle school, we have not had any morning enrollments. When we first started, we saw one, but they are um in band right
now. So, we have not had any morning program. We've seen about three afternoon students for middle school. For Bartle, we've been seeing 12 about 12 steady morning and 85 for the afternoon. And then for Irving about 20 in mornings and then afterare is about
that 85 number as well. 27 preschoolers and 55K in first grade. Total we have 170 kids on average attending and we have 289 enrolled with us. With that we have been able to offer a ton of discounts to you guys. So we have
37 families currently enrolled in our subsidy program. The state also just opened up additional funding with that. So we have gotten that information out to our families to try and get some more people involved in that program. And we have 37 families on discounts. So that
could be free and reduced launch, multi-session discounts, scholarships, multi-child discount. All of that's calculated into that. This is some of our just day-to-day activities. So this is one of the units. This is a pop art unit. So this is some
of the activities that they have been doing during program. I believe this is on say at Irving these ones. And then we have some photos from all three of our locations. So on the left it's our gross and gooey unit. In the
middle, same thing that they were playing operation there. And then on the right we have the kids doing cooking club over at middle school. Just some more highlights. Sushi Friday, they had made and cooking club on middle school. And then some science club over
at Bartle for Friday clubs. This is some of our prek kiddos in our community helpers unit. some community collaboration. So, we were able to provide breakfast for all three schools just for the partnership going into the holiday season. Also able
to celebrate National Custodian Day over at Irving, Mr. Francisco. The kids were able to make them cards and just present them to them. This was one of the big highlights during our holiday season. And so our director over at Irving had partnered with Color a Smile. Color a Smile is a
nonprofit organization that partners with local hospitals, um, senior citizen centers, troops overseas, and basically any coloring sheet that we donate, they ship to those locations. It's for middle schoolers. They can earn hours that way, volunteer hours. So, we were able to
donate hundreds. We brought all the families in and did family events. The families were able to participate in it. These are some photos from the P parties. We were able to ask some of our families for some testimonials. So, Thea and I are going to read those now to you guys. Do you want to start?
>> Sure. Hello. Um, so our first testimonial, these are these represent family testimonials. My daughter Melody Rose started the champion in September 2025 and it has been such a wonderful first experience
with an aftercare program. As a pre-K parent, I was initially nervous about how she would adjust to the longer day, but the champions team made the transition seamless. Melody attends the program 5 days a week and she absolutely loves it. She comes home excited to tell me about the activities, crafts, and
games she's done each day. The staff is incredibly caring and attentive to her needs as a young learner, and I can see how much she's grown both socially and developmentally since starting the program. What I appreciate most is the warm, nurturing environment the team has created. They truly know each child
individually and take the time to build meaningful connections. As a working parent, it gives me such peace of mind knowing Melody is in a safe, engaging, and loving environment after school. Champions has become an extension of our family and we're so grateful to be a
part of this this community. Jennifer Adams from Burbing. Champions is a wonderful program and my daughter is always happy and excited at pickup. She loved all the fun games project and snacks. The staff is always friendly at pickup and handling and handling handling with children with
patience and respect. Miss Somia has been exceptionally caring towards Raina and it makes me feel at peace knowing she is in great hands after school ends. Thank you for all you do for our family. Miss Trevetti Irving, I'm writing to share my heartfelt testimony about the incredible impact
the afterchool program provides by helping my child academically and socially while providing me with peace of mind that my son is safe and having fun. I highly recommend Champions after school program. Elizabeth Holder from the middle school. >> The champion teams at Bartle does an
exceptional job in communication. We are regularly provided updates via email and handouts. Staff members quickly reach out when necessary. At pickup time, the staff is responsive and make the process expedient. The the program is a good mix and in general the planning and execution provides variety. Bartle Dad
Bartle Champion staff have been extremely warm and welcoming to both parents and students and it's clear they genuinely enjoy spending time with kids. The program offers engaging creative projects. Nidang has been especially receptive to parent feedback and communicates thoughtfully and
responsibly which makes families feel heard and supported. A Bartle mom. My daughter absolutely loves being part of the champions program. Every day she comes home excited to tell me about the different activities she participated in. From creative projects to group games and hands-on learning, there is
always something new and engaging which keeps her interested and motivated. What I appreciate most is how Champions offer such a variety of activities that support learning, creativity, and social development all while still being fun. My daughter feels included, supported, and confident in this environment, and
it's clear she truly enjoys being there. Seeing how happy she is and how much she looks forward to attending means everything to us as parents. Champions has become a place where she feels safe, encouraged, and excited to grow and we are so grateful for the positive impact it had on her. Nancy guy.
So, as much as we love hearing from our parents, we also wanted to talk to our kids and see what they love about the families. So, we did talk to some of the kids along the way and got some testimonials from them as well. So, I like Champions because it is safe a lot. My teachers are kind and there's a lot of fun stuff in games. Fifth grade.
Fifth grader Bartle. Champions is awesome. I made so many new friends and the teachers are really nice. I like snack time and story time the best. Kindergartner from Irving. >> I like the different categories and stations. There's so many things to do. Third grader Bartle.
>> Champions is fun because we play games together and the teachers play with us, too. I don't want to miss any days. First grader at Irving. >> We have snack. We go outside and my aftercare teachers are fun. Second grader Bartle. >> I like how Friday we get to pull tickets
and everyone has a chance to get something from the prize box. Second grader Bartle. >> I like being able to have time to play in the dragon's nest game we created in the gym. Second grader Bartle. I love champions because we get to play fun games and do art projects. My favorite
is when we go outside to the playground. PreK child at Irving. We do more stuff in Champions than we did in our last after school program. I like the games we played. Second grader BLE. >> What I love most about Champions is that we do cool activities every day. I learned how to make friendship bracelets
and we did science experiments. First grader at Irving. >> I like Champions because we get to do a lot of different and fun activities and I get to spend time with my friends from class. Fourth grader B. >> I love coming to Champions because we dance, play outside, and do crafts. It's
like having extra play time with my friends, kindergartener at Irving. So, in October, we provided all families, the clients, and um our staff a survey about their experience with Champions so far. So, we know that this happened very quickly into being into
the community, but these are the results that we have gotten so far and I know that those were given to you guys tonight. So, if you guys wanted to talk through any questions that you guys have and just where we're sitting today. So, the scale, just so you guys know, three would be a neutral, four would be agree,
and five would be a strongly agree. So, middle school, we sat at families at 4.67, and the principal at a 2. Bartle family at a 3.86, principal of four, Irving family of 4.10,
and principal of five. Hello. >> Okay. So, uh I just don't understand why that means um >> um we call the survey the client results, but we it's the principal that responds to the survey. So, um the
principal for each of the schools responded to the survey and these were the scores that we obtained. from the principal just one person filled out the survey the principal. >> Yeah. >> Do families also get the survey or
>> Yes. So this results and these are the there's a little slash here. >> I see. >> And then in the in the packet it's it's uh separated for you where one is the family results and and they're asked different questions of course. >> Okay. >> So you can take a look at Yeah. If you have any questions about it, we're happy
to report. And it says in there for each of the family ones how many families took it for each school. So I believe um middle school all five families took it. I believe 61 at Irving and then 50 over at Bartle. Across all three sites we scored highest
in environment with an average of 4.54 out of five. This category includes the following. My center provides a safe and secure environment for my child. My center is consistently very clean. My center has a very friendly positive environment. Our area for growth is
communication with an average score of 3.9 out of five. This includes my child shares frequent updates about my child's teacher shares frequent updates about my child. My center director has taken the to ask how I feel about my child's care provider. So since we have gotten these
results in, we have committed just to some communication changes. Typically, we send out monthly newsletters to families that will be going to bi-weekly. And we have asked the staff to start sending a weekly text message or an in-person communication for each child just so that they get something
that they've seen and done throughout the week. >> So, basically, our our we're gathering the results so that we could come together as a team and see where there's opportunities for us to improve based on family and client feedback.
Do you guys have any questions um based on the survey of anything that you guys wanted to go over with us? I know there's a ton of information in those packets. >> Uh yeah, I have a question. I so it looks here that some of the lowest
scores that were gotten from families um are at Bartle >> um specifically around uh staff resolving issues that parents and families are having um what steps are you taking to uh deal with that issue?
>> Yeah, absolutely. So I think um also at the time at the survey we did bring a new director into roles. So, I think since that change, there has been very consistent communication at that point. Um, but really just making sure that that happening in the moment, not waiting until a pickup conversation,
that those phone calls are happening right then and there and followed up with me along the way so that she can ensure that that happens in a timely manner. >> The other uh issue I wanted to raise is around education. So it seems like from
the environment scores people think it's a safe kind of rich environment uh but not necessarily for learning. So they might be having fun or something. So I'm trying to understand a little bit lower scores on education. They're low in borrow but they're a little bit low in
in everything looks great in terms of five families in my in the middle school. >> Yeah that that's a great question. Um I feel that uh we opened up and families are still joining us and then we're surveying them right away when we just are getting kind of our sea legs and
understand you know in the beginning it's more of a getting to know you unit and learning about the kids learning a little bit about the parents um and I that's why we asked me to gather the testimonials now um and they do dep you know the families are responding to the
fact that their children are saying hey there's so many great activities we did science experiments and we wanted to capture that for you here too in photos tonight. But we absolutely understand that. And sometimes when we first open up, it takes a little bit of time for us to really delve into the curriculum in a
meaningful way and we feel like we're we're on a great path now. And and again, these survey results were still really meaningful for us because we took it in and said, "Hey, where are the items here where we can really build and improve?" So, I hope that helps. >> Yeah. And I just I just noticed I kind
of missed the dates when it was given. So it was really given like over two months ago. So this really was like the first two months of the program pretty early on as you were implementing things. >> Um >> so uh are you going to do this survey
again to kind of see kind of where we're at? You know >> it's an annual survey. Um we're part of Kinderare Education. So it you know we're a big corporation and the dates are always set for engagement. So regardless of if you just opened, Gallup sends the survey at the period of time
for all of our employees, all of our clients, and all of our families. So the survey will be issued again next year at the same time period. So we're really excited. That's why the there's a there's a column there uh to uh view your results from last year so that you
can see um your growth and we'll be very interested and anxious to see our growth year-over-year in the next survey. Aside from communicate, sorry, aside from working on improving communications at Bartle, what else have you sort of adjusted in the first few months of uh
of the program there? I have two kids at Champions at Bartle. >> Yeah, I think just a lot with just the daily schedule in general, just trying to figure out like the best routine for them. They that is a great location because they do have a ton of licensed spaces. So really just making a schedule
that makes sense for all of them, not keeping there's, you know, it's a big group, almost 90 kids. So to keep that many kids together just wouldn't make sense logistically. So I think the biggest thing we dived into was the schedule piece of it and making sure that each group had the right programming in place like transitions
from group. >> Yeah. >> And then I had a question. So I noticed that there's a big difference from the middle school families and the principal. Um, and I'm just wondering if what is causing that big gap and if if
there's any like how we're working to resolve that that issue. >> Yes. So, I think honestly really just trying to introduce the program to middle school in general. I think from the get-go it was like is there a need for this here? And that's really like
the initial contact that we had. So for us, it was trying to build things that made sense for the middle schoolers, putting them into clubs, doing different activities that would make sense for those kids. So we're really just trying to establish a partnership that makes sense that it doesn't overstep in the school, the clubs that you guys offer as
a school community, but also gives the families a different offering. We are partnering closely with Mrs. Brady to make sure that that relationship continues and we continue to grow. I know that N has something set up over the next couple weeks just kind of go through the questions and really dive
deeper into where these results really came from and how we can continue to met them. >> Is there any progress towards being able to release one of the champions kids to a sibling that is not over the age of 18 >> at this point? No, but I will definitely
bring it back. >> What's the main obstacle to that? >> That is saying yeah New Jersey state licensing. So, we would have to connect with our licensing team and licensing advisor and sometimes there are things we can put into place, but we just have to make sure that licensing is aware of
it. >> Is there do you guys have a time frame that you think you might be able to remedy that or >> I'd be happy to bring it to our I work really closely with our licensing team. I can bring that to them tomorrow. >> That'd be great. >> I think it's What age is the pickup? Barta.
>> Uh, we have we have a I have a a fifth grader and a third grader. And it'd be great if the third grader could go home with the fifth grader after the fifth grader finishes band, for example. >> Okay. And are they walkers? Is that >> they they would be walkers. Yeah. >> Okay.
I'd just like to follow up on that comment as well because this is a walk-in community which is probably different than some of the other areas in which you um operate and so you know kids can walk home by themselves with their parents' permission starting in
second grade um in this community. It's a it's a safe walkable space. Um and so I understand that there are you know corporate constraints. However, you know, being that you'd like to be a partner in this community, I think it is
something that's important to >> the the families and communities here, especially, you know, having other kids, other siblings be able to pick their kids up or um things like that as you have families that are working, for example. >> Yeah. It's the Department of Human
Services. Uh that's who we for the New Jersey State uh Department of Human Services. That's where we obtain our childare license. So we will go we'll take it back to them because if the parents have if their parents are offering their permission during the school day for walkers, we can see what
their response is for the after school program. >> So much I had a similar concern. So I just want to echo that. Um I know this concern was presented earlier in the year as well. So we're hoping hopeful to get some resolution on that um as soon as possible. Um I have I have two
things. We live in the community, so we hear, you know, grumblings, so to speak, um, that may not make their way to you, um, but make their way to us more informally. Um, we've been encouraging parents that, you know, do voice their complaints to us to email you and to
seek resolution. Um, but one of the things that I wanted to address tonight is issues about pickup. And some of the things that we've been hearing is that um, IDs are not checked at pickup, right? And so obviously if we're not checking IDs at pickup then why can't
our kids go home because that's one of the reasons right um so are like what is the actual policy for dismissal and how can we ensure that that's implemented consistently. >> Yes. So I can share I've been at all three locations during dismissal and we do have an emergency contact binder at
every single location. And so typically at the beginning of the school year once we know who the parent is or sponsor whoever is the emergency contact is that's picking up once we do ID you know those first handful of times and we feel comfortable putting a name to a face then we won't continue that process more
just to keep it like in a familiar manner. Hey Thea. >> Yeah. >> Billy had a great day today and we will let you go. Um I know that's different than last year. Even speaking with you guys about following the the public school rules last year. You guys did have to ID at every single time. So I'm sure that that feels very different for
the families but we do initially I the we will make sure that we know them before we do release to them. So >> um sorry my second question was around the lower score in terms of um problem resolution. Um I know that the next
survey comes out you know next year. Um but that's a big thing for us to make sure that our our families because we're not running the program anymore. um but making sure that they're you know that their problems are handled appropriately and that they feel at peace. Um and how
are you guys assessing improvement in that perhaps internally throughout the next few months? Something we've even talked about and I've talked about this in some of my other locations is although we can't do like a formal survey is maybe even just sending like a survey monkey out to the families like towards the end of the school year to
see how they feel like our progress has been and just honestly just through conversations with families. I think that feedback is that's the easiest way to get feedback is really just being there, hearing it, watching it and talking to the families >> and the question about uh problems and
challenges uh does include something with the bill or invoice and sometimes we have to have a dialogue with families regarding that. It's not oh you know it could pertain to something with the child but sometimes it is a financial scenario. Um and uh I was really happy
to see in the testimonials that knee does you know that our our rule really as a team is we want to be responsive. So there's going to be incidents there's going to be people who are going to bring concerns to us. How do we respond to it? You know how do we hold ourselves accountable and how do we communicate
with that family and what are the action steps we're taking and what is the followup with that family. So those are those are all the steps that are very important to our team and it was very happy N was called out for her responsiveness. >> Sure.
>> Um I would say thank you guys for being here. It was important to me and I think to a lot of us that we have the opportunity to hear from you guys directly and um ask questions and bring up any issues if there were issues. Um I like the response rate to the survey. It seems to 85 students at Bartland Irving
since we got over 50% of people to reply. It's pretty good for a survey. Um, uh, yeah, I I it'd be great if there could be something kind of more informal. Not not informal like a formal survey, but less but doesn't have to be this companywide thing. But, um, end of
the year is a good time to take stock of how things went. And you could use a lot of the same questions. Um, probably get a pretty good response, but um, yeah, I think good good work so far. Growing pains obviously, but um, I think good >> that's great feedback. We can even do a smart sheet form, send a link to
families, they can complete that and we can compile the results. I also like when families have the opportunity to write something so that we can really get some details as to, you know, why they chose the score that they did. So, >> I'm not the techsavvy one, but N will put together a survey monkey for
>> Oh, yeah. No, I I can do our team can do that for we could do that for you. >> A bad idea to uh informally survey the kids that are participating in the program too for things that are >> Oh, absolutely. Uh, my kids complain about I guess there's groups that they're assigned to that are fairly
rigid. So, sometimes they don't get to play with some of their friends because I guess it's different class setups. If there could be some more flexibility in that or flexibility and opting out of some of the activities, I think those are simple things that might lead to more enjoyment from the kids. >> Absolutely. And a lot of that most
likely is due to just like our licensing ratios and making sure we're in that. But that's obviously something that at a site level they can dayto-day shift people around if needed. We have some more time. >> Any other questions for the survey? >> Any other questions? Is that the end of
the >> presentation? Oh, we Oh, sorry. Oh, well. Oh, there's >> All right. Oh, Marilyn has a question. So, we have from a board member that's online. Marilyn, >> hi there. Um, just to follow up on on the suggestions for a follow-up survey.
I think the end of the year might be a little not not the ideal time if you would consider doing a follow-up survey even something less obviously less formal um March April so we get more the board and the champions gets more uh
feedback uh before the end of the school year I think it would be helpful for us as a as a board to hear how things are going m again March April rather than June. Yeah, I think that's fair. And maybe we can try and even just wrap it like by the end of spring break so families have that time. >> Yeah. To do it while they're off.
>> That would be great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good idea. All right. So then these are just some of our future goals. So we are going digital as of next week. So we are switching our scheduling and billing system to it's called Discover Champions. It will be a one-stop shop
for families where they can set up all of their payments, their schedules. They will also be able to get updates that way. This will be how we sign everybody in and out rather than going through a binder every day. So that is launching companywide as of Monday. And then some of our goals just in here specifically
is to offer a spring break camp. We were all able to offer winter break for the first time and we had a nice turnout. The kids had a great time. So offering a spring break camp, potentially opening a summer program as well. And then just the ongoing partnership with you guys
and the and all these families. Yeah, we did um we did take a look and uh Dr. Cesco may remember on our first call, we always take a look at your strategic priorities and goals. So um we were happy to tie that into our community service or you know we our
goal is really that the kids really feel part of something greater than themselves and are you know in a harmonious group and uh I was happy to see a family call out that we do care about the individual interests of each child. These are all things like I I was just going through your priorities today
and I just want to make sure that that's our role too is really how can we best support you and how can you if there if you've identified any gaps school to school what can we do to enhance our programming to help you fill those gaps. So thank you for your time and then my
contact information is here in these contact information if you guys have any follow-up questions you're always welcome to reach out and talk about anything but thank you guys. >> Thank you. Well, thank you. >> All right. And of course, you're both more than welcome to stay for the duration of the meeting, but I
understand you've had long days, so feel free to go. I always give people so they don't feel awkward about leaving. I should require people to stay. >> Yeah, >> maybe that would give us more of an audience than instead of talking to empty chairs. You know, I was thinking, do you remember co when they when as you
were packing they had people fill stadiums with like pictures? I feel like I want to put people's pictures on in these chairs or something just to, you know, we talk, but I know I know Marilyn and Sarah are at least hearing us at home, so that's that's good. All right. Thank you. Thank you both. Well, that
concludes my report. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um, now we're going to move on to our first public comment uh portion of the evening. Uh, the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and it's reserved this time for your comments.
Uh, do we have anyone online? Okay. Does anyone have a question? Okay. Well, then we will move on to board committee reports and recommendations. Um, let's start with curriculum and instruction. um curriculum instruction met uh on the
15th. Um we talked about uh um the digital policy but really uh about uh Chromebooks and the filtering system uh so students can't access uh inappropriate sites and and whatnot. Um
the the big issue um it appears is uh students learning to bypass district systems um and uh the filter having to catch up to that. Um it kind of continually monitors this but we
actually use a piece of software called linewise um that determines if a site is state safe automatically. Um, so it has built-in kind of categorizations to determine inappropriate sites. Um, has a
um, if a website isn't in the database, then it uses kind of an analysis tool to assign a category. Um, and then the the the categories are updated um, are synced um, across districts. Um, and so there there's some machine learning that
detects kind of these patterns with websites and and uh access kind of across schools to determine whether or not websites are are appropriate for kids. Um, in general, linewise, error is on the side of blocking uh websites to the point that once or twice a day uh
our it has to unblock content for instructional purposes when teachers kind of reach out to them. Um and uh so you know that that's something to sort of balance as students are are using um
school um technology. Um if if folks are wondering why not block YouTube and whatnot, Google actually restricts access to inappropriate videos um through YouTube and it has really strict regulations. Um so that's not something to necessarily block. uh there
can be instructional videos too and so if you block all that then teachers lose access to to some of those uh instructional videos on on YouTube. Um the other issue is that uh there are proxies to website and these get kind of
built um as a goaround for filters. Um and so it's a constant battle to to rule out websites um as these these uh alternative sites kind of pop up to give uh people access. Um and so it is kind of constantly kind of monitoring this
and and Line Wise is constantly monitoring this. Um but um if parent h if parents have issues with websites that their students are getting access to, they should tell the teacher and the teacher can actually submit a ticket to
it. Um, and so this was uh something that we we talked about pretty extensively. Um, uh, you know, as students are bringing Chromebooks home and accessing different things. Um, we can kind of monitor this as a community.
Um, and so if if you do know your child has access something, reporting to the teacher so the it can kind of monitor and and make sure line wise is catching it or they're adding it to a website list. um because it is a constant issue as websites kind of shift or these proxy
websites kind of um are constantly kind of building um as a workaround for for students around these filters. Um we also talked about the COGNO institute u program evaluation. Nikki um discussed this in our December meeting. So I'll
just add a couple things to what was already said. Um focus groups are coming. um COGNO uh is doing them in kind of phase two which allows the evaluation to build um and follow up on the document and survey
analysis um so they can follow up with parents the CSTs um other staff to understand some of the things they maybe are seeing or um but I also think the focus groups are going to focus much more on instruction um than
just kind of procedures. So I think that that's also a different focus, but I think doing that prior analysis kind of informs those focus groups. So that's one thing we talked about. Um and with respect to the survey, uh um a couple questions were raised in the public
about the survey. Um the district is implementing a new survey tool that translates um the survey based on parent guardian language preferences, but this was not in place for the CONO survey. Um so we believe that um parents only had access to it in in English. Um so that
is unfortunate. Uh but there is a tool that we're piloting right now to to um give parents more access. Um and the last thing uh we talked about were field trips. Uh just a few highlights. Kindergarteners are going to
see a play at the state theater. Uh Bartle is going to the New Jersey State Museum. Global citizenship. uh students or this is something I talked about uh in our last meeting where um we've had social train social studies teachers in
training come to meet with the global citizen program with Dr. Adam Gold um and uh Dr. Andy Dalvo at Ruckers has been um doing this to train his social studies students, but uh you know with the feedback of students and so now the
students are actually going to go to Ruckers this semester which um I think is really exciting um to have students participate in the training of of future teachers. Um and high school Spanish is going to New York to see a play at the
Reparatorio Espanol. And that is that in terms of issues we're voting on, we're voting on those field trips. Uh some of which I highlighted. Uh we have approval of one HIV uh report that was confirmed. Uh we
have approval of job description for general maintenance worker. Uh approval of home instruction for six students. uh approval approval of clinical affiliation agreement um with uh
Rucker's uh biomedical and health sciences um approval of number ofus um one with HPA um uh for for temporary differential uh for
an employee uh approval uh uh with the center for supportive schools for teen pep Uh another one with Monontlair State University uh with model UN club and citizens for
global solutions and then approval of a number of uh students for internships uh across a number of different classrooms. Um uh and then we're sending uh a couple of
placements for in the teen center for two students. Um approval of peaks and valleys program at Bartle. Um and lastly the approval of the district calendar. Any questions?
I don't have a question, but um I do want to comment that I think the the technology conversation is something that we're going to be having for a long time as we continue to unpack this. Um so, you know, I'm looking forward to that because, you know, I agree that the the issues that we're experiencing with
technology, I don't think are things that we envisioned occurring um back when everybody was like, "Yes, everybody gets a laptop so they can log in online, right?" Um, so I am I am looking forward to unpacking that um with this group. Um, and I also wanted to just say I'm
really excited about the team pep um, you know, contract because I know that that was something last year that we were discussing was going to be hard to keep. And so I'm really excited that we have a way to keep it because I think it's very valuable. Um, and even if you
know we can't get more students in it, it's going to be really valuable for even the three, four, seven students that join and a quite a leadership experience for them. Um, and a benefit to the school community as a whole. So, I just wanted to comment that I'm really excited about that.
>> Um, I had a question about the focus groups on the for um, Kamigo. Um, do we know how the parents are being selected for focus groups? You want to give Wait, do you want to do that in CP like as part of a report from C?
Okay. Uh so I spoke Amy had a very long conversation with um John and his group today about an hour. So uh they're going to be putting out a flyer to get interest. Um my understanding is they're going to start February 4th on the focus groups. They are going to run four
different sessions uh at night on Zoom and they're going to use Zoom. Zoom can translate over 30 plus languages in real time. So when you're listening um they'll speak English, but it can come back and the parents can select any language. So instructions will go home on how to do
that in Zoom. They can give their feedback and input in a focus group in their own language and it translates in English. So um we're going to use Zoom for that. So over 30 plus languages. There's going to be one session that will be um for parents and guardians of
specialed students in preK through 5, another focus group for specialed parents and guardians and students grades 6 through 12. Then another session for gened parents and then another session for staff. So, those are
going to be uh the staff ones will probably be during the day. Um, just because we can't require staff to attend things after hours. Um, so we're we're trying to navigate the staff one to figure out a best time to to implement uh the focus groups for that. Um, but the ones for parents and guardians will
be um after hours in the evening on Zoom um with John and his group. Um so that will be done and concluded by mid-March. And then March 12th, they're going to do a professional development for the child study team. And right now, they're looking at more dates for the spring um
to do some more training with the staff um around that. They're going to start advertising their uh focus group dates this Thursday night at the CPAG meeting. So, if you are interested in coming to that event on Thursday night, we're here
at the middle school cafeteria. Um we're having somebody from the bridge come uh program come in to to sort of kick us off um to some new leadership there, but that's when we will start advertising. Um so you'll see those flyers come out. So once it's produced, it was supposed to be end of day today, but I have not
checked my email. So maybe uh tomorrow morning, we should have those flyers. They'll be put out in multiple languages. Um and I will put them those dates out as well as part of my weekly communication. They'll go out on social media um and many platforms. So the dates and times for those with links um
will be provided um hopefully by by weeks end to to families to start marking the dates on their calendar be part of the focus groups. That is the update from Kango. So the ball is rolling. So uh in the spring we will have a a lot more a lot more going
on late late winter early spring. >> I have a I have a comment um pick up on what Allison was saying. Um, I did write a little bit out, but I promise just a couple of minutes. Um, so I really appreciate your detailed notes. I'm sorry I wasn't at the CNI meeting. It was a tricky week for the family. And I
also really appreciate, uh, Dr. Susa that the IT came to us and talked about it. It was really great they were able to take that time and that you made them available. Um, so as everyone I think probably knows, Chromebooks are a concern of mine. There are a lot of reasons why. Um,
uh, but tonight I don't want to talk about content that is not educational. What I want to talk about is content that is recreational, uh, which the Chromebooks unfortunately do a very good job of delivering to our students. Um, so what I understand from it, thanks to Dan's notes, that district
has up-to-date systems for blocking content on the web that is clearly inappropriate or harmful. That's great. I have to say I have observed our Chromebooks being used. Um, not at all convinced that quite a lot of inappropriate, even disturbing content
gets through these screens. I've seen videos of violent firstperson shooter video games, animated violence that gets very bloody and gory, and cartoon slaughter houses that depict violence against animals as a joke. I think we have to take the failings of our current screening technology very seriously.
Kids mental health is at stake and perhaps more than that. But let's imagine for a second that the filters we have in the Chromebooks on the Chromebook browsing perfectly block content that is clearly inappropriate or harmful. Would this be enough? No, I
don't think it would be because there's a whole universe of content out there that is not dangerous. It's not disturbing. It's merely distracting. We all know it. It's the endless scroll of influencers, product placement, dumb tricks, video game playthroughs, reality television, bathroom humor, and all the
rest. for one of a better word, brain rot. And from what I read in these notes, there are few if any protections in these districtisssued devices to protect to protect kids from brain rot. And that's a huge problem. So I passed out an article tonight to everyone here.
Uh it's a policy statement just issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics on what they call digital ecosystems. Uh, a really important term used in this article is something I hadn't heard before, which is called engagementbased design. And I want to read the
definition of that in full. In short, uh, digital designs, uh, engagement based design is digital designs which compete for users attention, interaction, and data often incentivized by revenue structures. Symptoms might include pervasive, profit driven, or
manipulative design. In other words, this is brain rot. lowquality, fast-paced content whose purpose is not to educate and not even really to entertain. Its purpose is simply to push the pleasure buttons in your brain hard enough that you keep watching more. As currently kitted out, district issued
devices are potentially a potent source of brain rot. They are intended to be used for homework, as textbooks, for scheduling, posting grades, communicating with teachers and friends. But how many of us fully developed adults use our phones and computers
purely for work and calling friends? For us with our devices, it's the constant battle to avoid distractions that are just a click away. How much more this must be the case for young kids, kids in Bartle walking home with their first laptops and the middle
school as well as older ones whose brains have a long way to go before they attain the heights of self-control that us adults always demonstrate around our devices. I fully understand why the district has adopted laptops. They're convenient and
hold incredible promise for making educational material accessible, flexible, and effective. But we can't ignore the downsides anymore if we ever could. By mandating that students use these devices, which have to be taken home every night to charge, not to
mention do homework, we are making it much harder for parents to establish a brain rot-free digital ecosystem for their for their kids. This is the very problem called out by the pediatrics association in the new policy brief. Now, we cannot expect parents to stand
watch over their kids to make sure they're doing their homework and not surfing the web for clickbait. I understand why that appears like an attractive solution, but it is completely impractical, not based in the real world, but kids have 20 minutes, half an hour, hour of homework to hover over them. I have news for you, it does
not work. Um, we have to find a solution that empowers parents to make good choices about the digital environment in their home. Right now, we're taking the choice out of parents' hands, and that's not right. So, to close is immediate action steps. I would suggest the
following. First, we need highquality data on what kids are doing on the internet with the Chromebooks. Of course, keeping everything anonymous, but we need to know how much time they are spending on brain rot using district devices. Second, we need to investigate
practical, effective alternatives to the current whack-a-ole system attempting to block dangerous websites. At an absolute minimum, as long as we have the Chromebooks, districts should choose what sites to let in, not which sites, not try to figure out which sites to keep out. The Smithsonian, PBS, Khan
Academy, validated learning sites. We should consider letting platforms like these in. But if a site isn't on a very short list of things that contribute directly to a student's education, it should be blocked on a district-issued device. Period. And last, we need to update our digital district policy to
reflect a strategy to free our kids from brain rot that might be accessed and is being accessed outside of school in the home on district devices. Thank you. >> That concludes my report >> and Ethan's report.
>> I mean, I I am on board with what Ethan's saying. I've been saying it for a very long time and it's not only a distraction at home, it's also a distraction in the classroom and there have been multiple times where teachers have to go to a student and hey get off that website or stop playing that game so they can actually pay attention to
the class. Um, so I'm team Ethan on this one. Agree on everything Dr. schoolman said like obviously the Chromebooks provide a lot of merit for teaching students like media literacy and just literacy with technology early on but even my AP
classrooms kids just being on games like on their Chromebooks is a huge distraction and the teachers constantly have to basically just police them through I believe it's called classwise to just make sure that they're actually paying attention and not playing like a racing game or something like that.
Sarah from the sky. Hi guys. Um yeah, I would just I I would say the emphasis just thinking about, you know, how we leverage them as a pedagogical extension is just a nice, you know, um and sometimes it's going to be watching maybe an engaging video. And I think
that is kind of hard to monitor and we we really don't want to disempower teachers, I think, to incorporate things intelligently into um you know, their programming. And so I just I would implore us all while you know it should be an intentional extension of of how we learn um you know there is a balance and
this is a national debate so you know it's good we're having it honestly it's it's great we're having it and um you I think really focusing on intentionality and not time on task but what's actually being done and the kind of engaging conversations that this tool which is just a tool inspires and that's my two
cents. Anyone else? Okay. And to echo what Allison said, I do think that this is going to be a long-term discussion um that we'll keep coming back to. So, you know, thank you everyone for raising it and uh you know,
the discussions about this will continue especially as um more research does come out. Um I mean I would just say I I do think that during co a lot of instruction moved on to uh onto
Chromebooks um and never came off. And I think that's something that we do need to uh look at. Um I I still don't understand how you learn math on a computer but that's uh so you
know as these discussions continue um I mean I think details will vary but in general I think we're all in agreement of needing to look at new evidence as it comes in and you know really think about the intentionality and re-evaluate what the
district's relationship is with technology. So >> yeah, and I think it'd be really interesting to hear from teachers on this. Um be, you know, how would they if if they had their kind of choice, what
would the limits on the Chromebooks be would it be only certain approved websites, you know, uh you know, and and they get they apply to get certain things approved instructionally and then they have access to that. Um, but I'd be
really curious to see what what they would say. >> I agree with that. >> Yeah. One one more thing too is that just the reality we're living in is like the performance distribution is much more biodal too. And so in the classroom the job of really aligning personalized
instruction to to a student is harder. And so I to totally underscore um what you're saying there about just really understanding um how we can align with the world we're in today and and and root cause like the the the problem that
we're in which is different than four years ago. >> Um and I would also just like to specify that the um NJSLA tests are all online. So just Yep. All of that. And so just
getting rid of them is not really an option. Um but and part of the reason, you know, instruction has improved, but also part of the reason that we're we've seen some growth in our test scores has been um that the kids have are getting
taught how to do it on the Chromebooks where it's not the first time they're seeing one when the tests come along, right? And so these are also this is also an issue that we do need to weigh because um the tests are online.
So >> I think um I mean there's the sort of few different areas in which computer laptops are used. I mean one and then and there's different conversations to be had about that. So like one conversation to be had is to what extent should education be moving
on to Chromebooks and that's an interesting conversation and research is back and forth and I think Sarah points out that it can have a lot of benefits. We should be you know cautious about it but but excited too and maybe I'm not as excited as some people but I can see the logic behind it. Um I I think the easier
you know the sort of less controversial conversation to have is you know should students be going home with D's and just surfing the net for brain? Right. And the answer is no. Obviously, it's no. Um, and so I think we can immediately start to address that problem. I understand it's a long-term conversation. We can immediately start
to think about how to address it by thinking about alternative ways to set up these Chromebooks. Maybe not on the operating systems we have. Maybe we got to switch that out, whatever. But we should start the process of figuring this out. Um, so I wonder what that should look like. Could we ask uh a a
subcommittee or a committee here or district staff to start looking into other software or other levels of the ones we have that you know provide stricter controls maybe sort of time of day based will be something uh I mean do we have initial ideas what those action
steps could look like or do we have to sort of take that under committee and keep talking about >> wait >> hello I think the other thing we need to consider is age appropriate as well. So, high school, yes, it makes sense. They can have their Chromebooks. They're going to have a lot of work to do on
that. It could be very beneficial. They've developed a little bit more of their what is that prefrontal cortex to be able to, you know, control certain things. Um, versus the second grader who's bringing their Chromebook home, who doesn't have homework on it and is
sitting there with the bring and the games and doesn't really, it's more of a recreational thing than it is an actual tool for education at that point. So, I think those are things that we definitely need to consider. Middle school probably use it more as well. Um, but it is those are things that we
definitely need to consider when it comes to the Chromebooks. I'm not anti- Chromebook. Just >> I I'll jump in here too in terms of sort of maybe lower hanging fruit than when you're talking about in terms of the filtering software or anything is
whether we even assign homework on the Chromebook. Right. I I have a fifth grader who goes home and he'll he'll have homework that he has to do on the Chromebook and he opens up his Chromebook and there's 32 tabs open dating back years.
>> Mhm. >> One of those will be the homework and then the other 33 or the other 31 I didn't learn math uh will not be there'll be beatboxing software. there'll be all all sort there's a lot of distraction and a lot of the homework will be stuff that could there's just
writing assignments or math assignments all things that could be a worksheet right so it's it could be a simple matter of really reassessing what is the proper media or assigning homework given what you're trying to teach then there's obviously they're going to have to learn
how to use the computer they're going to have work on the computer for the rest of their lives but particularly considering when do you start that at what age given that you're a fifth grader is I think assumed that they're going to try to do their homework unassisted right but at that point you
know the manner in which you assign that could influence how that looks >> I think that makes a lot of sense doing it on paper since they're going to have to learn cursive starting September and give them a lot of practice with that >> need some practice on the handwriting at least my my kids do
>> I I think as uh speaking here from this from the uh the virtual world Um I think our as a board me as a board our role is policy. So if if we want to talk about this further I think and we should it sounds like definitely everybody wants to. I think it's from a policy perspective because I don't think I
think that's our role as board members. And so maybe we propose that we look at our current policy. I think Ethan suggested send it to committee to begin to see what that says and what how we feel differently about what what it does
say. But I'm also wondering if this needs to be a topic for like central leadership team, that kind of a thing, and some of that conversation could inform the the policy group too. >> Agreed. Yeah. That way you would get teacher input and and administrator
input from the district, >> right? I want to make sure that whatever we do is in collaboration with everyone, you know, not top down. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh so Nikki um equity and excellence.
Okay. So, equity and excellence met January 15th and it was uh myself uh Mon'nique and an obvious Dr. O obviously Dr. She's good. Um, we discussed um
feedback about our uh our platform. Wait, what is it? The the the new feedback uh platform pilots. Uh it's a survey. The surveys and feedback that have been going out haven't always had um all of the languages that we need for
our community. Um so we are testing other formats that could translate the questions as well as the responses whereas before we're getting the question in that language but the responses were not in the language. Um and that would help us with our
communication. Um so we are looking for other platforms um out there that are that are they fit our criteria but also are cost effective um and that they are accessible um to
parents who might not be able to you know who are you know blind or deaf or you know have they need to be more ADA compliant. Um see and then the other thing we discussed was the AP honors data. Um overall the data shows that the
majority of students in AP honors are continue to be Asian and white. Um which has been the case with past data collection. Um however the numbers can be skewed because Genesis double counts students who are represented in multiple
cal multiple categories. Um for example like white student counts count includes students who identify as Hispanic and students who identify as non-Hispanic. um to address the sk the skew would people would have to do this manually
and it would be a human resource challenge. Um, but the percentages are still reliable and it's important to keep in mind that the actual number of students is very low in some demographic categories such as Native American, indigenous. Uh, students with
disabilities continue to be under represented. Uh, the skills knowledge gap that accumulates over the years is likely the largest contributing factor to the large gaps in AP honors enrollment. Um
sorry I don't have my last um Dr. discussed the promising work being done around improving inclusion practices including co-eing and the parallel teaching model uh through small groupoup instruction regular checks for understanding and and easy to diagnose
the students needs. Uh the administration is currently doing a deep dive into professional development with special education and gened teachers. uh the rest of the year is dedicated to the middle and high school teachers in this regard. Uh the other limitations of the data due to Genesis format that have
also been recognized in the past are the AP honor students are combined because they are both flagged as gifted and talented at Genesis. Um personnel enrollment in these classes would also require additional uh manual labor and the data does not reflect intersections
between race and economic status. Uh students in the free and reduced lunch category are not broken out by race as well. Uh the next thing we discussed was the middle school funded programs. Um let's see, Kate and Michelle reported
that they have historically had low attendance for their title one funded after school programs. While some students had conflict with sports, many do not. Many of the students who are invited are the ones whose parents that the team cannot reach. This year they
sent emails, mailed letters, and called on the phone. They got a few more participants, but not the numbers that they were hoping for. Um, see, and the data that was used to invite the students to the wise connection was attendance, ties, and
scores in math and ELA. And then also the we also discussed the commeno uh program evaluation. Um, and I'm probably just going to re be re reiterating everything that Dan said.
Um, let's see. Sorry, give me one minute. These are not my notes. So, okay. The team conducted analysis of all the documents and preliminary studies they administered to staff and parents. The survey didn't yield much interaction. Uh,
administration is working on ways to generate more feedback and input. Um, 20page status report and recom recommendations were provided. Starting in January, the consultants will be meeting with the U child study team, teachers uh and parents to conduct focus
groups and interviews. Some of the recommendations in the report already being turnkeyed for for example to provide more consistency in using a template for the present levels and IEPs. Data and the reporting supported our gut that there are things our team
is doing that are wonderful and areas of growth lie in inconsistencies across the district. The consultants also shared that they would be willing to support the CPAC parents during the transition and leadership. Uh the next status report will be available after the focus group
meetings and interviews are conducted and analyzed. Um the committee question for follow-up is how are parents being identified in the focus groups which I think we discussed that with Dan. Um and then we have our discipline reports. Uh
Bartle had 13 total incidents. A few incidents resulting two rise and one OSS. Uh middle school had 29 total incidents incidents. 23 students involved one rise one OSS and high school 64 total incidents one rise and
the low number of removals rise in OSS is positive and encouraging. Uh the uptick in total incidents may be partly attributed to the leadup to the holiday break and a re related excitement and higher energy levels in the buildings. Um the emphasis on tier one and tier 2
supports and education around vaping to com incidents and less in student removal from the instructional space. Um and then one of the things we did have to table because we ran out of time was the bartle start times and that's I'm going to send you some questions in regards to that so we can have a
discussion topic on it. That is my report. >> Um, I believe there was one other thing that wasn't in the notes, but I'm I don't think it it was just something that was discussed briefly um because we're going to be discussing it more, but it was again uh with the cell phone
ban that there had been so many fewer uh passes requested in the middle school, for example, thou like thousands less. um >> significant. >> Yeah. Um when it was 700 in the first three two
weeks or something like it's >> Yeah. >> 800 less. >> Yeah. And now it's thousands. So, um I mean I just I I'm really looking forward to um you know seeing the data compiled
about any uh impact that the cell phone bans have had. Um you know, especially as we're going to need to update our policy to conform with state law. Um so, uh does anyone else have any uh
questions or comments? Okay. Uh Allison, facilities and finance. >> All right. It's my first one. Um so Marilyn, you're going to have to give me a score when we're done. Um all right. So for finance facilities, we met on
January 13th. And um some of the action items we've discussed were of course the um transfer and treasurer reports, the secretary reports. Um those will be on the agenda tonight. You'll also see on the agenda the approval of a submission for a local recreation grant which would
include volleyball sleeves at the high school, football stadium sound system improvements, Bartle gym floors, and um that's going to be a state grant that had been for municipalities originally but has been open to school districts. And so the grant prioritizes
spaces that are shared with the community so that it is like a joint vure venture. Um, and you'll also see a job description for our general maintenance worker. Um, as Willie Roman retired. Um, this position has been hard
to fill with only one applicant as of our meeting. Um, you're also considering a contract with a third party recruiting agency in order to find a temporary hire that may, you know, that we can then perhaps um, hire full-time. So, that's
also in the works. Um, we will be looking for an approval of an additional charge for the Bartle structural repairs uh for additional repairs to two columns, replacement stairs for the boiler room and replacements of the mechanical room door and the addition of
the door to the business office. Um, those uh additions were because the columns and stairs needed to be demolished in order to do some of the work. Um and again we're going to also do the mechanical doors and we are able
to do this and remain within our original budget. Um and then for policy um we did just review again the lice policy. No public concerns about the policy has been shared mostly positive feedback and conversations with that we've had with parents and the nurses
are very excited. So that will move forward for second read. Um someformational items we did discuss um kind of what is the board's role in um afterare um because we you know we received an email um that was asking us to act and we were like well you know
how can we really act when we're not you know we we're not running the program. Um so we did consult with two other school districts and as we had suspected our role is to approve the provider or to decide to go out for an RFP as appropriate. Um, Christina did provide a
summary of some recent complaints and how champions handled those complaints and followed up with the families. Um, there have been no recent complaints to Christina or to the board email. We discussed families sharing issues about security at pickup or lack of engaging activities with members in conversations, but there has not been
any official communication to Christina regarding those concerns. Um, we did share those tonight with the um, after school program staff when they were here. Um we also looked at enrollment numbers and they are steady with a little variance monthtomonth and then they came to present it and
have our discussion. So if you missed that part you can watch the video once we goes up on the YouTube. Um some facility project updates. Um the baseball field is almost done. We are waiting on a landscaper to move forward for the entrance and we also need to put
more soil in in the spring due to compaction. all of that heavy snow is going to really require a lot more a lot more soil. Um and then we also just touched base on the structural repair. Um some forthcoming uh purchase orders
and um some value added changes on the scope of the project um which includes the removal of water tanks in the main mechanical room and six water expansion tanks, a storage unit and additional lighting. The Bartle toilet room renovation, it continues to move along and should be completed by early
February. The prek the prek classroom renovation bid meeting, was that held on the 16th? All right, it was held on the 16th. Um, that project is estimated to be done by the end of the summer. Um, so that we can open addition an additional 15 general education prek seats in the
fall. Um, and then we did discuss field trip updates on cost structure. Um, Christina had asked the staff for feedback. The staff brought up a question about whether this could be based off of mileage rather than out of state. For example, a trip to Philadelphia is
actually pretty close, but it is considered out of state. Um, so some other staff feedback included concerns about fundraising for chaperon costs. You know, if the fundraising is unsuccessful, then those costs would have to be absorbed by attendees. And depending on the size of the trip and
the amount of chaperones needed, those um those costs could get pretty high. Um, so that's something that we can continue to discuss in committee. And then, um, we did our annual presentation on school budgets. Denise provided that for us. So, um, the
school budget, I think, presentations, um, for the committee start next month. So, everybody get ready. Um, it is going to be a tougher budget season. We've been saying that for the last two years. Um, and we just like to reiterate that again. Um, that it it is a st a tough
budget season for the state overall. Um, and so it's definitely going to be felt by school districts as well. Oh, shoot. I have to do the agenda items. Um, all right. So, for the agenda, item number one is approval of those organizations
to be providers of the services that are listed in parenthesis. Um, number two is the approval of the supplemental bill list. Number three is the approval of the bill list. Number four is the approval of treasurer reports.
Number five is the approval of the board secretaries report. By the way, if you have the PDF of the agenda, all of these documents start around page 40 so you can follow along. Um there is the board of education
certifications. Um so this is to oh I want to point this out. So number five is the secretar's report that um said that has us accept the recommendation um
that no budgetary line item has been overextended in violation of NJAC 62- 23-2-11A. And then number six is sort of the same thing. It's the board certification. Am I correct in that um Denise? that
nothing has been overextended. We are able to meet our financial board of education certifications. Um it is that that we are able to um you know that we have sufficient funds to meet the district's obligations for the remainder of the year. There is a lot of
news out there about other districts. So I wanted to make sure that that was very clear. Okay. Um not for us hopefully never never. Um so number seven is the approval of budget transfers. Number eight is the travel
related expense embbursements reports. Um number nine is the submission of the IDA grant amendment one application for the school financial year 26 and that's carryover funds. Um so you'll see the original grant amount and then the revised grant amount. Number 10 is the
um the same sort of the same thing. It's carryover funds for the ESA grant for financial year 26. you'll see the original amount and then the revised grant amounts. Um number 11 is the approval for professional development. Um two of these are passroughs. C and D
are passroughs. Am I correct? Right. C and D are passroughs um for non-public schools. Um and A and B are for our district. Um number two is the approval of bedside instruction. I'm sorry. 12 is the approval for bedside instruction for two students. 13 is the approval of
non-resident students to attend um Highland Park High School. So, welcome. Um number 14 is the approval of a settlement agreement and so is number 15. Number 16 is the approval of change orders and increases in the contractual
amount which is the Bartle structural repair bid that I discussed earlier. Um again, the approval of proposed additional architectural services again for the Bartle structural repair. That's number 17. And then number 18 is the approval for submission of that local
recreation grant um that I discussed was that um used to be the municipal grant and is now uh open to school districts for some of our school spaces that are also shared with the community. That concludes my report. Are there any questions? >> Marilyn, how did I do?
>> You did great. Good job, Alison. I couldn't have done it better. >> Cool start. >> And I appreciate you doing it, not me. Thank you. >> Any questions for about any of the items or we're good. >> I'm really excited about the headlice
policy. >> Yeah, >> I think everybody is excited about the headlice policy >> except the license. Yeah. >> Um Okay. If there's no sorry
do that now. >> Okay. And so then for um voting on personnel, we're going to approve uh some leaves of absences. um one approval of a resignation um
for a part-time math interventionist at Irving. Um approval of appointments having to do uh with Asian Culture Club um covering leave and some more adjustments, varsity boys base basketball, um peaks and valleys, family
math night, um etc. There's also approval of transfers and approval of professional development uh presenters and presentation hours.
And then for policies and regulations uh for policies and regulations for second reading we have uh the management of pediculosis heads. Um that's
okay. Um and so now we move on to our second public comment of the night. Um the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation is reserved this time for your comments. Do we have anyone online?
Okay, anyone raising their hand? Okay. >> Hi. Uh this is Abby Stern Cardinell. Um couple of quick comments. Um one with regard to the Cameno program evaluation. Um I really appreciate when it was first introduced and everything I heard about
it that it's really looking at the whole picture of MTSS 504 IEP and everything involved in kind of that um triangle and pyramid as they've presented. Um I'm a little concerned that going forward it's
only focused on um families who already have kids with IEPs in terms of reaching out for focus groups and just how um kind of the the whole landscape of that and CPAG. I would really uh hope and appreciate if it continues to include
the broader um kind of group of families of children with disabilities whether or not they um have an IEP and you know might end up being in that. Um there's also the families who have suspected disabilities
and maybe have questions about the process. So, um I would hope that both in terms of CPAG and the program evaluation that those are not forgotten. Um and I think that in the past they've been really uh well um acknowledged and
included. So, I hope that that continues. Um another point I wanted to say about the technology and computer discussion which I really appreciated hearing and agree with a lot of you about that. I would actually ask that when you're having this discussion, you even extend it a little bit further to a
younger age. Um, in terms of how the technology impacts even going as young as B as Irving, sorry. Um, I think that there's what Ann actually said about a lot of things going um to use technology
during COVID and not coming back. I suspect that that is also the case as early as Irving. Uh there's a lot from what I hear and see that does use technology and the teachers, you know, do an amazing job and um I fully support everything that they're doing and I know
that they have a lot of they put a lot of time and effort into developing these uh resources, but I do think there's a lot that can be done off of the computer that has moved to the computer um or I should say the Prometheian board. Um I know in Irving they don't have
Chromebooks and they shouldn't. uh I know that they're you know in the classroom at times and can be used as a resource but it's not onetoone um which is good but I do think that there's a lot of technology that um may be transitioned that could transition back
at this point um and so if you're looking at that I would love to see you just look at that as well when you're looking at overall the uh technology use and then um yeah and I've heard a lot of families of specifically Irving families
amilies who have who share similar concerns about kind of the use and overuse of um videos and Prometheian board um use and I'm sure everything that is on it is appropriate because the teachers are vetting it. So that's it's
a different kind of situation. Um, and then just for clarity, I know you can't answer it this minute, but after the assuming everybody votes in favor of the headlights policy, is it official after today? And if it is, um, will that be distributed out to the community
quickly? Hopefully. And that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Abby. Uh, do we have anyone else? Okay. So, let's move on to board action items. >> I move items 1 through 13.
>> Second, >> Batty. >> Um, yes, except from abstaining from 10 M through S. 10 M through F >> S
>> S sorry >> uh Miss Cassell Dunn >> yes >> Mr. Maldonado >> Dr. Pigsley >> yes >> Miss Puce >> yes >> Dr. Mr. Skullman, >> yes. >> Miss Daniel, >> yes.
>> Miss Vardman, >> yes. >> For finance and facilities, I'd like to move numbers 1 through 18. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Cassald. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maldonado. >> Dr. Pixley.
>> Yes. >> Miss Puce. >> Yes. >> Dr. Schoolman. >> Yes. >> Miss Staniel? >> Yes. Miss Bardman? >> Yes. Uh for personnel I would like to move uh one through five.
>> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Cassalden. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maldonado. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pigsley. >> Yes. >> Miss Puce. >> Yes. >> Dr. Skullman. Miss Stano. >> Yes. >> Miss Bardman. >> Yes.
Uh, and for policies and regulations, I would like to move one. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty, >> yes. >> Miss Cassald, >> yes. >> Mr. Maldonado. >> Dr. Pigsley, >> yes. >> Miss Puce,
>> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman, >> yes. >> Miss Sano, >> yes. >> Miss Bardman, >> yes. >> Okay. Well, now we can move on to our board liaison reports. Um, does anyone have one to report on?
Okay, >> so the Human Relations Commission is very, very busy. Um, they have a number of events going on. So, I'll start from the order of when they're going to happen. Um, so one of the things is the
Reformed Church is celebrating Black History Month with a different speaker on each Sunday uh in February. Um, and this is at 10:00 a.m. and the human relations commi commission's co-chair uh, Miss Paulina Devonish is actually speaking um, on the
15th and she's going to speak about uh, the theme is honoring the ancestors. Uh, she'll be discussing some teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King and how his life influences the work in the human relations commission and Highland Park. Uh the second thing going on is um the
Highland Park sustainable wait sustainable Highland Park uh is doing Earth Day the Earth Day Fair. Um I think that's the Highland Park what is that called? The spring Highland Park street fair that we have. They have their Earth Day section and that's on May 3rd. Um
the next one is um the Caribbean flag raising and this is going to happen uh June 4th at the community center uh at 5:00. And I know we've got some time, but we got to think about June because it's nice and warm. Um, and then after that would be the Pride flag raising on
the 11th, June 11th at 5:00 p.m. at the community center. And last but not least is the Junth flag raising. And that is also at the community center at on June June 18th at 5:00 pm. >> Okay, great. I have a CPAC update. Um,
just to a reminder that the first uh meeting to rebuild CPAG is this Thursday, 6 to 7:30 right here in the middle school cafeteria. Refreshments will be served. There will also be
babysitting and translation. Um, we have two speakers coming. One is um, Taylor, who is our consultant from the Rucker Bridge program. And then we also have Clara, I forget her last name. Clara I can from um UBHC who's coming to
speak on emotional regulation and executive functioning. Um so we're really excited about that. Of course it is open to parent blackis. Thank you. Um car clara blackis. Um so it is open to um you know
any parent or caregiver that does want to attend. Um, so we look forward to seeing people uh at six o'clock on Thursday. And then um I do believe and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that one of the focus groups is for the greater parent community, not
just special education parents. >> Yes. Correct. So there's going to be four um and one of them will be for the greater gr understanding like 504s, MTSS, INRS, and all of that. >> Yep. So um that I did want to clarify that since we did have a public comment
question about it. And that's it. >> Um, I'd like to update for the Highland Park athletic boosters. Uh, designer bag bingo is coming back uh after we had designer bag trivia last year. Um, so
designer bag bingo will be on March 6th at the community center. And I am also announcing this to remind myself to buy the table that I said I was going to uh while there are still spots left. It's a really fun time. Uh so I hope everyone
can uh join us. It also, I believe, happens to be the same night as the middle school dance. So uh it'll just be a fun night in Highland Park. Um anyone else?
Okay. Um I do not have a president's report, so we can just go to old business. Okay. Uh, new business. >> Um, what is going to be the process with the the new
cell phone state law? Are we going to take that back to central leadership or how does that how is that going to work? >> So, we talked about it briefly in our most recent central leadership team when we were reviewing some of the data. Um, so we're really just actually waiting
for my understanding is that it was signed in before Murphy left office and now it's being punted to a new commissioner of education. So if you saw the um new governor but a new commissioner coming from Texas in uh for so we're waiting to hear from her and
her office um what we need to do. So that usually comes out usually with a stress update uh to policy and and stuff like that. So, we're just waiting for guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education specifically um to figure out what it is that we might need to do
at the second. We're fully in compliance. We actually really think at the high school we might be too, but just to get more um guidance around that uh in addition to the money that they're allocating to support schools that need to purchase things to help with that guidance. So, we're waiting on how all
that plays out, but my guess is that it'll be some sort of alert from the New Jersey Department of Education. And I actually was at the NJSBA uh webinar where they actually discussed this and they did mention that they're not sure yet, but one of the things that keeps coming up is that um it does
actually say that there need to be age appropriate um differentiated guidelines. So like the high school probably will be a different requirement than it would be saying like you know Bartle or or middle school. So I just wanted to add that.
Um, and I would just like to uh thank our maintenance and ground staff for all of the work that they did in order to clear the snow and ice um so that kids could get to school safely today. Kids
and staff. Okay. If there's no more nothing else for uh new business, I move that we adjourn. Second. All in favor? I >> Thank you.