like to >> Well, that's a little that's kind of like gazing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I would like to call to order the this meeting of the Highland Park Board of Education. 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 interests discussed or acted upon. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, the Highland Fire Board of Education has caused notice of this
meeting settling for time, date, and location to be submitted for publication to the Home News Tribune and Courier News and posted on the board's website at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting. Members of the public who wish to address the board will be given the opportunity to do so before the board
adjourns for the evening. Uh can we do roll call? >> Dr. Batty >> here. >> Miss Castell Dunn, >> Dr. Coleman, Dr. Pixley, Miss Pus >> here, >> Dr. Miss Stanio
>> here, >> Miss Vardman >> here, >> Miss Vorhees >> here. Uh be it resolved pursuant to the Sunshine Act NJSA 10 col 4 through 12 and 13, the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session
to discuss the matters related to the to HI. These exemptions are permitted to be discussed in closed session and accordance with NJSA 104 through13. Information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as
the need for confidentiality no longer exists. >> I'm here. >> I'm I move that we move to executive session. Second >> I the personnel committee said just
I'll just read whatever we have to just the event. Yeah. Do we have >> Okay. >> Um I would like to move that we reconvene to regular session. Second.
probably >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Cassell Dunn. >> Yes. >> Dr. Coleman. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pixley. >> Miss P. >> Sorry. Here. >> Okay.
>> Miss Puce. >> Yes. >> Dr. Schoolman >> here. >> Miss Stano >> here. >> Miss Bardman >> here. >> Miss War >> here. Okay. U everyone stand for the pledge, please.
>> 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. >> Okay, we uh received a few uh communications.
uh one about defending our immigrant neighbors, one with an issue with after care pickup, and one was the CPAG officer's resignation. Um and then we're going to do approval of
uh the minutes from October 27th. >> Can I move? Yeah. Okay. I move that we approve the minutes. >> Second. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. Miss Cassell Dunn. >> Yes. >> Dr. Coleman. >> Yes. >> Miss Dr. Pixley
here. She said she was >> Dr. Pixley. >> Miss P. >> Yes. >> Dr. Schoolman. >> Yes. >> Miss Stanio. >> Yes. >> Miss Bardman. >> Yes. >> Miss Vorhees. >> Yes. And >> apologies my audio. I just got it
sorted. So this is Dr. Chrisley. I'm here. >> Do you vote? Yes. Yes, >> I finally got it sorted. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And then next we have um our
student representative report. >> Hi. I'll get us started with news from Irving School. So, November has been a month to remember for so many reasons. We're we appreciate our generous food donations from our families. A handful of our Irving families will be very gracious. And our first graders enjoyed
their time at the Highland Park Veterans Day parade. All of our students loved meeting the seeing eye dog pups and learning about their importance in training. Our PTO had a wonderful glow party and our staff held an Irving version of the turkey trot for our families. Looking ahead, our kindergarten students will have their Thanksgiving feast and show and our
first graders will have their balloons over Broadway. Preschool is busy preparing for their restaurant unit and refining their play planning. They thank they want to thank people who donated coats to their drive and will be collecting through the end of the month. Uh for Bartle, they said that they said
a huge thanks to uh our PTO and nurse Kala for organizing the collection for our Thanksgiving food drive. Also, a big thank you to the community for all the donations. This food will help some of our Bartle families have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
This month, we celebrated our veterans with our first annual Veterans Day assembly and by attending the Veterans Day parade. We also had an EPIC epic game night where families came together to play games and win games in a raffle.
Fun fun was had by all and the HP drama club will be visiting Bartle to do a teaser of their upcoming show. And as for the middle school news, the eighth grade award for perseverance. The eighth graders who received a nomination for perseverance along with the eighth grade teacher team created the reward
that the whole eighth grade class will have for earning the most nominations for perseverance. Eighth graders will have the last two periods on the half day before Thanksgiving to choose a room and be with their friends. Students can choose to be in the gym, watch a movie, and more. All students will get ice cream, too. They want to congratulate everyone on a job well done and keeping
up the great work. Uh this November, their focus is on respect. and the NG NJSLA adaptive test went great and they're ready and excited to take the test again in the spring. The first marking period is over and they would like to thank students for doing a great job and working to their highest potential and they'd like to see them
apply that work ethic for the second marking period. >> Okay. And lastly from the high school they said we had a very successful fall sports season and are so proud of our student athletes for their hard work and dedication. Looking ahead, we're excited
for upcoming school play in December, Peter, Pan, and Wendy. Um, this fall has also been busy with testing with our students recently taking the PSAT, which provides excellent preparation for the SAT. And um while our seniors
participated in college assistance day to support their post-secary planning, our students also took part in the mandatory NJSLA and NJGPA uh field test as the state looks to update testing for the spring. The first marking period has ended. So now is an
important time for students to reflect on how they did and what their goals are for the rest of the year. >> Okay. Thank you. And now we have the super questions or comments. >> Um, are there any questions or comments
for our student representatives? >> Okay, thank you. Great job. Uh, and next we have the superintendence report. >> All right, good evening everybody. I'm really excited to celebrate a lot of students today in our student spotlight and as part of um my report. So, first I
would like to call up um Miss Jennifer Nap as I know is in person and I believe Miss Baldazone, Brook Baldone is with us virtually. Hi, Miss Baldazone. Miss B. Okay. All right. She's she's muted, but she's there with us in the in the virtual sphere. So, uh come on up, Miss
Nap. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, this is always such a fun event to spotlight some of our students um that exemplify our Bartle expectations of being kind, being responsible, and being respectful.
So, we have three students that we are going to spotlight. And I'm going to start with Justice Boyd, one of our second graders. Justice is one of those students who makes every day in the classroom
brighter. He is kind, patient, and always the first to offer help to anyone who needs it. Whether it's a classmate struggling with an assignment or a friend who just needs a little encouragement, justice is always willing to help. Justice treats everyone with
respect and has a natural way of making others feel seen and included. His kindness and positive attitude set an example for the entire class. We are so proud of the role model he is and we can't think of a more deserving student
to be recognized. Congratulations, Justin. Our next student is Jasmine Sky Leester. Jasmine shines brightly every day through her kindness and positive spirit. She is always willing to help others with their work and offer support
with patience and care. Jasmine listens thoughtfully to both her teachers and classmates, showing respect and empathy in every interaction. Whether she's working independently or in a group, Jasmine gives her best effort and helps
make her team stronger. Her dedication, teamwork, and gentle leadership make her a wonderful role model to others. Congratulations, Jasmine. Now I'm going to invite up Miss Draman because she came tonight and she
nominated Kaylee Clark. So Miss Draman, if you could come up. Kaylee, come on up. You know, Haley, I don't even know where to begin or how to keep this brief because it has been such a privilege knowing you
throughout your Bartle journey. For those of you who don't know, I have had the honor of knowing Kaylee since she was in second grade and our classes were buddies together. And it's so amazing to see Kaylee passing on that privilege and
honor of how she learned to be a Bartle Dolphin to those younger students. She's a wonderful mentor to them. She is everything that represents a Bartle Dolphin. When someone drops something, she's the first one to pick it up.
Someone needs help tying their shoe. Kaye is there ready to help. She holds the doors and she's always there to check in on her classmates. but she also checks in on the adults around the building too to make sure that they're okay and if they need anything. So
Kaylee, I am so proud of the young women that you're growing into. Keep up the great work and hey, it's your student spotlight. Thank you, Miss Nap, Miss Baldone in the virtual sphere and Miss Draman. And congratulations again to our Bartle
Dolphins. And I am going to speak on our other two students that we're spotlighting tonight. Uh both Dr. Morero and uh Miss Washington were unable to be here tonight. Um but they have prepared words for me. So I will um I will read on their behalf. The first one, this is
from Miss Washington, Aaron Washington, who is our um girls tennis coach. Uh the two student athletes that we are representing uh are celebrating tonight, Andrea Ditru and Alysia Ditru. Um Andrea has been a member of the Highland Park
girls tennis team for three years. She has been our first singles player each of those years. That means that each and every match Andrea plays the other school's best tennis. You have to play the best tennis player on another school. Over her career, she has
compiled a 44 and 18 record. This season, she finished second at the GMC tournament, was named all division for the third straight year, first team all GMC, and third team allstate group. That is a huge accomplishment.
Congratulations, Andrea, for all you've achieved during your career at Highland Park High School. And for Alisia has also been a member of the Highland Park girls tennis team for three years. She has been the team's second singles player in all three of
those seasons. Over that time, Alicia has an an outstanding record of 61 wins and only just seven losses. That's very impressive. Over that time, Alicia has an outstanding I'm sorry, has the outstanding record. She has an undefeated senior season going 23 and 0
and won the second singles at the GMC tournament, our school's first girls champion since 2010. Alicia has been named all division for the third straight season and first team all GMC. Congratulations to Alicia for all her achievements and such a memorable senior
season. And from Dr. Melero, dear members of the board of education, it's truly a privilege to celebrate the outstanding achievements of Alicia and Andrea, two remarkable student athletes who have brought tremendous pride to Highland Park through their dedication, talent,
and hard work on the girls varsity tennis team. Alicia captured the 2025 GMC girls tennis individual championship and earned a place on the all GMC team. Her focus, determination, and passion for the sport has been inspiring not only to her teammates, but to the
Highland Park, the entire Highland Park community. Andrea, also named to the All GMC team, was honored at the All State group one third team, a reflection of her relent her relentless commitment, perseverance, and the consistent effort she brings to
every match. It is humbling to witness the growth, dedication, and sportsmanship these young women demonstrate every day. Their accomplishments are not only a testament to their individual talents, but also to the culture of teamwork, resilience, and excellence we strive to cultivate across
all of our athletic programs. Please join me in congratulating Alicia and Andrea for their incredible season and for representing Highland Park with such pride, pride, integrity, and heart. Their success is an inspiration to us all. And Dr. Mortalero concludes by saying he feels honored to support you
on your journey. Congratulations. So I have I have two certificates if you would both come up. The first one is certificates from us and then also you received these very beautiful certificates from the all conference at the GMC. So I'd like to present you with both please. All
right. All right. That concludes my report, but I just wanted to give another round of applause to all of our Highland Park students and families that came out to celebrate tonight. This is truly uh the most um exciting part of our uh our evening is to celebrate all of your accomplishments. So, please give
everybody a round of applause again. And of course, you're all cordially invited to stay for the duration of our board meeting. However, I understand uh that you might want to have some celebrations coming up and and enjoy and and probably many other things to do. So, feel free to uh to leave. Thank you.
Okay. >> All right. Moving on. >> Yeah. Um now we're going to move on to the first public comment um portion of the evening. Uh again we're going to uh prioritize the speakers who are here in
person and then move on to um anyone who's online. Um the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments. Board policy number 0167 establishes and regulates the right of
the public to participate in public meetings. Um please if you are going to speak um please give your name and address before you speak. Is anyone here to speak? Yeah.
Good evening. Can you hear me now? Is that on? >> Just had mine turned off. >> Can you just talk a little bit? >> Is it on? >> Yeah, it's not on. >> It's on. >> It is on.
>> Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. Put it down. Yeah. My name is Diane Feldman. I live on North 4th Avenue and I am here tonight as the
chair of the Burough Commission for Universal Access and I am here because the role of the commission is to
advocate for physical and social inclusion of people in Highland Park for people coming to Highland Park. And we were informed of
some of the things that have been going on with the parent advisory group, the special education parent, the advisory group. And I would like to read a letter
to you that was sent to the board this afternoon. It was written by the Elizabeth Wild Greenberg, who could not be here tonight, but I'm going to read the whole thing as
quickly as I can. Two members of the board of education and Dr. Saska, pull your hand to the right. We are writing to express our disappointment with and opposition to
the administration's recent actions with regard to CPAG, the special education parent advisory group. Many families with children with disabilities
wanted to sign this letter, but feared if they did, the district would retaliate and deny their child services. That shows that there is a deep distrust between families and the district and
underscores the importance of permitting the CPAC to meet without district representatives. present so families can speak freely about their concerns and
experiences. As you all know, the Highland Park administration recently informed CEAG leadership that district represented must be present at all meetings and that
all agenda and presentations must be reviewed and approved. Move the microphone to sorry and approved in advance by the district.
CPAG is a parent I'm sorry is a parentled advisory group as described in the New Jersey Department of Education CPAC guidelines.
one that collaborates with but operates independently from the district. Pick it up. Yeah, sorry. Just pick up the topic. Okay. Sorry about that. Um
that operates independent Okay. For the district to represent the voices of families with students with disabilities. This independence is essential to ensure
that families can speak freely about their experiences and for CPAG to effectively advise the district. Unfortunately, under the district's new position, CPAG
would no longer have the ability to fulfill that role. The guide for CPAC's posted on the Department of Education website states, quote, "By definition,
the CPAG is a parent advisory group best practices call for a parentdriven process that works closely with schools and the larger community. Parents can
offer input and strategic solutions that help schools overcome challenges and make decisions related to budgets and resource priorities for special education programs and service. The
guide also states a CPAG is a statemandated districtle parentdriven group charged with providing input to the local school district on system
level challenges in special education and related service. As a result of the district's decision, CPAC leadership resigned. We support CPAC leadership and stand in
solidarity with them. CPAC leadership all directly impacted parent of children with disabilities had created a welcoming, inclusive, and empowering
multilingual environment. We are deeply disappointed with the district's actions who have effectively dismantled this vital organization. We respectfully ask you to reconsider
and reverse the board's decision. Thank you. Sorry. And then there's a list since you receive a copy, you have all the signatures and you also realize that there are parents who opted not to sign even
though they supported it. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I'd also like to make a comment. Um, I most of you know me or many of you do.
See what? Oh, Kimberly Kershaw, 431 South 7th Avenue, Highland Park. Um, I Let's see. I was actually involved in the CPAG at its inception and that my
husband organized it 2006. Yeah. Um he did this all with his own effort which was a lot coming from a family with two children with special needs.
Uh he brought together a lot of resources uh which were mostly donated and it was a collaborative action. It was really very impressive and I think empowering to everybody to be
involved in our son took a turn and um we had to focus him on him medically. We handed it over. Uh I did sit on the steering committee for a short for for a while
there actually. Um and it again it was still collaborative with the district. Uh then at one point um oh shoot it's a state organization I can't remember the name of it came in and said
let's reorganize this huh SPAN yeah SPAN they did a they did a um like a inservice for us on how to reorganize it. So we went with their model.
It ended up being one person running it for a good long time, but I am aware of all of its iterations in the district. I'm also aware of other groups that were organized prior to when my husband had done the the
initial organization. And these are really fragile families. And even if they are not being put under the microscope, they still feel like that. And you have to be
very careful. And you could build a palace at this point. I'm not sure if anybody's going to show up, you know, and it's a mandate. So I'm I'm not sure where we go from here. these these people were giving of their
time and I'm just really concerned for the future of this because because of the I mean well my husband and I as individuals were also always able to work collaboratively with the district
and and we liked modeling that and I don't again don't know where we go from here. Thank you. Thank you. >> Hi, Andy Zapo. Uh, Resenhow Park on
Johnson Street. Uh, I just wanted to come here in support of the CPAG group that did resign and the groups that came before them. Um, there's two people on the group that resigned that I have learned many things from in the course of knowing them, not just around the
their status in CPEG. I learned about the nature of pronouns. I learned about the nature of speech things that I was able to apply in my own life with my son. And it's not an easy thing to have to deal with that in your family. But it
is something that having a autonomous free from being structured under a footprint that you guys want to bring down on them is what is required for people to feel safe.
How different is that from folks of different genders that you don't go and choose to step on them. So why are you stepping on this group? Is this to feed some ego-driven we can't have dissension in this township to try and feed some
type of budget? Is that what you have in mind? It's ridiculous. You're not being servicing this community. You're not serving the families who need it the most. And I hope you go home and think about your consciences. Every single one of you, especially you, Dr. Susca, who
had the nerve to look at her phone while this young woman over here was talking. Ridiculous. You don't get to text during these sessions. You have to listen. That's all. Have a good night. >> Um, thank you. Is there anyone else to speak in person?
And Okay, go ahead, Rob. And I do want to say I understand that this is very emotionally charged, but can we please not make um accusations at people right now?
>> No, I'm talking I'm talking to the public generally. Can we please try to keep this um like safe and respectful on all ends? Um Rob holds software 431 South 7th
Avenue. Um I've been putting the CPAD group together on and off in several iterations for 20 years. Um I think it's vitally important for these parents to have this venue.
looking at the best practices of other districts. There is certainly parents only meetings and they bring in the speakers that they'd like. I'm not sure, you know, we're we're an independent group. You know, we're not
part of the district. You know, I would like to see this patched up. What matters to me is that this gets put together and gets functioning again to support the parents. I would suggest the change of leadership on both sides. You
know, I would like to thank Kristen Springer for her work and I would like to thank Dr. Pixley for her work, but I think two new people to help collaborate and to drive this forward might be the best idea here.
Um, we very much want to work with the district and serve in this role. If the district doesn't want to cooperate, we will just become a club and we will do as we like. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there anyone else in person? >> Okay. Um how many people do we have online? Uh is there anyone um who's attending virtually who would like to speak? If so, raise your hand.
No. Okay. Um, in that case, I'm going to close this public comment. There will be another public comment section um after board committee reports and recommendations. Um, and so I would like to go to curriculum and instruction.
Dan, >> curriculum instruction met on November 13th. Um, we talked about two um, broad issues. One was a number of course approvals. Um, there were a number of
them uh, most of them were for electives. Um we had a discussion reviewing the courses to say whether they can be uh offered. It doesn't necessarily mean that they will run. So that'll be dependent on student numbers. Um but the
these will allow us to offer different electives um for for students um sometimes who I think haven't been u preferring the current offerings. Um there are two English elective classes that were included. Passport to the World and Once Upon a Time. Um, Passport
to the World is exploring kind of English through travel. Um, Once Upon a Time is exploring it through um, children's literature. Um, these are attempts to build um, some more excitement for uh, activities that really are crosscutting in in Portswork.
Um, there are also two electives in Spanish. They're for students that who uh aren't necessarily in the AP track in Spanish um but who want more language experience. Uh one is builds off a
popular film class in English um and actually looked at Spanish films. Um they're collaborating with the English department in that world language is collaborating with the English department. The other is a collaboration with the art teacher around making art around what they have been learning um
in their arts class, particularly uh focused around um African-Americans who served uh in the United States Marine Corps. Um and so they've been doing some of this in the art class and this is actually a connection from Spanish to art. So these are actually some pretty
innovative courses to kind of build across curriculum. Um the last one is um uh oh not the last one. Um uh there's also astronomy and space uh science. That's a revision of a previous course.
Um there applications of algebra um is an alternative for a third mathematics course after algebra 1 and geometry. It gives students um a more practical kind of take on things that maybe would be
included in algebra 2, but it's not to replace that. Um but it is another offering um for students who who want that. Um and the last one is an edit to skills for success. Uh it's already offered as a five credit class, but
sometimes we have students who move here midyear. Um and so uh it was basically to allow it to be a semester class, not just a year- round class. Um the other big issue we talked about was the homework policy and grading. Um there
was a question that was raised uh about uh waiting homework uh in class activities and testing in in terms of um course grades. Uh we realized it was more of a grading question than necessarily a homework uh policy question. Um grading grading is is
defined as either sumitative or formative. Formative grading includes homework, classwork, and quizzes. So teachers designate whether it's uh um part of that formative or summative um piece. Summitive includes projects, final essays, and cumulative tests. So there isn't necessarily a homework
grade, although homework would contribute to the formative grade. Um, we did look at the homework policy. Um, and it is actually pretty general to allow um, uh, teachers to make decisions about their specific um, coursework. Um, that
it shouldn't be busy work. Uh, that it should be meaningful. It should extend lessons learned in class. So, it shouldn't be new material um, and provide more opportunities for practice. Um we actually liked the policy in the in the breath that uh teachers as professionals could make these
decisions. Um another issue discussed was the kind of fuzzy deadlines where students can turn things in later and later and that isn't uh necessarily preparing them for the real world where students will face deadlines. Um uh and and we discussed that it would be
good for uh to share this policy more broadly with the community um so they're aware of of um these issues. Um yeah, that was the the meeting. Um
so in terms of voting items, uh we have approval of field trips and I have one piece to read in the St. Peters University basketball trip was cancelled. Um I believe that was because of busing. Um
uh we have appro approval of uh four unconfirmed HIV reports. Uh approval of um university uh graduate um observation that's from a student in school
psychology at Ruckers. approval of home instruction for three students and then approval of those courses that I just mentioned. Um, are there any questions or discussions? >> Um, yeah, I have a question about the
homework policy. Yes. >> Um, so I guess what would we discuss that it would be a good idea to share the policy with the community just to clarify the way that the policy works. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think also so that uh
Yeah. So parents are are aware of the the choices teachers are making and and also um aware of the kind of overarching policy that so they can um they can understand uh kind of the homework and whether or not to be
applied. You can't hear me. Oh. Um I can hear myself kind of ringing. >> It's really loud over here. Oh, it got really loud over here. Just close it. >> Sorry. Um yeah, I think it would be a good idea Sharon some and I don't know maybe we include this in the minutes
after this but maybe in a superintendent um weekly email too. So, I don't know how what the best way to to make sure that parents get access to it. Um, but I think just to be aware for how homework should be positioned into in classrooms,
even though there's some leeway, but I think the the policy actually has kind of best practices for for homework. And I think um I think we're pretty happy with that as well as a kind of leeway teachers have as professionals to make decisions. So I think it's really about
sharing it just so parents also are aware of that and kind of what's guiding homework. >> Yeah, I think I think it was important that um the community sees there's no certainly no prohibition on homework in
the district and um uh there's encouragement in the fairly general policy that homework be assigned when it's meaningful and builds on lessons in class. um that it not be, you know, busy work, but that it, you know, be, you know, be meaningful. Um, and I think and
I think there is flexibility in the policy so that teachers can decide for themselves when homework is appropriate and when it actually contributes to what they're trying to communicate in class. Um I think you know during during the co years
um uh I wasn't on the board then but there may have been a sort of tacit or u understood you know policy um that there not be homework because it was you know burdensome and hard to grade and students were having so much
difficulty at just in regular life. Um that's not the case now. Um, and so teachers can assign homework, students have to do it. Um, and it's an important part of what it means to be a student in Highland Park. >> Yeah. I guess my question has to do
actually more with the due date deadline situation. Um, in that my daughter, for example, comes home, does her homework, you know, it's no problem. um you know my son I think about this
idea that you know having these uh differentiation between a due date and a deadline which I think is a good way of thinking about it although I don't think that it is uh described that that's a good way of thinking about it however that can be confusing my son is likely
going to have a more difficult time with that where the deadline is going to be the only due date he thinks about and so my question is, you know, is this
uh program actually helping the people that maybe it's designed to in order to give additional flexibility. It might actually be harder in some cases. Nikki, it seems >> I'm laughing because I completely agree with you and I have personal experience with this
that if you give a few of my children that extra leeway, they're going to wait until the absolute last minute or completely forget about it and not ever hand it in. So, the hard deadline, at least in my experience, my
personal experience as well, um even for work, I need a hard deadline if you give me leeway. I'm going to take the leeway. Um, and I think it does help um, kids stay focused and regimented and structured.
>> I do think that I do think it would be helpful if it was understood between the different teachers or even at the different schools because not all of them followed the same policy. Some have the due date and the deadline. This is getting louder. >> Some have a due date and a deadline.
Some have um you know points off if it's up to you know x amount of days late. Some are points off per day. It just seems to really vary by teacher. So I think it's great to have the discussion >> um just so everybody's a little bit more on the same page. I don't I don't mind
the extra date if there are points taken off. I mean it's a very personal thing like at least because then there's motivation for that original due date because otherwise you're going to get points taken off. That's something at least. Um but there have been other classes that it's just Yeah. Or it can be a week later or it can be two week later. >> Yeah. I think it's trying to help the
kids that are going to struggle. >> Yeah. >> Um but is actually doing the opposite because >> they they need more fire. >> Right. Right. >> So I think it's it's something to discuss. Yeah. And I'm glad that you guys had that discussion in curriculum
and it's something that can continue. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Um equity and excellence. Mon'nique. Can I? So, so and how would that I mean we can have more discussion now. Um how would that look? I mean so should we consider adding to the policy
some kind of guidance about due dates deadlines? Should we is it would it be a good idea to have uh districtwide or schoolwide or gradewide? Like we don't have to discuss it now. We could. >> Yeah. I mean I don't I don't know how it's set up now. Um I know it's a polic
I don't think it's a board policy right like it's just generally a school policy is that >> yeah I not it's not a policy but there are some best practices I think the big a lot of the conversation has to be about um the word yet some students
aren't getting there yet right and focusing on the whole point of any kind of task is either knowledge building acquisition or knowledge application and so I think it's important to, you know, listen, I deadlines are very, very important. Obviously, there's only 10
months in the year and you have to get things done. Um, but really with the understanding that sometimes some students just need a little bit more time because they're not there yet. And how do we encourage the um ability to get get work back from students whether
formative or assum a summitative and being able to get the feedback back so that that's so that they can learn and then take the feedback and put it into action um so that they can continue to develop their skills especially in a lot of our classes where the skills build on
themselves right so it would be like if I'm learning a skill and then I hand it in and now I've got to move on and it's this deadline and I'm not giving them feedback to go back and remediate and rework. Um, now it's going to build build and we're going to end up in a
little bit of a hole. So there's a fine line and it's very challenging to do given that every discipline every student uh every discipline and every teacher is really different to how we might want to do something in math might be different from language arts or from
Spanish or fizzed, right? And so I think it's so nuanced in terms of grade level in terms of content area giving feedback in a music class in a grade in music is different from a math class. So to put something in policy um first of all it
would probably go into regulation which would be how we enact the policy but I think giving the teachers flexibility um is essential for that. Um, I could see understanding, you know, as a teacher myself, a high school teacher, trying to get, you know, a whole bunch of science teachers on the same page.
Um, I think that's more likely to say this is how we're going to be as a high school science department in terms of um, and that's what we've done. I think Dan alluded to that in his um, address about the report was that it's changing it to like formative and summitative, right? Something that informs your
learning and something that is the the culmination of your learning. So, we've been working on that to even do things in grade book to be able to communicate that and then how much of those things are weighted. Um, so I think that's really important because what I wouldn't want is all of a sudden now there's like a timeline or a number of things and how
many and now it's or we're just compounding that. So, um, I think there's some things that are nuanced that are part of practice and other things that give us flexibility. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I I think generally the more
specific things are probably best handled at department or school levels because what it means to do homework in second grade is very different than seventh grade which is different than 12th right and so I don't think that's the level of policy necessarily but but it's certainly something we can kind of
ask you know how different departments or how schools are kind of managing homework and and you know figuring that out because I do think and this is one of the things we I think we talked about in this meeting. Maybe I was talking about somewhere else, >> but I think we we talked about kind of
coming out out of COVID when some teachers weren't assigning any homework and um and you know there's been a transition even just since the two years I've been on the board in terms of kind of that understanding. Um it feels like
we're out of COVID. Maybe there's still some um more strict kind of practices we can be putting in around homework. We're still a little soft on deadlines and that kind of thing, but um so I think I think you know we can keep monitoring
this and and uh maybe even asking how different schools and and departments are are are because I do think the the idea that this science class versus that science class versus another science class is doing it very differently can also make it harder on students as they go from
grade to grade. And so I think that some consistency makes sense too. Okay. So, in that case, we're going to move on to um equity and excellence. Mon'nique. Hello. Yes. Equity and excellence met on November 13th. Um and
our first item on the agenda was a discussion of the uh making some revisions to our uh headlice uh particularsis policy and management of particulosis uh quoteunquote headlice policy. Um Dr.
presented to us that finance and facilities uh had initial discussion of the district policy in comparison to the existing straws policy and is recommending that as we look at uh updating specifically protocols around
identification and notification that we um use the st policy as a guide there and our tweaks as needed as opposed to using the current district policy. Our committee did not um take a deep dive into the policy yet. We know that uh
that will be happening at financing facilities and we will be talking more about that policy uh next month. In the meantime, Dr. Zuska has put some recommended um or suggested language changes in the document.
Then we had special guests um assistant principal uh Brooke Baldazone and Kevin Dain to join us joined us to talk about uh Rise Jr. and our Rise programs. Uh so starting with Rise Jr. at Bartle. Um
Brooke shared that uh sort of gave us an overview of the day at Rise Jr. what what a typical day is like in the program. Um so that includes uh restorative conversation in the morning with uh Miss Bazone and then students
into academics. She then um or students then have an opportunity to get lessons uh from an SEAL intern or um rise specific lessons on high priority areas and this is all based on sort of uh
individualized referral data on the students who are participating at uh at that given time. Um and it also includes time for reflection for the students to actually reflect on um areas uh behavioral areas or concerns that they may individually want to uh uh think
about uh and address with the support of the uh staff. Then they get obviously time for lunch, lunch and learn. Um they also have additional time for finishing up academics. Um there's a counselor checkout as well as a checkout with Miss
Baldone at the end of the day. Um and then they also tie in the parents at the end of the day as well. Um uh in terms of updating them on the students day and uh their participation in the various activities. Uh what Miss Baldone shared is that the
majority of kids who go through Rise Jr. end up expressing um genuine remorse um and do not typically end up returning which is um really good to hear. If rise um is not effective in instances where this does happen uh typically the first
time it does happen the administration will consider changes in consequences. Uh and as again as she said this happens rarely. However, there was an example in one uh one example she cited, I should say, was of a student who um
ended up receiving additional therapeutic and IEP supports as a result of um just having some reoccurring challenges uh and consequences there were adjusted for that student that seemed to be helpful. And at the committee level discussion,
we talked about um the value in keeping data on the rise student reflection form. So that was kind of one request I think that came out of the discussion that it would be really helpful to have more of a solid tracking system and really keeping again data on the student
reflections would be really helpful um in terms of thinking about determining when it's needed to escalate student to the next tier of support. um and having that data to back it up. We also talked about um the value of the students own
reflections in uh tracking their growth and their learning process at the middle school and high school level. Um Mr. Depay talked about uh how the middle school program mimics the high school program. Um so changes that were made at
the start of his tenure included implementing guidelines and profile sheets um specifically uh for uh owl students. so that teachers who are assigned RISE could get a a very individualized picture of each student. Um again these are uh based on their
individual profile sheets. Um RISE Dr. uh Mr. Payne also shared that Rise moved to the cafeteria. Uh and part of the reason behind that was because um the camera in the cafeteria allow staff to better see when issues occur in RISE um
and or when students are not meeting. the expectations of what they should be doing or how they should be using their time arise. Um he also shared that staff does have walkie-talkies um with uh to communicate with administration as needed if there again are situations
where administration needs to come in and support a staff person in rise. Um he talked about students uh of course having to hand in their phones and AirPods at the beginning of the day and students also complete a reflection form um and they also start and end the day
with Mr. Dain. So similar sort of flow there to the Raj Jr. Um we disc or we discussed some of the benefits that they're already seeing with RISE and that is the uh having a as much of a as
close as possible um uh proximity to a student's academic day is a priority in the rise program and we're seeing and they're seeing that students are benefiting that from that. So really trying to ensure that um students are experiencing as full as possible of an
academic day as they can during their time in Rise. Um students have access to Google Classroom for example um and teacher support is needed. Students also are able to meet with um counselors um child study team members if um if that is uh if the student does have a child
study team member um assigned to them. Um they also uh get teen center support and support service personnel that are available. Students may also be able to go to a specific class if um staff finds that it would be beneficial for them. And again this is these are decisions
that are made on a case-byase basis but it was really nice to hear that there are these options for students who are in rise. Um so we looked at or there was a discussion just very brief discussion I think Mr. Depay talked about how he looked at the discipline data from last
school year this time to this school year. Overall, um I guess the key takeaway was there was has been an overall de decrease in incidents and suspensions. So last year there were 189 discipline discipline incidents at the high school to date. Um eight
suspensions, three of which were rise and four of which were out of school suspension. Um involving a total of seven students. uh this year uh to date there are 109 in discipline incidents three of which uh resulted in
suspensions and one of those were rise or so again just he shared that little tidbit of uh data with us um which was uh uh I guess encouraging to see the overall reduction in discipline incidents
uh let's see let me just go through here um he Dr. Mr. Japain did say that there are many students are noticing many students at the high school middle school level who are repeatedly attending RISE um and these students um are you know he talked about just the
importance of students being willing to take advantage of the resources available um during their time at RISE and so that's something that is being acknowledged as a challenge. Um there is certainly discretion as to what um staff offers to students based on what they
think would be most impactful um on an indivi individual level. But uh sometimes that means just having students um take out time from lunch as opposed to spending the day in RISE. Um he talked about the RISE program providing
access to additional resources with the understanding that students will change when they want to change. So, it's really he's really trying to kind of walk this delicate balance of supporting our pre-teen and teenage students um encouraging them uh to get the most out
of the resources RISE provide can provide for them, but also understanding that each student is going to kind of um meet them where they are um when they're ready. Teachers are also being encouraged to address discipline challenges at the tier one or classroom level as much as possible to help to
reduce sort of the uh the traffic in in rise. Um and that this is a way also to ensure that issues are addressed in the classroom giving the teachers that authority. um there uh is not one consistent person at this time assigned to RISE and that is does make it
challenging to ensure sort of consistent expectations for staff and uh students. So Mr. Payne talked about um how important it is uh that there is kind of this level of consistency in in RISE and how staff interacts with the students uh
during their time in RISE. And um so again, not having one consistent person assigned to RISE means that there is additional effort that has to be made to ensure that consistent expectations are um occurring for students and staff during that time.
Uh let's see we talked about um at Bartle teachers have have to log contacts that have been address contacts that have been addressed with parents first and then they go to the administrator. So this is encouraging parents to help to continue the
conversations um around um concerns that happen at school. Um and so of course when I when we talked about Bardell wasn't in the context of Arise or Rise Junior program. It was more so in how students and uh teachers and are building relationships with parents um
and administrators as well to help encourage those sort of schooltoome connections and conversations um and this they're noticing has also helped to help reduce sort of the discipline reports that are coming into the office at Bartle. So very happy to
hear that. Um we then looked at uh the discipline chart for October uh and we didn't have at that time the uh OSS and ISS charts completed. Um they are they were being finalized by the building administrators
at that time. Um but we did look at sort of the total number of incidents. Um and one thing we did notice is that uh the total number of incidents is considerably higher uh at in each school or was I should say considerably higher in October at each school than they were
in September. Um Miss Baldone attributed part of the change at uh in the elementary level to some of the second grade students having a more difficult time transitioning to Bartle. Um so that was a known um factor that she cited. Um at the upper uh grade levels, middle
school and high school, uh Dr. Suspa cited issues including um inc uh a higher number of vaping incidents um fights um and uh drugs as well and those were reflected in the higher number of incidents at the middle school and high
school. Let's see. And then lastly, we uh just had a quick um followup with Dr. Susca on the rigor perception feedback forms uh based on stakeholder feedback. Of course, we discussed this in our last
meeting uh public board meeting. Uh but based on stakeholder feedback since that time, small tweaks have been added to the language just to provide better answer choices. So now in all of the feedback forms at every school level there are five choices which give um you
know respondents more range there and more descriptive um opportunities in their answers. Um and that is all. Any questions? Um >> like don't all
>> one question and and um it's uh so as you were reporting out on the rise numbers from last year to this year it says one repeat offender in in each one and then the next sentence is there are
many students repeatedly attending rise. So, I'm a little confused about the repeat offenders. Is that in terms of like out of school suspensions uh as opposed to RISE? Are they going through RISE multiple times? It sounds like they are.
>> And is that is the idea that's preventing them from out of school suspensions? Um I'm a little confused about the repeat offender piece. I don't know. >> I think and I could be wrong, but I'm looking at the notes too. So the the
numbers that were cited here in terms of the total number of incident suspensions and even this repeat offender one was coming from the high school if I'm not mistaken. Um but then my understanding is that they're they're seeing a lot of repeat offenders at the middle school
level and I thought the high school too but maybe that needs to be clarified. I'm glad you raised that question because now I'm not and maybe Allison I'm not sure I see your hand raised. I'm not sure if you recall specifically, but my understanding was that the middle school had the re issue with the repayment.
>> Yes, I think it was middle school. >> Yeah, that while there were, you know, a number of instances at high school, they have not necessarily um warranted rise, but I think the middle school has had more students in rise more than one time.
>> Okay, we'll confirm that, but I'm I'm pretty sure that's that's the case. But thank you for mentioning that. >> That makes more sense. At the same time, I think the the drop in number of discipline issues at the high school is really noteworthy. Um, that's a that's a large drop. So, >> yeah, absolutely.
>> Did want to note that. >> This is Sarah from the ether. Can you all hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, I'm just wondering when we think about like the middle school and um, you know, just some of the increases from September se I think it was you
said September to October. um how do we think about the cell phones and you know I thought that the theory was that that we'd be able to reduce um just incidences in general and so it might be interesting to look at year-over-year
um but just just that's just on my brain as how all this fits into that puzzle >> and and if there's something else going on because you know I think the overarching feeling of that that it really has helped um but but it'd be interesting to kind of dig under I don't
know if anyone has had thought on that. >> I think when I when I sat in C central leadership team, they're going to be looking at that group is going to be looking at the numbers, but it was too early uh the last time we met and I don't know I think they set a time later maybe Dr. Husker remembers when the
central leaders team will look at some of those uh cell the overall uh electronics and impact on discipline because we certainly had that data in making the decision to change the policy. So I think that's coming but it's taking some time.
>> Yeah, we didn't uh connect tie that into our analysis of this data mainly because for that same reason that I think there just needs to admin needs more time to um really flesh things out a little bit. Um so we'll look forward to having conversations around sort of um how our
cell phone policy is possibly um helping to reduce uh the incidents. Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. >> Any other questions? >> My only comment um Mon'nique on that is is uh on the what you're talking about
on Rise and the high school when we did that when we had that report um sort of outside audit. >> The comment was on st you know the recommendations an ideal in the ideal world would be to have um consistent staffing and I think space. Those were two of the things that
were mentioned and both are obviously big budget issues, but I think they recognize and it sounds like the uh coming from the administrators obviously that that's >> in the ideal world that would be a really great need to fill. >> Exactly. I'm glad you pointed that out. I mean, we're still I think they're
doing the best of the resources we have. Um but yeah, those are two key recommendations. And the third was one was also having um some sort of a um central person. uh not sort of the principal or assistant principal but a central person um which I know we're also missing at this point um because in
my mind I just think it's nice it would be nice to have as we did have in the past but a person that's not the principal or not the assistant principal um being that um sort of restorative um presence again I know the idea is to really distribute the leadership around
res restorative practices and um supporting our students therapeutically across the board but certainly um that would be a benefit I believe in our programs, but it sounds like um they're doing the best they can with the resources they have and we're seeing some positive results. So, we just need to keep
>> pushing. I'm I guess I have a follow-up question on this same issue about the repeat offenders, which is so there's more middle school students who are repeating the RISE program. Is
that >> that's >> that's what >> yes that's what I'm almost 100% certain is the case and Allison believes that's that's the case as well. I'm sorry my note didn't clarify that. I mean I I just want to say for the record I do not like that term VP defenders yet it's not
it's not a personal attack. I'm just you're making me think that I wanted to mention this and I I I do not like using that term. I wish we could find another term for it. I haven't figured that out yet for myself. Um, but if anyone would like to take on thinking of a child of a word that does not make our students
sound like they're in the juvenile justice system, um, we really want to be very careful. I'm always trying to be careful of language. Um, so again, you're just I'm not pointing any fingers. I'm I'm right with you on that. >> Sorry, I saw it in the notes. Um, that's why I was repeating it. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. No, I know. Yeah, I'm
I'm working on that. Believe me. But I guess I guess my question is and you know from who was there to um report on this, but is there something different that the RISE program does in high school um versus middle school? Is is
there a difference? >> Well, but what was reported to us, the middle school program is designed to mimic the high school program. >> Mon, could you speak? Um it's probably just the technology, but could you just speak up a little bit? I'm having a hard time hearing you. >> Oh, muffled. Am I muffled or just low?
Is this better? Maybe I a little bit laptop. >> Um, so I will say Mr. Depay did emphasize the fact that the middle school program mimics the high school rise program. uh you know again I think there might be
some intangibles that or not necessarily intangibles but some more qualitative factors to consider whether it's like staffing who's at the different schools and the different relationships with the students um that may be behind some of the differences. Um but we didn't really
get into um teasing out any specific um differences between the two programs that would be noteworthy. Our sense was that there the middle school truly does model um the high school program and they do have the shared resources of course as well
>> just to give a sense because I pulled up the 20 245 numbers. So there's always a jump from September to October. Uh we jumped from 13 incidents to 37 this year. last year that went
from 57 to 90. So even though there's a jump like and those numbers were much better than the year before and so I you know we see that jump it seems like every year but our our numbers are way lower. Um so I think that's something to
to note here too. Then they tend to stay around that number. uh sometimes go down by month, but but uh it seems like September just has a lower number of incidents. >> Well, I I imagine there's some fewer school days in September than there is in October.
>> Yeah. >> As well. >> Um I was thinking Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, I'm I'm good. You can go ahead. As I say, I was thinking Marilyn about that report too that the recommendation or one of the observations of the
auditor was that these inconsistent staffing and and and space was an issue too. Um, and I I thought the way she the the auditor put that was pretty strong that if there isn't sort of someone in in charge of the program, it's just not
going to have the inhended effect because you can't have person getting to know all of the kids and applying, you know, and like learning from experience what works and what doesn't. Um is there is there anything we can do sort of having the budget to hire someone for
that position to just you know um put this in someone's realm where we can have someone who's directly accountable for the um you know for the well-being and for the performance of these kids. >> Yeah. I mean my recommendation is we can
definitely put it on a wish list item and see where we land. We're not sure what state aid figures we'll come out with. Uh we actually started that conversation today with the administrative team to give other wish list items um that you know are are high priority in the district as well. The thing that you'll probably need is um
three of them theoretically, one for each building. Um I would strongly um recommend that you don't put sixth graders in the same uh rise program as 12th graders with the same person. It's it I don't think it would be feasible um
to even do two because Bartle is a whole separate building. So you can't move the kids in between the buildings. So Bartle would have to have one middle school and high school. The issue is that there's not rise every day. So it's not like it's a full like it's very hard to navigate when it's not a you know
there's some days where there's no rise, you know, but there's some days when there's rise, some days when it's one student, some days when it's a couple of students. So, you know, it's really hard to navigate putting in sort of this full-time position, and you would probably need three of them if you were going to do the model really effectively
um to have one person in charge of it in each of the each of the buildings. So, I mean, we could certainly put it in the budget um for three positions um or at least maybe two, one for middle high school, but again, theoretically, you could be putting a 12th grader in the same
sphere as a sixth grader. um you know that that could be something but I mean we could put it in and then see where we land with uh you know maybe we'll maybe the state will come through and give us lots of monies. I look at an for supporting that move but um you know with some of the other
needs um that the the the administrative team brought forward. It would be hard to um probably push for something like that when the some of the needs are are far greater that impact a larger group of students. So what are some ideas? >> I think I'm wrong though. I thought the
report said that there was less consistency about who was overseen at the middle school and there was a lot of consistency in Bartle and maybe and I think the high school too, >> right? But the but the assistant principles effectively
have some part of it. Um that's a good question at the high school. I think the high school is a little bit easier because of the way their schedule works and their staffing um for d because it's a duty period. Bartle doesn't have any duties. The teachers don't. So it's it's
consistent because it's always uh Brooke or administr it's Brooke, Jen, and I think they see Tara the school counselor and then uh somebody else. So like those are the people. So I don't I mean Brook uh you know fortunately um you know Bartle doesn't have a lot anymore which
is great. um if they're out, I'm not really sure what they do um because those teachers don't have a duty. And so then each grade when you go to middle and high school, it gets a little bit more nuanced because it's their duty. So the schedules um are quite different for middle and high school in terms of that flexibility. Yeah, because I'm just
looking at like the ISS numbers at the middle school are the highest, which might also mean why they're distributed more, but if there's a place to prioritize, that would seem to be the play, >> right? >> To try to create more consistency. >> Yeah, instead of hiring, sure, three,
it'd be great, but if we only had money for one or halfime for one person, I think the middle school would be the priority. >> Okay. Okay. In that case, we'll move on to uh finance and facilities. I see. >> And finance and facilities met on
November 11th. Um I'll just go through some of the items that we talked about. Not nearly as fascinating as curriculum and equity and excellence, but it's it's important. Um under under finance, just just some pieces of interest. Well, I'll do the
agenda after that. Um we are looking to um approve the acceptance of some donations. We were given a donation actually from the uh the uh the universal commission guess is who spoke tonight, right? >> Yeah, universal access. >> Yeah, I should say universal access
commission. Um they are donating uh $750 each for Glow Jr. and Glow. There's also a donation on the agenda from Raceway um for I'll check the amount when I get there, but it's for it's this uh Oh, is that
15,000? Yes, thank you. Um for basketball warm-up gear, which is which is excellent. And the Highland Park Education Foundation uh grant on the agenda is for $5,000. Um there's also on the agenda an item for a non-resident tuition contract and
that's for a senior who moved out of the district but will be paying tuition to finish the year. Um under facilities you see that there's additional change orders for the Bardal structural repairs um still within the
original allowance of the project. We talked in committee about the um the surprises that keep coming up along the way in that project. things that you couldn't couldn't know until you start they start taking things apart. Um something about electrical conduits
under a floor. It's it's above my knowledge but John Flanigan explained it very well. Um but but the issue is each of these things that keeps coming up. They obviously need to be taken care of before the project can continue. Um so you'll see a lot number of change orders. Um and that amount is going up
as well. um health and safety checklists. Um John Flanigan is working on they're due in December and he was working on getting the science room hoods being repaired uh prior to this these checklists going out. So it's on there. Um as everybody
else said, the headlights policy is now going back to the Strauss Esme policy. So we'll all see in um committee one more at least one more time this month. So it's not on first read. uh control of communicable diseases is on first read.
Uhformational items we talked about as uh as was just stated that the uh budget meetings have begun for the 26 27 school year budget and in fact this week or recently the um administrators they they received all their budget manuals and it
sounds like those meetings are starting. Um you all can look at the budget calendar that was attached to the agenda um and see where we will be reviewing it in January February and uh um ultimately
as is required by April 27th we actually there's a public hearing and we actually adopt a budget between now and then there's a lot of work to that's going to be going on on those wish lists and on what's needed based on state law and regulations and so forth.
Um the other thing we talked about which uh is was we discussed one more time the request by a community member to purchase property owned by the district. We discussed it again because there was a request for community input on that decision and our discussion was that
that was a board decision to be made and we had in fact made the decision to um not move forward with selling any of those properties and not to look for community input at this point at this time. And then we did the facilities projects
update. Um baseball fields sod was going on and chain link fencing is installed um being installed around the dugouts. Again the bartal structural repairs um was part of a lengthy conversation. Um there's also a list that's been put
out of like value added changes like as this gets done. Um there are other things that could be done or should be done that would benefit our facilities. Um we can't make a decision on any of those changes until we know the scope of the additional
required work which is was uh we're waiting to hear at that point. So sometime in the future there'll be a conversation about what else we could or should be doing while we're in the midst of fixing up that area of Bartle. The Bartle bathroom work is going along on schedule. Bids for the additional prek
classroom room are going out. And um at that point there had been a meeting and a site visit. We talked last month here that the uh greenhouse at the high school was not f was not financially feasible within the money that we had for it. um despite everybody's best
efforts. So, um the uh the parties, the people that are involved in what what could be needed at the high school um did some a tour and and a meeting to uh to consider um a maker space and um potentially adding maybe an
environmental sustainability center in an existing room at the high school. So there's some ideas that were being floated around and ultimately being will be uh they'll be doing some research to see the feasibility of doing those.
And the agenda numbers one through six are the the usual the bills list, treasurer's report and board secretaries report and all the certifications that we meet our financial obligations.
um budget transfers, travel and related expense reimbursement report. We have a list of contractors on the agenda for professional related services um including school medical services uh
some other agencies to help with neurodedevelopmental uh evaluations and bilingual evaluations and others through learning tree. I think these are we approve them and then as they're needed they're available to be used by um our
district. We also have contractors for professional development. High tops is one of them. Um some coaching uh in the early childhood
area and uh Zumba sessions, yoga and um a STEM envir enrichment program. The uh oh actually the yoga is being paid for by municipal allian the municipal alliance the zumba is also through a grant a schoolbased youth services grant
we have three out of district placements that are on the agenda and then the one that I talked about the non-resident who's going to attend for the remainder of the school year uh through tuition we have three students needing bedside instruction
one student um the McKenna Vento Uh so um uh it's a student who was a Highland Park student to attend Franklin and under that um program then we paid tuition for that child to attend there. The submission of that health and safety
checklist that we talked about is on here and uh the actual um what the Highland Park Education Foundation grants will be covering is listed here. Um, for example, expanding the use of
um, CLA classroom whiteboard. Um, helmet safety for dolphins on wheels. Uh, something for the preschool, I believe it is. Um, yeah, propm, third grade graphic novel exploration
and, uh, 3D printer for robotics and the Highland Park Fling archival project. So, we thank the Highland Park Education Foundation. and also these teachers for taking the time to write the grants. Um, oh, and also their support of the Campm Mason outdoor education program.
Then we have the donation from the class of 1975 in the amount of $1,300 and that one that I mentioned from the commission for universal access for $1,500. 15,000 from Raceway and that's for the home and away uniforms, the boys and
girls basketball team. Uh so we thank everybody for giving us these donations. We certainly need them and it will benefit our students. Also a donation. What is this? Oh, the boost athletic uh boosters. The
amount of 16,340 to uh get us to install water on those baseball fields, which will certainly help with the sod we're putting down. Um, number 19 is a student that um has been disenrolled
and uh the number 20 is a nonpublic technology purchase for the yeshiva shared girls school. That's something that we just were required to pass three funds for them to make their purchases. And then 21 is those change orders I talked about for
things that that we're finding in the Bartle structural repair that need to be done. As well as there's 22 is some change orders for the Bartle uh bathroom. And then number 23 is an approval of an amendment and submission uh for our long
range facilities plan and the and submission to the DOE. Um, we have a lead service at lines that need to be replaced because of lead in the line at the at the high school and we are applying for a water
infrastructure grant through the state. Um, and as Mr. Rosa was explaining to us before, it's a rather big project, one that we want to make certain that we're submitting all of our needs to get that project done. It's a very expensive project, I'm sure. And at the end of all that, we would have responsibility for
any um work on this that was not within that was that was beyond the state funding. So hopefully that won't be too much. And last one is approval and agreement with ND NDK Realy for use of um uh their property for uh basketball
practices uh during the winter sports season. And that's financial facilities. There any questions? I just have a comment that I'm really excited that we're revisiting the lice policy. I'm I'm looking forward to voting for
it. >> Next month if we're lucky. >> Um okay. If nothing else, then do I go through personnel? Yes. Okay. Um so for action items for personnel um we have approvals of leaves of ab
absences for parental leave um medical leave um approval of resignations um Wilfredo Roman uh is retiring at the end of the year. Um
and then we have approval of appointments um including uh girls basketball, boys basketball, middle school, some other volunteers. We have some uh very exciting news which is
uh Mr. Behringer will be a special education teacher at Bartle. Um, we also, uh, with Mix Perez having left, we actually have a, uh, orchestra teacher, um, so welcome aboard, Mr. Marmile, and
we are also hiring a high school media specialist, uh, Miss Chapman coming over. Um, so this is all very exciting. Um, we also have a number of change of prep hours, um, correction of salary, uh, just
having to do with what time of year they started, um, approval of transfers, um, approval of professional development, pres presenters and presentation hours.
Um and then in policy and regulation we have two policies on first reading. Um the 1110 organizational chart and R8451
control of communicable disease. Uh we have number of policies and regulations for second reading that is 2365 acceptable use of generative AI 5701
academic integrity 7424 bed bugs and then the regulation around bed bugs are 742 FAR bed bugs. Um, okay.
Uh, and now we are going to have our second public comment of the board meeting. The Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments. Board policy I'm going to laugh about the 67 again.
Number 0167 establishes and regulates the right of the public to participate in public meetings. Uh again, if there's anyone in person who would like to speak, uh they have priority and then we'll move to
anyone virtually who'd like to speak. son. Yep. >> Kimberly Kershaw. I'm um >> just I'm sorry. Speak closer to the mic so people >> Kimberly Kershaw uh South 7th Avenue Park. I am been a longtime member of the
Commission for Universal Access. And I actually was the person who um requested that we donate our funds because we hadn't used them. Um I just wanted to make sure that when in our public that
is part of your public record, part of our public record is that that money would be earmarked for specific student use. So um for things that are not funded already currently. Okay. Um, it would be lovely if we got a
report back just so we know where the funds went so we can consider maybe making a donation again. We don't use all our funds every year. >> Thank you. >> Okay. If there's no one else in person, is there anyone
online? Okay. If you're online and you'd like to make a public comment, please raise your hand. Okay. Uh so then we're going to close public comment and move on to board action
items. Uh for curriculum instruction, I move items one through five. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty, >> yes. >> Miss Cassald, >> yes. >> Dr. Coleman, >> yes. >> Dr. Pixley,
>> yes. >> Miss Cruz, >> yes. >> Dr. Schoolman, >> yes. >> Miss Stanio, >> yes. >> Miss Bman, >> yes. >> Miss Borges, >> yes. I was uh finance next. Yeah. >> Uh finance facilities. I move uh items 1
to 25. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Castellon. >> Yes. >> Dr. Coleman. Yes. >> Excuse me. It's actually 1 to 24. >> Um I think I said 25. We're moving items 1 to 24. >> Okay.
>> Dr. Coleman. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pixley. >> Yes. >> Miss Pruce. >> Yes. Dr. Skullman, >> yes. >> Miss Daniel, >> yes. >> Miss Vardman, >> yes. >> Miss Worthy, >> yes. >> Okay. For personnel, I move uh number
one through uh five. >> Second. >> Dr. Batty. >> Yes. >> Miss Seldon. >> Yes. >> Dr. Coleman. >> Yes. >> Dr. Pixley. >> Yes. Miss Pruce, >> yes.
>> Dr. Skullman, >> yes. >> Miss Daniel, >> yes. >> Miss Bardman, >> yes. >> Miss B, >> yes. >> Uh, and then for policies and regulation, I move uh one and two. >> Second.
>> Dr. Batty, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Dr. Coleman, >> yes. >> Dr. Pigsley, >> yes. >> Miss Puce, >> yes. >> Dr. Splman, >> yes. Miss Danio, >> yes. >> Miss Bartman, >> yes. >> Miss Voras, >> yes.
>> Okay. And now we are moving on to um board liaison reports. Uh is there anyone uh with a report to report? >> Yes, this is Sarah from the ether. >> Okay. >> Can you all hear me? >> Yes.
>> Okay, good. Um so as as uh you all was speaking for CPAC as the CPAG liaison um as you all know the executive uh leadership team has voluntarily resigned from their leadership roles and so just want to very much emphasize that we want
to thank them for their incredibly generous donation of their time and their commitment to supporting special education students. Um, you know, as you heard through some folks and just the the how it came to be to what it was and and the the deep commitment from the
parents is is notable. Um, consistent with the NJ DOE guidance, the district will continue to maintain a functioning CPAC uh group and will move forward with rebuilding the structure um to ensure continuity for parent engagement. There's um a bit of information on the
uh on the district CPAC website or you can um contact Miss Copala uh or case manager for more information. Just want to say we we absolutely remain committed to maintaining a strong uh CPAD group aligned uh with NJ DOE guidelines. And at this point, we want
to welcome participation from any parents and guardians who would like to be involved or are currently reaching out to parents um of special education students uh uh for interest in a leadership role on CPAD. For our next step, we're going to reestablish CPAD with the guidance and
and training from the Ruckers Bridge program. This is important to note. This is a shift. It used to be SPAN. Um the state has shifted to um uh using Recker's Bridge. And so that'll be the new entity that would work uh really closely with uh the parents.
And um uh we just you know want just to note just a continuing ongoing commitment to strengthening the relationships and um really looking forward to um getting parents in and and continuing to involve and engage um with those that are interested to be uh involved. And um that's what I have. I
don't know if there's anything else any other folks would add um for that. Well, anything else that we'll add uh on that issue? We could uh if anyone wants to talk about it, we can talk about it in old business. Um does anyone else have a liaison
report? >> I just want to say uh uh thank you to the commission for universal access. Um they've been giving this money to Glow and Glow Jr. and it's very much appreciated. Um they are very
um they're a big advocate um for people with special needs in the community and um really want this money to go to support students uh who wouldn't be able to do different school activities otherwise. And so I just uh as the
lesson on to the I want to say I really appreciate uh the support that they provide for the district um both monetarily but also just in advocating for community members too. Um not for the board of health but I'm I
think it it's in this category. I'm the lison on to the green team the district. Um, so I left my notes at home unfortunately, but I did attend the first meeting, uh, which was chaired by by by Tracy Maiden. I really enjoyed it. Um, it seems like the main focus this
year, again, I have my notes at home, but is going to be trying to get from a bronze rating in sustainable Jersey to silver, which uh, and these ratings are are given by this uh, this independent organization uh, you that's affiliated with the state um, I believe. Uh, and
then they they sort of last three years. So, we're up for renewal and they've decided to go one level up to silver which involves new kind of programs and policies and educational initiatives for students and teachers and staff. So, sounds pretty exciting and look forward to the next meetings.
>> Uh the board of health had a couple comments while we're reviewing the uh lice policy. Okay. >> Um they wanted to say from the New Jersey Department of Health perspective that they're uh oh actually one quick thing on bed bugs. bed bugs are not considered a public health issue and so
that's why there they didn't have guidance to share on that issue. We had a question about that last month. Um as far as >> how is that not a public health issue? >> It's it's officially not a public health issue. >> It's a legal classification I'm >> guess right. um they think it's a great
idea to start education on lice at the prek level even as early as possible would be helpful and to include pictures and just start the conversation early. Um but they said don't discount the older kids. They often put their heads together for selfies a lot so it can
transfer that way. I I hadn't thought about the selfie thing. >> Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. >> Um >> I hereby move we ban selfies. second. >> Very popular suggestion. It's going to be
>> 6.5. >> Um, that was pretty much it. >> Okay. >> Okay. In that case, uh, we would move on to the president's report, but I'm not the president and so I not going to do that. Um, so then it's, uh, old
business. Does anyone have anything for old business? >> Yeah, just just briefly um wanted to speak briefly to one point in the the letter that was written by Elizabeth Wild Elizabeth Ice Maker. The letter
that was written penned by Elizabeth Wild Greenberg, signed by some community members, referenced and read by a speaker today. Um and that one of the um one of the uh claims made the article
that there would have been more parents who would have signed the letter except they were fearful of retaliation um from the district or from I guess students and I think it's it's terrible if you fear that. I'm truly sorry. Uh
without speaking to any particular accusation, I just want to say that you know I've been on the board for um about a year now uh maybe a little longer. um you know I've attended a lot of committee meetings and uh executive sessions and board meetings and talk
with people um you know outside of formal meetings and I can say that this administration uh everyone in in it from top on down is extraordinarily committed to special needs kids all kids and seeing that they
receive the instruction they deserve as human beings regardless of you know what kinds of conditions they enter the school with. So, um, I just want to speak up for the administration there and say that, um, I've always been very impressed by your commitment to special needs kids. Um, and, uh, and I'm proud
of it. I wanted to ask if we have any like policies or anything in writing on how like we work with CPAG because I didn't find anything when I looked on our policies and regulations, but I did find
a lot of other stuff with uh parentr run groups and volunteers and it basically all said the same thing that if it's something that's run with the school, if the school's not running it, then they have to
um like ask permission first like kind of like the PTO has to ask permission. Can we do this? Can we do that? Like that kind of thing. So it's a so it's nuanced. Um the CPAC actually has bylaws that we can share um for for you review.
They probably were on the website, maybe not. I'm not really sure how they were disseminated. I have access that I could share the bylaws that they created, but it is a district-led required um organization. So, it's not like a PTO in terms of like fundraising and things like that. It's actually just about um
it's advising um the district on special ed programming and um you know the like the letter said and and the guidance on you know um programming and things like that. So, it's advisory. Some examples of how we've leaned into that um were um
including there was some um feedback from CPAG, I believe it was last year, regarding um how we give um um report cards and progress reports, but not for like IEP goals and related
services. That was a really great recommendation. So as an advisory group they advise us and uh the administrative team put it into place and now there are um uh forms that can be ser you know sent to the students regarding specifically um feedback on IEP goals
and related service goals and things like that. So it's an advisory capacity um you know in communications uh that went out on for example the 3 to1 model the presentations things like that but it is um it is a district required group
but doesn't run similarly to a PTO in some regards but in others in terms of advisory it does so it is a little nuanced um but the the department of education gives some really great be best practices um we've had uh the
members of SPAN come in um in particular a parent for span that has come to try to help us navigate um you know the the how this advisory group should uh should work together. Um we have attended meetings but we also leave um when it's
time to leave um and we allow for one meeting a month they have as their own private group. So, we have been very accommodating in terms of of coming and going. But the bylaws we can share with you, but it's not um but it it does kind of mirror a little bit of what a
PTO would, but they don't fund raise or anything like that, but they are a district-led initiative. They're required that we have them, whereas a PTO and things like that are not. They're a 501c3. Um, so that's a non-charitable like HPEF. Um, so I can, you know, they can
work with us or not work with us, but a CPAG we're required to have, if that makes sense. Yeah. >> Good to clarify because there's it's supposed to be an advocac advisory >> because I know on the SPAN website or CPAG website, the state one, it says we
are not an advocacy. >> Correct. >> Yeah. And just sometimes it's very easy to confuse advisory and advocacy because it is they can kind of mix in a little bit. >> Yeah. Sarah, do you want to chime in? >> Yeah. Yeah. Just one statement I want to be because as you said it's nuanced. Um
you had said uh uh districtled. It's actually a parentled district organization. So that's the exact phrase. I think it's really important. Um and so there's places where there isn't room to to budge. Like for example advocacy like we want to support advocacy groups. um but it's meant to
advise you know the district and then there's places where there's decision points I think that um the CPAG you know there's where the CPAG works collaboratively with the district and the district works collaboratively with the CPAG to decide kind of their own norms um and so just all this to say there's places where there there's
flexibility and and quite frankly there's places where where there's not because it is now a you know a mandated group which um that wasn't always the case right that that's been a change so and just super nuanced on the parentled district organization phrase want to get that right. >> It might be good to get something in
writing though and how we would like to work together just so there's no confusion for for anybody on either. >> Right. So, I know the um the department put out an email about their sort of next steps and what they're doing. So, if you're a special ed parent in the
district and you received that email um but certainly we can include something um in the board bulletin um that we could highlight as a result of of tonight's meeting to put out. That's not a problem. Uh, and then Mon'nique, did you have your hand up?
>> I did. Thanks. Uh, yeah. I mean, this is this is a lot for me. I I'm just feeling like this is a major uh event that just occurred here. We had the entire leadership team of a of a of a critical
uh parent advisory group um resign. um and not by I mean of course as you said Sarah they they chose to but I mean what's missing here to me is sort of the reason why and I think my question has been and this is so huge and so um disturbing but to me I think my question
has been uh and still is because I'm I was looking through the DOE guidelines to see is there actually a requirement that um every CPAG every meeting that a CPAC has include um district leadership
or administration I believe that was really kind of the uh the the point of main contention here that u really disturbed the leadership team at CPAC if I'm not mistaken. >> Sorry, Mon'nique, are you are you asking
if there is a requirement that the district be at every meeting? >> That there be a district representative present at all meetings and that all speakers and presentations be reviewed and approved by the district in advance. No. So there's no >> park. Okay.
>> Oh, there's there's no requirement and that we've been continuing to communicate that there's no requirement that we attend every meeting. We like to support the ones that we can go. Um and we don't go to every meeting and we haven't required that we go to every meeting. And then in addition in terms
of requiring for for presentations, it's not that it's a requirement. We just ask for best practice to communicate that information just so that we can ensure that the the speakers that are coming in align with board district goals and
community goals. The example that I gave and I'll give to everybody is just for example, I know this is not what they would bring in, but just to sort of make my point here, you know, the the board and the district is really moving forward with inclusive practices for a least restricted environment. We've approved the the um inclusion project
for Irving, right? So, we've been been approving those types of things to move forward to inclusive education, which I think is a really important move. Um, if they wanted to bring in somebody who was sort of anti- inclusive practices, that would be sort of contradictory to
something that we want as a goal. So that would be worth a conversation to say, you know, yes, okay, you're bringing this person in, but you know, it it looks like they might be sort of kind of um pushing another agenda that might not be something that the board in
the district is really in support of and let's have a conversation around it. That's really what it's about. So it's not about that if if you know um if if we don't approve it, they can't have it. It's not about a requirement. It's about open lines of communication to make sure
we're all on the same page, which has been communicated several times. And Sarah, please correct me if I'm I'm missing anything. I know you were at more of the meetings than I was, but that is my understanding of of what we've been communicating, what I've seen in the chain of communication and my involvement in um in our work with CPAG
is is just about communication, collaboration, and just transparency in terms of, you know, here here's the speakers that we're bringing in. same thing, you know, if if we wanted to do something, here's what we're doing. So, um, yeah, Sarah, did I miss anything?
>> Yeah, I'd say, um, you know, what I've had always articulated is like, you know, I'm personally certainly not, um, interested in in, you know, tracking and and lurking in that way. And I think, um, um, you know, to your point, Mon'nique, what what you said is
important, which is, you're right, this is a, you know, it's a it's a big moment, right? we had this leadership team um uh resign and this group really matters. I know personally it really matters to me and I know I know to you as well and so you know I think some suggestions for earlier on just how how
do we how do we restart and really think through and root cause and and set expectations up front so everyone feels really good about it and I think that's got to be a really important go forward. So that's just my two two cents there. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so I guess so, so to
be clear, because again, maybe um, I know there's more to this than what I may be pointing out, really honing in on, but to me and looking at some of the communications that transpired between the leadership team and Dr. Suska, the email communications. Um, >> um, Monnique, it's the icemaker. You
almost got a shout. I'm so sorry. Oh, wow. Okay. But I really want to hear what you're saying. >> Telling me. Yeah. So, I guess I'm what I'm trying to hone in on here. The point that I'm honing in on, and I could be wrong, but my understanding was that the main issue here that's that drove the leadership team to say we can no longer
do this, is the fact that they were told that there would have to be a district representative at all CPAC meetings. That was one of the, you know, major concerns to them. Um, that all their speakers and presentation presenters would have to be re reviewed and approved. And I'm not sure I have to look back on their email and see if that
was um something that they uh you know had a problem with or not, but I know the idea that the district was requiring or would be from here on out requiring a representative a district representative at all meetings was a huge um concern
and I could see where it would be for a parent um advisory group. So just to be clear, do Dr. Susa, you're saying that that was never um presented to CPAG as a new requirement that there be a district representative at all their meetings.
>> Correct. And um we can show I can certainly clearly show um all chain of communication uh meeting agendas and email exchanges uh back and forth if anybody would like to see them. >> Wonderful. Yeah, that's great. I mean for me and and maybe others but that was something that stuck out to me
especially seeing that and I know there's variation in different school districts in terms of how uh CPAC organizations are formed um how the ways in which they collaborate with leadership but of course as Sarah points out and we all
understand collaboration communication transparency those should be two-way streets right and any wherever you are and when when we're talking about CPAC and a school district working together. Um I just wanted to make sure that we weren't that the administration wasn't adding any additional um layers to that that we had
prior to now uh not required and and and that would be requiring a representative at all meetings, a district representative. Uh I feel like that I'm glad to hear that you're saying you did not um uh uh say that that would be a new rule. And then the idea of having
all speakers and presenters reviewed and approved in advance by the district, is that also a a kind of new requirement that's being asked of CPAC? >> It there's no new requirement. That's always been something at least since my tenure as superintendent that's always been something as a practice that we've
done uh a shared collaboration and communication and transparency is to communicate with CPAG both ways in terms of um sharing who is speaking or what the topic is. Um in fact the district has shared um our like our presentation
uh that we did in October on uh the MTSS and INRS intervention and referral services um process. Um we actually shared our presentation with them ahead of time to give input um and suggestions so that they knew that what we were presenting on as well. Um, so it's just
about shared communication and transparency that at least since my tenure in this position has been something that we have done collectively is just in terms of hey this is here's our presentation, this is what we're talking about, any input or here's our guest speaker um you know kind of any
input type of thing and and that's it. So that's always been something that that we've been uh striving for um in my tenure. >> Yes. And I prior to your tenure I know that there's been that great collaboration that's been building between CPAC and the district. I think also the question about approval is that a requirement now that
>> No, no, there was never a requirement for any approval. It was that we just wanted to have a communication about who it was. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Again, just trying to clarify since we're having this discussion now in public and I think it's just so important to sort of air some of this out um just for me
personally and for any members of the public or other board members who are just um wanting to know more about the root cause here and why we are where we are. Um, and I will just say I would hope that um the administration really try very hard and and I you know I would
hope that perhaps the CPAG leadership team that did step down would would be interested in coming back to the table to figure out a way to make this work. uh because I just I my sense is that it will be extremely difficult to find a way to kind of um just start fresh as if
um parents are going to really be trustworthy through this through a starting fresh process on the heels of this sort of really disastrous um turn of events for for a CPAC organization that has been really priding itself on its growth, its connection to community,
uh its collaboration and partnership with um leadership you administration Um, and I know the administration has put a lot of work into that as well. So, I would just hate to see um uh things sort of uh start new on such a bad note, right? With the but that may not be
necessary. So I would hope that there would be some way to to have more discussions, more clarification around, you know, sort of what administration was asking um and and hopefully bring back some of leadership that really invested so much of their time and and
energies and really built really strong relationships with CPAG members um and if they did want to come back would be would feel like this is an environment they would want to step back into. Thank you. I just wanted to say um it's really
disheartening to see leadership leave from a parent organization especially as we actually want more parental involvement um and some of these people are people I very much respect in the community. Um so it's just it's um yeah it's
disheartening to to see um an entire leadership team leave um from such an important um parent group. I do want to say um I think this parentled district group is actually an important
uh important language. So it it's parentled but it is within the district right as as defined uh by the state right um and there were li there were slides actually u linked in the in the um letter that we
received I think it's really important to to note that it is not an independent group because independent has been used um and the slides actually that that the DOE website actually notes it's not an independent group it is not autonomous um and So I think what that means is and
I think it sounds like the the the issue is like how how do we collaborate, right? And I think that feels like the the the point whether it was through communication or practices or whatever that really needs to be repaired if
possible generally I feel like in these kind of situations that's not but it feels like in the kind of reinstantiation like that collaboration that communication has to be um kind of central in the establishment of it. Um and and then this is a clear kind of
moment when that has fallen apart. And so it's really disheartening. But I also think the the notion that it's not an independent group um that is you know a district kind of parent collaboration within the district uh I think is an
important uh definition of what this group actually is. Um, and I think um there might have been either some past practice or some misunderstanding about what that what that means for for a
group um like this. >> Yeah. And um to t tie a little bow around just about what both what the two of you all are saying which I I wholeheartedly agree with. um you know when when there was a shift of ma of mandating this at the state level um you
know something shifted as well and and you know it's kind of just resetting and now we've got a different consulty group consultative group that to work with um and you know I think that's the recurs bridges program now and um I think it's just a a really good moment I hope that
just reset align expectations and and you know share the sentiment Monnique um that that you have as is I mean the engagement has been incredible. Um and you know just making sure that we're tracking with those the changes that are actually happening at the state level
and turning it into something that's personalized and customized to us. And I think that that you know there's there's naturally some misalignment when when things like that are changing and and and you know we we ourselves were learning really of those changes while they're you know while while they're
happening. Um, and so I think it's that it explains, you know, some some of that disconnect that I think is repairable. And I maybe that's just me being a a optimist, but that would be my hope. >> Well, and just something that I'd like
to add about the importance of the CPAG organization is that I mean I think that's the first way that I ended up getting involved in um kind of out of school activity. They had that awesome
uh uh Super Smash Brothers event um that my kids signed up for. It was fantastic. But since I've been on the school board, I've seen the contributions
um that they've made in question um you know, additional questions, things to look at differently, um parental experiences that might not have gotten to the attention of the board or the
administration. Um, and this is an absolutely vital connection between special education students and their families and the district. And it's extraordinarily important. And just like
everyone, I am, you know, just very upset about the way that this has gone. And hopefully we're going to be able well to rebuild something that's going to be strong and uh you know
rebuild some of these relationships. I really hope that um because I know that everyone here is deeply committed to our special education students and their families. And I thought something that Kim said um
was really impactful to me, which was that, you know, these families are fragile. Because when you're going when you're trying to get your kid the help that they need, it's one of the most difficult things that you can be going through even if the school is as
accommodating as possible. And that's a a very real thing. And so that line to the families um is just extraordinarily important and really the only way that you know the
administration and the board is going to be able to respond to to things and that relationship is important and I just wanted to say that and um I really really hope that we can move forward in a positive way and you
know this has been extraordinarily ly disheartening. Uh any more old business? New business? >> Oh, yes. Hi. Uh so Lami and I were sort of noticing that there's been some speculation among students in the high
school about a potential like updated new dress code being enacted. And there was a significant concern about this dress code like targeting female students. So we were just wondering if there was any official policy since like I said it was kind of just rumors right now. But students are confused about it.
>> Targeting whom? >> I guess just being especially harsh on like female students. But you know I know nothing about it. >> Okay. >> Uh so that means that there's been nothing that comes across my desk which means there's been nothing in action. Uh because I know Dr. Donovan and Miss Mr.
depain are very um uh active active in terms of their communication. So the fact that it hasn't crossed my desk at all means that it's probably a nothing burger, but that doesn't necessarily mean that rumors come from somewhere. So um I can definitely investigate and get back to you and we can talk to do Dr.
Donovan and see where those rumors are coming from. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We we heard they were from a teacher, but >> Oh. >> All right. Maybe we could talk offline just so that we don't uh publicly >> share too much information right now. Uh, can we also talk about
Wait, >> oh, sorry. Oh, let me just get closer to the mic so we can all hear you. >> Sorry. We had one question or actually more of something we had to bring up. Uh, it came up during the student congress meeting and uh we were just worried about the PTSO and the fact that
like they need more parent like members >> in it. And so we were wondering if there was anything that could be done. Some of our potential like solutions was sending out emails. But yeah. >> Yeah. I don't know. Does the board have a recommendation? So um Lami's asking they have a PT. So thank you to the
previous high school administration for reviving the high school PTSO. We didn't have it for the very for a very long time. So we're very excited to have it back up. I think if correct me if I'm not wrong, but I think it's a middle school high school shared. Yes. PTSO. Um, so the board if you have any
suggestions for our student reps to try to engage more parents on part of that organization. Yes. Any ideas parents? >> Ideas. I attend that meeting virtually. I love that there's a virtual option because there are so many different
meetings to attend. Um, but yeah, it is a little I I actually thank the students for showing up. I think there were a lot of you this past was last week or two weeks ago. Um, but not as many parents. It's true. >> Yeah. I think because parents think that their kids are older and they don't need them, but I think these are the ages
where they need them the most, the middle school through high school. And it would be good if parents, I mean, everybody's busy, but if you can make some time to go to a meeting, volunteer for a thing, it would be really helpful.
>> Yeah. >> Any other ideas for them on how to engage parents? >> It did used to exist. It was just kind of coupled with Mr. Lasser's parent advisory committee. So it was like the parent advisory committee slash PTSO, but the middle school wasn't really represented. I mean, we would try to,
but it there wasn't representation there. So now, like you said, now there's a a whole board and bylaws and everything, and it's a true separate organization. Um, but how do we get the word out that it's a good question, something we'll definitely think about. I would certainly love to see more
parents there. And I think all the principles do a really good job of doing their own parent advisory committees there. you know there is already that happening at the middle school and high school and this is different >> so it would be wonderful for more parents to attend >> I think what would help is uh if students go home and say mom and dad can
you please join they might actually do it >> actually that's a great idea if you get if you're getting an if >> they might think that you they don't that you don't want them there >> so so maybe running a little campaign in school with the students I don't know if
there's some sort of like um pride that we could offer or something like that for the student who, >> you know, every student that brings a bring a parent to your meeting day. Uh, and you get or an adult in the community or an adult in the community,
you get a raffle ticket wins. And I'm sure Dr. Donovan, I can come up with some creative options. Mr. Depage just sent an email to Target to get some uh donations. So, I'm sure we have something in the pot there. >> Maybe. Sorry. Um, as a overly busy parent, I was actually thinking
something that might be helpful is uh like even if parents don't can't attend the meeting to find out what's going on, what what they need help with, I might be able to help
uh sometimes even if I can't make a meeting. So, that's maybe some kind of a summary email could be sent out after the meeting. this is what we discussed. Here's where we need more volunteers rather than each individual event. I mean, they they do email when they need volunteers for something specific.
>> Baking some cookies, I guess. >> Yes. Like meeting for some cookies. >> Yeah. Like meeting minutes and and here's here's who to contact if you can help. Here's some dates, upcoming dates. I think what after the meeting then everything's pretty much spread out. >> Yeah. So, some of us needed laid out for them. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. That's um >> I can pass that on to the leadership. >> And I think that's how Bartle worked. It was like you sign up to be part of the PTO, >> right? >> And then you're on the email list. >> You're on the email list >> and you're going to get emails about
what the Bartle PTSO is doing for all eternity. It seems >> and then also constant reminders to join the meetings. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Maybe that's a place to start. So instead of asking someone to join the
PTSO, just like sign up to receive communication from the PTSO and >> yeah, I think there's this idea that everybody's already a member. >> And so the I, you know, you I don't think they're going to send it out to hundreds of parents all at once, but if you sign up to be part of this that you
get the emails and we hope you attend the meetings, but you're going to get the information either way. >> Yeah. Yeah. That I think that would be I mean I would do it. >> Yeah. Okay. We'll definitely have this discussion at the next meeting. >> I'll try to come. >> It it's really hard to create a norm. If
there's no if there's no culture of joining something, it's hard to get that started for any kind of organization. Um, so it's a good project to work on and I'm sure if the board can help with a resolution or some kind of marketing or put in our emails to like be part of
a campaign that you guys are working on, I'm sure we'd be happy to help with that. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> I just want to say I really appreciate that you're bringing issues to the the board after two hours of meeting and
>> um yeah um so please please keep doing that. >> Yeah, that's great. Okay, any other new business? Okay, in that case I move that we adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? I
>> Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Happy Thanksgiving.