[Music]
Good evening everyone. We're going to get started. Welcome to the August 2025 Hoboken Board of Education meeting. Thank you all for being here. If you are joining us this evening to speak on agenda or non-aggenda items, please use the silent sheets that are located at the podium. Miss Lopez, can you please
read the statement of compliance? This meeting is being held in conformity to the open public meetings act NJSA 10 col 4-6. Proper public notice of the meeting was published in the local papers on January
14th, 2025 and January 16th, 2025. If any board member or member of the public in attendance believes that the meeting is in violation of the open public meetings act, the board of education requests that they make a statement at this time. The board wishes to make
those attendees aware that this meeting is being recorded on video and will be broadcast by board at a later date on CC channel 77 and files channel 46. The full meeting recording will also be made available on board docs which can be
accessed through the district web page. The hobo board of education is committed to preserving the form of the public process and is mindful that we live in an electronic age of computers, cell phones and other electronic communication devices. Nevertheless, we
respectfully request that all meeting participants kindly silence their electronic devices during the course of meeting and use of devices necessary. We ask that you please stand to please
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. Miss Lopez, can you please call >> Miss Angel
Missur? Here, Miss Mr. Delator, Miss Brown >> here, >> Miss Cotton here, >> Mr. Cl >> here, >> Miss Norwood >> here, >> and Mr. Tur >> here. So, because we are in the summer season,
we don't have any of our student recognitions this evening or our reports from our Hoboka Middle School and Hoboken High School representatives. So, we're going to move directly into reports. So, I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Johnson for her
superintendence report. Good evening. Uh tonight I have uh one item on my superintendence report and that's to provide an overview to the board of education and community regarding um a document uh that we've
been working on and an initiative that we've been working on for um the past I would say nine months. Uh and that is the portrait of a graduate. And the portrait of a graduate was an initiative
that we talked about right around this time uh last summer. Um as a cornerstone to our strategic plan and um after collecting uh data from multiple stakeholders uh this portion of the
cornerstone of that strategic plan is just about finished. Not yet but just about finished. Um we have a very um uh I would say draft a comprehensive draft of the portrait of the graduate in this
evening. What I'm going to do is just walk you through both the process and the content of uh the portrait and give you an opportunity to ask any questions that you might have regarding um the actual portrait. And then uh what will happen in the next few weeks leading up
to the uh start of the school year is that we are actually going to um put a special edition of the hero together to send out to all families so that they can also uh get a glimpse of uh the portrait um in its entirety and provide
feedback and input um regarding the actual document before it goes live. So tonight, consider it a preview to what the rest of the school community and community at large is going to receive.
So just a little background, what is a portrait of a graduate? Portrait of a graduate is something um on the newer side uh that goes along with uh districts who are creating strategic plans. Portrait of a graduate is a a
framework. It's a visionary framework that's developed by K to2 districts. Although we are starting to see that some colleges and universities are creating these portraits as well. The whole purpose of putting the portrait of a graduate together is to be able to
define skills and knowledge and attributes that a school district wants to see graduates have uh upon exiting the actual system. It serves kind of as a north star or a direction for all teaching and learning in the district.
Pretty much everything we do in terms of creating uh curriculum um even to guide our instructional practices in some ways um our assessment strategies and also to help us with community community
partnerships. Um those attributes that we want to see uh students possess by the time they graduate from our high school is something that we can very very artfully connect to uh businesses in the community, organizations in the
community and also talent that our uh parents, guardians and faculty can bring to the table as well. And rather than focusing solely on assessment scores and standardized test scores, what's really powerful about the portrait of a
graduate is that it provides um us with kind of a roadmap for the essential um competencies that we know that students are going to need not only for college but also for careers and also their um active participation in the 21st
century. So with that being said, what really is the overall purpose of the portrait of the graduate? It's actually a unifying factor in the district's vision and also mission statement because the goal is
that it will align all of our stakeholders to be able to see what is it and what's the work that we are doing with students and for students in order to um produce what we would consider
success. and success being aligned directly to the attributes that you have um uh associated with the portrait of graduate. It also really does inform strategic planning because what I'm hoping you're going to see is that when
you look at the attributes that I'm going to present tonight that those attributes are really the foundation for how we are going to develop our curriculum, how we are going to ask our teachers to address students in the classroom and the learning process and
also how we're going to begin to um look at our resource allocation maybe in a little bit of a different way. Um right now we um allocate our resources on the basis of standards, New Jersey um standards. And while we will not
necessarily move away from that, um we're also going to need to broaden the allocation um processes to ensure that we're providing students with what they need in order to um obtain or um develop
all the skills that are associated with the portrait. We also firmly believe that a portrait of a graduate elevates our expectations. It elevates the expectations beyond those standardized test scores um to say our students are
not just numbers on a piece of paper. That our students are active citizens in our communities and at large and we want them to possess a a range of skills that are going to make them um more holistic
learners and also uh set them up on a course for life success. So with that being said, um what was the process that we used for the portrait of a graduate? So we started with stakeholder engagement through a survey
process. Um and we surveyed educators and administrators. We surveyed staff members holistically. We surveyed parents, guardians, and also community members. We did not survey students, but we did bring um our uh high school
students together in small groups. Um and we pretty much walked the high school students through um a similar survey process but in person. And so we talked to them about what they thought
was most important to them to be successful when they left high school. And very interestingly um every one of our stakeholder groups that provided input in the survey process along with the students came up with the same five
um attributes. Uh there was one additional attribute that kind of floated around um that was very close to being the sixth attribute, but what we did was we kind of folded it in and you'll you'll see when I show you the
attributes that one of them looks as if it is a a dual prronged attribute. So I I'll talk to talk to that a little bit more when I get there. Um we also did some research and benchmarking to ensure that we weren't creating something that
was um really uh we wanted to create something that was unique but at the same time we wanted to make sure that it was rooted and grounded in research and so we um reached out to the Battel for kids organization. Um, we also study
other school districts portraits of a graduate. Um, the Patel for Kids organization has a range of best practices associated with putting portraits together and it really gave us a great understanding of what are the components that are needed in a portrait
under graduate. So that's where we are now. We've designed and we've drafted what we would consider to be the portrait that we want to put forward. But the next two steps are what we're going to be embarking upon and that is
the review and the refinement of the actual portrait um to gain feedback from our stakeholders uh and in order to finalize the attributes and indicators and the overall design and then once that happens um and it's completely
finalized I do not anticipate that taking a very long period of time since the document is actually extremely comprehensive. Um the board of education with typical portraits of a graduate actually adopt the portrait. Um and so
it would be presented to you in its final form for adoption and then district would actually launch a professional development and a communitywide communication plan around the portrait of graduate in order to truly implement and embed it in the
overall school culture. Um, so that's kind of where we stand in terms of process and design. So what's the impact of the portrait of graduate on school districts? There's a significant great impact
because it really does guide curriculum alignment and instructional planning. Um, I think the board and our staff ultimately is going to see that some of the things that administration is going to be um kind of focused on and highlighting in the upcoming school year
are going to be things that are critical to ensuring that students obtain those attributes toward the portion of graduate. Um, it will also have influence on our hiring and professional development priority. Why is that? because the things that we are putting,
the attributes that we're putting in the portrait of a graduate are attributes that we actually want to see our new employees and our uh new staff possess. Um because if we can have role models and professionals that are in the classroom or in our school buildings
that possess those um attributes successfully, then um we have this great opportunity to um pass that along to our students. At the same time though, it gives us an opportunity for all of us to be lifelong learners in the process
because we all may not be experts um in any of these particular fields or all of these um fields and attributes are something that hopefully along with students the adults in the school community can work toward attaining as
well. Um we're hoping that it's also going to help to shape studentled conferences. I'm not necessarily talking about um strapping parent teacher conferences. That that's not the um point that I'm trying to make here. But
the idea that students will have the ability and confidence to be able to lead um meetings uh with both their um potential teachers or even their co-curricular advisors, coaches along with their parents or guardians um
because they are advocating and have the ability to advocate for themselves. Um we also think that the culture of a graduate will help to um provide us with content for capstone projects. If um the community is not aware, our board of
education is um absolutely aware of the fact that um Poken High School is one of the two high schools in Hudson County um that actually uh uh runs or um offers the AP capstone um diploma here at Hope
Oak High School. And that process is a rigorous process, but it's a meaningful process for high school students to go through. It gives our high school uh students the opportunity at kind of a collegiate level in terms of rigor, an
opportunity to focus in on um a topic of interest and original research that they can dive into and actually um complete a capsule project. that is then reviewed by um faculty members and they have an
opportunity to actually um deliver uh the research that they they've um gone through and what their findings are. Not all students have the ability to um really uh you know or have the desire to
want to go through a full capstone project or they don't know that they have the capacity to go through the pass on project. Our purpose in the portrait of a graduate is to provide small mini pass projects all along the way to be
able to give all students confidence to be able to um participate in the a capstone um program or even have the the um kind of drive to want to do it. So that's kind of our our goal. Um and the
portrait of a graduate also creates um an ongoing set of performance-based assessments that students will participate in align directly to the actual portrait which um is really powerful because
everybody knows that we talk in the district about the NJ which is the state testing program. Everybody also hears us talk all the time about the DRRA, the diagnostic reading assessment. They also hear us talk about linking and all of
those assessments inform our instructional practice. However, something like a performance-based assessment that's tied to these attributes in the portrait of a graduate will give all students the opportunity to really show their skills
um across the board in in a host in a range of of ways. Um, we also hope that it's going to strengthen partnerships with colleges and businesses and nonprofits in the community or even beyond the community and provide all students with a clear picture of both
success and purpose. So that that's the overall impact that we're um seeing already with the early stages of the development. If those of you um who are in attendance here tonight have never seen an example
of a portrait of a graduate, what you will see if you do search and and just Google those, you will find that every portrait actually has a set of attributes. Sometimes there's three attributes, sometimes there's four, sometimes five. And I've even seen six,
some districts have six attributes that they list out. Um there's also usually indicators which are these observable descriptors that we want to see students demonstrate along their journey as kindergarten through 12th grade
students. And then also student objectives which are learning targets that we can actually kind of sink our teeth into and create lessons and meeting units around. And so those are the key components in typical portraits
of a graduate. But in the Hoboken school district, we decided to take take those key components a step further. So what we actually did, and you're going to see on some uh later slides, is that we broke all of our indicators and our
objectives down into levels by grade band. So, our portrait of the graduate you're actually going to see is broken down in a K to2 um component, a 3 to 5 component, a 6 to8 component, and a 9 to 12 component, giving us the ability to
actually um be able to report out and track how kids are doing um with this initiative as they exit second grade, as they exit fifth grade, as they exit eighth grade, and then when they actually graduate from high
We also have developed mini units for every indicator by grading. And so um I'm sure this is something that um our faculty will kind of feel a little relieved about because when we do um
present an initiative uh to faculty, one of the greatest questions is always um are we going to have time? And you know, now we have to do pretty uh lesson plans and unit plans around this. And what we've decided to do is kind of take some
of the heavy lift off of our faculty and we've created a baseline um set of uh mini units and lessons that go with that along with all of the performance assessments and the rubrics that go with
it as well. And then with that, we'll use the year, the first year of this initiative kind of as a little bit of a pilot to give um faculty the opportunity also to tell us, hey, this lesson worked or this lesson really fell a little
flat. Can we change this? Um but at least they have the they'll have the documents and all of the teaching um components in their hand, the content components in their hand in order to help make this work. Um, as a result of
doing that, we've also been working with our content area supervisors, particularly social studies, because many of the aspects of the culture graduate are def definitely um
able to be kind of woven through the social studies curriculum. Although we we see multiple areas where we can probably uh integrate some of these units into our science curriculum, also our math curriculum and um our ELA
curriculum, but to kind of streamline the process a little bit in the first year, we're going to do our best to kind of keep it working through one or two content areas to make it um as as doable as possible so that we can um kind of
test the efficacy of what it's supposed to actually look like. Um, we've also included in um the documents uh these assessment rubrics. And then what we did was we converted the assessment rubrics from adult language to also
studentfacing rubrics. That's typically the language that we use. We say studentf facing rubrics. Basically, they're pairing rubrics. one for the adult and one that has child friendly and student friendly language as well. So those are included also. And then
like I said, it's a culminating project for each of the mini units. When I say mini, I I actually really do kind of mean many. These are small complicated lessons and units of study. Um these are
are not things that will take uh months of time. These are two, three, sometimes four days and then a small culminating project. And then finally, we created um a data a data dashboard and a warehousing system for each student as
their portrait is actually being developed. We'll have the ability to um like kind of watch as as they go. And we'll be uh charting the assessment rubric scores so that we can see, you know, hey, this student might need a
little more work in the um uh skills collaborator attribute or this student is really knocking it out of the park when it comes to um global uh citizenship or financial literacy. Um, so
we we've pretty much developed a system uh for this and so we're kind of ready to just dive into what it will look like. So with that being said, that's kind of the introduction to what the portrait of a graduate is. So we've
established these five critical attributes. And so what are they? Um the first one is critical thinker. Um, so we do want to make sure that all of our Hogan High School graduates are able to analyze information um, objectively for
sure and that they can evaluate arguments and make reason judgments when confronted with complex problems. And so what you'll see later on is that every one of these overall attributes are broken down by indicators that then have
many units that go with them for each grade level. The indicators for critical thinker are um we want to make sure that students are um uh like avid questioners. We want to make sure that they are analyzers
that they actually assume the role of being an analyzer and an evaluator and a justifier of information. And so those are the indicators you will see the main units are actually developed around.
Uh the second attribute is effective communicator. We want to make sure that when our students leave Khogan High School that they're able to convey um clear and purposeful messages, that they actively listen and comprehend information, and that they present and
speak with confidence, and that they also leverage technology to enhance communication across diverse audiences and contexts. So with that being said, um you know there's so much coming at our students and our faculty now um with
AI and a whole host of other um technology platforms and it all kind of fits into this ability of our students to be able to um kind of take in the information like you said before as critical thinkers and then communicate
that information back um to people in a really cool purposeful manner. The indicators for effective communicators are that we want to make sure that they can present those purposeful messages that they are active listeners um and
that when they are in fact listening that they're comprehending and they have the ability to actually um categorize and classify information. You want to make sure that they are um have the ability to present information
and speak uh clearly to a multitude of audiences. Not just their peers, but their their teachers, uh members in the community, if they're um interviewing for a a job, if they're interviewing for a college um uh you know, admissions
counselor, we want to make sure that they have the ability to do that and that they can in fact leverage technology. meaning that they can use technology as a tool uh for success. The third attribute is skilled collaborator was really interesting
because um one of the things that the high school students said in their focus group um was that they kind of crave um collaborative and cooperative learning and group um projects. It's interesting
because when children are younger sometimes we hear um parents say no group projects. We don't want to see group projects because we want you know there might be one um person in the group that seems to be doing all the work but in all actuality um in an
effective um cooperative learning environment there is both individual accountability as well as processing. So both um are are important and the kids were actually saying that that was uh
something that they crave in the learning environment. And so we want to make sure that High School graduates are able to work effectively with others, that they understand team dynamics, and that they can contribute positively to group efforts. um that they can shift
from I to um very easily and go back and forth. And with the skilled collaborator, we are hoping that students um obtain strong interpersonal skills that they also um not only have
those interpersonal skills, but they can um actively work in a team setting. Um so we have a really high percentage of students at Hoboken High School that participate in extra and co-curricular activities as well as athletics. Um the
last time we did the percentage we had just a little over 60% of our students were actually participating in um athletics at Lincoln High School and um that percentage was even a little higher in the co-curricular activities and
because of that this is an area where we can actually really put focus um on some of these uh indicators with the portrait of a graduate. Everything doesn't happen just in the classroom. It is the entire school
community that takes hold of um wanting to see uh these skills get transferred to to students. Um the next attribute is creative innovator and this is a little bit of a
natural. So, as we um do kind of take in some input, I think one of the things that we definitely will do is is actually um do a little word sniffing. But we do want to make sure that Koko High School um graduates are able to think flexibly, that they can approach
challenges with an um inquisitive nature, and that they can apply design thinking to develop solutions and take thoughtful risks to drive creativity and innovation. So absolutely a mouthful. But if you break that down, um, every
piece in this is actually these are things that our elementary science teachers are getting at every day. Our our technology oriented teachers, our science teachers in the middle school, and at the high school, we just put in a
brand new innovation science and technology lab. We also just put in a brand new aviation lab. Um we have a new college and career readiness lab. And all of these labs, including now our new
um financial literacy lab at the high school, all of them are going to actually wrap around the students and help them become creative innovators that we want to see. In fact, the um uh uh technology innovation science and
technology lab that we have um on the second floor in the high school um actually walk students through this whole process. They go through the entire process of sitting and thinking about challenges and problems that are
in everyday life and then they go from that to a design process where they actually um come up with and and create uh what they believe is the solution and then they move to a third station where they're actually hands-on developing and
designing using um everything from 3D the printers to other tools that we have upstairs to uh design the the solution the innovation that they have. Then they move on to the fourth component where they're learning all about the process
in which uh they can patent information um and and their their initiative and their innovation and learning a little bit more about the marketing of it. And then they move on to a last station where they're actually they actually have the ability to practice the
marketing side of it. And so um the students when when we met with them in this small group um focus uh or small focus groups, they talked very naturally about this
creative innovation side. Um so I think they're a little bit more comfortable with it than some of the adults are. And who knows in a few years when we update the portrait of a graduate, this may be on its way out because the students are already um really mastering a lot of
these skills. And so with the creative innovator, we like to see that um students, we would like to see them be flexible in their thinking because when they do um come up with these innovations, they have to know that sometimes they're going to succeed and
sometimes these innovations are going to um fail or just have some challenges that they're going to have to work through. We want to do everything we can to ensure that students uh have an inquisitive nature that they're not just expecting information to come at them,
but they are actually actively going out and inquisitively trying to find new information. We want them to have a design thinking mindset that everything that they do whether it's writing an
essay or it's um you know developing a project or completing a lab in science that they have this design thinking process. And in all of our schools uh in the district from kindergarten through 12th grade our project move away
curriculum feeds right into the design uh process. And then lastly, we want to make sure that our students are risktakers. And to be perfectly honest with you, if we can help our students um be risktakers, um we may also be able to
help our faculty with um feeling comfortable to take risks in the learning process and not be afraid um to try something different in the classroom. We we really do want to ensure that everybody is really kind of looking at these skills and indicators
and and adopting them as well. And the last one, this actually was broken into two um attributes um globally literate citizens and also financially literate citizens. Um we did make a decision to
combine this with the last one. But who knows maybe um with the feedback we get, we decide to pull it on again. Um but in this uh particular attribute um we do want to make sure that high school graduates are globally and financially
literate. We want to make sure that they um can make the best decisions um for both their their own personal goals, their family goals, their career goals. We want to make sure that they also understand all economic systems and they
um respect cultural differences. And we want to make sure that they have a strong sense of responsibility around the concept of sustainable and inclusive economies as well. And this fits perfectly into the HPF initiative and
their gracious donation um toward getting our financial literacy lab for September up and running. Um and so we're we're really excited to be able to uh support that as well. And the indicators for um this particular
attribute is that we we want students to have this um intense desire to investigate the world. For those of you who don't know, um we have a classroom without walls um program at both the middle school and the high school. the classroom without walls program and our
middle school takes our students um pretty much along the east coast triate area and we're we're beginning to expand that a little bit more. Uh the idea is before the students get to the high school for the classroom without rules
international global travel program that our middle school students understand um uh the um behavioral expectations and also the learning expectations for what it takes to really transform travel
opportunities to learning opportunities as opposed to vacation. Um, and so we want them also to be able to recognize multiple perspectives and be culturally um, responsive. And we want them to take action. We want our students to um,
develop a voice of advocacy not only for themselves but for others as well. And then we want them to basically understand the very um, formidable um, elements of what wants and needs really
mean. um and what choices are. So we hear students a lot at the high school say um you know I want this I want something that costs this much money but um often they don't have the skills to
unpack how to actually get there um and whether or not it's attainable or not attainable. Um so what we want to do is make sure that you understand the difference between what is necessary in their life and what is a want in their life and then also what are the choices
that you have to make as an individual in order to obtain those those things. We do really want to focus on this financial literacy component and make sure that all students understand savings, spending and earning. We have
for as long as I can recall since I've been here and maybe even prior to it, but we do have a graduation requirement here for personal finance. All students must take personal finance before they graduate. There's also a state of New Jersey requirement. Um, but we've kind
of taken it a step further. So in addition to just offering some courses um such as your AP uh micro and macroeconomics, we've actually expanded our offerings in the area of financial
literacy. Um this year we're going to be offering two courses through the National Equity Lab. Those National Equity Lab courses will be taught by um professors from Cornell University and the Wharton School of Business um where
students will have the opportunity 11th grade to take these classes for both um dual high school and collegiate um credit. We're also offering a um Bloomberg uh stock market certification for students to actually learn uh the
process of um uh what it takes um to be um employed um in in that particular field. Uh we have a stock market essentials course that we're offering in addition to our personal finance. We also have a new pathway um related to uh
business and and finance at the high school for our students. Um we want to make sure that our students understand money and value um because money and value are two very distinct things. Um they're they're they're not the same and
sometimes we kind of get confused and our students do. So, we want to make sure they understand that and that they have the um uh content and also um the background to make um financial decisions that are smart. Um we all know
that kids go out to college and then often times by the time they graduate from college, it's not only student loans that they have um that they have to pay. Um, but I think we all can point to something that we know that has um come out of college or even early in
adult with credit card debt that is almost um unbearable um and a very very large hole to get themselves out. So, we want to teach our students about that before they leave high school. So, with that being said, um I wanted to
break something down for you just so you can see a piece of it. uh I wasn't able to kind of show uh the entire document um on the screen. So what I did was I just clipped out a piece. Um so
ultimately uh when I send out the special edition of the Herald, I'm actually going to link um the whole document so that everyone can take a look at at the whole document in its entirety. But what I did was I picked one attribute globally and financially
literate citizen. I then took one indicator. So one indicator is investig investigating the world. And I showed you the um progression from lower elementary to upper elementary. So that's K to2 3 to 5 and then middle
school 6 to 8 and then high school 9 to 12. And what I wanted to show you is to the left of this indicator. And when you see the document, you will see that um every indicator has this listed. It's a
hyperlink for the K to2 mini unit, the K to2 student facing rubrics and then so on. So grade 3 to 5 all the way uh to 68 and then to 912. So every single one will have that and um we'll have the
ability to take a look at what that is. And the next screen which is just an example um is in very small print but on our computer screen it doesn't necessarily look that way. So in our encore system, we are actually going to be taking this next piece which is the
rubric scores that are from the culminating projects of every mini unit and we will be documenting the rubric score for students. So that um my my hope and my goal is that at some point
you'll see this as a um kind of component on a report card that when you get your child's report card, not only are you seeing um you know what their grades are and what their attendance is, but you're also going to have the ability to see how they are progressing
toward the overall um portrait of the graduate. So, um that's kind of what that um looks like and um when we have it built into the encore system, uh maybe we'll do a screenshot of that as well and I'll be able to put that into
the um special edition of the Herald as well. So, coming soon, be on the lookout for this special edition of the Herald in order to give input um to the portrait of the Hoken High School graduate. Yeah. Um it's it was an extremely
exciting project to work on. Um and I really do think that it will bring um a much needed added dimension to our overall academic program and student based learning experiences throughout the year.
I actually um and not to put on the spot, but one of the things that you mentioned that kind of piqu my interest was about resource allocation and how right now how resources tend to be allocated according to getting everyone
to NJSLA guidelines. What would in your mind how might resource allocation change based on your portrait of graduate? Is there one or two things that you're thinking of right now? I I I do think that um obviously um
we are leaning in pretty heavily into literacy and literacy skills. I don't see that changing uh no matter what students do to be successful um both uh in school and out of private school literacy and safety skills are
absolutely essential. So the resource allocations for those areas I don't think are going anywhere. However, what I do see is a secondary process in what we're budgeting that um we maybe have
the ability to turn our focus a little bit towards program development so that we can actually think about um you know, are there programs that will help our students um obtain these uh skills and
um really um own the attributes and and become the attributes. And if there are then we should be able to provide resources to others. So for example um you know the innovation um lab at the
high school it's absolutely amazing. Uh the um Hudson River living lab at the middle school is another example of a unique learning environment that will help our students with a lot of people's
attributes. But what else what else can we dream of and think of to actually expose our students to and give that maybe is unique that we won't see in so many other places but we can provide for
our students here in um so so that's kind of how I'm looking at it more from a a program development Thank you for that. >> Dr. Johnson, thank you so much for that. It was very comprehensive and I know for one that I'm very excited to see um
where this goes. So, next we're going to transition into committee reports. Miss Lopez, do you have a business administrator supporting? Uh yes, actually just one quick announcement to let parents know that uh lunch applications are available online
and uh at school physical copies. Um you should receive a letter with information about how to access it, but the website is my field.com/apps. Thank you, Miss Lopez. I was literally looking for that today. Um and then
we'll go to curriculum with Miss. >> Thank you. The curriculum committee met on Thursday, August 14th and attendance were Dr. Johnson, Miss Sandberg Rodriguez Gomez, Miss Angley, Miss Cabin, Miss Connor, and myself. There is one curriculum item on the agenda and
the committee recommends it for approval and it is approving a variety of field trips. We did discuss a couple of other items that will be on the agenda in September, including the acceptance of a Hudson County Office of Culture, Heritage Affairs, and Tourism Grant for
a variety of um experiences in the theater and um music area for elementary, middle school, and high school students, as well as um the approval of an acceptance of an extra $25,000
for um the NJ DOE advanced placement course expansion grant um which had been going towards professional development supplies and AP test prep. Um we got the extra 25,000 due an increase in the number of students taking AP classes and
the positive results of the AP scores for uh the students that took them uh at the end of last school year. The staff has been hard at work at a variety of different uh curriculum development uh pieces. Uh one being the creative problem solving curriculum is now
complete for all grade levels for gifted and talented students to be launched in the springtime. The stock market essentials program as Dr. Johnson alluded to that curriculum is complete and that will embed the Bloomberg certification um in it so that students taking the
elected course will also complete the twomonth Bloomberg certification course. Um as uh Dr. Johnson uh went through, we did discuss at length the portrait of a graduate. Again, just wanted to thank her and her staff for uh the uh enormous
amount of work that has gone into the draft and I am looking forward to uh the community feedback uh portion of this project and I hope everyone takes the opportunity to take a look and uh give some feedback whether they're a member of the school community or a stakeholder
from the community uh the community at large. Uh the middle school uh personal growth period curriculum is now going to include an executive functioning and study safety skills component. Um we felt this was a very important uh skill
uh to learn in the curriculum committee and we are pleased that it is being incorporated. A middle school course that is separate uh and likely going to be offered after school is also being planned. uh set of literacy challenges is being
planned for grades 8 K through 12. It'll be a year-long program to get the school community excited about literacy. Orton Billingham strategies will be embedded into K to2 challenges for families and for older students. The challenges will be focused on minutes of family and
independent reading for night reads to prep for inclass writing instructional rounds. um a template for them um was released and every week every administrator is required to do a
certain amount of instructional rounds and supervision. Um here uh in the new template for instructional rounds there is a new focus on gauging student engagement and to that end there's a new template for the learning plans. This
has been changed from a daily uh lesson plan to a daily learning plan. And these new plans are more specific, permitting the district to better gauge what standards are being taught and strategies being used while reducing burdens on teachers through the use of
technology dropdowns um and other tools. The Kath AP test prep um has been very successful in helping our students pass the AP exams. This year we'll be adding 10 test prep classes to the platform,
moving from five prep classes to 15 different courses and that is being offered u uh from St. George. So that is a very positive thing for our students. SAT um test prep is also uh ongoing. We
are uh changing the way we're going to be delivering the Kaplan online SAT prep. It will be offered at the zero period in the high school twice a week for 2 months. The program is going to be expanded for up to 125 or so students um
which should cover all interested firsttime test taker, junior students and seniors. Chartwells will have a breakfast part for the students participating and these uh examination preps will be scheduled to precede the November and December SAT test
administrations. On to our uh literacy push um with regards to the Orton Gillingham Academy and MC training. pleased to report that we now have 141 educators across K to8 general education and special education
teachers that have that first layer 40 hours of Orton Bill Gillingham training or the advanced Orton Gillingham Academy training plus the annual practicum which is a year-long process. The amount of trained educators has been
increased to support the district's strong literacy goals and the next phase is 14 additional educators who will be trained this year and complete their annual pratt. Christy Daio, the ELA supervisor, has qualified recently as an
OT trainer and she will also train another uh nine dual language teachers in the Wharton Billingham method. AI as discussed earlier is very important to um the school community and
how our students um are uh looking at this new technology. Draft AI guidelines have been developed and a task force has been put together of faculty, administrators and parents to review the the draft guidelines.
With regards to the gifted and talented uh Johns Hopkins CTY program, um as you all know from prior meetings, there has been a change in the math component from an enrichment class to an acceleration type class where the class will be the
students main math course. Um this was done to meet the needs of students who are accelerated in math. Certain seventh grade students with exceptional NJSLA scores are being tested for algebra readiness and may potentially qualify
for algebra in seventh grade. And that is my report. >> Thank you, Miss. >> Thank you. >> We'll now move on to Mr. B. >> Thank you. Um the facilities committee met last
Thursday that also August 14th. Um and we met with Mr. Delara, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Mr. Dur, Mr. Cwell and myself. Um I have three principal updates that I want to give um from this
committee. One is uh director Kalahe um has gone through and presented four different organizations um that are recommended for approval of use of our facilities. Um the committee has reviewed and agreed and that is
captured in the 13W2 and facilities committee recommends those to the entire board for approval. Um the second thing is I've sent you all a very long update of the various grant and capital projects. I don't want to go into detail in that because I've been
updating those for the last couple of months. Um what this should tell you that u many of the updates that we've talked about in the past you know past few months like the grand school roof uh the Denver facade project they are all making progress uh and they all being
pushed forward. Um, the third thing I want to just acknowledge is, you know, we we've talked a lot about the long range facility plan and this is now, you know, in the final draft state stage and we're expecting an update. But in the
meantime, I just want to acknowledge a few things because a lot of this conversation has been about the need to move facilities and people around. Um I think I updated last last time that from the perspective of our schools we have two that are above capacity, two at
capacity and one not quite at capacity. But of course that's our fastest growing school. Um so we know we know where that will go and you know we have a popular school district more schools more students will want to come and that's unfortunate in the short term that a lot
of people have had to move their offices or their space or their facility. Um I do see Mr. Paji here, Mr. Cook here, Mr. Kelly here. I don't know the degree to which um you've been impacted, but we would all like to thank you for that flexibility and accommodation to our
students. And that is my update. >> Thank you, Mr. Ra. We'll now go to Mr. for finance. >> Oh, thank you. The finance committee did meet on Friday, August 15th. In attendance with me were Mrs. Kore, Mr.
for uh news Lopez. Um agency agenda this month and the team did review all items that were available at the time. I recommended approval, but I do want to add that there's s on Friday. One is an additional
contract uh for the high school uh for at least our new um copier in the main office. Uh 12.01 one is uh an extension of an existing settlement agreement uh that has been in place for a couple of years uh continues that uh out of
placement district uh into the new school year and 1402 is a late addition as an approval of another submission uh and with I'd like to acknowledge on behalf of the board uh its gratitude to Kent Street Pizza and pasta for the
generous donation of 12 pizzas to the school football during the fundraiser and of course the extraordinary donation from the local public education foundation of $479,83 I think uh in support of various
district programs uh thank you >> thank you Mr. Pa we'll now go to this cateory for governance thank you committee met on Thursday August 14th and attendance for Dr. Johnson, Miss
Norwood, Miss Angley, Mr. Clfel, and myself. Committee discussed the agenda and recommends all agenda items for approval. Um, as per usual, this month's agenda contains a number of appointments, vacations, um, different things such as salary equivalency increases, as well as the
appointment of interns, volunteers, and substitutes. Um, I'm happy to report the district is fully staffed at this time for the school year beginning in less than 3 weeks on Thursday, September 4th. Um that is something we are still using a couple uh a couple people from our
language vendor for two periods of French in high school. Uh finding world language teachers continues to be an issue not just with us but generally university there is a real der of um world language teachers and many of you know we've started a different program
at the middle school that's more of like a language of sustainability language of um you know of uh coding different things to fill in so that and you can either do that or you can do a full year of Mandarin or Spanish but um right and
we are still looking for French. So if you know anybody who certified in French and would like to teach or you would like to speak to them. Um there are a few other items worth highlighting that overview the vehicle agenda which I never really do but at 10.07 you'll see
a number of faculty appointments to coordinate coordinate positions in various areas. Among them are appointments to the middle school classroom lab which was mentioned earlier and the high school hydroponics and aquaponics lab. I mention these because both of those are funded by
completely by grants um as well as middle school professionals about walls which was also mentioned earlier which is funded fully by HAP 10.08 uh includes three of our par professionals who have completed the training to become registered behavior technicians or RBTs and pass their exam
for certification. We congratulate them and look forward to having additional PAR professionals complete the same RBT program in in the near future. 10.09 9. The district has established a pool of school safety officers who are paid by the district on an hourly basis but
don't receive benefits um on the basis of their status usually as retired officers and thus they're receiving their pensions or whatever else they receive in their in their um positions in of retirement. These officers will work with the SRO which everybody pretty
much knows are SRO's. Those roses as most know are provided to the to the public schools not just the public schools but to all schools public and private by the HPD and they rotate having our own pool of school safety officers who ensure that we have we will
have a qualified and experienced officer in our school at all times who is dedicated to our schools 10.12 um amongst various appointments you'll see Kristen Barow and Steph who will be appointed to summer curriculum writing the incorporation of executive functioning which is also O mentioned
earlier into our middle school curriculum. It is actually one of the rotations for our um replacement to world language. Um but it's also going to be incorporated in the curriculum in general in general so that all middle school students can benefit from it before they move into high school. Um,
basically if you don't know what executive function a curriculum is, it's a curriculum that will help students with ordering and prioritizing tasks by improved skills like planning and focusing attention to help students achieve goals and navigate their tasks effectively. I know that Mike needs it.
Um, lastly, not an agenda item, but just an enrollment update which I do want to discuss. I'm going to mostly speak about K through 12 and leave about the prek piece. So, and it's going to include a uh comparison to last year. So, for as
of the committee meeting, as you might know, our numbers change all the time because we have open enrollment. So, they're going to be more, they can be less, but this is where we are right now. Our K through five enrollment for uh the first day is 1,680 students. As
compared to last year, it was 1,613 students. So, that's a increase of 67 students. Our sixth grade or middle school will be 493 students uh compared to last se September which is 436. That's an
increase of 57 students. And our high school 9 through 12 will be 701 students which is an increase of 50 students from last year which was 651. The bulk of that increase will be with our incoming professional class, but as usual, we
have some transfers back into the uh district in our upper classrooms. So overall, our K through2 enrollment for September 2025 looks to be about 2927 and that is 171 student increase over
last year, which was 10 2756. Couple couple things to note. Um even though I didn't mention prek or some or their numbers, I wanted to mention that all prek students have been placed and there is no waiting list. And um with respect to our high school enrollment, you'll note the growth in our high
school the growth in our high school student numbers. Um as I think Mr. Brown uh had mentioned, we're at capacity uh in most of our other school district uh district schools at this point. Um and this jump at the high school level does
not bring the high school necessarily to capacity. Um but if this trend continues, the HHS will be at capacity in just a few years. So we are looking at huge number increases at the high school level and um it's a great problem to have but we enjoy it. That is my
report. Thank you, Miss Cat. We'll now move over to wellness which will be read this evening by Miss Thank you. Good evening. The wellness committee met on August 14th in attendance were Dr. Johnson, Miss
Angley, Mr. Delator, and myself. There are no agenda items. However, we discussed a number of items that I'd like to highlight. To ensure consistencies and attendees among coaching practices for both boys and girls athletic teams, a unified set of
coaching expectations as well as practice times is being developed, including best practices like team outings and pregame traditions. This document will guide all coaches and be tied to their evaluations. Fundraising will now support the entire athletic
department to ensure fair resource distribution. Families will receive a list of summer programs to help expand student opportunities. I'd like to congratulate Mr. Jack Baker as the new HCAL president and officer of the league
and conference appeals committee for the New Jersey State Intercolastic Athletic Association. A pilot program for school security officers has been launched with five positions of two full-time and three part-time substitute roles. After
consulting with the police chief, it was agreed that starting with the pilot will help refine coordination between existing school security and new officers. The pilot will focus on inschool coverage from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and the chief will propose a resolution on the city council agenda to
appoint class 3 officers with proper credentials for in school duties. If approved by a city council, all officers that meet the requirements will become class 3 officers and work for the district in our pilot program. This will allow us to start the program on the first day of school. Many parents had
questions about the categories and procedures involved in threat assessments. To address this, Dr. Johnson has developed a resource that explains the process and provides helpful information which will be available on the school website. The committee has agreed to implement a
new clear bag security policy starting with home football games. While metal detector wands have been ordered, they may not arrive before the first game. A clear bag policy will be enforced. Non-lear bags will be subject to intersection. This update also requires
many public and police department contracts to include bag checks as part of officer duties. The evaluation processes for security guards and custodians have been updated. This is new but a necessary step for security guards and custo custodians who
previously did not have a clear evaluation system or communication pathway for concerns. The new process will help ensure standards are met and streamline accountability. Evaluations will be conducted by building principles and shared with the director of facilities.
A new blast class series will launch during four home football games celebrating different groups of individuals at each event. A VIP area near the barbecue section will be set up with seating, food, and drinks. This is a great way to welcome back longtime
Redwing members into the field and reignite school pride. Last but not least, Chartwells is shifting away from commodity based meals towards fresher ingredients and more scratch cooking across all schools. All three elementary schools will now feature fresh salad bars and grab and go options like
sandwiches and bento boxes. Seasonal food campaigns like fall is all about dipping, spring is all about fresh ingredients will keep menus engaging and aligned with wellness holes. A global eats program will introduce students to international cuisines and Chartwell is
also exploring a unique opportunity with classroom without walls at HMS to participate in a day at the United Nations. And thank you. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Miss Con.
just um just a couple uh kind of updates or adjustments with um uh a few of the items. Um the first one is the um security officers the school security officer timing the time work time is
actually uh the first shift is in the morning. They will arrive before school starts. So it wouldn't be 9:00. They would actually arrive um at 7:45 and they will stay until 1:45 and then the
next shift will come in and overlap with the first one and the second shift will actually be staying until 6:15 after the passport learning program is full. So it will actually span from uh arrival time
all the way through dismissal time and then also the dismissal of the passport to learning program. The only other uh thing that I do think is a little uh important is that the district is going to be going through the New Jersey QAC
process this year. The New Jersey QAC process is a monitoring uh process. Um it's really kind of a self-evaluation mandate monitoring process uh that the county office does uh with every school district every um few years. We are for
kids uh monitoring again uh this coming school year. It seems like we have just a third but I guess three years have just passed. And so as a result of that um getting all of our uh kind of um
items in order to present um to the county office, one of the things that um came up in um county meeting for superintendence was that um typically in QAC it's teacher evaluations and
administrative evaluations that are um brought to the forefront. We've always had security par professional and custodial consultation or evaluation as we recall. Um but now we're going to be part of the interest of the QAC process
and so as a result of that we've updated those documents um and we updated them so that they will go side by side with the um teacher and the administrator evaluation. [Music]
Thank you for those updates, Dr. Johnson. I have a brief residence report this evening. Um, started school year just a little over two weeks away. As most of you can tell, all of our buildings are really buzzing with excitement. Class placements have been sent out. I'm sure
there's still some back to school shopping to be done. The start of a new school year with new programs, new initiatives, and updated curriculum is the result of an epic amount of work that our administrators, building principles, and support staff do all summer long. We thank them for their
tireless efforts on behalf of the students coin. Our teachers will return to the building shortly, and some may have already returned, and we'll see many improvements across the district. I hope that all of our returning teachers have had a wonderful summer, and we can't wait to see you. To our new staff
members and new teachers, welcome and we are so glad to have you here. We hope that you'll love working at Hoboken. And finally, to our students and their families, we're so excited for all of you to begin a new school year. For some of you, it will be your first time joining Hoboken Public Schools. And for
others, you may feel like you've been here forever. Regardless, the start of the school year is a time filled with hope, but often jitters. If there is one thing that I can share with each and every one of our families, it is that professionals in this district are ready to welcome you and are prepared to give
your precious children an excellent educational experience. The amount of time, love, and expertise that goes into preparing for a new school year is truly a remarkable thing and it's something that all of us up here get to have a little tiny peak behind the curtain on. But we cannot wait to see all the students return on September 4th. I wish
everyone a safe remainder of the summer and we will now go into public comments on agenda items. As a reminder before we open for public commentary, over the years and most recently, the board has been asked why it does not prohibit or stop comments about school district employees from individuals who speak
during the public comment portion of the meeting. The short answer is that the law prevents the board to censor and comments made about district personnel. The board does not condone nor is the board a party to comment as such. However, just Mr. speaker has a right to say what he or she feels. It does not
absolve a speaker from liability for any comments that could be used as defamatory by an employee. Should speaker say something that suggests sent them to a civil suit, the responsibility falls squarely on the speaker and not on the board. Board policy requires that all speakers please state your name, municipality of residence, and business
affiliation if any. Speakers are allowed 5 minutes, and I will ask Miss Lopez to motion quietly when they have 30 seconds left. Please address all comments to the chair. Board policy states the board welcomes comments on matters of interest to the board, but this is not an
opportunity for back and forth or debate between speakers and board members or the superintendent. >> There are no speakers. All those words. Uh so we will now move on to our consent agenda. There was an
addition that is not on the printed copies that all of us have up here. So I'm just going to read it out loud. It is 10.25 under governance and personnel and it's approval of staff for dual language program curriculum writing and the motion reads as follows. Resolve
that the board of education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves the following staff for dual language program curriculum writing. So it's two staff positions Jazelle Rodriguez Flores and Vera Balda and a winner of the positions siphoned at total hours are the same. I'm just going
to read it one time. So the position for both of these ladies is dual language program curriculum writing at an hourly rate of $46 an hour for a total of 35 hours. So that is added in as item 10.25 that will be voting on our consent
agenda. Is everyone on that? So we'll now move on to our consent agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Motion second. Miss Lopez, I think he's follow. >> Yes.
>> M. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss Nor, >> yes. >> And I have to abstain on 10.02 and yes on everybody else. >> Thank you. And I'm assuming we don't
have anyone signed up for agenda and non-aggenda items. So, we are going to be going into executive session uh now for the purpose of discussing matters covered by attorney client privilege. We will not be taking action at the end of that executive session. We'll just be
coming back into the room to close the meeting. Um I think we'll probably be 30 to 45 minutes. Um do I have a motion? >> Motion and seconded. >> Miss Lopez, can we can you please call the role?
Miss. Yes. M. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Ma. >> Yes. >> M. Norwood. >> Yes. >> And Mr. >> Yes. So, it's now 8:14 and we will be going into executive session. It is now 9:15 p.m. and we are just coming back
from executive session. Do I have a motion to resume the meeting? >> Motion. Second. Miss. >> Lopez. Can you please call the role? M >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. M. >> Yes.
>> M. >> Yes. >> Miss Norwood. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. And with no further business, do I have a motion to close the meeting? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. [Music]