Tell him that we've been having problems. We call him >> I'm gonna hang out. >> No. Hello, Drew. Can you hear us? >> Yep, I can hear you. >> Okay, very good. Then, um, we're just everybody's getting in and getting
settled, so it'll be just a few minutes. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Yep. Sorry about that. I think we're having phone trouble, so it talk. >> No worries. Yeah. Yeah, that works. I'll just stay on this line.
Okay. Sure. We'll keep you posted. Calling the meeting to order and we have a roll call. >> Dr. Zeni >> here. >> Mr. Trapadia
>> here. >> Dr. Mr. Liston >> here. >> Mr. Peters >> here. >> Dr. Resnik >> here. >> Mr. Slottman, >> Dr. Stilliano,
and Miss uh Williams Galliano >> here. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their
interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provision of the act, the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof communicated to the Hopewell Valley News
and the Times on January 7th, 2026. This meeting notice was also sent to Comcast Cable and Verizon FiOS. The board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the board of education. The meeting is being recorded for the
purpose of board review, future reference, preparation of the minutes, and viewing on YouTube bulldog TV and the school district website www.hvrsd.org. Members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask
what that you sign in prior to speaking. This will assist us in our record keeping. Please join me in flag salute. Can I have a first and second um to approve the minutes from June 15, 2026
meeting? >> So move second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed or abstaining? Seeing none, the meetings are approved. Meeting minutes, excuse me.
>> Do you have any reports, Dr. Trice? >> Um, no, no, uh, long report. I just want to say that, um, I've had I've been fortunate enough to attend some of the, um, the meetings in preparation of the builds that we're doing for the referendum. Um, very exciting. So, I was in two meetings today, one for Bear
Tavern and one for Tollgate. Uh, we we are out making the plans. The plans are drawn and we're just fine-tuning at this point. So, that's a very exciting step um for the district. Uh, we have uh ESY in full swing. The kids have been uh coming for camp. Yes. And they're having
a good time. And um we have kindergarten camp in full swing. We're building roofs. Um we had a little bit of water damage. Well, [laughter] but we we came out through all the weather pretty much unscathed. Um, so we're in a good place. Uh, so that's that's all the news of
spit to print right now. Okay, that sounds great. I love the kiddos are running running around the the campus as it were. I mean, I'm very grateful that um we did not have damage because I know when you take their shingles off as so
to speak, things leak. >> Yes. Okay. Well, that's that is good news. Um, with that, we we don't have any of our usual uh reports. So, we are actually jumping right into the first um
public comment. Um, and I just want to remind the public, members of the public are invited to address the board on any matter for a maximum of three minutes during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and municipality. In response to your comments, the board
of ed may respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched by the district administration. Members of the public who intend to participate in public comment, we ask
that you sign in prior to speaking as this will assist us with our recordeping. With that, guidance from our timekeeper. >> I'll be keeping time for you. So, at 2 and 1/2 minutes, I'll raise a yellow sign and at 3 minutes, I will turn it red.
>> Thank you. Public comment is now open. My name is Carara Lechus. I'm a resident of Pennington Burough and now a past uh mother of three past graduates of Hopewell Valley. Uh you may remember me. I came to the June meeting and I spoke about the German program and Dr. Trice
said she really appreciated hearing about the programs, the community values. So I decided I would return and tell you about all the programs that I love before they're on the chopping block. Um, and then I will also be back up at the second public comment to offer
some additional thoughts on the sixth grade math placement that were raised at the prior meeting as well. Okay. So, I mentioned that I'm a psychologist and I think about student engagement in terms of three basic psychological needs that we all have for autonomy, competence,
and relatedness. And I wanted to mention the AP seminar and AP research program. Uh it's a two-tier sequence that's offered. Two of my children completed these courses. They selected topics they were genuinely interested in. They conducted extensive research. They wrote
substantial papers and they strengthened their critical thinking skills and public speaking skills. Uh these courses prepared them very well for college level material and they were equally valuable for a straight A student and a student who sometimes struggled academically. Uh my second program is boys volleyball.
It's another really good example. Uh many boys enter high school with no previous experience playing volleyball. So it's very rare today with all the club sports and the training that occurs to have a sport that you can be a varsity athlete with zero experience
whatsoever. But boys also have a desire to play sports to be competitive to be cheered on by their classmates to be a varsity athlete. And boys volleyball does that in Hopewell. It's also extremely economical athletic sport in terms of the fact that it doesn't
require like extra insurance or, you know, maybe a little bit extra insurance, but the gym and everything's all ready to go. Um, I would love to see the boys team acknowledged with a banner in the gym just like basketball and wrestling does, but I just wanted to call it out and thank the coaches for that one. Uh, my third is the unified
sports program. Um, this Special Olympics program allows students with and without cognitive disabilities to compete together as teammates. My daughter served as co-president of the club and she actually participates in unified sports at Duke University. So,
it lasted beyond um and more importantly, she maintains the friendships that she formed that started at Timberlane through these programs. So, I wanted to call those out um and say that it really has lasting impact. And then finally, you already
heard about the German program. So, I would just recommend retaining the German program, especially uh it sounded like maybe it was in competition with French. And I'm not sure if this is true, but I believe that the AP German classes typically have larger enrollment
than AP French, which to me signals that maybe students persist and stay on with German and maybe it could be added every other year in middle school. And that's about it. So, I'll be back. [laughter]
Anyone else? Seeing none, I will turn any comment. No, I appreciate uh you sharing all of this because that helps us in our thought processes. I don't see AP AP seminar going anywhere. the teachers that brought that here. Unless they
leave us, they're not going anywhere. Um, in terms of the banners, I think those banners are there because of competitions one. Correct. They're not just hanging there. Yeah. So, they're not they're just hanging. So, I can Oh, okay. I can look into that. Okay. I'll
look into that one for you because that's not a big one into banners because usually those are banners that have to do with competition. So, if they're just hanging there, we can look into that. the unified sports team I'm I'm sure will not go anywhere, but if it did, we would have to replace it with something else that would link to the
special ed special education Olympics. Um, but we picked this specifically because we like the interaction with all of our students in the integration. Um, and then German, again, um, we will continue to to nurture that. I don't want to lose another language, um, for the high school. Um, it's important that
we have options for kids. The problem is staffing. Um, and with that being said, you will see on the agenda tonight that we had a resignation from our Chinese teacher. If you all know anybody who is a native speaker that's, you know, that's a teacher somewhere else that's
interested in applying, um, we we may have to get creative because we have students that are already enrolled that we want to make sure they get through and we will support that. We will make sure that happens. But if you know people, please send them my way because that's the problem with any of these world languages, including Spanish. It used to be you could at least find
Spanish teachers. If you can't find any world language teachers, it's very difficult. So, I'm putting the word out the all call. Mr. Sadiski, if you put that out, you know, it' be nice. [laughter] All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. That it is always great to
hear in advance. Just um so thank you um for that. All right. Public comment is now closed. Uh are there any old business items? I'm so used to looking on both sides of your screen.
>> Just just looking at this um with the applications for the open board members. There's the uh just kind of as a reminder, the Hopewell has a three-year term and a one-year term, and applications can be picked up here, but
they cannot be returned here. >> Um I think it might be a two-year term. Does that sound right to you? >> What? So, one two-year term and three for your term. >> One, two, sorry. Sorry. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you for that. And they need to be dropped off picked up here. Maybe picked up here, but dropped off at the county clerk's office. Thank you. And um I also will take a moment to acknowledge we do have the invitation to
um individuals who would like be interested in applying to fill the remainder of Miss Cart's uh term between now uh and the end of the year. So you can um send in a
um cover letter and resume to um that and copying Gina uh and you know we'll get you all on a calendar to um be interviewed. Just want to make sure that is covered.
All right. Um moving on then to consent agenda items. Can I get a first and second to approve all consent agenda items? >> First, >> second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed or abstaining?
Wonderful. Those pass. And um just want to check in with Mr. Kapatia. Can you hear? Okay. >> Yep, I can hear you all. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go ahead and move into committee updates. And um that was
lightning fast. Did I just curse? Um I'm going to go ahead and pass on to Mr. Peters. >> Okay. So, uh, just on finance and facilities, quite a bit of items for the consent agenda that are listed, um, with some of the changes that are ongoing in
the finance department. We are going to be meeting in August and we're looking forward to it. Um, so we're going to be talking about a whole lot of things and I know Dr. Theres has been, uh, very much involved in everything going on with the referendum work, which is fantastic. Um, other than that, I'm going to keep this pretty simple. If you
guys have any questions on the items on the agenda, I'm happy to answer anything, but most of this is just the annual items related to budget transfers and some awards of contracts. Nothing major to report here. Any questions? >> I had a question about the school lunch
prices. Um, so for these particular school lunch prices, are these um standardized with the other school districts in our area or or is there do we know if there's a difference between these and and other districts? Do we happen to know that? If we don't, it's fine. I could always >> I don't know off the top of my head. It
should be uh for our school district as far as it's not it's not compared to other districts in the county. It's compared within our with our within our own district. >> So we set our we set our own prices. We do not standardize our pro prices
against other school districts within our jurisdiction or within our within our geographic. >> Correct. But they are they are governed by the state. So I know sometimes um we have to increase the prices whether we want to or not. And it's in conjunction with the uh the federal state uh or the
federal um national school lunch program. So just to kind of keep it brief there when we fill out the forms online we have to put in our prices and sometimes they get denied if they're not high enough or if they're too high. It would it would go
either way. They kind of govern a range that it would have to be in based on the information from our school district only. Was there a particular concern you had relative to the prices? Just just
checking it. Okay. Gotcha. >> I mean, for what it's worth, I remember when I spent 35 cents on lunch growing up. So, how quickly the times have changed. >> It wasn't good, though. Fair. That's a fair statement. >> He'd have farm to table. >> Pizza was always
>> farm to table. >> Pizza's the same as it ever was. [laughter] >> Okay. Going staying with you, um, Mr. Peters for personnel. >> Uh, yes. Uh, so, uh, we just met prior to, uh, for the personnel committee like we normally do, which is right before
our board meetings. Um, couple just quick items to report. We did uh accept a retirement for um Gwen Blea. Blea, thank you. Um who's one of our pair of professionals um and she has been with the district since 2006. So, we very much appreciate all of her hard
work and can't thank her enough for ending her career with us, which is great. Um you're going to see some other items on here which are the some roll call vote items that we'll do here momentarily um for extracurricular appointments. And then uh similarly all the health benefits waiverss that we typically do around this time are all
listed as well. And then last uh we have our contract for our superintendent uh which we're very excited to get past and uh continue on our journey with her. So thank you Dr. Trice. >> Any questions uh from the group? If not I think we have to do a first and a second, right?
>> Yep. Yep. I have a first and a second to move this to a vote. >> So move. >> Second. >> Dr. Jennese. >> Yes. >> Uh Mr. Kapadia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lillison.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Peters. >> Yes. >> Dr. Resnik. And Miss Williams. Galliano. Yes. >> Motion pass. >> Yay.
>> Okay, moving on to ed education and >> now I'm going to have to b this one to Dr. Philitz. >> Um, hi everybody. We met um on July 14th. Um and so we had um the achievement network or ANET which are
the consultants that we've been working for for the elementary literacy program. Um so they reviewed the selection process. Um and after an extensive evaluation and pilot process involving 19 teachers, the committee unanimously unanimously recommended adopting arts
and letters alongside foundations to support our district's literacy vision. Um, so we'll be doing a three-year roll out um just due to financial implications. So we're going to be starting with grades four and five this year, then two and three next year and then K and one the following year. Um we
also um discuss the importance of implementation with fidelity um including embedded supports for our diverse learners and our professional development. So we will be training the grade four and five teachers during opening days. However, we are offering an alternative um optional eval um
trainings in August. Um and again, people can attend that in lie of the opening day PDS. Um so, we'll see how many we get for that. Um we also had a wellness update. Uh Mary Pankos, who is our supervisor of wellness, shared updates to the health education parental
optout process. Um to align with our the state standards, the district will improve communication by posting curriculum materials and opt- out forms online, clarifying any timelines and requiring sign requests based on um sincerely held religious beliefs. So, we're just trying to be more transparent
and consistent for all of the families. Um Dr. Penos and Matt Auron who is our supervisor of math. They spent um considerable time reviewing middle school program middle school programming and student achievement. Um so they
compared Timberlane Middle School with similar eye districts. I know everybody has been asking about us in comparison to eye districts. So what they did was they found three different um comparable districts to us that were in the same district factor group, same around um
same population um totals um similar schedules and um they um highlighted our strengths which was in um our geometry and JSLA performance but they also identified opportunities to improve in
in math and in ELA. Um so what we our next steps are based on their analysis is we're going to reach out to the administration at those three districts to talk about um like how are they schedule their their master schedule what are their intervention structures
and what are their tiered supports that they're offering. Um we will Mary and Matt will then do a follow-up with the ED program committee in January after gathering all this data and identifying trends and come up with a 27 and 28 years 28 school year plan. All of that
information you can find on um board docs. Um I'm just giving a brief summary of that. Um Matt Aron, also our super math supervisor, reviewed our middle school math pathways in algebra participation. Um so we just we really talked about just um ensuring equitable
access, refining our placement criteria. Um we had a conversation about um refining our criteria for uh sixth grade math placement for not this. Obviously, it's too late for this school year, but for the following school year. Um, and he threw around some ideas, but he's
going to solidify that plan um in the fall and come back to ED program for um any sort of comments or feedback. Did I miss anything? Who were people who were there? No.
Great. It was a great update. Um, do you have any I was I was helping with fasting during ESL [laughter] for ESI. Um the just the the latest information
is I actually met with a local psychiatrist last week because we're always trying to find new partnerships. So um we just board proess with an outside contractor for psychiatric evaluation and also risk assessment
level. So that was that was a win to have another another resource for our >> absolutely awesome. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Seeing none, we're going to
go ahead and move on then um to government and community relations. Um Mr. Kavatia, do you have anything for us? >> Yeah, I have a a couple uh updates. Um so in this past uh month's meeting, uh
we talked about a couple different ongoing initiatives. Um firstly, we talked about the uh post-referendum communication strategy. Uh we're still working through some of the details, but I think there was some real consensus um
on the committee uh as well as from Dr. in the administration. Uh that we want to make sure uh that given that we've had a successful referendum that moving forward as we start to execute the projects and um you know spend our our our taxpayers dollars that we make sure
that we're actively communicating back to the community what some of the projects um their their dollars are funding. Um so we're working through the process on the cadence of which we would be communicating and and what that content will end up looking like. Um, but that's something that the committee
is actively looking into and we just want to make sure that folks know that the referendum is passed and now there's actually going to be some some capital improvements that that comes with that with that whole process. Um, the [clears throat] second piece we talked
about the uh ongoing initiative with collaborating with Mercer County Schools to have there be a joint uh programming and and joint academic event for our students. um still fleshing out some of those details, but uh we're in the process of collaborating with Young
Audiences, which is a Mercer County based nonprofit that that we have had a prolonged relationship with as well as uh other neighboring districts in Mercer County have. Uh so we're looking to schedule a date sometime, I believe, in the spring. Um [clears throat] and we're also still in in this whole entire
process collaborating with uh County Executive Dan Benson's office. Um the last piece is uh the most exciting and I will I'll have more remarks to share when I'm in person next month. Um but as of June 30th uh when the uh New Jersey
state budget was passed both by the legislature and then signed into law by the governor um Valley was one of 10 districts statewide to receive a direct line item in this year's budget. Uh it's a huge deal. Uh last year we had received $125,000
to partially fund a uh ADA accessible playground at Bear Tavern. Uh this year we submitted a request for $75,000 to continue our partnership and expand our partnership with Attitudes and Reverse uh which is a mental health um and
suicide awareness um nonprofit here in in Mercer County. Um and so we were able to secure those those dollars. Uh it was incredibly exciting. Uh last year, Governor Murphy signed uh $728 million worth of line items. And this year,
Governor Cheryl signed uh around 330 million. So for us to have gotten our ask uh included in was was a pretty big deal. And like I said, we were one of 10 districts in the entire state to to get this type of funding. Um so really
really proud of of uh this initiative going through. incredibly grateful to the Baker family for being partners in this and and just having contributed so much to our students well-being over the course of so many years. Um, and I'm obviously very thankful to the district and the administration for their
partnership in this request as well as my my fellow board members for for pushing this along. Um, and of course the 15 legislative districts, uh, legislative de delegation from Senator Turner, Assemblyman, uh, Varelli and Assemblywoman Reynolds Jackson were all
co-sponsors on the budget resolution. Senator Turner actually submitted it and and got it over the finish line. Um, and really the the backbone behind all of this were the parents and the community members who were sending emails uh to our legislators. So I, you know, if you sent a message, if you made a phone
call, uh, it it all of it goes a long way. So, we're incredibly appreciative. Happy to answer more questions on that. And like I said, next month I'll have some longer remarks, but I just wanted to express my gratitude and and share that good news that that we were able to secure that that budget.
>> Thank you, Mr. Kapadia. That that is incredible news. Um, and I think you're um highlighting the budget uh difference between last year and this year and still having an opportunity to receive
um a um you know the benefits of of our airdogs program. Um extending that will be incredibly uh beneficial to our students or continue to be beneficial. And um I can't um acknowledge the
government government and community relationship committee u as a entity enough because I think it's really done a wonderful job in helping us stay focused on all of the changes and how do
we need to communicate and what does what might make a difference for our parents and our community to understand and know about what's changing and in this case um making sure that we're also So communicating up as it were. So really great work from um the government
and community relations team with um Mr. Kapatia's leadership. Okay. Um with that we have a separate um K government relations and I think that was an mistake. So we will go
on to Anita. >> It it should be climate >> that would make way more sense. Awesome. Yes, no problem. Um, so I even though it is summer, I just wanted to highlight some of the activities that our climate
committee is um doing this summer. So there was a sustainable school cafeteria conference at the College of New Jersey um on July 15th um and we were represented there. Also
coming up on July 22nd, which is just two days away, uh New Jerseyy's Inter agency Council on Climate Resilience and the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey are hosting a webinar, Extreme Heat and Protecting New Jerseys Children and
Teens. Um we are also represented there and if you can join us, please do. It should be a really interesting webinar. Um there will also be a New Jersey Department of Education climate literacy for community uh resilience grant
program um basically at the end of July but it says date to be determined. So I don't have a date on that yet. Um but uh we will be having uh representation at that also.
And then finally, um, there will be a fall retreat for the climate action green tree, uh, green teams at the, uh, watershed institute in the fall and that'll be taking place on
October 12th. And so I'll be sure to update us on that also. Um, so even though it is a summer vacation time, our climate team is very busy. Awesome. This is the this is the season as it
were to be outside. So I hope so. Any questions from anyone? Okay. Moving on to policy, Dr. Lston. Okay. So, the policy committee met on July 9th. Um we were joined by Miss
Riley and um Dr. Pitz. So, thank you for joining us. Um before I move into the policies up for for first and second reading, we did review the student code of conduct. Um as I touched on briefly at the last meeting, um and in particular, we discussed um consequences
for tobacco use. So this is something that Miss Riley had lifted up um I think two meetings ago as an area that she wanted to talk about with the policy committee. Um, so really, you know, regarding tobacco use, Miss Riley noted that we're seeing an increase in vaping, in use of tobacco products, likely due
to sort of both increased detection as well as, you know, legalization of cannabis, and just more use in general of tobacco products among um, youth in the community. Um, after discussing two months ago with Miss Riley, she did reach out to other school principles
just to do some research, figure out what other districts were doing in this area and what the consequences looked like in their um code of conduct for for tobacco use. Um, so what she did say is that across the board, all districts are seeing this. This is incredibly common.
However, districts are varying quite a bit in terms of how they're responding to tobacco use. Um some some are implementing fines, some are partnering with community- based organizations around prevention. Um we're seeing some
that look similar to our policies, but there's not a lot of consistency. Um so generally they are trying to decrease use of exclusionary discipline like suspensions um in school and out of school. Um but they are seeing increases in in violations across the board, not
necessarily causally related. So I think what she did recommend is that we we wait another year before making any changes and during that year we review our own data. So continue to see sort of what violations are coming in in this area. Um but then also see just where
other schools are landing so that we might think about how we can align with other districts in our area. Um so we decided that that we would go in that direction for now. Um, we did also discuss potentially doing more work in the prevention space in this area, including building on our current work
with the municipal alliance. Um, potentially engaging them around additional prevention strategies since we are doing some work with them already in this space. Um the other thing that we talked about was um thinking about how we're implementing our restorative justice practices, if there's any gaps, if
there's um additional areas where we can be implementing restorative justice and sort of what that looks like in terms of consistency across schools. Um so I think that's something that we'll be having sort of ongoing conversations about. Um, I think within that same
realm, um, we did talk about just thinking about whether community service could be an appropriate response to some of the infractions that we're seeing. Um, I think, you know, we have sort of mixed thoughts about it on the on the policy committee. I think on the one
hand people thought this could be a really nice sort of practice to help students learn from these experiences to sort of move through these experiences and do something really positive in the community. Um on the other hand I think there is some concern because we have
this service learning pathway um that we could have like an unintended consequence of sort of creating a perception that volunteerism is associated with um disciplinary infraction. So, um I think that's something we're continuing to discuss and to think about and if we if we did
implement that, what would we look what would it look like and um what would be the processes for doing that as well as we would have to think about resources and oversight and and how do we assert that the work is actually being done. Um before I move on to the the policies for
first read, do my policy committee colleagues have anything to add to that? So, Anita and Dur's on the phone. No, it was a that was a good summary. Thank you, Dr. >> I think the the interesting
I think it is such a worrisome shift. Um and also I'm really proud for uh the discipline that we're taking in kind of waiting and seeing and not overreacting
uh because we are doing already some really good and important things. I think it is also um a natural response to just discipline. Um, and again, I applaud
um the committee as well as the board for generally taking a look at making sure that we're not uh I don't and overreacting is the wrong word, but using using the incorrect method for
tapering or and or um educating our children into different behavior, right? um we want them to choose well-being um and not necessarily drive them in a particular direction. So I just
acknowledge um the patience but while staying act very actively engaged in this space along with um other districts who are finding the same increase. But also an important point is that we have
improved um measures of identifying the problem and so we don't want to overreact as if this never existed because we just don't know. So having some continuity of data collection I think is a is a is a very
um responsible uh action. So I thank you for leading us there. >> So Anita, you kind of answered my question. Um so it sounds like we're not sure whether we actually have an
increase or we're just better at detecting. Is that what I'm hearing you say? And so we want to see another year of data to see if we are seeing increases or do we actually know we have increases.
Sorry, I'll allow Dr. Crease to comment. And also it is definitely we know some of it is Yeah. Yes. So, um, Principal Riley said they did they have been as they add smoke uh, vape detectors finding that
more kids are smoking and we're actually finding kids shifting from the vape pipe because it's expensive and the cartridges to actually going back to smoking cigarettes which we had gotten away from like that wasn't the thing and now it's a thing again. Um, uh, so yes,
tracking data is one thing. It is detection and the kids are starting to consume more nicotine. Um, so that's that's worrisome. >> Yep. Sorry. I I was just um I was just going to add on to what um President Williams touched on in terms of there
being a real I want to applaud the rest of the committee as well as the district for there being a real willingness to engage on some of these restorative alternatives. Um, I think this has been a conversation that's been going on now for at least three or four years, at
least since I've joined the board, where um, especially through the policy committee, we've talked about how we can be introducing meaningful restorative measures for students rather than being overly punitive. And I'm excited to see how in this next year as we continue to
work with Principal Riley um and the district administration uh to really flesh out what community service as being an integrated part of the student code of conduct really looks like and how it actually uh plays out. Um, but I
just wanted to to put that out there that, you know, we we talk a lot about being a leader in how we um uh introduce new best practices. And I think this is a another exciting opportunity where we may be able to have a really sustainable
and meaningful uh pathway for students to um engage in their communities and learn lessons from from you know decisions they make when they're still growing and going through school. um you know rather than holding extracurricular
access over their heads or or you know removing parking privileges or taking them out of the classroom which you know I think everyone on the board and everyone in the in the administration really we we understand there are some some shortcomings and and some better approaches that we can be taking. So I'm
excited for that component that Dr. Lilison mentioned of of seeing how community service can be integrated in the in the code of conduct. Yeah, we don't want to lose track of the fact that this is about our students health, right? That's that's what we care about here. So, we we want to focus on what works, right? And so that's
that's what the conversation is. Thank you, Mr. Kadia. Um, okay. So, now we'll move on to first reading. So, can I have a motion in a second to move policy 22000 for first reading and regulation 22000 for first reading abolishment?
>> Motion. Second. >> Okay. So, um policy and regulation guides um 22000 have been combined into a rewritten policy guide um 22000. And so, this policy guide describes the
board's responsibility under state code for the design and delivery of curriculum and instruction needed to address the New Jersey student learning standards. Um so for example, a board is required to make all approved curriculum pacing guides and citations for core instructional materials publicly
available. Um in addition, we're required to provide students with access to advanced coursework. Um so the committee is recommending that we accept policy 22000. Um it aligns with state code as well as the district's current practices.
At the same time, we are moving uh regulation 22000 um curriculum content to first reading abolishment and this is to reduce redundancy as these provisions will be covered in the new policy guide. >> So I'm going to ask a clarifying
question because it's been coming up um over the last couple of months. Is to the extent that this policy requires the board to review and approve the curriculum? In practical terms, does
it require us to review and approve what appears in a catalog as courses that we may offer and what those courses are? Or does it require us to review and approve what courses are actually being offered every single year?
you do approve all of the course catalog and all of that every year but you you don't go through every you know curriculum guide. Um you you don't do that but you are approving or >> but but more more the question is not
really about the guide. The question is, do we approve what's in the catalog and could possibly be offered if there's sufficient enrollment or do we approve what is actually offered every single year >> actual versus the list? >> Yeah, we
>> we approve what could potentially be offered because we don't usually approve it. So, we approve all of the curriculum at the September board meeting and then we do the program of studies for the following school year in January. So it might be like we are putting all the courses we could offer but we won't know
if they're running until they do schedule. >> Yes. So that's So I don't know if it's feasible to make that clear within the policy because the policy has to reflect the state regulation but if it's
possible I think that I think we should clarify. Okay. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments about this policy guide? >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Any opposed or abstaining? Okay. Uh so we will move on to second reading now. Can I have a motion, a second to move policy 5460, high school graduation, and policy 5461, high school diplomas, for second
reading, please >> motion. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay, thank you. Um, so we reviewed um we reviewed these policies at the at the last board meeting. Um, we have not received any edits since then, so they
stand as they did for for first reading. Um, are there any questions or comments before we move this to a roll call vote? >> Okay, that can we have a roll call vote, please? Thank you. >> Dr. Dennis, >> yes. Um,
>> Mr. Kapadia, >> yes. >> Dr. Lill, >> yes. Mr. Peters, >> yes. >> Dr. Resnik, >> yes. >> And Miss Williams Galliano, >> yes. >> Okay, the motion passes.
>> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Oh, we'll move. Okay. Um, I need a first and second to move on to the July and August calendars. Motion. >> Second Finance and facilities.
Um, Edcom, >> could we do the morning of the 11th? Okay. Uh, yeah. I mean, because we could start the retreat on at 9, right, Rosetta? On the
12th. So, could we do 8:00 on the 12th? >> Okay. Is that good? Okay. >> Government and community relations. Um, how does >> uh Monday, August 3rd sound? >> What time? Sorry.
>> I mean, we can do it in the morning just to keep it at the 8 a.m. if that's helpful. Do you you want to do it 9 Eastern or >> whichever I mean whatever time works for for y'all. I'm I'm good for that
morning. >> Yep. Good. >> Okay. and policy. 11th in the morning works for me. Okay, I think we have everybody, right? Sounds great. All right. All in favor? Any
>> Thank you. I don't think we have anybody abstaining, so um we're good. All right. Um any are there any new business items to cover? Okay, seeing none, we're going to go
ahead and move into our final public comment. And as a reminder, members of the public are invited to address the board on any matter for a maximum of 3 minutes during this portion of the meeting. You're asked to state your name, address, and
municipality. In response to your comments, the board of ed may respond or direct the superintendent to do so. The board may also opt to take the matter up at a future meeting so that the matter is researched by the district administration. Members of the public who intend to
participate in public comment, we ask that you sign in prior to speaking. This will assist us with our recordeping. And as you remember, yellow at 30 seconds to go and red when you are um out of time. So with that, public
comment is now open. Tara Leus, Pennington Burough. Professionally, I am a member of the committee updating the standards for educational and psychological testing published by the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Council on
Measurement Education. This document includes two essential principles related to sixth grade math placement decisions. One is that high stakes decisions should not rely on a single measure. The second is that students should have the opportunity to learn the material on which they are tested.
Despite having multiple measures, both of those principles were violated in the imple implementation of the prior sixth grade policy. My own child was impacted by this decision 10 years ago despite earning a five on the state standardized
test and scoring better than 90% of Popball students, which the highest score. Despite having an A+ every single marking period of fifth grade math, despite having her teacher's highest recommendations for fifth grade math
placement to sixth grade, she was denied access. I appealed that decision and was told that it was because of her performance on a district developed test of sixth grade math and pre-alggebra classes that
she had not taken and had no opportunity to learn. It still baffles me that a child who continued to excel in math through calculus 2 at Hopewell and on all of standardized tests you can imagine had
her confidence undermined based on this district's policy. She is not alone. My neighbor, who is now a PhD student in statistics at Harvard, had the same thing happen to her.
I raised these concerns to two of you in 2016 and in 2018. After the last board meeting, I reread all of our emails and reviewed the updated policy. And I am sorry to say it appears to be no better and may in fact
be worse. Before spending valuable resources on outside consultants to review the math placement or gifted and talented programs, I would encourage the board to look within our own community with Mathematica ETS and several universities
nearby. Hope Valley is has residents with both national expertise and firsthand experience who may be willing to contribute. I am one of them. policies that impact math placement are the most consequential decision that is
made in K12 bar none. If you don't take algebra in 8th grade, you have limited opportunities. Thank you for your service to the board and remember that some of the expertise and data you seek live within you. Thank
you. Any other public comment at this time? Dr. Pitis, any comment? >> Oh, sure. >> There is a reason I want to take this and I want to thank you for your
comment. One of the reasons I ran for the board is because I had the same experience and uh I'm not going to go through the details because Vicki
might have PTSD. Uh but we've spent 3 years kind of trying to address these things and the situation today is better. It's not perfect, but it is uh better in several specific ways.
My first problem was is that we were making a very consequential decision going into grade six. And you're absolutely right. If you um and folks here have heard me say this at Nosium for four years, if you do not have an
opportunity to take calculus in high school, you're at a significant disadvantage applying perennial stamp programs in any serious college. and we were making that decision for our kids going into sixth
grade. That is no longer the case. There are significant opportunities for kids to move and adjust uh during middle school in terms of what drag
they're on. >> Oh. Oh, yeah. It was absolutely the case for your daughter. It was also the case for my two oldest kids, right? But that was I I so I know exactly what you're talking about, but that is not the case
today. Right. Today there are opportunities for kids who go into middle school and demonstrate that they can do the work at a much more advanced level to go ahead and take
algebra and even a geometry even if they were not placed at that advanced level going to >> and okay I just want to make sure >> right so we've addressed that um >> I mean I hold on I just want to make
sure that it is our policy not to go back and forth just because that is a standard that I hold through all meetings. So I appreciate we're kind of in a casual more casual setting. So >> just um but also I want to make sure that you address that those changes were
made this year. >> Those changes were made um actually some of them were made two years ago and we continue to implement them going into this year. >> Yeah. Mhm. >> Um, we also changed
the way we place kids so that the majority of kids who do not need any special help in math while they're in the elementary school are kind of in that middle track that if they progress on that middle
track, they have an opportunity and an option to take AP calculus, right? And then we have some kids that are actually ahead of that and then we have some kids who are behind that but we do progress that. And the third thing that we do
track is there were significant discrepancies between the elementary schools in terms of um the percentage of kids who were going into this program. So we track that are we perfect in that we're not we're also recognizing that
we're not perfect in the way we evaluate kids for math 6. Um I think we've gotten better and I'm encouraged with some by some of the things that that Matt is
trying to do. I I also don't know that there's really a perfect solution. What makes me feel a lot better is that if our kids are not properly placed coming out of the elementary schools, there's
there are mechanisms in place during middle school where that can be corrected so that by 8th grade a child who can handle algebra 1 in 8th grade is
actually able to take algebra 1. a child who can handle geometry is able to take geometry and then I know that Matt also presented some further changes in the last committee meeting that provide even more flexibility to the middle school.
So um at the middle school level. So I wanted to address the fact that where we were 10 years ago, we are in a much much much better place in um in terms of the
math program now. Uh we continue to improve that. There are still challenges with the placement. Having now been kind of in the middle of it and seeing everything that's going on, I'm not sure there's a perfect way to really evaluate that. Uh but we continue to look at
things and your last point was that yes, kids need to be tested only in what they they learned. Uh right, they need to be assessed only in what they learned. Yes, that is also being addressed and and has been addressed.
>> Thank you. And I wanted to speak on behalf of of the um of I'm sorry, Miss Why am I drawing a blank on your last name? Miss Latus. Thank you. Um we we have made a lot of changes since a decade ago because there was a lot of gatekeeping in this in this
uh district in a lot of areas and we've been fighting to try to make sure that we're balancing that for folks that it's not just based on one test. Um and we are doing a much better job now and we are leaning on on a lot of expertise in the community. Um we're not perfect, but we are looking at what other districts
are doing. Um some of it is going to have to be a shift in the way we think about things. Yes, other districts are are doing a lot better than we are in math. And that's and that's not something I'm comfortable with because I'm competitive, if nothing else. And also, we're looking at the way that they schedule students when they are not
successful and thriving. And that is taking electives away and placing them in support classes while they're taking the math. Um, letting kids wave in and they're taking that support class. So, we've kind of had this um this culture in Hopewell that we want to have all the
things and we want to say no to those supports that will get you to those higher levels. Um so, I want to allow more parents to make the decision for their children and say, "My child wants to take this risk or or take this challenge. It's not really a risk, this
challenge and and wave into the math and I want you to be supported in that. I don't want a kid to get frustrated to get in over their head and then they don't try again." So, we're balancing all of those things. I don't think we're going to be perfect, but there are districts who are doing it better than we are, and we're leaning on them to
look at what their master schedule looks like, how they're remediating, how they're supporting, and how they're creating those opportunities for kids to reach for that next level and to challenge themselves. >> Yeah. I just want to underscore this master schedule piece that that was a
huge factor. So, um, is there anything that you want to add? You're co your co-parent. Awesome. Um, with that, we're going to go ahead and close our public comment. And I need a first and second to move
our um board into executive session. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> I. and we um will be reviewing um
let's see I think we just have some hibs and that is it so no action will be taken. Thank you all for the evening.