Can we please stand? We would now like to observe a moment of silence to honor the memory of the 11th grade student we tragically lost in a car accident last week. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the students family and loved ones during the incredibly difficult time. May we come together as a community to
support one another and all those impacted by the loss. Please be seated. It said the flag first. That's why that's what it said. Okay. Where's my Why is my thing not working?
This meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting. Roll call. >> Dr. Osman. Mr. Walsh. Mr. McCarron >> here. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> present. >> Mrs. Baroas,
>> present. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> present. >> Mrs. Cass, >> present. Before we do the >> before we do the approval of the agenda, we have two additional items to add.
>> Sure. >> You want to do it or you want to read it? >> I think I got this one. The board of education approves the following resolution regarding the sale of the Christa Mclliff Middle School. Whereas pursuant to NJSA18A
col 20-5, the board has previously determined that the parcel of land and building improvements on said parcel identified on the Jackson Township tax map as block 21301, lots 4, 8, 9, 16,17, and 18, commonly
known as the McAuliffe Middle School, are no longer needed for school purposes. And whereas the division of finance in the department of education approved the sale of the property and whereas pursuant to NJSA18A col 20-6 and 20-7 the board publicly
advertised the property for sale with a required minimum bid of 54 million500,000 and whereas on October 15th 2025 the board received one bid for the property in the amount of 25,518,000
which did not meet the previously established minimum bid amount. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board rejects the bid received due to the bid amount being less than the established minimum bid, and be it further resolved that the board authorizes the superintendent, business administrator,
and board attorney to enter into negotiations with any interested party for the sale of the property so long as the negotiated sale price is no less than $51,18,000. Be it further resolved that if such negotiations result in a negotiated sale of the property, the sale will be
subject to a contract to be developed by the board attorney and in accordance with the initial specifications for the sale as well of the as the board of education review and approval of the sale and contract at a future public meeting as required by law.
>> This will be uh finance motion number 10. Okay. And we have another addition. My mic just died. Uh this is going to be student matter number nine. Uh resolved that the board of education continues the suspens
continues the suspension of student ID number 27 through the end of the first semester while on home instruction. And be it further resolved that the student shall be examined by the school psych psychiatrist to evaluate him and provide recommendations and proposed
interventions for the student. And be it further resolved that the student should not be permitted to participate in any school sponsored events or activities. Norst shall the student be permitted on board property or return to Jackson High School unless and until he follows the
psychiatrist's recommendations and successfully com completes his academic requirements and further so long as the psychiatrist opines that he's not a danger to self or others and be it finally resolved that the student shall not um
uh sorry one more time shall not um I said that already just bear with me. Oh, that the student shall not be permitted to return until medically cleared and academically cleared. >> And that's it. So those we need a motion to add those two items to the agenda.
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Dr. Osben. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass.
>> Yes. >> I now turn the meeting I now turn the meeting over to Mrs. Poor Millie for her superintendent report. >> Thank you, Miss Cass. And good evening, everyone. Um, as we have always started our superintendent report and our board meetings with our student board reps
from the high school. We always love to hear about all the happenings at the high school. And this evening we have Colin Williams and Payton Brown here to do a shared report for all the happenings at the high school. If you two could come to the podium. >> Yeah. Thank you.
Good evening, Superintendent Permilly, members of the board of education, and honored guests. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak on behalf of Jackson Township High School. As we progress through the first marking period, the atmosphere at Jackson Township High School remains lively. This fall continues to be a season of
pride and growth. The excitement of becoming Jackson Township High School still shines bright, and both staff and students are working together to build new traditions while honoring the legacy of both Liberty and Memorial. Spirit and unity are visible everywhere, especially this week as we celebrate our very first
homecoming week as one school. The student council and PTSN have been hard at work planning the homecoming dance that is taking place this Saturday, October 18th, along with all the exciting events leading up to it. The hallways are decorated, the energy is high, and each day brings a new wave of
enthusiasm through our themed spirit days. We've had soccer mom versbecue dad and country verse country club to start the week and looking forward to ending it with teacher student swap day on Thursday and class color day on Friday. Friday will be an especially exciting day as we also have our homecoming pep
rally where we'll celebrate our fall athletes, watch performances, and compete in games before heading to the homecoming football game that night. This week wraps up with a homecoming dance on Saturday. A perfect way for everyone to come together and celebrate an awesome week. On the field and
courts, our fall athletes continue to make Jackson proud. The girls volleyball team remains one of the strongest in the Shore Conference, recently securing their 14th win and claiming the B Southath division championship. Fiotaki has also enjoyed an exciting few weeks, winning their division and celebrating
their seniors on senior night. The girls soccer team is gearing up for the short conference tournament, while the boys soccer team continues to battle hard as they prepare for postseason play. The girls tennis team finished the season strong with several players advancing deep into the Ocean County tournament. Congratulations to Riley Thorne and Gio
Cabri who were named athlete of the month for their leadership, dedication, and outstanding contributions to their teams. The marching band continues its award-winning run, earning titles in all five competitions they've participated in, while improving their scores each
week. This past weekend, they hosted the first ever band competition at JTHS, which was a huge success on so many levels. Their show, The Dark, Enchanted Forest, has impressed judges and fans alike, earning awards for best music, best visuals, and best percussion. The
band looks forward to continuing their successful season at the upcoming regional and state competitions, which will be their final two shows this year. Our performing arts are equally busy. The drama department's fall production of Beetlejuice is well underway and rehearsals are in full swing. Students
are working hard on sets, choreography, and rehearsal. We can't wait to see all come together on opening night set for November 20th. Academically, the juniors are preparing for PSATs and mid-marking period assessments. National Honor Society applications have been collected and other honor societies like Science
National Honor Society and MU Alpha Theta are thriving. Seniors Madison Ratheian and Ryan Monday were announced as September's seniors of the month. In recognition of October as breast cancer awareness month, many of our teams have started wearing pink during games, showing incredible school spirit and
support for the cause. The Jaguar basketball team's ongoing fundraiser from September reached its goal. And true to his word, Coach Connor dyed his hair pink. As you can see, Jackson Township High School is busier than ever. Thank you so much for your time and today and for supporting all the students and staff at Jackson Township
High School. We look forward to returning next month with even more great news to share. Have a wonderful evening and as always, go Jags. >> Thank you, K. Thank you, Payton, for the comprehensive review of all of the happenings at the high school. We appreciate it and we look forward to it every month. We look forward to seeing
you in November as well. So across the district in October, our students um and schools are involved in activities, instruction, lessons. They hold special events for the week of respect and red ribbon week. Some of those include
activities, and you maybe have seen some of the slides this evening while you were waiting for the the meeting to start. Um wearing school colors to show unity. Uh wearing crazy mixed up socks for Crazy for Kindness Day. uh teaming up against drugs and wear your favorite
team shirt. We have assemblies happening, presentations um to prevent bullying and promoting good choices for our students. Um one of the other things was uh that I saw this week as well was providing um wearing neon colors, bright
futures, uh no drugs in sight. So very creative things that are happening within the school to help send all of the right messages to our students. Um believe it or not, we are approaching Halloween. Um, and as you can imagine, the schools are holding special things. A special thank you to our PTNs who hold
a lot of uh uh trunk or treat events for our students and uh our middle school who historically has done a spooktacular which is also an amazing event for our students for Halloween. Uh so we have a lot of happenings across the district.
some of the slides this evening that um were behind me if the board wants to just take a quick look. I know others who have been sitting in the audience have seen them, but uh we have had um and some of the board members did attend this um grant that we've gotten over at
Elms um and we created um some of the staff there and Shaina Brener who who really did uh spearhead that grant um created an outdoor environment learning center and a and a garden at Elms Elementary School. It's it's quite
involved. It started as a a small little um grant that was to create a monarch butterfly garden and it just continued to grow through additional funding that uh they were able to receive and you can see there just the the size of that learning environment outdoors. I had the
opportunity to be at the ribbon cutting and to see it and explore it. It's a great opportunity for our students to learn all about science and partake. some, you know, students helped create it, um, develop it, did weeding, did planting, and they're learning all about our environment, um, special species we
have, um, butterflies, uh, plants, um, just weather is included out there. It's just an incredible learning opportunity. And congratulations to Elm and, uh, to Sheena Brener for spearheading that. Um, as I mentioned, we have a lot of um, activities
happening in October for respect and uh, respect week and red ribbon week. Um, but I something I really want to point out tonight, but I'm actually going to turn it over to um, Dr. Godleski who really spearheaded this grant writing opportunity in this district. We are
we're very short um, with staff. We are all on overload as you know is the many cuts that have happened here. Uh, one of the significant cuts we've had was over the years a grant writer. So many of the administrators jump in and when a grant
comes out they work overtime to be able to apply. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Galileleski and thank you Dr. Gilleski for spearheading this grant writing. >> Oh, thank you Mrs. Permilly. So uh, we got great news this week about early August the Department of Education came
out with learning equity and academic recovery grants. They were called Lear grants. Uh they were primarily focused uh for the secondary level and all centered around literacy. Um as Mrs. P Millie has mentioned, you know, when
funds are low, it's it's really hard to bring new programs and and new resources in without significant planning and waiting. Uh and despite it being an incredibly busy time of year, I have to thank uh Lisa Cotch, John Palano, and Tracy Char who joined in efforts with me
to write all of these grants uh in a very short time period because the turnaround time was pretty quick on these grants and uh we received three of the four and would and have a preliminary approval on the fourth. Uh it's preliminary so it's not on here but
the ones that we received is cultivating ongoing achievement through coaching and literacy. That's coach. Uh this is again a literacy coach for the grades six through 12. The grants $150,000 for five years. Uh I think it's
significant to note that it's a five-year grant. So we're not just bringing in a position for 12 months. uh but that the state has empowered us to build capacity over a five-year period for this job. Uh the second one is the impact grant and that stands for
instructional materials for professional advancement and coherent teaching and that's a multi-pronged grant that we wrote for literacy materials 9 through 12. So, brand new literacy materials in our um high school classrooms as well as
significant professional development, the creation of model classrooms as well as teacher leaders who lead the practice from um their classrooms. So, that's bound to be incredibly powerful in improving our high school experience in
literacy for our students. And the third one is RISE. It's reading intervention for secondary engagement. And this was a $50,000 grant to implement innovative evidence-based literacy interventions for students six through eight. Again,
looking at a multi-pronged approach from professional development, high impact tutoring, and tiered systems of support. Uh, in total, it was $1.2 2 million in grants and I'm really excited to see um
how these work out in our school system and you'll I'll make note of them in the state of the school address as well. >> Thank you Dr. Godleski and you know just really great support for our district goals for academic achievement this year as well. Thank you. So before we move
forward with the state of the schools presentation tonight, I do want to take a few moments to uh speak to the the pause for common lunch um that we have had to put into place at Jackson Township High School. As some of you may
know, um I'm a huge proponent of common lunch. You may not know this, but in fact, I was one of the original initiators of the concept uh when I was an assistant superintendent here. And when I became the superintendent, Mr. Beginsky was also a huge proponent of
this and helped to initiate uh this happening in our schools. We know the value of this for our students. Um and when it's working the way it's intended, it's an incredible opportunity for our students. It provides students with extra help with teachers, uh to meet
with clubs, to connect socially, and to take much needed break in the middle of um a demanding school day. It's sometimes and and and in many many high schools around us, they do not have this. So, it really does put our students at an advantage. So, I completely understand the frustration
and the disappointment many parents and students have with the pause. I too am disappointed that we needed to pause. Um, and it was not a decision that was made quickly or lightly. We share that disappointment. However, the past few
weeks, it became clear that common lunch period was not operating the way it needed to. Despite strong supervision plans, clear expectations, and multiple adjustments such as opening additional spaces and making daily reminders about how the time to use the time
constructively, we were seeing a pattern behaviors that were concerning. The truth is there was a culture issue right now that needs that goes beyond just simple rule break uh breaking here. While many students were using the time responsibly and productively, others
were not. And the imbalance created an unsafe and unproductive environment just for too many of our students. My central administrative team, all of us were personally present in the building, in the hallways during common lunch, monitoring and supporting our
staff. Our supervision plan was solid. Every teacher, administrator, and security guard had assigned locations. And I want to be very clear, this is not a supervision issue. Our staff has done an excellent job at maintaining order and intervening quickly when there was
an issue. But even with those supports in place, that period was beginning to trend in a direction that could I could not allow to continue without risking something unsafe happening. This pause gives us the opportunity to work through those
challenges and build a version of Common Lunch, one that achieves all the benefits that we all love about Common Lunch without the risks of anything else happening. Lifelong educators here in making this
decision and we know that we needed to pause this to handle the situation and to problem solve it. As indicated before, we have full intentions of bringing this back so that it can be used effectively for
our students. In the meantime, teachers will continue to be available after school until 2 p.m. for extra help. And we've asked our coaches and advisers to be flexible with students who need to stay for extra support. I want to emphasize again, this is a pause, not an
end. I'm a huge proponent of this and we will bring it back. Please be patient with us as we pause and take some time to figure this out so that our students can have a productive opportunity during the day for help and access clubs and
activities. I know how much it means to our students and I know the value as does everybody else here. Just a reminder that beginning of November, November 3rd through 5th, we have conferences for pre preK through grade 8. Uh this Friday the portal opens
so that parents can go ahead and schedule their conferences. Please make sure you get in there to do that. Um and we are moving forward with conferences at the beginning of November. So this is the time of the year that um the annual
report of our standardized assessment data gets presented to the public. This evening we have Dr. Godleski who will be reporting out the state of the schools to the board and the public. Um she is our assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and program. Uh
she will also at the end of this presentation do a second short presentation to share one of the things we've already started to work on to help address some of our issues at the high school um called our flexible learning academy. It is in our stages of draft
but it is uh some information we thought that the board should know about. >> So Dr. Gleski and board. You'll need to turn around to see the slides. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. This is the state of of the school's presentation. And while
I'm up here presenting, I just want to give credit to all of the teachers, coaches, and administrators that contribute to uh creating this plan and supporting our students every single day in the classroom. Before I present the data, I do want to
speak to a changing demographic. And if you look at this chart, it details June 2022 to June 2025. Specifically, I want to highlight three areas that have significantly changed in
the Jackson School District. Uh because these three areas are very much linked to student achievement. And you can't uh you'd be remiss to look at the data in isolation and not understand how some things are changing. Uh the first one I want you to bring your attention to is
our large growth of economically disadvantaged families, students. Uh 2022 was uh you know 28% and now we're nearly at 50%. So that's a pretty significant growth in that category.
We've also had significant growth in our English language learners, our multilingual learners, uh from 5.6% to nearly 10%. Again, very significant growth uh for students whose English is not their first language. So, understandably have a harder time
showing proficiency on some standardized assessments. Another key element is transency in the school district. Um, historically the Jackson School District has had students that have in completed their entire academic career in the Jackson schools
or at least a huge majority of it. A trend that has been noticed especially in the past year is a change um in students that are registering and then departing. So in district for less than one year in first through 12th grade
we've gone from 3% of our students to nearly 6% of our students. Uh that's again is is important to note because when you're teaching children and you're looking at scores, you can assume that the child has been in our district for a while or even has been in that classroom
for a while. It would be remiss to go do a state of the schools and not mention our restructuring. Last year, we engaged in pretty intensive strategic planning that resulted in a restructuring of our school district to one merged high school, one merged middle school, one
upper elementary school for fifth and sixth graders. And grade five was taken from our elementary school into the 56 building, allowing enough space in our elementary school for all of our special area subjects and small groups, uh, resulting in the closure of Mclliff
Middle School. Part of this presentation is also to discuss the required state assessments. You'll see in yellow changing after a few of them because in August, the end of August, the Department of Education issued a broadcast in which we were
informed that our state testing will be revamped for the upcoming school year. uh not all of them, but I I'll go through it and I'll explain what some of those changes look like, or at least to the best of my knowledge, we don't have all of the information about that just yet. It's quite new. Uh but the New
Jersey Student Learning Assessment, which is the bulk of this presentation for English language arts in grades 3 to nine, that will be changing for this spring. Same with mathematics, changing for this spring. all required tests
though and science in grades 5 8 and 11 that test is is not changing that will not becoming adaptive the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment the NJGPA as we refer to it is also changing that is a required test for graduation
uh and that will also become adaptive and one's not changing is our dynamic learning maps and that is a state assessment for students for which the New Jersey student learning assessment isn't academically appropriate and our
our multilingual learners take access for L's which is administered to all students that are identified as a multilingual learner. That test also will not be changing but we will be transitioning a majority of our student New Jersey student learning assessment
to the N to the adaptive version as well as the GPA test to the adaptive version. And what that means is as students answer questions, uh, the test is modified based on their response to that question. This approach can reduce some testing
anxiety because students are being presented questions that are geared towards their ability and towards their proficiency in the questions that they are answering correctly. um it can measure each student's knowledge with a little bit more precision because the items will be
tailored to the standard and the proficiency level of each student individually. These are all general terms of what an adaptive test does. I have not seen the NJGPA adaptive nor the NJSLA adaptive. Uh but I I think it's important to understand what an adaptive
test does. If you look on the Department of Ed's website, there are a couple of broadcasts that detail some of it. Um, and there's field tests that are required. So, if you looked at our assessment calendar for the year, you noticed in November, all of our students
will be field testing the um NJSLA adaptive and the NJGPA adaptive for a spring implementation. What that means for us in terms of how we use data is the state is changing the
metric and when you change the metric and you're you're uh implementing a test for the first time that data isn't super valuable year one. So we really need to rely on our in-house assessments. Uh so what you see on this slide are some
district assessments that we've used and will continue to use and really lean into a lot more uh next year because when we have two different tests, we won't be able to measure growth from the state assessments. We'll only be able to measure it from our in-house
assessments. Uh, for English language arts K to3, we use the Amira dyslexia screener. For those students that um need a follow-up test because they're at risk, we use Dibbles. We use the HMH growth measure and the HMH FLA, which is
foundational literacy assessment. They go with our K to8 uh literacy program. Our students in grades three to six take benchmarks in link which is a digital assessment based on state standards and they take that three times a year as
well as module writing tasks in K to5 and we still use fontis and panel uh running reading records for students that are at risk or in iron ars or for a specific reason that we want to use an additional measure for mathematics at the elementary school level. We use LL
which is an online platform that is adaptive uh in grades 1 to six three times a year. We're really focusing on math facts fluency. So that will be a benchmark three times a year for grades 1 through 5th and twice for kindergarten.
Linket benchmarks are also used in mathematics and that's the digital assessment that's standardsbased in grades three to six three times a year and benchmark testing in K to2 it's mandatory and in 3 to five it's optional four times a year
for middle and high school again you'll see it's a platform our students are familiar with our teachers are familiar with and can really dive into the data we use snapshots in math in grades seven and eight three times times a year as
well as algebra 1 three times in a semester. So they're real time diagnostics and it really pinpoints where students are, where their gaps are and gives the teachers the opportunity to not only individualize instruction but fill any gaps in by assigning any
standard that isn't proficient based on these snapshots. We also use the link benchmarks in ELA and math uh in seven uh and eight and the HMH growth measure in ELA for grades seven and eight. Algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 and
English one through four also do the linket benchmarks three times per semester. There's a benchmark A, B, and C. And uh AP tests are not state uh mandated, but I think it is important to note that we have lots of AP classes in
the Jackson Township High School, and these are standardized exams designed to measure the mastery a student has of an AP course. Speaking of AP courses, I think this is a huge shining light of some of the rigorous courses that our
students are taking. the results of our students AP exams is exe exemplary. Um, if you've never seen an AP test or a sample of one, they're incredibly hard. Incredibly hard. Uh, and if you look at
some of these huge numbers, uh, 513 scores were three or better. If you look at the percentage of three or better, and just so you understand, a three is kind of like that line in the sand. If a student passes an AP test with a three
or better, they have the potential to earn college credit for that score. It's all it's always dependent on whether the college accepts it. Uh but generally the three is the line in the sand of whether or not it would be. So these are the number of students who are able to earn
college credits just from their performance on these tests. And um you know some of these 90% 100% incredibly difficult tests. Um you know calculus BC I really need to
point out uh because 82% of our students passing that is incredible and a huge number of that received fives and fives is the top score you can get. Uh so a a lot of our students earned a five in
calculus BC. So, it really does speak to some huge highlights that we've experienced instructionally in our district. So, I did want to spend some time on that slide. Now, I can dive a little bit into the New Jersey student learning assessment
results. I'm not going to read all of these, but I want to explain the chart to you. This is the grade levels that take it. This is um the percentage in English language arts and mathematics. That's the district percentage of students receiving a four or better. A
four is proficient, considered proficient. And you see the district percentage and then to the right the state percentage. I'll give you a moment to look at it and then I'll speak to the the data. Okay,
in many of the areas we performed below the state percentage which was quite disappointing for all of us. Uh it you know it it makes us realize there's work to be done. We have faced hard times and both financially and and changing but we
need to focus on ways to improve. Uh there are a few though looking at you know geometry and algebra 2 where we're significantly above the state average. So that's again those are very difficult tests. So that's something to highlight
on these slides. Uh but as we move forward I will talk about what we plan on doing to ensure that our students are growing and reaching proficiency or beyond. These are our district science scores for NJSLA.
This isn't given every year. It's given in fifth grade, 8th grade, and 11th grade. This is a slide that represents our proficiency for our students who took the DM administration. As I said earlier, the DM is an alternate
assessment for students in which the NJSLA is not an appropriate academic test. Uh so this is the number of our students that were at target or advanced in the three subject areas and a graph that represents those
percentages. What we also have to dig into is our different subgroups and ethnicity data. um it's really small to see and this will be posted on the website. So if you want to go through each of these slides and really look um I'm encourage you to
do so. But these graphs are really for us as a team to look at to see where our achievement gaps are, how we address them, uh what groups of our population are thriving and growing or who needs extra attention. So these are really
important internally for us. Uh and something like I said I encourage you to take a look at um sometimes things can't be reported. N size is a sample size. So if our sample size is too small, if it's under 20, we can't report it because it
becomes self-identifying. This our science ethnicity data. And then these are our subgroups. Again, very important internally for us to look at this data so we see where to focus. Okay. So, next steps, as I said, we're
we're not comfortable with these scores. We're not thrilled with these scores. We need to take some steps to make sure that we see growth. Um, last year was the first year of implementation of our K to8 literacy series. Sometimes in the first year of implementation, well,
oftentimes you won't see the the the grand result you're hoping for. It takes a little while for our staff to get comfortable with all of the resources to learn it to really implement all the tools available. So, the continued use of this program with a gained expertise
will be a huge focus for this year, especially with our resources for our multilingual learners as well as differentiated resources to meet students where they are. Uh we will be doing instructional rounds to provide formative feedback on instruction.
Something huge to notice is our district goal is to increase rigor and complex learning tasks. So it's not just a school goal, it's an absolute district goal to raise that rigor so that our students grow um with regard to their
achievement data. of course, ongoing professional development and increased collaboration and datadriven practices through professional learning, community engagement. Um, a PLC is a time for teachers to come together, look at data,
discuss pedigogy and different ways that instruction can change to see a bigger result in student achievement growth. The restructuring of the 56 and the 78 building has provided a lot more opportunity for staff collaboration. You
know, there's a lot of merit to the expert next door. We have fantastic teachers in the Jackson School District. We've also had a significant turnover in the Jackson school district. So, that's something to consider uh with regard to experience level of teachers and the
training they've had. So when we have all of our teachers teaching the same grade in the same location, it provides one unified message and allows us the opportunity to have all of our staff working together on those goals. We'll be doing interventions in a
push-in and a pullout setting. Uh air is our online tutor, so that's still being used this year. Again, professional development. And we also continued the GPA skills class to support students who needed to pass that class in order to
graduate from high school. We had a summer program and also a program for the first semester. It's a course. I mentioned at the beginning of our meeting uh the competitive LER grants. These are really really helpful in our steps towards bringing new resources and
bringing more to our district. Having a coach uh in literacy at the secondary level can be really powerful. So that's quite exciting. As well as instructional materials for four grade levels, something we'd never have been able to uh include in our general budget. We'll
be able to get through this grant as well as a high impact tutoring um and support for professional development and restructuring iron ars for intervention strategies and mathematics. Uh again, tier 2 in inter
intervention through winter thrive time focusing on facts on fire. Uh that's our math facts and our math fluency professional development. We created a K to8 math coach job. It's a grant-f funded position uh to really focus on
strategies in elementary math uh instruction. We have a K to6 math supervisor this year that's dedicated to that grade level and subject. And we're also piloting LERA. It's a multilingual virtual tutor. Uh we're piloting that to
provide tier 2 interventions in three schools. Homeman, JT56, and the high school. And high impact tutoring in multiple grades. Uh the high impact tutoring we're funding through our uh federal grants, Title One and Title 4.
Um this is data from the last two years when the state had a high impact tutoring grant. And because it was so successful and the way we did it use using our staff within the school day and providing extended school day
opportunities for students, we were able to really grow some of our most fragile learners. Uh so we modeled this grant with our grants that we're receiving this year. Um, this is just it shows
that when you find something that works, it's really beneficial if you're able to replicate it over and over. Can't replicate it everywhere, uh, but we can replicate it in certain grade levels. Also, professional learning communities, same as the 5, six, and 78,
restructuring the high school is putting all your teachers who are teaching high school math in the same building. They have more opportunity to talk and collaborate. Uh we continued the GPA skills class and also there's math tutors to provide after school math lab
at the high school level or virtual one-on-one tutoring. So if students need help, they can go to guidance and sign up and that's also funded by our title 4. In science, we're going to continue to use the aligned uh New Jersey uh student learning assessment sample
questions as warm-ups in class. review of scheduling to brainstorm ways to incorporate more science instructional time. Science went from a semester course to a a full year long course in grades five six. So it's like doubling the science instructional time. That's
significant. Um it's it's not a halfyear course, it's a full year course and that should really yield some benefits and piloting a new resource in our elementary school. As we begin to think about piloting new resources
It goes without saying that we face multiple challenges, but I said it. We have a strong resolve to ensure that our students grow in scholarship, character, and their ability to take initiatives every single day. Wonderful things are happening in our classrooms. I know you
know that. I know, you know, our teachers are working hard with all of their students every single day so that we have emerging talented artists, leaders, athletes, and students who excel and grow in many ways. Thank you.
Does the board have any questions? >> I had a question. >> Yeah. >> Um, you touched a little bit on my question. Let me just bring it up because I typed it out. >> Okay. um when you were talking about uh the in-house assessments that we'll be
able to kind of fall back on as we pilot >> the adaptive state assessments. >> Um you mentioned that those in-house assessments can give teachers more pinpointed I don't know what language
used um and be able to give them interventions that pinpoint those specific areas on our assessments that go with our curriculum. So like I know and you you said it after I wrote this question from K through six we have win we have thrive.
Do we have um is there discussion? Are we going to be having those kind of intervention periods built in in the future for middle and high school students or any intention to do that? >> So in middle school we do have math lab and we're also we just got that grant so
we'll have some high impact tutoring at the middle school as well. We're also uh there was a committee before the restructuring to redo the middle school schedule and that committee work while it was paused to do the restructuring, it's back and you know I've already
gotten a few draft schedules because we understand the need for for that. I also can't underestimate the ability to differentiate within the classroom by doing station work and small group instruction. That's a way where, you know, if you're not teaching to the whole group, but you're teaching to
small groups, you can really group children by their needs and meet with them in small groups. So, it can happen in the regular classroom, but it's it's also happening in a tier three setting where it's outside the classroom as well. You're welcome.
Okay. Okay. Do you want me just to roll into the next one, Miss Perily? Okay. So, the next presentation uh that I'm going to be speaking about today is uh a draft, a very early draft of the
flexible learning academy uh for Jackson Township High School. You can go to the next slide. Again, this is a very early draft uh but obviously we face the challenge. Um, we wanted to create a model that
provides a flexible learning environment for students that aren't successfully navigating current structures at Jackson Township High School that can address serious and chronic discipline issues including school violence or drug infractions, education of student
substance abusers, an alternative to out of school suspension, and also address students uh that face chronic absenteeism or tardies. there is a need. Um, Mrs. Permilly spoke about the pause of common lunch and and
the rationale as to why and that we've been investigating ways to address our student needs. Uh, things can't turn on a dime. You can't just, you know, flip to a new idea. You have to spend some time developing them. And that's why I'm presenting this draft this evening. So
you see that there's things going on behind the scenes and addressing the needs that we have. Um it's been clear that not all of our students are able to navigate. Um many students utilize our valued common lunch as intended. Many
do, but some can't manage the autonomy and they've created an environment that's unacceptable to the overall building climate and culture. Students who have used or abused substances are also typically placed out of school for extended periods and they miss needed
counseling and education. And students with chronic tardiness or absenteeism are not meeting with success with the typical high school schedule. So that outlines the needs. The purpose of the flexible learning academy is to provide a program with both academic and
behavioral supports to provide a pathway of success for our students. Not all of our students need the same thing. Uh but many of our students do need support. Uh these are the students not succeeding within our high school schedule and structure. And the programs intended to
provide short-term tier three. So, it's not tier one or two that would happen during the school day, but a tier three intervention to support students to function uh with increased autonomy in a more flexible schedule and engage in
emotional regulation so that they can become thriving members of our school community. Did I skip one? Was the other one? No. Okay. So, I very clearly labeled it draft. This is a draft. Uh, but we're looking at creating a flexible learning
academy that meets after um the bulk of our student population departs for the day. So, the school times would be from 1:30 to 5:30. We're looking at piloting two classrooms at Jackson Township High School. It's an in-person experience.
It's not a virtual experience. Transportation would be provided. Uh the educational program would be in-person teachers using the resources of educier or apex or an online program. There would be a significant counseling
component, a dedicated counselor and andor substance abuse counselor if that's needed for the students that are attending. We would need a security guard and a nurse as well as a coordinator of the program. So that's a little bit about the description and a
daily schedule again draft. uh students would come in, engage in a meet and greet, and immediately move into a group counseling session. Then they do their individualized schoolwork and coursework. Uh there's a potential for option two for physical education and
engaging kids in that pathway to be successful in a required course. There'd be individualized counseling sessions as needed and a creation of a transition plan to return to the typical high school schedule and expectations. As I said earlier, this is geared to be a
short-term program for students to get targeted and um significant support academically and behaviorally so that they can return to the typical high school experience. Um this I left very
open because the proposed usage isn't something that can be dictated. This would be a collaborative discussion between the school administration, central office administration, the director of counseling as uh what would constitute um and what time period
students would serve in this program. But again, the the idea behind it and the philosophy would that it would be short term. We recognize that there's roadblocks and questions. This is just a draft. I just we thought it important that you
understand that we are considering options and recognizing we have a need for a population of our students to meet with success. Uh some of the potential roadblocks is parents refusing to allow their children to participate. So this
would be optional for parents if they didn't want their child to come to school and get these supports um to help their student grow. And out of school suspension is always an option. We're trying to look for a more productive option than that. Uh we understand that some students have IEPs with very
specialized special education programs. Obviously, if someone has a very specialized program, we would not be able to accommodate that in a flexible learning academy. We would need a bilingual liaison to ensure that all of our families and our students understood
and uh would benefit from the counseling that was available. So we do have parent liaison at all of our schools that are bilingual and would be able to flex their hours and attend as needed. Uh this also represents a loss of
opportunity for students to engage in extracurriculars and sports. That is true, but if students are out of school for being suspended, they're not able to continue their participation at that time. And what happens if key staff are absent? These would all be things that we'd have to troubleshoot with the
coordinator to hire people to ensure that we had staff on the days that we would need to run this program. Oh, I didn't realize I added music to it. But um sometimes things require a fresh start, you know, a different
approach. And this is um that fresh start. And the flexible learning academy isn't a new idea. It's something that was pitched a few years ago as something that would really be beneficial to a group of our students. Uh but we weren't
able to financially afford it. Uh we have some grant money that we can utilize to pay for this pilot and determine, you know, is this something that works? Is this something that's serving our students? Is this something that's helping them so that they can be, you know, productive in our school and
thrive in our community and then thrive in the community beyond high school. So that's really important to us. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Dr. Gutleski. Um and also just want to mention here that multi-prong approach to solving what we
need to solve to bring back um this opportunity for our high school students. This is just one prong that we've been investigating um and we will continue to investigate. Um does the board have any questions before we close this session? >> I have one too. Go ahead.
>> I actually am thinking about your test scores from the first one. If I could go back for a second and ask a question on that. So with the standardized test on average, how long are each of those standardized tests? How long is a kids sitting there and working through the
material? >> How long is the block of time or how long do students typically work on the material? Because they're both two different pieces. Both. >> Uh they range. They range. I think our longest one in our field test is 100 minutes. Um maybe Mr. Palumbo, you're
leaning forward. You want to correct me. >> Field test is 120 minutes is the longest session. >> Yeah. So that's the longest one. And I've seen them as 40 minutes as well. Some students utilize every single minute. Some students work on it for five minutes and close their Chromebooks. Obviously, our teachers who
are proctoring really try to encourage all the students to utilize all their time, check their work. Uh but that's very dependent. >> Yeah. >> So um I brought this up in our last meeting where I'm really a proponent for
uh cumulative exams, longer exams, something that we don't always do in this district depending on what a student's grades are in the class. if they have to take finals, if they don't have to take finals. And I think the scores that we just saw is another
reason to think about those longer exams because, you know, as you know, as an educator, um, test taking is a skill, >> right? A big part of it is a skill. And of course, you have, I was following along, of course you have ESL learners and all of those things
>> obviously play a part in the numbers that we saw, but the numbers that we saw were not good. And last time um when Mr. Ratante gave this presentation, the numbers that we saw were not good. And I I did really think
that we have to think about are we preparing students for that type of test when you see so many low scores because if they practice taking longer exams that include more content, right?
Then you get used to taking longer exams that include more content. Your time management becomes better. The way you study becomes better. your long-term memory becomes better, helps you understand question types better, which would not only help students in K
through 12, but that is what they will see when they're in higher ed when you only take one or two tests in a final exam. >> So, I think it's something looking at those numbers that should should be part of the conversation because what we're doing
>> isn't giving us the result that we want even though people are working really hard and I'm not questioning that. Um, but I've been on this board for a while and I keep seeing those scores being very low compared to the state numbers if we keep doing what we're doing and
expecting different results, you know, and so you have some grants and I see that and obviously there are um variables with money and this is why schools need to be funded by the state, right? Like we all understand this. This is why we should have money for buses so
that kids could stay after school and all of those things. That all plays a part, but you know that we only could work with what we have and this is a way to maybe try something different that doesn't cost any money. >> Absolutely. And it's part of the conversation just so you know behind the
scenes. >> I had a question on the flexible learning academy. Um what grant would fund this? >> This is part of the mental health grant. >> Okay. And now can you tell us how it differs from the current alternative program that we have in during the
school day pride? >> Well, it's it's outside of the school day. So, I think that's a huge piece that it's it's meeting at a totally different time when students aren't in the building. >> So, would it be better or make sense for funding to combine them both? And if not, how come?
>> I have to think about that and and research it. But I think we're dealing with two different populations and we have students that have individualized learning plans that place them in a program for a year. This is really designed to be a short-term solution and
not based on an individual education plan, but based on the actions of a student. >> So the Pride program is a special education program. >> No. >> Oh. Um >> but we have a couple of programs.
>> Okay. Um the flexible learning academy it's separation is that both ways? >> Yes. >> And what time would the stu what time would the buses go out to go those kids if they had to be there at 1:30? We have buses for that that portion. >> Well, we have all the buses coming to
the high school. I'm sorry, Miss Permillion. We have all the buses coming to the high school to pick up the students at the end of the day. So those would be there'd be dedicated buses or vans picking up the students and bringing them dropping them off and then they'd be there for it's tier one so
they're often there early >> and I might have missed this. Was there like a parental education component at all for that? >> No, but I think that's an excellent piece that we could add. >> And how will this program benefit the majority of the student population at JTHS?
>> Well, I think we have a culture problem right now. And so if we take some of the people who are contributing to the negative culture out of the arena for a little while, I think it benefits everyone. >> Can I ask one more question about that? Just following up on what Megan said. Um
can you just remind how much are you would you be getting for that grant? What is what is the money that they would be >> the the total amount for the grant or the total amount for the >> for that program for the >> for the flexible program? I don't remember the exact number that the total
grant I I don't want to say an exact number 200. >> We can get it to her later. Yeah. >> How how long would you be able to run that program? Like how many years would you be able to run that program if our funding stays the way it is now and
you're dependent on a grant? >> So this is a pilot for this year and that's the plan financially. Um, but as budgets work, you decide as a board what the priorities are and you have a bucket of money and you determine whether something is successful or not.
>> So, it would have to go back into the budget. It wouldn't be going from the grant would only sustain it for the pilot. >> Right. At this point, we don't have a grant for next year. It could come. >> It could come, but but you would have to year and see. >> Yeah. If it's successful and if you prioritize it.
>> Gotcha. >> Mhm. >> Dr. Dr. Gleski, nice job tonight. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay, with that, Miss Cass, that concludes my superintendent's report. >> I now turn the meeting over to Miss
Blood for her report. This the uh state monitor. You're good now. >> I'm sorry. Um, as is noted on item 21 under programs, I want to congratulate the district on having passed CUAC monitoring in all areas, most notably in
fiscal management, instruction, and programs and governance, particularly given the financial constraints that the district has faced. And additionally, I applaud you for having pursued multiple funding sources and having been awarded
1.2 2 million in competitive grants to benefit the students in Jackson. That concludes my comments this evening. >> Buildings and grounds, Mr. McCarron. >> Yes, buildings and grounds met uh
some capital improvement projects that were completed at JTHS. Uh roof leaks were repaired by an in-house carpenter. Compressor replaced in D105 uh by in-house electricians. Room C115.
Uh the special needs kitchen. All service has been all services have been completed. We're just waiting a final township approval. Uh JTMS fine arts roof repaired under warranty by TMCO roofing. Leak in ma main server
room repaired by in-house carpenter. Annex wing, all call buttons raised to prevent student contact, completed by in-house electricians. Uh Crawford teachers parking lot lights were repaired. Eight new heating clamps installed on
boiler water piping uh by in-house HVAC staff and districtwide all playgrounds have been inspected by the in-house maintenance team. We also during our meeting went over uh possible bond referendum and facilities master
planning with our architect. Uh we went over some projects and are going through the process of prioritizing what projects will be done and two possible funding scenarios. We're going out to the county uh
improvement authority or a possible uh bond referendum. Thank you. >> Thank you. We will move to budget and finance. Uh Mrs. Gardilla. >> Yes, we met yesterday. Um in attendance was myself, Miss Cass, Mr. McCarron,
Miss M. Perily, Miss uh Dr. Godleski, Mr. McGinsky. Um so we reviewed actual and estimated cash flow, so revenue and expenses through September 30th. We reviewed the status of our current 2425 surplus and the auditor's preliminary recommendations.
We reviewed current outstanding leases and payment schedules including buses, ESET ESET projects, um technology which includes student and staff Chromebooks. We reviewed potential options for utilizing the proceeds of the McAuliff uh sale such as paying down debt and
allocating monies for capital and maintenance reserve. We reviewed the debt service rep referendum. We discussed um community vote verse county improvement authority um and as well as retaining bond council to assist with the debt service regardless of the
referendum to ensure the district has some expert guidance. Uh our next meeting is actually set for November 12th and we discussed that at that time we would kind of review all of the same things in addition to looking at line item expenditures in the upcoming budget
for 206 27. Yes, thank you. Um policy committee is myself. Um before I read that, I just want to say that item F um number two on
the agenda is being administratively removed from the agenda and it will go back to the committee for further review. And then the policy report um we met on October 6th. In attendance was Dr. Godzki, myself, Mrs. Baracus, Mr.
McCarron, Mrs. For Millie, eligibility of resident non-resident students was revised. Tuition rates in effect now will be determined by grade and high school seniors who wish to remain in the district will receive a 50% reduction with a good standing criterion. Seniors beginning 2627 school
year. There is no tuition option for prek. Policy reviews. Strauss Esme has revised several business and accounting policies via verbiage. They have not been revised in some time and needed language updates. So bear with me as I read them
all. Policy 0173 duties to of the accountant revised the administrative code that outlines the responsibilities and requirements of the accountant of the board. Policy 0174 legal services addresses
procedures to ensure the prudent use of legal services. Policy 0177, professional services, updated administrative code for awarding contracts for professional services and maximum dollar limits annually prior to budget preparation. The board may adopt
dollar increases if necessary. Policy end regulation 1570 code changes and an acronym changes for the annual comprehensive financial reporting. Policy 1620, Administrative Employment Contracts, Minor Language Citing Code.
Policy and Regulation 6111, Special Education Medicaid Initiative, SEMI. We apply for semi-reimbursement annually and do not apply for waiverss. The new changes do not impact the district. Policy and regulation 6220 budget
presentation revives codes does not change the current budget preparation and submission. Policy 0143, board member election and appointment update, brings the policy up to date with language as it has not been updated since 2014.
Policy 1636.01, notification of promotion, new jobs and transfers. Jackson school district already posts all employment opportunities, so we are already aligned with this policy. Policy 1648.15 healthc care recordkeeping for COVID
abolished. Policy 2422 statutory curricular requirements revised to include statutory curricular requirements which mandates instruction on the history and contributions of Asian-Americans
Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Policy 5339.01 student sun protection. The board of ed has chosen not to utilize the options suggested. Sunscreen will be the responsibility of the parent child, not the district. The board discussed club
sports banquetss for the 2026 year. We strongly suggest using the school facilities. However, we will allow for outside venues to be used for this school year only. Upon completion of the club sports seasons, it will be required to submit three possible dates
for an indistrict banquet for the 2627 school year. Going forward, all banquetss will be in district only and this will be the adopted procedure. All scheduling will be handled with facilities. Thank you. No advocacy, right? There are no other
reports. Okay. Where's my green? I need a motion for approval of policy first reading revised. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Dr. Osman. >> Yes.
>> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. You can do the block if you want to. You can just say three and four together if you want. >> Oh, I can. Okay. Policies, regulations.
Um, block three and four. I need a motion for approval of regulations. >> Motion >> and a second. Discussion. Roll call. >> Dr. Osben. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> I need a motion for approval of the minutes. The closed session meeting September 17th, 2025, and the official
board meeting September 17th, 2025, business meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. Discussion. Roll call. >> Dr. Osman. >> Yes. >> Mr. W. Uh, Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera.
>> Yes. Mrs. Baro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. >> I need a motion for approval of the bill list. Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion.
Roll call. >> Dr. Osben, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Baroas, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. I need a motion for approval of the treasurers and board secretaries reports.
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Dr. Osman. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. I need a motion to open the public
forum on agenda items only. We will hold another public forum during this meeting for other questions. This public forum will be for questions on the agenda only. Motion >> second. >> Please sign in and state your name and
whether or not you are a Jackson resident. Each resident is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard. >> The second public portion of the >> This is not the time to discuss common
lunch. That will be the second portion of public um comments. >> Right. >> Sorry. Good evening. Um Andrea Franella, a parent of two students in the district. Just a quick question about the banquet. What is the reasoning behind having to
hold it in district? The policy uh the the committee has Okay, thank you. The committee has um our decision is based on the fact that we want equity for all children and all banquetss are not equitable. They're held at different venues. They're
different cost prices. there there's many reasons to make them they're not the same and we feel that each student should have the same type of of event. So when you say in district you mean in a building and so you mean within the school property
correct? So it's within a facility of the school. >> Okay. >> Hi Julie Kazowski. I also have a question about the banquet. Does that re uh hold us to having to use the school's lunch services
as or just the facility itself? >> Just the facility. >> So they can bring in and it's not a conflict with the >> you can use outside food services if you choose. We have options to use in-house food services, but if you choose, you can use outside, but the facility needs
to be in district. I'll fill that out afterward. Carlos Martins's Jackson. Um, two questions I think I can ask at this point. the grants uh that we got, do we have to prove later on to the state that we were successful or there
was progress in order to keep that money and how how would we do that? >> Yeah, through the testing >> anytime there's there's grants you have quarterly reporting. Uh they're they're pretty u elaborate the grants. They're not just
like I have this idea. They have goals, they have objectives, they have activities that are linked to each of these goals and objectives. And each of them have a different reporting period. They're usually done by quarters. The grants in this cycle were all done by quarters. So, absolutely, we have to report our progress. Yes.
>> Each quarter to the state for the funding. >> Understood. And so, would that be testing the students or or you just writing a report saying, "Yep, this is working." Well, it's it's about if it's a coach grant and it's hiring someone that we've posted for the position that we've held interviews that we've hired
someone, they're on the board agenda. These are all artifacts that support that we've done that. >> Support that you followed what you said you were going to do. Not necessarily it was successful. Meaning to me success is we have better grades, we have better test scores. >> In high impact tutoring,
>> they don't ask for that. Correct. uh in high impact tutoring, student success would be one of the indicators that we'd report on. >> Right. So, and and if we don't prove that potentially we could lose the grant >> or we don't get the grant. >> I don't I don't believe we'd lose the
grant. We're just reporting on the implementation of our plan. We were given the money based on our goals and objectives. >> Okay. So one of the condition is not that we prove that there's success and by success I mean improvement in grades or whatever success is meant.
>> So it's it's up it's up to the the grant. So when we set the objectives we set what the measure is that we're measuring the objectives with. Right? >> So if we meet the grant we submit that. If we meet the object objectives if we don't we write the rationale to why we
believe we didn't meet that. And then it's dependent on each grant is individual from the state and what their criteria is and why they choose to give districts money or not money. >> Okay. So, so let me rephrase the question then. So what's overall what what was the objective of these grants
so that we can then prove that we met the objectives? >> For example, is it grades or is it >> So each grant has different objectives, sir. I'd be happy to to schedule a meeting with you and sit down and go through all of them, but >> Okay, let's do that. you know, we don't I don't have them in front of me to go through all the objectives right now, but
>> if you reach out to our office, we'd be happy to to meet with you. >> Okay. But in general, it's not grade driven bottom line, right? It's not grade driven improvement in grades. >> Yes. Some might might be. >> Okay. So, we'll look at each individual one. Yeah. I'm just curious to that because potentially if we don't prove
that uh they were successful, either we won't get it again or >> I would think if I was the state, I'd say you're losing it. >> Yeah. It depends on >> we're not giving you the money because you You hired somebody but you weren't successful long. >> Obviously, we aim to be successful. >> Yes. Thank you. My other thing was on
the um and I don't know if this is for now but you know I will we always hear that the key measure of the success of a student is that the parents or whoever the support system is are involved with that student, right? They make sure they
do their homework and you know and and all that and the test they know exactly what's going on, right? You want the parents to be involved. Are there any initiative programs, grants, anything like that to to help you get the
parents, get the support system involved in the students? Is that even a thing? >> Fourth, >> right? Thank you. >> We'll answer you at the end, sir. Thank you. >> Hi, uh Katie Bellow Jackson. Um my
question is about the alternative school. Um is this a plan that was just recently put together? I saw a lot of the drafts or is this something that was put into place prior to start of the school year? That's my first question. And my second question is, is there or are there alternative schools that we
could send children that need it outside of the district? Lakewood, Euing, Hamilton. I know that these districts have these types of schools for kids. So, those are my questions. Thank you. Actually, I have a uh Julie Kazowski
again. I'm sorry. I have a question about the um alternate school. Um, we're, you know, we're serving a population of the bottom 2% of our total population
in with all this extra funding and buckets of money, as you said, available to help them learn to conform to what the norm is for the rest of the district.
Whereas the other 98% of our population is now frozen in time because and and can't take advantage of that uh tutoring that we have available and and the
monies for that because of the pause in common lunch. and it we're catering to the wrong group of people and our our demographics are changing greatly and we need to look at
more of that accountability of the parent and of the student themselves before throwing all this money at them. Michelle Russell, a Jackson resident. I'm here to talk about the argument that
was given in terms of the banquet. I'm against mandating banquetss to be held at a place when we're still paying for them. I also disagree with the equity argument because we know sports have not been treated equitable here in Jackson, for instance. You've seen me before in gymnastics. We've gotten
not funded, a little funded. So, I don't think equity would be a valid excuse to mandate us to hold it in a certain place. Hi everyone, Boommy. Um, I am a Jackson resident and I have a child in middle school and in high school. Um, for the high school alternate program, curious,
you mentioned that you were thinking of doing this program years ago, but you did not have enough funding to do so. Just curious if there could be follow-up as to what were the reasons for why you were thinking to go down that path. Was it similar? Were you facing similar situations with common lunch? I'd like
to understand some of the history um around that. Thank you. >> Julia Noodleman um Jackson resident. I also have child in high school. So my question is again about alternative
school. We did hear two students from high school telling us quite joyful picture about a high school situation. They tell about all decorations about all things positive things that are
going on. At the same time uh listening to the board I hear that looking uh at the lunch situation sometimes it's not safe for the students to be in the school and you have some concerns. I
also hear that um in high school there are fights going on every day. So alternative school um why are we talking about it now? Uh what's the real situation in the high school? the one
that students are telling us or the mood that uh leading us to create this and think about um alternative school then um as doctor you did mention few times uh the idea is to um keep students in
alternative school short term short term are we talking about a week a month semester because then if they will be counselors there especially like drug counselors what will be the value of
this such counseling if this will be only for a week or for a month so that's not clear to me how much short term is there Right. >> Hi, my name is Diana Wall. I'm also a
Jackson resident. My question has to do with the uh banquetss. So, what is the cost of having a banquet at the school? Because we would have to pay for security. We'd have to pay for custodians, correct? Or is that not charged to the school to the to the
group? So, that's one question. The other thing is will there be limits on the teams in terms of what they do because it's now held at the school. Obviously alcohol would not be what I'm referring to but other things. And then the other question would be we already
do a lot of team fundraising and a lot of our teams already subsidize students that have financial issues. So why is that a problem now? So that would be my other part. like if we're subsidizing already students that are disadvantaged
financially, why is that going to be a problem moving forward? Then I have another question regarding the whole thing with your test and stuff like that. Do we do tracking? If we have all of these issues and stuff like that with the students when it comes to our
grading, do we track the students? Do we keep them separated or do anything to kind of keep the kids together that maybe are certain kind of groups and things like that? Not just in high school where they're in themies, but in the lower grades cuz it seems like our
lower grades are really where we need to kind of do something for our kids because it's in those grades where we have reading issues, we have writing issues, we have math issues, we have all of those kinds of issues. And maybe down at that level is where we really need to
really focus our efforts as a district if we want our grades in the middle schools and the high schools to kind of start to excel. So that would be another concern cuz I personally have seen it. My other concern is your Chromebooks in the Chromebooks in the elementary levels. I can't even understand why we
have kids who barely have the ability to hold a pen or a pencil or type in on Chromebooks. But that's just my personal opinion. But maybe we should look at what we're doing at that level to really grow the grades at the higher levels.
Good evening. My name is Monica Hinger. I'm a resident of Jackson and I also have children at the high school level. I'd like to talk about safety outside of common lunch and I'd like to know how many fights have occurred in the >> common lunch is for the second open public um speaking.
>> My point was I'm not asking about >> it's not an agenda item though to talk about safety. >> It's not an agenda item. This is agenda item. Second public open um forum. You can speak about anything that's not on the agenda right now is only things that are on the agenda. Okay.
>> Thank you. I have a question that uh we're looking for funding from all these different things and according to one of your slides >> can you state your name please? Evan McIntyre, Jackson resident, two children in the school system. I also like long walks on the beach if you want to know that.
>> Today's protocol, sir. Thank you very much. >> I gave you your protocol. Thank you. Now it's my turn to speak. Please. You're looking for funding. There's $10 million, $10,000 going to butterflies and environmental programs. We're
looking to spend more money on flexible academy for kids who are problem kids to make it easier for them in school. And we're neglecting the kids that are in AP classes, do play sports, need extra time to study. We're going to pause on them
to help kids out that have did that say drugs was one of the issues, behavioral issues and drug issues. Does that that's what we're going to concern ourselves with. That's what you guys are really worried about. That 2% that's are the problem kids and the other 98% we're
just gonna pause them. That's a big concern. Hi, Michelle DLO, Jackson resident. I have a son in the high school. Um, I came here tonight to talk about what's not on the agenda, common lunch, but this flexible learning academy. you
discussed um uh this the reason I'm up here now because it does tie in because it was mentioned a few times that there's a cultural issue at the high school right now and the common lunch being paused is because of the students
that are creating issues during lunch and that you're going to make a flexible learning academy for those students. So, it kind of it it does tie in although common lunch is not an agenda item. I understand. But for this flexible learning academy, as this gentleman was just saying, we're we're pausing 98% of
students. So, for this academy, why would you not run it concurrently during the school day if there is a need for it? You're talking about a big undertaking running the school 4 hours beyond the normal school day. and resources, teachers, security, nurse,
janitorial staff, I assume, administration, etc. So, I don't understand why those students aren't just taken out from the the population of the whole school, I guess, during the school day and taught and and and instructed and
whatnot and had their day their school day in another area of the building. Um uh the other thing that was brought up um with this 2% so if this is a road sounds like it would be almost like a rotating
schedule. You want to help these students adapt and bring them back into the regular high school. So what would your enrollment be? So are we going to run a school 4 hours after the school day for 5 10 students? I mean you must
know the number. Is it 100 students right now? Is it 200 students? Whatever it is. So, we're again pausing everybody else for this small number of students. And I just don't understand why. I don't understand why they're not just taken
out now. Why they're not suspended or expelled if need be. If there is that much of an issue, we have policy 5600 for that. If they're destroying property, why are they not just removed from the school? You're punishing everyone else. these kids are are
adjusting to being merged into one school. It's been a huge adjustment for all the students, the staff, faculty, everyone. And just when they're getting used to it, 17 days into the school year, it's oh, there goes your common lunch because of this small amount. What
we what we think is small. We don't know. We the parents don't know what is the if put it this way, if you're looking to make an entire program for students, you clearly think there is a big issue. And I think the parents deserve to know because this is concerning that you need to make a
separate school. Tell us is it really? Is there a lot more violence? Are there weapons? Is there drug problem? Like what's going on? Maybe if you communicate that to us, we can understand and help our children understand why this common lunch has been paused. So that's all I have to
say. Thank you. Uh Crystal Wagner Jackson resident. I work in the mental health field and I also work in developmental disabilities. Probably have a little bit of a different stance on everyone. I do agree that something like this is probably needed. However, I don't necessarily know if I agree with how it's being
carried out. So, the questions I would have is when you have substance abuse, it is a mental health disorder. They go hand in hand. So, for them to return back to your normal day program, are they going to have to be cleared by the psychiatrist? If so, how long are you
looking at keeping these students in there? Second of all, working in the fields, this is going to be awesome for some of these kids to go later in the day. They're going to love it. They're not going to want to get better because they're almost getting what they want,
which is not having to wake up early. So, if this doesn't work for them after this program of x amount of weeks, is it a zero tolerance policy then? Are they no longer allowed back at school at all? Because ultimately some of these children, and I hate to say it, but I live it every day at work, they're going
to love it. They're not going to want to get better cuz they're going to go later. That's just the reality. Second part of it is, do we have an idea of how many students this would impact? Because personally, I have a freshman who has asked four days now to stay after with a
teacher for extra help. I rearranged my work schedule to go pick him up. That teacher has told him no every single time. He had a test today. He did not do well. He knew he needed the extra help. He asked the teacher, "Can I make it up? Can I do this? Can I do that?" She goes,
"Next day I can stay after is a week and a half from now." That's not okay. If the teachers are supposed to work till 2:00, they need to stay for extra help to 2 o'clock. Michelle Kamatini Jackson residents. I graduated one child out in 2024, another
senior right now. Um, this flexible learning program, you are giving the bottom two what exactly what they want. We're talking probably less than 50 kids. If it's 2% of the high school population, we're talking less than 50 kids. And so, you are stealing from our kids twice. They have lost their common
lunch which we're not allowed to talk about and now they are losing money that you are putting towards another population. Okay. How about going after these not going after these parents zero tolerance for these kids that are causing these problems. Going to the
parents involving involving the parents who are get them involved. How about consequences hard consequences for the for the choices that are made. We are all taught that there are consequences to every action. Whether it be a good choice or a bad
choice, a good consequence or a bad consequence. You have a bad consequence, you don't get to go to to school late and get exactly what you want, then you're suspended. Then you miss out. That's the tough breaks. And I feel like we're just coddling these kids and making it easier and easier for them.
While the kids, my kid who is an honor student, an athlete, and holding down a part-time job while he does all this. All the kids who are like the band kids who want to hang out with their friends and they can't. The kids who want to stay for extra help and now don't get it
because it's not during common lunch, which they're not supposed to talk about. You are taking away from our kids to give to less than 50. Good evening. Shannon Klesa, Jackson resident. I have kids in the middle school and high school right now. I am really concerned with this alternative
school, especially as far as the funding is concerned with the state keeps cutting money, cutting money, cutting money to our actual programs. And now we're taking this grant money for mental health that we get and putting it towards again this 2% population. When I
think of all the changes that have happened for our kids, that money for mental health really should go to all of them and help them all deal with these changes and the things that are the way their lives have been turned upside down. It should go to all of them to
work together. The other thing is we're already upside down with transportation. another budget that keeps getting cut and you had mentioned maybe bringing those second set of kids in as the other ones were going out. So now you're basically
leaving a pretty big amount of time open for that same set of kids to congregate and fights to begin again. Now it's just a passing time in between. So you're still bringing those same kids back together
with idle time while they're waiting to get on buses, waiting to get off buses. And my last concern was say we move forward with this program and it works great and now next year we have no money for it. Then what? Sorry guys,
what happens? Are there any additional agenda item only questions? >> Seeing no one to come forward, I need a motion to close public forum. >> Motion. All in favor? Okay. Can I address?
>> Sure. Need a second. >> Okay. So, I'm I'm going to address some of the >> second. >> I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. I just want to address some of the questions and concerns that were were brought. Um try to capture most of them. Uh so, I'm going to start with
uh zero zero tolerance. We do have zero tolerance here. We do suspend. Um please. I gave you the respect. Um, we do suspend. We do um not allow for
students to return for 10 days when they've had an egregious fight or altercation. Um, but those students do have to return after 10 days and after those 10 days, we want them to return successfully so we don't see continued problems. uh that is the point of being
able to educate our students and we do have a requirement to educate all students who are enrolled in Jackson schools. Um, so that's one portion of what we are required to do and what we want to have happen successfully when
they do return to school because being out for 10 days and not providing any kind of intervention to provide them when they come back to be successful is important um so that we don't have those recurring events always happening. Um, so
there are a couple things that were mentioned here that um I do want to make a comment about. uh a 2% is not um any number that that we put put out there. It's this as I've mentioned was a climate issue. Um we had several
variables here. So yes, there were fights. Those were addressed quickly and taken care of. But also around those things that were happening were a large number of students filming those fights, cheering on those fights and encouraging
those fights and in fact applauding some of them. So it is goes beyond um what we think is a is a small percentage of students and that's what we're alluding to about climate and culture. Beyond that, there were absolutely students
using this successfully, but a very small percentage of that. We need more students using it successfully. So, we need to figure out how to make that happen. Some of the questions that you have about the flexible academy. uh we did look at doing something much more
elaborate than this as an alternative way to ensure every student gets what they need to be successful in our education system. This is a hybrid approach of that a pilot and an example your questions are an example of why we
need to pause for just this piece of this. This is one piece we're looking at. We are looking at other ways to structure this common period so that most of our students can meet with success. Right now there's a very small percentage using it correctly. We need
to flip that culture so students learn how to use that time more successfully. As I started this evening, I am a huge proponent again a person who brought this to this district. This pause is not meant to punish anybody. This pause is
to help us problem solve so we can meet with success and return successfully. That is always been the approach here. I think you would be very upset with me if I allowed something to continue that was going to cause an unsafe environment for
your students. Do we track students? We do have higher level courses available um in our middle schools and our high schools and some availability of that um to some degree at our 56 school and we're continuing to
refine that. Um in regards to Chromebooks, um so our Chromebooks, we are actually in the process of re-evaluating our use of Chromebooks at the elementary level. So um it actually we just talked about it uh two weeks ago with our admin team
about it. So that is a question that was right on on target for things that we are looking at as well. We always strive to improve and get better and we know that we need to academically as you saw from this evening and we have put a lot of things in place and will continue to put in place to move us forward
academically. very I am very sensitive and my team is very sensitive to the transitions. We have worked hard to try and make this as smooth as transition as possible. Again, you're not going to get a debate from me on whether the common lunch is a good thing. It is a good thing and we're
going to work very hard and quickly to bring it back. Miss Cass, do you want to um address any of the banquet questions? really the question was why it's at the school was um which we we addressed
>> right was there something else I'm missing >> well the cost yes there is a cost for custodian >> I don't that she's going out right >> yes we're going to have a sheet that goes out >> there is a sheet I don't have those costs in front of me um they were less I do remember um we had a discussion about them so it would be less in a venue um
and it'll all be laid out for you on the email when it goes out I just I do not have it in front of though there will be um a cost for custodian and security if needed um but there will be no cost for the rental of the
facility um in the space. So a very small minimum cost to it and again uh what the board had outlined was that there would be availability to bring in your own resources. Some of the things um that the board also spoke about is having availability of different spaces,
multiple spaces. If you wanted to do like presentations in an auditorium and then eat in a another location, that would be that would be flexible. Um opportunities, AV equipment available, all those things. I think I've addressed them.
Okay, moving forward. Um we have resolutions for action. I need a motion to move finance >> motion. >> Second discussion. Um I will just go ahead. >> Go ahead. >> I just want to give my monthly
announcement um because I do think it's important, but our unpaid lunch balance is $127,170.17 keeps growing. I had a question on finance number seven. The comprehensive maintenance plan submission is contracting to fix sidewalk cracks at
Liberty/JTHS something that was on there. I had a hard time understanding what was going on on that sheet. I'm sorry. >> Sure. Sidewalk cracks and fixing sidewalk cracks would absolutely be part of a a comprehensive maintenance plan. Y >> roll call.
>> Dr. Osman. Yes, >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Gordella. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. >> I need a motion to move facilities. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion.
Roll call. >> Dr. Osben? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass? >> Yes. I need a motion to move programs.
Motion >> second. Discussion. >> I have Oh, sorry. Okay. I just want to make sure that I'm voting in the right place. Um, so the grant for the um
alternative or the um flexible learning communities. We is is that we would be voting yes or no for that in personnel, right? Number 26 in personnel. I just want to make sure that I'm voting in the right place.
>> I think I'm asking the same question. I'll ask it different. >> Yeah. If we approve the acceptance of the mental health grant increase on programs item 22, are we approving the use of it for the flexible learning program or are we only impro approving the increase of the grant?
>> Because I see we have it in personnel as well. The grant is an approval to use the money accordingly. So I would say that if you're not in agreement with us using the money in that capacity during programs and the approval of the grant,
I would suggest that that's where you would >> number 20 >> 22 >> two, right? >> Let me check. We have two grants on here. So let me check, please. >> And and then um >> 22 >> 22. Okay. And then I have a another question about that. So that specific
grant, the title of it is mental health grant and this is your idea of where to spend the money and to create this program. If we didn't use the funds there, if the funds were awarded and you didn't use
them there, can you come up with another way of using those funds or are we saying we're giving up the grant, we're giving up those monies? Honestly, I'd have to check with the Department of Ed grant um department to on this grant to find out if we could resubmit a new
plan. >> Okay. Um >> we were just awarded today. They approved our plan. >> And that was my other Oh, you were awarded. >> They did approve our plan. >> They did award. Okay. Because that was my other one. Are we Are we voting on something that possibly isn't going to be awarded? So, you were
>> Yes. And and you're right. Sometimes we don't hear from them right away and that's why we put on if if approved we accept it. Uh today we did just receive an email from the department of ed approving our plan. >> Okay.
So I guess my question would be so I I agree with like a lot of the people who spoke today. Um I don't know if this is the best way to use this money. I I my concern is you're going to
put all this time and energy and thought into this big program and I just don't believe we're going to have the money to continue it after the pilot, right? And I never want to say like we should forget a population. I'm definitely not saying that. But thinking very realistically with the funds that we do
have, if it is great, you know, I don't even know even if it's wonderful if we would have the money to continue that on. Um, I do agree with people when they're saying that it's looking at a very small population compared to maybe we could use the money for a larger population. But my question to you about
if we don't use it, are we saying goodbye to it is an important question, right? Because if they're giving us the money for this and only this, then you use the money on that. But if we could change it where maybe it could go to the larger population, I I would probably
want to do that. Um, so is this something that we should potentially table because we don't know the answer to that? >> That's what I was. >> Sure, you can do that. >> That's what I was thinking. >> That's what I would recommend because I kind of, you know, there's definitely good things towards this if we had a ton
of money and we know that we could support it later on. I I could see, you know, you don't want to forget about a population of people. You want to make your culture better, but I feel like we need more information. I I don't feel like prepared to vote on that today. >> No, I understand that. I I just want to also comment that the intent of of the
program um is not just to handle discipline issues. As Dr. Gleski said, one of the things that we deal with here um and across most schools is um absenteeism. You know, ensuring that we can get kids here and we felt that this
kind of program might help students who do struggle with getting here or getting here on time. Um you know, our chronic absenteeism is an issue across the state of New Jersey. So that's another reason this wasn't just put into place just to deal with um you know some behavioral
issues that we've seen at the high school. We've had this concept to address lots of things. Um again the interventions that one woman spoke about with um drug and alcohol use so that we could do a more intensive program and help students better transition back
into school. So it wasn't just created to deal with the high school issue. I just wanted to make sure everybody >> totally totally get that and I 100% think good intentions all around. I'm just thinking of our financial situation and you know unfortunately when you have
a financial situation the way that we do you you have to pick and choose right so I'm not saying it's not a good program it's not a good idea I just don't know if it's the right time for the idea and I definitely don't feel prepared to vote for it so I would recommend that we table it I don't know if anybody else
agrees with that >> you can make a motion to table it pending further information from the department of education >> then I make a motion to table it until we have some further information and hear back from the grant people if we could reapply and maybe use these funds to the majority of the students. I
second. >> We had discuss discussion more discussion roll call right Jan before we do roll call for this and then >> with 22 tabled correct >> table 22 but then um I guess the
question becomes do we also then need to table number 26 in personnel. >> Is that right? >> They kind of work together. If if this one passes, the tenant can just administratively withdraw the personnel
item if if this is tabled. >> If Can I just comment for a second? >> That's the right one. >> Yeah. So, it would be 26B, not 26A. 26A is different. >> Yes. >> Roll call.
>> Dr. Osman. So this is just to table it. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarron. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivera. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Baroas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gardella. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cass. >> Yes.
>> Motion carried. >> Motion carried. I need a motion to move programs. >> Motion. >> Second. Discussion. Roll call. >> Dr. Mr. Osman, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Baro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. I need a motion to move students. >> Motion. >> Oops. I sorry. >> Second discussion.
>> Just having roll call. >> Dr. Osben, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Baroas, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. >> I administratively withdraw 26B from the
agenda. >> I need a motion to move personnel minus 26B. Motion >> second. Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Dr. Osman. >> Um, hold on one second. I just need to
find what number it is. 15. Okay. So, I am a yes for all except number 15. Letter B. Abstain. >> That's 15 B.
>> B. Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Baroas, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gardella, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cass, >> yes. I need a motion to open the public forum
on any topic pertaining to the board of education. Motion >> second. >> Please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident. Each person is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on a
topic until all others have been heard. >> Good evening. Roger Derekson, Jackson resident. Thank you. It's been exciting evening, hasn't it? I'm assuming after this year you realize this was probably where we're going to end up, right? I mean, moving two schools together, I
think that was may maybe we've actually been pretty good. I think the pausing of the common lunch, although I know most of people in this room maybe disagree, I think it's I'm glad that you actually explain what's going on. I know some of the details we know from our students and their rumors and we don't like
rumors. We want data and information. So, thank you for that. Um, thank you. That's a pause because our students have already reported back that it's affecting their uh clubs, their education, you know, the after school program. So, thank you for that. It's a pause. Uh the second part, um go for the
grant if you can. Uh doctor, I appreciate you want more information, but Newark got $9 million for their mental health program. And what did they have to do? They had to um create a visionary undertaking that aims to create a culturally and linguistically relevant traumainformed learning
environment. Okay. Whatever. I think the people that are from Jackson are are pretty much most of us bluecollar people. We understand when people have problems with with their students. They take them home. They they talk to them and they tell them we don't accept mediocrity. We
don't accept discipline problems. I understand we have to have a thorough and efficient education program. Right. Superintendent. Isn't that the Constitution of New Jersey? For those that don't know, that's what we have in New Jersey. So, we will get through this, right? We will get through it.
Just stay the course. I think it's important for us to appreciate, you know, who we have here. The doctor at the end saying, "Hey, I want more information." That's great. That's what we need. We want a democracy where we talk and we investigate. Um really what I came up here for and I wanted to
really for my son the Chromebook idea personally I think if you're going to pause the Chromebooks for the younger students use the money for better books and I really would like to know how much you spend per Chromebook with licensing
with the maintenance plan per Chromebook because I bet I can get you a better deal because the one my kid has now is terrible. It's slow. I mean slow. I work in engineering and I I can't believe you're still using this. So, I think maybe with the next meeting I would someone could find out what we pay per
book because I bet I can do a better job with my sourcing with a company because we're going to but buy 10,000 of them. How many do we buy every year? 5,000. So, um again, I want to also thank the um people who were working with the math
league. They won another tournament yesterday. Congratulations. and they beat mates and my son said that's always a big deal. I I think we need to remind ourselves to celebrate our successes here in this town. I moved here because I wanted a place that didn't accept mediocrity. I I know I'm I'm not happy
I'm not happy hearing that there's discipline problems. Trust me, I get it. They're kids. They're not adults. We don't treat them the same. But I'm not happy. And someone mentioned before about the parent component. So if you want to do something that might change, bring the parents into the class, let them sit with their student and walk
through every class every day, all day. They got PTO, make them use it. We don't want that stuff in our school district. We're not going to accept, >> sir. Your time's up. >> Thank you, >> Patty Misillo. Um, Jackson resident. I have a senior at the Jackson Township
High School. Um, I would like to know when you plan on returning to the common lunch. Will that be during next semester or has that not been uh decided yet? Um, also, um, when is this flexible learning
academy? Are you looking to put that into effect? I do have some things going on here. Um, I want to know why our high school is being referred to as a zoo. Okay. Where are the security cameras in
here? Okay. Why and where are security personnel? And if we're looking to put in this flexible learning academy, why aren't we using those funds for additional security instead of segregating for a culture that we now
have to cater to? Um the next thing is um as far as common lunch goes and what's going on with the students, why are the um people in charge over there, principles, vice principles, security
people, why are they asking our students or saying to our students that they should be the ones breaking up some of the fights that are going on over there? Okay. Um, it's extremely disappointing to hear from multiple children, not just
my own, about the fights that go on over there and how they should be getting in the middle of it and breaking it up. It's not fair because if they get in the middle of it, they're suspended as well as the person who started it.
Um, it it's happened on a couple of occasions. Um, also your parents' clubs. Okay. What is going on here? We were supposed to be uh getting together and merging two schools together and coming up with a a little
bit of ideas from both schools and that is not happening. Okay. Hasn't happened yet. All right. Um that is pretty much all I have and those are some of my concerns and also with this flexible learning academy you you
said something about uh parent liaison. Will there be screening for those parent liaison that are being around our children in a school? If I have to come in and feel as though I am entering a prison and show identification to obtain my
child standing outside, any parent liaison that is working with these children should have to have some type of background check. As a parent of a Catholic school child in her younger years, I had to go through a background check.
Okay. And that's all I have. Hi, Carlos Martins Jackson. Um, I just want to bring back to the to the point I mentioned before about the parents, right? So one one idea is if you're going to pass this um flexible learning program um you would mention that one of the
roadblocks is when the parent says no, right? Okay. So that's understandable. more than that. How about you say yes and at least once a week you have to come here and and um and we're going to tell you exactly what's happening with
your child and or you know as support I say parent but any whatever your support system is somebody has to have that skin in the game from home and come and and once a week or anytime what do you decide once two weeks something you have
to show interest because we know all these great initi atives, whether it's that one or any of the other ones, if you don't have support from home, it's not going to be successful. We know that, you know, we all know that. Anyway, um because we don't want to see
also I I think you don't want to see Jackson become, you know, it almost feels like schools these days and this is is is a b they're babysit. We're babysitters, right? We don't want to be that.
Um, anyway, preaching to the choir. Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. It was Chris Drury. I'm a Jackson resident. I'm here to talk about the suspension of common launch. So, let's
keep our kids in mind here. Let's think about our high school, current high school students right now. In 2020, they had to deal with COVID. In 2021 22, they had to deal with remote learning, hybrid. In the spring of 24, a lot of the parents stood before you to talk
about the budget constraints and issues with the state budget and us not having enough funding and the potential cutting of extracurricular activities and busing and stuff like that. spring of 2025. Here we are again talking about the merger of the high schools and you know
how you know and obviously you know you guys took a long time to make that decision and I understand it was a difficult decision but here we are now um these kids high school kids now they're you know they're they're dealing with this merger they're dealing with
you know and now seemingly a very small change this change to the you know the shorter lunch period the removal of common lunch Um obviously I know that you know we've talked about this at nauseium I'm you know time well spent
for kids to eat relax get extra help you know go to clubs etc etc and I understand the safety of the students is a concern but the budget money that we saved from
combining schools selling two schools can we hire some more SRO's Did you guys think about this when you decided you were going to put 2,000 plus students together? You know, the how about like a zero tolerance for fighting? How about, you know, just like
we have to figure this out and we have to figure it out fast. And one of the parents, I believe, was going to ask earlier, how many fights have have there been since the we suspended common lunch? I I think they're still occurring. It's just I don't know if it's making the difference that you guys
were anticipating, but thank you. >> Hi, uh, Andrea Frangella. Um, just a few things with common lunch. I'm not going to say I mean I understand there needs to be a pause. Um, I totally get that. But in the meantime, and these are straight up questions, what are
happening with clubs? Are they meeting? When are they meeting? Extra help seems to be an issue. So, when are teachers offering that up? Busing, I mean, late busing, that that shouldn't even be like that should be a simple expectation for
high school students if common lunch isn't an option. And I don't know if that could be a temporary thing that could be done while this is going on. Um, I think that's all my points there. Um, the flex academy, I don't, he may have
touched upon it. It may have been said it's it's optional. I'm assuming you can't mandate someone to do that schedule. So what if they choose not to? So then what do you do with that kid? You're going to put them back with the other kids. That was the issue to begin with. So where do we go there? Um and
lunch balance that number is so absurd. Is is that not something that can be held like because it continues from year to year to year. Like they don't have to pay it off to come back to school in September. Is there anything that could be put in place that makes that an option? because
mind-blowing and I I'm in the school and I'm in the cafeteria and I know the kids that don't get free lunch and they still go up and get lunch and is there something that could be said? I know I know letters go home. I know phone calls get made. I get all that. Um but from the beginning, can something be
done to prevent this negative balance? So that's all. Thank you. >> Hi. Um, I'm Delaney and I go to Jackson Township High School. Um, when I first heard about this common change, common lunch change, um, I know me and now I
know a lot of people are very mad about this. Uh, not just for losing our common lunch, but for the people who were losing common lunch in the right ways, losing their ability to hang out with friends. Um, losing their ability to
hold on, sorry, blanking. um losing their ability to practice, losing their abil uh losing their ability to practice for band, choir, or also other people for practicing together for the musical like the lines or whatever. Um or also
people like me who use common lunch as a way to decompress and um like relieve some stress and anxiety for my first few classes. Um and I'm sure a lot of people have stress and anxiety that can get really bad for some. And that hour of being free, just hang out with friends,
close your eyes, or take a moment to breathe is really important. Losing this ability to make um using losing this ability to take that moment could cause a lot of people a lot of stress like me. This change did not only make me lose the ability to take a deep breath, but also made me lose the ability to
practice for band because I can't physically take my instrument home. Um, in conclusion, Common Lunch was more than just taking an hour to eat and just hang out, but also made people who have extreme anxiety be able to take a to take a breath and just relax before
going to their next class. Hi, my name is Elizabeth Noodleman. I am a freshman at Jackson Township High School and I've come up here to share how I feel about this change to common lunch. Um to start I have to say I feel like I've been double crossed honestly
because just one month ago we were strongly encouraged to get as involved as possible in the school by participating in things such as clubs and sports. Well, I did that. I joined numerous clubs. A couple of those being mock trial and girls who code. On top of that, I was also on the JV tennis team.
However, that all changed last Tuesday when it was sprung upon us that starting the next day, common lunch would be temporarily put to a stop. The third period of the school day was split into four different lunches: A, B, C, and D. Because of this change, clubs and
teachers office hours would be after school rather than during common lunch. Frankly, I feel as though the negative effects of this decision outweigh any potential solutions this could offer. I realized that at first this doesn't sound all that bad as this was the previous schedule for the high school and middle school. But when you take
into account a lot of different things, it's like you can understand why a lot of parents and students are outraged. I personally have the latest lunch, lunch D. It starts at 11:39 a.m., which is about 6 hours after high school students eat breakfast. By the time I get there,
I'm very hungry, as are other students. Additionally, my period 3 class is physical education. So, I'm in the gymnasium. The school's news that informs students on what is going on at Jackson Township High School, JT JTHs live, is supposed to be watched during
third period. This isn't possible in the gymnasium as there is no projector. So, a lot of students are left uninformed um on topics such as when club meetings are. On that note, many clubs have been put on hold until Common Lunch is restored, such as robotics club, or have
been dramatically affected. For example, the teacher that runs mock trial also happens to be a football coach. So now many meetings are going to be on Google meet. During the assembly on in which freshmen were told about this change, a student asked, "What about people that participate in clubs and sports?" That
student was told that they would just have to figure it out. For people that do plan on playing after For people that do plan on staying after school to attend club meetings, they must have a ride home at 2 or take the late bus. Though, I have to say it was never made clear whether we could even wait for the
4:30 late bus. In conclusion, I feel as though this is a decision that has many negative effects such as people being uninformed about the happenings at school, students being confused about how to keep their clubs and sports from clashing, possibly being unable to attend after school club meetings, and
much, much more. Thank you for your time. >> Hi again, Boommy Alsel. I have a middle schooler and a high schooler. Um, we have talked at Nauseium about the common lunch. I I I assume you guys have done your due diligence in this in the district to
kind of vet and understand. I actually just want to understand or note, have you looked into the root causes? Um, I'm hearing rumors. So, these are just rumors um that there are several individuals that are just stirring the pot, if you will. Have those individuals
been named and identified and kind of has have things really been highlighted from a root cause perspective to stop the fights? Um, number one. Number two, a very big um thing that I've been actually like holding off on talking to you all about is around the bathrooms.
What I'm understanding from my my kids as well as others is that there is extensive vaping happening in the bathrooms including with weed. So apparently these kids I know nothing about vaping. They're lacing them with weed and then smoking and creating hot boxes. Again I'm not super familiar with
the terms um but essentially leveraging the bathrooms to then create these hot boxes so that you just in are constantly high in school. Um, I do understand that there are administrators or security personnel outside of each of the bathrooms and each child has to then
sign in. So, if the board was not aware, every time my child has to use a restroom, period, throughout the day, um, not between classes, though, because it's only open um, during classroom time frames. They then have to sign in that they're using the bathroom, go into the
hot box, try not to get high, use the bathroom, exit very quickly, and then they apparently potentially have to sign out. The bathrooms are then locked between class times. So, they can they only can miss class periods, aka education. So, I just want to pose this
to say, is that a secondary root cause of some of the things that have been happening from the fighting? Um, number one and number two, most importantly, this is a biological need for children to use the bathroom. And we are now restricting it to the point of my
children literally will hold whatever they have to do for 6 to 8 hours and come home. That is not acceptable. And I I don't understand what the person outside is going to do that's going to help alleviate anything because how do
they not smell everything coming out as soon as a door is swung open? Number one. Number two, why are they not regularly going in to check the facility? Cuz as soon as you walk in, you can smell smoke or weed. It is very distinct. So, I'm sorry I'm getting
passionate, but this is it's absolutely ridiculous. And not for nothing, bathrooms should not be locked between class time. I I care about my children's education and I'm sure most of the parents here do too as should you as the board. So I just I ask you to please
prioritize children's well-being and their education at the forefront of everything. Thank you. Hi, my name's Diana Wall. I was up before. So I have a couple quick questions to circle back to a couple things. One is you brought up the number
or the quantity of um lunch fees or unpaid balances. What about Chromebook fees, Chromebook repairs? I know that that is a very pricey thing. My child himself had a particular Chromebook issue. Um and those are expensive and if they're constantly getting broken and
they're as the gentleman said, not the greatest quality, what are we doing with those? So that's one. The other thing is regarding the teacher requirements for afterchool help. What are the number of days or the hours that they have to be here? At our PTN meeting, we were told that it was 1:30 to 2. I assumed it was
every single day. They were contractually required to be there. So, I don't understand why a teacher would say that they're not available for a week and a half, but maybe we can get clarification. Something will be put on classroom pages, teacher pages, maybe whatever until we figure out this common
lunch. Something can be updated so parents know and that's what is required of the teachers. Um going back circling back to the banquetss. So we were asked about two years ago when we had the issues with the monies to we were going
to be prioritizing or trying to get people from outside venues such as dance companies, dance recital, things like that into our buildings so that they paid money to the district. So will the sports teams and their banquetss have priority or preference on the dates? I
know you said submit three dates, but if we give those three dates and it's when you have a dance competition or a dance recital, do we have to have our banquetss on a Wednesday night? Those kinds of things or we don't get the location we want because you have a dance recital or a dance competition where we want to make the money. So that
and then the other thing which is one of my biggest issues which Miss Plly you and I spoke about last year is parent communication. I think one of the biggest issues is parents are never told anything. We're not told when teachers take leave. We're not told when teachers
get switched. We're not told about common lunch being switched. We were just told it might happen from our kids and then all of the sudden we're just told in an email. So, what is going on with notifying parents when there are things like this? Parents should be
notified. We shouldn't have to come here at a board meeting to find out all of the different things all of the time. As a district, you had no problem emailing us, asking us to send out me stuff to legislation to vote, you know, so that we got our funding back and all of those
things. You can communicate to us when you want us to do something, but you can't communicate to us when it affects our kids. And as a district, as a board, as an administrative team, that's not acceptable to the parents. We deserve to know.
>> Hello, my name is Asha Mclo. I'm a student of Jackson Township High School. Now, the change of common hour has been implemented because of the misbehaving student body. That makes sense. However, the issue is that the root of the problem of why these kids are misbehaving is not being targeted. It's
just kind of being pushed to the side by getting rid of common hour. I can't speak on the exact reason of why these students misbehave in the first place because that's specific to each student in each situation, but I can say as someone who goes to school with these people that they continue to act this
way even after consequences because they just don't care. Apathy is a rising problem in this generation. And when the consequences are so lax and kind of laidback, like we said before, um they they don't care really. they
just it just kind of brushes over them. They learn how to adapt and then misbehave in a whole different way instead of learning that their behavior is actually wrong. So if it's not punishing those students, the students who do get punished are those who do
have who do care enough to not fight or not misbehave during common hour. And those are the students that have work up ma uh workup tests or makeup tests, work to make up, extra help, anything besides
just eating lunch. Those students are getting negatively affected by this change while everyone who caused this is just kind of going about their day and continuing to misbehave because if they won't fight during common hour, if they won't misbehave during common hour,
they'll just fight at the bus ramp or in the hallways or in the bathrooms, they'll just find ways to adapt. Um, so what I do need to ask is if during this during this pause the misbehavior
continues and the rest of the student body is only negatively affected, what's the plan? Do you continue the pause and just kind of write it out for the rest of the year? Do you change the plan and schedule once more when we're already trying to adapt to the fact that both these two schools have been combined?
Um, or are you going to send the rowdy students to the flexible learning academy where, as said before, they're kind of just going to end up enjoying it because it's going to be later in the day and then they're not going to want to fix themselves. That's all I have to say.
>> Oh, my turn. Okay. Hi, I'm Alexis Haber, Jackson resident. Um I have a few different questions. Um the first part is looking for information statistics. Um what is the current total number of students enrolled in our high school? Um
out of those students, how many have been suspended so far? Out of that number, how many are repeat offenders? How many security officers do we have stationed in the high school? Um, regarding the alternative program, um,
if chronic absenteeism is an issue, how would you enforce student attendance? Um, what would be the consequence for students who are not compliant when they are supposed to be going to that program? And if the decision is made to
use grant money towards that program instead of in a more equitable way for all of the students um and that program turns out to be unsuccessful, what happens then? Um and then regarding common lunch, um in the past it's my
understanding at Memorial that it was sort of split into two sessions. you kind of had to stay put for the first half, the bell would ring, you could move to a different area and then you would stay put for that second half. Um, it's also my understanding that that was
attempted maybe for one or two days in this current school year and I'm just wondering why that was discontinued. Um, and then I'm just curious about the banquet because people are very passionate about that. Um, was that a parent like were
parents concerned about the banquetss? Like did was that brought to the board of ed's attention um as a concern because it seems like it might be creating a lot more problems from some passionate people who've expressed their opinions about that. Um, I think that's all my questions. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Daniel Japur. I'm a junior at JTHS and I agree with what has been said about Common Launch, especially on the band side of things. I'm a band kid. I've got the coat up, but um yeah, with the with the temporary absence of common launch, we're unable
to meet together and de-stress in the middle of the day like Delaney said a little earlier. And uh we're unable to we're unable to meet together and discuss new ideas for clubs and other activities. So, going back a few months ago to one of the open houses we had for
GTHS, I met Mr. Brignola and he told me that students can actually form clubs if they submit paperwork to him. And I thought this is a great idea. It's a great idea for students to come together and and form organizations about the things they love. But the thing I'm
worried about is that with with common launch temporarily paused, I'm just worried about how these student le clubs are going to develop because everything is now happening after school and that's going to conflict with the the musical sports and other organizations.
I just wanted to bring that to the table. Uh thank thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. >> Hi. Hi. Um, Elizabeth Noodleman again. I just had a really quick question. Um, so I know that uh you guys have said that
it's a culture problem, but I'm just curious how like why is it that students have enough time to like form a crowd around these fights? Like what how does that happen?
Why aren't teach not teachers because I don't know if that's their job, but security guards getting there quick enough to kind of stop that from happening. That's all. Hello, Monica Hittinger, a resident and I have students at the high school,
three of them. Given the response of administration to start a flexible academy, you're obviously concerned about safety. The violence happening in the high school is being overshadowed tonight by your proposed plan for 2% or whatever percent of the students.
Someone referred to it as a zoo and I've heard that comment as well from multiple children in multiple different groups and multiple families. I'm here tonight to ask you what is the number of students that have been involved in fights in particular assault which I know it is considered when there is
fighting involved and suspended. I'd also like to know how many of them are repeat offenders and have gone beyond the 10 days and what is in place after the 10 days. So I know it was said that they have to go out for 10 days and I understand that as the policy but what
alternatives do you have when there is a repeat offender beyond the 10 days. In other words, what have you done in the past when this has happened besides create an academy? Because there are other options and I feel like transparency as to what those other options might be might help people weigh
the decision, including the board, as to what else could actually work and support these kids beyond the plan that's been presented tonight. Um, and if you can't share that number of suspensions, I'd like to know the policy that pre uh prevents you from sharing that number with us.
um how many different off how many security officers were at each of the schools prior to the merge and how many are there now that the number has doubled in students. In other words, I'm looking for the ratio of security officers now that we've increased our
population so much whether it's stayed the same, gone down, or if it's increased. Uh why can't the students that you are suggesting need flexible academy just not go to common lunch? Besides common lunch being paused, what
changes? So that would be like a zero policy for common lunch. Not just for the students you're speaking about, but for everybody. If if you lose that privilege, which is what it is, then you lose the privilege just like we lose other privileges rather than sacrifice for the students who have not lost that
privilege because of the few that have. Why not provide the services um of the flexible academy virtually? I haven't heard that mentioned and if I have I apologize I missed that part but perhaps we can use the highintensity tutoring
that you um shared as in the grant that is you're suggesting that for our children that are not involved that it's good enough for them. So can we use that highintensity tutoring funding for students that are suspended rather than have the academy where we have to put out additional funds.
And finally, how are you providing student voice and the changes that are being proposed? Are you getting their feedback? Are they part of a committee? Do you know how they feel? Have there been simple Google form surveys sent out to them so that they can let you know what their ideas might be or how um they
can be part of the solution at all? We're talking about students who are some of them are 18 years old. They have ideas. >> They're adults. >> Your time's up, ma'am. So include them. >> Hi Crystal Wagner again. Um question on
some statistics if it's possible if the bigger issue with removing the common lunch was due to fights or was it more during due to vandalism and substance abuse that was taking place during these times? >> I'm sorry. Can you can you uh just repeat and I'm having a hard time hearing you.
>> Sorry. Yes. Crystal Wagner. Um just some statistical questions at the first part is the reason for the common lunch the fights I've heard vandalism I've heard substance abuse it seems to be like a combination of them is there more one problem that is more prevalent than the
others. Second question is I've heard from more than one source we are down at least one SRO at the high school. What are we doing to make up for that? um clubs. Are we being reimbursed if our students can no longer attend? As a
mother, it is a little concerning that we're talking about safety, but we're expecting our children to stay after school from 2 to 4:30 waiting for that late bus. We can't control the students right now, a handful of them during common lunch, but we're supposed to
trust that they're being safe for 2 and 1/2 hours after school waiting for a bus with less supervision. Kind of seems asine. Um, and the last thing is kind of a plea to you guys. I see you all looking. I see you're nodding your heads. I know that you're hearing what
these students are saying and you have heard what they have said all of the spring, but can you guys listen to them and not just hear them? They are telling you this isn't working. They have told you some things were not going to work and some things could work last year.
And I know you hear them, but there's a big difference between hearing and listening to our own kids. Hi, my name is Jeannie Cabir. I have two kids currently in the school. My question is what are the discipline actions for the students because it
doesn't really seem fair for all. So the problems with common lunch that are occurring, my son was affected and he was suspended in school and out of school suspension. So I want to know was that a culture problem because um he was
I believe you know picked on and bullied for something that he honestly didn't do. Um my son was questioned alone by a assistant principal without parental notification or representation. His phone was confiscated and he was denied the
opportunity to contact his parents or his coach which he asked for multiple times. Parents were only contacted more than an hour after they interviewed my child. The principal himself was present adjoining offices but refused to meet
with me directly despite me repeatingly asking multiple times. So I want to know what are the discipline actions. My son's been a resident a student in this pro in this school for more than 12 years. Has never had anything in his file. never been disciplined before and
you gave him an inschool and an out of school suspension that is now on his permanent record and I would really like it addressed by the board. I can I had this whole email that I wanted to email to you guys, but I didn't because he's now being told
that, you know, by other faculty members that maybe they'll make up new rules this year where kids that get suspended from mumbling something under their breath that they're possibly not allowed to go to Battle of the Classes or play in the Powderpuff game or whatever it is. So, I'm a little confused with that
as well because I think that's like a little much now. So I didn't bring it to the attention. I did sit and meet with Miss I'm sorry I can't I forgot. I did meet with her. I did have a conversation with the principal after that. I
honestly got nowhere. So I would like to know what are the what are the discipline actionaries? Like what are they? How does it work? Does he have to have something in his file? Is it something that should have been you know a warning a verbal warning? a written
warning, something like because he hasn't had a great time this beginning of the year. And to answer your questions, from what we know of, there's been about 21 to 22 fights the first 14 days of school. So, I mean, and he wasn't even involved in a fight. So, the kids that are fighting, are they getting
suspended? Are they getting expelled? Are they getting pulled out of the school? Or am I the only one that's got to pay for Chromebooks? And am I the only one that's got to might have my son be taken out of school and and threatened that he couldn't play in a football game? I'm I'm just a little
confused. Like, can that be addressed? I I want to know what the disciplinary action is. Okay. So, that's that's it. I'm sorry. I don't know how it goes. Thank you. Absolutely. >> Are there any additional questions,
comments? Seeing no one come forward, I need a motion to close public forum. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Uh we are now. Do you want me to address some of these? >> Oh, yes. I'm sorry.
>> So, there were a lot of questions and a lot of comments tonight. I will do my best to answer uh them. I've tried to capture as many as possible. Please know that's difficult to do when so many are coming rapidly. If I do not respond to your specific question, feel free to reach out to me tomorrow. I'd be happy
to talk to you on the phone. Uh send me an email. Um but I will do my best tonight. Uh a question about when we will restore common lunch. Well, we are working hard to bring it back ASAP. Um you know, I I see people shaking
their heads, people who don't uh agree with that, but I I would hope there's a little bit of trust here. been the superintendent for six years now and I have always put kids first and I will continue to do that. Once again, I believe in this and I appreciate I I am
happy to hear all of you appreciate common lunch the way we do as well. So, we are dedicated to bring that back as soon as we can. The flexible academy um again was a pilot uh presented tonight as a pilot. Uh we were very clear we do
not have all of our uh pieces in place there if we were going to put that into place but if we were I had a question about when we were hopeful to put it in place November or December again to help um deal with all sorts of things um that
we see students struggle with um as our job is to educate and support students to become better academically and socially emotionally. references to um the high school being a zoo. Um that
certainly wasn't from me. Um obviously people um spread things. Somebody mentioned something about rumors before. Uh the high school is not a zoo. I am there multiple times a week as are my administrative team. Um so unfortunately I'm sorry to hear that people are
calling that. It is absolutely not a zoo. Why are people asking students to stop the fights? Um my understanding and of course I will address this with the um admin team at the high school, but my understanding is that um things that
have been said as part of trying to ensure that this was going to be successful is you know be an upstander, be someone who encourages the right choices, the right behaviors. Um we certainly would not want to put any student physically at risk.
The parent liaison question, yes they are employees of the district. They are screened just as any other employee would be. Background checked, fingerprinted. Support from home. Absolutely. We always want to have our parents support um from home. And in regards to discipline
issues, absolutely parents are involved. Um meetings are held, plans are put into place for improvement. Um that has been always here in this district. We do give a violence and vandalism report um twice a year that um
demonstrates the number of incidents that we've had in the district. We'll continue to do that. Um we do not have one prepared obviously for this evening, but we'll continue to do that moving forward. Um and I'm prepared to share at the next meeting the number of suspensions we've had and everything. I
just don't have it in front of me right now. >> I'm sorry. We would have slides from previous, >> but they're last year's numbers. I think everybody in the audience is looking for this year's numbers. So, we'll have that for the next board meeting. Um,
we do have a zero tolerance for, as I said earlier, for any kind of um inappropriate behaviors that violate our code of conduct. In fact, this evening you heard a motion that was read in because we held an expulsion hearing.
So, we do have zero tolerance. I know it's hard for um our community to understand because this is confidential information just as if your child had um a concern or an incident or an issue, we wouldn't be speaking about it publicly.
Um but we do absolutely have zero tolerance here as evidenced tonight by one of the motions that were read. Uh I want to thank the students who spoke very well tonight. Um I always appreciate that. Um, several students
emailed me. I've responded to them as well. Um, I've always been a proponent for that and I thank you for um, being productive and sharing your concerns productively. We will be reaching out to students to help us as we move forward to problem solve. That was another
question somebody asked. Um, the lunch balance and what we can do about that. Mr. Binsky, can you speak to that because we struggle with this all the time. >> Yeah. First, we're not alone. Uh most school districts struggle with that and you are very limited. You're very
limited in what you can do in terms of uh you have to feed children. You can't deny them a lunch. Uh there are certain uh restrictions on how you can communicate uh the lunch so you're not shaming students. Uh so you are very limited and we we try to communicate as
as much as we can. Ultimately when students become seniors um we we don't hand them the diploma until they pay their lunch balance. So, it's it's very it's very limiting, but you know, it's just it's about diligence and communication.
>> I don't mean to interject here, but I did see at a school district an app where you your child couldn't get lunch unless you filled out the app and paid for the food. It probably not for every student, but certain students maybe qualify for something like that. I'm sure obviously the application cost the
district. We can and we do limit the alle cart buying and that is sometimes a uh a catalyst for getting an unpaid balance. Um so >> correct. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. We have we have to provide a lunch. >> I'd like to just put this out there as
an idea. I've said it before. So I don't have children in the district anymore. All of my children graduated, but when they all graduated, they all had leftover money on their lunch accounts that we don't get back. it's just sitting there and I didn't get anything
back. So, if they if they have leftover money where parents like myself didn't ask for it and we didn't get it back, maybe we could use that to bring down. It's just sitting there. It's not doing anything. You know, you take 10 $20 from each person might help a little bit.
>> Yeah. Uh in regards to Chromebook expenses and fees and all that, yes, Chromebook um fees do pile up as well for broken equipment. Part of what we are doing right now is because uh someone mentioned the Chromebooks being slow,
not working super well. They are this is their last year of life. Um and so we we have entertained those conversations and as I mentioned earlier have been meeting with people to make a decision of how we should move forward. this is the time for us to be talking about that and
figuring out what is um is the time to adjust what we currently do. Um so all of those meetings and conversations are happening. So we appreciate your input and what you're telling us about the Chromebooks and we'll continue to problem solve how we should move forward um and whether we continue to buy for
all students, a portion of our students um and then again obviously they would be newer Chromebooks so they would be functioning a little bit better. they do run their course um and I believe this is um fifth year >> fifth year of them right and that's when
we look to do we continue this way or do we reassess and make a different choice and that's the stage we're at right now I do feel we have adequate security at our high school um for security purposes I'm a little hesitant to say the number
um we do hold a lot of things close because this is a public meeting to ensure that we're not extremely this is the one area super transparent with security because we want don't want to tip our hat to what our plans are and where that is. Um if somebody you know
would like to know individually just give me a call um or send me give me a call. I prefer to to say it that way um so that we don't tip our hand of what our security is at our school. Um, I do want to mention that the the lunch
periods that were put in place, one of the students mentioned what is currently happening for lunch, um, with the 3A, 3B lunch period and and and such were in place for decades before we had common lunch. Uh, common lunch is on its I
believe fifth year. We've been doing it for four years. So those were ways that the schools the high school did operate for for decades and we knew that there were better things we could do. So we know that it's not ideal um to go back
to something that we prefer to change and have availability for our students to have access to things. Um teachers availability after school should be from 1:30 to 2 unless they have a required faculty meeting or department meeting.
those would be the reasons why they wouldn't be available. Um, and I will follow up with our high school administration to ensure that teachers identify their availability for students so that they know when they are available after school. And hopefully
that will just be needed for a short period of time. Um I I don't speak about individual students publicly. Um but if there is an individual student question again you can reach out to me.
Um I I do have to disagree about communication respectfully. Um I think that this district is good at communicating to its community what is occurring and what's happening. um and also make our access accessible concerns
about the bathroom and vaping are are real legit concerns that I will speak to the high school administration about and I encourage you to as well. Um so you can give specifics to them so that they can look into it but I will also speak to the high school administration.
Um anything on banquetss that you want to add Miss Cass about the board choices? I'm just looking at what those questions were here >> for the I can't speak to scheduling. I know that it'll go to facilities. That was the >> I can speak to that. I'm sorry. Yes, >> that was I think that was really the
only other thing. >> I I did have that highlighted my faults. Um yeah, so the board's purpose of asking for the three dates is so that we could put those athletic banquetss on the calendars first so that they would have priority versus anything else. Our
students always take priority. Um, I believe that captures most of the questions. Again, if I didn't get to you, please feel free to reach out to me individually. >> Miss Permilly, before you end, um, with the scheduling of the banquetss,
did it not was it not revised that it's this year? Wasn't there a revision that we approved today? >> Yep. Miss Cass just read it um earlier. It is uh a choice this year whether you want to have it in district or out of district. That's your the choice. Um we
encourage you to have it in to give it a try, but um it it is not required. The board chose to make that requirement for the 2627 school year. >> Okay. Okay. So, as far as worrying about like fall sports or >> Yeah. >> things right now and we know we just
approved facilities through significant part of the school year. So, that >> gives the option for parents currently. >> Correct. >> All right. Great. >> Yep. Thank you, Miss Cass. >> No, thank you. Um,
we are going to No, I have to um Yeah, board com. Okay. I thought I had to adjourn. I'm going to um opening uh open the meeting to board comments and I will start as always with Mr. McCarron. >> Thank you everybody for coming out tonight. Uh congratulations to the band
on all their success last weekend. It's good to see them uh doing really well and uh thank you to all the students that got up and spoke tonight. It's nice to see people take an active role and involved in their own uh education. Thank you. >> Thank you all for coming out tonight. Um
I think this is important that our community is part of the governance um the whole governance process. We represent you so it's important that you do come out even when conversations are uncomfortable so that we know what you want. Uh thank you and have a safe
night. >> Thank everyone for coming out this evening and viewing us on live stream. Um thank you for the presentations and sharing your comments and concerns and everyone have a wonderful and safe night.
Um I just want to thank everyone who came out tonight. I know I uh I had said it before, you know, I I appreciate, of course, I'd love to see more seats filled, but for those of you that came out, especially our students that came out, um I think you brought the sentiments of many who didn't weren't
able to attend, maybe some that were watching live. Um congratulations to our band. Um I sorry I missed you this time, but we'll catch you the next time. Um, I know someone had mentioned that we um, you know,
we're shaking our heads. We should be, you know, are we we're we're listening. We're we're hearing, but are we listening? Um, I just want to remind everyone that while we're all sitting up here on the DES, the board of ed is very separate from the administration. And as your board of ed, you vote us in and we
are your voices. We bring everything back to administration. Some of us have had children that have already been in the district and some of us currently have kids in the district. And I can tell you 100% that we bring everything back to the administration. We hear you
loud and clear. So, thank you for that. Enjoy the rest of the night. Everyone, I wanted to acknowledge the vocational training program for students and the volunteer teaching staff for clubs and activities on the agenda. I with the new system, I like to do it during the
discussion and I missed it. And you know, I think resilience is an important skill to obtain and I like to think that our students and staff are getting comfortable with their new normaly from the merge and are more confident to deal with that. And I really appreciated everybody coming out tonight. I do echo
some of um the sentiment said I had a great concern um for the utilization of additional mental health grants uh for student programming um that only imp didn't impact the students at large. And um you know I I thank everybody because
you helped the board come to a decision to table it and that's what we needed and thank you for coming out. It really was a really long meeting. So um if we could see you again in a month that'd be wonderful. >> Have a great night. I also just want to add that um after
you know um I know everyone's disappointed with the common lunch pause at the moment and this is definitely a topic of conversation but I can tell you I feel that I have the utmost confidence in our administration and the staff and they will work on something to bring it
back. So thank you. Um, I want to congratulate the marching band as well and thank everyone for coming out, especially the students. And I just want to piggyback on what Mrs. Barack has just said. I think we have an amazing administrative team. Um, I know that people aren't happy right now, but
we've been through this before. There's been a lot of things you haven't been happy about and I think we always come through and I think the communication is there. So, with that, I just want to wish everybody a happy evening and a happy Halloween because it'll be here before we know it. Take care.
Motion to adjurnn. Motion >> second by acclamation. I