Thank you. Hello. Good to see you. >> Yeah, I know. Oh, okay. freezing the last couple of years. >> Thank you. I've never met her. Sorry.
The other day, yesterday afternoon about So something was off. It's true. >> They were cute. They were in different sections with their group and they came back together. >> It was nice. They're all doing
this week and Thursday's a big open >> but there's a there's a big time. >> Yes, there is. goes to 315. >> Well, >> yeah, fifth graders in the morning. >> Gotcha. Got
>> I think Did you get locked out? >> All right. >> All right. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the August 26, 2025 meeting of the Matuchin Board of Education. If we could all please stand
for the flag salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Mrs. Elliott, notice of the meeting, please. I hereby make this statement to indicate compliance with the open public meetings act known as chapter 231 of the public laws of New Jersey 1975 which became effective 90 days after enactment January 19th 1976. Notice of this meeting was provided given by providing
the location time and date of this meeting posting of the same on the front door of the board of education offices by delivering copies to the burough hall and the matuchin public library the home news and tribune the star ledger and by filing a copy with the burough clerk as for sky by the law. >> Thank you. Roll call please. >> Mr. Hot
>> here. >> Miss Cheetum >> here. >> Mr. Derlinger >> here. >> Mr. Glber >> here. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus >> I am here. >> Miss Colleen >> here. >> Mr. Lifton >> here. >> Miss Michaels Lamorte >> here.
>> Here. >> Dr. Spar. >> Dr. Spar has let us know that she will not be here today. >> Thank you. I was like, wait a minute. Like jump the gun there a little. >> I'm so excited to be here. I just can't. >> All right. Well, Mr. Sus is here.
>> Here. >> Thank you so much, Miss Zelia. Dr. Kabuto, we have an exciting showcase of success today. >> We do. I'll be doing district goals in a little bit, but before we do that, really excited to introduce to the public uh to the board. Uh the next
group of our new hires uh hired at prior prior meetings, and we're excited. These folks had a long couple days. They've been with us um all Monday and all Tuesday uh doing um their first of the three first two of the three uh new teacher orientation days. Dr. Hza, great
program. A number of different presenters uh included uh including at the end today with their mentors. So, they've had a busy couple days and we're really thrilled that they're able to make time out of their schedules to come back, meet the public uh and the board um before we uh we hit the ground
running next week with students. >> Wonderful. We're delighted to have them. So, what I'll do is I'm going to introduce them. Um I'll I'll tell the board and the public their name and which school and what position they're working in and I'll invite you to the um the podium. New new hires feel free to, you know, say as little as hi and thank
you or tell us about why you're, you know, excited to be here or anything about you. So, we'll just go in alphabetical order. Thank you again for being here. We'll start with Maline Darrow who will be uh Edgar School uh school counselor taking Lauren Campbell's position. Hi, Maddie.
Hi everyone. Thank you all. Um, thank you admin and faculty for their warm welcome this week. I'm so excited to meet our students and families and have a great start to the year. Go Bulldogs. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Thanks, Maddie. Welcome. Next up is
Osarin Derishva Shut and she'll be a more special ed teacher. Welcome, Osarin. >> Good evening everybody. My name is Oshia. I'm the new preschool teacher at MOS. I'm super excited. I feel like I already won the lottery.
>> Thank you so much. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, Oing. Welcome. Next up is Nicole Hansen, Campbell, first grade teacher. >> Hi. Um, thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm super excited to be working for Touchin School District.
Thanks, Nicole. >> Also from Campbell, um Michelle Maldonado. She'll be a self-contained teacher. >> Hi everyone. Thank you so much again for having me on your Matuchin team in Campbell. I'll be moving to Moss and I'm really excited to meet students and
families and work with with the Matuchin team. So, thank you very much. >> Wonderful. >> Thanks, Michelle. Uh, next up is uh from Campbell, Christine Pio, first grade lever replacement teacher for uh Mr. Shapiro. >> Hi, thank you. Um, this is my third year
covering leaves at Matuchen. Um, I'm retired and I appreciate the opportunity to continue teaching. Um, and right around the corner. So, thank you again. >> Welcome back, Christine. Thank you. >> Welcome back. >> Next up, Campbell, fourth grade teacher,
Bianca Rodriguez, James. >> Hi, everyone. I'm Bianca. I'm going into my sixth year teaching and I'm really excited to be going into my first year in Matuchin. And thank you so much for all of the warm welcomes and just for um the incredible two days we h we've had
so far. I'm excited to get started next Tuesday. >> Thank you. >> Beautiful. Welcome. >> Next up is um Edgar special ed teacher Marjorie Rosenberg. >> This is an opportunity. I have a microphone and I have a captive audience. Lovely. Um I'm Marjorie. I've
been around here for a bit. This is actually my 17th year teaching. my first year completely teaching in Matuchin. I'm super excited. Uh, as everyone probably knows, I've been doing a couple of volunteer things here. It'll be nice to finally get a paycheck for it. >> Yes.
>> Um, but I am passionate about this district, so it just makes sense. Um, thank you guys for the opportunity. Uh, you can teach an old dog new tricks and I look forward to it. >> Welcome officially. >> Um, next up is Julia Sudall, Edgar
special ed teacher. I don't think she's here tonight and >> she'll come next time. >> She'll come next time. Thank you, Miss Taylor. And by the way, Miss Taylor does a great job of shephering our new teachers through the onboarding process. It even accompanies them to our meetings tonight. So, we appreciate Thank you for being here, Miss Taylor. Um, next up,
high school math teacher Stephanie Torillani. >> Hi, everyone. It is great to be here. Thank you for the staff and the administration for being so welcoming. I'm really excited to meet the students next week. Thank you. >> Welcome, Stephanie. >> Welcome.
>> And finally, tonight, we'll have more folks uh next time. Um and if if additional folks are hired on the agenda, we'll invite them as well. But last up for tonight is high school special education teacher Jessica Zalink. Hi everyone. I just want to say thank you so much. I'm so happy and excited to
be part of the Matuchin family. This will be my fifth year teaching. First in Matuchin and I'm very very excited to start the um the last two days have been great. So I'm excited to see what the year has. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Jessica. Welcome. >> Thanks uh to the entire group for being
here. Uh we really appreciate that. Dr. Herszac, thanks for your work with the uh the new teachers on the first two days and uh they'll continue their work with the rest of the staff tomorrow and and Thursday as part of the inservice days and have one more day of important workshops to get them set on Friday. So,
thank you for your work. >> Welcome to you all. I hope you have a great year. All right. Um, at this time, we'll allow you an opportunity to leave unless they want to just spend that much more time in our buildings. Maybe they do. >> Um, and we are open uh to the public at
this time on any topic. I know, right? Sorry, I'm signing. Seeing none, uh, at this time we close that section of the meeting and we allow Dr. Cooper the opportunity to make his way to the podium for his district goals presentation. Thank you, Mrs. Alavich and Mr. League
for getting these queued up. We appreciate that. Um it's my great pleasure to present to the board um the culmination of a lot of work that really begins in the in this case it actually began in in late fall of last year really picked up speed in the spring u
and then came to fruition this summer with a lot of input uh from students of student advisory from parents from board members from teachers and administrators. Um, I think as as I say similar things each year, I think the the goals capture our priorities. In
fact, we'll talk about our priorities with a a new slide this year. um and our our our message and our beliefs uh in a in a succinct document that guides our work not just now and at the end of the year when we look at test scores but
every week and every day in the classroom with teachers and students administrators working toward these uh in a collaborative fashion so um touch on public schools every moment matters there's our district goals for 2526 as I promised this is a slide that Dr.
Herszog has really collated over the last year or so um identifying overarching district priorities. Uh in fact, these are priorities that we ask questions about at every single interview, whether it's a administrator or a teacher that's coming on board. Um
starting from the lower left, we talk about inclusivity. We talk about collaboration, communication, and celebration. And we we we expect our new teachers to uh be part of the labor management collaborative. And we talk about that from the beginning. We talk about the
whole child that's really important to us and the tenants of the whole child. We talk about social emotional learning and the competencies because we believe that that social emotional learning competencies embedded in the curriculum over multiple years has measurable results and we've talked about that in
the p over you know over the past many years. We talk about parent and community partnerships. It's critical and there one of the first steps for our new teachers is here tonight to meet the board and meet the public. Mental health and wellness is obviously a topic that's close to our heart. Um been working on
this for a decade. Thankful to the the um the public for supporting our referendum in in the second question in 2019. Uh it's something that we work on every day and every year. And of course academic achievements and enriching experiences. Those are our priorities.
So rather than recreate the priorities, those last across AC across years and across district goals. Uh it's the first time we've we've shared this document as part of our our district goals. So this year, every moment matters takes shape of fi takes its shape in five
goals. Number one is classroom and community engagement. Goal two is building forward together. Goal three is sky's is the limit. And we'll talk a little about a play on words with New Jersey sky survey. Goal four is information literacy. I think a really important one all
important. Goal five is the best me. All right. So what is classroom and community engagement to us? It's actively engage students in meaningful problem solving experiences both inside and outside the classroom by integrating real world issues and inquirybased learning. As you know, we we pick key
actions and that comes from a lot of various input and it's our job to to coalate those into three or four or five or six key actions for each goal. So, we have three key actions for district goal one this year. Number one is to teach
students about food equity, reduce food waste, and provide reliable sources of nutritious meals to those in need through share tables, donations to food pantries, and community partnerships. Really excited about this work. Number two, empower student leaders and engage the community in environmental
stewardship through hands-on tree related education, promoting the benefits of trees and strategically planting new trees across the school campuses with grant support. Uh at the deis in front of my um near my name plate, I have just a little flyer. It talks about um the the grant that Miss
Lmerch and the sustainability committee got $167,000 grant from sustainable jerseys and we'll be able to plant over 100 tree 100 trees across our four schools. So we're really excited by that work and with that is not just a grant for money and to plant but comes
educational opportunities and that's why we've made it part of our classroom and community engagement goal this year. And thirdly this year under under classroom and community engagement is to enhance critical thinking and deepen understanding in the STEM subjects by implementing strategies from book studies building thickened classrooms
gather reason and communicate as two examples and the and the purpose will be facilitating differentiated centerbased learnings activities and using real world context. Goal two is building forward together. This year, we're going to foster
collaboration and shared decision-making to navigate major organizational changes using the construction project and grade realignment as catalysts to strengthen and transform our learning environments and operations. And this certainly is a um a unique opportunity year to have a
goal uh like number two. Five key actions is to update standardsbased report cards and align grading and reporting practices for the new grade configurations. So, there can be decisions like as we're switching grade levels, how many marking periods? What's the report card reporting going to look
like? What is the high school um GPA situation going to look like? So, lots of changes that uh school leadership teams have begun to work uh and will continue to work on this school year. Key action two, collaborative collaboratively reimagine instructional experiences that extend the core in the
areas like G&T and response intervention and English as a second language and all the other ones that are listed there. Number three, clarify a common understanding of Matutton's model of collaboration through teacher leadership. Number four, coordinate staff assignments to support the smooth
transition of students between schools, ensuring the continuity of instruction and providing consistency in student support. And finally, number five, plan for the use of the new learning spaces. We're excited about that. That maximizes the opportunities for innovation, supports
teaching and learning, and enhances student engagement and collaboration. Our new our new spaces, either brand new building spaces, uh, such as the high school classrooms, or classrooms that will become available through realignment grades like at Campbell and,
um, uh, and Edgar. And of course, the the new 40,000 square foot building at Moss provides wonderful opportunities not just to spread out into uh new spaces, but to have innovative programs take those new spaces up that people will look back in 25 years and say, not
only did they make good decisions around the referendum, around the building, but around the programs and the staffing that went into those buildings. Goal three is sky's the limit. We're engaged school communities through structured teams and processes in reviewing and acting on the New Jersey
sky data to drive continuous improvements in school climate. We made a commitment last year to um to significantly up our end numbers which we accomplished on the survey to take that stakeholder feedback to heart not only with the principles but their school leadership teams. and now in the
summer and the fall extending that to parent stakeholder groups meeting about the data um and a couple of our key actions reflect that collaborating with those advisories uh and school leadership teams and v various teams to analyze the school climate data and related practices the data tells us some
things but we also have anecdotal information about the practices we want to analyze both of those and number two to engage in shared decision-making to develop imple implement action steps aligned to those identifi identified areas of growth As a reminder for everybody, we've included the um the
district-wide Sky aggregate results. 486 third to fifth grade students, over a thousand uh secondary students, over 200 staff, and almost 400 parents participated in this last year with those results on a um a one to five
scale um and or one to four sky fit the scale actually. Now um and those are the results. So obviously the higher scores we're proud of, we want to keep building and the lower scores those are areas for growth that our teams will be working on action plans for.
Goal four is around information literacy, one that's really close to my heart. We want to equip students with critical thinking and sensemaking strategies to identify, evaluate, and navigate a wide range of information, some accurate, some miss, and some
disinformation across digital, academic, and everyday sources, empowering them to become informed, responsible, and engaged citizens. I can't think of a more important goal than producing informed, responsible, and engaged citizens. Three key actions. We will
engage students in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting real world data using mathematical tools, graphs, stats, data representation, and guide students in evaluating the reliability and limitations of data sources. Two, implement an AI plan with tools for
screening and curating resources and provide staff with a pick your own path PD uh process where um we we include prompt engineering and responsible AI use. And you know, we've spent the last couple years building up to this point um and now um implementing this plan.
And three, emphasizing voting rights and voter registration processes around civic readiness, granting instruction and primary documents. It's connected in this AI uh goal because we know so much of what we read is like is summarized by somebody and something else. So those
primary documents become critical. Incorporating current events where students pick, summarize, and evaluate the information. Foster respectful debate and understand how geography influences cultures, societies, and nations. We're bigger than the borders
of Matuchin or New Jersey or the US. Um, and we want to emphasize, not that we don't always do that, we want to emphasize this year through that third key action. And goal five, the best me. Align and promote shared values, tiered supports, and targeted interventions to empower
students and equip staff in fostering positive and meaningful student interactions that promote success. And the origin, the kind of the origin story of this goal, it comes from data. It comes from a an important move to a multi-tered system of support uh in providing interventions for students,
whether they're tier one or tier two or tier three interventions. And not just in reading, not just in reading and math, but in beyond those academic subjects. Um because every student needs something different. Three key actions. Engage our school-based teams to review and set behavioral expectations for
positive student interactions and empower students with the strategies to foster healthy healthy relationships. Two, align our interventions, services, and our character ed programs to the NJTSS framework. And three, provide PD on tiered
interventions for areas beyond the academics. like I was talking about mental health, social emotional learning, behaviors, and more. How do we grade ourselves? We've we've developed a system and used it for the last eight or nine years now. Um, and
it's and it's hard to get five and we're we're okay with that. Five means we did it well and had a significant impact on students. Um, four means we did it well and had some impact on students. Three, good progress, but it was either not completed for various reasons. it's hard work or only limited impact on students
this year. Two, we made some progress. It's minimal or not at the student level. And one, we didn't do it. We don't have many ones, but sometimes things interfere with a an action uh and a goal. We may not be able to accomplish that. We ask our principles to um self
uh rate them rate their school's progress. And I'll present out before Thanksgiving, around spring break, and in a final summative report uh at the end of the school year in June. We align our district goals. We always have aligned them to the ASD's whole child
tenants. And this is a little matrix. Um and the goals number one through five are listed down the left. The bottom row is left blank, but in the final um report next June, there'll be scores in there. And healthy aligns with goal five and the tenant safe aligns with goals
two, three, and five. Engaged aligns with one and four. Supported with one, two, and five. Challenged with one and four. And sustainability from an whole child sense is how sustainable not a climate uh aspect but how sustainable
are the impact or of is the impact that we're making in the other five areas and that really aligns with goals one two three and five this year for us. Last year we also built the goals around the school quality review indicators and this year we decided now that we're
comfortable in those 11 areas let's align our goals to those and report back at the end of the year how we're doing. Um the the first indicator is around curriculum and that aligns with our goals one and four. Two is pedigogy also one and four. The third indicator uh the
school quality review indicator is assessment and that aligns with one two and four. The fourth uh SQR indicator is in around the learning environment that aligns with three and five. High expectations which aligns with the best me in goal five.
Resource allocations with align which aligns with goal two. Our goal setting process probably could have aligned with all of them but specifically action planning around uh our goals two and three. Supervision and support for teachers. Uh goals one, four, and five.
Shared leadership. You hear about that all the time in our collaboration aligned with our goals two and three. uh structured improvement clearly with our goal three and in um indicators and and uh processes for ma managing student growth clearly aligns with the best me
our goal five again the last row is left blank so that at the end of the year I'll be able to report out how we scored in each of those 11 indicators as well it's important to tie our work to established outside criteria and we think for us what serves the purpose right now is the whole child tenants and
these um school quality body review indicators. And that's my uh presentation for today. Thank you, Dr. Kaputo. As folks make their way back, see if anyone has any questions for you.
>> Question. Mr. Sus, >> I do have a question. Thank you for the presentation. Uh always look forward to the uh goals presentation. Very happy to see the climate survey actually make it into the official goals. So note to parents out there um the district takes this feedback seriously. When it does
come around again, I think it's every two years, right? So the we've done two pilots with the um sky survey. Before it was widely available to all districts in New Jersey. Now it's available to all districts in New Jersey. So, we certainly ratcheted up our efforts last
year around this, not only administering the survey, but then analyzing and then actually making it a goal. So, we'll see where the um what the school climate team at the state re at Ruckers recommends. Is it an every year thing? Is it every two years? But we're certainly going to spend this year
working on the results. Our plan tenatively is to offer this again next spring with a a wider 50% wider window for um responses. >> That'll be great. I I know a number of parents that missed the windows, so it'll be great uh for to get their
feedback. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thanks, Mrs. US. Any other questions for Dr. Kaputo on the goals? You look like you were formulating one. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, Dr. Kaputo. >> Thank you. Appreciate your uh your
contribution. Um and you'll hold this to account because this is important work and this drives our work all year long. So, thank you. >> Wonderful. Actually, can I ask a quick question? Just kidding. >> Sorry, Dr. I was >> Miss Judum is like, "Oh, hold on. >> Sorry. I was trying to get to um the actual uh slide. Um we're it's goal
number one with classroom and community engagement. Are you planning to partner with the burrow on like the Sha Tree Commission for any of the building?" >> So excited. We have a great partnership already with the Shade Tree Commission. Um, and that was, I think, very attractive to sustainable Jersey for
schools because Miss Lech and the sustainability committee wrote the grant with this partnership and um, which is already existing. We had partnered with them last year, our tree ambassadors, we did presentations at the library, we connected with the community. So, that was really important and I think that
really that that prior work really played well in our favor when it came to doing out the grant funds. Uh, so yes, the the tree ambassadors and the work with the Shade Tree Commission is critical to our to our work here. >> Yeah, I'm sure they're going to be really excited to work with you on this. >> We had a rep actually tour the buildings
with us uh last week just to get an initial sense of, you know, where trees could go. We we had our landscape architect from Speasel with us. Um, we just talked about general sites. We're going to involve now students um uh in that process as well. By November, we have to tell uh we have to submit to the
grant where we're going to put the trees and the planting will take place in the uh springtime. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Great. >> I think they were with the shade commission at the green fair um on this p this was it last weekend? >> Yeah. On the 17th. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. They were there the um there was
one particular person who was very interested in that. >> Mr. Brown >> talking to us. Yes. Mr. Brown. >> Yeah. It was but it was uh >> I don't know if he's on the shade tree commission. No, but they they they were at uh on Sunday the green fair the following day. >> I believe Miss Lmer was at the green
fair as well. >> Miss Lmer was there and with the shade tree commission >> and actually the uh first Presbyterian church food bank. So it was great to see them all there you talking about community partners. >> Community partners. >> Absolutely wonderful. This is great.
Thank you Dr. Kaputo. >> Thank you. >> All right. I will take this opportunity as Dr. Kaputo walks back to tell you I have no report this evening as the president and I'm assuming that that was your report.
Uh so we're going to get rolling with the committee reports. I hope that Mr. Bot is ready throat cleared water consumed to tell us about what's up with equity. >> I am uh so we met uh we met last week talk through equity and I think the
thing that's most heartening to echo what Dr. Dr. Puto says is how thoroughly the administration listens to feedback and it's great to see just embedded and incorporated in the district goals whether on one hand it is food equity as you saw first classroom and community
engagement all the way through uh the best me where we help our students honor and our staff and our administration honor themselves show up as their best selves uh being mindful also of you know whether it's cultural or religious observances uh and being supportive And
that echoes the priorities for the equity committee for uh for the upcoming academic year. An emphasis on food equity and just really amplifying the great work we've done all along. Whether it's share tables, share my meals, building on project based learning and
community partnerships. Really exciting year to just amplify that work across the district is a great partnership at a very important time to do so. Uh and be a model in doing so. and similarly continued to advance balancing sort of the standards of the calendar
with cultural religious observances over the course of the year in an exploration of how we can just listen better, evolve more uh and just keep listening. So exciting times. We'll meet again uh in September uh just honoring those priorities and leaving some space for opportunities as they arise.
>> Thank you, Mr. Bot. All right, Mr. Glasbury. Construction. Okay, I'm going to do my best here to juggle between a couple different uh reports and updated dates that we have. Um, so our adventures started out on August 16th.
Uh, that was our first public most recent public event. Uh, we were at the farmers market and we were meeting with people all day. I think we did not stop talking from about 8:45 in the morning until the market ended. Thank you to the market for letting us be there and the
public. Um, it was very very interesting. You know, there's a wide variety of people there who are don't necessarily have children in the district, don't necessarily uh watch these board meetings, as hard as that is to believe. And they were just curious. There were people who had no idea that a
referendum took place or that construction was taking place. And there were people from other towns very curious about all the positive things that they were seeing in our district. and some people who were wishing that their school districts had uh what what
we're about to have here. So, it was really really a great day to engage with the public in a variety of ways. Uh that was on Saturday the 16th. Then on the 18th, we had our open public committee meeting here at the media center and we had an overview of the four schools. I'm
going to report on that and then I'll give you some additional dates after that that have come in more recently. So, at the high school, a large amount of the interior work on the gym area edition has been completed. Um, the HVAC
is getting near completion. Um, the Eminem, uh, which is our contractor at the high school, uh, there has been some difficulty getting them to assemble the switch gear, which is needed for some of the electrical there. Uh so we continue
to work with them and our partners to push that forward. At Moss full day kindergarten still happening in a very short period of time right here in September. The exterior playground and bus loop will be completed. Uh they're expecting the completion of the new
structure um in late December or into early January. That part is not being used for kindergarten. So that's okay. That that part continues to happen. that will be needed for a realignment which will happen the following year at Edgar. The
interior and HVAC is going well. Um the site work is going to continue around the outside. So you're still going to see a lot of construction happening around not a lot of construction but a lot of work taking place outside of the building. Um which will make the
entrance into the building still a bit complicated for a while. Uh but the inside will be in much better shape than that. Uh Campbell um we were waiting for PSCG for quite a while. Uh there were several canceled
appointments. They have since come to do what they need to do. Um and we're working towards completion there. I'll give an update on the date in a moment. Some comments from the public at that meeting included a question about whether or not um Edgar needed some
additional bike racks. Um there were questions about Campbell and Moss playgrounds and will they be complete on time and that is anticipated for September 2nd. Um September 2nd and uh we received a question about the
rain garden at Edgar and that is being worked on and and rebuilt. Uh, so that will be back in use. We're not losing the rain garden in Edgar. And there was a question about the spacing of the playground equipment at Moss. And our
contractors and construction managers and the installation people were going back out and of course they're making sure that everything is as it should be and appropriate distanced. I want to add a little bit more based upon some additional dates that we've
received between then and now. As you can imagine, things are fast moving. Some of this is based upon uh meetings that took place earlier this morning for the high school. The outdoor patio area. So, there's there's a new cafeteria edition, but there's also an
outdoor space uh for additional seating. The outdoor area is expected to be done for September 2nd. Um the gym, classrooms as part of the connecting wing and the board office is anticipated for late
December. Uh the field lights should be energized in mid December. The polls already went up, but we need to wait for the gym portion in order to uh be able to get the power for those. Um AC the
air conditioning is delayed. Um, we are working on Eminem to move that forward, but it is going to take a little bit longer, uh, a couple of months more. So, we'll miss that hottest part of the year, unfortunately.
At Edgar, um, the air conditioning should be ready for very early for early September. Um, the new office suite should be completed within the next couple of days according to the date that we have. uh classrooms for September 2nd. Um because
we had we didn't have to we wanted to convert some of the old office space into classroom space. So that should be ready for September 2nd. Um the new main entrance uh will be ready later in September. Does that mean Dr. Caputo that they're
not physically entering through there or does that just mean that there's more um work to do in the outer >> Yeah, great question. So student and staff will not enter for the first few weeks of school um past the bus loop because the bus loop and the finishing
touches concrete and some of the touches in the um in the new uh entrance will not be ready. Now right behind it the offices will be ready. Right. So everyone will be entering where they entered last year just down to the left. I think it's door 11 that's by the um the gymnasium the other side of the gym.
>> Got it. Okay. So, they'll be entering at the door next next down from the main entrance heart, but the interior is expected to be complete. Um, the bus loop, rain garden, and basketball hoop will also come a little bit later in September.
At Campbell, um, the air conditioning due to those PSEG delays that we had is now expected for around the September 15th. the basketball court and playground for September 2nd. Uh so
ready to go. And at the cafeteria uh edition, the interior of that cafeteria is not going to be able to be used until approximately midepptember. We're waiting on the co the certificate of occupancy.
And um Dr. Caputo, Mr. Harva, our our uh construction management have been pushing very very hard. Um but we're running up against some uh some delays there. So, we're getting there. It's very soon. And at Moss, air conditioning
for very early September. The new classrooms are ready for kindergarten for September. The bus loop will be complete uh for this coming year. that's where cars are going to be coming in um and following around that pathway as
well. And the new addition for late December, that new addition again is to be able to support first and second grade and to allow for the realignment of all of our grades. So that will all be ready in plenty of time for the following school
year. That's a lot of information. Uh Dr. Caputo is going to summarize that in as part of his email that he sends out after each of our board meetings. So, you'll be able to see that in writing or just play this back in slow motion. >> That's the end of my report. Uh we are
going to be meeting next September 15th. That's a closed meeting. And then our next open meeting, we was scheduled for later in October. We're looking to move that to October 6th. So,
uh, pay attention to the website and to what I report here on when you can next attend an open public committee meeting. We're just making sure that our professionals are able to attend that meeting. That's the end of my report. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Glassber, for
all of that information. Um, and again, thank you to the public for putting your faith and trust in us and your patience and grace. We are almost there. >> We're getting there. >> We're almost there. So, thank you for all that. >> All right, Mr. During our curriculum, please.
>> Thank you very much. Curriculum met on Tuesday, August 19th. We started by reviewing some curriculum revisions that were brought to our attention. Um you'll see some of those on the agenda for approval tonight. Uh we received um
information about our annual review of uh the district courses. every year. It's part of our our policy that we approve um all of the courses on in our district. So, that's going to be taking place as well. We received a very
interesting um testing update from the state of New Jersey. There will be a new component to the um NJSLA for ELA and math, which is an adaptive testing portion. And for those of you that don't know what adaptive testing is, think I
ready, the I Ready platform where as opposed to standardized questions that are presented to every student, the same standardized questions. This would be an adaptive test. So based on student ability, the level of the questions would change based on student need. So
that is an additional component to the regular NJSLA testing um which I believe will probably take place sometime in Novemberish. Um the district will obviously give more information as it relates to that new portion of the NJSLA, but that is
something that all school districts in New Jersey were made aware of this this past month. So that is a new component to be aware of. Um, we received the NJ DOE's testing schedule which we reviewed. We talked about the plan
highlights for the upcoming inservice which the schedule was provided to the committee for review. Um, we also discussed additional um, revisions that are going to be presented in today's agenda. And that concludes my report.
Our next meeting is September 16th. [Music] >> Thank you, Mr. Derfinger. Miss Galen, extracurricular. >> Thanks. Um, we met on the 18th. Um, we discussed recommendation that you see on the board agenda tonight, volunteer
football coach. I should mention the we also have a uh volunteer field hockey coach that we um also had uh were informed of prior to the board meeting tonight. So, um it's not in the minutes, but it was uh reviewed by the committee.
So, um, we talked about soccer for a cause. Um, and we're very excited to be, um, hosting this event again this year. Um, 20 teams from around the county will be playing soccer, uh, at Matuchin High School, um,
for proceeds to to benefit the TFA Foundation. So, we're looking forward to that. Um we uh the Matuchin staff is excited to get things going for the Thanksgiving Eve Matuchen Highland Park football game which Matuchen will be
proudly hosting again this year. Um and uh we're looking forward to a very exciting uh event. Dr. Caputo promised big things for this and uh we we can't wait for that to happen. So >> Thanksgiving Eve 2026,
>> that's right. Mark mark it down. Don't make plans. be here. Uh we talked about new volunteer club uh clubs and advisors, new volunteer FBLA club and uh HOSA club uh were recommended. Um we
talked about how those came available and and and what they are about. And then we talked about the hometown online fundraising platform that will be coming to the I guess it's not just the is it just the high school, Dr.
>> No, all four schools. will be able to use it if they choose. They'll be available to club adviserss and coaches um with of course the approval of their principal uh for a given period of time for a specific uh cause or a specific reason. And that'll be just like any
fundraising done through the principal, but it'll be an online system that folks can donate uh to the program for a specific reason. Uh so you may see that rolled out in some of the programs. Some coaches and advisors may choose not to, some may choose to use it. So new platform that uh we're going to we're
going to see rolled out. Um and then the last uh topic that we discussed was we just take we reviewed coaching salaries looking for equity across the board in coaching salaries. We reviewed um across sports talked about patterns and implications for future negotiation
discussions. Um specifically we looked at uh golf salaries in comparison to other sport coaching compensation. Um had some nice conversations there. And that was the end of the meeting. We uh recommended to approve all of the agenda items that you see and our next meeting
is September 15th. Thanks. >> All right. Thanks, Mrs. Green. All right. Mr. Sus, finance >> uh finance also met on the 18th. We talked about various mechanisms for funding um some basically repairs to the
roofs. I know we just did this major construction project, but if those you remember, we did take roofs off the uh off the docket in order to fit things within budget. Um some of it involved um something called an ESIP. We talked about other funding mechanisms through
the uh county. Um so more to come on that. We talked about um we reviewed the energy management plan that we've been working on and we talked about year-end budget transfers. Um Mr. Mr. Harvier, are those on the budget on for approval
tonight or is that the next meeting? >> Tonight. >> It's tonight. Okay. So, um that was it. Uh next meeting is the same night as extracurricular and finance. I just forget the the date off the top of my head. >> All right. Uh I believe it's September
15th. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Sus. Um were there any questions or comments on the reports? I forgot to ask that earlier. All right. Wonderful. or a student board member. Make M Miss Michael's Labour all the M's.
>> Hi, I just had something short. Um, with the start of school right around the corner, I'm looking forward to having more to report in the next meeting. Yeah. >> Wonderful. You You knocked it out the park. Thank you so much. Um, at this time, I want to check in with the board.
Are is there any old business? No, Eric. Any new business? All right then, folks. At this time, I'd like to move to approve the August 12th, 2025 minutes of the board of education. Is there a second? Oh, should I say the whole things? The special business meeting one, special business meeting
two, board meeting, sorry. Is there a second? Mr. Glber. Uh, Miss Ellish, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Miss Cheetah, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glasber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen,
>> yes. Mr. Mr. Lifton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sass, >> he stepped outside. >> Okay. So, we'll just put abstain for that one. >> I don't. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and motion carries. >> All right. Thank you. Um at this time, the meeting is open to the public.
However, seeing none, um we shall move to the recommendation of the superintendent at schools. Oftentimes, it may appear to members of our audience that the board of education takes action with very little comment. In many cases, a unanimous vote. Before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public
meeting, the administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools. If the superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the board of education, it is then referred to the appropriate board committee. The members of the board committee work with the administration and the
superintendent to asssure that the members fully understand the matter. When the committee is satisfied with the matter, it is presented to the board of education for discussion before any final action is taken. Only then is it placed on the agenda for action at a
public meeting. At this time, I'd like to move the personnel items A1 through A 34. Is there a second? Mr. Dlinger, uh, any questions or comments on the
personnel items this evening? Seeing none, a roll call, please. Mrs. Ellovich. >> Mr. Bot. >> Yes. >> Miss Cheetah, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glasper, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes.
>> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you, Mr. Sus. Turning to you for finance. >> Yes. I'd like to move items B1 through B12 as listed on the agenda. >> Sorry. >> Do you have a second? Is there a second,
Mr. Liftton? Is uh Sorry, I'm thrown off because I had seven on my thing and you said 12. I was like, "Oh, no. Am I right? Is he 12?" >> It's 12. You're right. Uh are there any questions or comments? Did I say that already? Yes. Comment. >> I have a comment. Just want to point out
item 12. Item 12 is about an investment uh an investment by the district into an investment grade energy audit which is going to be an advanced audit into um our energy usage and um a lot of very good ideas hopefully
will come from it including the possibility for investing in solar more to come on that >> thank you Mr. Sus right now we move to roll call Mrs. Alio >> Mr. Spot. >> Yes. >> Miss Cheetum, >> yes.
>> Mr. Derfinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glberford, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Thank you. And seeing that Dr. Speaker is not here, it's uh a good timing that there's nothing at this time
for policy. Uh so turning to Mr. Derlinger for curriculum. >> Thank you. I'd like to move items D1 through six as listed on the agenda, please. >> Wonderful. Is there a second? Miss Glee. Any questions or comments on
the curriculum items? Good people. All right. Roll call, please. Mrs. Zelovich. >> Mr. Bot. >> Yes. >> Miss Cheetum? >> Yes. >> Mr. Derfinger? >> Yes. >> Mr. Glassber? >> Yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus? >> Yes. >> Miss Colleen? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lifton?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Sus? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Wonderful. Thank you. All right. At this time, we are open to the public on any topic. Just making sure. I didn't think so. Making sure we're open. Uh, seeing no comment at this time, we are turning
it over to Mrs. Jetum for the announcements. >> Thank you, Madam President. I don't have too much today. Um, again, September 2nd's the first day of school. It's just around the corner. But before that, August 28th again is a big day in the district. We'll have open house at just about all the schools, Campbell, um,
Edgar, etc. So, um, just mark your calendars. It starts at 9:30, um, with the Edgar Middle School and the rising fifth graders, and it kind of cascades from then on throughout the day. So, again, mark your calendars. Um, but speaking of calendars, I want to give a special shout out to the Matouchin
Parent Teacher Council, Amber Styles team. They put out an awesome calendar um that is districtwide and is also able to be sorted by school for a lot of um, parents and caregivers to be able to keep track of really important dates. So, I'm really glad that they took that initiative and did that work. I know
it's been an ask for a really long time. So, please um definitely reach out to the Matuchin um parent teacher council if you want more details on that, but it's super helpful um calendar for anyone that may not be aware of it. And our next meeting is September 9th. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Miss Jum
especially for highlighting that uh calendar put together by the PTC. That's excellent work indeed. All right. At this time, I'd like to move to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? Mr. Derlinger. All in favor?
Good night, everyone.