All right. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, I entertain a motion to reconvene and open session. So move. Second. Been properly moved and seconded to reconvene open session. Any questions on the motion? All those in favor say I. I.
All those opposed same right. Any abstensions? We are now back in open session. Please rise as we salute the flag. Oh, the hallway. So, since it's not here, we will face the hallway because there's a flag in the hallway.
Again, we we'll face the hallway. 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. What was that?
At this time, we'll have the superintendent report and presentation. Good evening everyone. Happy summer. Today I met with all the principles and we are talking about communication for the 2526 school year. It will be sent
out to parents the week of August 18th. I wanted to express gratitude to our facilities department. They've all been working non-stop since school has let out. I do want everyone to be mindful of the fact that the schools are very busy
during the summer. We have a lot of facilities used. All the buildings are used non-stop during the summer. Everyone's okay. Is it better? Yeah. Okay. So with our buildings being heavily used, I just want to go over a couple of the examples of the work that they do in the summer where most people
are in here and they don't appreciate how much work does happen with that department during the summer. So we have the summer deep cleaning of all areas. Um and remember while the schools are being very active including floor waxing and carpet cleaning, there's a
continuation of regular maintenance work orders. uh not easy to keep up the AC equipment running well in all the buildings especially when we have brownouts preventative maintenance by our staff the HP AC uh uh foil cleaning filter changes vent cleaning inspection
by plumbing systems etc inspections of all gym equipment and bleachers cleaning of the school kitchen hood systems and grease traps service and inspection of school kitchen fire suppression systems new fire and burglar alarm monitoring vendor um using smart phones now are accessible so they have to go through
the training for that service and inspection of fire extinguishers, cleaning and fireproofing all the auditorium and stage curtains. Um significant preparation for the fall sports, the field, soccer fences, nets, tennis courts, new football field, uh practice fields, etc. Installation of
door access control systems at the bus depot, paving repairs outside the bus depot and Cougar stadium back gate, tree trimming, concrete repairs, painting where needed. And this is just a very short list of the district-wide things and very building specific things, but I just wanted to give them an
acknowledgement for all the hard work that they do. And like I said, the summer goes by very, very quickly. And the buildings are used as as if we didn't stop school and they're doing all of that around that in this heat. So, thank you to all of them. Now of the presentation, Miss Fiona
Borland, our director of curriculum instruction and staff development, is going to present our NJGPA results. Thank you. Thanks. Good evening. Um I'm here just to present the assessment data of one test, the um New Jersey graduation
proficiency assessment given in the spring. Um so what is this? The NJ GPA is designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation ready in both English and mathematics. Um the ELA component is aligned to the grade 10 New
Jersey students learning standards and the math component is aligned to the algebra 1 and geometry New Jersey student learning standards. In addition to serving as a graduation requirement, results from the NJGPA can be used to aid in review of
the curriculum to help identify potential focus areas of instruction and intervention for students who demonstrate need. Um, it is administered to all 11th grade students and it was administered in March. There are only two categories in which students um are ranked. They are either
ranked as not yet graduation ready or graduation ready. So, um, the New Jersey Board of Education, um, adopted 725 as a proficiency level cut for the English language arts and mathematics
components. So, students need a score of 725 on the NJGPA in each subject area be considered graduation ready. Students who do not meet the minimum requirement for each score of the component um, have the opportunity to receive additional supports and there are multiple steps
that they can take. The first is simp simply to retake the test to demonstrate proficiency in the L and math. Um the second is that there are alternative assessments that can be counted as um an of equal l of equal weight to the um
725. So students can use the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT, ACUPPLACER are some of the tests that can be used. And a third pathway would be that students can use a portfolio appeal to demonstrate their readiness for graduation. The most important thing about this
slide is the last bullet. So, it is very important that whenever as a school district we are presenting student data that we protect our student privacy. Um, and in order to do that, the New Jersey Department of Education maintains 10 as its minimum end size. So, when you see
charts tonight and you see that there are missing subgroups, it does not mean that the subgroup was not um that we had no students in a subgroup or that stuff that was not reported. it means that subgroup had an n of 10 of less than 10. Okay. So, first we will start by just
going through the English language arts assessment. Um we always um as we as we know and are um always celebrate here in Montgomery, we outperform the state um in every content area and in every test. And so our students in the English language
arts section, we have 95.5% of our students are graduation ready. 84.5% of our students still working towards that goal. You'll see the trends over 3 years. We have 2023 displayed, 2024, and 2025. Um
looking at our 95.5% coition in 2025. Um the following slide is our subgroups by race. Um, our Hispanic students demonstrate a 91.2% readiness. Our Asian students have a 98% 98.1%. 75 76.5%
of our black students are prepared and 94% of 94.6% of our white students are prepared. Again, we have students in the other categories, but the M is under 10. Moving forward to other subgroups, 97.3% of our female students are are
graduation ready. 94.4% 4% of our male students, 83.3% of our students who are identified as economically disadvantaged, and 75.6% of our students with disabilities are graduation ready as of March of 2025.
I'm just going to go through the same data points for our mathematics. So, in math, we see that 92% of our students are graduation ready, far outperforming the state by leaps and bounds. um leaving 8% of our students
still working towards that goal. These are our data points over 2023, 2024, and 2025 with the 92% being our 2025 percentage of students ready for graduation. As we look at our sub gap broken down by
race, um 79.4% of our Hispanic students are ready for graduation, 97.6% of our Asian students, 58.8% 8% of our black students and 89.9% of our white students. Additional subgroups that we look at are
the male and female, 92% of our female students and 91.6% of our male students are are are ready for graduation. Um 69.4% of our students who are identified as economically disadvantaged and 53.3% of our students with disabilities.
So, you know, to point out at the beginning is that the fact that our students um outperform the state is something that we are always used to seeing here in Montgomery. Um the 90% of our students demonstrating graduation ready in both language arts and mathematics is
extraordinarily coming. So, that is just really an accomplishment that our teachers should feel proud of, our school district should feel proud of. Um it is not an easy goal to attain and that has been true for over three years. we have stable high performing data.
So just a quick question the data from 23 to 25 seems to have shifted significantly in mathematics. What is the reason for that? So can do we want to do that? You want me to do the intervention side or should I stop for questions now? I can do both. I just noticed the question after
yeah I I'm absolutely prepared to talk about that. I just feel like I'll do the interventions because some of these these things might help you. Um, student performance is regularly monitored, analyzed and discussed by our students, by our staff, our teachers, our counselors, our administrators at team meetings. Students who are at risk of
struggling and potentially not passing the MJGPA, they are identified months before. Um, there is interventions provided for them. There is tutoring, there is after school programs. We really identify and know our students who are at risk and work diligently with them. The data is continuously used to
determine the efficiency of the instructional practices. uh we include identifying frequently miss the standards and adjusting the curriculum as necessary. Um when we get these reports it tells us you know as all data can be aggregated from any assessment which standards are standards that our
students are struggling with versus ones that you know we have complete and utter proficiency at. Um our contact area supervisors work closely with their teachers um really breaking down the local assessments the unit assessments chapter by chapter to make sure that the progression of skills continues.
Additionally, there are there is a math and literacy skills lab courses and those are designed for students who demonstrate a more significant need for support. Um they often run concurrent with other math classes so that the students are really um given the extra
time and the extra instruction in those content areas that they need. Um we also run after school clinics. Students are identified as needing additional targeted supports through multiple data points, not just one. Um, we also make sure that there are targeted in-class activities that the classroom teachers
are um, implementing during the regular math lessons that our students have to make sure that they are ready for the NJGPA testing platform. And we also continue to use our STAR 360 administered in the fall, winter, and spring in the 9th and 10th grade ELA classes. Um, we do not use STAR in to
measure progress in our high school math classes. It's not normed for those tests. um it can give us some proficiency data but not towards the separate tasks. Additionally, we have the achieve after school program um and uh additional support and targeted
support during sets. And last but not least, the administration the next administration will take place in March of 2026. Now, um I'm happy to roll into the first question. Okay.
Any questions from the board? Okay. So, I just um let me go back to that slide. So, I just want to make you know point out when we are when we're looking at this slide um that we are looking at 2.2%.
So, we've got a 94.2% students are proficient in 2020 uh 4 and 92% of our students are proficient in um 2025. When we are looking at these three bars, they are different cohorts of children. And
so when you get down to the non-proficient, which we talked about being 8% of our students being non-proficient, talking about 32 students, and that's an incredibly small n. And so when you have um I think maybe you were also looking at the subgroup data, when you are looking at students
in this tiny little proportion of of students, one student either way is going to impact the percent proficient greatly. Um so we are not looking at we are looking at a a small decline that is really based on the children that are in
each grade. Um sometimes some grades are heavy with newcomers who with our multilingual language newcomers. Sometimes we have different students with disabilities. It's a population of who is in each grade. And so when you look at the consistency between 92 94
and 92 you're still looking at an incredibly high success rate. You're not really looking at a significant drop. Yeah, I I mean my point was you're showing me the data sliced, right? So when I look at the slice data then I just of course
I have a question about it. Right. Overall yes, but did something change to your point? Did we get you know certain group of kids or you know is there any yes we had a significant increase in the um
again a very small population when you actually count numbers but in percentage from um n from 9 from 2024 to 2025 there is a significant percent increase in economically disadvantaged students and so that is one of the subgroups that
struggles and we know that you know cross data research it's a it's a it's a student population that we really need to make sure that we target and that we're meeting their needs. I have questions. So this uh test is supposed for multiple grades or you're
just presenting one? It's only given to 11th graders. Oh 11th graders and you also mentioned intervention in the last slides. And my question would be if this is a summitative assessment if you use summitative information to inform
intervention strategies wouldn't that be too late so that these are not all these are not all post so when we look at the the student performance is reg is regularly monitored that is not post the assessment so you're correct the NJPA is a summit of assessment and so prior to
the NJ the NJGPA we are monitoring students we know exactly who we need to be providing intervention for. We know who's being invited to after school tutoring programs. We know who's being pulled out of study hall and supported in study hall. It is not post. The interventions do not only speak to post
assessment to help you learn which group goes to that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I have a question. So we know that demographics in our town is changing. So as you mentioned then there will be an
increased trend of um enrolling uh seeing children from economically disadvantaged children and we want them to be as successful as any other student. So what what is the plan to to help them
because clearly they will not have the same type of um assistance at home right to to help them catch up. So like what type of interventions you would think are the most effective so do not start the trend that's down
right and I want to I guess I I really just want to continue to stress that a 92 percentage and a 2 it's a 2% change in decrease that could happen to any cohort right you you I I specifically was asked about a change in a subgroup
population and that does exist the number has changed but when you look at that could have been when you look at three cohorts of students, you know, you have at any given time students who are really exceptional at something and students who struggle in a particular area. So, um that that 8% is 32 students
and they could be distributed in any unique combination in each year, but that doesn't negate your question. So, it is the things that we're currently doing more than ever before in the the last I would say the last five years that I have been in the district. Um our
use of data is profound. we have more and multiple data points. Um, and that's why, you know, to uh Dr. Wang's question, absolutely, our students are identified ahead of time. Um, we're still getting a 92% success rate because our children are provided with those
interventions because they are given extra support because the teachers are meeting their needs both in the classroom and after school. They're not a lost population. They're not they're a population that we are actively making sure their needs are met. And I mean that's the you know our our heaviest
researchbased practice is to identify the targeted areas that students need to have work done in and then to provide the reinforcement for those targeted areas. We're doing that extremely well. Yeah. Because like in in the some of the slides where you show uh the breakdown
by different subgroups regardless whether you look at gender or economic status or you know um ethnic background like it seems like the trend is pretty consistent right like there is really
not one chart that would have a different trend. No sorry go ahead. I'm just wondering it's like I I know that right now it's not you know okay like oh hands on bag is like we feel really crisis but it may
be a signal it may be a symptom so like that's why I'm asking how we are prepared to just catch it before yeah and I just don't want to give the impression that that there is a pandemic coming of poor performance um when you're looking at this screen and the
other both of our subgroup populations But I'll particularly stay on this screen for a moment. Obviously, you can be female and economically disadvantaged. You can be a male with a student with learning disabilities. So, there are students that are in both of those subcategories. But when you're looking at some of these subcategories,
the n actually is 10. And so, for, you know, if I have 10 random students, one student being at 724 puts us at 70% and one student being at 726 all of a sudden makes us 80% in that subgroup. So the N
is so tiny in the subgroups that it's a very it's a it's not the kind of data point that points us towards a trend that we need to be nervous about. It continues to say we want to meet the needs of all of our students. And again, when you're looking at 32 of them, the
teachers know them by name. Like I am confident that both Miss Stallowski and Miss Redell can tell you the 32 kids and the 18 kids that have been identified in November that they are keeping an eye on and watching and working with. And so it's not I I don't think that we need to be concerned about a dropping trend at
this point. Right. And may I have another followup question? So I want uh you mentioned you started we started to identify the kids need intervention early and may I ask what type of data assessment task do you
use to track the student each cohort's growth? I just I want you to explain the second the the last part of your Oh. Um what type of assessment or data that you use to track each cohort's growth, you know, from early grade to
high school, something like that? Well, as you know, we use our STAR 360 that goes all the way from third grade to um 8th grade in math and then goes from third grade to 10th grade in ELA. Once we get into the high school math courses, we are using the course assessments and the course assessments
are broken down by standards and aggregated that way for the PLC's to talk about. Um, and then we we track marking period grades as well as um unit assessment grades separately so that we can see the trend in that data as well and that helps us identify which
students we need to meet their needs. Any other questions from the board? Thank you, Miss B. That concludes the superintendent report. All right, we'll now move on to committee representative reports. Up first, MTA President Mike.
Good evening, everyone. Quick report for us. Um, right now we're running some summer programs. Our first program we're running is summer reading program where teachers are recommending children who may need some books. So, we're making sure we have volunteers that are dropping off books to different students and families so they can achieve some summer reading. And we're also currently
doing a working with the food pantry. So, we're helping supply trap ball items, things like that. So, those are our two MJ summer programs. Thank you very much. Thank you. Do we have any board member delegated representative reports this evening? Hearing none, we'll move into I believe
the only committee that met this month is OFF Miss Fre. Um the operations, facilities, and finance committee met on July 8th to review ongoing and upcoming initiatives impacting the Montgomery Township School
District. Uh Mr. Andrew Italiano provided an update on our district's um auditor RFP process. As of today, four firms have responded to the RFP. Two firms will be invited for the interview. The other two firms do not have adequate
experience with with the auditor of public schools. The business administration administrator uh will schedule interviews to finalize the selection of the auditor for the period ending June 30th, 2025.
Mr. Italyana also shared plans to increase oversight of the food service program by participating in the fall 25 advisory meetings and visiting a different school cafeteria each Friday.
Discussions uh turn to several items of old business. The shared service agreement for the community pool rema remains unso unresolved but communication with the township has resumed. Thank you board member Cookie
Franco for facilitating discussions between the township and the school administration. Mr. Italiano will continue to share updates with the committee to facilitate resolution. On the topic of the pilot program, Mr.
Italiano and um Superintendent Mclofflin reported that legal counsel has been consulted at the outreach to with to the to the township will begin shortly. Superintendent also addressed ongoing
discussions around K24 school restructuring which continues to surface in PTO and parent group discussion meetings. Due to concerns over the number of transitions for younger students, a physibility study is
underway and architect Will Ross from Pretten Architects will attend uh the August committee meeting to provide further insights. New business included approval of a fee
increase for the YMCA program for the 2526 school year. Representatives from Mashios, the district's for food service vendor, responded to questions about vendor allowances, rebates, and discounts reported reporting
approximately 129,000 in cost offsets through May. The committee members raised questions about how these val values are reported, whether they will increase with June's
data, and what benefits the district derives from these programs and the cost of hiring of an additional chef. Mr. Collid Corey Delgado introduced the Hope Squad program, a peer-based mental health initiative designed for students
in grades 5 to 12. The program focus on focuses on training students to recognize and respond and respond to signs of distress among their peers. It is supported nationally. It can be funded locally for the first
two years by Jordan Relays with future uh with future support potentially coming from PTA PTO groups, the student activities fund and municipal grants. Committee members raised concerns about
the impact of the program on student mental health, the intensity and content of training, students work out and the sustainability of funding beyond the initial 2year period. The committee
requested a copy of the curriculum used by hope squad instructors as well as letters from the superintendent in districts where this program has been implemented to learn more about the observed outcomes of the program and its
actual impact on students. The meeting concluded with series of follow-up questions from committee members. These included requests for additional information on Mashio's vending reporting, the cost benefit analysis of food service changes, finalization of
the pool agreement, and the scope of and findings of the K24 restructuring feasibility study. The next of committee meeting is scheduled for August 19th. Any questions? Hearing none. Thank you, Miss Felac. At
this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes of June 17, 2025, executive session 1, June 17, June 17, 2025, executive session 2, June 17, 2025 business meeting, June 19, 2025 special
meeting, and June 30th, 2025 special meeting. So, second. It's been properly moved and second to approve the four mentioned minutes. Any questions on the motion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, same
right. Extensions. Motion carried. The board recognizes the correspondence to the board. Action agenda items. Public comment. The board of education welcomes and encourages input from the public. Members of the public are allowed one
opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of three minutes per speaker. All comments must be directed to the board. Before you make your comment, please state your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provider. Being mindful of privacy
rights regarding students, board employees, and board members. And to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker, the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks. The public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather offered as opportunities for the public to share
their thoughts with the board. The board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command, usually starting at the school level. Responses may be provided at the end of this session. Any public comment on action agenda
items. Going once, going twice. We are now closed. Okay. Before we move to um our action items portion of the agenda, I just have to make two quick updates on item 3.3 in
the second paragraph. Uh we're just going to change that language to read from uh July 15, 2025 to June 30th, 2025. And also I have to read a last minute resolution into the agenda. It's a personnel item. It is 4.2 is going to be
the number and it reads as follows. Whereas the Montgomery Township Board of Education, herein after referred to as the board, and the association of principles and supervisors of Montgomery Township, herein after referred to as association, have negotiated a successor
collective negotiations agreement, herein after referred to as the CNA, for the 2025 2026, 26 27, 2728, and 2829 school years. And whereas the association has by majority vote of its
membership ratified the CNA. Now therefore be it resolved that the board hereby ratifies and approves the terms of the CNA for the 2025 26 26 27 2728 and 2028 2029 school years. uh which is
attached to this resolution and made part here of and be it further resolved that the board hereby authorizes the board president and business administrator to execute on behalf of the board the CNA by and between the board and the association. So now that
is part of agenda items 1.1 through 4.2. Thank you Mr. Carolina. At this time I entertain a motion to adopt agenda item action agenda items 1.1 through 4.2. So move second. It's been properly moved and seconded to
adopt agenda action agenda items 1.1 through 4.2. Roll call, please. Mr. Kellyiano. Okay. Before I take the roll call, I just want to point out to Miss Harris and Miss Frank, when we um when you make your uh vote, please abstain from item 4.2. Okay. Thank you. Dr.
Wang, yes. Stanley, yes. Frank Herman, abstain. 1.2 2 4.1 4.2 Yes. Anything else? Do me a favor. I only I'm assuming the 4.2. Could you read the other ones for me, please?
1.2 is the policy one. Okay. 4.1 is the regular personnel. Okay. 1.2 4.1 and 4.2 noted. Thank you, Miss Fel. Yes, Miss Harris. Abstain. Um, what was it? 1 point the same.
1 point 1.2 4.1 and 4.2 the same. All others. Okay. Thank you, Mr. W.journ again. Yes, Mr. Todd. Enthusiastically, yes. Thank you. Motions carry. Thank you, Mr. Keelliano. New business from the public. The board
of education welcomes and encourages input from the public. Members of the public are allowed one opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum of three minutes per speaker. All comments must be directed to the board. Before you make your comment, please state your full name and
address and enter both in the Chromebook provider. Being mindful of privacy rights regarding students, board employees, and board members. And to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker, the board discourages defamatory and discourteous remarks. The public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as
question and answer sessions. The board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command, usually starting at the school level. Responses may be provided at the end of this session. Any comments from the public on new business.
Hearing none, new business public comment portion is closed. Any closing comments discussion from the board? I have a comment. Um, and thank you tonight everyone being
here. Today I want to talk about why retention matters and why the data must guide us. And thank you again my fellows and community members. Um, I'm here to speak something I believe we must start addressing more seriously as a school
district. Retention. So retention is about more than numbers. It reflects how family perceive our schools, how supported the student feel, and how well we're delivering on our promise of academic and emotional growth. So, let's
begin with the facts. According to NJDOE data, total uh total enrollment in our school district dropped by 90 students between school year of 2023 to 2024 and school year of 2024 to 2025.
So from 4,482 to 4,394. So that's not a projection. It's already happened. So at the lower middle school alone, enrollment declined by 17 student in just one year. Uh these are not
isolated incidents. When you zoom out, those losses add up and they raise important questions. Why are student leaving? Are they transferring to private schools, neighborhood schools? Are they seeking different academic programs,
better fit or more support? Are they leaving because the gaps we couldn't could actually address? Only if only we had the data to guide us. We can't afford to ignore this because every student who lives takes resource with
them. Resource that found teachers, support services, extracurricular, future planning. For example, if we lose just 10% of 400 student cohort, that's 40 students. Financially, that can equal the salary of 10 stu 10 teachers here.
So, and we all say we want to retain our teachers. But if we cannot retain our students, how can we do that sustainability? Retention is deeply linked to academic growth. In May and June, I raised a concern about how we measure student are
actually progressing over time. We heard the top 10 students are really showing growth compared to their national peers based on national growth percentile. That's really good. But that's not the full picture. So how about the rest of our students?
What about their own personal growth comparing to themselves? That is what were their starting points and how far did they move over the school year? Are they showing typical growth? Are some falling behind without early intervention? State test uh tells us how
student perform at a moment in time as showed in today's presentation. But it doesn't show us how much they grew. So for that we need benchmark assessment uh like the star assess uh exam in our
administered in our school district. It's not perfect, but it gives us some important information we currently don't have anywhere else. Growth data across the full range of learners from the bottom percentile to the top percentile.
And growth matters because when student are growing academically, socially or emotionally, families notice and some believe. So this is not just about test scores. It's about patents and patents
require data. We need to understand who is leaving and when. Are there patterns by grade, by program, by subgroup? Are students in certain cohort progressing less than others? What is working and for whom? So those are not questions we
can answer with averages. These are questions that require disagregated longitudinal data and a shared willingness to look at the results even when they're on when they are uncomfortable. So because if we're not measuring
retention trends and student growth in meaningful ways, we're operating in dark. Educational research gives us tools, cohort comparisons, personal growth bands, predictive indicators. These tools help us understand not only
what's happening but why and what can we do about it. We should not fear about data. We should not fear the absence of it. We should not be defensive when we ask for evidence. We should ask why we didn't demand it ourselves and we should
not reduce aptitude to equal assess in name only. We need to examine actual outcomes and make sure all student are being supported. So I'm not asking for any decisions tonight, but I do ask this that we take
this issue seriously. Let begin a deeper conversation about retention, about growth, about how we can better serve our all students, not just the ones we s who survive, but also those who struggle
and those who quietly walk away. I look forward to bringing uh some concrete discussion next time for the future. But for now, I simply ask what we reflect on this. And if we say we want best for our
students, are we doing the work? We truly understand how we're doing, why some are leaving, and what we can do differently. That's all. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Wayne. Any other questions, comments?
Hearing none. At this time, I entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. We probably move and second to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, same right. Questions, extensions. Thank you all very much for showing up tonight. Thank
you.