Good evening everyone and welcome to the May 19th Montgomery Township Board of Education meeting. The statement of open meeting and public participation pursuant to the open public meeting act chapter 231 PL1 1975.
Adequate notice as defined by section 3D of chapter 231 PL1975 has been made by regular mail or email on the 11th day of January 2026 from the board of education offices meeting at 10:14 601 New Jersey to the Courier News Montgomery News
Montgomery Township Clerk and the Rocky Hill Burough Clerk. The board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the board of education. It is the school board's intention to conclude this meeting meeting no later than 900 p.m. please. >> Dr. W
>> here. >> Here >> present. Will >> here. >> Harris >> here. >> Here >> present present. Thank you. >> Okay. Please rise for the salute to flag
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 we'll turn it over to student. Okay,
>> thank you. >> All right, so the month of May or should I say July? I mean 95° is no joke. So the month of May starts with senior comp at the mayor of gold and SAT testing and SACE testing is um May 2nd was May
2nd. AP testing was from May 4th to the 15th where two weeks of advanced placement examinations have concluded. Any parents in the crowd whose kids plan to take a chemistry shoe next year? Don't. I'm telling you, it's so hard to do.
Some other holidays this month include Cinco de Mayo, National Nurses Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, and Mother's Day. And spring playing uh Festival of Colors was on May 16th. And this was hosted over the weekend on the MHS front
lawn. and students celebrated Holi, a Hindu festival celebrating spring love. The MHSP today the MHSPTSA meeting was on the 18th and upcoming events um are or actually NJSLA state testing. The
first day was today and that will continue throughout the until the 21st and uh freshman students will complete mandatory state assessments like reading, math and writing under a special testing schedule. got to sleep good today. And um the MHS spring
instrumental music concert, the second one, is scheduled for today at 7 p.m. in the Impact. And academic awards night is tomorrow, May 20th. And Memorial Day is May 25th. Um I'm really excited this
weekend. I don't know about you guys. So yeah. And the 26th is um it's a the beginning of Eid ala. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's a Islamic festival of sacrifice.
The PTSA staff appreciation launch will be on May 27th. And um recently with the accumulation of back-to-back AP exams, SATs, and state assessments, it's created overwhelming academic and emotional load for students feeling like
one single score of grade determines your entire future. So please check in on your kids at this time. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. May is mental health awareness month and here in Montgomery we believe that mental health matters every month but
during May MHS places a special emphasis on its schoolwide each department is dedicating time to attention to a unique project aimed at supporting student well-being and promoting mental health awareness in meaningful relevant ways very important during testing as well
which is as you heard a lot this month MHS seniors danced the night away at senior prom earlier this month students were decked out in their finest at had a blast at the roaring 20s themed black tie event at our music ensembles are in full swing for their spring concert.
Last Friday, the jazz band select band 8th grade coral ensembles attended high note music festival at Dorney Park. Spring sports are wrapping up the season and celebrating so many wins. This month, detectives from the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children
and JCAC Task Force spoke with students about how to keep themselves safe online and how to get help when needed. To celebrate mental health awareness month, held a career. We welcomed many community vendors and resources to help students learn about many ways they can take care
of their own mental health. Students enjoy enjoyed an afternoon of trivia games, demonstrations, and giveaways. At Elmus, the spring arts program has truly been shadowed. The spring musical Willy Wonka Jr. was a tremendous success and filled the school with excitement,
joy, and sweet sounds of music echoing through the halls. Following the play, the spring band and orchestra concerts blossomed into wonderful evenings that showcase the incredible talents and hard work of the students and staff. LS had the pleasure of welcoming the
rising fifth grade students and their families with an exciting visit to their new school homelands. As May quickly rushes towards to a close, we are now deep in preparations for the June 12th, 250th celebration during which LMS will
transform into a living crossroads museum. We ex LMS and the district extends their sincere thanks to the Montgomery Township and the township's 250th committee for the generous contribution of $2,100 and support of
our partnership with SSAM, the Stoutsburg Sourland African-American Museum, and for their continued collaboration as we prepare for this meaningful community celebration. Again, that's on June 12th. We are also grateful to the PTO for their
extraordinary generosity enabling them to partner with SSAM. Through this partnership, the students will have the opportunity to learn local stories of both heroic and ordinary individuals who made meaningful contributions to our Montgomery Township
during the revolutionary times. Excuse me. A round of applause at Village School third graders for their incredibly upbeat musical concert and vibrant art showcase last week under the direction of the ve very talented musical and art teachers. The third graders are outstanding performers and
artists who showcased their talents and skills they have learned throughout the school year. They made their teachers and families proud and got the audience to dance and sing along with them. Third grade villagers welcomed Orchard Hill second graders to Village School for the third grade orientation on May 18th. It
was a delightful experience for all. Second graders arrived curious and excited and left bees feeling confident having been introduced to their new home. Students and staff here at Orchard have begun begun the 26-day trek to the end of the school year via the ABC
countdown as an addition additional activity for Cday color day. Just today the clubs throughout the school participated in color a smile program that sends pictures to nursing homes, hospitals, troops, etc. with hopes to brighten their day. As we approach June, students from different grades are
moving up for a visit to following grade. Our four-year-old the ECC building will visit the main campus in the upcoming days. And our second graders have just completed the move up to village on Monday. That concludes my report, but now I would like to introduce Mrs. Fiona
Borland and Mrs. Amy Monaco, who are going to give us a presentation on early literacy. Hey, thank you. Um, we are, as uh, Mary just introduced us, I am Miss Fiona Borland. I'm your director of curriculum instruction and staff development. And I'm here to introduce Dr. Amy Monaco,
who is our K4 supervisor of language arts and social studies. And so, I just um, for those of you who might not know our structure, um, I I will I do the K12 central office and sort of managing all of that. But at each of the grade bands, you have content area experts. And so we
have um Amy, who is a content area expert in both ELA and social studies. We also have our happen to have our K4 math sup math and science supervisor here tonight as well. There's a 58 counterparts of both of these ladies and then high school supervisors. So sorry that I introduced you. Go away. Okay. So
um you know there is there's a lot of emp emphasis at a national level which then of course means a local level on how students read, right? So, or how students learn to read. You can probably open up a newspaper of your choice and find something about literacy rates across the country. And so, what we're
here to do tonight is to talk very specifically about the instructional model that we use at MTSD. And we are going to be sharing some data that's um pretty exciting and I hope that um it's you know what you need to begin to feel a level of understanding and confidence around our instructional model.
So I'm just going to start with a little history of what of what literacy education looks like. Um you have to go all the way back to really 1930 post the industrial era. That's when you have schools that become compulsory, right? So we had country moving to the city and
we had the really the the first um absolute public schools everyone needs to go and now we need to teach everybody how to read. And so reading instruction really starts out with what you imagine as like look and say. And you can picture maybe from an old TV show where
the words were listed on the board and the teacher read with the students down each word and they were expected to be able to read site words and you know the the sound and Jane books were very common in that era and that is how students learned to read. around the
1960s and 70s was really when we began to say, "Oh, phonics, wait, letters have sounds." And we actually need some explicit instruction around that. But the paradigm also shifted to control texts and basil programs. And that might be what many of us at the in this room
right now grew up learning how to read with. And the problem with that was that when you think about um how literature exists in the real world, when I go into a library to pick a book or when I go into a bookstore, it doesn't exist with only the the letters that I've learned so far or the words that I know so far.
And that's what a controlled text is. A controlled text is limited to the sounds and words that I know in first grade or second grade or third grade. And so then in the 80s and the '9s, we have a pendulum swing all the way in the other direction. And that's where education always finds itself in trouble whenever
we swing the pendulum too far. And that was whole language. And so and you know what might actually be the reading wars. And so we moved away from explicit phonics sometimes to the detriment of forgetting that letters had sounds. And we really went into back into whole
world um whole word reading and meaning based whole language. So somewhere around the 2000s um was really I mean through my college education level was at this time I'm a little bit before that um is balance literacy and so balance literacy is absolutely what you
expect it to be. It was a movement to get the pendulum back to the middle. You absolutely need to understand phonics and phmic awareness and morphology and vocabulary to learn to read. But if the end goal isn't meaning making and to become a reader then we're doing
something wrong as well. And so What we have kind of found ourselves in right now is a little bit of a movement back to the reading wars, but we're hopeful that we're here tonight to try to bring that to a place of understanding and to talk about how Montgomery is really a responsive model. We're able to look at
the students needs in our district, look at the students needs in our classrooms and meet them where they are. Just a little bit of the legislation on the aside. When each time a new legislation comes out in education, new testing occurs. So if you think about the the
vast difference between the tests that you know some of you in this room may have taken in Iowa then when we were teachers we might have given the terteranova and maybe a radically different test and then all of a sudden we got to the you know the early learning test from there. So each time there's new legislation there's been
testing and testing does drive pedigogy in the classroom. Um and so hopefully right now we are at a place where we really think the standards are great and we are in an interesting era of testing that we'll just put aside for next fall right now. Okay, with that I am going to give the
remote to a uh Dr. Monaco and let her really talk about the science of healthy learning. >> Hello and good evening everyone. Um you know I said my name is Amy Monaco. I am the supervisor of language arts and social studies KC4 and uh this is my
13th sorry that's why I went to you 13th year uh in this position. So just as Fiona shares some of the history and a timeline of literacy instruction in our country. It's just as equally important to understand a little bit about the key
reading research that has really driven a lot of the instructional and curricular decisions that have really happened over the last you know however many years we just talked about. Um so one was the simple view of reading. So this was developed by Gao and Tumner
1986 and essentially it posited that reading comprehension or proficient reading is made up of decoding a word recognition and language comprehension or oral language skills and you have to have both of those pieces to have an
effective or proficient reader. That research holds up. That is still true. But then in 2001, Hollis Scarboro created a graphic for this idea in this simple view of reading. Um, and he sort
of or she sorry sort of expanded that word recognition is comprised of decoding. It's comprised of funological awareness. So an awareness that words have sounds either at the syllable level or the individual phone level. as well
as recognizing words on site. So you've got that strand of the rope. Then underneath language comprehension is comprised of vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, language structures, literacy knowledge, and verbal reasoning. So you have to have
all of those strands sort of woven woven together um to have a skilled reader. In 2021, Duke and Cartwright sort of took that work to the next step. And this is actually one of my favorite research papers, which I recognize as a
nerdy statement. Um, but it's sort of a metaanalysis of all of the reading research that has been out there up, you know, up until 2021. And what Duke and Cartright have said is yes to the simple view of reading. Yes to Scarboro's
reading rope. And there are some elements of proficient reading that cannot be found in either of those models. Specifically, the first in the green circle that you'll see active self-regulation. So
students need to be motivated and engaged. They need to be able to utilize executive function skills as they read and they need to be able to use strategies. I will tell you on a personal note that this is the area of
the active pure reading that I studied for my dissertation and I was actually able to thanks to the board's approval of my research able to use um VES students in my research and my goal was to kind of zero in on motivation and
engagement and get students who have been struggling for one or more years hooked on a book series that they could be excited about, they could be engaged And every single one of those students in my study made statistically significant growth over the course of
the study. So that tip alone um of course there's other amazing research out there tells you that motivation engagement really plays a sign significant role. The other element that I really like about this model is in purple in the middle there you'll see
bridging processes. Now they are purposefully overlapping with word recognition and language comprehension and that tells us that these are not isolated separate elements of reading. It is not decoding over here and
language comprehension over here but there is has to be an overlap between the two. Some of those overlapping processes are print concepts, reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and my personal favorite which is graphonological semantic cognitive
flexibility. And that is not just my favorite because it is fun to say. It is my favorite because it tells us that readers need to be cognitively flexible. That is particularly important when we're talking about the English
language. And the words wind and wind are spelled exactly the same way. So you have to be cognitively flexible to say, but what's going on in this passage or this story? What is the sentence level comprehension that you need to have? I
need to try a short vowel or a long vowel and find the word that makes sense. The other really interesting thing and then I promise I will stop talking about this model is the effect sizes that you can see in the boxes right next to each
of those components in the active view of reading. So if you can recall from your undergrad or graduate level coursework, an effect size of 1.0 is the highest one, right? That's the highest effect size that you can have. So we
have active self-regulation at an effect size of46. We have word recognition at an effect size of44. Language comprehension at an effect size of 62. And bridging processes at a
whopping effect size of.70 which is by far the most statistically significant effect size. So that tells us that decoding and language comprehension cannot occur separately. You need to have both and they need to be interwoven. Okay. So, another area that I wanted to
mention is the New Jersey tier systems of support for early reading. This was developed with initial cohorts back in 2017 and had a full roll out or sort of um upgrade in 2023. And it has two
components. So the first being effective instruction and this is actually based on the national reading panel report which I'll show you the image for that in just a moment as well as essential assess assessments which include
universal screeners includes uh progress monitoring as well as diagnostic assessments. Okay. So, as I mentioned, New Jersey tier systems of support for early reading is based on when they're talking about effective instruction, they are
basing that on the five pillars of early literacy which were established by the National Reading Panel report in 2000. It's a pretty well-known report. It is still very often cited in legislation. It's often cited by NG DOE. Um, and it
tells us that the five most essential elements of early literacy instruction are phmic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. Interestingly enough, they left out a big one, writing,
and then the second element a of the NJTSS early reading are essential assessments. So you might also be familiar with the fact that New Jersey passed a universal screener law in 2024. Um so this was our official first roll
out of the amount of reporting thanks to Fiota for the amount of reporting that has to be done to the state now. Uh but as we often are in Montgomery, we were ahead of the curve and we have had universal screening in kindergarten and
first grade for all students in all subtests since 2021. Um and we also implemented STAR through Renaissance um which is a universal screener that we did need to add in one additional um assessment to
be compliant for the law since 2022. And that's actually in grades 2 through 10. So we were a little bit ahead of the game there. Okay. So now I'm going to turn it back over to Fiona and we're going to talk a little bit about the standards and Montgomery. So thank you for indulging
me in a little bit of the research and information that kind of gives you some context. At this point we're going to do a lot of just handing back and forth. So um wish us well. Okay. So, in the um in 2023, the New Jersey student learning standards in English language arts got a
reboot. And what I want to point out here is that you have two, of course, we have speaking and listening, but I want you to pay attention to your reading and language. And then at the bottom, as we said, they writing is also there. Um, but in our reading standards is where you're going to find the skills
necessary to comprehend and work with and make meaning of a literary text or anformational text. within the language standards is where you're going to find reading foundational skills and writing foundational skills. Now, I'm the director of curriculum and so I love
curriculum and I love standards. I really do. I should get nerdy and have a favorite paper. I love the ELA standards and I talk about them all the time as how they spiral up and you can take the exact same standard and look at it over multiple grades and its complexity gets
increases as you go. It's a little bit of the math standards where sometimes the math standards actually drop off, right? We're supposed to have mastery by second grade, but the ELA wants to keep going. Um the reading foundational skills and the writing foundational skills, we see those in the fifth grade and then we then we get into just um
more reading and writing. So, I wanted to point out the difference here because you have to include both. And we're going to talk about a lot of our curricular materials and how we do this in our elementary schools. So, under the foundational skills, that's where you're going to see things like funological awareness that students actually have to
be able to hear syllables and be able to discreetly identify the sounds in those syllables. Um, and one of the tests you might see the little kids taking is when they repeat words back and they have to flap them out. So, the ability for them to say blue bird is that they've divided that word into the sounds that it makes.
That's part of early reading. Um, you've also got phonics and birds. I just that's where I just went to, right? are decoding the two syllable words by speaking them and by breaking them down. We hop over to those green standards and now they're about reading me, right? So now it's about key details. Can it if
you are asked questions, can you talk about the literary text? Can you talk about what happened to characters in the story? Can you talk about where the story took place and how would the story took place influence how you felt about reading it? Central message. Um text features, right? So, can I talk about the difference between a story and
anformational book and how they're written and how they're devised? So, these are I'm going to back up just for a second. That's the difference between the green standards and the yellow standards, right? Our reading standards and our language standards. So, this is actually a screenshot directly from our second grade
curriculum, our reading curriculum. It's unit three, um, which is all about characters. And I just wanted to show you a quick step snapshot of what that looks like. So when we did a lot of our curricular revamping uh to align with
the 2023 standards, we wanted to be really intentional that every lesson, every learning intention is aligned to a particular standard and has a specific criteria for success. So, this is not only a new format that we use when
writing our our updated curricular units, but it's really a a very intentional way of ensuring that the learning intentions are aligned to the standards. And then conversely, we don't have any learning intentions that are not standards aligned. So, we really
wanted our curriculum writers to kind of go through that exercise to make sure that we were just really being purposeful about the lessons that we were maintaining in the in the units. >> Yeah. And I just think the the word that that Amy was maintaining. So, um in this
revision, it was when they really when the state got very specific about those foundational skills and you can't just keep adding, you have to add and and subtract and you still have the same number of minutes of instruction day. And so as we went through the resource that we use for the most of our reading
standards, there was a lot of parsing out and evaluating is this directly connected to a standard? If not, then we remove it from the curriculum and that begins to leave room for more word work and more foundational skills to be built in which is what was necessary as we
moved into the 2023 standards. Yes. Okay. Okay, so I just wanted to return to this graphic on the pillars of early literacy. So just as a brief reminder, these pillars were determined by the National Reading Panel report in 2000
and they are still referenced currently um by the NJTSS for early reading as being sort of the critical elements of a reading curriculum um and the the areas that we really want to make sure that we are purposely focusing on. So just to
give you a sense of the resources that we utilize here in Montgomery to meet each of these pillars and as well as each of the standards of course in the grade level. So when you look at the three pillars on the left phmic awareness, phonics and fluency the
resources to the left side are those that are our core curricular resources that we utilize to meet these pillars. So in kindergarten that is lively letters which I'm going to talk a little bit more about in a moment as well as
heard phenemic awareness in first grade as well as the second and third grade we adopted a program uh by the by a company called really great reading. The first grade version of it is called the second and third grade version of it is called
HD word and I'm going to talk more about that in a moment as well. Um and then we also have some additional programs that we utilize for intervention specifically intervention on phmic awareness phonics and fluency. Vocabulary an an
oftforgotten pillar at times um is one that um we make sure you know there's there's explicit vocabulary instruction and implicit vocabulary instruction. We want to hit both. So our implicit vocabulary instruction most naturally occurs through read aloud. It occurs
through conversation. Um, but we also want to be explicitly teaching words. And that program is called Word Love and it spans from kindergarten through fourth grade. Um, it is heavily researchbased and we were fortunate enough to have the author of the
program. Um, and thanks to you all for approving that consultant. um his name is Mike Oaks and he was able to come to both Village and Orchard Hill to provide background on the research of best practices in vocabulary instruction as well as curricular resources and
instructional resources. And then finally the the pillar on the far right comprehension. Um sort of the goal of it all. We p we use our the units of study in reading as well as digital platforms such as Freckle Mayion and Brass Kids in
uh first grade and kids. Um of course readalouds at every grade level. And then we have a growing toolbox of small group resources that we've really been trying to build over the past few years. Um, and I just have a few of those listed as well. Um, that toolbox is sort
of is ever growing. Um, and our teachers have really really been taking the time to be experts at small groupoup instruction. Um, you know, it's it's certainly we all learn to teach whole class and over time realize that we also
need to really be purposefully instructing students in small groups and individually to meet them where they are as learners. Okay. So, lively letters is what we utilize in kindergarten and it is a
researchbased multi-ensory reading program that was actually developed by a speech and language pathologist. And it focuses on not only letters and characters for each of those letters as well as stories for each of those
letters. Um, it also shows students what to do with their mouth while making those letter sounds. And we call those articuly gestures. So, we want students to know that the way your lips move or your tongue moves when they're making a certain letter sound, it is incredibly
developmentally appropriate. Um, we first implemented it in 2324, which was not coincidentally the same year that we had full day kindergarten. So we are in year three of our implementation. Um and I will show you
sort of how that kind of plays out in the data a little bit further on. And then I also just want to talk a little bit about the last and HD word by really great reading. So as I mentioned last is the first grade version of that
program. HD word stands across grades two and three. These programs explicitly teach phmic awareness. I'm reading for you, but it's important phonics concepts and word attack skills. They also focus on reading accurately and fluently,
which translates directly to better comprehension. The lessons are researchbased, multiensory, and have been found to be highly effective via independent research studies. So, just to give you a sense of what that implementation has looked like, last year was our first year of initial
implementation. We had a um a committee comprised of teachers at both Orchard Hill and Village. Um we went through uh the ACI committee to present when we had our final product selected. So we are now in year two of our implementation
and we were able to sort of shift a little bit in terms of which grade levels were teaching which units and by year three and this was you know planned from from the beginning of the implementation we will have grades two and three teaching all of the units in
HD word so that we can phase it out in grade four and shift to a focus primarily on vocabulary and morphology which is appropriate by the time you get to grade for and they've learned the phonics skills that are most important for decoding and encoding.
Okay. So, what does this look like across a school day? So, certainly that varies um from grade level to grade level. So, I just gave you an example of a sample first grade schedule and a sample grade three schedule. What's important to note is that in
kindergarten and in first grade, we're spending a lot more of the day on foundational and emergent literacy skills. And then by the time we get to third grade, we're focusing more on that higher level comprehension work, inferencing, character work, um
determining a theme, and we're able to have students in book clubs and working more independently um by by attending to village. back to our slide. Oh, please do. Um, so when you are looking at the reading workshop, um, you're going to, you know,
I just want to make sure that we see that we have the word work section in both grade levels. But when you're looking at the reading workshop time in grades one and K and even into grade two, those the independent time that we're going to talk about, the practicing time, we are talking about applying and practicing our phonics.
We're talking about reading centers that might will include decodable texts as well as authentic texts. We have small group lessons going on on phonics and foundational skills. Um, and that's the the much heavier emphasis that happens in those early grades. So, even though
we're seeing it within what we're going to talk about on the next slide, which is the workshop model, um, it is really heavily focused on the skills that foundational readers need to grow. And I just want to take a little bit of a moment to clarify that the workshop model does not belong to one researcher
or one practice, right? So you we actually have math workshop in place and it's you know there are many published books on what does math workshop look like. So workshop is nothing more than an instructional model. It says that at the beginning of a of a of a time period we're going to do a direct instruction,
teach a new skill. Um really based on the I'm going to model it, we're going to do it together. You're going to show me. Uh we've got lots of communicators and markers and tiles that are all part of those lessons on the rub. Um we often refer to that time as time on the rug, right? That's where the little big they
start. The next part of workshop is students go out and practice, right? They apply. It might be in a book club in the older grades. It might be at a center in the younger grades. And this is when the teacher is facilitating. You know, we talk about not teacher standing in front of the room, but teacher working with students. This is what you
see in the in the 20 to 30 minutes that middle workshop time. And then we bring students together because students remember what they learned at the beginning of a class and at the end of a class. And so we bring them together to connect it back to the teaching point to have kids share out what what success they had and to have the teacher kind of
say what's next, where are we going? That's just an instructional model that is a best practice that can be applied to many content areas. You know, we also just want to talk a little bit about the skill of transfer. And so we have all we have embedded on every single resource that you see on
the lefth hand side are resources that are in our classrooms. So when you are learning letter staff, when you are learning how to rhyme, when you're learning how to divide up a word and clap out syllables, all of those isolated skills, even when you're learning to get through a decodable text or so that someday you can go pick up a
book that you motivates you and interests you and you want to read so that you can become a reader. That's what we refer to as transfer. I start with skills and I need to apply them to where they exist in the real world. Um, again, that's something that we see all over the place in every content area. You know, when you're learning, I can
look at an area I'm thinking like when I'm learning math, I might be doing a whole lesson on angles and then I might have my students build a golf course or a mini puff golf course um to really practice those things. That's the application and the transfer in reading. It's can I read a book that I love? Okay. So, I'm going to spend a little
time Oh, you have been so sorry. I did sometimes. Um, yeah. So, as as Sen was saying, each of those resources on the left, the top left comes from library letters. Those are heart words, which we utilize um across grades K through
three. The bottom two photos are um decodable text that we have in our classrooms. And then the top is a tile board that comes from HD word um where students use the color tiles as well as the letters to stretch out the sounds in
a word, put a color tile for every sound and then match the corresponding letter. But what's really to me, you know, most impactful is that the whole goal of phonics instruction is eventually to not need it. The goal of reading is a meaning making activity. you have to be
able to make meaning from the text that you read. Um, and Fiona and I were talking earlier about a study that just came out recently from England. And they actually switched about 10 to 15 years sort of before the the term science of
reading was popularized in the United States to a synthetic phonics approach. And it was phonics heavy. It is phonics heavy. And what they saw over time, it's been about 20ish years at this point, is an increase in phonics skills, of
course, um pretty steady growth in terms of comprehension. Really not any significant gains, but a steady decline in students wanting to read, loving to read, choosing to read. Um, and those are that's the type of thing that, you
know, that we really want to to be thoughtful about when we're designing curriculum. Absolutely. Yes, to explicit systematic phonics instruction. Absolutely. Decodable texts and hard words and all of the things that students need to be able to be
proficient at decoding and encoding. And yet, the goal of reading is meaning making. Um, and we never want to lose sight of that. So, I I think it's just it's an interesting study. Um, and it's it's definitely kind of giving us a window into a country that sort of made
changes, massive changes about, you know, about 20 years ago and sort of, you know, where they are now. Okay. So, we want to take a little time to look at our current data, right? And so, this is not the data that we that I come to you in November with. This is some data about our early literacy
students and our little kids, our K3. Oh, I need to give you the first one because you're much better at kindergarten. Thank you. Um, so we in kindergarten we used an assessment called earlier. Um, so I just wanted to share with you we are actually assessing
students for the end of year um data this week. It's ongoing currently um so I can only share with you our beginning of year and our middle ofear data. Um, but you'll see the percentages. Um, well, first you'll see that the chart is broken up into subtests that assess
phmic awareness, subtests that assess phonics, and subtests that assess oral language. Um, so then you'll see the percentages for the beginning and middle of the year. Those percentages reflect the number of students who scored above
the 40th percentile for each of the subtests. And that's considered on um on benchmark. um you know that's that's the norm for this assessment. So you'll see um each of the subtests the increases that we have seen um I'm you know
particularly excited about the fact that 100% of our kindergarten students currently are above the 40th percentile for letters and sounds and I can assure you that that was not the case before full day kindergarten. Um so that's really exciting to see. Um, we also see
in the um the third subtest over in phonics that nonword reading, those are regularly spelled nonsense words. So, a word like, you know, I can never think of one when I'm trying to fit. There we go. Fifth. A word like fifth because you
wouldn't assume a student had seen it before somewhere and they're just remembering it. They have to apply their decoding skills um to be able to read it. 81% of our current our kindergarten students can currently do that. Um, which is is really fantastic.
The outlier percentage for me or the outlier score is expressive vocabulary. 26% of our students were above the 40th percentile in the beginning of the year and only 42% are above the 40th percentile currently. So that to me is
the standout worrisome um piece of data up there. And thankfully, like I mentioned earlier, we were able to bring in a vocabulary expert just this past March on the professional development day. It had rave reviews from the teachers um and they're really excited
to be a bit more explicit in terms of the vocabulary instruction um because we're just not seeing, you know, what we would like to see in terms of that subtest. Oh, sorry. Okay. So, in first, second, and third grade, we move into the world
of Renaissance. Um, and there's going to be two different types of uh data that I show you right now. The first is a comprehensive score. Um, and the comprehensive score in first grade includes word knowledge skills, comprehensive strategies, and constructing meaning. I want you to notice a couple things on this slide.
Um, at the beginning of the year, the scale score to be at or above the benchmark is at 743. At the beginning of the year, 80% of our students are on benchmark. That does not mean 80% of our students have mastered the first grade curriculum. It means that 80% of our
students are exactly where they are supposed to be at the beginning of first grade. And we would expect that. That's what we you know we we why we all live here and come to school here. Um at in the in the winter grades and we're still finishing up our Oh, no. This was spring. Yep. Yep. This Sorry. There's a
couple ones that are winter and different ones that are spring. I need you to notice that two different things changed. So yes, our overall percentage is now 83% of our students are on benchmark. But the important thing does not mean that 3% of our students are now
where they're three more% of our students are where they're supposed to be, but that the scale score the at or above benchmark moved as well. Right? So in order to be at or above benchmark, you now need to score an 827 in order to be above that 40%.
In addition to the comprehensive skill, you we use um CBMs which are contentbased measuring tools. Um these are tools that isolate skills. They are knitted within one minute. They are done live between the teacher and the child and they are done repeatedly throughout
the school year so that you can see growth. Now I can't see up there so I wrote my little cheat sheet. Just let me get to it. Okay. So in the first one, passage oral reading is an assessment where students are given and they're given the same passage throughout this the different passages same level
throughout the hat. Um there we we give them a passage to read and the teacher is scoring the correct the number of things that they get correct and they're tallying it up. At the beginning of the year we had 74% of our students were able to be at benchmark and now at the
end of at the this is actually the winter score, >> right? This is the winter score and they moved into 77%. So again both things are true. We have moved the benchmark the benchmark in what how many things correct they have to get has re has gone up but so has the number of students who
are reaching that benchmark. So that's what we want to see in passive oral reading. And just like the nonsense words in um in early bird we use nonsense words in the older grades to also uh just test and isolate the phonics skills that students have. um as
you see pronouncing the threeletter the CBC words that are not real words and we have um 61% of our first graders started the year on benchmark and 73% of them are at benchmark by the um winter assessment so we see both both
increasing um there are other skills and tests but believe it or not I know you probably don't believe it right now we actually scaled up our data to make this shorter so I know you don't believe me right now um going a little faster for these slides in the All our second graders, we had 71% of our second
graders at or above benchmark with a score of 8.85 or above. In the spring, we now have 74% of our students. Um, this has moved into star reading and they are proficient at benchmark. Additionally, we g we they also take
CBMs. So we have passage oral reading started the year with 77% of our students um being able to be at benchmark and increasing to 79% of our students at benchmark. That is a crazy statistic. That is that is that is really amazing. So kudos to the Portugal
teachers and the village teacher that continue the work. But that's just absolutely astounding. Um and that also moves on to our expressive nonsense nonsense words. Starting the year with 76% of our students on benchmark and moving up to 78% of our students on benchmark. Again, with benchmark
continuing to get more complex as the year goes on. >> Do you mind have one question? What's the blue and red one? >> So the blue and red is um the blue is on watch and the red is at risk. Um you can actually on these slides
you're going to be able oh actually yeah these slides give you the comprehensive score. You can see the percentages are listed there. Um, and that actually does let you see where the movement was. So, um, often there's usually like like a percent that goes up in the red and a percent that goes up in the blue. So, you can see the movement between the
onwatch and the proficient and the >> kids who are doing English as a second language factor. >> Yes, everybody is everybody. This is universal data. >> Special education, ML, um, yeah, all of our students.
Okay. So in third grade um we started the year um with 66% of our students with a comprehensive reading score of being on grade level or on sorry at benchmark not on grade level at benchmark. Um and then at this moment we have 73% of our students on benchmark.
So really an amazing amount of growth happening in our third grade overall reading comprehensive skills. And then we also see a pretty big jump. They do not do nonsense words in third grade. um we've moved past that. And so in the passage oral reading though, which is
still decoding and and fluency and comprehension because again it's a timed test with um words at their appropriate level, we went from 72% of our students at benchmark in the fall. This is the winter data. So the winter data is 79. So we still don't have the spring data
finished yet. Um so I expect it to continue to grow. I mean that's that is the hope. Just kind of wrapping up now. actually are wrapping up and I'm sure I'll take some questions at the moment. But another part of the work that the state did um in the 2023 relaunch was really
talk about what does highquality instructional materials look like right and they they really focused on that quote from the um from the DOE and it talks about you know coherent well ststructured literacy programs that we need to make sure that um teachers have what they need and that they're actually
able to focus on the students needs. Um, our implementation of data over the last four years has I wish has been exponential to hear conversations that teachers are talking about with what data they need to pull to in order to know how to provide interventions in the classroom or what their small group
lessons can be. Um, and so both of those parts with explicit instruction and grade data. So the bullet points given to us by the state of New Jersey are explicit systematic phonics, decodable texts, phmic awareness, fluency, comprehension, reading, writing, speaking, listening, culturally and
linguistically inclusive content and embedded formative assessments in Montgomery Township School District. This is also our model and we hope you know that tonight we are able to come and share with you, you know, there is um an incredible amount of explicit
systematic phonics instruction. Um we've added so many things over the course of the implementation of the 2023 standards to our program. Um teacher teacher teams have been used the experts of our supervisors and our admin team have been used to make sure that we have enhanced
our curriculum program without having to scrap it all. So there were districts that have made choices to scrap everything and start from the start from a beginning in a zero place. Um that is a very hard thing to do to teachers. um our data did not support doing that. Our
data still shows that our students are learning to read and both in the explicit skills and the comprehension skills. And so instead, the choices that we've made over the course of the last three years have been to make sure that we are hitting all of the elements described by the DOE, described by the
standards and in the you know by the the the models of best practice in literacy that are out there today. So now we are finally done. Sorry about that. Thank you for the very very comprehensive presentation. Um board
members have questions. So I have to thank you so much for the comprehensive reports. Uh it's really good to see the whole instruction is moving to evidence-based practice. Um I did participate one of the NJ do that uh
training session and I sh I know I shared some of the slides with you. Uh so one of the thing is I remember doing the presentation the training uh some other school district did mention that too is like they see similar results that you just showed the data shows
we're doing good and somehow it just you know and it did not reflect when they have the state assessment they struggled about that and another school district district I think I believe the green brook and they did share that and say oh sometimes is about uh you know I I I
also heard what you talk about what we teach here and how you teach and how often you teach they talk about a lot of times we we have the resource already and it's just about integrate those sources to make it happen so um so I
today I want to focus a little bit more about uh what we teach because uh this really uh ret related to what we board proving every year and uh I believe you heard I shared a lot of concerns about unit study it's really good to see like
we we have hackerty all those things and also during the October training session when I talked to the NJOE that uh you know the um that PC that um >> Natalie >> Natalie yes I did ask her about that too and she did say from NJTSS project they
have a scoring rubric provide for school district and they encourage every school district to use that to to to score the curriculum they use. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. So I I I uh I I know we talked about we use hackerty and blast and uh then I did ask on the question so how
about UC uh TCU uh unit of study so their word literally say it's like they're not aligned with science teaching so and I heard many school district who participated in that NJTSS er project over the past 10 years they
all depment implement that one the green brook school district Today they switched to UFly. I saw UFly listed as one of our intervention curriculum and I heard from East Brunswick using uh CKLA. So you know many school districts start
to deimplement that and I wonder what's the benefit for us continue using TC TC unit of study since so many curriculum are so aligned with science reading and also NJOE.
They literally they do not recommend and you know read between the conversation is they they don't >> you don't have to read between right now. So um no thank you for that question because I think that's the point of clarification that we really want to make sure that everyone walks away with. If you had looked at our
curriculum documents 7 years ago, what you would have seen was a comprehensive program reliance on units of study. And so when the DOE says that they do not recommend that the units of study are used, they are speaking directly to the
foundational reading skills. So when we when we the the slide that we talked about, I'm going to go all the way back and see if I can do it. Um but when we are looking at this model, um we when we went through our units of study, we are
they are not our only curriculum that we rely on. If we when we were only relying on the units of study as our primary and s mostly singular source as curricular resource we were not we would not have passed the um the the rubric the high quality instructional material rubric.
What we have chosen to do, which is absolutely no different than purchasing a CKLA or a an arts and letters, is that we have built all of the pieces that are required by the the high-quality material rubric into the curricular resources that we provide for the
teachers. And so yes, absolutely. We parse out and match the lessons that we kept that are related to units of study that are directly correlated to the reading skills that m match a reading standard. Then we removed a lot. We also
replaced units of study in phonics and we removed that from the curriculum and that was when we replaced it with lively letters, really great reading, broad integrity. And so regardless of whether it's pieces of best practice that our teachers have selected and that our
experts in administration have selected or it's one comprehensive program, you still need to meet all of the criteria and we absolutely meet all of the criteria. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I understand you kind of say all the criteria and yeah
and you are trying to wake in something. Yeah, I just wanted to know I I I absolutely hear your question and your concern and I think it's a to completely valid one. I do know that there are some districts who have gone to a program like CKLA, like Arts and Letters. Um, and I just wanted to share because
certainly these are programs that that I've looked into. Some of my concerns about the potential pitfalls of of those types of programs. So, one being of course the loss of teacher autonomy and a really heavily scripted program. I mean like you're on this page of this
teachers edition on this day type of scripted program. There are concerns about the developmental inappropriateness about some of the content. For example, second graders are learning about the war of 1812 in an effort to increase um their content
knowledge. Um of course there is research to support teaching into background knowledge um and teaching into content, but we want to think about what's developmentally appropriate. And we also want to think a lot about student engagement. These are the types of lessons where students are sitting
whole class for 45 to 60 minutes in first and second grade hearing a lot about content. Squeezing out student choice and whole books. Students are not reading independently in when you're using a
program like CKLA and arts and letters. There is no student choice when it comes to books. They're reading a lot of passages on content. Um, I've actually spoken to some of the teachers in Princeton and in West Windsor. Um, one who was almost in tears telling me how your her kids can't shop from the
classroom library anymore. They're not allowed to. Um, they're not able to select any independent reading books. There's very very limited differentiation for special education students and multilingual learners. Um, there are concerns that have been
brought up about what knowledge we are teaching. You know, whose history is it? whose knowledge is it? Um, and some concerns about bias that have been brought up and are pretty well documented. Um, and then you want to think about like Fiona was saying just throwing everything out that we have
built over the past at least I can speak for 13 years that we have provided professional development to our teachers on. We, you know, we really trust in our teachers as a resource. We want to build up their own knowledge on how they can teach effectively rather than kind of
scrapping everything and selecting a program that um often times you have, you know, a shift in the teacher's ability to effectively implement and potentially about 3 to 5 years before you're seeing a return on your
investment. And when I and it's you know fiscally not necessarily the most responsible thing to do as well. So you know we absolutely look closely at those rubrics. We absolutely look at the guidance that NJTOE is putting out and try to make really intentional and
thoughtful response choices and decisions about how we are moving forward um rather than adopting a big box type program. But we have made but those those changes are radical like the the the classrooms that the classrooms
that existed eight years ago are are very very different than the classes that exist today in 2026. So there is um there is a an enormous change of the materials that we have adopted implemented and even the pedagogy that we have provided professional
development on. The only other thing that I want to be really specific about, cuz I think this applies to many conversations that we often have, when we see things in the news and on the newspapers and on the headlines and we listen to podcasts, they are always most of the time referring to national
movements. But we in New Jersey, one of the things that we have and one of the things that all of you get to do is local control. And so the data that Montgomery students have does not look like the Montgomery that does not look like the data that every student in every other township even in New Jersey
has and definitely not across the country. And that's why you really want to make strategic and purposeful decisions that do meet the criteria of the high quality instructional material. We want to stay aligned with what the state's asking us to do. Um, we use many of I actually think you're referring to
um the NJTSSER webinar series and um and we use many of those in our teacher uh teacher training on dyslexia um and in our flex PD that our teachers complete. We think these are incredible resources. Um and I'm
going to go out on the ledge here of look at Mr. Papa. Natalie Francy's an alumni of Montgomery Township. >> Yes. Okay. So, we claim her as our own. We we we uh make a lot of phone calls over to Natalie and you know she needs to be our bestie. >> More questions. I have just one
question. When when I see the percentages going down from kindergarten, first grade to third grade, I'm sure the curriculum is much difficult compared to that. But do you provide additional resources for that teacher, additional person in the classroom to work with kids or how does
that teacher bring it up without uh you know, does she get extra help? >> One nuance to that is that it's two different assessments, right? So, you've got the early bird assessment is it is assessing the same skills and then you we move over to a different assessment. So, the comprehensive scale score is
different than the CBM scores. The CBM scores are looking for that 40% that Burley is and it's the 40% national 40 percentile score that the state is looking for when we when we upload our K3 data in the windows that they ask for. A comprehensive scaled score is a
different tool altogether. So you have a just a very different you know you can't do apples and oranges. Um although there we we follow the we have a really robust uh multi-tered system of support and so yes we are we are very lucky to have staffing in all of our buildings that
provide intervention services to any student who is not making benchmark um particularly our students who may not be receiving other services. Right? So if you're if you're receiving special education that's wonderful. If you're receiving multilingual education that's fabulous. But if you're just in general ed and you are struggling, we have a
program and resources for that and staffing for that in our buildings as well. So absolutely. My last note though is that our scores are enviable. So we are, you know, when you're looking at 77, 78, even 73, these are things
that like are incredibly great and proud of scores. Um, you know, I know that it was asked earlier, is this inclusive of all of our students? for this data to be inclusive of everyone. These are scores that our teachers should be very proud of.
>> I I quite agree with you. I think some student do come with very strong foundation and to that point um you know when you want some improve somebody from 70 to 90 uh that's a lot of great efforts there. Um but uh from the other
hand I also did show the some of the cohort in NJ and JKSSR project cohort 5 they did improve from 70 70 uh I mean 38 of the student above the benchmark level to 65 you see that that's huge
improvement for them so for us we're already at 70 and then the the challenges is how can we get more of them >> right but as you and I have had multiple discussions and particularly when we're discussing math um just because when we're saying that 79% of our students
have reached benchmark at this time in this school year, there are multiple students in there who we have moved in the course of the year from you know proficiency at 70% to proficiency at 90. So um most recently I was uh looking at some some data on growth and our growth
data in ELA is is is an incredibly impressive uh statistic that goes along with this. So yes, you are 100% correct that when we are moving kids along and you were starting at a high rate, but that's why we said the the 74 to the 79.
I really want you to not think of that as oh it only went up 3%. The benchmark moved all the way out to here. So all of those kids that were at benchmarking in September moved over here. They've stayed at benchmark and then more kids joined them. So it's it's not a small number. It's a big amount. It's a large
amount of growth that happened to those students or for those students. I was looking at the students at risk and warning and I and those numbers went down and that to me is the >> that's how that works. >> I know but to me like the the the the amount that those numbers went down to me is more impressive in a sense that
the growth in the green because that means the strategies and the interventions are working and students are improving. Right. And also I want to say because Maria and I looked at each other when you talked about the the boxed programs teachers hate those. they
really hate those and it's awful. So, I'm glad that we're not doing that. >> I also want to say just to speak to the point of and thank you for mentioning that. Um I I completely agree to the point of intervention that's really been we could have a whole another presentation on on intervention because
that really has been another point of focus over the past several years. We have all of our academic support teachers in Gillingham trained and they're able to utilize Wharton Gillingham with their with our academic support students. We also brought in UFly foundations um K to4 in terms of
our academic support program um as well as some additional interventions to support comprehension and oral language um concerns. And that's really been something that's been popping up um over the past several years. We're seeing a lot more students with concerns related
to expressive and voc expressive and voc receptive oh god what time is it? It's too late. language um over the past several years. So that's really been another area um of focus to kind to be kind of zeroing out on what are our interventions and are they
effective >> changes in those additions? >> Yes. Yes. Just as a question looking at the previous year since you've been implementing this for at least three what typically happens when you get that end of year the EOI because we saw the
the beginning of year the middle of year and you said like obviously we want to continue to grow that has that been the case over the last couple of years are you expecting it to be the case again this year so when we're talking about 77 78 79 or 73% would we really be talking
about 80 something% %. >> So the grades kindergarten and grade one are where we have had we're we talked about being ahead of the curve and we've had that data for multiple years now and that has been our trend. So we have seen um we have seen growth and yes I just
want to keep stressing the greatest growth was when we went to full day kindergarten. Radical change, right? So you can imagine that that 1 plus 1 equals two. It does give us more time to teach. More children will learn to read. Um, when it comes to grades two and three and measuring the things that we're not we're now measuring, we have
that's that's part of the upgrade of the 2023 standards and of the literacy initiative by the state. This is the first year that we've had this level of discreet measuring. So, I'm really excited with our early data and yes, to be able to track it over the next couple years is what the whole state initiative
is about. >> And just to like kind of hammer home the point of this includes all students. So, we're multiple language learners and our special education students and about what percent of our student body is just
playing general ed like so you know is it it's it's more like 70% right >> I think our special ed is 20 20% 21% or is that high >> it's a little high >> okay >> but maybe >> but with adults too I'm saying you know
you're talking about not just special ed but also are multimodal learners and when you're reading you're learning a new language and you're re learning to read in that language then you know the complexity is so much greater yes you are doing a fantastic job you
know having that many kids meeting benchmark and again I completely agree we no canned programs like no teacher wants to be told on this day at this time you need to say this word in this way to these children you're looking for this response and if you get this
response then you have to do And then you have that's not what we all went to school for. That's not, you know, where professional development is is most warranted and best used. It's to teach teachers how to effectively, you know,
implement the intervention needed for the students that they have in front of them right then and there. So, it sounds like you've been doing all of that by bringing in all of these specific experts in like vocabulary instruction, seeing that there's a dip there that you need to improve. So, thank you and kudos
to you for doing all of that and not throwing your baby out in the back. >> Yeah. And I was so glad that Amy said it because this is the difference between K12 brain and K4 brain. Um, one of the one of the um core values that we share is to improve teacher knowledge and
being able to use grant funds through title 2 to get all of our academic support teachers trained. If we're in Gillingham, that wasn't a program that we then said, "Okay, now implement this." It was just training on how do children read? What what does the reading staircase look like? And then
they take it back and personalize it to the children in front of them. So >> that child is gener specialized for whatever case. >> Yeah. So and we hope to expand that into kindergarten this year as well. I just keep telling everybody we have to wait till the title two comes in and I'm just crossing my fingers that it's the same
as last year. Do I have hope, sir? >> He's just I'm just going to have hope all by myself. I'll just have my own vote. >> Anything else before we do that? >> Do you think this uh support will translate into this later this year?
We're going to do present present the state outcome for grade three. >> So, if we were still taking the NJSLA, I'm really disappointed that we're not. And I mean that with like I I I mean that with like true sincerity because I
feel like our teachers have really made there's been a couple of really big efforts. Um there has been a a specific targeted effort to our second and third graders to build all parts of that reading rope and all and really to work
on that center part of that active view of reading. there have been strategic things and new pieces of of practice added into their classrooms. Um and then in the work that we've done with Eddie Fergus and Ruckers around um the multi-tered system of support really making sure that when we identify
students that are at risk and I know that this seems a little common sense but it's a journey that everyone's on and a school district is on. We are really being specific about here's screening data that tells us a kid is at risk. Now, let's dig into diagnostic data and find out where they are at risk
and why they're not learning. And then let's match an intervention specifically to that need. And so, that has been work that we have done at a level that we've done it previously. We have ratcheted up this year significantly. And I'm a little sad that it's not an applesto apples test. So, if you like I'm I'm not
really looking forward to presenting the the the new data because I'm not I don't have the level of confidence I have in it yet. It's going to have to come out. I'm going to have to look at it and I'm going to compare it to the other local data that we have in house. So, I'm really happy that we are in a place where we have robust in-house data,
multiple data points so that we can compare and contrast and if it's on target, I'll be celebrating and if it's different, we'll be talking about why and doing an analysis as I'm sure the state will be doing a deep analysis themselves as to where did we hit it this year. And there's a couple teachers
on the panel that are that are responding to what we're all struggling with right now. But that is the goals, right? The goal is always to see that the data that we're using, what we're collecting in house should be matching what the state ends up assessing. Like hopefully that's that is
>> that exactly one of the seminar, one of the school district mentioned about that they saw like in house data doing great but just not reflecting there and they wonder what's ongoing. That's why I brought to like the previous conversation about what we teach. And then for us in the past 5 years for
third graders is always 50% of the kids on target meet and beyond the target. That means another half are not. That's really concerning for me. It's it's been about 60. It's some it's usually 57 58 56. I know but that's a big difference
right when we're talking about 72 to 74. 50 to 58 is is a big difference. And again, this this was a big year and I am disappointed because I can tell you that some of our local data is trending in a beautiful direction as evidenced by the slide. Like I was even not even getting
prepared and getting ready for tonight being able to pull this data point and say that our students taking a comprehensive third grade test in the fall were at 66 and now they are at 73. Would I love to be able to see that in our NJSLA?
I would. Do I know that that's going to happen? I don't right now. So, I'm just going to hold my breath with everybody else and see what the data comes and triangulate it to other things that I have. >> But I also know that there was a big jump from third grade to fourth grade scores. And it is also the first time
that third graders are really taking that kind of test. And so I always question the accuracy of that, the validity. I don't know which word is the right one, but I always question the third grade test because it's the first time they're really doing it. And for a lot of kids, that makes a big difference
in the testing. It's something new. And we don't always do well on things when we're brand new at doing them. I don't care how much you try to prep them. And it's not the same as the day that the test is actually on the desk or on the computer. It's not on the desk anymore. Sorry, I'm just showing my age when I
say that. But it's the first time that they're really doing it and it's just different. I think >> I love that answer and it's true. But we also did do a deep dive into our data and make some decisions about practice and pedigogy and resources as well. Right? So they both go together. But when we look at our trends and our
scores in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade um and they are so significantly different. Um you can't you're not I I I'm confident that the fourth grade teachers would not say that third grade teachers are not preparing the students. There is some anomalies. Um but doesn't mean that we've ignored that and that we haven't taken that to
heart as well. So I am sad that this is the year that apples changed to oranges. >> Thank you. I have two comments to Francine's comments. First one, I think you're not trying to say early literacy does not matter. >> No, I'm not. >> Okay. Thank you. Second is other 80
school districts participate in NJTSS project. They reflect. They have results showed in NJ stateep assessment. They can meet that. I believe we can too. teaching. >> Thank you very much.
>> Yeah. So, we have committee reports next. Um, first is the MTA report. Mr. All right, good evening. >> So, we're MTA Report, we uh were able to
have news from the heart on May 9th. It was a amazing show. Thank you for all who attended. Um, a huge shout out to our staff that put it on. They practiced for months just getting ready for that entire show and it's all volunteer work because they love it and they just love
love doing it for everybody. We were able to get out six scholarships for that. They'll be announced on June 3rd for our students and we have a great um connection with the band parents and their organization, instrumental band parent organization. So, thank you to them for helping out as well. Um the show was incredible. It was incredible.
They did a great job. Uh we also participate in the spring fling. Um and that was great. We got to get out there with the community and just hand out some things, interact. You know, Alice and Stacy were out there for a couple hours and they give a huge shout out to the Montgomery Fire Department who chased our tent because it blew away and
then got mangled. So, they had to take the jaws of life to cut the tent apart. So, we appreciate that that they did that for us. Big thank you to them. So, we'll be in the market for a new tent this season. But, well, thank you to them. Big shout out. Um, spiritware happened this week as well. We had a ton
of donations. Um, huge shout out the community who were giving some different clothing back and we were able to get a bunch of people in over at uh Stacy spearheaded that again and it was a huge success. We're seeing a lot of success in those different clothing drives. So that's something that we will continue to do as we go forward. Uh we have two
more readalouds. So May 29th is the next one. So hoping we'll see a lot of different students there. All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Now we have our board number delegate reports. Does anyone have a report to give? I do as well, but go ahead first.
>> I have one for the Somerset County report. So, uh, we had a we had a Can you hear me? >> No. Turned off. >> Uh, so we had the Somerset County School Boards Association meeting held on the
May 4th. We received an update from the interimm executive county superintendent and he highlighted ongoing countywide priorities and areas of collaboration among school districts. We also heard a summary of the recent NJSBA board of directors meetings focused on statewide
policy discussion, legislative uh development and board training initiated. NGSBA government government relation team provided a legislative brief uh briefing on ongoing bills affecting school funding special ed and board operations. A sample resolution
urging relief from rising public school employee health care cost was shared and discussed by them. So uh earlier uh I mean this afternoon I shared that uh sample resolution with all of all of the board members here. So that purpose is
to invite school district to review it and so we can consider to adopt it. The resolution is intended to create a unified statewide message urging legislative action on health benefit related cost pressures. So I have uh so
I hope I recommend the other eight board members and colleagues can review it and consider adopting it at the next board meeting to join a collective uh this collective advocacy uh effort on the rising cost of health benefits. Um so maybe that's something I should work
with um the president and uh Mary. Uh in addition, Kathy from NGSBA field services highlighted the upcoming professional development opportunities and noted that more training sessions are expected in the fall. And she
encouraged board members to complete the survey they sent out regarding the topics we are most interested in. And that link has also been uh forwarded in the email I sent to you earlier. Uh a highlight of the evening was the recognition of the educators and board members across the county. Uh the school
year 2025 and 2026 Somerset uh teacher of the year uh Kiran Masat of Hillsad Intermediate School was honored with introductions from her principal and Bridgewater superintendent. I also want to note that last year it was our teacher Stephanie from was honored with
this award. uh the association was recognized the new board member certifications and 10 year and 15 year service milestones. I also want to thank our board member Venita uh for being there to celebrate with me as I received the new board member certification. So
overall the meeting emphasized collaboration, recognition of excellence and continued advocacy for our students and communities. So I'm happy to share more details or answer any other questions and that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Okay. Congratulations Dr. Wang on your
award. >> Yes. Thank you. Congratulations on the recognition. There are other Yeah. I have a municipal report. Um this introduce our um uh committee chair Lori Hoff is stepping
down and we're going to be we will miss her. She's a very hardworking very nice person and we will miss her. We don't know who is going to be replacing her. Uh Okay. Sorry. Yeah. So, um as Mary said, this is the month of mental health
awareness month and uh the theme of the mental health America was more good days together. And so you and we had a small little uh thing where she asked everybody what do we do uh when we are
feeling stressed and everybody went to the table and then we told us what we do. It was an interesting uh thing and uh lunch and learn program seven sessions with 14 speakers topics were included pediatric health and public
relations and career pathways and um youth action board student leadership and engagement initiative continued. They showcased a very well-made video with our district students. It was very cute. And um other than that um they
have uh Indie Flex mental health series. They screened angst like an upstander partnership with Somerset County School Alliance. Upcoming virtual screenings are race to be human on June 18th. And
um there are some community events are coming up. Farmers market is opening day May 30th. the dyslexia dash on June 7th, Strawberry Festival June 7th, Run with Rotary June 14th, Race to Be Human on
June 18th. Um so it was a very productive uh meeting with a lot lot to discuss and we had a uh the only thing the um the funding uh is very low and
they're trying their best and then they were talking about how difficult uh it it is to provide funding because there is lots of rules and regulations. Sometimes it becomes very difficult for them to give funding um following
through all the steps the state wants them to follow and the money doesn't come to them the same year. It comes to them one year later after sending lot of paperwork. So that was also discussed but they did assure us nothing is going to change. Uh everything will continue
and they will still support us the way they've been supporting school district. That's wonderful. >> Thank you. That's um to hear that. I mean, it is always hard to to raise the funding, but um you know, they do so much for us. They do girls on the run
and they you know, there's so many programs that they partner with. So, and we'll we'll definitely miss Lori. >> Yeah. I think any other for the PTA. Uh just a reminder to please buy your books. OS has an
upcoming event at Fire Truck Pride for the students. Um you need to you can donate and put money towards that and see if my name is picked as well as teachers day at ES. Um PTO, same thing. Look, look for yearbook sales. They're
ongoing. Um LMS, there's an upcoming event the principal fundraiser and at there's color be mind social and so the staff fundraiser. The PTO has also approved a onetime grant of up to $5,700 for the school to
support the 250th celebration. And the PTSI for high school is u planning out social for this and for the high school. >> Thank you parents. >> Anybody else? >> I beta
move forward. >> Yes. So MPTA had a virtual meeting on April 30th. They shared two events. One actually already passed on May 13th. It was run by the Children's Inter agency Coordinating Council of Somerset County, hosting a webinar to learn about children's system of care, community agencies, and services available for
families. Again, uh something that uh board member Narin mentioned, the dyslexia dash will be Sunday, June 7th at 9:00 a.m. It's a run 5K runwalk at Skilman Park. They were TBD on a community event that was going to be run in conjunction with the Montgomery
Township Police Department around the Blue Envelope program. So, the blue envelope program for anyone who's unfamiliar with it is an is um a blue envelope that's given to drivers who can then if they are pulled over by a police officer share so that the drivers know
that the um sorry, so the police department knows the driver has autism. And so the I the rationale is to improve the interaction between drivers with autism spectrum disorder and police officers on traffic stops. The hope is to create more positive outcomes and which are safe for everyone involved.
The initiative addresses several key objectives for enhancing understanding, reducing anxiety, streamlining communication, and encouraging preparedness. Building on the blue envelope prog program is the special needs identification decal program. These are designed to improve safety,
communication, and understanding between first responders and residents with special needs. MSF to work with the Montgomery Township Police Department to design the decal. This initiative provides voluntary identification decals for homes and vehicles, helping officers and first responders quickly recognize
when an individual with autism or other cognitive or developmental conditions may be present. The decals decals are available at the municipal building. Now, uh there was also a vote they were going to be voting on scholarships available for high school seniors. They shared that they had a successful
fundraiser with their annual dance and most of that a lot of that success was due to a generous donation from the Elks Club for both the space and the food. they would love to see a larger turnout at that event. They spoke about a grant that was approved for a teacher for items in the classroom. And then there was some feedback from parents. Uh one
was suggesting that it'd be nice to see a lot some of the creative flexibility and analysis that's put into the general education program to also be applied to the special education program. I think the conversation was specifically around the addition of new AP classes and that that they really applaud that and they
want to see where can we use our um the same kind of creative thinking and looking for opportunities for the special education program. The other feedback was that they would like to see more of a consistent unified offering from sixth grade on. So that once and they did mention that it is something
that's already been implemented that now in sixth grade and seventh graders now have the opportunity to participate in unified. In the past that wasn't the case and then the feedback was that right now in ninth and tth graders do not participate in unified. So you have students who get this momentum and really build these
relationships with students and then they have a break before they're able to participate again. And the suggestion was it'd be nice to see if that could be some greater continuity for those relationship building. >> I think that from what we've heard they're trying to teach that right that
that is what is is the intent and and our faculty is trying to make sure that that bridge exists is important. >> Yes. And know that it hadn't previously been available in seventh and now it is. So that you're trying to to create that relationship. Do do you know in middle
school what's the percentage of the student participate in that and what's the percentage in high school participate in that program? >> I actually am unfamiliar with the percentages participating. I know it is a voluntary participation and voluntary participation >> and I believe at some levels there's
also um is there an assess you know not an assessment but it's not just I wanted you know in the past my understanding was that it was you know a privilege to be selected to participate in the program >> right there an essay they had to write
>> so the at there was no essay we used to do it as part of acceptance week our current students present with the students that were unified. So Walmart students would present together, what the program was about and then the students would apply a little about like why they wanted to be in the program and
then the staff would go around and talk to the teachers and recommending to see what students were interested in the program. And then we usually have around about 30 students or so anywhere range depending on the number of publishers that we had in the class. And then that that would make up what the Us program
eighth grade was around 30 students of probably around 400 students was. And then it expanded a little bit more when we added art and music and stuff. So maybe you're around 50 students now. Some overlap some say about 50.
actually the goal like for high school each grade we also can keep about 30 something like that 30 students get enrolled >> that would be great >> oh that's that's what I heard from the report because want to increase the participation right
>> thank you I do know that the um the first thing that you mentioned the um it already passed the virtual event >> it was it was not very well attended. I I did go to it. I mean, there was some great information about the services
that performed care provide to wrap around with um students in need for all sorts of things. And I I wish that more people understood the importance of looking to the county level for help with, you know, all the the different
services that are available. >> Are you talking about um building transition program? No, I was talking about the um >> sorry, it was May 13th, the Children's Inter agency Coordinating Council of Somerset County. They had a webinar
specifically about children's system of care. It's about community agencies and services available families. They had a number of organizations come and talk about the services that they offered. They also had a panel with a parent who utilized some of the services to give a little bit more information like this is what it's like for a real parent who's
using them. >> Yeah, it was it was very informative. you know, the the the people that they had come out and speak were great. The parent that they had come out to talk about, you know, her um was somebody in Somerset County that what she worked with her kid and how she was able to get them the services that they needed. I
just wish that it was better attended by our community so that we could bring those services to our students. So, just a plug for parents to come and and see what what's out there and educate yourself.
Um, if there's no others, I have one uh report on the annual delegates assembly which took place on Saturday which is the statewide assembly where we vote on the resolutions that came up um twice a year. There were six resolutions I've
mentioned at the last board meeting. So the first one um was the only one that failed. That resolution was about rank choice voting versus block voting. Right now, all boards of ed in the state of New Jersey use block voting. You vote
for your board of education members. Um, rank choice voting is something um familiar to people from the last mayoral election in uh New York City, use rank choice voting. The resolution was to provide boards with the option of going
with whatever they felt would be best for their community. That failed. Um so people want to keep the block voting the way that it is and not give the option. The other five um resolution was passed.
Um one was about in im immigration enforcement in schools um that schools remain a safe haven for students and that we are uh here to educate and provide a appropriate education for all students regardless of immigration
status. That did pass. Um there's a lot of debate and it was it was good debate. I know that some of our board members were there virtually so maybe you um heard some of the commentary. Uh resolution
three was about um the pilot funding uh which we don't really have any of that in our district. However, the rest of the state um does have the ability to hopefully now get some tax relief from pilot fund projects. Um there was also
the school funding formula. There was nothing on healthcare. Everybody wanted something. So hopefully that resolution that you mentioned does eventually get forward through. Um excuse me. And then
I said the other ones they were they all did pass. The uh only one that did not was the the voting block. Any questions? I this was my first time I have to say it was very interesting. If if other board members have not not attended this
you you must attend. It's very interesting how they uh discuss about each resolution and how people oppose and how it was uh I was glued to my laptop for 3 hours when >> we had a very robust discussion about
the word should versus shall >> and it's a very important distinction >> you know all the resolutions were you know great and points they were talking uh for it and you know against it was it was amazing. So I thought it was very
interesting. So everybody should attend at least once as a >> follow. Okay. So now we move on to our uh committee reports. So ACI is up first. We're over here. Okay. Thank you. So for
ACI minutes um under the assessment curriculum and instruction portion there were two textbooks or books um resource recommendations for 2026 2027. The first one the book Yellow Face for
English grades 9 through 12. It's an addition. It's a modern Asian author exploring themes related to guilt culture appropriation fraud plagiarism and isolation in the online era. The point of view creates a unique vehicle for discussing the ways in which modern ambition and catfishing end up resulting
in widespread harm. Next, The Book of James. It's uh for English grades 9 through 12, English 11 CP honors and its transition. The new novel explores the events of Mark Twain's American classic through the lens of Miss Watson's slave
Jim. It addresses the perpetual issues with Jim's historical actions as told through Twain by giving James no longer Jim boys and ultimately power with a twist. He is Huck's biological father. Ever confronts the unflinching violence
and injustice of the American South without the sympathetic victimization of its characters. The illusions, code switching, satire, and descriptions of the Mississippi relate to larger ideas about black empowerment, freedom, and education, and makes this an easy
touchstone text in an English classroom. Uh, next we talked about the K33 literacy presentation, which was presented tonight. Thank you, Miss Horland and Miss Monaco. Next, we discussed world cultures. Um
Mary seed looking at staffing and the world language offerings through the district through budget curriculum and what is best for kids. We saw a need to transition the students into world c cultures to expose them to global cultures throughout excuse me through a world culture course. Students will
study multiple cultures each year as well as associated language. The curriculum will always contrast and compare the other cultures to American culture. The structures are collections of the global region, daily life, animals, food, etc. There will be eight
to nine lessons per culture with small language pieces within each culture. The novice language level required by the world language NJSLS makes the focus on culture possible while still meeting all the world's language standards. This will this change will happen at Orchard
Hill Elementary for the next year 2026 to 2027. Next, we discussed the state assessment updates. Village grades third three students tested um ELA and math the week of May 4th. Grades
four students will test the week of May 11th. For LMS, grade five, students tested JSL science the week, April 27th, both grades five and six will test ELA math. week of May 11th, grade 8 students
tested NJSLA science week of May 4th. Both grades 7 and 8 will test LA ELA and math the week of May 11th. High school grade 11 students tested NJSLA science the week of April 27th. High school students will test NJSLA
ELA and math on May 19th, 2021st. Note please only grades 5B and 11 participated in the science assessment. Next under special services we discussed this already. Um the children's system of care presentation was discussed
um and last under technology an update on technology usage taking feedback and doing an internal metrics look over a survey will be distributed to staff. A share out will be made at the June ACI meeting. So step one will be a metric on
technology used generated by our digit digital monitoring tools. Step two will collaborate with building administr administrators and supervisors for um anecdotal evidence survey development and distribution. Step three, building
administrators communicate with teachers. The purpose of the survey is to collect accurate data. Techn technology use is not being seen as negative or positive. This is a neutral ask. Step four, surveys completed by Memorial Day weekend outcome presented
at Junior UCI. And some of the the discussion points will be how much time do your students spend on classroom Chromebooks, the type of activities such as consumption, composition, creation, assessment, current experience with technology use in the classroom,
open-ended feedback. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions for Gordon Parks? >> Yeah, I have two questions. Oh, great. It works. So the first one is related to the work culture and thank you Mary for providing the response. I have a followup question is uh well I agree
with you expanding the exposure and better and enhance the student ability to choose a language in the interest for the future right start from elementary. Do we have some plans for our middle schooler and high schoolers? So, we're starting at the elementary level and we're having discussions
through next year on how we're going to either um continue the program, reassess the program, change the program and the next complement to the program. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh so, yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh another question is related to the uh technology use. I know I sent a question related to the uh like per grade or what's the what's the average screen time that uh you know student exposed to is that part of the
internal metrics we're talking about here. Yes, this teachers just completed the survey and um they will disagregate the results and share them out at the June ACI meeting because that is very important for us to um have that information to make changes and move
forward. >> That would be great. And another followup question is I saw many school districts you know some parents they chose to opt out the techn whatever screen time or technology use if our parents chose to do so are our school
district ready for that not at this time. I think that we would need to um do some professional development, look at everything, look at our policies, look at best practices. Uh I know in our policy, I you haven't
the report yet. Sorry to jump ahead. In our policy, I believe last month we talked about the state will have AI some of legislation or policy around that's something we're about to discuss soon. You think with our AI policy uh AI technology? I
remember one of the um policy we we in our agenda we talked about. >> So you talking about the DOE is developing. >> Yeah. Do AI policy >> and they need to update it. >> Correct. Yeah. Our policy is in the midst of being um >> so creating
the DOE to have those stress I think has started with one. >> Yeah, we have the stress me one and I know Mr. Brooks and his crew have been working on and I was going to present that at the June ACI uh PCC meeting. >> Okay. But do you think we're going to
discuss in June or >> June? Yes, definitely in the June meeting. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Any other questions for Morgan Harris on ACI? Okay. And so next up is
>> so is Cookie. >> Um OFF met today. It was a rescheduled meeting from last week. So we had a lot of agenda items that we did not get to. Um so again the food service update, facility use policy update and the
energy audit um conversation will be moved to the June meeting. So what we discussed today were two things. One um was the easy one would be um the school district representatives Mr. Daliano,
Superintendent McArchin were invited to meet with members of Montgomery Township um governing body to discuss shared services and in particular share shared services around technology. The town wanted information on how the district
procure technology and if it was possible for them to join with us to save as a bulk buyin. So the town was asked to share lists so that we can share with our um district attorney and purchasing groups um that we are a part
of to see if it is feasible. So Mr. Italiano is um waiting for that list from the township. The other thing that the other topic that we discussed which um took most of the time was the conversation around healthcare in
particular because our prescription um usage has increased. We had asked our representatives from Brown and Brown to present to us um a a a way to save money
on prescription plans. So um the the presentation of Jim Finn was around um saving on GLP1 prescription drugs and the only difference here would be purchasing the GLP1 drugs directly in uh
directly from manufacturing companies which the pharmaceutical companies versus um you know the CVS or the or the Walgreens. Um these conversations are still ongoing because there are mechanics to this program that we don't
fully understand because this has not been done in the state of New Jersey. Um the partner of Brown and Brown which is RFC card has done this program in other states in Massachusetts was the example that they shared but there is no school district in the state of New Jersey that
has done this. So we want to be very careful and be very uh prudent when we are looking at this um potential cost savings and program to the district. So we've asked uh Mr. Delano to send the presentation to our uh district attorney
to review before we present it to the full board and have further discussions on it. So this is ongoing um and I am complete >> and I just wanted to add the discussions would have to be with the um unions in the district as well. >> So nothing has been decided because we
we want to make sure that um we understand what this program is. It's you know first first district to do it. If they do decide to do it that's going to be tricky. So to understand really if there are savings, what are the mechanics, what is the operational or
administrative burden to the district, all those things have yet to be discussed. So um just so you know, we are working on trying to figure out ways to save on the healthcare side of um you know our operations. >> Are you talking about the remake program
>> or this is not rebate? >> No, this is a direct to consumer program. >> Thank you. I have a question for you. So this um shared uh you you guys had a meeting with township. Uh I was just two questions. Was it
initiated by them or initiated by us? The meeting >> was I think it was >> so the town so the meeting um >> the deputy mayor >> deputy mayor came to the voting. I said
why don't you email me and the next morning I had an email and uh we kind of took it from there. It's a good step. I in my in my >> very very positive >> very positive. So um my next question is when the discussion was happening the
agenda item had only one particular area or you had discussed with many other areas like swimming pool and tennis courts and uh uh technology. Did you guys discuss all of it or just focused on technology bulk buying?
>> You were on the off call today, right? and we reviewed what we discussed on the off call and the primary part of the conversation is they reached out. Um we're a larger purchase of technology, infrastructure, services and materials. Um they're a smaller purchase. They
wanted to see if they could join in with us to do bulk purchasing um to save some money and we said to send the list over and we would review it. If it's legally possible, we'd be happy to help. That was the primary part of the conversation and we said we're open to other shared services if they make sense for both
sides in the future. >> So this will keep going. Um it's just a starting point when we keep meeting them for other areas also. >> Mr. What I understand is today's meeting was the meeting that occurred was more of an introductory like just opening the channel communication right no
commitment to anything just getting to know who the key players are and just saying hey these are this is what can we can't we explore but there was no definitive let's go into it right that that was not the expectation it was born how do we start talking about talking about this
>> 100% I I no that that's well put and to kind of just bring it all together um when we were meeting I asked if there was any agenda there were any items they wanted me to research or pursue to be prepared and they said no we'll kind of discuss like when we get together and we just uh they kind of came up with this
idea I researched it and said it looks like it's possible and like that's where our very introductory um like Mr. USA. I hope that helps. >> Yeah, that's it. Just want to find out >> on the agenda as K24 realignment. You guys did not. >> No, we didn't have time.
>> Okay. >> The presentation by Brown and Row took like 45 minutes, so there was no opportunity to do that. >> Okay. >> Y >> All right. I will give our
update for PCC. So we met on May 11th um and discussed five five policies for first grade. So it was um policy 0162
and 0162.01. Both of those had to do with notice of board meetings and legal notices. And those policies are um updated to reflect that per state statutes, board meeting notices are required to be posted on the
district's official website. Districts no longer need to provide hard copy notices to any newspapers or through mailings or verbally through phone calls. So just on the district website. Um and then along with that the 001 part
is new uh per the new state statutes which address the publishing or advertising of legal notices. The requirement is to publish or advertise on the district's official website as well. Um 0176 is also a new policy um putting into
writing the clarification as to which board members should be exempt from participating in negotiations as well as which board members can vote on approval ratification of a collective bargaining agreement. So because of there is confusion a lot
of the times with voiceovers especially when you are someone who might be um >> conflicted >> conflicted. Thank you. Um however so like for to be on negotiations for mtea that would not be permissible for me or
for board member Feffer >> um or for >> Venita either because of our affiliation with other districts. However, we still can vote to ratify a contract and we can participate in the negotiations on our other collective bargaining units. Um,
so that has never been policy. We've just always followed the rules as we're supposed to as ethics tells us to. So now it is board policy as to how that needs to be working and done. Um, the other policy was 163601
notification of promotion, new jobs and transfer opportunities. Um, another new policy for law that all reasonable efforts must be made to announce and post positions both internally and externally. This has always been done
through our human resources. We've already been doing this for many many decades, but it is now new policy. So, it is in writing that has to be done. Um 5517 is an and 8600 are kind of together uh
regarding school district issued student identification cards. Um both of these two policies incorporate a new requirement that is going to be in there that students must present their district issued student IDs when boarding a school bus to ensure safety
of our students. Um, this is important for parents to reiterate at home that um, we need to make sure that our our kids have their IDs on them ready to go when they get onto the bus so that the bus drivers aren't then having to put in
identification numbers and taking that time stalling and delaying routes and having to deal with all of that. So, it's really important for safety, for the, you know, timely operations of transportation and to get school going on time for all uh kids to have those on
them. Um, I know that board member Morland had some questions about that and we'll get to that. I just want to also say that there's um abolishment of two policies which are the board member in term of ascending district and receiving
district. they are being abolished because they um don't apply to us and never have. So there's no point to having them. So that um is pretty much all we we were able to get to at RPCC meeting. Um we did talk again a little
bit about the norms, but because all board members were not and on the or all committee members were not on the call again, we're going to push that to June. Hopefully we'll get to it once um we're all able to sit down together. Any questions?
>> Yes. So, I had a question. Um, it was about the policy 5517 about the school district issuing student identification cards. I promise I'll say that again. Um, it was so while the purpose of reviewing the policy was specifically about the presenting identification
cards while boarding the bus. Given the opportunity to read the policy, I noticed that at the bottom it says, "I identification card used in accordance with there's a statute uh shall include but need not be limited to the following information. The students name, an
up-to-date photograph, and the current school year." So, the reason I was concerned is that um at I don't remember if I got an email from Orchard, but I know I did from LMS when the student IDs were issued. It said that from moving on, students will only be issued a new
ID when they enter a new building. So, if that is the case, the ID couldn't have the current year. It could have the year of the photograph, but it couldn't have the current school year. It's only being issued every other year.
>> As we review the policy, we're reviewing the practices in the building. So, that is not correct. We will have new identification cards for students each year with the school year plan. >> Okay, that's what I just I I noticed that and it's it makes sense to not have
to be reproducing a card when children generally are not looking radically different from one year to the next. Um but if if that was the requirement then um >> but in the high school when they come in as freshman and leave as seniors, they come in as children and leave as adults. So they do definitely look different.
Um, yeah. And I don't know about the rest of you with kids, but I think we're on like ID card number three or four in the year because they keep breaking them. >> Yeah. >> Sitting up. >> So just to understand, so kids will get
a UI every year. >> Yeah. >> From kindergarten to rising. And then I also you had mentioned something else about the the lanyards at recess and that I I forwarded your email to Mccclofflin also and she assured me
that we have the breakaway lanyards for safety purposes everywhere. Um you know I think that that's super important. >> Yes. So that was something that also says the expectation that they would have them at all times in the school.
And I'm just thinking of not just the breakaway lanyards, but like you know this kind of thing the kids are liable to hurt one another. And I'm just wondering uh you know it's it's nice to have that. I I definitely I see and fully support
on the buses. It's like a very important tracking mechanism to understand where kids are getting on and getting off uh in the school building. I know they use it for lunch. I know they use it for the library. I'm just wondering at the younger grades, how much benefit is
there to having them have it all the time? Is it only in trans? >> Every school has a different protocol for when they have to have the identification cards. Um there might be a school trip that they say we don't need to bring them because they don't want them lost. There might be one that they say please bring them because it's
important for safety reasons that we have them. So that's definitely a protocol that's going to be individual to the building and the event. Thank you. Any other questions? Quick, quick question. You mentioned the topic on the the
meeting notifications. You >> said it can go online only now. >> It no longer needs to be sent to the newspapers. >> So it goes to our legal not like here's an example. I'll go. >> So like for example, we had a notice of change for word retreat. We changed it
from tonight to June. So in the past when you had a change to your advertised meeting calendar you would have to put a notification in the paper. Now you put the notification on your website there's a section like on our website legal notices it identifies the date where we
did that you click on it it has the notification for me and then it's also in and so basically online in a legal notice section. So basically the law changed to basically for the purpose that they know most people are using digital resources versus newspapers now.
So we were doing this before the requirement because we got notified at the beginning of the year. So we're we're compliant with this, >> right? So >> no longer publishing the newspaper. >> The only thing I published was the budget because some people told me I didn't have to but uh most of my veteran
peers did. So I published the budget hearing and the paper to be transparent. But like all the other notices for like bids and meeting changes and things like that, nope. We just have to post it to the legal notice section of our website to be compliant now. >> So it saves a lot of money and it's the
resource that most people use this day and age. Like >> it's good to hear the law finally caught up for like 2004 internet. >> I have a general question. Uh I know we um going to talk about the uh committee norm and I wonder for ACI and off and
HRC do you guys discuss that this year? Well, the ACI or were >> Yes, >> I I did it in January just for the sake that we had new members. So, I wanted them to just have an understanding what
the expectations are and uh I believe that like all the other groups do too. I don't sit on all of them, but um I think we do. >> I I think we also discussed this at the PCC meeting a couple months ago where um it'd be nice to have a standard norm for
all. Do you have a specific one for your committee? But there there could be standards across that would you know >> we we could look into that. I'm sure everybody's is very similar that we could streamline it. That would be difficult to do. So I'll make that >> that's what I hope in. Yeah. That look
at ours and >> yeah for each committee we have one but uh for each agenda for each committee we also put that on the top similar to ACI streamline it. And it would also be the norms that we would adopt for public board meetings as well. So
>> I'm sure we could review the basics unless there's some differences between the meeting and meeting the data, but like for the basics, I'm sure we could take >> and I do not have a report from
share from HRC. Um, let me see what's on The state mentoring plan. >> The mentoring. >> Okay. >> So, >> was it the district mentoring plan and the state? >> Well, I wasn't our district mentoring plan because the state changed the
Coron reviewing this and I don't think there was anything else >> that we could discuss here. >> Correct. Correct. >> Does he want other committee member report that report? Did he say so?
>> He did not. Um, so I mean typically HRC does not go into great detail because most of what we talk about in HRC is completely confidential. So looking at this, it doesn't look like there is anything except for the mentoring plan
which is providing a much more in-depth new teacher mentoring program for our new, you know, staff that are coming on board, >> which is typical because Mr. times report is usually significantly brief compared to the mentoring plan that's on
the agenda. >> Um I mean the questions were who sets the cost the cost who gets on that that was the teacher that pays into the mentoring program. >> I think it's a state one
it's a state for it and the cost for it. And did Patrick get back to my answer about it possible to have a you know when people do not select it system can generate a friendly response to them and thanks for their interest applying for
our school district that came up at the last meeting and I'm sure uh Mrs. Mattis heard that. So I'll follow up with her to make sure that that was discussed and it's not discussed they'll bring it up on the June HRC meeting. Thank you. I think it's just a nice gesture to show the job
applicants. >> Yeah. I don't know if Elizabeth started or Miss Harris. I was not >> I know Kelly answered it last meeting. She said that everyone gets a generated email. Um if you're invited in for an interview, you will and you come in for an interview, you obviously get some
kind of correspondence, but it might vary uh from position and who's running the search committee. Yeah. Right, that is the end of our reports. Um,
so at this time we acknowledge correspondence to the board. And it is uh recommended that the board of education adopt um a resolution to convene an executive session. whenever it falls. Is there anything at this
point that we need to do before motioning to adjurnn to effective? >> No, we just need a motion to second motion. >> All in favor? All >> in favor? >> Any opposed?
>> Thank you. Thank you everybody for your patience as we reconvene in open session. Um please do roll call. >> Okay. Uh >> we don't have a we need a minute. >> That's a we we quum. Dr. Wayne's making
her way back. Miss Pepper >> here. >> Here it is. >> Morland is uh making Dr. Wayne's present. All right, Morland's making our way back. Miss Harris
>> here. >> Here is it. >> Spina. >> All right. We >> all right. So, we have a we can continue. Is there like a We're supposed to have a first and second to like reconvene back in the open session. So,
somebody could just hollow that out. Take it down. Thank you. Thank you. So, that's noted. We have a car and uh Miss Warland uh you want to give her a minute, Miss Fina? That's up to you. You want to give her a minute? >> She's coming. She's coming. She's coming in. >> Okay. So, we'll give her a minute.
>> Walk carefully. >> All right. >> All right. So, Miss Orland here, we have our dedicated members of the public, but we are now ready to continue. So now we will uh recommend that the board of education approve the minutes for the following board meetings. The April
April 28th, 2026 executive session and April 28th, 2026 business meeting. >> So move second proposition second. All in favor say I. I I >> opposed right abstensions
of the minutes carried. Next is our action agenda items. Public comment. The board of education welcomes and encourages input from the public members from me 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 in the promo provided. 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 portion of the meetings are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather are offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board. The board
may need to refer to an issue to a 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. Public comment for action agenda items
is now open. Seeing no public comments, action agenda item, public comments is now closed. Um, we now need to go to So, now we're on the action agenda part of the agenda.
So, we have items 1.1 to 4.1. Is there any discussion on the action agenda items? >> I we have to move first. >> No, we do the doct. Yeah, go ahead.
>> I move the action items. >> A second. Okay. And now we're going to discuss >> now. Anything? It's all over for the board. >> Dr. Wang, you look like you have a question. >> Yeah, for uh 3.3 the bill list. I have three questions. I noticed the uh bill
list um the format slightly changed in the check type and it said CF means uh computer full CP means computer partial HF is hand check full HP is hand check
partial so can you help me understand when this code is being used and what does it mean? Sure, I'll help you out. You, if I recall, over the last couple months had real issue with the bills list. >> So, with respect to that, I reviewed the
process of the bills list, called the software company, had multiple meetings with my team and spoke to my association. So, I streamlined the bills list to one date sensitive report that begins the day after the the end of the
board meeting till the day of the current board meeting. and it captures all of the checks covered and the dollar amount that's on the end of the report is the dollar amount that's reported on the agenda. Uh the superintendent reviewed the report. She's been here for quite a bit of time. She's like, "Wow,
this was much easier to read." No offense to the people before me. They were trained the way they were trained. It was just a more I oldfashioned traditional way to do it. This is how I've done it in the past and based on your comments, I respected them and wanted to make it easier. Um, if you
have any questions like on the check register, you get the agenda on Friday. I've said this multiple times. I'm going to say it again. You have time to ask like those the kind of granular detail questions about how the bills list is at the table is not the time for them. So,
please ask me those in advance or come to my office, but I changed the bills list because you made a point to it. So, I wanted to make it easier for everybody and uh that's what I did. That's my answer to your question. Oh, so um >> that that's the answer. If you have any other questions about like specific
checks and that you can take No, hold on. Please let me finish. You could take the bills list. You can make notes on them. You can email them to Patrick and then if he sends it to me, uh I'll answer the questions. That's our process. Thank you. >> I'm not specific ask about specific checks. I'm just asking about those
categories. >> Yeah, I'm not going to go over the codes like at the public table. You had plenty of opportunity to do that. Um, please send the email to Patrick. He could send it to me. That's not fair. No, please allow me to finish. I don't interrupt you. That's not fair to do that to me. That's on the spot. You have plenty of
time to review it and answer the question. I'm going to say it again like this is being recorded. It's in public session. Ask in advance if you want a good answer. If you're going to ask like at the table, you're going to get a general answer. Thank you. >> Yeah. And then I will ask it record it
good and next month we can come back and visit it. Another thing is I did see um the page two on the snow removal. It's like January and February and right now is in May. We saw that. That's a question. If you don't want to answer it
on site, we can defer it to the next meeting. >> What are one thing at a time? What snow? You said that like really quick. What snow removal are you referring to from like February now? Could you >> January and February? We have emergency snow removal also. I >> are you what agenda item are you
referring to >> in the bail list? That's also part of the agenda, >> right? So, so any questions that you have that are detailed, I don't have a bills list in front of me. Yeah, >> I'm pretty smart guy. I don't have like the 50page bill list memorized. >> So, no, no, any questions like that,
please email them to me. Please ask in advance. Thank you. >> Yeah, I will after the meeting. >> You got it. >> And that's the bill list question. And then I have question to agenda item 3.5 and 3.6. >> Go ahead.
>> Has the off committee see that agreement with the um with the vendor Brown Brown? >> Well, um you've been in agree you've been uh in contract with Brown and Brown many years since I've been before here.
So that contract was initiated with Brown and Brown before I started. I'm continuing it. >> Right. So this a renewal. >> This is a renewal. Yeah. >> Yep. So that that contract wasn't storage by me. >> Okay. And on the list here of page eight of the PDF, there's a lot of numbers
here. Are these are the >> Do you can you give me a little more detail? I don't know what P PDF you're referring to in page. >> Agenda item 3.6. Uh the numbers listed there or those are the uh staff portion. >> Good question. I'll help you out with
that. So those those amounts that you have for insurance premiums, I decided to put those on the agenda because every district I worked at, I improved the insurance rates. Those are the amounts that the insurance company bills us per month per category based on like if
you're single or family before employee contributions. So when the bill comes through the mail, that is what the amount of the bill is to the board based on those respective categories. So that is the public share plus the staff share part. >> That's the invoice per month for the for
that segment for each tier. That's what we're invoiced. It's our obligation to pay for it less the employee contribution. >> Yeah. And are we able to break down by the public share versus the >> I don't board I don't board approve the
public share. Okay. Nobody else does either. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> That's my question. >> Excellent. Email me the questions for the bills list. I'll be happy to answer them if you give me ample time. >> So, I have a small one question on the
same 2.6. >> I know you're renewing the contract what what we had for quite few years right now. So, we just renewing uh the contract with Brown and Blum. But that contract should be somewhere there if we want to see it right.
>> It's essentially not really a contract with Brown and Brown per se because we do not pay Brown and Brown anything. Brown and Brown is our broker. We're renewing a contract with Horizon the all the insurance companies to be provide us insurance coverage that was negotiated
by the board through all our negotiations for these tiers at these rates. So there is no contract with Brown and Brown because we have no financial obligation to Brown and Brown. do not pay them. >> So, how does Brown and Brown make money for being to doing all this job for us?
>> They're paid. >> They're paid through the insurance company. >> So, >> the board of education does not pay the broker. >> So, >> if you're in the state health benefit plan, you do not have a broker. If you're in the private plan, uh you do have a broker that's paid via the
insurance company, not the board. There's no public funds that pay the broker. >> I see. And that could be certain percentage of the insurance. It's not my contract. So, it's not it's not it's not under my purpose. >> So, that's why there is no actual contract with Brown and Brown. >> I I do not pay them anything. Uh there's
nothing to negotiate. They are paid through the insurance company. I do not know what those terms are >> because it's not our it's not our contract. I'm not paying them. >> Do we have >> or the board's not paying them, I should say. It's not me personally. >> Do we have a legal agreement with the
with Brown? Not even legal agreement. come once a year. >> So when we have our reorganization meeting like uh we approve like various professionals that's probably the time of year that Brown and Brown is paid. Just mean if you're looking right now if
you look at our reorganization meeting most uh most boards approved like a broker different kind of professionals at that point in time. I believe it was probably approved at reorg. >> Any other questions? >> I actually have a question. Um so this is item 3.1 report to the treasurer. I
was just looking at the outstanding checks. There's some that are seem to be from a very long time ago. >> Is that typical? Do we ever cut it off? I imagine the accounting process about that is kind of a headache. >> Yeah. So, what we do usually like in June, you're new, so you'll see this.
You put on the bills list to cancel out like the outstanding checks usually like at the end of the year to kind of clean up your books. >> Okay? cuz some of them were one there's a couple but one was from January of 2025. >> So um perhaps like you said cuz I
haven't done this before. Is there a decision sometimes that some are not cancelled or routinely normally? >> No, usually like some things like really really big like you try to reach out to the vendor but usually really really big checks like get cashed. So usually like in June like you do a cleanup.
>> Okay, great. Thank you. I just No, that's a that's a totally good question. So yeah, like we obviously when we do our reconciliations, we like to have less outstanding checks, like not more. It's frustrating. Usually in June, you're going to see like on the agenda like here are like your outstanding checks that like you like approved me to
cancel out. So that's coming next month. Good question. >> Thank you. >> Sometimes board members travel reimbursements have been on that list because we've forgotten to cash them. So >> all all sorts of things like that happen. >> Any other questions?
it. Brown and Brown was approved at the rework meeting in January. >> I thought so. I didn't want to say to I don't like to say unless I have like the documents in front of me, but I'm pretty certain >> the legal agreement. >> Yeah, it's it's something it's >> all the professionals all the key professionals.
>> It's all an agenda item. I I recall that. But I I was what I'm asking was the legal agreement. >> Right. So at your reorganization meeting, the whole purpose of it is to reorganize and approve key professionals. It was approved then. That would have been a better time to
ask that question, but like if you need anything further, email me. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I don't have I don't have any brown and brown documentation with me. We saw that it was approved. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um before we vote, I just want to uh provide some data that last time I
shared about uh since we joined this uh broker uh our healthc increase uh from single digit like >> so do me Dr. Wang do me a favor save that for the end of the meeting for the like good of the order for the board members that your your comments that
you're making your feedback is an opinion and it's not related to passing the agenda items. >> This is discussion. Please save that to the end of the meeting. It's not a discussion. You could abstain from voting on like the healthcare for our staff like if you want to, but it's not pertaining to the
information that we're going to vote on. You're giving your opinion on them. Please just say that there's a section for that at the end of the meeting. Please do that. >> This is you open the discussion for agenda item. >> This isn't this isn't an agenda item. >> Agenda item. This is agenda item we want
to discuss and approve on is 3.6. >> 3.6 Six is nothing to do with the broker. You said that your conversation was about the broker. This is approving the different companies that provide health insurance for our staff. It's not related. Your comment belongs at the end
of the agenda for the good of the order for the board. That's where the comment belongs. And you'll have your >> five is shift renewal, right? >> Yes. 3.5 is shift renewal. >> Why we don't have other options on the
table for the board to take? What other options do you want? Private pay or the state health plan? >> We could go to We could go to the state plan at 32% if you want. >> Sorry, but what would you want us to do? Do you want us to change the plan on right now in the middle of of of a
meeting and have like Yes, it's high. Everything else is higher. >> Have we not heard this over and over? >> You heard about We all heard about that. Then that means we have to look at the historical data. The historical data is >> historical data isn't how health insurance is built. It's built by your
experience rating. So you can have historical data from 5 years ago that's very cheap and everybody gets sick and new drugs come out and healthcare goes up more. Historical data is not going to help you here. This isn't like the teaching data. This isn't the test scores. This is very different. It's
done by an experience rating. That's how your health insurance is gauged. Just like your car insurance or your home insurance. It's how many claims you put in. Are you upside down on your claims? Are you making more claims than you pay in? That's how health insurance works.
>> And you lock it for our school district, the public and the staff. >> No, it's not. Yeah, don't don't. It's don't don't comment where it's not blocked. There's nothing that's blocked. In fact, we have the broker, but that's not
>> Well, it's not locked either. The broker is going in and finding the best >> rates for us. That is what they do. Well, they have to stick with the shift renewal, >> which >> has the most amount of options for our employees, which is the best part also
position that we could be in at this. >> So, I'm going to help out. Miss Franco Herman's part of OFF. Not to put her on the spot. She has made comment. The broker. >> Thanks a lot. >> So, we I'm just saying you've heard this information. That's what I'm saying. The broker had provided all of the plans
that he markets us out to. His obligation is to get us the best price possible. He gets us the best price possible from the plans that are available to us as a New Jersey public school based on our experience rating, which is half almost of what the state health benefit plan is. So, he did his
work. He vetted this information out. He's been on the off meeting. This is May probably three of the five months since January cuz this is a big deal. Mr. Finn is doing an excellent job. Nobody's happy with the rates, but he's doing the best that he can in the
environment that we're working in. >> I think um Dr. W, I think your question I if I understand correctly that if they have >> seen other options offered brokers, other brokers if they have seen all that
and analyze the data between two different brokers and then decided to go with brown and brown is that your question? >> If that is the question, one of your question I'm just saying that if that is the question then of committee
>> would be the one who would be talking about all that stuff you can't you don't you don't work under multiple brokers you can't go and say I want this broker give me prices this brokers you work with one broker they're calling the same insurance companies they're sending the
experience rating out so if I'm the broker and I'm they're farming out the experience it doesn't matter Miss Valentine is the broker farming doubt the experience the experience is what drives the place >> and Brown and Brown is probably has most of the districts in the in the state of
New Jersey. So does that answer your question like it's not like you know wait it it they've gone with an experience took >> and that's for the shift right is there any other because some other school is not >> it's either private or the state or
visual >> there's three options private >> selfinsured or state those are your three options >> we tried the selfinsured route our renewals came back drastically high >> the state plan is drastically high.
>> So we're in the best of the three not so great options. >> So when you take self insurance, you have to take pre uh insurance for that. >> Like say if the claim is very high, >> then there has to be a cap cap.
>> We have to pay out no matter what. So if we have self insurance, so if I budgeted $20 million for self insurance healthcare and we pay $20 million worth of claims out the first 6 months of the year and there's $20 million worth of claims like the second half of the year,
I'm obligated to pay those claims and we would have to fire a lot of teachers to pay those claims. So that's why the broker said, "Hey, this isn't really a good plan coming out of COVID. Let's go in the private plan." He got us into an exclusive HIF health insurance fund based on our good experience rating. So,
we have a relatively healthy staff and we have good renewals that are around half of the state health benefit plan. The people that are in the state plan, they would love to be in our plan, but they can't because they're like the driver with bad a bad driving history and they have to have a bad renewal.
That's why we're in this plan. It's not great. Jim Finn has over 30 years of experience. He's one of the best in the state. He gets nothing from the board of education for us to be in this health plan. >> Before we join this plan, was we our
school district self insurance? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And that was like 2% of the increase and now after we joined them, it's 14%. >> We can't we can't verify your data. You weren't on the board at the time. I wasn't at the board at the time. Jim, hold on. Please let me finish. I didn't
interrupt you, but Jim Finn was here last month and he provided the actual data when we transitioned from uh self insurance to the private plan. So, just look at the tape from last month from Jim Finn. You could get that data. >> Wait, go ahead. >> No, I was just going to ask Dr. Wang
like what year are you looking at? Because if it's the COVID year, claims were really low during the CO home. Nobody went to the doctors. Nobody left their house. >> I'm looking at year 2022 and 2023. Those are those that >> Yeah. coming out of co
>> Yeah, of course. >> You're looking at the rates that we paid. May I May I click on that? >> Yes. >> Because I I I you many people here know that I work for the New Jersey Education Association and I actually work on healthcare as one of the issues that I work on and healthcare rates everywhere
have gone insane. They are rising by double digits. It doesn't matter what the rates were 5 years ago in this district. Every district is going through this right now or almost every district is going through this right now. There are districts whose rates have gone up even more than ours have.
And to look at rates from 5 years ago and say if we had a different broker or we chose a different kind of health insurance, we might have lower rates is just false. There is no other way to say it. You cannot look at prior rates and compare them to these. That is a ridiculous assumption. It tells me that
you don't really understand, no offense, but you really don't understand how the health insurance marketplace works. I will be happy to go have coffee with you and sit and explain it to you in great detail how it works and why it is becoming so expensive. And also you also
have to trust that the off committee they already looked at this and you have to be willing to accept that they are making a recommendation based on the knowledge that they received. I am not on that committee but I am assuming that the people on did their due diligence
and looked at rates. I disagree with you because uh the data from other school districts speak for different thing. I think we can I'm ready to vote. Uh as I mentioned since we joined that the increases went to think uh double digit 14%
in school year 2023 >> probably irrelevant but I also want to add in the private sector health insurance rates are going up too. So it's not exclusive to um priv to school districts every everybody has experiences. agree with you that this
year that's the case. >> OFF had a Mr. Finn on the call today for a breakthrough prescription savings potential plan that no one in the state of New Jersey has had. So if you want to talk about spearheading a plan to save money
insurance, we are like in position number one of almost 600 districts to try to save money. I'd say we're doing our due diligence looking forward to save money on our healthcare so we could retain as many of our excellent teachers and staff as we possibly can because that's the only reason that we're trying
to do this is to get the best deal possible for the public and keep as many of our teachers as possible to not have them be casualties to healthcare. Are there any other questions on agend if you have any information on 3.10?
Um, we are approving something. Employee assistance program. Do you know anything about that Barry? >> Yes. >> I was going to say I know about it too, but if you wanted to go ahead. >> I was going to say it's through uh Pen Medicine and it's an employee assistance program that we offer to all staff. It's
a confidential support service for staff that basically have personal challenges. And it went up 80 cents per staff member this year. >> Does that help? >> Yeah. >> Excellent. >> And 3.9 a shared 911.com is kind of like
a panic button stuff. >> Share 911's an emergency notification platform. Uh it provides two-way communication and notification to us around the building um if there's any kind of emergencies and it also notifies like emergency services
>> and can also tell us who's missing. So it'll say lockdown and then teachers can report like someone's missing and everybody gets so they excellent for that person. It's a wonderful resource. >> All right. So, if there's no other
questions, then we can um start on the vote. >> We're going to do a roll call vote for 1.1 to 4.1. And if you have any like notations, Miss Valentine will take them down. We'll begin with you, Dr. W. >> Uh abstain for 3.5 and 3.6.
>> Yes to everything else. >> Yes. >> Noted. Thank you, Mr. Pepper. Yes to everything except on 1.1C. I have to recuse myself from incident number 3305168. >> Do me a favor. Could you just say the case like one more time for me a little
slower? I'm sorry. >> Sorry. Incident 3305168. Do you want the rest of the number or is that enough? >> No, that that's okay. Okay. You don't have it. I have it. >> Franco Herman. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Swirling.
>> Yes. But I would like to recuse on 1.1C 305168. >> The same one. Okay. >> Thank you, >> M. Harris. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nunes. >> Yes. Mr. Narand. >> Yes. >> Mr. Spina.
>> Yes. >> Thank you. The motions carry. >> Okay. At this time, we have our 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 at the board. Before you make your comment, please state your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided for mindful 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 or discourteous remarks. Public comment portion 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 the session. Are there any public comments? Should I go over here? >> I don't know.
So, first good evening everyone. My name is Joanna Malika. I'm a parent of a third grader and a sixth grader in our district. I'm also an engineer and a psychologist. Over the past year, I have become increasingly concerned about the amount
of screenbased learning in our schools, especially in the lower grades. I want to be very clear. Uh I'm not anti-technology. I understand that digital literacy matters. As an engineer, um I see its value. But as a
psychologist, I'm concerned about how it may be impacting our children's development as well as their mental and physical health. In order to better understand how parents in our district feel about this topic, I initiated screens with
purpose and uh with other parents, we created an informal informal parent. As of today, we have received nearly 200 responses. The results show that this is not just one parent's concern. About 90% of
respondents indicated that they would prefer less screen learning either across all grades or specifically in the lower grades. Um, this is an informal poll, not a scientific study, but the
number of responses and the strength of the feedback show that many families care deeply about this topic and want a broader district conversation. Um, we are asking the district to consider three practical steps. First,
we asked for clearer clear clearer age appropriate guidelines around screen used by grade level so parents uh better understand when, why, and how often technology is being used. Second, we ask
the district to prioritize paper, books, handwriting, teacherled instruction, and hands-on learning when technology is not truly necessary. Third, we ask for a working group that includes parents, teachers, administr
administrators, and experts to review classroom technology use and help create thoughtful uh recommendations. Especially now in a world where artificial intelligence can perform many technological tasks for us, I believe it
is even more important to protect the most human skills. Our children need time to develop attention, patience, creativity, problem solving, handwriting, face-to-face communication, and the ability to think deeply without
constant digital assistance. These are the skills that cannot be replaced by technology, and they need to be practiced intentionally in school. I hope we can work together as a district to make sure technology is used with purpose, not simply because it's
available. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. So, my name is Caroline. I'm a mom of four. I'm a medical doctor specializing in dyslexia, ADHD, um, education. I want to I want to begin by
saying something very clearly. Like Joanna said, this is not an anti-technology speech. Technology is part of the world and it can be extraordinary, can help children with dyslexia like my son uh support accessibility and open incredible
opportunities, but tonight I'm here to ask a simple questions. Are we still using technology as a tool or are children slowly being asked to adapt themselves to the tool? Um because what science is increasingly
showing us is deeply concerning. So their children spend more walking hours at school than at home. Parents are constantly told to limit screen exposure, reduce video games, avoid overstimulation, protect sleep attention and maintain health. We had amazing
workshop from the township a few weeks ago. And yet in school screens are becoming the default environment for learning. or works are on the computer learn YouTube assignments educational and video games at vs with um don't
remember the name of the video game anyway it's for math movie movies are used as a reward first grade with my children GDL platforms replacing paper and we are introducing all these during
the exact years when the brain is still developing its capacity for attention, self-re self regulation, reading comprehension and deep thinking. The issue is not whether screens are efficient. They are screen capture
attention instantly. They can groups quickly. They simplify the organization. But efficiency does not automatically mean better learning. More than 60 years ago of co of cognitive science points in the same
direction. Children learn more deeply on paper than on screen. On screens children process information faster but more superficially. The schemes they scroll they scan. But deep learning requires something very different. Substain attention slower
processing reflection and memory consolidation. and attent attention itself is now becoming one of the greatest educational crises in in our time. Digital environments train the brain toward
constant stimulation, fast rewards, rapid switching, conscience novel. But a child's brain is not bad for endless stimulation. It is bad for depth. And when the brain becomes accustomated
to constant dopamine drive engagement, effort itself becomes harder. Reading becomes harder. Waiting becomes harder. Thinking becomes harder. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> There any other public comments? Seeing none, public comment portion of today's meeting is closed. Did I just say something? >> Thank you both for coming out. This has been um a district topic. It's part of
our strategic plan and I have been in discussion with uh Mr. Jeff Brooks, our director of technology. He has with Miss Borland, the director of curriculum instruction, who spoke earlier today, um collected data from the teachers on what's going on because this is something that we are seriously looking
at. and I have your email with your data and I really appreciate it and we will be in touch because I love the idea of having the working group with staff administrative administrators and parents. So just stay tuned. Thank you.
>> It's very important. >> Thank you. >> All right. So there is nothing else. Anyone else have any other comments? If not then we need a motion to Close the meeting. >> So move.
>> All in favor? >> I >> extensions.