This is the North Brunswick Township Board of Education meeting. It's our regular public meeting for August. Could we all please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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. >> Mr. Ali >> here, >> Mr. Carter >> here, >> Miss James >> here, >> Miss Keefe >> here, >> Mr. Lori, >> Dr. Patel >> here,
>> Mr. Singh >> here, >> Miss Toth >> here, >> and Mr. Wen >> here. >> We have a quarum. >> Thank you. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business
affecting their in their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the open public meetings law, the public notice of this meeting, which included the time, date, and location, was distributed by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, and Wednesday,
November 27th, 2024 in the following manner. Posted on the bulletin board reserved for announcements in the board office, 25 Lynwood Place, North Brunswick. Mailed to the Home News Tribune, Starledger, NJ.com, and the clerk of the township of North
Brunswick, and delivered to the nine duly elected board members. Well, good evening everyone. It's good to see some folks in our audience tonight, and good evening to the rest of my team. We definitely have uh a lot of
exciting things on the horizon with the new school year starting on Tuesday. uh September 2nd, but we've also uh welcomed back staff uh teachers, administrators, our custodians, plant
managers over the last couple of days and throughout the summer that have been working very hard to get our buildings ready for opening um officially for Tuesday the 2nd. So, as a board, I just
wanted to uh speak on behalf of the group for a moment. We have had the chance to tour our district buildings throughout the last couple of days and there has been so much done over the
summer in order to get our buildings ready and prepared for our children to come back um next week. And it truly I think the saying that comes to mind at most is it truly takes a village. We um
have been, you know, amazed over the last couple of days how hard our staff, our plant managers, custodians um are are, you know, performing in our buildings to make sure that everything is ready, is safe, is secure for the
return of the rest of the staff, but also the students. Our teachers and staff members have been getting their rooms together. It was so amazing to see. Um, and the improvements that the buildings uh endured over the summer
were incredible to see. Um, so on behalf of the board, we truly thank every single person that has contributed to the getting of our buildings ready. Um, all of the amazing work that's being done. We are so excited to have the
community members and parents see the upgrades, see the changes that have taken place over the summer um in our buildings at back to school night in September. Um so we are just very excited for another great year. It's
definitely the turn of a a tide, a new chapter, and we're really really excited to have a great school year start very soon. So on behalf of the board, thank you everyone. [Music]
So tonight we have a presentation and at this time I will turn it over to our superintendent of schools, Dr. Brian Sakowski. >> Yes. >> Good evening. Thank you, Madam President. And uh welcome to our millions of viewers. Don't be nervous
tonight. Miss Chang and Miss Morales is the audience in person is small, but the uh audience watching I hear the record numbers. Although I believe the channel has now been changed >> to 1300. >> Yes. >> Same joke.
>> No, >> new term, same joke. >> No new term, same joke. Yes. I got more laughter the first time around. I understand why. But I do want to say that we're a new channel 1300. Um we'll be having uh the we're reviving the mayor and superintendent show in the
near future and looking forward to keeping everybody posted about that updating um as we certainly have a lot to talk about. But before I am able to give my report I think an even more important report is our report for uh our access for L's results. So with that
I'll miss Mercy Chang. >> Good evening everybody. Can you hear me? Is it on? >> No, I don't. It's on now. I will hold. Hi. We meet again. As I said in our last meeting, it'll be like a few a few of these. Take
our testing show on the road. Um we're really excited to share this year's results with you. Um obviously, it is our responsibility um according to the state to share these with you within 60 days of us getting the printed reports which we already mailed out to parents.
But in addition to it being a responsibility, it's also something that we are proud to share with you, especially given this year's growth. So, we're really excited to share some really astounding growth. And I do not want to take credit for that growth. I'll be co-presenting with Mrs. Mrs.
Justennia Morales, who is the ELLL supervisor for our district. Um, I probably won't get a chance to come back up here when she's done. So, I want to make sure to thank the ESL staff across the district who has been working really diligently uh to improve our programs
and in turn um you'll see positive results in our assessments. Um I will give my usual overview of what is access for L's. Um I gave you each a presentation in case you prefer to look
down at your papers. It is a long name the title assessing comprehension and communication in English uh state-to-state because each state does have different requirements. When you go on the WEDA website, you have to actually select the state that you're working with and we are one of 41 states
who uses um this assessment to assess students language proficiency. Uh obviously it's a wellrespected assessment. We do this annually. There is no um option for that. And so our ESL students do end up taking the NJSLA access for L's and if they're in high
school um as juniors the NJGPA all in one year. And those results Mrs. Morales uses in combination whether his data points as long along with the teachers um screeners, teacher recommendations, formative assessments to determine who will need to continue ESL services. Uh
but this really has the heavier weight. So students who score above four at 4.5 um typically exit the program and we haven't finalized all the data but we're thinking we're going to have over 17 students >> access
>> on the access alone exit the program and then with other measures we might have more before the kiddos come back into our classrooms. So, obviously I can't let you tour the buildings while we're testing, but I can share with you what it looks like for
our students. Sorry, I clicked all the way through. Um, what it looks like for our students uh when they're taking this test. This is a laborintensive assessment. Uh, it has to be administered by the students teacher who provides the service
wherever possible. So, obviously, if someone's ill, we're we're going to do our best. Um but the state does expect that whoever is providing the ESL instruction administers the assessment. Uh so we do it in small groups and a lot of training is required of teachers. We
appreciate the support of the board of education and our administrators Dr. Z Amy uh because we do have to pull all teachers offline to come and do their training, their required training. And then every year they take a quiz. I I try to take one every year too just so I
understand what's expected of them. And if they pass with an 80, they can administer the assessment. Um, they can help students with technology questions and they can clarify directions, but they can't speak to students in their home language and they obviously can't answer contentbased questions. The
reason it's labor intensive is because students can take the entire day um which some of them do. So that obviously impacts scheduling. Um, if a child is taking longer, that teacher cannot end testing and go teach. So that's kind of
what it looks like for our students. This year, uh, we tested between February 3rd and March 28th. I do not randomly pick those dates. The state gives them to me. And, uh, we work around them. We do have a long window because, uh, the students are tested in
four domains, reading, listening, speaking, and writing. That all encompasses, you know, language acquisition. And the tests are chunked in the following matter. You have a K test which is given to students individually. You have a one test but
then at grade two and three they're kind of chunked together four, five, six, eight and then a high school assessment. Um all students must test in all areas to receive a summitive score. We did have a few students who were exempt from um particular domains due to an IEP or a
504 and then the state sends us a composite score um where they do the calculations because one domain was missing. And this year we tested 571 students. All of our grades 1 through 12 students do this on the computer. So, we also
thank our technology department for ensuring that our um tech is ready available. It's uh it can be tricky when you're listening and speaking into a microphone. So, we want to make sure that any none of our tests are invalidated due to tech issues. Um
students in grades one through three do do their writing assessment on paper. And this year, K students did the entire test on paper. My understanding is that that will be digital moving forward, but I have not received confirmation of that as of yet.
So, these are the performance levels. And I don't think I've ever done this before, but I want to give you a brief definition of each level so you understand. It's on my phone. I apologize. So, you understand what the expectation is. Um, like I said, we want
them, they need to be at a 4.5, which is tricky. it's like between expanding and bridging um in order to exit. So, it's not a clean um cut. But level one demonstrates a very basic understanding of English. So, you're talking your newcomers um straight from maybe
potentially another country or maybe just had never spoken English at the home. Level two shows emerging English language skills with some understanding but more support needed. Level three, these students are developing. This is where most of our students fall and Mrs.
Morales will explain. Um, a student at this level is developing their English skills and can use English for some academic tasks, usually more for math than for ELA. Level four, expanding, shows expanding language skills is progressing toward academic content
mastery. Level five, bridging. A student at this level can bridge English language skills to access content across academic subjects. So now you're talking even a native speaker has trouble with academic language. So you're asking the
ML students to acquire that language and use it across the day. And then lastly, level six. And you've seen in the past um that we don't have a lot of students in the reaching range, which makes sense because they don't speak English. So a lot of them aren't going to hit the six
or are going to exit before they ever get to the six. similar to native English speakers in their ability to understand and use English in academic and social settings. Okay, so those are the levels. Um statewide, I mean
generally everyone's performing about the same. Um I just actually had these friends would call me to ask me like what's our exit rate? You know, they really want to improve it. They're kind of falling in the same categories as us. Um and that makes sense for the students and their development in the English
language. So, we have lots of amazing data, but like I said, especially when it's good news. I don't want to steal the thunder. And Mrs. Morales is going to share the numbers with you. Obviously, numbers statically just don't mean much. So, we also included slides
um that show the growth that we made. That way, we can see how they performed this year and then comparison to uh what did that look like last year and how much growth growth was there. Any questions before I sit? Thank you so much. It's very nice to see
you. >> Thank you. >> Hi, good evening members of the board. Um so tonight I will be presenting the spring 2025 access for L's results from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. Um these uh results really provide us
some valuable insight into our students English language development and help to guide how we support them in both language acquisition and academic achievement. Um so this spring as we mentioned we uh tested 571 students and
290 of those were elementary students. These uh this test measures uh progress in the uh English proficiency across all six levels from entering to reaching. While the data does give us a snapshot of where the students are, really what's most important is the story that it
tells us about their growth um from our youngest learners beginning their journey to our oldest at the high school which are advanced into higher levels of proficiency. Um so right now in kindergarten over half of our students are just beginning their English
language learning journey which is exactly where we would expect them to be. Um so by first grade however if you look at that we see a strong shift upwards um nearly 3/4ers of our students are already in the emerging or
developing stages. So this tells us that our early literacy and oral language supports are helping our students uh gain that confidence very quickly from going from kindergarten to first grade. Um by second and third grade the majority of our students already have
moved into the developing stage. This is a sign of real progress for us because it means that our students are not only building everyday uh language, our social language. Um but they are also starting now to engage in academic vocabulary and more complex classroom
tasks. The fact that so many of our students were concentrated there shows us that our programs are effectively moving our students forward grade by grade. And then by fourth grade um the the results were super exciting for me
because by nearly 40% of our students were now in expanding bridging or reaching levels which are the highest levels of English proficiency. So importantly some of our students are reaching the point where they're just ready to transition out of ESL or have
already exited out of ESL because of those scores. Um, so this is a clear sign that the supports and the instructions that we have in place are working for our students. Sec. So um this is a comparison chart. So
when we compare our cohorts from when they started in kindergarten to for uh first grade um we see an 8% reduction in students at the entering and emerging levels. what what we see is an 8% shift then into the developing and expanding.
So for our young learners, this is really a good sign that our foundational literacy skills are working because then we see that from kindergarten to first grade, they did move that level up that we want that the state expects to see. um from first to second grade that was
where we saw the most dramatic progress because uh between first and second grade we saw a 34% jump into developing and expanding um while the percentage of students in the earliest levels dropped by the same amount. This tells me um that in just one year over a third of
our students advanced into more acade academically ready uh levels which is a remarkable accomplishment for our ESL and bilingual teachers. Um and then in our second and third grade um growth we uh we see their
consistent forward movement 11% fewer students at our earliest levels um and 11% more in our developing and expanding. So this steady progress shows me that we're continuing to build their academic English and they're advancing through more complex academic um
content. and then third to fourth grade. Um, in this transition from third to fourth grade, this story becomes even more encouraging. Not only did we see a 20% uh 21% drop in students at the beginning levels, but we also saw a 13% increase in developing and expanding and
then we saw an 8% increase in students reaching and bridging. So, this is a huge step forward for us because that means that like I said, our students are achieving the highest levels of our English language proficiency. Um if we then turn to our upper
elementary and middle school results um for grades 5 through 8 this year we assessed 148 students that's 39 more than we did last year which shows that our learn our multilingual population is continu continuing to grow. Uh what you'll see in these results is steady
progress. Uh the growth at this at these grades um often looks a little bit different than at the elementary level. The access test becomes more rigorous as students get older, requiring higher levels of academic English and uh students academic foundation in their
native language also plays a bigger role in how quickly they move forward. The more proficient a student is in their native language, the easier it is for them to acquire English. So if students come a little bit later in the school year, they don't start with us in kindergarten, it makes it a little bit
harder for um us to for them to acquire language and especially after age 11, it becomes even more difficult. Um but even so um this data reflects consistent upward movement. So in the fifth grade, we see a healthy distribution across all
proficiency levels with 15% entering, 25% emerging, and 22% developing. But most notably, we see a 28% expanding and a 10% bridging. This is a very powerful sign for us. By the time that students finish their elementary school, nearly
40% of them are demonstrating higher level proficiency. Some of these students are already nearing readiness to exit their ESL services altogether. Um uh in sixth grade, we see almost half of our students, 46% are in the developing, which shows that they are
able to access already grade level content with support. We also have 11% at expanding and 3% at bridging. While progress here can seem a little bit slower, it's just important to remember that like I said that this test depend the demands much more academic language
at this stage. Um these students are being asked to read and write at increasingly uh complex levels which is a challenge even for native English speakers. Um so the fact that they are holding steady in developing and expanding is a true success. So even
though this might not see you might not see the the big shift in our their scale scores, you can see the progress and the growth. Um in grade seven the majority of students are again in developing and emerging ranges but 17% have reached
expanding although we don't see bridging or reaching at this grade level. This pattern like I said is very typical. So growth in these grades often happen a little bit more gradually but when student makes these gains they're a lot bigger and lasting. So um by grade 8 we
do see encouraging trends. The percentage of our students in entering drops just uh 10% the lowest across these grades while the majority 57% are developing and then uh and another 11% are expanding. This means that most of
our students are progressing out of their earliest stages and are preparing to enter high school with a strong English foundation. The movement out of entry is also a very good indicator for us. Um so this side here we are comparing their
performance again from last year's access test scores to this year's access test scores. Um, and like I said, a key factor to remember is that our enrollment has changed significantly. Um, we had 39 more students in this grade compared to last year. And many of
those students are also newcomers entering with the district with very limited English despite that. Um, our data still shows a steady upward progress. Um, with students continuing to move out of the earliest levels of proficiency levels into the middle and
higher ranges. Um that's something that we're very proud of. Um so between fifth and sixth grade we saw a 3% increase in developing and expanding compared to last year even with more students tested. Um while bridging and reaching
by 5% that is expected um since the test does get harder in middle school. Uh what matters the most though is that the students are moving in that middle range proficiency levels where we can see that they're engaging with that grade level content. Um by 6th to 7th grade the
shift is positive here. Compared to last year there are 10% fewer students in the entering and emerging and 10% more in the developing and expanding. So this tells us that even with the increase in newcomers joining the district, our students are still moving steadily
forward into those upper levels uh that with support for academic success. And then from grade nine um sorry grade seven to grade 8 um the change here is a little more gradual with a 4% reduction in entering and emerging and a 4%
increase in developing and expanding. While the movement may look smaller, it reflects to me a steady growth on much more demanding version of this test. Um this this gain means to me that the students are strengthening the advanced lang uh academic language that they'll need for their coursework for high
school. And then our grade 8 that are entering into grade nine comparison. I was very happy there too. Um we saw 13% decrease in our lower levels entering and emerging and a 13% increase in our
developing and expanding. So compared to last year's cohort. So this is especially encouraging because it means that a lot of more of our students that are entering the high school level have that stronger English foundation. So we will uh despite the fact that we continue to welcome new arrive new
newcomers and who are just beginning their English language journey. All right. So now we're going to take a look at the our secondary our high school results through uh grades 9 through 12. Um so this spring we tested 133 high school students uh five more
than we did last year. Um it is important to note that our high school group does include a number of newcomers entering the district with little or no English which influences those percentages. Um despite that once again the improvement is notable across all of
our proficiency levels. Um so in grade nine the majority of our students um are in the developing range at 44% with another 15 at expanding. Um this means that most of our students entering the high school are able to uh participate in grade level learning with scaffolds
and support and about 23% are at entering and 18% at emerging which is expected given that some of these students are brand new to our district and uh learning and to English learning all together. Um what stands out here though is that nearly 60% of our ninth
graders are already um beyond the earliest stages of language uh acquisition. For 10th grade, we see a similar profile with 41% developing, 14% expanding, and 17% emerging, and 20% are
entering, reflecting the fact that high school continues to receive newcomers. Like I said, um we are encouraged that over half of our 10th graders are in the developing and expanding, meaning that we're building, we're continuing to build that academic English that they need to handle high school content um
and coursework. By 11th and 12th uh by 11th grade the group diversifies a little bit further and 34% are emerging, 24% are developing and 17% are expanding. Um here we see fewer student students at the entering level which is
24% compared to our 9th and 10th graders showing that many have advanced um into those higher levels since their initial entry into the district. At this point, students are developing more complex academic language that they are required to have for graduate graduation
readiness and those post-secary pathways. Um, and then finally in our 12th grade, we continue to see both growth and the impact of our newcomers. 33% are developing, 28% are emerging, and 36% are entering. While the
percentage at at entering looks higher, this this just reflects the reality that many of our older newcomers that arrive in the US um during the high school and are assessed for the first time at at this level. It's just that's just going to skew our our percentages. Um but
these students face, you know, unique challenges balancing English acquisition with meeting their graduation requirements in a very short period of time. um because usually it takes 7 to 10 years to become to speak like a native fluent English speaker. But
despite all of that, we see 33% of our seniors follow solidly in the developing um level and making those academic progresses. Sorry. [Music] So this slide compares our high school
multilingual growth uh scores from last year. Um so from 9th through 10th grade um we saw uh 3% decrease in students at the entry and emerging and an 8% increase in students reaching bridging
and reaching which is the highest proficiency. While there was a dip in the a 6% dip in the developing and expanding, this trade-off actually reflects progress. Some of those students advanced into bridging, which is exactly where I would I love that
they are. I want them to be there. Um then from 10th to 11th grade, from the shift from 10th to 11th, the data is also very encouraging. We saw an 8% reduction in entering and emerging um and a 12% increase in developing and expanding. That means that more of our
students are leaving those earlier stages and moving into the higher proficiency levels where they can engage in more in that academic learning more independently. And we also saw a 2% increase in bridging and reaching showing that the students are continuing to break into those higher levels. um
grade 11 through 12 um saw the biggest story from last year with a 20% decrease in entering and emerging um paired with a 17% increase in developing and expanding and a 3% increase in bridging and reaching. So this dramatic shift
upward means that far fewer seniors remain at those beginning uh stages of the English uh acquisition and many more are moving into those higher levels of proficiency that are preparing them to graduate. Um so
um what we have changed and the things that we have done to enhance our multilingual program has been a couple of things. Um first we rolled out our new curriculum across uh K12 that is designed specifically to meet uh the
needs of our multilingual learners at the elementary school level. We are now using benchmark from grades K uh six which strengthens our early literacy and language foundations. Um, in grades 7 through 8, we introduced um,
bridges and also a reading program called rewards, which focuses on phonics, fluency, and uh, reading comprehension. Um, and those are very targeted supports for students transitioning into that higher level um, academic English. And then at the high school level, we've also introduced uh
new curriculum in our bilingual classes using engage, our ESL classes using Lyft, and then our ESL support classes using Rewards, which is a reading support program. Um we also introduced Summit K12, which is a computer-based program that allows students to practice
these language skills online. This um this platform allows students individualized practice in listening, reading, writing, and speaking. and it helps to reinforce what they're learning in the classroom and it gives the teachers real-time data um so that we can target the support where it's most
needed. We also added within these couple years monitoring and data meetings. So in addition uh we developed monitoring and progress forms so that we can track both uh current and former multilingual students a little bit more closely. Uh we launched our ESL data
team meetings where we meet um quarterly to review our student performance, analyze the access data and collaborate on strategies and more targeted support. Um we also have more targeted professional development um not just for ESL and bilingual teachers but also for
general education teachers. Um this ensures that every teacher in the district no matter what their content area is better equipped with strategies to support our multilingual learners in the classroom. And this has been a critical shift since our most of our multilingual students spend the majority
of their day um in general education classrooms. So these are all of the enhancements um which have worked together to create a stronger more responsive program. Um these these changes along with our great staff is why we're seeing the steady growth
across all grade levels. Thank you. Board members questions. >> I actually have a question or I was just um just curious to know suppose you have a first grader who walks in you know again no English at all and then you have a eighth grader or 10 nth grader walking in at the same time both zero
English experience. As far as a curriculum goes are you starting them off with the same stuff or is it different things because of their age being different? >> It's different. Um we have to give them their grade appropriate content. Okay. Um that's why we support um it depends
the eighth grader that walks in if that student is a slight student meaning have they have um interrupted formal education. If there is and that's where like the reading programs come in right where we give them that phonics that fluency um that reading comprehension. If they are proficient in their native
language, then we give them we don't we pull back that um that course and then we place them in a either a bilingual program depending if there are um Spanish speaker MLS or if they're non- Spanish speakers and we place them in a high intensity but everything would be
grade appropriate. >> Okay. >> And based to their uh language proficiency >> okay makes sense. Thank you. >> So just go uh going off of your like what you you responded. So if the students are different languages, whether it's Spanish, whether it's
Hindi, u or Arabic, whatever, um how do you differentiate that instruction for them? Cuz I know you said it like higher intensity, but what does that look like? Cuz there's a I feel like there's a lot of not I feel there are a lot of different like cultural and just like nuances. So what does that look like
from like the user end? Um, so it looks a little bit different in um in a bilingual classroom which mainly um is for our Spanish speaking population of multilingual students. Um there that class is more of a mixed proficiency level um because they're getting uh
either their ELA or math uh content there. Um and then where we differentiate is their ESL classes where they get receive one period of ESL. So they're either placed in beginner, intermediate or advanced. Um, so there the ESL teacher could work on more of
the targeted language approach. Um, and our bilingual teachers, they do scaffold. So even though they would have a mixed level group, they are scaffolding based on their the students proficiency levels. So we might provide more sentence frames for one student or
more vocabulary or more visuals. Um, we might present them with different graphic organizers. The text might look a little bit different. It would be the same content but it would be chunk with simple simpler language um in our bilingual or high intensity classes.
>> So like the the different dichotoies of languages we have do we cuz I know we we were talking about this like last few years I guess as a board at least since I've been here like sometimes I have to go out and search for the material. So, like if you have three different languages, do do you have that stuff
really accessible or do you have to like scramble and find it for like different languages other that aren't uh Spanish? >> So, um Spanish is the easiest but not that easy to find. Um and then all the other languages we do have to pull like
different resources um because those sometimes are not necessarily read by readily available. So, um, Spanish is the I want to use air quote the most common, but not every curriculum is translated or has authentic Spanish
um, text or materials. Um, so we have to vet it very carefully because if it's translated, sometimes the words are a little bit too difficult even for our native speakers because they might not have proficiency in their in the Spanish language to that level. Um, so
it's it's it's a game of looking for what's best. Um, but I am happy with Benchmark because they do use authentic text. So, it's not a onetoone translation. So, we don't have that um where the vocabulary is um out of the
students range. >> I'm happy to hear benchmark is working. >> Oh, no. I love it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I have a couple of comments and questions. So, um, the tests are structured in the following clusters range in tiers A through C with C being
the highest. Do you all select whether you do A through C or is it automatically populated that they would >> Yeah, that's automatically populated through the test. Okay. So, they test first for reading and listening. Once that is once they test for that, they're
right. the test automatically puts them into tiers based on how these board in their reading and listening. Okay. >> Um and it'll either put them in a tier A which is the lower and then or tier BC which is the higher for writing and speaking. >> Okay. Um and then I'm seeing that the
4.5 is the proficiency level for one exit criteria for them. >> That is the state arbitrary cut off. I don't >> no agree. I a 4.5, right? >> Um, so it's an overall composite score
of all every of of all all those different domains. >> Okay. And in addition to the 4.5 on the access, what other criteria is relevant for them to exit out of? >> So they have to be performing at their at the level of their peer. So they when they exit, they should be reading, um,
writing, doing their core content at at their peers level based at at their peers grade level. >> Okay? because I feel like that is a necessary lens for us to look through because if we're looking at comparison from 24 to
25, those that hit 4 and a half and probably also met that other criteria are not really in this comparator group, right? From 24 or 23 24 to 2425, right? Because they would have been exited. >> They may have exited. >> Okay. Um
>> but we do still track them though to make sure that um they're they're progressing. >> Yes. In just their academics generally outside of the Okay. Um, and just a comment on the data
is I think it's valuable that we're looking at the decrease in the emerging entering and emerging and then the increase in the developing and expanding but for the the younger grades which I totally understand you know and I think one data point that we've been looking
for is again if we can like tag them as to when they come in I think that would be helpful for us going forward but I do think I think that's harder a harder ask. You know, it sounds easy from here, but I do understand it's probably a harder ask to actually like identify what year, what grade they came in from
out of country. Um, but for us to better understand it, I think that we're we're what we're all hoping and looking for is that the changes in entering and emerging that decrease is then captured in the development and expanding. Right? So
assuming that we are kind of comparing apples to apples and actually like tracking that cohort, we would see for example a negative -3 uh um percent and changes in emerging and entering and then the the positive six or um something over the negative three,
right? To kind of capture that there is like that kind of surplus that abundance in in progress. Um and that is just a comment for future reference. >> Absolutely valid comment. Yeah, >> it is very hard sometimes to compare apple to apples with our groups because they are a very transient group. Um so
sometimes so it's harder to track the cohorts we do um using the program elevation. Okay. um the uh our ESL and bilingual teachers and also our general ed teachers have that um so they could track they see the data and the growth there from year to year along also we
put their um yearly goals whether where we want each kid depending on when they enter to to um move to the next level it's just harder to capture but we do track that and I do know we that's part of our ESL data team meetings where we
look at that um to make sure that all the kids where we get the kids based on where they're injuring. >> Okay. Thank you. >> My my question actually relates to what Alysia had just uh talked about. I remember earlier in the presentation you
had mentioned kind of the difference between grade four grade four then to then go to the a different school in five and we have other kids coming in from you know that didn't necessarily have the schooling and the programs that
we do at the elementary level. So, do you have those numbers that um like how many kids came in this year >> in fifth grade that were not in our schools prior to
>> I do I don't have that data on me. No worries. >> It is like I said in our elevation program cuz that's our ESL housing data. So, everything is there. It tracks like my lang how many languages are in the district. um how many kids have income
within the last 90 days. Okay. Um it tracks how many kids have exited and I'm monitoring. So all of that is housed there. So anything that I need that's kind of where I go. Okay. >> But I can share that. >> Yeah. I think we're obviously trying to dig into the and to the specifics of
this because we think this obviously is extremely important and you know thank you for being here tonight to present us this data because at the end of the day this happens every spring and it's important for us to see especially board members that have been on for several
years to see the differences over the last couple of years because our programs are evolving because we're you know having different curriculum so I think that's really important for us and maybe we can even look into having that be presented to us at a uh one of our committee meetings as well and to share
with the rest of the group. Um, one other question I had as well, the um targeted professional learning for the general education teachers and the bilingual teachers, can you share with us what some of that looks like? What you know kind of classes or programs
they're doing? >> So for the general ed teachers, they get more of a SCUP training. So that's more of a research framework about different strategies that they can use in lesson and lesson planning. >> Um for our ESL and bilingual teachers, that's a little more we're looking at
more like trans languaging techniques and allowing students to use their native language or their entire language repertoire in the classroom in order to make language more accessible. Um we do do a little bit of trans languaging with the general ed teachers, but not too much because that is a a whole other
thing. But um we do share strategies like TPR, the visuals, building background, making sure that we're reading um fiction, not non-fiction into our into our curriculum. That's why I love Ben Fentac because it does that already that knowledge building into
into our curriculum. Okay. >> So that is what we look at. >> Great. Thank you. >> Steve, did you So I had one quick question. So, and a lifetime ago, I worked at ETSs and we worked on like NAPE um assessments and like there's so
much data that goes out and asks about, you know, whether or not how many TVs you have in the house and stuff like that that can all affect learning. Um, and I guess the question I have is for the cohorts that we have that span multiple years, >> uh, and especially for those who then, you know, uh, exit out,
>> um, do we have a way to maybe find out are there things that, um, outside of school, outside of curriculum that might be a factor in helping them kind of move to that next level? Like are there factors that maybe they have whether
it's siblings who are older or they have you know they participate in sports or this or that like what are other external factors that could be a common theme in terms of helping them as they develop in and that's just kind of a general question comment.
>> So I we don't I don't necessarily track like what their extracurriculars are. I do know just off just talking to my my call my kids my my kids at the high school and stuff like that like they are in sports um definitely they like
baseball they play soccer um those are the two that I know that they're mostly interested in and they do um participate in I know that they're part of the Latin American club um there um I do actually try to get them to take the seal of
literacy also so that way we can bump up at um so they do participate in that. We also started um our ESL AVID class at the high school to make sure that we get them on the pathway to um postsecary
college and university and then also we were talking to King University to bring in the program alilante so that we can start actually at lower grade levels starting in the sixth grade to get them on that pathway. So, um there's a whole bunch of stuff and bringing in also the
community piece as well to make sure that we're engaging our parents into this process as well. And we've also started that I didn't mention here a bilingual parent committee where we I meet with the parents as well either virtually and sometimes in person where I update them on like the new
curriculum. I update them on all the new like all the back to school stuff cuz sometimes the parents that come new to this country don't know how to navigate our system. um and it gets a little bit confusing. So, we've added that component as well >> and that's across all grade levels. >> Yes. >> Excellent. >> Fantastic. Great. Congratulations.
>> I do want to add Steve, great great question about the environment. So, uh Miss Chang is in the back. We just recently heard the great news of the title money especially title three adding to the program. So the fact that um Miss Morales has already met with Kane University and not only from the
project adalente helping the younger grades and developing that um exposure and not supplanting but supplementing their uh education in math and language arts but also dual enrollment in the university because we often feel that
children who are working with language barriers have the capacity but do not have the uh I guess support to take a uh college level class because of a language barrier. Well, working with
Kane University, we have a SAPA program that u we were talking with Miss Morales and and the leader uh the uh administration at Kain University. And what surprises is really offering is not only the dual enrollment, but if you
enter Kane University, students are taking in their native language the first two years of their classes in their native language with supports, but by their soph junior or senior year, they have to they take their uh classes in English. Uh and the data is
remarkable that these students with these language barriers are outperforming their peers in GPA and um uh what they you know the uh years it takes to graduate right we all think it's four and no more but sometimes the
average students taken almost close to six years so and these uh sa students these adilante students were watching longitudally really make a difference because uh it's not the barrier, cognitive barrier, it's the uh language
barrier, but also I feel the exposure where the expectation is these students didn't have these u opportunities. And so through the work of great districts like North Brunswick and universities, not only Kaine, uh the College of New Jersey is providing training to many of
our teachers, get the bilingual uh you know, get their certificates. Um and we're working on another grant um to also bring in multiple universities to have it all subsidized where stu teachers of um that are instructional
aids will be able to get their teaching certificate so we can grow their own our own while they're working sponsored by the department of labor but funded through grant opportunities from our ed services commission of New Jersey. Uh so more to come about this but that's a
great question because I really think there's multi- uh variables right we we can't say it's causal in effect but one thing we do know is that under your leadership you mentioned a great staff great program support from the board of ed but your leadership leadership
matters uh you and your position and and making sure the execution of these programs are there and working with our teams and um I would love for you to illuminate a little bit about the data teams because I think it's important that you know you put it as one of the
areas that but it's not okay go to it we got new programs it's a constant monitoring and and an analyzing of data and we try to avoid the drip factor you all know the drip factor data rich information poor but having data teams looking at the constant data flow so
maybe you could talk about it but um I'm very excited to hear when you were talking to me about it so >> yeah so um I I kind of took it into my own a little because I know that um we have our data teams with our our grade levels um but we didn't really have one
for the ESL team. So I I took it upon myself and I created my own uh data team with them where I meet with the ESL teachers quarterly um after they take their um math assessment um and we meet and we review that data along with the
access scores along with the summit scores. So we uh plan everything out accordingly and we meet with the teachers to review all that data. Based on that data then we develop uh target plans on where we see they need to improve if it's the domain of speaking,
writing, reading or listening. Um then we create targeted plans for all of the teachers from K K through 4 develops that which they share out then with their general ed teachers. Um and then 58 does the same thing and then 9 through 12 and then um we then come back
review our data to make sure that that area where we thought first was the area of need is still a continued area of need. If not then we pivot to the next area of need and then that's how we continue to grow our students. >> I just think and you did it taking on
your own taking that initiative >> mean doing something new and and looking at a model that we use for other areas. I I just want to commend you for that because leadership matters and looking at data and bringing those who are working with our students in involved in the discussion around the table is so
important to monitor and look at you know keep the expertise from the people who are actually in the weeds doing the work. So um scores don't improve by themselves. Hope is not a strategy. So I I want to thank you for this uh work and of course pres presenting to as you can
see the board is very much in lock step and caring about the results and what's being presented and so thank you on behalf of the board for this wonderful report. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. [Applause] >> All right. Thank you again. We will
continue with the remainder of our meeting. We'll jump to item number six, our meeting minutes. Mr. Ali, would you please take item six? >> Yes, Madam President. I would like to make a motion to approve the following meeting
minutes. A special meeting from July 16th, executive meeting from July 16th, a board retreat meeting from July 21st, and a regular public meeting from July 30th. Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Is anyone opposed? All the uh minutes
are approved. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have any communications this evening? >> No new communications, Madam President. >> Okay. Thank you. We'll move to our reports. Um Dr. Zakowski, can we have your administrative report, please?
>> Yes, I do um have an administrative report and thank you again, Madam President. I do want to start off Miss Chang started the evening with an introduction to Miss Morales. So I want to thank Miss Miss Chang for her leadership in central office. I do want you to know a little bit about Miss
Chang. Um we got to give some context how hard she works. She's a avid reader, voracious reader. In fact, she reads so much. We did a little work at our administrative retreat and we were talking about movies and I always like to show clips of movies to reinforce some leadership themes and I showed a
clip from Animal House and I think she's the first person I've encountered in the 20th century that never heard of Animal House as a movie. And of course she's home reading all the reports and and taking doing her study
of due diligence. So it was um quite >> eye opening >> eye opening and uh I was the only one surprised by that but uh one of the top five movies of all time in that genre and Miss Chang didn't ever and there was a few others she did not watch and including the sound of music.
So uh >> you're not alone Mercy. Okay. You're not alone. >> All right. So you're busy reading law briefs. >> You're not alone. Uh but leading into that, we did have a administrative retreat as you know we had our board retreat and and we have uh our convocation tomorrow 1:00 at the
high school. Our administrative retreat was uh I think a very uh positive uh affirmation of our focus of this year, our strategy, our strategic execution of making sure we take our current initiatives, our current programs and we
illuminate the things that we need to change. We highlight things that uh will help are helping our children more efficiently, more effectively, so we could really uh do more with less. We're not throwing new initiatives out there
because sometimes next year's new idea, last year's new idea, tomorrow's new idea, we can't get the return of investment from our staff, from our leadership, of our core values, our mission uh driven uh strategic plan. So we like to say the beginning of
strategic execution 2.0 you know, how are we going to make a difference? And using data teams, using um understanding at the building level that we need to make a difference and we make we have to make sure that things that we are being
provided resources are working and if they're not working, do we need to adapt? Do we need to change or need to get rid of? But doing the same things, bringing in a whole new set of initiatives. This district has a very very very good um core value foundation.
We have a very very good strategic uh pillars that are guiding our work and there's really I don't think there's any initiative that isn't covered under our strategic thinking and planning but the theme is how we know the what I I share with our 42
new teachers in orientation they had five days of commitment. I thanked them five days they're not getting paid. I know, Beth. The last time I'll get him five days without you having to get paid and I get it and you're there. But we had five days without them being paid, coming in, committing to becoming a new
teacher in the North Brunswick way and understanding. And I wrapped up their last day by thanking them because we know that they were hired. They understand the what, right? What's our mission, right? We and they understand the why. every child, every classroom,
every child and no matter what station in grade life circumstance, they deserve the best education possible. That's a non-negotiable, the what and why. The where we run into problems is the how. So, it's up to us here as a the governance structure with our
administrative team to make sure we figure out the how. Now, you've all heard of WTF. I'm not trying to be disrespectful on here. We know the kids use WTF when they're confused. Our motto is HTF.
No, it's not the F word. It's how to fix. So, when you see an acronym in in text talk, every question when we talk and have our administrative team, our leader, our leadership team, our principles, our school buildings, the
question that's going to be the prevailing question, how are we going to get to that? How are we going to do it? How are we going to make it work? It's great that we have meetings. We great, we have resources, new products, uh, but how do we make it work? How do we make a difference? And that's how we're going
to continue to, uh, uncover what we need to do. And, you know, without that, you can't either get better or get worse. We'll continue to get get better. So, I do want to thank you. That's why I highlighted that data team uh, that kind of initiative and that thinking and
initiatives don't does, you know, the innovation. I should say not initiative that innovation just something different not doesn't have to be a new technological discovery just different thinking and taking hey this is what we're doing with our regular students why not with our elelll students why not
with those students that we are monitoring and and of course we have a responsibility to uh make sure we give them the best environment so they can reach their potential so I want to thank Mercy again go home and watch some movies or keep reading um thank you Miss
Morales again So addition to the 42 new teachers and the five days of training you can imagine the excitement new teachers and we always want them to remain uh you know pure in terms of their you know idealistic northstar
which is they came into this profession as calling to do the best job they can and I told them just like having a family you're going to love them to death but there's going to be days you're frustrated don't give up when you get frustrated and you know the equivalent of you have a new family and the baby's crying at night. Well, guess
what? It's sometimes you say, "Wow, that's frustrating. I can't get some sleep, but at the end of the day, it's worth it." So, and that Northstar is going to continue to I I want to keep that those new teachers um with that, I guess, to say that uh bright light they
had about them in the last five days. So, very excited about always seeing new teachers. We also had our um our beginning of our three days of our regular teachers, right? our veteran teachers all came in starting Tuesday, Wednesday, we do one more day and we um end with our convocation, but they're
going through their staff training. It's a lot of work and you all thank you for taking a tour over the last couple days. Um seeing that they're in there getting their rooms ready, everything's getting prepared. Uh because September 2nd, folks, I want to say everyone in TV land and those who hear this, it's our first
day of school. Day after Labor Day, September 2nd, that's an early start. Um the bus stops uh we know um there's been some issues but thank you Miss Rosa, Miss Hawk to making sure that the buses will they don't typically leave before
the start time but we ask uh before the designated time but we ask parents and family members if they're going to be at the bus stop get there look at a 10-minute early. um you know it's it's very difficult especially when you're picking up so many students if you're
getting there last minute and sometimes the buses are moving and they don't see anybody. So, 10 minutes early as we start the school year off. Uh we do know our staff does a great job busing our so many areas when you take a ride around this wonderful town, North Brunswick. We
have a lot of busy areas. Route 27, Route One, Route 130, you know, all the crossing lanes. There's traffic, there's issues, there's lights, there's whatever. So, but we get there on time and for the most part on time. But our safety rate is uh I'd like to remind
everyone we're very proud of that. So we'll continue to make safety a focus but we ask parents to help us out get try to get the students in 10 minutes early always helps. Um, why have Miss Chang here? Also another thing we were talking about and I have to tell parents
be patient because some of us including superintendent we get a little disappointed with the DOE in New Jersey is a whole new set of field tests that will be taking our students out of the learning environment and we have to field test because Pearson is no longer
the company and there's a new company that got the contract and they deal we said that we told you about the new company but yes but it's do field testing. So, they're going to have to our students will be taking tests again and and and
field testing it. In other words, uh leveling it for validity and reliability of questions. And unfortunately, this is more time away from the classroom environment and the learning. So we ask parents to understand um you know they
sometimes can't you know it's like how much testing is being done where's the classroom opportunities and so this is and so it's not Miss Chen's fault she's been fighting it u in at Trenton but to no avail because uh there was a big contract given out
>> Dr. Can you just clarify? No more NJSLA. >> No more NJSLA, but there's still a field test. >> And there's still the NJ GPA. >> It'll be NJSLA A. >> Yeah. So, the new field test is for
they've really made a creative change from NJSLA to NJ SLA. >> Now, us math stars like to say NJ SLA squared. that would but we'll we don't want to make it too difficult for your
language arts folks. Um so uh so again uh the field testing's here very very um I think it's another difficult time for it and and it happens in November there's windows I think November is >> October >> end of November difficult time for you
know the school year is just getting that wonderful cadence but uh just to let you know we'll keep you posted on how that goes but um we do apologize and ask the parents and families to be patient with us but it's something we we're not selecting Um and I also I
mentioned that we you mentioned Thank you, Madam President. There was tours. I do want to thank our building and grounds both inside and out getting school ready. That's why I was very appreciative. The board took a lot of time. It's a lot of time in their your
day. Thank you. And because you wanted to see we went early no uh July the buildings looked like wow you know how much time you get all this work chair desk everything all out and then it really looked wonderful everything very inviting uh you know we
have safe schools but we also have to make them inviting we can't make them safe like prisons right where so much security but we make them safe and as you know safety is a priority here at North Brunswick one can't learn if and families don't think their children are
safe. We know the news of the day and it really validates that our training, our processes, our our investments in security and safety u uh along with all the um wonderful I would like to say uh
cleanliness and and support that are building and grounds people have been really hard at work. The weather's been great, but it is difficult work, the timelines. And so, thank you, Building Ground. And I want to thank Mrs. talk as many of you may know who've known me
that uh as a superintendent I you know I love the learning and teaching and learning but I also love operations and and I and Miss Hawk has been just a tremendous asset in terms of leading Paul and George our supervisors leading
the plant managers getting things organized and done and uh being sitting at the table as we start engaging in this referendum work and alongside of doing all the other work that is necessary to keep the get the schools open and being uh you know ready for you
know the traffic that will be non-stop from September 2nd on uh and we love that traffic but we have the uh buildings ready I I want to say as far as the buildings the referendum projects did start and we did visit the beautiful bathrooms the public we like to call
them public bathrooms off the commons and right as you go into the gym um necessary they It was long overdue. So, thank you board for working with the community, getting a referendum passed, uh getting it uh refunded um through the
state, a lot from the state. Great timing. The buildings, the bathrooms look beautiful. Um and the work commended, Mr. Wilk, who's the plant manager at the high school, Mr. Neller, the the staff, uh people are there. We actually ran into some of the cleaning
folks still with a big smile on their face. uh are you know some and just happy that you as a board value uh having the buildings uh prepared and ready. So thank you again for that. It means a lot to them and thank you to Miss Hawk and your leadership but
running that uh team operations includes busing not only budgeting and busing and and transportation and building and grounds and and repair and maintenance. So it's it's I do thank you for that partnership. It's been a great welcome. And I I do want to say finally um thank
you to the uh to all those who've made a wonderful welcome. Uh Beth, thank you. You came in and welcome and we really talked about kids. You know, we know that there's a natural sometimes people think there's a natural rivalry between management and staffing and we really
just sat around and talked about kids and and how things are going to get done and we're looking forward to working together. But I had many visitors and I just want to thank all of them trying to make me feel welcome. Um and I really it meant a lot to me and my staff members, colleagues, some community members
stopping in just coming in saying hello, wishing me well but so extension wishing all of us well and um especially to the board of ed welcoming back giving me the opportunity to come back and serve this district and this community. So I want to say u thank you and one last plug I
want to say happy birthday to Dr. Patel, you know, on her birthday, giving up a lot of time and doing the tours. Happy birthday, Dr. Patel. And um thank you again, board of education. That concludes my report. >> Thank >> Oh, one more thing. One more thing. Sorry.
>> Sports seasons are kicking off and there's so much practice going on, but our high school team, we have a home game August 28th, not Friday the 29th. That's everyone's >> understand why a lot of games were moved to Thursday. There's a shortage of officials.
So, a lot of schools are moving games to Thursday Night Football, not because the TV or, you know, NFL does it, right? Thursday night football rather than under Friday Night Lights. So, we're we have some of the games in September 5th game at South Brunswick, which coach Sidepot says if you lose, you you're
you're done. The contract's over. That's our Army Navy game. You know, we can't lose a Navy or an Army, whatever. But that's South Brunswick. Um, but no, that's September 4th. That's a Thursday instead of a Friday. September 5th instead of August 29th. The initial schedule came out. We are playing
Thursday night here at North Brunswick. I know Ruckers is opening up, but the Raiders are more impressive. So, let's go check out the Raiders. 7 6 o'clock 6:00 start also for this particular gate. >> So, that concludes my report member. I'm sorry. >> Are you sure? >> Yeah, I know. Take two.
>> Just make a a brief VP comment. Um just because this is the last meeting before the start of the school year, I am just wishing staff, instructional staff, teaching staff, administrators, and the community a wonderful 2526 school year. Um and I wish everyone the very best of luck.
>> Well, thank you and um yes, definitely I look forward to attending convocation tomorrow to welcome our staff back as well. Um some comments from both of us. So, it'll be a wonderful afternoon. Um, and we're just really as a board really
excited for uh the school year approaching. So, um, you know, with everything we have going on, the fact that the board has, you know, made themselves available to everything that we've had going on over the summer, getting updates, welcoming back Dr.
Zakowski, our referendum projects, Rosa being at the helm of that, just sitting here really grateful. Um, so really excited for a welcome back tomorrow. Definitely. Um and we also just to add we also had some other board birthdays
this month. Dr. We had Dr. Patel today. Mr. Sing was earlier in August and then Mr. Wen was Sunday, right? Sunday. Yes. So, a lot of August birthdays on the team. Nope. >> Sorry. >> We're tag teaming. >> All right. Well, thank you so much for
our committee reports. We will have those coming up in September. Uh we had our committee of the whole meeting earlier this month. So I look forward to having our committee chairs uh present their reports in starting in September.
Um so at this time we'll move to the remainder of our agenda. Mr. Wen, would you please take item nine? >> Sure. Madam President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the administrative and committee reports. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Is anyone opposed? All the reports are
accepted. >> Thank you. Um so monthly we do this and we will review our agenda for the evening. As stated um at the beginning of the meeting, the board does receive the agenda ahead of time. We've all had time
to individually review this, but we also um get updates since then. So any updates are in bold on the agenda um and those are listed. So we will review and start on pages two and three.
Jumping to page four and five. Pages uh six and seven, eight and nine. pages 10 and 11, 13, excuse me, um 12 and 13, 14 and 15, 16, 17,
pages 18 and 19, 20, 21. Pages 22 and 23, 24 and 25. pages 26 and 27, 28 and 29, and wrapping up with a short section on
page 30. All right. So, at this time, we will have a public session on agenda items only. If anyone from the public would like to address the board on agenda items only, this is now the time. We ask that you just state your name and you'll be given three minutes.
Okay, seeing none, can we please have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Is anyone opposed? This session is closed. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Carter, would you please take item 13, consent agenda? Absolutely,
Madam President. I'd like to make a motion to approve the following consent agenda items. Personnel one, curriculum one and two, miscellaneous finance one and two, policy and transportation. >> Second. >> I'm going to take roll call. Mr. Ali,
>> yes. >> Mr. Carter, >> yes. >> Miss James, >> yes. >> Miss Keefe, >> yes. >> Dr. Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Singh, >> yes. >> Miss Toth, >> yes. >> And Mr. Wen, >> yes. >> All the motions and resolutions are approved. Thank you.
All right. [Music] Okay. At this time, we will jump to page uh 29, our on our agenda item 14, a public session on any matter. If anyone from the public would like to address
the board on any matter, this is now the time. We ask that you just state your name and you'll be given three minutes. Good evening everyone. My name is Beth Pasner. I am the president of the North Brunswick Township Education Association. I know I have to introduce myself. So, um but um you know, thank
you very much um for touring the schools. We really appreciate you coming out and seeing the hard work that our staff has been um doing for, you know, all summer long, but also the last couple of days has been a whirlwind. Our staff is ready to go and we're super excited for the new school year. Um so
um we appreciate um all of the sentiment and the warm wishes and and all of that. Um welcome back, Dr. Cowy officially. Um so I missed the I I missed the joke of the millions of viewers wishing to to to hear that again. It's like blast from
the past. Um, so, um, two things that I just want to update the the board about. Um, the NBTA will be, um, having tables at all of our back to school nights to help our parents sign up for free and reduced lunch should they need to sign up for that. Um, it's very important
obviously, not just in terms of making sure that the district has adequate funding, but also the most important thing is we want to make sure our students get fed. Um, and so we will be there um, and have tables set up for I I know that um, you know, the district obviously gives out the forms to parents
and all that stuff, but you know, in case anyone needs help, our our staff members will be there to help sign up students. Um, I also wanted to just make you aware that um, we will be hosting um, again this year a meet the candidates night for the upcoming board of ed election. We have already reached
out to all of the candidates. We're just waiting to um, solidify a date. it's either going to be September 11th or September 15th. Um so we will let the community know. Um we feel that it is very important especially um when you have a year where there are six
candidates running for three spots um that the community hears uh about the candidates and and hears their platforms and all of those. Um especially for me as a social studies teacher um you know the participation in democracy is very very important. Um so we want our community to be aware. So as soon as we
know the date uh we will put it out to the community. Um, and thank you once again and have a great school year to everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for being here, Beth. >> Beth, I heard it was five candidates, but um I'm sure you'll get the final list.
>> No, it's one dropped. >> So, one dropped and but the six that was published or that is floating out there that that's not official. Those are the unofficial names, but there's a time period for vetting and making adjustments. And um the official list
has not been released yet. There's still county things that need to be done, but I have confirmed with the county it's down to five. >> Okay. Thank you very much for that information. Appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay, seeing none, can we please have a
motion to close the public portion of the meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> I'm sorry. Second, Mr. Singh. >> Yes. >> We'll give you credit for that one. >> All in favor? >> Is anyone opposed? >> And we are closed for this session. Thank you. At this time, we'll motion to
go into close session. Whereas section 8 of the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231, PL1975 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances. And whereas this public body is of the opinion that such circumstances present it exist. Now,
therefore, be it resolved by the North Brunswick Township Board of Education that the public shall be excluded from discussion of and action upon the here and after specified subject matters. The general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is as follows. Number one, personnel matters and number two,
financial matters. It is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter shall be made public at such time as the need for non-disclosure no longer exists. This resolution shall take effect immediately. Can I please have someone motion to go into close session?
>> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Is anyone opposed? We are closed. Thank you. >> Good luck everyone. >> Thank you. >> Um Okay, we'll return to our meeting. Could
we please have a motion to return to open session? >> So move. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Is anyone opposed? We're back in session. >> All right. Thank you everyone for a great meeting. And at this time, can we please adjourn our meeting? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> Is anyone opposed? >> We are ajourned. >> Thank you.