That's better, Ian. Thank you. >> Okay, everyone, we're going to start the meeting. We're coming out of executive. Any correspondence? Mr. Dvita? >> Yes, I have a letter. uh from the general food rural partners
fund. Uh it's for the Nutley Raising Raiders preschool program. Uh it says, "As a resident of Nutley and parent of four children in the Nutley public school system, I'm thrilled to arrange for the donation of 340 bottles of Biobind
school adhesive to the Nutley Raising Raiders preschool program. Biobond is a material science company founded by the generation food rural partners venture capital fund that invests to create living wage wage jobs in rural
communities in the US. Biobond is based in Lafayette, Indiana and was launched to replace petroleum based coatings and adhesives with plant-based materials. Mark McConna, CEO of Biobond, and his team designed Biobond school adhesive specifically for classroom use so that
craft time can be safer and healthier for kids. Um, a few highlights about the product. It's made from plants and classroom ready. It's essentially zero VOCC's and no added microlastics. It dries clear, washes easily, and has no
odor. Uh, teachers tell us it's love for all these reasons. It's safe for kids, trusted by parents, and formulated to make classroom crafting simple and low mess. Uh, thank you for all you do for Not Children. We hope these supplies support your teachers and students in
their classroom in their daily classroom activities. Uh, sign Thomas uh Mastro, chief investment officer, and Mark McConna, chief executive officer. >> Uh, Mr. President, I'd like to uh thank I think Tom's in the crowd uh tonight.
Tom, are you out there? Tom, I mentioned it in my superintendent report, but we want to thank you for this donation, and I would like to invite you up if you'd like to say a few words. >> Thanks everyone. Um, I brought a bottle of the glue with us. So, this has been a labor of our love. We're trying to make
some products that are better and safer for kids to use. It started out as trying to replace um tape packaging. We do floor coatings. Um but this was something I said, "Hey Mark, can you guys do school glue?" And he said, "Yeah, we probably could do that." So the next step will be glue sticks. So
hopefully next year will be glue sticks. We're a little bit easier to handle. Uh and smaller bottles for the preschoolers. My wife yelled at me, "These are too big for preschoolers to handle." So uh but enjoy them. Thanks for the opportunity to help the out the school district. >> Uh Tom, thank you. Thank you for that
donation. Um, Mr. Deleia here, he has a few comments he'd like to uh add as well. Thank you. >> I I just want to just say that uh Nutley's always been very generous to Nutley and um we take care of our own and when uh Mr. Mashabone was uh
ironically I think we're on the sideline of a soccer game together and he said would you be willing to accept a donation of uh and I I immediately say yes. I didn't even I don't think I asked what it was. uh but when I had heard about this product especially the population that it's going to and the
eco-friend not only eco-friendliness of it but also the um bio uh friendliness of it. I thought it was an interesting product and um I just this is just kind of exemplifies uh our community and just the simple hey would you guys be interested in which we'll see other
items tonight on the agenda that again follow uh this this kind of lead. So just again thank you. I know you do have children in the system. Uh and that's what Nutley does best is we look out for our not just ourselves but our community. So thank you.
[Music] >> Any other correspondence? Mr. Dvita. >> Can I get a motion for approval of the minutes? >> Second. >> Okay. We have our presentation. Mr. Bana, sixth grade transition.
>> I'd like to invite the board to the seats for a brief presentation on our sixth grade transition. You got me now. Thank you. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. Um we're going to take this meeting as an opportunity to to talk about um to first talk about
publicly the transition of sixth graders from five elementary schools to our middle school. Uh this has been a topic of conversation since last January. We have um talked about how important this is for various reasons. Um a lot of work
has gone into this presentation prior to this and today we're we're ready to start sharing uh some of our ideas and uh some of the work we have done in district. Uh so I'm happy to join up here with me uh Janine Lan Solo, Joe Materia. Uh Jannine our director of
curriculum instruction, Joe Materia our principal at John H. Walker Middle School and Mike Carney, our reckless school uh principal. Um first and foremost, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves logistically, can we move the students that currently
occupy 14 classrooms in our elementary schools uh to our middle school? Uh so to do that, we had to analyze uh our available space. Um at the time last year, we had preschool inhabiting our ground floor of our middle school. Uh
they've since been moved to various locations around district, primarily 777. With that addition, uh we were able to look at the six classrooms on the bottom floor as potential spaces for sixth grade students or students. Um in
addition, we anticipated needing um another set of classrooms approximately uh 14 in total um or 12 in total with with four three teams of four classrooms um around the building. Uh not only did we analyze the open classrooms in the
building, but we also put plans forward to renovate our middle school media center to four classrooms. Uh this would provide adequate space and the space needed to transition the sixth grade from our elementary schools to our uh middle school. I'm happy to say that
this work has started um through the work of our business office and board uh going through our business administrator, our state monitor. Um, everyone has went out to bid um, worked with our architects, worked with vendors and contracts to start this project um,
early October. I'm happy to say demo is complete and framing is starting shortly. This is what the space will look like when fully renovated. Um, it is a common type approach where we still maintain the media center in the middle
um, and we occupy four nicesiz rooms on the outside. Uh this lends itself very well to many different learning environments and also maintains uh the current space uh the usable space I should say of our middle school. Uh for the most part we um traditionally used
about a third of our middle school maybe to a half and the space represents that usable space. So I'm happy to say that our facilities renovations um are occurring. um they're on schedule if not ahead of schedule and we are anticipating uh completion of this by
March uh to be ready to go for next year. Another phase of facilities will include upgrading the HVAC on our bottom floor to standards for students. It used to be office space um and that will take place um starting in the springtime,
excuse me, into the summertime. So this was a major first step uh that I'm happy to say to the community, to the board, to the public uh we have started in district. Um another thing I want to report on really started quite some time ago when
we came out with um the idea uh to move to sixth grade. Um we started looking at you know the benefits, the challenges and we heard a lot from the community. We invited that community uh to meetings
uh to express their concerns to talk through challenges to identify the benefits and to build a framework of the future work to come. Um so last February uh we uh had a committee of about 47 people. Every person that put in to be
on the committee was invited. We had uh parents, board members, administrators, teachers, faculty, community members come to that group. We broke up into I want to say four then three operational
action teams and we've met over the winter to spring um to encourage ideas uh to think through best practices. It actually led to visits to four middle schools in the area to generate ideas,
really to gather information. We never publicly presented out on that work. Um, so we decided to do so tonight. That work has led us to take very important first steps in all of the transition planning that must occur when you look
to move um a whole grade level uh from five elementary schools to one middle school. The benefits um we believe clearly outweigh the challenges of students in the 68 model uh have more time in that school, have more
independence in that school. The list goes on and on for the model and why we believe that works for the students in Nutley. It leads to pathway development. Um, pairing with a high school 500 ft across the street. It leads to a campus
approach to education. All these things being said, logistically, we are planning to move the sixth graders there in September 2026. Uh this is a team effort and we brought some of the team to talk about the work that has been
going on in this capacity. Next slide please. Uh we met just to just to finish this topic. We met four times and we visited four different schools. Um and we concluded in June um and again never really presenting out. We chose to wait
until this moment to start the conversation up again about all the things that go into moving at grade level in district. So, we've broken into three action teams and I'm going to I'm going to ask um the leader of each action team to come up
and just speak about some of the work that has been done and some of the work that will be done in order to move the sixth grade. This will be a reoccurring theme uh that we will present out throughout the year. As progress is made, we will come and speak to the community about uh some of some of the
direction the district's taking with this transition. So, I'm happy to welcome Mike Carney up. Mike was a part of mostly parents u but other individuals as well. I think Kim Damonte was in that group that worked on the student transition part. One of the things that came very clear to us is our
current fifth grade students. how are we managing their transition from a K6 school to a 68 school. So, Mike, come on up. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this uh committee. Uh this is very worthwhile and this was great. This really brought
our uh community together because we didn't want to leave anything out. Uh to summarize this committee, our job was to get the kids to graduation day. So, we were all the events leading up to it. A lot of right of passage events uh was
the ongoing theme and what were what were some of the questions that some parents may have and children what would they expect along the way. And so, here's what we've come up with. Uh we have our survival guide which is very well detailed and it's it's honestly at this point it's it's ready for it to be
posted. So, it's we're all set with that. Uh and every building should have a staff liaison. That's these are suggestions that our group came up with. So every building staff liaison although once you read the survival guide I think we we were pretty comprehensive what we
we covered basically everything that we thought of all I worked with a great group of parents. Uh and you know I would say probably within 15 minutes nobody was shy anymore. So uh we were we were taking copious notes trying to make sure we we answered a bunch of
questions. I worked with Mr. as well making sure that my our answers were accurate. Um, so one of the things that you we also learned out of this process there were a bunch of things that parents didn't necessarily know like every year Mr.
Materia sends his his whole guidance department to every elementary school where they meet with our our sixth grade staff, our guidance counselor, um our child study team members, myself, and we review literally every single student that is on our roster. Uh so this way
the middle school knows and this helps them I guess create their sections and um it just it just goes to show all the things that are happening in the background that might not necessarily get the recognition that it deserves. So, we're going to continue continue doing that this year for our fifth and sixth grade students. We're also going
to be providing a day uh for our fifth and sixth grade students to make their way over to the middle school, which I which kind of will help with that transition and, you know, hopefully answer some of those questions kids have and really maybe make them a little bit more comfortable. Uh, graduation. This
was pointed out that we now have three graduations, so we're going to have to add an extra half day to the schedule. uh in June. Those little details because details matter. They're important. Uh and so we made we made space for that in our conversation. Uh patrol post. This
is a really big deal. Students that have earned a patrol post, we didn't want anyone to lose that opportunity. So whether if you're in fifth grade or sixth grade, you'll be afforded that opportunity. Again, there's a criteria that is set. Um and assuming that that criteria is met, you should be afforded
a post. uh yearbooks there there's aside from the educational component that takes place and what the school does our PTOs are incredibly involved with graduation with uh creating the yearbooks uh and the yearbook itself is a massive lift and
now we need to do it essentially twice. So having those committees come together uh pull some of their efforts and in graduation uh promotion dance again this is up to schools but you know there are some suggestions and I can rad club
specifically uh we'll have two separate dances coordinating with the same day coordinating with some of the fundraising events that help those uh events come to fruition. uh talent show. So, talent show is a really big deal in a lot of schools. Uh spec specifically,
um at Radcliffe, the grand finale is uh you know, you laugh, you cry, it's better than cats. It's fantastic. Um so, we're going to have an opening act and an ending and an ending act. So, um which will be and obviously all the
individual acts in between. uh car wash. This is some of this stuff has already taken place. Our in the uh spring, our sixth grade had a car wash in the uh in the fall. Our fifth grade had their car wash. So fundraising is underway and um
it's been it's been very successful. And clap out will be just be a normal clapout. For those people who are unfamiliar with what a clapout is, the last day of school, the last 15 minutes of school, every sixth grader and now fifth grader, one at a time walks out of
the building, their name gets announced and all the students are lined up and parents are at the end and uh they literally all the students clap them out of the school. It's a really great tradition and um and we're looking forward to our fifth grades having it.
So along with our sixth grade. So again, thank you for the opportunity to be part of the committee. I think it was great. >> Uh Mike Mike shares this in our principal meetings with our principles as we go um throughout the year. >> Oh uh yeah, we we can um we can take
questions for each person that comes up and presents. Would anybody have any questions uh for Mike who kind of oversaw the parent transition group? elementary schools doing a different consistent based on [Music]
>> so we do uh a lot of things the same way so if your school traditionally design a clap out. They're going to continue doing the clap out for fifth and sixth grade. Certain schools have certain traditions that they do and they'll be extended to the to the fifth graders as well. So if if if the sixth graders
celebrate it, it's expected that the fifth graders will celebrate it as well. >> So good question. So as I had said earlier um the PTO's are incredibly involved and again different things are um are are traditions to different
buildings. So the PTO's will be involved heavily with a lot of the graduation events such as like the yearbook. As a school we don't handle yearbook so PTO's are handling yearbooks. Um we had some PTO uh council who were part of our
committee as well. So they're fully read in on what the expectation is. Uh as our building principles are our building administrators are are read in on that as well what the expectations are. So um your your yearbooks, your promotions as far as the uh the dance uh which is a
huge hit and there's different venues. So some pl some schools might choose to use the same venue different nights. Some schools might choose to do two different venues. So that's that's up to them. Yeah. >> Some things are going to be specific.
>> Sure. >> As they always have been. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, there there's going to be no difference with it, you know, in the sense that um something that's an important tradition to to Radcliffe School uh might not mean anything. Like I know Spring Garden does a strawberry
festival. I I do that at Chopright. Um and sorry, but it's it's I don't know. I don't really know what that tradition entails because that wasn't a Radcliffe tradition specifically. We do a back to school dance which is um a huge coming
together of the whole all the schools, excuse me, of all the student body and that's a really big hit for us. So there are things that are specific. It was important that we weren't changing or making the individual schools follow a specific specific mold, but it was
important that they were going to make sure that all those right of passage events where you can be like, "Oh, you went to spring garden school. Oh, you must have done the strawberry festival or you went to Lincoln school, you must have done, you know, their tradition."
So, does that make sense? >> Fifth and sixth Sure. >> Sure. >> Yeah. I mean, again, some of that falls down to tradition what that school does. Um, you know, and that's spec specific to that to those individual schools. But
again, if our main thing is if for the last decades the sixth grade at a particular school has done this event because that's their right of passage event before they go to the middle school. We want to make sure that those fifth graders again are afforded that
same opportunity. >> Question three questions. >> Sure. Uh one is that so the idea is that um Mr. Terra's um group of um guidance
council will now come and meet about the fifth graders rather than >> they'll do both. >> Okay. >> We do that every year for the sixth grade all the sixth grade students. uh we all the my staff or the teaching
staff and the uh child study team, guidance counselors um will meet with Mr. Mataria staff to make sure that they're exchanging all like you know this student works well with that group and that that'll be the same for the fifth graders. >> Um
>> does that same thing happen in the transition from 8th to 9th? >> Um I'm being told it does that. Yes. >> And And the last thing is I know that um the sixth graders moving into the
seventh grade take like a math like take a math test to see who gets put into like an accelerated math program. Is that going to still happen in sixth to seventh or will that now happen in fifth? >> You wanted you answer correctly. >> So so this is this is the part that
we're working through. This is the part we're still discussing and we're looking at all our options and actually Jess Mabel is is a math teacher on the way out of our meeting this week. I asked her this very question and we had a nice conversation about it. I think we're talking to educators and district about these things and involving people.
There's a progression here. Um one of the things we want to be sure we had early was the the fifth grade piece that Mike's talking about. Um we'll bring up Mr. Materia. The operational pieces coming next was staffing and then we're going to work through all of our programming things. We believe that if
we get staff in place um early, they could help inform the programming piece and their buy in, their investment will go to further it for our students. So, so we're working through those questions. That's a great question and we hope to answer it together. Um any other questions for Mike before
we we move along? I want to thank Mike for his work and working with all the principles. I know how fun that is. So, I appreciate you working with all of them. Thank you. Um I I do want to say I know Mr. Mater is going to come up and and speak about some of the operational pieces to the middle school, but a lot of those rights
of passage leave our elementary school and then go to the middle school. And although he's not prepared to talk about it right now, but we have talked about many of those things continuing with fifth graders coming to sixth grade um as far as the orientations and all the things that make entering middle school
a really important part of of the journey. So, um, Joe's going to come up and speak about his group, the operational group, and to talk about the first steps he's taken with his group to put forward a plan for the transition. >> Thank you. The operations group uh
focused on three main goals. The first goal was to identify how physical space would be modified and reimagined and also used in order to accommodate the 300 plus students that would be added to the current population. Um the second
goal would be how to uh move student create a schedule that would move students in and out of the building in a successful manner. Uh and then come up with a with a framework and a blueprint uh to accommodate the increased student population as well as to support that
new schedule um in order to make sure that the operations of the middle school would be successful on a day-to-day basis. Uh next slide please. as we go over the new sk the new bell schedule as well as go over all the components of the work of the operations
group. The the major idea is that there were no major changes. We want this first year to have slight changes that we feel are necessary in order to accommodate uh the new students. But also I I keep in mind that there will be changes over subsequent years as we keep
our we keep an open mind keeping flow in mind. the flow into the building, the flow of the students while they're in the building and also the flow out of the building, keeping student learning at the forefront and also interventions in mind. Uh we'll see that uh as we look
at the bell schedule with regard to lunch team and department meetings as well as other opportunities for our students. Next slide, please. [Music] As as we look at at the bell schedule, once again, no major changes, but the
idea the idea of the bell schedule, the changes that we did make are highlighted in colors. I am color blind, so bear with me. Um, the first schedule, zero period naturally has not changed. Zero period is remaining the same, but the first change to our bell schedule is
with a special home room for our sixth graders. One of the major concerns uh was with the increased uh flow of students. Three additional 300 additional students coming into the building in the morning increased traffic. So we would like to get our sixth graders into the building about 10
minutes earlier um from a different entrance of the building and having a special home room for those students while the seventh and eighth graders start gathering around the building. So having that special home room. So that home room would end around 8:00. And
once again, these are approximate times. We're anticipating this schedule changing as the rest the remainder of this year unfurs as we start having more conversations with stakeholders. But this is what we're looking at for that beginning of the year. Then the major the second major change to the schedule
is during our lunches. We're going to have grade level lunches or we would like to have grade level lunches next year. Sixth grade being fourth fourth period, seventh grade being fifth period and eighth grade being sixth period. but splitting the lunch periods into
cohorts. So now having 300 plus students in each lunch period but splitting them in half now. So cohort A would go to the cafeteria, cohort B would go to the auditorium having 23 minute lunch periods and then after that 23 minutes elapse, we would have that rotation.
The benefit of having these these lunch periods in this way would be that while the sixth graders are in their lunch period, the sixth grade teachers, the sixth grade core cont core content area teachers are in their team meetings. And that opens up the opportunity for those
students in the in the in the auditorium cohort to take advantage of going to their team to their teen teachers for extra help or going for an intervention or whatever the case is. and also having opport other opportunities to go to guidance during that time which
currently is taking place as we speak. Also opening up the opportunity for all of our teachers to have not only team time which currently happens right now but also department time um at each of the grade levels. Next slide. I just want to talk a little bit more about lunch compared to this year and next
year. So right now in lunch at the middle school it's mixed grades. We do separate the seventh and eighth graders, but right now students have the full 46 minutes. And from spending time in the cafeteria, the average 12 and 13year-old
pretty much finishes their lunch within 15 to 20 minutes. That's securing their lunch and then finishing their lunch. The balance of the period usually in is playing on their Chromebook, which is allowed. um socializing. Some students take advantage of that period playing uh doing some homework, studying, going to
their guidance counselor. If their teacher is available, they will secure extra help. What we want to do is and that's about 220 kids, 210 220 kids in the cafeteria. What we would like to do is we would like to structure this period. Um, so if you were if you were
to keep in mind that schedule that I just showed you, we would like to structure it now with now 150 students being in the cafeteria and the other 150 being in the auditorium 23 minutes. So now the cafeteria time is is just focused on eating and socializing.
Really just focusing more on eating. Um, and then the and after that there are fewer kids now in the cafeteria so they can secure their lunch in a faster manner. And then once those 23 minutes elapse, then they go to the auditorium where it's homework, study. It's it's
more structured guidance. They can go to their teacher meetings if they need. They can get their extra help andor other opportunities that we would then come up with once we have a year under our belt and we can have other opportunities for our students. Next slide, please.
And just briefly with regard to rooms and distributions, Mr. Sylvania went over this a little bit with regard to the four classrooms that will be in uh our um new library area right now with our current open room report that we that we ran this year based on our current schedule plus the 10 additional
classrooms, the four new ones in the in the library as well as the six classrooms that will be in the in the ground floor uh in the basement of of the of John H. Walker. We will have enough space for our threeund additional students. And the whole idea of
reimagining our spaces for physical education and reimagining our space of the cafeteria during non-lunch periods and reimagining our auditorium as well as the use of our stage during non-lunch periods and our outside spaces will make will certify that we will have enough
space for our students in the 2627 school year. And now Miss Lolo >> any questions? I like the fact that any thought put into Can you repeat your question? I'm sorry. >> Sure.
>> No, I I appreciate the fact you're letting the sixth graders in earlier. I think that's great. Has there been any thought put to the time when like the ADA students or the LD students who can't necessarily just be dropped off in front of the school by a parent or can't walk to school um will come into the school?
>> You mean ADA and LD dropped off even earlier? >> Uh I mean earlier just at a different time like how that flow will work, right? Because I think from my perspective I can't just let my son either walk to school or just drop him off in front of the school because likely you won't land.
Yeah. >> So, that's something that would be discussed if they're being transported. If they if they're being transported by our transportation, they t if they're not, that's something that we could work on a case to case basis as well. Um, but some of our ABA students and LD students also get dropped off by our transportation. They usually do get
dropped off a tensy bit earlier as well. But that's something on a case to case basis that we would also work on with parents especially, especially if they're a sixth grader. That's something that we can work on. as long as it's within reason and it's within the parameters of our schedule that's something that we can work on.
>> Thank you. Any other questions? >> I only got one question. >> Thank you. And and so our our final action team group was obviously academics, curriculum and programming. Gene Logan Solo, our director of curriculum and instruction, uh, chaired this this action group and she's going
to report out on what the discussion was. >> Thank you. So, the academics group focus was really to ensure that the sixth grade experience meets students needs and extends their opportunities for learning. So, the committee had two
specific goals. Goal one was to ensure curriculum and instruction resources are aligned to the New Jersey student learning standards, best practices, and conducive to instructional minutes within the middle school schedule. As Mr. Mataria spoke to, work towards this
goal included providing articulation time um for grades six and seven to meet together. Uh we're working to schedule those days now to discuss how our current sixth grade curriculum might need to be revised to meet the needs of middle school students. This allows time
for the grade levels to collaborate, to brainstorm together, uh anticipate any possible problems, and ensure smooth transition. For example, we know that middle school has fewer dedicated instructional minutes for math and ELA, and so the curriculum will need to be
revised uh to ensure that we're still meeting the full ELA, New Jersey student learning standards. So, this could include exploring ways uh for interdisciplinary learning experiences in other content areas to help meet the ELA and math standards outside of the
dedicated time within those periods. So for instance, in science and social studies, students engage in a great deal of reading and analyzingformational texts. And by being more intentional with the curriculum design, we can ensure that the work that they're doing in science and social studies
aroundformational text could support the goals um set forth in the ELA standards. Similar similarly, our six through eight students currently use and will continue to use math and focus instructional resources. Uh we'll be exploring how
grades seven and eight currently adapt those math and focus resources to fit into a uh a fewer instructional minutes in the middle school schedule. So, we'll be looking at our current sixth grade curriculum, which also utilizes math and
focus, and kind of mirroring some of the revisions after how seven and eight are using that same resource with fewer instructional minutes. The second goal was to develop ways to expose sixth grade students to a variety of academic experiences and pathways
that support the whole child. A good deal of what our group outlined in terms of this goal was informed by site visits uh to nearby 68 middle schools where we were able to talk to teachers and administrators about what's working for them and share ideas. Our group
discussed creative ideas on how cycle classes could be utilized to expose students to a variety of topics um and to learn about themselves and their interest beyond art, music, technology. Some schools we visit also included
exposure to more than one world language in grade six and then moved to towards a world language choice in the upper grades. These are all things that the committee discussed. We're also exploring some type of sixth grade seminar course meant to provide a
platform for students to explore diverse perspectives, refine their communication skills, and help them develop essential skills like research, collaboration, and effective design. Specifically, one of our visits to Wayne gave us some really great ideas of what that seminar could
look like. And lastly, we began to brainstorm how we might provide opportunities for students who need academic support or basic skills and also acceleration or what we categorize as gifted and talented within the schedule.
As we progress throughout the year, um the we will shift from operational to more programming with the goal to get our program of studies in order as as typically done uh for April of the spring so scheduling can start. Before I move on, does anyone have any questions
for J or myself regarding uh programming? >> Yeah. Yeah, those conversations have started along with these programming uh conversations. We have a um an effort um by Janine and many of our supervisors of the high school with our principal to start talking about pathways at the high
school and bringing them down uh to our um to our um our middle school. I think um there are some obvious connections where students might be able to take um a morning at the middle school and then move to the high school for afternoon classes. Even if we do have separate
schedules, a rotating drop and a traditional schedule, it can still be done. I think um I think that would look more like cohorts of students moving together. Um and it would help with a couple other problems including uh freeing up space at our middle school. we have more space at our high school as
well as our teachers um balancing out class size um in an appropriate way. So I think there's a lot of potential for those conversations. I think um if not the first year, this is a year two goal, year three goal to expand the possibilities of using our campus. One of the benefits we have here in Nelly is
our two main main buildings are, you know, a rockstar away from each other across Franklin Avenue. >> No, it's okay. Yeah, I mean we're really looking at the benefits of departmentalizing sixth grade and fifth grade and expanding that to fourth grade as as um we take a look
at um you know routines that are developed in that process. uh time with highly qualified teachers uh in those areas. There are significant benefits we believe. Um just speaking with sixth grade teachers this year, they're commenting on how much fifth grade
departmentalizing benefits them as they get the the students with the routines of of that and the independence of that. So I think there's real benefit to that. Um that's that's going to be looked at by the district. Um, next slide, please. I will say that
um the district is moving forward um and as we do that, we will bring items uh to you um for discussion as we settle on programming as we talk about staffing. Um we will continuously update the community and the board as we move
forward. I did want to provide a timeline. I know it might be tough to see. Uh this will be available online just of key steps. um that we'll be taking as a district. The blue on top represents the media center renovation. We anticipate that being done by April of this year. Uh we will then um the
yellow below that is the staffing conversations. They will start following this meeting. Uh tomorrow we will send out uh Google form to our district staff uh to gauge interest and to start pairing up um transition plans uh for
staffing. uh this will start uh November December and will inform the budget, inform our program and be a conversation we look to have earlier rather than later in district. Uh we have program and curriculum design will start in January. uh with the understanding that
as we get staff in place, as we um as we move the district uh in that capacity, those great educators can help inform and be a part of the program conversation and the curriculum design. And that investment by them uh may be uh what really separates ourselves from
other districts. Um as we look at the HVAC um upgrade in red, uh that's slated to start later this spring and be finished over the summer. Um, and we are hoping to get that little diamond there is the date we're looking to get our program completed for our middle school
program of studies. Uh, this will inform our counselors to schedule um and move into the summer with our traditional uh events leading to students going to middle school for the first time. I think I covered most things we wanted to
present tonight is it was a little longer than anticipated. Thanks for for hanging in there with us. Um, I'll take any overall questions um if that's okay. Mr. President, and then we could we can go up to the stage. Does anyone have any general questions that I can help answer? Well, thank you so much for your
attention. We will post this online. We look forward to talking about this throughout the year as we move to transition our sixth graders. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Janine, for your work. And thank you for everybody who's been on the committee. There's a lot of people in this room uh that have been on the committees. We appreciate your your
work. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you everyone. Mr. Bayer, our superintendent report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening board and community members. Uh before updates and happenings, I would like to
speak publicly about the events in mid-occtober when an agency contracted par profofessional was arrested after they left school for the day. The Nutley Police Department acted swiftly and their responsiveness is much appreciated. After learning about this,
our school leadership investigated by speaking with staff, reviewing work areas, and examining all zones to which the individual had access. At this point, there is no evidence that misconduct occurred inside any of our schools. This person has been contracted through
a third-party agency, and it is the agency's responsibility to directly secure and review their personnel's criminal history with New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Student Protection. That said, this district takes the safety and trust of our community extremely seriously and
has terminated the contract with Innovative Therapy Group. Following termination, terminating a contract, the district has asked that all current staff uh from the agency that have been properly fingerprinted remain in the district working with our students in
our classrooms and they have. The district has opened postings for available positions and will look to work with reliable provider agencies to meet the staffing needs of the district. Tonight, I ask the board to approve a recommendation and an addendum for the
Northern Region Educational Services Commission, a public school that provides staffing and services in the area of our need. This can help provide another option to the district as it moves forward to support our students.
October has been a busy month across our schools. Early in the month, members of the Nutley High School football team visited our preschool classrooms across the district, reading, playing, and building bonds across all ages. That outreach culminated on October 3rd when
many of those same preschool students, our raising Raiders were honored as honorary captains at the varsity football game against Milbourne. That evening under Friday night lights, Maroon Raider uh Nutley's Maroon Raiders delivered a strong performance defeating Milbourne, but they also won off the
field by adding over 150 raising Raiders to their program. On October 10th, our district held a productive professional learning halfday offering differentiated sessions tailored to staff needs covering Ire interventions, Columbia scale refreshers
in partnership with the Nutley family services, CPR training for our security personnel and technology support training for our secretary and support teams to name a few. At the same time, our extended day program expanded
enrichment options offering assemblies, arts and crafts, and small group projects so that students engaged beyond the regular school day can be meaningfully occupied with more staff that can attend professional development within our schools. Our students
continue to express their culture. For instance, the Asian-American Student Union at Nutley High School decorated hallways in celebration of Dewali, bringing light, art, and a sense of shared understanding into our daily routines. Our gratitude goes to the Nutle Fire
Department, which visited multiple schools this month to bring demonstrations of firefighting equipment, share fire safety protocols, and answer student questions. The impression that these heroes leave on our students is invaluable.
Earlier in this month, school back this night at opportunities for families, see classrooms, and deepen homeschool partnerships. November approaches quickly and feels like the shortest month in the calendar,
but it it's full of happenings. Schools remain open on election day tomorrow, but will close on Thursday and Friday for the NJA convention. The district will providing food for students and families affected by the federal shutdown, including the loss of SNAP
funding. The primary reason the district is able to do this is with a generous donation from the shop of Nutley. Thank you to the Lersio family for making this possible. We have good people in our community. There are also other
donations coming in since then. I would like to recognize Tom Master Bion. I apologize, Tom, who facilitated a donation from Mark and Biobond mentioned earlier in the meeting. Not only are they donating 340 bottles, but when Tom
learned of this, he called and offered to donate plantbased protein for families. Thank you so much, Tom. Again, we have very good people in our community. Uh, next week, parent teacher conferences will be held districtwide.
Building teams will share schedules and guidelines soon. I would like to thank Chris Oasa and the teachers of the Treps program. The Treps marketplace is set for the evening of Friday, November 21st in the high school auditorium. If you're not familiar, our students become
entrepreneurs and they sell their products, which are which are pretty good. Um, and we we paired it up with the holiday season this year. Uh, one key item, the district uh, has or will administer a field test on the new adaptive NJSLA assessment. This is a
required pilot by the New Jersey Department of Education. No student or family will receive individual scores. Uh, neither will we, the district. Its purpose is to acclimate students to the formal uh, to the format ahead of the spring version. Internally, teams will begin
conversations around staffing for the sixth grade transition and project enrollment figures for preschool 2627. Our goal remains clear to open enough seats so that every valid preschool application is accommodated in the 2026
27 school year. Facilities wise, the process to vacate our former board offices at 371 Franklin is nearly completed. Um most of the space will be sublet and the remaining is expected to be leased shortly thereafter.
On the financial front, the district and the business office will begin shaping the 2627 budget with continuing pressures in healthcare, energy, transportation balancing with a 2% cap. This will be another challenging process and the district should prepare for
another difficult budget season. Uh I would like to recognize some recommendations uh for employment on this agenda. Daniela Rosselli um a great candidate for our supervisor of ELA uh is on the agenda as well as an ERRI teacher uh for Washington school. As we
move into November together, we build on our successes, double our efforts, on our challenges, and upgrade the future and the district for our students. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Mr. B. Mr. Dvita, our business administrator's report.
>> Uh, yes, thank you. Uh, on for approval at tonight's meeting will be resolutions associated with the work for the renovations to bring the sixth graders to John H. Walker Middle School next year. We'll be approving a withdrawal from our capital reserve account to help fund the project. We will also be
accepting funds from the township of Nutley to help fund the project. And both of these resolutions relate to the ongoing uh work that's being done in the media center to create the four extra classrooms. We'll also be approving architectural services for the conversion of two new classrooms in the
basement of John H. Walker Middle School. And this project will still need to be bid uh but we anticipate work to begin once the four classrooms are completed in the media center. and uh we expect to have our auditors present um or present the 202425 audit at our
meeting in uh on December 22nd, 2025. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dvita. We're going to move on to our committee reports. >> Yep. I'm going to do that first. Um with us is our student representative, Matt
Lee. He's going to give us the student report. This past this past month uh has been a busy and productive at Nelly High School. During October, our students participated in state testing and the guidance department hosted a successful college
admissions panel which included both the Hessa financial aid night and a presentation on college application process. These events provide valuable insight and resources for students preparing for life after high school. We also welcomed the Tara organization on
Tuesday, October 14th. Tara focuses on educating students about online safety and exploitation awareness. The program used engaging animations and real world ex examples to teach students about social media safety, self-respect, and
preventing online victimization and human trafficking. The presentation was eye-opening and made a very meaningful impact to our students. And congratulations to our Raider recognition award winners for the month of October, Alexandria Kilblock and
Matthew Vila. They were nominated by their peers and teachers for their for demonstrating exceptional character and dedication. And with fall sports coming to a close, we'd also like to recognize our varsity cheerleaders who were in first place in the American Division at their SEC
Championship Cheer for the Cure. Congratulations to the team for their outstanding performance. We also had a great turnout at last week's athletic trunk or treat event. It was fun festive evening that brought students, athletes, and families
together to celebrate the season. Looking ahead, the November theme is gratitude. And as a school, we will be sponsoring food drives for local food pantries, including the Nutley Family Service Food Bank. Aligning with this theme, student council will also host a schoolwide bminton tournament as a food
drive to encourage our students to donate. The high school PTO meeting will also be on November 12th at 7:30. And coming to an end is our first marking period which will be on November 14th. And looking forward we we would
and we all looking forward to some well-deserved break time later this month. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Lee. Now's the time that I uh give you the opportunity to uh to leave if you if you choose. So if not, you need to stay until the end. So thank
you for that report. We know you have a lot of uh homework to do tonight, so get to it. Thank you. Um we're going to move on to our committee reports now. Uh Miss Quirk, would you take care of academic, please? >> Yes. Um the academic committee meeting
met on October 14th. Uh the committee reviewed the recommendations for employment for the ELA supervisor PO position. The committee discussed the progress of the transition of the sixth grade to the John H. Walker Middle School, including facilities
improvements, the Bell schedule, staffing and program and curriculum. The committee previewed um the public presentation which you saw tonight. Uh the committee also discussed the progress of career pathways for the NHS
2026 27 program of studies. The committee reviewed field trip and professional development requests and the committee reviewed personnel and legal matters. The next meeting of the academic uh committee is scheduled for Tuesday,
November 11th at 5:30 p.m. >> Thank you, Mrs. Quirk. Mr. Kazinski, administration. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you. Uh the administration committee met on which consisted of myself, Mr. Basamo, Mr. Scotty met on October 14th. We discussed
the improvement of a donation for the improvement of Nutley High School. A committee to review the recommendation for employment with the ELA supervisor which we met tonight. The committee discussed the progress of the transition of sixth grade to John Walker Middle
School. the facility improvements, the bell schedule, staffing program and curriculum. The committee reviewed previewed the public presentation which again we saw tonight. The committee discussed the annual approval of the nursing plan which was updated during
its recent professional development day. The committee reviewed personal legal matters. Our next schedule meeting of the administration committee is November the 11th. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Kazinski. Uh Mr. Dia, finance.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh the finance committee met on October 15th. In attendance were uh Mr. Fragnales, uh Mr. Ferraro, Miss Makus, Mr. Ba, Mr. Dvita, and Mr. Priy. Uh discussed at the
finance committee was the um we received a monthly insurance update from our insurance broker, IMAC. also reviewed a report from New Jersey Associ Association of School Business Officials regarding chapter 44. Other items discussed included a subleasase for the
board office, a settlement agreement, a review of comprehensive maintenance plan and M1, a payment to a vendor for the Lincoln school fire timeline for the 2024 2025 audit, an electrical stipen for licensed electricians. We also
received updates on facilities projects including J uh John H. Walker Middle School media center, classroom uh conversions, digital signage at Nutley High School and John H. Walker Middle School, the IT chiller room, Nutley High
School media center, HVAC, Spring Garden Boiler Repair, Washington and Lincoln School HBAC. Uh we al additionally reviewed resolutions including donations as we'll see on tonight's agenda uh toilet room facilities for prek and K school bus
evacuation drills payment to serve pro comprehensive mainten plan and M1 next meeting for the finance committee is scheduled for November 12th at 12 p.m. >> Thank you Mr. Dillia Mr. Scotty policy.
>> Yes, Mr. President. The policy committee met on October 7th. In attendance were myself, Trustee Balsamo, Trusty Gilbert, and Superintendent BA. The committee was provided with a list of 75 policies prior to the meeting for review that are currently in our policy book and are up
to up for renewal on the 5-year cycle. The committee highlighted and discussed several policies including the incapacitation of the superintendent or business administrator, policy on booster clubs, policy on students, and policies regarding transfers between board meetings. The committee also
discussed the regulation on class size. The committee moved all 75 to the board agenda for renewal as is and asked that the superintendent follow up with the sports booster clubs to ensure they are following the policy. The committee decided to set the next meeting with the
release of the next Strauss asmay policy alert. >> Thank you Mr. Scotty. We now come to that portion of the meeting where we allow members of the public to address the board. In this section we allow questions or comments on reports, resolutions and all school related
matters. Our board regulations number 01 167 allow 20 minutes for these communications. Each person shall be limited to three minutes and we ask that you try to stay within this requirement. Speakers may speak more than once only after all others wishing to speak on the topic have been heard. All statements
will be directed to me as the chairperson and no one may address board members individually. Please be reminded that if your statement is too lengthy, abusive, obscene, irrelevant or redundant, your participation may be terminated. And please remember to state your name and address each and every time you address the board. Does anyone
have any questions? Good evening, folks. Um, Mr. B, you stole, sorry, >> just state your name and address. >> Sorry, Jim Noatne Raymond in in town here. Um, you stole most of my questions in relation to the um
the contracted agency for powers and whatnot. Thank you for the swift action. And I know that that takes a lot of work and you and anybody else who worked with you, thank you. U but I did want to understand what the due diligence process was for rehiring these agencies. I saw that that was approved in August.
I'm assuming that's done annually. So to the extent you guys can explain what that due diligence pro process entails, that would be helpful. >> So with that, I'm going to do you want to answer that as uh >> I can answer that. >> You can answer that. Okay. >> Uh yeah. So, it's it's a contract um
like many other contracts the district does. Um in this case, uh the district will be going out for RFP this year uh to go through our annual uh contract approval rate. Regardless of where we are right now, regardless of the emergency plans we put in place and the options we increase in district, uh we
we do plan to get proposals thoroughly vet and go through the annual approval of these contracts. >> Fair. I think I was I was looking for a little bit more detail with regards to uh what sort of due diligence is done on the agencies you contract knowing that the the previously contracted agency
obviously fell short of the agreement. Um you know had this not occurred >> and there wasn't any sort of uh event that created the situation it would have perpetuated until something >> this agency has been a part of the district for quite some time uh before for me. I can tell you what we are doing
going forward for for the agency. Um on the addendum today, we have fully vetted, met with them. We have a a shared service agreement that has been formulated by our attorney uh to go through. >> Okay. I mean, the the the thing that I'll leave and I I don't uh I don't mean
to put this uh directed at you, Mr. because I know you work really hard to make sure everything's done. But I would ask the board to look inward when you guys are going through these due diligence processes because obviously the fact that someone with the past that they had and someone who was arrested
not not long after leaving the school was allowed to be in there with our most vulnerable children is incredibly disappointing. Uh I know Mr. Mr. Ba works really hard, but I would ask the members of the board to look at yourselves and understand that if you had a a child that was in that situation, I'm sure you would be just as angry as the rest of us were about it.
Um, thank you again and thank you, Mr. B, for taking care of that. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Okay, seeing none, can I have a motion to close the public comment portion? Motion.
Miss Quirk, would you take academic resolutions, please? >> I move um academic resolutions one and two as written. Sir >> second anyone >> second
>> discussion >> roll call >> Mr. Balsamo >> yes >> Dr. Dia >> yes >> Mr. Gilberty >> yes >> Mr. Gazinski >> yes >> Mrs. Quirk >> yes >> Mr. Scotty >> yes >> Mr. Ferrero
>> yes >> Mr. Kazinski administration. >> Yes, sir. Mr. President, I move administration resolutions 1 through 4. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Bosamo. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dia.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Gilberty. >> Yes. >> Mr. Krosinski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Quirk. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferraro? >> Yes. Mr. Dia. Finance resolutions. >> Yes, Mr. President. I'd like to
recommend finance be moved uh items 1 through 18 as written. >> Second >> discussion. Roll call. >> Mr. Balsamo. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gazinski.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Quirk. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferraro. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty. Policy. >> Yes. Mr. President. Second >> discussion. >> Roll call.
>> Mr. Balsamano. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Miss Kazinski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Quirk. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fero. >> Yes. Mr. Basler. Personnel.
>> Yes. Mr. President. I'd like to move personnel resolution one. >> Second. >> Discussion. Actually, no. Is anybody who's uh do we have a second on that? >> Charlie. >> Charlie did. Sorry, Charlie. I didn't hear you
discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Balsamo. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilbert. >> Mr. Gazinski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Quirk. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty. Yes, >> Mr. Ferrero.
>> Um, I have to abstain and I want to explain my reason for abstaining is because my wife is works in the district. So, I just want you to know that. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, is there any old business to come before the board?
>> Oh, we have these. We have a walk. No. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We have um two walk-on resolutions. >> Four walk-on resolutions. Okay. >> Um council, do I have to read them?
>> Has a is a copy available to the public? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> So So everybody has seen it. >> Okay. It's available to the public. I'm just going to read >> summarize. I'm just going to summarize um the first uh part of it which is walk on resolution number one is approval for
member participation in a cooperative pricing system. Walk on resolution number two approval of staffing and services proposal with the Northern Region Educational Service Commission. Resolution number three is approval of
substitute staff members. And walk on number four is the um recommendation by our superintendent for appointments of certified district staff. I'll make the motion to put forward these walk on resolutions one through four as written.
>> Second. Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Balsamo. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilbert? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gazinski? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Quirk? >> Yes. >> Mr. Scotty? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Ferraro? >> Yes. Okay. Any old business now? Does it come before the board? >> Okay. Any new business? Okay. Okay. Whereas the board of education will be discussing matters exempt from public discussion pursuant
to NJSA 10 col 4-12. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of education recess to close executive session at this time to discuss personnel contract residency appeal and legal issues. Be it further resolved that the results of the discussions will be made public by inclusion on the agenda of the
subsequent meeting of the board of education or when the reasons for discussing such matters in close session no longer exist. Can I get a motion to adjurnn into executive >> motion please? >> Okay. Thank you everyone. [Music]