--------- Yes. >> Good evening everyone. >> Justice. >> The June 16th Township of Ocean School District Board of Education meeting is being called to order. >> Mr. Hastings, would you please do the roll call? >> Mr. Brady >> here. >> Mr. Cobbert
>> here. >> Mrs. Dam >> here. >> Mrs. Gilman >> here. >> Mr. McCarthy >> here. >> Mr. McGovern >> here. >> Mr. Schneider. >> Miss Stevens >> here. >> Mr. Dolan >> here. At this time, can I ask everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance, reminding everyone we just had flag day
recently as well. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
So, I just have a few words to share before we turn it over to our students and then Miss Weldon. I'd like to welcome everyone to our last meeting of the school year. That went fast. The 202526 school year um this evening, so good to
see all of you here. We will recognize and celebrate many who have given many, many years of service, too many to count, to our school district. Thank you for all you've done uh throughout the past couple of weeks and leading into next week. Students, staff, and families
prepare for transitions. The transitions to the next grade, the next school or graduation to the next steps in life. There is a great deal to celebrate and we are reminded with those celebrations come a lot of feelings.
There may be uncertainty or even a little fear, but we know that we will all succeed when we continue to get the support of those around us. And we have a wonderful community that offers that support and many families that offer that support. So, thank you to all the teachers and staff. You work with our
students and our families in support of each other. And you serve as the backbone to keep our district standing. Thank you to our PTAs and all of our volunteers who have shared your time and support throughout this school year. Thank you to our families. As our students first teachers, your
partnership with their teachers and their schools matter more than you know. This summer offers us an opportunity to refresh and reset for the new school year. And many people are jealous of us because of where we live. So, we take we take great joy in that. So, we wish
everyone a restful, safe, and fun summer. Thank you for being here this evening. Okay, students. We'd love to hear from you. As we come to the end of the school year, all sports and club activities have officially ended. So, there are no new updates to report. However, I would
like to take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of our students throughout this year. Through fundraisers, events, athletic, and a club activity, students have shown an incredible amount of dedication, leadership, and school spirit, helping make this a successful and memorable year. >> On behalf of the student body, I would
like to thank everyone who contributed to making the school year such a positive experience. Congratulations to all the students on their achievements and I wish everyone a safe, relaxing and enjoyable summer. >> Thank you both. Thank you for everything you did this year. >> Miss Weldon shout out.
>> Okay. It's really the show of this room here filled with so many wonderful people who have given their years of service to our district and I have the distinct pleasure along with many others in recognizing and honoring them this evening. So to get started I'd ask Mr.
to display the uh superintendent report and I'd ask our principles, our union leadership and anyone else here in the audience who has uh a role in recognizing our honores and board member Gilman will be presenting
[clears throat] our awards this evening. So we are going to organize ourselves sort of across the front here and we're going to ask if you would the plaques are down this way. So if you would all kind of you know stand right in front of the deis here and then
as we call up our honores you're going to come >> shake some hands and then make your way in front of the backdrop so that we can take photos. Any family members that are here are welcome >> to come up to take photos throughout and
we'll make sure we get a group a group shot at the end as well. Okay. So, those are some of the logistics. [gasps] Now, I'd like to say that we we consider this night to be perhaps the most important night of recognition all year
long. We take a pause from recognizing students so that we can highlight the work of these tremendous professionals who have given their time to the students of this district. and without
which we would have no students here to recognize all year long uh the rest of the year. The the great accomplishments of our students come from the hard work of all of our personnel and in particular from these fine individuals who have made the bittersweet decision
to leave us and move on to the next chapter of their lives. We are saddened to see them go but also happy for them in what comes next. So with that I will begin. You can advance
the slide. Mr. Hater this evening we begin with one of our bus drivers who I know could not be here this evening but I'd like to recognize Janet Eckert for her 11 years of service to our district.
Next, Mr. Gary Black. I don't think he could be here this evening either. 15 years of service to our district. Okay. Now, Mrs. Lois DeMarco, please come on up.
You're gonna go right down this line here. Yeah. Tonight, we recognize Miss Lois DeMarco who is a secret a 10-month secretary at the Township of Ocean Intermediate School from 2016 to 2026, giving 10 years of service to this
district. Congratulations, Miss Dearco. families, it is okay if you sort of come up any if you need a better view, you can come this way so you can take a a clear photo. Next, I'd like to recognize Mrs. Lori for Nicola.
>> Come on up. >> Mrs. for Nicole is a 12-month secretary at the Township Revolution Intermediate School. She's been working in our district since 2001, giving 25 years of service. And I believe there's someone here to give you another recognition.
So, I'll give him a moment. >> Everybody, >> not to offend the other retirees in this room, this is my sister. So, um, as the mayor, I'd like to give her a proclamation. You're lucky my much older sister.
Whereas Lorie Fornicola has faithfully served the students, families, faculty, staff, and community of the township of ocean intermediate school for 25 years as a dedicated school secretary. And whereas throughout her distinguished career, she has been a welcoming
presence for all who entered the school, providing professionalism, compassion, and unwavering support to countless students, parents, teachers, and administrators. And whereas her exceptional organizational skills,
commitment to excellence, and tireless work ethic have contributed significantly to the success and daily operations of the Township of Ocean Intermediate School. And whereas during her 25 years of service, she has built
lasting relationships as proven here and earned the respect, admiration, and gratitude of her colleagues, students, and community members alike. And whereas her kindness, patience, and dedication
have left a lasting impact on generations of students and have helped create a positive and welcoming school environment. And whereas she begins a welldeserved retirement. Never thought I'd say that out of my mouth. The
community wishes to recognize and celebrate her remarkable contributions and express sincere appreciation for her years of of service. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that I, John P. Naplatani
senior mayor of the township of ocean do hereby proclaim June 16th 2026 as Lorie Fornicola There's an action. We got to get here. >> With all the clapping in here, be the next
ideas, Lori. >> Okay. Thank you. Next, we'd like to recognize Mrs. Michelle McFarland. Come on up. Mrs. McFarland served as a 12-month secretary in our district and serving in many roles, but finishing here in the administration building. She worked in
our district from 1994 to 2026, giving us 32 years of service. >> Congratulations. Our next honore and my right hand all these years is Mrs. Tony Gerstein.
>> Mrs. Gerstein served this district for funny for 25 years, finishing up as the executive secretary to the superintendent. She has worked in our district since 2001, again giving 25 years of service. And just as a special note, she has been
there with me in many offices, in many roles, um, helping me to do my job. Without her, things would not have looked as polished or professional or as branded. Uh, I know everyone thinks I'm the brand queen, but really it's a pet
peeve of hers if you don't use the right Spartan head. So, [laughter] I greatly appreciate how she has made sure that that is spread across the district and um I'm making light of something that is very, very bittersweet
for me. But I do wish her all the best in her retirement. Next honore is Mrs. Mayor Rogers. Come on up. Mrs. Rogers has served as an instructional assistant at Ocean Township High School from 2015 to 2026,
giving us 11 years of service to the high school. Congratulations. Next up is Nan Parice here. Yes, Nan. Come on up. Mrs. Carolyn, affectionately known as Nan Pice, has been the Ocean Township High
School nurse since 2004, serving for 22 years at Ocean Township High School. >> Congratulations. >> Our next honore is Mrs. Nancy Haran. Mrs. Heran has served in our special
education department on our child study team as a learning disabilities teacher consultant at o most recently at Ocean Township High School. Mrs. Heran has worked for the district since 2004, serving for 22 years. Congratulations,
Mrs. Next, Mrs. Valerie Dakotus, who I think could not be here this evening. Mrs. Dotus serves as an art teacher at Ocean Township High School. She's been with our district since 2001, serving for 25 years. Congratulations, Mrs.
Dakotas. Also unable to be here this evening is Mrs. Colleen Petty. Mrs. Petty retired as a health and physical education teacher from Township of Ocean Intermediate School earlier this year, serving our district since 2004, 22
years of service. Congratulations, Mrs. Susan Listister also could not be here this evening. Mrs. Listister is a health and physical ed education teacher at the Township of Ocean Intermediate School. She has worked for our district from 2001 to 2026
serving for 25 years. Congratulations, Miss Listister. Now, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Gail Gaul. Please come on up. Mrs. Gaul is an interventionist at the Township of Ocean Intermediate School and has worked in this district from
2004 to 2026. Mrs. Gaul has had 22 years of service in our district. Congratulations, Mrs. G. Our next honore is Miss Dina Gidio. Come on
up, Miss Jio. Miss Jio is a language arts literacy teacher at the Township of Ocean Intermediate School, working in our district 2006 to 2026, serving for 20 years. Congratulations, Miss Jio.
>> Mrs. Rosemary Hope could not be here this evening. Miss Hope is a science teacher at the Town Revolution Intermediate School, has worked in our district from 2004 to 2026, serving for 22 years. Congratulations,
Mrs. Hova. Next, I'd like to honor Mrs. Janine Dinski. Did she not be here this evening? I'm sorry. Minsky is not here this evening. She's currently serving as an interventionist at Ocean Township Elementary School. She has served our
district from 2004 to 2026, giving 22 years of service to our students. Congratulations. Our next honore is Mrs. Karen Francisco. Come on up. >> Mrs. Francisco is an elementary school
teacher at Wamasa Elementary School, currently teaching in fourth grade. She has been working in our district from 2004 to 2026, serving for 22 years. Congratulations. This is Francisco.
>> Our next honore is Mrs. Laura Hallz. Come on up. Mrs. Haltz is an elementary school teacher at Wamasa Elementary School, currently in first grade. She has worked for our district from 2000 to 2026,
serving our students for 26 years. Congratulations. Icorn. She's here. Yes. Mrs. Iicorn is a special education teacher at Wayside Elementary School and has been working in our district from
2004 to 2026, serving for 22 years. Congratulations, Mrs. Iicorn. Next, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Janice McDow. Come on up. Mrs. McDow is serving as the
instructional coach, a position that she helped develop for our district and led the way in being the first to serve in that role at Wayside Elementary School. She has worked for our district from 2008 to 2026, serving for 18 years for the students of
Wayside and the staff as well. Congratulations, Mrs. McDow. Next, I'd like to introduce Mr. Michael Anasio. Mr. Adeneasio, >> Mr. Adeneasio has served our school district as a health and physical education teacher at Wayside Elementary
School from 2001 to 2026, serving for 25 years. Congratulations and thank you. And I believe that concludes our recognition. But I would just like to say that together
this group of retirees has provided 444 years of service to this district. An incredible milestone. Outstanding. Okay, now we need a group shot. So, let's come back up this way a little
bit. I think that would be best. Maybe we can sort of angle it and maybe do two rows. Mrs. just say a picture if you'd like. It's up to you or the principal sort of ran away, but here you go.
>> And everyone can come up and make sure you get the shot. >> We'll take a few takes here. >> Can everybody be seen? Congratulations again and thank you so much for your service.
families if they want minutes. >> Hey, just thinking out loud. Hey, >> so great. It's hard to know. down. Yeah, feel free to take photos.
There's no idea. for next year. >> We'll next year. Michelle, do >> you want me to intervention? Well, I mean I know
>> right >> I know it's hard. >> That's right. See you. Bye, Miss. >> Bye, Miss. Bye, Miss. >> Good to see you guys, too. Have a good
one. See you soon. That's right. That's right. for that. Okay. All right. Are we ready to continue? >> Do [clears throat] it. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hastings, school business administrators report.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Um, there's been lots of uh announcements about upcoming events. Um, I would just like to remind the board that our July meeting is uh Tuesday, July 28th. The district has u contracted with a
demographer >> who has been completing their study uh for the district and uh they're finalizing study and will be at our July 28th meeting to present their findings to the board. >> Thank you for that update. We appreciate that. >> Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Hastings?
>> No, sir. Thank you. Okay. So, we'll move on to public comment. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment and educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. Public comment is not a question and answer session.
Specific questions can be directed to the administration. The superintendent's contact information is on the DEIS and on the district website. You may uh we encourage you to contact her with any questions. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. Each statement made by a participant shall be
limited to five minutes duration. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. The presiding officer may request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum. Would anyone from the public
like to comment on any item at this time? Anyone in the queue? Please go ahead. >> Hello. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, this is Sam Fields from Wayside and I just first want to say a
special congratulations to Mrs. Toran who really who really ensured that my brother left high school with you know with a full bag to be successful in college and to Mr. Dakota who I've been able to become connected with through the spar in schools. So thank so thank
you to their to them for their service. Okay. So when I last came to speak here I said at the end that the taxpayer is aware and should be aware of any wrongdoing of the senior administration and the board of education in this district. and I've only become familiar with how boards of education work
recently. So, I looked back at a live stream from May 19th, just a week after I first came to become a little more familiar. And I was shocked to hear that there are some board members who are not fully aware of what their positions entail. And it's concerning. Here are the exact words of two members from just
a couple from like a month ago. And I and what I'm about to say, I do not mean to offend, but I just want this to be a call to action for immediate action for these board by members to, you know, make up for what they said they don't have. So, Mrs. Gilman, you said that
that's my opinion. And to follow up with that, I hope that in October when we go to convention, there will be an opportunity to attend some classes that might focus on budget because I really know nothing about numbers and nor did I have an affinity toward it. You know, literature, that was my thing. And I'm and I can tell that you were a very
celebrated English teacher. But now I find myself being called upon by community members to explain why $8 million, this is your quote, has to be drawn out of the township funds to keep things running. So yes, I think that we all need to be schooled in it, meaning budgets and numbers. Mrs. McGovern expressed the need to have more retreats
and more dinners as a board to discuss things that board members should already be familiar with. You also discussed the need for members to get to know each other's perspectives. But I was confused because if it has been 1 to 12 years that each board member has served, shouldn't they already be familiar with
each other? Why does taxpayer dollars why do they have to be spent on dinners and retreats to discuss topics that should already be known by each board member and can be studied? Budgets can be studied through reading articles, books, evaluating personal finances, etc. And you said, quote, "I'm not a budget person either, and so I'm not a
numbers person either." And that was very concerning to hear. And I think that these kinds of reflections, if you're not aware of, you know, these parts of your position, these reflections should have happened before taxes were raised in this town by 7 to 8%. I would also like to point out that
throughout this meeting on May 19th, Miss Weldon and Mr. Hastings Hastings were referred to by several members of the board by their first names. Why is that? Isn't a board of education supposed to be a professional environment? If board of ed members are referring to district professionals by their first name, does that mean um
board members have personal connections to the superintendent and to the business administrator that put a strain on the level of accountability they face? This is definitely something the taxpayers should be aware aware about, but especially what I just mentioned earlier to have the idea that our board of elected board of education members do
not know the ins and outs of 100 million dollar budget that they should have had experience with being from being on the board for 7 to and 12 years respectively. I hope that taxpayers take stock of what a competent board of education should look like and keep that in mind the next time a board of
education member is up for re-election. We deserve members to be competent and fully aware of their jobs. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do we have any other public commenters? >> Yes, >> Alex Gates, you can go ahead. >> Miss Hayes.
>> Hi, Alex Hayes. Um, didn't know I was going to be piggybacking on that last comment, but it was kind of incredulous to me tonight to hear um a longtime school board member asking about OTUSA soccer club. Um I mean this has been known for years. I don't know why this is like um
suddenly quote unquote news to somebody tonight. Um what was at stake or on the facilities use form was using the gym for months. So for for years I've complained to you all about sports clubs essentially booking nearly every available day and night of our fields.
Like that's literally thousands of like fields, gym, and turf minutes. Um, UTSA, OTUSA rather, is a nonprofit. Yes. I don't know how you folks don't know that. And it has been a nonprofit for decades. Um, but you've been renting to
them for pennies just like you have for other sports clubs. And yes, these nonprofits do charge families hundreds, several of them, thousands of dollars a year for participants. So, it makes people look foolish when
you don't even know the groups that you are um renting your facilities for less than $550 for like the entire year. It's not a good look. Um, switching gears, I missed the applied math presentation
once again, um, because I didn't know that we had moved to 630. Um, you know, I would have liked to have seen that since our horrible math scores in the last few years, you know, just have been tanking. So, I hope that whatever were in the slides are what was online. Like, I hope, you know, nothing else was deviated or there weren't a ton of
questions. Um, because I can't wait to see what we're doing to try to improve things. And I'm excited for that and I hope other parents are too. It's about time that we are moving to new math curriculums and whatever it is this new program is offering. Um, and I and I
know that you all know when I say that there's nobody there. Um, to be re retorted back, well, there were 19 people there. Um, it's so silly. I mean, how many are, you know, admin and staff and teachers? I was asking, how many are parents? How
many are taxpayers? That's really the folks that you do not want to come to meetings. And that's what's clear. You hope they don't come. You don't want them to come. Um, I stand corrected though earlier when I said, you know, I hadn't seen it online
that it was moved to 6:30. Um, I now see that there was a Facebook post about 11 hours ago saying tonight's m meeting was changed. I do apologize for saying I there wasn't one. Um, you know, I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong. You never post about these meetings on social
media, so I didn't even look. I did, however, look on the social on the web page. And once again, I'd like to reiterate that in two places, it still says that tonight's meeting started at 7:00. Um, somebody also said that there were emails sent out. Um, I did not get that. I just confirmed with another
parent that they did did in fact get either an email or a Remind about the 6:30 p.m. start. I do not get reminds and I searched under all known um emails that you all send me um countless emails on a weekly and monthly basis and I did not see anything that said 6:30 p.m.
stop start. So, I'd love to know when that went out today. Um, I just want to reiterate that it's about time that we are ditching the failed experiment that was 80 minute block schedules for sixth through 8th graders. That was a travesty
that this school district invested in to the detriment of our students. I'm thrilled we are finally doing something. Um, and I hope that increases our retention, our scores, our public image, and our district rankings. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other commenters? >> That closes public comment. Moving on to the agenda. We start with section five. Mrs. McGovern. >> Uh move to approve the meeting minutes. Second
from May 19. >> Mr. Hastings. >> This is items 51 and 52. Mr. Brady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Covert. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gilman. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Mrs. McGovern, >> yes. >> Miss Stevens, >> yes.
>> Mr. Dolin, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Mrs. McGovern, uh, section six, please. Personnel, >> move to approve items 6.1 through 6.15. I have a second. >> Second. >> Hastings. >> This is 61 through 615. Mr. Brady, >> yes.
>> Mr. Cover. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gilman. >> Yes. To all recuse from 6.14. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss McGovern, >> yes. >> Miss Stevens, >> yes. >> Mr. Dalton, >> yes.
>> Motions carry. >> Uh, Mr. McCarthy, section 7, financial management. >> Move to approve items 7.1 through 7.43. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Hastings. >> This is 71 through 743. Mr. Brady.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Cover. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. Mrs. Gilman. >> Yes. To all uh 7.23 recused from Camp David. >> Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern. >> Yes. >> Mr. Schneider. Mrs. Miss Stevens.
>> Yes. >> And Mr. D. >> Yes. >> Motions carry. >> Mrs. Dams. Section 8, instruction, education, and student activities. >> We move to approve items 81 through 88. Second.
>> Okay. Mr. Hastings. This is 81 through 88. Mr. Brady, >> yes. >> Mr. Cobbert, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dam, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gilman, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Mr. McGovern, >> yes. >> Mr. Stevens, >> yes. >> Mr. Dan, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Do any members of the board have any old
business? >> Any members of the board have any new business? And I have a motion to second. Part: 2
Hey, the June 16th Board of Education meeting for the Township of Ocean Schools and so forth. We already opened up stairs in executive session. Um Mr. Hastings, do you need to do the roll call down here again? Sure.
Mr. Brady? >> Here. >> Mr. Stover? >> Here. >> Mr. Adams? >> Here. >> Mr. Skillman? >> Here. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Here. >> Mr. Gallagher? >> Here. >> Mr. Schneider? Mr. Stevens? >> Here. >> And Mr. Doll? >> Here. >> Um I will skip the president's report until the second meeting tonight. Uh so
I'll turn it over to Superintendent Waldron. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um I We have two wonderful presentations planned for this evening, so I will keep my comments brief beforehand, but I did just want to uh give a few shout-outs to some of our
students and our their advisors. We have at TOIS, they have released their Sand Pebbles magazine for the year. Here's the beautiful cover. So this is a a collection of student student poetry, writing, artwork, and again, they do
this every year, and this year is uh as outstanding as ever. So congratulations to that group. We have started to receive our yearbooks, our high school yearbook, hot off the press here. Uh looks like a varsity jacket. And uh it's a great cover and a
wonderful book, and um I did have upstairs, I'm sorry, uh you can take a look at them the next time you're in my office. We have the yearbooks for the other schools. So really these wonderful uh culminations of a fantastic school year. So great job to everybody involved in putting out
those publications. Um Earlier this probably about 2 weeks or so ago, I sent home a letter to all families that our school performance reports were up on our website. You can find them >> [clears throat] >> under teaching and learning on our website, and we are uh
the the report is different this year. It has a little bit more interactive platform. So, um it may look a little different, but there's a lot of good information in there. We are um We also had already happened, but I do
just want to give a few shout-outs. Wonderful celebrations and ceremonies towards the end of this school year. Our National Honor Society induction on Carelli Field was outstanding. We had many different senior week activities including our time capsule, which is a
tearjerker for all involved. And I know some of our board members were able to get there to to see it. We had our two wonderful proms. We had many eighth grade events and we still have a few more coming up. We finished up all of our fourth grade celebrations last week
over at the pool and I know there are more activities planned for the next couple days. Our sports award ceremony also on Carelli Field was excellent. Preschool moving up ceremonies and kindergarten celebrations. It's been a whirlwind of celebrating our students
the last few weeks, but all of that is what makes it all worth it. And the last few important dates that I just want to make sure everyone is aware of. The high school starts their exams on Thursday, so their early dismissal begins on Thursday. Every other school
begins early dismissals on Friday through the end of the school year. Our graduations this year are on June 24th. The eighth grade graduation is at 2:00 p.m. and the high school graduation is at 4:30 p.m. Both ceremonies at our are
at the high school. And our last day of school is June 24th, so right to the end we'll be busy with wonderful things. Okay. I would like to first introduce for our first presentation of the evening, Mr. Greg Colon.
And will you be joined by Mr. Siciliano? >> I think you should. >> I do want to I'm sure you're going to give them the credit, but I did I did >> My second sentence. >> I did have the pleasure of attending an event that this class put on earlier this week and it was it
was quite something. So, I will I'll let you do all the explaining, Mr. Cologne. >> Uh first slide. All right. First of all, good evening to the board, uh Ms. Weldon, Dr. Morgan, uh fellow administrators, community. Uh I would like to share the impact of our
first year of our new applied math course that we offer at the high school. Uh but before I get started, I want to thank him, Mr. Sislenos in the audience, and the other teacher, Mr. Thompson, who can't be with us this evening. Without their work, their tireless work, because this course essentially came from
nothing a year ago. They invested a ton of time over the summer developing the curriculum, uh the second half of last year, and then constantly refining it during this year. And they created an absolutely incredible, uh hands-on, successful course where students are engaging every day in math, enjoying
math. Uh staff members and whether or not administrator or just fellow staff member uh that have walked by that room have nothing but cologne things to say about how engaged those students are, uh how happy they are engaging with the material and learning the math. And
that's a credit to those two. They did a phenomenal job with that. All right. Uh applied math was created to address an important need within our mathematics program. Uh not every student connects with mathematics through traditional instruction, but every student needs mathematical
reasoning and problem-solving skills for life after high school. The goal is not to make math easier. The goal is to make math more relevant and accessible while continuing to challenge students to think critically. Next slide.
When evaluating the success of a new course, we look beyond grades. We observe strong student participation, which this course has, increased persistence with solving problems, which this course has proven, and positive classroom culture. These students want
to be there. Uh, they are upset when they're not in school for these events cuz they're always doing something engaging within that classroom. Uh, students are regularly making connections between mathematics and the real world in this class on daily basis.
Next slide. So, as of marking period three, marking period four data has not come in yet. Uh, we are currently at a 0% failure rate, and that's not due to the ease of the course at all. That's due to the students actually uh
fully engaging. We have not reduced expectations with this course. Uh, the volume of work is comparable to what they would have in any other mathematics course. Uh, the quality of the work, I think, far exceeds it because it's applied in such a way where they're actually engaging every day in that
material. Uh, so the increased engagement, relevance, and student investment is the reason that we have this early success. Again, year one, marking period three, so hopefully next year we'll be on track
for the same. Next slide. The students in this classroom work collaboratively using many of the principles of the building thinking classroom model that you may have heard about over the past few months that were initiative we rolled out with our 6th to 12th grade math instruction. They're
solving authentic problems. They're analyzing data. They're completing design-based projects. They're explaining and defending their reasoning. Mr. Sisiliano and Mr. Thompson, they have created a learning environment where the students are actively doing mathematics rather than simply watching the mathematics.
Next slide. Uh, I have a few slides of some examples of the work they're doing. This is actually one of the first projects they did. Uh it's an outdoor measurement project. Uh this was sprinklers, I believe. So, they did the courtyard and then putting putting sprinklers out
there as well. So, students collected actual measurements around the school grounds, analyzed data, used mathematical reasoning uh to solve the authentic problems. They were working on fractions, which as we see when we look at the data, that's one of the areas
where we have weakness. They're engaging with it constantly every day within that course. Uh they're helping to see that mathematics exists beyond a textbook. Next slide. This is the bridge engineering uh project that they conducted. Uh
students designed and constructed model bridges while concepts such as strength, efficiency, geometry, and structural design. This project combined mathematics, engineering, collaboration, and critical thinking into a single authentic learning experience. And that was a
phenomenal project. We actually, if you look at the bottom middle, we displayed the bridges for a few months in the front foyer area of the school. Uh and with that, the even to begin with, they they went through a whole lesson just on bridge
designs, the different strengths of bridge design, calculating loads. So, it's high level mathematics that they were engaged with. And that's all happening with essentially a 0% failure rate. Students constantly engage in that day-to-day.
Uh design and financial Uh next slide, please. Design and financial applications. Uh they took a few trips. One of them was for Home Depot to get the supplies that they needed for some of the various projects. They investigated materials, measured
costs, developed designs, analyze data with this, use mathematics to make informed decisions as they were purchasing and pricing and budgeting these items. Whenever students pursue college, military technical training, or enter the workforce directly, these types of
skills are what they're going to use throughout their life. Uh next slide, please. This is the combination of their work. I don't know how they're going to top this next year. I've asked them a few times and I I >> [clears throat] >> saw the wheels spinning. But this is the
boat design project that we did we did last week. Students designed and constructed boats using limited materials and specific design constraints. This was the capstone using all the skills they learned during the year. What made this project so powerful is
that the students immediately saw the relationship between their mathematical decisions and the results that they achieved. Thus, the pool. And it was 5 minutes was the minimum. >> Glue for 5 minutes and be able to paddle that and cross the pool.
>> Hot glue and two burner boxes. >> What? >> What? >> Hot glue and scissors. >> Next slide. No, please stop. Duct tape. >> Duct tape. >> Student impact. We have seen students become more confident in their
mathematical abilities, more willing to tackle challenging problems, more engaged in classroom learning. Students are seeing how mathematics connects to their future, careers, everyday decision-making, and life after high school. Next slide.
The district impact is applied math is strengthening our overall mathematics pathway. We're adding an additional pathway through this course. It's expanding opportunities for all of our students and it provides an additional rigorous pathway that meets students where they are while preparing them for future
success. Next slide. In closing, the first year of applied mathematics mathematics has exceeded our expectations. Students are engaged, students are thinking, students are succeeding. And I would again like to thank Mr. Siciliano and Mr. Thompson
for their tireless work and their leadership with taking this off the ground and making it what it is today and we're very proud of it. We're running two sections of it next year. We had one this year. So it been successful with students wanting to come in and
wanting to engage with it. Last slide, please. Questions. Thank you for your time. And our student speakers. >> Mr. Speaker >> Mr. Collazo, nice presentation. And that was going to be my question. Is enrollment capped? Are you going to
expand the program? >> It is expanded for next year. We have the capacity to fill two classes. We are not at the point where two classes are at full capacity. So there there's room. There's room to grow. >> A nice job, Mr. Siciliano and Mr.
Thompson as well. >> Come here. Yes. >> Mr. Speaker >> Is it for all age groups? Like all students so 9 to 12 can take it or is it a certain academic level? >> slide, it's for grades 11 and 12. >> Oh, 11. Great.
So once I'm sorry. So most students that are taking this, are they taking like through algebra one and then going on to this class? >> We have two pathways in this courses. There's students that have taken algebra, geometry, algebra two and then applied math. And then we have students that took algebra one, geometry and then
applied math. >> Great. Thank you. >> Mr. Stevens >> How are the students selected to take the course or is it just open to >> It's open enrollment. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> Yes. Mr. Speaker >> Great presentation. I love this. I think
this is so great seeing the kids interact like this, seeing them outside learning in different ways is amazing. I say spread it everywhere. Everyone take this and go with it. So, congratulations on that. Great work. Um I had a question, but now I forgot it
cuz I'm so excited about it. I think it's so great. >> [laughter] >> Moving on, that's all I have to say right now. >> Anyone? >> Yes. >> I'm just as an educator, you can say I was Mr. Cosman's teacher. >> Oh, no, right. >> I don't You don't have to say it.
I'm going to say 35 years ago. We all become proud of him, I mean. >> I was just going to say, has he made you proud? >> [laughter] >> Great work by you and the team and and our teachers and I I think you highlight some things that um those of us in the field understand, but
sometimes people are like, why aren't you doing this and how come this doesn't happen faster and all that? It's because proper planning, right? The dedication of our teachers to I'm going to use the word play around with some things and figure out the best path to take, right? Because they know their students, they know the
curriculum, um and to go at it at a nice and steady pace so that we can have kids meet with success. And I would hope to say that our teachers doing a class like this get to enjoy their teaching even more than maybe a more traditional class,
right? Because you're experimenting yourself and you're having fun and you're watching the kids have fun. Um and I think it must be exciting to see when you talk about the level of success for any teacher to see that level of success with their students has to be a reward. So, um kudos to everyone.
>> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Do um why don't we see if we have any um we have some virtual people. Does anyone in the audience have a a comment at this time? >> Or question. >> Or a question, yes. Do we have anyone virtually who has any comments or questions?
Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> It seems like you have a question, right? >> wanted to say something. Um I thought the project great, but the best part of it is the absolute cool and the having the vividness wonder. >> [laughter]
>> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. The next part of my present my report is our presentation by Mr. Amato and his team uh who I know are here to support him as well um about the TOIS schedule redesign
proposal. >> Good evening. It's exciting to be back in front of you. I'm honestly very excited about what I'm about to present to you. Uh before I begin, I just want to uh just talk a little bit about the history of the intermediate school. We
are about to embark on our 50th year as a school. And in the 50 years of our school, we have had two schedules, bell schedules, okay? And when we went to the bell schedule that we currently have, we were living in that schedule
for nearly 40 plus years, okay? So, that's relevant because as I go through these slides, um I am going to reference the prior bell schedule from time to time uh so that you can have an idea of
why we've landed at this schedule, okay? All right, I'm ready. So, I like to uh start about the strengths of the current block. Um first off, one of the most important things is that it aligns with our fifth grade um
The inner our intermediate school is very unique because we have a fifth grade. Most middle schools are grade 6, 7, and 8 only. So, by having the fifth grade an elementary based program, um we do share staff, so it's very important
for us to be able to utilize our staff in both schedules. Okay? In the current block, the expanded periods allow for more depth in our lessons. That in our old block, 41 minutes, we couldn't do that. The 82 minutes
allowed us to get deeper into our lessons. The increased opportunities engagement and exploration and the project-based learning opportunities. These are These were all the strengths of this current block. Okay? Next slide, please. No, obviously no schedule is perfect, so
you're going to face your challenges. And obviously this schedule that we currently live in has some of its challenges. First off being the lack of continuity. We are on a rotating day AB's and you know, God forbid there's a snow day, sometimes you don't see your
students for four or five days. You know, so the lack of of continuity of instruction is a big, big deal. There are many overlapping schedules in the current schedule. Not only do we have the fifth grade schedule, but we have a red and white alternating
schedule and on Wednesdays we have a pink schedule where we have reverted back to kind of the old schedule from 40, 50 years ago and have gotten and and we do that that pink schedule on
those days. Um The blocks are way too long for our students. 82 minutes is tough and at this point, while we switched to the schedule about eight or nine years ago and
it was helping us meet the needs of getting out of that 41 minute block, it is no longer appropriate for our students. Next slide, Mike, when you get a chance. Okay, thank you. So, the desired outcomes for this is
we want to take the strengths of the current schedule, leave behind some of the challenges, and let's let's move forward. So, some of the goals here is we want academics to meet every day, not every other day. We need them to meet every day. Okay? We
need the appropriate block lengths. 41 minutes, this is why I referenced it earlier, the 41 minutes. It used to be eight periods, 41 minutes. The minute you started getting into your the meat and potatoes of your lesson, we were doing an exit slip and leaving. All
right? Many of our staff on a pink day comes up to me and they kind of chuckle and say, "I don't know how we did that schedule for that long." All right? 82 minutes, I just said, is a bit too long. So, we're just trying to find our just right right now. Okay? And on top of that, we really know we know that our
our schools um in need of improvement with daily attendance, so that is also another goal. Uh, move on, please. So, here it is. Here's our bell schedule. Uh, we're really excited about this, and we believe that 57 minutes it's our just
right. Um, it kind of splits right in between. Uh, you know, obviously the 60 minutes is is where we were desiring to be and we're and we're we're right there. Academics, you'll see I'll go in in between. Academics meet every day.
Our electives will remain alternating. Okay? We'll stay We'll will remain red white. Our We will have 2-minute passing time, which I'll get to that in a few minutes, uh, in between blocks. And home room is going to be included in block one. Okay? We have actually done this before, uh, in the good old days of
COVID. Uh, we we did do that, and it is effective. And I'll go into more detail about that. So, what I what I've done is I've just done a couple mock schedules for each grade level, so you can see what each grade level looks like. Um we'll start with the sixth grade. What
you can see is blocks 1 2 3 4 math, science, social studies, ELA. Okay? They it's it's on both days, right? It's on a red day and a white day. So, it just it means every day of the week we're getting math, science, social studies, ELA.
Uh what's unique about this schedule is that um in this model, this is just a model, doesn't mean that it's going to need to be this way when we finally land on on a final uh decision of of what it's going to look like. But, on this model
all of sixth grade classes will have their electives at the same time. So, all academic classes are taught at the same time. All electives are taught at the same time for sixth grade, okay? Um that's important for a few reasons, but I go
back to that 2-minute passing time that we talked about before. Now, our students are no longer bouncing from an academic class on one side of the building to visit on this side of the building then back to an academic class. They are much more contained in an area and it's much more controlled,
and uh it'll run much more efficiently this way, okay? And we believe that we can utilize our staff uh in such a way that we're we're we're maximizing everything. Um so, those are just examples of the red and white on the bottom. Those are examples of current electives that we
offer in uh in sixth grade. We can go to seventh grade. You'll see in seventh grade that the red and whites have switched to a different part of the day because each grade level will have their academics taught during a specific
time of the day and their electives at a specific time of day. Once again, so we can maximize staff, all right? Once again, those are just examples of of electives that we would be offering, all right? And then eighth grade, when you go to eighth grade, Mike, if you don't mind changing, you'll see once
again two blocks. So, each grade level gets two blocks for their elective times. Okay? Once again, though, the important thing here is that academics are taught every single day. Uh okay, so on our next slide here, uh I
just want to talk about our course categories. Um so, because we still live in red white with our electives, full year red and white means that those classes will be taught for all 180 days. And those
classes are our core academics, math, science, social studies, ELA. Okay? We will have red or white days, okay, which means that's 90 days of the year. That's basically what we're doing right now. That's phys ed, um
band, eighth grade, uh world language. All right? And then red or white for a half-year course, that could be our typical electives, art, robotics, acting, directing, choir, things of that nature. Okay?
Um so, on the next slide, you will see the impact of this decision in minutes. Mike, if you don't mind. Okay, and that first bar graph is what tells our story. Okay? We are putting the academics back on
on its ped- its rightful pedestal. Okay? And uh we are we are getting so so much more minutes for for our our our core classes. Um obviously, if we are get taking and adding minutes to our core classes, we
are going to be subtracting a little bit from our electives. Um but this is this is what, going back to my original slide or one of my original slides, this is what our students need right now. This is what we need right now. We need We need these minutes in our core classes.
All right? Good, Mike. We thought that this was pretty cool. When you put it in terms like this, 48 additional hours of instructional time per per academic course. I mean, when we're talking about nearly
60 minutes, okay, 48 hours, that's basically like adding 48 days on the school year of academics for our students. I mean, this is this is quite exciting. Next slide, Mike.
Uh so, not just the academics, there's obviously other things that come along with this. Obviously, the you know, it enhances the learning and the wellness and student success. So, I want to walk through and highlight just a few things in that area. Good, Mike. So, obviously, the continuity of
instruction is going from unbroken. We talked about that. Uh mean, from broken to an unbroken model. Um we talked about the other every other day's for our four classes. Um any type anytime we have an interruption, it
it creates a forgetting curve, which we talked about down there. You know, sometimes in the summertime, as we approach the summer, we call it the summer slide. They go back a little bit, but it can happen on a daily basis when you don't see your students for a day or two or even more. All right? So, um
we increase instructional time in all all core areas. Uh we're improving retention and understanding. I mean, we are what did this is this is very exciting. Um we're limiting the gaps that are naturally that are naturally happening
in the current current schedule. Good, Mike. We talked about the time before, and we believe that this is developmentally appropriate. We've lived in the 41 minutes for nearly 40-plus years. The past eight or so years we lived in
the 82 and now we're going to split the difference and hit the 57. We think that it maintains the pacing. It maintains the opportunities to get deeper into our lessons. Um It build it builds
uh academic stamina in the classroom. Uh we are we are hitting our we like to say our Goldilocks zone. All right, this is our just right. >> [snorts] >> So, we think that this is really important too. Predictability in a
schedule is good for students. That's how you maximize the day for your students. Um and it's also very good for student wellness. We we know that um that's very important for all of our students at this point uh in the educational world. So, we currently have
a bit of chaotic schedules. I I alluded to that earlier. Red, white, pink fifth grade schedules. It's not it's every day it's like a new surprise for a student. We need it to be predictable so we can maximize their potential. Okay? We're eliminating the overlapping and confusing schedules. Um
the grade level so this is grade level common planning keeps classes physically together eliminating the wing-to-wing anxiety. That's what we talked about before. The students are no longer going to be pinballing back and forth, okay? For the most part four of their blocks of the day are all
going to be classrooms right in the same wing just a couple doors away from each each other, okay? They're not going to have to go chasing back and forth and worrying about getting from one side of the building to the other side of the building. That's why that two minutes is okay. That two minute passing time is
okay, okay? This last one too is very important. This constant daily interactions build stronger peer-to-peer relationships and student-to-teacher relationships, okay? That's you know, when when we have these when we have these gaps every day
building those relationships are hard. You know, there's going to be more buy-in from the student side and then from the teacher side, and we think that that's that's incredible. Uh I'm very excited about this as well because we we know that intervention um you know, it's kind of like the schedule
within a schedule. Sometimes you have to be very creative these days because you know, a a bell schedule is just like the foundation of a house, right? Sometimes it can only be in that shape, right? And then you have to get creative within the schedule. And
I'm very excited about this because going to the schedule creates more opportunities for us to provide proactive interventions throughout the school year. We can identify students mid-year, put them in put them in proper placements, make make the necessary
adjustments, and individualize it for more students than what we're doing right now, okay? So, we're we're super excited about what it can do for our students. It's going to create more opportunities for co-teaching environments. Um
what's better than two two great minds in a room, right? Um so, we are we are very excited about all of the um intentionally embedded interventions that we're building into that the schedule. It's just kind of like a schedule within the schedule.
Next slide, please. We do believe that movement matters, and I haven't mentioned this yet. You might have picked it up when we were going through each student uh each grade level slides, but we are going to make health a stand-alone course. So,
we're doing that for a couple reasons, but um right now our students get three marking periods of phys ed, and then one of those marking periods is health. So, they have to stop moving in a middle school where they need to get their energy They need to stop
moving for a quarter of the year. And many of those times, it's in the wintertime, okay? When it's cold and gloomy outside, and they probably actually need to be moving. They're not. In this new schedule, they
will have phys ed year-round. It's every other day, year-round, 57 minutes, okay? And then on top of it, we're making health an additional elective that they will have on top of phys ed, okay? Which, once again, excite excites us.
So, our students I I think I've already kind of highlighted it, but the physical activity for students at this age is very important, okay? It helps them to release what they need to release. It helps them socialize. We talk about synaptic fatigue in the brain. This
helps them to to re-energize and go back to their next class ready to go. So, some of the other benefits I just want to talk about uh cuz we did have several goals, and I didn't touch on all of them yet, but home room is now going to be at the end of block one.
Okay? So, block one and home room are going to be merged. I told you we've done that before in COVID, um but we're going to put it at the end of block one because we're going to try to create a sense of urgency that we need to get to school on time and get there because instruction begins right at 8:00, okay? Just We we we need
everybody to buy in that we can't be coming in to school late. We need to start the school day on time, okay? Um We already talked about this, but the intentional scheduling will reduce travel time between classes. Classes will be in close proximity. Uh
therefore, 2-minute passing time is going to be sufficient. I do want to also include that uh Mr. O'Neal, Mr. Macaluso, and I, we did go to Middletown. Uh they have a model that's like this with the 2-minute passing times and the academics every day every
day and electives every other day and we got to see it work the two-minute passing time. We got to see how the students going from one class to the next class. It's just right there and we got to see how successful it is. We actually have a former teacher that works in that building that we we get
we're able to sit down with and pick her brain and you know, everything that they said got us energized about making this come to life in Ocean Township. Um Just a couple other things. Uh the Ocean View which we normally do in the morning to start our day, we're going to have to
shift that it because normally we pull students right in the beginning of the day to do the Ocean View but because they're going to be in class, we're going to do it at lunch now. But we actually think this is going to be a good thing because well actually I believe the high school does this as well but now the students get to celebrate with each other in a in a big setting and we can use, you know, the
last few minutes of lunch after the kids are all done eating. That's typically when we make announcements anyway and we can just get them quiet for 5 minutes and let them watch and and see what's going on in their school. Um We do have a fifth grade. Don't forget about fifth grade. So we did make some minor adjust adjustments
to their to their bell schedule that we actually think is going to enhance even their schedule just a little bit. We are excited that Spanish is going to return to fifth grade. Okay? By doing this we can we can use our staffing. Remember we talked about staffing being on both
sides. So fifth grade will return to fifth grade and it will be you know, it'll be that the students get a half of a year of Spanish and a half of a year of Italian. They're not going to have to choose until they get to sixth grade. Okay? So so we're really excited about that. If we do go to the next slide, I
can show you a couple of the little changes. This is the fifth grade schedule. They're just minor adjustments. You know, we we did have to adjust because of the you know, home room being part of the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade schedule and it you know, threw off the timing a little bit. So in order to make
the times line up as closely as possible to the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade side so we can maximize the staff, we made some minor adjustments. Our science and social studies gain a minute each day. Our lunch is 1 minute longer each day. Um and currently the lunch for the 5th
grade changes based on [snorts] the fact that the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade side has a pink schedule day. So, now their lunch is predictable. So, now we're talking about again a predictable schedule and the benefits of a predictable schedule that is going to be for our 5th grade students.
Next slide, please. So, this is our road map. Um it is unhurried. It is deliberate. Going to something that you said in in Mr. Uh Colone's presentation is that the legwork and everything that has to go
through, the trial and error that Mr. Siciliano uh and and his partner put into this, the curriculum writing, it takes time. It takes time and we we need to get it right. We need to get it right. So, the first phase of this is going to be the deep deep curriculum
writing, the pacing guides, okay, professional development for our staff. A lot of people like to think that oh, you're going from 82 minutes to 57 minutes. It's a piece of cake. It's less time. It's not. Not we [snorts] need we need to make sure that we're we're maximizing that time when our students
enter the room. Phase two is we need to make adjustments to all student educational plans that that are out there. Okay, there are different types of forms of educational plans and that takes time to make sure that we are adjusting appropriately for for our students.
In phase three, we will do delayed openings um for schedule refinement, alignment. This is, you know, that hands-on that you were talking about after we've done a couple months of professional development and and we're we're testing things out and we're seeing how things are going. We need the time with our
staff to be in a whole room and and and work through these problems and make the refinements because the next phase of it is a mock schedule day, two mock schedule days. We want to make mock schedules for each students for each student and then go live with the
57-minute schedule similar to what Mrs. Kazuba and her team did at the high school because then we get to see how it works live and then we make any final adjustments that we need to make before we go live the following school year. And I believe that's it.
Thank you for your time. Do we have any questions? >> Board members? Mrs. Gilman. >> Outstanding, Mr. Romano. That was I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you're going back to continuity of academics instead of bouncing around. You kind of answered one of my
questions. So, is this a model for other middle schools? You went to Middletown, but that 57 minutes, does that seem to be uh what many middle schools predict is a very good time focus? >> Yes, there there are different We we
look at other um models. Uh some do like the stacked blocks like like maybe a like a like a 28-minute block and then another 28-minute block. So, we're kind of right in that 56-57, you know, range. Um but yes, you know, when I talked about the foundation of a house, you
know, we only [snorts] have a day that's so long, right? So, we have to we have to fit into that foundation. Um So, you know, we went to Middletown. They were able to get to exactly 60 minutes per block because their day's longer than ours, right? But we looked at other schools like Matawan-Aberdeen
and they do like the stacked, you know, the the stacked uh blocks, so to speak, and they're at 56 minutes. So, we're we're right in that We're right We're right there. We're right there with some of our um some some districts that are very
comparable demographic-wise to us and and things of that nature and size population and stuff like that. So we we do feel like we're in a good spot. >> Agreed. And and one other thing when you mentioned that most of the classes are going to be in the same proximity, I think that's so important that you're
not running from here to there which can cause problems and tardiness and discipline. I think you're going to find that it's going to cut down on incidents too if you're just moving from a certain confined area for your academics. So that was well thought out too.
>> Yeah and and for clarity too we have wings. We have a sixth grade wing, we have a seventh grade wing, we have an eighth grade wing. But right now they could start their day in ELA and then their next class is robotics which is all the way in the the furthest spot of the building then come back for you know, mathematics and then have to go
back to phys ed. So you know, that it's they they're always hustling and bustling and now it's it's more thoughtful. It's more thoughtful. >> Very good. Yes. >> Um I just have a couple questions. Thank you so much first of all for you and I I know you don't do this in a bubble as you know.
There's many people that work on this so thank you. My one question is is is lunch for everybody around the same time that they're eating lunch now? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> One minute off. >> Perfect. And then my second question is by the time you leave in eighth grade
will you have gotten the same amount of electives that you would have gotten in the old schedule or somewhere close? >> One less. >> One less. One less. But that >> One less per grade. >> Right. But you're adding the health so it kind of >> So that's that's where the one less comes from really is because we're adding the health but we think we're
counteracting that by giving our students more movement. >> I think a lot of kids will like having um >> phys ed >> That's for sure. >> Oh yes. For sure. Thank you. >> Other board members, yes. >> I completely agree about the phys ed and the students moving. I mean all of our students need to move and be physical,
right? But those middle schoolers absolutely need to get their energy out. So I in full support of that, and absolutely love that. Um the 2-minute passing time, also I just think about from the lens of that unstructured time with middle school kids, and they really don't need
unstructured time. Um so, that's that's going to be I hopefully that works out um as well, cuz that sounds awesome to me. And additionally, the increased instructional time. I mean, just looking at the bar graph, I mean, that that's huge right there. Huge. So, I know that there's a huge amount of work that goes
into the development, and certainly the changing of this. So, um it's it's definitely a process, and I know you have a lot of people that have been supportive. So, that's that's great. >> Yes, Mrs. Dan. >> I just want to say this was great. Um thank you for all your hard work. I know
that's a lot, and for the administration for pushing this, and you know, we heard you know, you guys were listening and heard, and you guys are doing something about it, and I know there's a lot more work to be done, and I think that you guys are like have a really good foundation of where you're going. >> Thank you, Jen.
>> I do too. I feel like we've been building for a lot of times, and this is this is going to be our capstone. This is it. >> Mhm. >> So, we're excited. >> Mr. Maro, great presentation. Thank you. Uh are there any So, we have a year till we execute the transition in this
process. What are the What are the things that could speed that up or slow that down, if any? >> Speeding up, if I'm going to be honest, makes me concerned, okay? >> Yeah, I've never administered a school or taught a class. So, that's why >> Listen, we we have had a lot of
conversation about it, okay? And I believe that, you know, from the people that I presented to before that prior to this, the probably that is the number one question, why can't we go to it right away, right? And you know, that road map I outlined
before, it's it's intentional, right? If we rush this, it could be a year wasted, okay? If we rush this, it could just be it unstructured and and not not having that foundation that we
really need. If we try to push it and do something mid-year, I don't think that that because then we're talking about people that students that wouldn't have had some mandatory
coursework, world language and phys ed and health and things of that nature. So so I think I'm going to keep on using the term, but everything about this plan is just right. In my professional opinion. No impediments to this plan you foresee
getting in the way. I am super grateful that Mrs. Kazuba had already has already gone through this and I will be able to lean on her >> [laughter] >> for two years. I've leaned on her. There we go. Good. Thank you, Mrs. Kazuba, for leading and blazing this path. I will
and and she has been a very big help already, you know, by looking at her presentations. Anytime I have a question, she's a phone call away and she's been a great guide. >> I'll bet you she has. >> Todd.
>> Um my last question is um so you presented tonight um you how many more presentations are you going to have? Um have the students heard about it? Parents like what is your what is your line to get the word out, to get people excited about it, to kind of, you know, get everybody cuz you know, the high
school had we had a couple of she had just Mrs. Kazuba had a couple of meetings, you know, I'm sure you're doing the same. Can you just outline that for us of roundabout what you're going to >> I did work on this. >> No, no, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, parent information session 7:00 at the middle school. We are also going to be
live streaming it. That is the parent session of it, okay? And then from there, obviously we're we're kind of running out of time with our students being that we're backed up at the end of the year. So that'll be something that we discuss in uh the summer time of how we're going to roll this out to the students, but I'm going to tell you
that my students were stopping me in the hallway today saying, "Hey, my mom told me that there's a new schedule coming. Can you tell me about it?" I said, "You know what? Let me Let me Let me tell you about it after I talk about it with your parents." And then, you know, so I have a feeling that there's going to be a few students that I will sit down with
because they have approached me already. >> Um that's great. >> But over the summer, our team will work on how we're going to roll that out to the students. And then, you know, there will be more opportunities for parents to give feedback and and things like that throughout throughout this entire process.
>> Great. Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right. >> Oh, go ahead. >> I said one question. Um I like the idea of the doing the home room kind of at the end, just like you said, to kind of hit the ground running and get students know that they have to be there. Do these period one teachers, are they
going to be tracking if kids are coming in late? Cuz now, if they're late, they're missing instructional time. So, and then, is it going to be marked as an attendance, or do they wait till home room? Like how is that >> Yeah, and honestly, that'll be something that we work out with the staff as as as we go through
that process, but our staff already does that. Our staff already does class like block attendance, and they do daily attendance. So, they they already do that in Genesis on a daily basis. Okay? So, like we have to refine it a little bit.
Yeah, because there's going to be there's going to be some classes that uh you know, aren't a traditional home room class. But once again, we did it during COVID, and I'm sure we're going to be able to just pick it right back up what we've already done in the past.
>> And does this align with the high school? Or like, how does this align going transitioning from eighth grade to >> So, that is another uh highlight that I think this is. We would be right in line with the minutes per block with the high school, and we do think that that would be a
uh a great transition going from one school to the next. >> Thank you. >> All right, I'll say a few things. >> Okay. >> Um so I I love how this is aligning with the earlier presentation that you talked about, right? Where we have our teachers collaborating and working with each
other um to serve our students. Um and I appreciate the road map because I think it's really important for those that maybe don't live in the work, the amount of you know, work on the curriculum revisions, the pacing guides and and all
of that that needs to happen so that we don't have frustrated staff, right? Who are sitting in front of children and feeling either rushed or they you know, weren't properly prepared. Um that takes time and intentionality. So this road map is
is a really great example of that. Um my chuckle on this, I'll just say as and you know my middle school experience is the pendulum that swings with schedules over the years. Um and uh I have taught 41 minutes seventh grade math and felt like I was
on a treadmill and I wanted to collapse at the end of every day. Um it is amazing the difference of 10 or 15 minutes in a teaching period in catching your breath. Um so um I appreciate everything you did here because this as you did this with
the uh the planning the common planning time where the kids go kind of like off the academics and into their special area or elective area is actually has been the model of a middle school schedule that was researched for generations. Um and has
it seems to be the one that intermediate middle school levels always go back to because it had a great base of research behind it. Um because of the attention span of our our adolescent young adolescents and because they need
that you highlighted this so well the repetition, right? They need to come back to it again tomorrow. Um so kudos to you and the team. I know that this is a a heavy lift and I think that's why the deliberate preparation is so important. So this road map page is
really great. Thank you. >> Thank you. If I may just say one more thing, I know it's me standing up here, but >> It's all right. >> our our supervisor team, our our two assistant administrators, as well the Dr. Morgan, everybody that's here. This
was a team effort and I am just thrilled that we are finally at this point. This has been uh I would love to just say like this happened quickly, but this has been many years in the making and I'm very excited that I was just able to make this presentation before you.
>> Want to see if we have any members of the public. Do we have anyone in the room that would like to uh ask a question or have a comment? Anyone in the queue? No? Thank you, Mr. Amato. Oh, we do? Wait a minute. Do we? Wait.
Oh, there. Yes. You got it, Mike? Be right with you, Ms. Hayes. >> Alice, you go ahead. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um you know, as somebody who has been extremely critical of the block
scheduling for the last decade um and have truly considered it a failed experiment at the expense of our students, I am over the moon and thrilled this is happening. I think this was an excellent presentation. Um I thank you for every slide and every
nuance. I know it took a lot to put together. Um I wish this was 5 years ago, of course. So I here here's a couple of questions I have. I think there's only like three or four. Um and you know, now I'm a high school parent as well. So, these are some of the questions when the high school went
this way. Um homework is one of going to be my main question if you can speak to that. Like there's middle school students, many of which, you know, they're used to like 20 minutes or more of their classroom to do homework in. You know, so can you speak to what it's going to be like? Like what are they
going to see a ton more homework and then, you know, how will parents have to navigate that? So, that's I don't know if you want me to go by question by question. Um I'll just do my second question. If we're moving Oh, you want me to keep going? >> Keep on going. >> Okay. If we're moving health to the
elective, um and I don't mind bringing up these questions tomorrow, but I do want these on record here. If we're moving health to an elective, you know, where are they going to learn about, you know, body parts, sexually transmitted diseases, drug use, stuff like that? So, that's my second question.
Um and my third uh third out of fourth question is um you know, I think the block scheduling led to this plunge in test scores and this retention plunge in retention that we had. So, how do we think this is going to increase test scores and district rankings? Separate
from all the things you also mentioned, like the district reputation, the test scores, and the rankings. That's my third question. And I guess I'll save the rest for I'll skip the fourth one. >> Okay. Uh so, I can address all of those right now. Uh so, homework, I do think
um that that will be something that as we are going through our pacing and all that, I think that's going to be uh one of the the hot ti- hot ticket items. But, I would say that when we went to this schedule, our current schedule, that was also a hot ticket item because it's could we give homework on a day
that we're not seeing our students? And I actually think this is going to clean it up. I don't think it's necessarily going to mean that it's going to be more homework, but I think that this is going to be able to clean it up because our students are going to see their teachers every day. But, that will definitely be one of the topics that we talked about that we talk about as we do the
all the curriculum revisions and pacing guides and grading practices and things like that. That is going to be all those things that I talked about in the first phase and that will be part of that conversation. As far as health, health is going to still be teaching all those things. There are standards that they have to have to teach and they're going
to have so while we're treating it again >> If I if I may jump in, right, it's not an elective in the sense that it's they can choose it, it's required. It's just filling a slot that was an elective in the past. >> But thank you for asking that question because then tomorrow night I don't I
want to rephrase how I say >> it sounds like it's an elective that they can pick like art or something. Okay, got it. >> saying it that way. And then the test scores, you know, going to something that President Dalton said before is, you know, anytime and and I've done a lot of
research and research papers on this right now. Anytime that we have around the 60 minutes, anytime that it's instruction every day, that has been one of the key contributing factors to many districts
when they see a rise in their test scores. They you know, a lot of the research and I'd be happy to provide you with the sources that I'm I'm doing, you know, it's part of my dissertation right now. So, but a lot of the resources say that that's
just one of the key elements. So, we are hopeful that maybe everything that we have built prior, the foundation that we have built prior and everything that I presented on earlier and the things that we've been building up to when we put it all together, we're hoping that this takes us to new
>> Thank you. Looking forward to tomorrow. >> Yes. Thank you, Ms. Hayes. Any other public commenters? No? Okay, that closes public comment. Thank you, Mr. Thank you very much and everyone. Yes. business administrator's report? >> Uh Thank you, Mr. President. Um
Just wanted to uh touch base on the size of the uh finance agenda this evening. Uh There's a few more items than we normally have. Uh I believe there's 39 items on our agenda. >> Yep. >> Uh this is uh our June ritual now where in each June we uh have to go through
the annual renewal of various um professionals and um also other items that we need to uh acknowledge on a on an annual basis for QX scores and for other things such as that. Uh on there you'll see things such as reaffirming who the companies are that we use for
our tax sheltered annuities uh for the staff, uh the establishment of petty cash funds and then where they are and how much they are, uh the authorization to pay bills in between meetings, um using state contracts, things of those nature. So, those are probably
about of the 39 items, 29 of the uh agenda items. Uh the other 10 are our our our normal uh student placements and transportation jointures and those sorts of things. Uh so, I didn't want you to be too worried about the uh size of
those items and and getting through all those. Uh I also want to acknowledge that on there we have a withdrawal from our maintenance reserve of $225,000. Those funds are going to be allocated to upgrading the indoor scoreboards at the main gym at the high school. Uh we're replacing one board in kind and
the other board we're going to upgrade uh to a better uh more future-looking unit uh that is is becoming the trend uh with other districts. Uh we'll be upgrading at the high school again our building management system. Building management system is basically
software that talks to the HVAC systems and allows our staff, our our facilities folks to remotely access those systems and troubleshoot and make adjustments on the fly. And then the third thing those funds will be used for is the refurbishment of the elevator at the intermediate school.
So we have an elevator over there that's in need of upgrades. So we're going to take care of that as well with these funds. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Please. >> As far as the scoreboard goes, scoreboards go, does that have the new shot will it include the new shot
clock requirements that are happening? >> For minutes. >> So the new shot clock requirements as I understand are 30 second clocks on either backboard. So they're going to be behind the backboards themselves and I believe there's an option to have lights around the
the edge of the backboard to signal you know the expiration of time. >> It has to be close to the backboard. >> Right. That rule goes into effect in two years. >> Oh, I thought it was next year. Okay, good. >> So Yeah, so we'll address that next year as these rules start to hash out and they
get a firmer grip on what it is exactly they want us to do. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So we move on to public comment. The Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment and any educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of
community interest. Public comment is not a question and answer session. Specific questions can be directed to the administration. The superintendent's contact information is on the dais and on the district website. We encourage you to contact her with any questions. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. Each statement
made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard. The presiding officer may request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum.
Would anyone from the public like to speak on any item at this time? In the queue. Go ahead. >> Alex [snorts] Hayes, go ahead. Go ahead, Ms. Haste. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Thanks. Sorry, I'm on my phone today. I just wanted to add some additional
commentary to the presentation and my thoughts since I know you're not going to answer any questions, but once again, I just want to reiterate that you know, dare I say it's about time that this is happening. I'm thrilled whoever worked on this put in the time and the effort. I do wish we
had done this 5 years ago. I think our students unfortunately and I I want to even say almost like suffered at the block schedule. I think there could have been a lot more retention. Our scores could have been better. It just could have been a better academic experience altogether for especially those students that are now
in the high school. And I point to the comments from Mr. Amato like putting academics back. You're making academics first. Like this it's such a wild statement to say like we're proud to put academics first cuz I don't think they necessarily were when
you have kids doing 41-minute classes. Having this new schedule is like you know, you're admitting we wanted a better continuity of instruction. We wanted these additional 50 hours that you knew students were not getting and that we
could get you know, if we tweak this and did it 3 years ago. Comments like this is what our students need now. They needed it 5 years ago and I'll try not to dwell on the past cuz it's it's important to go forward. But I think of all those students that have already
gone through the middle school and it just makes me upset that we didn't have the bravery to do this years ago. I do hope like Mr. McCarthy said there could even be a possibility to do this in January. I think it's like admitting that you have a flat tire
for the next year and you're going to be telling parents our tires are flat, but we're still going to drive this car for a solid year. So it's a little tough for me to reconcile. Um I don't really know what's worse than being the school board that put the block schedule into place or being the
school board that didn't do it quick enough. So, it's happening. I can only hope you can move it forward as quick as possible. Um I'm just going to address also there is nobody in the audience, not a soul. The online in two different places it says this meeting
was at 7:00 p.m. The calendar on the homepage says 7:00 p.m. Who would know that it was posted at 6:30 under legal notices? I have contended I have made a contention before. Nobody knows to look for legal notices. When you open up the website, it says pre-K registration.
That's like the alert that you have the capability to put out. Why would you not put an alert out that tonight's meeting was half an hour sooner? I was sitting here eating my dinner. I could have logged on. Um you're making it intentionally hard to find and you
know it and that's sad. Um also this is the biggest curriculum change many parents have ever seen and nobody knows about it. Yes, there's the thing tomorrow, but it would have been nice to see people here if you cared enough to communicate it out to the parents.
That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public commenters? Okay, that closes public comment. Mrs. McGovern uh Everyone remind her we're in the work agenda still at this point because we have a work agenda and then we have the regular meeting agenda. Uh
>> Thank you for bringing me back to my thoughts. Um [laughter] I'm going to I we have presentation of minutes. If anybody has any questions about the minutes, we're going to approve them in um about a half hour. >> And then >> And then personnel we talked about upstairs, so we're going to go over that
later as well. Finance. >> Okay, finance. Mr. McCarthy section nine. >> Am I in the work meeting? >> Yeah. >> Um >> Thank you.
Uh any discussion on items 9.1 through 9.39? I'd ask that major questions are directed to the school business administrator. >> [laughter] >> It's very generous. Thank you. >> Looking after you, Jeff.
>> I did. >> We appreciate your earlier. Go ahead, Mrs. Mrs. Dilmas. >> With the use of facilities, is the Ocean Township United Soccer a non-profit? Um Ruth, are are they It's for-profit,
correct? Ocean Township United Soccer soccer using our athletic field, the turf field, and the Wayside gym. >> Right. So, our use of facilities has organizations categorized into different priority groups, and I believe they're
in the priority group that exists exempt from certain fees. >> Oh. But, they are charging students quite a bit to participate. I'm just concerned, well, about the Wayside gym September
through December every Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:30. So, our students can't use the gym basically for the entire fall. Is that correct? And we're charging them $150.
>> As the facility use regulation stands right now, that's correct. >> Okay. Uh So, what is that category that they're in that that they're exempt from? >> They would be either priority one or priority two.
>> Priority one. And they're priority what? >> Yes, I can confirm that for you, but yes, I believe. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? Thank you for the full discussion earlier, Mr. Hastings. 39 items. Okay, uh section 10, Mrs. Dam,
instruction, education, student activities. >> They're open for discussion, 10-1 through 10-7. >> I think um >> So, I would just clarify that we had the textbook approvals on last time, but there was something wrong with document
that has been uh corrected, and that's what what you have on here again this evening, and then the rest are pretty straightforward, usual things, usual items. >> Right. Anyone any questions on that? Okay.
Any old business? Mr. McCarthy. >> Just a a point of information, just don't want anything being incorrectly input into the minutes or anything like that. I never stated uh there was an expectation that the new schedule is inputted uh in January of next year. My
question to Mr. Amato was uh what can speed up or slow down this process? So, I just want to be clear on that. Also, uh it's actually up to 19 now, but another point of information for the group, there are 17 members present when it was claimed that no one was here at this meeting. We now have 19 present. I
just want to make sure that the facts are clear. Thank you. >> And I believe as of yesterday, this meeting was put out on social media change as well with a slide. >> And emails were out. >> And emails were out, yes. Okay, any new business from any members
of the board? >> I just like to share that uh Ms. Dam and Mr. Dalton and myself uh and our Mayor John Napolitani participated in the Wanamassa bike bus two Fridays ago. It was so awesome to see all the the kids and their families. I would say we had
about maybe a hundred-ish people. >> 125 bikes. >> Wow. And it was just really just such a wonderful community event. I absolutely loved being there. It was truly, truly awesome to see all of our community members out.
>> It's a good time to remind our young ones and some of our adults about bike safety as well. I had my helmet. >> I had my helmet. >> Um but, you know, on our streets it's uh bike safety is is critically important and this is the season where uh it's a
great reminder. So, um thank you to all the community members also who supported the were community members out and about on the streets who supported us um and were present a very visible presence um on the streets. So, um that was a really nice thing. Anything else from any members of the
board? Yes. >> The uh historical museum over on um Deal Road puts out a newsletter. And this month's highlighted our second graders and their visit to the historical museum along
with the poem in your pocket and they had over 100 and I thought that our was 150 students stopped in there with the poem in their pocket and um they set up a specific room for the students to come and share their poem.
So, once again, I thought that was a wonderful way for the community to to see uh what we do in terms of field trips and having our kids visit the historical museum, which is wonderful right there on Deal Road next to the library.
>> It's wonderful. Um I'd like to also just add because I I did have some conversations with individual board members. Um there were some recent articles um about um you know, our our Senate looking at school funding um and uh since Mrs.
Gilman is our chair of our um legislative committee and I know Mr. McCarthy had sent me some questions that, you know, I think were really great questions to think about. I did speak with Mrs. Gilman about possibly scheduling uh a meeting with some of our legislators, with our legislative
committee. um Um and you know, she agreed to do that and also to gather some questions that board members may have for that meeting. And thank you, Mr. McCarthy, for very constructed questions that have deep in thought. Um because um yes, the Senate
is looking at some things, um but you know, I think we need to ask more questions that are specific to our region. >> Right. >> So, I thank you both for that um because I think that that was a quick response from both of you. >> I will reach out to the board after I reach out to them. >> Thank you.
Okay. >> Just Just a comment on that, right? So, we have We have two bills being proposed, one in the assembly, one in the Senate. Both dealing with funding. My personal opinion, and I encourage board members to, you know, as we understand, it's ethical for uh board president to share
public information, but we cannot have conversation without being together in this room. It doesn't seem to you know, we have been very much in the trenches as a board of what is going on with the school funding formula. Uh and in the fight to even find out how it was calculated and all of those kinds of things and how the state did it, right?
The state is working to be more transparent, but we've highlighted a couple major issues with the formula, one of which is that if you're an early adopter of being a school system, meaning that you founded a long time ago a long time ago, your expenses for your assets are massive. Uh your asset
renovation are massive compared to our peers who founded 10 even 20 years later than us. Two, um so so that's a major flaw that we have in our current formula. Two, there's not much consideration for large populations of ELL students or special education students, right? And I don't think that
we have an adverse impact in this district in that regard, maybe somewhat, but it just needs to be considered across the state. Um and in the end, you know, you put the cart before the horse. I think there needs to be sort of a discussion here. What is going to be the future of the state? Are more parents going to push
for private school, for homeschooling, and things like that. And if they are, should the the home district be responsible for providing security funding, providing bussing to for these students, and providing other administrative costs to those students when we are providing a school system
here that we believe is adequate and that we do our best every day to make sure is adequate. And so, I just want the board thinking about these things so that maybe potentially we can bring this to the attention of our legislators, who I know are working very hard, but some of these bills don't seem to to
show that they have those things in mind. Appreciate that. Motion to I have a motion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> This meeting is closed for now. We will open up again shortly. Thank