Our meeting comes to order. Mr. Hastings, do we have to We don't We did dependence and all upstairs. >> Yes. >> I think we're we're set. >> We're set. Okay. >> All right. >> All right. President's report.
Okay. Um just like to make a few mentions today for the president's report. >> This meeting is being recorded. >> Oops. Sorry. Sorry. >> That's okay. just hit your volume. >> Got it. >> Uh just a few mentions. Um last week was
school counseling week. So thank you to all of our school counselors and the important work that they do in our schools. This week is school bus drivers appreciation week and I certainly appreciate them as I drive up and down West Park constantly and I'm in the midst of them. Um appreciate all the
work school bus drivers do and their patience in working with our children and the drivers on our roads. um and keeping our children safe. Um next week is uh begins public schools week in our nation. Um reminder to the board members
uh we did get share at last meeting a draft of committees. I did not hear from anyone. If they had any concerns, questions, comments, please get back to me if you do. Um and just a shout out and a thank you. Um, thank you to all of our buildings and ground staff, all of
our school leaders, um, and all of our staff with these weather related conditions. And we know that we had some challenges at one of our schools this week. Um, I always like to say that we need to be flexible. Um, I'll date myself and say flexible like Gumby, if
anyone remembers Gumby. Um, sometimes our flexibility goes in two different directions and that could be dangerous, but um, it's important that we all uh, support each other and it sounds like from all the updates Miss Weldon provided to us, everyone worked together
and helped our district to get back on its feet during a challenging time across the whole state um, with broken pipes and heat and things like that. So, thank you to everyone for all of their hard work. >> Thank you, >> Miss Well. Yes, thank you. Um, good
evening everyone. Wonderful to see you all. We have a a presentation planned this evening. So, I will keep my report uh a little bit short, but yes, as you know, we did unfortunately have to close Ocean Township Elementary School today.
We are very pleased to uh inform everyone that we will be open tomorrow. And I do want to just also thank the OTES staff and the OTHS staff, administration, custodial, food service,
and the uh transportation department who helped out so quickly um to really facilitate an incredibly smooth pivot from Ocean Township Elementary School um to a relocation site for our students.
And things went extremely well there. So, I'd just like to thank everyone who helped with that. Um, really is amazing what we can do and when we when we work collaboratively as a team and I'm very proud to be part of this Spartan staff. Um, really is a tremendous group of
people who care so dearly for the students of Ocean Township. So, thank you to everyone involved in uh problem solving over the last few days. We will be back in school tomorrow, although there are still a few rooms without heat. Mrs. Le Puzznik, the principal,
has come up with an alternate plan that will keep all students in well-heated, comfortable classrooms, all students and staff. Um, and our maintenance department will continue to work tirelessly almost around the clock, by the way, to
to solve our problem. So, kudos to them as well. Thank you for saying that. Uh I I would also just like to say that you may have seen in the news that there is going to be a new belltobell cell phone and device policy for schools and
we are working on our plan for that as well. We're not quite ready to share what that will be, but we had already made some changes earlier this year before this new guidance was released, but we will continue to work with our building level leadership teams and our
academic team to work on reduced time on devices in our schools and we'll have more information to share on that in the coming months. Um, we have some exciting upcoming events that I want to make everybody aware of. We have a preschool
parent session. Actually, that is probably over. It was this evening. Sorry about that. It was this evening. We have a change to our schedule later this week. On Friday, all schools except for Ocean Township Elementary will be closed for students.
The four other schools will be closed for students this Friday. Ocean Township Elementary students will have a makeup school day on Friday to make up for today. Okay. All staff was already scheduled to come to school this coming Friday. So, while Ocean Township
Elementary School is in session with students, the other four schools will be participating in a professional development day under the leadership of Dr. Morgan and her office and all of our administrators and our teacher panels who help us develop our PD. So, we're
excited for that this Friday. And then the entire district is closed this coming Monday for President's Day. And then later next week, we have the TOIS student council winter dance and the OTEES book fair is later in the month. And those are the different activities
that we have planned. And at this time, I would like to turn over my report to Dr. Morgan, Mr. Amato, and his team for their presentation. And if we could put that up, that would be great. Um, if possible. the township of ocean intermediate school building inclusion
through job embedded professional development. Mr. Armada, >> thank you for having me. Appreciate it. You know, when we see that word inclusion on there, um, and and thinking about the intermediate school, I think a lot of people's minds immediately go back to what happened right before
Thanksgiving and and our buddy Ethan. But what I'm most proud of is that to get to that point is the things that our team did behind the scenes to get us there. And we've been building and building and building for a really long
time. And we feel like we have a really excellent plan that we put into place this year that is kind of pulling it all together. And I want to share that with you today. >> Absolutely. So before this initiative that we put
together um we've always been inclusive student centered um empowering our students uh creating authentic learning experiences. These are things that we've always preached and we've done lessons and professional developments. Okay. But
many times it's done in little pockets in little silos. Okay. So the shift was we're going to move away from those silos and we're going to be a collective group all speaking the same language. And that's what I want to walk you through today.
Before we do that, why now? Okay. Um, so student learning needs are more diverse and more complex than ever. Okay. I think we I think we can all see that and how we are our demographics have changed
and the needs of students throughout the years have changed. Um so we need to make sure that we have consistency across all classrooms. Um by job embedded by infusing job embedded
um professional learning opportunities, we are leveraging our experts that work with our students on a daily basis and it allows us to all speak the same language, all feed off of each other, and provide high quality instruction in
every classroom. All right. So, this is I'm going to get into what we did this year. So, um we our goal was to unified instructional practices without limiting creativity or teacher autonomy. Our focus was a shared instructional language. You're going to
hear me say that a lot because I think that's what's very important is that we're all speaking the same language. It's uh you're also going to hear me say an all hands-on deck approach and that's what this this is. Okay, we're talking about shared learning experiences and shared responsibilities for all student
successes. Okay, the results. There it is. All hands- on deck approach that brings everybody together. Academic teachers, elective teachers, support staff, and school administration. We are all doing this together. So, this is kind of how it works every
month. And uh but our our ultimate goal is always on tier one instruction. That's our classroom level instruction. Those are our best practices. Okay. So each month we have a common instructional theme that we pushed out to the staff in the beginning of the
year and then the structure is consistent and intentional. We start with a faculty meeting where we talk about this the theme as a whole. Okay. Then we go to departments and department meetings where we can talk about our classroom practices. department
agendas, department meeting agendas all have same um resources and same topics. So we're all doesn't matter if you're you know Mr. O'Neal oversees the fizzed department and and our ELA and our all these all these different departments
will have similar resources and be talking the same language every month. Okay. But it goes from faculty meeting to department meetings to into the classroom to analyzing data to just kind of keeping that whole cycle going.
Right? So these are our monthly themes. Our toos leadership team, not just the people in the room, but there's others that were working with us this summer. We came up with some learning focuses and each month and these do kind of go
in order from September all the way to June. Creating clear objectives, priority standards, focus standards. Okay, I don't need to read them all to you. I know you can all read, but uh one that's really important to us is that we just
finished our link at form B, which I'm going to be talking to you about in a in a few minutes. Okay, but these are focus standards. So, you know, we're also kind of modeling to the staff that this is like we're laying out the goals for the whole year, creating clear objectives.
These are objectives for the whole year. Each month has a theme and then we're all speaking that same monthly language. Good. So, I just wanted to highlight a couple of the things that we've done uh just to kind of give you a picture. While
this this one this isn't meant to be about specific subgroups. This is supposed to be about all of our students. Um I want to talk about our November inservice. There was two things that our teachers really dove into. This is one that that was led by two of our
expert teachers um on you know m multilingual learners and and how to use information that's in front of them to meet their tier one needs. Um, and it's great because when you look at those pictures, I know it doesn't look like it to you, but those are all
cross-curricular teachers. They all teach different content areas and they are all focusing on how they can better meet the needs of their students at a tier one level, right? Um, what was really cool about this is that in this meeting, uh, we were talking about data,
the WEDA data, and Mike, if you don't mind going to the next one. um what came about it is they really loved that they had a better understanding on how to use the data. So out of these conversations we were able to make some logistical changes on our end through Genesis to
make this data more readily available for our students. And once again, it's just the fact that everybody was included, everybody came together, and we now have an instructional practice that we didn't foresee that we're now using and is in in place and is really
making a difference and making an impact for our students. Um, so this is this is what I want to talk a little bit more about is focus standards because focus standards are really important um to us. Many times we hear after we hear an NJSLA data
presentation by Dr. Morgan, we hear what are we doing with the data? Okay, this is what we're doing with the data. Okay, so we took time in the in the summertime, okay, to identify areas that standards that we are struggling at,
okay, and we looked at last year's data and then we went to the year prior and the year prior and we saw we we were trying to see if there was any common themes of focus standards that we may be struggling at. So we identified two math and two ELA standards for each grade
level. Okay. So a total of 16 for the whole school to focus on. Okay. At this November inservice, this was a multiple layer thing. But we started with the teachers like this is a group of eighth grade teachers in the picture. The focus standards were there.
They got to write down some of their ideas of how they can can achieve these standards. And then we gave them a template and we asked them to sit with people that are in different departments and look at some of these standards and and start developing a lesson plan. Um,
one of them that jumps out to mind that was really cool, we were talk talking about functions, which you'll see is in eighth grade functions. And the teachers, one art teacher was talking to a um uh a math interventionist and the art teacher was like, I tell me how I
can help you like tell me how I can do functions in this. And within 10 minutes, they had an opportunity to develop a lesson plan and now that art teacher is infusing it into their their classrooms, right? So from here, we took all those lesson plans and we put them
on a Padlet. Mike, if you don't mind going uh I'll get to the I'll get to the Padlet in the next slide. So the step two to this, which was the next month, okay, was staying focused on those focus standards, we took we gave the staff two
articles to read, okay, choose one. And then those were on formative practices and um and formative assessments. And then they were to just add a little note on that same Padlet that things that they use in their classroom or maybe
something that they took out of the the the articles that they read that they didn't know before. Okay. And then they added it to the Padlet. And now Mike, if you don't mind. So now this is actually a snapshot of our Padlet. At the top, those are those lesson plans that we created. And then underneath is the
entire school. every school I mean every every teacher and their their notes from formative assessment and things that they're doing in their classroom. So the whole school is focused on those focus focus standards. We're all speaking the same language and
we are all pulling on the same rope and we're all doing it together. Okay, good. That by the way that Padlet lives on our Google our school Google classroom. So, what's really cool about that Padlet is that
it's it's a living library for we we've we've curated a library of resources for our teachers. At any point, they could just go right into our Google classroom and they can just click on it and they could say, "I need an idea around this standard and it's right there for them." And actually on Friday when we have our
inservice, we're adding to that library of resources. Okay. So now just talking about local assessments. We even rethought how we're doing local assessments if you didn't hear about this local assessments before we had we have we have a bunch of assessments and platforms that we use link it dibbles
etc etc. Okay. And it primarily always fell uh into the laps of our math and ELA teachers. We we provided them a window of time where they needed to cut out time out of their lesson plans and do do these assessments. Okay. And then
they had to not only cut out the time, they had to administer it. They had to analyze the data. They had to adjust their lesson plans. They had to meet with their supervisor. Maybe it was effective, but I think the plan now is even better. We're mimicking NJSLA. We shut down the school for a half a
day. We did a math assessment one day and then the next day we did an ELA assessment. The whole school, every teacher was responsible for proctoring an exam. The students saw every teacher all hands on deck. That's what we modeled to them.
Okay? And we were all in it together. It wasn't just falling on our math and ELA teachers. Our math and ELA teachers when Dr. Morgan does her presentation, that is a lot of added pressure to those teachers. Not anymore. Now it is now it is our pressure. It is on all of us.
Okay, we can keep on going. Um, so once again, there it is. All hands on deck. So let me tell you about the uh the assessment. So we chose to use linkit. The reason why we chose to use linkit is because it is a predictive model that is standards aligned. We have
seen through analyzing this data in the past that it does show us student growth and how they do project to do on the NJSLA. Okay. So we chose to go with that model this year. to be quite honest, you know, was in in a lot of the
conversation, too, but they did just release a new level up platform and we didn't want to try something new with something new. Link it is predictive. We felt like this was great. We're doing three assessments. Form A happened in September. Form B, we just completed it
when we came back from winter break and form C will happen in April prior to NJSLA. Clearly, we want the end of those assessments and see how it's predicting how our students are going to do before NJSLA. So, if we need to make any adjustments to our focus standards or plans, we can make those necessary
adjustments. Okay. Um, what was great is just last week, it was just last week, we had our faculty meeting. We were able to go through how we're doing on those focus standards with our staff. Um, and we were able to look at some trends.
Um, and just everything is just very transparent. So, let's let's keep on going. Okay. And I know you were dying to see some sort of data tonight. So, I'll just give you a little bit. We're not going to go into too much, but we've been talking about focus standards a lot. So, let me just tell you a little bit. So, these are our 16 focus standards. I am pleased to announce that
out of our 16 focus standards, we have gone up in 13 of them. Okay, 13 out of 16. That is very impressive. Even one of them when we talk about functions before all the way down at the bottom. I mean you're a math guy with 33% to 63%. I mean that I mean look at that growth right there. I mean that's that that's
that's incredible. But what that allows us to do is that allows us to look maybe we can in this second half of the year we maybe we have I don't want to say mastered but maybe we have a strong handle on that in all of our content areas and now we can add another one for math 8th grade. We understand that math
eth grade has been under the magnifying glass for a while. So maybe we can maybe we can do more. Okay. So it's working. We will be spending time. We had department meetings this week. We have our faculty meeting next I mean I mean mean our uh our inservice day on Friday.
We'll be able to dive deeper into all of the standards and dive deeper into this with our teachers and see what other necessary adjustments we can make. But this is showing that the all hands- on deck approach really does seem like it's
making an impact. So, we're calling this inclusion without labels because that's that's just basically what it is. It's we're we're being consistent. It's cohesive. It's collaborative. We're relying on our experts. We have amazing
teachers in this district. amazing teachers that have a wealth of knowledge and we are relying on each other to help move the needle. Okay, we don't see silos anymore. We we don't see people working in isolation. It's an all hands-on deck approach. Okay.
Um so just some early wins and why it matters. Uh we're seeing increased staff engagement and PD and uh PD sessions and PLC's. Once again, we're relying on our experts. They're feeding off each other. They're they're
we're opening up avenues of people to get together to um to enhance the entire school. Okay, we have teachers like going back to the art example before where they might not have known how to help. They are gaining that confidence
on how to help. Another great example that we heard, we we had a social studies teacher that was doing a math do now. Okay, in his social studies class, okay, that's an all hands- on deck approach. Okay, those students got a focus standard from that. He took five
minutes, he he relayed the message, the students got it, and then they moved on. That this is what we're looking for. We have we have people that have have confidence in what they're doing. They're using the data better. We're understanding the data. It's more digestible. It's not just thrown on you.
We're doing it all together. All right. So, um, bottom line, this isn't program dependent. This is all about our culture. Okay? This is about what we've been building for a really long time here and putting it all together with a nice little bow on it. Okay? And I think that's what we're doing right now. I
think I think from early signs of what we're seeing in the form B data that we that we are administratively going through and still going through. I think that we're seeing the fruits of our labor. >> I believe I believe that's it, right? I think that's the last one. Yeah. And
that's it. Questions? >> So, Mr. Amato, I'll ask the board if they have any questions or comments and then uh usually with presentations, we also allow any members of the public who may be vertical if they have any comments or questions. So, our board members, any comments, questions? Yes,
Mrs. Gilman, >> just a compliment. When I saw the slide presentation, I took away two things. Uh that the focus is not just on the ELA and the math teachers and the cross department collaboration is wonderful.
You gave an example of an art teacher and and I just remember working with other departments to create lessons and those were the strongest. Students need to see that subjects aren't taught in isolation and you are doing that and for that congratulations. >> Thank you. Appreciate that.
>> That was wonderful. >> Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. >> Uh Mr. M, I just want to say that for as long as I've been on the board, which isn't that long arguably, but um every time somebody gets up here and shows data, there's always the, you know, why are we sharing best practices, right?
We're beating up the administration. Why are we doing things? It looks like you're really doing that here, right? this program that you've created, you know, you're you you're creating an ability for the entire organization to work together and march towards the same goal. I think that's awesome. I appreciate that. I also appreciate
because I think this is, you know, we live in like a zero defect society. I appreciate that you said in your presentation, we have identified an area where we need to focus is eighth grade math, which you've gotten beaten up on before by the public, and you're owning that, and you're saying we are working on it. We're demonstrating you here tonight. And I think that's awesome. I'm
proud of you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you. appreciate that, Miss Stevens. >> Um, I will completely agree with Miss Gilman. As a former LA teacher, I always felt a tremendous amount of pressure administering the GEA. It was always on me and I worked in isolation. So, um,
student growth is a shared responsibility. So, I commend you and Dr. Morgan and your team for taking that on. I also love the idea of mimicking whether it be um link it or um to um um a situation like a standardized test
with the state the NJSLS. It sets a serious tone for the staff. It sets a serious tone for the students that this has set a shared responsibility for all of us. So >> I I would like to just just add one thing. The community has responded to it well. Like if we look at attendance on
those days, you know, I you know, the attendance is down on those days, we're getting buy in not just from our staff, but the community and we're very thankful >> for our community. I mean, even, you know, I clearly have ties in the community. I grew up here. I'm a Spartan
myself. you know, there's people that I'm friendly with out here and they're, you know, they're missing a a plane fight and they're texting me in a panic because they need to be there on that day and things like it matters and people are all buying in on it and it's it's not just happening right here in
our school. It's the whole it's it's really it's really rippling out the whole community. So, >> great. Thank you. No, thank you for sharing that. >> Mr. Brady. >> Um, as a current fifth grade ELA teacher, I think this sounds pretty pretty amazing and um, it is a lot of
pressure on the ELA and the math teachers and especially when you get to the upper elementary and middle school levels. It's those tests are hard and I think it's really important for all the staff to kind of understand what these tests are like and and for the students, like you said, to see that everybody's working together on it. I just had a
couple questions for you. I you may have even said it. So you I you got the focus standards that you were addressing on each grade level from >> NJSLA >> NJSLA data. So you were the lowest or you took or the like teachers put in for it like how
>> so we so we we spend some time in the summertime going through that data and I don't know if you want to add anything to it but we we take time going through it. I mean do you want to take it because you you work a lot with the supervisors with the focus standards. >> Sorry. So um to answer your question,
yes, we look at we get the data. We look at the data and then the um >> the reports come back. >> Evidence summaries. >> Thank you. You're welcome. The evidence statements come back. Our supervisors recognize they go through the evidence statement statements and they look at
where we did not score high and where we need to work on what we need to work on. So that uh produced the the focus statements. So all of our supervisors, they would send me a report. Hey, this I I analyzed my evidence statements and then they would just we just decided to
choose two. I think it was just a number that we just decided on to start small. Maybe next year we can go a little higher, but we definitely just started with two. >> I think it was a lot to start. >> It took a lot, right? And so we started with specifically eighth grade um math. Um and I'm happy to see the functions
went up, but um so that's what that's what we do out of my office and then we work well together with the supervisors whenever we have a meeting. We have one coming up on Thursday that Chris hosts and we all get together and discuss what's happening in that building with his data with with all of his all of his
data not just academic data but uh attendance data suspensions all of that we discussed as a team and then we did help him to implement the plan. Um but I must say I I was so proud of you back there Chris. But um they worked really
hard Chris and his team this summer. Um, we we we recognize that TOIS is a thorn in our side right now and I think we know that they can do so much better. We have great teachers, but the data just did not indicate that. And each time I
stood up here like, okay, what can we do? What can we do? And a lot of these ideas came from the middle school team, the intermediate team. And Kelly and I just supported them. What do you need from us? And um, very proud of the work that they're doing this year. And to me, this seems like a very it's an amazing
thing and it's a very you're looking at the micro level, but I can see this potentially growing into I mean once you get it off the off the ground in the middle school and you have a you know a few years worth of data, this could be something that could be beneficial to the high school or to the elementary
schools because even with high performing schools, there's always room to still grow. and I could see if this model works, which it appears that it is. If it continues to work, this could be something that I feel could benefit the entire district.
>> Can I just say one thing to like you said that you know even two could be a lot. When we met with the staff at the November faculty meeting, >> they probably wanted six. >> I I just told them we we just told them pick one. So technically in each grade level you have four. We're like just focus on one right now, right? >> Just focus on one. Let's let's let's try
to master one of them. So we weren't trying to be overly burdensome to to the staff and we felt with we have such a large staff. We have nearly a hundred teachers in that building. Okay. And then more support staff that that works. We're well over a hundred. If everybody just
took one, we only had 16 and and it it's going to spread. We It It didn't take a lot >> to do that. And the staff know they know which standards consistently are the lowest and which ones are the highest. So, they probably already knew which ones they wanted to target. And I got a
chance to look at the Padlet that you had and >> I did. I scrolled to the fifth grade parts and I was like, "Oh, that's a good idea. >> That sounds good. Is it?" Yeah. So, I mean, it it looks it looks really good. Congratulations. It's very nicely done and I hope it continues and succeeds.
>> Thank you, Mrs. McGovern. >> Um, I was just going to say that I love the collaboration. I love that over the last as we know with budget the last probably six seven years had to repurpose teachers based on their cert certificates right so you might have somebody who taught math for a while or
who has a lot of math you know interest teaching you know a a art class or something else so it's nice to be able to find these staff members in different disciplines around the school that might be able to add to this I love the um I love the qu what you call it the the the
padlet padlet thank you the padlet I one one suggestion and it might not even work but I was just thinking is that sometimes those eighth grade standards may roll into our ninth grade um classes to maybe share the eighth grade part with some of our nth u some of our high
school 9th grade staff. I don't know if those if they are things that are still taught but maybe some of them are um and you know and even maybe the fifth grade down to fourth grade right like you might have some honors that might be a might be doing that already as well. So it's just to open it up a little bit
maybe not might not work but you all know that >> vertical articulation that's a great point and that'll be definitely something that will be reflective on as we start planning out >> for next year >> and I just think that you know as I I just love the inclusivity of the entire
staff in it. I think that like you said, not even just taking the burden, but everybody gets a piece of ownership and if people see the common goal, I think it's good to have a school goal of what you're going to and if it's only the math or ELA that we're going to this year, there's other goals. I know and and we all know, but those are like the
biggest things we're focusing on to to have everybody have ownership is when people move towards it. It's um you know, if if they don't if they're like not my department, then you know, they may not take as much of an interest, but being that it's everywhere is is really an awesome thing. So, I commend all of you. I'm sure that Mr. O'Neal and Miss
Source were a big part of this as well, considering they're here as well. >> This is and and our entire administrative team, everybody everybody >> played a role in getting us to this point. >> So, I commend you that we're in February and you're already seeing such great
progress that you know, you guys have we all say like the first half of the year is gone and you know, but look at how much you've done and how much growth your students have had and how excited you are here in February. and I can only imagine how excited you'll be when you're in your July meetings. So, kudos to all of you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. I have to >> Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. You go first. No, no, you go first. >> All right. So, I have to say something. I don't know if you know my background, but most of it was middle school education. I've built new middle schools and I was a fifth, sixth, and seventh grade teacher. So, everything you're
speaking about hits me. Um, intentionality of language so important in your presentation. you know, the whole idea of a shared purpose and togetherness. Um, in the best situations where I was ever a
principal was when I was able to develop that, right? Because every teacher is a literacy teacher. Right? If I have kids in science, they're reading. If I have kids in social studies, they're reading. When I hit seventh grade math
reluctantly when they put me in there and I realized that some of my kids thought they were bad math students, what I realized was they were reading way too fast >> and they were even missing the closing of the parenthesis or something like that, right? Because they were just reading too fast. Every teacher is a
teacher of literacy and needs to understand the importance of their work in that. And it sounds like what you're developing is something I've always believed in is you talked about using the teachers for their expertise and encouraging their contributions.
Once you start doing that as a regular thing, it just continues to grow. It it fosters that idea of risk-taking by the next teacher who may was maybe quieter at sometimes but says, "Hey, I learned this great thing is working well in my classroom." from it. It fosters that internal locus of control
>> and that's when the real stuff starts to happen. And I can't help think that as you continue doing this, there's going to be the natural transfer to goals that you may know that are there and a teacher says, "Oh, well, I already
started working on this by doing that." Right? And so, you're going to get some of that natural transfer that will be an added benefit. And so kudos to you and to the staff for their willingness and and we all recognize, you know, teachers are under the microscope, school
administrators are under the microscope. This is being vulnerable on your part and on their part, but it's it's focused on kids and it's focused on how do we advance their learning. What's better than that? And I know what teachers get
excited when they see success, that's just a reward that they're going to feel when they see the the numbers, when they see it in their kids' faces. So, thank you to everyone that's working on this. This is great. >> Thank you. And and just one comment, you know, while while it was the
administrative team that put this together, we have a amazing staff at tois and I would be remiss if I didn't say, you know, we've we've sat through the JSLA presentations before when we feel
like a punching bag from some time to time, but we have expert teachers at that school that are providing a high level of education for our students. and it's been taken to another level this year and it's
I I couldn't be more proud to be the principal of that building. >> Wonderful. That's really nice. >> Okay. >> I think everything has been said. >> Yeah. One final comment is that this did not just happen. way. >> There was a team of people this summer
who committed to being vulnerable and reflecting on the hard work they were already doing and how and why it might be slightly missing the mark and not giving up until they came up with a plan
that took them they knew was going to require them to completely re revolutionize their profession. profal development time and their afterchool meeting time with their staff. And they did all of that
extremely strenuous work this summer to roll out a plan and then they asked of their staff to join them in that transformation of time and how we work together and the staff took that on as well and that is how we are where we are
right now and as Dr. Morgan said I couldn't be more proud of Mr. motto, but the rest of the team as well deserves the kudos. Uh some that are not here this evening and that entire staff that school is going through a
transformation and we are so proud of them for being vulnerable, doing the work, walking the walk, and working together for their students. It's unbelievable and it makes me very proud. That is what a Spartan legacy is
all about. It's excellent. >> Well said, >> Mike. Do we have anyone in the queue that has to comment on this? >> Thank you, Mr. Amato. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you, everyone. >> Mr. Hastings, school business
administrator report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. No. Um, I'll just take this opportunity to echo what you and Miss Weldon said about our staff over at OTEES. Uh, Donna Yman's work in
in um making repairs and cleanup and and getting the school back online and uh our thanks to uh to Miss Lenik and her team, to Mr. Sosa and his team and as was mentioned, our transportation and food service group as well. So, uh many
thanks to them. Anything else? >> Can I ask a question? Do you mind? Um, I just had one question thought with like three schools closed at this point with burst pipes and hopefully we're through the craziness of of all of this and I
know we we lost heat, but is there I know Sundays are usually we don't usually have somebody on staff looking and I know you might be there or the head of facilities, but is it worth it in the winter months if we get back below freezing that we and you might be
doing this have somebody work on the Sunday to check the schools and do all of that. And like I said, you may be doing that. Head of facilities may be doing that. You I'm sure you have figured that out. But it's just a thought that you know, I'm sure and you know, like we have a high school very
close to us, RBR, that's closed for the rest of the week with a burst pipe and and the entire like building being down. And um there's other schools that are closed because of it. And a lot of it is because, you know, no one no one's there. We've had it happen to us before. So my thought is just I know it can
happen anytime but we're more vulnerable when it's negative you know 10° outside. Is it something that we've thought about or and you don't have to really answer. I'm just it's an idea out of my head. >> I was curious which three schools you were because we only had the one over
this season so far. >> Like RBR's out country day schools out. There's a couple schools out because of birth. >> Not district schools district. >> Yeah. Sorry. Not district schools. I wasn't sure if I missed something. >> No, I'm saying thank school's in the air.
>> Yeah. One. >> Yeah. So, just a thought, you know, that if >> I'm sorry. >> No, go ahead. >> Miss Walden and I discussed this along with Mr. Sosa often uh whenever the temperature gets down to 30 or below. Uh
um on the phone with Mr. Sosa, reminding him and he's reminding me that we have staff come out over the weekend. Staff may be here on Saturdays for events. uh and our the building is occupied at different times and on Sundays we uh ask the custodians our head custodians to
come out and do building checks. Um again the uh the issue as you can imagine is is these things aren't happening necessarily at 3:00 in the afternoon or or when the sun's up or you know when it's a little warmer. Uh typically these things are happening
overnight or in the early morning hours. Um, in this particular instance, uh, our team came in on, uh, Monday morning early and found that the pipe had probably just burst, uh, based on the amount of water that was in our
cafeteria. So, uh, we do, uh, ask and ask our folks to come out and and do those building checks whenever the temperature would warrant that. Great. >> Uh, it's just a matter of of >> Right. I know you may not be there and we have alarms that go off, too. I know like there's different things that that alert, >> right? So we are upgrading our building
management systems uh which will sound alarms if you see low water pressure on the boilers which would result from a uh a pump burst pipe. Uh but again that is you know um notifying Mr. Sosa who then has to notify his team and then has to
get somebody there you know immediately to to try and minimize the damage. So we're doing everything we can to >> I don't I don't I hope that didn't sound like I was doubting that at all because I really don't. I just >> No, no, no. We're okay. >> But ju just to answer your question, that procedure is in place. That happens. Sunday building checks,
Saturday building checks, that hap that is happening in our schools. Anything else? Okay. Public comment. Okay. 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. Superintendent's contact information is on the DEAS 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 5 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 the person
does not observe reasonable decorum. Would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time? No public commenters. Okay, moving on. Okay, approval of minutes. Mrs. McGovern
move to approve the meeting minutes from the regular meeting as well as the executive session meeting for January 27th, 2026. May I have a second? Second. Hastings. >> Thank you. This is for items 71 and 72. Mr. Brady, >> yes. >> Uh, Mr. Covert,
>> yes. >> Mr. Dam, >> yes. >> Miss Simmon, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> M. McGovern, >> yes. >> Mr. Schneider, >> uh, Miss Stevens, >> yes. >> Mr. D, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Personnel, Mrs. McGovern. Um move to
approve items 8.1 through 8.7. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Pace. >> All items 81 through 87. Mr. Brady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cobert. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gilman. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Schneider. >> I'm sorry. Abstain. I was on mute. >> Thank you. Uh, Miss Stevens, >> yes. >> Mr. Dalton, >> yes. >> All items carry. >> Thank you. Financial Management and Resource Services, Mr. McCarthy.
>> Move to approve items 9.1 through 9.6. Discussion on 9.7. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion on 9.7. >> Or any questions? >> Or any questions? Can I ask a question
about um the grant for the playgrounds? Do that. Sure. Sure. Um first of all, obviously I love that. Um do we have any idea of what um flooring or ground that we would be thinking of using?
>> Yes. So, uh as is with the preschool playgrounds, we would be looking at that rubberized surface to go underneath the equipment and around that area. >> Okay, great. And it's like the flat. That's not like the recycled tire that's loose, right? I don't remember. >> No, no, no. We Okay. >> Are moving away from wood chips and that
sort of uh uh product and are moving into the single coated uh rubberized surface >> like the port rubber >> port rubber. Thank you. >> Any other discussion on any other it on 9.7?
>> Okay. >> Well, we have a couple slides for 9.7. I'd just like to go through with the board. Uh we've been talking about the budget uh uh for a while now. Uh the last meeting we went through some of the numbers and some of the expected revenues and deficits and we talked
about the process uh that the administration, the superintendent and uh her team has has gone through uh to develop the budget for 2027. Uh we talked about some of the deadlines that were in place. Uh initially we had indicated a tenative budget submission
deadline of 319 March 19th which worked with our March 10th uh board meeting. Uh that deadline was based on the governor releasing her budget on the 4th Tuesday of February. Uh that's by um that's a legislative requirement. Uh there was
legislation introduced um in the past week looking to move that deadline back two weeks uh to allow her to um present her budget, her state budget on the 10th of March, which is the day of our board meeting. Um our aid numbers uh across
the state would be released 2 days later. Uh so um just forformational purposes it looks like uh we may be looking at uh perhaps our March 24th meeting for our ten of budget adoption but again those dates haven't been
finalized by the state. So as that information becomes available we'll certainly uh let you know and and look to uh make whatever adjustments are necessary to uh to meet those requirements. Um so what we wanted to talk about uh a
little bit is is the budget process. Uh we talked uh in the past about uh our administrative team and and moving through our operating budget and um making cuts uh where possible. We've talked about programs that we'd like to
bring into the district and um and uh looking at things that may not be effective that we could then uh transfer transfer resources to to other priorities. Uh uh one of the other things we ask our administrators to do is work on uh three different
spreadsheets. One for capital requests, one for technology requests, and one for personnel requests. So um if you can go back to the the talk please. So we have uh for you what looks like about two pages of of what the capital requests uh
were. Uh in total those requests were approximately uh $56 million. Um part of that reason that the number and you just hold it at the top please. Thank you. That's good.
Um part of the reason that number uh is a little bit lower than what we've discussed in the past are are the financial um uh intention that we're going to make uh in terms of some of these projects. So if you look at the second item on this
list is the fifth grade HVAC replacement. So we have unit ventilators in the fifth grade wing of our intermediate school. Those are approximately uh 20 years old. Uh they are beginning to uh require more and more maintenance.
Uh we talked to the architects about um projected costs for that. We have 37 units in that wing. Um as I said, they're about 20 years old. So again, it's going to be more than just buying the newer version of the existing
uh unit and and just, you know, sort of pulling one out and putting the other one in. Easy peasy. Uh typically they start to make things slightly different and the louvers and other things that need to line up generally do not. So we had the architect come out and take a look and that was basically a $5 million
project to replace 37 units. Um that would also be a project that would be need to be done over the summer and again uh I would be a bit uneasy looking to replace that many units over the summer and be ready to open uh in September. So again we've looked at that
and talked to the architect and talked to Mr. Sosa uh along with the executive team here and and are looking at a more phased approach. So $762,000 represents approximately six units. So again, we're looking to take smaller
bites out of the apple uh to both improve uh the units and and the HVAC system there, but not necessarily burdening the district with a $5 million hit. Um you know, over this summer uh that would go against our capital
reserve. Um we do have funds uh each year that are placed into reserve. We have our capital reserve account and our maintenance reserve account. And just in general, our capital reserve goes against longerterm construction projects or projects you may see in our long
range facility plan while the maintenance reserve is more for uh repairing and upkeep of of existing systems and those types of projects would be seen more on our comprehensive maintenance plan. Uh another item at the
uh intermediate school is an elevator renovation. Um you can see that's uh again about $215,000. Uh we've talked about again uh replacing wood chips that are on our playgrounds with the rubberized surface we just discussed. Uh and a number of other
items. Uh these are broken down by the locations. You can see uh it uh items. We have servers and and firewall that are going out of um out of warranty, out of support. So, we'll need to address
those as well. Uh, >> uh, just thank you. And I don't mean to interrupt you, but looking at the $150, $160,000 for the rubberized surface and the grant that we applied for for the recreation uh when will you know about
uh that grant and it will go toward all four so schools, playgrounds. So, what you're seeing is what the asks are and what we've prioritized in the asks. Um, the grant is only for $75,000 max total
and we may very well get nothing or less than $75,000. So, we did also have to do two things at once, which is bud budget for it and also apply for any grant funds we can get. So um if we get the funding we will then determine how based
on how much we would have to pay the balance. So we would have to determine where was the best place to probably start this work but maybe not be able to do all three >> possib possibly but we'll see. There was one line in the grant that more than
$75,000 could possibly be awarded. >> So we we went for the gusto. >> Good. Thank you. Thank you. When will you hear? I'm >> not positive what the deadline uh when they said they would let us know. I don't know that off the top of my head. >> I don't either. And and typically it's a
ways out. They don't um >> yeah a couple months. >> Unfortunately, these take a couple months to to hear back on and sometimes as as welded indicated the answer is sorry, >> right? Can't depend on it. Thank you. >> One of the other items here I would draw
your attention to was the last one, the transportation one there. So, five 29 passenger buses. Uh we do have buses going out of service based on the useful life of those buses. Uh the 175,000 represents a fiveyear one year of a
5-year lease payment. Um we have a lease for buses going off at the end of this year. Uh so we would look to perhaps uh finance our buses that way uh rather than spending $650 $675,000
in the one shot for replacement of those buses. Um as Miss Weldon said, we called through the long list of of asks and tried to prioritize them. Some of these items may come from our capital reserve. A lot of them will. Some may come from
our maintenance reserve. Um, we have about $8 million in our capital reserve, about 2.5 million in our maintenance reserve. Um, and these asks total about $2.3 million. Um, as you scroll through the rest of
the list, you can see uh the various things that have been asked for, different upgrades, uh, whether it's inside the building or outside the building. Um, we're looking at solar upgrades. We have solar panels on buildings that uh we feel are in need of
replacement um to make them more efficient. Um and I I won't read through the entire list for you, but but you can see there uh it's a broad list and again almost $3 million worth of additional asks um just to um keep us moving
forward and and keeping the um u the assets of the district uh new and useful. If you can move then uh to the um technology list, please. So again, some of our technology needs
were on the capital list because they're uh assets uh and basically cost us more than $2,000 each. But again, here were some of the issue items that were requested. Uh some additional security monitors for buildings. um an upgrade to
an audio system at uh our Ocean Elementary, some drop down projectors for the cafeteria in some of our elementarymentaries, um microphones for the choir at the intermediate. And uh you can see there we always have annually requests for additional cameras
and and security radios. Uh because we are addressing those each year, we didn't assign a cost because that's just going to be a rolling cost that's incorporated into our operating budget. So that's really not an added cost to our existing um budget. And then on the
personnel side, again, these represent asks from our different um principal and uh groups. Uh we're looking at uh stipens for most of these positions. Uh we are looking to add uh staff over at the intermediate
school as we start to look at the schedule uh there and and anything that may be done to address that. Uh we're looking at another security guard for the district uh as well as uh uh instructional assistance. So again, we're looking at about $470,000
in asks for uh personnel requests. So um what does all that mean? Uh means there's a lot of things there to keep us busy for quite some time. Um, as we went through the budget over the past, uh, months, uh, we've talked about
the revenues. Uh, here you can see our estimated revenue, uh, for 2027 is $89.8 million. That number anticipates the same state funding that we've received uh, for this year, just carried over to
next year, and it includes 2% increase uh, in local uh, taxes. When we looked at the operating budget and what was submitted um without personnel, without technology, without those capital requests, we'd received 94
uh million960,000 worth of uh expenditures. And again, as we've discussed, a significant portion of that is based on our uh medical and prescription plans and the significant uh increase that we've seen over the past year and expect over the next two
years uh to those programs. Um, if we put in all those personnel requests that were listed there and we had the technology requests, you're at about 95.5 million. So, that created a deficit of $5.6 million.
Again, when we talk about our medical expenses, uh, the state allows us to take a uh a medical waiver. Uh, basically what that allows us to do is the state looks at the medical and prescription plans. uh it allows for a
2% increase. Anything above that increase uh the district is allowed to take advantage of as a waiver. Uh so that waiver is estimated at $4.7 million. If we took the entire waiver, that would
represent an 8.1% uh increase in the tax u levy. Uh and that would still leave us with a deficit of $912,000. If we took none of that, if we took no medical waiver and just the 2% that were
allowed to, um, that would still leave us with the 5.6 million cap, uh, uh, $5.6 million deficit. If you want to look at this incrementally, a 1% increase from 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5 represents about
$765,000 for each percentage. what I've done here in this next table. Can you scroll up a little bit just so we move it up the other way? Thank you. That's great. Um,
if we look at the increases, if we look at the 2% uh cap and if we look at additional increases based on taking all or a portion of that medical waiver, we've calculated for you uh the increase
on the average home. Uh last year the average home value was $931,676. This year uh the average home value is 1,8,76. So, for example, if you look at this and we uh decide to take 2/3 of that um
medical waiver, you're looking at a $339 increase in taxes over last year or about $28 a month or just under a dollar a day. If you look at the full uh 8.17, you're looking at an increase of $417
or about $34 a month or $1.16 a day. As you've heard uh me say in the past, we've spoken to uh our county representatives, the county superintendent, uh the county business administrator, asked them for guidance. We've spoken with our local uh
legislative team. Uh we attended a recent um um session sponsored by New Jersey School Boards Association where our representatives talked about school finance. Um and um right now there are no magic bullets uh for the district
that are being made available. Um the the guidance again that we get from the county is that the district should take advantage of the tools that are in place right now uh to help them make up differences or shortfalls in their budget. U so with that I'd be happy to
take any questions or um >> um just to make sure I'm fully understanding. So the 27 revenue number that you have, that's what we had last year, right? As a number, like a a guesstimate of what we might be getting.
>> Correct. >> Correct. Okay. And then what you're saying is if we go the 8.17, we would still need to figure out $912,000 of reduction still to our budget to balance. Correct. Correct.
>> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. McCarthy. This this is more uh directed. This isn't just directed at Mr. Hastings. This would be if uh Mr. Dalton or Miss Gilman from attending the event that you went to, you have any information? But
>> aside from we know that the formula is flawed and we know that uh you know that there that this is a rough system to deal with because you can't plan under the state model of funding and all of the things that we've been hearing for years. Was there anything more productive provided to us by anyone in
our legislation uh in our legislative uh field at all? Mrs. Gilman, would you like to speak to that? >> There wasn't much, Mr. McCarthy. It was more of a discussion than a here are some solutions. The one thing about uh which we've discussed is to shop around
for health benefits. And um I know that's probably something that they're considering. Uh there are some districts who have combined with other districts to try to get a better uh rate, but they're usually smaller districts. I'm not quite sure how Ocean would fare with
that. They continue to stress uh shared services, whether it's it or snow plowing or whatever, something we're already doing. Um they did discuss uh regionalization of specialed students
and I'm not quite sure where that's going to go. They were talking about a hub in Mammoth County where uh many districts could send their special ed students which might help with transportation costs, but that just
doesn't seem uh like a plan has been solidified. Again, it was an idea that they'd like to work on the funding formula. Just seems like it's nebulously floating around the assembly and the and
the senate. uh nothing. They're hopeful that the new administration will act on it. Um and the regionalization of schools was just a discussion. Many people were panicking, pushing the panic button saying, you know, we're not going
to regionalize without voter approval. And Senator Gal and and Declan Ocadlin both Declan Oaklan Ocan both said nothing is going to happen without voter approval. that that was just a discussion. So, I came away with this is
just a discussion with no clear help. Uh, no one that you said it, no one's coming to help us. >> And I I'll just reiterate some of and add to what Mrs. Gilman said. I I I was happy to see there were over 100 people attending that session virtually. Um,
but it went very quickly. Regionalization, just as Mrs. Gilman discussed they did discuss for the districts that are affected by pilots and some possible look at legislation for districts that are affected by pilots that school districts might get some of that money. Um definitely talked
about S2 but in very theoretical uh ways. the special ed and special ed reimbursement were things that were talked about. People did put into the chat and topics came up around um increasing the amount of funding that
the state gives back to districts for those extraordinary costs. You know, you put students out of district I know I in the last job I was in, I had one that was $1,000 a day, right? You're not going to get that level of reimbursement. Um so looking at those things but again theoretical and then
the health care cost they shared some ideas out there but again theoretical so there were theoretical things but it's it's uh right now a waiting pattern with what's going on with a transfer of administration and everyone also getting together and coming together for a
common purpose. So, I was glad we attended, but I didn't walk away saying, "Wow, that's novel, and we're going to now have a another great idea coming forward." >> So, that's where we stand. >> Thank you, >> Claire. >> And Mr. Hastings was there as well.
>> Just um and please feel free to correct me. I I think one of the things that was said was that they were looking at special education costs, extraordinary aid, uh which helps us offset higher costs associated with some of those programs. However, I believe the caveat
was the legislature set a pot of money aside uh to help fund that. However, they haven't refunded that pot. So, you know, at a certain point they were giving 80% reimbursements that it was 75. I think they indicated, if I'm not
mistaken, about 55 >> now based on on the pot of money that's there. So, they're hoping perhaps the state may >> put some back into into that pot so they could reimburse at a higher rate. >> Right. >> And and I think the the only other thing
I will say cuz it came up is the district has gone out and asked for its medical experience. Uh we're working with the broker, our broker to uh to get that information so that we can shop and and see if we can get a better rate. Uh but again, those rates would probably be
effective uh for a future budget, not necessarily for 27. >> Right. >> Okay. Mrs. McGovern and then Mr. Schneider has his hand raised on the screen. >> Okay. So, I just have two quick questions. When you say that um that maybe 55% of of special ed reimburse or
you know the extraordinary what did we bud what did you budget for at this point? 55% or have we budgeted more? >> Right. So, the guidance we were given was 55%. So, >> yes, that's what you budgeted for. And >> and then my other >> similar to grant funds as well, right? But they're not necessarily reflected here. Those with what's going on in the
federal government, we've been uh asked to to budget less than we normally would. >> Okay. And then like every other year, and I'm just clarifying this, they're basically putting it on us to say take the healthcare waiver. That'll help you out a lot
>> and then we'll go from there. >> Yes. >> I don't even think they're offering a then we'll go from there. I think they're saying that's it. Nothing else is coming. Yeah. As other things have come in previous years. Who knows? >> Two years ago, we had an avenue offered to us late in the game. Last year, we
were not eligible for that avenue that was offered to other districts. All we've heard this year is there is no other. >> This is your avenue. >> I'd also just want to note that um when we went when I went through the top
portion of this, we talked about the 5.6 6 million deficit. Uh that included personnel requests and technology requests that did not include any of those capital items into our operating budget. >> Even the first set of capital items that you said. >> That's correct.
>> Even the first set as we look at these numbers, we don't know how we could fit those things into this budget without with we already have to make cuts even if we took the highest amount. So what we as Mr. Hastings was saying we we are
prioritizing some projects that perhaps we could take out of our capital reserve and maintenance reserve. That would be a very small list compared to the list of asks. And and this is this is about the asks tonight. So you can see what was asked
for. We will have to make considerable cuts to all levels of asks. But it's important to note that the capital requests are not even in this math that you're looking at on that last page. And over the past years, we've done
roofing projects uh at um at Ocean Elementary and at Wayside. Those projects were three and then $4 million. Uh so we don't want to deplete our capital reserve funds because we want to have funds available uh should we need to in an emergency make those sorts of
repairs. >> Mr. Schneider, >> thank you very little feedback here. Uh I have questions related to Ju just
discussion 27 seemed like the >> out by million dollar versus >> sorry >> could you repeat that because with the feedback he wasn't able to hear you >> hold
better go ahead try it Is it is it better? >> Yeah. >> Today's deck went up by a million dollars. Mr. Hastings, I was wondering how that came about.
>> What? Something changed. Something >> What exactly went up a million dollars? >> It It sounds like Mr. um Schneider, you're indicating that Are you indicating the uh operating budget increased by? >> Yes.
>> And from from my previous um presentations, >> correct? >> Okay. So, we were using estimated numbers uh from the fall as we went through the budget. So these numbers again are estimates and and change
slightly as we go through. Um I would think one of the main reasons for an increase of a million dollars in our operating budget would be those medical um expenditures and what the estimates were uh that we initially put
in which would probably be around 20% 15 to 20% to now moving them to 30 uh% in terms of of what the expectation is going forward. The second question was around the capital. Last January 27th presentation, you had around 9 million. I think today
you're at around much less than that. I thought you were going to say it was going to be covered through the reserves, but now listening to you, it said those are those are will be capital expenses that we don't have considerations for at this time. So, the $9 million initially uh listed
as capital expenditures included probably $600,000 for the full six buses, which we've amended to a lease arrangement so we could space that over 5 years. and then moving from a just under $5 million uh replacement of our
unit ventilators at the intermediate school to a more um uh gradual approach to just addressing the worst units first and then working through those uh as would make sense you know five six at a time based on on the setups and and and
how they're you know arranged in the building. >> Yeah. Although they sound like it's very much needed, high priority capital, much less than what we had seen January 27th. It's just not part of our our need at this point due to the due to the funding.
The other question was around the four math teachers. I don't know if those are back fills through due to attrition or those net new. >> Anything you're seeing here tonight are asks, new asks. >> Okay. And then related to the medical waiver and the fact that that's our a
little bit of a lifeline related to closing some of the gap. Do we have to consider at this time Mr. Hastings any potential reductions in funding or is that just get dealt with as we get more information? >> So they talk about uh the funding being
strictly driven by enrollment. Uh so we may have to deal with a little bit of a reduction. However, our experience over the past uh couple years and last year in particular was that we did receive uh a little bit less in some categorical
aid, but we received additional aid in our special ed in some other areas. So, um it's sort of balanced out where we got some increases in one portion and decreases in another. >> All right. Thank you. Are >> you finished, Mr. Shiner?
>> I am, Mr. D. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Mr. Hastings, I believe we need to go 91 through 96, right? There's no seven. >> Yes. We had a motion by Mr. McCarthy that was seconded by Mr. McGovern. If we're ready for that. >> Yes, sir. Thank you,
>> Mr. Brady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Covert? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gilman? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Mrs. McGovern? >> Yes. >> Mr. Schneider? >> Yes. >> Miss Stevens? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dalton? >> Yes. >> Items carry?
Mrs. Dam, instruction, education, and student activities. Please >> move to approve items 101 through 104 and discussion of 105 of the school calendar. >> Ser. >> Okay. Did you want to talk about the calendar?
>> Yes, I'll definitely talk about the calendar. The other items are are your typical approval. So, we have up for um discussion this evening next school year's calendar um which uh I'll just briefly touch on a few things. Next year, Labor Day is late in the year. So,
we we are proposing with this calendar to return before Labor Day. Two two days for teacher professional development and then our students would return on Thursday, September 3rd. We would have the district would be closed on Labor Day and then later in the month is Yam
Kapor and uh the our approach to professional development is changing a little bit. We are looking to instead of having full day PD days, we are looking to bring the students in for partial days and do staff PD after the early
dismissal. we find that um some of the extended breaks for students maybe were not as conducive to to learning as we had hoped. Um sometimes in attendance around those days increased absences increased. Um we also find that when we
bring the students in for early dismissal day we can provide pro we our partner the township can provide project extend where when we have days off completely sometimes that's not available for our students most of the time. So um for a
variety of reasons and many discussions with our different groups we felt that it was a good idea to make the shift. So instead of two full days for professional development inside the months of the school year, not the beginning and not the end, but within the within the year, we've gone from two
full days to three early dismissal days. Um and we think that that model will work for us and um we at least want to pilot it next year to see how that goes. We think that can be more productive for us. Um, next year winter break falls uh,
you know, December 23rd is a Wednesday and we would then return on January 4th and we have some of those typical days again that we we often have. Our spring recess proposed here to be late March.
That's in line with a number of other districts in the county. Um, I do always have to consider staffing during this time and try to align as best as possible with what other districts are doing so that our staff is available at the same time that maybe
their students might their own children may be off and um so we do consider that but the Passover holiday is later in April. So, as the district has done in previous years, we will do the typical uh spring recess, but then additional
days off later next to Passover. Um, and that would have the school year ending on June 18th. This calendar does have two emergency school closing days built in. So, if we did not use those, then we
could end the year 2 days earlier. But obviously, we had quite the winter this year. though we may very well need them. Um, so this is the proposed calendar um for next school year. >> Y >> Mrs. Bever, >> can you speak to the professional
development days in August and on June June 21st? Are they all that's all staff or would it >> No, sorry. So, we always have a new teacher orientation in August. Those are those dates that you see there. And we always have a virtual PD day for our
faculty after the last day of school. And that is uh there is a part of the contract is for staff to complete mandated online trainings and in exch some of our faculty and in exchange the
last day after students staff does not have to report. So we consider that a virtual PD day. Um >> I apologize for those questions since it's explained right underneath. >> Okay. And in different jobs, a slightly different procedure, but generally speaking, it's online mandated training
in exchange for having to report in person day after students are done with school. >> Mr. Schneider, did you have a question? >> No, I I was just happy to see uh New Year's Day fall on a Friday this year. Hope makes the calendar.
>> I'm happy to say that June 18th is probably the earliest we've gotten out in many years. >> Anyone else? Is it really? >> No, >> those half days are good. I like that idea. >> Thank you, Miss Wley. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, Mr. Hastings, I believe
we need to >> You have a motion for 101 through 104. >> Right. >> Mr. Brady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cover. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dam. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gilman. >> Yes. To all abstain from 10.2. >> Mr. McCarthy.
>> Yes. >> M. McGovern. >> Yes. >> Mr. Schneider, >> yes. >> Stevens, >> yes. >> Mr. Dalton, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. Mrs. Gilman, policy, please. >> Yes. Uh, resolved that the board approve
the first reading of the revised new or abolished policies as listed below. Um, the summary is always very helpful in understanding much of the language.
And uh you'll see some new policies for uh sexual harassment for uh any public complaints and I'm happy to see a student sun protection policy
so that uh any student who wishes to use uh sun protection at any event uh is encouraged to do so. So take a look at them and we will have our next reading at our next meeting.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Any old business? Any new business? We have a motion. Motion to return. >> Second.