Without one minute, I can go. >> May I call the meeting of the Parcipony Troy Hills Board of Education to order on July 23rd, 2026? In compliance with chapter 231, public law 1975 entitled Open Public Meetings Act. Adequate
notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the act in the following manner. A meeting notice was published in the newspaper and on the district website on January 7th, 2026. In addition, the notice of the meeting was posted at the municipal building in the
schools and a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk and posted on the website on June 16th, 2026. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 168. The recordings of these meetings will be available on our district website and
our video onthe-go YouTube channel. We ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in your statement. Professionalism is expected at all times. Please stand for the pledge to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. May we have the attendance roll call, please? >> Mrs. Abraham >> here. >> Mr. Barios >> here. >> Mrs. Del >> here.
>> Mr. Vidita >> here. >> Mrs. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Sha >> here. >> Dr. Wright >> here. >> Mrs. Chappelle >> here. >> Mrs. Cody >> here. >> Thank you very much. Um, like to
recognize the mayor in attendance. Thank you very much for coming to the meeting. Um, we don't have student committee reports in the summer, so we are up to correspondence. Is there any correspondence to come before the board? >> Mr. Robinson,
>> I do not have any correspondence. >> Okay. Uh, is there any unfinished business? Seeing none, we will move to committee reports. Mrs. Mayor, I believe you have a report. >> I do. [clears throat] >> Okay. Okay. Human resources met on July
7th. Present were myself, Mr. Dvito, Mrs. Chappelle, President Kogan by phone, Mr. Ricker, and um M. uh Superintendent Chase. Uh we discussed the admin BA um position. Uh we reviewed
the current status um and we discussed the upcoming job posting with as well as the next steps and a timeline which everybody I believe got. Uh then we discussed the technology department restructure and the new and revised
descriptions were in this bulletin. Um we reviewed the current organizational structure and examined the rearch chart reorg chart um and the roles and responsibilities were discussed and revised. new job descriptions were
reviewed. And just a little aside there, that was a humongous task that was done to kind of, you know, juggle people around and and kind of make it a little more refined. And uh I, you know, take
my hat off to Mr. Ricker and his committee that all worked together for a very very large large task. Um, and then questions were asked, do any of the newly created jobs require
county approval? The answer was no, and will any staff members be impacted by a reduction in force due to that? And the answer was no. All current staff members will have a position in the 2627 school year.
>> So, that was that report. >> Are there any questions for Mrs. Mayor? Okay, I have two other quick quick things. Um, I was able to go to the um talented art um exhibit, I guess we
could call it, um on whatever whatever day that was. >> Friday. >> Friday. Yes. Um it was at the high and the students had three weeks to come up with five different projects and the adviserss were saying that these kids
like jumped in. They were they had to be like restrained a little bit because they just kept wanting to work. Um there were they some kids worked with there was clay, there were paintings, there were incredible um projects made with
just paper. Um you know it's not just like origami. They had like shadow boxes that had multiple levels levels. Uh it was really awesome. It was for an hour. [snorts] Um and not only were the the kids were so proud, but the parents, you
could see they were just loving everything that was going on. It was just a nice way to showcase what they've done. Okay, the other thing I just have another quickie.
Um on the 9th I um did a um by computer the um New Jersey school board's planning meeting um and Paripony got the top rating for how many meetings all of
our members go to. We were like number one which was they said well what do you guys do in there? I go, we're very motivated. [laughter] But it was really very nice to hear. They congratulated us that we have the
most meetings attended. So, it was really nice to hear. Um, what we were talking about was to get more people in really gung-ho on coming, advanced notice on what the programs will be. Um,
and you'll know what what topics they're going to have ahead of time. So, it'll make it a little more, you know, timely. and the relevance of the topic. Is this something that you know really is relevant to what's going on in your district? And we talked about different um different topics. They said they
talked about you know seal um referendum kind of things. So I think they're going to try to pace those out. I think the the September one is going to be a hybrid and and it's going to be how a resolution get the
steps to get a resolution to become a bill. So that was what they decided for September. Um they're trying to get like field reps to come to these meetings to present, you know, because they said we have a wealth of people that we could really tap. So they're going to do with
that. Um, let's see. Uh, October Atlantic City, uh, the Irene submission for the Irene Award is due uh, April 1st. And then, uh, May 5th is the spring celebration.
And, um, we're waiting to see where that will be held. We're not quite sure. Um, I spoke to, well, we're not sure where it's going to be, so we're just going to have to say TBD And that's it. Can
>> I just ask a question when you said how do you get a resolution to be a bill like statewide or within the different steps that you do because one of our >> you know one of our districts um they're really very much involved with that
>> and they actually go to Trenton and they're really pushing. They know who to talk to. They know what to do to get things moving. So it should be very interesting how that plays out. So, um, thank you for sharing the fact that we were number one. And just in
case you want to go back to them, I think there's two things that we do that we are exceptionally good at as a board. We all share information. Yeah. About what we go to and it helps all of us re have the awareness as to what types of courses are out there that we can go
learn from and it inspires us. So, the way we share information I think is super helpful. >> I did mention that. >> And then we also have board goals, right? Our board goals are to make sure that we take training. So I think that as a board we we take the steps to make that happen. >> Yeah, it was really when I saw the chart
I'm like nicely done. [laughter] >> So that's my report. >> Thank you, Mito. >> Well, it's funny segueed into my comments here. Uh so on July 15th, I was able to sign up and attend a NJSBA session. What's brewing in an education
law? Um it involved mostly kind of like case law update and then different um uh different updates from the to two of the legal experts and such. So it was very interesting. It's like a mini version of governance for I guess ran long. They really didn't have time for a whole lot
of questions but it was still uh they didn't so share the information from it yet. Once I get that I'll make sure shared get to Miss Benos to be shared out with everybody if they give it to me. So that was that was interesting. So thank you. >> Yeah. Any other leazison reports? Mr. Dr. Wright
>> uh uh not all the leazison report but um I attended the state budget recap and leg legislative update um for uh webinar. Um again the reminder was like oh we should share about that. Um they also haven't shared the slides from that but when they do I'll send them to
Johnny packet. Um uh the one of the big things that was discussed even though it wasn't actually in the budget was how healthcare is affecting folks. Um and how that that was part of the conversation around kind
of finalizing the budget. Uh and they reviewed certain things around that individual districts do sometimes get grant money. They talked about um uh the formula and how the formula is affecting folks and how there's also there was also a um a law passed that continues to
mitigate those who are hurt by the formula um uh and general updates and again I'll send that with you. And speaking of board goals, just a reminder that our work session is August 8th and that's where we will do next
year's goals. Um, we have another shared services meeting set up with the township next week. And my final information was I was accepted into the national school boards association policy fellowship program. So over the next six months, I'll be working with
other education leaders across the US to work on crafting federal policies and uh things we can bring back to the states uh in the special education area. So the official goal for the program is to strengthen oversight under IDEIDA,
advance inclusive practices and use datadriven insights to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. So the end result will be um advocating at the the federal level and I will obviously keep the board informed as to how that program moves
forward over the next few months. So I think that is all of our committee liaison reports and updates. So now we are up to the regular and executive minutes of June 2026. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Devidito, Dr. Right.
And then the roll call. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marius. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Del. >> Yes. >> Mr. D. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mayor. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shaw. >> Yes. >> Dr. Wright. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Chappelle. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Co. >> Yes. And now we're up to superintendent bulletin number one. Dr. Maroon. >> Hello everyone. Um I'm going to start with some updates on our summer programs. We have eight I think 10
summer programs going on this summer. Not all not all are currently running. Um we have ESY both at the elementary and middle school level. Um they had a nice a nice three week um three three-w weekek run um working on math literacy
skills meeting therapy goals at the elementary level they had a successful um up all night cafe I'm sorry at the secondary level community based instruction to sites such as Shopright Walgreens hikes local outings and they have had their first ever es carnival
phs where there were carnival games activities um that really um gave the students an opportunity to demonstrate the skills that they've been working on, social skills, um executive functioning, taking turns, waiting, stuff like that. A really fun environment. That was great. The elementary program is over
200 students from pre-K to grade 4 at um Lake Hawata. Um and they've had weekly themes um to make camp more fun, but they're working on their IEP goals and some academics uh throughout the course of the program. We had uh ESL summer
school run for two weeks this year. Uh Monday to Friday. Uh it finished last week. Uh it was a great two weeks as usual. The kids um hit some lang some language skills in addition to various um other content areas to make the day fun and enjoyable for them. Elementary
summer school boot camp has been running. Um this year the the biggest change for that has is that we sent take-home kits for Math Line Resorts to accompany the the work that's happening virtually. And the feedback in that has been good. Um the teachers are reporting that it's engaging the students even
more and making a more uh um better return on investment. Talent program as you know ended last week. Uh we moved up to 40 students this year. There's such a a high interest. Um two teachers in the high work together on they do a really nice job. They were super creative. I got to pop in last week and see a little
bit. The art show was on Friday and previously they took a trip to the Princeton Art Museum which had just recently opened. It was a really great day for them. Um they're getting ready for classes. These are the middle school high school classes that preview um math courses. Uh they're running we have 392
students um signed up. I'm sorry be beginning next Tuesday, but a large turnout of kids who are interested in this or whose parents are interested in that [laughter] as I like to say. Um summer acceleration um has been going. These are the these
are our four credit advancement courses. So, we run personal finance, which is an alternative to taking a course in person, excuse me. Um, and then multiple math courses, which we allow students to take after freshman year of high school. Um, they're cruising along. Personal finance finishes tomorrow. And this is
kind of a break even situation for us as far as tuition and teacher salary. And it's it's a nice opportunity for students. Finish line prep. This is my I don't know. I don't want to pick favorites, but this one this one is I just was such a great idea by um Brian, our math supervisor. Um we bring in um
students from each high school who are in danger of who have not met their graduation requirements yet regarding testing. We bring them over the summer for a week or two and we just we're just prepping them and then giving them the assessments. They can just cross it off the list. It makes your senior so much easier and cleaner and it takes the
worry off them and their parents. on the um English side, language art sides, 26 of 40 um have met the requirement as a result of course uh the in the last week and 28 of 40 on the math side um passed the ACUPPLACER and they they don't have to worry about anymore. They're done. So, we're going to work on getting those
last couple students through, but we're really happy with that. Secondary summer reading uh boost uh kind of like summer summer book clubs begins next week. Um no, August 3rd and so we're excited about that. Um, summer acceleration theater, the first time we're doing this one, begins next week. This is one we've
been talking about for the last two years. And now that our uh, VPA pathway is running, we felt this is very important to happen. We have 12 students from both sides of town coming together to take this class with a theater teacher we were able to find from out of district. So, we're really excited to see how the how that turns out. Um,
Adventure Academy. This was our title one was just been so cool. Um, and when we are like, you know, we had funds to spend. Colleen is just the best about making sure we're, you know, getting everything we can out of these funds. So, M and I were brainstorm. We literally had an idea and met in the
hallway and um, this was our idea. We both had the same idea. So, we had these really great and bridging um, field trips for the kids from our title one schools. They've been to uh, the Crayola factory uh, Camp Bernie to do some team building and and um, rock wall climbing. um the Turtleback Zoo on this Monday and
they'll end at the RBCC planetarium and it's been really great. Some great teachers and and in addition we have 10 high school volunteers who are giving up their Mondays to support this and support the kids and spend time with them. They've been really really wonderful.
Um and then wide roll summer as you know is is a machine so many it serves so many students. They have um students come back to serve as junior counselors. It's just really a great program. It's a long day and it really engages students. This is a wide world of summer. Uh
they're kind of newsletter chronicle. I'm going to send them this way. You guys want to [laughter] take a look. Okay. Um so that's a summer summer program. I'll I'll finish and if you have questions, let me know. Um this these next two messages are from uh Dr. Chase
as um as she previously shared with the board. The district has begun the search process for our next business administrator. process will include initial screening interviews followed by committee interviews. Our goal is to bring a recommendation for appointment to the board at the August meeting. In the meantime, Mr. Steve Robinson is
serving as our interim business administrators providing leadership and oversight for the business office to ensure continuity of operations throughout the search process. Finally, the state came forward with additional FAQs regarding um the bell-to-bell requirements for internet enabled devices. This is kind of the
second iteration of this. Um, and this the latest version really does form a bellto bell start of the day to the end of the day. Luckily, you know, we were piloting this and that's the approach that we were working on and the approach that we're we put in place prior to this this final announcement. Um, over the
next coming weeks between now and the start of the school year, we'll be communicating with parents and students to make sure it's crystal clear what these expectations were, which to no one's surprise are the same expectations we had during our pilot. So that there should be no um no shocked people. Um and we anticipate, you know,
it'll it'll be a big change for some kids and there'll be there'll be some bumps in the road, but we ultimately feel this will be good for them. And and I got to say it's nice that the state took the lead on this because it does make it easier for us to make a a change like this. Any questions?
>> Dr. Uh, is will the theater program um culminate in a performance over the summer? Are they like fast tracking it? >> Nothing. Nothing big. That that's what I wanted really bad. Um, and I think it's a smaller group first year, but I'd love to I'd love for this to end in a show
that we could all attend, but I think they'll be doing smaller kind of one things. >> No problem. Oh, if there's no questions, then I'd like to say tonight for your approval, we have superintendent
bulletin items 1 through 55, attendum items 56 through 81, and for your enjoyment, a couple readings. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Maroon. And now we're up to the secretar's report, Mr. Robinson. >> Okay. So, I'm going to give a little bit
update on construction. in the Littleton construction. We are currently in phase two of what is now four phases. This phase includes an addition of six classrooms and two SGIs. So far, they have dubbed for utilities. They have removed the swing sets. More than
likely, we'll end up buying new playground swings at a cost and liability of installing old makes more sense to buy new. Um the contractors relocate the fiber office going to the building. They are in the process of relocating the storage containers. This project is scheduled to be complete by
the summer of 2027. As of now, the timeline is still in place. It is anticipated that construction will not impact school for the 2627 school year as a work is outside the existing building. Other so summer programs update. There's not many
projects that were in the budget, so there's very little to talk about here. There was five gym floors we were finished as of today. Two are complete. Three others will be completed when the summer program is is and the other thing is electrical meter pan has been
replaced at Troy Hills annex that was agency I think you declared back in winter and he finally got to it now so it's complete that's my report any questions on the secretary's report
all right I don't believe we have any new business so we are up to the hearing of the public at this time. If there is anyone who would like to address the board, please come up, sign your name and address in the book of the lectern, state your name for the record and please address the chair. Each person
will have three minutes to speak to the board. It would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign in as you are ready when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you are a student who wishes to speak, we ask that you not provide your home address, but rather give only
the name of the municipality in which you live. If you are a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting, you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording. Alternatively, please consider speaking privately about the matter to the
superintendent after the meeting. Speakers should refrain from using specific student or staff names in their comments and are referred to by law 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings. >> Hi. >> Good morning. Morning,
>> Jack. >> Um, I just wanted to bounce a couple of things off uh off of you. Um, first of all, there is a school. It's a new and emerging school. It's it's a university. It's called the University of Austin at
Texas. Now, some of us might confuse it with the University of Texas Longhorns. It's not them. It's a different It's a different school. It's a relatively new school. It's it's formed it was formed just a couple of years ago, but it is a it's a college and a university and it's
pretty rigorous university and one of the attributes of it is that the tuition is free to students that get in. It's a relatively small uh student body, but uh they take in approximately 150 students a year. Now, if you can get into the
school, a high school student could get in automatically by getting a 1460 SAT score, combined SAT score. So, then and you'd still have to pay for room and board, but you're saving whatever $70,000 a year in tuition. So, it's an
opportunity and it might be something to make available to students uh you know to seniors that this is an opportunity if you're concerned about college costs going forward that you know this is another option other than the
traditional university uh platform and the curriculum is extremely rigorous. This is the reading list. It's 224 books, essays, and primary sources. And trust me, it's very rigorous. Um, it's
uh potentially a very good opportunity for a very for smart students that are looking to move on after high school. Um, I was also reading a book, an article about reading and um, it was a
Wall Street Journal intern who wrote this this article about in college uh, an unusual technique that might be applicable at in the high school where they are assigned books to read during
the summer. when they come into school on the end of August or in early September, they are given a final exam on books that they read. Now, they're given about 2500 pages to read. It's a in the English program and it's a seminar on dusty, but that's something
that could be applied to, you know, in an advanced placement program here in the English department at the the high schools. something where they're forced to read these books during the summer because when they walk in on the first day of school, they're going to be tested on it. They're going to get an
exam on those books. So, I thought that was an interesting take that could be taken from a college and applied on a it didn't say she didn't say what college she attended, but uh I thought it was a pretty interesting uh technique to get
students to read, which we know with reading scores nationally dropping. This is a way to get students to read more. So, that's about all I had, but I hope everyone's having a great summer. Thank you. Any
other members of the public? All right, seeing none, we will go directly to our roll call vote for superintendent bulletin number one, items number 1 through 55 with addendum addendum items 56 through 81 and
readins. I have a motion, please, Mrs. Mayor. And a second, Mr. Dval. Mr. Dval. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Beros, >> recuse on number 77. Yes. To everything
else. >> Mr. Mrs. Del. >> Yes. >> Mr. D. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mayor. Yes. >> Mr. Sh. >> Yes. >> Dr. Wright. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> All right. There being no further
business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. [laughter] That's frequent. Mr. Dvito, Mrs. Delave. All in favor? >> Meeting is a journ. >> 25 minutes. Not bad.
>> I kind of like that team building. >> We can do better. All right. [laughter] >> I like that team building.