welcome everybody to our Welcome everybody to our meeting this month So glad to see so many people here Um I'm going to call the meeting to order This meeting is being held in compliance with the Open Public Media Act and is open to the media and public
Notices were duly posted and the meeting was advertised in the Hun County Democrat and Courier News Formal action may be taken Can we have the flag salute [Music] now to the flag of the United States of
America and to the stands one nationice for all Mrs Cassidy here Mrs Fior here Mr Lopes here Mrs Benser Mrs Borski here Mrs Rad here Mrs Ryan
Mrs Depinto here Mr Rizzle here All right Uh good evening everyone and welcome to our April 8th board of education meeting It's so nice to see everyone here tonight Um we have some recognitions for all of you This year students from Holland Brook School
participated in the New Jersey Destination Imagination State Tournament Destination Imagination is a tournament that requires students to engage in research presentation skills collaboration quick thinking teamwork creativity and communication skills The
Holland Brook School team named the six amazing girls and a mysterious Mark took second place and the team named the Seven Dwarfs but taller took first place A very special thanks to Mrs Vance and Miss Mahoney for their leadership of our
teams I'd like to ask Miss Mahoney and Miss Vance uh to come up to the podium and assist me in calling students names and presenting certificates So we're going to hand out some certificates to everybody Sure [Applause]
Sure Thank you for having us here and for um recognizing these students They have been engaged in this process since um late October when we had tryyous Uh we needed to see some quick problem solving good communication skills some
improv acting and uh some commitment to team dynamics um in order to make these choices for our team And we have 14 students who have been with us since our practices started in November um they've engaged in a lot of research a lot of
practice um and a lot of time getting to know each other and know how to communicate effectively in a very short amount of planning time So they had um some stuff they had to research but every time we would pick things out of a hat they had two minutes to plan and then they had to present a five-minute
performance So they have done incredibly hard work Um and we always say to them our time at the tournament is your time to shine and to show off all of these skills that you have learned And our wish is that you are most proud of the
performance that you give on the day of the tournament And we are very proud to say that they were the most proud of their performances on that day and they were recognized for all of their good work So thank you very much for having us here and thank you very much for
being with us this season So Miss Mahoney is going to call your names Uh when she calls your name you can come up to us I will hand you your certificate You can shake my hand and then stay up here so that we can get a picture Most importantly for your parents to get a picture Okay Then
you're going to send them to me That's right That's right So we are going to first recognize the six amazing girls and a mysterious heart summer Kessa Gardella
[Music] Alison Gutierrez Welcome Medela [Applause] Mam Lenn [Applause] Mark Spidey [Applause]
and Addison [Applause] Sto Squish [Applause] And our first place team the seven dwarfs but taller also got a special recognition at the tournament Um they
got what is called the the Renaissance award Um which recognized some innovative and um creative problem solving which is a an award they don't have to give out and they chose to to this team So um special recognition there too So the seven dwarfves but
taller Llaya Greenberg Alex Konich Fiona Kurtzo Grace Lynch [Applause] Eliza Marsha and Squishing Squishing [Applause]
That's all right Boys and girls congratulations Thank you so much for representing schools in this amazing competition Uh I think I've heard that you already have pizza or else I would tell you to go ice cream now You are welcome Everyone is welcome
to stay We're going to continue with our uh board meeting in just a moment I do want to ask if Mr Vizo or any members of the board want to recognize the students or anything like that Yes let's say for Thank you Thank you for coming and congratulations on your
awards A great [Applause] job to stay We're going to continue with our agenda but feel free to appcate [Music] Don't think about our strategic plan
[Music] [Music] pizza just before this Okay Okay participating
No I'm talking about bring Thank you so much [Music] Dan would it be better for you to have the um Google slide deck would that be
easier just that's this is okay Uh for the second item on the superintendent report uh I wanted to review with the board of education our uh strategic plan summary There it is Um I can't believe that it's been five
years already that we've accomplished uh a great deal of our strategic work We sat in this room in January of 2020 um identifying a strategic uh direction for the district and uh we
came up with developed three goals with a group of stakeholders and tonight uh we want to take a little bit of time to summarize some of the work that's been accomplished over the course of the past five years uh annually uh in parts part of my goals every year have been part of
focusing on the strategic plan Um so tonight is really just going to be a brief presentation to update the board on where we've come and summarizing everything that we've accomplished over the past five years I've invited Miss Pouch Dr D Roza and Mr Tumulo as well uh
to present tonight Uh when we did the strategic plan we identified chairs for each one of the three goals Um Miss Couch shared the inquisitive learning goal Dr D Roza shared the partnerships goal and Mr Tumalo uh shared the social awareness goal with a faculty member as
well Uh a lot's changed in five years Some of those faculty are no longer with us Retire retirements resignations things happen Uh so I've just asked three administrators to come tonight Uh our three strategic goals included inquisitive learning partnerships and social awareness Uh they read as follows
Our inquisitive learning goal was to create and establish an inquirybased framework that values interestdriven learning environment Learners will individually and collaboratively focus on identifying analyzing and solving problems as inquisitive members of our
community And I'll turn it over to Miss Pouch to talk a little bit more about our inquisitive learning Sarah I'm sorry I'm gonna have to ask you to come I mean I could but it'll take a lot longer if I know Thank you There you are Good evening everyone As Dr Hart
mentioned I'm Sarah Pouch the supervisor of math science and technology And I had the privilege of chairing um the inquisitive learning part of our strategic goals Um in doing this it was broken down into uh four sub goals And the first one was simply to raise
awareness Um as was mentioned we um had uh committees that work with us with a group of teachers and our first meeting was in the first week of March of 2020 and then promptly less than a week later our school closed down as well as the
rest of the country So it began became the challenge of well how do we get this message out of what we're going to be working on and um I think one of the things that we're most proud of is how much we were able to accomplish even in the midst of trying to figure out how to
communicate that in a different way um when we weren't meeting in person and we needed to find other ways to um deliver this message And that first uh sub goal was uh geared towards that with simply raising awareness of what do we mean when we say inquiry learning or being
inquisitive And we worked very hard to send out uh information to both to the parents to the staff to the students We were able to do that um through our uh parent newsletters from the different buildings as well as well as including
information in our staff meetings um monthly with at each building and then using the screens that were available um within the buildings whether it was the in the hallways with information cycling through or at um the middle school or Holland Brook sometimes they have
slideshows going during lunchtime So we took those opportunities to deliver some of this information to students at that time Um we were able to um also have parent night presentations um so that we could also get that message out to
parents as well Um one of our highlights was having John Spencer as a keynote address for one of the opening days of school um he's a real guru in this area and um is is a leader in how how to encourage uh students to be inquisitive
and what that might look like in your classroom We were also able to do our own in-house presentations as teachermies and had 129 participants um see teacher participants in our 10 classes over the last few years and that
was just for this first sample Um here are some of what we were able to uh push out to students and parents and teachers um talking about that students should be asking questions just as often if not more than when they're answering
questions and that inquiry can fall into uh different different categories whether it's a goal or making change Other ideas that we were able to communicate were the ideas for inquirybased learning and that it's not
just creating something but it's also asking questions about what can I learn what change can I make what difference can I make um what are some of the things that I do that I love as well as letting students know that an inquisitive student has many forms and
many ways uh to to look at those things whether they're um capturing their learning digitally or on paper if they're um finding different projects to do and then how do they share that out to the larger
community Our second sub goal was again if we're asking uh students to pursue something and ask questions about what they're interested in we definitely want to be able to we need to know what their interests are So we looked at creating a
bank of interest inventories for students um so that teachers would be able to get to know their students more and um stressing the importance of making those connections with their students as well The inventories had a wide range all the way from down uh to
pictures and infographics for our youngest students Simply circle Um and then all the way up to our middle school where the middle schoolers were starting to identify for their teachers what learning styles that best fit them so that the teachers could um have the
biggest impact on their instruction These uh interest inventories were discussed at faculty meetings We were able to create a bank that the teachers have access to and um we also were able to run some teacher academy classes over the years and it's
just kind of become part of what all the teachers do now We don't really have to advertise it anymore It's just it's just ingrained in what we're doing For goal three we wanted to cult uh have a culture where teacher inquiry was inspired and this was really
spearheaded by Dr Hart along with Dr Devanna Steinbeck where we were able to have cohorts of teachers where they pursued their own inquiry research on something they felt would have the most impact on their instruction something they were interested in pursuing with
their students um and increasing their pedagogy So we were able those teachers have had their um some of their findings in publications They've done presentations um they've turnkeyed quite a bit to each other so that each cohort as they
finished through a cycle brought on new members um and new teachers to take a look at that Um Hunter Essential heard about what we were doing and asked if their teachers could be involved in well as well So we have a a group of teachers at Hun and Central who were pursuing
similar projects Currently our coaches are continuing this effort um with teacher uh the practice of teacher inquiry and it's bas either an individual grade level and they happen to be working with all of the teachers at Holland Brook this year where the
teachers decided as a grade level they wanted to pursue specific topics um with the help of our coaches which has been great We've been able to provide more information about this to teachers during 11 different teacher academy classes where we had we've had 93
participants over the years So 93 of our staff members have been involved in this process and we also made um information and resources available during the inservice days so that everyone had access to this Goal number four is our student passion
projects and students pursuing uh learning about their own interest This has probably become our most publicized um part of our goal Um so many of you have already seen some of the P fashion projects firsthand whether it was family
nights for third grade during board tours or at board presentations over the years as well as um attending the civics presentation over at the middle school um are some of the highlights Um we started rolling this out kind of one
year after another So it wasn't just dropped on everybody and kind of a tadada Um so we started uh that first year with our third grade students and just having them have a followup picking a topic of interest and doing some research on it and then ending with that
idea of well what do you wonder now where does this go kind of building that idea of just because you had a question and you researched it and you found a possible answer or you got more information that just generates more it should just generate more questions So
we had uh the third graders start there and then um that grew over the years as well By the time those uh third graders became fifth graders they beca they used their passion project during um their writing units for uh research and they
were able to highlight that at different board meetings as well as during the board tours And then finally as our students rolled up into eighth grade uh we had a focus on uh the civics projects where students pursued uh a topic of
interest of their choice and then have presented it um during during those uh presentations over at the middle school We didn't have quite as many teachermies on this because it was geared towards the students Um but we did have a couple of classes for teachers in the other
grade levels if you didn't happen to be in third fifth or eighth grade We also wanted to make sure that all the staff was aware of what we were working on as well as having that information during the inservice days So we have a couple of pictures
here from our um our different passion projects that have occurred over the years And I think we're all just so proud of what the students and the teachers have been able to accomplish with this goal in the last five years and it's been very exciting and
rewarding to be a part of that I will turn things over to Dr D Roza to tell you about partnerships Thank you so much Hi thank you for having me As Miss Pouch said this has been an amazing five years Back when we
began and we talked in this very room like Dr part said about the strategic plan when we talked about partnerships together as a group We said teachers are already connecting children with so many great partnerships Is there a way that
we can stop as a district and curate a directory so we know what we have and we know what connections are already fostered So our partnerships goal has four sub goals also Um the idea for our partnerships
was to curate a bank of local regional national and global partnerships that can enhance learning and be of service to others We'll talk about that in a moment Um so what we did in the beginning years
at the K3 level we piloted it piloted it did and then um people on the committee like my co-chair was Alyssa Bulo and subsequent years she tried to get buy in here at Holland Brook before five level and then Will Daly was also on the
committee and you can see that he takes everything to the next level with his civics program So over the course of five years we really had the right people on the committee to try to get buy in and to know um what was going on
in their respective buildings So we began with up here um Google forms and we really just surveyed teachers like what what partnerships are you doing what what do you already have connected to
your current areas of study and um who do you bring in as guest speakers who do you seek out and while we talked about that this was our first sub goal but our third sub goal um was about field trips because we talked about sometimes
partnerships visit the school but we also go out into the community and engage in field trips But as Miss Couch said a couple of days later we're all sent home So we were thinking how can we keep the good work alive and m make
forward progress with our strategic plan So it turned into creating a bank of virtual field trips because we were home for most of the time and then we came back um in a hybrid fashion when we pivoted So um we began asking teachers
through our Google forms what virtual field trips can you embed into the curriculum to enhance learning for students So the the data and as a board as board members you could probably um click on some of of the links embedded
in this but the data was raw and we put questions in the Google form on virtual field trips and field trips having teachers rate the usefulness of them So we had like lists and lists of um
teacher entries and then the good work of Jodie Rarig over one summer she looked at it found redundancies and created and you'll see it up here and you you can click on it in your presentation the partnerships directory and that's where we combined if you can
see it from there um one column has partnerships and the other column has connected field trips by grade level and and um content area So we really um are proud that we were able to take all
teacher contributions and put it into a userfriendly format for teachers It is a work in progress Just the other day at my faculty meeting we were in it making sure the links still work because sometimes links are no longer working and we we feel that if we want to keep
it current we have to continue to revisit it and build in time like faculty meetings for teachers to take a look at it or even remove things they don't want or add new things that they think um are helpful And that might if
we have to remove something for from a category because this is a good curricular resource we will want to try to find links or other ideas and field trips to replace it that are are just as good if not
better The next page has some pictures of partnerships We have our Ruckers Master Gardeners on the top left Conton Central brings their play to us So that was a great experience Down in the left we have the Harlem Wizards Of course our men in blue the
Readington Police are always partnering with us And then on the right hand side we partnered two years ago with one voice from Flemington And it's um a wellness and anti- drug awareness
group that they they came to White House school and I think they're going to Three Bridges soon in Hollra to show an age appropriate message at our level They don't really talk about anti-drugs It's about making wise choices And they have a new mascot
called Albert the Wise Alowl So kids kids really like that The next goal involved and this was pretty important during COVID because it was about getting resources to families in need So if you look at this um slide
we they did our our school nurse and counselor did create an ultimate resource guide that you can look at but they have one before that in its infancy where we were trying to find resources how to connect people to the internet and get food to families if if they were
um food insecure So we ended up having a small resource bank for COVID and then when we came back to school we um integrated the things that could still be helpful to families in need into a
bigger directory and and if you take a look at it we break it down by categories It's it's pretty robust It's on at least our school nurse website but I know Mr Chumalo had the school counselors because Mr Smith was a big
contributor to this who shared it with all school counselors so they have access to resources if families um are in need they can point them in the right direction I talked about virtual field
trips and then our fourth so goal is is really um goes hand inhand with what Mrs pouch was saying it Let me put one more It's about our passion projects and what we thought we could do to enhance
learning for students and to um embrace the partnerships we have We had all children try to partner or find an expert through their research process So we found a way to combine their projects and research with our partnerships and
the directory did help to try and match students and their topic with ex experts in the field Okay And here are some pictures Um you did see that picture before but they do take it seriously If you look on the
right hand side a student actually bought his brought his race car to the cafeteria We got it in there So he was passionate about it And now I will turn it over to Mr Tumulo Social as Mr Tumulo comes up I just want to point out for the board too even
internally I think Dr D Roz and Miss Pouch and Mr Tumalo would say too we have so much more school-toschool connection now too where middle schoolers are visiting Holland Brook to do presentations Holland Brook students are visiting Three Bridges and White House Um Three Bridges and or middle
school goes to Three Bridges and White House And in years past I think White House and Three Bridges came to Betsy Freeman's class and did a whole bunch of Earth Day activities It's so cool that we have the interchool connections as well and kids are able to to go back to White House and Three Bridges or um you
know bring knowledge uh to different grade levels So not just within schools but among all of the schools Please Mr Chill Sure Hi everybody So I'm here to present um about our social awareness goal Um I uh co-chared it with um uh Mr
Smith who works really closely together with a team of uh teachers that were passionate about the work So um the the goal really I'll just read it to you I know you can read it but it's nice to hear it too Our our learners will feel connected valued and secure in digital and non-digital learning environments cultivated by a shared sense of
community Every individual will develop skills that promote an awareness of self and others as well as the environment including the ability to understand the impact of their decisions So while the goal focuses on social awareness it really does encompass all the five competencies by castle The self-awareness self-management social
awareness self um sorry responsible decision-m and relationship skills So we have five five goals Um the first sub goal was to really enhance parent and community education about what is and what does it look like here
in in the district in Readington right there's a lot of different definitions Um so how do we define it and what does it look like and and and what does it look like in classrooms so we tried to increase that awareness and understanding um providing resources um offering some events um that focused on
SEAL specifically Um we offered five virtual um parent academy parent nights um that were um also uh studentr run as well We had student teachers that came in and um from each building and and offered some some training uh which was
really nice Uh and they talked about from their experience what does it look like what does self-awareness look like to them how do they define it um we um yeah so really just was really just trying to engage engage the parents We offered webinars as well We worked um uh
we we tapped in with some teachers um in each grade level and tried to create a bank of resources um that other teachers can look at Okay so what does it look like in this classroom if if this teacher is teaching responsible decision- making right what are some
examples um and that was really nice to help with new teachers coming in so that they understood what does it look like for the district Um what does it look like in classrooms and all of that is on our website as well Um we started podcasts We kind of got away from that but that was something that was spearheaded by Adam Connelly who left
our district Um but that was he was a really big part of that initiative at the middle school for sub sub goal 2 um was really about building and increasing student mental health supports Right So as we know coming out of COVID um there was a
lot of in increase and for that that that support for the the mental health of students and staff as well right so um we looked at specific programming Um that's where we brought in the CAP program child assault prevention um team CAP and grade eight Um we offered it for
grade five and grade three and we're continuing that to this day Um we brought in Avidum for grades two um which is um it's called it stands for I've got your back It's a program that was started um in a high school out in the Midwest um for um because one of the
students um at the high school committed suicide So we brought that in of how can we um train students and and kind of teach students um to find those trusted adults in their lives right in school in in the community Um and also how to um
uh identify um when they need help what does that look like for them um it's a really great program and it's kind of we've connected that with um partnering with with Miss Houch as well um connecting it um into the health curriculum as a support service as a
support resource um that's in there The um also um many many counseling department meetings So that's when we started to really have our monthly department meetings as a counseling department to discuss what are we seeing what are the trends that we're seeing um to kind of make sure that we're really
keeping this at the forefront of of the conversation Um sub goal three um diversity equity and inclusion So we looked at again one of the things that came out of um out of uh the pandemic was just access right noticing that how
um you know how are we making sure that we we are offering um that that every student in our district can access um supports and and and have an educational the same educational experience Um so really that was a
collaborative effort from the leadership team We had um two consultants come in for the district to work with us um for two years in the summer Um and we really kind of dug into different areas in our curricul within the school environment
um the school system We looked at um policy we looked at right Dr policy We looked at facilities Um we talked about curriculum Um and then we created from there transportation um technology and we from there created short and long
short and long-term plan of action of um how can we again look at access making sure that sort of students can have the same same experience and that was a really good experience that we had Um sub goal four was establishing an MTSS
multi-tered system of support at the middle school Um and this was really important because again at we were seeing our um the student numbers at the counseling office was just increasing and and they had such an influx of of need of students that really just needed
support um with their mental health So we created this multi-tered system of support Tier one is a universal um that the whole the whole school gets this this education Um tier two is identifying um about 10 to 15% of the student population that needs a little
bit more support um on top of what they're already getting in class Um and then you have your tier three um which we brought in a a mental health um an outside mental health professional that was funded um through ESSER funds Um and that person
um was working grades six to eight with about maybe 20 students that really just needed intensive um school-based counseling And we came up with a system for referring students We created a document a multi-through system support document Um it was a lot of work that we
put into that Um the second piece was um focusing on the um the framework of leader and me Um the whole staff under the support of of Mr Charleston Um we read we we purchased the book for the whole staff um and did a lot of
professional development through faculty meeting time on how can we um implement some of the tenants within leader and me into the classroom Um yeah so that was really great great work So just to show you the tiered
system of support here Um again like I said tier one is for all students and that really does reach about 80 to 90% of the population Um and then you have your tier two which is 10 to 15% which is more of like one-on-one support um student check-ins um school counselor
support um maybe some uh the BCBA behavioral supports uh coming in child study team um and then you have your tier three which was for our school-based counselor which now we have um we've hired a person full you know full-time Miss Buntless Bologani who is
with us um providing that support for our students Really proud of that And then our last sub goal is um based on sustainability Um so again this was a partnership between all the chairs as well as the principles um to really
work together to to become um you know uh recognizing that embracing that sustainability and becoming digital citizenship focus on dig digital digital citizenship sorry um and that shared responsibility um and again all four schools uh had achieved silver status um
green ribbon status as well um we that was worked through the green committee um and then collaboration with the township as well Any questions thank you so much Here's a picture of that as well Just photos of that
I'll take appreciate it Um so our strategic goals um came from uh surveys that were sent to faculty parents students certificated non-sertificated staff back in 2019 uh and what and then a focus group happened here in this room to develop
all of these goals and sub goals Um so we sought to recreate that survey I actually kept copies of the 2019 survey and we recreated and asked some of the same questions in anticipation that you know we moved the needle here with our three three goals Um so some of the
highlights that we saw this is from from the faculty Um and you'll see from the responses that we summarized here from the faculty is that we've really started to promote uh exactly what our strategic goals sought to promote Intellectual curiosity perseverance among students um
collaboration among students as evidenced by the awards tonight Um we clearly hold high expectations for our students Now more than ever we use data to inform our decision- making when it comes to devising instruction Um you
know Dr D Rosa talked about um networks of supports for students Those those um handbooks that we have now connecting our students with the community and resources out there are are tangible documents that we have now that show um that we really want to bring networks of
our community and for our parents especially those in need Um we support partnerships not only on a local level but on a state level and even a national level We have access through virtual field trips to visit places we never thought we could visit before
Um you know a lot of support for student social well-being Um and then climate and culture of the school is positive Um the parent survey highlights um you know parents really responded It's it's funny when I think about the faculty So
much has changed with the faculty over five years It was really difficult for us to make a onetoone in comparison because of the teachers who have retired or those that have resigned or for other reasons The faculty has changed in the past five years Our parents really haven't as much You know they're they're
here for five years Maybe they were in kindergarten now they're in fifth grade or fourth grade or maybe they were in sixth grade and um you know they have a younger child coming through Parents were incredibly positive when they responded to the survey about the strategic work Um so there's been a lot
that we've done that I believe parents are noticing as a district in promoting a place that's nurturing and kind and caring a place that cares about all learning uh learners Um providing uh students with um access connecting
children to the world beyond uh just Readington um as even evidenced by what Mr Daly does on a an annual basis um that Readington teachers are committed lifelong learners children are happy to attend school Um innovation creativity
these things are supported in our classroom So parents really responded very very positively Um and then our students as well We gave the survey to students grades five through eight Um students are comfortable They have an adult that they trust They talk to at school Um they're taught the importance
now of having curious and open minds Um they're treated with respect and kindness teachers take an interest in them as people and as learners Um they they understand their classmates their differences Um what we're seeing is you
know mapping some of our surveys from back in 2019 to then asking some of those questions again We're seeing that we've made some progress that that things are moving forward But we know we're not done Um this is a nice summary of five years of work But as we presented the budget to the board of
education for next year uh the administration is planning to engage in this work again Uh we're not we're not finished You know we they're in the surveys We see some continued areas of focus Uh we want faculty meeting our faculty members to have input into the curriculum We want them to have a major
role in designing curriculum Uh we want to make sure that uh we focus on some of those academic areas Um that students are taught even the value of more community service that we explore more ideas We give uh students the opportunities to tap into even more
interests and we create that time into the day Um you know that we create academic progress monitoring for students We let them know how they're doing I know at the middle school at least in math Miss Pouch and I have talked about goal meetings with students You know they know where they are They know what they their goals are they know
what they're working on Um so we're planning next year to you know engage with someone to come in and do the same thing Readminister some surveys pull some focus groups have some community forums um and work with our district to identify what the focus is going to be
for the next five years It doesn't necessarily mean we abandon all of these goals Maybe we tweak them maybe we change them maybe we refocus them some way But I think um gathering all of the stakeholder input looking at some of the surveys that we've done from this year and the work that we've accomplished uh
will help lead us in the next direction for the next five years Um so it's been it's been a five-year journey It's been great work Um and I'll I'll open it up to the board uh to ask any questions if they have any and if any of the presenters want to um add anything in or
answer any questions you certainly can But I'll go up to the board Yeah Miss Cassidy Uh hi I want to say I probably am in a unique position as a parent in the district who my oldest uh graduated 8th grade in
2020 So just when you were initiating this and I have two more who are now in fifth and eighth grade So I've borne witness to the passion projects the partnership with the guest speakers Um I was unaware of of some of the uh mental health support that you've instituted
here but could tell you my oldest benefited from that Um and I have personally noticed a massive difference in the education in our district and the type of learning and the encouragement uh to follow their passions and explore
um their interests and work independently Uh and I just it's wonderful to see this five-year retrospective of looking back and seeing what the difference was because it is it is noticeable So I want to thank you all for your work Thank you Thank you for your comments
Any other questions for Yeah I've enjoyed the um civics presentations and the passion project presentations and I think we're giving the students amazing skills for presenting and getting up in front of adults and when we go there
they're they're not nervous to speak um to an audience And I think that's a a skill that's just incredible at such a young age And I I think that's really I hope it continues and I really enjoy uh coming to those programs Thank you Thank you very much And I I
think too you know even if we set some new goals for the next five years I don't know if that necessarily means that we abandon the goals that we've achieved here One of the crowning achievements of of these this strategic work is I think it's embedded It's ingrained If you talk to a faculty member about what our strategic goals
are I think they can tell you what our three strategic goals are And that doesn't always happen I think this has become part of the culture of just who we are So even if we do set some different goals I don't know if we abandon the work that we've done I think we've come so far now It's just maintaining this good work and picking
up the next set of good work too Yeah I just want to recognize also seeing the district over the years and and I want to recognize the staff and your leadership in this because it's a tremendous amount of work on top of what
they're already doing Yeah and the the coaches or leaders I don't know the exact title for um the team leads for each of the subles and stuff but I mean just huge huge difference and what where the district was where they we are now and it's just um just wanted to commend
the work and say thank you thank you really appreciate that anybody else yeah Mr Yeah I just wanted to say I can tell that all the projects all the teachers students staff the supervisors is done with passion and it's not just like I'm checking off a
box So I appreciate that coming from you until they really love their job and I appreciate that Yeah we try our best to avoid the check the box kind of thing right we talk about this at leadership meetings I think and Miss Pouch I think I say it to you all the time too like we
have to do it with purpose Like let's be purposeful about it And I say that over and over We don't want to check the box It's got to be who we are and we we don't want to let go of it So yeah thank you I appreciate all those comments Excellent Anything else so uh this is our update I look
forward to keeping the board updated So we're headed into a really exciting time for the district You know it's the springtime We'll be doing superintendent evaluation We've talked about board evaluation We'll be doing some retreats But I really look forward to launching you know a reflection of our work and
starting another strategic plan Now with a new board right this is you're all going to be involved in some way shape or form Um and five years ago was a very different board So now you we'll have your input like you'll be able to help set the next five years for the district So I look forward to that work with all
of you Um thank you Sarah Anthony and Ann for coming tonight Really appreciate it You're welcome to stay Um but but thank you for your time and thank you for your work on all of this Thank you And that concludes my superintendent report Thank you
Okay So next item on the agenda is public comments for items that are on the agenda So I don't know if anyone has comments that they would make at this time Okay I'm sorry Dan can you
um go back to the YouTube so that we can see if there's any comments [Music] online okay so next item is correspondence We did receive one correspondent about the
substitute teacher policy and that is with the board So our next item is going to be the board action First item is approval of the administrative reports We got three items items 101 to
103 Can I get a motion and then a second for those three items i'll move Alan Second Okay Thank you Any discussion on that mrs Cassidy yes Mrs Fury yes Mr Votes
yes Miss Borski yes Miss Rad yes Mindo yes Ma yes Passes Okay The next item is approval of our minutes We have two items 20120 Can I get a motion in a second on
those two items i'll move Ellen Second Okay Any discussion on that mr B Ms Cassie Yes M Fury Yes Mr Lopes Yes Mrs Pagorski Yes Mr R Yes Mr Pinto
Yes Mr Russo Yes Passes Okay Now we're going to go into the each of the committees The first one is finance and facilities We have 15 items 301 33 15 Um and then we're also going to have a committee report which I'll read out
So can I first get a motion and a second on those 15 items i'll move Second Okay All right So I'll read out the committee report So the committee met on April
2nd The people that attended were Michelle Paulo myself and Justina Dr Hart was there as well as Jason and Don Race from facilities The first item was health dental insurance for 2526 school
year Jim Finn from Brown and Brown reviewed rate changes across the various insurance pools with the committee The committee agreed to continue its shift as is and expand the offering to include Etna as an additional coverage option for staff The expected rate of health
insurance renewal is 12.13% which covers both shift and ETNA at the coverage and cost Several benefits of shift were discussed including that shift is one of the lowest cost pools over the past se five
to seven years by si sign significant margin and that the district has a strong utilization ratio experience rate rating So there's a potential to reduce premiums over the long term Express scripts will continue to be the pharmacy
plan at a rate of 4.7% Prior issues with express scripts have primarily been resolved with a few exceptions remaining The committee agreed to continue dental coverage with Horizon as is since Delta Dental and
others would not be equal or better The second item we discussed was the semicorrective action plan The committee acknowledged that the ongoing corrective action plan would be noted in the audit The third item was Ryerson Road The
committee discussed the Ryerson Road property during the meeting Fourth item was night custodial renewal committee endorsed a rate increase of 3% driven by inflation in order to retain the existing services and staff which have been beneficial for the district The
next item was Damasio's cafeteria food service renewal The committee was informed that a 10 cents increase in menu prices will be incurred and a 2.5% contract increase For budget we discussed bank
cap which is bank capital for 2627 is expected which will assist in future budget needs We also discussed the referendum communication guidelines The committee was asked to review the refer referendum communication guidelines and will
provide feedback We reviewed the bill list that was available for review The sustainable New Jersey grant The committee was informed that the district received a $2,000 grant for TBS from the sustainable Jersey program The grant
will enable students to learn about safety in our local area And our next meeting is planned for May 16th and then July 2nd Are there any items for discussion on that okay
Mrs Cassidy yes M Fury Yes Mr Los Yes Mrs Vagorski Yes M Rad Yes Mrs Pinto Yes Mr Riza Yes Passes Okay Next item is the edtech We have five items 401 through
405 And we're also going to have a committee report that's read out Can I first get a motion and a second for items 401 through 405 so move that Second Okay Yeah The edtech committee met on March
28th The first item we discussed was the preschool data presentation Uh preschool coach coordinator Mrs Christo joined the meeting to present a report on preschool classrooms enrollment curriculum analytics and the newly implemented student assessment methods which include
my teaching strategies gold creative curriculum fidelity tool teapot and eer 3 The preschool program has seen tremendous growth which initially included only has seen tremendous growth which initially in only included only
one classroom sorry half day uh and will be expanding to 16 classrooms full day which is 240 students projected for the 2526 school year Mrs Aquisto discussed internal and state required assessment methods to keep the program successful
and compliant The committee commended the hard work of the preschool team to provide such a tremendous learning experience for the littlest learners Going forward Dr Hart will invite the preschool team to present assessment and analytical data at the October board meeting when the other statewide
assessment data is presented Uh next we had a quarterly tech update Mr Develki presented a quarterly tech update which covered data privacy and security protocols to make sure our service providers are adequately protecting district data Mr Bellski also talked
about two factor authentication and how our district has implemented security measures that are dictated by the insurance company Uh next we talked about 100 central PS8 PSAT data data presentation Dr Brown
and Miss Pouch reported on the most recent PSAT data that Hunton Central has shared with Readington The data shows uh what has been confirmed through other results Readington students are performing at the same level or above their peers from surrounding sending
districts in both English language arts and math as measured by the PSAT assessment YMCA club enrollment Dr Hart reported on the enrollment for YMCA after school clubs Initially these clubs were provided for free through ESSER federal funds but once that funding
expired parents have been paying a fee to register for the club Enrollment is not as high as when it was free but the clubs are still well attended Um we the agenda items field trips fundraisers and other typical agenda items And we scheduled our next meeting for April
28th Okay Any discussion on the items mrs Cassie yes Mrs Fury yes Mr Votes yes Mrs Pagorski yes Mrs Brad yes Mrs Depinto yes Mr Yes
Okay The next item is communication We are going to have committee report as well on that one Before we do let me just read out the we have two um action motions 51259 Can I get a motion and a second on
that motion i'll second Okay The uh personal meeting on April 3rd and topics included staffing updates for the current school year for next school year non-tenure staff and nonertified
staff We also discussed administrative structure nonaligned salaries and other personal needs Agenda items included include new buyers retirements renewal contracts The next meeting was scheduled
forth Any discussion items miss Cassie Yes Mrs Fury Yes yes Mrs Borski Yes Mrs Ry Yes Mrs Yes Ma Yes communications We have two items 601
through 602 Can I get a motion in a second i'll move Second Okay Yep The policy and communications committee met on March 24th The first thing we discussed was we uh reviewed the policy tracking document Uh
the committee um reviewed the timeline and process for the tracking document and provided feedback on how it is going The committee agreed to review and discuss the policies in one section make the necessary changes and then bring them to the full board for first read before moving on to the next series of the manual We also discussed bringing
certain policies to the appropriate committees for input on policies that pertain to their specialties Um we then reviewed um policies in alert 234 Both policies will move forward to the full board for first read The first one was policy
5111 eligible eligibility of resident and non-resident students This policy required updating in order to comply with the new statute NJSA18A uh 38-3 which required tuition payment from parents of non-resident students The new statute was inconsistent with non-resident students
of teaching staff members and required some revisions We revised our language to distinguish between non-resident non-resident teaching staff and non-resident non-eing staff according to the new requirements Both teaching staff and non-eing staff who do not reside in the district will be permitted to enroll
their children in the educational program of the school district with the payment of tuition if the child's educational program can be provided in the district Adjustments were made to the entrance and exit dates of students who anticipate moving to and from the district to allow us to include them in our enrollment numbers and have them
count in our NJSLA test scores The next policy was policy 8500 food service The workingclass families anti-hunger act has been revised The revisions to the statutes include new terminology expansion of income eligibility to qualify students for free meals and
additional parental notification of school meal information Food service policies often undergo revisions when there is a new president or legislative action This policy is mandated and must be adopted by the board if the district participates in the national school lunch program as it is a United States
Department of Agricultural audit requirement The next uh item we discussed was the key communicators meeting This meeting has been rescheduled for May 6th Dr Hart has received a positive response to his new invitation with many yes responses including two eighth grade civic
students and we are looking forward to having a great meeting The following bylaws required uh further discussion after our last meeting when we reviewed the new policy tracking document After our discussions the committee made the following determinations Uh bylaw
0155.01 01 board member participation of board meetings using electronic devices The committee decided to abolish this policy that was implemented during COVID to allow for remote board meetings Abolishing this policy means board members will attend all meetings in person with no remote login option
available to them Bylaw 0168 reporting board meetings The committee agreed that reporting of committee meetings will not be allowed and that we will hold off on including the use of AI tools for taking minutes at this time bylaw 0169 board member use of electronic mail and
internet The committee agreed to add a paragraph to this policy instead of creating a separate policy to state that board members are to be guided by the code of ethics when it comes to social networking sites Uh bylaw 0175 contracts with independent consultants During our research on the bylaw section of the
manual we noticed that another district has a bylaw for contracts with independent consultants After further discussion the committee determined that it will be best to revisit this policy when we review the 6000 series of the policy manual to see where we can best incorporate this into one of our existing policies since contract
processes are strongly guided by purchasing regulations and are inclusive of vendors and independent consultants The agenda items are 511 and 8500 The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday April 16th uh at 4 p.m
Thank you Any discussion i just have one thing So for um 6.01 the student use of wireless communication devices with cell phones First of all I just was surprised that Mr Peach was not here in the audience tonight to see that we finally passed a cell phone policy
after many years of lobbying Um but I just had a question Dr Hart in how are we communicating that out to parents i know that RMS had a survey that students and parents filled out So they would be aware that we were evaluating this but in terms of HBS or how that's going to
be shared out to the parents Just curious Um we have a leadership meeting with all of the principles and the administrators coming up on this Thursday this policy because it's passing the board second read tonight I plan to bring the policy to the full leadership team on Thursday um stating
that it should go in a genesis blast and then their newsletter to inform parents that this is a new policy that we should be that they should be abiding by and it's got some language in there that they need to put directly into those blasts that we can communicate with parents I also think that the principles should bring the policy to their faculty
meetings as well to make sure the faculty are aware um of the policy too Um we did agree as a committee that we wanted to um implement the policy as is and then if there's any issues that come from Mr Charleston or even you know here at Holland Brook um that we have we are
open to revising it or looking into it over the course of the next year as well So I'll inform them of that too Thank you Yep You're welcome Any other items for discussion miss Cassidy Yes Ms Fury Yes Mr Lopes
Yes Mrs Borski Yes M Rad Yes Mr Pendo Yes Mr Rosen Yes Okay Any board member want to raise any unfinished business okay So next item is new
business from the board is any delegate reports Okay I know we have a committee meeting read out if you want to read that one out Green committee met on April 3rd and the
strategic focus was for the 2425 school year uh presentation by Mr R The green committee aims to reduce environmental impact and enhance school sustainability during the 24-2 school year Some of the items listed in the presentation are as
follows Sustainable New Jersey reertification aiming to achieve silver status Referendum project and committee Refer the project committee received board approval for sustainability projects including HVAC upgrades outdoor
space enhancements and LED lighting reduce waste increase energy efficiency enhance environmental education and expand solar energy to all schools Adding solar to white house school and three bridges also expanding on RMS and
Holl will give us 100% electric independency particularly in the summer Current solar provides 34 to 40% I'm sorry 35 to 40% of the school's electricity The solar expansion will
provide free electricity after 15 years saving over $250,000 We spoke about improving health and wellness with the updated bonus policy It was brought up that the school district has a new electric school bus Uh we spoke about the fourth grade field
trip to the which I don't pronounce that black and black and minor trail Thank you to learn about local plants trees and wildlife Partnership with scouts planted 19 trees around Hollra with the help of Dr Neil
Hendrickson Students went on field trip to learn about recycling reusing composting We also worked with Masio on obtaining local source food Uh RMS received a $10,000 grant for Ecoa
action news grant School clubs waste reduction Also during professional development food trucks brought in to provide staff with lunch and reduce the environmental impact by having staff eat outside on a nice day instead of driving
to lunch Staff still had the option to go out to lunch if they desire We also spoke about $2,000 grant that three bridges partnership received partnership with go hunter in it was to educate children on bicycle safety and Betsy Freeman is recognized
as a sustainable hero Miss Betsy spoke on her students work with on inventions that monitor outdoor quality working with Mama University and also Eric Zerling pointed
out that the committee's foresight on solar in light of rising electricity costs Eric also mentioned that we should add this information to the website C Foster mentioned cooperation with the town led some successful results of the
outdoor trip and wanted to say thank you Neil was impressed by Betsy students help in protecting the environment resources Mrs Adakari coordinated with supervisor Sarah Pouch and town to make an outdoor field trip happen and stated
that students match the standards of NJES science learning outdoors Pillar two was reduce environmental impacts and costs We mentioned the referendum Jason highlighted Referendum vote shall occur
Tuesday November 4th More communication events forthcoming Solar array expansion Mr B stated district is wanting waiting on JCPNL and BPU for authorization to proceed Pillar two improve the health
and wellness of schools students and staff The NJSBA a decade of progress Dr Hart highlighted an article from the NJSBA out of three bridges school district Out of the three school
districts mentioned Readington was one of them Jod asked if we could promote this article in the Chronicle Dr Hart is looking to publish the article in the Super Sentinel and other outlets Pillar three was provide environmental
education STEM civic skills green career pathways etc HBS Scout Project Jason thank wanted to thank Pamela Dr Moss and Neil for helping and supporting the scouts and planting the trees around the Hollywood
trap The scouts learned how to plant and create trees and create for trees Cure for trees sorry Ecoaction news grant was updated Brief updating provided by Betsy Three Bridges School 2000 sustainable
grant Dr Higgins are elaborating on the details of the 2001 grant and the partnership with thean trees for school grant Mr Bull mentioned that there is a grant by sustainable New Jersey for tree planting The grant is between 10 to
$250,000 and includes two years of maintenance Betsy spoke about looking at all four properties and devising a plan for a meadow to reduce mowing and incorporate tree planning Jason also mentioned these
goals are for next school year strategic focus brainstorming for 2526 school year Beth previously shared the draft rington schools climate change action plan The sustainable New Jersey
trees for school grant was mentioned again Referendum communication was shared as an idea for sustainability and wellness projects Dr Hart stated that the website will be redesigned and when it does we will look at the green site
Marina Orlando mentioned interweaving tree planting with the type of trees to plant the size that the hole needs to be dug and the type of soil to add to the trees Jody mentioned at her last environmental commission meeting that they focus on
biodiversity native plants and trees Air quality was also discussed Neil mentioned at that Betsy student project on air quality could potentially feed data to the SA He was also discussed He also discussed
native versus non-native trees and have deer eat certain trees and plants causing invasive trees to take over Robert Becker spoke on how students could collect sap off trees at three bridges learning woods Dr Higgins will
take a walk of his path to take a look Miss Alakari spoke on having a sitting area with wild flowers and rainwater collection at Hollywood Mr Berling Zurling I'm sorry mentioned posting an article and more
communication on the website Then we spoke about unfinish and new business There weren't any seminar Next uh green committee shall meet in the summer of 2025 for strategic planning with administration and board
members only Thank you Anyone have any discussion items on it yeah I was just wondering if we if the board members could get a copy of the um district's um climate change action plan because I've never seen that Thank you
It's it's not a it's sort of like a draft It's okay Yes but it's not I wouldn't call it a plan We said example from another district that we just kind of are looking at We'll look at it in the summer So okay Happy to share But
yeah we could share We're not really following it yet Thank you Mr Dependo I also think correct me if I'm wrong but I also think it's a place where we're storing and housing some of the things that have already happened as well Like it's not all Yeah like solar solar
arrays Like so it's not just um what we plan to do It's also memorializing what we've done Well you can share it too so that you can see that Any other items okay thank you All right the next item is the public forum for any items on or
off the agenda Anyone want to speak come to the podium okay anyone on it okay close of that Next we're going to go to executive
session Um then we have a motion to adopt the following resolution Resolve to adjourn to executive session in accordance with the sunshine law to discuss HIVs and a legal update for approximately 30 minutes at
which time board expects to return to public section for action shall be taken The matters discussed will be made public if and when the circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist However it is not potentially
known when such circumstances will exist Can we get a roll call david I just want to point out there's a misprint here No action will be taken No No action will be taken Just want to make that clear So move that second
Mrs Cassie yes Miss Fiori yes Mr Lopes yes Mrs Porski yes Miss Rad yes is in Yes Mr Rosen Yes Thank you for coming Thank you God damn it