33. I will call the meeting to order. Uh, can I have roll call, please? >> Miss Brown, >> here. >> Miss Creswell >> here. >> Miss Delisandro. >> Mr. Frius, >> present.
>> Mr. Cohen, >> present. >> Mr. Sim >> and President Langley >> here. >> We have a quorum for the next meeting. >> Thank you. >> Let's rise for the flag salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America to the republic for which it stands. >> One nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all. >> Mr. Frius, could you read the mission statement, please? >> Yes. >> The River Edge School District is a
partnership of students, parents, staff, and community members. We're dedicated to providing a supportive environment in which all students can reach their maximum academic potential while developing as responsible citizens who respect individuality. Our goals will be achieved because curriculum and
instruction are aligned within New Jersey student learning standards. All decisions reflect the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of the prek to sixth grade students. Cooperation and ongoing communication exist between the school district and the community and school administrators
and the board of education work together to assess and adjust procedures in response to new mandates and the changing needs of the community. >> Thank you. Uh, open public meetings notice. >> Pursuant to the open public meetings act, notice of this meeting, its date,
time, and place have been delivered to the post office, municipal building, and the record and posted on the district's website at least 48 hours prior to the time of this meeting. >> Thank you. Um, and we'll note that Mr. Sim is here now, correct? Okay, great.
>> Um, I'll open up for public comments on agenda items. Uh, this time is for public comments on agenda items only. is how I don't think anybody wants to make a comment. We'll move on uh to reports. A superintendent report. >> Uh good evening everybody. Uh I would
first like to recognize that it is the uh board secretar's uh birthday today. He is uh yes. Thank you. He is 29 again. >> Nice. >> Um these it's amazing how that just keeps happening. Um as uh the district's
accountant, I'm sure he'll uh reconcile uh that number in in the minutes. Um okay. I only have a couple of uh very quick things and then we'll get on to the presentation. Um on the agenda tonight, um the district goals and uh action items that were discussed at the
retreat are on the agenda for approval. There is the HIV self- assessment um submission. This is an annual submission. This is a selfassessment. Uh no one no one really goes through and and and reconciles this. We do it internally. Um this begins at the HIV um
specialists for each building. the principles have input. Uh it then goes to the HIV district coordinator and then finally they submit it to me. These this year's self- assessment findings um are consistent among the uh both buildings and
consistent with um previous year's findings. Uh there's also the approval of the uniform memorandum between uh the board of education and law enforcement officials. This there is no change to this year's MOA. Um it is exactly the same as been as it's been since I
believe uh 2003. So um I do need a board resolution though in order to be able to submit this to the uh Bergen County off uh executive county superintendent's office and the Bergen County prosecutor. Everyone signs it. We all get a copy
back. Um and uh I believe those are the notable there there is there are many appointments um substitute appointments, resignations, leave of absences all in the personnel section as well as the balance of the hefty agenda. However, um
also uh a requirement is the NJSLA 2025 district results presentation. Um uh Miss Moran and Miss Geller are here tonight to present this to us. It is uh required that we present this to the board in the public session within 60 days of their receipt. We are as long as
we get through the next few minutes and next presentation, we will be in full compliance with that. So I will uh yield the balance of my time to uh Miss Miranda and Miss Geller. I think we have to light off the presentation.
This is a live weather image of the rain we're about to get in the next 48 hours. >> Not not great. >> Yeah. Hello. Hello. Good evening. Thank you. Um so Christine and I are going to talk about the annual
um statewide assessment spring 2025 results. Um so I'm first going to talk about the assessment program. Um, New Jersey requires the following assessments be administered in our schools. The New Jersey Student Learning
Assessment, the NJSLA, um, and that, uh, assess a student's progress towards New Jersey student learning standards in English language arts, math, and science, but only science um, in in fifth grade.
the New Jersey access which is um establishes I want to do this establishes when multilingual learners have attained English language proficiency. Um the spring 2025 results were presented by Christine Moran um at
the July 30th 2025 board of education meeting. Uh and the hyperlink is here to that uh presentation. And finally, the dynamic learning maps, which is often known as the DM. That's an alternative assessment system. Uh that those tests
um uh test academic progress in English language arts, math, and science um and or science. It's designed for students with many types of significant cognitive disabilities. We're going to spend the time presenting the data especially for
the NJSLA English language arts math and science for fifth grade. So um this particular slide shows the NJSLA levels. So there are five levels for um English for ELA and math performances.
We're going to review the performance levels. Um so this presentation is going to focus on the um River Edge students who met or exceeded expectations. So I'm going to first um talk about the English language arts results.
So this slide illustrates the breakdown and timing of the NJSLA um in 2025 in the spring of 2025. Uh knowledge of this information is helpful um especially for our third graders who
are new to standardized testing and also for students who sometimes struggle with um test anxiety. Uh uh knowing this format, knowing the format, knowing how many days, how many units, the testing times is helpful information for many of
our students to know um because it helps put their minds at ease when they know what is expected of them and how long they'll be working on something. So for ELA in 2025, this slide shows a number of students who took the NJSLA um
across grades three, four, five, and six. It shows the expected participation based on enrollment and then the number of ELA scores and our participation rate. So, as you'll see um the report shows
that we've achieved 96% to 99% of participation rate across um across these particular grades. Um this this information does not include students who are in their first year um
of English speaking uh our first year um English speaking students or students who have had parent refer refusals to take the NJSLA. This slide illustrates the percentage of students across grades 36 who met or
exceeded expectations on the NJSLA. So as you can see from this information it compares the state performance to um district performance and as you can see the number of river river edge students who scored in this range increases
across the grade levels from n from 67% meeting or exceeding to 92% meeting and exceeding. Um, and in addition, it's helpful to note that our students across all of the grade level uh testing grades
scored significantly higher than state averages. Significantly higher than the state averages in in all of the testing rates. This slide illustrates um great ELA grade level outcomes for each level of
the NJSLA. um from from left to right I'll explain this. So all the way from the left we have pink which uh illustrates level one which is uh not yet meeting. As you can see there's that's a very low percentage. There's very few of our
students in grades three, four, five or six that um that are scoring in the not yet meeting category. Then we have orange which are students that are partially meeting. That's known as level two. Um then we move to yellow which um
is level three or approaching grade level standards. Then we have meeting and um exceeding expectations which is levels four and five. Um and I want to point out the numbers in the in the in the columns all
the way to the right which show um the percentage of students greater than or equal to um level four and above. So greater than equal to the students meeting and exceeding expectations. So the majority of our
students across the grades in both the schools are meeting uh or exceeding expectations. Uh and this is certainly a compliment to the teachers who are um consistently collaborating and designing higher level questioning techniques
based on their knowledge of literacy practices. This particular slide illustrates um our subgroups. Uh it shows the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations across various subgroups
within our district. It's important to note that we can only report on subgroups that have 10 or more students. Um so by law we can only report on those groups that have 10 or more students. So, as you'll see here that um across
grades three, four, five, and six, um 88% of Asian of our Asian students are meeting or exceeding students of two or more races is 87% and students with disabilities I want to highlight, which is 51%. It's important
to note that that's well above the state average which shows the target instruction that is consistently happening within um our district for this uh this this particular population. I'd like to highlight here this cohort
analysis of levels four and five. Um this is a slide that illustrates um our results from 2003 to 2004 to 2005. We have um we've uh reviewed our
third graders, the children who were third graders in 2023 who then moved on to fourth grade and fifth grade in addition to our um student our fourth graders in the in 2023 who then moved on to being fifth graders and sixth
graders. So I'm going to spend some time talking about this. So um as you can see this slide represents um our 23 third graders across the testing grades in this particular district. I'll start with that. Uh as you can see there's a
growth increase of 11.3% from 2023 to 2025. Uh it also this slide also represents the 2023 fourth graders um across their testing grades. Uh and you'll note here that
there's an in there's a growth increase of eight 8.4% for this particular cohort. Um it's clear that our instructional practices, the targeted interventions and our dedicated teaching staff are helping students build their literacy
skills that they need to exceed um succeed especially as they move on to the middle grades. Now I'm going to talk a bit about um foundations for our bright future. The IL the ELA achievements that um we'd like to point out to you. So um from
this particular data it's clear that our district demonstrates sustained excellence in ELA um consistently exceeding state uh state expect state performance by by an average of 28 um points or more percents or more
across um across all grade levels. 91.8% 8% of our 2025 sixth graders were meeting or exceeding ELA standards, which demonstrates um a strong mastery of readiness for middle school content. In fact, um Christine and I recently uh
met with um grade six teachers to review the NJSLA data, and they were um so incredibly proud of of their of their past students. Um with this 91.8% 80% of students meeting um or exceeding uh ELA
standards. Um our ELA subgroup data shows strong performance across diverse populations. In fact, with 80% of black or African-American students and 88% of Asian students meeting or exceeding um
expectations. And when we think about um our ELA achievement, I'd also like to talk about the best practices in ELA instruction um that I want to highlight for a moment. We've had professional learning with author and literacy consultant Patti McGee. The teachers
have spent time in the past um watching modeled lessons with students um and collaborating with colleagues across both buildings. That particular work with with Patty has focused on deep analysis offormational text which is um
a very important area when it comes to standardized testing. Um they've worked on revising writing pieces and how you go about as a writer student looking carefully at your writing to make revisions and make your writing stronger. Um the teachers collaborated
on strengthening vocabulary and grammar instruction under Patty's guidance. Um and the teachers have worked on guiding uh she helped collaborate and guide teachers on revising reading and writing units with clear goals and um and
strategies or pathways to help with that. Um there also has been a focus on assessment development and alignment. Um we have engaged and conducted professional learning by grade level on
um rigorous reading unit assessment. That was a focus of um revising and reimagining um our reading assessments to show um uh skill development. Um and we've worked on aligning
instruction and assessment with the NJ SLS ELA standards. Uh along with Patty, she's helped guide um analysis of NJSLA practice tests to help identify key types of questions, which is often something difficult for
students to be able to navigate their way through different kinds of questions. And um she's helped us integrate the style of NJSLA questions into our classroom assessments in general. So when we think about the um
ongoing professional learning that our staff is engaged in um we can also note that in grade three um students who started at 74.3% proficiency in 2023 have um now grown to 82.7
uh by 2025. And this showing this is showing that um this particular cohort is continuously improving as they progress through the grade levels. Um and in grade four, the grade four cohort um started at 84.8%
proficiency in 2023 and they continue to perform across high levels, proving that high achieving students continue to excel and grow within our particular school district. So I'm now going to turn over the presentation to Christine who's going to
review the um the math results with you. Good evening. Uh so this evening I will be presenting um the math results from our spring 2025 and JSLA assessment. So again these slides are similar to
what Brooke had presented with the ELA. Uh this slide shows the unit testing times. Um, grades three through six, uh, students were tested on three units of math, and each unit, uh, was 60 minutes in length.
This slide shows the number of students tested in math by grade level. Um, and we had a high participation rate uh, at each of our grade levels, three through six. On this slide, uh it shows the percentage of students who met or
exceeded uh present uh expectations compared to the state. Uh River Edge is in red. So going across from grade three 72%, grade four 81%, grade five 77%
and grade six 77%. The average percentage of third through sixth graders meeting or exceeding expectations is approximately 77%. On this slide, it shows the grade level outcomes for NJSLA math. And again, uh
starting from the left is level one not yet meeting all the way to the right up green at level five. Um and in the gray column that shows the percentage of students that met or exceeded um expectations. So in third grade we had
72%, grade uh four we had 81%, grade five 76.6% and grade six 76.6%. And um the last column does show our um
percentage according to the states uh meeting or exceeding uh level four. So you can see that we are much higher um than the state's average. This slide shows our um subgroups for the NJSLA math. And um we can only
report again on subgroups that have 10 or more students. So um we do want to highlight that um our Asian students are at 87% and our students of two or more races are also at 87%. And those are our additional subgroups
there. But we are um proud of all of our students achievement. Okay. Now this slide shows um again Brooke had shown this slide for ELA. It's a little different um for math showing the same um students though. So we have in the first row these are our
students who were third graders in 2023 and then the um orange is the when they were fourth graders and the yellow is when they were in fifth grade. So they started at 78.2% 2% in third grade, then
went to 80.2 in fourth grade, and in fifth grade they were 76.6% um which was a negative 2%. Uh the second row is our fourth graders from 2023 at 90.3%.
And then um those students when they were in fifth grade went down to 76.5% and when they were in sixth grade 76.6%. 6% um so there was a negative 15%. Um I do want to talk about this data um and
share um some notes about it. Um River Edge has historically seen a decline in math achievement as students enter grades five and six and um the math content does become more rigorous in the upper grades. Uh specifically focusing
on algebraic thinking and expressions and equations which new content for the students in those grade levels. I also want to discuss the curriculum and program review. In 2023, the NJDOE
revised the NJSLS um standards for math for implementation in school districts in the 2024 2025 school year. During 2023 and 2024, River Edge and Orodal
decided to collaboratively explore new math programs because of this increase in rigor in the math standards. After a comprehensive review, both districts selected the program amplify Desmos math.
The grades four through six math curriculum was then revised in summer 2025 to align with the new standards along with the new program of Amplify Desmos math. The new NJSLS math and Amplify Desmos
math were then implemented last school year 2024 2025 in grades four and five. Professional learning sessions were provided for all staff in grades four and five um throughout the school year
and based on our um benchmark assessment results in link which were very strong, River Edge decided to expand the Amplify Desmos math program to grades K through five. Additional decision drivers for
this expansion also included some feedback from our strategic plan uh planning survey. Um in that survey of the 377 responses which were primarily parents academic strength emerged as a top priority. So that supported this
transition to a uh new program. In addition, teachers also completed that survey and they emphasized the need for strong PD when implementing new programs. So this school year for 2526,
we are implementing Amplify Desmos math. We're in year two for grades four and five and we are also um implementing amplify Desmos math now in grades K through K through three. Oriel is also
implementing amplified Desmos math in grades K through five. In addition to implementing the program, we have also invested in meaningful professional learning from Amplify Desmos math. So, we have a dedicated um
learning professional developer uh Paige Driver who has been working with both our students and our staff as well as our families um to ensure proper implementation of this math program. Okay. So, what I'm saying, what I'm
asking is this decline, the way we're addressing is That is fourth graders. >> Yeah. >> And I just want to point out that those were not two different programs. So the 90.3% was with our everyday math program
and so was the 76.5. >> Um We can't say that it was the shift to the new program. >> So it was comparative. That's why we together with um our neighboring district of Oriel. That's why we decided
to start looking into um new math programs that focused on the rigor of the new New Jersey student learning standards which are rigorous compared to other states. I would like to >> I feel like the state
One last comment. >> The scores are impressive from my perspective. So I I'm not trying to take away from any I just this I just wanted to address. Sorry. Go ahead. >> Well, and I also I just wanted to show um share two more items that we also in
discussions that we've had in analysis of this data. Um, we also wanted to point out that um, we also have all students in the district grades K through six um, are currently receiving steam instruction for only half of the
school year. Um, and steam instruction really strengthens problem solving and an analytical thinking. So we are uh thinking that it would be better for steam instruction to be ongoing throughout the school year instead of these students. So currently our uh
fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are receiving steam instruction through February and then they stop. There's no more steam because we only have one uh steam instructor um who has to teach all of the grade levels in both schools. Um
in addition to steam, students in grades uh three through six currently lack a media literacy class. Expanding instruction in interpreting charts, graphs, and digital information would further support math growth and learning
data literacy skills as well as we only currently have one library media specialist to uh cover both buildings as well. Okay. So um we do want to of course though highlight um the math achievement that is taking place daily in our
classrooms. Our students are achieving at rates nearly double the state average in uh some grades. And this is excellent. That is consistent across all grade levels. And our district is successfully educating students in math with particular success supporting
multilingual learners and students with disabilities. And On this slide, we want to highlight that four out of five fourth grade students, 81% are meeting or exceeding state standards in mathematics. That's our highest achievement across all grade
levels. And this success is a direct result of our district's focus on real world problem solving, inquiry based learning, and sustained professional development for teachers. Um, some of our best practices in math instruction
um are highlighted here in these shows students are engaged in real world problem solving and inquiry based instruction. We have an ongoing partnership like I mentioned with Amplify Desmos math professional learning specialist meets with our
teachers and um develops their teaching practices. Students participate in inquiry based math learning exploring what they notice and wonder solving problems explaining their thinking and strengthening fluency
skills. So now we will >> Yes. Um, so I had the opportunity um to observe a uh first grade Amplified Desmos math lesson um this morning and I was in that classroom for an hour and uh
I was just blown away by what was happening with our first grade students. Um from the minute I set foot they were um engaged in math talk. the the lesson began with um this teacher reading aloud
a story with pictures to go along with it. Every unit in Amplify Desmos math is connected to a story with characters and the characters are seen in the math problems throughout the unit so that students become familiar with them. So
as the teacher read aloud the story, there were slides to go with it and she would pause and stop and ask the question which is um comes directly from Amplified Desmos Math. What do you notice? What do you wonder? And I would
hear the first grade students, they would raise their hand and they would say, I notice that there are seven children at the farm. And they actually use those words, I noticed. Um, another student asked, I wonder what all of
those seed packets on the shelf at the a farm stand are for. you know that's the type of language that was being used. After that the students then had the opportunity to work in small groups and
each group was given a picture and the groups were tasked with writing math questions about the picture on chart paper. So each group had a chart paper and they were um supposed to write math
questions about their picture. So the students got to work writing math questions and um it was also excellent to see um first graders also using question words and ending their question sentences with question marks. So it was interdisiplinary as well. After they
completed that then the teacher reviewed directions for what is called and this is one of the math routines in amplified desmos math. It's a gallery walk. The teacher said now we're going to do a gallery walk and see what our um were learn were learning about and
discussing today. So each group got to circulate around the classroom in a gallery walk, read the questions that their classmates wrote and answer those questions. So the questions were could have been like what um how many seed
packets were on the shelf and the students would solve that problem and then at the conclusion of the lesson they got to share out with the rest of the class. And that was all just in within a you know a 50inute math lesson in a first grade classroom to hear the
students first graders um in October using the the math terms and engaging talk with each other was was really so nice to see and um I was so proud of the students and the teacher in the
classroom. >> But we don't always get to share that with the community though too. So and I know that you know this is new for this first grade teacher. It's the first time they're teaching this program as well. So, you know, um we're factoring that in
as well that um the teachers are learning with the students, but there was such great math talk. Yes. Um and we're we're going to talk about that later in the presentation about inter interventions and next steps. But I can share that um we Brooke
and I recently met with every grade level to review these results for their particular grade level. So in doing so, we actually looked at something called the evidence statement analysis, which is a document that shows the question
the not the actual questions, but the um questions and their stand the question numbers and their standards that they related to and how um in relation to the state, how we did with that standard. So some of the standards were um very close
to the state average and that's those standards that we're focusing on. So the teachers of that and as they you know instruct um students this year they're honing in on those specific standards in which we didn't do as well as other
standards. We also looked at the data some of those students who didn't meet or exceed they're in that approaching category. So they're just right there so close. Um so programs like our PDIA our
after school instructional um academy that is specifically meant students who are approaching um proficiency and I believe um had presented last year that um our results from students who participate in that program um typically
do score um or exceeding level when they take the NJSLA. So that program actually just started um on Tuesday yesterday for math. So students um most likely in that approaching category are
participating and I can share that our um participation rate for PBIA this cycle very good um it's very high um probably one of the highest um we've had in quite some time because it is an optional um choice for parents to send
their students but our attendance rate for uh this cycle very high um almost all of our students who were invited Okay. So, now we're going to switch to science. Um, and science is only for
grade five. Um, so students are tested in four units. Each unit is 45 minutes. We um set it up so students take two units in one school day. So they they take this um assessment over two school
days in grade five. Uh the levels for uh science are a little different. There are only four levels for science. Um they go from below proficient to advanced proficiency. This is different from ELA and math. ELA
and math um as you may recall have five levels. This slide shows the number of students who participated in uh the science and JSLA assessment. This slide shows the percentage of fifth
graders in River Edge who uh met or exceeded uh who scored proficient or advanced proficient in the NJSLA science. So you can see that we were at 59% compared to the state at 30%.
And our uh science curriculum includes learning that is connected to life science, physical science, earth science and space science. So it's um various components.
This slide shows our um grade level um outcomes. And again only fifth grade in River Edge completed this assessment. So we had uh 59.4 um that were in the proficient or advanced proficient range and this is
29.4% higher than uh the New Jersey state average. This is our subgroups for science. Um again we can only report on subgroups that have 10 or more students. So, our Asian and white students are um
outperforming uh the state with 76% and 83%. Um and our comprehensive science curriculum involves research and hands-on exploration that supports all students.
So, our science um achievement, our fifth graders are achieving science proficiency at nearly double the state average, 59% compared to just 30% statewide. Um, our achievement level of 59% proficiency reflects the success of
our hands-on science curriculum and dedicated teaching staff and the many professional learning opportunities that they take part in. Um, in this particular picture, teachers work collaboratively to learn strategies for reading technical texts with author and
consultant Alyssa Reicher. This interactive session focused on best practices in supporting student learning in science. And I remember being here last year presenting this presentation talking about how we would spend time um
working in meaning professional development with the teachers who teach science. Um, This was a really great session in which um student the teachers were able to engage in various activities that they were able to then bring back to their classrooms and
implement immediately um with their students because I also want to point out that some of our science teachers um in fifth grade obviously they're departmentalized and not all of our science teachers um teach ELA some of
them teach math and science. So it's important forum science teachers to engage in meaningful best practices that connect to English language arts as well. So now we're going to talk about data
analysis and reflection. So in River Edge uh we follow a systematic approach to looking at data and sharing it with uh with all stakeholders. So, um, here are some steps or ways we do that. We, um, Christine and I spend time
reviewing the NJSLA, um, district data and schoolwide data in math, ELA, and science, um, through individual grade level data, subgroups by grade level, standards by grade level. Uh, we looked at item analysis. I'm going to share a bit of that with you. um and particular
domains such as reading um literacy and um uh readingformational texts especially uh another step is comparing NJSLA data to district assessment data that's through link it um our end of year benchmark and most recently our
link form a which um uh was completed earlier this this fall data has been shared with parents staff um and admin administration that is through our link at um uh parent portal
as well as through um as well as through the uh individualized student reports that are sent home um from uh once we receive them from the state they're sent through the mail to families the NJSLA data is
available again on the link parent portal essentially at any time um grade level meetings were conducted Christine had mentioned that that We met with um all testing grades across the district um including the building principles to
discuss strengths and areas of of of um of areas of of need as well. Uh teachers received um a breakdown of the performance of their particular students whether it was you know their one class
they taught last year of the departmentalized the number of sections they taught last year. In addition to the evidence statements that shows across the board as a district how um uh where we broke where um where students
were achieving or or maybe some areas um of need just in in in general the navigator reports that are generated by linkit these will help the district further analyze NJSLA data um especially between growth between um cohorts across
across grade levels. In fact, we have some professional learning coming up this coming Tuesday where um groups of teachers and many of our departments are going to be um continuing to learn about how to further analyze um the data on
linkit whether it's NJSLA data or our benchmark data that we have going on as well and of course the NJSLA data um will be used for district programming. and Christine already started talking about that whether it's our win program
or intervention time of course our gifted and talented program that recently started and our PDIA or the afterchool program that really recently started just yesterday um Christine had mentioned earlier the evidence statements I want to point out two of
these to you so um again these are what's called the the um evidence statement analysis we receive them for uh ELA and we receive them for math as Well, the green circles represent our district, represent um the River Edge
Public Schools, where the blue squares represent um the state of New Jersey. And the bottom the the um the bottom of the image informs the the staff of the standards
that were assessed from the um most difficult to the least difficult. And um you know, as you can see there, there there there are you'll see that there are some missing green circles. That's something teachers um noticed as
well. And that essentially is um when one of those green circles doesn't show up for a standard, it's because the students were not assessed on that particular standard. Um, so this is um our fourth grade math evidence
statements from um 2025. And then I wanted to point out to you the evidence statement from grade six ELA this particular school year. You see there's um a lot less standards for math. There's a a um a broken down a lot more standards um that they they are assessed
at. that if we look at the evidence statements for ELA um for sixth grade, you'll see again that um the the um our sixth graders are are continually scoring, you know, above the state
average. And um there is a particular area, you'll see where the blue and the green um shapes come closer together. Those are the standards that Christine and I um uh pointed out to teachers and had meaningful conversations about um
that those definitely are some areas of of need and that we'd want to spend time um looking closely at um strategies or ways in which we can help students with those particular areas. they t in in ELA
um it's around Christina mentioned technical texts informational texts Christine is now going to um talk a bit about our district achievements okay so I would like to share a few highlights and celebrate some of our
achievements that connect to these uh results on the left um this past year we um implemented and hosted professional learning opportunities that were specific to supporting multilingual learners. Uh these sessions focused on
sharing best practices, looking closely at the speaking and listening New Jersey student learning standards and participating in model lessons. We do receive funding from the state to support um teaching and learning for our multilingual learners and we use those
funds to um fund this professional learning. Uh we did have Alyssa Riker who um came and spent some time with our teachers and students. That's a photo of her in one of our classrooms. Um and teachers were also in that classroom
observing um Alyssa implementing uh specific strategies to help support multilingual learners. We hope to have Alyssa visit with us um this school year as well as we do have um additional funding to support um our multilingual
learners. We also continue to implement a universal screener dibbles um in grades uh K through six. Um it's new. This is the second year for grades four through six. But this implementation of the universal screener has created new
opportunities to enhance differentiation especially in our upper grades uh to support students who continue to uh struggle with some uh early literacy practices. Um it's also created some new professional learning opportunities for
teachers. For example, we have been focusing on word study which involves uh vocabulary and grammar and spelling in the upper grades. And this work actually began last school year and it has uh it
continued over the summer and I'm happy to share that it's continuing this school year. Um, we've already had several district professional development uh sessions focused on word study in the upper grades and uh we actually have one coming up on Tuesday,
November 4th. Um, and that is being facilitated by um some of our own staff members in helping our teachers uh provide support to students who um need it in word study. We also continue with
our in-class support model. Um Dr. Jaffy has shared that um this in-class support model has been extremely beneficial for our students and for our staff. He this year has been meeting with the teams of staff members to uh focus on the
different strategies and models that they are implementing to support students and they are consistent. It's so nice to see the the teams of teachers collaborating and sharing and doing all that they can to support all of the
students in the classroom. It has really made a difference um this model in uh supporting the needs of all students in the classroom. Okay. So some of our interventions and next steps to support bright future um
we will continue to use this data to support whole uh whole class instruction to meet the needs of all of the learners in our classrooms. Um we use it to help develop our student growth objectives um which only um as per the NJDOE our
non-tenured um staff have to complete student growth objectives. Um, we also use this data to continuously reflect on our curriculum and our pacing. Um, we also, um, like I mentioned previously,
we have this, um, new Amplify Desmos math program in grades K through five that's inquiry based. Um, it also has, um, caregiver support through various resources and communication tools uh, to
reinforce learning at home. We held a um uh parents and caregivers information session earlier this month and um it was a virtual session. We um had at one point 101 um parents and caregivers in
attendance um and we received positive feedback um regarding that session. I had the opportunity to speak to a few parents who had joined the session. Um, and it it was really great and our page our professional learning specialist Paige Driver was the one who facilitated
that session. Um, so it's nice that she's able to work with everyone in the community, students, staff, and families. Um, we will continue with our professional learning opportunities focusing on word study like I mentioned on uh math curating additional problem
solving resources, science using digital tools to support understanding and assessment collaborating to analyze benchmark data through various reports on linkit. Um, these are some more interventions and next step. Um so we'll continue to
use data from our uh universal screener Dibbles to develop differentiated literacy instruction. Um this past Monday, um during our Monday meeting, uh two of our staff members, uh Kismmet Bahan and Nicole Del Roso facilitated a
um early literacy best practice um and JG Lee mandated um session for a large majority of our staff in which they um focused on using data from Dibbles to enhance their literacy instruction. Uh
last year, if you remember, we were awarded the NJ DOE focus grant um which we will be using this year to provide professional learning for our staff in analyzing literacy data and um digging
deeper into that. So, we're looking forward to those sessions that are upcoming. Um we will continue to collaborate with our interventionists and enrichment teachers to support consistency across the district. We will administer linkit science benchmarks um
which help students prepare for taking the science assessment in grade five. Um we will ensure consistency of our win period and um we will implement deep learning in connection with computer science and design thinking standards
through steam. Okay. And we will um like I mentioned, we're continuing our post- dismissal instructional academy, PDIA um for students in grades two through six. Um this is for students who are at that approaching level. Um we will engage
parents, caregivers, and families through in-person information sessions, virtual information sessions, and family uh workshop. That's a flyer for our um math night that we had. Um it does appear that virtual was holding it
virtually was successful as we had that 101 um attendees. Uh we also have already um facilitated family steam night for grades four through six and um that was also very successful. Uh we had close to
a hundred people in attendance at that event. Um we even had some Riverdale uh students, some former students um attend to help us with those stations and we will continue to improve our steps um process prior to IRNS to help students
with their various needs. Okay. So, Brooke, >> um here you'll see that uh I've cured the um hyperlinks to a number of different resources that are helpful for parents when it comes to uh NJSLA and
standardized testing in general. So, there's the NJSLA parent resources um website. There's the NJ um NJ parent portal which um is where uh caregivers go to um look at the um individualized
student report uh and more of a breakdown of that report. Paper copy was u mailed home to families and um this is actually a screenshot of what part of that uh report looks like overall. There's score interpretation um score reports available to parents as well on
that website. And I also included the New Jersey Assessments Portal, which is a new um website that the NJ DOE has um in order to introduce um students, families, and educators to the NJSLA
adaptive uh assessment that um we uh recently field tested, finished up today um and uh will be administered um in the in the spring. I'm going to talk briefly about um the
dynamic learning maps or the DLM. Uh again, these are it's an alternative assessment system and the tests uh uh focus on um academic progress in English language arts, math, andor science. And it's designed for um a subset of
students that have significant cognitive disabilities. And the score report, the student score report contains a performance profile. There's different parts to it. Part one of the performance profile describes the students overall performance based on on
particular essential elements um which uh are the alternative achievement standards for each of these subjects tested. Um here there are um performance level descriptors for ELA math and science.
Students in grades three through six participate in the English language arts and the math assessment. And students in grade five also participate in the science um version of the of the DLM. And there's a testing window. It's the beginning of April to the end of May.
And the it's important to note the dynamic learning maps or the DLA assessments are based on the essential elements and measure a student's performance on alternative achievement standards um and their grade level
specific expectations related to college and career readiness standards for students in the general population. Um and their following lead here has more of a uh description of the participation criteria for the students
who take part in um the alternative assessment. I'm going to turn us back over to Christine. Okay. And just to conclude our presentation tonight, we did want to uh circle back to our strategic planning
goals. We we value the strategic goals that we all collaborated on last spring with various stakeholders and many of these goals continue to drive our commitment to curriculum and instruction and the goals
that are included on this um chart highlight some of those. So we are constantly thinking of our strategic planning as we focus on curriculum and instruction and together we build bright futures for our students. All of our decisions are
on behalf of the current and future River Edge uh children in our community. We commit to engaging the River Edge school community. We value professional learning partnerships with professional learning specialists including Patty McGee, Bill Jackson, Makoto Yoshida,
Amplified Desmos Math, and Alyssa Riker to foster opportunities for continuous growth as educators. We also value the NJDOE and NJTSS, which guides our protocols and standards in our state. Linkit is our data
warehouse and serves as a platform for monitoring progress to ensure student growth and we are committed to investing in the River Edge staff so they can be the best that they can be on behalf of the children of River Edge.
>> Thank you. >> Any questions or comments for board members? Thank you. A lot of information. I would like to point out that the uh specifically uh well in each of the tested categories of
English uh language arts, mathematics and science that Riveridge continues to uh do exceedingly well when compared to not only the state average but I think when we get the final data cuts um we'll see that we're above the county averages as well as we as River Edge has been.
Um, I would like to point out the science scores as a science teacher in the room. Um, uh, it's nice to know that we're doing twice the state average. Uh, but I really think that there's there's obviously room for growth there. And, um, I believe when NJSLA grade five and
eight uh, science first came out, the scores were absolutely like startling. I don't know how they necessarily were here in River Edge, but I know statewide there was outcry from superintendents everywhere that you know 9% of high performing districts were scoring um
proficient and that you know outrage. Uh so I don't necessarily think that um uh the state did anything necessarily to the test. I think what happened was uh over time and only a little bit of time, districts were able to and especially
obviously here in River Edge, districts were able to um quickly uh conform to uh either new ways or new strategies in teaching science and that come obviously the work here has been um quite
incredible and I think it comes through in the scores as well. uh in one of the last few slides as well. Uh we some of keep in mind some of these slides are required and we get scored on this thing. So uh if you thought I was going long, it wasn't because uh Christine and
Brooke want wanted to. Uh it was because we have to hit certain benchmarks in this presentation otherwise we get recommendations that uh we don't necessarily well that we that that we get regardless
of whether or not we ask for them. Um so the uh in the data analysis process I I've said it before uh to the board and I I'll reiterate it. There is a great deal of um analysis and intervention that goes on here. Uh if you talk to the
link folks uh River Edge has been a client of linkit for is seemingly I think we're one of the original customers and and this uh platform this assessment platform and the analysis tools are so deeply embedded in the
culture here that uh I really think uh and I haven't asked the link folks this particularly but in my experience I believe that um the river edge faculty uh and administration as well uh in discussions and just being able to use these to tools so fluidly are some of
the reasons why uh the children here tend to excel and and exceed um sta I'll say standards or um performance um typically expected performance uh is because we're we're good at these tools
um the staff is good at using them fluently and effectively and because of that we see the kinds of results that we're that we saw tonight. So, I I I hope that um I I'm very proud of the students, of course, because they're the ones who have to do the heavy lifting, but I'm also proud of the staff because
without the staff equipping the students with the skills, uh you wouldn't have the results that you saw tonight. So, so thank you to Christina Brook for um consolidating all of that into that presentation. But just know that the presentation where it takes a lot of time, I know there was lots of meetings, they did this uh for me uh the other day
and we there were even some changes from that. So um the presentation itself takes time but the sheer amount of lifting that goes into creating these results is is um quite phenomenal and uh I'm proud of the staff for doing all
that. So thank you very much. >> Agreed. Thank you. >> That concludes my report. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh board secretary report. >> Thank you. Just to highlight there are a few items
to the public. First item is 24.5. The second item is 2627 budget process. So the prep for the 26 27 budget is under a draft budget calendar which may be adjusted once the
department of education releases the There has been [Music] highlight that there Um so it's important that we monitor maintenance expenses as rising costs in our in our overall maintenance costs um
increase which can indicate a need for future capital projects. uh recent projects uh that we have completed uh through grant funding such as the replacement of the boiler systems and and part part of the Roosevelt uh school roof. Um hopefully will
potentially decrease those maintenance costs in those areas. Um but that is um also in line with our district goal number five and as well as our strategic planning you know in lining um the overall you know long range facility plan and capital needs to support you
know our districts our district um you know education in those areas and that concludes my report. I'll open it up to the to the board for questions. >> Any questions or comments? So, do we So, if I'm reading this
correctly, our balance by the end of the year was short of where it should be, right? Will would do we anticipate being able to build that back up >> in the maintenance uh >> the fund reserves? >> Yeah. >> So, histo So, historically, the district
has been moving um excess surplus. We've been leaving 500,000 for tax relief, >> right? um in the form of excess surplus which gets budgeted two years in in two subsequent budgets and we haven't been moving any money into maintenance reserve. So it's it's pretty much has
been um stagnant you know over the past previous years. What we have been doing we we've been moving some of that excess surplus in capital reserve. >> Okay. >> So this is just to highlight that we do have flexibility. We can increase it a little over 600,000 by the end of the year if we do have excess surplus.
Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm trying to get back to uh president's report. I don't have much other than to say that we still have an open board seat or we will have an open board seat as of January 1. That will be
posted on January one. We have 60 days to fill it. But whoever's watching, if you're interested, if you want it, you can always send an email with a letter of intent between now and then. um and we'll do our best to get it filled. It's a one-year term. Um doesn't require a
petition or an election or anything like that. So, if you want to try being on the board for a year, >> unless Yeah, you can always apply for your see. Um so, yeah, just putting that out there. And then committees. uh the committees did not meet but we had our
retreat instead um to sort of distill the district or sort of get the district goals ready. We used the strategic strategic plan as a base and those are on the agenda um tonight. Anything any else wants to say about the
retreat? I thought it was fun. Very productive. >> Fun. >> A type of fun. Okay. >> A certain type. Okay. Uh all right. Great. Uh, moving on to items to be acted upon.
>> No, we I don't think we need one if we need one after. >> Um, >> we usually have one before and then one after if we need it. I don't think so unless anything comes up between now and
>> there wasn't any there wasn't anything that we had >> session >> oh sure >> which plan is this the >> did the facilities plan come to finance and facility we didn't well we would have discussed it at the committee meeting last month
>> yeah so correct Yeah, but since we have the retreat instead. >> Yeah, I mean we can >> Yeah, >> I mean we can >> So I I mean I could um So that facilities plan is is really the overall standard maintenance of of the school.
>> Okay. >> So it's not um any um projects that were identified that and that's you know that's why it was just on it was brought to the agenda. Um but there was anything there was nothing new that we were adding to that plan. So if you look at
the overall um detail in the plan, it's the standard maintenance of our buildings that's required. >> And this is the one that we like you said has to get submitted to the state. >> Has to get submitted to the state. Um that's based on projective current, you know, what we're spending on servicing our boilers, um fire alarm system, you
know, um cleaning the, you know, maintaining um flooring and Okay. >> and um classroom space. >> There's a checklist, >> correct? like all the capital improvements and stuff. >> No, >> unfortunately. But unfortunately,
>> we'll get to that though. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, can I have a motion for item D5? >> I'd like to make item D5. >> A second. >> Thank you. Uh, any discussion?
Roll call, please. >> Miss Brown, >> abstain. >> Miss Preso, >> yes. >> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> And President Langley,
>> yes. >> Motion carries on D5. >> Thank you. May I get a motion for item E6? Move to approve E6 as stated. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Brown. >> Yes.
>> Miss Crescent, >> abstain from three. Can I just abstain from three? >> Yeah. >> I'm sorry. A four. A four. >> No, because it's different motion. So you you have you just uh either yes or
no or abstain. >> But she only wants to abstain to one. >> She only wants to one of them. >> Can't. Right. >> Then you have to change the motion. >> That's what I'm saying. You have to pull one out. >> Then I'll justain. >> But this this motion is already moved and seconded.
>> So >> you have to move it to put it back. >> We have to finish this. >> We'll just finish it. I'll just abstain. It would. So if she abstains, it'll pass anyway, >> right? >> Mr. Mr. Frius. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Colin, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> And President Langley, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> That was E, right? We just >> That was E. >> Okay. All right. I get a motion for F3, please. >> You should approve F3 as stated.
>> Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Creswell, >> yes. >> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen,
>> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> And President Langley, >> yes. Motion carries on F3. >> Um, can I have a motion for G2, please? >> So moved. >> Second.
>> Discussion. Roll call, please. Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Cresbow, >> yes. >> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> And President Langley, >> yes. >> Motion carries on G2.
>> Can I get a motion for H5, please? >> Move to approve item H5 as stated. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Miss Brown. >> Yes. Miss Creswell, >> yes.
>> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> And President Langley, >> yes. >> Motion carries on H5. >> Thank you. Can I have a motion for I9, please? >> Second.
>> Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Miss Brown? >> Yes. >> Miss Cresbow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Frius? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen? Yes, >> Mr. Sim. >> Yes, >> President Langley. >> Yes. >> Motion carries on I9.
>> May I have a motion for J14, please? >> Move to approve J14 as stated. [Music] >> Second. >> Any discussion on this? >> Uh, roll call, please. >> Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Cresbow,
>> yes. >> Miss DeFrius, >> yes. Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes. >> President Langley, >> yes. Motion carries on J14. >> Um, can I have a motion for K2, please?
>> Move to approve K2 as stated. >> Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Cresbow, >> yes. >> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Semi.
>> Yes. >> And President Langley. >> Yes. >> Motion carries on K2. >> Um, does anybody have any new or old business they wish to bring up? >> I I just wanted to to thank the both of you for your presentation tonight. It was very informative, particularly the
latter part with the explanation of the strategies that are used uh to assist the assist the students. Uh, thanks for coming out tonight and for sharing that with us. Um, seeing as there are no public comments, uh, non-aggenda items, we will move to Can I have a motion to adjourn
the meeting, please? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Um, Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Cresbow, >> yes. >> Mr. Frius, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sim, >> yes.
>> President Langley, >> yes. >> Motion carries to adjourn the meeting. It's 8:56. >> Thank you. We'll be back on November 19th.