My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six
different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. >> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's
multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind.
What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might
not have seen before. >> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our
students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as
well. >> Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive
role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps
me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I think for me it's just being
a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious.
>> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people.
It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I
do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world.
It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our
emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family.
We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single
student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level. >> Good evening, Rockway Township. I'd like to call this meeting to order at 6 pm. Can I please get an attendance roll call? >> Mrs. Anderson here.
>> Mrs. Kurillaroo. >> Ms. Mcgiri >> here. >> Mrs. Mzik >> here. >> Miss Richardson >> here. >> Miss Torren >> here. >> Dr. Thomasini >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was passed to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of
public bodies at which they which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon. In accordance with the provision of the act, the Rockway Township Board of Education has caused notice of the date, time, and place of said meetings to be published in the daily record, the Star Ledger, and be posted in all schools in the
district in the municipal building of the township and the township library. Does any board member wish to object to the conduct of this meeting for the purpose as stated in the public notice? Seeing and hearing none, all documentation and materials considered by the board of education as part of this agenda are available for public
review and comment. Members of the public are invited to come to the board of education building off Green Pond Road during the regular business hours of 8:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the referenced items. >> Can I please get a motion to wave the flag, the pledge of allegiance?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Show hands, please. >> Keep you on your toes. >> Thank you. Resolved that in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in close session to discuss matters involving personnel, litigation, acquisition of real property, security,
negotiations, receipt of government funds. The content of said discussions will be disclosed to the public at such time and extent as is required by law. Can I please have a motion to go into close session? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Show hands, please. >> Going into close session at 6:01 p.m.
Thanks. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these
students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. >> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come
back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we
can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to
persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. >> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put
the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically working handin-hand with our teachers,
but also I think for extracurricular as well. >> Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future
leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits. Because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors.
>> What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me
it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Copeland Middle
School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best
part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world.
It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our
emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family.
We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single
student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love.
After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at
home. And I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh.
One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm
really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried
to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come.
So, we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard, like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the
other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. >> Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be
as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on
seal over the last several years. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas.
I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was
absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every
day. >> So my name is Jackson. >> My name is Mia. >> My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go
downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. >> My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day
and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. >> Yeah, my name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVO is awesome because all the
teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math
because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. >> My name is Quink. I'm in the fifth
grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. >> What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and
everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community >> because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. >> Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but
it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got
me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where
everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA
teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is
my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe
this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. This is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just
great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and soul is for students and to see them succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. Even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of
the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happens, then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They're amazing.
They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. >> So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork
that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just
doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. >> Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. >> If you've never taught at another school
and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere.
Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've
been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are
family and once a bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And
teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. >> Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you
come through our doors. >> I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call
ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. >> I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends
here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you
into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect, and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think
social and emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every
single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that
permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students,
helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in
teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. >> I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least
enjoy coming to math class. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good
luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7th grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. Years ago, I
had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it
and that is why I do what I do every day. >> We are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the
fifth grade. >> They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges. We connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended. Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. >> I try to get everybody involved so that
they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the opportunity to mold the next generation. >> The thing that makes Copeland Middle School so great is truly the people.
It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So we
can focus on particularly on being kind >> by being kind to a friend, helping them out, helping teachers, be nice to them, be respectful, and don't interrupt the teachers. >> And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the
things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good
kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. >> My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. >> Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVL is awesome because all the
teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math
because I like all the challenges. >> My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other.
If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success.
>> I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's it really the staff here um we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we foster here at ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. >> Being outside in the morning at bus duty
and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. >> After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. >> So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and, you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about this
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. And we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before.
>> It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do
this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it. And that's what I teach all of my students. >> My favorite teachers are probably all of
my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. >> My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and
I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. >> We identify the interests of students. You know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment, moving them forward from one learning
experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good
friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I trying to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for
education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins
us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is
well attended. Back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this
district at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children. Anytime we can bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out, it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So we used to always start off with a
growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task then all the other academic
challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just academically but also social
emotionally. >> My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name's Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends
that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. >> Because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my
favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. >> I've always wanted to be a teacher. I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because
I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we
all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake, everyone has a bad day, and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started
coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. >> My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking
by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education.
>> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway
Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a
difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. >> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you
know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved
school community, both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. >> Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into
our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know
you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've
been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these
children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world
because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the
kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being
able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social
emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school
and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is
that I get to work with students of all ages. Now that we house preschool students here, I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level, on a way that inspires them not just to
be confident in themselves, but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going
to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks.
It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do
this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he
would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education, and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid
come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a
harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. >> Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble,
they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal
with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL over the last several years. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change to the students
and what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be
themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome
this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. >> So my name is Jackson. >> My name is Mia. >> My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in
Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. >> My favorite is recess. My favorite thing
is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade
and I go to DVL. >> Yeah, my name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then
she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone
is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. >> My name is Quinker and I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our
school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community >> because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story.
>> Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do
and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni V. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every
day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good
luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun.
I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. This is probably one of the most special
places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and soul is for students, and to see them
succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. Even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happened, then I've done something right that I have found a way
to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. >> So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah.
>> I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess.
My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. >> Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just
everything. >> If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each
other. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every
day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that
is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive
environment for a child to come to. And teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. >> Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great
sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. >> I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie
amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids.
>> I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect, and trust.
I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social and emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional
dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. >> The people I work with makes me come
back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on
to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change through the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. >> I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel
comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really
kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading
and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to
have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. >> We are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure
that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade. >> They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges. We connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended.
Vanta Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. >> I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the
opportunity to mold the next generation. >> The thing that makes Copa Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway
Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So we can focus on particularly on being kind >> by being kind to a friend, helping them out, helping teachers, be nice to them, be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers.
>> And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes,
academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. >> My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. >> Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first
grade. >> Being at DVO is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never
learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. >> My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And for every student, that's different.
There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. >> I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's it really the staff here um we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we foster here at ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part
of that. >> Being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me, teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. >> After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a
story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going
to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. >> So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other.
What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have
seen before. >> It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative
selft talking saying that they can't do this. And so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it. And that's what I teach all of my students.
>> My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and Juni B. Jones. >> My favorite subject is science. In
science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. >> We identify the interests of students. You know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment,
moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> One of the things that I'm really hoping
to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I trying to instill intrinsic
love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come.
Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a
wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended back to school nights, our events, and we have very involved school community both academically working handinhand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be
involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this district at one of the other schools. And I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children. Anytime we can bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out, it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really
increase the success of our community. So we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the
face of a harder task then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just
academically but also social emotionally. >> My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. >> What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends
that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. because of my friends, the teachers, and the principal. Like, we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite
subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun, but it can be complicated, but it's still really fun. >> I've always wanted to be a teacher. I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because
I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we
all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake. Everyone has a bad day. And I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started
coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. >> My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking
by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education.
>> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway
Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. >> What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a
difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. >> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you
know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved
school community, both academically, working hand in hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. >> Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into
our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know
you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've
been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these
children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world
because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the
kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being
able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social
emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school
and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is
that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to
be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going
to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks.
It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do
this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he
would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up, and that's why I do what I do. To have a
kid come in and their school's a happy place for them, and they want to come. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard, like a
harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. >> Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble,
they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal
with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL over the last several years. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the
students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be
themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome
this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. >> So my name is Jackson. >> My name is Mia. >> My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in
Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. >> My favorite is recess. My favorite thing
is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade
and I go to DVO. >> Yeah, my name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVO is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then
she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone
is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. >> My name is Quinker and I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our
school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community >> because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story.
>> Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do
and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every
day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good
luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun.
I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. This is probably one of the most special
places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and soul is for students, and to see them
succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. Even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happens, then I've done something right that I have found a way
to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. >> So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah.
>> I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess.
My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. >> Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just
everything. >> If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each
other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every
day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district. But I've been here seven years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that
is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive
environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great
sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. >> I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie
amongst not only the students, but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school. And we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids.
>> I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust.
>> I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional
dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. >> The people I work with makes me come
back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high
school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the
students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. >> I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be
themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. >> When I came into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really
see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that
subject more fun. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha
moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. >> We are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive
boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade. >> They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges. We connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended. Vander Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. >> I try to get everybody involved so that
they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the opportunity to mold the next generation. >> The thing that makes Copeland Middle School so great is truly the people.
It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So we
can focus on particularly on being kind >> by being kind to a friend, helping them out, helping teachers, be nice to them, be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers. >> And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the
things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good
kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. >> My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. >> Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVL is awesome because all the
teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math
because I like all the challenges. >> My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other.
If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success.
>> I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's really the staff here. Um, we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we foster here at ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. >> Being outside in the morning at bus duty
and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. >> After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. >> So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about the
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before.
>> It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do
this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it. And that's what I teach all of my students. >> My favorite teachers are probably all of
my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and Juni B Jones. >> My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and
I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. >> We identify the interests of students. You know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment, moving them forward from one learning
experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good
friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education, and over time, I've
seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them, and they want to come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors
in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. Back to school nights,
our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically, working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this district at one of the other schools. And I'm really proud of what we put
forth for our children. Anytime we can bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out, it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of
lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in
a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom, you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just academically but also social emotionally. >> My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second
grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. Because of my
friends, the teachers and the principal. like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. >> I've always wanted to be a teacher. I
think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five
different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake, everyone has a bad day, and I think that it gives
the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. >> My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am
the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that
are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. >> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended
Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before.
>> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a
wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well.
Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our
community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs
from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the
team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> The people I work with makes me come
back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent
involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent
of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive
environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to
practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy.
We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool
all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't
pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home. And I feel the more comfortable
that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh.
One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm
really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried
to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up, and that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them, and they want to come.
So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard, like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder
task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. >> Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be
as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on
SEAL over the last several years. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas.
I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was
absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every
day. >> So my name is Jackson. >> My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go
downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. >> My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day
and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. >> Yeah, my name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVL is awesome because all the
teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math
because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. >> My name is Queen Kern. I'm in the fifth
grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. >> What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and
everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community >> because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. >> Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but
it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got
me into chapter books in Juni V. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where
everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA
teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is
my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe
this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. This is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just
great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and soul is for students, and to see them succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. Even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of
the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happened, then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They're amazing.
They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. >> So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork
that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just
doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. >> Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. >> If you've never taught at another school
and you come to Birwood, you honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere.
Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've
been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are
family and once a bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And
teaching at Dwire is special because we don't have walls. >> Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you
come through our doors. >> I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call
ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. >> I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends
here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you
into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect, and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think
social and emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every
single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that
permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> Thank you. >> Good evening again, Rockway Township. Can I please have a motion to come out of close session? >> Second. Thank you. Show hands, please.
Coming out of close session at 7:36 p.m. >> Could you please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance? I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Dr. Corbett. I'll turn it over to you for the PTA recognition. >> Thank you, Dr. Thomasini. I'm going to walk over to that uh podium and I will also invite the board members, if they
don't mind, to uh come forward so that we can thank and greet PTA members. This is um this is my fourth year in the district and I'm so happy to be here. Um it it is really truly a great place to
work. Not without challenges. I mean we know there are challenges in Rockaway Township schools like there is in every school around the district. But from my point of view, I got I got two things that really are tremendous in terms of supporting what I do and my role in the district. First, I have a great board of
education. And secondly, I have wonderful parents and the PTAs around the district. And I try to go to as many PTA meetings as I can um to keep that communication open with the PTA, see what they're doing, and even participate in what they do occasionally. for
example, the KDM DJ Reggie event that happened that was pretty phenomenal actually. So, um, uh, the PTAs in this district are phenomenal and we are here and the board is here to thank you for
the time and the effort that you put in. I mean, it it is tremendous and it helps the morale in the district. It helps the climate and the culture in the schools. It communicates to kids that we care about you because you are so involved with what's happening in that building
and that's what's so very very important to us. So, so thank you. Let's give a round of applause to all our PTA members that are here this evening. And I I'm going to call the names and I will hand you a certificate and you get to put this on your refrigerator, okay?
Because that's where they go when you get something from a school. But it I know it's just a certificate, but it means so much to us that we can call your name out and that you're here and that you're going to come forward and the board has an opportunity to shake your hand and thank you for all that you're doing. And um I know we have a
couple principles here, too. We have Mr. Rollins and Mrs. Rivera here also. So, thank you also for being here. Okay, let's begin. So, I'm not sure what order these are in. They were handed to me by Kim Willer. Thank you, Kim, for putting all this together. Uh, Melissa Plot.
Where's Melissa? Is she here? Pamela Gilly. Pamela. Melissa Jacobs. Melissa. Oh, come on now. Oh my god. Chris Bender. Oh my goodness. Yay.
>> Stay up front, too, because we got to get a group picture with everybody. So, Michelle, don't go away. >> Huh? >> I don't know how it's I'm calling them out. I don't know how they are. Everyone all together.
Jackie Bader. Jackie. Yay. Jennifer Skolski. Jennifer Jessica Hall. Rebecca Val. I don't see Rebecca here. Where is she? No, she's Tara Freeman. Lindsay Kramer,
Janica Frasier Theodore Redick, Jamie Libby, >> Anna's not here. Anya, Shannon McGroy, Christina Erikson, Paulina Anthony, Colleen Turkot,
Tina Goldenberg, Debbie Bulldo, >> Debbie, Jill Buchanan, Heather Murmer, Kristen Kelly, Jenny Pacio, Is there anyone who maybe I didn't call because I didn't RSVP or something like
that because I still would like to recognize you. No. >> Well, this is great. Thank again. Thank you all. We're gonna have a great Yes. We need We need to We need a group picture. Noent chair.
>> I might have to do it. standing. >> My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk
through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. >> Birwood is very special because it is
truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance.
>> Brian Rollins from KDM, of course, Marie Rivera. I'm going to invite them to come forward just to thank their PTAs and PTAs in general just for 30 seconds, maybe 15. Go ahead, Maria. >> Thank you. Hi, everyone. As a former PTA president, I am going to tell you, I
know how hard you work >> getting parents involved, you know, getting money together to host events for kids. Hats off to every one of you guys. I know how hard it works. I know how hard it is. Thank you guys from
the bottom of our hearts. For the Birwood PTA, you ladies rock. And Brian, you guys rock. We asked them to put a event together for us for today actually. That's why they were so exhausted. Um, very last submitted our first annual breast cancer awareness and I'm going to tell you it went from a
little thing to they just rocked. Amazing. So, thank you for being part of our school and part of the community. I'm honored. Thank you. >> Now, Mr. Rollins is going to show us the DJ Reggie dance because he was at that uh that assembly and he did a very good
job. He he really >> I followed their lead. I pretty much just followed their lead. But I will be brief without getting emotional this time and I promise you >> and they're laughing. Why? >> Why would I possibly be laughing? >> So first thank you. Thank you to all the
PTA members that are here. you know that what we can do individually at our schools, but what we can do collectively as a whole as we all work together to build out this community. It's just incredible how we mobilize our resources and make Rockaway Township School
District that much stronger for our community members, our children, and our families. Um, we did share this this morning and thank you again for coming in uh so that we could have this personal moment at our school. So, I'm happy to reshare it with you tonight. It's a simple thank you to our amazing
KDMPTA for all they do to build a stronger sense of community within our school. Their dedication, time, and support brings families together, enriches our students experiences, and creates a welcoming environment for all. We're so grateful for their efforts in
making KDM a place where everyone feels connected and supported. So, Miss Libby, Miss Frasier, on behalf of your KDM team, we are very grateful for everything that you do for us day in and day out. Thank you. >> You did good, Brian.
>> Sir, I was about to remind you that we do have cookies. >> I almost forgot. We have cookies >> and coffee. And so we were going to take like a 10-minute recess, a five minute. >> That's Yes, 10 minutes is is fine. Eight >> o'clock. Dr. Thomas has allowed us to
take a 10-minute recess. Thank you all. Let's take a break. Let's um affirm each other, thank each other because we're all doing a you're all doing a great job. I appreciate it. So, let's take a recess. Thank you. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township
Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me
those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. >> Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community.
It's such a wonderful place to be. >> Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What >> really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in
developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. >> Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins
us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is
well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. >> Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate
from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits
because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. >> What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus
duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get
along and you know, we support each other. >> Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. >> The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very
unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. >> The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in
making it a better place. >> I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are
thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and
teaching at Dwire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and
that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each
other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level
on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative
self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories
is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up
and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come. So, we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might
seem hard, like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. >> Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at
home. And if they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional
maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on seal over the last several years. >> I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel
comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. >> So my name is Jackson. >> My name is Mia. >> My name is Mariah.
>> I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher.
>> My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day.
My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. >> Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. >> Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. >> I like the teachers here. They make it
awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. >> My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite
thing. >> What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. >> My name is Queen Kern. I'm in the fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade.
>> What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community >> because of my friends, the teachers and
the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. >> Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of
my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni V. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and
I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other
that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that
subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus.
No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and
trust. This is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and
soul is for students, and to see them succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. Even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happened, then I've done
something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do.
>> So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. >> I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you
go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do
puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. >> Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. >> If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you honestly
never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year.
There's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that
hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a
bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And teaching at Dubire is special because we
don't have walls. >> Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school. >> Thank you, sir. During the course of the board meeting, the Rockway Township Board of Education offers members of the public an opportunity to address issues regarding
the operations of the Rockway Township Public Schools. The board reminds those individuals who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on the agenda and/or items directly related to the operations of the school district. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be
responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and responsible be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to
by the board. Students and employees have specific rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware
that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. In accordance with board policy 0167, public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a threeminut limit per member of the public. The board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as he deems appropriate. Can
I please get a motion to open to the first public comment? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Show hands, please. >> All right. Would anybody from the public like to come up and speak? >> Dana Tabadella, 31 Omaha Avenue. Um, I noticed on the communications that uh
the communication that I sent on October 10th wasn't on there. I don't know if you received it. It was regarding the um the bell to bell grant. Do you remember that or >> Yes, we did. We >> Oh, okay. Yeah, it's not on the agenda, but um I did send it to the board to
board mail and I CC Dr. Corbett on it. Actually should have uh CCed um Miss Lamb, but I forgot to, I guess. Uh basically I was just saying that um to check in to see if we're eligible for the Belltobell grant uh investing in focus our new phone free schools grant
program is providing funds to districts to adopt Belltobell policies for student cell phones and I know that we do have the policy so I didn't know if we can get any money for that and I just thought I'd bring it to your attention. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I was going to let >> Miss Tabello I will confirm that that
went to the rest of the board here in a couple of minutes. >> It did. I was going to list that as additional communication. >> Thank you very much. They did receive it. Thank you. Anybody else from the public want to make a comment? Seeing and hearing none. Can I please have a motion to close the public
comment? >> So moved. Seconded. >> Show of hands, please. Thank you. All right. Going to section one, communications. Do we have additional communication? >> Yes, we do. We have a communication from uh Dana Tabadella regarding the belt grant. Um, so that would be the only
additional that we have. >> Thank you. Adding one additional. Moving on to section two, approval of the minutes. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Anderson, >> abstain.
>> Noted. Miss Car Laroo? >> Yes. >> Ms. Mciri? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Messi? >> Yes. >> Miss Richardson? >> Yes. >> Miss Torren? >> Abstain. >> Noted. Dr. Thomasini. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to section three, superintendent report. Dr. Corbett, over
to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Thomasini. >> I'm excited to announce that this year the Copeland Middle School, Next slide, please. Abe, thank you very much. Uh, will be performing the Spongebob Musical
Youth Edition. And as you know, these theater productions are always top-notch and I believe one of the bestkept secrets of our town. So, I would like to make a concerted effort to let everyone in Rockaway Township enjoy these shows and witness some of our very talented students. With this in mind, I recently
met with the music department to discuss a possible special play dress rehearsal specifically for our senior citizens. The dress rehearsal would be scheduled for March 18th, 2026. Dinner following the play along with a chance to meet the actors would also
enhance the evening. In addition to the food and the performance, I would like to also consider with the board's approval providing transportation. So, this idea is still in the planning stages, but please stay tuned for additional details. I think it'd be great to have our senior citizens in this cafeteria mingling with our actors.
It's very exciting. Um, from October 6th to October 10th, each school in our district recognized the week of respect. The reports from each school that follow provide more details for their celebrations. They also sent a letter to the community reminding parents that cultivating respect is a mutual endeavor between
school and home and that we will successfully improve our the culture and the climate of our schools as students learn that respect is an inviable right that pertains to each person by virtue of their humanity. And now let's see what's happening in our schools.
Students at Birwood participated in a fire safety presentation delivered by the Rockaway Township Fire Department and the kindergarten students experienced a fire truck close up. The PTA kindergarten social was also a huge success thanks to the awesome Birchwood PTA. Oh,
over the next couple of weeks, the team will participate in the Day of Unity and the first annual breast cancer awareness day. The PTA also contributed to making this an extra fun day for our students. Staff and students at Birwood participated in daily activities centered around the week of respect. The
activities and lessons promoted kindness, empathy, and positive decision-making. The back to school night was well attended. Academically, the team is meeting during grade level meetings to review I Ready data and create dedicated centers during boost time such as math, writing, and reading
centers. These dedicated centers will continue to provide student provide academic assistance to students. The school improvement panel committee has been hard at work creating a caught being pawsome program where every staff member will have tokens to
distribute to students around the school. A tier system will reward our students with items from the treasure chest, which include pencils, stickers, ice cream. The coins they collect, the more coins they collect, the bigger the prizes. Buster, the Birchwood mascot, will start
giving hints to students this week about the grand reveal on November 1st during the kickoff pep pep rally. As reported last month, the Dwire Multilingual Learner students did a wonderful job on the NJSLA with all
students scoring above 700 points. This is a tremendous accomplishment shared by the ent entire Dwire community, reflecting the school's unwavering commitment to student success. A special thanks goes to the dedicated Dwire staff for the professionalism and devotion to all students. Learning continues to
advance as teachers complete the beginning of year beginning of year assessments prepare for I Ready instructional rounds. Of course, it's not all work. The annual family barbecue picnic was a great success. Picture day went smoothly and the delivery of warm bagels to classrooms brought many
smiles. Dwire continues to demonstrate a commitment to ensure every student not only receives the best education possible, but also enjoys coming to school each days. Yeah, that's why the bagels are there. Students at Stonybrook have participated in the initiative that include week of respect,
safe schools week, unity day, and healthy choices week. All designed to promote kindness, empathy, and positive decision-making in the school community. The school also enjoyed picture perfect weather for the for both the annual Stony Brook picnic and the walk-athon.
Each event was a great success thanks to the incredible effort of the PTA and the many parent volunteers who dedicated their time and their energy. Their partnership and support are truly appreciated. On October 28th, the Rockway Township Fire Department will visit Stunning Brook to present its
annual fire prevention assembly for the students in K through five. This is also an engaging and valuable learning experience for all. In addition to these activities, students continue to make excellent progress academically, engaging in meaningful lessons across
all subject areas. At Copen, the week of respect was highlighted by spirit days and kindness activities that helped reinforce our commitment to a positive school environment. This focus on respect and community continued as we recognize safe
schools week and violence prevention week. The cross country teams continue to have great success showing grit and determination in every meet. After school clubs are in full swing, offering a variety of activities for students. We are thrilled to initiate the interact
club sponsored by the Rotar the Rockway Rotarians. This brand new club offers additional opportunities for student service and to make a positive impact in our community. Finally, we thank Prevention is key for providing student assemblies about the dangers of vaping.
These efforts have contributed to a significant decrease in the incidence of vaping at Copeland since last year. The decrease in vaping incidents at Copeland is a is is very very edifying. I mean we since last
year I think um I would say the last few months of last year we hadn't heard about it. This year we haven't heard about it. So I think these assemblies do do play a huge part in that in reinforcing that idea. This month DBO has been filled with excitement, community engagement, and
academic focus as they continue positive and productive a positive productive start to the school year. The month included two wonderful PTA sponsored events, the Bash and the Walkathon, both of which brought families, students, and staff together in the spirit of school
pride and connection. These events were successful as evidenced by the enthusiasm from our school community. The highlight of the month was the first student recognition assembly. During this special event, students and classes were recognized for their academic achievements, positive behavior, and
contributions to our school culture. The assembly provided an excellent opportunity to celebrate student success and reinforce the values that make DBO such a supportive and encouraging environment. In addition, DVBO proudly observed the week of respect during
which students participated in lessons and activities that promoted kindness, empathy, and respect for others. The week served as a meaningful reminder of the importance of building a school community based on care and mutual understanding. The month also included a successful back- tochool night where
families had the opportunity to meet teachers, learn about classroom expectations, and hear about the many exciting plans for the year ahead. The evening fostered strong family school partnerships that continued to be the cornerstone of DBO's success.
Academically, grade level teams engaged in data dives to analyze their I Ready diagnostics, using the data to inform instruction and set goals for continued student growth. These collaborative sessions provided valuable insight into student progress and help teachers plan
targeted supports to meet individual learning needs. Overall, the month was marked by community involvement, celebration of student success, and a shared commitment to academic excellence. The DBO remains the proud proud of the collective efforts of
students, staff, and families as they work together to ensure a strong and successful school year. KDM students in grades K through through two recently completed the Acadians reading assessments which screen and monitor early literacy skills and help
to identify areas where additional support may be needed. The week of respect promoted a positive and inclusive culture. In addition, KDM teachers are actively participating in district-wide instructional rounds which provide opportunities to share best practices and align instructional
strategies particularly around the implementation of our I Ready math curriculum. Our community spirit continues to shine through the service through service and enrichment. KDM contributed over 1,000 pairs of socks to the socks in a box initiative which is
hosted by Rise up Rockaway out of the Lutheran church. We also launched five afterchool clubs including tech animation, the extremely popular Treps club which promotes entrepreneurship among our students. In the just the
first month of school, KDM issued 47 positive office referrals recognizing students for random acts of honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. We are incredibly grateful to Arcadia
PTA for organizing a successful and engaging walk-athon event which raised over, drum roll please, $21,000 to support school programs. And there's a video on the website that you can
check out. And by the way, they did have to to thank the students in the community, the PTA sponsored, and this is unofficial off the off the cuff. Uh DJ Reggie came to um KDM last Friday I think it was and they were outside and they had a wonderful time. If you looked
at my board my um board update I had a little clip which was the video which was and it's just a little taste of what happened. It was a great time. So, and again, you know, I conclude this by by I'm glad I could end like that because I want to again for the record thank the PTAs for all that they do.
>> And it is um it is amazing and is so wonderful to have parents so dedicated uh to our district. It's what makes Rock Boy District so wonderful. It's a great place to learn, a great place to work certainly. So that is my report but I
will actually end with the HIV report but that's the official report. So under a current investigation HIVs there were 15 HIVs that were investigated. Of the 15 10 were from Copeland one was from KDM three was
three were from DVO and one was from Birwood. Of the 15, three were confirmed. And all three that were confirmed were from Copeland Middle School. And one was the identifiable
characteristic was race. The second one was um gender >> and the third is uh again it was race. So thank you very much. That is my report. Thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to section 4, business administrators report. Miss
Lamb, please. >> Thank you. Um, the district audit is scheduled to begin on October 27th. As always, we look forward to working with Nisavacia on the 2425 audit and anticipate a positive result and continued financial health for the district. Uh, the state has been delayed
this year in releasing the title funding um, the ESA application and the grant final report platform due to technical issues. um they decided it was a good idea to open an entirely new platform and then unfortunately it's not running the way that they planned. Um so we're a
bit behind. However, um this is this has led to a delay in our ability to execute programming on our anticipated schedule and Mr. Ganella uh as always very flexible has uh re amended that plan for the expenditure of those funds and we will incorporate any carryover funding
once it is determined. Um, so as always, I can rely on Alfonso to have a plan A, B, C, and D. So, we're going to work that out, but we are behind schedule. Um, the October 15th district snapshot, which took place today, will kickstart our annual budget process. As always, we
will begin with the veric verification and validation of all personnel costs. Um, and I will be working with the human resources department to begin the creation of the position control roster. A budget calendar will be provided to the board shortly. Um, some highlights from the buildings and grounds department. At KDM, we completed a
paving project and relocated the storage shed for the school, creating additional ADA compliant emergency exit option. Uh, as well as creating more space in the playground area. Uh, the maintenance team coordinated the installation of our new scoreboard in Basset Hall. Thank you to the town wreck department for
providing that new board. Uh, the new bleachers for Basset Hall will be installed during the teachers convention. So, November 6th, 7th, uh, that week. Uh we're looking at that installation as well as the new dividing curtain for the gym and the new bleachers will include uh additional
bleachers um and will add approximately 29 seats to that area. Uh the maintenance team completed a boiler room project at CMS replacing the water man. Um so not flashy but definitely efficient. Um just repairing some of the things that need fixing. Uh we are
completing a district cleanup project currently to reorganize and and create additional space throughout the building. So, they're kind of sweeping through and seeing what can be disposed of, what can be shifted around, and just create a little bit more room for everyone. And we are also planning to recote all the gym floors during the
week of teachers convention as well. So, for the new basketball season, uh there should be nice shiny gym floors for everybody. Um and the tech department has been forging ahead with the installation of our new security cameras at Stonybrook and CMS, which have offered significant improvements in both
clarity and scope. Um, so we're very pleased with those results. Uh, Abe showed me some comparison shots and it really is night and day. Um, we, you know, our cameras were certainly sufficient, but they are just on a different level now. So, that's very encouraging and obviously it feeds into
our whole security systems for the district. So, we're very happy with that result and we thank Abe and his team for their hard work. >> So, ends my report. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Moving on to section five, presentation of the HIV self- assessment. Miss West.
Good evening everyone. My name is Anita West. I'm the director of HR. I'm also the district anti-bullying coordinator. I just want to share a little bit about the self- assessment before we begin. It is the New Jersey Department of Education school self assessment for determining grades under the
anti-bullying bill of rights act. That's the name of the report that we are presenting upon. Next slide, please. I just to bring everybody up to speed. The school anti-bullying specialists and their safety teams review this document and complete it. It is an inhouse
document self assessment of how they feel they did in the past year. Responses to the questions are based upon the questions asked for the self assessment. It is publicly presented to the board, affirmed and then approved by the state. Once the state approves it,
they provide us our official scores based upon what we submitted that we then place on the bullying uh the anti-bullying page of our district website. This presentation will be shared. Go back one. The self- assessment document can be found where
it says here. Abe, if you could please click on that for a second just so people can just scroll through it quickly and just scroll through a couple. There's in we're just going to go through one. The school annually established TIP programs, approaches or other initiatives and then there are
four different choices they can choose from and there's a series of questions among the categories. We can go back next slide please. So the information provided on the following pages, each school does get two slides, include the total number of
investigations, how many were confirmed, how many were unconfirmed. Uh our district per our board policy does allow for principal discretion. How many times each school did use principal discre discretion under preliminary
determination and then the scores per section of the self assessment for the board members. The school self- assessment documents that are handmpleted by the uh safety teams are linked there. Next slide please. Okay. So at Birwood School in the 2425 school
year, we had a total of four investigations. One was confirmed, three were unconfirmed. Preliminary determination was used three times. Our their self- assessment score out of a total 78 was 76. Next slide, please. Uh that's by the
different core elements how they scored themselves for Birwood School under core element two, which is training on the board of ed approved hip policy procedures. They scored themselves a seven out of nine. Next slide, please. Katherine A. Dwire. They had a total of two investigations in a 24-25 school
year. One confirmed, one unconfirmed. Once again, they scored themselves 76 out of 78. Next slide, please. And they in core element 2 gave themselves an eight out of nine. And under HIP personnel scored themselves an eight out of nine. Next slide, please. Dennis B.
O'Brien last year had 30 total investigations. 17 were confirmed, 13 were unconfirmed. Preliminary determination was used 70 seven times and they scored themselves 75 out of 78. Next slide, please. Again, under core
element two, they gave themselves a seven out of nine. And under HIPP personnel, they gave themselves an eight out of nine. They gave themselves full points on everything else. Katherine D. Malone last year had one investigation, zero confirmed, one unconfirmed, no use of preliminary determination, 76 out of
78. And they gave themselves an eight out of nine under core element two and 14 out of 15 under other staff instruction and training programs, core element 3. Stonybrook had two investigations last
year, zero confirmed, two unconfirmed, zero uses of preliminary determination. They also scored themselves a 75 out of 78. And again, core element 2, 8 out of nine. HIP personnel, eight out of nine, and core element three, uh, 14 out of
15. Copeland Middle School had 70 investigations last year. 21 were confirmed, 49 unconfirmed. Preliminary determination was used four times and they scored a 74 out of 78 and they gave
themselves a 13 out of 15 under core element one HI programs approaches and other initiatives. Core element three which is other staff instruction and training and those are the two these are the categories on which a hip can be founded
or unfounded. They are in the order that the state provides them. race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental, physical or sensory disability or other distinguishing characteristics. If it is
not a HIB, even if it is opened under one of the top 10 categories, it is no identifiable nature because it was not founded as a harassment, intimidation, or bullying case. Next slide, please. Last year out of the total 109 we investigated those
are the categories in which we were founded. Highest being other not counting not a hib. The highest found founded were other distinguishing characteristics. Second highest was race. The third highest was mental, physical or sensory ability. Next slide
please. To address some of the parent concerns we receive over time. Do we res review all cases for investigation? Yes, we do. Under the guise of principal discretion, we apply principal discretion when all
accusations, if presumed true, would not result in an HIB. Specifically speaking, if the initial complaint does not question any of the 10 that I said would make it a HI, it falls under principal discretion. What triggers an
investigation? a parent email, phone call, a student hearing and reporting, a teacher hearing and reporting. It leads to a completion of a form 338 which is found on the district website. Parents do not have to send an email or a phone call. They can go right on the website
and fill out the form 338 as well. Any concerned citizen can um any questions or comments? >> Yeah. What are we doing to address because it seems like the majority of the scores are low because of lack of training or policy knowledge. So we do provide a training at the beginning of
every year to all staff which is done at convocation. That presentation is posted on the district website. Last year uh well for the past two years I've attended a state training. Last year we invited one of the counselors to the
training. This year we invited all of the other counselors and the principles to that training. So we do anticipate um we just had our first anti-bullying specialist meeting this year. We got feedback from all the counselors who sat in that meeting. Uh we do see more
clarity, more comfort. And the biggest issue that I find is when it's a gray area, >> does it meet the characteristics? What if it's we're not 100% sure? That's what causes the concern about training. The Strauss training they did attend
this year did help tremendously as I've received feedback from the counselors. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to section six, education report, our NJSLA presentation. >> Yeah, >> Mr. Ganella.
>> Erin, I'm sorry. Can I can I say something before this? >> Sure. So, you know, we as a board received the presentation prior to um and I was able to take a look at it and I think probably as I'm reaching my last term here as a board of education member and thinking back to my, you know,
campaigning of let's be honest, right? And thinking about how I'm consistently having the same feedback on all of these types of presentations as it relates to our our children's education and how they're doing. And I'm a little bit concerned again that we are highlighting
let's say grade five students scored 8.6% higher than the state average. Amazing. But grade five science 61.2% are not proficient. Grade 8 74.9%
are not proficient in science based on these scores. Half of the the the grades for math from grades three through six are half of the percentage of our students are not meeting expectations. 64.4% of our seventh graders are not meeting
expectations for math and 75.3% of our eighth graders are not meeting math. Almost half of our students three through 8th grade are not ex or not meeting expectations for ELA. And so I'm a little bit concerned that these
presentations consistently are saying look 7% above the state average. But the reality is is we're not shifting our focus and saying why do we have more than half of our students not proficient or not meeting expectations. And that's what I consistently ask for and I don't get. And I'm not asking for it
personally. I'm asking for it as a board of education as somebody who's representing this district year over year. I'm saying why are we not leading with that se 61.2% 2% of our fifth graders are not proficient in science. And here is what we're doing to address
it. I don't want the rosecolored glasses of 7% or 8.7% or 8.6%, I'm sorry, are higher than the state average. And maybe it's just me, but I it just doesn't make sense to me why we continuously shine this light in front of our district when
the opposite is true. I don't care. You know, it it shouldn't care that they're 7%. all of them should be there and more than half of them aren't and that's a big concern of mine and so I don't know if the education committee wants to weigh in or we just want to see the presentation but I want to start there because this is going to be a big shiny
thing that we're shining in front of everyone when the reality is not this shiny. So that's what I wanted to just make sure that I made the comment of prior to the start of the presentation. >> So if I may here with this one because I we're going to do the presentation momentarily. So with that presentation if I can ask Dr. Corbett. Maybe we can
address this for our next meeting that comes out to give time to prepare for this. But I I these the questions are specific. We want to see the opposite side. All the things that are going wrong and the ways that we are going to remedy that. Is that is that okay to ask for for next present? Absolutely. Next meeting.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so let's get through this presentation. But no, Christie, your your point is very well taken, I think. But I think I think Aons is going to address some of this >> and we'll wait to his presentation, but we can certainly circle back to it at the next meeting too and come up with some >> perfect a different a different vantage
point. So let's see Mr. Ganella's presentation and his remarks and then we'll we'll get to the rest. >> So if it's okay, I would just like to address just because it's a very great question. So I would like to >> I know I feel bad you're always at the brunt of >> No, no, not at all. >> But it's it's you know I need to know because it's important.
>> So is everyone ready? So, if I may before I get into the presentation, I think it's important um you know, every presentation I've made since I've been here, we focus on the word coherence, and I think that's the key piece to look at is how all the pieces move together.
So, the NJSLA presentation, the way it's laid out, that's how the state and CUAC tells us we have to lay it out. So, when we went through CUSAC this year, this is exactly what they like to see. But I do want to draw attention back to an earlier presentation perhaps in August
when we talk about our district goals and our district goals really lay out what we want to focus on this year and specifically Mr. Cararlo to what you're speaking of is the nitty-gritty. And when you look at this data what you're seeing or what you're going to see is
fewer kids in levels one and two and more in the 3 four five range. So what we did this year to address those very concerns outside of what we talked about curriculum resources and aligning our big focus this year as a district and
all six schools is focusing on the RTI process adding interventionists streamlining inter streamlining interventions and having those processes and procedures identical in all of our buildings but also warehousing that data
so it's accessible to our teachers, our principles and our interventionists. And that is the big area because what you're talking about is those students and in this data, you know, a large portion of them are in that three range which are the kids that were just about to get
over the hump. So, you know, to bring it back to the beginning, you know, of the the school year is that our goals are specific to addressing exactly what you're saying and doing it through the RTI process. and how we're going to do it. And what we've done already is
adding more inter interventionists in each building. Check. Um streamlining those processes and procedures and specifically what we're looking at. Um and I say check is that we're doing and already implementing it. Um and that's really where you know the the devil in
the details so to speak is is really looking back at our goals and what we're focusing in on. Um, sh I know that's >> I think I think because I just want to make sure we're being realistic because when I'm looking at it and I'm calculating it all up, which I I mean I got the presentation maybe two hours before this meeting.
>> 74 74.9% of eighth graders are not proficient in science. Do we have the capacity to RTI or to have RTI in process for 74.9%. You know, for 64.4% 4% of seventh
graders for for math and for 43.1% of of third graders in ELA. I mean, that's a lot of kids. You know what I mean? And and I know that we we still haven't circled back on the last presentation you did when you were talking about that our scores were low because of I don't know the new curriculum or something. Um, you know, do we even have capacity?
Is it a different conversation we should be having alto together? Because I mean, I, you know, I've had children go through the RTI process. I know what it takes and that's a lot of work for teachers and for staff and all that. So I'm just wondering, you know, if we even have the capacity because these are large numbers. This isn't like 20%.
75.3% of eighth graders are are not meets expectations in math. Like that's a lot. So I think one of the you know other pieces to bring in and draw attention to to previous meetings is one of the big things we one of the big things we identified you know last year
and the year prior was operationally uh do students have access to the same curriculum and resources but do they have access to this the same instructional minutes in each building. So what we were able to do this year with scheduling across the board um and
Genesis was ensuring that every building was running at least a similar schedule with same instructional minutes that things like uh band lessons, music lessons, to your point, RTI often times were being pulled out of science. Um and
that was really you know a reflection of the schedule itself. So, a lot of these pieces that we've discussed in previous meetings when you put them all together are addressing what you're saying. In terms of capacity, I don't think any educator in the room would say, "Yeah,
we we could use more. We could certainly use, you know, more interventionists." We could certainly use um say more qualified teachers. You say the teachers that we have in the district, especially the ones that have been here for a while, are amazing. Um,
statewide there is a shortage of teachers. I'll give you for instance, you know, language arts teachers and we would put a posting out, we'd have over 100 applicants. Now we have 10. Uh, you know, so you know, I would certainly, you know, say yes, we could we could use
more and we've been able to add more by kind of reshuffling the deck with what we already have. Uh but that is certainly something the principles, Miss Slam and I, Dr. Corbett are looking at in November at the budget season. uh the lead teachers and the principles you
know have discussed that at nauseium um as well as instructional counsel about really yeah there you know there is a need um you know for more uh so yes to to answer your question >> I mean I think the time has come for the conversation as opposed to the presentation because I know from experience that once a child's
confidence starts getting lost >> it's it's very hard to recover from that as they go on more complicated grades so I appreciate the back and forth and I'm sorry to everybody for disrupting It's just something that's, you know, just keeps coming up the same way and I just feel like it's just not being being it's
not becoming a conversation. It's just becoming a presentation. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Oh, I'm okay. So, the uh 2025 NJSLA uh results. So, Abe, next slide, please. Okay. So a little little background and
I want to highlight this slide is very important because everything we know about NJSLA is going to change which is going to be the last slide. Uh so NJSLA the test that the students took last school year is a statewide assessment aligned to the New Jersey student
learning standards. It measures student mastery in ELA, math, and science. In science it's grades five and eight. Uh in math and ELA it's grades three through eight. So, the eighth graders you're looking at are now freshman in high school. It's administered each
spring historically, not this year. Uh, and the results are used to inform instruction, identify gaps, and guide curriculum decisions. Next slide. Students with IEPs, 504s, and our MLL students received all the proper accommodations per the state guidelines.
Uh I would be remiss uh you know I mentioned at the end but the um the testing coordinators Mike Lefrana out of the technology department uh Miss Waxman Miss Young uh you know it's a collective
effort to really pull this off and Miss Slam alluded to this at the beginning. The state has been delayed in everything. our grants, our grant applications, we usually have those approved um in July. The grant was just
submitted about a week ago. NJSLA scores uh we typically have these numbers um you know end of August, beginning of September. Uh they were released a short time ago about 3 weeks ago. So I thank the ED committee for hosting an
emergency meeting had this data in their hands and that we can make this presentation in October and not November. Um so again the basics the universal tools and accommodations were embedded in the testing platform and the accessibility for our students was
equitable across the board. A next slide please. So, the test administration itself, uh, I met with the school testing coordinators along with Miss Waxman in September to norm out our testing processes and testing logistics across the district. Uh, the testing windows
were content specific, one subject per week, plenty of time um for makeups. Uh, Mr. Elder and his team, again, we were just talking about this. The infrastructure was ideal. What that uh what Mr. Elder has done just in terms
of, you know, keeping our switches up to date. So, we can test all of these students without uh a lapse or a breakdown again for the third or fourth straight year. Um, amazing. Our school testing coordinators are second to none. You know, the amount of work they put in
um for what they get paid is is is amazing. Abe, next slide, please. So, where to focus? State averages versus district averages. the trajectory of a class of 2025 student. Next slide. A so
we are going to begin with math. Okay. So what you're looking at is uh the state average verse uh Rockway Township school district as a whole. So the state was 49.7% proficient. We were 66.2%
proficient which is 16.5% higher than the state average. Uh again, I just want to draw attention again to the levels one and two. That number is really small, which really leads you, if you look at that level three, 26.1%.
Those are those push camps. That's where your your RTI uh and your tier one interventions that happen in the classroom are really critical. A uh next slide. Math 4 was 64.8% proficient, which was 18.1%
higher than the state average. I do want to highlight not one student on the level one did not meet in grade four. Grade five uh 54.8% proficient which is 10.6% higher than
the state average. Sixth grade 51.3% proficient and that's 11 and a half% higher. Now something that I mention in every presentation students in sixth grade uh we begin tracking our higher
level students. So there is a cohort that is that is tested in sixth grade that is in pre-alggebra. Those students will not be part of the grade level population in grades seven and eight because they will be taking the high
school and JSLA for algebra and geometry. Next slide. Matt 7 which is a has been and will continue to be a major area of focus for us. There's 35% uh 35.6%
which is 3.2% lower than the state average. It's roughly 28 students pulled out of this population for the algebra but nonetheless not something that we are satisfied with. Next slide. Math 8 is
24.7% proficient, which is 4% higher than the state average. Next slide. Algebra. This is algebra combined grades seven and 8. We were at 91.1%
proficient. Uh 53.2% higher than the state average. Geometry. Uh 100% passing rate. uh and that was 44% higher than the state average.
Okay. So if you look at the class of 2025, so these are current 9th graders um in high school, the uh teal is RTSD and I guess that's the the supposed to
be a darker teal. Uh it's not showing up here is uh uh is the state. So if you look at grade five, you know, we are well above the line. In their grade six year, they were slightly below the line.
Grade seven, same thing. Grade 8 this year, we saw a rebound going above the state line. Um, which we saw a really nice rebound in eighth grade this school year. Next slide. ALA. Now this is uh last year well actually
this year will be the first year uh all of our students that are going to assess in grade three have had the super kids science of reading program for their um careers academic careers. So uh the state was 44.9
we are at 56.9 which is 12% higher than the state average. Grade four was at 66.8 8, which is 13.3% higher than the state average. Grade five, 65.2,
which was 12.4% higher than the state. Grade six knocked it out of the park with 73.4, which was 17.3% higher than the state.
Grade 7 was at 64.8, 8 which is 7.8% higher than the state grade 8 which you know I I do want to highlight this a little bit later um last year grade 8 for the first time in a long time was below the state in ELA
8. Uh this year um 66.5% which is 9.4% higher. I want to highlight those are, you know, two fairly new teachers um that have shown immense growth in 8th grade and and really did a great job. So kudos to that
eighth grade team. So class of 2025 ELA data story and again the um dark purple or the lighter purple and the darker purple. The lighter is RTSD, the darker is the state. You'll see each line is, you
know, well above the state average in in ELA. Next sliding. So this is uh to what Mr. McGovern said. Uh this is what uh you'll see later on in my presentation. This is our MLL
students and nonMLL for uh the 25 school year. Now, I, you know, I'd like to say that, you know, four years ago, we had roughly 25 ML students in the district and now I believe we're at 112 or or right around there hovering. I believe
that number is going up every day. So, if you look at how our MLL students are doing to our nonMLL, uh, really not that big of a difference. our MLL students, students who are acquiring the English language are actually um holding serve on the MAT
side. So, uh in all grade levels, next slide. Same thing that you'll see on the MLL side. Uh on the uh ELA side, our MLL students are holding serve, which I would say is pretty impressive and a
testament uh to the teachers, uh the principles, uh Mr. McGovern and uh Mr. Bayer, but also our MLL supervisor, Miss Waxman. Next slide. A so ED is our economically disadvantaged students.
So you look at those numbers, you don't see a wide gap um in, you know, in these graphs, which is what exactly what you want to see. very similar on the ELA side. You know, as as a you know, as a parent of a special ed student, obviously
working in this district for a while, roughly 21 to 21 a.5% of our population is special ed in Rockaway Township. I think these numbers are also very promising. Same thing on our ELA side. science in fifth grade 38.7 so 8.6%
higher than the state but also 5.4% 4% higher. And Miss Carlo, just a point, you know, I think this should be noted, we have historically tested science last, which means by the time students take the science test, they're pretty much have gone through uh 10 days of
testing. We've actually moved science up this year on the testing calendar to hit it right in between ELA and that, so kids are a little fresher and the content's a little fresher. uh as well. Grade 8 was at 25.1%
which is 6.1% higher than the state average but 9% higher than last year's eighth grade students. If you remember last year 8th grade uh was below the state. That's why I added those two uh boxes to these presentations.
What I wanted to show and I showed this in an earlier presentation is what the percent increase is in each grade level um with regard to the NGSLA scores. And if if you take a look at it, um the you know the increase the percent increase
is pretty impressive on each side and and really is a testament to the work that all of our educators are are doing. And you know I am going to share a little more information on this in the narrative at the end. Um you know what our plan is and what we're doing and how
it's working. So some global observations uh math 4 to 8 saw almost 11% increase. Grade 8 saw remarkable growth, 56% increase. Grade six, which is setting the foundation.
Um, and our and our sixth grade teachers, uh, math teachers are are really really hitting it. Uh, they saw a 20.1% increase. Grade four continued to grow with a 5.2% increase with zero students scoring in in the did not meet
expectations category. Grades five and seven remained relatively stable with a slight decline in both of those grades. You know, particularly with a, you know, concern area in grade seven. Geometry and algebra continue to excel.
Next slide, Abe. I'm sorry. Our ELA overall saw an 8% growth. As I mentioned, grade A ELA saw significant growth from the previous year, 14.6 percentage points and a 28.1% increase. Grade six showed strong gains
9.7 percentage points of 15.2%. Grade four continued to grow and and just imagine that number getting higher and higher now with our science of reading programs really taking hold. Uh grades seven and three experienced
smaller grain uh gains. Uh but what I I I do want to pull up a something else after this kind of show you what we're doing. Grade five declined by 5.2. 2 points which is a 7.4 decrease. Next
slide. In science saw in grade five saw a 5.4 increase and grade 8 saw a 9% increase. Both grade levels were above the state average and both higher than the previous year.
Um our multil- language learner students on average scored above 700 for the first time since we changed to e uh NJSLA. So, no one scored below a 700 if you're an MLL student, which is nothing short of spectacular. Uh, and the bulk
of those students are at uh our Dwire School. So, kudos to those teachers, to Miss Waxman, Mr. McGovern. Um, you know, our teachers are certainly closing the gap. Next slide. So, next steps, what are we doing? So
all of our district math teachers are administering the end of unit I ready assessments and this is also uh in our district goal. ELA and grades K2 are administering the super kids benchmark assessments. Grade three are administering the magnetic reading end
of unit assessments and our ELA teachers in grades four through eight are are administering our grade level common assessments. Uh most of which are administered through the link platform. Uh what this does is it ensures that all of our teachers in our building are uh
teaching at a similar pace with the same resources and the same materials and all of those kids are being assessed in a similar fashion. We are working to strengthen and streamline the district-wide RTI process to ensure
timely identification. Bless you. targeted support and consistent progress monitoring for all students with the focus on improving academic outcomes and reducing learning gaps across all grade levels. We are deepening the integration
of our IR instructional practices across all math classrooms. I do want to share something as shared this with Dr. Corbett today uh and Miss Young, our district math specialist. We are smack dab in the middle of our I Ready
instructional rounds. uh K through eight and I I have to tell you it has been such a great opportunity to see where we are today from where we are three years ago. Uh when you have job embedded coaching and professional development
and teachers feel comfortable, you know, now implementing these instructional strategies. The conversations have moved from scared and hesitant to more academic. This November I experienced it for the first time uh this school year.
I have to say it's the difference between night and day. Uh seeing now the instructional practices in the classroom, seeing how the furniture is arranged to meet the instructional strategies and just to hear colleagues, you know, um spitballing ideas uh with
one another. It's absolutely amazing. We are going to continue to support our MLL students through job embedded professional development. As Miss Slam said, this is a little delayed because our grants have not been approved a as of yet. So, typically we would start uh
in October. So, we will be slightly delayed um as we wait for the funding. We're going to continue to work with our special education teachers to ensure all students are exposed to and working with grade level content and materials while supporting individual student needs
through IEP goals and objectives. Next slide. And as I said over the summer, last school year was the first year uh in recent memory that all of our teachers in in the district were working with
updated curriculum and resources that were consistent amongst all grade levels and all schools. Uh we are on the run phase. So what I expect uh is that you know our numbers and student learning and growth will continue an upward
trend. Um, there's going to be a little caveat to this on the last slide in terms of what the presentation is going to look like next year. Next slide. A so every school district in the state of New Jersey was notified in August after
we approved our assessment calendars, after we had everything set up that NJSLA is moving to an adaptive format. What that means, it's going to look more like the I Ready assessment. So the the test will change depending on how
students answer questions. So if they're answering questions that are corrected on grade level, it will continue to advance them. If they don't, it will, you know, trend downwards to see what grade level specifically in areas of strength and weakness. Um, anything I
say uh will will be speculative and I'm I'm not going to do that. I just tell you what I do know. Um, I know that it's going to be adaptive. I know that we are going to administer it on the 12th and 14th. And Miss Carlo, the reason is is
that the majority of our science teachers in the district were already precommitted over the summer to attend a professional development under 13. So, we found it more important that the teachers attend that training and that we would kind of split up the days. This
is something that is coming from the state and I know this is you know something tough for all of us you know as parents and educators. The results of this test will not be shared with school districts parents. This test is for the state to see if the system is going to
work and really planned for the spring administration. So I would imagine that the presentation next year is going to look vastly different because it will be a oneofone uh data set. Next slide.
I just want to say thank you to uh our staff members, our teachers in particular who are continuing to you know act in the best interest of our students. All of our administrators, CSTs. I want to thank the board uh our
ed committee just for you know always making themselves accessible and having the tough conversations. Miss Carlu, I hope you're here in uh in the crowd next year for the presentation because I do appreciate uh your feedback and your cander uh and and thank you for your
service to the board. >> Just a question for the um the the the um I'm sorry my I'm blanking. It's been a long day. The uh spreadsheets you showed with or the charts rather you showed with the comparison from state to to us and from MLA ML to nonMLL, can we
have the real data behind that? because it I'm struggling with the 600 to 800 range. I'd like to see what the real range is. If you have it available, can you share with the board? >> I can. Yeah. If I don't know if I share with the ED committee first, whatever all that >> they want to do, that's fine. But I just want to be able to if I'm looking at it and I'm seeing it's between 600 and 800
to me. That's a big jump. Like I'd like to see what the actual reality is of it. >> So we have all those readily accessible and link it, which is amazing. So they're right at our fingertips. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Can I ask you a question? >> Sure. Um, much to Christiey's point, nobody ever wants to see 60 or 70% of
your kids failing, but from the way I understand it is when they compare us to our peers across the state, um, you know, there's it seems as though they're having the same struggles we are. So, for us to be above the state average and
as we saw today and still climbing above the state average, that to me is a good point. But I think to Christiey's point, correct me if I'm wrong, Christie, you want to see not only that we're climbing, but the 70% what we're doing for them to just put the statistics
aside and what are we doing for our kids or that 70% because the again, correct me if I'm wrong, the way I see it and the way that I've been trained to see it is that when you're compared to your peers across the state, whether it's your district factor group or not, when you're compared and you're above that
comparison, you're the good you're on the good end of it. >> Correct. >> So, but I think you still want to see for that which it's still bad 16 70%. It still doesn't look good, but we're above the state, but what are we doing for that 60 and 70%. >> Yeah. I think I think what it is is when
I see these presentations, I continue to see, you know, we're we're doing better than the state. Yay. 7% of our students are are really, you know, exceeding expectations. That's all well and good, but we're not and I don't want it to be I always say I don't want to be the negative one, but if we're looking at us
and we're saying 67.4% of our kids are not proficient in science >> doing them. Yeah, >> that's outrageous. And you know, and it's probably a combination >> across the state is is exactly understanding. >> Yeah. And I don't know what it compares to with the state. I don't have that
that slide up, but I think that was the science for I want to say seventh grade. Um but but that's the thing is that it's all well and good that maybe we're doing better than some people in the state. It's not always the case, but the the issue is is why are we focused on that? >> You know, our focus should be on we need our kids to do better because once they
start they they leave, you know, Copeland and they go to high school and then it's even worse, you know, their confidence gets broken, you know, and and I know that parents are probably talking to their kids about their scores and things like that. Um, and I really think that our community needs to understand and we need to understand
what are we doing, you know, because, you know, we're we're still in a bad place. And so I just want to know if if it's we're saying the bulk of it is just they need RTIs, >> well, if 60 or sorry, that's being ridiculous, but if 29% of our kids need RTI in each subject, do we even have the
capacity for that? Because that's a big job. I mean, it's amazing what they they're able to do. >> If I just may for a moment, I apologize. It's very important to note this is one test and you know we don't want parents to look at this one
assessment and say oh my gosh my my child's failing because there's a number of variables that go into to testing. Some kids are not good test takers. Some kids and quite frankly almost every kid is involved in some type of sport or activity uh that's keeps them out till
10 o'clock at night. So it is important to look at not just NJSLA. It's very important to look at what the child is doing in the classroom every day. Very important to talk to your teachers to see how they're doing. And you know coming in and looking at how our
students perform in the high school level and beyond, we fare very well uh to our peers. So although I agree with everything you're saying, very important not to put so much pressure on a child on just one assessment because this is a snapshot. >> Yeah. this is this is groundhog day
because the same thing happened when we spoke about scores that you were showing was something else the last conversation where we were saying oh we scored so low because we didn't have new curriculum in place and so I feel like this is just a you know it's it's not that we're basing everything on it but even taking a bunch of factors looking at the child's
holistically environment and all that 60 67.4% 4%. That's a lot. No matter how you slice it. And so I'm not saying that anything is is is, you know, good or bad or indifferent. I'm saying, are we even looking at those things? You know, what are we looking at? Like what are we
doing? You know, and so that's that's the question here is that, you know, if it's, you know, the same percentage over time and it's a low percentage, you're going, okay, well, some kids are struggling and some kids are bad test takers, but this is almost 100%. When you're looking at it and so that is problematic. And so I'm saying, what are we doing? What are we looking at?
because all I'm seeing is us saying that we compare really well, but I'm not seeing what the the outcome is. I'm not seeing what what's next. And that's what I want to start seeing as a board is what are we doing? You know, we can't just keep making excuses for everything. We can't just keep saying, "Oh, new curriculum. Oh, you know, we're we're
really trying this or we just started that or we're running and we're walking and we're you know, I want to know what we're actually doing." And I think our community wants to know, too. Our parents when I'm a parent in this district, you know, I want to know, you know, what we're doing. You know, that's all I'm saying is that I I just I keep getting the the all the fluff behind it,
but I want to understand the reality of what we're doing. >> So, if I may ask this because it we need time to you need time to prepare. Everybody needs time to prepare. >> Dr. Corbett, if I can ask that next time we come to the the board here, what what we're looking for is to understand what are the skills that they're missing
because there's voids here. >> There's knowledge gaps. We know it. What are they and what are we doing to close them? You're right. It's not one test, but what we see is whether we administer one test or five tests, we always have a pool of students who don't do well. What
are we doing to or what are we applying for those students to build the skills so that way they're successful in subsequent years for math just for instance, right? Every child has to pass algebra 2 in high school to graduate. So, what are we doing to get those skills ready so that
way when they get to the high school, they've got them? And you know, it's wonderful if we've got the high-f flyers, but I think what the board is looking to see and what the community wants to see is not just what we're doing for the top 10%. But what are you doing for the bottom 10% and what are you doing for the 60% in the middle who
are kind of like on the border? And the whole thing of just saying intervention alone, intervention is a very broad term. So what things specifically are being put in place? If we could get some kind of presentation to address that for next month, I think that would be appreciated. I think we can do I think
that's good. That's great. So we're looking actually what you're we're referring to it seems to me is a sort of academic improvement plan that focuses on those low low performing students and I think to your point Christie I think it's a maybe I'm summarizing the point but what we're looking for is specifics
right I mean what is the action that we're taking like you know we're looking at some stark numbers in terms of those who are not proficient specifically for example in science but what are we doing now to address that right and um and then what's the trajectory what do we expect to get from those results.
>> So, I think Mr. Ganella would agree to do that. >> So, if I may, just because I want to keep everyone here just a little bit longer. >> Um, >> Abe, can you just pull up the document that I sent you? I'd be plan on sharing this with the full board to your point, actionable steps.
So Monday, every uh teacher in the district uh did a deep data dive uh specifically on NJSLA, their evidence statements, um math, language arts, science in
particular. Abe, did you receive that? If not, it's okay. I I was hoping to have it queued up at the next meeting. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. take take your time, but this is not something that within the next >> let's let's present it at the next meeting. And I think that uh >> um we can drill down on those points.
Okay. Those very valid points that you're making. Okay. >> Because I just feel like I keep asking for that outcome and I'm just not getting it. Just ends up with a new presentation that kind of does the jazz hands in front of me. And so I just want to like really be able to understand what we're doing for once and for all to address these things instead of just
hearing about it. >> So we'll have a we'll have a presentation at the uh November meeting. Thank you. That's okay with the board. All right. Thank you. >> Can I just say one more thing? Is would it be possible, especially in fifth grade, the number of minutes that are addressed with science versus ELA? Just
showing what teachers have the capacity to do in those 45 minutes. >> Correct. >> Versus the 90 minutes that you're given for ELA. And just >> if there are skill gaps, how are we doing that in 45 minutes? And that's statemate mandated. It's not a rockway, right? So just I agree with you seeing
those gaps but like what can we actually cover in those minutes in fifth grade which then obviously create more gaps as they go into middle school >> 100%. >> But I think I just want to pound this home that what we are doing and how we fare are two different things. What we do for our kids is what we do for our kids and we're always going to focus on
improvement. how we fare. I love looking at these charts because if we're below the state average, then we have pro like I we have big problems. Being above the state average to me says a lot because everybody is in the same boat and we're
all paddling in the same direction or we're trying to >> and we're above that. We're first as far as the state average goes. having doing something for our kids and where we fare I see are two very different questions that can be addressed two
different ways and I I think you agree with that I'm not sure but correct me if I'm wrong but both are very very important and again to Christiey's point you never want to see that but schools across the state are looking at the same thing we're looking at and we're above them for the most part so I I appreciate
that and I know the work that you do and and that the teachers do and I'm sure Everybody on the board appreciates the hard work to to be above that line. >> Um we never want to be below it, but um the work to go above the work to be above that line takes a lot >> and I appreciate the work that they all
do. These teachers work extremely hard here. >> All right. So to close us out, if there's any additional things that you would like, please send them to Dr. Corbett. Dr. Corbett can then direct them to Mr. Ganella on what we'd like to see. Just don't I don't want to continue. We've got more more meeting to go. >> You want to go home?
>> No. Listen, I I want to see what the school looks like at 2 a.m. I'm just curious. >> All right, moving on to section 7 committee reports. Are there any committee reports? >> I have one. I'm going to The education committee met on September 30th from 4
to about 4:45 p.m. We met virtually. Um we did view the NJSLA presentation. um that took up a chunk of our time and but um and we did talk about the new adaptive test and how that might roll out. Um
I guess the not to reiterate too much but that Mr. was tasked with like an NJSLA presentation, but then what came in our meeting was more of the reflective piece and so um he did talk about the I Ready
instructional rounds and specifically what he was seeing trendwise in the data for NJSLA but across the board in his um meetings with the teachers and what they were going to talk about on the last Monday's PD. So with the instructional
rounds, this is in regards to math not science. Maybe we can apply it there too. But um the walkthroughs like he talked about came up in October. So the way those walkthroughs look, Aaron Young, who's the district math specialist and the building principles
have been going into the math classrooms and they conduct walkthroughs and observations, but um their observations aren't meant for like their evaluations. They do receive prompt emails afterwards and then so to help guide the teachers,
Erin Young is going to serve as a coach to the principles and how to guide the teachers. So that is one of the areas that we're looking at to support the teachers and how to instruct in the math curriculum. Um we've looked into extra programs after school. We brought that
up last time. So, we've got grant money for kids who are still kind of um falling behind in those areas. And then um just further like things with the teachers PDP goals, that's a professional development plan, how to
strengthen and support. So, all of the teachers this year had to had to add that streamline for instruction. Um and so further reiteration there the state law has multiple tiered interventions and giving teachers like set instructions on like what those tiers
are, what that looks like. So they the teachers have been given those things and the coaching involved in that. Plus they've been doing um observations and walkthroughs of new teachers with frequent feedback so that they can grow. And then that concludes my report. We do
have our next meeting on October 30th. So, if you have anybody questions you'd like us to talk about at that meeting, please forward them to me. >> Thank you. Any other committees? >> Uh, the community outreach met yesterday. Um, it's a very short report.
We continue our discussion on options for our future needs. >> Thank you. Go ahead. >> Uh, safety and security, the ad hoc committee. Um, I received a very large binder of the district safety and security. I'm about twothirds through
it. So, my plan was as soon as I'm I'm done getting through that and and taking my notes to share it with those that are sharing on this committee with me and sitting down and going through my notes and then letting you all take a look at it as well and then we can kind of start planning from there. But it's a very
impressive, very large and I think very thorough um plan that um I'm I'm impressed with and it makes me feel better as a parent of a district to read those things and and see what's actually in place. Um, but there are just certain questions that come up and certain things that I just like to discuss and
as soon as I'm done with the last third, um, I'll share it with you. But it's it's large. >> Thank you. >> Any other committees? >> That's it. All right. Moving on to section 8 recommended for board action. Uh, personnel. Can I have a motion to
approve the personnel items, please? >> So moved. Seconded. >> Thank you. Being as personnel, there's no board discussion. Can I have a roll call vote, please? Mrs. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Curoo, >> yes. >> Ms. Mcgiri, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mesi, >> yes. >> Ms. Richardson,
>> yes. >> Miss Torren, >> yes. >> Dr. Thomasini, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to HIV determination. Can I have a motion to approve the HIV determinations, please? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> All right. >> Is there no roll call? >> Oh, there's >> no roll call needed. No action items. I
just have this I just have this long long list for next time. We're good there. >> All right. All right, moving on to education. Motion to approve the education recommendations, please. >> Now, so moved. >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> There we go. All right.
Any board discussion? >> Hearing none, anybody from the public want to comment on education? Seeing hearing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Mrs. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kuru, >> yes. >> Ms. Mcgiri, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mezzik. >> Yes.
>> Miss Richardson, >> yes. >> Miss Torren, >> yes. >> Dr. Thomasini, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Moving on to special education. Can I have a motion to approve the special education recommendations, please? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any board discussion? >> Any second? Well, who Allison, you moved
it. >> I moved it. >> You moved. >> Hearing none. Anybody from the public want to comment on special education? >> Seeing and hearing none, can I please have a roll call vote? >> Mrs. Anderson. Yes, >> Mrs. Kir Laroo. >> Yes, >> Miss McGiri. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Mesi. >> Yes, >> Miss Richardson.
>> Yes, >> Miss Torren. >> Yes, >> Dr. Thomasini. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to administration. Motion to approve the administration recommendation, please. >> There you go. >> Thank you. Any board discussion? >> Yeah, one thing about the the YMCA,
um it seems that over the last couple years, they just don't have the capacity for a lot of students. You call and you if you need services and they don't answer. And so I'm just wondering if there's been any discussion with them to be able to expand on their capacity to actually, you know, expand their their
after school program. >> Um, so we essentially we don't dictate how they run the program. However, they did extend we they increased the amount of space they were using at DBO last year. Um, they requested it, we accommodated. Um, we've had no further
requests for additional space. So I think it has to do on their end too with what they can manage with the staff I guess they have available. But um what I can say is the one time we received the request for additional space we we worked with them and we figured that out. Um we have not received any additional requests. So I do know that
there are people who have applied to the program and not been able to get in but that has >> essentially very little to do with us unfortunately. Um but we you know we did strike this new contract and work out the terms of the contract and Dr. Corbett, you had no request for additional space that I'm aware of. I
had no requests either. >> Okay, that's good to know. I don't think parents know that. Okay. >> Yeah. And again, there's there in their defense as well, there's a lot of code and compliance that they're subject to in terms of using the additional space because I know that when we extend a DBO, there was a lot that they had to jump through to meet the requirements
that they're held to. So, it may not be as simple as telling us they'd like three more classrooms, you know, and and our programs do run also at the same time as the YMCA from time to time. So there's there's um a limit to what we can offer as well to to just be fair to
them. >> Okay. Thank you. Sure. >> Thank you. Anybody from the public want to comment on administration? >> Seeing hearing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Mrs. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kuroo, >> yes. >> Ms. Mciri, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Messi, >> yes. >> Miss Richardson, >> yes. >> Miss Torren, >> yes. >> Dr. Thomasini, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to finance. Motion to approve the finance recommendations, please. >> So moved, seconded. >> Thank you. Uh myself and Miss McGiri
signed the bills yesterday and I recommend that we approve them. >> Any further board discussion? Anybody from the public like to comment on finance? Seeing and hearing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Mrs. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kuru, >> yes.
>> Ms. McGiri, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mzik, >> yes. >> Ms. Richardson. >> Yes. >> Miss Torren, >> yes. >> Dr. Thomasini, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to policy. Motion to approve the policy recommendations, please. >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Any board discussion?
>> I just take a look. I know this was a bit hard and fast with these policies. Um we're planning on meeting I think October 22nd policy committee. So if you have any thoughts or changes, certainly let us know and we'll make sure that we are able to address them for second read.
>> Excellent. Thank you. Anybody from the public want to comment on policy? Seeing and hearing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? >> Mrs. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kurley, >> yes. >> Miss McGuri, >> yes. >> Mrs. Messi, >> yes. >> Miss Richardson, >> yes. >> Miss Torren, >> yes. >> Dr. Thomas,
>> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to the second open public comment. In accordance with board policy 0167, public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a threeminut limit per member of the public. The board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as he deems appropriate. Can I please
have a motion to open to the second public comment? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Show hands, please. Would anybody from the public like to come on up? >> Hello. Uh Dylan here on Avenue. Uh just a question if we can look when we're
looking at the data from our NJLSA can we also track as we progress from sixth 7th 8th grade just in as an example if we can check to see those how those grades go from as they progress
from grades to see how they are advancing or not. Just a question to see if we can do that. So, if we could get those by cohort. >> Yes. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello. Brian Adams, co-uh, president of
the RTEA. Next week, we're hosting our first uh event for the community. Next week is Pumpkinfest. But while we were all sitting here, it's sold out. So, I was going to invite you all >> if you want to wing. I'll be able to get
you in. But, uh, Pumpkin Fest is sold out within 24 hours. >> Uh, after that, November 18th, we've got our pizza kit pickup. And then on December 11th, here at the Copeland Cafeteria, we'll be building gingerbread houses with the families. So, hope you
guys can make it. You're always invited. >> What's that last date for the gingerbread? >> 12:11. >> December 18th. >> December 18th. >> December 18th. >> December 11th. I'm sorry. December 11th. November 18th for pizza pickup. >> I never get that pumpkin thing, man. It's always good. >> It's always good.
>> Yeah, it's always good. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else? Seeing and hearing none, can I please have a motion to close to the second public comment? >> So moved. Seconded.
>> Thank you. Show hands, please. >> All right, moving on to old business. Any old business? any new business? Quiet. >> Um, I just wanted to thank the cross
country coaches. This my son, as from a parent perspective, this was his first year doing cross country and I think that the coaches put in a tremendous amount of effort to run that successfully. It's a program that allows for all students. So, they have an incredibly large number of students who
attend these meets. And I think that it's done wonders for the school community to have sporting events and I'm just really proud to now be on a parent as part of it. So thank them. >> Thank you. Awesome. Anybody else?
>> Warned Lisa. >> I said I already warned Lisa. You don't got >> She already had her worst kind of meeting. >> Yes. >> Well, being that we do not have a need to return to executive session, can I please have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Seconded.
>> Thank you. Show of hands, please. Meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m. >> Have a good night, Rocka. >> Yes, there's always you should go back over. She grabb a tray. It's a consolation.