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 Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our cor 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 Tony 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 inand 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 mro 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 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 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 and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music] 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 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 fore school 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'm 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 [Music] come so we used 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela 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 DBL yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB 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 challes my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other 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 as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the jamers keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that helped me since kindergarten 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 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 juny 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 7th grade La teacher I used to dislike like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun I think the W school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends
here and there's good teachers math e this cause 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 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 purposes as stated in the public notice seeing none all documentation 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. to 4 pm Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the referen items can I please have a motion to wave The Pledge until open session so moved seconded thank you show a hands
please if we can can we uh add Miss Richardson yes I was just going to say uh noted as as the addition of Miss Richardson as being present at 501 thank you resolved that in accordance with the open public meeting act the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in close session to discuss matters
involving Personnel litigation acquisition of real property security negotiations rece to 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 enter into closed session so much
seconded show a hands Al righty close session beginning at 5:02 [Music] p.m. beinged by so I have to go for an MRI will just suffer fine
test test test test 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 did you see d for for e e my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway
toship 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 birtu is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have intended Birchwood 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 Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody
who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and 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 inand 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 test one
two test one two test one two test one two test one two test test one
two test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two
absolutely test one two I can run through them all again like want me to run to them all again no problem test one two test one two test one
two test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two
test one two the end one pops up higher test one two want to try it again I'm GNA need your I'll you want to e 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
Birchwood 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 Tony Brook is an amazing
place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day 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 inand with our teachers but also I think for extra curricular 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 scopeland 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 [Music] 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 deire 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 ice 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'm 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 [Music] 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last
several years I am the steam teacher at copela 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 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 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 my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DBL yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DBL 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 tus CU drawing is my favorite thing what makes Deo unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each
other my name is quen 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 help 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 my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and there stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got got me to chapter books in juny 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 7th 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 [Music] 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 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 of 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 speci 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 deire is special
because we don't have walls [Music] our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students uh 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 codery amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work
here we call our our eles 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 this 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
test one two here it's not as Vivid as the others test one two test one two test one two loud and clear but it's louder than the others but sounds good yeah
test one two no problem test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two test one
two test one two test one two test one two test one two test one two yeah if you need anything let me know all
right 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 Birchwood 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 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 Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that senent our staff is second to none and 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 inand 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 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 uh 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 scopin 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 Rock Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music] 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 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 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 write first thing in the morning his head
would be down on that desk I'm 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 [Music] come so we us 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela 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 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 DB yeah my name is Reya I'm in first grade being at DB 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 takus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other 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 janers keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that help me 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 my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and there's 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 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 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 dis 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 [Music] 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 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 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 cranking you're 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 bulog 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 to buy 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 codery amongst not only the the
students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a DWI 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 the school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I 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 [Music] 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 copelan 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 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 7eventh grade La teacher I used to just like 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 over 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 [Music] please our core values are the same as Rockway 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 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 DB yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at D 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
tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio 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 dbo 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 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 you 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 juny 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 write first thing in the
morning his head would be down on that desk I'm 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 [Music] come Tony 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 and 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 inand 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 any type 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 than 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 and emotionally my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is ARA 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 help 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 cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with
the Sony Brook mentality the Sony 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 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 Birchwood 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 Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or
visit us 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 inand 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 mro 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 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 to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire 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 prechool 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 risk 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'm 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 [Music] 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela 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 DB yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and 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 cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other my name is is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help
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 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 juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day am 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 7th
grade La teacher I used to dislike 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 the
school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust [Music] 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 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 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 want 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 deire 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 codery 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 to develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at
copela 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 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 just like 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 opport to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes
scopel 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 [Music] place our core values are the same as
Rockway 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 DB yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB 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 m math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes steio 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 a 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 dbo 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 them 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 in juny 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
move 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'm 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 [Music]
come bony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us 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 inand 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 any type 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 than 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 as 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
cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony 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 Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockway 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 sonon 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 inand 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 mantro 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 connection 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 through 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 [Music]
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 DWI 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 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 see being 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 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 try 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 [Music] 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela
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 but 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 Rya I'm in first grade being at DB 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 cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes Deo unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other my name is quink k I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is ARA 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 her school nice and clean all my friends that help me S kindergarten and everybody just helps this year 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 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 juny 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 the school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and
[Music] 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 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 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 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 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 deire is special because we don't 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 codery amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a DWI 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 acceptence 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 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 [Music] 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 Copa 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 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 7eventh grade La teacher I used to just like 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 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 scopel 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 [Music]
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 being 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 dblf yeah my name is
Rea I'm in first grade being at DB 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 our class with Miss Takis cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other if I had to describe 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 faster here at dbo 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 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 and juny 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 Sport 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'm 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
[Music] Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us 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 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 any type 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 us 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 than 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 and 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 as all the teachers we have here
they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergar 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-nit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with
the Sony Brook mentality the Sony 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 Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our
core values are the same as Rockway 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 Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or
visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and 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 inand 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 study 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 scopeland 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 [Music]
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 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 Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're 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 pre school 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'm 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 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 than 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 or 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 that in the classroom and
I really believe it's because our districts Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela 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 is 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 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 DBL yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make get 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 cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes Dio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other 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 help 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 they're 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 and juny 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 7eventh 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 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 [Music] 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 Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like 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 see our doors are
always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught 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 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 deire 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 codery 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 hard 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 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 copela 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 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 7eventh grade La teacher I used to just like 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
cop 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 [Music] 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 DBL yeah my name is
Rya 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 our class with Miss tus CU drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio 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 a 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 dbo 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 activity to do and there stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny 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'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school in
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 [Music]
come Tony 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 inand 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 us 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 than 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 and 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 as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that help me since kindergarten 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-nit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony 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 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 and 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 Birchwood 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 Tony Brooke is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment
our staff is second to none and 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 inand 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 mantro 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 world the thing that
makes scopel 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 D 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 classro even right
first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm 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 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 than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as able in class as they are at home and if they're ever in trouble or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copelan 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 future 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 I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name
is Rya I'm in first grade being at DB 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 cuz drawing is my favorite good thing what makes D unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and
everyone cares about each other 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 as 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 kindergart 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 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 juny 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 dis 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
and to the school one word to describe this school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music] 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 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 is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being 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 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 T good evening Rockway Township can I please have a motion to end close session so moved second show a hands please all right can we all please uh stand for the Pledge of Allegiance okay
I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for
all thank you please in accordance with board policy 0168 unless a prior request was submitted at least 24 hours in advance of tonight's board meeting video recording of this meeting is not permitted the district does record its
meetings and such such video recording shall be made publicly available on the district website members of the public are reminded that in accordance with board policy 0167 behaviors which interrupt or otherwise interfere with the conduct of the meeting are prohibited and will not be tolerated
when making a public comment members of the public are reminded that comments deemed abusive obscene or possibly defamatory are not permitted and the board retains all right to request that any member of public lead to conclude the public comment portion of the meeting and or adjourn the
meeting if members of the public fail to observe reasonable decorum thank you sir are we uh ready for our first presentation oh we are so ready for our first presentation I I have to tell you I had a preview and you all are in for a treat
for a for a wonderful treat so did we do the pledge we did without I've been thinking about this without without further Ado we are all off to see the
[Applause] wizard just m the wires guys should we should we go over there should we stay stay here or go over
there the sides spe May [Music] [Music] St [Music] [Music]
[Music] took awitch landed on the W in the midle of a ditch [Music] let the joyous SS be spread the wicked
witch I last is dead [Music] [Music] upell [Music] s [Music]
but we have to verify it Le to see to see if she morally ethically abely and reliably dead [Music]
[Music] [Music] this is the day of independence for all munchkins and their descants all right hi everybody um so as you can see this is the fabulous cast of The Wizard of Oz for Copeland Middle School theater
company they just came from rehearsal and did that so yeah um we are having our show next week Thursday evening and Friday evening at 7 pm. and Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. tickets are on sale right now on the Rockaway Township
website so please please please get your tickets it's going to sell out fast we have one more song for you and then we'll be out of here so take away five and [Music] [Music] [Music]
a heart a home [Music] [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] thank [Applause]
[Music] you thank you so see you next week if that doesn't bring a smile to your face I don't know what will were and you know we're so proud of so
much uh that Rockway Township Schools does with the help of the whole staff students the parents uh and one of the one of the points of pride in the district is the performance performing arts and this is one reason why the Performing Arts they do so well year after year and this is my third year
here so of course they go have been to all the shows but this board meeting is very special because it's when they come out give a little preview to the community of what to expect and it always brings a smile to my face it really is it's a great show so thank you I hope you attend the uh The Wizard of
Oz you won't regret it shall we go on yes please sir we should yes because we have more to do tonight I would would like to invite uh the president the president no the
principal the CEO of Stony Brook to come forward because he has some very special students that he would like to recognize tonight all right thank you Dr Corbin can I I could spin this right yes all right yeah now I could see who I'm
talking to all right as president of Stony Brook I'm only kidding all right first of all I'd like to thank uh the Board of Education Dr Corbett for having us here tonight to recognize really a tremendous group of kids our fourth and fifth grade student council at Stony Brook you know their dedication their
leadership and commitment to their peers in the school Community uh has truly been extraordinary and we are so proud of the work that they do uh they've done and continue to do so over the course of the school year of you know they've accomplished so much and they have
LED some outstanding initiatives uh you know that have really had again had an impact on our school and this and the Bro School community and uh you know from organizing fundraises for local charities to planning events that just bring the kids together their their peers together um you know their
dedication and service to school spirit has truly been commendable and they've worked so hard to make a difference and their efforts have not gone uh gone unnoticed so before we continue if we could just have a round of applause for for our fourth and fifth grade student council
members and of course this group would not nearly be as successful uh without the exceptional guidance uh from one of our teachers Miss cheryan petus her dedication and passion we'll get to the Applause we're going to get there uh but well her dedication and passion for
leading our student council truly make all the difference and we are so grateful for Miss Pettis and her hard work so now if we could have a round of applause for Mich Sherin Pettis and I'm going to invite her to come up real quick yeah and well everybody watch Miss per I'm only kid um uh you know she's
just going to say a few words and then uh we're going to call up our uh student council members one at a time we'll give them a certificate and then we'll take a nice group picture thank you thanks Steve so the student council at Stony Brook School is less than two years Young
yes it's only our second year in existence and I have to say the children that you are about to meet and that we are going to celebrate have proven to be a force in the field of philanthropy they often keep me in line as I see them in the Halls every day asking when is
our next meeting when can we run our fundraiser when are we collecting the next items for those in need um our mentality at Stonybrook is not only collecting though it's more important to know where what we collect actually goes
last year we began a stuff the bus campaign where we collected food from all of our grade levels each grade level was assigned a different food and we stuffed a bus an actual school bus and these children delivered the food to the food pantry they helped stock the
shelves and we were even fortunate enough to meet some of the families benefiting from all that we had collected it was nice for our children to realize that the world is a lot bigger than just Stony Brook Elementary School this year we were fortunate enough to partner with the PTA and The
Giving Tree and we did the exact same thing thing we collected gifts we helped organize them and then we also brought them to a collection site yes we boarded another bus collected gifts and we delivered them they saw the collection
site the ladies who selflessly gave their time to organize and assist additional families to make their holidays even more special this year we are also going to reinstitute the recycling Club we are going to help manage the peace
stations at recess and I have to say finally kudos to the group of young people I'm about to call up because these young boys and girls have taught us what true leadership really looks like and that is leading with kindness each and every day so without further
Ado I'm going to start with fourth grade and we'll work our way down um in alphabetical order we have two Cassies so we're going to start with Mr Colton Cassidy why stop with one Cassidy when you can have two kayy Cassidy come on
down Liliana sapio Zoe Tupper Jose Vargas and Emmy [Music] wear now for our fifth graders remember these names ladies and gentlemen they
one day will be leading Aubrey Bradley oh Yasmin Adam Finn Clark Anna pharoh Emily manger and Alexander radic
[Applause] con [Applause]
sir if you would please well I think they did such a great job we're so proud of all our students the least we can do is serve them some cookies and we have delicious cookies so with the permission of Dr tomasini please uh maybe take a 10-minute break to devour some cookies
okay and every student is expected to eat at least 10 cookies at least 10 cookies thank you very [Applause] much 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 and 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
Birchwood 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 Tony Brook is an amazing
place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and 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 inand 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 cop middle school is 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 deire 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 write first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for educ ation 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 [Music] 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 than 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 or 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 onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copelan 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 Mari yeah 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 DB yeah my name is Reya I'm in first grade being at DB 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 cuz I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss takus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes
deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other 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 jamers keep our school nice and clean all my friends that helped me since kinder G 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 teacher 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 stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and Jun 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 7eventh 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 there's going to be public discussion 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 that take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on
the agenda Andor 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 a response will 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 responsibil 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 3 minute 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 thank you second show our hands please all right is there anybody that
would like to come up for first public comment absolutely you can come right up to the uh the podium your name and address please uh excuse me one second just to be mindful we are going to be adhering to the three minutes okay that's fine thank
you my name is Karen Casper k a r i n k a s p r i live at two Rolling Ridge Drive in Rockway Township my son went through the Rockway Township Schools first through 8th grade and graduated from Morris nlls last year
he received an excellent education in this District the teachers here are topnotch I am a Rockway res president and I work in a different School District I have worked in the public schools in this state for 30 years very few things are cut and dried when one works with people under the age
of 18 but one of these things is this one students should never know the religious or political affiliation of their Educators by dressing as the current president on dress like your hero day therefore declaring Donald Trump is hero the principal of DWI Elementary School
declared his political Viewpoint to the entire School DWI is the location for the program for English language Learners AKA immigrants in this district and I cannot imagine how worried they and their families must be knowing now that their building principle aligns
himself with a man who wants them all deported a student who is scared to come to school is emotionally unavailable for optimal learning I think everyone in this room understands the importance of Education particularly the vulnerable early years of life I know we all
understand fear and how how it affects human response at the very least the principal owes the entire District a true apology not just the non-apology apology letter he sent out to the school families and the districts that investigate to make sure he has not acted in other ways or
said other things that made his students and their families feel unsafe furthermore I am requesting the board add language into administrator contracts forbidding anything relating to their personal Politics on school grounds thank you for your time
thank you good evening president and superintendent board members my name is Bob Norton I live at 53 cuga Avenue and I support Mr McGovern thank you all good evening uh hi my name is
Joseph stales I've been a resident of Rockway it for 26 years I five Stanley terrrace um the reason I'm it's not a political issue as far as I'm concerned uh I just wanted to find out some more
information about the referendum the $95 million referendum to build a new preschool behind dbo you know and um you know if that's the if that's the I understand that that's an ongoing thing that the board is looking into and as a
senior citizen you know it's something you know obviously in New Jersey you know the property taxes are through the roof already and and since I've been at this house U my taxes have gone up over about $88,000 in the 26 years so adding
another $500 or $800 to my tax bill is not something that I'm really looking forward to and I'm sure many of the township people would you know like to consider consider that not obviously it's going to be a referendum people vote on but but just wanted to know what
the current status is if if there's information on on what the blueprints are going to look like because our property is like right adjacent to it so we want to know like if there's going to be a huge field with more lights because we're right off of Peterson Field and when that thing was updated you know
every Friday night it's like Friday Night Football it's like right in my living room so uh you know I don't appreciate that sir if you uh sure you know thank you for that comment uh regarding the referendum so everyone knows uh we um
and there was a misprint in the paper unfortunately which we we called the paper uh as soon as we found out to try to provide a correction to that the referendum right now is on hold we don't know what we're doing with the referendum right we had some initial
plans but we ran into some to some significant impediments from the Department of Environmental Protection which prevented us from uh pursuing those plans so right now we have some um we have our engineers and our Architects looking at options so the board hasn't
even considered Alternatives yet so but thank you for your comment and I will tell you this that the board will do and I will do the best we can to keep the community updated regarding the progress because we want to hear from you we want to hear from those who support the
referendum and we want to hear from those who have questions and concerns regarding the referendum we do we sincerely want to hear from you okay so thank you for the comment thank you how you doing good evening my name is Anthony venancio uh I live at 410
Mineral Springs so my house I come in the same concern my house is the direct neighbor to the property that's owned by the school that they're digging a building along the back I I obviously I do have a couple concerns about it uh privacy reasons why right now I got the
mini forest in the back but assuming they're going to put a road riding through my backyard I just want to know you know when those plans start to get the developed if they're going to take into consideration you know the noise and the view and what the blueprint is looking like um but uh to that point I
got a growing family I just bought the house about two and a half years ago I got a kindergartener and a fifth grader and we're working on our third child so for the better part of 20 years my kids probably be going to Rocka away Township Schools I don't have a sidewalk uh on my
block I know this might not be immediately of something that the board can do but in regards to the buses um when I bought the house from a gentleman named Scott he raised his kids there as well and he always had issues with the buses whether when they went to Copeland
or NOS um because that's a dead end and Dennis B O'Brien is there um and even with my kids right they can't walk to school even though it's right there in the corner they can't meet the bus in the corner because there is no sidewalk sometimes my fifth grader asks if he can
go to Peterson Park on his bike to meet up with his friends and is uncomfortable for me uh because there is no way for pedestrians to commute so I just wanted to bring up that topic and if there's any suggestions on how I can follow up on that
matter appreciate if I could Dr Corbett um so you can you can absolutely follow up on the concern um I supervise the transportation department we have a supervisor of Transportation her name is Nancy beerme her uh information is on the district website um as is mine um
I'm Megan SL on the business administrator if you send an email to Nancy and copy me um with your concerns we'll definitely review the Stop and I'll see if there's anything we can do for you yes absolutely okay that sounds good I'll be waiting for it thank
you good evening everyone um my name is Vanessa colon and I live at uh five white Meadow Road I have owned a home in Rockway for the last four years and I have been a teacher of multilingual Learners English language Learners not in this district for the last 22 years I
come here tonight in support of the multilingual families and students in this District I don't come here to attack anyone's character I came here to speak about specific behavior I came here to express my disapproval of Mr um Michael McGovern
for wearing a magga hat during school hours and inside a public school I think this showed a huge lack of judgment on his part and as a leader of a school where all the multilingual Learners are housed this was not a good choice as a teacher for the last 22 years I have
been very mindful about the words that I use and even the clothing that I use in front of my students um the current immigration policies have greatly affected the families and students that I work with students and these are the same students that attend um D school
students have reacted with fear during planned uh fire drills scared about who's coming to school when they hear the sirens and this is something I have lived and I have seen firsthand parents have asked me whether it is safe to send their their children to school so I've
had to reassure them that it it is safe that that we're there to take care of them students have expressed fear about their parents not returning home after school these are their words these are the responses I have received from students affected from the immigration policies by your current uh
president these students show no enthusiasm uh by the immigration policies um by having their teachers or principles dress or like Trump as our hero for one day so yes having the principle of a school that Services the bilingual population of Rockaway where a
a Maga hat it is not acceptable this Maga hat is very divisive symbol at this point and it has no place in a public school this is not an example putting the social and emotional well-being of All Children First I read the statement that Mr McGovern
put out after this incident and I was very surprised there was no apology this was not fun in games an apology can really go a long way again sometimes just a a validation of how people feel about
it I'm pretty sure Mr BN is a very good friend and a me a good member of this community I don't doubt that that is not in question today I wish people could understand that you could support and like a person and still disapprove of their
behavior our loyalties I think are very misplaced we need to pledge our loyalty and support to Great Schools our loyalty and support to great teaching our loyalty and support to the children
and not to individuals because this person is someone I like because this person is someone my friend he can't get away with just everything uh so as a teacher and a member of this committee I'm requesting I'm going to have to ask you thank you thank you all right Dana tabella 31 Omaha Avenue I'm
here to support Mr McGovern thank you thank you hello um my name's Addison stas and I'm a junior at Morris NES high school and I also went to Copeland middle school and I went to dwire as well and
I'm here to express my disappointment as a student with principal McGovern dressing up as Donald Trump for this celebrity day and despite whatever his intentions were even if he didn't mean any harm it raises significant concerns
about political neutrality and inclusivity within our schools in regards to DWI being an elementary school young children are still forming their perspectives on the world and the behavior of Administrators significantly influences that as they are Role Models
these children look up to when a principal dresses up as a political figure especially one as polarizing as Donald Trump it can send unintended messages to students parents and staff that the school aligns with a particular political ideology educational
environments should be a place where all students and employees feel welcome a principal dressing up as a political leader can be viewed as endorsement possibly leading students to feel alienated as mentioned before as well as teachers who have different beliefs which inadvertently divides the
educational Community Schools have a responsibility been negatively affected by policies associated with Trump seeing their principal dressed as him could make them feel unwelcome or even unsafe at school for example students with immigrant families children of diverse
racial and religious backgrounds or those with lgbtq plus me family members May associate the figure with experiences of exclusion and fear school should be a place where all children Fe feel seen and supported not where they
are reminded of political divisions beyond their control it was extremely inappropriate and unacceptable that principal McGovern thought that this to be acceptable as all staff members have a responsibility to remain neutral and ensure that every child feels valued
safe and respected thank you thank you hi I'm Jason Warner uh six commande Avenue I'm here to express my support for Mr McGovern and frankly I don't really understand what these people are talking about the idea that it's
divisive to support the the the sitting president of your country he's not running for president he is the president it was President's Day a day we honor presidents and and he honored our president and the idea
that that is a problem because people if there's a re I'm sympathetic to people's concerns and I understand some people are in difficult predicaments but if you're worried about the the legal status of your immigration that's because you're here
illegally the idea that him dressing like that okay excuse me I'm going to ask the public to refrain from comments the public from refining to responding it's a you can gr all you want the fact is we are not kicking citizens real quick just when you when you comment make sure to comment in this direction
I'm going to ask I understand and I'm I'm going to address that in a second I'm going to ask the public to please this is a an opportunity the gentleman is up here he has the opportunity to speak however he wants to to the board so let's just make sure that we maintain dequorum for what he has to say he's speaking to the board with his open
comment please continue people can Gran all they want what I'm saying is objectively true we are not kicking out citizens in this country if you're afraid it's because you came to this country illegally the idea that someone should should lose their right to support the president because it might
offend somebody who's in this country illegally is absurd it's absurd that we would find offense in the idea of supporting your country or your president is something that we see as divisive that is the division that is the divisiveness is the fact that you
cannot tolerate the fact that anybody supports something that you disagree with that's the division people have the right to support the president of this country especially on President's Day and the idea that we should be putting the concerns of people who have broken
the law over the over the rights of Americans is insane and we need to stop this and it needs to be called out the way I'm calling it out not not acting like this makes sense it does not supporting your president is not a divisive issue
except for the fact that you folks are making it a divisive issue thank [Applause] you good evening April Peto I live at 14 dudak Road I just am here to express my
support of principal McGovern and his freedom of speech thank you thank you Michelle Danza 50 deota Avenue I'm here to support Mike McGovern he was the first principal 23 years ago that my son
and these people should be aware more aware of the safety of this District because of him and all that he's put into it thank [Applause] you hi uh Megan nav 159 Valley View
Drive last September I read about the upcoming referendum I signed up for the referendum newsletter via the district website since then I've only received one newsletter containing a link to the frequently asked questions section of on the website no districtwide email was
sent about the postponement newsletter subscribers did not receive notice about the postponement on Monday the superintendent sent a districtwide email instructing the public to check the website for the most upto-date information okay so what's on the
website on Monday morning it did claim the referendum vote was on March 11th and contain the frequently asked questions section they have both been deleted also missing from the website is a breakdown of how the 95 million will be
spent and what projects are prioritized there is a list of current challenges but no indication of how the 95 million will fix them there's no Capital Improvement plan in the most recent budget the budget being proposed tonight is not on the website though
some details about withdrawals from the capital reserve and maintenance re uh research for improvements are on the agenda it's even difficult to learn from the website how much the referendum will cost there is the December statement from the postponement though I failed to
understand why the D is holding the Kindergarten Center breaks down the entire $95 million referendum and stops IT the statement goes into greater detail on Indiana bats than it does the scope of the referendum these actions do not Inspire
confidence especially when you're asking for $95 million earli this week new North Brunswick had a pair of referendum for $5 52 And1 million Menville for $8 million and Somerville for a pair of 23
and $20 million referendums it begs the question why does Rockaway needs so much more and all at once the district website has no answers at this moment I plan to vote no perhaps the district can use its tools it has it its disposal to
change my mind prot to continue to ask taxpayers to jump through hoops to understand the proposal thank you thank you uh good evening my name is Fallon coner I live at 33 William Street um I
Echo the sentiments of many uh people who have already spoken so I won't be redundant uh the one thing that I haven't heard anyone talk about is the future uh to me this is not a political issue um the hat to me was not a
political it was a political choice but it was a policy issue for me uh the lack of clarity regarding whether or not this Choice uh was against policy I think is
something that we can work towards clarifying in the future um there's obviously a lot of people here tonight on both sides of the issue and hopefully moving forward we can
clarify uh develop Etc a policy that will allow for this not to occur in the future and possibly would have deterred uh this person from making the choice
that they did um I know if a teacher made this Choice uh the result I believe would have been quite different so the best thing that we can do is not Look Backwards but look forwards and try to protect the students of tomorrow so
thank you thank you Stacy Greg uh Sunrise Road in Wharton I am here tonight because I was the person that was at the council meeting that spoke up regarding what transpired um with the principal at
Katherine DWI Elementary School um his apology letter for his action was not an apology letter at the minimum we need an a true apology not blaming it on the children which to me is downright creepy and
insincere um I know over 800 people called for his immediate dismissal we're not getting anything I'm not here officially saying I want him fired but I want an explanation I want an apology from him that's a true apology and it won't happen again and it
was and that he used poor judgment um as well as from the superintendent he did a coverup letter it it wasn't a matter of um saying no it's inappropriate and it shouldn't happen again what's to stop this from happening across the country
you know I've had a lot of attacks on me I wasn't going to come tonight um I was advised not to because of the threat to My Life um saying that they're going to come to my blog and teach me old school I don't know what that means to you
doesn't sound good I'll have to have that police ask that person what they meant by that um but the red hat is a symbol of racism around the country around the world and bullying
and you as not the same board members that are here now but you know well at $9.1 million we're bullying leads and it's unacceptable and I'm not saying he's a nice man he's not a fireman it's none of that when you get to the point where you
don't know right from wrong and you then try to blame it on the children it's really time for you to be evaluated and it's the HR decision it's not the community no matter how we feel but we do deserve some explanation of why it happened and an assurance that it will not happen again politics does not
belong in our grade school or anywhere in in a in a school setting so so um with that I just want to say thank you for your service speaking of which it's supposed to be someone who's a celebrity that you
honor this is somebody who is taking dollars away from vets and taking away from education um it is political and you're foolish to say anything but it was a political statement which leads to more problems if you can't admit what it was
it was a political statement and the children should not know his political stance thank you thank you Denise Johnson 10 Marvin Street and I support Michael mcguin thank you it's Anna marce zinsky one Lake
Shore Drive I support Mr mgan and you know what I resented being called a little white girl the other day at the council meeting just hang thank [Music] you
out uh hanana Shapiro 11 St Bernard Ro hello everyone uh I'm here to support the principal and I hear a lot of talking races uh discrimination I'm a first generation
immigrant here proudly have two boys I'm a mom resident of Rockaway Township so I it's very sad honestly that we are talking about a principal who dressed up
like us our PR our president who is Donald J Trump we like it or not he's our President we do have to respect that if you don't like I can give you my perubian residency or citizenship and come back
in four years simple this country is the best if you don't appreciate anything what this country give you you are lost you shouldn't be teaching you should been
speaking because you're going to teach your kids to be lost I honestly if if somebody tell me look hanana I want to like go another country because I hate the president all
right I help you I even can offer to pay one weight ticket and don't come back simple I'm a first generation immigrant here and I have the right to speak up freedom to speak up okay and I'm a
taxpayer as well and I don't know if people don't live here in this town shouldn't be speaking because they don't have the right to speak up please refrain from comments in the public thank you I'm sorry but we speak English here
thank [Applause] you Rebecca Vel I'm at 67 Circle Drive thank you for letting it go longer than 15 minutes appreciate that good evening everybody
for those who may not know me I am currently in my seventh year as a parent in the DWI School community and my fourth as the president of the DWI PTA I have been and continue to be very fortunate to work with and know
principal McGovern um I recently emailed Dr Corbett and this board when this dress up day issue initially came to light and told myself I would only get up and address uh you tonight if I felt like it was necessary so here we are
um the hat and slogan are triggering to many people and that's understandable um I certainly see it it's okay for people in the D community that have come to know him to feel conflicted at seeing him wear it
it's okay for other people in the DWI Community who share those ideals to be excited to see it our DWI family is made up of a very diverse collection of cultures ideologies fabrics and economic backgrounds as far as I know that is something that most of us are proud of
and I believe Mike is especially so anyone who questions his intentions or actions for every individual beautifully diverse member of our community our school Community plainly and simply does not know him and possibly is willfully
choosing to ignore the fact that it was not politically motivated however misguided there's absolutely no question in my mind that m McGovern would do anything in his power and would do everything to push his capabilities to make miracles happen to ensure the
health safety and happiness of every single student in his care he would literally go back excuse me he would literally go back into a burning home to save many personal
keepsakes as possible for his DWI family which he did he would check on a family afraid to leave their own home for fear of being deported which he did and I understand that that seems at odds with what's happening right now but it is the
truth and something that people should know and he would probably kill me if he knew that I said that he would consistently and selflessly deflect any attempt to receive praise or favor and insist with every fiber of his being that the love be shared with his staff
instead we all have a choice in what we do now with this information what do we want to see happen I genuinely encourage anyone that continues to have strong feelings on this matter to honestly answer this question for themselves but when you do bear in mind his Decades of hard work
and dedication to education and the overwhelmingly selfless and empathetic approach to inclusivity and kindness reflected in his character that's three minutes I just I have one more sentence man he is a beloved member of our community and firm but Fair leader and
the vast majority of the students in our school adore him please consider how selfless caring and protective a leader Mike mcgoverin is and know that I stand by him even when we may not agree thank you thank you good evening I'm Megan o Conor 64
Erie Avenue and I also fully support the principal and I fully support our first amendment we have to fight for those rights I'm here tonight to talk about the referendum specifically the communications surrounding the
referendum uh like what some people said uh I do have concerns about the troubling Communications for instance that newsletter I I've actually signed up for it and I've signed up for it others I know have and we've never received any
newsletter also on February the 23rd I did send to the board an email questioning that if in fact there is a 42% increase in student enrollment I have the numbers from the Board of Education indicating that there is not a
42% increase and regardless of what side you are on for the referendum the taxpayers the good people of Rockaway deserve to have the right facts in front of them to make an informed decision also I sent to the
superintendent and I was actually told on November the 14th to send my questions of which I had had about five of them concerning the referendum I sent those and I still have yet to see a response now I know it is the board's
prerogative not to answer people's concerns but just know this it does work both ways uh I am absolutely not going to vote for any of you that voted to send these plans to the state it's We
the People for a reason thank you hi my name is Clint Peter uh 127 white meow Road a third generation Rockway resident I wasn't even here to speak about the principle of DWI but um
as the lady just said the first amendment is empirical and should not be infringed um I am also um Puerto Rican uh regular Spanish and of African descent so I'm not a racist um anybody
has the freedom to express whatever president they like regardless of somebody being afraid of them or somebody uh not agreeing with their politics um we have that beauty because this is America we can agree to disagree and at the end of the day um somebody
who was actually of um American descent uh Winston Churchill said we have nothing to fear except fear itself so if children are afraid because somebody is representing the president of the United States it's the parents and their relatives responsibility to make sure that they're mentally strengthened to
not be afraid of a sitting president or anyone in life fear will stop you from being successful Fe will stop you from living to your potential um and another great man once said um he who is without sin cast the first stone so there's
something to be said about that uh in regards to the referendum um I don't see the the logic or rationale to put another gymnasium on this building two should be enough 20 years ago when they put the annex on there they should have thought about extending it properly
um in regards to the other citizens with the uh location of the annex for dbo I believe there should be sufficient amount of land um off of uh dbom Fleetwood I know the town owns that so maybe that should be taken in excuse me Tak into consideration um but at the end
of the day uh I keep getting letters in that our water's not drinkable so I think we should be focusing on that first thank you thank [Applause] you Kelly cman six kamanche Rockway New
Jersey I just wanted to say that um I support Michael McGovern I was a fam the family member that had a house fire and he was there to not only support our family but to collect personal items for us he goes above and
beyond for his for the community for our school um I have no doubt that he cares sincerely about each and every child at our school um he has personally done lots of
things for very different very for very many families um I'm personally so very thankful for him and how um how much he has meant to my kids as
they have grown up through the dwire school also DWI is one of very few in the state to be a blue ribbon distinguished school and a lot of that has to do with Michael McGovern and the hard work and dedication that he has done for his staff and the students
thank you thank [Applause] you good even evening everybody John kigo 24 Taylor toown Road monville I have been an educator in New Jersey for 16
years and in the school district where I work we have been told time and time again that we don't have those First Amendment rights as far as political actions go we cannot show up to work with political Garb on political
gear this is a policy regardless Republican Democrat independent I cannot as a teacher wear that to school and I love Mr McGovern he is a wonderful man my my boys went to
dwire he is a wonderful principal he just made a poor choice we all make poor choices I am wondering if our schools have a similar policy about political wear for educators political aware for
administrators I think we do and I'm wondering if we can clarify that for everybody in this room tonight and for our community so that everybody can understand that Educators and administrators and people that work in public schools do not share the same First Amendment rights as far as
political uh where it goes as everybody else does thank [Applause] you my name is Edward jetti uh I came to uh 36 I 3 6 West Main Street Rockway bur I did grow up in Rockway Township Lake
TM Mar came to Copeland and went to NS went into the military and here I am now listening to all of this and I just hope that the board could actually look up
right now and read some of these tiles that obviously were made by children okay and just because I'm wearing this hat or my govern worn a hat just say yes you can you are not alone Be
Kind he didn't heard nobody other than some people's feelings if you want to say they did but you don't know his affiliation if he even voted for Trump or nothing he didn't hurt no kids the only thoughts in those children's mind were put there because
they're there because that's the way they were raised and they think they're scared because that's what they're taught to be scared nobody touched the Boiling Pot of water on a stove right your parents told you don't
touch it because it was boiling water right it was hot so as a kid you would go and try to touch it though right because you didn't know any better so the kids know better I thought jumping off a cliff and diving into the water in
uh Split Rock Reservoir was smart like didn't know I could break my neck until my buddy broke his leg in his hip we just did it until all of a sudden that happened and it never happened again now I'm not saying that that is an example technically of what Mr McGovern did but
if you look at these smile be kind I'm sure I have never seen Mr McGovern and heard other stories that he was not anything but what these tiles are saying and that's all I have to say thank you
[Applause] hello I'm Franchesca nordon from 53 Kuka Avenue and I'm here to support Mr McGovern based on his first amendment rights and I um also am a person who always gives you guys information about
in Services about human trafficking awareness and I have some brochures from the agency that I send you the information for thank you thank you [Applause] hi uh Mary Dunn 95 Oakland AV hello
everybody um I wasn't planning to come up here so I just want to say first and foremost I support Mr McGovern I drove a school bus years ago and of all the schools I drove um and
all the teachers and faculty that came outside he was the one that the kids just I want to say mag you know like they just went to him they got off the bus they went to him and and coming out
of school he'd he'd have to say to them come on come on don't miss your bus get on the bus and it was always the side five or the they just loved him and I I just for the life of me cannot imagine that the kids that go to that school
could could possibly have been offended or or felt any kind of threat by a hat um I mean I you listen it's a sad State we're living in right now with the conflict among and between even our
neighbors you know it's unfortunate um but you know and I guess nobody said it so this is what made me come up here my understanding is that he did not wear a president Trump outfit he wore an
outfit that supported his his uh celebrity I I believe it was the celebrity which was the Rangers which is happened to be right the blue suit and the red tie and at some point and maybe it was just for
that convenient photograph maybe it was just for that photograph that he had a hat on so I think it's been misconstrued or misunder understood what really took place and and and you know maybe I don't have it all right either but I do know
that I had seen that that was not his costume for the day so um he's a good man he's a good man my kids did not go there but but I know my nieces went there um they loved him and and the Blue
Ribbon School one of eight I believe in New Jersey one of eight and I'm sure that's because of him so thank you thank you hi I was not planning on standing up but I'm Devon Maloney 33 Williams Street I stand here as a mother of two in in
Rockaway township and I don't have qu kids at dwire um I have several friends that I've spoken to who have spoke in support of of the principal I I believe them I believe the PTA president I believe the people behind me that have
spoken up and support I I he is a principal in my town I support him but I also support policy and I also support taking ownership when we make a mistake and the apology that he sent the apology I'm sorry I'm not even going to call an
apology the note that was sent and somehow approved to be sent not only took no ownership but it alluded to the fact that the students were the reason behind the decision- making and that's where the line has to be drawn and somebody
earlier tonight said he didn't hurt anybody except for some people's feelings you're right he hurt a lot of people's feelings and that's enough as an administrator as an adult as somebody who's looking out for the well-being of
students that should be enough to apologize that's all thank you thank you the excuse me if you need to speak you're gonna have to come up to the microphone thank you policy as far as politics and what
teachers and administrators could wear do you have a policy Dr Corbett is there well I'm not going to get specifics now regarding the policy I'm not going and I'm not going to talk about this incident specifically I don't want the inent I'm not going to talk about the policy I'm not all by the
way all our policies are online so you can go to the website you go to the website and you look at the policy but I can't sit here because I don't have the policy in front of me so it' be very foolish for me to quote a policy or misquote a policy for the record excuse me sir I apologize but you you can't
this isn't a back and forth uh the superintendent is providing his response and that is all that we have is but thank you hello my name is Kurt kada I live at 99 Mount Hope Road here in Rockaway uh i' just like to say that even if this was a
joke it was an extremely poor taste um I'm glad that the school board at least addressed it in some way but both response from Mr McGovern and the superintendent was the response was bad it was really bad um I do think that they need to set down some rules to make sure stuff like this does not happen
again because all it did was cause completely needless needless cont controversy uh thank you thank you hey me again uh Fallen Conger 33 William Street uh I'm going to be really vulnerable right now because I think it's really important for some of the
people here to understand that that hat scares me so it's not just kids and it's not just parents responsibility I am a parent that's and that Hadar me okay we're we're going to we're going to go ahead there with uh it's not again it's
not a back and forth It's you get one opportunity to be able to come forward and speak to the uh to the board but thank you for your comment uh seeing nobody else can I please have a motion to close the public comment so moved second thank you show a
hands so just to acknowledge uh we as the board of education do appreciate the public feedback uh if you look on the clock up there we went approximately 50 50 minutes although we say only 15 we do want to hear from the community we are open to feedback uh and and hearing from you uh but at the same time we also have
uh continued business that we have here so there will be another opportunity for public comment afterwards uh but for the time being that'll be the end of public comment and if I might uh yes Dr Corbett Please Mr President so regarding the majority of the comments that people
made the board you should know this the board is legally prohibited from publicly discussing Personnel matters regarding this particular issue the matter has been addressed internally and no further information will or can be provided I also want to make a comment
about the referendum newsletter because I think a few people mentioned that and I can tell you and I want everyone to understand that this board and the Public Relations Committee is determined to be as transparent as possible
regarding the referendum we apologize for the lack of a newsletter however please understand the intention was to publish a newsletter we had we did not anticipate that the breaks uh on this referendum would be thrown on and would be stopped in its tracks as it was so
the intention to um provide a a newsletter we you know we never did that because there was nothing to provide there was no information to provide the referendum had to stop because of the um indications from the D when we have information to provide we will provide
it it as soon as we can thank you Dr Corbett all right so moving on to section one Communications do we have any additional Communications yes we have two additional Communications that not meet the cut off for the agenda um one entitled pruna um from a Jennifer
Hernandez um and then another titled appropriate touching in RT schools from uh Miss April Mata thank you very much appreciate it uh moving on to section two approval of the minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes pleas so move seconded thank you can I please
have a roll call Vote Yes sorry um Mrs Anderson yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson yes Miss Tor yes Dr Thomas cini yes motion carries thank you uh
next up section three superintendent report Dr Corbett please uh thank you Dr Thomas cini um I'd like to begin by just indicating what the current investigations are regarding hibs currently under investigation there are
20 hivs of the 20 hivs 11 were substantiated and I will also repeat and recognize um the wonderful job that the cpal Middle School theater company did and I appreciate their commitment to Excellence in the Performing Arts and this evening's brief performance is only
a sample of the extraordinary Talent on display so I encourage our community to attend the full show on March 20th 21st and 22nd I'm grateful to our student performers for visiting elementary schools who Inspire the next generation of thespians yesterday they visited the
Rockway Township Library during Story Time and mesmerized Their audience all this would be not be possible without a faculty dedicated to the Performing Arts this includes miss brandler miss gorb miss spots and Mr
Depot the academy night that was held on uh Monday last Monday at 6:30 p.m. at culpen was a makeup for the original date which was February 6th and that was rescheduled due to a snow day the theme was reading rocks grades 3 through five
magnetic reading and balanced literacy although the turnout was light the feedback was very positive I look forward to the PTA um general assembly and meeting all the representatives which is scheduled for March 24th at 6:00 p.m.
as I will report shortly Anika maros REI an author who recently visited our students around the district shared her love of writing she will be featured during our family author night which is scheduled for 6:30 pm on March 13th here in Copeland this
is a wonderful opportunity to connect with an inspiring author and Foster a love of Reading Writing and learning the evening will be will include giveaways and Raffles for students and uh if you can r VP that would certainly be appreciated the March CPAC meeting will
be held on March 18th here at Copeland Middle School in the library Miss Fuso one of our social workers will deliver the topic supporting students with ADHD once again we are grateful to the lake aacan Elks for their very generous
donation of $1,000 to support our special education programs here in the township and some good news from our schools um as I mentioned The Wizard of Oz made their way around the district and they performed also at Copeland Middle School the Birchwood students
love their performance particularly enjoying enjoying the singing and dancing additionally during read Across America these students participated in several exciting activities including dress up spirit days focusing on celebrating and promoting the joys of reading and book expiration a standout moment of the
month was a visitor from Anika moros rissi her presence gave students a unique opportunity to interact with a p uh published award-winning author Explore her books and encourage enthusiasm for reading and writing the birwood student council also played a
significant role in community engagement by organizing a successful diaper collection to support the north portrait organization as the month draws to a close students and teachers are preparing for the cognitive abilities test a standardized test that measures
students reasoning skills in three areas verbal quantitative and and non-verbal it will take place at the end of the month meanwhile students and staff at dwire are prepar preparing for the world class instructional design and assessment also known as Widow this test
is used to establish the language proficiency of our multi- language learn students in four areas speaking listening writing and reading students have worked hard this year on their skills and we expect very positive results third grade conducted a wax museum for the school by dressing up in
character based based on character biographies they presented to both students and parents from a first-person perspective their speaking skills and their efforts in costumes were impressive the talent show was also a huge success students demonstrated an
array of skills from Comedy to Classic Piano KDM teachers met with response to intervention teams to review student progress and promote academic growth read Across America was celebrated with the spirit with with the spirit week and a fun twist the mass read challenge
students were challenged to guess who was behind the mask as faculty and staff read books on a special daily video the CSUS County miners Reading Club visited with students along with Anika moros reesi who also shared her enthusiasm for
writing the KDM PTA hosted a soldout family reading night bringing together families for a fun night of literacy on March 7th the TS after school program hosted a Marketplace showcasing 27 student entrepreneurs it was a huge success with many budding
business Moguls selling their products we're grateful to the Rockaway Township Education Foundation for the generous support of the program students were entertained by cms's Wizard of Oz presentation and look forward to their Premiere later this month also occurring
at the end of March is KDM Rodeo talent show where students will demonstrate the multifarious talents Sony Brook's continued focus on reading included a visit from author Anika moros reesi for a wonderful
assembly where she inspired students and shared her experiences as a children's book author she spoke about the writing process the importance of creativity and the joys of Storytelling leaving students eager to explore their writing potential the readathon concluded successfully showcasing the dedication
of the school Community students showed enthusiasm along loging many minutes of reading and embracing the joy of books their commitment to literacy was inspiring and the event success would not have been possible without the support families teachers and staff in addition several fun events were held
over uh were held over the past few weeks including a successful Candy Bar Bingo night and the fifth grade Amazing Race looking ahead the ston brook talent show on March 28th promised to be an exciting Showcase of student Talent with
a variety of performances uh sure to make it a fun and memorable event over the past month dbo continued its efforts to Foster student student engagement and Community connections small group conversations led by preventionist key provided third
fourth and fifth graders with meaningful opportunities for discussion and personal growth dvo also participated in acts of kindness week encouraging students to spread positivity through thoughtful gestures and community building activities as part of read
Across America dbo welcome the Morris NS Varsity Club who read to students and help promote a love of Storytelling a mar Madness reading challenge was initiated to inspire students to explore new books and develop strong reading habits the PTA also hosted their annual
book fair as well as a literacy night which was held on March 6th committed to building our community Brick by Brick copelan is proud to announce the addition of two new exciting student-based activities Unified sports and lead for change
dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared Sports Experience uh shared Sports training and competition experiences Unified sports joins people with and without disabilities on the same team the Copeland Unified sports club meets
weekly in Basset Hall after school where students athletes engage in various Sports and activities under the supervision of our Unified sports coaches lead for change is a volunteer leadership based experience where students work towards meaningful change in their school Community while developing self-awareness teamwork
problem solving skills and both programs are off to a great start that is my report thank you thank you Dr Corin moving on to section four Business ministrators Report Miss Slam please thank you Mr President I have a little bit longer of a report than I usually do
um I'm going to cover three different topics um the first of which uh is going to be a statement in response to one of the questions that was asked regarding the referendum at last meeting was asked again this evening um so uh at our last board meeting a member of the public
brought up concerns regarding information provided in one of the initial press releases for the district's referendum specifically that it cited an approximately 42% increase in enrollment over 5year period from 2019 to 2025 this individual then quoted alternative enrollment numbers which did
not support that percentage I did not respond at that point in time for two reasons the first being that I was unsure what press release was being referred to and second because the numbers she quoted sounded correct or at least very similar to what I would expect them to be following the meeting I spoke with our board president and
began reviewing the situation it became clear very quickly that an error had been made by the interim business administrator who was filling in for me from March to June of 2024 and that his incorrect information was then included in the initial press release in August his calculation failed to include
special education students for the first two cycles uh twoe cycles and he had predicted a very inflated value for FY 2025 the true enrollment numbers based on the district's asssa submissions are as follows in 2020 and these are all October 15th snapshots in 2020
enrollment was 2270 in 21 2339 a 69 student increase in 2022 uh it was 2384 45 student increase 2023 249 a 25
student increase and 2024 2425 a 16th student increase I will also note that in an effort towards further transparency because of the issue that occurred we did add a section to the website under my offices section the business office which includes all of
the Assa snapshots um which I just quoted and all user-friendly budgets from prior years as well as all of the caffer and Acer reports those two acronyms changed just means audit um for all of the years mentioned because again we do want to share information with the public and we do want to make it easily
accessible though all of those things are available on the NJ doe sites it's easier if you can stop by our website and get them um a breakdown for the most recent enrollment Snapchat by school location for again this October 15th 2024 enrollment at Copeland Middle
School was 81 dbo 296 KDM 303 Birchwood 315 uh DWI 345 Stonybrook 365 and that came to our total of the 2,425 students this would translate to an approximately 7% increase across those years or
roughly 155 students while a 42% increase enrollment certainly grabs your attention more it it is also unlikely to see that type of enrollment increase in any District the release of this figure was not intended to mislead the public or make our situation more dire it was simply an error made by someone filling
in furthermore the 7% increase which sounds far less exciting actually presents a true concern for the district it shows fluctuations when new developments were built predicts steady increases and is only a snapshot at October 15th of each year this year alone from the time we took our October
15th snapshat we have had 13 additional enrollments and Counting any teacher will tell you that the addition of even one student greatly affects the Dynamics of a classroom while increasing enrollment is certainly a concern it is not the predicating factor for the referendum more urgent is that we have determined our current space to be at or
nearing capacity and frankly it is not at the standard we would like to see for our students just because we have found a way to make things work at this moment does not mean we shouldn't continue to strive for better and more functional learning spaces for our students and staff each year we apply for waivers to utilize unconventional spaces for
learning we receive approval and support from the county but do we want to continue to file for this type of exception when I trained for my certification we studied buildings and grounds Management in detail and one of the first things taught to me and my peers was that it was our responsibility to ensure safe healthy and functional environments for our community without
it the best curricul curriculum in the world will fall short we are asking the community to consider supporting this endeavor this community and its students deserve more adequate more than adequate we want to strive to be at the Forefront of innovation and growth not catching up or falling behind projects like the ones outlined in the
referendum cannot be accomplished with within the normal budget cycles and if they could it would take decades we recognize that any referendum is a significant request for our taxpayers and we do not make it lightly but we have significant concerns about where we will be in the coming years if we not do not consider these needs tonight I will
also be discussing the preliminary budget and I want to say that I and my fellow administrators continue to look for savings and responsible options to make the most of every dollar we spend we truly hope that the community sees the advantages of what we choose to invest whether it's the quality of our staff opportunities for our students education
we provide and the environment we create I hope this has offered some clarity on the question and we will continue to share more details and information on the items I've referenced as we move forward with the referendum and determine a new election date and as as far as the comment um regarding a
budgetary outline we can't provide one at this moment because again the plan is not finalized but we will be providing one and that information is forthcoming we will select a new election date and that information is forthcoming and the statement that we do not have a capital Improvement plan is incorrect we have a long-range facility plan which outlines
all Capital Improvements necessary across the district it covers multi-million dollar projects um and it's all-encompassing we updated it most recently this past year with our Architects so that is that is something that we have and we can certainly provide information on that to the
public at any time um and if that's okay I'll move on to unless the board members have any comments I'll move to the budget please okay okay so the preliminary budget this evening um and I know there was some current concern as well regarding that there not being a lot of information on
the budget um this is only the preliminary approval this is so that we are able to submit our documentation and all of the outlined um assessed costs um to the county office for review there is still time between now and April 30th which is our final budget adoption in
which changes can be made um there's additional information the County May provide and we also will have a full presentation of the budget at that time and I would encourage everybody to attend um so tonight statutorily we are required to approve the submission of the preliminary budget there is a
deadline of March 19th by Statute so this is our board meeting where we would have that approval um on tonight's agenda you will see that the summary of the budget is as follows the general fund which is our operating budget is coming in at 64 m8493 and the special Revenue fund which
is uh grants and other special allocations at 68 $ 5,619 for a total budget of $4,725 69 much of the amount reflected in this total can be attributed to increases in health care Personnel costs utilities
special education costs and transportation costs which all have increased exponentially um the amount to be raised in taxation is 53,6 4,254 there is no Debt Service this year we have no outstanding bonds so there will be no taxation for Debt Service uh
Revenue such as state aid incoming tuition rent budgeted fund balance and withdrawals from reserves offset them out necessary to be levied in taxes this year our largest offset can be attributed to um funds generated in the 23 24 school year in the form of excess Surplus following the governor's address
we received an additional $270,200 very happy about that um the percentage increase for tax levy if you want to break it to a percentage um for the current year is 2.4% this is achieved through the utilization of banked cap um which is spending authorization created in a
prior year and this year we will be utilizing $243,500 in banked cap so that's how we go above the 2% tax levy and that is per code um just as a couple highlights our health benefits renewal was negotiated at a composite rate of 7.3 we actually
fared better than a lot of other districts um and I credit our Brokers for negotiating well on our behalf um and we have all of our our salaries and and the associated uh guides in place so we didn't have the situation of having to estimate very many salaries we have
concrete data as to what those salaries will be which puts us in a much better position than if we're trying to guess at what they will be um just for perspective we had major increases in a lot of our fixed costs as people are experiencing their personal lives as as well we had a 17% estimated increase in
the cost of electric um we received a 3.57% increase for all Transportation contracts um we received a roughly 12% increase in transportation um again that's for our contracted rates it's
it's it's something that we are battling against and hopefully we be able to hire more bus drivers and be able to cancel some of those contracts but we are working our best to make that happen um please keep in mind again the public hearing is April 30th in coordination with the previously scheduled board meeting and at that time we will have a
full presentation and questions can be made um and I would be happy to discuss it with the public um any questions regarding budget or any comments from the board thank you very much Miss slam you're welcome and now my regular report yes sorry um I feel like I'm talking as
long as Dr Corbett today is that a bad thing um the district received notice from the njd regarding elevated levels of lead in two locations at KDM Elementary these locations were taken out of service immediately and Remediation actions have already been taken we are awaiting additional testing
to clear the locations in question this is not a widespread issue with the water throughout the building only two locations with specific configurations of pipes and spigots are of concern those locations and a few surrounding them were taken out of service when preliminary test results were received out of an abundance of caution and none
were considered drinking drinking locations or utilized for food prep we have no reason to believe that there is a safety concern for students or staff and I would also like to note that KDM due to its location and the fact that it has well water the fact that it's a different configuration than our other
buildings actually receives significantly more testing and more frequent testing because we have to monitor it very closely and we are working to make sure that that stays in Balance um we all remember the KDM Water Project took a while to get it working but we are going to continue to monitor it so um for anybody that is concerned
it is actually the most frequently tested um I am very pleased to say that the DWI sign will be shipping out on March 18th and should be I am also very excited and should be um arriving shortly thereafter the maintenance department has already begun
preparations for installation in addition after a further review of the terms of the original negotiated contract in 2022 I eliminated one of the vendors and through the help of Mr Martino our H head of buildings and grounds we were able to reduce the cost of the sign by more than half so not only is it coming but it's coming at
half the cost the transportation department is working to accommodate some of the issues we've been having uh brought to our attention in relation to the sinkhole issue on Route 80 it has impacted route timings and also changed traffic patterns in residential areas we have chosen to relocate some stops
temporarily to ensure student safety and we will continue to assess the situation we appreciate the Public's uh patience as we do so and please continue to communicate with transportation and myself if you have issues um also on tonight's agenda under Finance we have the approval for our most recent bills
list to highlight some of the expenditures approximately $198,500 attributed to custodial and maintenance costs 14672 attributed to Transportation contracts mechanic repairs and Department supplies um the payroll for
February 15th and 2018 total to $3,642 1830 and the remaining costs can be attributed to a range of smaller categories including supplies Food Service staff PD and travel Etc um I wanted to thank our uh technology department and Mr Abe Elder who's
sitting in the back making us run um it's been a tough couple of weeks for the district as very determined hackers have been orchestrating an onslaught of attempts to infiltrate emails and and accounts across the district this is something that I'm hearing a lot from my peers in other districts as well and thus far their efforts um have been thed
by the IT department so we appreciate their hard work and they will continue to monitor the situation as it comes through um and finally just as another aside I I normally again the presentation for Budget isn't until April 30th but I did want to point out um we did have on the agenda withdrawals
from capital reserve and emergency reserve and I just wanted to give a highlight of some of the projects again because we do have a capital Improvement plan and we are actually planning quite a few projects for this coming year um so we have a district flooring project project that's being completed um that
is going to cover multiple areas uh there's flooring needs across the district so we're trying to roll out a plan of of two classrooms um per building as well as some of the more needy areas um there's some stairwells that need replacing um there's the dwire
hallway we're going to take that out and redo that um as well as getting rid of carpet in the kindergarten rooms because they should not be carpeted um we have the bleachers at CMS in the old gym um that need to be replaced so those will be taken out and fully replaced um we
have a districtwide phone system replacement our phones are no longer going to be supported so we're replacing the entire system and it will actually translate overall after the initial investment to Savings in our Communications cost which is great um we are replacing cameras across the district um that's partially with the
emergency Reserve withdrawal and partially capital reserve um all of the cameras need upgrading and we're going to start doing that in a systematic way and roll those over and make sure that it's a schedule that is supported so that we're not replacing everything at once and they have um they can live out
their useful life in a nice rotation so that moving forward it's a little bit more systematic um we are conducting a KDM window project um to replace all windows at KDM uh as well as the air conditioning units this is sorely needed um this should improve the heating and
cooling of the building and just create a Better Learning environment overall um we will also be completing an audio upgrade for both uh the CMS Auditorium and old gym um anybody who enjoyed the performance tonight from Wizard of Oz we
would like to make that more audible so we're going to work to improve that system for all events um and should be a nice add-on and then KDM um is in need of a playground update um so we are going to be looking at purchasing um some new equipment for that playground
and also making it more handicap accessible um and that is just a preview of what we're going to be doing so my report thank you thank you very much Miss slam for that comprehensive report but but I am a little offended because you just stole all my thunder from
operations committee I'm sorry darn it it's okay all right uh next up uh education Mr [Music] ganella good evening everyone uh just a friendly remind reminder that tomorrow
is author family night right here at Copeland Middle School it is a great time to put your cell phone away enjoy the company of your teachers students um board members superintendent
and just to get a glimpse of the great things that are going on in our schools and in the classroom so we have 164 people currently signed up uh to be here tomorrow night we're going to send the text message blast out again tomorrow
morning as a reminder um so hoping that you all could attend I would like to uh give a deep and sincere thank you to the Ed committee current Ed committee Miss Richardson
um my gosh Jackie toor Miss Tor and uh Dr Corbett for the work that we're doing but I also would like to thank uh the olded committee who helped plan the night uh Miss Lissa Smith Miss Noel Anderson and Miss Vanessa Waxman who this was
about eight months of planning uh that went into it and as you know Dr Corbett shared in his report the kids had a great time the principales put together uh you know a great show as well so a lot of great things going on in Rockaway
hope we get to see everyone tomorrow night I would like to see closer to 300 people there uh so we're going to make that push and try and beat family math night thank you everyone and good night thank you Mr ganella appreciate
it moving on to section six committee reports are there any committees that would like to report out I can give the education committee report um we met on February 26th at the central office at 4:30 to 6 o'clock in attendance with Dr
Corbett Mr ganal myself Miss Tor and Miss Richardson um Mr ganella presented us with some data to review it was presented on linkit it was um it reviewed basically like the winter growth from like from last year to this year and we were able to see um
specifically how the students are are progressing using the I ready program we discussed educational programs that are coming to the district the author night um and right now where there's an performer coming into the middle school Jared Campbell he'll be coming on March
14th it's supposed to be an exciting program with some music because we don't have aot lar enough Auditorium to fit all of our students we've been able to secure the musician for two separate assemblies um and then professional development linkit
is going to have an S an intervention manager system so that we can uh use that for RTI training is going to run soon full launch will take place September 2025 that should create consistency with the referrals and interventions that are
made within the district um and finally we have I think the last of our curriculum documents that need to go up for approval um this was an incredible overhaul some of our curriculum writers are in attendance today and I think you guys really
deserve a round of applause the documents that they revised were several years out of date and they for the past year have been focused on creating a rigorous and creative program for all of our Learners and I'm proud to send my son to school in this District so thank
you guys so much for your time and effort um there's also now a plan in place so that we're not reviewing so many documents all at once there's a five-year plan posted and I think that that will make our job easier so the education committee recommends that that
gets approved thank you so ends my report and our next meeting is March 26 thank you yes Miss mesik would you like to go I would thank you uh for community Outreach uh the last time we met was yesterday March 11th um we met virtually
from 4:30 to 5:30 I was there as well as Alis McGary Aaron thini Dr Corbett Mark Vini from tnm uh who are Engineers Peter campasano from USA Architects uh first on the agenda was an
update from tnm the survey field work is now finished um the application will be submitted next Friday hopefully um another important discussion point was the communication overall with the community we've heard um the concerns
and we are hoping to do better one option that we're considering is potentially a referendum Facebook page um these as many points as we can hit um to reach as many community members is what we're aiming for uh we discussed uh
different V videos filmed around the district um I mentioned receiving an email for the trees for school's grant program there's a March 19th webinar I guess if anybody wants to attend that um the business
administrator will address the community already has about the student numbers and the ba report uh thank you to the Community member for bringing that up because we want to ensure that all the information that we're putting out is as accurate as possible um our next
committee Outreach meeting will be April 8th at 4:30 thank you Miss messic MH all right I think I'm the the last to go here so uh for operations committee uh we met on February 25th at 4:30 it was a virtual meeting uh in attendance
for that was Mrs Anderson Miss Richardson uh Miss slam Mr Martino Dr Corbett and myself uh and as previously stated most of the things that uh Miss slam reported out on were what we discussed so uh a lot of uh capital projects a lot of exciting stuff um
really really good things uh I just want to thank Miss slam as well as Mr Martino for the amount of work the comprehensive uh report that they put together for our operations committee it's invaluable the way that we can we can look at what we're uh we're looking forward to uh
definitely needed uh things inside of our buildings uh ultimately it was uh we talked about buildings and grounds as well as the budget update and a couple of job descriptions uh our next meeting I'm looking to schedule for March 25th Miss Richardson
is that does that work Miss Anderson 4:30 right yes person or virtual well we can do either or what's what's more convenient March 25th at 4:30 works for me uh would you like to do virtual in person or
hybrid I I can do either either would work for me but just after 4:30 traffic on ad is no put you got it so I will call it hybrid for now okay all right so ends my report thank you all right moving on to section seven recommended for board action first one
under Alpa is going to be Personnel uh since this Personnel there's no open comment can I please have a motion to approve Personnel recommendations so moved seconded thank you can I have a roll call Vote Yes if my fingers would
work sorry okay Mrs Anderson yes m Miss mcui yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson yes Miss torren yes Dr tomasini yes motion carries thank you under Bravo Hib
determinations again there is no uh no discussion on these so can I have a motion to approve the Hib recommendations so moved second thank you for clarification we're talking about Hib cases number
28497 as unconfirmed 284 972 is confirmed 2 28573 is confirmed 28542 is confirmed 28543 is unconfirmed 285 259 as unconfirmed 285 356 is unconfirmed
285 537 is confirmed 285 453 is unconfirmed and 285 576 as confirmed can I please have a roll call vote Mrs Anderson yes Miss McGary yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson yes Miss porn yes Dr
tomasini yes motion carries thank you moving on to Charlie education can I have a motion please to approve education recommendations so moved second in thank you all right is there anybody from the
public that would like to make any comments on this section only education any board discussion seeing none can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Miss migiri yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson
yes Miss Tor yes Dr Thomas cini yes motion carries moving on to Delta Administration can I have a motion to approve Administration recommendations please so moved second thank you would anybody from the public like
to comment on Administration if I could just clarify I'm sorry ver vehicle disposal I just want to make sure everyone's clear these are all um vehicles that are no longer longer usable um we usually post them um for sale in terms of scraps or parts and if that's not able to be done then we
dispose of them thank you very much for that clarification all right any board discussion seeing none can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Miss mcgui yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson
yes Miss Tor yes Dr tomasini yes motion carries moving on to Echo Finance can I have a motion to approve the finance recommendation please so moved seconded thank you I can open to the public for anybody who would like to comment on
finance seeing none any uh board discussion I went and signed the bills yesterday and I recommend that we approve them thank you if I could also note I just want to bring attention to number three um the copy release agreement um we are actually entering into agreement
with a new copier company and we will save approximately $2,000 per month with this new contract awesome awesome thank you very much can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Miss mcui yes
Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson yes Miss Tor yes Dr tomasini yes motion carries thank you moving on to foxtop policy can I have a motion to approve policy recommendations please so moved seconded thank you would anybody from the public like to
comment on policy all right any board discussion seeing none can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik yes Miss Richardson yes Miss Toren yes Dr tomasini yes
motion carries thank you all right we're now to our second public comment section in accordance with board policy 016 7 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a 3 minute 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 the second public comment so moved second show a hands please thank you is there anybody from the public that would like to speak Megan OK Conor 64 Erie Avenue and
I wanted to thank you for answering my questions also I wanted to thank you for being empathetic uh that's kind of the first I've heard in a while from the board considering the good people of Rockway we're all dealing with $13 egg
prices so we appreciate that um also to what Miss mesic said that you know we can do better in terms of communication I think the first thing that needs to be done given this egregious error even though was somebody that was in the role in an interm way there should be a press
release indicating that it's not a 42 2% increase it's a 7% increase we will be publishing my statement on the website um so that that will go up tomorrow okay and if it also could effectively be put out in the newsletter so everyone in Rockaway is aware of it thank you thank
you Bob Norton 53 kuga Avenue I also had wanted to uh compliment the board Mr Corbett always speaks up but I really do appreciate some responses as uh was needed uh from each of you to the public
here it's refreshing thank you thank you Dana tabella 31 Omaha Avenue uh thank you for allowing the extra time tonight during public comment I appreciate that also the student performance was absolutely amazing on another note I
would like to suggest descriptions of the board member committee duties and responsibilities be added to the website so the public has a better understanding of these committees after hearing the business administrator statement on the student enrollment I want to express my
disappoint ointment in the board for not catching this especially in light of the fact that I brought this to the attention of several board members after a board meeting in 2024 if you can't check on something that seems fairly simple how can we trust for you to handle such a large
referendum lastly at the last advertised meeting there was no notice on the door when I arrived we were told that the meeting was cancelled and the board members continue to you know know stay in the meeting for
one hour after we were told that it was cancelled and and that wasn't right and we also had a discussion about that but I just wanted to put that on the record and thank you very much thank you Dr thini if I I you can go ahead um so thank you Miss Abell for your comments
um I just wanted to say and again um I recognized that I was out and I was on maternity leave um but I I just want to say that while absolutely there needs discernment and review um my my role in The District carries a very large responsibility and the person that was
filling in for me should have had the accurate information and the board was put in a bad position because there has to be trust that the information we're providing is accurate and again um you know unfortunately sometimes you're not able
to have what you'd like when you're again I was I was going out for maternity leave I really wish we would have had more time to have somebody that we were a little bit more confident in we actually had a change in the interim while I was away and you can assume that that was because we had some concerns um but when when we're providing data to
this board they have to have confidence that it's correct so while it doesn't excuse the error it really truly I I don't consider it to be the fault of the board for not catching that because when I provide them numbers I have to be accurate when Dr Corbett provides them information it has to be accurate and we're not infallible um but this was
something that I believe that they were put in a bad position um so that I just wanted to add that thank you very much I appreciate it yes come on up sorry I had to check I appreciate that and I have to
say our business administrator is one of my favorite people and she does a phenomenal job always gets back to me immediately she gets back to me immed immediately so my disappointment is not in you and I understand that you away my
disappointment is in board members who I specifically went to provided numbers and said that these numbers were wrong and nobody on the board came back and questions to you know coming back to you or the interim they never followed up on
what I was saying so I understand my I just want to let you know I was not disappointed in you I am definitely disappointed in some of the board members so I just I mean most of the time you know I think you guys do a great job but I think you really dro the ball on this thank
Youk thank you Donna Marie cinsky one lak Shore Drive so I also went to that training with Dana and um I was just curious to when it was going to be rescheduled and it was actually a meeting because there were more than four board members there
it was well over it was about an hour and 5 minutes so I was just curious to find out when that training would be rescheduled thank you again I know I'm talking a lot tonight um because I because I'm in charge of compliance um so just to note
and so the public is aware the only reason that meeting did not take place is because the trainer from new New Jersey school boards had an emergency and had to leave immediately um we understand there was confusion we apologize it's not the normal process um and furthermore while we understand that
the board was present for a time after we had food provided that they consumed and then everybody dispersed no action was taken so again just just to be clear um was not how the night was meant to go and there was no discussion of of any actionable items no action was taken so
just F the record yes yeah we were just upset because we weren't invited in we were told it was canceled and that was it so that's where you know kind of cuz we should have been allowed to go in all so understood thank thank you and this point there has not
yet been a date for the we're still waiting to hear from the New Jersey school boards when we can reschedule we owe you a date we'll get you one hanana 11 Bernett Road uh W New Jersey a question uh now the uh
Department of Education is going to be shut down from the uh Federal so now it's going to be sent it to the states so the state is going to uh make their own decisions for teaching
um what is the plan for the board I'm sure New Jersey is going to keep following the uh policies which most of us don't agree um what are they going to do that's going to increase our taxes or
what's the plan that's that's one question and secondly I want to say like I heard that you know the principal should be apologizing for this for dressed up like that and I think he he shouldn't even
apologize for who who he is for how he want to dressed up he should be proudly or the wherever he wanted dressed up I never met him I'm sure he's very nice person but it's very sad they're attacking him because he decide to dress
up you know just a red color and I also heard that my that Trump hat offends everybody well this offend is you well it's your problem no one else thank you for your time and I'm glad I'm back to these borders meetings again thank
you I just want to make clarify something if I might so everybody knows um Ed education has always been the Constitutional responsibility of the state so the federal government doesn't create curriculum it does not it's up to the state to do that the state monitors
that that's the Constitution requirement so just to make that very clear uh number two just to also be clear I understand the Department of Education although it's been greatly reduced has not been shut down I understand that to shut down the Department of Education requires an act
of Congress and that hasn't occurred yet so I understand there are changes and there confusion but as I as I understand it now there have been red reductions in the department of education but it has not been shut down and we have no indication of any impact on tax past what we discussed in the the budget
creation so at this point we have no information to that EV thank you very much a brief response yes so well I'm just asking I'm not saying for sure it's going to be but that's the news so I'm
just asking that's that's all thank you all right seeing no others can I have a motion to close the public comment so moved second thank you show a hands please all right moving on
to section seven discussion items do we have any old business any new business can I report out real quick yes no no you go ahead um I had the pleasure of attending my first meeting as the uh Rockaway Township
Board of Ed liaison to the Rockaway Township sub substance abuse Alliance I met Les Lisa and Lil Wexler uh this family has taken a a personal tragedy and turned it into a journey to help those in our community who not only have been through what they
have but to educate our community Especial Especially our vulnerable children not only on the consequences of drug use and abuse but strategies to say no to drugs there is also a component of this Alliance to help parents talk to their kids about the danger of drugs this amazing group has connections with
professional athletes actors actresses radio personalities musicians and even Broadway stars and they have been able to get these influential people to come to our community to talk to our kids and families the next big event is coming to Copeland and I think Dr Corbett reported
out on that um sorry uh the next big event is coming to Copeland middle school on May 8th which will be a presentation by Amy Quinn Nelson and May 29th is a celebrity day the and those celebrities will be coming to speak to our kids the pro the program
is called project Positive Choices many public influential people will be here to speak to the uh and to entertain your children in the hopes to help them make Positive Choices and to learn some skills to be able to talk to their parents about drug use and abuse the Rockaway Township substance abuse
Alliance functions solely on fundraising and donations if you and your family has ever been affected by substance abuse or issues like my family has we lost a niece to this disease um I strongly encourage you to look them up on social media and donate
any amount of money you can uh every little bit counts and you can find them at rtsa a.org thank you thank you Miss messic yes um in new business just wanted to make a comment about the
next Mars County School Board Association meeting on April 2nd it's probably the closest it will ever be for us because it will be at marshel's High School uh this will be a really big day it's the unsung hero ceremony we do have
a student from um Copeland that has been nominated for that as the other districts in Mars County so I would strongly encourage every board member to come to that thank you very
much anything else under new business all right seeing that we do not have a need to return to Executive session uh we move on to section N9 adjournment can I have a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting so move seconded thank you very much show a
hands we are adjourned at 9:37 p.m. thank you very much Rockway Township no put it on the head that's okay no sorry I just want to tell you just off the Record it's okay
so so the thing is the thing is um I I made my [Music]
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