Township public schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having
fun. And to me, those are two very important qualities of a very, very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly
a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing
personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins
us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is
well attended back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate
from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh
provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me.
Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support
each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout
the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. I come here
for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [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 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 My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by. And I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and
talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun. And to me, those are two very important qualities of a very, very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come
back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township: Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we
can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to
persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none.
They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically
working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into
our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know
you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've
been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their
energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the
world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. I come here for the students. I love the
kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [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 Dubire is
special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the
most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level
on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative
self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and, you know, being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories
is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and
that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [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 then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. and if
they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and
in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change through the students and what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and
feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear. And it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it. And that is why I do what I do every day. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what
awesome is about being in 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 DVO. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she
teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is
that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Kink. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our
school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. Because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that
story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do
and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and Juni B Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every
day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me. Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good
luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun.
I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and [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're amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. So, my name is Jackson. My
name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art
teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the
day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're
smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community.
It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district. But I've been here seven years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible.
We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the
world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no
limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going
on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students, but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family
and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus.
No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and
trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional
dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. The people I work with
makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will
graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. I am the steam teacher at Copeland
Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the students and what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I
want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really
kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 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. Vanta Copeland is truly an
all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the opportunity to mold
the next generation. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better [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 DVO. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first
grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we
have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each
other and everyone cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And
for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's 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 at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the
relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get
along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about the school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they
learn to persevere. And we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have
a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it.
And that's what I teach all of my students. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got
me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. We identify the interests of students. You
know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment, moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the All
right. Good evening Rocke Township. I'd like to call the meeting to order at 17:30 hours. Can I please have an attendance roll call? Mrs. Anderson here. Mrs. Kuru, Miss Mcgiri here. Mrs. Messi here.
Miss Richardson. Miss Torren here. Dr. Thomasini here. We have a quorum. Thank you. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was passed to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their
interest is discussed and acted upon. In accordance with the provision of the act, the Rockway Township Board of Education has caused notice of the date, time, and place of said meetings to be published in the daily record, the STAR ledger, and be posted in all schools in the district, in the municipal building of Rockaway 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 and materials considered by the board of education as part of this agenda 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 a.m. to 4 pm Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the reference items. Can I please have a motion to wave the pledge of allegiance till public session? So moved. Second. Show hands, please. Thank you. resolved that in accordance with the open public's
meetings act, the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in close session to discuss matters involving personnel, litigation, acquisition of real property, security, negotiations, receipt of government funds. The content of said discussions will be disclosed to the public at such time and extent as is required by law. Can I please have a
motion to go into close session? So moved. Second. Show of hands, please. Thank you. Close session beginning at 1731 hours. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway
Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by. And I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun. And to me,
those are two very important qualities of a very, very effective education. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community.
It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in
developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. And we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think
anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly
involved. Everything we do is well attended. Back to school nights, our events and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well. Every student who goes through Rockaway
Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits
because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids
coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but
we we get along and you know, we support each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special
educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students, it's the staff, it's the community members, it's the parent involvement, it's the investment in
making it a better place. I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are
thankful for all the support we have from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and
teaching at Dwire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and
that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you'd honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each
other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages. Now that we house preschool students here, I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level,
on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves, but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day.
Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. they were really
negative selft talking saying that they can't do this. And so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite
success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do
what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [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, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if
they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and
in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on seal over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and
feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. So my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what
awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My
favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day.
My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. Yeah, my name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVO is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome
here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my
favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Queen Kern. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have
here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read
a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good
teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni V. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and
I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other
that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that
subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus.
No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. 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 happens, then I've done something right, that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I
do what I do. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs
and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do
puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to
leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's
multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day. And I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour
because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a
bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And teaching at Dubire is special
because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell
people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a
Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my
favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe
this school is probably heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect, and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social emotional learning is very
important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job
is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working
teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our
community. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their
ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. When I came
into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and
cared for was my 7th grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and
I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day.
We are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade. They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges.
We connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended. Vander Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day
excited. I get the opportunity to mold the next generation. The thing that makes Copeland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place.
[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, be nice to them,
be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers. And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as
a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. My name is Carly and I
am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then
she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is
that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And
for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It really the staff here um we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and the and the community that we foster
here at CBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. Being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me, teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint
one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the
relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get
along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about the school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they
learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have
a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative selft talking saying that they can't do this. And so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it.
And that's what I teach all of my students. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got
me into chapter books and Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. We identify the interests of students. You
know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the
morning his head would be down on that desk. I trying to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them
and they want to [Music] come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none.
They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. Back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers,
but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this district at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children. Anytime we can bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out,
it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a
harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather
than at a bigger classroom, you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just academically but also social emotionally. My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name's Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the
teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. Because of my friends, the teachers and the principal.
like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. I've always wanted to be a teacher. I think the reason why I wanted to be a
teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five different elementary schools, but I also
like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake, everyone has a bad day, and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not
feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway
Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very
important qualities of a very very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a
wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing
personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins
us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is
well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically, working handin-hand with our teachers, but also, I think, for extracurricular as well. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate
from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh
provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me.
Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support
each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout
the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. I come here
for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [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 Dubire is
special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the
most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages. Now that we house preschool students here, I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level,
on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves, but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative
self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories
is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up
and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard, like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if
they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and
in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and
feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. So my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what
awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My
favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade
and I go to DVL. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she
teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that
everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Quinker and I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our
school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened
in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do
and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni V. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every
day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good
luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun.
I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no
matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. This is probably one of the most
special places I've ever worked. It is the staff, the teachers. Uh they are loving, they are caring. The energy here is just great. It's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do. Their heart, passion, and soul is for students and to see them
succeed. I try to find a way for them to want to be here. even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning, if I say, "Hey, let's go wander in the library." And they bounce out of the car right away, which actually happens, then I've done something right, that I have found a way
to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel. I love the kids here. They're amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think
what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My
favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just
everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other.
Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and
I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so
vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come
to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking
into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students, but also the faculty
that work here. We call ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and
there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you
into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. Honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think
social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every
single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the
building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop
into future leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change 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. Vanta Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a
positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the opportunity to mold the next generation. The thing that makes 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] place. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So we can focus on particularly on being
kind by being kind to a friend, helping them out, helping teachers, be nice to them, be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers. And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I
don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids. The main message is to be
kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and
so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art
class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little
unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's really the staff here. Um, we have
built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we foster here at ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. Being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because
I've been here for 11 years as the principal. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the
classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the
team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about the school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it
be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh.
One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do
something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it. And that's what I teach all of my students. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade
teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. We
identify the interests of students. You know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment, moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their
willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the
classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I trying to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and
their school's a happy place for them, and they want to [Music] come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that
sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. Back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved
school community, both academically, working 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. Anytime we can
bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out, it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get
to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom, you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just academically but also social emotionally. My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What
makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. Because of my
friends, the teachers and the principal. like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. I've always wanted to be a teacher. I
think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five
different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake, everyone has a bad day, and I think that it gives
the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am
the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that
are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended
Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an
amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful
school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community, both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well.
Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no
walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and
having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along
and you know, we support each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special
educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in
making it a better place. I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have
from our [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 Dubire is special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional
dialogue and that helps the whole child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or
miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I
get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't
pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home. And I feel the more comfortable
that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh.
One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm
really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried
to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education, and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [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, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful
as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL
over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their
ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was
absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear. And it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it. And that is why I do what I do every
day. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs
and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do
puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here
are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges.
My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus, drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Quink and I'm in the fifth grade. Hi,
my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we
are a really good community because of my friends, the teachers and the principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be
complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones.
My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me,
Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like
reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn
different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. 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 in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the
walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing
a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood,
you honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year
after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and
I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a
bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And teaching at Dubire is special
because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell
people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a
Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my
favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe
this school is probably heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, and respect and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social and emotional learning is very
important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job
is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working
teachers in the world. [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 Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's
feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. When I came
into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and
cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully
with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. We are making sure kids are prepared for
the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade. They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges. We connect with the community through
our concerts which are very well attended. Vanta Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day
excited. I get the opportunity to mold the next generation. The thing that makes Scopa 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, be nice to them,
be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers. And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as
a leader of the building. So, we're really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. My name is Carly and I
am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVO is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then
she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is
that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And
for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's it really the staff here um we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and the and the community that we foster
here at ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. Being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me, teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint
one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the
relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get
along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about the school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they
learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have
a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative selft talking saying that they can't do this. And so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it.
And that's what I teach all of my students. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got
me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. We identify the interests of students. You
know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the
morning his head would be down on that desk. I trying to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them
and they want to [Music] come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none.
They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. Back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers,
but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this district at one of the other schools. And I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children. Anytime we can bring togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out,
it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a
harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather
than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful not just academically but also social emotionally. My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name's Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our
school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. Because of my friends, the
teachers and the principal. like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. I've always wanted to be a teacher. I
think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I like how there was five
different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake, everyone has a bad day, and I think that it gives
the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am
the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and
having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly
a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing
personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins
us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is
well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate
from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh
provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me.
Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along and you know, we support
each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout
the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. I come here
for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [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 Dubire is
special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. One of the things that I love the
most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here. I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade. And I get to work with them on a deeper level
on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love. After teaching for 25 years, I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any
good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not only enjoy their
time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math. They were really negative
self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories
is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education, and over time I've seen him pick that head up and
that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [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 then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. and if
they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and
in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on SEAL over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and
feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear. And it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it. And that is why I do what I do every day. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what
awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My
favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade
and I go to DVL. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then she
teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis. Plus drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that
everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Queen Kern. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our
school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here 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 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. Fun 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 in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art
teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the
day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birwood, you honestly never want to leave Birwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're
all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly
a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district. But I've been here seven years and I will drive that hour because the community, the parents, the teachers,
our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being
able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is special because we don't have
walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell people that when you're here, it's
like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students, but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom
calls us a school, and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn
different things like times plus minus. No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school. One word to describe this school is probably heart. honesty,
empathy, acceptance and respect and trust. I have been teaching art here in Rockaway Township for 16 years. I think social and emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a
chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child. I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson. The best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's
because of me. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. [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 Copeland Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change through the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and
feel like this is their second home. I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland, where everything was new and different for me,
Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me. She still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to dislike like reading
and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to
have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. We are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure
that they have access to technology. Every single classroom has interactive boards. Kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade. They work as a team towards a common goal. They overcome challenges. We connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended. Vanta Copeland is truly an
all-inclusive experience for all of the students here. I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future. I teach US history and I come to work every day excited. I get the opportunity to mold
the next generation. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in making it a better place. [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, be nice to them, be respectful, and don't interrupt the
teachers. And everything we do, we try and relate back to our core values. One of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system. I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building. So, we're
really working on being kind. And yes, academics are important, but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids. The main message is to be kind because above all else, we want our kids just to be kind. My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVL. Yeah.
My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVL is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome here. She teaches well and then
she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is
that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. If I had to describe our building in one word, I would say we're a little unconventional. We're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success. And
for every student, that's different. There are other ways that we can really show student growth, student success. I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything. It's it really the staff here um we have built a family. And I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we foster here at
ZBO. And I'm really grateful to be part of that. Being outside in the morning at bus duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. After teaching for 25 years,
I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day. Any good lesson makes me feel alive. Going to the soccer games, the football games, seeing my students outside the classroom. I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable
that they are, the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class, not not only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. So, yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but
um but we we get along and you know, we support each other. What really resonates with me about 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 selft talking saying that they can't do this. And so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset. Just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that
we're never going to be able to do it. And that's what I teach all of my students. My favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade
teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. We
identify the interests of students. You know, what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment, moving them forward from one learning experience to another. Every morning I'm inspired by these children. Their energy, their
willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other. One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the
classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over time, I've seen him pick that head up. And that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and
their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come. Stony Brook is an amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that
sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended back to school nights, our events, and we have very involved school
community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well. Inside school, I really try to be involved in as many things as I can. My children also go to school in this district at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children. Anytime we can bring
togetherness and have us all work together, both in our community and out, it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community. So, we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard like a harder task. And I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get
to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom, you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them. I like them to become successful, not just academically, but also social, emotionally. My name is Queen K. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name's Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our
school awesome is all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. All my friends that helped me since kindergarten, and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community. because of my friends, the
teachers, and the principal. Like, we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun, but it can be complicated, but it's still really fun. I've always wanted to
be a teacher. I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good elementary school teachers. Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community, but I also felt like there's a lot of different opportunities in Rockway. I
like how there was five different elementary schools, but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Stony Brook mentality. The Stony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students. the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake. Everyone has a
bad day. And I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized. I love that we have a great principal. I love the teachers and the morale. As soon as I started coming up here, since I am from South Jersey, I felt welcomed and included right away. My name is Dr. Richard Corbett and I am
the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools. I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that
are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education. Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's multi-generations that have attended
Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. Our core values are the same as Rockaway Township. Heart, honesty, empathy, acceptance, respect, and trust. So, we can focus on particularly on being kind. What really resonates with me about this
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others. Whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience, they learn to persevere. and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before. Stony Brook is an
amazing place. It really is. And I think anybody who joins us, whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day, uh, you know, I think echo that sentiment. Our staff is second to none. They really put the kids first all the time. And our students are exceptional as well. It's a wonderful
school community. Our PTA is incredibly involved. Everything we do is well attended. back to school nights, our events, and we have a very involved school community both academically working handin-hand with our teachers, but also I think for extracurricular as well.
Every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school. And we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students, helping students develop into future leaders, into being positive role models and citizens in our community. Our mantra we live by is no
walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. What keeps me coming back here every morning? Hugs from kids. You know, I love being outside in the morning at bus duty and
having kids coming up and just happy to see me. Teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal. So yeah, I I think for me it's just being a part of something, being a part of the team. Uh we're all very different, but um but we we get along
and you know, we support each other. Every morning I'm inspired by these children, their energy, their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious. The people I work with makes me come back every single day. I hire a very unique and special
educator and that permeates throughout the building. I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world. The thing that makes Scopland Middle School so great is truly the people. It's the students. It's the staff. It's the community members. It's the parent involvement. It's the investment in
making it a better place. I come here for the students. I love the kids here. They are amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I do what I do. I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have
from our community. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at Dubire is
special because we don't have walls. I think social emotional learning is very important. It gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child. If you've never taught at another school and you come to 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, that the relationship that we build together, the better they're going to do in class. Not not
only enjoy their time in class, but also take risks. It's a really great environment here at KDM. My co-workers are great. The students every day, they make me laugh. One thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset. I did have a student that came in and really didn't
like math. They were really negative self-talking, saying that they can't do this. And so, basically throughout the whole year, we worked on just changing that mindset. One of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other.
One of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk. I've tried to instill intrinsic love for school, intrinsic love for education. And over
time, I've seen him pick that head up, and that's why I do what I do. To have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them, and they want to [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, then all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier. Our goal here is
that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home. And if they're ever in trouble, they're ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be. We have really seen over the years an incredible
increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom. And I really believe it's because our district's focus on seal over the last several years. I am the steam teacher at Copeland
Middle School. I really love to see the growth and the change to the students. And what I really focus on is teamwork. So the kids are always in teams. We want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas. I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home. I
want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable, feel like they can be themselves. They may not come here and love math, but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class. Years ago, I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics. And
I worked so carefully with her. I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day. So my name is Jackson. My name is
Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My
favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day.
My name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DVO. Yeah. My name is Rehea. I'm in first grade. Being at DVO is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice. I like the teachers here. They make it awesome
here. She teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned. My favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges. My favorite special is art class with Miss Takis because drawing is my
favorite thing. What makes DBL unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other. My name is Queen. I'm in the fifth grade. Hi, my name is Arya. I am in second grade. What makes our school awesome is
all the teachers we have here. They help us every day. All the janitors keep our school nice and clean. all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here because we are a really good community because of my friends, the teachers and the
principal. Like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story. Math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun. My favorite teachers are probably all of
my teachers cuz I got really good teachers. They have fun activities to do and their stories. My first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in Juni B. Jones. My favorite subject is science. In science, you do lots of experiments and
I think experiments are very fun. Every day I'm like happy at school. When I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me, Mrs. Heath, she was especially really kind to me, she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other
that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do. One teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade LA teacher. I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that
subject more fun. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers. Math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times, plus minus.
No matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like, people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school. One word to describe this school is probably 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're amazing. They're the best part of my day. They're the best part of my week. That's why I
do what I do. So, my name is Jackson. My name is Mia. My name is Mariah. I think what awesome is about being in Birwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls. Like in school, they have this like art thing where you go downstairs
and like paint a wall with the art teacher. My favorite is recess. My favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff. We get to do
puzzle of the day and it's really fun. We get to watch videos at the end of the day. Our doors are always open. We are truly a family here. Our kids are just everything. If you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood, you honestly never want to
leave Birchwood. You walk into this building and it's a family. We're all together. We're all happy. We're smiling. Nobody's cranky or miserable. We're here together for each other. Birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere. Students come back year after year. There's
multi-generations that have attended Birwood. It is truly a loving community. It's such a wonderful place to be. I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another district, but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour
because the community, the parents, the teachers, our principal are incredible. We're just so happy to have such a loving, nurturing community that is so vested in our school. We are family and once a bulldog, always a
bulldog. I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world. It's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to. And teaching at Dubire is special
because we don't have walls. Our mantra we live by is no walls, no limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community. You just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors. I like to tell
people that when you're here, it's like learning at home. You're in your kitchen, but you still know what's going on in the family room. It builds like this, you know, camaraderie amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here. We call ourselves a
Dwire family. Mr. McGovern, he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that. We treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids. I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers.
Good evening again, Rockway Township. Can I please have a motion to come out of close session? So moved. Second. Thank you. Show of hands. All right. Reconvening at 1930 hours. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] During the course of the board meeting,
the Rockway Township Board of Education offers members of the public an opportunity to address issues regarding the operations of the Rockway Township Public Schools. The board reminds those individuals who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on the agenda and/or items directly related to the operations of
the school district. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asked that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of others individuals while speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the
board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by the member 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 threeminute limit per member of the public. The board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion
as he deems appropriate. Can I please have a motion to open to public comment? Motion to open public. Seconded. Thank you. Show hands. Alrighty. Would anybody like to address the board?
Is there going to be a special time just for that tonight? Yes, sir. There'll be a separate open public for that. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Seeing none, can I please have a motion to close to public
comment? So moved. Seconded. Thank you. Can you show hands, please? All right. Uh, we have no communications received, correct? In this period. Thank you. All right. Moving on to the approval of the minutes. Can I please have a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. Second.
Thank you. Can I please have a roll call vote? Mrs. Anderson? Yes. Miss McGiri? Yes. Mrs. Mzik, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Miss Tor, yes. Dr. Thomasini, yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Dr. Corvett, your report, please. Thank
you, Dr. Thomasini. You'll all be very happy to know that my report is less than a half a page. I'm going to get right to it. Right to it. Um, first of all, I'm very pleased to recommend Maria Rivera to the board of education as the
next principal of Birwood Elementary School effective July 1st, 2025. And Maria happens to be there. Just wait. Say hello to everybody, Maria. There's Maria Rivera. Marie is an experienced school administrator and currently serves as vice principal of Glenrock High School
and after she is appointed officially, she'll say a few words of introduction. So, we look forward to listening to her hearing her. Notifications regarding gypsy moth spraying have been sent by the town and the district to the affected families in the northern section of the township. The window for
spraying is between May 15th and June 16th as determined by the Department of Agriculture. This is not our determination. We have very little to say about this. Spring may take up to three days. The exact dates have not been determined. As soon as the Department of Agriculture lets me know
when the exact dates are, the community will know and the town will also notify the community. As a reminder to the board, board members, and to the public, on June 11th, the administrators of the district will present to the board and the public an update regarding this year's district goals and strategic
plans. That comes June 11th, as we did last year. And that's my report. Excellent. Oh, but I do want to talk about HIVs. Sorry. Um, under current investigation, we have a total of six HIVs under current investigation
and five were determined to be no. And that would that is they were unsubstantiated, one was substantiated. Um, and for affirmation tonight, there's a total of 14 for affirmation tonight. And of the 14 only two were substantiated 14 uh 12 were
unsubstantiated. Now that is my report tonight. Thank you very much Dr. Corbett. Thank you Dr. Thomas. Next the business administrator's report. Miss Lamb. So given that you're going to have to listen to me for quite a bit tonight. The only additional reported item I would like to state is that Dwire sign is up and running. Um so everything is
complete finally. All right. Excellent. Thank you very much. Uh I'm just going to have all of us move. that way for your budget presentation. Ready? Okay. All right. So, thank you everybody for coming out for the budget
presentation for the 2526 school year. Um, first I always start with this slide. Um, understanding a budget because there's a lot of discussion of what goes into the budget. I'm going to throw a lot of numbers at you, but what we want to make sure is clear is that a budget consists of planned expenses and
expected revenues. Um, nobody has a crystal ball, uh, at least all me. We do not have the ability to accurately predict every single thing that will happen in a coming school year. We work with um best practices, knowledge of our surrounding areas. Um we confer with our colleagues. We take advice from our um
members in the community, our schoolboard members, our teachers, um as well as our vendors and contracted services. And we try to put together what we feel is the most responsible and accurate picture of what's going to come in the next year. Um it's a financial expression of the district's needs and
priorities. And we do try to discern between wants and needs. We obviously take our needs as the most serious items that we start off with and then when we are done accounting for all of those things, we see what else we can do um with our funding. And also it's a living document. And what I mean when I say
that is what we vote on tonight and strike into creation is going to give you the parameters and the full totals. But throughout the school year, as those things change, the things that we predicted to happen may not come to pass. We might find something was cheaper than we expected. We may find that there's a new need that comes up
that is a higher priority than what we've stipulated here and we will make transfers accordingly but the total numbers will always remain the same. We cannot exceed what we are voting on tonight. So guiding principles of budget development um we try to make sure that
the financial expression of what we do in the district lines up with our vision our district goals and what we talk about at every other board meeting that we have throughout the year. So we maintain the integrity of our programs. That's a primary concern. We try to ensure equity among our schools. We continue to implement zerobased
budgeting. And for those that don't know what that is, that is the the practice of taking our budget down to zero essentially. Um we do not assume anything when we create our budget. We don't simply roll accounts forward without accounting for what those numbers represent. And we ask the
question, is it still needed? Um is it still needed at the same cost? And we really vet that thoroughly as we create the budget. So every budget you're seeing, every account line has been reviewed in its totality. Um all allocations are made on a priority basis as I said and we choose what most
positively impacts our educational programs. Um we implement strategies to continue to meet district focus areas while functioning within the parameters of the 2% tax levy cap. So um obviously the 2% tax levy cap is a constraint that we face and all districts around us face. there are certain um elements that
offer us a bit of latitude there which I'll discuss a little bit later but um I want you to keep that number in mind as we move through the presentation because I'm going to discuss other percentages and increases that we're facing and it will further clarify that 2% is a very difficult thing for us to remain within
and still meet all of our needs. So the budget process, how we approach determination of expenditures and revenues. The first thing that we do, we begin in October. We gather information on prior and current year spending. So we take a look at the preceding years. Where have we been? And what are we
doing with what we're what we've allocated in the current year. Is it working? Are we under or over? Um all of those things come together as data that we that we validate. Then we go to verifying and validating personnel costs for the district. Um, these costs represent anywhere from 70 to 80% of any
school budget. And it's important that we get that right. So, we have to make sure that all of the necessary staff are accounted for, that they're accounted for accurately, and that all the associated benefits that we have to offer contractually are also accounted for accurately. We then move to December and January where I begin meeting with
administration and um discuss department needs and anticipated costs. We take feedback from every department within the district. I do not create the budget in a vacuum. I don't believe that that's responsible and I don't believe that that's fair. Um, every department has needs. Every department knows what is functioning well and what isn't. All of
the principles have perspectives on their buildings and it's important that we have collaborative effort when creating a budget. In January and February, we start to determine the fixed costs inclusive of anticipated increases. That's often when I'm receiving um renewal numbers from various vendors. uh
we get quotes on different things that we're looking to add in and all of that data then comes in and we evaluate the things that we need to operate and then in March we finally complete the preparation of account appropriations and determine all of our revenue sources and that is also when we
approve our preliminary budget numbers. So budget management first when we when we strike a budget we then have to live within it. So how we try to do that responsibly is through cost containment. So we look at elimination of non-essential programs and personnel. Um we ask the question are we running
effectively with what we have budgeted or are we not. Um aligning budgets to actual needs. Again we have to look back at what we plan versus what's coming to fruition. And we continue with expanding and utilizing cooperatives and different methods for saving so that we can make
the most of every dollar. We then also implement cash management. So, we're constantly monitoring our cash balances. We are restructuring our debt. Um, we are looking for any interest rate ele evaluation that we can do. Um, as you may remember in the prior years, we renegotiated our rates with our bank.
Um, and went from a 0.1% interest rate for our bank accounts to 4.3, which was a huge source of revenue for the district. Um, we also have endofear targeted purchasing plans. So as the school year moves on and we look at the areas in which we've saved, we look at the best methodology for redistributing
those funds again in a way that serves the students and the district in the best way. Fiscal control. Um we have again the implementation of zerobased budgeting which I've reviewed. Uh we focus on restoring fund balances as well. Um we don't want to create a revenue cliff. We have to make sure that
what we've created in the past we restore to a a responsible level so that we can continue to use that moving forward. And we also look at improving grants management, making sure that we're making the most of those dollars and availing us to anything that is available for uh application. And we uh
focus on adhering on replacement cycles. Um so replacement cycles mean that when we purchase things like for example our Chromebooks, you don't want to purchase them one shot because then they're all going to come due at the same time. So we implement a strategy and a plan to buy those on a schedule so that it
disperses the cost across several budget cycles and it creates a more responsible replenishment schedule. And then we have our capital reserve. Any money that we have in the capital reserve we try to use to prioritize projects long range planning and reducing debt issuance. So when we
use those dollars, we try to make sure that we're meeting all of the building needs so that we don't have a situation where we have projects that need to be completed and we have no no funding available to do so. And important budgetary factors. Um each budget year, these are the things
that affect us most. So personnel, we want to maintain competitive salaries, but obviously that comes with increases that we have to account for. We have our fixed costs. Um we're battling general inflation and imposed increases. We want to remain operational. So we have to make sure that we're accounting for those changes. We have in this year
received information from several vendors that they anticipate larger than usual increases. So we've tried to account for that in a responsible way. Um technology, we continue to work to remain at the forefront of technological innovations. We want to make sure that our staff and our students have every opportunity to use the tools that they
may see out in the real world as they move on to their next steps. and facilities. We want to ensure that we maintain functionality of school obviously and we also look at improving our uh security as well for state and federal aid. We're always waiting for those numbers because we use them to
offset the impact on our taxpayers. So when those numbers go up, that's fantastic. Um and this year we were fortunate to have that and purchasing. Again, we try to use consortiums, cooperatives, we renegotiate vendor contracts, and we evaluate service agreements to make sure that we're using the best available
options that we're saving money wherever we can, but still making sure that we're getting the best products and services that we can. And then finally, savings. Whenever we have savings, we look for reallocation of personnel through attrition. We look at evaluation of needs and historical spending. And we try to procure competitive quotes and
proposals at all times. So, we're always looking for options that produce savings while also keeping our quality high. Um, our district enrollment has been a big impact and we've discussed that in the past. Um, these numbers are based on the ASSA snapshots and also the
projection for 2526. So, the numbers leading up to 25 on this chart. You'll see um are the exact exact numbers we provided in a previous board meeting. And then that also includes a 13 student increase from our October 14 uh 2024
snapshot. So um you can see that while we jumped to 200463, we also had an increase over the snapshot in October. Um I did confer with the county as well on that number and that increase and they agreed that this was a responsible
projection. Our state aid allocations, we received $4.7 million or approximately 7.4% of our operating revenue. Um, our equalization aid, Mike, can you hit the next one? Was cut this year. So, we had a reduction of $854,000. We received no equalization
aid. However, in our other categories, such as our transportation aid, we saw an increase. So, we had 722,000 increase there. Uh, that accounts for 1.9% of revenue. We received an increase of 537,000 in our special education aid,
which brings us to 3.1 million or 4.86% of our revenue. and our security aid had an increase of 333,000 bringing it to $383,000 and that is6% of our revenue. The revenue beyond our state aid our largest source of revenue is our
tax levy. So 53 million approximately 84% of the budget. Um, you also have budgeted fund balance coming in at 1.5 million. Extraordinary aid 650,000 tuition from individuals and other LEAs 256,000 transportation fees
and other LEAs 80,000 withdrawal from emergency and maintenance reserves to fund projects 100,000 withdrawal from capital reserve to fund capital projects 2.4 4 million miscellaneous and interest 364,000 military impact aid
300,000 and our semid aid uh 13,306 we did reference in prior meetings that's an 80% cut from our prior allocations. We also have the availability of bank cap which is a bit of a a misnomer because it insinuates that we have a savings account that
we're pulling from and as in a bank. It's not. It's spending authorization that can be carried forward through budget cycles. So in the 2223 year we created 200 we had a remaining creation of $243,583. We did use part of our banked cap in prior budget cycles from that
year. So that's what's remaining. In 2324 we created 122,564,000 in uh banked cap. And that is when we do not go to the 2% tax levy or the adjusted 2% tax levy. So anytime that we tax the the township at a lower
rate, they bank the spending authorization and it is available to us for three additional budget cycles. So that being said, the 2223 year is expiring this year. So that 243,000 is only available for this cycle and will not be available moving
forward. So a breakdown of expenditures, where does every dollar go? So in our district, approximately 38% of every dollar spent can be tied directly to instruction. That includes 25% regular programs, 11% special education, and 3%
basic skills, bilingual, and co-curricular services. Then we have 58% I'm sorry, 57% of the budget, um, which is support services, which includes all of those items, and I'm going to break that down in a minute. Um, and then we have equipment and construction coming
in at 5%. And we have charter schools, uh, tuition at 3%. So roughly every dollar spent is going in some capacity to these areas. Now when you take a bigger breakdown of that 57% it's a lot of items that are housed in there and often there's a question of well why is
instruction not the highest percentage but a lot of this does tie back to instruction in a different capacity. So you see we have our our out of district tuitions we have attendance and social work services health services speech PTO um any other support capacity. So that
could be our aids, that could be any any other need that we have, guidance, um child study team, improvement of instruction, which includes PD and training and things of that nature. Um our media and library costs, um instruction for staff and and additional training services. Um a lot of our
softwares are housed in here, general and school administration, central services, technology, operations and maintenance, transportation, and our health benefits and other benefits for our employees. So, if you want a visual of that, this is how it presents. And it's a lot to take in, which is why we
had a double breakdown there. Um, and I do want to note that this entire presentation, as well as the user-friendly budget, will be available within 48 hours of this meeting. So, you can refer back to any of the slides that you're seeing. Capital projects. We have quite a bit planned for the coming summer and
school year. Um, I did discuss this at a prior meeting, but just a snapshot of that, we have a district flooring project coming in at $448,000 and change. um that is touching literally every building in the district in some capacity. So that's multiple classrooms, that's um floors that are badly in need of replacement. Um that's
decarpeting our kindergartens because that was a terrible plan. Uh so that's that's a widespread uh impact that should be very positive. Um we have the replacement of the CMS bleachers. Um again, those are in disrepair. It's it's time for those to come back up. Um
$67,000 district-wide phone system replacement. Our phones are no longer going to be supported. they've reached the end of their useful life and they need to be redone. Um that initial cost is $337,000, but that should save us uh roughly $20,000 per year in the coming years. Um CMS and Stony Brook camera
replacement. We are we're embarking on a five-year replacement plan for all of our security cameras. CMS and Stony Brook are the first schools that we're going to um approach, but we will have a plan where every year we will be completing as many schools as we can with the funding that we have available. um that is
$191,620. That is an example of not having a an appropriate replacement schedule. All of the cameras were bought at the same time, so they were reaching the end of their useful life at the same time. We've had a lot of what I call band-aid repairs of having to replace one camera at a time. This is a more
comprehensive way to do that. Um we have our KDM window project um for $1.3 million. This is a big project and it's sorely needed. it will incre increase the energy efficiency of the building and um also just create a safer more um secure learning environment for the
school. So um those windows have been probably passed their useful life for a bit. Um and then we have our CMS auditorium audio upgrade that's going to be in both the big and little gym. Um when we have events in there, we have a lot of trouble being heard, microphones going in and out. This should uh address
that need. That's $35,000. And then we have KDM with a playground upgrade of $80,000. Um that is an estimated value. We're still flushing out the details of that project, but we are also making an effort to make the playground more um ADA compliant and handicap accessible.
Um and all of those projects are being funded through reserves. So not one of those projects translates into the impact on the tax levy. So our current tax base is still in a positive trend. And what that means, Mike, can you click the next? um
our ratables are going up. So, this is a lot of information from the tax assessor's office, but the important number is right here. This $5.6 billion um is about a $400 million increase over the prior year. So, that that's through reassessment of the valuation of the the
businesses and homes in the town. Um we don't create that number. That is given to us and that dilutes the impact of our tax levy increase on the average homeowner. So, it um it creates a better tax rate essentially. And here we go. So, the the thing
everybody's looking for, the tax impact. Um, so in 2425, the tax levy was 52,327,465. Uh, the proposed tax levy for this coming year is 53,64,254. That is a 2.466% increase or a dollar change of
$1.2 million. Um, with that, the impact on the average home with an assessed value, and again, we get this from the tax assessor's office, the average home assessed value is $479,315. The impact on that average home for the year would be
$4,465. This increase is less than the previous year's increase by $188.18 when comparing 202425 to 2526. So again, the impact on the average home last year for our increase was $4,600 and
change. So how are we going I I mentioned the 2% tax levy cap. How are we going to 2.466? The district is able to have an adjusted tax levy cap beyond 2% and it's allowable through the use of banked caps. So the 243,000 and change dollars that we saw on the previous slide, the
board has um allowed me to utilize that to exceed the 2%. The reason being all the things that we just went through for expenditures are increasing at a much higher rate than 2%. So just to give you an idea, um our property casualty insurance has an estimated increase of 12%. Um our electric costs have an
estimated increase of 17%. The CPI on transportation contracts is 3.57 um percent. We have a 7.3% increase in health benefits costs. Um all salaries across the board ranged from 3.25% to 4.4% increases. We also had the addition
of new uh curricular programs for um special education and we had certain other um equipment needs that had to be replaced. So when we talk about 2% it's not going to cover all of that. Now we do have several other revenue sources and we certainly always seek more but it
was responsible in our estimation to increase past the 2% in order to keep all of our programs functioning and moving forward and keep the buildings in operational order. the again I mentioned a $400 plus million dollar increase in ratables moving into 2025 which lessens the felt
impact of our tax levy increase and I should mention as well this is our increase this has no bearing on the increase from the regional high school nor does it have any bearing on the increase from the township so we are simply one portion of the tax bill this is only our impact this year there is no
outstanding debt and therefore no additional levy for taxes on debt service so that is also a a reduction in what you'll see on your tax bill as far as what we're contributing because there is no outstanding debt which is usually an additional amount that's levied to pass this 2.466. Um and again all of these
aggregates and ratables were provided by the Rockway Township Tax Assessor's Office. So some of our bragging points we want to we want to highlight what we're using the current year budget for and what we've done in this year with the money that we've brought in and the things that the taxpayers have
contributed to. Um, so first of all, we ensured that all curricula is up to date and fully aligned across all schools. We did that through the revision and updating of more than 100 curriculum documents. So that's a lot of curriculum writing. That's a lot of programming. And all of that feeds into our ability
to educate the students in the best way possible. And the nice thing about that is because we invested that money in this year, we have no curriculum writing in the budget for the future year. We are up to date with everything and there is no required writing of curriculum for the coming year. Um, we successfully implemented the linkit platform for
staff and parents. Um, this provides immediate access to their child's most current academic data. And we also were able to host the first ever district author day. We launched character strong, which is a comprehensive new social emotional learning program that was district-wide.
We were able to create an initial testing team to bring consistency to the district as well as providing additional building level support. We increased inclusion opportunities throughout the district and through work with allin and our inclusive education at DBO and the New Jersey preschool inclusive education
project at Birwood. We upgraded our internet switches switches across the district to enhance connectivity and we upgraded servers both physical and virtual and we uph we implemented a multifactor authentication system and began district rollout. And these are just some of the highlights of what we've done. These are
the things that when I asked the departments to give me two things that they were proud of that we accomplished through financing this year, this is what came back to me. So, at this time, um, we're going to open up to questions. I would like to start with questions from the board and then we'll move to questions from the
public. So, we can go back to our assigned area. Thank you, Mrs. Slam, for that comprehensive uh brief there and presentation. We really appreciate it. Uh from the board, do you have any questions for Miss Slam regarding the
budget? Okay. All right. Seeing none. Open to the public. Come on up, sir. Hi everybody. Uh Tucker Kelly, 16 Megan Road, Rockway, New Jersey. Uh one shout out. I just wanted to say congratulations on the doctor uh portion
of it. I haven't seen you some time, so Dr. scene looks pretty great and as you know uh thank you for your service as well in the military for what you do for all of us and anybody else that's on and in the service and one more shout out I'm a Birchwood grad 1982 so uh welcome to the Birchwood area I do have a family
member that's a little boy that's in the fourth grade there so it's a a great placeh ladies and gentlemen tonight uh we're here you guys just did an amazing presentation in regard to the budget that's there um I am a very fiscal conservative individual I'm I'm a heavy
investor in Rockway Township as well as a lifelong resident of 55 years. Um, so I do see some of these increases not only in the schoolboard level, but I also see them in the municipal level, how they continue to keep increasing. Now, when you look at the schools and we look at our municipal budget that's
going on there, it's an average of anywhere between$1 to $3 million of an increase that we have. Not the total operating budget, which is an even a higher number, and the 60 million, but what I see here today, what you're presenting us from two years ago, from the 23 to 24 to where we're at right
now, it's a little almost a $3.5 million increase. And right now, we're just under 1.5. and maybe you might have saw with with our municipal government that they recently passed their budget. We're at a $45 million budget with the township itself. So, some of the things that you were addressing which I really
didn't hear um that I was looking for was one what you look at and what you investigate or communicate with of other professionals and companies and vendors and so forth and so on. I don't hear any continuity with our municipal government. I don't hear any uh concerns
or discussions in the sense of u missile appeals that we have that are coming up that unfortunately the taxpayers have to refund that but what we give to the schools of that 65% we don't get that portion back on a loss appeal that hurts the taxpayers. In addition to that we have other people
that are on fixed incomes and and living that are here whether they're retirees or seniors their level of increases compared to the employees of three to 5% is not equalized. Many people don't get the increases that board members and some of the other contracts and increases go. it ultimately affects them
financially to where the decision that those individuals will have to find another place or another state that is more financially suitable for them and that creates even an additional problem because if you have seniors that you're forcing out I'm not saying that you're targeting seniors to make them move out or those that are retirees or those on a
fixed income but ultimately the municipality government as well as the school government are driving those individuals that are 100% ratable and need to stay here because they are the blocking component of having additional students potentially coming in here and
impacting the schools as well as the budget. So, we're talking 223,000 per pupil, not knowing how many we get in that we take in that we charge a tuition for to offset some of the cost, right? But still, we really need to focus on that. And I have not seen
that. I've not heard any type of evaluation, any kind of reports to say, hey, this is a point that we need to focus on in order to do that. Now, some of you may say, you know, Mr. Kelly, it is impossible to do, right? And we're watching everything that's going on with our government now with Doge, with
Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk and all that, but forget about the players. In 2018 and 2019, when I was a council member in Rockway Township, we cut the budget in two years by $1.6 6 million. We actually lowered the tax
amount from those year levels of 2018 2019 to 2014 to 2015 levels. You can check your tax records and you will see majority of those people had a substantial reduction in their taxes. So it is something that's possible. You
discussed about needs and wants and that those are things that we have to prioritize that are on there. And basically our needs that I see having a a child in this district, I see the biggest needs are education and security. So when I look at the three and a half million from two years ago to
the 1.3 million now with that percentage of an increase that we have of 2.4, have we actually seen education greaten 2.4%. Have our security increased by 2.4%. because those are the main focus of
investments that I'm trying to look at. We're trying to better our education for our children. Forget about the administration end of it because that to me is not even second, third, fourth, or fifth. It's really our children and building them to be responsible adults and prosper and even be better than us
as parents for them. And that's something that is important to focus on, not only mentally and building their building blocks of education, but fiscally being able to maintain that ability to do so. So, one other thing that I saw when you
were talking and again, could I respond just before you move on because you listed a lot of things and I want to make sure that I'm Yeah, I I can remember a lot, but if we if we go on, I might lose it. Um, so what I do want to say is first of all, I appreciate your comments. Um, and I do completely agree. It's very difficult and when when I tell
you that I and the board can attest to this when I when I create a budget, I'm trying to create the most responsible budget that I can and trying to keep in mind all stakeholders. And it is unfortunate because everyone is subject to the tax. There's no allocart taxing. So it is everybody is subject to the same thing. And to your point, they're
not all in the same situation. So I recognize that. What I will say is we certainly, as I mentioned in in the presentation, and this is a 30 minute or so pres presentation on about six months of work. So it's certainly, you know, a smaller version of what what it is. Um,
but we focus on savings consistently. We try to seek any any way that we can lower costs, we do that. Um, one of the things that occurred in this budget cycle is that we brought out of district students back into district because we strengthened our programs to offer what they needed. And that's a savings.
That's that's good for that to happen. And we're not bringing them back in an irresponsible manner. We're bringing them back because we have good programs to offer. Um, so that's one of the ways that we cut costs. And you were talking about investment in education. Because we have those programs, because we strengthen them, we can do that. Um
likewise when we invest in technology we do so because we want to make sure that the education that the students are receiving in the classrooms is the best version of the technological aspects we can offer because that's an everchanging field as we know technology is outpacing us every single day. There's a new thing
available and our half the time our kids know more about it than we do. Um so we're trying to stay consistent and competitive in that education as well. Um, as far as, you know, our ability to cut and reduce taxes, absolutely. That's always an option. We c I I mean, we
could sit down and redline my budget in any capacity, and we would sacrifice quality staff. We would sacrifice programs, we would sacrifice a lot of the things that make this district great. And while I'm not saying that we can't make hard choices, and we have made hard choices, I mean, 2.466 could
have been higher. We had additional bank cap that we could have levied. Um, but we try to be responsible to our stakeholders while also balancing the needs and and also the progression of the district because there's base level needs. There's what I need to keep the lights on and keep the kids here and
physically safe. And then there's the programming and the things that we want to see and the way that we want our students and our staff to be able to grow. So, I guess my my overall point is while your point is very well taken and you are not incorrect that there are options for cutting, um I think that we
as an administration and we as a board um have tried to have the hard conversations of what we want to see for this district and we're trying to create a financial expression of that. So I guess what I will say is while not everyone will be happy with their tax
bill or feel that they are receiving a fair portion of what has to be paid um I can for what it is worth I can vouch that we are trying to make every single dollar count as much as humanly possible. Um so again I I can't I can't address everything that you said or
offer a solution in this moment but I will say that we that's why we do zerobased budgeting. We make no assumptions and we don't take for granted one dollar that we collect. And and I I I agree with what you're telling me and I I hope I can just get a little bit extra time. Yes. Somebody else. I just uh and I do appreciate the feedback
that you're on there. But when we talk about students because that was something else I was focusing on because one thing that I'm trying to do in what I do business-wise and even when I was a council member looking at the budget, I try to get 10 ounces of juice out of a 5 oz orange. I want to get as maximum amount of what I can on a return. We
really can't make profit. we can only reduce operating cost that goes on there, right? So, when I look at that, when you talk about students and bringing them in and we getting that tuition that's there, we're only talking about, you know, 12 additional students that we brought in when I do the calculations of what you were versus where you're at right now. And then
there's always that hype where we're talking about we're having an increase of students. And there's always that potential because when we look at 2017 2018, there was a 45 reduction in children that were coming into the school. And then things have changed a little bit itself but not really off the
charts. Now the the birth rate does not offset the death rate right now currently on how things go. So the projection of potentially having more children coming into the district not just in in Rockaway but in the 364 municipalities of of the state of New Jersey that's just a projection. None of
us are Nthamus. We don't have that eightball and we're shaking it to try to figure it out. We try our best but again some of these gamles that we do of these projections it's very costly for those people especially those on fixed incomes. The one thing when we were talking about you're saying about
reducing cost I'm I'm also on the other end of the spectrum where I'm trying to bring in additional ratables that we have. Yes. So, when I look at your grants that you have in regarding some funding of a lot of these capital improvements and you guys are already talking about this $100 million um referendum that we're doing that's going
to cost us anywhere between 65 and 75,000. I confirmed that with the board of elections. I don't see some more of an increase in grants. We received 40% ROD grants um for all of the roofing projects that were completed this year. And um hypothetically, if the referendum
were to be executed, we would also be able to claim uh 40% of any um not new construction, but improvement of in of construction, and any new new construction would be a 10% rate. So, we would we would seek all of that grant funding. That is the only that is the only available grant funding for those
types of projects at this time. Um, when you look in your records though itself, you actually had a reduction of $700,000 in your grants from two years ago to where we're at right now. You were at 1.3, you're just a little over 700 currently right now. Are are you referring to the title and and federal grants because those were cut. Well,
combination, right? You have a combination of all the grants that are there. So, our main source of grants at the moment, our federal grants are title and IDA. Those are allocated to us. We can't seek additional and they were cut in previous years. So, we've seen a reduction over time. You're correct. Um and rods grants were not available to
districts. Um that became they were available for a number of years and then they cut all rod grant funding. The first year that it was available to us was actually the year in which we received it which was for last year's roof roof construction. So I guess the the point being um our our
administrative team does seek any available grants that we qualify for. There there are certain grants that we don't qualify for. I can't tell you that every grant available that we can pursue it. But I can tell you that there's a concerted effort to make um ourselves availed to any funding that is a grant
writer. Does this does this? No. Um we we all grant writing happens by the administration that exists in whatever capacity. So if it's rod grants, I I pursue those. Um academic grants would be at the principles or uh the teachers level depending on the case. Um so we that would be a position that we don't
really need. Okay. Yeah. Um, and one last thing is again projection wise when we're talking about the ratables that have been increased because we have about roughly 10,000 I mean you put it on there it's like 9,600 and change that's there but roughly 10,000 which a combination of I think it's 8,900 homes we have uh 240 businesses farm
properties farm assessment combination right and the ratables themselves have increased but we have a cycle that goes up and down between 10 to 15 years absolutely and you know you have some of these people that are buying their houses for 100 or 50,000 to 150,000 over asking But eventually there's going to be an
issue where that drops and you're going to lose equity in those homes that bring it down. Yes. So with this anticipated 400 million of the amount of the 5 a.5 million that we have and and our ratables that are there, have you put in effect a safeguard or a cushion? So when that time does happen,
how are we going to then affect that? Because now now it's going to really hurt. You are absolutely correct and the board will tell you that I speak about that often. Um, I we we're presenting one budget cycle right now tonight, but I always say that budget cycles exist in
a really a five-year timeline. So, we're looking at the year that we just concluded, the year we're in, and then the the coming years. So, we don't we try to safeguard ourselves, as you said, from these fluctuations by taking advantage of what we can when we have the option to. So, for example, right
now we're increasing the budget by 2 point the tax levy, I should say, not the budget, but the tax levy by 2.466%. 466%. And we're doing it in a year in which ratables are high so that the felt impact to the taxpayer is not as extreme as it would be in a bad ratables year. Now, when the ratables take a downturn, because you're right, everything moves
in cycles. Then the board would have to take a responsible look at, hey, here's the ratables, they're really not that strong. So, if we increase the tax levy by 1%, it's going to feel like 10%. So, that's a conversation we would have in that year. Now, the other thing we're doing is, as you mentioned, continuing
to seek revenues. um we're taking responsible looks at our spending. So when we create savings in a year, two things happen with those savings or additional revenues because we do have revenues that come in beyond what I have projected here. The two things we do with those revenues is we create our
fund balance that we take in as a revenue moving forward this year is 1.5 million. Following COVID because there was like no spending, everything was crazy. We had as high as 2.4 2.5 million. um we have to manage that balance to make sure we don't create a revenue cliff because then it falls to
taxpayer dollars. Um so we manage that number at the end of the year. I speak with the auditors. We collaborate on what that should be, what's a responsible number and I manage the spending down to that. Now what the way that I manage the spending down to that is I look at the total amount that we have available and then we take projects
or programs and things that we know that we need or will need in the future and we start to purchase at the end of the year. I create an entire end of the year spending plan to monitor and balance that ending number and use whatever funds are available in the most responsible way. So that's that's kind of how we insulate ourselves from the
fluctuations. We also try to lock in um you know competitive rates on anything we can. We try to negotiate contracts not only with our staff and our teams but also with our vendors. Um, and we're not past if if we think we're getting enough for our value, I I create an RFP
or we do a bid and we go back out and we try to get competitive. So, there's there's a lot of moving parts and you are absolutely correct that everything moves in cycles and I have told the board we're in a really strong financial position right now, but that may not be true in two to three years. So, at some
point, every boon comes back down and the rubber meets the road and then we have a tight year. Um, but we try to invest as much as we can when we have the ability so that when that leaner comes, we're not scrambling to function. I just hope that what it does. I mean, it's an easy jump, but when the landing
ends of it, if there's no security net or any kind of cushion for for that fall, then it becomes a really hard time on just so many levels. We are on the same page 100%. Yeah. And then the last thing is and and again, thank you so much for all the extra time that you're giving me. I really do appreciate it. Um, a lot of in in-house projects.
That's another thing that was something that was very uh on my mind in a sense that was important that we can reduce operating costs by doing some of these projects, not all of them. Yes. Because nickels and dimes add up to dollars and then you start adding them and then all of a sudden you have a big pile. Yes. And when we do a lot of these uh
projects inhouse and I and I believe that the men and women in your staff and maintenance are that the janitors that are here and all those people that could handle those things. Yep. Do we look into getting maybe additional workers that we may be paying an additional salary for in benefits, but yet there's a talent that comes with that that's
pulled to where they can offset some of these other expenditures. And when you're getting uh you're sending it out to a bid or you have another vendor, the problem I think a lot of people don't realize the vendor knows how much money you got, right? Yes. And and some of them are predatory. You are correct. This is your limit. And then all of a
sudden they try to hit it just below that. they look like they're lower than the threshold, but they get it when it could be potentially 25% 30% over that. I mean, I see that in just what I do. So, this is my third year in the district. Um, so what I can tell you is that in the time that I've been here, because I can't speak to what BAS before
me did or or you know, the buildings and grounds department prior to me. Um, but what I can tell you is we have a new director of buildings and grounds that we hired. Um, he's fantastic. And one of the things that we stressed when we were seeking that person, our our last person retired, when we sought that person, we
made an emphasis on the fact that we wanted to make our team as effective as possible and do as much in-house as we can responsibly for exactly the reason that you stated like sub code licensing, everything else. So, every single one of our maintenance department has um a license specialty of some sort. We have
electricians, HVAC, we have uh plumbing, and our new director is actually licensed in both electric and HVAC. Um, a good example of the result of that and kind of exactly what you're speaking to is the Dwire sign that I just announced that we completed, which was a long time
coming. Um, when we finally got to the end zone with that that construction, it I sat down with the new director and I said, "I'm just not 100% comfortable with the cost of this." I said, and I hate to say it because I don't want to delay the installation any longer. I
said, "But it should be about half of what it is." And I think that was a mistake of the prior, you know, director and what they chose to do. And I said, "Can't we do some of this in house? Can we go through it line by line and talk about it?" He took one look at it and he said, "You're absolutely right." We started redlinining things. We cut out
an entire vendor much to their dismay because they had been waiting and working for over 5 years expecting to have you were food chain. And I had to make a very difficult phone call um to that vendor because they had they had spent five years trying to work through the problem with us. and I had to cut them loose essentially and say, "Hey, I
appreciate you, but I can't justify what we're spending for you." And we essentially cut the cost of that sign in half. Um, so that's a good example of exactly what you're saying, good people with strong knowledge and good licenses. And because of that, our team is being better utilized and a lot of things are
being done in house. And another example, as you mentioned, our custodians, we have a great group of custodians, but I don't feel that they have been leveraged to their full potential up to this point. And our new director agreed. He has implemented something where on on say weekends when we have the buildings being utilized by
a group that there's a ceremony or event or something else required for somebody to be steal and someone has to be there to open and close the building. Well, now they're picking up a paintbrush and they're completing painting projects and things that need to be done and small repairs that they're capable of. Um so that's now being asked of them and and to their credit they have jumped on
board and there's been no complaints. Well, they're being paid. You might as well be doing something. Well, ex precisely. So if we're going to pay for them to be present, we want to get as much productivity as we can. But again, that comes from strong leadership. So to your point, when you hire the right people and you have the right perspective and you're using everybody effectively and efficiently, you start
to see that outcome. And then last thing, and I'll make this really brief, uh when we're talking about some of the recreation that we have over there, I I've always made some comments uh when I was on the council, and I still make them now, where we have roughly about 60% of the children that participate in recreation uh in Rockway Township, and
we really don't have anything for the 40% that don't. you know, they're going to be into music, gaming, a whole drama, a whole bunch of things. We have a neighboring adjoining property that the school bought. I believe it was purchased from the stoopas over on Mineral Spring and Fleetwood Drive all the way over to other school districts behind those homes that are there. I
tried buying it myself. You guys just won. Uh, but regardless of that, since it does come behind Stanley Court that's there, and we right now we have a posted stamp of property with an envelope of usage on Peterson Field. Just something there. I know you're not going to make that decision now because we're talking
about budget. Yeah. But potentially maybe working with the town to maybe elongate Peterson Field so it isn't so congested. I mean, it's almost like an elevator when there's a function going on here because everything is so narrow. There were some mistakes with engineering. We don't even have bleachers that are set up because of how
narrow the walls are to where the sidelines are and everything else that are there. And parking of course that's that. But you have the road that goes down to DBO and you have all that property that's over there. I know there's some steep slope issues and there could be some, you know, planning and we're going to talk a little bit about that in a minute, but yes. Well, I
mean, I didn't know this, so I'm just something that I this is my field of that. It would be something that it's a great question and we would love to utilize the property very and I hate to laugh, but you'll see why we're laughing in a moment because because there's a lot of stipulations to the use of that land, but we have fully explored every
option that that's out there. That's right by King's Road that's over on Fleetwood Drive as well. that's been, you know, I don't know if it's a blocking uh uh maneuver that you're doing or it's been going on for a very very long time. Yeah. You know, between Lennox and Fleetwood on the upper end of that. Um I have over on Queens, I own a
property over that way which joins Peterson Field 2. Yeah. But you guys have a really nice piece. I know it needs a little bit of work, a little polishing to make it a gem, but it could really open up a lot of avenue to to make it like the Mount Olive complex
that they have up there as far as sports programs and really open it up for more areas for people because a lot of kids are different ages and their parents are all over the place where they can be in one nucleus of an area and and I think I'm reading your minds a little bit here from this conversation. You you 100% are
we at at Nauseium have discussed over and over and we we are with you. We would like to utilize every piece of property for every and we would be happy to collaborate with the town. But again, we we'll we'll there'll be some illumination of our challenges in a moment. But yes, if the town we have no
opposition to shared services through the town or shared efforts through the town. Um we are open to that conversation. I will take a call from anybody that would be interested in having that conversation as will Dr. Corbett. Um but yeah and I think I mean uh if it is possible even restrictions
that are there to lift and make things a lot easier to make that happen because the ultimate goal again and it's an investment because it does make the value of the town itself even that much more worth for more people to come and invest as well as businesses. We want to offset a little bit more businesses because there's zero impact to the schools but we're almost built out.
Matter of fact, just on the other side of uh Fleetwood and Min Springs, that's really our last corridor of anything that's there. And I don't know if it's even buildable without doing a a pilot program that's that's in that area that's there. But yeah, again, that's for a whole another conversation. Yes. But and leaving just just think of
nickels and dimes. A little bit here, a little bit there, but it adds up in the end almost like a Christmas fund when you do that. 50 bucks a week and at the end you have over a thousand bucks in order to, you know, to give and and buy gifts for. Yep. giving back to the taxpayers by having some of these reductions and overall a little bit here
and there of those lines there could be a negative offset or or a lesser increase I should say in this particular situation. Yeah, I agree completely and and I agree that no value is inconsequential and we treat it as such. So I I really do appreciate your comments. I think you and I see eye to eye on that very much. Yeah, I think so.
All of us, not just you but I think everybody. Yes. Great. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it. Do we have any other questions from the public regarding the budget presentation? You did a fantastic job. Thank you. Thank you. It's my favorite day.
With that, Dr. Corvett, can I please turn it back over to you for the next portion? You can. We're going to Can I ask the board to please go back out again? It's like musical chairs. All right. So, thank you again, Miss Slam, for that budget presentation. She's not done yet.
I need her a little bit more. She loves it. It's like It's like your Super Bowl. What is it? Yeah, your Super Bowl. I said that. All right. Yeah. Thank you. So, we we do we do want to um kind of shift gears slightly and talk about the
referendum briefly. Here's Okay, so next slide, please. Let's talk about that. Let's Let's talk about how it started. This is like a three-part presentation. I got the first part and the last part. Um, and it won't be very long. There's only a few slides here. But we want the public to know how
we started, right? What our proposals were and where we are now. And again, this will be available on the school website within 48 hours, including these slides. Everything you're seeing, it will also be on the website. And I also would like to just say and remind everyone, the public, uh, our effort,
the board's effort is to be transparent about everything. We're not trying to hide everything, anything really and truly. We want the public to know when it's the right time to know what's going on, what we're trying to do. So, um, let's start with how we how we started
in the beginning, let's say 23 24 school district school year. We were concerned about the enrollments. Um, and we were also looking at the actual building needs. Um uh so we we knew that our buildings and we know that our buildings
need some improvements. Um we also listened to a lot of the stakeholders in the district. A lot of the we went to PTA meetings and we were listening very carefully to what the public had to say. Uh we decided at that point that we should um go out for an RFP and to
retain an architect of record which we did. USA architects and they developed the long range facilities plan. and the R LRFP which basically is a full assessment of every building in the district. Next slide please. So we've
identified some specific needs. Um and first need of course is enrollment. Uh and that that is one of the most important things that we have to deal with. Uh also school security has become a real concern particularly over the past 10 years. And I don't I mean I'm
concerned in our schools that we haven't updated our schools to um to deal with the school security issues. The LRFP did identify uh some specific needs around the district. And also the other thing that we're anticipating is that within a
very short period of time, it could be within a few years, the state is likely to mandate preschool for three and four year olds. What are we going to do when we have to educate a full-time contingent of three and four year
olds? Right now, speaking of space and and instructional um classrooms, um and just the space in general, um we have kids, just to know that have to eat lunch in their classrooms. They don't have the space available. So, those are some of the concerns. Those are some of
the needs we identified. So based on these needs, we put some proposals together. Okay. So these are storyboards that were created by the district architects. Again, these are going to be available on the website. The reason that we
haven't shown these sooner is because we were hesitant to show a plan that wasn't achievable. But we've hit such a a point of contention with the New Jersey D and how much of our land is actually usable that we've we've come to the conclusion that the best course of action is to
show you what we want to do and what we had planned to do. And I can tell you that the plan as it's currently going to be shown to you here is not currently achievable with the stipulations that have been put in place for us by the NJD. The NJ DOE has approved our plans,
but the NJD has not approved the use of our land in a way that will allow us to accomplish this. So that being said, for Birchwood Schools, um the intention was to create a secure vestibule for the entrance of the school. Um we have an expansion of classroom space. You'll see
the different green areas. Um, also it would make the building more ADA compliant. Um, the ventilation improvement. Um, there's a lot of mechanical and equipment improvements that are baked into this. As we touch spaces, we look at the the systematic things that we can update and upgrade.
Um, we have our library and cafeteria expansion. We looked to add parking and improve the athletic field. Um, for Dwire schools, we had again addition of a secure vestibule. um repurposing of the kindergarten classrooms, which I'll explain how we
would repurpose them in a little bit. Um again, ventilation improvement, HVAC improvement, um and also a window and wall and facade project to improve the entire one aesthetic of the building, but also energy efficiency and heating and cooling uh
efficiency. Um we can go to the next KDM. Um, again, addition of a secure vestibule, also uh restructure some of that office space to move the office to the front of the building. Um, repurpose the kindergarten rooms. Again, I'll tell you how in a moment. Um, expansion of
the cafeteria, which is currently insufficient. Again, we talked about children needing in their classrooms. It's because, um, right now with some of the cafeteria spaces available at our elementary schools and the schedules that are in place, we can't physically have the children all eating in the
cafeteria at the same time. Um, we also have the window replacement which was intended to be part of the referendum that funding will likely be repurposed as I pulled that out as a project in this year because once we realized that the referendum was not going to roll out in the timeline that we planned, we decided to prioritize that project and
pull that out of the long range plan on its own and complete that in this year. Um, we also looked to add parking and again improve the the ventilation systems. Next, um, Stony Brook School would also receive a secure vestibule. Um again repurposing the kindergarter
classrooms and when I say repurposing that means that instead of having to build new classrooms we would pull the kindergartens from those rooms. They will be located somewhere else again in these plans. Um and those classrooms would be used for expansion of the enrollment for all other grades in that building. Um again increase ADA compliance and ventilation HVAC um
mechanical and and technological improvements. And then CMS again inc um secure vestibule increased the office space for both the administration and um I believe it was uh special education um addition of classrooms um we had again
ventilation improvement window and wall and facade replacement um and addition of an athletic field and an auditorium. At this moment in time there is no space within this school where all students can um be in one place at the same time. So when we have presentations, when we
have assemblies, when we have events, there is no way for us to host them in this building with all students attending at the same time. Um, which is really it it's a disadvantage to not only us as the staff but the students and what they can experience. And then for
DBO, we had again secure vestibial um repurposing of kindergarten classrooms, expansion of the cafeteria. Um, that is the smallest cafeteria that I have ever seen as an educator. Um, and I'm not I'm not exaggerating. When I first came here and they walked me into the cafeteria, I
was like, "Where are we?" Um, and and they were holding a music class in there because they didn't have they weren't holding um their c their uh lunches in there. They're eating in the classrooms. Um, again, ADA compliance, ventilation improvement. Um, and then the second part of this plan, and I believe it's on
the next slide, Mike, um, is our H-shaped building. Now, this is the one that presented the largest issue for us and it's really it's a domino effect. If we can't accomplish this portion of the referendum, it impacts every other portion of the referendum. Um, this is the creation of an early childhood
learning center. Um, which would house 20 classrooms. That's where the kindergarteners are going. Um, that's also how we would answer the question of where do we put preschoolers if we have a full day mandate from the state to offer full day uh preschool for our town. And it also includes uh a
secondary access to the building um additional parking and that that is the portion that has created the most constraint and issue for us. So if you go to the next slide, this is um a breakdown of KDM or DBO and what we
would like to do. So this is the existing school. This is the proposed early childhood learning center and the athletic field. When you see this area in red and this area in red and this line and all these little wetlands, this is all a variation of
NJD regulated land. We were told that we are in somewhat of a flood plane. We were told there's a a category 3 stream, a category 1 stream. Um there's a bat living there. There's a frog that only lives there once a year. And all of those things um make our land unusable.
um we cannot fit what we need to in the footprint of our land while adhering to these constraints. We have looked for options outside of this. We have uh we had a team of very highly trained specialized engineers take a look at this. Um we have availed ourselves to
any possible waiverss. We have talked to local government officials. Um we have lobbied and requested and we have gotten absolutely nowhere unfortunately. Um, we at this point do not know what the path forward is going to look like, but that
is that is the main issue that then domino affects the rest of everything that we've just discussed. I'll turn it back over to you. Yeah, she actually made uh some of the points I was going to make on this slide in terms of like that's okay because you
said it very well. Where where are we at now? Well, first of all, I want to acknowledge that the board of education in the proposals that you just saw is attempting to address educational needs not just for the next five or 10 years, but for a very long time, generations to come. It's it's like instead of doing a
peace meal year, you know, five years here and then five years later, you know, this is this project was ambitious, yes, but again, it's for the long term. Um, but where are we at now? Well, as Megan just explained, if you cannot build an early childhood learning
center at DBO for the reasons that she just articulated, then the whole project collapses really and truly. We can't move the kindergarten into out of the buildings, right? So, the pro we don't solve the issue. Uh and I will I will
publicly blame the D. I say it. I know I'm on I know I'm on YouTube and everything. Go ahead. Did you want to say something? Well, no. I was saying that we we also um we asked every so we were talking about land and what's available like we explored um parcels of
land that we own unbuildable. Um every which way that we turned we were told no um we talked about if we split the early childhood learning center into two locations and made it smaller but had two of them would that work again we literally and and we're using DBO as the
main example but we also had constraints at CMS we had con there's wetlands and vernal ponds and again all manner of wildlife across all the buildings in some capacity and it's it's really it's disheartening because we own the
property. We want to make the most of it and we are not able to. Yeah. Right. So um this will be on this will be on the website too. People can certainly uh help themselves look at it. Uh where are we at now? Well, we have to go back to square one. We really do. We have to
start all over again. And it's it's difficult for the board. It's frustrating for the board. It's very time consuming. Um, but we want to provide the best education for our students for generations to come. That is what we're trying to do. And unfortunately, right now, the position
that we're in, um, we cannot do what we want to do because we cannot build on the property that we own. And we will look at other options, but there are not a lot out there right now as far as I can see and we can see, but we will consider all options. Um, did I miss
anything? I think I think that we just wanted to give a a brief update on the referendum and um we'll let you know if something changes. Yeah. And I think the only other thing that I would add again we acknowledge and the reason we chose to do this tonight too is we felt we would be remiss to talk about uh our
next budget and leave the referendum hanging as a question of why and how and what is it going to be. Um and again to Dr. Corbett's point, it was not um ever an issue of trying to not be transparent. It was we didn't want to present you a half-baked plan and the
circumstances being what they are, we were sort of forced to do so. I wish that we had the ability and I know the board does too, to present you with a solidified plan with an outline of costs with everything that we would normally present when talking about a referendum, but this is the reason that has been forstalled. This is the reason that
there haven't been a lot of straight answers. It's because we didn't have them because we were in limbo and we remain in limbo at this time. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dr. Corbett. Thank
you, Mrs. Slam for going over our referendum update. All right. Moving on in the agenda to the next portion, committee reports. Are there any committee reports? I have one. Um, the education committee met virtually on April 28th
from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. Um, we discussed the next items for curriculum that are up for review. There is one more document for the life skills program that's being written right now and that's expected in June. Um, they spent a lot of time developing the the
curriculum that's there. So, we recommend that the board approve those items. Next week begins NJSLA testing. Um, in the beginning of the week, May 6th through 8th is English language arts. May 3rd through 15th, they'll be students will be taking the math
component. And then on May 20th and 21st, grades five and 8 will take the science part. There will be math placement tests for the incoming sixth grade students. That's going to be administered on the link platform. on that link platform. Teachers were also
trained on um using that system as an intervention manager. And so it will be helpful for conferences and um it's it's a very straightforward
easy to use one-pager that has everything almost looks like a baseball card with all the students information. It has their attendance record. It has their font and panel reading records from elementary school. It has their NJSLA scores. And so instead of like clicking on all of these different sites and being all over the place during
meetings, it's just there and they could even print that out and hand that as easy to parents. Um we did discuss that was brought up to us to discuss an AI policy. Uh Mrs. Waxman and Mr. Ganella and the lead
teachers are working to update that policy and plan. They are collaborating with high school's administrators to ensure that at least the eighth graders are being prepared and are in line with what they expect in the high school. And uh to follow up on last month's
discussion, they fourth and fifth grade teachers had been working and to create weights and categories for the next year's report cards. We had said last time that they had said 50% for assessments, 40% for applied learning tasks, and 10% for homework. We
recognize that currently the policy for grading states that um homework should not exceed 10% and we just were going to request that the policy committee please look at the wording of that document to see if what the teachers have worked on
fits in the needs of that policy. Then we have to discuss an upcoming date. Um I wanted to ask you guys to look at your schedules because Mr. Mr. Ganella said that Mondays are starting to look better for him with spring. So, if you have, you don't even have to tell me now because I know you
need to look at your home schedules. Yeah. But if you'd like to tell like look at home and tell me what Mondays work and then I'll see if the Mondays work for him since he's not here to Okay. talk to us. Do you have the policy number? It's 2330. Thank you. You're welcome.
And that concludes my report. Thank you, education. Anybody else? Yes. I have an update. The negotiations committee has met several times over the past few weeks. Um, our most recent meeting was April 22nd and I am pleased to report a tentative memorandum of agreement was
reached between the board and the bus drivers association. I am also pleased to report that the bus drivers association has ratified this memorandum of agreement and the board will ratify the agreement at an upcoming meeting. This memorandum of agreement was reached in good faith and could not have been
achieved without the hard work and dedication of both negotiation teams. Thank you very much. Negotiations, any other committees, just very briefly, right now we're scheduled for May 13th. Is that still okay?
Still okay. There you go. Go community outreach. All right. And I got one here for uh for operations. Uh the operations committee met yesterday uh on the 29th. Uh 4:30 we met virtually. Uh in attendance was Dr.
Corbett, Mrs. Slam, Mrs. Anderson, Miss Richardson, uh Mr. Martino, and myself. Uh and with that, we discussed several things to include the Dwire sign and that it is up and running, many years of work, but it is now nicely up and just waiting inspection now from the town um
saying that it's good to go. And once it's good to go, we'll be fully operational. Additionally, we went over the uh the updates to the uh maintenance projects uh over spring break. Additional projects were conducted. Uh painting projects were completed. Uh one of them, for example, was the DBO entrance. Uh they continued improvements
in other areas as well. Uh we also talked about that we had a hot water heater that failed over spring break. Uh it was repaired. Um they were quick to jump on that, making sure that uh our schools were still open and operational. Uh and ultimately coming up uh going
back to our uh maintenance with the nicer weather landscaping projects are coming up uh to be conducted shortly. Uh additionally we discussed there's no change in the budget uh discussion of job descriptions uh one point of the uh our business administrator and the team
shout out to you guys with uh catching uh individuals that were trying to fraudulent checks. Yes. Um the district, the third one was caught uh which now has three separate police reports with the Rockway Township Police Department, but due to the uh the diligence of our
uh our team over in the business office, um they were able to catch this and we did not suffer any kind of financial loss whatsoever because we caught it early. So, uh continue monitoring, please. They're ready. They're they're going to catch them all.
And last but not least, we talked about our uh our future contract with our food vendor and what pricing is going to look like for upcoming years. U with that, I would like to propose if available uh May 20th for our next meeting virtually
at 4:30 if that's good. If not, we can push to the 27th. Either or. Um what time on the 20th? 4:30 virtually. four o'clock. Ellie has kindergarten um orientation,
but I'll be back in time. Okay. 4:30 Copeland spring concert, but if we finish before Oh, one hour. We're super efficient. I get a parking pass. Yes. That's the biggest obstacle. All right. So, May 20th. Yes. Excellent.
And that concludes the report for operations. All right. Moving on. Moving on to recommended for board action. Starting with alpha personnel. All right, since it's personnel, there is no discussion. Can I please get a roll call vote? Oh, wait. I need a motion, please. Oh, I'm sorry.
You're right. Can I please have a motion to approve personnel recommendations? Second. Thank you. Can I get a roll call vote? Okay. Sorry. Let me flip the page. There we go. Go to page five. Bottom of page five. Uh, Mrs. Anderson, yes. Ms.
McGiri? Yes. Mrs. Meszik? Yes, Miss Richardson. Yes, Miss Tor. Yes, Dr. Thomasini. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much, Dr. Corbett. Over to you. Oh, yeah. I would like to um introduce again um Miss Maria Rivera,
our new principal at Birwood Elementary School effective July 1st, 2025. And Maria, if I could ask you to just introduce yourself to the community, maybe come forward. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you. So, I just have a quick something I'd
like to read. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Maria Rivera. Again, I want to thank the board members for this incred incredible honor and opportunity to serve as the next Birwood Elementary principal. Super excited. I'm humbled
and excited to begin this journey with such a passionate and dedicated community. Um, just a little bit about me, a little personal. I'm a wife, I'm a mother, I'm an educator, an educational leader. Um, and years years ago, I won't
say how many years. Um, I was an ESL student, what we know now as a multi- language learner. Um, I have two adult children. My daughter is sitting right here working. Um, throughout my son's educational journey, he had an IEP, so
he, you know, had learned some learning differences. um and my daughter was an honor student. I supported both my students, my my kids, I'm sorry, my children. Um and I demand demanded their academic excellence from the educators
that um worked with my with my kids. Um I expected nothing but the best um and nothing else. You know, I I need I wanted everything to be perfect for my kids. Um, that's this the commitment and the devotion that I commit to bringing
to Birchwood Elementary School. One of my primary focuses is going to be building relationships with um parents, the personnel, members of the community, but most community um but most importantly our students.
Building those relationships is going to assist us in continuing to move our students forward academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you again. virtual element ele elementary. Sorry.
Birwood Elementary in Birwood Yes. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am humbled and honored. Thank you. Gracias. Thank you. All right. Moving on to Bravo HIV
determinations. Since they're HIV, there'll be no additional discussion. We are voting on Oh, can I have a motion, please, to So moved. Thank you. Second. Seconded. Thank you. So this evening, uh, what we're looking at, we're to approve that 285997 is unconfirmed.
258998 is unconfirmed. 288140 is unconfirmed. 288327 is unconfirmed. 2890 is unconfirmed. 289229 is unconfirmed. 289231 is unconfirmed. 289233 is
unconfirmed. 289-256 is confirmed. 289257 is unconfirmed. 289702 is unconfirmed. 289736 is unconfirmed. 289855 is confirmed. And 289974 is unconfirmed. Can I please have
a roll call vote? Mrs. Anderson, yes. Miss Viri, yes. Mrs. Messi, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Miss Tor, yes. Dr. Thomasini, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to Charlie. Education. Can I have a motion to approve education recommendations? So moved. Seconded.
Thank you. Any board discussion on education? Seeing none, I can open up to the public for education. Education only if anybody has any comments. Seeing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? Mrs. Anderson, yes. Miss McGiri, yes. Mrs. Mzik, yes. Miss
Richardson, yes. Miss Torren, yes. Dr. Thomasini, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to Delta Special Education. Can I have a motion to approve special education recommendations? So moved. Seconded. Thank you. Any board discussion?
Hearing none, I can open this up to the public if anybody has a comment on special education. Seeing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? Mrs. Anderson, yes. Miss Mciri, yes. Mrs. Mesi, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Miss Torren, yes. Dr. Thomasini, yes. Motion carries.
Thank you. Moving on to echo administration. Can I have a motion to approve administrative recommendations, please? So moved. Seconded. Thank you. Any board discussion on administration? Um I'm sorry. Finance. We just did administration. Am I on the wrong one? We just did
special education. Oh no, I missed a box. Hold on. How did I do that? Page eight. I did. I missed this whole box. I'm so sorry. I will fix it. Continue. Ignore me. Any board discussion for administration? All right. See hearing
none. Any public comment on administration? Seeing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? Yes. Uh, Mrs. Anderson, yes. Miss Mcgiri, yes. Mrs. Messi, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Miss Torren, yes. Dr. Thomas, yes. Thank you
for re-mploying me after that faux paw because that's I'm in that section. I did. I got confused. Sorry. Continue. All right. Moving on to Foxtrot Finance. Can I mot have a motion to approve finance recommendations, please? So moved. Seconded.
Any board discussion? I signed the bills yesterday and I recommend that we approve them. All right. Can open it to the public if anybody wants to comment on finance. Seeing none, can I have a roll call vote, please? Mrs. Anderson, yes. Miss
Mcgiri, yes. Yes. Mrs. Mesi, yes. Ms. Richardson, yes. Miss Tor, yes. Dr. Thomasini, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. We are now on to our second public
discussion. In accordance to board policy 0167, public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a three-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 to the
second public comment? So moved. Seconded. Thank you. Show hands. All right. Is there anybody from the public that would like to come up and address the board? Hello everyone. Uh Tucker Kelly, 16 Mega Road. Again, thank you again for the
time. I'll make this really quick. I won't make it as lengthy as I did before, but I appreciate you giving me the opportunity. When we're talking about the referendum that we have that's going on there for the 100 million that we are planning to uh uh execute in regards to some of these upgrades when doing projects, I always try to look at
something of an ABC maybe even a D plan if the main plan doesn't work. Has this board tried to implement anything? Like when we talked about the vestibules that were there when when uh the superintendent that was here, McGlaughlin and the council had uh
assembled together when we were dealing with some of the security uh at the time the administration Rockaway only wanted to put one SRO in Copeland and we agreed and pushed to get the schools all of them to have that and we also spoke about the vestibules. So again the
safety I think somewhat overtakes the educational aspect even though they're both very important. if this referendum doesn't actually take place and have it, um, has there been, you know, a B, C, maybe even a D plan to execute at least the important, uh, potential
construction and improvements that you were looking to do. Um, and before you answer that, uh, unless you want to go like question answer and then go, I have one other thing to follow. I'm still with you. I haven't hit my capacity yet, so you and all this is just through memory and stuff like that. But I you
know uh one thing when you were talking before and I don't know how many people are watching this but I just wanted to make it aware that uh the purchase of that property over on Mineral Springs that five acres I were there this is pre all of you this was back in 97 when that had taken place and I think the time uh
the superintendent and administrator maybe they didn't do their due diligence because you had a pre-existing non-conformity of two structures on one lot that were there and they demoed those things completely eliminating any pre-existing non-conformity they had and at that time it was shortly after that
where everything became C1 waters. So, you know, you're talking ridiculous buffers that you in order to do that. But so once that's aired out, has this board tried to work with our engineering department and our municipality to
somewhat collaborate not only with our engineering within the township, but soil conservation district that we have there and then our D that we deal with down in Trenton to somewhat combine all those efforts and even potentially some of our political allies, whether it's our assembly and our senators to maybe
mush move a lot of that forward. If you can't build a structure that's there, but maybe behind DBO, you use that field to expand the building which does not have those issues and then maybe using the other areas that are there u for recreation maybe without any structures
but just land that you can still assemble and play and and do what you want in those fields. So those are two statements and questions that I had. Okay. Um so what so I'll try and do this in order. So, first and foremost, as far
as options and plans B, C, D, um what I will say is I'll answer in two parts. One, uh the board, and I apologize if if someone would rather cover this than me, but I'll speak on their behalf if they allow. Um we we discussed the potential for what if we broke this into more than
one question? What if we made this um a a piece together version of if you want A then let's vote on A and then we'll have B C you know and and break up the referendum that we were working on as such. Um it was very
um it was difficult with the discussion because everybody was trying to find a path forward but felt strongly that if we're going to approach something of this magnitude and we're going to ask additional funding from our taxpayers. We want to ensure that we're doing it in
um a realistic way so that we're not coming back at a later date and saying by the way we need more. By the way, we want to have another referendum. And we wanted to ensure that every building received something and that every building was touched in some way in a positive way so that we were meeting the needs across the district and trying to
be a little bit all-encompassing in in this big question that we're talking about. So that's that's the first part of the answer. Um the second part of the answer as far as um if this is not something we can move forward to are those plans, you know, as you mentioned the secure vestibial still possible, still planned on every single element of
the referendum exists within our longrange facility plan. it's required to do so in order for us to get NJDOE approval for any projects that we want to conduct. So any project that we bring forward and we discuss at the board level and that we present to the public whether it's part of my budget or whether it's part of a referendum exists
in this very extensive plan that has been drawn up for us. So that being said, if the referendum were not to be uh feasible, it still is my responsibility as the business administrator to continue to prioritize projects and to bring those projects to fruition. A good example is the KDM
windows. That was part of the referendum. That's on the storyboard as part of the referendum. We chose to pull it out because this year in particular, we saw the challenges that we were facing because the windows are insufficient and we decided this is a timely matter. We've got to address it. It has urgency. So, forget that it's in
the referendum. We'll figure that part out later. Right now, we're going to pull this out and do it. So, secure vestibules could certainly be completed using our reserves. The problem is and will continue to be. Reserves are not infinite. We have healthy reserves at this point in time. As you mentioned,
everything moves in cycles. Um, so as we deplete those reserves, we have to also work to replenish those reserves and replenishment is not always guaranteed because it ties into that end of the year spending and where our number lands. That's the only time we have an opportunity to deposit into our
reserves. So, it's my job to continue to try to keep those healthy within the parameters that I'm working with and also try to keep moving the ship forward and keeping those projects completed. So where the referendum would allow us to in one shot secure vestibules all around which would be ideal because everybody's
secured at the same time at the same capacity. It would be more likely that if I were to complete that because the two constraints I have are time and money. Um I would likely be able to fund one or two at a time and probably logistically complete one or two at a time in terms of executing the project
on these sites. Um, so it it becomes a question of how quickly can we do it, not is it possible. Everything is possible to an extent. Um, and everything is prioritized to an extent, but if you were to sit down and look at the long-range facility plan, I mean, it's millions of dollars across millions
of projects. It's it's small, big, everything. Um, a referendum just allows you to kind of take a big chunk out of it at one time and put yourself in a good standing so that you can then kind of skip jump ahead to the next needs. Um, and then what I use the reserve money for can be the next project that's
on the list. Um, if that makes sense. It does. I mean, for me, like if you had a vehicle, you would want your brakes to work and you could care less about the radio, right? I mean, that's the priority that you would have on that just to make it simplified. Yes. Um but again, if if this referendum being the 100 million that we're talking about and
then we're even trying to put it on a calendar in a schedule, which potentially if it looks like it's going to be shut down, I don't know if you've actually taken a poll just to do like a preliminary poll to see if people would be pro it or not. I know there's been some discussions around or whatever, but I'd hate to see throwing, you know, 60 70 grand at a referendum that's there's
no way it's going to pass because of the amount of money that's there. And then there's a lot of people perceive it as like a gaslighting thing where if you don't do this, then the kids suffer. Right. But if there's a potential to pull something out to to focus on and maybe there's some of the grants that you were talking about before that could
be applied to this particular thing that financial burden of the taxpayers won't be so bad because a lot of it's being offset from grants. And I think anybody anybody could easily say hey uh we want the security aspect of this because of the way the world has been going now. um
you know people that hurt children just they really don't care about anything right and this is the only way that we can kind of counter that by protecting our children whether it's security there or these festivals that are there right so that was just something I again I know we're putting everything on the spot and I'm just listening to what
you're saying and I do retain a lot of information too as it comes and goes you know quickly so uh that was just a thought that I had but I also didn't want because of this property issue of all these other things that are there and then species and one turtle or one bug or one dragonfly and it's all over.
Not that they're not important, but unfortunately more important than the needs of the district. Yes, we've had that and it's crazy. You know, it really is crazy with that. But I didn't want the the the public to believe that in fact this board made this recent purchase and it went upside down because nobody did their due diligence. You guys
are so far out of the loop. You know, I don't even know if some of you were even out of high school then because you're so young compared to me. But, uh, yeah, I just wanted the public to know that. That was another and and we have to your point we've talked to multiple politicians in our area. We had some of them attend one of the meetings. Um we
have sought every available person. Um the engineers did speak to and architects did speak to and coordinate with Allison in the engineering department at the township. She's fantastic. Um and we we've asked questions. They've been helpful. Um again I think that to to put it in a
very simple term we have not we've just come to terms I think officially with the fact that our our dream is not working out. So now we have to start back as Dr. Corbett said at square one and start having those conversations again. So we will continue to avail
ourselves to the township and also local politicians and anybody else that might be able to help us and we will look at um moving forward. But the success or failure of a referendum will not forestall progress in the district. And that I can tell you for certain because uh I wouldn't allow that to happen. We
will continue to propose projects and um we will continue to use our money to the best of our ability. You know what? I I believe you. I I think that the uh you know and I know some people don't understand it that's there but just from what you're saying and how you're reiterating it and uh just your body
language you I mean you're giving off a good presence in a sense that is a priority that you guys have moving forward on that and trying to deal with these hurdle and obstacles that are there. You're you're in a game of Donkey Kong and you're getting a lot of barrels being thrown down on you as you're trying to climb the ladders and it just continues to come and come and come. So
at any event, I appreciate your efforts and another killer presentation that you have done and uh thank you for that. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. All righty. Anybody else from the public that would like to make a comment se? All right. Seeing none, can I have a
motion to close to the second public? So moved. Seconded. Thank you. Show hands. All right. Moving on to discussion items. Any old business? Any new business? I have. Go ahead.
Please go ahead. You sure? Okay. So, I have just two things. Um, one, next week is teacher appreciation week and so I just wanted to thank all of our teachers. Um, every day I think I'm thankful for the teachers in this district, but since we're not meeting next week, I didn't want it to go unnoticed and I hope that they're
celebrated in the way they deserve. And then the second thing I'm really excited to report, Dr. Corbett, I hope you relay this to Mr. Bayer. My father's childhood friend is a Vietnam medic vet who runs
the tours voluntarily at the um the museum in uh central Jersey and are part of our eighth grade group just toured there this week and immediately following their visit, William McClung, my dad's friend,
called him up and he said, "Copa Middle School, isn't that where your grandson goes?" He talked for a good 10 minutes about how well behaved and attentive our students were, how they asked great questions, how respectful they were, and
I think that they must have made a difference for him to remember the school to come back and make that phone call. And he it made their visit made his day and I just thought it was a great bit of news to share. I love good news like that. So, thank you so much
for sharing for sharing that and I will definitely pass it on to um to Mr. Bayer. Um I would encourage your father's childhood friend to give us a good review on Google because I like good reviews on Google
and he should sign up for your and my exaway soup su. Thank you very much, Miss Mazik. Uh, yes. I just wanted to reiterate, I had mentioned it before, but it is new business, that the Mars County School
Board Association third annual Nancy Hellborg award and recognition ceremony will be held May 7th at Mount Olive High School. So, I'm just encouraging everyone to come. I am signed up. Awesome. Thank you. I have new business actually. Please. So, I just wanted to
remind everybody that May 13th here at Copeland from 5:30 to 7:30 is the community wellness fair that's being presented by the Rockaway CPAC group and Rucker's Behavioral Health. It's completely free. Um, and it's a great way to get information about resources
in the area. There's also child care provided. What's the age? Oh, wow. That I'm not sure, but I know there's child care provided as well as dinner and snacks. And credit to Miss Petroski for thinking of that because that was a great that was Yeah. The wonderful thing by the way about the um the wellness
fair is there's something for everybody there, right? So it doesn't I mean just go because you're because you will find something that interests you. For example, last year I don't know if they're going to have this year. I don't know how they lined it up, but last year there's some wonderful wonderful uh
therapy dogs there. Really beautiful therapy dogs. So, you know, it's always nice. In fact, there was a therapy dog here the other day when I was in the in Copeland. It was like yesterday and a beautiful therapy dog and I went to pet him. Big dog and he drooled all over me,
but that's okay. I got I had to go to the wash my hand. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Thomasini. If I could just add something. Um, at least I don't know. Did you have something else before I jump? Okay. I'm sorry. Um, I just wanted to take a minute. Um, you know, tonight is my favorite night as we all know. I
love budget presentation. and it's my my best thing all year. But I just wanted to take a moment to really thank the administration um and Dr. Corbett in particular for um his faith and trust in me to to do my job um and for my my colleagues in their support in creating
the budget because as I mentioned in the presentation, I don't create it in a vacuum. It really is a collaborative effort and they're always game for my budget discussions even when I'm coming to the third time coming back talking about my numbers. Um, and I I will honestly say it's the best administration that I have worked with
in creating a budget. So, I just wanted to state that publicly. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you very much for that. Great job, Megan. Yes. And I just have one comment and I I'd like to a lot of times it doesn't get mentioned, but I'd like to thank um my fellow board members here because the
amount of time, effort, energy, the amount of hours that go into being a board member is extensive. Um there's been a lot over the past several months that has been we have pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. Um the amount of meeting time, the amount of time that you've spent away from your families, the amount of time that you've missed
dinners, that you've been here having dinner in the back, it is truly appreciated. Uh and I just want to say publicly that I thank you for for doing this for the kids in this district. It means a a heck of a lot and it's something that you volunteered for and
that you've been here for. But I don't want it to go unnoticed because it is seen. It's not just two board meetings a month. It's the board meetings, the committee meetings, the negotiation meetings, all of the the the committees, all of the projects, all the PTAs, all the places where you need to
be. And you we all have one goal in mind, and that's to make it a great school district for for our children. And subsequently, uh with that, it it's our community. It's ours. So, I I thank you very much for doing all that you do. Thank you, sir. I got one final point,
sir. I'm going to shut up really, but I do want to mention this. It's been on my mind. First of all, thank also the board for the wonderful collaboration that that we enjoy that is the collaboration between the board of education and the administration. You know, I I think it's like really good. So, I thank the board for that. I want to mention one of the
things we're going to be doing this year for the first time uh is Dustin Bayer, Mr. Bayer and I will be visiting every elementary school. Um, we we want to bring the fifth grade class together and we want to prepare them uh for their entrance uh into Copeland and we want to
um encourage them and let them know that we have a high standard here in Copeland for academics and behavior and kind of root them on and and give them give them some encouragement. So, that's going to be happening this year. We're going to have fifth grade assemblies throughout the district uh over the next few weeks.
Thank you very much. With that being stated, that brings us to the final portion here. Can I please have a motion to adjurnn moved? Second. Show of hands, please. All right. Tonight's meeting is
adjourned at 2110 hours. Thank you very much and good night, Rockway Tash. [Music]