family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockway Township like to call meeting at
61 have a Mrs Anderson Mrs killu here M mcgi here Mrs mesic here Smith here Thomas
here here have a public announcement the New Jersey open public meeting 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 interests is discussed and acted upon in accordance
with the provision of the ACT Brock Township Board of Education has caused notice of the date time and place of said meeting be published in the Daily Record our Ledger be posted in all schools of the district in the municipal building the township and the Township
library then a board member wish to object to the conduct of this meeting for the purpose as stated in the public notice all documentation and materials considered by the Board of Education as part of this agenda are available for public review and comment members of the
public are invited to come to the Board of Education building off Green Pond roading regular hours business hours of 8: a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the reference items I have ation to wave Open session so
moved second hands please resolve that in accordance with the open public meeting act the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in Clos session to discuss matters involve involving Personnel litigation accur I
of real property security negotiations receipt of government funds the content of said discussion will be disclosed to the public at such time and extent as required by law I have a motion to go into Clos session so moved Lissa
second please session starts at 63 my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway town of 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 the ended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockaway
Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a
difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day
uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved
School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District 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 Dy having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with
because I've been here for 11 years as the principal so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these
children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world
because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes scopeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I
love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community I truly believe in an educator
being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls I think
social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another
school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is
that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be
confident in themselves but in what they love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to
the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take
risks it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do
this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he
would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid
come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a
harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're
ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen 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 districts Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody'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 favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the
day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make get awesome here
she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis CU drawing is my favorite thing
what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other my name is quen k I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help
us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a
project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but 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 7eventh grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more
fun I think the wire school is awesome because you can make make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or
no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe this school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music]
trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion
and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done
something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name
is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being 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 see our doors are
always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught another 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 Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be I
commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another District but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community the parents the teachers our principal are incredible we're just so happy to have such a loving nurturing
community that is so vested in our school We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog I truly believe in an educator being able to make make a difference in the world it's so important to have a
positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great
sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only
the students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a dwire family Mr McGovern he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that we treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids I think the
wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people
will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe this school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for six 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 of our community I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams
we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least
enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for
all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7th grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun years ago I had a
six grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why
I do what I do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the
fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a
positive impact in the future I teach us history and I come to work every day excited I get the opportunity to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff
it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better [Music] place our core values are the same as Rockway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can
focus on particularly on being kind by being kind to a friend helping them out helping teachers be nice nice to them be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers and everything we do we try and relate back to our core values one of
the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building so we're really working on being kind and yes academics are important but one of the main things
for us is that we raise good kids the main message is to be kind because above all else we want our kids just to be kind my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DBL yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at dvo is awesome
because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my
favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each
other if I had to describe our building in one word I would say we're a little unconventional we're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success and for every student that's different there are other ways that we can really show
student growth Student Success I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything anything it's a really the staff here um we have built a family and I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we Foster here at dbo and I'm really grateful to be part of that being outside in the morning at
bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day
any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their
time in class but also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other what really resonates with me about this
school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen
before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do
this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it and that's what I teach all of my students my favorite teachers are
probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun ities to do and there stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in
science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every I'm like happy at school we identify the interests of students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward
from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you
know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over
time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come bony Brook is an amazing place it
really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is Second To None they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly
involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this
District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children 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 than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful
not just academically but also social and emotionally my name is Queen K in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite
subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting cuz I
feel like it is a small close-nit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel
and have the same idea of supporting students the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake everyone has a bad day and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized I love that we have a great principal I love the teachers and the morale as soon as I started coming up here since I am from South
Jersey I felt welcomed and included right away my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say
that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education birwood is very special because it is
truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockway Township heart honesty empathy
acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging
learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment
our staff is second to none and they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exception as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both
academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into
our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our mantro we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know
you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here
for 11 years as the principal so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their
willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing
that makes Copeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my
day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world
it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our
emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a
family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student
in the building from preschool all the way through through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they
love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom
I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the
students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing
that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classro even right first thing in the morning his head
would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place
for them and they want to [Music] come so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we
really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child Des as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools
available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and
I really believe it's because our District's Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copelan middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the
kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least
enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see
that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mari 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 our teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and
just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name is Rya
I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us
stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis cuz drawing is my favorite favorite thing what makes Deo unique is that everyone is so kind to each other
and everyone cares about each other my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that help me S kindergarden and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friend friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite
subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and there's stories my first grade
teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny be my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school when I came
into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher
that made me feel special and cared for was my 7eventh grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends
here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you
into the school one word to describe this school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music] trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is
the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to
want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for
them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being Birchwood is the
um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is
reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get 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 deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're
walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only the
students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a dwire family Mr McGovern he s 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 cribe this school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years I think
social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child I get the privilege of going into every
single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson the best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the
building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world every student who goes goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping
students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at copelan middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams
we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least
enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for
all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 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 do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the
fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda copin 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 copel 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 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 DB yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the
teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss
tus CU drawing is my favorite thing what makes Deo unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other 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 them more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh
we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it
be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experi exp erience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh
one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset just because we can't do
something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it and that's what I teach all of my students my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my
first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy be at school we identify the interests of
students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even write first thing in the
morning his head would be down on that Des I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a
happy place for them and they want to come [Music] sonon Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is
second to none and they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically
working hand in hand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children any type we can bring togetherness and have us all work
together both in our community and out it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get
to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful not just academically but also social and emotionally my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is S I am
in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of
my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but k be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I
think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five
different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have this 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 Tony Brook is an amazing place really is and I think anybody who
joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is
well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate
from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our 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 scopeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here
for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music]
community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special
because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the
most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house 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 every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really
negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite
success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do
what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're
ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their their emotional maturity and in
their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our District's Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the
growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel
comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave
her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah
I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my
favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth
grade and I go to DB yeah my name's Rea I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us
stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes Deo unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone
cares about each other my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the jamers keep our school nice and clean all my
friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite
subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my first grade teacher
got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school when I came into
sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Keith 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 sth 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 is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you
into the school one word to describe the school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music] trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is
the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to
want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for
them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being Birchwood is the
um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is
reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day our doors are always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've
never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other Birchwood is very special because it is
truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be I commun 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 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 buld dog always a buld dog I truly believe an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a
child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're
walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only the
students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a DWI family Mr McGovern he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that we treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids I think the wire school is
awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people
will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe this school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years I think
social and emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child I get the privilege of going into every
single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson the best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the
building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop
into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at cop school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make
sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least
enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for
all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7th grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun years ago I had a
sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why
I do what I do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the
fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a
positive impact in the future I teach us history and I come to work every day excited I get the opportunity to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes scopeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members
it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better [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 D yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at D is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers
here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss
tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing when makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other if I had to describe our building in one word I would say we're a little unconventional we're always trying to
have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success and for every student that's different there are other ways that we can really show student growth Student Success I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything it's a really the staff here um we have built a family and I think that says something
about the building and the and and the community that we Foster here at dbo and I'm really grateful to be part of that being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've
been here for 11 years as the principal after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom
I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh
we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a
difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh
one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I 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 read and she got me into chapter books in juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school we identify the interests of
students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one
another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the
morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them
and they want to [Music] come bony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and they really put the
kids first all the time and our students students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but
also I think for extracurricular as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children any type we can bring togetherness and have us all work together both in our community and out
it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think
that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build
more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful not just academically but also social emotionally my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade well makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here
they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me S kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a
project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really
good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with
the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake everyone has a bad day and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized I love that we have
a great principal I love the teachers and the morale as soon as I started coming up here since I am from South Jersey I felt welcomed and included right away my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our
wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities
of a very very effective educ 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 is
comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before sonon Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or
visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our
events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an
opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our mantro we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a
great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal
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 a 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 Sport and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in
the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes Copeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for
the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music]
community I truly believe in in educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special
because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole
child if you've never taught at another school and you come to 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 both 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 trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and
that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do
things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're
ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their
abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our districts Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at Copa Middle School I really love to see the growth and the change to the students
and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be
themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathema ICS 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 B go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is
recess I have a motion to come out of close session please so moved stand for the Pledge of Allegiance we certainly could before we head into the threats of the meeting over to Dr Corbett thank you
Mr Shields um I I'll start by saying that um on behalf of the board we appreciate greatly relationship we have with the town and with the departments in the town and that starts with the mayor it
goes to the Town Council um the police department is phenomenal they demonstrated that uh yesterday um I've dealt with the Department of Public Works on numerous occasions and they've always gone 110% and uh so to the rec department has
done an awesome job for the students of this uh of this town this evening we would like to recognize Dave Dyer in the rec department we're so happy that he's here with his family he deserves this recognition and I'm going to invite Mr ganel to come forward who knows Daves pretty well work with him and he can say
a few words please come forward Mr Canelo good evening everyone we would like to take a moment to recognize Dave dyer for his outstanding contributions to the Rockway Township School District I first met Mr D when I was organizing The
District fall festival Dave helped organize a night that displayed the partners parip between the school and Township he helped facilitate and coordinate an effort among all Township resources including police fire buildings and grounds mayor and Town
Council this event coincided with the opening of the new Peterson Field it was a night that was well attended and really demonstrated all of the community resources that we have here in Rockaway township but Dave was right here behind
that whole event Dave then played an important role in helping organize the outdoor 8ighth grade graduation and if you recall this was during Co so the year prior we did a virtual graduation then a drive-thru
graduation I called my friend Dave up and I said Dave we need to have a graduation for our kids we need something memorable for them the problem is we have no Outlets we have no internet we have no seats uh we have a
field what could we do so Dave uh helped get the township resources uh Mike LEF franka back there in AB Elder worked with the township folks to run a extension cord like that from dbo
through Peterson we had it live streamed we had chairs we had a beautiful event Outdoors at Peterson Field that doesn't happen without Dave Dyer then we had this great idea to have baseball and softball here at Copeland
Middle School issue was we don't have the fields or facilities for it so who do we call Dave Dyer Dave we have a we want to do baseball softball like he's like that's great they said we don't have any equipment we don't have any
Fields um we really coming with you can you help with the plan Dave and I meet we discuss it over a napkin and Dave said I'm going to put you in touch with some great folks from the wreck we are going to get you the
equipment you need uh schedules haven't been out so we'll get you the field the field space that you need uh whatever needs to happen we'll do it uh Dustin Bayer Mr Bayer from Copeland then picked up the ball with Dave and ran with it
now we have baseball and softball at Copeland midal school so these things are a community effort and they happen because people like Dave have a genuine love for this town they have a pride
that living in Rockaway means something to them the kids mean something to them um I'm very proud to call him my friend I'm very proud to have him as a member of our town our community and Dave I wish there was more people in the world
like you um his kids are both Copeland graduates um and are doing well Mr solazo calling from dbo where we ran the extension cord my apologies um so Dave at this time I'd like to just acknowledge you and the board would like
to acknowledge you for all of your contributions [Applause] oh
absolutely thank you everyone um Alonso he paints a really nice picture but we all know the conversations go like this Dave it's Alfonso got a crazy idea low low tone voice call me crazy
what do you think you think we can do this and before he even finishes whatever he's saying is absolutely yes we can do this um Yes again my I'm I'm raising my family here I work here um and mayor Joe he
Mayors with one goal in mind what's best for Rockaway Township at the end of the day it's all he cares about and this is a great honor because I know the burden you guys all have like the burden that mayor Joe has and and councilman Brooks um it's a
major undertaking to raise our children the education you provide um and I wanted um that's why it's such a complete honor and I and having a friend like Alonso um I will tell you that being in
the building in in Rockaway township a lot of residents new residents come in just the other day someone from from uh Lincoln Park just moved and I can tell all of you that every single one of them say uh they have questions about the town and I say listen I live here I have
children here it's a wonderful town and it's it's a great school system and now one of them go really they go every single one of them say that's why we moved here so um this is a great honor I do appreciate it and uh thanks for
having me tonight thank you e he thank you public discussion during the course of the board meeting the Rockaway 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 these individuals who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address 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 not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate
board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific rights afforded by the laws of
New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by member members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware
that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes a three minute limit per member of the public board president shall have the right to modify
the length of public discussion she deems appropriate I have a motion open public comment so moved second Lissa hands please come my is
Megan so my questions are both on conru ref and before I go into my questions um I do want to say I have the utmost respect for educ educators a lot of teachers are in my family my husband and myself we both
have master's degrees Val but residents of brocc Township over the past four years have dealt they've dealt with a much higher cost of living as
well any other uh measurements taken into account before the board decided that there would be a referendum to raise taxes and my second question is I did
take your survey I encouraged um family friends uh neighbors to take the survey thought that was really important and I did see that there was a sharp increase in enrollment um so how many of the students in this increased enrollment
come from undocumented families and will they be paying part of that 95 million Bond we I can respond in general I won't be specific it's time but I think the board is very very aware of cost of
living and inflation and the amount of taxes that people pay you know I I think that's your concerns are very valid right and I think there's nobody sitting and the board can speak for themselves because they're all taxpayers we're all taxpayers here and nobody's looking to you know throw money out the window or
give money away um the board has a responsibility however to look the future and to prepare this District not just for the current generation of students but for future generations of students and that's what they're trying to do and of course it does cost money
so um of course the board takes into consideration the fact that there will be a sacrifice I mean I'm honestly you get nothing for nothing the the sacrifice that people will make however will come back a h
hundredfold in terms of the education and the benefits students so that's what I have to say about that um in terms of undocumented students here's the only thing I'm going to say about undocumented
students frankly I don't care if they're documented or not we are responsible for educating everyone who lives in this Township and that's my job and that's what we're going to do it doesn't matter
to me personally whether they're documented or not um so and I don't know the immigration status of the students that come to our door and we don't ask the immigration status of the students that come to our door to register we just don't we
can't no one else can I have a motion to close the first public comment so moved second no Communications a email did come in today to board mail and that will be on the next meeting agenda I I have a motion to approve the minutes
please so moved have a roll call vote please on the approval of the minutes from September 4th Mrs car m m heing yes Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr Thomas yes Mrs Shields yes
carries superintendent report thank you Mrs Shields first of all Miss slam and I are working with Nancy braam Meer to evaluate the location of bus stops around the district safety is our priority to provide for safe boarding and disembarking effective Monday
September 22nd the stop at Coventry Road and Green Pond Road uh for agree and that would be also for the CMS late bus and routes 821 and 41 will be relocated to Parkview and Coventry the department of student
services continues to offer CPAC meetings throughout the school year prior to these meetings Dr Molly NATO and Mrs patski will be meeting with the CPAC committee the open meeting will follow DPO has started its third year of
inclusion which continues at virtual Elementary School the district continues to receive support from the New Jersey inclusive inclusive Coalition which surprise provides access to trainings that reinforce the inclusion
practices I want to commend the administration the police who responded to the school threat that occurred yesterday at Copeland as I stated everyone did an outstanding job before after and during the event Mr bear met with the staff yesterday afternoon to discuss and debrief Dr moleno school
counsels and CST met with students this morning to assist any students experiencing trauma and some news from our schools the school Year birit is off to a fantastic start with several new after school club proposals for this school year students will be able to
participate in various clubs offered throughout the fall winter and spring these include running club drama club science club a Lego Club and yoga the school is thrilled to expand its extracurricular offerings and provide new opportunities for students to exper
explore their interests in addition benchmark assessments have been administered to establish Baseline data for each student staff members are looking forward to using this information to meet the individual needs of all students and ensure a successful school year lastly title one before
school programs will commence in October additional information will be provided as the start date approaches ebo continues to have a fantastic start to the school year students have been taking taking advantage of brand new picnic tables
outside in the courtyard rotation schedule ensures that students have the opportunity to eat lunch outside DBL will be running 11 different after school clubs this fall and they will start on September 26th and students are excited to participate diagnostic benchmark assessments are being
administered so that data can be used to inform instruction gbo therapy dog visited the school which was a surprise for all the students the wire is in full swing with the diagnostic testing underway students are working hard and thrilled to be back though is excited to
welcome new members to our school Community this is especially true of the MLL population as it continues to grow with 25 new students joining our school this year looking forward to wire's gearing up for a fun and engaging evening on September 27th when they will
have their welcome back picnic this will be a wonderful opportunity for new parents to connect and mingle with established families while learning more about the school and the community lastly a friendly reminder that the back to school night at dwire will be held on September 19th and they look forward to
a great turnout first two weeks of school KDM teachers have already received enthusiastic feedback from parents and families indicating that their children are enjoying their return to school students completed the math portion of the I ready diagnostic assessment this
week they will take the language arts section upon completion teachers will review the student data points to determine tiered intervention and support measures identify students will have options for tier support throughout the school day and through title one after school program scheduled to start next month KDM is proud to expand its
offerings of after school clubs provide more enriching extracurricular experiences KDM also introduced their new social emotional learning curriculum through character strong KDM appreciated the board's support and their presence at the first PTA meeting which recognized some major Capital
Improvements including the opening of the water fountains a new fence around the Ballfield field and the roof that's in the process of being repaired km is excited about the many family the excuse me the many activities the PTA has planned this month including the candy
bar Bingo opening the school store and the highly anticipated wathon fundraiser thanks to everyone who attended the stonan brook back to school night they sincerely appreciate the time and support as they kick off another
great school year Stony Brook is fully underway with classroom teaching and their intervention team have begun administering benchmark assessments for all students in grades K through five the data generated through these assessments will help inform instruction
character education remains at the Forefront of their efforts through initiatives such as pbsis and no place for hate the stud Brook family picnic is scheduled for Friday September 20th and everyone is welcome it was wonderful to see many
parents and guardian is attending the copin uh Middle School back to school night the 24 25 school year is officially up and running and students have settled into their routines for the first time in school history cop students participated in
outdoor Recess Recess occurs during the pause time and students can choose to participate in a variety of different activities more importantly recess provides our students a well- needed break from the traditional school day and an opportunity to get fresh air and exert some energy before returning back
back to the classroom for their afternoon classes cross country season is underway and our student athletes will have their first home meet on Friday September 27th after school clubs and activities registration will be available on the CMS website beginning September 20th and
we're all looking forward to a great school year and that is my report thank you thank you any comments or questions for Dr Corbett is this administra um the F roof project is still running ahead of schedule a contractor has moved to a night and
weekend schedule to alleviate any daytime disruptions for staff and students our Architects will be conducting a site visit sometime next week uh and observations from the 910 inspection and 916 inspection were very positive there are three material deliveries expected in the coming week
which should push us towards the finish line of this Pro running very well we continue our efforts to coordinate with the town on the DWI electric sign at this time our attorneys in coordination with our district Architects have submitted all necessary paperwork we are
waiting to hear back from the town on our request for a courtesy review by the town planning board once we receive further guidance we will determine whether further action is needed on the part of the district um and we will continue to meet whatever requirements they have uh on tonight's agenda under
Administration you will see a motion for an NJ doe project submission this item speaks to the upcoming District referendum and allows for my office and our Architects to begin the necessary submissions in order to move ahead with the referendum process this is not a finalized plan but rather a notification
and an initial perspective on on the plan that we are required to provide to the doe for them to have an opportunity of evaluation all potential referendums are required to be submitted to the doe for this initial notification essentially also on tonight's agenda
under Finance we have the approval of our most recent bills list to high highlight the expenditures on tonight's Bill list which makes up the total amounts reflected there's approximately $139,100 attributed to various tuitions approximately
$79,700 uh attributed to Transportation contracts mechanical repairs and Department supplies for transportation um payroll for the August 15th and August 30th um payrolls total to$ 74475 far lower than our
Norm that time frame um the remaining costs are attributed to a range of smaller categories which include Aid and L supplies maintenance Food Service staff PD and travel um as well as a significant portion being attributed to initial supplies for the start of so a
lot of that is attributed to class supplies and finally um The District's annual audit will take place beginning on uh this coming Monday and our Auditors are scheduled to be here for the entirety of that week and possibly into week after
depending on how their schedule runs um my office is working diligently to prepare all the necessary documentation um so we look forward to that so my report thank you any comments or questions report good evening again Alfonso ganella
director of curriculum instruction and professional development here in Rockaway township I have one important update NJ njla scores were made available to parents on the Genesis parent portal on September 13th the njsla is a crucial component of the
district's efforts to gauge student progress and to ensure that our educational programs are effective and preparing students for Success these scores provide valuable insights into your child strengths and areas where they may need additional support there's two key components I'd
like to highlight probably the most important thing to do as a parent when you receive these scores is celebrate your child's achievement as many of you know I have five children two of them took the njsla
and and scores were just released my oldest son is dyslexic and um received his scores and he partially met expectations which was probably the most amazing news I've received because he
worked really hard had amazing teachers and he met all of his reading goals and all grade level standards so that was just a great conversation to to have with my son and really although The Score says partially met it doesn't tell
the entire story my second son who takes after my wife exceeded expectations in ela and was four points away from exceeding expectations in math which was also fantastic news for him you know he
works hard as do both of my children but if you look at just raw numbers you would say partially meeting expectations is not a good thing not a good thing um um my wife and I were estatic so when you receive these scores look at them
deeper talk to your child's principal talk to the teachers and have a conversation celebrating their achievements and there's more to a story than just what's printed on the paper so um you know I wanted to highlight that
as potentially something um you know to do at home and and look at things a little bit deeper the district used these scores through a lens of continuous Improvement we use the scores to assess our programs but also to
assess our instructional practice and look for things that we can do to always improve um and you know push our kids in the right direction but push the the students in the right direction um so these are not just things on a piece of
paper there are one data indicator that does not tell the entire story so thank thank you um for your support and have a great night any comments or question question questions for Mr
canella thank you moving on to committee reports the community outreach committee met on September 10th um at 4m. committee met virtually with our PR firm to receive an update about the community
survey regarding Community engagement to provide a recap of our Outreach efforts emails were sent to the staff and families of students additionally a postcard including a QR code link to a survey was mailed out to Rockway toship presidents the week of August 26 the
intention was to invite the community to share feedback regarding the referendum through the completion of the survey Li goldrick from our PR firm reported that 1,422 responses were completed this number fell short of the anticipated
response from the community to be frank the perception and the reality is that many people who should have received the postcard apparently did not the community will be excuse me the committee will be evaluating additional opportunities to provide information to the public we have three previously
scheduled meetings on the books they're October 1st November 5th and December 3rd there's a lot of material to cover in the next few months so we need to schedule additional meetings so our next one as I said is October 1st you guys
have any ideas like on additional Tuesdays that you would like to spend together spoke to Dr Corbett today and you know he's thinking that we need it at least twice a month I think that's it I personally love to spend time with you guys so I
think that's it yeah but that's the operations meeting you want to have it right after that September 24th looking at your schedule before Aaron tries to put in another committee meeting let's just get that out of the
way obviously we already have one the following week on the first the 15 the 22nd um the 8th the 15th the 22nd o on the eth is um you have CPAC on the eth we could meet at four in the eth is
fine with me okay so maybe the E would the E is fine with me the 15th is fine you said CPAC is on the e at what time the E CAC is at six o' oh okay teally do that
to do I say yes you want to do three weeks in a row so 108 we're doing 108 at what time 5 4 4M we have two now we have addition to well let's put this way when do you want to have your operation me I'll give
you that we already have that one we don't no Noel's not here so I mean we should probably double okay time
Dr Corbett do you think we need another meeting either the 15th or the right now we have six you think we need something for like the 22nd of October put it we it out okay okay 22nd of October does that work for the both of
you oh that's right we're not going to be here never mind okay so should we put something instead then should we do it on the 29th of October well we can't do it at four that's Operation could now
I we have have September 26 what are you doing every Tuesday you have a meeting that's the conclusion of my report thank you any questions for Lisa just I it's not even a question it's just a um wondering I know I just
recently shared with you um sample of a presentation about um Board of Education roles and responsibilities and I'm just wondering if that could be something that you guys talk about that we potentially do hear to inform the public a little bit more about what we do and our responsibility
as a board of educator put it on our next agenda thank you thank you anyone else report yes committee reports so I ran the audit as I usually do in September to ensure that we are up
to date I'm running our what's on our website against SM um policy updates and unfortunately it there's something wrong with our search engine so where it looked it looked like policies were not there um can imagine if you look up 641
it just you 6410 but it doesn't give you 64113 so I'm just going to rerun it to be on the safe side so anybody who got anything for me right now policy just hold I'll get that done this weekend I just want to rerun from scch to make sure all our policies are upd updated
rather and more to come thank you have any no we reported out at the last meeting excellent I do oh I'm sorry Lissa all right um the education curriculum committee met on September
11th um at 4:30 um the location was in central office in attendance were Dr Corbett Mr ganella Mrs Anderson Mrs Shields and me um the primary focus of our meeting was looking at the academic achievement um the NJ SLA preliminary
scores we reviewed the scores noticings areas of strength areas of growth um we also had the opport to preview um a presentation that will be coming up um in the future um we also had the
opportunity to discuss even further um resource lists um and we were uh notified that teachers would be continuing to examine these lists um and Mr ganella would be looking to revise them regularly um so that there's something that's always going to be getting updated and like a working
document and our next meeting is coming up October 9th at 4:30 and that was good for everyone um and then on that agenda um we still have some items that we did not have the opportunity to discuss um some
curriculum revision overview items um additionally The Chronic absenteeism information and then there were just some open discussion items that we shared with you guys as well there any questions you
moving on recomended for board action I have a motion to approve Personnel items pleasey second go to page six I have a roll vote please on personel items Mrs k yes Miss mcgi yes
Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini yes Mrs Shields yes motion carries education can I have a motion to approve education recommendation so moved second of page eight I can open to the public anyone wants to
comment education items board discussion roll call vote please on education items Mrs K Laro yes M mcui yes Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini yes Mrs Shields yes motion
carries I have motion to approve special education recommendations please so moved [Music] discussion open to the public on special education items I roll call vote please on special
education items Mrs K Laro yes M McGary yes Mrs mesic yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini yes Mrs Shields yes motion carries I have a motion to approve Administration recommendations please moved
second eight n and 10 Bo discussion I just want to comment I really like seeing this on the agenda that down open to the public if there's any comments on Administration
items I have a roll call vote please Mrs car lar no Miss mcgi yes Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr Thomas cini yes Mrs Shields yes motion
carries I have a motion to approve Finance recommendations please so moved second 11 any board discussion open up to the public on finance items
only I roll call vote please on finance items Mrs car Laro yes M mcgi yes Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini yes Mrs Shields yes motion
carries I have a motion to open the second public comment please who Moved second and Lissa hands please anyone from the public has a comment they would like to say Rachel Brooks seven liberg Trail um
I just had a few comments and possibly questions if someone can follow up since I'm sure the information is not readily available um but based on Mrs mesic's comments in terms of the Outreach committee you mentioned that the pr firm sent out postcards and unfortunately a
bunch of people didn't get them so I was just wondering did they give you deliverable data did they tell you your carrier R and what was delivered what was undeliverable are you being reimbursed for items that weren't delivered also I'd like to know the percent percentage of postcards the number that was mailed out and the
percentage that potentially was you should be able to track it based upon the QR code hopefully they have UTM so that you can tell which survey was taken based upon the postcard so you can actually get a batch report to tell you how effective they really were um also um your website the files are a little
outdated so when you go to your website just says referendum so I would really hope maybe possibly talking to your PR firm and trying to get more updates on there you know members of the community come to me specifically from W 6 in regards to the referendum and unfortunately I don't have too much
information other than what I see as they see so I think it'd be super helpful for the community especially if you could go on there you could give them that information you know ideally your postcards weren't maybe great but at least if you gave them the data so that they know that you're aware you understand that you're trying to fix it
and maybe finding alternate ways to reach out to the community as opposed to snail mail um and that's it thank you you thank you I do have an additional question about the referendum so I look state your name and address time thank
you so it's Megan o Conor 64 Erie Avenue and I did spend a lot of time on your website looking at the focus group so I did see that the participants in this focus group were not random and they
were mainly uh people who had kids in schools or they were part of some like organizations within the schools my concern as a taxpayer is that people like myself who I don't have kids in any
of the school systems and I need to be heard from I think my voice is very important and I really felt like after I read the outcome I looked at all the graphs it was telling you what you wanted to see that
these folks that were not random um Wanted the tax increase but there's no voice for people like me so I'd really like to see a focus group uh for my demographic I just just one comment on that I mean it was open whether it was
informated to people didn't haveo but those all those meetings were open to the general public it wasn't those were those me those were those initial Focus gr meetings that we had at each school they were open to
enti yeah and one reason why we said that is because and I said this when I provided the U the public um presentation because it wasn't a scientific survey we understand that I think your point is very well taken number one secondly your voice is very
important to us we do want to hear your voice I don't want anyone to get the impression that we we're not myopic here you know it's like we're going to have tunnel vision so in fact if if you'd like to maybe you can help me reach out to the whole Community I would like to maybe we can establish some contact and
communication because one of the challenges I have is um we only have the addresses of and the email addresses for example specifically of the parent who have children right it's very hard for us to get to everyone else right so
um if you want to help me in that endeavor I'd be more than happy to talk to you thank you thank you for your comments hello I'm usually so loud Michelle kbam 55 Kings Road um I just wanted to touch base really quickly on what happened yester yesterday and I can
only speak for myself and for maybe a few moms that may have spoken to me um congrats you know to getting through the day and thank God for our police department and how we reacted um the only thing I can say that
I did notice is that obviously this was the first time and may it never happen again um that lapse of time that the kids did think it was a drill they definitely thought it was a drill a lot of parents were texting
children and I think that was our downfall a lot of it but then it went on and it kept going on my son he was very fine when he got home but he did say to me please don't lie to me tell me what
happened he's 11 and I had to tell him and I told him exactly what I knew exactly what Dr Corbett said Out you know this morning and he said okay that's what I thought that's what I heard um they did hear that there was a Snapchat of course there were other
rumors and you know hearsay going around but um kids were aware that there were people in the hallway and they didn't know and then maybe the you know our teachers haven't been prepared like that
you know this is new to everybody and so there might want to be I'm sure you have discussed it I just wanted didn't know from a perspective of a parent that the kids definitely knew something was going on beyond the normal drill and I think
teachers may have also not had something to do for that second hour you know they were some teachers were playing games and this and that my kid was stuck in math class he was like out of all the classes math class really mom um and so
there was a little bit of that and like kids are smart and I did have a friend whose son said you know the teacher lied to us he lied and his mom tried to explain like they have a protocol that they have to do they had to tell you they couldn't
say oh hey there's a threat on the building you know we have to keep peace in the building but maybe there could be a little bit more of a language discussed with the teachers so that they have something to go to so that this you know young boy doesn't think that he
can't he literally said I can't trust anything he says now and that's a little heartbreaking because this is like a safe space so there is no fault I am not blaming anything this was new to everyone and again may it never ever
happen again but I am appreciative of the very very very quick response um and I do think that people need to have a little faith in our school and know that there are things and timely things you know because everybody was
like why are we not getting emails and I was just thinking probably because they're dealing with stuff you know and so we are on this very um immediate reaction of like everybody has a text everybody has a phone we
should know like this and that's just not always the case and we need to have a little bit of uhh what's the word I'm looking for I don't know not leniency but just maybe take a breath and so I do appreciate the three amls that we did get um I don't
know know I just uh maybe having a longer plan in you know not just a normal drill time but maybe two hours or whatever it took something as a backup for the kids so that they're not like what the I mean they're they're smart our kids are smart
and they definitely knew something was up I was one of the lucky parents that my kid wasn't too worried so just wanted to share so thank you I have a motion to close public comments so moved
second andaron show hands please is there any old business any new business I'd like to just briefly share an email I just received from a parent um who asked me to read this to the board so I will it's okay there it is Dr Corbett he said I
wanted to share my thoughts how the events unfolded at Copeland two schools two police I'm reading it as it was written two schools two police departments two school districts a sheriff's department and I'm not sure who else effectively ran what gladly turned out just to be a drill I was
impressed with the Swift decisive action by those involved and how they effectively communicated with one another to keep the children calm while running through the obviously well planned and rehearsed plans I feel confident in sending my daughter to school 10 minutes after your all clear
notice please thank all those involved you did a great job and should be proud of that yes I do want to thank everyone involved yesterday and I um certainly here
concern the parents have and uh one one thing I will say is we can always do better you know so your comments and feedback that you provide for us and the perspective that you give us as parents is very very important to us to help the children feel safe and to minimize the
stress and the trauma that they might feel during these things so comments are very important to us and very well received thank you okay our next meeting is October 16th at
73 I have ation meeting so moved Lissa show up hands please