All right, it's 7 pm. We're going to begin this regular meeting of the Rutherford Board of Education, May 11th, 2026. We'll ask everyone to Canada to please stand, face the flag for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ask Mr. Kelly to please take role. >> Mr. Beosian >> present. >> Ms. Kates >> here. >> Mrs. Cole >> here.
>> Mr. Ki >> present. >> Mr. Healey >> here. >> Mrs. Jones >> pardon >> present. >> Dr. Rine >> here. >> Mr. Spayberry >> present. >> Dr. Aotti >> here. >> Miss Zoro >> here. >> You have a quorum. Thank you. All right.
The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Rutherford Board of Education
has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place posted on the bulletin board outside the Burough Clerk's office, mailed to the Herald, South Bergenite in the record newspapers, and filed with the Burough Clerk. Hard copies of the agenda are available in the meeting room
and agenda is posted electronically on Friday before the meeting date on the district's website at www.rotherfordschools.org. Subsequent to the meeting, a video of the meeting will be uploaded to the district's website www.rotherfordschools.org. The video link can be found by opening
the board of education link and clicking on public meetings and then videos. Uh so board members in your packets there were minutes to approve for the regular meeting in executive session for April 27th 2026. Any questions or comments on
those? Seeing none, I'll ask Mr. Kelly to please enter those. Uh and I will turn it over to our student representative for your report. Good evening. Spring sports are still going pretty well as many RHS teams have been competing in county tournaments.
Senior nights are also still happening in the coming days. The RHS spring concert is this upcoming Wednesday. All of the music students have been working hard all year to put on a great performance. Next Wednesday night is the evening of the arts at RHS, which will showcase artwork made by students in
various art classes over the course of the year. There will also be musical performances highlighting all different artistic talents. May 1st was a fun day for the seniors as we celebrated our plans for after high school by wearing merch and signing our names outside the guidance office. The seniors also have
some other exciting activities coming up this month. May 29th is the senior awards ceremony as well as the senior prom, which we've definitely been looking forward to all year. And in June, there will be even more fun celebrations such as senior sunset and of course graduation. Starting next week, the elementary schools will be
having their field days and many RHS students from Heroes and Cool Kids will be volunteering to help out. These days are always a lot of fun for both the high schoolers and the younger kids. From the other schools, Lincoln School is kicking off the end of the year with a lot of fun activities. They also have their art show and spring concert coming
up. And the second grade students will be getting a lesson in sign language from some Union School students. Washington School's Discovery Day was a big success. The activities covered a lot of different topics, making it a great way for students to engage in their learning. The high school volunteers also had a great time and
were a huge help in assisting with activities. And the RHS marching band also played for the students as they arrived at school, which is a fun way to kick off the day. Finally, Pure Pond School is currently doing NJSLA testing, and they're looking forward to their field day and art show coming up next
week. That's all for tonight. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. questions or comments from board members. >> I if I can um I want the teachers are here to know and the administrators that Sarah did not just do the other schools
tonight uh because you were here. Um it's something that she came up with right at the beginning of I think the end of last year. >> Uh historically uh we've had a student rep for probably 20 years. We were one of the first schools to have it. um and has always been about the high school
and Sarah thought we reach out to the other schools and so that's been I think something that's been a a nice addition uh to the report from the student reps. So do appreciate that. And you did leave out the fun that the seniors are going to have in exams, right? >> So we have you for one or two more
meetings. One more meeting, right? Uh early June. >> Um so as you look back on your time at uh either the high school or any part of the Rutherford district you've been in, what would you say is a favorite tradition or memory or something you think you won't forget?
Um, I would say I mean I feel like from high school just like um the football games like homecoming and stuff in the fall. It's a really fun way I feel like to get back to school. Um, but just in general I feel like I've met so many great friends like teachers um that's made it all like so worthwhile.
>> Nice. Excellent. And one day, as all of us around this table either are taking a lot of prescriptions or will be at some point, you're going to be a pharmacist. Hopefully, we'll get our our prescriptions from you. Amazing. Excellent. Uh you got five minutes. I
No, I'm just kidding. No, thank you so much for your presentation. We look forward to uh the next and last meeting you'll be at to celebrating all your time as a student representative. So, thank you. >> You've been a great one. >> Thank you. Um, you're welcome to stay. We understand if you have commitments
like those exams that Mr. Early told you were so much fun to study for. Um, and have a good evening. >> Thank you. You, too. >> Thanks, Eric. >> All right. So, I know for the last couple of years, we've been talking a lot about the profile of a Rutherford graduate. And I think one of the things
the board has talked about in uh over the months is that one of the things we really appreciate are when folks come to present things that are happening and like bring to life the things that we're talking about sort of in the abstract. So, we're really excited for the special presentation tonight on profile projects
related to a portrait of a Rutherford graduate. So, uh, I will turn it over to our administrative group who's here tonight. >> Good evening, everybody, and thank you for having us here tonight to share the
work that we've done so far. Um, I can't see that far. I'm I think I need a prescription. I'm getting older, but I didn't. Um, yeah, that I can't see. Good thing I have >> um so I just wanted to just share where we're at and the stars of our show that
the teachers um really have been doing the nitty-gritty of the work and they're going to talk about the projects. But where we are is that um the last time when we met we've we talked about the competencies that we've identified um and you've seen them across the district um and we've really infused them across
disciplines, you know, with academic content and student experience coupled with student experience. Um, we've also, it's not just about the the profile projects that we're going to talk about, but we've highlighted and expanded activities um within the district within the walls of the classroom and
schoolwide as well and districtwide. Um, you'll see um evidence that's of our work. It's visible throughout the district with banners and posters and signage again schoolwide in the classrooms outside the schools. Um, and we've developed a common language uh
amongst staff um that really pinpoints each uh competency that um highlights our shared vision. And this past year uh the advisory board, which they're going to talk about, has uh really developed a profile project in each building um that
will demonstrate uh student experience and these competencies throughout the district. So, I would like to introduce our advisory board members. Um Mr. Ryan and I are the advisory board chairs and we have uh from Washington and Lincoln school. They've really put together a
joint effort across town is Nicole Joffy and Vanessa Rada Rada and Sarah Riill. Um then moving up to the upper elementary school we have um Miss Tara Phelp from Pure Pont School. Bridging to Union School or Middle School, we have Megan Collins and um at the high school
level um Marissa Yoda, supervisor of world language and social studies. So, I'm going to turn it now over to the stars of our show, the advisory board. >> Good evening everyone. Mr. Ryan, you can click to the end of the slide there. One
more. One more. Oh, back one. There we go. Perfect. Good evening everyone. My name is Sarah Riyick. I'm a third grade teacher at Washington School and I, along with my Lincoln School counterpart, Vanessa Rada, are going to be presenting our elementary profile project. The project
that we've landed on this year is going to be a third grade science fair. For those of you who don't know, the third grade science fair is currently an existing project. When the committee got together, we had a couple of options. We could have created a new project from the ground up, or we could have looked at some of the fantastic projects that
were already taking place within our schools and looked at them to find ways that we can, as we like to say, porgify them. It's our new verb that we've trademarked in this uh committee. And so we when examining the science fair decided that this was an excellent
project with great bones. And so we have found ways to elevate and enhance this project. So I'm going to briefly talk about what the current science fair looks like. And then I'm going to talk about how we've purified that project. So currently the science fair is run by our lab science teacher Miss Kesler. um
she challenges the students to come up with a question that they are curious about and they must use the scientific method to create an experiment that they primarily do at home. Um once they've created the experiment and they've conducted the experiment and have come
to a conclusion of what their findings are, they then create a trifold which they bring to school and at the science fair they put them on display. We invite our third grade families to join us for about an hour where the students will present their projects.
So the Porgifi science fair is very similar to the current science fair. We've kept the structure. So students are still working with Miss Kesler in lab science to go through the steps of the scientific method. They conduct an experiment at home. Um they still create
their trifold board which they will bring to school. However, moving forward, our third grade students are going to be required to do a 5-minute presentation within their home room classes. Um, not only will their third grade peers be their audience, but we are also going to be inviting second
grade classes to join each third grade class to also be an audience. So, this will be great practice for their communication skills. Um, and it also is a fantastic way for the second grade students to see what they will then be encountering when they enter third grade. Um, the second grade students are
going to not just be an audience, but they're going to be active participants. So, they will do something like a scientist spotlight where they'll be providing compliments and feedback uh to our third grade presenters. Um, the second grade teachers are also
going to be joining us in our classroom. And so we've decided that the second grade teachers, the third grade teachers, and Miss Kesler are going to become a panel who will score the students on not only their academic um performance, but we also have created a
separate POR rubric. So Miss Kesser will focus primarily on the academic piece of the project and the home room teachers will be scoring the POR elements of the science fair that they've done. And then once they've finished their presentations, they will then
um be invited to come into the gym. All of third grade students will put their trifolds on display and the school community as well as our Rutherford communities uh third grade f parents and family members will be invited to come in and then have their children present
their projects to them. Hi everybody. I'm Vanessa Rata. I'm from Lincoln School. I teach first grade. I'm a little nervous because I'm used to teaching talking in front of seven-year-olds. So, I'm sorry if I'm a little nervous. >> There's no difference. >> Okay. Okay.
Um, so some of the competencies that the children will be uh working on are ex uh critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. So, under the theme of critical thinking, they'll be brainstorming a topic, as Sarah just said. Um, creating a
hypothesis and conducting an experiment utilizing the steps of the scientific method. Uh, they'll be exploring some related questions to the experiment like was your hypothesis correct? And what surprised you about your experiment? under the theme of creativity. They'll
be like as me as as mentioned earlier creating a trifold and uh displaying it and also highlighting some of the cross-curricular standards such as math, writing and art. Uh looking at graphs, tables and charts clearly explaining
their thoughts through writing and displaying their art their art. Uh they'll be enhancing their communication skills during their five-minute presentation in front of classroom teachers, Miss Kesler, the science teacher, and second grade students. And
of course, collaboration. Second and third graders will be paired together to work and listen to their scientist spotlight presentation and um enhance these skills in third grade and in second grade. Thank you. Hi, my name is Tara Phelp. I'm a fifth
grade teacher at Pier Pond School. Hi, I'm Rebecca Mack. I am the digital arts teacher at Pier Pond School. So, Rebecca is part of the Pure Pon committee that has helped put these projects or helped design these projects. So from the for the perspective of what
the profile projects are, Perpont took a little bit of a different approach. We are doing a project for each grade building um the competencies three fourth grade, three fifth grade and then all six all six and sixth grade.
So for fourth grade they're going to be creating a personal narrative my new school adventure. They're coming to fourth grade at a new school, new experience, merging of all the schools. So the competencies that they'll be focusing on for that are character, communication, and creativity. So what
they will be doing is using a um a graphic organizer, they will break down the elements of a personal narrative, but they will create a narrative about their new school experience. So it's reflective in nature about their experience coming to Peront for the first time, making new friends, um all
their experiences there. And then they will write a narrative which is one of the writing elements that they learn about in fourth grade and build upon what they learned in the lower elementary schools. And they will write a personal narrative and then they will also create a story board that goes with it. So it builds in, you know, character
elements, what it means to be a good student at a new school. um being able to communicate their experiences, their feelings through writing the personal narrative and then the creativity when it comes to the storyboard and also the elements of writing being creative in that respect.
For fifth grade, we're going to take a closer look at their role as a citizen in the local community. So, this is focusing on the next three competencies. So, citizenship, critical thinking, and collaboration. So, working closely with our service club, um students are going
to focus on what does it mean to be a citizen in the local community. As part of our social studies curriculum, uh with TCI America's past, we do a unit on uh civic responsibilities. So, this was a really nice build into having the students explore a little bit more about
our local community and different needs. So, service club also takes on a lot of those projects. So working hand inand with them um identifying needs whether it's the food pantry um right now we're kind of dabbling with the torch run
learning more about that making posters. So fifth grade will take the lead on researching um providing information to the whole school, making posters, right? Thinking critically about what are the needs, why are the needs important? So really building in why it's important to
be an active citizen in your community, thinking critically about the bigger problems and the greater good of the community, how we can help, and then collaborating with one another and ultimately the whole bringing the whole school together to help address a need in the local community.
I'm going to have Rebecca talk a little bit about the sixth grade, but the sixth grade project is twofold. And you'll notice it embraces all six of the competencies. So, we kind of built up understanding and now it's going to be executing all six. Do you want to take the digital arts part? >> Sure.
>> Go ahead. >> Okay. So, for the sixth grade, it is a two-part project. So near the end of the school year in the sixth grade ELA classes, they're going to be writing a letter to their future self where they're going to be explaining and
giving memories of their experiences at Peron School. They'll be asking questions to their future selves. And then in my class, um, I do integrated arts and they create video projects already. So they're going to be making a video companion, uh, part where they're
doing a video to their future selves. They'll introduce themselves. They'll give a favorite memory about peer pond school and then they'll ask a few questions to their future selves that hopefully when they become a senior in high school they will receive these videos back and they will be able to
answer those questions that they ask themselves. And this will also incorporate all six of the competencies based on the memories that they share, the questions that they ask and the things that they write about in their letter to their future selves as well as their video to their future selves.
So for Peron school, all of the projects are also geared to be um completed closer to the end of the year, right? So they're a little more reflective in nature, culminating in nature. Um and again, starting with three in fourth grade, three in fifth grade, and then
combined in sixth. Hello, I'm Megan Collins. I teach uh seventh and eighth grade ELA at Union School and I'm really excited to present to you the middle school profile project which is a grade 8 advocacy project. This is actually a project that students
um we've changed the project that students currently complete in health in grade 8, but we've expanded it to include all of the competencies. And uh our team really feels like this will help make their learning experience more meaningful and more authentic as
they uh progress through this. So the purpose of the oh go back one more. Sorry. The purpose of the project is for students to work collaborative collaboratively to research and present on a topic that's of personal or local significance. So students will select a topic from a list that they want to
learn more about and they want to bring awareness to and advocate for. Students will be placed into groups based on that topic selection and they'll narrow the focus of their topic to make it more personal to them. Uh they'll meet regularly during their health and physical education block uh a couple
times throughout the year uh throughout each quarter to research and propose action around their topic. Um the physical education department is what who is going to be supervising and assessing the projects. But we have uh if available other staff members who
could also be assigned to help mentor students. So this is uh kind of like a timeline for what the year would look like for an eighth grader with each quarter uh encompassing two compet or more competencies. So in quarter 1 students
will focus on selecting their topic working within their group to plan for research. Um so they're answering the questions what is this topic? Why is it important to me? why should other other people be concerned about this or care about this? And so the competencies that they focus on are creativity and
collaboration. In quarter two, the focus shifts to critical thinking and communication as students then research the topic and summarize their research as part of their they're building a slideshow. So as part of their slideshow in quarter
three, students will then identify their audience and propose an action plan. So thinking about what should be done to improve this issue and how can the audience uh join us to take in taking action. So that's focusing on citizenship and character. And lastly um
I'm sorry citizenship and um uh yeah and character sorry. And then uh the last quarter encompasses all of the comp uh the competencies where students will finalize their presentation and create a visual component to uh to go along with their presentation. In the past, this
has ranged from a proposed social media campaign or billboard campaign. Um, sometimes it include a brochure um or a poster series, but essentially the focus is how can we effectively communicate um
our topic and this plan of action. And so that final presentation which will take place in June um they're building towards all year they'll define the the issue explain the need for advocacy summarize their research uh from a variety of credible sources
propose a clear action plan geared towards a specific audience and then produce that visual component. And just for this last slide, you know, I I wanted to include this because some key distinctions of this project because
as you hear about the different uh profile projects, you might hear some things that kind of get repeated, but at the same time, I want you to see that these profile projects all build upon each other. So the profile projects from the elementary schools uh the fifth
grade um citizenship project um working together in groups um they all build upon each other and so I see that this middle school project is a way uh to build upon the foundation that the students already have from elementary school and then simultaneously prepare
them for what their demands will be for when they when they get to grade 12 in the high school. Thank you. Good evening everybody. I'm Marissa Yoda. Um the biggest challenge when we were trying to figure out a senior or
project in the high school is where are all of the students going to be encompassed since they have such different schedules um and different they take different electives. So, we came up with the idea to have the senior project done in 12th grade English
class. It'll take place mostly in the fourth quarter. And um like Megan was talking about, we had met before and talked about how we really think um it's a great the eighth grade project. It's the the high school project is a great spiral from the eighth grade because it
is an advocacy and an action project. So we have the t we came up with the tagline of somebody should so I will. So basically what students are going to do is they're going to identify an opportunity an issue or a need and
create a conclusion. So really like the core question that we want the students to answer is here's something this is why it matters and this is why I'm the person that's going to address it. So, if you notice, steps one, two, and three really are a
refresher of what they've done in eighth grade. So, they're doing a lot of similar things here. Um, the first will be a defense proposal. So, they will have to complete pre-ressearch. They will have to write a written proposal um that will be reviewed by a panel of
supervisors, administrators, um, profile, advisory board, and will have to get accepted. So basically what they're answering with this is why should I be given time eight weeks or so um to develop this. The next step then
becomes the deep dive into research where students will explore and um really be exposed to various different types of research methods um to collect and to analyze evidence and data. And then step three will be the plan of action where they're going to translate
they're going to take that research that deep dive research that they've done they're going to translate it into a concrete roadmap action plan with smart goals. Um so those are kind of teaching points along the way too where you're going to teachers will in the curriculum if you could just go back
teachers will discuss you know how to create a strong written proposal. Um teachers are going to go over different types of research methods and then for number three um they'll discuss smart goals where the senior project um that's all
building from the eighth grade and what we do what we will be doing in the high school is step four is going to be implementation. The students are going to actually have to go out and try to attempt um to implement it. They're going to create a documentation log which is going to include their
progress. Um, this will include regular schedule meetings that they'll have with their teacher and other mentors that they focus. We're trying to when we have them pick topics. We want them we're hoping that this will span all different types of disciplines. Um, it'll be all
different disciplines that students are interested in. So, students who are interested in art, students who are interested in business, students who are interested in um citizenship, um the social studies, they can go into different paths. So the idea is to try and go out and find mentors within the
high school within the cor the community as well that can help them with their research and their implementation. Step five then will be um one of my most favorite parts because this is the reflection and the results where students are going to not summarize what they did but really do a deep and
thoughtful analysis and reflection on a deep dive really into all of these different competencies and talk about you know did did it work and I think something very valuable is they might go out and try and implement something and it might not work okay and that's okay
just going through the different parts of what worked, what didn't, if they were to try to attempt this again, you know, what might they be do differently. And then finally, the last step um will be the final presentation where the students are going to present the full arc of their research um what their
issue is, the research methods, the action plan, and the results and reflection piece to a panel in person. um which will again be developed of um teachers, the advisory board, supervisors, administrators.
So with all of these different steps, it encompasses as it should in 12th grade all of the competencies of the profile. Thank you. >> That you just saw um poor competencies
are also being infused into daily lessons. So our big push is to have the our students to recognize these terms, to recognize the symbolism, to include it into their classroom discussions, include it into their daily lives so that if we were to, you know, be in a lesson, the teacher would be talking
about critical thinking and uh the student can recognize that's a Porg uh competency. So we really want to get this infused in the daily lesson planning. We've been starting this this year um as going about doing observations. we've seen observations that we highlight observations that have
uh focused on poor competencies and then at lessons that haven't kind of said hey maybe you try this or that next year and so that's a big push for the advisory board next year we're going to be working on a por repository where they keep res uh like resources for the classroom so we'll be and then teachers
can upload per grade level various resources they're using for the pred competencies we're also doing poured cards in every classroom that's what you have in front of You take a look at that. That's basically just reminders and uh teachers would infuse those into presentations
into lessons, display them about their room and kind of refer to them during their lessons, especially when they are in the poor universe. And we're that's that's our big push for next year. The advisory board will continue to meet. Um they've done a lot of work this year. They did a really
good job this year. Uh they led subgroups in each building and they wor met a lot. They did a lot of work. they present it to their um faculty meetings and everything. So, they're going to keep working. We like we work working together. So, it's a good group. And what's that? That's it. Yep. So, that's
all we have for now. If you have any questions or comments or >> I'd like to I have a I have a comment. Um I just like to to observe that and and comment about the coordination through the schools. That's very impressive that
it's consistent, right? And and that's wonderful. Yeah, that's great. Um, I do have a question about the students uh as they elevate to uh say to union and high school. Are you going to allow the students to to uh work in a group or is
it always individual? >> I think a couple of the projects had collaboration as a skill like group work. >> Well, we'll let eighth grade go first. >> So, the eighth grade group would be a collaborative project. So, groups of three or four that um students actually
aren't going to choose, but it'll be based on topic. So, the teachers will help facilitate the group, but I think it's actually a good thing for students to learn to work with people maybe that they wouldn't choose. So, for eighth grade, that's part of the collaboration. They'll be working in a group.
And then the high school, they'll have a little bit more freedom where they'll be able to choose. Again, that'll be part of the defense proposal. So if they're going to work with a group, for example, one of our samples is, you know, if they wanted to create a band, um you couldn't do that independently, right? So it could be a small group that would have
to be accepted by the um panel, but they'll have the option to work individually or to work in a small group. Um, and then the other difference there, um, just like Megan was saying, as their topics in eighth grade are more, um, focused for them, um, in the
high school, they'll have free reign of really, I mean, being accepted by the board, but, um, more free reign of to go in whichever direction they feel most passionate about. Great. >> Very important work. Thank you. Other other comments from board members?
Christina, >> as someone who is uh kneedeep in the third grade science project right now, I just want to say I think it's great because it's been um it's been interesting to see my child use their own creative thinking skills.
He normally has a little bit more of a difficult time with the structured school part. So for him to be creative and think of a topic that is passionate for him, it's been fun to watch. and the whole structure of the packet with the deadlines and the timelines of everything. It's just it's been nice in
my house with the science project right now. So looking forward to the other projects throughout the years. >> Dr. >> I got two things. one of so at the end you say testing here
builds upon all the other skills but how about these students who are just starting now like is it like has that transition into it never done anything pork before I love that by the way how do you handle that is it
>> well something that we mentioned before is that although the third graders will be doing their project for the first time por is going to be infused in kinder arten. So students will be exposed to the pork terms starting in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and they're actually already doing pork projects. So although we are
highlighting the capstone projects at each transitional grade level, just to give you an example, our second grade students at Washington School are currently working on stuff box projects um which require them to again it's sort of like a little passion project. I'm sure Kingston right worked on one in second grade.
>> So it's a passion project. they kind of put everything. They have to fit all of the the information on this topic into one box and they're required to do a presentation in front of their classmates. So although POR is technically for each transitional grade level, they will be doing POR activities
and projects from kindergarten all the way moving forward throughout 12th grade. I think I think more of a comment. It's like I love how it all ends the senior year where we're teaching where we're trying to produce these adults who aren't just finding
problems but solutions. >> Yes, >> that's that's a pet peeve of mine. People just say here like like here are complaints but just like so I love that you know someone should so I will they'll come up with a solution and that's that's a good citizen that's a
good end product. Other other comments, Mr. Spre, >> phenomenal job and no need to be nervous. I said it to Mr. Schwitzer this past week and I said being in front of the students, I can talk to adults all day long. Put me in a room full of kids
all day. So, but phenomenal job. Uh we really and we Sergio said we talked a lot said we really really enjoy you guys coming here and presenting to us. So, we really appreciate it. Great job. >> So, this is a good time. Oh. Oh, Miss Jones, go ahead.
>> I just want to say congratulations. You've done a fine job and really enjoyed your presentation. >> Um, I was going to say at some point we need to give everyone a round of applause for all your hard work. So, I think this is a good time to do that. Um, I I do want to say that I mean I think
this is incredible and I think that uh often times profiles of a graduate are things that get created and they sort of get shelved or they get put up on walls but they don't really live in the classrooms and the only way to do that is to actually implement these things in
your classroom practice and it's exactly what you're doing and to put them in rubrics is really really impressive um and because that is the way that students are going to really foster these skills and you're creating a common language amongst faculty as well and for students which I'm assuming that
they see some of the rubrics as they get older they know what they're being measured against. So I think it's fantastic. I I did want to ask I plan to attend the end of the year uh party at the great cliff. May I use the term porgified in my two-minut speech?
>> It's yours. >> Awesome. Awesome. >> We we we copyrighted that. >> Okay. No, no, absolutely, you know, wonderful job. Look forward to, you know, hearing more as some of these things are implemented next year. I was asking uh Mr. a couple of
questions that actually you answered uh at the end uh Mr. Ryan about um you know next year versus this year and then also like the senior project this will be required for every student. It might take the place at like a higher level for some of those projects. So I think
that's that's great. If I if I could first I appreciate the board's support of this from the very beginning. Um and you know it's been really part of our culture now for what three years. Um I mean we we delayed the projects right collaboratively decided that it would be
better to wait uh to to really get them done well and and have everybody ready. uh individually the uh folks here tonight presented this to their final projects to their buildings at their last faculty meetings. Um and u as I
think both Mr. Ryan and Miss Saxon said uh there were teachers on uh every in every building that worked with uh this team. So you know it it's the buy in and the um and the development coming from the the faculty uh primarily is I think
what will make this successful uh because uh you know it's it's coming from from the people are going to deliver and work with the students. I also um like the fact that even starting uh in grade three there's that uh
collaboration with grade two uh there's the idea of presenting to a group um science fair is wonderful as you're finding out right um but primarily you know the kids stand by their project and they talk to their mom and their dad and their granddad and
their grandma uh and now they're going to be talking to a group of of students in a us uh it's going to be taking that you know one of the things that we've talked about social media and and the like you know having a conversation seniors are going to have to sit with a
panel you know and not so much I think Mod said not so much summarize their report but explain the significance of it and uh explain what they learned from it and maybe explained why it failed why
they didn't learn what they thought they were going to learn and these These are the kind of conversations that we have to have as our because remember this is a profile of the graduate what we want our student to be. We've heard a lot of discussion right about technology. There's not a lot of technology in any
of this. Okay. It's collaboration, it's writing, it's critical thinking, it's talking. Yeah, we're going to use PowerPoints and videos and things like that to help Canva uh to help the Canva crowd is mouthing Canva at me.
um the uh you know to to get the point across, right? But it's all coming from here and working with kids. So, I'm really very pleased and proud and happy uh with the work that these folks have done. It's been a uh
something that they more or less volunteered for, right? more or less volunteered um and uh have really uh worked hard and and and you know that passion project that they talked about. It's become a passion project. Normally if you get asked a question, people look
at who's going to answer it. We saw people run up to the microphone to answer the question, right? So >> by the way, in my school we call that volunttold. >> It's a good one. I'll sell you porified if I could. Um so again, thank you. And
um and look, you know, we're going to practice what we preach, right? So these projects next year, if just like we're going to say to the kids, hey, if at the end you do that reflective piece and maybe it has to be done a little differently, so be it. Okay. But I'm
very pleased with where it's going. And I'm again I thank the support from the board for the last couple of years in getting this this going. >> Yeah, absolutely. and and you know, please thank the larger faculty that's a part of this and thank you for your oversight of all of this and shephering
this through because it's really important because you all represent different schools. So, you know, I think buy and understanding grows through usage and having a group like this that's a real sort of hybrid of different schools and grades. So, thank you. Um, any last questions or comments from board members?
>> Um, next year when this is implemented, would it be possible that we can have some of the present in each grade level. That would be great. >> Sure. >> Like on a volunteer basis. >> They'll kind of volunteer too. >> Yeah. >> Told our kids.
>> No, I think that would be great. >> We we got to the >> years ago we used to have student presentations at board and then it just got a little, you know, a little redundant and it got a little bit. I think it would be great to uh maybe bring one or two from each of the grade
levels. >> Be great. by the board of >> Mr. Ryan Saxon, put that in your notes. >> Got it. >> Well, thank you. Thank you again. This is really meaningful and like we told Sarah, you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting if you'd like this evening. If you have other things you
need to attend to, we understand. Um, but no, thank you again. Um, and I think we're going to move on now to the report of the superintendent. Yeah, another another round of applause. >> Should we get a second? No, that's okay. You're good. Okay. Uh, you know, we just
had a a very thorough and and I think great report for quite a while. So, I'm going to keep mine very very short. I want to u congratulate Dr. Alotti and Mr. Begoian. Uh, Dr. Aotti is going to be honored by the New Jersey school boards at the county meeting at the end
of the month, May 28th, for 10 years of service and Mr. Begoian as a master board member. Yes. >> Uh, so congratulations And um the meeting is on May 28th. Uh any board member who wishes to go can go. I know Mrs. Jones, you're going to
be there. I will uh probably not because I'm going to do I will do the PT council meeting and I'll represent both both of us at that meeting. Um but again, congratulations. Um and thank you for your all that you do for us. Um you mentioned the end of the year party.
Again, uh if you're planning on going, please let Donna know. Um, more importantly, send a check uh that you're going to go uh by the end of the week if possible. Um, policy committee. I did receive some policies from uh Strauss
Esme that I'm working on uh right now with the administrators. So, probably um I'd like to get them on on June both June meetings. Uh but if not, certainly the second one in July. So, I'll be sending them out to the committee you
know shortly. Okay. And um tonight there is a resolution. I will speak about some of the resolutions when we get to that moment, but I do want to mention the one that New Jersey school board sent forward. I've been talking about, you know, the uh fiscal cliff that we're
look at what can be done to either um control the rising cost or at least provide more assistance to the the schools. So that resolution is on there tonight and hopefully it will pass and I will then uh get it out to the uh none. We will move on now to the report of the
president. Uh so end of the year party June 11th, you heard Mr. Hilly ask everyone to please uh RSVP and send checks this week. Uh June 23rd. Um we'll send it out to folks and we'll review it
uh at the end of June. So we'll give everyone a few weeks to be able to fill that out. Give me a couple of weeks to synthesize it and then we'll go over it together. Um, and it just needs to be sent out before July 1. So, questions about that?
>> July one. >> Yes. >> Oh, absolutely. I'm going to send it out this week so it can be completed in about 3 weeks or so. I think we'll give it like a timeline. >> Last week of June, we have our meeting. >> Yes. So, but the last week of June is when we'll go over it.
>> Yeah. >> June 29th. >> June 29th. So, we'll work backward from there. Um, but when I send you an email, I'll give you a a timeline. Uh, that's it for my report. Any questions or comments? All right. Hearing none. At 7:46 p.m.,
we're going to open up the meeting to the public for anything related to the agenda this evening. Uh, hearing no comments, we're going to close the meeting at 7:46 p.m. And we are going to move on to new business where there's action to be taken. And we
will start with personnel. Mrs. Cole, you have the one addendum piece. >> Sure. >> There as well. Yep. >> Uh, good evening. Personnel do not meet this month. Uh, the following 30 motions are to be put forward tonight. The recommendation of the superintendent.
I'd like to make motions 1 through 30 under personnel. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second for that? All right. Mr. Begoian, questions or comments from board members? There's one uh change that we need to make um for the minutes and that
is in number nine. Um the approving Mr. Infante as a leave replacement. Uh the end date of that is not um June 30th, 2027. It is actually May 21, 2027.
>> May 21st. >> Yeah. May 21st, 2027. All right. Uh, any questions or comments? Hearing none. Uh, Mr. Kelly, please take role. >> Mr. Begoia, >> yes. >> Oh, jeez. Sorry.
>> Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. >> Mr. Sprayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Yes. >> Motion's carried. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you. We'll go on now to curriculum and instruction. Miss Jones. >> Thank you. We did not have a CNI meeting and tonight there are nine motions that have been put upon the recommendation of our superintendent. >> All right. Thank you. Uh do we have a
second on that motion for Miss Jones? All right. Mr. Haley, any questions or comments on curriculum and instruction? Um can you just talk about the transitional teacher agreement? Not so familiar with exactly what that is.
>> Uh that is a um service that has provided us with um a a teacher when we cannot find one. We used it for world language. So rather than if you remember a couple years ago we contracted with a online service. This is actually a
living breathing real certified teacher that they provide. >> Okay. Great. Any other questions or comments? >> The online teacher for live people too, right? >> In in the flesh. Well, sometimes you never know, you know. Come on, miss.
Yeah. AI, right? >> But I do want to Yeah. And so anyway, to clarify that particular resolution a little further, >> um, you know, we we really like the world language teacher that they gave us. We had an opening. Uh there's a non-compete
clause and uh to sign her, you know, Got it. All right. Questions or comments from board members? Anything else? Nope. All right. Mr. Kelly, please take >> Mr. Beosia.
>> Yes. >> Ms. Kates? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cole? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ki? >> Yes. >> Mr. Healey? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jones? Yes, >> Dr. Rine. >> Yes, >> Mr. Spayberry. >> Yes, >> Dr. Oli.
>> Yes. >> Motion's carried. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to finance. Mr. Bezosian. >> Good evening. We did not have a finance committee meeting meeting since our last full board meeting. Uh tonight on the agenda, we have seven motions to consider. Uh I'd like to move motions one through seven under finance.
>> All right. We have a >> May I jump in there for a second? Do you get a second or third? >> You can. >> Yeah, sure. >> Okay. Uh we get a second, Mr. Sprayberry, is that your hand? >> Okay. Uh, all right. Uh, discussion questions. Mr. Kelly,
>> uh, just there's a correction on uh, motions number two and three. You see they both have dates of September 30th, 2025. That's wrong. The reports you got were the correct ones which were for the month of March of 26. So the the minutes will reflect the actual correct dates,
but I just wanted to bring that to your attention. >> Thank you. >> That's two and three. Is it >> two and three? Yes. Okay. >> All right. Uh questions or comments from board members? >> And that's the um resolution I spoke
about already about the health benefit. >> All right. Uh Mr. Kelly, please take role. >> Mr. Begoian? >> Yes. >> Ms. Kates? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cole? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ki? >> Yes. >> Mr. Healey? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jones? Yes,
>> Dr. Rine. >> Yes, >> Mr. Spayberry. >> Yes, >> Dr. Aadi. >> Yes. >> Motion's carried. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to policy. Mr. Healey. >> Yes. Uh we did not have a policy committee uh meeting since our last board meeting and there are no
resolutions for this evening. >> All right. Thank you. Uh buildings and grounds, Mr. Spayberry. >> Same here. No meeting, no resolutions. >> All right. Then we will move on to old business. Is there any old old business. But I think it's interesting. This
Friday night, the high school and the kids center are having a senior prom and I've never gone to it before, but I'm going to go to it this year. >> It's fun. I'll let you do a date. I come back to >> Do you have a date? >> Have a date.
>> Yeah. This started um >> back when I was principal or maybe even before. Maybe when I was the assistant principal. uh we've been doing it for a long long time here in the cafeteria and um I always you know when I as principal I attended um and you know the first few
years I used to look at all the folks there and say oh how cute and then and then a few years later they were asking me to dance you know uh you know I was like a guest um but it is a great opportunity for our students to interact with the senior citizens a fun night for
the senior citizens music it's a it's a senior prom for the senior citizens From what I understand from Michael Moore, our custodian, we're not going to have to sit on the benches. >> No, we got chair highrisers. >> But no, it's a lot of fun. It's a great opportunity for our kids.
>> Yeah. Nice. Uh Mr. Speaker, >> yeah, I know did the Union School PTA meeting uh with Mr. Schwitzer. So, and I actually did tell him that we're talking about the kids and stuff and speaking in front of kids and adults because, you know, teachers, they have to have no qualms around the kids. So, it was a
truth. But, uh, no, it was great update with them. I actually went over I did address the brought up the, uh, state and what they were putting out for our district for healthc care cost. So, uh, and everybody was, you know, very pleased to know hear that and everything. So, that was great. Great meeting. So, they raised a lot of money, done a lot of great things over at the
school. >> Yeah. >> Excellent. >> Uh, other updates, old business. >> All right. So, we'll move on to legislative updates. Anything for us? >> Yes. Uh, Senate Bill 4102 introduced on
May 4th, which is just last week, by Angela Mcnite from Pson County, requires school districts to establish procedures for online reporting of harassment, intimidation, and bullying cases. >> Yeah.
Well, it depends on what you mean by online. You know, if there's a form to fill out, I mean, the form's online now, so we'll see. And again, a lot of these uh bills, you know, they get introduced. It takes a while to go through the process. Um there is um
a good case in point um is the cell phone ban that was signed as Governor Murphy left office. Uh the law and the guidelines that were distributed from Department of Ed have a little bit of a contradiction.
So now Strauss Esme is saying we have to hold off till we get some clarification. Um and the contradiction is um similar what we kind of like what we do in district. You know they're totally
banned K to8 can't have them high school there's caddies right um so you can't have them during class. Well, the law says that the way the law was written, it it says that you can do what we're doing now in the high school, but the way the guidance was written
says you can't. So, there's kind of a, you know, a disagreement. Uh, so sometimes these these bills get a little cloudy. So, you know, it is already May and we're being told to wait before we let people know exactly what the policy is going to be next year. Yeah. Makes things a little a little feisty. Uh,
also I want to let everybody know um, normally at the end of March we get the um, school performance report for every school and for the district and it's it's it's a pretty detailed report. Uh, usually doesn't have a lot of new
information. It's information that comes from everything you hear, right? the the report of student achievement, uh, HIV reports, the violence, vandalism, you know, all you know, all those reports that you hear and it gets into one u document where you could take a look
at the district, you can look at the district as it compares and contrasts to to other districts, you know, things like that. Well, this year we didn't get any information at all. March came is usually the end of March. gets embargoed for a week or two so that you could look
at it, the administrators could look at it in case there's something you say, "Wait a minute, this looks incorrect, right? The data and then usually early April, mid April, it gets put out on the state's website and we put it out on our website. Um, we didn't get a single word
about it until today um around noon. Uh there's the format came out totally different format. um very hard to even share with the administrators because only eight people in the district are allowed to log in and see it. Uh is
embargoed for one week instead of two weeks. Um so you know we got it. So anyway uh sometime next week or the week after I'll be putting it out there publicly because the embargo will be lifted. Um but there's a lot of things
coming out slowly. A lot of changes have come out of the operating systems that you now use to use Smid. Now they use SledS. Um there's all different platforms and things have been a little slow coming
out of of of trend. So um when it comes out it's going to look different if you looked at it before. Um, I don't think they, you know, I started looking through it today. Um, but it came in very, I don't see anything that's surprising or anything that isn't
accurate based on what we know, but it's just, you know, the the process is a little more challenging to get through. And I just think it's interesting that they want the administrative team to look at it, but that you you can't print it. The only way you could print it is to print every page individually. And
there's about 500 pages. Um, and only about you only have eight users. So, you know, we're going to look at it and I'm sure it's accurate. Um, but sometimes things change. They don't necessarily change for the better.
So, be looking for that. All right. Thank you. So, at 7:57 p.m., we're going to open the meeting to the public for anything related to or not related to the agenda. Seeing no comment, we're going to close the meeting at 7:58 p.m. And there is
not a need for an executive session. So, we can have a motion to adjourn. Mr. Spayberry, seconded by Mr. Migosian. All in favor? I. >> All right, we are adjourned. Have a good evening.