Good evening everybody. I'd like to call our meeting to order. Could we all please stand for the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all. All right, Mr. Boys, can you do a roll call, please? Yes. Mrs. Van Horn, here. Mr. Sergio, present, sir. Mr. Jess, here. Mr. Carlson, here. Mrs. Sherwin is absent. Mrs. Kra
here. Mrs. Dale here. Mr. Kimick here. Mr. Garcia here. Mrs. Shaw here. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Boyce. And M. Truan. Hi. Sorry. No. Great job. All right. Okay. Public notice. Uh, adequate notice of this
meeting in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act has been provided by action of the board of education at its regular meeting on January 7, 2025. Notices to the corerary news and the star ledger circulated in the school district and the posted
notice to this effect on the board of education website and building both the board administrative headquarters 51 West Cliff Street Somerville, New Jersey. And at this time I'd like to open the floor to public comment. Uh public comment is invited on agenda items, non-aggenda items or any matter
related to the school district. When permitted, public participation shall be governed by the rules stated within the agenda. Uh remember, please, I won't read all of the rules, but I would ask that everybody please make sure that they state their name and their address. Uh and also remember to keep our public
comments to maximum of three minutes in duration. Okay. At this time, are there any members of the public who would like to make comment this bigger? So, sorry. My name is Sharon Gordick. I live at 548 Carlson Street in Bound Brook. I'm also
um the Somerville Education Association president. Um, so I wanted to um thank you to the board um so much for having um Ron Belundi set up a meeting between union representatives and the administration um to address any ongoing
concerns regarding curriculum and instruction um in response to the findings from the curriculum audit. Um the SEA appreciates so much that the board sees the importance of hearing all perspectives in person emphasizing open and non-defensive dialogue that is
focused on student outcomes. The meeting underscores um certainly a disconnect between the teacher experiences and the administrative messaging. And while some progress was acknowledged like increased data use and structured scheduling and improved um testing scores in some area,
there still remains significant concern about the lack of actionable curriculum support trust and transparency. The SEA on behalf of its membership um expressed continued concerns for genuine collaboration, concrete plans along with a desire to move from a reactive
approach to one more that is uh one that is more proactive and solution focused. In addition, as the audit priorities were intended to be addressed by the 2425 school year, by the end of the 2425 school year, there's a share concerned
of the response um leaning more toward demonstrating compliance rather than delivering a clear and actionable plan that meaningfully addresses the core instructional and curricular needs outlined in the audit. At this meeting, JR did identify some next steps in
following up with ESL um department to ensure proper testing and placement, providing instructional support and guidance for lab classes, and demonstrating uh distributing the literacy committee plan to all stakeholders. I was part of a lab meeting that happened today as well. Um
I lost my place. I apologize. Um when while these are important and necessary steps, it should be noted these actions ideally would have been um better at the prior at the beginning of the school year. Um with earlier implementation could have better supported student
outcome outcomes and teacher um teacher helped to prevent the instructional goals um and gaps created because of their lack of being addressed sooner. The meeting ended with the appreciation expressed for the open and honest conversation and that while there may be
differing views, these discussions were essential to moving the district forward collaboratively. Um, and we again so much appreciate the setup of that meeting. So, we look forward to hearing Ron's report on the meeting. Um, but wanted the board of ed um to hear the SEA's takeaways um as we are not meeting
again until November formally. Um and that JR will also be providing uh reporting on the audit tonight. So I wanted to have you hear our end of this as well. So thank you very much. Okay. Thank you for your comment. Any other public comment?
Okay. Seeing none, is there a motion to close public comment? Mr. Carlson a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. public comment is now closed. Uh I do want to just um thank Miss Gornick for,
you know, taking the podium and just making public comment. I also want to thank everybody that was involved in the meeting that that you're referencing. Um you know, I think we mentioned uh last meeting that we had had um our negotiation teams meet more with the idea that we're not negotiating as much
as we're doing climate checks and just having discussions around that. So I think these ongoing discussions are important. Um the board you know has made this a goal in terms of just the audit itself and just having updates on the audit and getting information I think u from everybody in terms of
stakeholders in terms of how that's progressing. So the commitment is there for that. Um I know as we move forward you know there'll be reports that are generated and discussions that will take place around that and um we'll move forward from there. But I do I want to thank everybody for participating. Those are hard meetings to to I think uh go
forward with and and I do applaud everybody for their involvement with that. So thank you for that. All right. Uh moving on. Uh approval of the minutes uh resolved that the board of education approved the minutes of the board of education meeting as follows. September 9th uh regular meeting and September 9th
2025 executive session. Is there a second there? I need a first actually. Mr. Jess, is there a second? Mr. Carlson. Any discussion? Okay, we're just going to do this as a consensus vote. So, all in favor?
All opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Boyce. You got that? Yes, I got it. Okay. All right. And we're very excited to have the approval of student board representatives for tonight. Uh we have
a new board rep who's joining us. Um, do you want to just say a couple words? Sure. That'd be great. Just as as a prelude to this. Thank you for Is this on? No. Is this on? Oh, that's on.
So, um, thank you for for, uh, having me here tonight to introduce our student board rep. So, first I'd like to welcome for the very first time um Roman Jeet Carr who is serving as our Somerville junior representative for the 2526
school year. Roman Jeet met with the high school administration during the selection process and we were highly impressed with her performance at that meeting. Uh this includes her enthusiasm and just her her willingness to be an active member um in our school
community. So, welcome to the board ru and we are happy to welcome back TA Papis. Um TA is serving year two of her term uh this year as our Branchburg senior representative. TA is well now the veteran um student board
representative, right? and I have no doubt that she will continue to represent our school and district with the same excellence and dedication she always has. Welcome back to Thank you, Mr. Foley.
Thank you, Mr. Foley. Um, so with that, we'd like to do a motion to approve that item number one be moved upon the recommendation of the superintendent schools to approve the appointment of the following students at Somerville High School to serve as a student representatives to the board of
education for the 2526 school year. Moved, Mr. Carlson. Is there a second? Second. Miss Van Horn is a second. Is there any discussion at board members? Thank you for dedicating your We're
really excited to have you. So, we do look forward to the reports every time. We will make a commitment um to ensure that you're out of here before presentations. We know that you're very busy, that you have lots of other things that you have going on, but um you know, I do applaud your leadership. Uh it's
something again in terms of just the public facing nature of this. Uh you have to come and report many times to a room full of people uh to the board. Um you know that it requires you to do a lot of extra work and we recognize that. So we look forward to your reports. Mr. Sjil will repeat a lot of what you
say later, but we we look forward to your report the most. Uh and thank Mr. Sergio always for his efforts. Um so again, can we um do a vote for that? Sure. A roll for that, please. Mrs. Van Horn, yes.
Mr. Sergio, yes and welcome. Mr. Jess, yes. Mr. Carlson, yes. Mrs. Sherwin, yes. Mrs. Kra, yes. Mrs. Dale. Yes. Mr. Kennet, yes. Mr. Garcia, yes. Mrs. Shaw, yes. All right. Congratulations.
All right. Okay. Uh, just on a board president's report. I won't um I won't go into a lot of things extensively, but I do want to point out a couple things on the agenda. I I want to extend congratulations to Katherine Sullivan. Uh, this is an item on the
agenda. uh I can't remember what item it is, but uh she is retiring uh from the district uh from Somerville High School where she has served for over 24 years. And again, I think anytime somebody retires, it's our opportunity to just make sure that the public understands how much we appreciate the efforts of
all the employees of the district. Um I I think it's really important when somebody has committed that much time u to the students of Somerville, to the community of Somerville that that uh we recognize that that that is quite a commitment and quite a tenure in the district. So uh congratulations to to
her and to the next uh adventures that she has hopefully. Uh I also want to point out that there's a number of agenda items on uh tonight's agenda related to the referendum. Uh so you'll note that there's things in terms of um just approvals via the architect for
certain steps that have to take place for the projects as they're laid out. People can get information about the referendum on the website, but you'll see it tonight. There's some information about the high school auditorium and you know starting that process and renovation. And I want to thank Mr. Boyce and his team because there's
there's a lot that's happening behind the scenes right now uh to keep all of this kind of on track. uh through the communications committee, we will be scheduling a meeting. Uh that's a large committee where we invite members of the public to come in and that's where we're going to give updates, I think, to the
group that met prior to the referendum being passed and also uh have opportunities just really for ongoing updates. So, so we look forward to that and and again, I just want people to kind of recognize that that's within the agenda tonight and those things are moving forward as as planned. Um and
with that just uh happy October and I hope uh this school year I know is is picking up steam very very quickly. So um continued thank you to everybody for their efforts and all the work that they're doing in terms of uh just you know providing daily instruction to the students and all the work that's taking place in extracurricular and
co-curricular activities. Lots lots of great things happening in the bill. So and with that I will turn it over to the superintendent. Uh as you can see on the agenda, as you can see on the agenda, my report is split and I do want to respect uh our students and their time. So first of
all, congratulations. Welcome back. Uh we really look forward to your report each and every meeting. So uh I'm going to turn things over to you. As you know, I have quite a few things to to discuss, but I don't want to hold you guys up. So you guys go first. Thank you. Well, thanks for having us. I'm excited to be back. Um we have a
couple things going on as it's a little busy in the beginning of the school year. Um, but we have our yearbooks going on sale now. Today's the last day that they're $85 and then tomorrow they move up to hundred. So, if you want to get those in, um, I would definitely do it tonight. And then we also have our senior ads that come with the yearbooks.
Our senior ads um, are also on sale. So, you can just purchase those from we have a website um, called Justins. That's also on um, our school website. And the last day to place that is January 30th. So, that you have more time with. Um, we have our SAT and PSATs tomorrow. So, the
juniors um will be taking their PSATs and the seniors have the the sophomores and juniors and the seniors have the option to take the SAT in school as well. Information should have been sent out to them. So, they would receive an email. Um so, if not, just look out for that email for tomorrow. We have picture retakes for underassman coming up um on
October 28th during their study hall. Um and if seniors need anything or they need an original photo, you can also reach out um to Normandy Studios. um our late bus. So, we have our late bus every year for students who live in Branchburg and are staying after school for clubs, sports, etc. Um but you must sign up in
the office each day prior to 1 p.m. if you want to take the bus. Um we also have our winter sports registration that just opened up. Um so, if you go on to the school website, you'll see what forms need to be completed um in order to participate for that winter season. But speaking upon sports, our fall
sports are off to a great start this year. Both boys and girls soccer made it to second round of counties and they have more of their inseason games coming up as well. Um, field hockey has their first round of counties tomorrow, so feel free to go watch them. Um, and also make sure to support cross country and
girls tennis as their inseason meets and matches are coming to an end. And then finally, we have our football team which advanced to six and one this past coming this past Friday, beating North 43 to 14. Um, so this upcoming Friday we have a homecoming game and we also have I
believe it's youth night. Um, so it's a little busy, but definitely feel free um to come for that. And the last thing I'm going to talk about is our students of the month for September. Um, so student of the month again just honor students who um exemplify good character, exhibit outstanding behavior, and make significant contributions to our school
community. So I'd like to congratulate Declan Biles, Grace Kerry, Wyatt Fleming, Niah James, Regan Prisbilski, Sophia Rocks, Emily Smith, and Jack Schwitzer. So now I'm going to hand it over to you. I'd like to welcome you again and I'm super excited to work with you. I'm sure we're all happy for you.
Um and we really appreciate your dedication in and outside of the school. Thank you. So October 6th to 10th was the week of respect. This was a special week that was dedicated to fostering character development, promoting respect, and encouraging social responsibility. Some of the themes that were included were animal print for
respect and blue to stomp out bullying. Moving on to the clubs this month. The investment club will be meeting this Thursday, October 16th in room 103 after school. Then the hiking club has their first hike this week on Friday. They're headed to Hakobarney State Park in Long
Valley. If anyone is interested, please make sure to visit their classroom through the signup. Lastly, the medical science club is meeting on October 27th in room 311 for a Halloween themed experiment. Additionally, the robotics team is also looking for new members who are interested in engineering, coding,
design, teamwork, or even marketing and fundraising. The team is hosting new member orientations with sessions on October 15th and October 27th from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. in room 112. The quarterly PTO meeting will be held on October 28th at 6 p.m. in the
Somerville High School Media Center. And then starting this school year off strong with the September staff members of the month. Congratulations to Mr. Noah and Mr. Yenise, thank you for all of your dedication and support to our students, athletes, and performers. Oh, sorry.
Um, and as the end of October is approaching, the homecoming dance will take place on Saturday, October 25th from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the high school. Please make sure to bring your student IDs and information about purchasing tickets will be forthcoming.
Thank you. Uh before we go into an executive session, just a quick comment and thank you uh Miss Gourney for your comments, but you know there might be a little difference of opinion in terms of the purpose of the meeting and that was a direct dialogue between the two parties. Um and it was to continue going forward. Presenting the contents of the
meeting prior to Dr. Bani's report is premature in my opinion as there were still conversations going on as we were listening and learning uh during that time. So uh I do believe and look forward to with my team to continue those conversations so we can listen. thought our understanding of the meeting
was that we were going to remain having those conversations so we could learn more and uh with Dr. Bologani's report not out yet maybe you know it's best that we continue those conversations as uh we have discussed um but I have some more things to report when we do return
from uh our executive session um Mr. Uh Stern, um if you're ready, we'll go into that exactly. So before before we we do going need to do a motion for this, but I want to thank our student reps. Uh this is your opportunity to scattle. All right. So uh thank you for being here tonight and
again congratulations. But I would we also want to before we go into executive session, uh we have moved Mr. Sergio's report under the superintendent's report. So why don't we do that report right now? Uh so Mr. Serg, are you ready to do your
activities athletics and activities report? Mr. President, I think so. Can somebody stick a mic in front of his mouth? Okay. Yeah. I'm just uh Can you guys hear me?
We can. No, we can hear him. It's just It's just projecting his voice. Can you speak again? Yeah. Can you hear me? I didn't know anything about Okay.
Outstanding job. Mr. Vice President, um just wanted to uh welcome Roman G and TA again for a wonderful report. I'm going to just touch on some of the some smaller details, but uh first on today's slate
of matches, the boys soccer team is uh hosting the Hornets of Handover Park trying to make up some ground in their season and the girls tennis team is facing off against a cross town foes uh at White Oak Park. Um the athletics and activities committee meeting will be
held next week uh the 22nd of October at district headquarters. Uh and just to add on to winner registration that is now open as mentioned and will close on the 19th of November. So if you are interested please don't delay because as soon as you blink uh we will be reaching
the end. So now um last week in Anendale the Pioneers Aiden Vuvio Bush recorded three rushing touchdowns for Southern as it rolled past North 43 to4. James Hampton opened up the scoring with a pick six of his own before a freshman QB
as I talked about before. I'm really impressed with this kid. Dylan Bow connected with Dario Lozano for a 20- yard touchdown pass to go up at 29 nothing at halftime which the tone was already set. You know, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Pioneers with such a young squad. But apparently
nobody told Matt Bloom and his coaching staff who just ripped off four straight and sits second in points behind Montgomery who they lost by only one score in the Liberty Silver standings. They meet playing field uh this Friday in their last home game before ending the season on the road against Wong
Hills before the playoffs begin. So, you know, knock on knock on wood, if they can pull off at least one of these victories uh in the last two games, they're guaranteed a home a home spot in the playoffs, at least one game. So, let's hope let's uh cheer them on. Um
boys soccer, the Pioneers, they are having a rebuilding year at 4 and 10. But in the Somerset County Tournament, they beat Franklin 3 to2 on the foot of Benny Martinez with two goals. Shawn Murphy had also had a goal. and uh Kevin Bernell and Matias Gonzalez each added
an assist. Now although Noah Gad scored the long goal for the for the against Bridgewood in the second round it unfortunately was not enough. But uh next up after today they're on the road against Warren Hills and Saturday against Ridgewood.
So girls soccer maintaining 84 and one and a fourth place in Scotland conference record and winning three of the last five. They did tie uh the last game Thursday at 000. Um but Kaylee Lubber sits on in the top five in the state leaderboard with 54 points. And in
the Somerset County tournament, the Pioneers also advanced this second round by defeating uh Franklin by a mercy roll of 11 nothing. Catherine Wangren led the way for some real many four goals. Uh there was a tough one- nothing loss in the second round to Hillsboro, but other
than that, they are having a great year. They the remaining three games will be at home with Vorhees Thursday at Ridgewood Saturday and October 23rd against Delval. So the Fuel Hockey has ripped off two of their last three by shutting out Franklin and Belvadier last week. Against Franklin, Addison Sheiley
scored two goals while Briel to managed only one goal needed against Belvadier. Charlotte McLaclin made four saves across those two shutouts. Tomorrow they begin their Somerset County as they had mentioned and against Mount St. Aries, the marching band. Hey, neither rain nor
sleep nor snow would stop the 2025 marching band home show. Even with the noraster looming, the 44th annual music extravaganza was another success. 15 bands performing. Now with the home shows, although although the villa does
play, they are not competing. That's part of the US marching band rules. Um, but at North Brunswick Home Show, they the band, the pit, the color guard and drum line have been running away with it all season in their class. October 4th at North Brunswick was no exception as
they won with a score of 87.7 in all categories. Next up on the 18th, the award-winning marching band at Color Guard will be competing at the Loopdig Muser Competition and Metife once again. Uh and last robotics uh robotic season
will soon be among us. But in reality, it it doesn't slow down. It is an all year affair. Uh on September 27th, 28th, the gearheads co-host of the Robocon NJ to the robot driving experience at the mall. Hundreds of guests took controls of real competition robots and learning
how these 120 pound monsters are engineered and operated. While they're running its new member orientation program, the team will be competing in an offseason competition this Saturday at North Brunswick High School where the new gear heads will see up front the excitement about the competitions, all
the logistics that's involved, and just really the team 102 mentality that exists. They're also going to be preparing for the two first Lego League events this November at the high school, welcoming 24 teams to each of those. Uh
with that said, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, that is my report. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sil. Um moving on, we're going to have to uh adjourn to executive session for a moment. Uh we we anticipate that this will last about 20
minutes to half an hour. So, Mr. Jess, can you bring us into executive session, please? Like to make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of collective bargaining agreements and attorney attorney client privilege information. The board will return and no action will be taken following the executive sessions.
Okay. Can I have a second, please? Mr. Carlson. Second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? All opposed? Extensions. Okay. We are in executive session at 6:26. So we are back from executive session.
Could I please have a motion to return to move it? So So move second, Mr. Carlson. Um any discussion? So all in favor of a return to public session. All opposed. Okay, we are back in public
session at 654 three. I say 43. 654. 653. Remember when that clock didn't work? All right. That being said, uh we're going to continue with our superintendent report. So, uh
superintendent. Thank you. Uh so, there are a few items on our agenda tonight that are mandated. Uh the first one of which is the NJSLA testing data. really we've talked about this before and this is a snapshot uh of of testing results from last year which
are going to be reported uh by our director of curriculum Mary Kaine. So um the second one on that is a self- assessment review. This is another mandated uh look back at some of our practices and that'll be shared by Dr. McDonald and her team. Uh and then I have a a couple of items uh to share
with the uh community and the board. But first and foremost, I'd like to turn things over to uh Mary Kaine to prevent uh to present our NJSLA testing data. And if you recall, we had an earlier presentation by Mary and her team just regarding uh data in general, how we
look at it, how we utilize it. There are multiple data points that are collected uh in an appropriate fashion by our team. And I'm going to turn things over now for the one that is uh uh you know mandated by the state. Good evening everybody. My name is Mary Kay. I'm the director of curriculum here
in Somerville School. I'm going to provide a brief overview of the results from the NJSLA um student learning assessment. NJSLA measures um students progress towards New Jerseys um grade level standards.
The test is given in the students in math and ELA in grades three through nine and in science in grades five, eight, and 11. So, we're going to just start off. This is uh overall district data in math and
ELA. About 900 students took our uh assessment, the NJSLA in grades three through nine. And you can see here we're looking at um the bar graph on the left shows ELA overall scores by percentage of students performing at each level.
The graph to the right shows um the data for math. um the dark purple and the black on their top are meeting and exceeding. So it goes the the lightest shade of lavender is did not meet and it progressively gets darker um as students
go through to partially meeting expectations, approaching expectations and then that dark purple is meeting expectations and the black is exceeding. So our students in ELA um
50 53% are meeting or exceeding and if we look at math that's 34% meeting and exceeding. Now we're going to look at comparison data. Spring 24 to spring 25 in ELA. And
this is the percentage of students meeting and exceeding. If you look at the light peach, that's the data from the spring of 24. The darker orange is our data from spring of 25. There's two indicators here that I just want to point out. The green circle is the state
average of meeting and exceeding from the 20 spring of 24 and the black star is the state average of meeting and exceeding from spring of 25. So you can see here in most grade levels um we have made progress in the number of students
meeting or exceeding from the 24 23 24 school year and in some instances were even exceeding the state average. Grade nine we did take a dip in ELA. As you can see the state average um also dipped. So we did exceed the state
average of 49.9% um with 51.9% meeting and exceeding. So this is our percentage of the students meeting and exceeding. This is the change from the previous year. So 11.1% in grade three more students were
meeting and exceeding in spring of 25 than in the previous um 24 school year. New Jersey's change was only 1.3% from the spring of 25 24 to the spring of 25. So you can see we've um outpace
the state in the amount of growth we have in number of students meeting and exceeding. Okay, this is our comparison similar to the last slide except this is in math. So again we're looking at the spring 24 data in the peach and the spring 25 data
in the darker orange. Keeping in mind that the New Jersey state average of meeting or exceeding for the spring of 24 is that green circle and the state average of meeting and exceeding for this past spring of 25 is that black star. So you can see here that we've made
growth in in our math scores from the previous year. In grades three, four, five, six, we've took a slight slight dip. Um seven we've improved and even um exceeded the state average.
Um, grade eight we've made really nice growth from last year. Algebra 1 took a slight dip and so did geometry. Um, algebra 2 though really skyrock skyrocketed and exceeded the state average of meeting and seating.
Again, here is the percentage of students meeting and exceeding the change from the 20 spring 24 to spring 25. Again, as you can see, um, we've really shown the state in in several grades here. Um, math in particular for grade
five, grade seven, grade eight, um, and algebra 2. Okay, this is our comparison data for science. Again, the peach is the spring of 24, the darker orange is the spring of 25. And we're looking at last year's
New Jersey u meeting and exceeding state average is the green dot. and the spring of 25 state average of meeting and exceeding is the black star. So you can see our science scores on number of percentage of students who have met or
exceeded um grade level expectations has grown in grade five, grade 8 and grade 11. And you can see how we've exceeded the state in both grade eight and 11. So again, really wonderful growth for
Somerville schools. Um, again, we're out performing this as far as growth goes in grades five, grade eight, and grade 11. So, um, this is our subgroup data for
ELA comparing 23 again to 24. Percentage of students meeting and exceeding in each of the subgroups. Um you can see in ELA overall we've had a a nice increase in the students meeting and exceeding. Um in some of the subgroups we took a little dip. Um but in other subgroups
such as the current MLS and economically disadvantaged we we improved the number of students meeting or exceeding. In math again we took a we had an increase of number of students in meeting and exceeding. Um our students who had IEPs have maintained their
progress. Um students with five course took a slight dip but we did improve with the current MLS and economically disadvantaged. This is our comparative stores scores in subgroup areas for science districtwide. We had really nice uh
growth in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding IEPs really had a wonderful growth. 504s slight dip. Parent MLS were still working to meet their needs with um academic vocabulary and expanding their
background knowledge. And the economically disadvantaged group had a nice increase as well. So, some notable achievements. We did demonstrate significant progress toward closing the achievement gap. Um the ELA average growth um was 7.3% for
Somerville versus uh 0.9% for New Jersey. In math, the average growth was 7.8% % for Somerville versus New Jersey being 3.7%. And in science, the average growth for Somerville was 10% versus the 2% growth
for New Jersey. So, we are outpacing the state of New Jersey with growth. Um, in response to this data, some of the interventions that we have in place um at Vander, we have academic coaching this year. Um, the teachers are having
science professional development through RBCC. Um we are using the university literacy screener for um universal literacy screener for grades K through five to identify um students needs um in early literacy phonics and phonic
awareness so we can address those issues before they progress and all teachers will be receiving early literacy development training in grade school through grade five. At the middle school, um we have an increased number of intervention lab
periods offered for ELA and math. Um we have a morning writing lab that will be launched in November. Um and there'll be early literacy training for the teachers in grade six as well. There's also um intentional planning of of scheduling of
interdisciplinary co-planning for the social studies and ELA departments and for the math and science departments to help improve um content area in practice in co-curricularly. At the high school, we have new lab
classes for both math and English. Um and we have continued the afterchool targeted support and also continued the course support during the school day. These new lab classes that we're offering during the school day will um provide students with support based on
the data prerequisite skills, pre-teaching, reteing, whatever the students need. Um districtwide we have our data teams in place supporting data analysis and supporting teachers with understanding the data. Um and we are promoting data
informed decision- making with leading our instruction and professional development to support the teachers. um in supporting our students. So in thinking of our framework of how we have ongoing data analysis, it's
really three levels. We have district analysis, school analysis, and classroom analysis. So our curriculum supervisors analyze the overall data. They dive deeper into the um specific data to different grade levels, content areas,
um and various student populations. We share the data with school administrators and teachers in an effort to set expectations of database decision making um and instructional planning and school administrators. They lead school level data teams to analyze the overall
school data, grade level data and specific data to determine instructional next steps. We they monitor lesson plans and instructional implementation to inform our database um decision- making process. And then lastly, classroom teachers and interventionists. They
analyze this data at the student level um including, you know, NJSLA data, but not only that, um but benchmark data, diagnostic data, curriculum embedded data, um to identify student needs, goal set, and use data to inform instruction.
And I just want to share that this is one data point, the NJSLA. Um, again, our teachers use all sorts of data from I Ready to link it um to other, you know, curriculum embedded um formative assessment to inform our instruction moving forward. So, we know we've had
some really nice growth um and we also have some work to do. So, we're going to continue to look forward um analyze the data um respond and goal set and continue to to look to make progress. So, thank you for your time today.
Thank you. Um, mayor, before you take off, um, are there any board members that have questions because I'd like to give everybody a chance to just ask you questions if they have them. Um, the student subgroup that's labeled 504, it was down in all cate, you know,
for all of the, uh, testing, right? what um what thoughts or what brainstorming has been given to kind of bolster that group specifically since that one looks like the one that's um did in all of them. So I think that that you know we also have to look at individual populations
because that um group probably changes based on the needs of students each year um but we have our meetings with our um you know the different departments in the buildings and looking at specific student data and how we can you know meet students needs through special
education um through the classroom through all sorts of things. So, it's really just identifying and supporting the teacher and identifying what individual students need and you know letting the data lead the instruction. So, it is on our radar of you know things areas we need to grow. I can hop
in on that just um our 504 population is actually very small. So, one student in or one student out can really make a difference in terms of the percentage. You also have to remember that students with 504s often have like underlying medical conditions. it's not necessarily a learning issue and sometimes there's um issues with being in school for for
consecutive um times there's attendance issues just because medically um they may or may not be exposed as as frequently. Um so it is a the n the overall population is pretty small. So again one or two students doing better or worse will significantly impact that
that overall percentage rate. Thank you uh for this report. I am um curious because at the summer of a middle middle school I noticed that one of the plans was to have a morning writing lab. Yeah. Uh was that determined based upon their
um written responses on on the NJSLA? Like how why why was that something that was chosen? I'm just I'm curious as to um I'm I'm excited about it as an ELA teacher. So we get subclaim data. Mhm. So, our
subling data breaks up the ELA data by um you know, reading informational um reading literature, um writing conventions, um and so the different writing areas that we look at, you know, writing was an area that we do want to grow in um
you know, that we we may have performed weaker in that we'd like to have. So, that is a focus in general. Although we did good overall, that was an area for growth for us. Okay. Any other questions?
Um, thank you for this presentation. Um, I did want to ask I noticed that the math scores are significantly lower than the language arts scores and I when you went through um what the plan is to improve these scores.
I was wondering for math specifically, is there anything being done at the end of year to raise the scores there? So, we are continuing to look at last year we put into place we did a lot of work with math over the course of last year um well from January to June when I came
on board. Um and we were looking at pacing guides um and making sure that teachers were attending to the the pacing and talking about where are we at um in looking at our NJSLA data. We were noticing that some of the areas um our evidence statement analysis that we get
kind of dive deeper in to see how we did by standard level. um we could see that there were certain standards that we need teach later in the year that we had to kind of reorganize our pacing and our scope and sequence. So, we did a lot of that work last year. Um and we're paying really close attention to that this year so we can ensure that um you know what
we need to cover is covered in enough time um before the state assessment. Um and then also just we've had trainings with I Ready um and even this past um you know year with the middle school and the high school getting them into understanding the data and things like
that. So we're working specifically you know with the scope and sequence and pacing at Vandervir um and continuing to to talk about the data analysis. We we meet with the principles the curriculum department meets with the principles monthly. So at Vandervir specifically, we look at their I Ready My Learning
Path data um for both ELA and math to see how students are progressing and we compare that to how they did on the diagnostic. So it's a continual um progress monitoring, goal setting, and kind of going back and seeing evaluating
what our next steps are to promote that. Can I just build on the question about math? Um, if I'm interpreting this correctly, the 0% um for math in 8th grade of sum of the uh spring 23 24
means that there like 0% we're meeting and exceeding correct. Okay. Thank you, so like there's still like you said room for growth, but overall it's your is it your assessment that based off of this snapshot we're trending upwards? Correct. Yes. So that was the overall
takeaway is that we're moving in the right direction. Um it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take time and continual progress over time. So just that cycle of you know letting the data inform our instruction, continual progress monitoring on where students are, re-evaluating our goals
for students um and ensuring that we're taking the next steps to lead them in the right direction towards continual growth is our goal. I have one question. Do do you want to mention and I I appreciate that. You know, I think the growth in my mind needs to be over over time. Uh and I
think that that's important to recognize that and acknowledge that that you know, positive growth is what we want. Um it just these things take time as we're kind of working through instructional changes or adjustments that we have to make. Um do you want to make mention of just changes to state testing that are supposed to take place in the spring?
because I I'm a little concerned that we're not going to have apples to apples kind of going into next year when we start looking at this again, which is why like internal data is going to be really important for us. I think I we talked about this at the last presentation a little bit. So the next the state has pushed out um there's
going to be a field test of a new assessment that's coming out for next spring. Um it's for science it's not going to change. science is going to remain the same tests um through Pearson, but the state has pushed out an adaptive test now for math and ELA. We
don't have a lot of information. Last I heard was the um it will adapt for them on grade levels. So, if they're the system is, you know, registering that they're struggling with um a question, it's going to give them an easier question at their grade level. Um it's
not going to drop to lower than that. um if they're doing really well, it'll give them a more accelerated question at their grade level. So, that is the information the state has shared thus far. Um there isn't a lot of information out right now, but they are field testing it um October, November. Our
district is field testing at the end of October and into November here. And every student um who tested last year is taking the field test this year. We don't receive scores or any information like that. It's more for the state to inform, I think, their decision- making on the types of questions and how they'll format the questions and things
like that. Um, but we will be receiving more information. So, when we get the data next year, it's still assessing their grade level performance, but it's going to be an adaptive test. So, we're not even quite sure how the results because the state hasn't shared that with us yet how we can compare. Um, I'm
thinking we may be able to compare it to because we are we're looking at grade level standards and they're looking at grade level standards. So, um, it may be may be similar. It may not be apples to apples to your point. Yeah. So, just good information for the board to have going forward. Okay. Right. Any
other questions? All right, Mary. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate the uh the thoroughess of that report. Thank you. Uh I'm going to turn things over now to Dr. McDonald and her team. Uh the self-
assessment review is a mandated report uh that we do twice a year and they're going to present to us uh you know a little bit about that and a little context to it. So Dr. McDonald. Okay. Thank you. Uh good evening. Um I am Tanya McDonald. I'm the director of
special services. Um, and one of the many hats I wear is I'm also the district anti-bullying coordinator. And with me tonight, I have three amazing women, um, who in addition to the many roles that they play are also the anti-bullying specialists for each of their buildings. So, I have Miss Ashley Jooshi, who is our, uh, high school
representative. We have Dr. Helena Schroinsky, who is our Vander uh, um, our middle school representative. And I know, you're getting moved. Um and then we have uh Miss Lauren Robson who is uh representing Vander and she has actually stepped in because our actual specialist is on maternity leave. So she is uh
stepping up this year and helping us out. Um so as uh Mr. Leiscoco said that every year um as mandated by the anti-bullying bill of rights which was signed into a law back in uh 2011 by Governor Christie um we must look at our practices and procedures in terms of how
we implement bullying programming. So each year we have to report to the board after doing an assessment and looking at multiple domains. How are we doing as a district? And part of what we do is we need to reflect and then make changes to our programmatic initiatives to make sure that we're building appropriate skills within our population so that
incidents of bullying um are reduced and eventually hopefully the ultimate goal is that that we don't have them. Um so basically the core elements that we assess ourselves on are related to programming, training, personnel which means our roles and our responsibilities as well as our reporting requirements.
Are we following timelines? Are reports thorough and accurate? Are we getting them um into the required um chain of command appropriately when there are things that are being questioned? Do we come before the board? Do we follow uh appropriate due process procedures? Um
so basically when we do the self assessment, you rate yourself whether you're not compliant compliant or if you're exceeding compliance levels. So basically a good score would be a 75. That basically means that you're you're doing everything the way you're supposed to be doing it. So, as you can see this
year, based on our self- assessment, which again is based on data from last year, Vanderver came at a 93.4%, uh, the middle school came in at a 98% and, uh, Somerville High School came out in at a 97%. So, why is this important? Um it's
actually very nice that you're doing an academic um programming tonight because we really do feel that a lot of the work that's done from the mental health um realm is really what builds that foundation that students are ready and available to learn. When we don't have social emotional learning programming and when students are not able to
regulate it sets them up for a host of negative outcomes. Um it can have academic impact. Obviously we see issues with behavior and discipline. students know don't know how to interact appropriately um in terms of conflict resolution or just working through um you know we talk about conflicts versus
mean moments and then engagement and dropout. We know that kids that don't regulate or present with mental health issues are at very high risk for a host of different mental health issues as well as dropping out of high school. So um mental health we just mentioned the social relationships extremely
important for success later in life. We need to make sure that we are able to engage in healthy and appropriate relationships. So basically the key takeaway in terms of why this type of programming and why us assessing what we're doing in terms of meeting the needs of our students is really that we are trying to give the students the
skills that they need so that they can be well-rounded high functioning adults both academically, socially, emotionally, psychologically and behaviorally. So as um the curriculum department often presents, we talk a lot about tiers of intervention. This is no different from
when we talk about the mental health services within our district. We do things typically we call them tier one, tier two and tier three. From our standpoint, we often refer to it as primary, secondary, and tertiary intervention. And the ultimate goal, what I want you to keep in mind is that so much of it is preventative. The more
we can build skills both in the intra and interpersonal domain for our students, the more likely they are to successfully navigate a lot of the obstacles that they encounter along their journey through our schools. So I'm going to turn it over to our wonderful ladies and they're going to talk a little bit about the different approaches we have at each of the
different levels. So there are a number of effective practices that can be done across all the developmental levels. So we have a number of consistent things that we do across the entire district as you can see here. So the very first and foremost to me especially I think especially with
prevention is that we do both staff and student training on recognizing both HIP as well as mental health concerns reporting those things and also responding to those things even if you might end up reporting it to somewhere else still being able to in the moment make a healthy choice whether you're a
student or be able to respond to a student in especially in a mental health crisis in a way that is most helpful to that student and to the outcome of the situation. We do do the impre uh the climate surveys which might be changing a little bit this year which I'm excited about but we've been doing those pre and
post for many many years now so we can assess what's actually going in the school. They are you know reported by our students and let us know like a true picture of what's really going on and then we take those results to our school safety and climate teams which meet regularly throughout the year and also
include parent representation. So that's another really big piece that we do districtwide across all the schools. We all have student of the month programs to reward that positive behavior that we were talking about before as well as kind of create that positive peer influence that we're looking for. We follow the New Jersey state mandated
weeks. So, the week of respect, the school violence awareness week, uh, Red Ribbon Week, and then there's also additional spirit weeks we do throughout the year at all three schools. I always hear from Vanderver parents the most that it's like, wait, it's a spirit week. Wait, you need a what? You need a this. Yes. But the kids love it and even
all the way through the high school, the students love it and it's a great way to build positive climate and again be more of a prevention before issues occur. We have our heritage and awareness month celebrations. Again, hopefully if you're watching like the the middle school broadcasts or you're seeing the things
that come home from Vandervir and the high school, you see the chance that everyone gets to celebrate each other and really build that respect so that if there is a difficult situation, we hope that they're able to handle it in the best way possible. We do service learning projects. Uh we participate in
the the day of service in January, Martin Luther King Day, but then there's also service projects across all the school levels all year. And we try as hard as we can in many different kind of creative ways to involve both our law enforcement in our programming and in just our everyday school community and
then other types of community involvement whether it's getting you know we have actually right now I think there's a Lions peace poster uh competition that we're doing at the middle school. So bringing in the Lions we bring in historical you know there's a lot of things in town that can contribute to our students learning and
again building that sense of history building that sense of community. So we try to tap into community groups and community resources to build those connections and help our students really have that strong foundation. So we also do schoolwide programming that is specific to our schools and our
students developmental level. I like things in order. So I'm going to step back for a second and have Lauren jump on in. Um so at Vander, one of our main things is our positive behavioral interventions and supports. Um we call this PBIS. it's really um reinforcing those positive choices that students are making um as
well as that foundational schoolwide language. So last week was the week of respect. Um we had assemblies across the grade levels um where we talked about the differences between a mean moment, a conflict and bullying. Um, so all of our students have that common language when it comes to discussing some issues
they're having with peers and what they can say to an adult if they if they themselves can't decide whether it's a mean moment of conflict or bullying like someone did something or said something that hurt my feelings and going to an adult to say that so that we can help them kind of walk through that. Um so we really try and emphasize some of that
common language um so that all the students kind of are aware of um what they're discussing and just the differences between the three. So at the middle school we try to keep that as consistent as possible using those human skills using that common language. We do
use the second step uh social emotional learning program which really stresses those human skills and is a really able to be integrated across every subject area. So that's something that Vanderver does as well and we continue at the middle school. Uh and the positive behavior support programming we have at
the middle school as well. But then we kind of seek out ways to really deepen our students understanding of those skills as well as apply them, you know, and really be able to use them. So we do some more immersive activities like the Lead Youu workshops where they're really hands-on interacting with each other. A
lot of it is really intensive for the day. And then our eighth grade does the challenge day. again a way to really truly immerse the students with each other and building those human skills and using them in the moment with real life situations. Um, okay. So, for the high school, we
have to do things just a little bit differently to make sure that we're not super corny with our high schoolers. Um, you know, we want them to want to participate in things like that. So, we try to find, you know, different ways to kind of get them engaged. The one thing that I'll just pull out for the high
school um for today is mental health first aid. So mental health first aid is a um it's a program that focuses on mental health. It's an evidence-based course that I'm actually a certified instructor in and I work alongside uh
Dr. Dana Morocco who is the school psychologist at the MAPS program. And a few times a year we pull staff members together and we do trainings with them. And the focus here really is to get them to understand understand mental health challenges, substance use challenges,
and to get them to know how to walk step by step through a crisis situation. So that when they're approached with a situation or if they notice a situation, they kind of know what to do in real time. And they also know how to help the students to mental health professionals
in the building so that we can provide them ongoing support and then probably hopefully get them connected with outside resources as well. So our tier 2 is our small group intervention. Um at all three schools we have targeted counseling groups. Um so
at all three schools students are identified either through teachers, staff, um parent referred as they get older into middle school and high school. They can also be self-referred or self- selected for these these groups. Um and the topics are all developmentally appropriate. So at all
three schools they do discuss social skills, executive functioning, emotional regulation. And as they start getting older, they become more targeted. So it'll be about mental health, identity, grief, loss, kind of whatever the student body is experiencing at that time.
Um, okay. So tier three, um, these are our most intensive and individualized mental health services. These are for students are for our students who are experiencing ongoing or chronic um just kind of situations whether it's
emotional or behavioral or u mental health challenges or even crisis situations. So this looks pretty similar AC across all three schools. Um these would be our risk assessments, our safety planning, crisis interventions, our one-on-one counseling sessions, our
um behavior intervention plans, and then all of those wraparound supports that we provide just to make sure that the students are getting whatever they need inside of school and outside of school as well. If you notice, um we do have a star next to the risk assessment and crisis counseling. Um because I just wanted to take a moment to emphasize um
the the intensity of some of the work that our mental health professionals do do. I did pull a little bit of data for you um from last year in terms of the number of screenings at risk screenings which means harm to self or harm to others. At Vanderbir there were 99 screenings at SMS there were 32 and at
Somerville High School there were 74. So a total of 204 psychiatric screenings that were done these ladies in addition to some of our other mental health team members. um the number of pest referrals, which means that they deemed it to be significant enough that there's a potential for hospitalization or needed wraparound services within
community supports. We had 10 pest referrals at Vander, 15 at Somerville Middle School, and 15 at Somerville High School. And for those of you that don't know, PEST stands for psychiatric emergency screening services. This is where we send students that we feel are in a psychiatric um crisis and need
immediate intensive support. Out of those referrals, the 40 referrals, 15 of our students wind up hospitalized. So um we really do work very hard from the preventative aspect but as we know there is a major mental health crisis happening in in our country. Um we are not immune to that but we are very
blessed and we want to thank you all for always being so supportive of the mental health programming here in district and a huge thank you to these women who are boots on the ground and work with this every single day and really do make a difference. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for that report. Um, any
comments or questions for board members? Yes, sorry. We're ready to run out here. Go for it. Oh, sure. Um, thank you very much for the uh school safety and climate teams um that involve parents. How many parents are involved in that? I think
that's great that there's parent involvement. I just want to like better understand how that's made up. So, it's it is mandated by the state law. So, we have um it's an administrator. Uh it's myself as the anti-bullying specialist. So we have one parent representative and then you have to have at least one teacher representative at the middle school
because we wanted to explore during the core we have two teachers representing. Very good. And then um my other question sorry can I piggy back off that because that was my question as well. How is that one parent chosen? The parents are actually um chosen via each school. Each school has their own
team. Um and so sometimes it's based on parent interest. It's based on um people that are already affiliated and work and and are known in the school and that have um knowledge of and working relationship with that school. So it is a parent that is current that currently has a student in that building in each building. Okay.
And then my other question is and the premise of my question might be wrong but my understanding is that there's been some kind of effort to kind of um limit student phone use in classrooms uh either by having them like put their cell phones away and stuff. How has that contributed towards improving the
climate in terms of like bullying and everything that this assessment covers? So, if at all. Yeah. No, I think that's a wait and see. Um, we've always tried to discourage and different schools had different rules. This is our first year we're really launching that that no cell phone um policy. I think preliminarily we're seeing that students are more focused um
that they're they're more in tune and and interestingly enough, we thought there might be a lot of push back, but most of the students actually are cooperating um nicely. So, I think that we will see more evidence of that as the year goes on and we look back at this year as opposed to because now we have it much more formally implemented. Um,
and the teachers are doing a really good job of being more consistent across the board with with their expectations regarding the cell phones. So, I I do believe I think personally and professionally that that access to that type of technology and the social media during the day definitely is a distractor and it does stir up a lot of
that social conflict. So, uh sometimes less is more. So, we will we will see next year, I guess. Well, we we'll pull that into this presentation. I have a couple questions, but um I know that you stated that you're pretty excited about the climate survey because we're going to be utilizing the Ruckers
survey this year, right? That will be different. Um and and I just am curious if we're we're noticing right because so much um of the discussion around like COVID and and the difficulties students had coming back
and and integrating with one another and um are we starting to notice more positive uh feedback from the students that we're receiving less you know conflict between um or I don't even know how to phrase what I'm trying to say like are we seeing an improve
improvement in the client uh not the client the climate surveys uh from the students regarding um how they're feeling at school from like when we're coming out of COVID to like where we currently are. Um and then I also have a couple other questions but maybe if you
can just address that. Yeah, we can absolutely digest that one first. So we are really excited to move to the Ruters survey um because it's going to look at three different stakeholder groups. We're going to look at students perceptions of of climate. We're gonna be looking at staff perceptions of climate as well as community um perceptions of climate within our schools. Um so to answer your
question, it's kind of multiaceted and I don't know that there's one pinpoint of an answer because yes, COVID definitely shook up things and the the the separation caused lack of opportunities for social conflict and kids to kind of learn how to work through that. In general, our survey results, at least from this from the student perspective,
have always been pretty positive um in terms of feeling safe at school and feeling that um their teachers respect and and support them in terms of feeling like if they have questions or they need help that they have access to that. Um you know, I think we're we still are seeing some impact from COVID. I think
that it changed us and you know, for the better, for the worse, I'm not sure. Um and I think that that's going to stay with us. It was a marker that's going to mark our this generation for their entire career within school. Um, but this new survey we're excited about
because it is through records. They are going to do a lot of the aggregation of the data for us. Um, and we can look more at subgroups. We can look more at uh stuff that we were kind of doing by hand can now be done very nicely. So yes, I I again similar to the response to you, it's a wait and see. Let's see
once we administer which should be um I think we're looking for a November for our first administration. Can I just give something that I found was kind of interesting. So I do I have these crazy spreadsheets and I've been doing the climate survey you know since the state first put it out and I do a lot of analysis with these look at the changes.
It is tough because the the students change every year and sometimes like we had a major administrative change in my building and so there was definitely differences but what was interesting to me and it's something to keep in mind I think is right after COVID we actually had a bubble on the climate surveys the students were very appreciative to be
back in and so we had this warm and fuzzy I mean just and and I loved that but then we do have to remember there's going to be a little bit of regression to the mean and now since then it's been positive improvements but it was really interesting it made sense after I kind of analyzed it but there was this really really positive bubble of just getting
back to that feel of community. So I always try and keep that in mind because that's what I want to create as we continue to move forward. May I just say two more things and then um I I just regarding the challenge day um for people who have not had you know
their eighth grader um experience this yet. It is such an impactful powerful experience and I know we're having a lot of communication with Branchburg School District. I reached out to a friend last year um who has a child in Branchburg just saying hey when is your challenge
day and she said I don't know what you're talking about. Um I'm wondering if this can be part of the discussion that we're having uh between school districts just to share at you know through through our counseling and you know mental health because um my daughter walked away from that
experience as a changed person and I already thought that she had a big heart but it was just like she she it just magnified it. So, um, because they're merging in high school, I think it's such a powerful, um, experience and, um, just something to
continue, you know, the dialogue and discussion. Um, and then finally, um, just I've had parents approach about like who have um, had some concerns about like mental health support, you know, for their child and like moving from tier two to tier three when things
are getting really difficult. like how are we monitoring and tracking you know how students are doing um because as you said it affects you know performance in school and just being able to be mentally present and where your feet are. So I'm just I just wanted a few more specifics about that
and um how how we're how we're handling that. Sure. So the first thing agree about challenge day I think that's a great idea. I think every eighth grade class should take that. Any of you can participate if you want to come as a community rep and member you are more than welcome to just email uh Dr. show or myself and we will make sure to get
you a spot for this upcoming um year when we do it. Um and in terms of tracking um so we do we have a significant population that that requires mental health support and not all of these kids are under the umbrella of special education or under the umbrella of 504. It is not unusual for a student to encounter some kind of mental
mental health issue uh as they tra as they traverse their their adolescence or even childhood. Um so we do take a lot of data. We we track all of our assessments. We do we uh see how many kids we're seeing. Um this is how we kind of monitor how to divide up case
loads. We triage who sees who. So we have like different levels of mental health team. So we have our school counselors and then we have what we call our non-traditional mental health professionals. So the more intensive um students with more intensive or chronic or or emergent needs would be going to one of our mental health professionals.
Whereas those that are struggling with um I don't want to say lesser because I don't want to minimize but that are more more acute um or don't rise to a level where there may be a safety concern are seen by our amazing school counselors. Um there's a lot of collaboration and commun communication. We meet regularly.
We make sure we're articulating about families so that if there's a sibling that's going through something really really difficult or if there's something in a family that's struggling. We have a great relationship with the Somerville PD. We get notices called handle with care. So if there's an incident that happens, we're notified so that we can very gently and confidentially follow up
to make sure that we're supporting. And at the end of the day, the teachers are really an amazing support because they are so good at understanding like we we share information that we can um in order for them to best support students within the classroom, but the level of uh the the the length that they go to to
make sure that students are being accommodated. You don't need an IEP to have an accommodation. You need it for modifications. You don't need it to be accommodated. So I think just the general monitoring of the shift in recognizing and supporting which really does come from the teachers on out um
has been really nice for us to see and to work with. Thank you for addressing that. All right. I want to thank all of you for just your time tonight and the thoroughess of your report and and and I think um you know the the the importance of mental health to just students wellbeing to staff wellbeing to really
the community of itself and and just just thank you for the work that you do ongoing. I know I know it's um something that um is very special and it's something that that you're all you know putting yourself out there every day that way. So, thank you so much. Can I just add one quick thing?
Um the new Rucker climate survey, would it be possible for the findings of that to be shared with the board? So, let's talk about that at another time. I think once that survey is done, they're going to have a lot of unpacking they have to do with that. And I think once the survey is understood better
then you know it's something that that we can invite people back later in the second half of the year to provide some highlights from that if we want to. I didn't mean now I after they dissect it of course you know after you figure everything out. Okay. Thanks so much. Okay. Have a great
night. I would encourage you if you would like to scoop please do so. I know you have an early morning so thank you. Thank you. Sure. Thank you everyone for uh presenting today. Really informative and helpful.
Uh three quick things. Curriculum audit progress, most of which will be covered during our uh uh reflection on our technology curriculum instruction committee. So I don't want to be redundant. I'll fill in anything that isn't covered there. Uh but it also is found in my newsletter which will be
coming out uh next week. Second initial QAC placement. Uh in terms of this, I reported this after we had our QAC review. Uh we will uh and have to write a improvement plan and that is for the area of governance and if you recall that circles back to January to March of
2023 uh in those areas in which we did not have a superintendent at the time and we did not get the points for those areas. So the district improve improvement plan will reflect those. But as you can see all the other areas we did pass QAC review uh and can move forward accordingly. Uh and then the
last component is the student safety data submission which was uh submitted to the state and reported to the board. Um so just wanted to give you those quickly but I know uh our committees have stuff to report so I don't want to hold back on those. Okay. Thank you. Uh so report
items and committee reports. Um do we have a finance security and buildings grounds committee meeting? I don't think we did right. We had one scheduled for the 28th, right? So, so there's no report there from a committee. All right. So, thank you. And then moving on to
uh technology curriculum instruction committee. So, we have two committee reports there. So, we do. I'm going to try to condense as much as I can. There's a lot of information. Um so, we met on September 9th and we met again on October 8th. So,
I'm just going to share kind of the highlights of what we discussed. So the first thing is that there was a lot of ESL curriculum that was passed for approval. Some in last month's agenda and some in this month. So thank you to all who worked on that. Um another
important thing had to do with the math program in middle school. So I'm happy to announce that there is now an accelerated math pathway for students who need that um that that support or
that programming I guess. So previously um the accelerated math was in 8th grade students would be put into algebra in a sense losing the eighth grade curriculum. Um so now there'll be an
accelerated math 6 which covers grade six and half of grade seven standards and an accelerated math 7 which covers the remaining seventh grade standards and all of 8th grade. So this is wonderful and I really think will help prevent gaps. Um, and also just to point
out that if a student starts an accelerated math 6, they can transition, you know, into regular the regular program the f the following year or vice versa. Um, so it's not like you need to be the same for all of middle school.
But I think that's wonderful for our math students in middle school. We did also discuss a five-year curriculum cycle that was presented. So, thank you to the curriculum department for that. Um, okay. There were some major upgrades
to tech and STEM in grades three through five. So, they're going to be focusing on creativity, communication, and problem solving with digital and physical tools. Some of the topics are grade three, stopmotion animation, computer programming, and design
thinking. Grade four, Lego robotics, coding with AI concepts, design thinking. And grade five, 3D Worlds, computer programming and design thinking. So, I just want to point out how wonderful this is for our students, especially, you know, hitting this at
such young ages and even with the AI, I think it's we're really on top of this in this district and I'm very proud of it. Um, so let's see what else. So, there was some PD on October 3rd and from what we were
told, it was a very successful day. There was an amazing keynote speaker, AJ Giuliani. There was that was followed by four choice sessions. Some of them were mandated and some were choice. And what was really exciting was that um
Branchburgg grades n 6 through nine the middle school was able to come in for some of this which was wonderful because I know we have not had that in our district in many many years. So the teachers were very appreciative of that and hoping to do it again in the future.
Um there is some early literacy mandated training going on. Um preschool through grade six needs to be trained and the preschool training has started already and in November um they will start training the other grade levels during
um their common planning time and faculty meeting time and things like that. So gifted and talented program there's been a lot of progress with this. So right now kids in grades two who were tested in June um are already
being pulled for groups and there is testing for in early December for grades three, four and five. So I'm not sure it was a I did discuss this once at meeting right? Yes. Okay. So, um, the way that it will work
where it it previously it was a child was entered into the gifted and talented program and they were in it or not in it. But in this new um scenario, it's going to be per kind of per like session or per topic depending on what their
strengths are. So, a student could be part of it for a session and then maybe not be in it for a few sessions or come back to it for a session depending on where their specific strengths are. Um, so that's really great and it should involve a lot more kids into the program
now rather than just a few. Um so there is a literacy leaders program and that our teachers have volunteered to be part of this and they met on nine on September 30th to share data across the buildings K through 12 and the ELA is
they're thinking to pilot some a new ELA program possibly if that's what the committee decides in the 2627 school year. So, they will be discussing that further at further meetings this year. Um,
I believe that might be it. I'm not sure if anybody else who was at the meetings has anything else that they'd like to share. Um, but thank you to Mary and to Ariel and to the rest of the curriculum department for two wonderful meetings
and for all of your hard work with curriculum so far this year. We really had wonderful meetings and I feel like we're going in a really great direction this year. Thank you. Thank you for that report. Uh policy committee uh Miss Kraken,
we met last Wednesday. Uh we went over the policies that were brought from Strauss. Uh we are they're on the agenda for first reading and they'll be on the website for the public to see and next meeting we'll be voting them and adopting them. Yep.
If you don't have any questions. If people have questions, they can reach out to the superintendent. And it's important to note that there they will be on the public website. So, anybody from the public because that was a request that people had made um people can access them if they can have
questions. And keep in mind for members of the public, the next meeting will be the second read and that's when we will formally adopt policies. Um so, thank you for that. Um, Miss Van Horn, I think you had a couple. Um, I do. I have one.
Um, Somerset County School Boards Association met last Thursday. The evening started out as usual with a delicious dinner prepared and served by the Votech Culinary Arts students. Something new from NJSBA is a program
called NJ Lead. It's an executive coaching for school leaders. It's a feebased service offered to school board members, vice presidents and presidents either as individuals or as a group training. Another new program is pathways to leadership. This initiative
is trying to engage more school board members to get involved in the committee work of NJSBA. The volunteer application is on the website. Uh Roger Jinx, the Somerset County Executive Superintendent,
demonstrated how AI can be of a bene of benefit to complete tasks in a more timely manner. He after reading a wonderful address to us admitted that uh AI had completed the the whole composed
and completed the whole thing in two minutes using the parameters that he had entered instead of him spending an entire afternoon on his speech. When Thornton introduced the new Somerset Hunter and County field rep for NJSBA,
her name is Kathy uh Pereia, she invited all the new newly elected board members to register for and attend the three Rs program run by run by NJSBA on November
17th along with any sitting members to get everyone off to a good start. The main program of the evening was AI implementation and academic integrity an administrator conversation and it was presented by the
some leaders from Franklin Township, Bridgewater and Hillsboro school districts. The purpose was to explore how some of our local school districts are using AI responsibly to enhance learning while maintaining integrity.
Districts are in very different places in dealing with AI, but a major focus for all seems to be on PD. What is AI? Getting teachers familiar with it. How it can handle administrative tasks and setting up guidelines. It was stressed
that authentic education and student teacher interaction are integral in assuring academic integrity and more work must be done in class and work that is done out of class must be followed up with student interviews
um in order to maintain that academic integrity. The administrators all agree that policy cannot be set yet that it's too it can't be too specific due to the changing nature of AI and start out just by establishing guidelines for the staff
and students. Um the handouts that they did provide to us I will forward to everyone on the board. Uh our next meeting is November 17th and if anyone's free feel free to join me at that
meeting. the uh state school board association delegate assembly will meet in November. Okay, great. Thank you for that update. Um your penmanship is absolutely beautiful and I guarantee you remember more of what you wrote than Mr. Jinx
remembers about his speech. So good for you. All right. Uh thank you for those reports. Um so we're going to move on to um our consent agenda. Before we do that, I want to give um Superintendent
Labiscoco just an opportunity to give any explanation on certain agenda items that he would like to give an explanation on. Two important items just to point out uh to everyone. Number one, uh on 49, I'm making a recommendation for Karen Gabbrook who will be uh the assistant
principal in Vandervir as a lead replacement for us. She's a retired experienced elementary principal with only over 25 years of administrative experience from the Flemington School District. Um come she comes highly recommended and will not only assist Miss Feett in her role the lead
replacement but just years of wisdom to bring uh to the building. So we're looking forward to having her on board uh when that position is available. What number did you say? Unless I do apologize 51 just got updated. 51.
I had the old number and they're both 51 then. Yes. Yes. And uh second one for number 51. And that is a recommendation uh of Miss Cruz Garcia. Uh she is coming as a recommendation for our humanity
supervisor with over 25 years of experience in education, over 10 years in administrative experience uh in humanities. So she is uh going to be invaluable member of our team that comes highly recommended as well because of her experience in uh curriculum in
leadership uh in mentoring in coaching uh and just her overall knowledge base. So very excited to make that recommendation as well. Okay, great. Uh just pointing out also that we are approving the creation of
the position of supervisor humanities and the job description as well as approving the person that that will be filling that and also um the finalized or chart for the district as well. Okay. All right. So, Mr. Jess, can you make a motion for preschool 8th grade?
Yes. I'd like to move items 1 through 21 that they be approved under the recommendation of the superintendent schools and any appointments and salaries are contingent upon the verified documentation. Okay, it's a second from Mr. Carlson.
Uh, any discussion? Okay, Mr. Boyce, could you do a roll, please? Yes. Mrs. Van Horn? Yes. Mr. Sergio? Yes. Mr. Jess? Yes. Mr. Carlson? Yes. Mrs. Sherwin? Yes. Mrs. Kra? Yes. Mrs. Dale, yes. Mr. Kimick, yes.
Mr. Garcia, yes. Okay, the motion is moved. Um, Mr. Jesus, do 9th through 12th grade. Yes. I can to make a motion to approve items 22 through 69 under 9th through 12th grade and districtwide based upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools with appointments and
salaries contingent upon verified documentation. Okay. Is there a second? Second, Miss Van Horn. Thank you. Any discussion? I'd just like to make a comment that I think it's great that we're hiring that principal and I think that's fantastic and also the dire uh the supervisor of humanities. The only thing that I would
ask is that when we go to approve people who are coming to be administrators in the district that they actually come to the meeting to which they are being appointed because it's nice for the public and for the board to see them as opposed to not knowing who they are. Okay. Thank you. Just on number can I just say something
on number 29? And I just think it um the MAPS program uh deserves a spotlight in the fact that other districts are are looking at it as a really valuable um program for for their students. Um the fact that we have someone coming in from
the Manville school district um and from speaking you know with the superintendent um regarding this just the fact that it's not the first time this has happened. So I I think it speaks volumes for for the program. Thank you. Any other comments?
Okay. Mr. Boyce. Mrs. Van Horn. Yes. Mr. Sergiel. Yes. Mr. Jess. Yes. Mr. Carlson? Yes. Mrs. Sherwin? Yes. Mrs. Kra? Yes. Mrs. Dale? Yes. Mr. Kimick? Yes. Mr. Garcia? Yes. Mrs. Shaw? Yes.
Okay. And the motion passes. Okay. Moving on to old business. Are there any old business items board members would like to bring forth? I just have one thing to say. Um it just says piggyback on what with Denise had it dropped a memory in my head with talk about AI. Um within curriculum we've
been talking about how the district is using AI with their grant and we're like ahead of the curve for teaching students how to use AI correctly not using it to do the work for them. And Ariel has been really spearheading that and doing a really lovely job it seems. And just uh
to remind everybody from last year um that we had a grant that we applied for and that we were um granted granted that um is an AI grant. So that has really helped us been able to teach
the teachers and then in turn teach students how to use AI correctly. Okay. Seeing no other comments for all business. Is there a motion to close all business? Mr. Jess, is there a second? Mr. Carlson.
Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? Abstensions? All business is now closed. Are there any new business items from board members? Like to say something. Um, I just want to piggy back off of what Luke said before and he mentioned the uh marching
band and how wonderful they've been doing this season. I just wanted to point out that they have won every single competition that they have been to. They've been competing every single Saturday. My I'm a new marching band mom. My daughter's part of it. I'm very very proud. Um but I just wanted to give
a shout out to all the students for all of their hard work and dedication. Um and also the staff who have helped them to get where they are today. So I just want to give a quick shout out to Mr. Ferguson who's the director. um Starwin Lopez, Meg Major, Brianna Feny, and Matt
Lewis. And uh they will be at Metife Stadium this weekend. So, good luck to them and hopefully they can keep their winning streak up. And also, our home show was the other day and I just want to thank Mr. Foley for coming and supporting the students that day. Thank you.
Any other new business items? Okay, thank you for that. And um Okay. Is there a motion to close new business, Mr. Jess? Second. Second, Mr. Carlson. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? Extensions. What did Luke
say? He said I Okay. Thanks, Luke. All right. As a former marching band parent, I understand your enthusiasm for that. Yes. Not the Somerville pride is happening. There is. Um, okay. That brings us to adjournment. Is there a motion to
adjurnn? Mr. Carlson. Second. Second. Sherwin. Miss Sherwin, any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? Extensions. We are adjourned at 7:56.
Thank you everybody. Have a good night. Bye. Thanks, sir.