Hey, good evening everybody. I'd like to call our meeting to order. Would everybody please stand for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and
justice for all. >> Okay, Mr. Boyce, can you do the roll, please? Yes, Mrs. Van Horn is absent. Dr. Hutcherson is absent. Mr. Jess is absent. Mrs. Hodes
>> here. >> Mrs. Sherwin >> here. >> Mrs. Kra >> here. >> Mrs. Dale >> here. >> Mr. Kim >> here. >> Mr. Garcia >> here. Mrs. Smith >> here. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Boyce. Uh, public notice. 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 6, 2026. Notices to the corer news and star ledger circulated in the school district and a posted notice to this effect on the board of education website and
building bullet board administrative headquarters 51 West Cliff Street Somerville, New Jersey. So at this time, comment is abided on agenda items and non-aggenda items or any matter related to the school district. When permitted, public particip participation shall be governed by the rules that are stated
upon the agenda. Are there any public comments? Okay, seeing none, can I have a motion to close public comment, please? >> So moved. Miss >> Sherwin, is there a second? Second, >> Miss Dale. All in favor? I.
>> All opposed? Extensions. Public comment is now closed. Okay. All right. Approval of the minutes. Um, could you read that, please? >> Of course. I was thinking that was my job. >> Wonderful. >> Approval of the minutes resolved that the board of education approve the
minutes of the board of education meeting as follows. January 22nd, 2026 regular meeting and January 22nd, 2026 executive session. >> Mr. Boy, sister, a roll, please. >> Yes. Mrs. Hodes. Yes.
>> Well, do we have a second? >> Oh, exactly. Thank you. Don't do a roll yet, Mr. Boyce. We have a second, please. >> M. Hodgees. Second. Any discussion? >> Okay. >> Mr. Boyce, can you do a roll now, please? Thank you. >> Mrs. Hodes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sherwin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kra,
>> abstain. >> Mrs. Dale, >> yes. >> Mr. Kimmick, >> yes. >> Mr. Garcia, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Smith, >> yes. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Boyce. All right. Board President's report. Um I do want to just point out a few things on the
agenda uh for tonight's meeting. Um we have a a few presentations that we're excited for as as the district is um giving us some updates on uh some of our school goals and also just um our district goals and then also um just some of the the required reporting that
we have to do as a district. Uh I also want to point out that we have an executive session that will take place after the presentations. So, we'll have our student report, we'll do our presentations, but uh for members of the public that if they're watching online, we have about an hourong executive session to address a number of things
that are confidential in nature. And then we'll come out of executive session to um just handle the business portions of our meeting. We have a couple highlights on the agenda. I I want to point out a couple retirements that are on the agenda. One of them is Sally Booth, who is a longtime staff member at
our middle school. U Sally's been a part of DRA for a number of years and u she has announced her retirement at the end of this school year. So we do want to thank her for just all the work that she's done for our students for the community um and and just all the efforts that she has made and and she
will be missed as as we move forward. Uh but certainly her career is something to be proud of and something that um we should all recognize. Also on the agenda, Mr. Revy has uh submitted his retirement notice to the district as well. Um, personally, uh, Rob either
taught or administrated all of my students, uh, at one level or another. He coached my oldest son at one point, I believe. Um, you know, I just want to thank Rob for all of his contributions as a teacher to the district, as an assistant principal, as principal, and in his current role right now as well.
Um, you know, he is somebody that has made many contributions to the district and and should also be acknowledged. Uh, we have a resignation administratively as well, Mr. Mr. Yer, Ryan Yer from the high school has submitted his resignation to uh just pursue another
another endeavor on his own and um Mr. Yer is somebody that I I just will speak personally about of his interaction with my children both as an administrator, as a coach. um you know especially coming out of COVID you know he was somebody that uh did a lot for for children I
think and for students at the high school just in terms of keeping them engaged and uh just making them excited to re-engage with the community and and um he is somebody also that will be missed. Um, I also want to point out a motion on the agenda awarding the playground equipment uh contract because
we will do a consent agenda. But this is something again at Vandervir. The playground is something that has been uh in the works now for for quite a while in the background in terms of planning. Uh this is kind of exciting that the contract has been awarded now for the equipment on the on the playground. Uh, so this is something I think at a future
meeting we'll have an opportunity to have Miss Preer come and just update the board and be able to show a video of what the projected plans are for that. But that's I think along with all of the other referendum projects that we have going on. You know, just just the playground itself is just something that's uh exciting for students and when
you get something new like that, you know, that that's a real community builder for for the school community itself. So um lots of really good highlights on the agenda itself. So, uh, with that being said, I'll close out my president's report, um, and turn it over to you.
>> Sure. Actually, uh, but before I share a few items with you and turn things over to my team, uh, Ramji, I'll turn things over to you to hear about our students. >> Good evening everyone. Um, I would like to start with the students of the month. Congratulations to Amaya Adams, Alec
Hagar, Kiana Huntley, Landon Keller, Antonio Rodriguez, Robin Roman, Nicole Romero, and Braden von Sparklesen. Congratulations on this amazing achievement. And then moving on to our clubs. Earlier last month, the Somerville High School Model UN delegation went to Hershey PA for their
conference. The delegation won outstanding delegation along with individual um awards for the students from Somerville. Congratulations to everyone who attended. And then another congratulations goes out to the consumer team. After winning their county championship, they will represent
Somerset County at the Northern Regional Competition in this April. And this week, the student council is running a spirit week with themes such as Pinkout and Floral Monday. And for Valentine's Day, the drama club will be running a fundraiser where they're selling bears and chocolates this week near the main
office and breezeway. And then just a reminder, there is no school this Friday due to staff development and Monday due to President's Day. And then moving on to updates about sports. Tonight there is a boys basketball game and it will be their senior night ceremony. And last week the girls basketball team had their
senior night ceremony. So congratulations to all the seniors and students. And then there was a boys varsity tennis interest meeting today after school. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
Uh I don't want to completely reiterate what uh Mr. Kimick just said, but a lot of the same uh topics I wanted to brush on really quickly. First of all, um next meeting, Miss Febert will meet and uh will be at the meeting to present about
the playground equipment uh that has been awarded. This is a long time coming. uh she put together a committee made up of staff uh community members even student input and parents uh and was able to put together something I think everyone's going to be very proud of. Uh we coordinate that with Brian's
office uh who was able to also secure some grant money to help with this project to really make it something special. So I think everyone's going to enjoy that next week. You'll be able to see a rendering of that uh before that is installed uh hopefully sooner than later. And uh second, although we do it
at the end of this year, I think it's really important to recognize the two retirements. When people dedicate their lives to a school district, uh there is nothing more special. Um as we know, uh it is going to be one of those bittersweet moments when we say goodbye to Miss Sally Booth and Mr. Rob Grievy. Uh we'll be able to really celebrate
them at the end of the year as we do all our retirements. Uh but these are two people uh that were very special to the district um in many different roles uh and to many different students and parents. So, I thank them for their dedication. I thank them for, uh, putting their heart and soul to
everything here, Somerville, and they will be missed. Um, as well, Mr. Ryan Yur is someone I got to know very well, uh, in a short time here. Uh, but here is a person that will certainly be missed. Uh, he is going to, uh, try his hand in the private sector, and I know he'll be good at anything he tries. is a
very bright uh individual that we're going to miss here uh who really brings um you know the ability to connect the students while also having a really uh a sharp mind when it comes to breaking down data and uh we're going to miss his skills there uh we're going to miss his presence and uh I'm sure all those
connections he made as a teacher coach and an administrator uh will be tough to move on from. So we wish him luck. Um so with all that said uh something we want to talk about right now um is a check-in. So when we presented in the summer um what had happened was as an
administrative team uh we took uh care during our administrative uh retreat to break down uh the data from the previous school year or from multiple previous school years. Um we took into account um input from uh student staff and administrators to put together uh three
areas that we thought were really important for us to focus on this year. Now, if you recall, we also set it as a one-year uh goal. And the reason was that um as you piggyback and we have distinct district goals and board goals.
One of the board goals was to enter in the strategic planning process, which is something we'll be revisiting in the spring. Um but with that said, uh we wanted these goals to be one year in nature so that we could really hone our focus in on three areas. And those three areas, uh you know, I'll share with you
in a moment. uh but then hand things off to my team who are all here and have been putting in quite a bit of work uh in order to give us this update. Um so when we presented in the spring, it was to give direction uh to bring everyone uh on board to be able to row in the
same direction and to try to achieve as much as we could in this year leading up to our strategic plan. Um but with all that said um you know these three areas are ones that uh we will revisit um we will reflect on uh at the end of the school year but in many cases we'll
continue the work uh that has already been started in them. So I'm going to head over here with um Miss Mary Kane and we'll get >> while you're transitioning I'm going to suggest if you have yes >> somewhere you need to go like senior night or something. >> Thank you for your update. Thank you.
>> Sorry about that. >> I know I'm interest. >> All right. Yeah. Uh so last time we spoke of these publicly in an official capacity was in the summer uh after we had an opportunity as administrative uh team to
have a retreat um take into account uh you know the previous year and multiple years of data in order to set goals uh for the future. We then uh presented those to the public and to the board of education to uh really focus our efforts uh for the upcoming school year. Uh
those were shared out to the public. Those were shared out at our o opening convocation and have been really the focus of all of our meetings and all of our work uh you know since the beginning of the school year. If you recall there are three areas that we wanted to uh really focus our efforts. One being
academic achievement at the end of the day. Um you know that is the bottom line. We want to get as many of our students onto grade level as possible. As you recall, even reflecting uh to one year prior to that with our district audit, um that that really is an area
that uh the school community, our staff, and our board of education really wanted to uh make a priority, and that was getting as many students, all of our students eventually onto grade level proficiency. Um so although this is just a snapshot when you look at the NJSLA um
we wanted to u make progress in that area and get more students um to show proficiency in those expectations from the NJSLA. The second one um is really one that's going to help uh that movement but also uh really move all of our students in
the right direction and that is tier one databased decisionm and by the end of the school year we wanted to build the capacity of implementing that and that has been a focus of ours. Um high quality tier one instruction benefits all students and ensures every child
experiences rigorous consistent and consistent learning across classrooms and buildings. This is not an easy task and it's one that's going to be multiple years in its uh you know efforts. Uh but this is the start of that uh and making sure that we train our staff that we uh
participate uh and engage in discussions using data to move our students. And last but not least, culture and climate. We want to uh implement an empirically supported third-party assessment to provide information that will lead to continuous enhancement of
school culture and climate. Uh and what we did here was uh we reflected on a a measure on a on a tool that we had been using and it was one that was recommended by the you know the state of New Jersey the department of education uh but it uh needed maybe a fresh look
uh and what we decided upon was a Rucker supported NJ Sky um you know implementation survey implementation uh and Dr. McDonald and Dr. of Fentes led in that effort uh and we have implemented that. Now we're on to the
next stage and they'll catch you up on that. But that's really going to be helpful for us to be able to measure from students, staff um and the school community how things are going uh in multiple different areas. this was a much more um specific survey in nature
providing us you know really wonderful rich wonderfully rich data to be able to reflect on our practices and improve on the way we interact uh on all levels. So uh if you recall you know we introduced these in the summer uh but they've been part of my newsletters each and every
month uh updating everybody. We've also uh utilized uh you know rather a variety of updates online uh progress reports shared out with staff on a regular basis. Um and also uh this check-in here and then also one at the end of the
school year. Um so we'll continue these conversations. As I said, it's really the core of a lot of what we do on a daily basis. And um a little bit more detail now is going to be provided uh by Mary Kaine on the first two goals and then Dr. McDonald and Dr. Fentes on our
last culture and climate goal. So Mary, >> good evening everyone. Um I'm going to start off by sharing some some progress towards our goals. Um and then I will share some um of the actual action steps that we've taken along the
way um to build up our high quality web framework. So, in looking at our data, um starting with our youngest learners, our preschoolers, um our preschool students, um our preschool teachers have do observational data on the students.
So, it's not a test um it's not an assessment. It's through their lessons that they're observing the students every day um during their regular class time. Um so this data was collected from the fall which was uh September through
about the end of December mid December sometime like that. Um and these this is a accumulation of threes and fours. So it looks at many different indicators, but it shows really nice progress of kids um exceeding meeting or who are
still working on meeting um developmentally appropriate um stages um towards you know success towards kindergarten. So I'm going to move to that was literacy. Sorry. You could see it looks
at many different indicators here. It could look at um discrete unit sounds. that identifies um and names letters, uses emergent reading skills. These are observations that teachers could make once or multiple times um depends on on
you know the time of year and also um the skills. >> How does this data gather? >> Um the teachers take observational notes >> and we have a system called um teaching strategies gold where they collect the data by each of these indicators.
And this is um their map data. >> So can I just ask is your preference that we ask questions as we go or would you prefer that we document our questions and ask at the end because I know you have a it's up to you. I I just I'm asking that as a presenter at the
end. >> Yeah. So I would just ask members of the board just document your questions, jot them down. at the end we'll provide an opportunity to ask questions and if you want to go back to look at a particular slide with particular information >> uh we could just go back and look at at that point. >> Okay, great. So um this is just a
glimpse at the math data. These are certainly are not all the indicators but this is ones that they were observed and collected data on from the beginning of the year. Um the teachers also are collecting um data towards students you know developmental um developmental
progress um on science and technology um social emotional learning um their physical like gross motor fine motor um their language development cognitive skills um so it's you know as well as literacy and math so it's a broad
spectrum of looking at the whole child and the data that the teachers collect kind of informs they're teaching what do they need more practice on where do they need to grow so this data is I ready benchmark assessment data I ready uh we use I ready K to8 we're going to look at our
elementary data to start us off um the faded triangle was the beginning of year diagnostic data and this is an adaptive assessment so it adapts to the students performance level at their time so it's reporting their current um performance
level at the time they took this test. So in the beginning of the year was in September um September beginning of October um and then the midyear was January. So we can see um by looking at this data students the green is the ongrade level the yellow is the one grade level below
and the red is the two or more grade levels and that correlates to tier one being on grade level tier two being one grade level below and tier three being a little more at risk. Um those tiers correlate to our multi-tered systems of support where students tier one is our
core instruction and where we go to the other tiers is where there's um higher degree of interventions um that you know may be needed. So it doesn't mean that they're they they need them but we just track it just in case they need them. So it's just
giving us um informing our instruction. So we've actually grown our number of students who are on or above grade level by 20 percentage um points which is really great news K to five um and then we have decreased the number of students
um one grade level or two or more grade levels below um by down 13% by one grade level and down 6% at two grade levels or or more. You could see on the right over here these are the areas that they are assessed in. Uh PA is that funological
awareness, phonics, high frequency words, vocabulary, um literacy and informationational comprehension, uh literature and and informationational comprehension. So the faded line on the bottom is the beginning of your data and
the brighter line on the top is the middle of your data. And if you track, you could see how much the green has grown. So the hon or above grade level we were really making nice progress in each area. Math very similar picture um again at
20% um growth from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year in the on or above grade level tier one core instruction area. Um and you could see that our numbers in the um one grade level below and two more or more grade levels below has
decreased as well. Um, we've gone down 8% for that red section, tier tier three, two or more grade levels below, and down about 12% in the um, one or or more one grade
level below. So, we're really doing a nice job of improving the number of students who are on or above grade level at K to 5. And these are the areas that the students were assessed in numbers and operations, algebraic thinking, measurement, and geometry. And again, you can see their progress from the beginning of the year bottom line to the
top line um which is the most recent middle of the year data. This is our six through eight data. Um we're going to look at reading first. Um our students are making progress here as well. Um we have increased the number
of students on or above grade level by eight percentage points. Um and then decreased the number of tier 2 and tier three um below grade level students as well. We are continuing to make strides to keep growing this data. We know that math is an area we're really trying to
focus on and and support. Um, as you know, one of our one of our goals. Um, if we look at the placement by domain, I'm sorry, this is reading data. If you look at our placement by domain, this they were assessed in funological awareness, phonics, high frequency
words, vocabulary, um, literature andformational text. At the middle school level, you could see it's mostly green in funological awareness and phonics and even high frequency words because those it's that's good news. Those are those foundational skills we want our students to have.
This is the math. Um similar to the to the reading, we are growing our students in the math as well. Um we've we've increased that eight percentage points um and and decreased our tier 2 and tier three students who are below grade level. And if you look at their placement by
domain, that is that is inching up as well. And we're continuing to work on that through our data chats. Um I Ready um kind of a systems monitoring system. So there's a framework that the students are are they have to complete a certain
number of I Ready um lessons a week so that we're kind of ensuring and tracking their progress along the way. The teachers have um I Ready also for their my path which is they go on daily and that's like an adaptive um in kind of
like a it's it helps fill the gaps. So students go on every day. They do about 10 minutes a day um and they're able to get kind of personalized learning that way. So, we're continuing to work towards um improving our math and reading scores across our elementary and
middle school. For the high school, they use linkit data. So, linkit is a different kind of assessment. It measures endofear expectations. So, it is not adaptive. Um it is given in the beginning of the year, the middle of the year and the end of the year. So, it's
measuring their mastery of endofear standards, end of year expectations. It's also a predictor of student performance on NJSLA. The most accurate predictor would be the end ofear assessment.
Um, if you look at the beginning of the year versus the middle of the year, there could be some times where the middle of the year could be lower than the beginning of the year. So keep in mind that there's different cut offs or um
the expectations of performance increase from the middle of the beginning of the year to the middle of the year and will increase again at the end of the year. So the expectations are rising. Um and also from the beginning of the year students haven't been introduced to the
material that they're being tested on. So as we progress through the year, the middle of the year maybe they've been exposed to half of that material. So the end of year um spring test will be the most reflective of their proficiency
level. This is the link assessments in algebra, algebra 2 and geometry. I will explain this is the bubble. Um the bubble is actually the percentage of students who are meeting um but they are just the the students who are very close
to on the cusp of being in the approaching range. So we make sure we we monitor our students closely. The good news is that we are going to have time to really dive deep into all of this I Ready and Linket data um on our PD day on Friday. Um we have time
built in for database decision making um learning about linkit diving deeper into linkit. Linkit is our data warehouse. So all when teachers go in they could see um the link data that the high schoolers take or the I ready assessments that the middle school or elementary students
take the foundation progress monitoring or unit assessments scores are in there. Um so there's multitude there NJSLA scores are in there. So there's a mult multitude of data in there that what they're able to tap into to kind of track student progress and really dive
deeper um into their skills topics and standards that students need to meet so they can um gear their instruction. Some of the other action steps that um the district has taken is we have a literacy leader committee both in ELA and we've started one at the math um and I think
at the elementary level they've already had their first meeting. I mentioned the foundation's test trackers um as part of the centralized data collection. Um at the elementary level they've implemented data driven data driven coaching model. So the coaches look at the data um with
the teachers and it's student centered. Um so it's focused on helping the students progress. Um there's admin PLC department meetings that focus on student outcomes always looking at data. There's data chats with administrators. So the teachers are looking at their benchmark um data with
um the the admin in their building or their data team members. So we have we do have data teams um and at the elementary level they've established protocols for identifying needs um which we're going to be growing at the middle
and the high school level. Let's see there is a new um at the K to5 they developed a data um based decision making framework. So, it kind of gives them a decision-making tree. If the student is scoring this um on one test and this on another test, here here's
what you should do. Um and it just gives them different scenarios based on the student outcomes. Let's see. The AI committee has been real powerful in helping our efforts to um improve student proficiency um and help with the tier one framework.
Um and Ariel, thank you to your committee on all their hard work. they really, you know, turnkeyed information to our teachers, showing them resources that could support students um in self-evaluating, self-reflecting their own work um not in a in a powerful way
to improve the rigor of what their their output is. So, it's been really it's been really great. Um I know the different content areas have been trying to have meetings to be able to share common language. Um, so the language that they're using on um how to write an
essay is similar in ELA than it is going to be in social studies. So um we're trying to to really build a strong foundation of common common language. Um, we adopted the I Ready Universal screener. Uh, provided we're providing
the literacy PD that's mandated by mandated by the state. That's really strengthening our teachers understandings of those foundational literacy skills. Um, they've we pushed out new pacing guides for the elementary. Um, and last year we we had
pacing guides pushed out for the middle school as well. Um, let's see. Did I miss anything? I think I've got it all. Oh, we als we are also working on curating the high quality instructional resources. So, we're just continuing to do all that work and a lot
of that is going to be reflected in our P day on Friday as well as we continue that work. Um, we have database decision-m meetings, articulation, um, data analysis sessions. Um, and then there's early literacy training as well. So, I just want to acknowledge all the
hard work that our teachers have put in as we continue to grow our students. Um, so it's a journey and we're gonna just keep pushing along and growing our students step by step. So I'm gonna turn it over. >> So before we >> do that, why don't we why don't we close out this part if there's questions that
board members have just about >> the parts that um are specific I think to I ready and just the data that was just presented. >> I have a couple that I'm just curious about. Um, I know you could probably disagregate subgroup data. I'm just
curious about like are you noticing patterns in some of the subgroup data that you know maybe would I guess round out some of the information like as we're looking at holistically because one of one of the questions I have in terms of like does
it look different for a grade five student or the grade five cohort as opposed to the grade three cohort. Um, >> it does. It does. >> Okay. >> It does. Um, you know, I would say that there's areas, but they all have done really well. I will say that there's
not, um, at for at the elementary level, they've all made really great progress. Fifth grade in particular has made really great strides. Um, but we're seeing really nice growth across across the board. >> Great. And do we have students take um at the elementary grades? I know like I
Ready, you know, there may be a Spanish option for students. Do we have students taking you know like I ready in Spanish say for mathematics or >> so the ESL teachers meet with um the administrators at the buildings and they go over the kids who might be possibly
needing that but um you know at this time I don't think there was anyone who has taken it but if there is someone who needs that that we we analyze that at every time >> so discussions take place around that then each time okay um I also appreciate the preschool
school data because as we expand preschool and we, you know, move into more universal preschool where we're capturing our students, we're able to track pretty carefully. >> Yeah. >> You know, what are those pre-ereading skills that they've mastered or those m pre-math skills that they've mastered in
preschool? And I think that that's a really important uh metric to share because I think that that talks about what types of tier interventions do we need at kindergarten, first grade, second grade level. um you know and some of those things that I is measuring I
think are captured there as well just in a different format. So >> um that's the first time I think I've seen that presented in kind of a data share that way. So I do appreciate you know that information being shared that way. >> Um any other board members questions about achievement data? I know I know
Kate's probably very excited about that. >> It was her recommendation. >> All right. Well, thank you. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. uh Slantis and she's going to talk about um and and Dr. McDonald. >> They're gonna
talk about climate and culture. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Our third goal for this year is um climate and culture and Dr. McDonald and I worked very closely um with the New
Jersey school climate improvement survey which is a survey put together by Ruckers. Um this is our timeline which you uh might recall in September we uh requested board approval to administer
that survey to students, staff, parents and caregivers. um we successfully moved through the fall um to prep for that administration and uh actually gave the survey in November. So you may have received some
email communication letting you know that we would be um giving this survey to students and staff um and then parents and caregivers so that you could provide input and feedback to us as a district. The survey itself has 13
domains. uh some of the domains overlap where all three stakeholder groups actually um provide input on those same um domains and some are very specific to just staff or just students. Um in November we actually gave the survey to
students grades 3 through 12 during the school day. Um staff had a window of about a week to complete the survey and parents had a little bit longer, I believe two weeks. Um at the end of November, we were very excited to start gathering some initial
data. The um NJ Sky platform does a really great job of providing us with um some instantaneous data so we knew how many respondents we had in each group, but then it also um prepared some reports and graphics for us to start
reviewing um the data in each domain and then by respondent group as well. So in December, we started talking as a leadership team um about some of the data, how we were going to address it, and um how each school was going to be
able to go through that um data. In January, the school-based teams began to meet to look through the um data that was provided. Um a lot of the um areas were areas that were investigated in
previous years through the climate and culture survey. previously administered. So, our our data teams, our climate and culture teams are very familiar with some of the um recommendations and and the data that was presented, but we wanted to take a look at the data not
just uh based upon how students responded, but also how staff and parents responded as well. So, where we are right now is looking at what can our school-based committees do um in response to that data. What have they been doing? what's the route that we
want to go in order to address our programming and um what action steps do we need to put into place at each school so that we um can either celebrate the data and the input that we've received or start making some um small changes,
strategic changes to increase um the awareness, the input, the feedback um regarding each each goal, each um survey uh aspect that that uh stakeholders were um surveyed on. So this is um a goal
that we're going to carry through the remainder of the year and our goal would be to end the year with a readministration of the survey within the platform so that we can um see how much growth we've had um in a few months with our tweaks in programming and um
have that data lead us into the following year as well. Um Dr. McDonald. Is there anything I should add? >> No, I think that we're just uh right now looking at uh breaking down the data by school, looking at consistencies within stakeholder groups or inconsistencies in
terms of perception between stakeholder groups. And um we will look at our overall social emotional learning programming um at each level and in every school and see what needs to be adjusted based on the data that we have. Okay, any questions for board members?
the nature of the questions that respondents are actually answering are can you just talk a little bit about that because you mentioned the 13 >> yes >> domains that are being measured but but how does this how does the survey kind of appear to I guess a person taking it
>> absolutely so um the domains are sense of student belonging leadership support organizational resources and supports collegial support family support and engagement agement, academic culture and classroom practices, supportive staff
and student relationships, supports for student social and emotional learning, behavioral expectations, negative student interpersonal behaviors, pro-social student interpersonal behaviors, student voice
and involvement, and sense of physical safety. So, um there were two surveys. One was for um students grades 3 through 5 and the other was grades 6 through 12. A lot of the questions within each of the domains mirrored each other. They
were maybe just phrased differently for our younger students and maybe a little more maturely for our secondary students. But the goal was really to um provide input on all of these domains so that our our uh culture and climate
committees could begin to take a look at what we're doing, what we might need to change with our programming. >> Thank you. >> I just wanted to ask, I think this may have been reported before, but uh what was the percentage of um people who responded uh to the survey?
So, we had um roughly 50% of our students at um Somerville High School take the uh survey. We had um and I don't have the exact percentage, but I can certainly get that to you. We had 78 staff members at the
high school take that survey and 90 parents. So, I can work out those percentages and get them. Um at the middle school we had uh 294 students take the survey with 48 staff members
and 67 parents. And at Vandervir we had 268 students with 72 staff and 106 parents. So we had pretty good student participation because we did it during
the day. Um we did have pretty good staff participation as well because as I mentioned the survey window was open for about a week and staff had opportunity to take it. Um and then we had parents who were responding you know in the evenings throughout the day over the
weekend whenever they were available for a longer survey window. >> Any other questions? >> I know it's a lot of data. I mean the reports are a tremendous amount of data and I know it's it's kind of a liyker scale one through four I think right you
know so it's >> the subcategories and the information but it's um it's all anonymous too right the the entire survey is 100% anonymous for everybody involved with it so um you know I'd be curious about just as you unpack that more you know just what patterns we're we're seeing within the
district I'm sure there's a lot to celebrate but I'm sure there's also areas that you know maybe uh may may give us pause as you something that we can have a broader discussion about. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Great. >> Hi.
>> Okay. Uh thank you Mrs. Kaine, Dr. McDonald, and Dr. Suentes uh for presenting our midyear check-in on our goals. Uh as I stated before to the public, we're continue to update uh as the school year goes on and we'll do a final uh reflection piece um you know in
the summer so we can look at uh you know where our successes were and areas that we need to continue to focus on. Um I think it's really important that we continue these conversations. It's really collaborative in nature if you heard that echo throughout everyone's presentation uh that this is a school community effort. Uh and that's been uh
you know our goal since the beginning is to engage as many people as we can. Uh we want the students, the staff and our school community involved in every step of this. Um and it's really been a joy to have everyone join together on it and we'll continue the good work together. Uh thank you everyone for presenting.
>> Thank you very much. Okay. Um, so at this point, the board of education of the Somerville School District and the county of Somerset will adjourn into a closed meeting to discuss the items which falls within an exception of our open meetings policy and permits the board to have a private discussion since
it deals with specific HSP exceptions contained in NJSA 10 col 4-12B. Uh these are matters rendered confidential by federal federal law, state law or court rule, tactics or techniques utilized in
protecting public safety and property and attorney client privilege. So um Mr. Sherman, can you read the resolution right there? >> Sure. Okay. >> Uh be it resolved that the board will now go into private session to discuss matters rendered confidential by the personnel employment matters affecting a
specific prospective or current employee. Any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as practical. Minutes of the private session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All appropriate persons who may
be discussed in private session have been adequately notified. We do not anticipate action to be taken following the executive session. It is anticipated that the executive session will last approximately 1 hour. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second.
Miss Hutchton, is that okay? Good. Jump right in. Um, any discussion for >> lost time. No discussion. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay. The board is in executive session at 6:46.
Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> My pleasure. >> Just got to go >> always. Okay. >> Sorry. >> So, we're Denise. >> Okay.
Derek. >> Okay. Uh, can I please have a motion to return to public session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> That's M. Sherwin, Hudson. Um, all in favor? >> I.
>> All opposed. Extensions. Okay. Okay. The board has returned to public session at 7:42. Great. Okay. And as we stated, we did not anticipate taking action. So there is no action coming out of public session. So we are going to move on to report of board items and committee
reports. So Miss Kresca, do you have an athletics and student activities report? >> Yes. And I'm not going to have the sports announcement though. >> Oh, this your first one? >> Oh, no. Are you sweating? >> I'm a little sweaty. I'm got big shoes to fill.
>> I was just thinking about that today. >> So, we met um last Wednesday on the 4th. Um the first item we talked about was the referendum. The info will be online. Um the bids will be going out soon and a construction manager was hired to oversee the projects and there's going to be more conversations in the future
with stakeholders. Um we discussed the two policies uh the co-curricular activities and equal access of student organizations and we discussed and some of the items are being looked at. Um the co-curricular activities really are just
the band and chorus uh clubs. Every other acti club club is the equal access student organization. There are 66 clubs in the high school between the two um types of clubs. So there's many opportunities for students
to be involved. Um the way it works is the students propose the clubs to uh Mr. Foley and Tim Davis the athletic director. They need to get 25 signatures. They have to have a formal proposal and a staff advisor and then it is submitted to the AD and then the
principal and then the principal is the one that makes the decision for the equal access of student organizations. um the club advisors have to submit monthly reports in a Google form. So the things that we were discussing we're changing the policy to add a window so
it's only through April to May to add um the clubs so it's a little more streamlined and then they start fresh in September. Um, we talked about stipens for the advisors, consolidating similar clubs into one club. And so we'll be meeting again in April to kind of
discuss and finalize the policy recommendations. Um, then we had an overview of the Vanderve and um the middle school sports and clubs. This year there wasn't um wrestling with the rest with the middle school because there was a lack of interest, but it
would be come back if there was interest was brought back into it. Um, we discussed the possibility of adding more sports when the new facilities are up and running. Um, we also discussed the issues with adding some sports, um, like indoor track and middle school track and
field because we don't have the facilities really to have them. >> It right. Any questions? Okay, moving on to we're going to forego the technology curriculum instruction and we'll do that next meeting. uh
policy and residency committee. >> So, our uh committee meeting took place on February 6th and we spoke about an update to three policies. Uh the they are number 20 on the agenda for the public to reference
and this is also going to be posted online for um for the public to also read over the updates. uh the three categories or the three updates took place um in regards to nepotism,
employment of the chief administrator and also the sexual harassment policy for staff. So um we'll be going through first reading and then um the next meeting will be our second reading. >> Okay, great. Thank you for that. All
right. I know Miss Van Horn had attended um a couple of the meetings that she typically does, but she'll report on that the um the next uh board meeting as well. All right, so we'll move to that point. Um at this point, we're moving into the business approvals. Um so we're
going to do consent agenda for preschool through 8th grade. Is there anybody that would like to remove an item for separate consideration? Okay, seeing none, uh, Miss Sherwin, >> motion to approve that items 1 through 13 be moved upon the recommendation of
the superintendent of schools, appointments and salaries contingent upon verified documentation. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, Miss Hodgeges, any discussion? >> I can I just also um sing the praises of
Miss Booth? >> Yes. Um, I just wanted to state that uh my daughter had a wonderful experience with her. It is I really congratulate her on her retirement. I'm sad that my younger one will not have the experience of potentially having her. Um, but I
hope she enjoys her time with her grandchild and >> enjoy some pickle ball. >> That's great. Anybody else? >> I just second it. >> Okay. Wonderful. Okay. >> Fostered a love of learning and it was
great. That's great. Okay. All right. So, we had a second. We had discussion. Mr. Boyce, could you do a roll, please? >> Yes. Dr. Hudson? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Hodgeges? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sherwin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kra, >> abstain from eight. Yes. To everything else.
>> Mr. Kim? >> Yes. >> Mr. Garcia? >> Yes. >> Okay. Moving on to 9th through 12th grade and districtwide. Are there any items that board members would wish to pull for a separate vote? Okay, seeing none, Mr. Sherwin.
>> Motion to approve that items 14 through 31 be moved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of school, appointments, and salaries contingent upon verified documentation. Documentation. >> Is there a second? >> I have a question. If she abstained from one of the items, how many votes was
that a yes for? >> How many yeses do we have? >> We have the majority of those voting. >> Oh, majority of those present voting. So, it's not just a mathematical thing. Good question. We need Stephanie back here. >> No, we were okay with that. Okay,
>> I made the motion. >> Where are we? So, we're in a second. Is there a second? >> Miss Hers did a second already. >> Second. >> Did somebody do a second? Okay, >> I did now. >> Thank you. Okay, so we have a second um discussion. >> I have just questions on number 15. Can
you too close? Um, can you just just the increase? Um, what part of that is the rate increase versus the referendum? >> It may be that that microphone.
>> Yeah, it is. >> So, item 15 is the Somerville High School tuition rate. Um, Mr. Boyce, can you speak to that please just in terms of the breakdown on that as well as you can? >> Sure. The rate is is is actually a
simple fraction. So it it includes all the expenses that we expect or project at the high school as well as a share of um districtwide let's say central office type of expenses as well which is many
different line items including um the interest that that Bransford could start paying on the debt related to high school projects. Okay. So that's part of the equation, but that's many many line items changing as the projection as you go through the
projection. And the denominator is what we project as the number of kids in the high school. That we anticipate, excuse me, anticipate dropping by 31 kids next year. So that's a significant number
considering the number of kids that we projected for this year is 983. So that by itself before any increases and expenses are factored into this fraction is going to drive up the per pupil cost. But then for Bransburg, who represents
the largest share of that drop off in kids um to in Somerville High School next year, we turn around and take that higher rate that's driven at least in in in part by lower number of kids in in the high school, turn around and
multiply it by the lesser amount of Bransburg kids in the high school. So that the overall dollar increase is only 3.3%. if you're just looking at projected tuition versus project projected tuition. So in a way two big
things happened at one time working in opposite directions that netted out to not much of a diff not much of a percentage increase. >> So 3.3% is not much of an increase is that
>> not considering when the amount of the referendum interest that Bransburg was was due to pick up and is picking up in the formula. Okay. Because my concern is over two years that's a $5,000 increase. And when the state um tax levy is at 2%
that makes it very hard on branch work because we can't we have to use our internal funds for that increase. We can't um above our 2% if that makes sense. So I just wanted to express that to the group that I understand you have
costs too and I get it. We're all in a difficult financial position, but when it exceeds that 2% cap, now we have to take from our younger kids from the pot of money that they should be getting to supplement for our high school cost, if
that makes sense. So, I it's nothing against the board. I just wanted to share, you know, where we're coming from and that it would be great to work together to come to some, you know, understanding the rate increases.
That makes sense. >> So, Megan, just so you know, I've spoken to the Bransburg business administrator all along, as I have with every Branchburg administrator over the years. I'm very transparent, very open. If I see that we're heading in a certain direction, I'm going to give them the
heads up. The other thing is you mentioned the 5,000 increase in the per pupil cost. Yes. But like I said before, that's driven mostly due to the drop off in number of kids. Looking at that number alone doesn't tell the whole story because you're taking the higher
per pupil amount and multiplying against a far less number of pupils. Um and the other point is that if we were to you know this is done in a way where you know this is an estimated tuition amount correct it's an estimated
rate an estimated number of pupils we're what five six months before the kids even get into school the next year um when the year happens and the actual expenditures happen and the actual enrollment happens both in Bransburg and Somerville the rate is recalculated and
we essentially square up based on actual activity. So if you were to suppress the amount of money that we would tell Bransburg is the tuition rate and ultimately tuition dollars, that's only going to come back to
become a problem or cause friction between the districts when you're squaring up. We squared up at the same time for 2425, which I communicated to the Bransburg BA um this week on Monday. um and that is $111,000.
So for 2425 um Branchburg paid as an estimated rate 11.489 million. So we're splitting up over $20 million of expenses. So when you think about all of the moving parts that happen from the time you set the rate to
the time you go through the whole year both in expenses and enrollment, the fact that the difference between these the the estimated tuition dollars before 6 months before the year starts and the final is only off 111,000. It's it's
where we want to be for both districts because the lower that adjustment is, the lower that square up is, the the less friction there's going to be between the district. That's a big part of this. Like I understand where you're coming from. Um and it's a sensitive
topic and it's it's a model that the state has put on the two districts to be in a send receive. Okay. So most of the send receives across the state if you read have been in very tense disagreeable relationships because in
large part of what has been put upon them as as the financial model but we dealt with it in such a way that it it takes a lot of communication. Um it takes a lot of for instance I knew that there was going to be a big interest hit
on Bransburg this year. So we backed off a little bit on the capital projects at the high school. So it's thinking like that to try and do things that smooth smooth out the the increases and decreases so that it's palatable to both
sides and it works and it creates a small adjustment. That's the thing. We can't play games with what we think the rate's going to be or what we think that the estimated enrollment is going to be because it's only going to come back in something that both districts have to deal with when they square up. So that's the goal. zero adjustment. That's
impossible, but that's what we shoot for. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yeah. And I I want to thank Mr. Boyce just for the explanation, but also I I know he he really um he really struggles with this because he
wants to get it right. And and there is just a tremendous amount of effort on his part to communicate, overcommunicate. Um, and I think between the two districts, there's been a lot of headway in terms of just sharing, uh, PD this year, sharing curriculum, trying to have open communications, that type of
thing. So, um, I don't ever want there to be an impression that there's there's not communication that's proactive that's taking place around us and and you know, but I appreciate your question as well because certainly it's something again that you know, when they get to the high school, >> there are kids, you know, I mean, they're everybody's kids that way and
and um, >> you know, Yeah. So, so thank you for the question and the discussion and and the explanation, Brian. All right. So, um, okay, that being said, um, any other discussion? Okay, Mr. You do a roll, please. >> Yes. Dr. Hutcherson,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Hodes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sherwin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Krasa, >> yes. >> Mr. Kimick, >> yes. >> Mr. Garcia, >> yes. >> Mrs. Smith, >> uh, no to 15 and 16 and yes to the rest.
>> Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. Old business. Are there any old business items board members would like to bring forward? >> Okay. Seeing none, can I have a motion to close all business? >> Some move. Have a second. >> Sherwin reception or Dr. Hson. Um, any
discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? >> Let's do that again. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. All opposed. Okay. Good job. Extensions. All business is closed. Uh, new business. Are there any new business items?
>> Okay. Can I have a motion to close new business? >> So moved. >> M. Sherwin. A second. Good job, Miss Kasa. >> Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor of closing the business? >> I.
>> All opposed. Extensions. Great. New business is closed. Can I have a motion for adjournment, please? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Shwin second. All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed.
>> Great job. We are adjourned at 7:58. Thank you everybody. >> Thank you.