by the open public act was provided on December 17, 2024 by posting the notice with the respective clerks of the city of Lamville Euro and advertising Hunter County Democrat and Times newspapy.
Justice for all. I'm here. Martha Dennis here. Gina Mashetti here. Brian Keys here. Kevin here. Stout here. Marino here. PO E PTA LF. Do we have anybody here?
Well, we'll take that update. It's been a pleasure. Um, hi everyone. Thanks so much. Um, it was great to attend uh awards night this year. It was the first time I ever experienced it and um it was really um
moving to see how the community supports the school and the kids. Um and on behalf of LEF, we were really pleased. Um this year we awarded nine seniors. Um between our senior awards and our summer awards, we actually had to have a
special vote to raise the amount we wanted to give to the kids. Their applications were so impressive. Um so the students who are going to receive our the seniors who are going to receive our awards uh are going to excellent schools. They all have um incredible
stories of uh what they plan to do and what and what their journey was through South. So we were really pleased to support that. The kids who are doing summer work um are doing engineering. They're going to main college of art. They're going to Colombia. They're going to Ruckers. They're it's really amazing
what they're spending their summers doing. So we were really pleased to um share the um generosity of the community with the kids. Um and that's what we are here for. So to do more of that, we're going to spend our summer. We are uh really in a reorganizing year. We really
need to build our board. So we're going to be reaching out to the community to um particularly to the parents of um the elementary and middle school students who may not know us yet and may not know our purpose to try to get our message out, generate more interest um and get
more members on our board. Um and we'll be working with the community to um raise more funds so we can do more work. Um, we appreciate the grants that continue to come in, including through the summer. Um, and we hope you all have a great summer. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. So uh correspondence we do have one letter that resive session minutes from second please second by Michael. Thank
you. Any discussion on Thank you. All in favor? I I Okay, with that we have um we've got a couple of reports this evening. One of them is a end of the date update and that good evening members of the board.
So the format of this presentation um should look familiar because it is very similar to what I presented uh in the winter. So a lot I will review um the assessments that um we use and then um
the the main goal of this presentation is really to show the growth um and to celebrate the success of our students obviously um with teachers instruction and some of the resources we use. We really um are very very proud of um
everyone here. And so with that, I will go ahead and just review a little bit about the demographics. And um just to give you an overall perspective of South Hundan and our story, you can see um the breakdown of
where we are in terms of our 792 students. Um and we break this down with the same categories and subgroups um that the state uses when we receive our NJSLA scores, the state assessments. So we look at the same data um and this
across all different demographics. So just to talk a little bit about um the local benchmarks and the universal screening assessments. Um by now you're have heard a lot about I ready. You probably heard it from um your children
and you've certainly heard it from me. You might have even heard it from about from the teachers. Uh those of you that have students in kindergarten through 8th grade have seen the family reports which we send home. Um and those will be sent home. If you haven't yet received
them, they should be coming home next week. Um with just a little bit of an overview letter from me about what it means, some specific questions you can ask your students, and just some things to consider as we move forward for next year. So, um it is a little bit hard to
discern the difference between the mid or above grade level and the early grade level, but those are two different shades of green. It is a yellow bar and that's why it's got a gray background and see the two different levels um or colors or shades of red. So, all of this
is linked to the personalized instruction and reading and math. Um so, the next couple slides are really just going to show us the growth. Um oops, sorry, I'm going to talk now. we look at um our reveal benchmarks and reveal is
the math program we use K8. Um and benchmark assessments are really um they look at how students do across our New Jersey student learning standards. Not that I doesn't address those well, but
these are truly what is taught in the classroom. And then um the culminating assessment which is what students were given in the spring is a great snapshot to um to for teachers and families to
understand exactly how students did in mastering the New Jersey state standards at the end of the year. Um and so that's where we use this data and um that is the true purpose. We monitor the progress throughout the year with the
winter benchmark and the fall benchmark, but then the spring benchmark is really where did students end at the end of the year. And this provides a lot of opportunities for teachers to have clear understanding of the mastery um that students have the success. It also this
year will be the first year that um we had all of the students take it. And so it will be a great um way for teachers to have an understanding of where students are when they come to their classes in the fall because they can look reveal um benchmark and where
students are they're ready to learn as they move to the next grade level. So here are the bars um and so we are comparing right now the next couple slides are all I ready reading. We'll first look at K2 and you can see this is
fall versus spring. And when I presented in the winter, the what I wanted you to look at is the increase in green. Where are we moving from in the fall and where have we ended up here in the spring. So
you can see that um the different greens as I was talking about are mid or above grade level, early on grade level, yellow is one grade level behind and then red and the two red levels are the
below grade level two or more grade levels. So as you can see um to celebrate kindergarten and first grade you can see that all students are either on grade level above grade level or one
grade level below which is amazing to think of how far these students have come since the beginning of the year. You can see in grade two the increase in mid above and on grade level as well as
you can see the decrease in red. All these um slides will be shared to that you can actually see the numbers. It is a little tricky to read them right now um but as you can see by the colors we have moved in the right direction.
Next is grade three and four. Again, you'll tremendous growth in both grade three and grade four. We've closed those red bars. Um, and the growth in green is amazing. And even yellow to be one grade
level below, that is still excellent growth for those students because you can see how that yellow um bar shrinks in all of the columns from fall to spring. And here we are with um West Amwell or
middle school on location with grades five to six. Again, you're seeing a lot of growth in the green and the yellow and those red bars are shrinking. So, obviously, if we've talked about over the course of this year, we have pockets
and cohorts of students that need more support than others, and that's fine. Um, not every graph is going to look the same. But as we start to follow these cohorts and we see where the progress is, we can truly identify what interventions are needed and what does
it look like in the classrooms. Does fifth grade might need more support than sixth grade? Sixth grade may need less support. Um it is just not all grades are ever going to all be the same. It is just the makeup of the students. And seven and eight, we've done some
movement here. We you, as you know, we've shifted flex um and now that we move to a 58 model. We really have um high hopes for putting Accelerate in in a in a model that looks very very
similar to the structure of K4. And so we're looking forward to that Accelerate block with a specific class size as well as specific place for those students to go. So took taking and replicating what worked well in elementary and moving
that to 5'8. Um so we're really excited about that. But with that being said, you can see the increase in green for the above mid to above as well as early on and the yellow. So the red the most important thing to notice is the red
boxes have definitely been reduced or are smaller. Now we're going to look at math. Again, lots to celebrate. Again, a kindergartenner and uh Miss Leau is here, so a huge shout out to her and her teammates. Um because this just doesn't
happen on a whim. This is a lot of hard work. First grade as well, we eliminated all red. Um so all students are either mid on early or one grade level below, which is amazing to think first graders
ending with that much success. And then you can see grade two. Look at the size of the red bar compare in the spring compared to the fall. So, we're moving in the right direction. Um, this is a lot of growth over the course of a year and truly I have to thank and again I'll
say it many times throughout this presentation but it's truly because of the teachers dedication, their commitment to the students and embracing all of the changes this year that we implemented. Um, it certainly made a difference in what we're seeing in the
students. grades three and four, again, huge growth. If you look at where our third graders are, um that yellow bar from the fall and then comparing it to the green bars on in the spring and the same thing you there's barely any red um
in fourth grade. So, this is a great indicator for our NJSLA scores, which we won't get until um the middle to end of summer, but we really hope that this translates to how students did on the NJSLA. But with that being said, we know what
our students have accomplished. We know what they have mastered. So, regardless of where the scores come for those four given days, we know that our students have made great progress. and when they enter the next grade level, they are wellprepared to um to tackle the new
curriculum and the new grade level standards. 56, again, we see growth. Um and again, as I talked about, they're different cohorts that may need different things. And remember, also, we're very, very small. So when we look at um three or more grade levels below
in that top red that could be talking about a total of five students seven and eight um the red shrunk and um so we're looking forward to those bars and seeing what we can do with this data as we move forward um into the content
area classes and accelerate planning for next year. So, I want to share with you um some of the results and the information about our high impact tutoring. This year, we um implemented a program or we used a
program called Hey Tutor. Um we're really hoping they change their name because it's a little goofy um for a program that provided us so much success. So, just to give you a little bit of background about high impact tutoring, um this year we or this spring we offered it to fifth and sixth grade
ELA and math students. Um three days a week alternating between the two subjects. In seventh and eighth grade, we offered one day um per week per grade for math students. It was one hour after school. It was tutored by um we use
district staff and the teachers chose the tailored lessons for the group. So the students took a baseline or a beginning of the session assessment at the beginning of February and then at the end or I think it was the beginning
of May they took an end of diagnostic. And so on the next couple slides you will see um the growth. And again we took these directly from their presentation so that you could see the different um the growth opportunities.
And um the gray represents behind grade level. They use some different terms. The green rep or the red rust colored at grade level and then above grade level. So basically again focusing on the colors. We're looking at the baseline in
the fall or the mid winter to the end of the program. 70% of the students that participated in the tutoring program are above grade level in ELA. And as you can see in um math, I think that's 28% and
67% are on grade level. So the goal with these students was looking at those students who were one um band below um meeting achievement on the NJSLA. So was really we talk about these students as bubble kids, cusp kids. It's really
looking at how we can move those students who we know have the ability and move them to give them the test taking skills and the practice to move to the next level. the district level, the baseline to the end of the year assessments. You can see
the growth in fifth grade and sixth grade. Again, you're looking at 83% at the end of the program for mastery. 90% received a higher scores at the end of the program. Um, so we're very very happy with the program. Obviously, it's
not just a program that you put into place. It has to do with the teachers and the commitment from the students to come after school um to participate in this. and they really they really did very very well. That was ELA. This is math. Again,
here's where you can see the seventh and eighth grade. You're looking at 76% growth and 58%. So again, you're looking at students who are receiving higher scores at the beginning or excuse me, at the end than the beginning and then the top domains. This means the
greatest improvement. So, these are things that um it's a little it's a little in the lead for um some of you or for the general public, but just so you know, I know that oftentimes board members ask about specifically what it is we need to focus on. And you can see
by the end of the program the number system um which is a specific strand that students are tested on 80% of the students um are mastery as well as reading literature 75%.
So that's a real growth for those two top domains. And so next steps, um, obviously we're going to identify the potential focus areas for the grade levels. And this is a little bit what I was speaking about. So what do we need to look at for grade six? What do we need to look at for
grade seven? And that's where we'll focus with this data. In the fall, we will be sharing the individual student reports with families. So that will give you the information um from both the reading and the math from the spring diagnostic celebrating performance
improvement and progress towards the goals and then use this plan to address any opportunities that we possibly can from this data. This data doesn't stop here. We like to think of it as living data um in the sense that what are we going to do next? Um I often say to
teachers so what? So we have this data now what? So that just gives us the information to take the next steps and move forward tracking cohorts, looking at specific students and how we can target interventions. Um obviously
moving forward with the tutoring program after school because we've seen um such great results with those 18 students and then tracking how they did on the NJSLA because that will again be another data point. But all of this goes to show you that when we put all of these things
into place and we look at a measurement tool that the students and the teachers are really all coming together and the family support as well. I know there's been lots of things you've heard about I Ready and Flex and Accelerate. Um but I will tell you um at this point after
seeing this data please take that with a grain of salt because kids are doing really well. Even if they come home and say you know I really hate this or it was you know think about oh it was so hot today. Well, it was hot, but we got through it. They're doing really well. Um, and so you might just be the
listening ear. Um, because what they're doing and how they're performing for their teachers and what they're showing us, they know, um, is really remarkable. So, again, I applaud the teachers. I applaud the board support for all of this, especially the curriculum
committee and um and the students for really rising to the occasion because this is the results of the stamina that we talked about and building that capacity. Um I did want to share with you just one last statistic. Um in ELA
and math, 75 students were receiving standards of support or intervention in the fall and in the spring it was 42 students. So that's a huge decrease. Um and for math in grades 1 to six students received
and in the spring it was 41. Um in the beginning of the year 41 students received both ELA and math support and at the end of the year it was just 25. So we are really moving students and this is what our small classes um why we
look to have the our small classes. This is a result of configuration and all teachers working together. So, some of the things they're really just coming together and um I know our students are so much more than data points and colors on a graph. Um but we do need to be able to measure and show the community and
teachers how well our students are doing at this time. Questions? No, I was going to mention too. So just to give you background with the high impact tutoring, we were able to use grant money, the grant the last two years to help pay for this program, but the board
made a a decision when we were developing our budget for next year that because we got so much success from the program. We built money into our budget to continue this next year. The hit grant was very specific in the grade level that we could kind of target. Now
that that's gone, but we still budgeted money for this type of tutoring. We can decide and it will be based on not only the data you saw tonight, but also when we get back our NJSIA data, we'll take a look at that and we'll really target towards a grade level and be able to provide that same support. And one of
the nice things next year will be especially for grade five, six is that we will have weight loss where this year transportation could be a factor if they were able to participate. But now that all of our five students will be able to 50k weight loss, that should not be a
barrier for any student next year. Hopefully to our tutoring. What another question? Quick question. I actually had the debt that we went over in in January to have a chance to look at that winter data and
it's it's amazing just you almost see an exponential level of growth. There was certainly growth between fall and winter, but when you see the pace of which the growth increased between winter and spring, it's you know see that how they're taking ideas and and
going further. There are some areas as you mentioned where there's a bit less of that happening and and in particular it looks like the eighth grade. Um, and at the time when we talked about it in the winter, we discussed the tiered
instruction and the high impact tutoring. Is there more for our eighth graders as they head into high school and we're giving them additional responsibility and the coursework gets more difficult to help support them as they're moving
more slow? Yes, absolutely. Um, I would say the eighth grade cohort, but um, and then the well the ninth grade, beginning ninth grade cohort and then the beginning eighth grade cohort, the new eighth graders and the new ninth graders are truly going to be our focus area.
So, working with Miss Mcnite um, and the eighth graders and making sure that we're identifying students with standards with support and giving them that intervention. um and standards with support in the 712 building previously has been um has been very cha is very
challenging um for a variety of different reasons. A rotating drop schedule makes it challenging for students to only have reading for four days a week for 50 minutes at a time. So, we're really looking at being able to increase those instructional minutes
um with our current five through eight. So, I'm looking to um follow up with tracking those students. We also they are also they're uh I think there's 47 students. So, at this point in time, we know who students are that we need to
pay special attention to. Um and I look at it just as a much um more structured program. And what we've done with MTSS and the tiers and the interventions at the elementary and 56 will now be able
to do that 5'8 which is really important. We did have some trip. It wasn't as smooth for standards with support this year in seven and eight as it is at the other grade levels. For our ninth graders, I plan um certainly sharing this information um with Mr.
right, our new principal, and we've talked directly about what does flex look like and how can we support those students. Um, we're talking about putting assessments into place and data meetings into place at the high school
level so that we can look very closely at what we see in benchmarks and what we see on NJSLA and then how is that translating to grades because we know that sometimes that's a discrepancy. So yes, those are two I would say those are two of the
cohorts that we're going to focus on. Um, and just like any intervention, when you're focusing on a small group of students for a tier 2 or a tier three, we're going to focus on eight and nine as our intervention and our students so that we can really help close some of those gaps that they still are just
exhibiting and then also make sure that we're tracking the progress. Yep. Michael, um I I want to first come back to something that you said and I don't want it to be missed and and that's that we are such a small district that three to four percent potentially
is one student and when we see that that bubble student that that you were talking about make that move, that's why that's why we're all here. Um so I I want to just make sure I put a period on that. Um, but I also just want to to
kind of reiterate something that we talked about at the last data presentation, which is you look at this and you're like, "Oh, okay. Well, of course, they're better three months on because they've had three months of instruction or they're better six months
on because they've had six months of instruction, but if I recall your answer from last time, that baseline is moving with them." Yeah. So, we we aren't comparing that baseline the baseline keeps moving up. Is that correct? Absolutely. Yes.
With fall, we don't expect everybody to be in the red. It's not that they've never seen it's where do we expect students to be at this point in time. And that's the point of the fall diagnostic. It's obviously to show growth over the course of the year. But
remember, as students um are growing and learning over the course of the year, the content is also getting more challenging. the standard is the same but what we expect for the standard grows as well. So the the diagnostics
that we give three times a year fall in line with the prediction and where students are in terms of mastery of the content at that given time. So when we give the fall diagnostic, we know that there'll be students that will have
mastered third grade curriculum and where are they ready to learn fourth grade? um I'm giving so a new fourth grader. Um so that is the point and they are also in the diagnostic they're also presented with new information. It's not all what did you learn in third grade.
They're presented with new information to gain an understanding of how we can challenge them and where they can go with their learning. Because if everybody just did everything that they already know, it it would be the same wrote model that we've had for, you
know, 400 years or 200 years in our school districts. So the idea is that they're presented with new information so we can see the growth and where students can go and then that is directly aligned to their personalized learning when they get on I Ready for their 30 minutes a week in ELA or for
their 30 minutes a week in math. Did I answer your question? Den, do you have a question? I saw your hand. Yeah. So, for the eighth graders in the fall, in the beginning, we only had we had 16% that were on grade level. Did Did those kids
get to take algebra? Like that that eighth grade cohort is a big I mean, seventh, five through eight, right? Because and I'm wondering too like when you look at K to four and then you start getting into fifth and sixth grade that's when we start to see a lot more
in the bands of you know half the kids are at grade level because the yellow right is still one grade level below. And what I'm worrying about is tracking a snowball effect. If you have a certain
cohort starting from fifth grade, right, who are one grade level below in fifth grade and then they're a grade level below in sixth grade, you know, how when I I start to worry about the yellow band. Um, and I know that I know the
reds are huge and we've absolutely moving in the right direction, but then I start looking at, you know, this middle group and looking at like this eighth graders and thinking about now that group of kids in the fall, did did we have those kids
even able to take algebra? Like if they were if only that tiny bit was at grade level and um are we able to like kind of follow that, you know, the the groups that are the kids that are in the yellow
in the middle and making sure that, you know, now they're going into high school, right? So, how are they going to how are they going to fair if they ended eighth grade still one grade level below? You know what I mean? And what's that going to look
like? Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. And I think um and good point with the eighth graders moving to nth grade, but I also think that if you looked at the data and the growth that we saw in prek8 and how many students moved from one grade level below to early on or mid that shows us
that those some of those skill gaps can be closed. Um please know that as soon as they get to nth grade does this just because we don't use I ready we do use other diagnostics. So that's where we're you we used
and is a very very similar program where it has a diagnostic and we follow the same program where it's given three times a year and then students have skills. We just have not reported on the high school data um thus far but that is our plan moving forward. We also will
have that opportunity um with benchmarks and so looking very closely at those benchmarks um and we use um we started to use specific um criteria moving forward and talking about criteria for pre-alggebra as well as algebra 1 so
that we ensure that the right students are going um into the correct classes with opportunities of course for students to move at any level. We just haven't gotten into um a lot of reporting that out to the community at this time because we are working with
the high school and with Mr. Wright coming on. Um but the ninth grade teachers in math will also be piloting a new algebra 1 curriculum so that that aligns directly with I Ready. um and not
that nth grade will be using I Ready but it is very similar in terms of how um it can track students progress. So essentially I Ready or curriculum associates has created their own curriculum. Many districts use it. We do
not, but we are piloting what's called ready math algebra 1 because we saw such success with the algebra, excuse me, with I Ready that the curriculum and what's presented every day and the lessons and the tracking is very similar. Um, our finger will be on the
pulse. We're going to follow those students um because we do need to close those gaps especially for those one group everybody um essentially and we will um look at that problem there as well. Yep. One other
real quick note. Um I love hearing about the tutoring because I I really think that's awesome and I was very happy that we're um supporting our own program now. So, the 18 kids that went through the math tutoring on the one slide, they were the bubble kids. So, you you'll
have tracking to know if we if we were able to get them over the to the next uh level on NJSLA. Absolutely. As a result of the tutoring. Awesome. Oh, absolutely. Yep. And we'll be able to I mean to really get in the weeds, we'll be able to look to see
exactly which domains um where they did well because we NJSLA scores break that all down for um people like me who like to get into the weeds of what's called evidence statements. So I can actually track the specific standards and we do that and we look at
that with the teachers as well. Um so there is still a lot of things going to be in place um at the high school as well and one of the I think most important things is we've really looked at um teacher placement and staffing and
now with just 912 and not teachers split between middle school high school um we'll really be able to focus that instruction. So when we look at cohorts of the math teachers, it will just be 912 um and talking about what they're seeing with the students um and I look
to Mr. Wright to help guide that conversation as we move towards professional learning communities um that really are using the data. Yeah. And then last my one last thing and I'll be I'll stop taking up so much time but um the other the uh early on uh fall
assessments. Um I'm wondering do we know do do we think that shows a little bit of the result of summer slide you know starting out a little in the fall assessments. I know that it's based on where they are at that point of the year. Um but I'm just wondering if there
are any ideas or things that we can do to better support parent communication students programs anything over the summer. Uh I know we do the extended school year for some of the students, but if that's any would we see any impact there to start out even stronger
um in the fall or if there's you know things that we could as a board support um in the future. I just thought I would uh note that. Absolutely. Absolutely. There's many different opportunities. Um and if that's something the board feels important, you know, we could look at
summer programs. Um absolutely. Nothing uh nothing's off the table. Yeah. Good good good work. Great progress. So, thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you. Um, I had I had a couple questions about the tutoring
um, slides. Okay. So, my first question is I see that a little note that 30 there's 37 students who began the program but then 28 successfully completed the baseline and the program assessment. So my my first question is just
the nine stu or 11 students who um nine students sorry I should be doing jittering um were they removed from the data like the the nine who didn't complete it are
they included in the baseline or did you take them out entirely because they didn't do the end of the program assessment? I think they were removed totally because they didn't they wouldn't wouldn't be a Yeah, they were removed. Wouldn't have been clean data, right?
Okay, great. And then um I'm just wondering what the numbers on the left represent on the first like on the first slide 0 to 100 again. Yeah. Well, one goes from 0 to 100 and then under math it goes
from 0 to 120. And then um yeah, I just don't And then on one slide it goes from zero to 80. I I was just curious what those numbers record. I think that 0 to 80 just to the
80% I mean 80% mastery. Um and I think truly it's just a way that they they graphically they represented it. I don't know. They're obviously percentages. Um, but I can't speak specifically on
why it goes zero to 100 and zero to 80. I could find out and I'll let you know tomorrow. I'm just curious. And then so um on slide 16 when you're I'm just looking at the math one. It might be the same on the reading on slide 15. So, how
is like So, okay, if we're on slide 16 for fifth grade, it's 42% I'm assuming had some mastery. I don't know what the 42% represents like that 42%
did what? And then 76% did what? And how does 42 to 76 equal 81.98? Like I'm just confused by because it's a it's a total score on the assessment. So 94.4 rece if you look at the orange box received a
higher score on the end of program assessment than the baseline assessment that I guess. So the idea being 76% of the students scored a higher score on it's because it says assessment
averages. So I think it's the total it's the total score of the student was 76% scored higher. That's an 82% increase from 42%. Right. So absolutely
76% higher than 42%. Yeah. It's you're not you're not subtracting 72 76 versus 42. It's a statistical increase. The number is 42. I understand 76 to go from 42 to
76 would represent an 80 81 or 80 80% I just did the math on my calculator probably like you did yeah it's a little misleading I yeah so presumably then we you know we see 55%
71% and 73% improvement you took their overall assessment average. Okay. And so that's what the percentages inside the columns are their score. The
one for the 42 and the 76 is their score on the assessment of I guess the average score. So above of Yes. average score
for the 28 students who completed the program. Yes. Okay, thank you. Can I ask just one question later in this but I'm interested in knowing did your teachers have any specific
reactions to the data that has turned out in terms of unexpected or expected um given their experience in the classroom? Yes. Um we so we very quickly turned this information around this data
and then shared it at the data meetings that we had. Um and in those data meetings we we rely on the teachers to provide the student perspective. They're with the students every day. So we look at the data, we look at the the three
colors and then we discuss where do we think the student really is and that's where the teacher input comes into play where you know individual. Yep. Individual. So we talk about individual students and Yep. This student um we really think that they can do it even
though this was their score. We're seeing this this and this. Great. And so essentially the teachers made the final decision on the rosters and who would be receiving services because when I walk in I'm just presenting this data and they know exactly what they see in the class. That's on the one that's the
concept of meeting with the with the teachers and saying student A here's their their data. Yep. And here's what's happening. Yep. I guess my question was more about the general data. Oh, you've kind of made it high up here for us, right? so that we can understand the es
and flows and see it from a higher level from a performance we get. Yep. There's kids everywhere. But I would be interested to know if there's an opportunity for teacher feedback around sort of the broader data feedback like even if you say to the middle school teachers, you know, or the seventh and
eighth grade teachers, we're looking at, you know, not as much development in this area or more development in this area. Can you give us your thoughts around sort of is this expected or are you surprised kind of you know because I always think data is an interesting
testing point for people's assumption. Yes. So sometimes people say wow I thought and it would turn the other way. So absolutely and we talk a lot about comparing like what they see in the classroom with the reveal assessment versus what they see with the I Ready. Sure. And you know that makes complete
sense because they you know often times geometry gets overlooked as this standard at the end of third grade because they don't get to it. So it does it makes sense that they don't score very well in fourth grade. So teachers provide us that input of what they're
actually teaching. Yeah. What it looks like in the data and then you know how can we how can we actually meet the students needs um with the information. I mean, I I would expect teachers to be engaging in that. Absolutely. I I think
it would be cool to even do a broader data feedback. I don't know. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. Thank you. Great. Good job. Looks good. The teachers are
doing great. Thank you. I think that acknowledge right we've asked a lot of teachers this year and you know we have been through a lot of things and data that um it's new and different and yes greatly appreciate if you do actually
have one final question related to Erin's question we're going to be talking later about that the program and is that something that you would say would give teachers more insight into their individual ual students.
Absolutely. Um it it really won't be that for next year if um we move forward with it, it really won't be that big of um an adjustment or something new for the teachers um in K3. um it will be
able to give more information for assessments um in the middle and high school grades because those are the areas that we don't have this the same um assessment types like dibbles and I ready um so it will give them the
opportunity to look it's also very contentdriven so it is something that we tried with encourse this year with the encourse benchmarks um but they just were not successful and it wasn't um worth the time of the teachers nor the students. So that's where linkit would
come into play with assessments based on content area data instead of individual data. Yes. Not okay. Um so moving on to our superintendent update. Yeah. So, I just
have a few things I want to touch on. Just a reminder, I know I've been sending out emails, but our annual climate and culture survey, your opinion really does matter on how we improve the district. And in September, I always report out on, you know, some of the
trends that we see from, you know, students, parents, and staff. So, if you didn't get a chance, please uh make sure you click the I'll send this out tomorrow, but there's a QR code, the link here. We were hoping by June 30th um we would close it down, but we'll see how that goes. Talked a little bit about
school and community. We didn't have a ton of responses so far from the parent community. So, we know the end of the year is busy. So, we're hoping now that parents have a chance to kind of maybe take a breath a little bit after everything's done for the year that they'll have a chance to fill it out. So, I'll probably send out one more
reminder. Um but if you get a chance, it's a really important process for the district to get better. Um just important dates I want to talk about our capital reserve account something that's on our agenda tonight in finance give an update on 58 update and then also
performing arts academy because there's a portion of our agenda that's something on there as well. Uh there's a lot happening obviously already for September and I know parents you know when's going to be the middle school open house and orientation programs and
all that kind of stuff. So, you know, I've worked with our team to kind of put together and I'll be sending this out just some important dates. We'll obviously send out a lot more details about these events, but you know, just so if you're a middle school parent or an elementary parent or a high school
parent or kindergarten camp or preschool orientation, all those different things, you can kind of mark your calendar now so you know when everything's going to happen. And like I said, uh we will send out a lot more detailed information. Um, probably the one of the biggest ones I'll share, the first two on the list,
you know, August 11th, and you'll see this on my middle school update slides. We are going to have an open house for the community, parents, students, whoever wants to come. It's going to be 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and then 5 to 7:00 p.m. So, folks will have the opportunity to walk through the new building. We'll be there, ask questions,
find out all the different things about programming there. And then August 14th um is what the big day when we releasing K4 classroom teacher assignments and then 512 student schedule. So and that will all happen at Encourse. So uh
obviously before we start any of our orientation programs, students will know who the teachers are going to be, what their classes are going to be at 512 and then as they poured into the building they can find their rooms. But I'll be sending this out, continuing to put it out there. It'll be on our website as well. Um, so you know, just obviously I
know the summertime folks are the vacation different things and then all of a sudden things creep up on you. So we wanted to put something quickly out kind of reserve those calendar dates as we get closer to the new school year. I did want to point this out just in full transparency. Uh, we talked about
our finance committee last Thursday night. So when we originally struck the budget and talked about what we were going to be using capital reserve funding for for next year, one of the things that we had planned was and we had talked about this for the last several years was the paving of the city
parking lot in Landerville. Um so unfortunately there's been some challenges with that specifically with the city and DRCC um and permitting and all those different things. So that is not going to happen this summer. It is a summer project. It's not a project that we can
do during the school year because it takes several weeks to complete and we can't shut that parking lot down during the school year. So, we talked about from the finance side of things is that since we had originally allocated money for that project and we're not going to be able to do it. We would like to focus
on some other things to utilize that money for. So, with that, we do have to um pass the resolution as part of our finance committee agenda tonight. And what we decided is that three areas that we're going to focus on. We've had a few things pop up just recently in the last month or two with our boiler here at the
high school. We want to um utilize some money to kind of get that in a good place for next year. We've had some challenges. If you've been following along with the new elementary school in front of the elementary school, we were required by D to um put in pvious
concrete in that area. It allows the water to drain through for storm water management. that impervious concrete has not done well for us, meaning that it's crumbling, it's falling apart. We've been working with the contractor on that. Um, Skizeri, who's been great, and
our options were twofold. A, rip it out and replace it with the same stuff, which we were concerned about because we were concerned we were going to get the same product. um or B rip it out and replace it with the flexi pave that we
just put in at the middle school um which was also scheduled to have pvious concrete. Uh so we've decided the flexi pave is a better option and it allowed us more flexibility being able to shovel it, salt it and do all those different things. But unfortunately the porch
concrete did not allow that and made it challenging during the winter especially because that portion of the building because of the gym doesn't get a lot of sun on it during the winter and melting doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like. So, we are going to our contractor Scaderi will be ripping out that entire
section um probably maybe starting as early as next Monday and then uh the flexi table will take about two days to install and then we'll be good to go. And then finally, as part of our new softball field, um we are going to be putting in two brand new softball
dugouts. We will be building them inhouse with our talented maintenance staff, but we do need some supplies for that to be able to do that. So, those three projects would take up that funding that it was originally going to go toward the parking lot. I don't want you to think that the parking lot's a bad issue. I'm still communicating with
Mayor No and Lamville. We're trying to work through some of the challenges. Unfortunately, it's more them than us, right? There's things that they need to do because the RCC includes the parking lot as part of the entire UI field um parcel. So, even though what we were
going to do in the parking lot was great because again it was permeable paving which is only going to help storm water management, um there's some things in the DRCC from Huey Field side of things that were done in the past that need to be corrected. Um and the city's trying to work through that. So, we'll see
where we are. But Andrew knows every month or so I'm texting calling in where are we? Where are we? He knows that I'm not going to let that go. So again, if we hopefully can do it next year, we can build around that with the 2627 budget because we would be able to do a little summer project anyway. So again, I just
wanted to be fully transparent with that reference for the budget as far as 58. So um just an update septic installation. So you can see that here um estimated completion to July 15.
So, what I will say to you, and I've said this to some people, and I'm not trying to be gross uh with this, but the se we're not just putting in a septic system. We are putting in actually a water treatment plant for the middle school. We were required to do that as part of the EP. And basically, what I've
been told from all the experts that are involved is when that water comes out of this system, it's portable, believe it or not. Um because of the treatment, you don't have to. No, you don't have to. Um, but you can see like this isn't just your standard septic system. There's a lot that went into this. Um, but the
good news is we're in the home stretch and we're we're keeping our fingers crossed for a July 15 completion date. Site work and landscaping will continue throughout the summer. We just put in our playground equipment order um which I'm going to show you in a second. A few things um you know five to eight my
experience for 10 years as a middle school principal. Our fifth and sixth graders will take full veins of the playground equipment. seventh and eighth. Seventh a little bit, eighth probably not as much, but so we wanted to try to design something that we thought, you know, we could get our bang for our buck. We also were very
fortunate that we applied for a recreation grant and we were received that in the amount of $73,000. So that amount is going to pay for all this equipment that I'm going to show you, which is great. Um, so we just recently ordered it. Um, just so you know, what we did with this is I put
together a survey and our kids voted on this. So, I put it out to all of our middle schoolers and said, "Hey, we have this pot of money. Here's an option of 10 different things I want you to vote on in the order of preference, one through 10, what you would like to have
as part of your 58 playground." So, this is what they came up with. Basically, we, you know, they still love swings, right? So, we have this ginormous eightperson swing set that will be going behind the building. We also have this thing which is called an Nadara 2 which has a lot of different pool stuff,
climbing and different things on it that they wanted to utilize. And then we decided because they want a Gaga pit and they want basketball courts that we will be repurposing, relocating from West Annewell, the Gaga pit and two of the basketball groups and put them in over
there. So that will will take place hopefully by the end of August, beginning of September. We got to make sure all the site work and seating and everything's done back there. Um but you know we're really excited about how that turned out and again we didn't have to pay for anything at the recreation grant
involved. Um and then performing arts academy. So the reason why I want to talk about this and I've talked about it in months past but we actually have the polytech agreement on the agenda in our finance section to for the board to to hopefully approve tonight. Um so I wanted to give
you some of the particulars of that agreement and what it kind of breaks it down. So, it is it is a contract, a five-year contract that's on the agenda tonight that will start in 2026 2027. The tuition split is at South Hunter
Regional School District will get 85% of the tuition and then Hun County Vocational School District where Polytech will get 15%. So, you can see the tuition right now 9,848 per student. Um, so we would get 85% of
that. For 2627, I'm sure it will go up a little bit. Typically, it gets raised 2 to 3% per year. Um, that tuition will be used for any additional staffing, technology, program needs, field trips. As part of the agreement, Polytech is responsible for all the recruitment,
admission, and enrollment of the academy students. Keep in mind this academy is open to not only any student in Hunter County but in neighboring counties as well that doesn't have a performing arts program. So there's a potential that we could attract students from Merch County or Middle Sex or Somerset depending upon
the situation. Right now the contract does call for a maximum enrollment of 25 seats in each academy program. Um we'll see where we go with that. the majority of the staffing of the for the academy we're utilizing existing
staff. So I know there was some concerns of we're going to have to hire all these teachers for the academy and we're not right. We we have a theater teacher right now Laura Dalo. Laura Dustalo is going to be the theater teacher for the academy. We need Laura one way or another whether we have the academy or not and it's in our budget. We have
Kendall Stocsella who's a very talented PE teacher and coach in our district, but also a very talented dance instructor and works in a private dance studio on her own time teaching dance. She's going to be taking over as our dance teacher. So again, someone that we
already need and we have the only possibility of perhaps adding a staff member is technical theater. So that these are the three strands that will launch in September of 26. And technical theater is for our kids who maybe love theater programs, but maybe not necessarily on the stage. They like to
build the stage, to work the soundboard, do the lighting, and all the behind the scenes things. So, we'll see how it all plays out. We'll have students that will be required to audition for this program. That will take place this coming November, December time period. And then based on those auditions,
students will be offered seats and have a period of time to select whether they're going to be coming to us. Um, keep in mind, you know, some of the challenges because we are small, we talked a little bit about this in some committee meetings, is that we may not be able to run certain AP classes
because we may only have one or two students that are interested in that particular program. And that makes it difficult, right, to run a class with one student. But as we bring in students from the outside in other districts, they complete all of their coursework through South Learning, right? Even though they might live in Flemington or
up near North Hunter or wherever it may be or Merchant County. So those students may have interest in AP classes and that could grow our cohorts. So now maybe instead of one student maybe we have seven or eight and we can run that that AP class but right now we can. So that is definitely a benefit. Um keep in mind
the academy students are our students for everything. So athletics club extracurriculars they're here for us through thick and thin from the beginning to the end so they can participate in all the same activities um that we offer to our students who live within the district. And then I
just wanted to showcase this. So our teachers are doing this summer in August like an intensive. If you're planning on auditioning for the program, this is an opportunity to get to meet the two teachers for dance and for theater and do what's called a summer intensive. So
you're going to spend three days really focusing on what an audition is all about, what the audition process is going to look like, the skills that go along with that. So Kendall's going to be doing the performing arts dance academy. Laura Stal is going to be doing um the theater program before the
meeting came tonight. I actually was just going through my mail and I had we had our first check for the um theater intensive. So that was pretty cool from students from another district um that are interested. So again, we'll continue to get this out. Um this is something
that we'll do each and every summer now moving forward because we got a late start. We obviously didn't launch this until a couple weeks ago, but then starting next year, we'll start launching this in January. And that way we know as students are planning out their summers. It's a great opportunity for them, you know, to kind of get a
little bit of a a preview of what the audition process looks like and get a chance to meet the teachers and learn about the program before they actually come in and do it for real, you know, in November December. Thank you. Board, any questions for coming on the board? I I just want to
thank you first for the the important dates. Um as a parent in the district that actually is really helpful to get up front um with the um open house for the middle school. I know we're all very anxious to get in there, but there's
there's some people who I'm also very anxious to get in there, which is the teachers. Um with the septic system still out, when do you think that they're going to have access to the building? So the teacher, every teacher that's teaching in the building actually had the opportunity to go in and see it before the end of the school year. I
took them on a personalized tour myself so they can see the building, find their classrooms, this that and the other. Hopefully um as soon as the septic's done, then we have to get what's called a TCO um temporary certificate of occupancy and then teachers will be able to get in. Worst case scenario, August
1, hoping sooner um for them to get in. Some are anxious, but again, at the same time, I don't want to put pressure on them because they have lives in the summer and vacations. So, you know, if they can't get in until mid August, there's no pressure to get in there before the open house. Um, you know, at
this point, everything's boxed up. It's being ready to move into the new building. We just can't move anything in until we get the TCO. Any other questions for the school? You shared the logo that that was art. I was going to talk about
it, but you're there now. Um, so it was the graphic art students from the Polytech that designed the I can pull it off. It still has a little The only thing that we didn't clean up, they had a little spell check thing in there, but I can show you what it looked
like. Pretty cool. Red line there to develop. You can see you can see the two little red lines right here which we'll get out but this is this was developed by the graphic art studio or student at
Polytech. This is the new performing art logo for our program. Very good. My take away from your report was that we might need to climb on that survey become hot note.
Thank you. Everybody's exc the the performable arts academy the maximum of 25. Is there a minimum? Um we haven't determined that yet. It really since I mentioned a lot of the staffing we already have. Yeah. I think,
you know, unless it was really low, like five kids, um I think we're going to be able to do it just because we're not going to have to add a lot of staffing and we'll know once we do the auditions what that looks like. By January of next year, we'll know exactly how many kids get to audition, how many that we offer
to see. They have it's similar to every Polytech program by mid January. They have to decide I'm taking or I'm not. And then that will drive our staff. So with the technical theater, which is the only one that we'd have to hire, if we have enough kids, obviously we already have an idea of someone for that
position. If we don't, we have enough for the other two, then we wouldn't have to hire anyone. We move forward. And th those the performing arts kids, they're not taking that uh tracker placement thing, right? Because we're doing the audition process. No, they No,
just the audition process. They'll have to take there'll be other parts to the application process, letter to recommendation. you know, we'll look at different things along those lines, but no like uh acquiration path. Okay. And like so the kid if kids are coming in, they would be able to provide
transcripts and scores and teacher recommendations in order to do like honors programs and stuff. Correct. So they're each application has like a fiveprong process between the application, letter direct, their transcript, other things. Um could be an
essay question too as part of the application. Um, so that will all be taken in consideration by our teachers that we be doing the audition process. I was going to say and follow up on Genie's question. The success kids will be able to take the classes that are
offered through the flowing arts program whether they're in that or not. Correct. Then let's move on. Um it is uh this is our final meeting of the 202425 school year and out of federal school
year which culminated in a fantastic uh graduation ceremony last week. Um and so we tonight one of the things that we will be doing is uh under the section under annual organization is we will be reauthorizing the board for a lot more.
We've got a we are required to sort of Oh, I have skipped right over the public comment. But sorry, before we get into that, um this is the time for public to comment. Um as always, uh uh you're welcome to
come up and address the board on any uh um anything that is of interest. Um we ask that you address the board. We ask that you can try to keep your remark for about three minutes. And with that, if anyone has something they would like to bring to the board this even [Music]
you just you come up to the podium and just let us know your uh you don't mind give us your name and the uh the municipality that you're I'm Joan Vanderine from West Hamill Township the um Arts Academy program.
Are you promoting that to the teachers so that they'll tell students about it? Yes, we've had a kind of a whole promotional campaign, not just us, but Polytech just because they're tied into a lot of other networks within not only Hunter County, but Mercer County. That
launched back in April where it's out there and we're already getting a lot of inquiries about the programming and and is it for high schoolers? It will be Yeah. So eventually it'll be 9 through 12, but for the 26 27 school year, it'll be the ninth graders first. We're going to build a year by year. So incoming
ninth grader then 910 and so on and that promotional package are you sharing that with music patent theater too? They are aware just because they yes and they are also on our advisory committee. So they actually we had put together an advisory tra committee that where we get input
from professionals within the industry on what the program should look like but they'll be promoting it to their kids there too. Got it. Because that that should hopefully satisfy the 25 between all that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
Any other uh comments from the public? Hi, Andrea Little from West Stanlo. Uh thank you for the presentation. I you know think that this academy for um the performing arts is a really good innovative idea for the district. Would
like to see it continue with some other ideas once this gets launched like FFA. Um but I do have a couple questions because you prompted a couple of thoughts. Um one being you mentioned the you know the distribution of funds
between the district and the polytech. So the polytech gets 15% but it is county polytech. So maybe on like the next meeting you can kind of go into how that works with students from out of the county how they come in because um I
think that's interesting. I didn't realize that kids from outside of Hunter County are able to do any of the PITECH programs. So, that was one component. Um, the other component was, you know, obviously it's a buildup program. So, year one, hopefully you don't need to hire any new teachers because you're
only getting 85% of the 9.8K times 25 kids. So, the numbers really don't work until maybe you have all four years. So that would be really great for the I think the public to also see and maybe the board members just to see how that um how that growth really matters. Um
and then uh the other only component I would have on that was um how does that 9.8 actually work? Like are those students part of the choice numbers? Is that a separate entity? So we're allowed to have tuition plus choice. Um that was
just my other question that Yeah. So to answer the last question, because we're partnering with Polytech and technically to their program, we're allowed to have those students as well as the choice students. They're totally separate. So they are just considered just like our students who enroll in a 4-year program,
let's say at North Thunder. They're part of they're considered a poly tech student. Same thing would be for this particular program. Wouldn't be any different. And then for the for the um your first question about other uh
counties, if they either don't have a program or let's say they do have a program but they don't get into the program or there's not enough seats. So I just to give you one example. I know Mercer County um there's only one program right now.
It's not for the vocational program and that one program only has nine seats for students outside of the district. That's all they were given by the state of New Jersey because they knew it as a choice program, not as you know the partnership with the uh vocational program in M
County. So therefore, let's say they had 15 kids or 16 kids audition, but only nine got in. Those other students have the right to then come to us and audition for us, even though they're in Mercer County and their districts would still would be responsible for
transporting them just like we are for transporting our student. Same thing in Middle Sex, same thing in Somerset. If they're in a county that doesn't have an academy at all, then they absolutely could audition right out of the box for our academy and then come to our program full time. But then on that like 9.8 is
that then plus then you're gaining that student number like how is is that just $9800 and they get to come to a different school and this their school district is paying that dollar amount. But that's the only that's the only financial
addition is that 9,800. So it's not um really what you know I don't to start a new program like there's a lot of those costs that go into it and then you're maybe not getting if you're adding teachers on like also the 25 kids maybe
five are from our district or we're not paying for that. So okay but if it would if we could see a like a fouryear long-term plan something like that I think that's great. then we can like also just hear what you have to say for the future. Thank you.
Any other uh any other public comments? Anything online? No. No. All right. Well, in that case, we'll close the public comment period and we'll move into annual organization. I mentioned this is uh um when we uh
renewing all of our contracts and agreements. Um there are a lot of them on here but we can do them all at once. So um I will ask to make a motion to approve items A through BB through item five and then as you can go through and
if anyone has any questions stop and discuss before we go. So with that could I have a motion to approve item AP move by Michael a second please. Second by Brian. Thank you. Um discussion
does anyone have any any questions? The first item is related to our tools that we use for evaluations of administrative. Um the second is to uh keep us in compliance with the federal and state
law. Um our certification of our bus drivers. We have to renew. We have a list of appointments including the integrated pest management officer and many other important positions. The uh state contracts authorizing
signatures will actually be authorizing I think we're taking uh sadly taking Mr. uh Harris's name off of the bank accounts but happily putting Mr. Mr. Peter's name on Linda Lech's name on the bank account. So, uh, that will set us
up for that. Um, the bid threshold is, uh, something that's required by law. Um, later further down, you'll see that we have, uh, our various, uh, memberships and a bunch of cooperative purchasing organizations. We have revenue every year. Um, we are re we are
accepting our policies, regulations, page. So, again, something we do, we have to do as a outside of everything. um our broker of record that is Brown and Brown. They are birth of our health insurance plan for our teachers and pay
um we are approving the implementation of our budget that passed in April. Um we're setting up our financial accounts to be in accordance with state law. President mentioned we're pre-approving all of our curriculum accepting it for
the new school year. Um, designation of deposiitories, the jail banks. Um, I don't think uh does anyone have any questions on any of these? If there are no questions,
yes, it's start with Jennifer Bachelor. Yes. Martha Dennis. Yes. Janet Pashetti. Yes. Brian Keys. Yes. Yes. Sarah Lily. Yes. Strauss. Yes.
Marino. Yeah. Yes. Uh with that buildings and grounds. Um please finance buildings ground transportation safety committee met on June 19th. Just a couple general updates. Um
annual organization we discussed that they just brought up. Turf field update. So that work won't start now until November. It's going to be for the storage basin under the field. Um so it'll just so water from the film drain
into that basin and slowly based behind the field. Um this year we will be able to use the dirt from that project and put it behind a football field to create an additional practice field for the students.
Um, another thing we discussed, I guess, was the moving forward with the West Enl school. I know Tony, you had a meeting with Leah Le, I think, after that meeting. I don't know if it happened with all the power outages and the storms. Do you have any? Uh, no. I mean, we're going to talk a little bit tonight
in exact session. Our attorney's going to be coming in to provide some legal guidance. The biggest issue that we're dealing with is just um trying to work. Friday, I met with uh Lehi Fluid um our attorneys and their attorneys just to
try to really work on a resolution of what their remediation efforts going to be for the one dioxide. Um because that is really at this point precluding us from being able to put that property up for sale. So, uh, there's still some
more work to be done and our attorney will be kind of sharing some more particular namely as far as Thank you. buildings and ground updates, everything has been discussed already. Um, school construction update,
this update, capital project exchange, all that, all those interns update again. And then for approval tonight, items 8 through O, bills list, financial reports, general
fund budget transfers, contracts. I believe this is being discussed in curriculum. One of those things in there is link link it. I will talk about it then since it's going to be in the curriculum notes. Um probably related expenses
items for auction disposal transportation update. So with regards to bus maintenance, all bus maintenance is up for date and we have a new van purchase what July 1st 2025 no delivery date yet but
it will be for schools move safety or updates. See that's all I have this week items A through Do I have a second? uh second by one. I think it's going on
as well. I just uh wanted to mention uh that uh when when during our committee meeting that we had talked about we reviewed the contract for the performing arts academy um and went into a little bit more detail there and it's you know something
that um I know that we we were talking about enrollment numbers um but I I do like the um part of the academy that is bringing in students students coming in through this I for lack of a better word
like a vetting process but showing that these are students that want to come in and want to be here for that particular track um and the opportunity there to be able to provide overall you know be able to get some more um kids in seats at our
school. I was just going back and looking at through some of our enrollment numbers for the lower grades and just thinking about in terms of um population sizes, right, for all schools um everywhere. Um declining birth rates
and all of that stuff that um you know, we're really looking at the 50s and 40s in some of our K to4 student population. Um, so, you know, as you get into high school, having this opportunity to bring in some kids for an interesting program,
um, you know, while bringing in the tuition and we're able to utilize facilities and teachers and things that we already have with with the cost offset is really great. And another thing that we um talked about was that uh other things that those students want
to do um would be more opportunities for like our parent organizations or like the LAF um to come in for field trips um things like that. So there's even more opportunities for the students. Um so and I like the fact that it was also
it's a defined five-year contract. So if it's something that and again using current facilities um there is you know an unwind right um if if the program doesn't end up going in the direction that we want um so I
was pretty happy with the discussion that we had around the contract um and just wanted to kind of share those those details on that. Thanks. Any other? Yeah, I just wanted to make a quick comment on the Lincoln contract. Um, I
did talk to Tony a little bit about it earlier today. I'll say that, you know, I did I do have a bit of hesitation because it feels like yeah, in other um kind of like platform and process that's going to have to be used.
Um it does seem like there are a lot of benefits that the district will get from using it in terms of um tracking student progress and showing, you know, hopefully improvement over time on some
of the diagnosis and assessments that are given. Um, but I'm also happy that it's a one-year contract and so I'm hopeful that next year it can really be looked at in detail to make a determination as to whether or not the
expense is is worth um what might be some extra effort in terms of using it. No, I think it's an excellent point and in fact uh I mean really that's actually to add on to that um the link that we're paying for the link program is basically
because we're doing away with encourse the law enforcement that we have evaluated the past year and have decided that they don't mean our so this isn't great you know we're we're looking for the right tools that can support our administrative team and our
teachers and so I think that uh this is uh certainly is worth exploring. Um it will be basically uh my understanding of it that it will be basically the cost of this program will be offset by not spending money on those encourse modules
and some other of other things that we won't this so it is basically revenue as well as this grant it's actually on the finance which will be utilized as well first year I think slightly higher cost and then after that's always
when you get these software modules they They they cost on there. There we go. Any other discussion on the on the ground? No discussion on which Martha Dennis. Yes. Gina Shetty. Yes. Brian Keys. Yes.
Deon Pawesley. Yes. Aaron Liry. Yes. Michael Strauss. Yes. Jennifer Bachelor. Yes. Ton Marino. Yeah, Jim Gallagher. Yes. Uh, person I'll give you for that. Okay.
So, um, just on the agenda, I do want to recognize unfortunately um, she didn't make it to the agenda because she, uh, put in her retirement late when we recognized our retirees at our last meeting, but Martha Kubc, who's been doing enrichment for us and the district
for 26 years, announced her retirement. We're accepting her retirement tonight on the agenda. But we thank you for all the wonderful things she's done not only um in district with our own students. But one of the things that I think has been really unique which I'm hoping will
people realize is Martha runs science Olympiad for like the county. So we host every year um usually here at this building and next year I'm assuming it might be in the new middle school um you know the competition where schools come from all over and she organizes and puts
all that together. So, uh, she's been a great asset to our district working with our students. Was sad to see her go, but we wish her well. So, I did want to recognize her as part of the agenda. Um, the other big thing on our agenda tonight, uh, is that I'm happy to report
that up for approval to the board is a new three-year contract with the SHA. Um, so I want to first just thank our negotiations team, uh, Martha, Aaron, um, Ronnie and Kevin. Uh, you know,
beyond all the normal committee work that our board members do for that amazing salary that they get each and every year, um, this is another committee that has a lot of time commitments. And uh we're fortunate because this is now the second contract
that we negotiated uh with the SHA which is our longest collective bargaining agreement or through that we've reached an agreement before the existing agreement expired. That doesn't happen in a lot of places. I can tell you that from experience.
Typically it goes past the June 30th date into the summer into the fall and that's just not good for anyone. So that's a credit to the board. It's also a credit to our association, right? And our our working relationship, which I value immensely with our association and
we're in constant communication um on a variety of different things and this was no different. So the fact that we're bringing this to the agenda tonight, it's in time all the salaries and there's a lot of them if you look at the agenda um because this is all the new salary based on the neglected
learning agreement that we're also putting up for approval tonight. It's just nice to know that when July one clicks another week or so, uh, we have a new agreement that's in place for the next three years and everyone can relax during the summer and not have to worry about that. Not a stress to the teacher.
It's not a stress to the schooler going into the new school year. So, thank you to the association and thank you to the board. Thank you. Uh, any other discussion on the personal So, we do need a motion to approve
items. Uh, a second, please. Second by any discussion. All right. Okay. There's no discussion. J, yes. Frank Keys, yes. Yes. Liry, yes.
Michael Strauss, yes. Jennifer Bachelor, yes. Martha Dennis. Yes. Ronnie Tad Marino. Yes. Yes. And I do want to say Martha a great teacher and a great asset. Yes.
Um what a lot of fun here and technology. Mr. Thank you. Uh the curriculum and technology committee met on June 11th at 6 PM in our media center. Um as we've already talked about the link it with linked it we just
approved um we saw a presentation from them and um it's a program that is going to integrate with our encourse which is our existing program um and this is coming from a few different areas. Um one we've heard throughout the year from
parents that we wanted some they wanted some additional reporting options. Um this is going to allow us to get some of that. um as well as being able to tailor reporting for individual teachers, individual cohorts. Um it's it was
really very userfriendly um in in what we saw. Um I I I could have run a report which is saying something because I'm not in that data any every day of the week. Um it also is something that is tailored for New Jersey schools. Um so
60% of New Jersey schools do use it and um it does data warehousing with Encourse NJSLA fundations I dibbles um and our district level testing those are all things that we are using all the time um and it's completely customizable
so um I'm glad to see that having moved forward and as Jim mentioned it is budget u neutral because we are eliminating some u modules within encourse that we currently use. Uh Vince gave us a um update on
technology. The middle school setup um has already probably started as far as moving items from Westwell to the middle school. Um again, we are taking as much of that technology as possible into the middle school so that we um did not make
a budget impact there. Um and our AV installs are almost complete and might be complete at this point. Um they were still waiting on final install equipment for the gym and cafeteria. Basically they needed two giant lifts to get the
billboards up. Um so hopefully that that will be in place soon. Um and the classroom setups are going to be very similar to what they have in the elementary school right now with advanced audio options that are going to allow our students um to hear our
teachers much better throughout the entire classroom. Um, he also talked about the live stream for graduation. Um, and that our Chromebooks would be going home with the kids over the summer and uh at the higher levels and they would rotate with the kids at the lower
levels. Um, he also did give a very nice shout out to his team um that they have been really flexible and um especially with all of the events at the end of the year. Um, so I I did want to pass that along in our update as well.
Um Mr. Suzo informed us the SEAL program um that while we had been working on that for the entire year um that he wanted to table the program um for another year just to really work out a big a full
implementation plan so that we could do it right and um there there's a lot of obvious distractions next year. So um again it'll be back on the agenda next year. Um and Miss Lennon told us about the focus
grant which we again just accepted and um that is basically just funding for universal screeners. That is something that we are legally mandated to do. We are just now getting extra money to do so. Uh as we also just discussed um Martha Kubic is retiring. So our gifted
and talented program staffing is going to be um moving towards the STEM teachers. uh universally throughout our district. Um that's the hope there. And um that there would then be that the program would allow for articulation
throughout just the STEM the STEM teachers up and down. Something that I guess is already happening. Um we also have the comprehensive equity plan up for approval this evening. Um that is a three-year plan that is required for us to submit by the state designating our
officers. Um and and um we will be putting that forward in just a second. We also discussed our program of studies at the high school level. Um that's been updated to not only reflect the fact that we are now a high school only, but also um to include new programs such as
dual enrollment, um new course pathways and the seal of biiteracy, which is something that's new. Uh this also will be the first class or the first year that our entire high school will be on the same grading system which is very
very exciting I'm sure across the board. Um and we went over the data presentation that was done tonight. We also have um two dual enrollment memos of understanding to approve this evening. Um again that is something that
we have been expanding um so that students can get college credit for classes that they are taking at the high school level. Um so we will be doing um the College of New Jersey and William Patterson University this evening. With that I would like to move items A
through D. Second. Any discussion on items A through B? A quick quick question. universal screening refers to dibbles. Um so basically at the the younger levels um so that when kids come in we're
screening them at the level. Understood. Thank you. for gifted and talented. Um, you know, we had the working group, the focus group um that we did and there was, you know, parents, community members that
spent quite a bit of time kind of really talking through what we want a true gifted and talented program to look like. So, you know, knowing that we have teachers, right? We have staffing in place, I just
I guess I would like to hear more see a little bit more than having it being like, you know, handled by teachers. Um, just given that we we asked people to give up several evenings and spent quite a bit of time on that. Um, you know, and
if there's a way that is one of one of our STEM teachers leading that in some way, I I feel like gifted and talented should sort of have a head of point of contact. Yeah. The only thing I'd ask if we can dedicate, you know, another, you know, presentation at a board meeting in
July and August for that, probably in August. Okay. Kind of pull that together and kind of share with the board and the community and obviously we'll do curriculum committee as well what that's going to look like for that year. Yeah, great. Okay, thank you.
Any other questions? No, I but I am also interested in that presentation with Bernie G. Yes. Kovaleeski. Liry. Yes. Michael Strauss. Yes. Jennifer Bachelor. Yes. Martha Dennis.
Yes. Gina Pashetti. Yes. Ryan Tolino. Yes. Jim Gallagher. Yes. Policy. All right. We met virtually on June 9th at 7 p.m. And for first read, we have regulation 2330, our homework regulation, which falls under the
existing policy. This was and is a plug for the climate survey because this was something raised in the climate survey last year, I believe, or parents were interested in seeking consistency. Uh there was a staff survey that was completed. Uh it was also um staff
addressed it as a group and then it was worked on very closely by the curriculum committee for two months. Uh some details that are included is assignments will be posted electronically. Teachers will notify students in advance and homework will be graded or assessed. Generally teachers will avoid weekends
and holidays for homework. There will be um continue to be summer assignments uh at the at certain levels on a grade level basis from kindergarten to third. There's going to be an emphasis on reading for third and above. Uh there'll be uh curriculum tools that'll be used consistently and examples will be
provided. Fifth and sixth will focus on self-efficacy skills and independence. For the middle school, the homework will build on what was just discussed and will include estimates on how long particular assignment should take. accommodations are available as appropriate. And for high school, the students will become more responsible.
Different tracks will have different homework requirements, for example, AP courses. Students are encouraged to consider that students will be encouraged to consider appropriate balance when selecting courses, including taking study halls if they have several AP classes. At the moment
the weight is uh 10% from a grading perspective but that is subject to ongoing conversations and that approach will be memorialized in the grading policy and this regulation would become effective in late August. School and community will develop supporting Q&A
for our that's our only first read item for our second read. We have policy 5460 on high school graduation. As a reminder, this is a mandated revision to include as part of a graduation requirement that financial aid application would be a need to be
completed as an is and is a prerequisite uh for a student receiving a high school diploma. So, changes were made consistent with that as well as eliminating outdated graduation requirements for years 2018 to 2022. We've added that students will receive a
seal of biiteracy on their diploma if applicable. And we did do a um uh recognize that there was some information on the list of requirements for graduation particularly section A1A1 that spoke to electives that was
confusing. So we changed that reference at previously it says at least 120 credits to a minimum of 17.5 credits which aligns to other language that's in the in the policy. And then our next policy on second read is policy
5512 on harassment, imit intimidation and bullying. Also mandatory. Uh as a reminder that is the coordination between the school and law enforcement when the HIV also has a criminal investigation component and what the priority is on that. So those uh
revisions uh have been made and we made a consistent change in that policy to make sure that we were replacing um natural parent with biological parent and parenting rights with legal authority to make that consistent with previous policies changes that we have made. So I would like to move uh those
two uh second read to a vote and then move the homework regulation to first read move second. Thank you. Kevin goes, yes, yes. Michael Strauss, yes. Bachelor,
yes. Dennis, yes. Fetti, yes. Frank, yes. Ryan Marino, yes. Yes. Okay. Uh, item 11. Uh, we don't have a HIV position. Oh yeah,
I do. All right. So, when you do that, um a lot of the items we've already talked about, but um we are Tony is u drafting a press release regarding um dual enrollment to really highlight how that program has expanded um looking at the
number of college credits that were earned this year. And um one thing that we talked about that I think is is good to highlight is um that the courses that are dual enrollment are all levels. Um whereas in the past the main honors
honors classes or AP classes, now all levels have the opportunity to earn college credits by um um taking the dual enrollment courses. Um you talked about performing arts academy and um continuing to promote that in
anticipations for the upcoming auditions for the 26 27th school year. We talked about the climate survey survey and the response and whether or not we should be extended and that would be based on what the um what what the number of the funds are at
that time. Um we Tony shared an example of a community volunteer program part of the strategic plan. We we discussed integrating more with the community and having bringing volunteers in. So we
took a look at how could we phase that in to our school. Um the program that Tony shares was extensively and would be something to build towards. Um so we were looking at different initiatives for each school that would bring in um parent more parents into the class rooms
and also um um other community members that want to share their expertise. Um we discussed the student board of ed representative and ways that we could potentially expand that role the next school year. and we talked about the um
student assistance counselor and because Palm bill retired and we have a new student um assistance counselor coming on board um we thought it would be an opportunity to to educate the community the families um regarding the role of a student assistance counselor um that our
new counselor will be will be supporting fifth through 12th grade. So therefore, there's more students, there's younger students that will be um receiving support through that um that counselor. And again, a lot of people don't necessarily know all of the the
resources um that are available through the the student assistance counselor. They coordinate the prevention programs there. Um again, resource and referral for um to prevent substance abuse and to address substance abuse. So there's a lot to understand. And so we look to
have um that introduction expand the the um we don't have a hidden report this this month. Uh we did in fact the fire drill is listed in the agenda. So that brings us to the second uh period of public comment. Um those beyone
have something like writing before the board please come up and let us know if you anyone have anything public. Okay. Uh seeing no public comments I will close the secretary to public comments. The board does have a need
this evening to move into executive session. We will be discussing uh legal advice related to school as well as superintendent evaluation. I anticipate that we will be out for probably 30 to 40 minutes. No action will be taken
after we return. Um with that uh can I have a motion to go into executive session 846? Yeah. So moved. Thank you. And a second, please. Second. Thank you for everyone. All in favor? 5 10 Thank you everyone for