##VIDEO ID:m5nQWNbdAqg## board member Regina eer board member Bill gford board member will Meyer here board member shanea Sak Gable here board president Ki tford here board member run V lamani and board member Caitlyn Whit letter okay okay are we going to do the are we going to do swearing in uh we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance yeah right please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in the following manner that written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board at 2:30 on January 5th 2024 that said notice was sent via email to Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks in the editors of the news record Star Ledger tapman tooma and and the Village Green we're now I'm going to have the oath of office for Oliver nessen all right the best way and then you have to sign it but okay do you want me to read the whole thing and then you repeat the whole thing you want me to do it in pieces you call me what's E for okay I'll read the whole thing I'll just do the first paragraph then first paragraph back and forth okay how you the last that's one okay I Oliver neston do solemly solemnly solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and the state under the authority of the people so help me God I Oliver nessen do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications for the office of member of student representative to the board of education and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God okay I Oliver nesson do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications for the office of member of student representative to the board of education and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God I Oliver nesson do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications for the office of member of student representative to the board of education and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me got sign up for me you can keep that okay just hang around we got some pictures you all right thank you so much and that's for you to keep congratulations amaz very great to meet you very great to meet you all right and front and center and on the count of three two one great big smiles and one more three two one great big smiles thank you where while the senator Byron and Bear open public meeting act requires all meetings of the South Mor map Board of Education to be held in public njsa 10 4-12 sets forth nine types of matters that may lawfully be discussed in executive session without the public being permitted to attend and whereas the board has determined that one issue is permitted by the njsa 10 4-12 to be discussed without the public in attendance and shall be discussed during an executive session to be held on Thursday August 29th 2024 6:30 p.m and whereas the nine exceptions to open to the open public meetings outlined njsa 10 col 2-4 are listed below and next to each exception is a box which will be marked when when the issue to be privately discussed Falls within that exception and after each exception is a space where additional information that will disclose as much information about the discussion as possible without undermining the purposes of the exception shall be WR any matter by which express provision of federal law state statute or rule oft rule of Court shall be rendered confidential or excluded from public discussion the nature of the matter described as specifically as possible without undermining the need for confidentiality is attorney client privilege hi reporting and litigation status report any pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations in which the public body is or may be a part become a party any matters falling within the attorney client privilege to the extent that confidentiality is required in order for the attorney to exercise his ethical duties as a lawyer the parties to ocet numbers of each item of litigation and the parties each contract discussed are and the nature of the discussion described as specifically as possible without undermining the need for cont confidentiality whereas length of the executive session is estimated to be 60 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business where formal action will be taken now therefore be it resolved that the South orang Maple Board of Education will go into executive session for the above stated reasons only and be it further resolved that the board hereby declares its discussion of the aention subjects will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental Interest being protected from disclosure that i' like to make a motion to go into the public session a second thank you Bo member Callahan all in favor all right we're unanimous we're going to go into close session now thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right we're back like to make a motion for approval of board minutes for a special meeting on June 6 2024 and our meeting minutes on July 24 24 and our executive session and regular meeting minutes on July 25th and 2024 have a second thank you board member Callahan all in favor all right unanimous right next we will have the superintendent update thank you sir uh I will only need about an hour of your time I have a very large folder here you can see very good stuff going on as well so uh first and foremost I do want to shout out Tom G and also all of our school staff for their great amount of patience in regards to what is going on in the schools and how we're trying to better them through the facility project uh but it is a lot uh we had a couple board members do walkthroughs this past week um uh it's a lot going on and we're uh getting to uh the deadline and I think we're going to make it just in time by the skin of our teeth uh but I think the improvements are going to be well worth it so I just wanted to give a shout out to everybody who's shown a great amount of patience I thank you uh and I know Tom G also thanks thanks you all uh we did have our District administration team two-day Symposium this last week um a lot of great topics um and a lot of great discussions so I want to thank everybody in for their attendance there I also want to give a big shout out uh to Anne zoa Stanley um everybody who uh took time to develop a presentation and share their knowledge um with the folks so big thanks to you all um real quick and we'll get a little deeper into this over the next month uh just as a quick teaser uh Columbia High School did make the college board's API enal uh gold medal status there's only one above that which is platinum so we'll give you more information on that uh going out but big shout out to the teachers at Columbia High School for that accomp we did want to just uh wish Jerry Ford our director of Transportation uh a quick recovery going through a health scare right now we just wanted to get positive thoughts out to him uh and just put that out into the universe and and thank him um concrete work I sent an email to our board we did receive a grant for concrete work uh $240,000 worth of concrete work uh that has started as well uh so you'll see some improvements around Seth boen around the horseshoe sidewalk replacement tusen the new handicap ramps uh Montrose rear steps and sidewalk also new handrails uh SS section of sidewalk replacement in in uh in front of the school eliminating the hazard that was there in front uh and also uh Maplewood Middle School some sidewalk replacement and repair of the uh retaining wall so big thanks to Tom uh and that's a heck of a grand of 240,000 so thank you very much Tom district will be launching and I've been receiving a lot of emails this summer uh and I think everybody has been seeing it in the news and actually the department of Ed just came out with a memo around cell phone usage and its effect on students um we have various strategies going on in our buildings currently just so everyone knows that we have at the high school we have charging stations where students come in they have the option of putting uh their their phones in a charger in the back of the room some of our classrooms are running that some classrooms around the district are are are running uh door hangers they come in put the phone in the door hanger and then pick it up when they leave uh District uh is going to fund a small pilot for yand which has been in the news lately uh if you've been to any concerts lately uh some of them are requiring you to take a bag put your phone in that bag it's magnetically sealed you carry that bag with you so the cell phone's never out of your hand but you can't use it cuz it's in a bag and then when you leave the facility you swipe it under uh dagnet magnetation mag magnetization machine thank you uh and it just comes out and you leave the Yonder uh pocket right right in the receptacle so uh we're going to fund a small pilot and see how that goes uh in a school or two and we'll keep everybody in the loop in regards to uh how that project develops and what results we do get out of it the Mountaineer classic is this weekend Friday Saturday and Sunday it is a football I rarely use this word but Bonanza have the flyer uh 8:29 it's fona versus Jefferson at 7 pm 8:30 SNY High School Jersey City shout out to Snider uh vers Hillside 3:30 p.m. West orang versus orange at 7:30 p.m. and then on 8:31 wests side in Newark vers Columbia shout out to Columbia High School and East Side nework ver playing field at 7:30 so our boys are starting to play at 3:30 um before the games they're also marching band ex exhibitions uh live music uh and God bless and things of that nature so uh it is sponsored by well it's partially sponsored by the New York Giants um so uh that is this weekend so more information will be posted on our website around that and good luck to our football team we did receive a donation that is on the agenda uh from the music and arts education project uh they are uh funding our art teachers uh to make sure that they have all the necessary resources uh that they need so a very very big thanks to the music and arts education project uh in addition to that I also want to shout out uh an who's used some of her money uh in her department and uh have has uh distributed around an extra $25,000 to our arts department as well so uh whether it's in-house or out of house with the music and arts education project uh you know you've got some passionate folks that really want to support the Arts and the wonderful things going on in the district so big thanks uh to the uh music and arts education project and also Ann's work around her distribution of funds to the Arts and we'll continue to fund the Arts um our model classrooms that I've mentioned this to the board before we're moving forward with five model classrooms at the high school um so if you walk through many of our schools they still have the old prometheum boards about 10 years old maybe a little more uh and they also have these Square devices which I don't know if we have one in here but my father tells you they were called TVs uh I've never seen them I thought it was a microwave when I first saw them hanging around the buildings I was like why do we have microwaves on the walls uh but they are actual TVs um we're GNA work towards transitioning those TVs out and bringing in flat scream technology so uh in five classrooms it will be b107 b114 b118 b318 and b314 uh our tech department Keith has been wonderful enough to set up 75in l CD screens I see you I see you uh LCD screens now very simple for a teacher take your laptop wirelessly connects to the TV they can pull up whatever they want on the 75in screen uh so we're starting that and we'll have other teachers walking through those rooms so they can see it and if they're interested we plan on expanding uh that project you'll also see those two TVs in the lobby uh in September where uh the school can run different uh news items and communication with the students uh I do want to shout out also Jane Bean folks our supervisor of ela um she has been part of the NJ DOA reading acceler reading acceleration professional integrated development um so in 23 24 school year uh South Orange Maplewood School District under the leadership of Dr Bean folks participated in the state rapid grant program uh reading acceleration professionally integrated development uh the initiative targets literacy uh early literacy uh in kindergarten through three uh the district worked with Dr Kenneth cun at uh Ruckers University his staff provided in-class support for teachers in grades K to3 in addition our teachers were given access to the rapid Grant modules on early literacy provided through the pilot with Magnetic readers and Monclair State University as a result they would like to continue working with our district as a model for the rest of the state so as we've discussed we've made some major changes in our ear ear literacy and reading philosophy you should start seeing those this school year um also wanted to read a quick shout out letter about principal glander uh I've always like to share these when I get them from parents um you know simply put I have some parents writing there're lucky enough to have her at Seth boen um their daughter is that Seth Boyen and uh she was welcomed arms open uh kindness and support um she struggled previously in her education Journey um but as she uh walked in nicle oer case manager uh and Miss glander were waiting there to introduce themselves and ever since that day there has been a trust that has been formed and it's been carried through so big shout out uh to principal glander and also Nicole in regards to the everyday work that they do that may not get as much attention as it should but those of us that are in the know know this is happening quite often in all of our schools but a big shout out to those two um transportation very quickly uh we will be launching the transportation app that we've been talking about uh phase one will uh be uh early September it'll simply be a digital card that parents can pull up that will show their child stop and times things of that nature phase two will be rolled out about two to three weeks after which will'll be utilizing a geolocator so parents can actually get real time on where their child's bus is and when it's going to get to its stop so we we look forward to those release dates um our high school schedules have been coming out I want to give a big thanks to Columbia High School um I have received some emails about some scheduling issues um and if those are the only ones I receive out of how many kids are in that school yeah uh thousands 2,000 students we'll we'll we'll be in a good place so uh I know that was a heavy lift for a lot of folks so I just I want to I want to give them thanks um if there is an issue with your child schedule please just contact the high school they'd be more than happy to make those revisions into and to work with you um real quick because of all the construction going on we will not have convocation this year we're just having our our staff report back to the building so they can do their classrooms and get some work done um therefore I will be putting off my 1.2 hour speech for the 2627 convocation um it is quite good I hope it stays fresh a year later and uh I want to thank uh Liz Shaina for jumping on the tours of our buildings um Tom G was nice enough uh to open up tours for our board members just so they can see some final prep and work going on um aside from the new additions which are just beautiful uh I think a lot of people are going to be blown away by the work being done at the high school especially the media center library and what is now will be was the pool and now student lounge is that the I'm not sure what they named it yet alumni Commons uh alumni Commons uh they're both pretty spectacular so we're going to do some ribbon cutting events for those two uh once we get a final date the lounge or or common should be open probably mid-september or or before then yeah around that area uh the library media center we're looking at February I believe February 1st um so so it's exciting uh especially the uh the alumni uh area because they kept the original tile on the seat it's it's really quite beautiful and and we'll have spel do a presentation on it and they did some research for us out of our request to find early photographs of the pool uh it it's really quite impressive so big big thanks to everyone um and finally not to take up too much time uh this is someone's last board meeting uh at this round table um so I'd like to say bye to everybody thank you so much for working with me um uh I want to shout out Anda um she has uh made this uh Place feel like home for me I'm only speaking personally uh has gone uh bent over backwards to bring me into the mix so uh I thank you for that um do you want to say anything or you want to wait okay all right uh that's all I have all right thanks sir all right next we'll have the business administrators update thank you Mr Bing now I have to follow you so this is the construction update so we have Marshall school we'll start there uh they've done some work on the chimney they've completed the fire alarm system panel testing um they've received Plumbing electrical and final building inspections uh they've had another inspection from for soil conservation they're continuing with the HVAC uh startup in the classrooms um they've completed the majority of the existing classroom uh baseboard piping uh they've completed the new elevator car installation and as of the date of this they're waiting on Final state inspection um uh the existing classrooms have had their uh cleaning I'm sure there's going to need more as the J time comes on and they're installing uh School equipment and Furniture uh they have been installing the new addition Furniture um they're doing work in the Boiler Room uh the PA system is being finalized um at Montrose they're uh continuing with Boiler Room work uh they've been done some work on the back vestibule interior doors and uh ceiling grid tiles and things located at the wall and there in the process of completing the Privacy room at the high school uh they've worked on the uvu's at in the d-wing excuse me they've uh they're working on this VCT Floor installations on actually it's been completed on the second and third floors and casework and select classrooms have been completed um they've done some work on the floor in the d-wing that's been completed uh there's d-wing switch gear they've been working on and set and switched it over they've done ceiling abatement in several rooms in the bwing and um it's ongoing uh the the media center the required demolition is completed and they're working on the new HVAC system uh they've worked on b107 which I believe is one of the science rooms uh looks like the nurse's area is complete with the Furniture delivered uh they're working on the common area and working on uh painting and installing glass partitions as well the new guidance area uh they're 95% complete they're working on the auxilary gyms uh Roofing uh ceilings duct work for the those two rooms uh they're comp they around the building they are completing working on the slate roof replacement and they're doing patching in other areas and they're doing a batement they ongoing a batement in the awing and uh they're doing d-wing HVAC classroom looks like that's completed [Music] um there the rooftop units um equip and H vac equipment to be loaded and installed in the roof was that was done uh they're working on the main gym uh they're doing inspections as required and they're working on a new ramp in the media center area Maplewood Middle uh they're doing excuse me Maplewood Middle they turned over the building excuse me for cleaning in the uh throughout the building they're working on the Boiler Room abatements the fire alarm and PA system device has been installed and they're working on uh the wiring uh let's see they've done uh classroom and office doors on the first floor in the basement they're installing uh I don't know what this is IDF Rack in locations uh they're painting ducks in the girl duct work I guess in the girls and boys locker rooms they're closing upd duct work in uh several rooms uh science rooms and the Band Room it looks like uh restoring ceiling tiles um in various areas uh they're working on the interior electrical panels um uh installing rooftop duct work um they are cons continuing the construction of the gender gender neutral restroom uh that'll happen um after hours or as other hours allow they are continuing the construction of the Privacy room again as time allows within the building after hours uh they looks like they have turned over the girls and boys locker room uh they've completed the roof replacement um and that's pretty much it there and it's the South Orange metal the I think we might have mentioned this last month but the contract has been awarded to the vendor and they're starting the uploads of their documents to what's called Viewpoint what we use and I think I covered everything thank you uh we're going to do a a uh presentation uh zoa and an from our cni department um around the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment uh data um I know they have worked many hours on this because I have seen many drafts um and I thought it was great the first draft so I could imagine what this draft is um I'm also going to hand out to our board members this is a draft form uh we're going to share it with the public in a couple weeks um of our uh new uh New Jersey tiered system of support Continuum uh iron RS multi-tiered system of support you'll see that on the the NJ dooe website um uh we've been working on ours for quite some time we are now very close to the point of sharing that and and providing professional development uh with our staff so we're very excited about the new model uh and look forward to discussing it with parents teachers over the next uh month as we launch it great thank you hello everyone happy almost New Year right that's what I usually say to all the kids when they come in Happy New Year new school year um so we are here tonight to just do a brief um presentation on our njpa um test scores results um we did give you uh I believe last week a full presentation for you to see every single bit of data that is needed this presentation is going to give you a quick overview but really zero in on the things that we're focusing on so that we're not you know looking at every data point um all night long because that could take a while so Keith put my glasses on okay just to give an idea um NJ GPA are given to all of our 11th grade pupils or any 11th or 12th grade pupil who has previously failed um to demonstrate Mastery of graduation proficiency standards um on this test um and jgp is designed to measure the extent in which our students are graduation ready right that they graduation ready that we can say they have learned all the standards that they need to um graduate in English and uh mathematics uh the ELA component is aligned to 10th grade standards and math component the math component is aligned to Algebra 1 and uh geometry standards want take this so just a quick overview just uh one simple slide in in for the district in general you'll see 2023 how many students we tested and in 2024 and then you'll also see our results from Ela from 93.8 to 92.1 and then in math we did see an increase of from 69.8 to 73.3% uh efficiency so we are moving in the right direction for sure and we're really really happy to see those results um so as uh Dr koreas said um in English language arts our students have demonstrated exceptional skills of achieving Pur to the rate at 92.1 far surpassing the average state of 81.6 so we're we're really looking pretty strong there mathematics um we have achieved a proficiency rate of 73.3 again well above the state standard of 54.7 um we have a 3.5 increase um from last year which we're happy about but we also know that we have a lot of work to do we we we're we re we celebrate our accomplishments but we recognize that we still want to focus in and zoom in Keith so what we did is we want to tell you our math story of our students who are not proficient yet we always use the word yet because we know that's going to change for sure um so just to give we did a breakdown of data points for you um it's by percentages our male and female we do um have estris there because anything that is left for non our non-binary students we need to make sure we um protect their identities and they're under the 1% is that what the 1% Mark L than 10 people yes so less than 10 people so we do put the aster there also for to note that our ethnicity um socioeconomic dis uh economically disadvantaged and um our students with disability so this kind of breaks down who our students are who are not math proficient yet it's not to say we're not going to work and help all students but we really want to zero in the ones that have already successfully passed this exam are ready for graduation so we really want a zero in enriching them but continuing the work with the students that need that extra support thank you so our automatic measures this these are the things that have I'm sorry KS next slide these are the things that have already happened um we do um our students who take um but do not meet the minimum requ C score of 725 on each assessment component will have the opportunity to receive additional support so this is what automatic happens Columbia High School has already determined which students have missed the first Pathways so the the the state does give us other Pathways to use for to um meet that proficiency requirement um so they have all we've already recognized who uh these students are and um we also look to see who automatically reached a second pathway so we've removed those students from this um well they're in part of this data in the initial data that we sent you but we already know that we've pulled students out because they've reached through a different pathway we will continue to analyze the summer sat and uh ACT scores to see how many more students have re reached um proficiency so one the pathway is we would look at our SAT scores and our ACT scores that have already happened and we already do you know for sure there's a good handful of students who reach proficiency that way rather than you scoring on the NJ GPA so they're taking them now they're taking them in the spring we will be looking at those scores again pull out the rest of the kids who who who meet that pathway and then students who need a third party um or a third pathway will be scheduled to take an additional course focusing on our portfolio right we do have some students who might not score no might not score well on assessments and the state does give them other opportunities to show what they know and show that they can they are ready for graduation um so we will be working with those students and once the school year begins getting them into a class to really support them through that way now that's just the automatic members that uh measures that happen Keith can you go to the next slide please thank you we also have intervention strategies we've been really working on inrs um intervention and referral Services an awful lot in the past few years um so this really talks about some of the strategies that we will put in place um through as we continue throughout the year and it's just not for the these particular students it's going to be for all students who are struggling but we're focusing mostly right now on our ngj GPA students um so we will be analyzing this data looking at everything seeing we can take this data and look at our curriculum and see where with our beautiful Atlas curriculum repository we can run reports to see where we might not be hitting all the standards and where we might need to repeat standards in within the school year um so we'll really be starting to take a look at that well continuing to take a look at that data and see what we can do even just through curriculum changes um we to further extend our work around inrs um implementation process the district will strengthening our NJ tiered system of supports now that is is what this new document is that um this graphic our amazing creative and talented Dr kareah worked very hard to create this this is something that no one else has used this I keep telling her she needs to what is it copyright it she needs to copyright it so and I also say she needs to we need to bring this to the state because this is something that nobody else is doing that we created here um and I'm going to let you do the honors of of explaining that just a tiny bit yeah no thank you um so it's really looking at our students on a Continuum right that they're not ever in just one location there's not a certain P there's not like a timeline there's not it's not linear it can be that they may need different supports depending on the content that they're with so a math student may struggle with geometry but may do phenomenal with number Cent or algebraic operations so they might need more tiered system supports in the sense of intervention say in Geometry if they're struggling they might need more of that kind of prerequisite support however if they're fantastic algebraic thinking then we can move them to the opposite end of the Spectrum which brings enrichment and if those that may have twice exceptional students that may be better at math than any other now we can really enrich them through that small group instruction so we redesigned the small group instruction to really fit the need of the student so looking at this diagram when we're looking at the data we can automatically place targeted interventions that are strategic to the the need of the student wherever they land on the Continuum at that moment so it continues to shift depending on on where the student's learning is progressing as they get stronger they may progress further to the enrichment side if if the content gets more difficult for them they might need more enrichment on those support um prerequisite side so it's very need driven um it's a personal personalized learning experience um and I'm working together with the Department of special services and's knowledge of curriculum through the years has really just helped me understand how they all kind of work together and we place it kind of in this document access in equity of course we want to make sure it's culturally responsive that we're being mindful of how students learn not just academically but in all aspects sometimes we have may have students that are twice exceptional and struggle emotionally or with behavior but they're gifted in how they handle math or reading or other kinds of academic attributes so this kind of really just gives us a framework to kind of really zero in on where we could really Target PD for our teachers our our instructional coaches are creating lessons I have a gifted and talented curriculum writing committee that as soon as our curriculum is written and is finalized this summer they're going to go in and add some enrichment but also intervention so it's going to be like intervention referral services but it's not only for students that need academic support it's also for students that need academic enrichment and behavior and social emotional um I was very careful to make sure to include social workers because a lot often times with both sides of the spectrum can be difficult on our students socially as well so we're keeping all that in mind and with that also includes our high school seniors that we need to really Target so working with our counseling department we're looking at what do we have what are our resources and really zeroing in our resources appropriately to the student based on the need that that's driven right and the data so we're really taking a deep dive and thank thank you for the support on the data system that we were able to get and really dive into so all this together is being held by this infrastructure and I think it's going to be very positive really gear all of us in alignment and this this will be brought up and put into everything that we do um we've already had at our District Administrative team meetings we've already introduced this to them and said this right here is what we base all of our work on how we do attendance everything attend looking at Chronic absenteeism looking at uh discipline looking at anything and everything we possibly can this will be the foundation of who we are and what we believe help truly help students and it's looking at the whole child giving them individually what they need and um and and give and seeing the progress made we I I have said for many many many years and my time at Clinton School the game changer is targeted interventions for that particular student and what zoa has created in this graphic is showing how a student can have all all different types of abilities and strengths in some areas and needing supports in others so this is what it just really brings everything together and we're really excited about this work we're starting to see things growing right our foundation is is there and now we can start to see the good um positive things that come out of all the hard work that we've put into we will see in a foundation of the diagram on the framework I just want to direct you as District um we have district and school leadership positive School and climate but also family and Community engagement without these three we the framework will not stand so we're going to definitely engage families I do intent to have a parent um you know kind of uh table talk with them regarding how we're going to move forward we're gifted in talented Service as well as inrs and you know they conect yep grow and that's thank you Keith that's that's that's our presentation questions Deval Wilson not so much a question just a comment thank you for that great snapshot and I love this um I think what's also nice about this learning Continuum is that it also includes gifted and talented um I know we have this new program launching which is exciting and a lot of parents will say well I know that we need to help those who are struggling in different areas but what about those students that are gifted and talented and that's great that that's in here as well and then also uh because I was on the board last year I was like let me look at the numbers from last year and I think it's really wonderful that when it comes to the economic disadvantage students in math we were at 40% last year and now we're at 50 so keep up good work thank you slowly but surely we're going in the right direction and and that's what's really what we want what we're looking I feel the way we kind of revamped iron arrest definitely helped and that's why now we're ready for the next extension absolutely W Callahan yeah I would like to piggyback on um board member dval Wilson and just saying that this is a amazing um it's really exciting to look at this and I think uh for me I contact this this work a lot in outside of being a board member in my work in schools what's exciting to me about the way that this is presented is I think this is one of the first times I've seen it presented in a way that like describes these multi-tiered supports in a way that is actually consistent with how they are practiced in schools right so this is not that special education is a place this is not that gifted and talented is a separated out program but this really describes what it is and it's a Continuum that lives within classrooms so I also think it's really important to note how this really supports inclusion too in supporting all students right and also the fact that we've noted teachers and the training that's required too because that's part of it as well right it's not just interventions for students but making sure that teachers feel supported and making sure that they can um actively support the kids meet their needs where they are in the setting that they are and so I think it's really really exciting um I'm really excited also for um as our special education department is is going to be under new leadership to really kind of see where we can take this because it is such a multidisiplinary job to make sure that this is happening across all departments and so knowing that our a access and Equity department has been involved um knowing that there's been collaboration with our special Educators is really important um and exciting also to know that um that our parents and Community will be engaged with this as well um and and feel the supports kind of across the Continuum that are responsive to meeting kids where they are really exciting and I want to thank you um for the incredible amount of effort and work and collaboration that's gone into making this and I look forward to seeing what it does for our kids and our teachers so thank you thank you what a difference of referral to to the special ed department when you have all this data now right like it'll make such a difference for member Meer I wonder if you just share what your insights are as far as the reason for the difference between uh the achievement in ela and math for students with no ie ie fully general education versus those with 504s who are in both those areas more prepared uh where one might assume looking at the IEP number where there's a substantial number who are less prepared uh that the 504 number might float somewhere in the middle but those students are the most prepared out of all I don't know if it's just a fluke with the numbers but what are your insights there um I think we definitely would need to dig deep and really look at our students I mean then it when you look at the total number of students and then the percentages this is such a small percent of our of our 11th graders and I think it really is important for us to we could definitely dig deeper into into that because that is interesting right it's like a really interesting thing and as we were digging digging and digging and trying to zero in we found some questions that we ourselves so we'll add that definitely to our our our list and that's why we have to engage the Department of Social Services right that's why that's such a true partnership and it also depends on what the IEPs are for right when you're comparing students with IEPs and comparing to 504s there may be different reasons why they have IEPs right it could be a student that may be in a self-contained class being compared to a student that has a 504 for ADHD right it's a very different learner so you know we realize that so that's why we're like let's get the Department of special services involved and actually because it's such a small amount of students you can individually go in and really look to see what's going on and get a better sense of their story and and and figure it out from that special special uh education department and that's what our data Locker will help us see too because it'll be a student profile not just of one snapshot some of our IEP students Also may not take the the NJ njsla or the NJ GPA so they might not even be represented here because they take the dlm so but we can't forget right they're still our students so really looking using the data Locker will help us tremendously in creating a story not just from a one-time snapshot but how we get there where our kids going that are currently in the elementary you know it really will help with the story but yeah to really look at that I think we really need to see the nitty gent look into why they have a 504 because there's many reasons to have a 504 and why they have an IEP and then Target that intervention that meets their needs be very specific and do the reviews over IEPs and 504s to see if we need to change things uh being a Special Needs Mom is that no too special at students are like and vman yes I first want to thank board member D Wilson because she asked a question which I wanted to see is that how are we doing against last year it's always very important to see our the improvements right which is fine uh the question I have is in terms of raw numbers what is the total number in aggregate that we're looking at when we're looking at percentages but how many kids in high school are actually doing going through this process H how many I'm so I think I heard how many are who are in like our math story I can get it for you for sure it is not do you're fast with math can you do the math but um I will definitely get it for you I think it's in the original um in the original presentation that we sent the board about a week ago it's really bro you get data that is so broken down it would have been we would have been here for over an hour talking about it so I think it's there but I'd be happy just to shoot you a quick text or a email with it cool thank you and a finalize list won't really exist until probably October because we have to see at all the summer work and they also get another chance in the fall to retest but yeah we do have that data that we look at absolutely yeah yeah great go ahead yeah so just one other question I had this first is spectacular both the content and also the colors like I want to put this on enjoy it and I love seeing the combination of the inrs supports on one side and the gifted supports looking at that Continuum was amazing um coming from a a special education sort of you know legal background it's so interesting that in New Jersey especially we have these three overlapping Frameworks between inrs 504 and idea each one targeting sort of a different set of kids and many of them available at the same time right so you can I guess in theory have ion supports even for kids who have IEPs um but looking at sort of how these overlap you know we look at these two I guess this is kind of a standard deviation thing uh between the the tier three and tier two that's adding up to about 20% and we know that we have about 20% of our population classified right now which some would argue is very high but I curious to see sort of how you envision the uh special education system kind of interacting with this uh spectrum and the way that they interact just yeah even students in on I IC classes they can still have the interventions that are designed for the for every student because we have also twice exceptional students and that's exactly what it is it's students that are also gifted and are also have an IP and you know so you have all types of Learners and all different types and within the different contents like I did not like social studies but in math obviously you know I love math I was a rockar right so you know every student will be that's why I love that it's a Continuum it's not anything that's fixed it's not anything that's linear like you're not just going to go from one side to the other depending on the grade the content the the student it's they're going to shift and that's where we really have to prepare our teachers because they're the real rock stars in audience they're they they really are they're going to be doing the work so preparing them to see those different elements to see a student that although they have an IP and there was an intervention that's working maybe it's a conversation with a case manager like hey maybe we need to in include this in the goals right especially since we're collecting data whenever we do this work so whether it's the inrs side or the the gifted and talent or the exception the enrichment side we're collecting data and that's what we do so it that will actually help a lot with developments of and and changings in IEPs if that's needed um but I think it's really important and um one that I say often NJ or mtss is not just for our gened students this is for any students who is struggling and it's you know it's really bringing people together and to help support and come up with some great ideas it's to help teachers maybe with some teaching strategies that they can try it can be to just even get out the information of basic I uh interventions that we have within the high school or the elementary schools or the middle schools because there are programs I think out there that maybe not everybody knows about and having that team will be um they'll say I know what you need I know what you need I know and and one of the big consistencies we have on this team we are now we are not having an inrs team anymore or a gap um Team anymore they're combined they're the same so that we can create a a a true plan for a student that encompasses that whole diamond right because it's not just about I can remember the conversation I think I had one of my first times as I think I was director at the time of um our our plans need to be very very focused on our kids and that and whatever it is that they need whether they need enrichment or they need support they'll get that even if it's the same child who needs both so that's really our goal I mean we I I think Mr Bing is going to introduce our um new hopefully you'll vote on um assistant superintendent of um special services um we've kind of met all day today and I think we'll she's ready to go and we're ready to work with her so I think we're going to keep keep that going forward we're going to keep moving great thank you just want to say I really did love the idea of seeing this Continuum because I remembered our early discussions in the data committee where we talked about we need to have an individualized story for every student and this is what that does yes you can look at any area so yes someone's a rockar in social studies they hate math yes and so you can right but it's true that's yeah and then you can really dive in and then focus on okay where do you need help where can we enrich you and I like that idea that it's it's not just a matter of where are you where do you need help it's where can we help you too and I really enjoy seeing that and one of the things I was thinking of is the idea that we can now look at trajectories and see how are students shifting and then look at how are they changing over time and then okay do we need more services do we need more enrichment and then every student can have that and that's really something that jumped out to me this year going into a little bit of piloting last year but this year there is a lot that's changing right we have our new um data warehouse which is going to help us tell the story it's huge that piece was we had data but it wasn't at our fingertips and we had to kind of manipulate it all and create it into the and it was so timeconsuming and made you I'm sorry kind of hate data in the sense that it just took so much time you knew how important it was but you're like all right I got to do this and that this is going to spit it out to us so we can keep it moving give them immediate you know feedback to the schools the teachers show the progress to our teachers because that's this is the stuff that keeps you going right and and our kids um so we're and then having ourl which um is diagnosed y adaptive so it'll it'll go right where the child needs and it'll give the teachers exactly what like it gives them the recipe so the teachers can then really spend their time executing the plan which is key you know instead of having them look for something they'll have it at their fingertips and then do do what they got to do right and they're rock stars on that so yeah so we're we're really excited I mean really it's really targeted stuff we're doing and we're we couldn't be happier yeah so I just want I want to thank you both I know this was a lot of work two just for public notification we do usually have an edu speak translator in the room but due to the summer we cut them they will be back in September and they will Define the following terms for you IXL in NRS NJ TSS I IC NJ GPA that's why we're going to have our parent meeting g&t Gap mtss and swd those will be fully defined for you that's why we're going to have parent meetings exactly if you are watching this from home I know Mr bonds is running those definitions on the bottom of the screen exactly exactly currently thank you both very very much just very quickly I forgot to shout them out but September 21st is the newstead 5K from our aief foundation uh I will be participating in that along with my wife and daughter we will be doing the walking portion of it my wife is a marathon person so I do not want to be embarrassed she's ran the city marathon around nine times uh so just if you can put that on your uh calendars it's a great way uh for them to raise funds i r um so September 21st newstead 5K more information uh through the achie foundation and we look forward to that event all right I'll give my update first I wanted to give a shout out to our new um jaclean Winstead who is going to be our director of student Athletics and activities then asay Draper who is our new director of communications um Kathleen gasum Maria who's going to be our assistant superintendent of special services and on the agenda today we have approval for the lead counselor position and uh Dr G want to know let parents know that we heard you and so that will be on the agenda for today so uh K of Shia Jacqueline and uh Dr gusa please stand up and we want welcome you to South Orange Maplewood School District um I am more than certain uh Kathleen Jacqueline and Shai are going to make a huge difference uh in the lives of our students uh and also be uh wonderful working Partners in regards to uh the great stuff that's going on in South Orange Maplewood School de success so I welcome you all and thank you very much for attending tonight and uh we look forward to the work we have in front of us thank you guys appreciate [Applause] it all right um so this month the board met for its annual Retreat to discuss District goals for the coming school year review our board self- evaluation and set board goals for the next year in our last meeting I expressed a desire to change how we operate as a board because I believe our role should be collaborative and productive be a productive partner District administration to that end the board has aligned with the administration along four key areas that will shape the district's agenda for the coming year these areas include enhancing academic and career preparation fostering global citizenship and social interconnectedness allying District Operations to create an inclusive environment and engaging our stakeholders to ensure students thrive in my discussions with Mr Bing I emphasized the importance of focusing on improving student outcomes but what does that entail improving student outcomes involves a holistic approach preparing our student is not only for academic success and post-graduation Readiness whether in college or career but also for personal and social development it means placing a strong emphasis on mental health and well-being and above all ensuring equity and inclusion are at the Forefront of everything we do by focusing on these areas we Empower our students to succeed in school but also prepare them with life skills to thrive in the future during our Retreat we also focused on our own goals for the coming school year the board has committed to quarterly Retreats with training in are of Finance equity and restorative practices a key component to holding ourselves accountable uh we will as as a key component to holding ourselves accountable we will publish our own annual agenda which will serve to guide our board as a tool to help us better support District administration in reaching its goals looking ahead to the new school year we'll be changing our committee committee structure to better prior prioritize students needs our policy committee for example will place greater emphasis on governance including how we monitor progress on our goals and ensure that the Administration has necessary regulations in place most importantly in light of the recent audit and the challenges we fac in special education we are elevating the ad hoc special services committee to a standing committee these changes will improve the board's work in its oversight role and continuing to ensure that the students receive the services they require they require to thrive as we move forward our commitment remains clear to operate as a collaborative and productive board focusing on improving student outcomes and ensuring that every student in our district has the opportunity to succeed seed this retreat has laid the groundwork for a year of progress and I confident that together we can achieve the goals we have set and make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students let's move on to the board president's statement the school board meeting is a business meeting in public and not a meeting with the public often times it may appear to members of our audience the Board of Education takes action with very little comment in many cases a unanimous vote before matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the admin Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent if the superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education it is then referred to the appropriate board committee the members of the board committee work with the administr administration and the superintendent to ensure that the members fully understand the matter after the committee discusses the matter it is then shared with other board members for consideration only then is it placed on the agenda for board discussion and action at a public meeting I have our hearing of individuals and delegations thank you for coming in person and dialing in by phone this evening the South orang Maplewood Board of Education certainly respects that you've taken the time out of your busy day to address the Bard at tonight's meeting we value public involvement in our school district and we are eager to hear what you have to say the school the board does have time limits by policy and it will be enforcing those to enable as many people to speak as possible this evening each individual will be given three minutes to speak please do your best to stay within the time afforded to you the first public comment period is usually limited to 1 hour and the second public comment period may be limited to 30 minutes all input share with the board of education is taken very seriously and will inform future deliberations and work by the Board of Education and his committees like to call Laura Wood hi my name is Laura Wood I'm a South Orange resident a teacher our school district and a parent of a freshman and a senior at CHS I'm speaking tonight though as a proud marching band parent our marching band is amazing the kids are so talented committed and display such positive attitudes they really Thrive under the direction of the wonderful marching band staff my freshman Alexander is a proud member of Front Ensemble which as I learned last year is the part of percussion that does not March he joined as an eighth grader and and loved every minute of last season the rehearsals playing at football games participating in competitions and even the camaraderie that comes from loading and unloading the truck the truck though is what I want to speak about tonight our marching band truck is not large enough to hold all of the marching band instruments and related equipment this is a problem which is not new and has required creative problem solving to get everything where it needs to go be it to Underhill for one of our home football games or to competitions due to the increased students who chose to join increas in students who chose to join marching band This Year yay it is debatably large enough to hold all of the percussion instruments and equipment for drum line and Front Ensemble in fact last night my son Alexander likened loading the truck to trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle but one where if one piece was in the wrong place all of the pieces needed to be removed before you could try to fix it and get make everything fit if instruments and equipment that must be transported by truck cannot all fit then how can our marching band do things like support our football team or participate in competitions and will it mean that not all of our members from marching band will be able to perform I can only imagine how devastating it would be for members of our marching band to find out that they are not able to participate in a halftime performance or in a competition because there is no way to transport their instrument I urge all of you to do two things at some point during this season the first is if you haven't already watch our marching band perform and see how fabulous and committed they are the second thing I Ur you to do is this please help to find a solution to marching band's truck problem thank you [Applause] next we have honorable Nar I um to the last board meeting before uh the end of the school year to advocate for Mr veon uh unfortunately he was not kept on he was the uh director of uh counseling and he was the glue that held CHS scheduling together I think that uh the number of emails that you received uh Mr superintendent uh do not adequately reflect the challenges that our students are going through this summer and currently this uh schedules have been released for less than six hours um a lot of districts get their schedules early in August uh aligned with the time when the the Common App uh goes live for our seniors I'm a a parent of a senior um my senior uh signed up for three AP classes this year and he only received one confirmation letter over the summer um because our district starts so late compared to other districts in the country um but we all still have the exact same AP date and time we're at a little bit of a disadvantage so the kids end up doing pre- doing homework uh to prepare for the AP tests at the end of the year to stay on schedule with the rest of the country uh so some we a lot of the kids were told don't do the homework this summer because we can't guarantee you're going to get the AP class that you enrolled in in uh the spring and now that we've got the schedule that's what's happened to my son he was enrolled in three he's gotten one of the classes you know he is the kind of kid who is going to do the homework anyway so he's done a lot of AP homework for a class that is not currently on his schedule uh when he didn't get his letters over the summer he did reach out via email uh and got no responses um he went away to a ivy league summer program still got no responses uh came back kept doing his homework to this day still has gotten no responses about his uh AP classes that he he uh enrolled in um now we're heading into this the school year with this issue unresolved for not just my family but most of the families um I think I'm just probably the only one who's actually like in town and able to come in for at the last minute to Board of Ed meeting um so I I just want you all to see in real time how the choice to uh eliminate Mr Von's DEC uh position how that affects the kids who are going to be coming into the school this this year um and you know I I think it's great that our AP kids made gold status but this is just a hurdle that's going to make it more and more difficult for them to achieve it going forward so I would implore you to uh resolve this scheduling situation I I realize it is a heavy lift um and Mr veon made it look very easy I wish we had him back I wish you could get him back um so that's what I have to say thank you very much all right that concludes public speaks move on to committee reports all right Al will start with Municipal Partners um we held our Municipal partnership meeting on August 29th uh we began at noon and we adjourned just after 1 it was myself board member telesford superintendent Bing Village president sheina colum Dr L leis Chang from South Orange and mayor Nancy Adams and Township committee and Deb angle from Maplewood uh we received first an update on the greenway project uh where two notable things have happened Paving between Jefferson and Oakland has started and South Orange is in phase three and received a 1.5 million Grant increase to do that work there which is exciting congratulations um next we discuss uh or continue to discuss the field use audit so we further discussed this currently data is being compiled internally by both towns South Orange and Maplewood and then we had discussion on whether an outside report is worth engaging in that would help us establish a an objective Baseline understanding um and hopefully generate potential Solutions given the need for expanded space additionally we discussed more Focus being placed um in the future on neighborhood engagement and storm water plans in that discussion we also talked about ritzer field um Dr Lewis Chang shared that there were concerns about communication um and what was received in uh Maplewood versus South Orange um which we did uncover in fft later in the month um was likely a function of just standard letters that are sent out um based on the distance you are from the project in question next we talked a bit about transportation and safety as we arrive close to September there have been no changes to the start or end times for our schools this school year Mr Bing also shared that he has met and coordinated with our local police and traffic departments sharing important dates like back to school night principal contacts to ease communication and as he shared earlier that routes are being practiced and new geol geolocation techn ology will be available in the phase manner that he discussed earlier in his update we also discussed some issues that had come up around traffic enforcement around schools ensuring that uh communication from both the towns and the district is aligned about essentially being good neighbors not parking in non designated areas not blocking folks drives way and driveways and adhering to drop off locations and speed limits around our schools and that just about wraps up our Municipal Partners any questions great then I will do our special services uh readout this will be the last special services ad hoc committee readout because as Dr teser told us we will be um approved tonight um moving to a standing committee which we are really excited about we met on August 13th we began at 6:30 and adjourned just after 8:30 it was myself board member Meyer superintendent Bing Dr Gilbert and our supervisors of special services all in attendance um I want to welcome our new supervisor Miss who I believe apologies if I butchered your name um but we look forward to your impact here it was lovely to have you um and to see you so up to speed already um in addition I happy to report that we also began the new practice of having a member of CPAC join our committee meetings and um thank you to Amanda Harris the VP of family support for attending that meeting the CPAC discussion focused largely on ongoing hiring and training efforts for key roles in Special Services as well as power professional training prior to the onset of the school year next we discuss par professional ratios and Staffing the district had broadly applied a 3:1 ratio for shared par professionals which is a standard for students with autism or more profound disabilities more common ratios are six to ones 6 to1 ratios so our district will move forward with a model like that aligning with more standard practice with a focus on promoting student Independence training will be enhanced to address best practices and student support baiting plan and addressing any biases in how power professional assignments are occurring Mr Bing CAC president and myself also met afterwards to discuss these changes and the district's plans in terms of additional communication and family engagement next supervisors and Mr Bing shared the ongoing efforts to create more inclusion classrooms so students don't have to change schools the district is working on sharing teacher uh sharing teachers and not moving students uh additionally Mr Bing is exploring dual certification for teachers and Partnerships with universities like Cen Hall and Kane for special education Staffing finally we reviewed vacancy data for special education roles District wide and we are excited to welcome our new superintendent of special services tonight Dr G Maria who will start September 1st 2024 that wraps that up any questions from the board thank you so since Regina is out she left me notes don't ask me any questions I'm just kidding the Personnel committee met on Monday August 26th at 6:30 p.m. Regina Aron Dr tellers and I were in attendance as well as Mr adid Doan Dr Gilbert and Mr Bing Regina is on vacation as I said okay um the public facing minutes are up on the website but a few highlights from the meeting the following roles have been filled with their respective start dates listed in the resolution on school boards assistant super attendant of special services CHS assistant principal the athletic director director of communications assistant business administrator regarding the open ba position a candidate has been identified for a possible interim role which I believe is actually on the resolution today yay uh the committee reviewed vacancy data as of Friday August 23rd there are 25 vacancies to be filled 15 within sped Department 15 leave Replacements 15 leave replacement positions to be filled as well we discussed the 5-year diversity Workforce plan specifically year one which kicked off July 2024 this will be presented to the public at an upcoming board meeting date to be decided but goals for Year One include established diversity committee this goal has already been achieved conduct A needs assessment development recruitment materials launch affinity group program and review and enhance the hiring process continued discussion around the committee goal which is still in draft mode um also took place more to follow in the next committee meeting once District sub goals are finalized and we can ensure the committee work aligns with and supports these goals final item in new business we discuss paying for staff to get sped and or ell certifications superintendent Bing shared that he is looking to partner with local universities organizations to create Pathways for teachers who want to pursue these certifications um next meeting is Monday September 23rd at 6:30 p.m. yes it's all good and now you said no questions I think this is more actually for superintendent Bing um regarding Personnel um I was glad glad I'm glad to see the lead counselor um position description in tonight's Personnel resolution for um the high school was wondering if you can tell us a little bit more about the counselor's role and will this person have a pivotal um role to support scheduling efforts or just what can the CHS Community expect around around that so our our wonderful Dr Gilbert and his team wonderful Carrie um has been uh working with I'll throw wonderful in there wonderful Rosia and the association uh around a job description we've been talking about uh bringing back uh the high school counselor position um my understanding is they've landed on lead counselor uh two that are on this agenda for approval um they will report and work with uh the high school principal uh and support the work of all the counselors uh and coordinate services and programming um they'll also work uh with the principal around scheduling as afor mentioned um and they're going to be reporting directly uh and being supported uh by the director of curriculum instruction so um it's exciting it's it's uh two new positions that I think well I don't think I know speaking uh with Soma speaking with uh rslt speaking with many parents uh speaking with high school staff uh that that counselor position was an important one so I think the two lead counselors are going to PR play a integral role moving forward uh and really help support our students I think it's um fft yes the the fft committee met on 20th of August and we had the full committee that's uh Dr telesford board member Callahan board member Meer and myself and the administration had uh superintendent  assistant uh sorry business administrator uh Andrea delorio Mr bonds Mr Julio uh the first thing we discussed was about construction as we do uh we got updates and there's some change orders uh at MMS and the good thing is that currently we've only had 0.5% change orders at MMS which is a good thing uh at CHS we had to do a little bit of accounting uh a double entry because one of the projects being done was not truly part of the bond so we kind of put that back money back in and pull it out from the capital reserve and uh the important thing that many parents will look forward to is the CHS Auditorium rigging and lighting so the we have finally everyone has agreed with a lot of Parental group involvement that rigging needs to get done first and that's going to be approximately 1.5 million and that basically means that takes care of you know everything behind the wall the the fire curtain and everything else the lights remain the same and then the the whole reasoning the board agrees that all of this should be paid through our current budget so therefore we're doing the rigging now um ETA is I I I'll let uh Mr Bond's update about that later uh next to the lighting then do Psalms and then do all the other auds so that's one um under Hill Field we talked about hours of operations and if we should be maybe restricting that the late in the night and so on no decision was made but at least we discussed that uh this is important I think for parents of children who used obviously use Chromebooks by especially younger kids is that starting the school year is a a a program called go Guardian which will have parental controls for when kids go home so all kids obviously at school they have a certain amount of time where all programs that are appropriate for the school are available but from 400 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. parents can log in and change what the kids see uh there's also going to be Chromebook insurance which is $25 annually which I think is a very good you know thing to buy because many Chromebooks break so that's a very cheap way of ensuring that we can keep replenishing um that's pretty much the big thing so a couple of new quick updates is something which even uh board member Khan talked about during the municipal Partnerships is the greenway project updates things are going well the the main job is done and they've ped many of the P holes and repainted some of the parking spots and also we got 250k grant for masonry projects which uh uh superintendent talked about the in his updates that's pretty much what I have for fft thanks any questions for member gford thank you um one of the policies fft had to review was the budget preparation policy policy 6220 which had been updated to make our budget process more transparent um the main measures for improvements are keeping the municipal bodies updated on the budget details given its significant impact on local taxes getting all budget info by the 2nd January meeting for review and receiving quarterly reports to track spending versus the budget uh I didn't see um ffts feedback in their meeting minutes or hear it right now so I just wanted to see if you could quickly share any of the committee's thoughts on moving this policy forward yes I mean we we did talk about it I mean we did talk about three policies during the thing one was 8420 emergency and crisis situations 8467 weapons and 6220 budget preparations uh we spoke about the details we spoke about a lot of the things that go in but we're waiting for feedback from the administration before we can complete all the recommendations that we have and pass it back to the larer board thanks aun I just had a quick question and it was about the um triple ey appeals I know that was something that was discussed I'm just curious what yeah maybe it's a Mr Bing um response I know that was discussed in the last meeting I'm just curious was it more about we're getting a lot of appeals I think at some point probably either maybe later this year or early next year it'd be interesting to see uh some data at some point on how many parents are requesting transfers how many are being honored all that stuff since this will be the first year that we've had this policy but I'm just curious if there was anything enlightening to know about that conversation for us or the community uh actually that's that's what we were really talking about getting data out to the board in regards to uh uh what we're receiving I did uh speak about what's coming to me in regards to appeals I mean currently uh assignments are sent out they can uh apply for a hardship appeal and then next step is is myself so I shared some of the examples of appeals that have been coming my way uh for discussion and what really came out of that is you know really getting a database so we have a better understanding of the numbers and uh and uh which ones have been reversed which ones haven't and reasoning behind so we're working on that database for the board y one question uh less of a question more of a statement but I did want to just thank um thank the District administration and the parents who have been involved in the conversations around the lighting and rigging at CHS because I think it's a really hopeful signal around um how we can be partners in leveraging the talent and experiences of our community and our parents because we have so so many exciting things happening um and I think those Partnerships are really helpful in problem solving and making sure um that again yeah we leverage those talents in a way that um is is focused on on what our kids need and what our schools need so thank you to the parents and thank you to the district yeah we have we've got some good paren and Community groups working with the district to uh make some all overall improvements so we talked about one previously in regards to the art supplies uh we're work we'll be working with parent groups in regards to the stage at the high school uh and also we have a parent group that has raised a significant amount of money uh for the Clock Tower and repairing the high school Clock Tower so we are very excited about those uh growing Partnerships more information to come on all that in [Music] September all right policy uh we held a policy committee meeting on uh Monday August 14th I was joined myself board member sacket Gable superintendent Bing and the inimitable Ms quadrado uh the uh whole minutes of course are available on the district's uh Board committee's website we'll hit a few high points here we discussed again some of our committee goals for the year uh which included uh establishing a regular Cadence for review of the entire policy manual over the period of years so that we're staying on top of not only the policies that are referred for review by Strauss smme but looking at all of our policies to keep things fresh uh and looking at expanding the uh role of the committee into uh taking time to look at governance uh for the board and making sure that we are uh on top of uh best practices for the way that we are handling our operations generally uh also discussing developing a proactive and inclusive family engagement policy or strategy over the course of the next year to make sure that we are really intentional about uh having policies that are including and bringing in families and having good two-way communication there are three policies that are up for second read this evening uh policy 131 regarding our bylaws policies and regulations is being expanded this evening to mandate uh the district's uh development and incorporation of re uh regulations whenever a policy is uh adopted by the board uh including the need for a regulation this is going to help s of again keep us uh in a best practices situation of making sure we have regulations uh on the books when we need to which is a piece that is suffice to say a growth area for us uh policy 2260 regarding equity in school and classroom this was a major future update based upon changes in the law we made sure that the policy we're adopting includes the local language we had adopted before including calling out specifically making sure that we are uh highlighting and adopting uh specific curricula such as the Amistad curriculum African-American history aapi history history of disabled and LGBT populations Holocaust Education uh and uh reincorporating our local gender affirming language with regard to the operation of our athletic programs locker rooms and restrooms uh and policy 7610 regarding vandalism which just incorporates changes in the law there are no policies up for first read this evening however we do have a lot uh a substantial number of policies that are currently in discussion and farmed out to committees for review uh which include uh a new trench of policies given to us by Strauss asme policy alert 233 which are in the hands of committees and we anticipate a number of them will be ready for first read uh by next week's meeting uh we also uh discussed uh a uh a trio or maybe quartet I guess of volunteer athletic uh policies and making sure that we are up to dat with best practices again for making sure that we have adequate supervision and oversight of people who are coming into our district as volunteers that they're being uh supervised properly and adhering to uh all of the district requirements uh lastly we had a conversation I'm actually go back because uh board member gford raised an important point we had discussed policy uh 6220 regarding budget preparation uh looking at what uh we ought to be doing as far as making sure that we are tackling the budget in a way that is timely and appropriate and how much of that should go into a board policy versus a district regulation versus just their uh rulebook and uh there was some helpful language that uh board member uh Whit letter had put together for us in her research uh superintendent Bing is in the process of pulling together his own recommendations so we are uh we referred this policy to fft for initial review we're hoping to synergize in the next couple months as the district pulls together their recommendations and we can proceed from there uh and lastly we talked a little bit about best practices for uh the committee as far as the way it can run and uh referred that out for a broader discussion in the context of the uh the board retreat we held a few weeks ago and the second one that's going to be coming up in a couple weeks to make sure that all of our committees are running in a way that is best serving the board at large and refining after to the community thanks any questions I do want to just quickly note on in regards to policies uh um and just remind all of our students especially secondary students grades 6 to 12 uh that the district does require IDs to be worn in school um so once our schools have their ID distributed and that'll take a couple weeks as we get into the school year uh our expectation by policy is that students will wear those IDs uh for me as superintendent uh my first uh priority is the safety of our teachers and our staff and IDs for me is is a very big safety issue I want to make sure that the adults in the building know who is in the building uh and that our children in the building know who is in the building and who should and should not be in that building and IDs play a very large role in that uh so I do thank the policy committee for having that language in our policy in regards to requiring students great 6 through 12 to wear [Music] IDs okay well the um curriculum and instruction committee met uh last week on August 22nd at 6:30 with all members in attendance we started out by reviewing the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act resolution that's being presented tonight and we added some language as needed we focused specifically on funding needed to implement this successfully um funding is needed in many areas uh across our district but this is an excellent opportunity to really provide more climate and culture support to our students so um again thanks to board member dval Wilson for bringing this to us with the help of Shannon cuddle over at the um anti-bullying task force and the committee and to the board for giving input around that um the New Jersey school climate Improvement data was recently shared with principles and will be in our Friday packet so we're told tomorrow uh yeah tomorrow and it'll also be posted online we went next to the Fergus recommendations we received an update on where we stand with the timeline year one was really a lot about Building Systems and planting seeds to build momentum to take us forward um in line with recommendations about 120 teachers attended summer PD offered by the district coaches on a range of topics from growth mindset to Atlas and special education Eureka strategies for multilanguage Learners and more um teachers give feedback on the district PD at the end of each session five Educators also attended seed training this summer um for Dei support there there and we're on track to complete year two of the recommendations by the end of next year now that the necessary systems are in place year two will really be more of an action year we heard an update to the student cell phone pouches pilot program as Mr Bing has already described we also um discussed the naglieri data that was the the um gifted and talented screening that the students took um about 1500 students were tested last spring in grades 1 three and five the national average of very much above average students is about 3 to 5% we haven't completed testing yet but right now we have about two and a half% so far in that range with students at Seth boen and South Mountain having the same highest number of students Dr CA is connecting this data to the njss another acronym that um we talked a lot about earlier and she and her team are looking at the results of the naglieri to provide enrichment to students and to see which students should be considered for gifted action plans uh ref referrals there won't be a separate program but what we're looking at what kinds of instructional modifications can be embedded uh Dr CA will give families more details about the instructional modifications probably this fall um and the board will receive more of the data in October after the remainder of the students have been assessed so the current students in grades 1 three and five will be assessed and then that will complete the elementary students we um talked briefly about the NJ GPA data which we saw highlights of in the presentation earlier and we had a discussion around the budget we were informed that um every Department's request for supp supplies and other materials have been funded every Department's request yes has been funded by the district most money is spent at the beginning of the school year in cni so students and teachers have what they need for the year so K8 Math and Science they've made all their purchases Ela is almost done purchasing including new books and extra books the fine arts department which includes of course arts art classes music um they have everything requested and money in reserve for items like broken instruments replacing clay Etc ARP money from last school year allowed the cni department to offer supervisors extra funding for things Beyond just the basic supplies which was great for example Fine Arts received an additional $25,000 World Language Department um bought new textbooks and there's 50 ,000 left which will be used for instructional Innovation um with programs such as maple wood shop Lego robotics in the middle schools and while this funding model isn't sustainable it's reassuring to know that all the Departments will have what they need and a bit more for the school year and I also look forward uh with that said to creativity and collaboration across the district during the next budget cycle to see how we can get back on track to where we need to be in new business we discussed the literacy Bill recently signed by Governor Murphy and what it means to our district fortunately the district had already gotten ahead of the learning to read initiative the njala assessments place our students literacy above the 50 percentile in most buildings and just in just about all ethnic categories Dr Bean folks outlined how this was achieved and Mr Bing shared some of those highlights in his report earlier there is a new special dance curriculum uh being designed and there'll be more to come in the future on that and the district cni department has an Instagram page where they will share news and updates so it's sdore CI um and then we talked about policies mentioned by board member Meyer that were relevant to CN any questions okay sorry I have a question um that was a very good update you gave on actually many many topics that's fantastic but I was focusing a little bit on the GNT process that you mentioned is this something that is new I mean has was it there before and when it's a start date and the end date I know you said you'll be getting more data soon so what is the process for that yeah so this was the first year that the district uh ran the assessments so we just started in the spring typically I believe the assessments will be done in October on an annual basis but we just got started in the spring so we have to kind of we're catching up to get all of the other students um assessed in the fall so I guess my question was I me is this a new process does it exist before yes yeah this is new yeah this is a new process there was a program there was a program before but I remember in our first year uh that we started the data committee we discussed g&t and one of the issues they had was how do we identify more students so this program is about how do we identify more students for GNT right and it's also part of our our new multi-tiered system an iron RS process process so it'll be a tier three intervention uh for uh intensive enrichment that's good thank you and I think it's worth noting too as we speak about it as a board to reflect the language of the district right that that um gifted and talented isn't like a stand or break broken apart program but rather it's embedded in the Continuum of service that we provide right so I just want to make sure that like as a board we're communicating clearly to our stakeholders the community in what that really looks like right so it's not a pull out it's not a separate classroom it's really how do we embed these enrichment opportunities for our kids who need them um right within what's happening in classrooms and supporting teachers to be able to do that too um and I'm really excited um about the progress that that's been made and and the way that it's been articulated by our cni department so thank you we've discussed this previously uh it falls under the umbrella of neurod divergency uh if you look at it as a Contin uh you're gifted and talented enrichment falls under that umbrella of neuro divergency all right we'll move on to the action portion of the meeting at this time excuse me at this time I'd like to make a motion to move resolution numbers starting at 4646 through resolution number 4655 can I have a second second okay all right okay all right I have a quick comment to make is it for discussion hold on we're going to have board member dval Wilson come and then I'll have you okay go um yeah so one I wanted to just do some shoutouts those are always fun um so first shout out to board member um sh Sak Gable um thanks for like what thanks for reminding us um as we're voting on the committee assignments you reminded us hey this is a good time to change the name of our Fergus recommendation uh committee and people will it's called the ruter report implementation committee now so just thank you for helping keeping us moving forward on that as it was a recommendation from the last meeting um and I also want to thank as um Shaina said Thank former board member Shannon cuddle for bringing New Jersey's anti-bullying task Force's request for more funding to um our attention I really appreciated that they took the time to to to discuss this with me and share even more information with the board and I want to shout out my you know my team here thank you chair sha thank you Liz and Bill for working together as a team to finalize um this act and resolution and um I hope that it creates some Buzz which is what we need to um to get that money and um the resolution is of course for the community to read and see um why this is so important for our district so wanted to give those shout outs and then also thank you um um will for pushing through the bylaws policies and regulations policy I think that's so important it was something that we had discussed last year as a board of having a regulation like having some type of deadline of when we're going to have regulations after policies and it's so important to make sure that we're governing how the district is following suit when when we have new policies so I'm just really happy to see that that has come to fruition thanks very quickly action item four 655 as nuia just noted uh you know she said it was important for the district it's also important for the state um so you know kudos to uh our board members and former board members that were involved uh in this uh resolution and request for funding uh it's it sends a strong message PR Von lone so continuing with the uh the shout out and you know and flashing putting a spotlight on things I mean there are two committee changes changes that have happened which are actually I think very cool number one is the policy committee is now being called policy and governance committee and actually that's very very important because not only do we need to understand what the policy does but also follow it through down its again using the word Continuum all the way down to see helping the administration kind of you know come up with regulations and also ensuring that we capture the feedback cycle to improve the policy right that's number one and number two I'm extremely happy to see that the special ed committee we used to have before is now the special services committee which is a standing committee I mean in terms of Everyday Use maybe it doesn't change a whole lot but I think what is very important is that we are signaling to the community at Large this is an important committee that deserves a permanent position it is no longer that's what a special committee meant it was you know a temporary committee but now this is a permanent committee along with fft and cni and policy and Personnel so those are two things I wanted to highlight all right I think we all ready to vote welome okay board member Callahan yes board member dval Wilson yes board member gford yes board member Meyer yes board member sacket Gable yes board president tford yes board member board member VOD lamman yes okay motion pass all right we'll have our second hearing of individuals and delegations all right with that we'll have new business and I'd like to give the floor to miss del Garcia Andre and you want to do the yours first and then I'll go last do do they have any anybody have any new business no okay the floor is yours thank you okay so I want to thank uh board president tford for the opportunity to speak um I have a few things I have to say so uh this district has the ability to be great as well as do great things but when some members of the board allow themselves to be influenced by outside forces the ability for administration to accomplish these things are undermined the role of the board is to govern and set policy it is not their role to manage the day-to-day operations of the district when some board members excuse me when some members of the board oversteep this boundary the ability of administration to do their job is compromised and the district is feeling the negative impact of this with that being said there are a few people I'd like to acknowledge board president tford first vice president V lamman and board member Meyer I appreciate your support of the business office and I thank you for that next to the senior leadership team I wish you all the luck in the world going forward Mr Bing thank you for allowing me to barge into your office and bother you I hope I wasn't too much of a nuisance I appreciate your support and I wish you luck as well I would be remiss if I didn't mention Mr Jerry Ford Mr Tom jilo and Mr Stanley vales their knowledge and support as well as the support of their staff is greatly appreciated and I want to thank them for that and finally to the staff of the business office their knowledge and commitment to to doing the right thing is something I appreciate and want to acknowledge and I want to thank them for their support not only for the last two months but but for the last nine years I have been here I could not have done this job without them but most importantly I want to thank them for their friendship because really without that I'm not sure I could have done this job at all thank [Applause] you all right with that the Board of Education will meet in public session on Thursday September 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the district meeting room at 5:25 Academy Street in Maple New Jersey immediately following the opening a public session the board will move to go into a closed session in the superintendent's office at 525 Academy Street in Maplewood New Jersey as well as using an online video conference platform to discuss Personnel matters within the training client privilege legal negotiations and other matters that may arise and require discussion to be announced at a later date immediately following the closed session the Board of Education will meet in public session made to be at 7:30 p.m. in the district meeting room at 525 Academy Street in Maple New Jersey in person utilizing an online video conference platform which will include hearing of individuals the community can view the meeting by following the steps which will be listed on the agenda if there are members of the community who would like to attend the meeting in person please note that mask and social distancing are optional in accordance with the guidance received from the local do and the CDC action will be taken with that like to make a motion to close meeting thank you board Callan all in favor I and we are adjourned At 9:34 p.m. [Music]