Resolve that the board of education closes executive session and enters back into the public portion of the meeting at 7:28 p.m. Barbara, may may we have a roll call, please? >> Miss Collier, >> here. >> Dr. Hinkle, >> here. >> Dr. Martinez, >> here.
>> Miss Mcichel. Mr. Mr. Morris, Miss Saraphino >> here, >> Miss Williams >> here, >> Mr. Wood >> here, >> and Miss Gagnum >> present. >> Forum confirmed. >> Thank you. Uh, nothing for district recognitions tonight, so we'll be moving right into our presentation portion of
the meeting. And we have our vice president, Chad Wood, presenting on our strategic planning process. >> Hello everybody. >> Uh, how do I turn the mic? Oh, there we go. Okay, very good. >> All right. Well, hello everybody. My name is Chad Wood. I'm really excited to present our strategic planning progress
update for you tonight. This is going to be in regards to our board goals and our about a year-to-ate overview. So, to start off, the purpose is to share progress in the board's uh goals over the last year, highlighting key achievements and outlining the steps ahead. So, to start us off in terms of our board certification or sorry, I keep
saying that wrong, certification progress. Some of our key highlights. Uh this year we're able to get our self-ealuation completed and we have some personal focus areas identified for the board. In terms of our training hours, we're over halfway to our annual target and we have a policy audit
partnership active with the NGSBA. Um so in terms of our next step is to complete our remaining trainings and address focus areas from our self- valuation. In terms of our QAC readiness, uh some of our highlights uh include uh that our QAC self-evaluation performed and submitted to the NJDOE uh department of
education and the QAC district monitorings took place on time as scheduled. So our next steps would be to review the QAC results upon receipt and identify areas of strength and improvement and develop planning accordingly from there. In terms of some grant exploration, uh we have a
partnership activated with Millennium Strategies. This has been already seeing results for us in terms of our dreams grant awarded for the nurtured heart approach. I talked about this a few months ago um in terms of the curriculum minutes but uh this approach is really significant. It's it's pretty inspiring actually in terms of you're teaching
teachers new approaches on how to handle students the appropriate way and then they diffuse that down through teaching other teachers. So you teach a few teachers and slowly over time it's going to disseminate to the whole district. So, it's really exciting. And in terms of our next steps, we have to continue uh continue using targeted grant
applications and to track awards and outcomes. In terms of our policy updates, uh we do have a policy list that identifies dates of last revisions for our policy and this is created. This is a big deal in and of itself in terms of tracking. Um because you need to have a starting point of know to know when you last edited it and where uh where
you're at. Um so, we have started our summer review cycle that's in progress and we've initiated the policy wellness check through the NGSBA. Um, so our next steps would be for the personnel and policy committee to begin addressing updated policies by date um in partnership with the board attorney and the NJSBA.
Oops, sorry about that. In terms of our strategic plan alignment, this is a bigger one. Uh, the board focus is aligned with the district's five-year plan. We're going to have board VP meetings with the superintendent in the spring, although this is something we're still trying to flesh out in terms of the best way to really evaluate the superintendent. Um, and we do have
ongoing uh board progress across identified areas, especially in terms of communications. Uh we have a board of ed admin newsletter that's been introduced and has been releasing. We have made immense referendum progress and a lot of committee progress. And in terms of some of our next steps, we are going to
establish a review cadence on leadership check-in opportunities in the fall. And we're going to reinstate the strategic planning ad hoc committee after the referendum vote. I don't know if you noticed, but the strategic planning committee has fallen back a little bit as we've gotten our plans um into coordination because we only have nine members. So we have to split our split
our time and priorities efficiently. Uh so after the referendum is through then we're going to transition back to strategic planning. And in terms of some of these summaries and outlooks. So some of our key takeaways is we have a lot of foundational progress this year. Especially coming from the fact that we haven't had a lot of these plans to
reference back on for the past few years. This really does give us a strong place to start and a strong place to come back to and think, okay, how can we do better next year? Additionally, several goals um are awaiting external input, but progress has been made across all areas, and we're positioning ourselves for the next phases, and we're
well positioned to establish new and continuing goals given our experience and progress. And in terms of some of our actual next steps, uh the board referendum uh process concludes in September. Then we're going to reestablish the strategic planning committee in about October. We're going to continue uh grant exploration
throughout this time. Um and our policy review and revisions uh for the upcoming school year are gonna uh going to start to come out and you're going to see them big things coming. Um to continue that the NJ SBA um board certification trainings are going to continue in early October to assess board goals in light of progress and district priorities. We
know we've had some trouble scheduling, but you got to consider in the summer with nine people trying to get qu of at least seven, it can be very challenging to get all seven, especially with random vacations. It can be one person's week off might affect our entire date. Um, additionally, we're going to set new goals adding board norms to be approved
at the October board meeting. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me? >> All right. >> Thank you, Chad. Um, and just to point one item uh, regarding the NJSBA board's uh, certification process. This board is committed to becoming board certified
through the NJSBA. Uh, as Chad mentioned, we unfortunately had to postpone our August training due to quorum concerns. Again, we do need seven uh committed members being able to be here. Uh but I would just like to personally thank uh Kurt is not here tonight. Uh but Lauren as well, either
or both Kurt have agreed, despite departing uh their roles in a few months, they have agreed to help us complete our board certification training in early October, which will allow us to revisit setting board goals for the year. Uh we also intend to add board norms to that process as well,
which is exciting for us. Um so again, I just wanted to extend our our thanks. I know our current board appreciates it. We're also obviously going to open that up to the public, but uh incoming board members will also have the opportunity to participate as well and I think learning from your experience and having you part of the process will be very
valuable to them. So, thank you for that. Um and moving on, let's see, we have uh moving on to our next presentation, our access, excuse me, access scores by uh Dr. Andrew Buchanan. Thank you so much.
>> Good evening, members of the board, administration, friends, and neighbors of the Sparta community. Uh tonight, I'd like to um share a brief overview of 202425 access uh results for our multilingual
learners. So the access is a nationally recognized uh annual English language proficiency assessment for K12 students. It measures listening, speaking, reading and writing with reading and writing making up 70%
of the overall score and listening and speaking making up the other 30. The state requires an overall score of 4.5 for students to exit this uh for our our multilingual learner program. Once they reach that benchmark, they're
monitored for two years to ensure continued success. Parents receive score reports in both English and in their home language and are reminded annually of their right to decline services. This will all be um provided uh on
public website. So the information if you have specific questions feel free to ask me or follow up with me in due course. So when we look at the results if you look at top across the top line you'll see that there are a number of students and percentage in these um
different categories. The reason I don't have numbers of specific students in there, just if you're concerned or worried or interested, is that in some cases the number goes below 10, which is a way of um identifying potential individuals.
So, we don't do that for any set group less than 10. So, I've provided percentages, but I have the information if you wish it uh board members particularly if you have any questions. You'll notice that the scores are
primarily focused at the uh the developing level uh with a strong growth uh especially in oral language acquisition. Writing remains our greatest challenge with near nearly half of our students still in the developing range.
However, when we look at our successes, I'm just going to quickly show you um a two-year trend with our different five uh schools. So, the blue is uh 202425 and the orange is the year previous or
prior. So, you can see that listening comprehension at Alpine is improving. Um and again we're talking about kindergarten to second grade. So they're still learning in many respects.
You can see here u Mohawk Avenue we have growth. Um in some cases it is very much individual uh uh depending on children where they're coming from in the world. there's sport at home. Uh
there there um a whole range of factors that go into whether or not someone is going to uh to improve uh dramatically or not. So you can also see that right across the board of the three uh K5 schools we're seeing
progress uh in each uh category. Um middle school as you can imagine those years are not so easy. So we are seeing sort of um not dramatic growth but also not any particular declines. Uh and then
at the high school level we are seeing um overall um progress in a number of different areas. So when we look at success uh to celebrate, we're seeing consistent growth in individual English
language proficiency across the grade levels and students are demonstrating more uh confidence and a deeper engagement with their learning. Teachers across the district are collaborating closely and we can see clear evidence that professional development is having
a positive impact on classroom uh practice. Our district has been able to retain our staff, our ESL staff and grow our capabilities which is providing continuity for our students and has the capacity of not only growing but
developing and uh and and strengthening overall. We're using data more strategically to guide our supports. And we're also seeing stronger family schools uh partnerships uh and increasing collaboration with the community organizations in the wider
community such as the Sparta Benevolent Society. They funded a wonderful um field trip, the first field trip that most of our if not all of our multilingual learners had ever been on, which was a wonderful thing for the Sparta Elevant Society to be a part of.
Together, these efforts are helping students transition more successfully as they work towards the state exit criteria. Equally encouraging is the uh is the positive school climate that we're building for our multilingual learners. They're not only learning English, but they're becoming more
confident, active uh participants in their academic environments. And none of this progress would be po would be possible without the tireless dedication of our two outstanding ESL teachers, the support of the wider teaching uh staff
across the district and the leadership of our administration and this uh and you the members of the board in supporting us. Your commitment is making a real difference for these students and for their famil family's lives. In terms of challenges,
um, there are with the successes, we have to acknowledge the challenges many of our students face. Interrupted schooling, depending where they're from, housing instability, refugee trauma, and a wide variety in prior educational experiences. These factors add
complexity to language learning. But our staff remains deeply committed to meeting our students where they are and helping them uh in order to succeed. So in closing, um while literacy remains our greatest area
for growth, consistent progress, positive engagement, teacher collaboration, and a supportive climate that we're building together are powerful indicators of success. With your continued leadership, our multilingual learners will not only
achieve academically, but will thrive as valued members of our school community. And for that, I thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Moving on to our next presentation. >> Mr. President, could I have an as question? >> Oh, please. Yes, Dr. Buchanan. And I'm
sorry, we actually have a question from one of our board members. Sorry about that. >> The mini statistician and me has a question. So in the longitudal study of two years is your population do they have to be in the population is for the two years or do you allow population to
grow from year to year? >> So basically what I've done is I have looked at the individual's uh um reports on so if they go from 9th to 10th grade I'm looking at their growth
9th to 10th grade and putting them together. So like for example, if someone goes from 8th to 9th, uh I'm I'm including them with the cohort that they're I'm including them and looking at them as they are going.
>> What if someone comes in end of nth grade and then they go into 10th grade? Would you include them in the population? >> So when and the only reason I asked is that some of that drop could be statistically drop because they're not in the cohort. >> Right. So we have a we have an issue
with transient >> right >> students coming in and out during the the school year. So I have if I don't include them if they don't complete the full year and I don't include them if they've only got one year of statistics to go with. Okay. >> So it's only if there's two years for me
to be able to show whether or not there's there's growth on that particular child. >> Otherwise it didn't make sense to me to be able to >> Yeah. Yeah. Could that could happen very easily. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> No, not at all. Anyone else?
>> Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you, Rocky. Moving on to our next presentation, we have our superintendent, Dr. Matthew Beck, presenting on chronic absenteeism corrective action plans. >> Thank you. Good evening. As Miss Gagnon said, I am going to present on our uh
chronic absenteeism. Um, I'm going to share what chronic absenteeism is, the uh latest statistics on our chronic absenteeism throughout the district, and uh what we are doing to try to uh continue to um decrease uh the chronic absenteeism rates across the district. A
lot of what you're going to see this evening is um a repeat of last year's presentation in that uh I'm going to explain a lot about what chronic absenteeism is and what the requirements are when it comes to action plans. um
just to uh just to educate you on the process of chronic absenteeism and and and then again what we are doing about it as a school district. So the definition of chronic absenteeism according to the NJ DOE a student is considered chronically absent if the
student misses 10% or more of the school days in session for which the student was enrolled. 10% of the student's school year equates to 18 days. So if a student were to miss 18 or more days, that student is
considered chronically absent. When the number of students that are chronically absent in a school exceed 10%, the number of students exceeds 10% um then we are required to come up with a corrective action plan. Uh as you'll see
in a minute, uh I'll show you the statistics for the for each school uh and compare it to last year. Uh each school is still over that 10% threshold, but you will see a decrease in four out of the five schools uh when it comes to chronic absenteeism.
Facts about chronic absenteeism. A student is chronically absent if they missed as many as two days of school in a month. Evidence indicates that uh it's how many days a student misses that matters, not why they miss. Um attending school every
day increases the chances of success. Chronic absenteeism is a primary cause of low academic achievement and a powerful predictor of students who may eventually drop out of school. Chronic absenteeism is not the same as truency. In New Jersey, truency is defined as having 10 or more unexcused absences.
We'll get into excused and unexcused. Whereas a student in New Jersey is typically declared chronically absent if they have 18 or more excused and/or unexcused absences within a school year by the sixth grade. Along with GPA, absenteeism is a top predictor of uh
dropout. According to the NJDOE, as we have to have corrective action plans for chronic absenteeism, those action plans must have these components. Uh you must have a problem-solving team. Um we last year was the first formal process of having
chronic absenteeism uh teams and those teams have been combined. Usually those weren't brand new teams that were formed. Um sometimes those would be RTI teams or they would be the data teams in a building. Um each building has established a team but they already rol they rolled it into a team that already
existed. There wasn't just a chronic absenteeism team. it was already a team that was talking about uh remediation or already a team that was um designed to talk about data or something else. database decision- making as I just said
um the job of these teams is to assess to build supports and protocols and to implement and monitor which we have done over the course of the past year and sustainability uh standardize and embed practices which we have done um ongoing research and PD which we do and review
and revise it's in red because that's the stage that we're at um when comparing it to last year's uh chronic absenteeism more about the need for chronic absenteeism action plans. The New Jersey statute is there. Um, and again, it just says what I said before that if you have
10% of your students in a school building, you are required to have a chronic absenteeism action plan. That action plan must identify problems and barriers in school to school attendance. Develop recommendations to address the problems and barriers. Outline
communication strategies to educate and inform parents of the importance of school attendance. Establish protocols for informing and engaging parents when a child begins to show a pattern of absences and review school policies to ensure they support improved school attendance. If you recall last year, we did revise that uh regulation for
attendance. Okay, before I get into the actual statistics, I want to uh just explain how these statistics work. So, the school performance report comes out in April of each year. there is there is
a lag when it comes to what those school performance reports show when it comes to chronic absenteeism and other statistics for that matter. So when the latest school performance report came out in April of 25, that school performance report reflected
the chronic absenteeism rates not for that current school year, the 2425 school year, but rather the year before, the full school year before. So the performance report in April of 25, the statistics that you see here reflected the 23 24 chronic absenteeism rate. Um
we have to base our corrective action plans on that school performance report and what the DOE gives you as statistics even with that one-year lag. That's how it goes. I can tell you um in Genesis we have the capability of running statistics. So, um, as we were looking
at our action plans, as we were looking at the statistics from the 23 24 school year, we were curious to see, well, we put major measures in place for the 2425 school year. And although that's not what I can report on this evening, um, we did run those reports out of Genesis,
a chronic absenteeism report. And I can tell you the statistics that you see up here in four out of the five schools, you see a decrease in chronic absenteeism. The report that we ran, although I cannot formally report on it because as as I just explained, um the
report that we ran for the 24-25 school year shows an even uh another decrease on top of the 2324. So the good news is the measures that we have in place appear to be working in that we are decreasing sometimes significantly. Um
the one anomaly that we are seeing is you're seeing a decrease in all four school in all in four of the five schools and even that latest report that we ran you see a decrease in four of the five schools. Somehow the Sparta High School is the outlier in that you see a bit of an increase here in the chronic
absenteeism rate. That's what that school is going to focus on this year with their data teams. We need to figure out exactly why um all the other schools are dropping and the high school um is rising uh you know it's rising 2.3% in
this case but you can see the chronic absenteeism rates from the 23 24 school year and compare them to the 20 uh the 22 23 school year which is what I reported on last year at this time. And again you can see our rates um the first
and third column how they have decreased and you can see what the state how we compared to the state average as well. So um again you see in Alpine Elementary School which was the highest last year you saw the biggest decrease which is great news uh that that the measures
that we are putting in place are working. So, um, Alpine went from 24% chronic absenteeism. That's almost one of one in four students were chronically absent in 22 23, a very high number. You can see that went down to 15.5%. Mohawk Avenue decreased from 17.8 to
15.2. Helen Morgan also decreased 17.4 to 15.5. Sparta Middle School 16.2 to 12.7. And you see a slight rise as I mentioned in Sparta High School. I can tell you it's it's it's more informal as I've stated now multiple times about the
reports that we're running, but um the report that we ran, four out of the five continued to decrease um and actually Sparta Middle School was under the 10%. Now, that's the report that we're running locally. We just got to make sure that that is the same statistics that the uh state is going to use when
I'm talking to you next year at this time. Last year, we revised the regulation for attendance. Um, and just to clarify for everyone or to reiterate, um, there's the NJ DOE recognizes two types of
absences. There's state excused and state unexcused. Um, so no matter what we decide as a school district to be excused or unexcused, uh, outside of what the state acknowledges, uh, the state's going to say that that from the state perspective is an unexcused
absence. So, hypothetically, if we said, well, if a parent gives us a doctor's note, that's excused. The state says that's fine if that's how you guys want to run it. But um that's not what we look at. The only excused absences as far as the state is concerned um there's
a list of them actually on the next but there's state excused absences and that's how we get to the chronic absenteeism for NJ DOE reporting. The only absences that do not count toward chronic absenteeism are state excused absences as I just stated. In addition to state excused, statute allows districts to establish their own locally excused
absences within policy, but still does not affect the state's statistics. Absences outside of the listed state excused and locally excused absences are what count toward chronic absenteeism and truency. I think one of the biggest misconceptions going into this past
school year after I presented this was that um parents were worried that if their students were missing a couple of days of school that we were going to file for truency. That is not the case. Um truency um is filed for when there are extend extreme I'm sorry extreme
circumstances of students not coming to school basically refusing to come to school or parents refusing to send their students to school. Um, and when you're talking about chronic absenteeism, think about 18 absences. When parents are worried about, well, was that excused? Was that unexcused? Your child gets 18.
Well, 18 puts you in the 10%. You Your child gets 17 absences during a school year. That does not put you in the chronically absent uh category. 17 absences is a lot of absences. Uh, think about missing that many days of school and all the work that you miss and and
what we try to do to keep students in school because of that. Um, so that was a misconception going into this past school year. Parents were worried, oh my goodness, my my students missed seven days of school. Am I going to get, you know, are they going to come after me for truency or anything like that? No,
you get there there's a there's a a lot of wiggle room there. Here, uh, policy 5200, reasons for excused absences. You can see the state excused absences. That is nothing that we decide as a school district. that is the state establishes that these are
when the state looks at student absences and how they're reported from our school district. If we report an absence for one of those reasons on the left hand column then the state says fine that absent doesn't count actually toward chronic absenteeism and you can see what
they are um on the right hand side um those are the locally excused absences. So that's what we decided as a school district when we revised the regulation last year. Um that in addition to the state excused absences, locally excused absences would be what you see there on
the right hand column. And again, just to reiterate, uh the state when running the numbers doesn't really look at what we count as local excuse. That doesn't matter to them. Um but that matters to us and it matters to us when we're communicating to parents and and if we have concerns about student absences. if they're outside of any of these things,
that's when we start to really uh implement the corrective action plans, the corrective action plans because the statistics have continued to decrease uh we haven't revised those action plans very much if at all uh because they appear to be working. So you see the
tier one strategies, tier one strategies are strategies we use for all students uh when it comes to academics, yes, but also when it comes to um absences. And you can see what we do there for tier one strategies. This is for all students. They get letters sent home when they hit those certain uh tiers. We
promote and encourage student attendance and we enc integrate the importance of attendance into teacher lessons. The tier two and the tier three strategies, these are your uh more unique cases, the students that are really racking up the absences um and that we start to really have concerns about besides, you know, a
student being sick or a student having to um you know, a regular a reason for a regular absence. When we start to really get concerned about absences, we start to implement tiers two and three. And that's where we would implement uh teacher and staff check-ins for students at risk of chronic absenteeism. We call
parents in to see what kind of supports we can offer, see what the uh what issues, what challenges the families might be facing at home that we can help with. We would establish individualized goals for those students and those families and possible truency filings. Uh that's really extreme and it would have to be a really extreme case when
we're talking about truency. Chronic absenteeism is an issue obviously in Sparta. You can see the statistics. We're still above the 10% but it's not unique to Sparta. Uh it's an issue locally, statewide, and nationwide. Um each Sparta school has measures in place to track students
absences and communicate with parents and to support those students. Um we do continue to encourage parents worried about absences. If your child is sick, your child is sick. Please do not send them into school. It's not good for the child. It's not good for other
children as well. So, uh just because of this, uh regulation and this policy, don't send your child to school sick. That's not what this is about. Our goal is to work with parents and students to ensure students attend school regularly, which will lead to their success. And we acknowledge that there are circumstances
that require students to miss school. And like I said before, there are circumstances, and you get 17 of those circumstances throughout the school year, which is a high number. So again, there's a lot of flexibility there. This presentation will be linked on the website as it was last year. When this presentation is linked on the website,
when you go to the last slide, you can see each school's individual. Those are all hyperlinks. Each school's individual chronic absentism corrective action plan. >> Any questions from the board? >> I have one question, Dr. Beck. In regards to the new policy we put in
place, we were careful as a policy committee to make sure that >> in deferring in some instances from the state's definition for credits and graduation requirements that we still locally excuse some some absences that
the state may have not included. In your opinion and the administration, have you seen any uh any additional instances that need to be revised in that policy or do you think it's it's working well to ensure that our students that are obviously working hard to graduate, get retain credit or keep? >> That's a good question, Lauren, because
that is some that is a conversation that we had when we were looking at the statistics, when we were looking at revising and updating our corrective action plans. Not just looking at the corrective action plan, but looking at the policy. Um, no. Early on, uh, there was some ironing out to do and that just came from, uh, misconceptions, maybe a
miscommunication, uh, between the district and parents, uh, misunderstandings. Uh, that was the probably the biggest issue that we faced, uh, going into last year. But as as the school year went along, parents uh, we were able to communicate more, parents were able to understand more, and um, that was the
biggest issue I think we faced last year, we looked at it, and at no point did we say, "Oh man, a lot of students are missing for this case, and it's not in there. Maybe we should add it." There was there was no such circumstance. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Dr. V. [Applause] >> So, seeing as our student representatives are still enjoying their summers, we're going to move on to an approval of the minutes. May please have a motion to approve the minutes. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Emily. Second.
>> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> thank you. >> And then moving on to our superintendent report. >> Thank you. I'll begin by speaking of our student
representatives. Um I will acknowledge them once again. Actually, they are um chomping at the bid. They're ready to go. They asked if they should or could attend. Uh I said they could attend this meeting and there was no obligation. and we really don't look at the student representatives starting until the September meeting, but they uh they all
three of them reached out to me and they were asking um so they're ready to go and we are looking forward to working with them. So on this evening's agenda, you can see that we are formerly appointing our student representatives for the 2526 school year. These students have been elected by their peers to
serve in this role as leaders of the Sparta High School student council. Next week, they along with student reps from all of the other high schools in the county will be trained on the operations of the board of education and their role as student representatives by
our New Jersey school boards association representative. At next month's meeting, we will be joined by our student representatives who are Abigail Weissek, Hayden Copco, and for the first time, we're going to have an alternate uh in Jason Caswell. Uh the alternate um was a
good idea. um that was brought forth I believe by Miss Deluchia. Um because these students are student representatives for a reason and that's because they're super active and because they're super active they tend to miss board meetings. So uh having that alternate um was was a was a good idea.
Um we are hosting that training next week as a at the high school um for all students in the county. So um I will be attending that. I'm really looking forward to it actually. So, um, moving on to, uh, one retirement on this evening's agenda that I would like to
acknowledge. That is Diane Sim. She is a teacher assistant at Alpine Elementary School, and Miss Sim has served the district for 15 years. So, congratulations and best wishes to her. A referendum update. By now, everyone should be well aware that our community
will vote on the bond referendum on Tuesday, September 16th. All of the regular polling stations will be open on that day from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We have been working hard to provide the community with all the information they need in order to make an informed decision at the polls. We have sent a
postcard mailer to all of Sparta Township's residents, held a virtual community forum last week, and continue to keep our website, which is sparta.org/vote, updated with the most current information. On September 9th, one week before the vote, we will host an
in-person community forum at Alpine Elementary School at 7 p.m. We look forward to providing the opportunity for our community to vote on the future of Sparta Township Public Schools. On this evening's agenda under operations, you can see a resolution to
approve a five-year facility use contract with Sporting Club Premiere, which is a successful soccer program that has been utilizing our facilities for over a year. The long-term contract includes their continued use of our facilities while paying the regular
facility use fees. They're providing two $500 scholarships each year to two of our students. soccer equipment purchases that would benefit them as well as us and most importantly a donation not to exceed $100,000 to upgrade our cardio
fitness room facilities with state-of-the-art cardio equipment and turf flooring. This contract this contract has been in the works for quite some time and I'm happy to have it on this evening's agenda for approval which will benefit all of our students.
For the second straight year, Sparta High School earned high national and metro area rankings in 25 26 best high schools which uh US News released new US News and World Report released on Tuesday. By earning a national ranking in the top
40%, Sparta High School achieved status as a US News best high school. And lastly, I would like to welcome all of our parents, students, teachers, and staff to the 2526 school year. Our new teachers report for orientation on
Monday morning, and all of our staff returns for two professional development days on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. We then welcome our students back on Tuesday, September 2nd. All of our 12-mon staff has been working hard all summer and we are ready to embark on
what will undoubtedly be another successful school year in Sparta Township public schools. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Moving on to the board president's report. Uh just a few items I have as well to follow up on a lot of what Dr. Beck has said. Uh we have open houses this weekend next.
The board wishes all students, staff, teachers, parents, and administration the very best in the coming weeks as the district prepares to reopen its doors. Uh, I'll predominantly refer defer to Dr. Beck's superintendent report for the referendum updates. Uh, but I would also like to thank the constituents who have
joined our virtual forums, uh, sent emails with questions pertaining to the referendum. And of course, I'd like to remind everyone, as this is our last board meeting before the referendum vote, please make sure you do have a plan in place to vote on September 16th. And with that, we will move on
to Let me have Please, may I have a motion to approve the HIP report? >> Motion. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Thank you, Rocky. Seconded by Lauren. Uh, discussion. Okay. May we have a roll call, please?
[Music] >> Yes. >> Dr. Martinez. >> Yes. Saraphino. >> Yes. >> Miss Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Paris. >> Thank you. Emily, do we have anything
for communications that we'd like to highlight? >> Um the August newsletter will be out probably by early next week. We're working on it now. After the end of the meeting, we'll put in the final details. >> Thank you so much. And then for moving on for our delegate and liaison reports, does anyone have anything they'd like to
report out from their delegate or liaison meetings? I just wanted to touch base on Garden State Coalition of Schools as I know that our contract uh with them an annual renewal and I you know as you know I will be taking a little leave from our
my duties of being a school board member. It's been a great four years, but I do need a break with my family. But, um, I have really benefited from our membership in the Garden State Coalition of Schools. And, uh, you know, I I leave that really up to you guys with whether you want to continue, but I
do feel that their advocacy, their testimony um, on key issues that affect us in the day the day-to-day schools for administrators and teachers and our students in Trenton is probably invaluable, you know, and that's really what we're supporting. and Emily and I have um you know had the opportunity and
and Dr. Beck as well to attend many of their meetings um when they're held usually when they're held online when they're a little closer. But um tremendous group of people we've connected with at school boards and um I think it's still you know they haven't raised their rates. It's a it's a
nominal investment in having really great advocacy for our public schools. >> Thank you, Lauren. Anyone else have anything? The only thing I'd like to highlight, the ideas committee did meet um and we're very proud of the work that was done in that meeting. As always, it was
super collaborative. We opened it up to a few more members than usual. Uh just to brainstorm and really consider a bunch of things and I anticipate we'll have more to report out on that in the next month or so, but some topics included staff wellness, uh referendum, of course, upcoming day of discovery, uh
and a few potential policy revisions, uh and handbook discussions that were held. So, thank you as always for that great committee work. Um, and if no one else has anything else, we'll be moving on to public comment number one. Public comments are invited on matters
pertaining only to action items at this time. Please state the action item number as well as your name, municipality, and group affiliation if appropriate for the record. Each participate, excuse me, each participant will receive three minutes to speak. Once you have had your allotted three minutes to speak, you will not be
permitted to speak again until public comment number two. All statements should be directed to me as the presiding officer. The board or administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the conclusion of the public participation. Hello, good to see you again. Um
Jenny Derk's tap into Sparta. The first was about 15.16 and 15.17 overload stipens. It seems like we have a significant number especially at the high school in the area of special ed. And I'm just wondering if these are anticipated to continue through the
whole year or if this is just a a fix until we have some staffing solutions. Uh 15.21 preschool. Do we know how many um I'm sure you know how many uh sections do we have in district and how
many sections are out of district and do we know if there are how many students were not able to be accommodated in our program this year and then 18.2 2 NJ DOE pea waiver. Uh what are the elements of
the preschool prek program that we're seeking a waiver for? Is this typical? Is this something we do each year? Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else have anything? Okay, seeing one motion to close. Thank
you, Emily. Second. >> Thank you, Rebecca. All in favor? >> Any oppose? Any abstensions? Any discussion? Yeah. Uh the overload sections um has been pretty consistent over the past couple of years. Uh the number of
overloads um they are obviously as you can see the rationale is the number of sections that we have. Um we have gone through this each year um at budget time. We go through the idea of well if there's five overload sections would it be cheaper to
hire a teacher? And the answer is no. Um so we continue to operate with those overloads. The need is there. The question becomes personnel and what is most cost effective and what works operationally. And uh this is this is the answer to that. Uh these overloads
as opposed to hiring a teacher um who would cost more between the overload their salary and then uh the benefits. It's a cost effective as well. prek sections. Um, at Alpine, we have
>> Go ahead. >> We have, >> you can say overall. >> Yeah, we have eight in district, six at Alpine, two at Helen Morgan, and this year there will be three out of district, two at the Gddard School, and one at Little Genius People, which is new for this year. And 182, you asked about the waivers, and the waivers are
actually just for classroom size, and it's the classroom size at the Gddard School only. >> Thank you. Okay, we'll move on. May I please have a motion to move items, personnel and policy items 15.1 through 15.34.
>> And I have one to remove, please. That would be um 15.8, the temporary transfer. I'm just going to um totally remove that from the agenda. >> Perfect. Thank you. So, may I have a motion to move items 15.1 through 15.34,
removing item 15.8 as as amended. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Emily. Second. Thank you, Rebecca. Any discussion? Since Kurt isn't here, uh we can It was pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of personnel and policy. I would just call attention. Any of the policy updates
that were seen uh were the result of a Strauss estate policy alert. Um so, nothing major to draw attention to, but it's covered in our agenda and it'll also be covered in the newsletter as well if anyone has specific questions. Um, and with that, may we have a roll call, please?
>> Miss Collier, >> yes. >> Dr. Hankle, >> yes. Abain from 15.6 and >> Dr. Martinez. Um item 15.5 no to Craig Gianano rest to a substitute
and you rest to the uh section 15. >> Miss Saraphino, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> And Miss Gagnen, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. May I next have a motion to
uh to move items curriculum instruction and special services items 16.1 through 16.13. Motion. >> Thank you, Chad. Second. >> Thank you, Rebecca. Discussion. >> Yes, I have some discussion for us today. Um, yeah, we had a pretty great
meeting. I always love working with Miss Rossy because you can kind of and not she's not here tonight, unfortunately, but you can kind of frame any question at her and she'll give you an answer. So, one question that we brought up was the idea of implementing a junior ROC program. Um, and previously the costs were too costly. Um, and frankly that
still is what we're seeing today is that it's very costly and we are considering potential grants for such initiatives. But, um, we are exploring the potential for grant opportunities um for part and along with partnerships for um, outside businesses to secure necessary funds um, for more programming as part of high
school especially in terms of clubs or um, things of that nature. Um we had the great access uh presentation from Mr. Buchanan today which I thought was very informative. Um and just one additional note that I think is important to mention is that uh we re we annually review um the outlines for how districts
screen students in terms of support services but also for the gifted and talented program. So I just wanted to give that a mention because it is something that is reviewed every single year and not everyone is always happy with their math placements but um it is constantly being reviewed and restrutinized um to be the best that it can be.
Thank you, Chad. May we have a roll call, please? >> Miss Collier, >> yes. Dr. Hinkle, >> yes. >> Dr. Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Saraphino, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> And Miss Gagnum? >> Yes. >> Motions carry.
>> Thank you. May I have a motion to move items finance items 17.1 through 17.16, although we'll have Barbara Reed 17.16 as amended. Okay. 1716
had some uh blank information on it. So that information will be filled in. Resolve that the board of education hereby appoints the law for law firm of Chason Lampereell, Malin, and Capuzo as general board counsel effective 101 of
2025 per terms of its RFP dated August 7th, 2025. >> Thank you, Barbara. May I have a motion? >> Thank you, Rebecca. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Emily. Any discussion? >> Yeah, I just want to go through a few
things. Uh, every all parents who are waiting for their children to get started school, just know that transportation is going to be ready. Um, there's some good um cooperation between the board of ed and department of public works. They're going to pave some areas
around the schools. Summer cleanings are going to be on time, which is always good to hear. Um, just so that everybody understands that when the board says we're going to do something, we do something. A new demand that we approved was received and uh Chris was very happy
about that. Uh, water bottle filters were cleaned in the schools which is good for the start of school. And I'd like to end with saying thank you to the where did we go here? um Alpine PTO for
donating $1,000 for landscaping uh for the 25262 school 2-year. We greatly appreciate anything that could help the schools look better. Um and that's it. >> Thank you. Anyone else for discussion? >> I guess just speaking to 17.6. Um
I just want to let my fellow members know that I will I will be a no on that. And I've been very pleased. Sorry. >> 16. >> Sorry. >> I'm sorry. What? >> You said 176. It's okay. 17.16. I think it is. >> Okay. 17.16. Um, I will be a no. I've
been very pleased with our current firm with Shank Price. And I just want to thank both Joe and Mark Zedimemer um for their Kate as well. Um, but this is speaking to general counsel, but I've been very pleased with their services, the continuum with our administration.
Um, and while I certainly respect the board majority, I I wish it could have gone the other way because I would have really appreciated having that continuum of relationship for the district um just as they navigate ahead.
>> Thank you, Lauren. Anyone else have anything discussion? Okay, with that, can we have a roll call, please? Miss Collier, >> yes to all. No to 17.16. Dr. Hinkle, >> Dr. Martinez,
>> yes. >> Miss Saraphino, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> And Miss Gagn, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. And moving on to operations. May I have a motion to move items 18.1 through 18.7?
>> Motion. Thank you, Lauren. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Rocky. Any discussion? We've covered >> uh just a quick one. I the the uh the district doing a great job with doing disposals which fall on operations being
in this business. Disposals are not easy and the fact that we're not paying for it is actually a great testament to getting that done. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. And I want to again thank Dr. Beck for his chronic absenteeism uh presentation. Uh very
important as he mentioned multiple times to note four out of five of our district or of our district schools are showing decreases which is great. Uh we're hoping to continue trending in the right direction. So thank you to the parents uh that make that possible. We look forward to your support in bringing those numbers down even further than we
already have. Um and then also student handbooks just to ensure that there's no alarm. Uh this was approval was recommended by our board attorney. Uh very run-of-the-mill. Everything looked great from what we saw. Uh so I'm certainly in support, but again just something that was advised going forward
and uh as we make sure that that's a collaborative process which I believe we've done. So uh with that we have motion second discussion. May we have a roll call please? >> Miss Collier, >> yes. >> Dr. Hankle, >> yes. >> Dr. Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Saraphino, >> yes.
>> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> And Miss Gagn, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. And moving on to old business. Anyone have anything for old business they care to discuss? No. New business.
Old or new business? Going once, going twice. Okay. Public comment number two. The board uses the second public comment period to invite comments on all matters pertaining to the school district. Please state your name, municipality, and group affiliation if appropriate for the record. Each participant will receive three minutes to speak. Once you
have had your allotted three minutes to speak, you will not be permitted to speak again. All statements should be directed to me as the presiding officer. The board or administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the conclusion of the public participation. >> Fill it out after. Okay.
>> Good evening. My name is Angela Deluchia and I am the very proud president of the Sussex County and Sparta Education Associations. Before we d uh dive into the excitement of the year ahead, I want to pause and thank the people who keep our schools
running all year long. To our 12 month secretaries who keep the wheels turning even when the halls are quiet, thank you for your dedication and your ability to juggle countless details with a smile. to our student assistance counselor
whose care and expertise support the heart and well-being of our students. You make a difference every single day. To our IT staff who make the magic of technology seem effortless, we know it's not and we are grateful. And to our
athletic trainers and coaches who keep our student athletes healthy, strong, and safe, thank you for your tire tireless commitment. This summer, our extended school year once again built a true bridge between school years, helping students continue
learning, growing, and building confidence so they return in September ready to succeed. At the same time, our educators dedicated countless hours to curriculum writing, ensuring lessons remain fresh,
relevant, and engaging. We also invested in professional development, strengthening our skills, and sharing best practices to be even more effective in the classroom. And yes, we even made time for equally important rest and resetting because a recharged educator
is a stronger educator. As we begin this school year, we do we do so with a settled contract, new rosters, and new goals, all fueling our commitment to succeed together. The Sparta Education Association is grateful
for our ongoing collaboration through our ideas committee. These open and honest conversations with the board and administration allow us to address the issues that matter most to our staff and students and schools. And once again, we
are proud to support the Sparta Schools referendum. This is not just about bricks and mortar. It's about creating modern, safe, and inspiring spaces that empower learning. It's about giving students the resources they need to
excel academically, explore creatively, and prepare for the future. Strong schools lift our entire community, boosting property values, attracting new families, and ensuring Sparta remains a place where education is a point of
pride. So, please mark your calendars for September 16th. If you are eligible, get out and vote. Your voice is your vote. Together, we've proven when educators, staff, board, administrators,
families, and community work as one, we can achieve incredible things. We look forward to a year filled with success, growth, and unity. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause]
Hello again, Jenny Derrick's tap into Sparta. Um, just two quick followups. Do we have an understanding of how many students are underserved or unserved or a unable to get a slot in our preschool program? Were there people who applied
who didn't get in? Do we know how many that is? And um, Dr. Beck, in your presentation, I'm sorry I missed it. I know I'm addressing to you Caitlyn, but um in your presentation, I'm sorry if I missed it, but did you have an opinion about what Genesis showed for the high
school for the rate for the last school year? Did it go up, down, stay the same? Still a problem? If you can, if you can explain. Thank you. >> Thank you. uh the first the prek lottery. Yeah, it
was a lottery system again this year and there were um students that obvious that did not get in uh that were not selected as part of the lottery. I don't have that number in front of me, but um it was significant. It was uh dozens of students for sure. Um we're still
working toward achieving our prek universe as the NJ DOE calls it. Um, so we are continuing to look to expand our prek expansion program into into the community partnerships. Um, so we're continuing to look into that to continue to serve those students. So the the
weight list decreases or those that don't get in from the lottery. And um I don't have that in front of me, the um the high school statistics uh for the 2425 school year. I'd have to look it up. If you email me, I can get that to
you. Perfect. Thank you. >> Yep. Thanks again. Anyone else? All set. Uh with that, may I have a motion to close public comment number two? >> Thank you, Rebecca. Second. Thank you, Rocky. All in favor? I. Any abstensions? Any opposed? Okay. Anyone for good of
the order? >> I have something quick. Um, regarding the upcoming referendum, I just wanted to put out another just ask the community to um to bring your questions forward to vote at sparta.org. No
question is too silly, too complex. If you do not feel that we have adequately given the information out, please let us know. um because we have esteemed professionals, administration, the board, we want everyone to have the information that they need to make an
informed vote. And um I would just encourage everyone to email if they have any questions. Thank you. Well said, Lauren. I would also add to the in-person tour I think is a really unique opportunity for everyone to come and actually see the
facilities that we're looking to improve. Uh and obviously there will be a forum as well so any questions can be answered there as well but to your point excellent uh any avenue available reach out and anyone else for the good of the order. Uh we will not be reconvening
into close session this evening uh or resuming open session for that matter. So may I please have a motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you Rebecca. Second. Thank you Emily. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay,
great. Have a nice night everyone. Thank you. >> Jenny, I'll save you an email. I found it. >> Just resolve that the board of ed approves the motion to close the meeting of the Sparta Board of Education at 8:26 p.m. Thank you, Barbara. Good night, everyone.
Watch out.