e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to this evening's meeting Wendy with the meeting announc the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to instr the right of the public to to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the sparta board of education has caused notice of the time and place of this meeting to be published in the New Jersey Herald The Star Ledger tap into spa.net and the notice of the meeting has been posted on the sparta Township School District website thank you Jo want get a roll call please miss Kier here Miss gagman present Miss McMichael here Mr pesi miss seander here miss sarapo here Dr Serrano here Mr wood here Mr Morris here going all rise for your pledge of lead United States stand okay we're going to start with this evening with a presentation from Mrs rosi just want to put it on record I told her she gets three minutes to speak tonight got it timer she gets long winded okay good evening everyone um so what I'm about to share with you are the results from the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment um NJ GPA which is something that our students take in the spring um it's administered to all grade 11 students and it assesses language arts and math um standards grounded in the New Jersey student learning standards it is a measure for graduation Readiness it's one of our three pathways ways and it's the first um Pathway to ensure that students have the requirements met through standardized assessments for graduation um there is an Ela and math component the math component is grounded in Algebra 1 and geometry standards and the ELA component is grounded in grade 10 Ela standards these were some pieces of information that I shared in the past but just to acknowledge that the first time this was administered which is I think 2022 um the cut scores were different and so last May in 2023 those cut scores were adjusted and we saw some differences based on that specifically in our language arts scores and so those were grounded um in the data that we see here tonight and that they affected our scores in the past in a positive way um the last two years as well and so as I spoke to you again about the graduation Pathways there are three and njpa is the first graduation pathway so taking a look at the data if you look at the chart um you can see that the way the NJ GPA assesses students and provides feedback is whether or not they are graduation Ready or Not Yet graduation ready so in language arts 94.1% so if you look at the green that is this year's data 94.1% of our 11th graders are graduation ready in English language arts and 70.5% of our students are graduation ready in math you can see to the right of that column students across the state so while we're 94.1% graduation ready across the state the norm is 81.6 and in math while we're graduation ready 70.5% across the state the norm or the average is 54.7 in the columns next to that you can see the percentage of students that make up 100% there that are not yet graduation ready and I'll speak to some of those numbers later you'll also see compared to that students across the state um the average of students across the state who are not yet graduation ready so this is looking at data across three cohorts so I do want to point out that this does not represent um obviously the same class of students and growth or lack thereof this represents three different cohorts of 11th grade students so you can see in 2022 this again speaks to the change in Cut scores which is why it looks so different in 2022 in language arts 50 1.3% of students were graduation ready as the cut scores were adjusted acknowledging across the state that they were set too high and not grounded in recommendations by statisticians and um those individuals who create the assessments they were adjusted by Spring 2023 that cohort of 10th graders um were 93.8% of them were graduation ready and this year 94.1 so that's a lot to celebrate because obviously we know how important these skills and scores are to to our students it's one measure but it is one measure that shows what students are able to do with the skills that they're internalizing in math you can see a similar chart um again what's interesting in this chart is the differences in math even with the adjustment in in Cut scores don't look so different so we're hanging in that 70th percentile um even looking at last year to this year while you can see a slight decrease from 77 to 70 um those are different cohorts of kids and so as they're coming through and they're being supported there are different populations that show different needs and so when we look at like our tier one universal supports we see consistently kids are performing and able to handle high levels of math instruction and I'll show you a little bit later where our Focus continues to be so our subgroups are a real area of focus for us and they've been since covid we know that in terms of um equity and access it was some of these subgroups who were who struggled most needed um greatest levels of support if you look at the column or the chart to the left for math you can look at students who are first English language Learners and they are not able to be reported out on because they are under 10 students who took the assessment that are identified as an English language learner so they would be considered identifiable so that's something that we don't report on that we're not able to report on when we look at our economically disadvantaged students we see 50% we're gradua uation ready and 50% were not and when we look at our students with disabilities we see that 22.5% were graduation ready and 77.5 were not this is an example of where're we need to continue to look at individualized data obviously when we look at these numbers for students with disabilities we know that there are things impacting their learning and what we're most interested in is looking at adquate growth over time and so we want to see exactly who the students are and what their growth had looked like prior to the assessment to see if it's just that they're not quite able to meet the grade level standards but with the supports and modifications accommodations in place have they made adequate growth over time which many of our students do because that is what we monitor consistently but we are going to dig into that data more closely once everybody is back and after summer um when we look at English language arts it's the same table we just see some different numbers so English language Lear Learners again were not enough students to be able to report on for our students who are economically disadvantaged 70% were graduation ready as compared to 30% who are not and our students with disabilities we see much higher rates 68% are graduation ready and 31% are not so again for students who are not the second pathway would be they can retake this assessment um in the fall there are other assessment measures that they can take to be alternatives to njpa and they're outlined at the state level and in our handbooks um um and then for some of our students with more substantive um disabilities who can't pass assessments we have our portfolio assessments and we continue to use that for a small population of Learners as well so just some Reflections overall um really being able to dive into the data I think we've done a lot looking at programming at large and our programming at large is meeting the needs of a large majority of our students even when we look at that math population and our math percentiles while 70% is a strong number inside of that some of the numbers that that are bringing those that data down is in our special populations so we need to take a closer look at what is happening inside of that um we're also looking at the child as a whole so while we look at data and we have a new data platform that will make that easier for us to do and more efficient um we're continuing to look at all parts of a student and all areas that impact learning and performance so we are working with St Elizabeth across the district to ensure that we have positive Behavioral supports and that we really understand what behavior is about and how we respond to it um we have a technology plan that's in development that looks at how we're using technology and the meaningful application behind it our cell phone initiative is one thing that is coming out of that that will be talked about a little bit later in our policy um we're trying to incentivize Extended Learning programs we have things to offer students who need additional support outside the school day but we don't have as many um families wanting to particip iate and take advantage of that for a large variety of reasons so if there are other ways different modes we can present Extended Learning opportunities those are things we're looking into as well we know one size doesn't fit all and that continues to be accurate um chronic absenteeism our students need to be in school for us to be able to support them and so that's something that's an area of focus for us looking at again individual students and not like grade 11 language arts we need to really start to go into more closely each individual student and identify and analyze what their uh needs are and where those supports come from we do continue to look at programming um we have professional development in um plans in in place and we will continue to support learning that way um a big Initiative for us is consistency and Alignment among our schools we have five schools and that is unique sometimes in a district like ours where you have that many students transitioning so quickly and finally we're going to continue to look into things like collaboration and partnership so we worked with Mathnasium this year that was very successful tutor me was an online platform we're looking at another online platform for those that benefit from that not all students do for our younger population grades 35 to continue to supplement so um all of these things are are getting positive results and we want to continue to serve and support as many students as possible to be successful in this first pathway and that is our [Applause] presentation do you have any questions thank you thank you a motion to approve the minutes motion yeah thank you second second thank you all in favor I I start Dr Beck yes uh couple of updates tonight um first is uh regarding the policy revisions on this evening's agenda there is a policy revision recommendation as well as a regulation revision recommendation the policy revision reflects that which was already discussed and presented last month in regard to the use of cell phones in schools as you can see the revised language is updated to reflect current devices and allows a little more flexibility at the high school level as was previously stated the details will appear in the student handbooks which will be completed in August the regulation ision is in regard to student attendance I will present more information on this topic in August but the reason for this revision is part of a multifaceted response to the NJ Doe's mandate for chronic absenteeism corrective action plans for all schools in the state whose absenteeism rate exceeds 10% each of our schools has absenteeism rates greater than 10% and are in the process of creating building based corrective action plans the regulation revisions align more closely to State guidelines and remove some of the additional local Provisions to those guidelines in a superintendent report a few months ago I announced that our district will be moving to a new website provider that provider is apog and their website brand is called thrillshare if you have visited our website recently since July 1st you can see that the new website has launched along with the new website we will now have a new communication notification system that replaces the old Blackboard system while we still have some optimization to do on the district and school websites we are excited to partner with thrillshare for the new school year also new for the upcoming school year we are proud to announce that our district will be utilizing a new online payment service called School cash online school cash online has many capabilities that will streamline our Student Activity transactions and other services while significantly reducing the amount of cash and checks that are processed by our district all of the aforementioned initiative Ives are in their final stages and once they're completed I will be sending a communication in the coming weeks to the school Community providing more details on these initiatives that's it thank you moving on a motion to move the Hib report motion thank you second second thank you discussion Joanne Miss Kier yes Miss gagnan I I'm so sorry I did not have a chance to review it so I'm going to abstain Miss mcel yes Miss seander yes Miss sarapin yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes delegate liaison reports I just wanted to mention out of Communications um just to piggy back on what Dr Beck said we're just so excited to see the new website up and running so the communications committee did meet on Thursday those uh minutes will be forthcoming since we were so close to this meeting but um one thing I would just challenge one another as board members to think about those bragging points that we have for our district because we really have the opportunity to um to tell our story in a really sharp way now with this new website we were just um really limited with what we could do before and I wanted to give a special shout out to Ryan hardigan and his team um just for their hard work on this they had a very short timeline to get this up and running and from a financial perspective from uh finance and Ops uh we were very keen to see that transition happen as well as we were going to save money with this new provider not be locked into such a long contract um so I definitely like our our scores what we were just seeing from laa that's a bragging point if so far ahead of the district looking at um how our high school stands apart uh but things across our district at all levels let's be thinking together how we can highlight that and um really tell this part of story thank you I'm just touch on the shared services um The District's going to be doing some Paving concrete and curbing work and we're going to work with the town to do that and they're going to be doing the majority of the work obviously to cut costs so it's good to work with them they did um a few Pro with us already so hopefully that continues to grow and use them in the future anyone else okay public comment number one public comments are invited on all matters pertaining to only 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 participant will be received 3 minutes to speak once you have had your 3 minutes to speak you will not be permitted to speak again until public comment number two all statements will be directed to me as residing officer the board or the administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the conclusion of the public participation hi good evening um my name is Angela delusa I'm the president of the sparta Education Association I speaking to agenda item 15.27% just looking for some clarification on policy 5516 the uh update on or the first reading update of the device policy on page two of the policy there's a line that says an ecrd used in violation of this policy will be confiscated by a school staff member or principal or design we just wanted some clarification on the confiscation procedure which is a slippery slope for uh Educators and staff members in the classroom that's all thank you anybody else motion to close public comment number one motion thank you second all in favor I very well uh yes so I can respond to that it was actually brought up by one of our committee members as well the same thing so uh yeah they right now it says will and uh we're going to discuss next month just revising that to can a little more looser language okay moving on to personnel and policy call get a motion to move 151 to 1534 motion thank you second thank you um it was F I'm sorry just I'm sorry yeah oh yeah the yeah yeah I just want to add that uh 15.6 minor revision on 15.6 It should read uh 1 hour per day not one hour per week 15.6 right staying with the second discussion okay Joanne yeah I think we did want to discuss sorry yeah um as far as the cell phone policy I just wanted to speak to the fact that um I do support it and obviously the great changes that we hope to see um benefit our students and staff as they can do their jobs more efficiently and the kids can um have enhanced learning um some of the reservations that I expressed during committee and I express again tonight um is I guess there's no regulation to go along with it which I understand is okay um but we don't have a look to see what the um the handbooks look like yet so my reservation is just making sure that we do this correctly and that it's done efficiently and effectively because it is such an important policy and I do want to make sure that as one of the first um districts inside of Sussex County that we do it perfectly the first time because I would hate to see it fail um because it wasn't done perfectly so I guess the concern that I have is that we won't have eyes on the handbook until we're already up for second read on the policy so if there are pieces of the handbook that maybe don't you know I I know but they are going to go to board approval because Dr Beck I appreciated you saying that we could approve the handbooks they're not no handbooks don't get approved by the board I I've learned that this afternoon you learned that this afternoon okay sorry then I then I guess it's not common for the boards to approve handbooks um regulations that go along with the policy some board regulations are approve some regulations are administrative and the board doesn't approve them right um but but no generally to handbooks okay so there in lies my concern not that I'm looking to administer the schools in any way shape or form I just want to make sure that I'm submitting my vote to approve a policy that I can really understand the ins and the outs of how it will be implemented I want to make sure that I can support it fully in that sense so I maybe we can explore adding um basic regulation down the line after we approve the policy so as not to hold it up I would hate to see us move into September without these things in because I think it's obviously important to start the school year um for the teachers as well to establish the rules and the ground rules for their schools and their buildings but so that's my concern I was looking to see if we could discuss it as a board as well is there a way to see the changes to the handbook that are going to directly affect us before we do vote on the second reading just to make sure that we are all in alignment and we do think it's going to be supported successfully and there's not going to be any like gray area or confusion or anything like that uh perhaps the board could preview it um I guess what I'm thinking is the the policy is General enough uh general for a reason which we discussed why the policy is what it is and I and I uh understand why you would want to see some specifics um so I'm wondering how we can do that specifically maybe we can discuss U exactly what you wish to see as far as protocols go uh you know give some input on what you feel the protocols could be which I would discuss with the admin team um obvious viously the handbooks would have to align to policy and regulation they do in every other aspect of the handbook attendance you name it uh so it would have to align um so I'm not sure exactly um how we could go about but making sure that you have input on what you feel that the pro what the protocol should look like I'm assuming you're talking about the high school level because the other is pretty clear if I may chime in as well um so I share the same sentiments and I know we did discuss this in committee but I think that there's a few things that I'd like to address so number one for me uh a huge portion of why the round table or now ideas committee was formulated or one of the main incentives was to really address this uh in addition to other ongoing issues or um proactive measures we can take uh in a collaborative way with Administration teachers Educators staff um and the board so I guess for me um I I have some concerns and reservations it was presented and Le I know you're not on the ideas committee but because I am uh it was presented in a way that because of there being such differential between the enforcement at different buildings putting it in student handbooks gives the opportunity for us to really cater and make sure that our approach is nuanced Enough by what each building's needs um require um I think that to Dr Beck's point the policy is somewhat vague but deliberately so this is a new Innovative initiative it is not necessarily um how do I say this gently it is new and it is innovative and the odds of it rolling out perfectly in September are not necessarily guaranteed because of the nature of this um so we have partnered quite a bit and I'm sure uh Miss Rossy can speak to this more but we've partnered with other districts who have had more experience in rolling out these initiatives than we have yet uh these were recommendations based on those experiences and the data to support that um and just in committee I would say that you know some areas that I find are still gray for me um when it was asked what would you like to see in regulation specifically that isn't covered here and it was kind of and I'm not sure so I I guess I would like to hear what specifically were trying to cover in regulation that wouldn't be covered in the handbooks and maybe you can speak to that um so I can understand where you're coming from you bring up a really good point um I don't think it's necessarily what I would like to see I just think that whatever I be voting on and supporting I would like to understand what that is so with what I'm learning about the handbooks now is that it really is out of the Bo's hands to have that piece and so for me it feels like maybe if we could revisit in the future like passing this policy getting it underway and maybe in the future we do add regulation to kind of dictate what might be in the handbooks or not and like you said it is kind of unfolding we don't really know I spoke to um the njsba rep who kindly took my call at the 11th hour today cuz I had some reservations and I know I'm attending the um the workshop down in October in in Atlantic City and they're going to be planning on having a huge um a huge portion of their training dedicated to this topic so it's we're moving at the speed that we're given information in our district as well so I guess those are just my reservations I wanted to just talk about it with my fellow board members because like Caitlyn said not all of us are on the ideas committee so I think some of the information that maybe some board members had funnel to them didn't necessarily make it to all of us and I want to make sure that we're all just aware of what we're doing here maybe if I could explain a broad vision of what uh we feel this would look at based on our conversations with teachers and our conversations amongst ourselves as administrators and conversations with the board uh because what the handbook would do the handbook is just going to align to the policy and make sure that we adhere to the policy and U outline consequences for violating the policy right uh but what we envision happening is uh at the high school level because K8 we see uh not really a space for cell phones but on the high school level um what we envision happening on a broad scale is that um generally students will not be allowed to use their cell phones in class or possess even their cell phones in class where they would come into the classroom and check up their cell phones and maybe like one of those calculator holder type things uh you check it on your way in um leave it there let's focus on class and when if and when the individual instructor feels it appropriate that there's a time and a place that they need to use their cell phones for something instructionally at that time they would go get their cell phones U so the cell phone use in class outside of that again this is broadly speaking um cell phone use uh or even possession or scrolling and things like that um not welcome in the classroom outside of that uh outside of what the teacher specifically States um which would be on occasion um and then in between then the students get their cell phones as they leave the classroom room and maybe they can check it between classes that type of thing but it's not going to have a a a place in the classroom unless uh specifi by the teacher thank you Dr Beck and just to Echo off of that um I know we had discussed a little bit in committee like what are those circumstances where a cell phone will be necessary during instructional time um it also becomes an equity level issue in my mind are all students having access to the same cell phones do some students have no cell phones are we using them in place of Chromebooks if so why so those were some of the questions that I had as far as the policy because it was vague enough to say that coaches and staff could kind of designate when would be appropriate to use it and I wanted to just make sure that it's not going to be used as a primary resource for the reasons I just mentioned so that was a concern I had as well just because it is policy and it is vague and I guess the exacts were where my mind kind of went and wondered I think now that we do see the data that supports the fact we know these devices are not the healthiest for students obviously they're not going away and we can utilize them and teach the kids to utilize them correctly but I I think we should make sure that we're not making it so that the parents who are more and more aware of these issues and as their students come up and graduate um and kind of phase out so now we have our next sub generation of little kids coming into middle school and high school and I predict we'll see a lot more parents saying no you're not going to be having this device so is that going to be an everchanging Topic in the handbook would that be something that's delineated in some kind of um regulation somewhere so I guess my mind just went a million places but I do support the policy and and all the changes that it promises to bring so I want to see it succeed um oh sorry you're joking not Jing uh I think you bring up a really good point Lee I think I think this policy is not going to be finished when it passes you know what I mean I think this is something we're going to have have to observe through the year bring it up change see if we have to add more you know I think it's just so broad right now so buildings can test what's really working and I I have a lot of the same concerns as you like have we outlined like are we supporting teachers with kind of like outlining what to do and and what not to do and how to handle these situations um but it's a lot of like untested water so I can understand like I I totally get how you feel but I think the policy right now supports a lot of freedom for educators to kind of take ownership of their classroom and then observing that and seeing what Dr Beck recommends going forward is something I think we absolutely will end up like addressing this again you know what I mean I was just going to add that um I think that something that you were saying is that the research is evolving and so we're fortunate that we now have access to like this vast amount of knowledge that is showing us some different things I mean like pre pandemic it was like you know onetoone learning um personalized pathways everybody can learn on a digital um you know platform and be successful that way whether it's a cell phone or a Chromebook or and there's new information out and it it continues to build so I do think we need something that allows for some of that flexibility and I also think that um one thing that's so important to note is that there are spaces right now that are utilizing some of the methods that Dr Beck talked about in our high school that are very successful so we also leaned into where it's going well where these things are working so in some ways it's not this brand new what's special about this initiative is not that it's a brand new practice it's that we're really committing to consistency so we're really taking a stand to say where it's working really well which also happens to align to the updated research um we need to be consistent across classrooms across content areas so that kids aren't confused about where they can use something where they can't they give a teacher a hard time in one room because they let them do things and in the next room they don't and so it's really I think most about consistency leaning on the spaces that it's working already inside of and making sure that as much of that is articulated in the handbook while still giving us a chance to be responsive as new things unfold um but I just wanted to mention that because we we are talking about the newness of it and there the newness of it is really the commitment that we all need to take a stand and be consistent together and how we're supporting students and that was hard I think for teachers to do on their own um and so we need each other to be supportive in this way and I think we've had a lot of great conversations about that so I I also hear all the commentary but I just thought it was important to add you know that some of the practices are are are already happening and are already really working well and so that is what practices those would be because I'm interested to hear yes so just what we talked about before like um there's a teacher who has like a cell phone box so different than the holder and so at the beginning of class kids know it's a practice it's a routine and procedure and they come in they put their phones in the box so the phones are in the classroom if there was an emergency if there was a need um but they're not on them so they're not getting notifications or buzzing it's it's a cell phone free environment so they can really focus on learning so whether or not it's a box in every classroom but that teacher really spoke to us about how she um kind of instilled those routines and procedures and is really meeting with a lot of success which is what we're seeing when we look at other districts as well so again it's the idea that when you come in this device comes off of you and then when it's appropriate and if there's a need for it and that is really there's a varied you know you think about like um photography class where you have photos on your phone or a statistics class where it's easier to run data on an app as opposed to maybe your Chromebook that runs at a certain speed and whatnot so um so to identify all of those might be challenging or might over time be productive but um that's an example of one space where that already exists thank you I did hear about the photography and that did bring up an Equity issue for me in my mind students who maybe just have a flipped phone or you know maybe they don't have access to a phone that has a great camera just my eyes just thinking ahead but thank you tar I appreciate it sure so there were times um I do have a high schooler and she was in photography and I used the phone as punishment and there were times where she did go to school without it and I don't remember the exact specifics of the situation but there were times where I do think there was something available for her to use in that class and they don't use it all of the time um so my daughter has gone to school without a cell phone and for the most part it hasn't been an issue um and some teachers like Tara said at back to school night they have it almost looks like a calendar each pocket is numbered they put their phone in um it stays there you know and it comes back out I think the biggest thing from this dialogue it sounds like a lot of us or almost all of us have the same goal in mind which I think is really important I think it's huge for a lot of different opinions to be sitting at this table and in the audience and in the schools to all have a common goal U I think as long as we keep that in the Forefront I think this will be successful like you said it may have to be revised but I do think it's a step in the right direction we just need to keep you know our eye on the goal here at the end I mean this policy when was the last refis do you know oh a while ago a long time ago so obviously changes had to be made um as vague as the policy may be at this time there's going to be a lot of work in progress especially through this year and just like Emily said I can almost guarantee we'll be sitting here next year talking about the same policy adding stuff taking stuff away that didn't work with the administration I think what it comes down to and we during the round table um I made it very clear to the administration that were present that day it comes down to them enforcing the rules to the policy cuz if they're not going to enforce it nothing's going to happen so they have to be Stern first warnings first day of school and so on and so forth so with regards to the regulation I mean the regulation would go districtwide so it kind of you know Trump having the handbooks because then one says the other so we'd have to make sure they coincide and go together I mean if the handbooks are sufficient then a regulation probably wouldn't be necessary we just need to make that there's something sufficient I'm just saying if the handbooks are sufficient then I don't see a need for regulation we just need to make sure that there's something that's sufficient that gives clear guidelines but they're out of our purview as the board so we won't be able to make sure they're sufficient just that's my thought they will be sufficient because the admin that we have here will do a great job I was just to say I'll make sure that they align with the policy on the administrators enforce it AB Absolut with anything in the handook absolutely yeah and I think as the months go on a regulation can be brought up at a later date and revised and made so it can attach to the poliy exactly I don't think it hurts to um look at the equity issue um obviously people in the high school teachers and staff there would have a better grasp on that it doesn't hurt to look into that and see what type of issue that is but I do think the biggest thing that terara said about consistency I think that's huge like it needs to be consistent right and I think that's where that's where I keep going back to like all of our practices and our data go back to consistency and Alignment we have the five buildings and that is the part where you know bringing up your point about statistics gets me thinking about it differently I think in the spirit of the data that was presented by Dr esposo and and you as well at the last meeting along with you know reading like the anxious generation looking at other data was that I guess what I felt come across what really I think the spirit of this policy is to help create cell phone free Havens to support the mental health and achievement of our students what I'm concerned ered about what I'm hearing about like well there are some places where we are going to have it where there are some places where we're not maybe they could check it during like between classes I know it would be met with opposition I'm sure within the student body but I've also seen schools that have done it and by the two weeks in it's I I've read how they how it's changed the whole dynamic of communication friendships relationships getting them ready for that Independence where they're not just going straight to their cell phone and I think that's where you know I I do support the policy but I I would like to see a little more to make sure that it's going into the Nuance of the spirit of this and also making sure that we are truly setting up our students for Success not just with good intention because I think if they can just be back on in between I'm wondering if we're really giving them that break from the devices you know are we really keeping them in a great space to learn um so I I do support going going through a first read but I do share the concerns with maybe needing a regulation down the line and I think I would support that as well I just want to say a few things too I agree with Kurt and I uh shared those concerns in committee where we or I shouldn't say that in um the Roundtable discussion ideas committee um because I do think enforcement is a huge portion of this and I think that's something that we all share as a concern you know making sure for me even the um I hate to say it this way but the it in enforcement making sure that it is being enforced and that uh it's done in a way that it doesn't confuse our student body as to well why in this class can I do this versus this and another so I I understand some of the concerns for sure but I do want to make sure that we are not subverting the process because it does feel like a slippery slope between this and administering the district um I think for example when we're in committee and and there's discussion of you know approving the handbooks in full I just I I can't get on board with that because I don't feel that that actually supports what we're trying to achieve to W's point that seems like a collective that we're all actually on the same page about um so I I do understand and I'm not saying I won't ever support regulation I think it's something that we need to uh practice we need to let the boots on the ground give this uh good run through see how this year pans out if it comes up in 3 months hey at this school we're having this huge issue and we need to make it right that's why we're here um but I think to assume proactively that there are going to be issues without uh laying out what those are and clearly laying out Solutions in my mind um again I I think too another thing it seems like the majority of the enforcement we're talking about through Pol or through um uh regulation would be punishment um I don't know beyond punishment what we're really talking about out so that's another area of concern for me um I would rather see this be something that's super collaborative that surprisingly most parents administrators Educators even students I hope eventually and maybe Chad could speak to this more than anyone um will grow to appreciate and it will become a collaborative effort rather than something that's so strict that it becomes uh rebellious or or there's more of an opportunity for it to become a contentious issue rather than it being a collaborative initiative um and I think to what we were discussing in that committee the data shows that when it's done in a collaborative way it actually is more successful than when students feel as though or parents even um because there are plenty of parents that want their kids to have phones surprisingly which is totally within their right um we we find that it is actually better when it is collaborative and positive rather than when it's mandated um so for me I say let's not stall the process because if we you know I know there was discussion of motioning to to table this uh policy I don't support that I say let's roll this out this was asked of us let's support it let's roll this out in September and down the road if it comes to be that we need to revisit this which I'm sure we will to Kurt's Point uh whether that's through regulation or anything else we do it then but I say let's give it a fair shot and let's work collaboratively with our Educators and our Administration to make it happen I don't think anyone's saying not to work collaboratively I think this discussion was important and I think the questions were important because the people who are having them at this table then I can guarantee you that people in the public are having the same questions and I I actually think it's very beneficial for us to be having this conversation here and getting this out in the air and getting things answered and questions asked um I don't think anyone was sitting here saying that they're not in support of this policy um changes yes questions yes um but I do think it was important to ask these questions at the table tonight thank you and um Tara I had one last question and I won't be her any further um you did mention the onetoone initiative and the the pandemic stuff and I know Chromebooks are a thing are Chromebooks um a piece of the learning experience that would one day be addressed under a policy like this one I know I've heard that they're highly relied upon in certain School dist in school certain schools within the district and as we're looking at cell phones and screen time and mental health I'm wondering how much that might play into into things as far as the mental health as well yeah sure um I did want to say two things so I'll answer that first and then I'll just go back to one one last component because I think these are all really important discussions that are also helpful for the public to hear and like understand the deeper roots of our decision-making but um when it comes to the Chromebooks in our Tech plan one of the areas that we're really looking at is the balance of technology and an engaging instruction not to say that technology can't be and isn't engaging instruction in some ways um the problems screen time in general is something that we have to be cognizant of cell phones take that to another level because of the accessibility of so many other things that you don't have that same level of accessibility on a Chromebook or like an eyew watch even though those are still screens and they they still have some mode of accessibility but um I don't know that we've discussed it in terms of a policy at this point because there are really meaningful tools and I think that's where I was going with the cell phones is that we do have to remember that these are all tools Tech tools that really are here to stay and so and they're not bad or good they just are tools and so like when we think about what I wanted to say a little bit earlier was the body of research that we look at and the overwhelming information that suggests you know you hear things like wait till 8 because the tool this the tool of a cell phone and what you can access without um on our Chromebooks we have things like go Guardian for example so you can you have um the ability to support and protect what kids are accessing on their on their cell phones we don't as a district of course um parents can um and so the idea of wait till 8 is that really before 8th grade it doesn't serve the research shows it doesn't serve really any productive Tool uh for students to use in a learning capacity that doesn't mean it can't connect them to a grandparent in Virginia or allow them to to do other things that have Merit but it's not a productive learning tool by High School There Are Places now that they're de developmentally in a different phase of learning um that there can be benefits to the tool showing them and teaching them the balance and showing them the benefits of the tool is what's really important um to identify so I guess I'll tie it back to your question just really understanding that the research isn't comprehensive like K12 K K8 it says something very specific and 9 12 it changes a bit because kids are becoming young adults and these tools are really helpful in the adult world in the right ways um and so going back to the Chromebook that falls in the category and it is something that we're navigating and it is something that we all believe in again the collaboration around this work with teachers administrators support staff students has been really impressive and helpful and inspiring actually so um I do think we'll be able to find that balance and I think that we are all feeling that that we we were LED sort of in One Direction and we we disagree that that direction exclusively is what's going to support our kids as Learners I appreciate that Tara thank you and just to reiterate I was just happy to hear the discussion the robust discussion that we could have as a board because so infrequently are all nine of us able to sit and speak um because we are segmented into little tiny committees so it is nice when we have these big um big changes coming along that we can sit and speak and hear each other out so I appreciate everyone's collaboration with this and if I could just wrap up that conversation just to kind of reiterate what Tara said uh when Miss Rossy said about um the collaboration has taken place I I would like to applaud the board uh the teachers that have worked with us throughout this process the admin team uh we're really Lee made the point before we're really on The Cutting Edge of this um as districts in the state but definitely districts in the county of getting out ahead of this and addressing this and uh I applaud the board for moving forward with it uh because if you keep waiting to make sure that let's wait for more research let's wait to see what other districts are doing then it's you know then you're going to start falling behind the curve so the fact that we're getting out ahead of this the fact that uh to everybody's point it will be a living document we will uh revisit this multiple times we'll revisit on a regular basis on a weekly basis probably in our admin meetings and you know I'll bring it back to the board and and and update the board and let the board know what we need but uh to be on the to be out in front of this in the best interest of our students I have I already have other districts reaching out to me asking me Matt um how did how did that process go how did you work with the board how did you work with the teachers how did you work with the admin team what does your policy look like uh it's it's just really nice to see and uh everybody should be applauded for that okay Joan could we get a roll call on 151 to 1534 Miss Kier yes Miss gagon yes Miss McMichael yes Miss cander yes Miss sarine yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr moris yes c a motion for finance [Music] 171 16 oh I get 16 161 to 1613 motion thank you em second thank you and I'm just going to make a motion to table 16.2 um the staff expenses for overnight trips we're going to wait on that one uh we have plenty of time to work on that one uh we're just going to wait till the teachers come back to get some more details to make sure we have that all correct it's really just administratively withdrawn administratively withdrawn 16.2 okay so we'll be voting 161 then 163 through 163 13 roll call join Miss Kier yes Miss gagnan yes as amended Mark is that is it including his automatically or do I have to say yeah it's automatically he just administratively withdrew it rather than making he doesn't make motions so it was just thank you yes Miss McMichael yes Miss cander yes Miss seraphino yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr mors yes motion for finance 171 to 1723 motion thank you second second thank you discussion Joanne Miss Kier yes Miss gagnan yes Miss McMichael yes Miss cander yes Miss seraphino yes Dr Serrano yes Mr wood yes Mr Morris yes okay we have nothing for 18 operations anybody have anything for old business new business okay we now move on to public comment number two board uses excuse me the board uses 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 be given 3 minutes to speak once you've had your allotted 3 minutes to to speak you will not be permitted to speak again all statements should be directed to me as a presiding officer the board or the administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the conclusion of public comment calling all public speakers hi my name is Maya weidenbach from Sparta I'm here tonight to address an issue with how I see middle school math placement there are three math classes available to incoming seventh grade students math 7 prealgebra and algebra my daughter although a constant honor roll student was placed in the lowest level math class for this upcoming year my daughter also had an overall math GPA this year of 91% and she is in the gifted and talented program when I tried to appeal this decision I was categorically denied the right to even appeal because I was told she did not fall within a certain amount of points on the rubric to even be considered for set appeal when I looked at the rubric that was posted to our District's website when this happened I was baffled because it showed Ella did qualify for pre-algebra based on that rubric apparently the rubric that has has changed drastically in the past few years and nobody bothered to email parents or update the district website Ellis specifically received zero out of eight points on the current rubric in the star standardized testing category but three years ago would have received seven out of eight points and been placed into algebra into pre-algebra that is a huge difference and makes me question how and why these rubrics are re-evaluated is it because of class size and needing to put a certain amount of kids into each level math class regardless of ability if so that is not the child's problem that is the districts second I know of two families who are also categor categorically denied the right to even appeal with almost the same email R rhetoric verbatim yet after my husband spoke at the last board meeting two of these families were magically allowed to move their daughters up a level this creates a lack of trust in the appeal process given to all of us and rubric in general finally going back a year in sixth grade you have two options math 6 and math Six accelerated who completed math 6 accelerated this year only needed 8 to 19 points on the rotrip to get into pre-algebra in sth while kids in math 6 needed 19 to 21 points does that sound fair to you at all what is so drastically different that kids in Mass 6 need 11 more points on the rubric then kids in math math 6 accelerated to go into pre-algebra we have had several meetings hired an education education Advocate and overall feel we are being stonewalled unnecessary necessarily in this process we have addressed other points in previous Communications that should be addressed as well but again our main points are one why were other families told they did not even qualify for an appeal based on their child's rubric points but were ultimately pushed into the next level math class after being denied almost verbatim to how we were initially two why do kids in accelerated math only need 8 to 19 points on the rubric to get into pre-algebra but kids in math 6 need 19 points it kind of feels like kids in math 6 need to do literal back flips to get into pre-algebra while it is made extremely easy for kids taking math Six accelerated I'm imploring people on the board to take a look at this I don't think this is the last time you'll be hearing a complaint on this Nature by a parent good evening again my name is Angela DeLucia and I am the very proud president of the sparta Education Association well I know the wheel of progress never stops turning it is my sincere hope that everyone has had at least a little time to enjoy their summer so far just a few short weeks ago we celebrated the promotion of our eighth graders and the graduation of our seniors and both ceremonies while extremely warm were extremely successful we are grateful that the administration was ad meable to the accommodations that the staff needed um due to the extreme temperatures we always appreciate apprciate the opportunity to have open and honest conversations for the Sea and the sparta School District as a whole we know that summertime is no time for slacking Our IT department has been busy preparing the buildings and equipment to ensure that our students and staff have the most up-to-date techn uh technology and access our 12-month secretaries have been hard at work laying the foundation for an organized opening to the 2425 school year many educators are contributing to supplementary student learning through meaningful lessons and work in our esy programs and almost 80 Sparta School community members have come together to form a very friendly pickle ball league the sea is very glad to see policy revisions listed in tonight's agenda an attendance policy that helps to ensure excuse me an attendance regulation that helps to ensure students are in school more often is essential excuse me an essential first step to a more effective effective and efficient classroom experience and outcome when students are present they are more successful and the revised definition of excused absences will certainly help and when they are present limited access to cell phones for high school students and no cell phones in the earlier grades has M Myriad benefits if we can eliminate one major distraction this allows our Educators to focus on the priorities the lessons the learning and the relationships our students are a cell phone generation most of them are used to having that device with them at all times we understand that this may be a learning curve for them and us but with a decrease in cell phone access and use in school we can increase our face-to-face relation relationship building skills Foster community and make positive improvements to mental health this is all in addition to reinforcing the teaching and learning priorities in the classrooms many sea members are engaged in professional development this summer the books that we are reading are reader friendly and contain easy to digest data that helps solidify the rationale behind the change in policy and future changes in student Behavior expectations the anxious generation stolen focus and parenting in the screen age are outstanding resources for the entire School Community I highly recommend if you have not done so already that you pick one or all of them up soon enough we'll be welcoming everyone back but until then let's continue to work communicate and enjoy the summer thank you thank you hi Jenny Derek tap into Sparta some of the things I'm going to ask you you may have already covered I'm sorry I was late I had to teach my class this evening um it sounds like you may have already discussed this is regarding the cell phone policy um the handbook the student handbook is referenced in the policy though the current handbook doesn't have any discussion of cell phone use question I've asked um prior to the meeting is how can you change a mandat a mandatory policy when you seems like you're drawing back on the requirements for the high school where it prohibits use on campus during curricular or even co-curricular there is now the opportunity for students uh to use the cell phones to Lauren's point and a number of you talked about consistency but to Lauren's point if we're offering the opportunity to have a screen free or a cell phone free zone creating a safe area where students can be free from the mental issues that we're the mental health issues that we're talking about and so on um this the inconsistency of you can check your phone while you're in the hallway or during study hall or something seems inconsistent and maybe something you can consider also have you considered wearables I look around a lot of you are wearing Apple watches is there any indication that that's going to be covered in the policy and whatever comes in the future I understand you felt the need to remove some of the things that seem Antiquated like pagers and pdas but they may have a Resurgence once the cell phone use gets Rec uh curtailed so I know you keep saying that it's going to be something that's evolving but that can also lead to confusion as some of you have spoken about um the student survey for uh College of St Elizabeth which was 16.6 on the agenda the College of St Elizabeth was the uh topic on the agenda um a couple of parents talked to me about the the this um disappointment they had that even though their students knew they weren't supposed to take the survey this is the survey itself is not on the agenda but College of St Elizabeth is even though their students knew that they weren't supposed to take the survey they were basically bribed with food and an eighth grade student is unlikely to Turn Down breakfast or free Bagel or whatever whatever the bribe was and they were unhappy with that and I don't know if that's been related to you but I told them I would relate it um the transfers and finance documents weren't linked are they that are usually linked is there a way to get those they should have been attached they should have been attached I didn't I couldn't see them there I would have to check into that um yeah no they ABS they should have been uploaded see them now but maybe it wasn't earlier okay cuz I looked yesterday I just have one other question thank you Jenny I know but I got some of my time taken um the Atlantic it's not J football has $400 for Health Medical on Sidelines does that an NJ saaa requirement thank you thank you the transfers are attached now I see it right here anybody else motion to close thank you second second thank you all in favor hi hi okay anyone for good of the order I would actually like to touch on some of what Jenny said about the inconsistencies of our cell phone policy um I don't think this is NE neily going to be true uh we still have a lot of work to be done and when I initially read the policy at first I was a little fearful cuz I kind of thought oh they're fully Banning phones and all schools but then it's going to get under the handbook um and I don't think that there's any anything of the sort of where um I don't we're not going to be setting up cell phone use zones uh and I can see how you could say that there might be some inconsistency when you go into a classroom and you check it into a box and then you leave and you have your phone but you also got to keep in mind that you're dealing with students and high school students and there is physically no possible way that you're going to create a cell phone free school it's not going to happen you might see a very large spike in bathroom usage to use your phone um so I don't really see the inconsistencies happening I could see how students might try to do what they can to avoid it but that's students and I think as long as you're consistent in the classroom uh that's important thanks Chad I'll just comment too on on the the details of the policy and how it will be implemented we've been we've been discussing this topic for over a year now now and really got serious about this topic over the past 6 months and really started to uh work on the policy uh in those 6 months where we really start to get serious about it uh we've had input from teachers and administrators uh from board members um from all kinds of stakeholders and uh these are the policies and protocols that the experts have come up with and of course they're going to be again there's going to be it's going to be a living document there's going to be a need for revision at times uh but this is what we came up with uh from our experiences and from our expertise and then just to comment on how do you how do you revise a mandatory policy uh the fact that it's a mandatory policy means that you have to have the policy and that the policy must follow must follow statute and uh it does that I have a few things as well um so just to that point I don't know if it helps uh but if we have a parent reaching out with information like that about the survey I don't know that's the first I've heard of that maybe you can defer that parent to Dr Beck and maybe there's something he can do to address that yeah that's oh okay um well usually for before you get off that topic could I jump in real fast right there I just wanted you to know that that's just approving the third year of our three-year partnership and the most recent survey was the parent survey so kids took the survey like the first year which was last year was 23 24 so they took a survey in 2223 so I don't know what they're referring to but that that's not what we're approving and the most recent was the parent yeah yeah I I agree I want to jump in real fast I appreciate that because I also found that problematic in in different ways um a few things I wanted to say uh number one on the cell phone use policy I also want to commend everyone especially our administration because I think a lot of us were very excited to be on board with this uh but also relieved and I'm I'm looking forward to seeing how it rolls out and I just want to absolutely strongly encourage parents and students but especially parents to really help our district when it comes to tackling uh these new issues that we will inevitably have um but we are doing everything we can to address our chronic absenteeism which is an unfortunate element of this uh of our district at this time so between that uh and the cell phone use everything that you can do as parents to help us in that uh cause I would say uh we're relying on you in many ways and uh we will hope that that collaboration certainly extends to parents and students as we continue to roll those out but a few things on the agenda that I just want to highlight um I want to thank and I might forget a few but I want to thank the United Methodist Church their uh generous donation to tackle some of the lunch balances that we have the Helen Morgan PTO for student handbooks and especially the uh Sparta Education Foundation for flexible seating for K to K through2 classrooms um seeing those items I just appreciate it so much and we are very very lucky to have the support that we do so I think that it um deserved a little shout out so thank you to those entities for helping us um accommodate our students I wanted to piggyback on that too is that the SCF is preparing a new initiative and more information will be out on that but um to start the school year off with a readathon that has been very successful in other places and um it's a opportunity where you don't actually have to physically participate and show up somewhere on a given day which is what's very difficult for um people to be able to do but it it's almost like like a virtual participation um and they really have done amazing things to allow for our staff to have some Innovative opportunities that you just spoke to so um look forward to that and more information will be sent home soon okay just since we went backwards a little bit there on public comment um I don't know who you received those complaints from Jenny in the future I don't know if they did complain to the building Administration but those type of complaints don't come to us or they don't even go to Dr Beck they don't go to him ever they go to the building Administration okay but I'm saying you said we did nothing about it you you said that under your breath you did too I heard you so these people who complain non-stop is it it becomes annoying they come to us we don't do anything it's not our job it's the building Administration tell them to go to the building if they can't handle it then it comes to him so okay all right back to good of the order um I have nothing summer camps have started everything's going well been to a couple of them it's going good no one else very well we are now going to close and go into close session where we were going to talk personnel and legal matters um no action will be taken and we'll be adjourning right from there immediately after motion to go into close session motion second second all in favor I e e e e e okay